he knew how african-american culture in barbershops and beauty shops -- he understood the african-american church not just the nation of islam but the black church as well so when we think about malcolm x. he becomes a singularly important figure but not just this some kind of profit of rage or icon. he's actually an important grass-roots local organizer and not just in new york but in detroit and chicago and other places as well. >> host: and long after his death, he becomes enough of an american figure to get a stamp, postage stamp. >> guest: certainly. there is a rehabilitation of malcolm x. this occurred over the last look-see 20 years. we start with spike lee film malcolm x in 1992, the real issue of the autobiography of malcolm x and also this stand. but even barack obama, and barack obama's autobiography, dreams from my father he expresses admiration for malcolm x. he says he admired mulken's self determination and ability to recreate himself. so when we think about malcolm x. he is the quintessential self-made african-american man of the post war period. >> host: and embraced regar

the unemployment rate for african-americans is double. in places like new york city for black men in this trouble. there are great recent news stories about how even african-americans who are college educated are disproportionally more unemployed than their counterparts. we are still seeing that even with the euphoria of the obama victory and as significant as that victory is, it is really a watershed in american history and world history, it is still not necessarily translating immediately into ending racial disparity in this country. >> host: some have criticized president obama, particularly some in african-american communities, for not focusing enough on some of those disparities, particularly the record unemployment among african americans in some places. give it some concentrated attention. what do you make of those critiques? >> guest: well, i think they exemplify the dilemma that black americans face having the first black president. because historically we have never had african american leaders within the black community, someon

he knew how african-american culture in barber shops, in beauty shops, he understood the african-american church. not just the nation of islam, but the black church as well. so when we think about malcolm x, he become bees a very singularly important figure but not just as some kind of prophet of rage or some kind of icon, he's actually an important grassroots local organizer, and not just in new york, but in detroit and in chicago and in other places as well. >> host: and long after his death he had become enough of an american figure to get a stamp, postage stamp. [laughter] >> guest: certainly. there's certainly a rehabilitation of malcolm x that has occurred over the last let's say 20 years. we start with spike lee's film, malcolm x, in 1992. the reissue of the autobiography and also the stamp. but even barack obama in barack obama's autobiography dreams from my father, he expresses admiration for malcolm x. he says he admired malcolm's self-determination and ability to recreate himself. so when we think about malcolm x, malcolm x is really the quintessential self-made african-america

with so many african-americans who dismantle segregation include a gross the parks. she did not just refuse to give up percy to buy accident it was a concerted strategic effort to transform democratic institutions. the less than a half to impart to our kids and the nation, this is not just something that happened by accident as these iconic figures like dr. martin luther king, jr. to help the rest of us it is a debate during the election because hillary clinton said even though martin luther king, jr. was important it took a president to signed the voting rights act that is when then senator obama i kept invoking dr. keying as a fierce urgency of now and senator clinton said hold up. it took a president to sign that bill. she was invoking the notion that our politics still run it a top down way even though keying was the seminal figure her point* is that you still need a president to transform this nation and really i think the most transformative part to our history when you think of the civil-rights movement and the power movement of the '60s and '70s and the postw

i love doing african-american history month and i would love. sorry i retired i would love to have to been able to do not only a book signing but other programs that we would have overseas. my letter is mainly a concern, a letter to michelle to ask her to remember the women who are not here, the women in the french speaking africa that also long to know something about us that also walt to know who we are. we are as they are but they don't understand and they don't know. every opportunity we can have to share this information with them, the better it is so i am also looking for the booktv translated into french and also working for you to speak to our audience is in french with simultaneous translation and i hope that comes about. i think you so much for accepting my letter from fell i think he's a less because off i am newly arrived back in the united states. i don't have a large group of friends but now i have a lot of sisters. thank you so much. [applause] >> good evening. my name is chuck heck's. [applause] i work with dc black history celeb

and for african-americans that harry reid has. while i don't condone the comments, i think they're inappropriate and should have been held accountable. as somebody that worked with the naacp i know that harry reid has worked to fight for issues that affect african-americans and not one or two but a plethora of issues. >> so have a lot of republicans. we don't hear a lot about them, but there are. >> tara, i'm going to interrupt since you didn't let me talk before. i think what roland said is a bigger and more important a point of the fact that at least this gets black people on television talking about issues, and maybe this will start changing the media landscape and you won't only see african-americans talking about so-called african-american issues. i'm speaking to you right now in my authentic negro dialect by the way, and i'm at ten right now. this is the top negro dialect. even a basic thing like that. like people understanding that's i'm negro, i'm not putting on airs or acting white. this is how i talk. a basic thing like

