my father was shot, february 8th, 1968 by law enforcement, protesting in the orangeburg massacre.ys taught us growing up, having to do with his interactions with law enforcement that you should always, you never stop in a dark area. you always drive to the next exit, always drive to a well lit area. we'll fight those battles in court. for me, with these twins now, my job is to hopefully make sure they have a better america than the one that i inherited. the same dream as my father had. the trouble that i have and the reason i wrote my vanishing country, i talk about it in one of the latter chapters is you know, five years ago, almost five years ago i was standing in front of a church, mother emmanuel. clenlte-- was a friend, he let dylan roofe into his church, a full hour bible study, i killed nine people because of the color of their skin. i was stands in front of that church about a week late we are my father and tears were rolling down my face as i was explaining to the country that we were having many of the same shared experiences he was 30rbgs i was 30rbgs and he was 70. and

i am a newcomer, i'm just a poor kid that grew up in orangeburg, south carolina, that grew up on welfarelion... i hear you but look at all of the names that we have seen who have been regarded as the bright new hopes of the democratic party in the south in recent years — i'm thinking of stacey abrahams, in georgia, andrew gillum, beto o'rourke, in texas — all of these names, they all have one thing in common, they ended up losing. and you're probably going to end up losing too. well, stephen, i do not think so, my friend, as again, as i told you the dems were going to win the house, we're going to win the senate and i am going to win also. and part of that is, we are seeing a changing of the guard here in south carolina. just this past week, this past week, dick wilkerson, who is the head of michelin north america, the largest corporation in south carolina, this is a guy who has worked with lindsey graham and worked with me — he supported lindsey graham, he was on lindsey graham's finance, co—chair of lindsey graham's finance committee when he ran for president. dick wilkerson came out a

orangeburg massacre, my father was shot, three others were killed. 28 others shot along with my fatherthe campus of south carolina state university. also had assassination of dr. king april 4th of '68 and assassination of robert kennedy. combined with uprisings from soldiers coming back home in vietnam, this is reminiscent of this year. i want people to understand we're only one generation away. trauma that many people, black folk, are displaying in the streets right now is real trauma, perpetual sense of grieving that you're seeing, underlying cause. i'm a son of the civil rights movement and i love brother cornell west, but my father and i are sharing too many of the same experiences. i'm 35, buried a good friend worshipping in church with others. he had emmitt till, i have tamir rice and breianna and george an ahmaud. i want to take the statements further. lot of white folk watching the program, trying to figure out what they can do. that's interesting question. first thing you have to realize, it ain't on black folk to cure racism in this country. sick and tired of people thinking

in whats were wounded is called the orangeburg massacre. state, we do kent not know much about south carolina state. my father was put on death row while his bond was denied. all of the officers that fired into the group of students were found not guilty. they convicted my father of writing -- rioting. you asked about my mom. my mom, as i am writing this book, i realized my mom is probably stronger than us all. her oldestto carry child well my father was in prison. meanster's middle name "born while father was away." the burden she had to carry and witha she had to live with a political prisoner and whose name evokes fear from some, having to carry the likelihood of a family, having to carry the burdens of that emotionally, my mother is extremely strong. in the book, i talk about mental health and some issues we had to cut overcome -- overcome as a family and the trauma we lived through. my mother was always the one who taught us to have an insatiable desire to learn as much as possible. titled "why are the strongest women the world dying?"

i mean, oracle of orangeburg can tell you that. he's right there with me. crumbling right before our very eyes. >> eugene, in addition to having the best kitchen ceiling in louisiana, the guy does have a way with words. eugene, you yourself wrote this week that the new normal is already here. tell our viewers who didn't have the privilege of reading your column what you mean. >> well, look, we're set adrift by this white house, right? the white house has abdicated its responsibility to dot kind of surveillance testing, the kind of real testing we need to move toward to reopening the economy on a -- on a scientific basis, on a safe basis. and they've checked out basically and said just let the states handle it, let the mayors handle it, and let the individuals handle it. and we're just going to have to make decisions ourselves about what we consider safe, what we don't consider safe. state and local governments, some regional compacts are getting together and they all move forward send move forward sensibly, i hope, and gently, at least some of them. but thi

. >> but you write a lot about your father who is a civil rights icon who was wounded in the orangeburgre years before you were born, right? and you write about how you think it's possible that you've been more acutely affected by this moment in history than your father. and i find that so interesting. i just wonder if you can talk about that. >> yeah, i look at politics, i like at my life, i look at things through the lens of being a child of the movement. february 8th, 1968, i call it the most important day of my life. it's nearly 20 years before i was born, but my father was shot along with 28 others and three young men who were killed while they were protesting the message of discrimination. my father was not only shot, but my father was denied bound and how'sed on dea housed on death row. my father went ton prison. so that trauma has stayed with our family for a very long period of time. it's very difficult because i have to live with that pain, i have to see the person that was the scapegoat. i have to see my father in those tears that still fall down his face, that pain in his ey

in whats were wounded is called the orangeburg massacre. state, we do kent not know much about south carolina state. my father was put on death row while his bond was denied. all of the officers that fired into the group of students were found not guilty. they convicted my father of writing -- rioting. you asked about my mom. my mom, as i am writing this book, i realized my mom is probably stronger than us all. her oldestto carry child well my father was in prison. meanster's middle name "born while father was away." the burden she had to carry and witha she had to live with a political prisoner and whose name evokes fear from some, having to carry the likelihood of a family, having to carry the burdens of that emotionally, my mother is extremely strong. in the book, i talk about mental health and some issues we had to cut overcome -- overcome as a family and the trauma we lived through. my mother was always the one who taught us to have an insatiable desire to learn as much as possible. titled "why are the strongest women the world dying?"