>> amiri: absolutely. i say it never happened. >> logan: when hadi al-amiri's men are in the fight, u.s. warplanes are not allowed to bomb in support of them. american weapons and air power are reserved for those under the control of the iraqi government. and we were stunned when general gersten told us only a small percentage of the shiite militias fighting the islamic state meet the requirements for u.s. support. >> gersten: roughly, we're running around 15% to 20% of forces that are aligned to the government of iraq, we've identified those forces. >> logan: only 15% to 20%? >> gersten: only 15% to 20%. the rest are not aligned, officially, to the government of iraq. >> logan: for now, these forces are focused on the islamic state, and we didn't find anyone who thinks isis can be defeated without these militias. but with every piece of ground they help win back, their power and influence grows. isn't there a price you pay for that down the line? >> gersten: those are policy decisions that are above what

his father, the late amiri baraka, was a global activist and noted poet.his is the first time mayor ras baraka joins us at our table and we welcome you to democracy now! it is great to have you with us, neighbor. so let's stop about the issue of gun control. you are one of the loudest proponents on this issue. it is a stunning fact, 100 americans every day die of gun violence. citiesshootings in these where i am the mayor and all over the country are growing higher and higher because of access to guns. in new jersey, fortunately, we have some stricter gun laws. we ban assault rifles. we ban magazines they carry certain amount of weapons, kind of bullets. we ban all of that. but impartially, they bring guns , come fromnd i-95 the southern part of the country into 14, 15-year-old kids are using them to solve disputes and creating murder and mayhem and our community. we have to have universal kind of gun laws that affect every state in every city not just a few. juan: have you been able and the time you been in office to have some kind of impact on the overal

amiri baraka went to howard. lucille clifton went to howard. ossie davis went to howard.ware of that when i was there. charles drew went to howard. thurgood marshall went to the law school. being aware of that and having all of that brought to bear, again, it's one of those things that i can't really separate from my career as a writer. amy goodman: ta-nehisi, you actually met with president obama twice. ta-nehisi coates: i did. amy can you talk about these : meetings, how you prepared for them, what you said to him? when was it? ta-nehisi coates: well, one of them was come interesting that you ask that after that question. the first one was after i levied quite a bit of critique of his morehouse speech, which i was not a fan of and am not a fan of now. i think that the president, i thought then, and i think now, that the president has a tendency, when it's convenient for him, to emphasize that he is the president of all america, and then, when it comes to issues of morality, to deliver a message that the president of all america has no right to deliver. the president of