so there was a lot of curiosity about african-americans in africa. loved doing african-american history month. and i would love -- i'm sorry. i'm retired. i would love to have been able to do not only a book-signing but other programs that we would have overseas. my letter is mainly a concern, a letter to michelle to ask her to remember the women that are not here. the women in french-speaking africa that also long to know something about us. that also long to know who we are. we are as they are but they don't understand and they don't know. and every opportunity that we could have to share this information with them, the better it is. so i am working also for the book to be translated into french. and i'm working also for you all to speak to our audiences in french. there is simultaneous translation. and i hope that that comes about. i thank you so much for accepting my letter. i thank you so much because i'm newly arrived back in the united states. i don't have a large group of friends, but now i have lots of sisters. so thank you so much. [applaus

magic said there should be a latino plan and african-american plan. i think what you hear african-americans say is they want the president to voice these issues, not just say a rising tide lifts all boats, but i recognize that certain groups are impacted in a different way. and i'll say this, a lot of people are holding their powder, not saying anything, giving a lot of space, because they don't want to be critical, but as donna said, the frustration is there. they want to make sure the president is using his power to break barrier down, much like menard jackson did as mayor of atlanta. he recognized the importance of political power and economic power and how one person can make a difference. >> the president is, you know, donna, has been reluctant to have an african-american agenda or latino agenda or anything specific like that. he wants to deal with all americans because he's the president of all americans. that's what you hear from white house officials. i'm sure you heard it. >> there is no question that this recession is color blind because it

we were one of the few african-american families perhaps the only african-american family to ride the wave of millions who left urban america in that time period to go to the suburbs. at the same time many african-americans were coming off the land in rural america and going to the city's. so i fought i felt caught in between the two groups. it's like two sides and it was a time that was pre-multiculturalism. i felt internally perhaps i was destined to marry someone who was white rather than african-american. >> one of the first parts of your book is a of a couple different sections in the first one called straddling the fence. how did you come to grips with your identity as an african-american male growing up in a predominantly white area of suburban philadelphia? >> it was tough. i don't think i did. i wrestle with the impact of that time period. i grew up with people who were good friends of mine, great friends from that time period but who held numerous stereotypes about african-americans and i internalized those stereotypes. i was fortunate, but my parents worked which was unusua

churches comes from african americans. >> so you see you get africans coming in with no racial chip on their shoulder living alongside and competing with african americans who've got the weight of their communal history that in some respects is dragging them down, and there's tension right on the ground. >> reporter: numbers matter, and there's no doubt that the number of redeemed christian churches of god has grown, and clearly the leaders have the desire, the energy, and the money to keep growing. but so far they are mainly reaching fellow africans, so their challenge is to reach beyond their base. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm betty rollin in floyd, texas. >> abernethy: longtime washington newsman brit hume of fox news provoked spirited reaction last weekend when he said on television that tiger woods should turn to christianity for the quote, "redemption and forgiveness he badly needs." hume is a christian. woods has associated himself with buddhism. some buddhists charged that hume had been disrespectful of their beliefs. some journalists complained- and hume denied-- th

i believe that african-american pretty much states what we need to know. and it's very clear. >> negro sounds like something in the slavery time, to me. >> it's not so much what we're called but what we respond to is the thing that matters. >> the san francisco chapter of the naacp says what's more important is people fill out the census so african-american communities don't miss out on billions of dollars in federal fund. census officials say some people wrote in the word negro on the 2000 census. the bureau, which operates under the commerce department, is considering whether to remove the term for the next census in 2020. >>> so we've been getting your views on this. you've got a wide variety of opinions on this. here are a few posed from facebook. jackie went to dictionary.com for historical perception. >>> so we want to hear from you on this story. what do you think? do you think using the word negro on the census is outdated? should it still be listed if some people prefer it? sound off on my facebook page. search for jennifer westhoven, hln or e-mai

you're asking african-americans to represent haitian people. my grandfather was in politics in haiti. i would challenge you to move a step beyond and think how do we prepare americans to accept people from other countries who are not trained to talk to them the same way we are because that is why we have a lot of white correspondents. that is who we are accustomed to seeing on television. i don't think it's as much a matter of training people to be on tv as training people to accept something different. >> thank you. >> for the sake of c-span, if you could go to the microphone so we can ensure it is recorded, i would appreciate it. >> from a perspective, you know that q ratings are highest for asian females. lowest is for a black male with a mustache. that is the reality. from a business perspective, all media companies are business perspectives -- our businesses. having had a seat at one of the largest media companies, the decisions are always based on business. i will give you a quick and goat. we were faced with a decision on whether or not

what's african-american dialect. i got an african-american dialect. a will lot of people have it.s all right. it ain't nothing but who he is and how you talk. people in the south talk different from people in new york. they have funny dialect. a dialect don't make a man nothing but a man with a dialect. harry reed has a dialect. let the president talk like he want to talk and do what he want to do and get rid of that harry reed. host: twitter says racist are out in droves. tea backers want they're country back. republican line, good morning to you, sam. caller: i'm call together say hillary is right. there's a dialect and this is coming from a republican and even more important is this. i see like interview people like michelle. please bring us intelligent thinkers. don't sway your thoughts. i am one of it but most of it's wrong. please talk about trying pull it a side on c-span which is our only last, remaining true network. i mean, why - when you know definitely what they're going to say. why you bring them? we don't need so many intelligence people in america. middle of the lin

african- american the that was not the case.here was great debate going on about what he was doing and why he was doing it and what would happen. the civil rights leaders met with dr. king to urge him not to do what they had heard that he was thinking about doing. he had gone to india and with nehru studied mahatma gandhi and the theory of non-violent protests. he and his wife had come back imbued with this new strategy of starting or restarting the struggle against racism and segregation in eight new and different way. he was going to started in the south. he was going to use the theory of nonviolent protest as a way of doing that. the heads of the then existing organizations pleaded with him. naacp, the urban league, there were others there, and they met with him to ask him not to do what you're thinking about doing. it was stated without hesitation that they thought he would get them all killed because people in the south that hated them or not about to allow some nonviolent protest to stop them from the very strongly held fe

i believe that african-american pretty much states what we need to know. and it's very clear. >> negro sounds like something in the slavery time to me. >> it's not so much what we're called but what we respond to is the thing that matters. >> the san francisco chapter of the naacp says what's more important is that people fill out the census so african-american communities won't miss out on billions of dollars in federal funds. census officials say some people wrote in the word negro on the 2000 census. the bureau, which operates under the congress department, is considering whether to remove the term for the next census in 2020. >>> we have been getting your views on this and you've got a wide variety of opinions. here are just a few posts from facebook. michael writes -- i find it very offensive. great many have died trying to get that word from being a description of your race. don't spit on their sacrifices by using it. but alicia points out the word is often used in other nations. i see an overwhelming amount of responses that assume that the word neg

comes from african amerins. >>so you see you get africans coming iwith no racial chip on heir shoulder living alongsi and competing with afrin americs who've got the weight of their counal history that in so respects is dragging them down, a there's tension right on the ground. >> reporter: numbers matte and there'no doubt that the number of reemed christian churches of god has grown, and cleay e leaders have the desire, e energy, and the ney to keep growing. but soar they are mainly reachi fellow africans, so tir challenge is to reach bend their base. for "religion & ethics newsweekly," i'm betty llin in floyd, xas. >> abernethy: longtime washington newan brit hume of fox news provoked spirited reaction lasteekend when he said on television that tige woods should turno ristianity for the quote, "remption and forgiveness he badly nes." hume is a christian. woods has asciated himself with buddhim. ome buddhists charged that he had been disrespectful otheir belfs. ome journalists complained- and hume denie- that h

people are talking about it in the african-american community. and they're talking about it especially as we have our first african-american president. and as we are in the month of january, approaching the time of the birth of dr. martin luther king, what did he say, judge me by the content of my character, not the color of my skin, and i think that's somewhat what this administration is trying to deal with pushing race aside and let's deal with the issues. >> do those you've spoken with and how about yourself, do you think the president's statement and the acceptance of this apology goes far enough or do you think more should come from this? >> well, again, as a journalist, i mean, i'm the one reporting on it, but if there is more to come, yes, there is going to be a bigger deal. if civil rights community leaders come out saying things, that's when, you know, it becomes a bigger issue. when you hear people in the house, democrats come up, that's when it becomes a bigger issue. if the community comes out and starts really saying, look, this need

what is an african-american? >> today?or what you felt growing up. >> that is an interesting question. we have stereotypes of each other. i subscribe to something called a group tradition theory. i look at groups in our society and their overall place in society and we hold stereotypes about groups and we internalized those stereotypes. i was socialized as a middle-class person growing up in the suburbs of philadelphia. i am not sure anyone identity that whites have -- we do feel a sense of cultural difference whether it is real cultural difference or not. we feel a sense of in group versus out group. one day we will get over that in this country. >> why did you decide to write the book in the first place? >> i have a lot to get off my chest. my experiences were quite unique. i have three kids. having kids late in life. i did marry a white female and we now have for the first time in history a mixed race movement, a biracial movement. a lot of my thoughts today centered around racial identity. i am fascinated by mixed race

was important only two african- americans. that is quite wrong. the civil rights movement was very important in gaining justice and equality for african-americans, but it was also very important, and i am scarcely the first person to suggest this, for the soul of the united states, and perhaps we can say for the honesty of the united states as well. we have to know whether the words of the declaration of independence and the constitution of the united states really meant what they said about people being equal, and unfortunately, that is still not the case for many people in the united states. there was a time when the united states did not think of african- americans as equal. when the civil rights movement took off, many of us could not see it will bleed to go region will lead to movements of equality and justice for other people of that has for asian americans, four latinos, for gays and lesbians, for people with disabilities. our concept for what equality means changes from time to time, grows from time to time, and that i

shiewger ray's connections to langston hughes and lena horne, a generation of african-americans who founduccess during the start of a prodder civil rights movement -- broader civil rights movement. wil haygood discusses his book is dave zirin, author of "a people's history of sports in the united states." >> host: welcome to "after words." i'm dave zirin, i'm the sports editor for the nation magazine, and i'm absolutely thrilled to be interviewing a man who has written a tremendous biography about the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of the 20th century. that boxer's name is walker smith jr. better known as sugar ray robinson, and the author is wil haygood. how you doing, sir? >> guest: i'm good. great to be here. >> host: it's good to have you. >> guest: i really do think this book is a tremendous ak450e6789, so congratulations right away. >> guest: thank you very much. thank you. >> host: you are not a sports biographer by trade. >> guest: right. >> host: why did you decide to spend five years of your life writing about sugar ray robinson? >> guest: well, i had written two previous biogra

i'm angela dillard, i'm a professor at the center for african-american studies and afro studies at the residential college and a very proud colleagues of colleague of jonathan metzl and very excited to be here today reproduce to some extent part of the conversation we had that was an interview i did with jonathan that was then condensed down and published in the december issue of black detroit magazine, that's blac detroit magazine, as an independent publication in detroit run by a fairly young woman, that a number of us on campus have been supporting respond pitching in here and there. i've been waiting for this book for a while now. well, month that jonathan was slow, but postally because -- because of the intersection between it and my own struggle to understand the political life of james meredith, who went from being a major icon of theself rights movement for successfully desegregating the university of mississippi in 1962, to serving on the staff of conservative north carolina senator jesse helms and campaigning in the early 1990's david duke, actions that got him labeled crazy

i said south african mother teresa? how is this possible. he said another to ressa in this world and he suggests. you are to go to cape town and you will see her. we flew to k-town and one day we met a woman in her 50s, a white woman, the wife of a very important lawyer of the city of cape town and her name is ellen f. lieberman, and this ellen lieberman, please believe me, is one of the hero's of our planet today. her name is maybe not known. i hope now with my new book her name will be known. but she is a heroic woman who at some moment in history has redeemed the conscience of humanity by what she did, by her courage, to appreciate what a line lieberman did in a time. we have to briefly do a little pilgrimage on the history of a great country. south africa is a fantastic country. it all starts in 1652 with the arrival of a tall dutchman with a collar and long hair and 100 dutch people they are not colonizers. they are not conquers. they are planters. they've been sent by the east india company from amsterdam to grow

what is his legacy today in the african-american community? >> i think his legacy is strong, but the deep feeling i stared at that time concerning his life- and-death, i do not believe, except for those in my immediate age range or older or just a bit younger, are shared today. dominik people of all races do not know who dr. the kindle was -- many people of all races. the materialism has greatly influenced our society for the worst in a sense that when dr. king -- when you know that dr. king died essentially broke, he did not have a lot of money, when he rest all for any of the -- like any of the profits we have mentioned, for the sake of social justice, that feeling in not just the african-american community, let me say that strongly, in most of our communities of any faith is just about gone. and so, i think that -- and then you have to remember something else. that was very much a part of me and a lot for my generation. i think that my faith was inherited, initially. it was passed onto me. many of our young people today, far too many don't

explain that to me. >> i'm talking about the arrest of african-american players in the nfl. i'm talk about you know, the behavior of some players on the nba level of african-american descent, something that hasn't been talked about quite enough. >> you think it is cultural? >> i think you can make the ament is a cultural now, you look at the way guys act and conducting themself it is a problem lamented by league commissioners for quite some time them don't go to that level where they point out it's occurring in the african-american community because they don't want to go there, but i'm on national tv with you and i am going there. >> if you look at -- if you look at -- >> that's what we are seeing. >> both of us african-americans if you got eyes, you can see. if you look at plaxico burress and you look at all the other stories, maybe you are right there is a problem. here's my question that i ask every time i hear a hollywood star let or someone in hollywood has gotten a dui. every movie, you know, why are you driving yourself? sometimes i don't want to drive, i take a taxi

or even that african -- that slaves wrote letters at all. by the extent to which they maintain the bonds across plantations, across the state, and of course this was an illegal act, but they somehow managed to stay in contact to the best they could with their loved ones. >> the regular booktv viewers may recognize you because we shot a program of yours earlier in the year which you can walk on booktv, go to our website and watch that program. what are you working on right now? >> right now i'm still here with this book. this is probably my 40th event since february. and we've also been to a number of dramatic readings around the country. we did a reading recently with ruby dee, the incredible actress, and anthony chisholm. so we've been working on a dramatic production as well. based on the book. i have not even gotten to my next writing project. >> between your teaching in between your promoting of this book, do you have time to reach the? i do have time to read, and i usually read more than one book at a time. two books -- i recently rerea

i sincerely apologize for offending any and all americans, especially african-americans, for my improper comments. let's talk about all of this with cnn's political editor mark preston. good to see you, mark. >> hey, randi. >> what would possess harry reid even in private to say something like this? >> you know, randi, harry reid has always been known as someone who speaks very bluntly. he's not known as a great oarater. you don't see him on the senate floor giving flowery speeches. sometimes gets himself in trouble. this is a great case where harry reid probably should have kept what was in his mind in his mind. he shouldn't have said it. as you said, incredible a damage control going on this morning. once the news broke that he had said these words, his office immediately issued that statement saying that he was sorry, they're trying to move beyond this issue. >> let me share with what the white house is saying about this. they released a statement saying, "harry reid called me today -- this is from the president -- "for the unfortunate comment reported today. i accepted him apology wi

nfl, talking about the behavior of some players on the nba level of african-american decent. something that hasn't been talked about quite enough. >> you think it's cultural? >> i think you can make the argument it's cultural right now because you look at the way guys act and the way some guys are conducting themselves. it has been a problem that has been lamented by league commissioners for quite some time. they don't go to that level where they point out it's occurring in the african-american community because they don't want to go there. i'm on national tv with you and i am going there. >> if you look at -- >> that's what we're saying. >> okay. so that was steven a. smith in our last hour. i want to make it -- gilbert arenas has been tweeting. stopped tweeting 2:30 this morning. after the segment on cnn he started tweeting again. i asked followers to tweet him and tell him to get in touch. he said, why do people try to make me look bad? i can do that all by myself. lol and i'm out. need to put some jump shots up. that's what he said. gilbert, if you're there, tweet me or g

rather than an african-american president and that's obviously going to leave some in the african-americanommunity disappointed but at the same time the job approval ratings among african-americans, hang on it's 89 percent. actually 91% in the gallop pole for the week of december 21'st of 27th. i tell you what. that's about as close to 100 you'll ever see in a pole so i would not say there's any widespread dissatisfaction with president obama. maybe some highly visible people making lot of noise but 91% is a heck of a job approval rating. guest: and rothenberg there's a special election to fill the seat by the late senator edward kennedy. raise between scott brown republican in massachusetts and the state attorney martha cokely. massachusetts has not elected a republican for many years. mitt romney is the most recent example. guest: voters in the state are willing to vote for the minority party for governor and statewide offices but usually not for senate seats which are regarded as more ideological and to some extent more partisan. if you look at republicans elected governors in massachus

africans to train other african countries for peacekeeping operations.f course, investing and good governance is very, very important, and we do focus on these things. but again, it is a very large continent. in some cases you have certain countries where dictators are very corrupt. absolutely true. africa has a lot of resources. oil, gold, diamonds -- some of the wealthiest nations in the world in terms of resources exist in africa. and those have to be leveraged in a right way and used to bolster some of these governments to, one, take care of their own people, and we have to do it in a smart way. host: does al qaeda invest in africa? guest: al qaeda has always invested -- host: i don't mean the people but the infrastructure -- the roads, resources. guest: know, al qaeda has stated objectives in africa. mainly if you look at the prominent attacks that occurred from al qaeda in the past decade, you will notice most of the attacks occurred all across north africa and down into the horn of africa. nowhere south of that, sub- saharan africa. why? 1, al qae

at the african- american civil war museum.welcome back to the program. >> thank you for having me. >> suarez: let's begin with the phrase "black power." when did it first gain currency and who was it who was using it? >> well, it's a phrase coming out of the 1960s and really coming out of the civil rights era. stokely car michael was a civil rights activist who first used the term in greenwood, mississippi, on june 16, 1966. for car michael he really was referring to political self-determination. he felt that black people needed political, social, economic, self-determination if they were going to really exercise their democratic rights in the country. >> suarez: didn't that phrase carry a kind of electric charge thatity lis ited a reaction not only from black people but when white americans as well. >> absolutely. as soon as car michael says it, it becomes a racial controversy. it becomes a national controversy. it will be perceived as fomenting violence and anti-white, as really the opposite of civil rights and dr. king's dr

had been trained as an actress, married an aristocrat, and devoted her life in africa to helping africans, but not women. much later on, it became clear that the women are the key to the future of africa, and i was pleased that very recently i met with two african women here in washington who came to receive a prize for their work. i asked them what they thought about the opposition movement in zimbabwe, and they said that is going to be about arguing about who gets to get driven around in a mercedes. we need to give people seeds, and we need to stop the violence against women, domestically and politically. we have not got time for politics like that. oddly, of all of the things they want to do to help -- and they have a web site, woza, where you can see what they are doing, helping women at the ground level, not looking for money and not looking for political office. it is very encouraging. i wish when i were a young man and was working in these movements that i had realized that we were overlooking the vast talent of africa's women. we are going to talk about history on our program toda

now we've seen an african coming at us. an african from nigeria. one of the things that scarce our intelligence -- scares our intelligence community the most is there are at least 30 german converts to islam who are believed to have moved to the tribal areas of pakistan and may be undergoing training now who will come at us, looking nothing like what we expect. chris: why are they doing these clever mind tricks to get around our thinking? what do they want -- >> they want to hit us. chris: what do they want us to do in the short run? >> because they've seen from 9-11 that attacks on the united states destabilize us. they rock us more than they might have thought. and look, we're still recovering from the 9-11 attacks. and they want to get in and do it again. our great fear, the fear in the intelligence community is they'll come at us with weapons like a dirty bomb, weapons that raise the level of danger, just take it to a whole new level. that scares the heck out of people. >> i think there are two new sources that are going to be used against us n

the fighting instant -- and instability make it easier for the east african network. al-shabaab is controlling more territory and launching more attacks. war lordism is attracting somalis living in the united states. another affiliate remains the most active in the region and will continue to pose a significant threat to american interests throughout the region as well as throughout the continent of europe itself. in southeast asia, close cooperation with partners in their region, especially indonesia, has resulted in the arrest and deaths of hundreds of operatives. and what's capabilities have been badly damaged, this

there are millions of rank and file african-americans out here every day, who know that lighter skinned not having negro dialect. whatever that means, it does affect your ability to get jobs, it affects how people perceive you, and so -- >> are you saying that lighter extend african-americans do -- they are treated differently? >> that's been true since slavery. anybody who understands anything about black history, knows that lighter skin is always an asset, it comes down to your degree of whiteness or not being too black. you noticed the president was careful all throughout the election to not be perceived as too black. harry reid's statement reflects what's in america's hard, we still live in a society where being too black or speaking too black will take away certain opportunities. when we judge people on such superficial characteristics, we're missing the opportunity of making america the country it's capable of being. >> when you heard senator reid used the words negro dialect, how did that sit with you? >> remember, harry reid is not a young man. what's interesting, i have a lot o

people privately that barack obama's campaign would be helped because he was, quote, a light-skinned african- american with no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one." reed spent all day yesterday

you know, and i think as we have grown, we don't -- in general, as african-americans, as black people, we don't have therapy, we don't have -- can't afford the therapists or the release, so we go to church. the pastor becomes that for us. that's why it's so important. >> larry: it's been said many times the black woman is the strongest individual figure in america. >> wow. >> larry: the black mother. >> wow. you know what i agree with that. i absolutely agree with that. the strongest individual figure. yeah, because the things that they have to take on it's just -- it's unreal. and it makes me proud to, you know, wear the skin. >> larry: did you ever think about giving up? >> oh, yes. yeah. >> larry: lots? >> yeah. >> but the thing that kept me going was the faith. there was always this little bit of a spark of life that said, it's going to be okay, just keep going, just keep moving. the thing that i had to do, is

rather than an african-american president and that's obviously going to leave some in the african-americancommunity disappointed but at the same time the job approval ratings among african-americans, hang on it's 89 percent. actually 91% in the gallop pole for the week of december 21'st of 27th. i tell you what. that's about as close to 100 you'll ever see in a pole so i would not say there's any widespread dissatisfaction with president obama. maybe some highly visible people making lot of noise but 91% is a heck of a job approval rating. guest: and rothenberg there's a special election to fill the seat by the late senator edward kennedy. raise between scott brown republican in massachusetts and the state attorney martha cokely. massachusetts has not elected a republican for many years. mitt romney is the most recent example. guest: voters in the state are willing to vote for the minority party for governor and statewide offices but usually not for senate seats which are regarded as more ideological and to some extent more partisan. if you look at republicans elected governors in massachu

people privately that barack obama's campaign would be helped because he was, quote, a light-skinned african- american with no negro dialect unless he wanted to have one." reed spent all day yesterday apologizing to the president who said he accepted the apology and to a score of black politicians and leaders. but the episode does recall a very similar incident when then republican leader trent lott said that he had the country elected segregationist strom thurmond we wouldn't have had so many problems. that caused such a furor you'll recall that lott had to resign his leadership post. senator feinstein who is in california this morning, i have to start with that. is this going to have the same impact on harry reid? should he resign? >> i don't think so. first of all, all of us are imperfect. clearly this was a mistake. clearly the leader misspoke. he has also apologized. he's not apologized to the president. i think he's apologized to all the black leadership that he could reach. so the president has accepted the apology. and it would seem to me that the matter should be closed. >> schieffe

i will continue to do my work with the african-american community. a very young man in the state of nevada, i was one of the leaders of the civil-rights movement in nevada. the governor and i worked hard to work out the consent to allow integration in the gaming community of nevada. moving forward, i am very aware of the fact that the first african-american to serve on the federal court in the state of nevada was a direct result of the work i did. i got a call last night, it was late, i was surprised, from secretary ken salazar. he told me to make sure that you tell everybody you have been more diverse in the united states senate than anyone else put together. that is where we are and i will move forward and get health care done the next couple of weeks. >> you apologized to president barack obama and black leaders. what about of butter is? do you think you owe them an apology? -- what about the voters? >> i talked to the national leaders in the last few days. the african american leaders in nevada, i told them just to call me. the present majority l

we had organized an african-american history club. i was the chairman of that club.the students around me formed leadership at the school and we decided that i should run for student senate to take over the school. so we did. we had a vigorous campaign and my vice-president -- this would be the connection. henry english. will look after was there. rosewall's and bob clay who died several years ago took over the african american history clubs. we controlled both. the whole point -- salim hit it right on the head. a message we got from malcolm. that was simply that we need to take control of our community and we need to take control of our history. we need to demand that the school began to teach african-american history and one of our demands at that time, in 1967, students should be involved in everything at the school and we learned when we were building the new school, we should name the school and we had a big debate about that. they wanted to name that at a certain point booker t. washington. we didn't find that acceptable. it has to be named malcolm x. we fought

again making history as the first african-american to hold that position. e.v. served as mayor for 20 years until his retirement. e.v. was a well-known progressive voice in eastern north carolina. in addition to serving as mayor, he served as a delegate to the democratic national convention in 1972, 1980 and 1984. helping to nominate george mcgovern, jimmy carter, and walter mon dale as nominees for his political party. e.v. was a tireless and stalwart public servant throughout his life. in addition to his service as teacher, principal, councilman, and mayor, he served on numerous boards including the state board of education for north carolina. state economic development commission. north carolina's secondary road council. north carolina railroad board of directors. north carolina state ports authority. advisory board for the rural education institution at e.c.u., which is east carolina university, and elizabeth city state university board of trustees. during his life, e.v. received many honors and awards including the north carolina distinguished citizen award

great kings. >> larry: it's an african-american family, three generations of family in it.comedy? >> pure comedy. but we put a lot of drama into it, too. it's really important for me to leave a message. we talk about breast cancer awareness to hiv and aids. we have covered so much in this show. great thing about it is having this show. what people don't know is the ratings among african-americans are higher than "csi miami." they're higher than "oprah," they're higher than "desperate housewives" and "american idol." it's a fantastic thing to have and have people appreciate for what it is. >> larry: it's been around. it's new in syndication on tbs. >> this is the first year it's been in syndication. >> larry: you're only 39, right? >> right. >> larry: all of this success, where do you go from here? >> you know, opening the studio, i got really depressed after it was done that was a huge goal of mine. once i got it, i was like, what's next? i had to search myself for a minute. but i want to own a network. >> larry: oh. >> give myself five years. >> larry: you got one in mind?

what is his legacy in the african-american community today? >> i think his legacy is strong, but the deep feeling that i shared at that time, concerning his life and death, i do not believe, except for those who are in my immediate age range, older and just a bit younger, our shared today. many people of all races do not know who dr. king really was. the unconscious missionary faith of the west, materialism, has greatly influenced our society for the worst in the sense that, when dr. king -- when you know that dr. king died, he did not have a lot of money. when he risked all for the sake of humanity, social justice, that feeling in not just the african-american community -- let me say that strongly -- in most of our communities of any faith is just about gone. you have to remember something else that was very much a part of me and lots of my generation. i said that my faith was inherited initially. it was passed on to me. many of our young people today, far too many, do not go to synagogue, to church, to temple, to mosque. in the united states

. >> and the affirmative image given to african-american girls, talk about what that must mean to these girls. >> well, you know, there are little things that i think of that become big things later on, but, you know, when it's time to play princess, they don't have to whip out a when he will low towel and p-- yellow towel and t on their hair. they're special, too, and worthy to be showered in fairy dust and sparkling. you know, i think when you see yourself in one position consistently it shapes your mind to think that that's where you have to be, whether you think about it or not. it's subliminal. this is opening up a world to these children to think of themselves as something beautiful with their curly hair and full lips and brown skin as something beautiful and worthy to be held aloft. ♪ this old town can slow you down taking the easy way but i know;/q,actly where i'm going getting closer and closer every day ♪ ♪ and i'm almost there i'm almost there send ♪ >> when you were a girl -- >> last year? >> two or three days ago, wasn't it? >> did you immerse yourself in fairy tale? did yo

africans to train other african countries for peacekeeping operations.course, investing and good governance is very, very important, and we do focus on these things. but again, it is a very large continent. in some cases you have certain countries where dictators are very corrupt. absolutely true. africa has a lot of resources. oil, gold, diamonds -- some of the wealthiest nations in the world in terms of resources exist in africa. and those have to be leveraged in a right way and used to bolster some of these governments to, one, take care of their own people, and we have to do it in a smart way. host: does al qaeda invest in africa? guest: al qaeda has always invested -- host: i don't mean the people but the infrastructure -- the roads, resources. guest: know, al qaeda has stated objectives in africa. mainly if you look at the prominent attacks that occurred from al qaeda in the past the attacks occurred all across north africa and down into the horn of africa. nowhere south of that, sub- saharan africa. why? 1, al qaeda stated they oppose peacekeepers

she is a positive female african-american role model. she is involved with the mystics because she has a passion to help women. she has a passion to help african-american women and uses the mystics as a platform to do that. >> if you have been around them for a second the energy is contagious. i feel that i am blessed to have the opportunity to carry out their vision and to try to achieve what they want and what think are in the dc market. >> i plan my life out with opportunities and if the opportunities come along, i will look at it and then i don't go outlooking for things to be the first of anything. if i have the ability and if the door is open and say, look, we would like you to do this or we would like you to do that, i do it. it is just in my dna to do that. >> coming up on my life 365. >> certainly when you look at women, you look at the physical fitness of these players, and their dedication to the cause, i think you can immediately see where they're going to have their impact. and schools destroyed; families searching for loved

harry reid had said america was ready to elect a light skinned african-american. today, harry reid issued a statement, saying he sincerely apologize for offending any and all americans, especially african-americans. it >>> people in northern california are a bit shaken up after 6.5 earthquake. the u.s. geological survey says it was centered about 30 miles off the coast. it shook buildings and knocked out power to several coastal communities, but no reports of injuries or any major damage. >>> the phrase "there is no use crying over spilled milk" had new meeting today and nature. some drivers could not believe with assault on a highway overpass. a tractor-trailer overturned, spilling thousands of gallons of milk. it froze and look like ice cream covering the road. >> wow, messy situation. >>> the cold weather in the northeast and mid-atlantic, all the way to florida. miami today, only 40 degrees, wind chill advisory, wind chill warning because it may drop into the 20's. that is called for south florida. for us, seems like another day. pennsylvania avenue, the wind