we asked each year, what is the state of black america? in 2012 i must report the state of black americans is we are under attack. the quality of education is under attack. how is the quality of education under attack? when tens of thousands of schoolteachers are laid off in school district after school district, in cities across the nation, the quality of education is under attack. economic equality is under attack. when 10% of the people control 2/3 of the net worth in this nation, when unemployment has skyrocketed to nearly 14%, a 15%, 16% in black america and double digit in most urban centers, economic equality is under attack. in 2012, the right to vote is under attack. democracy is under attack. why is democracy under attack? let us walk back to 89 mi. taxes,1890's, poll literacy tests, and comprehension tests were introduced in an effort to stop the rise of newly freed slaves from participating fully in the elections process. the grandfather clause, when these were taken together in my own case -- homestake by 1910, a state that in

i am not talking about tearing black america away. this is the same thing the jewish community does, the arabic community does. we just need to have that same thought process. if everybody in this world signed on together, instead of having $5 i would have $5,000. that is the way we need to think. i'm asking people to open up black banks. i just cut a big deal with nationwide. i want to put something back in the community. this is important to me. we need to do the model are jewish and latino brothers are doing. we can change what is going on in our community and be able to fund housing programs, and national urban league programs, those are getting locked up illegally. there is so much going on. there too many things to deal with. the one thing that has the community, we can have what we need to change. >> great. great. kevin and then jeff. >> i was glad to say something different but i was struck by the conversation. history is important. history is the people's memory. i want to change some of the way we describe our situation. i h

trayvon martin's case took week it took weeks to get covered by the mainstream media inside black america it was being discussed every day. >> and then it took 46 days to get a charge leveled against mr. zimmerman. so the mainstream media, including fox news and my friend bill o'reilly didn't jump on that story. >> bill: have to get on the time line i don't have it on the top of of my head when we first heard about trayvon martin we got on it i don't know what the time line was here we have the bias crime no it's not. they have a 911 tape they could have given us today. you have got to give it up guys, come on. not accusing the police department of anything here. i'm not. i don't know what happened,

each share we ask what is the stake of black america? i must report that the state of black america is that we are under attack. we are the quality of education. how is the quality of education under attack? when tens of thousands of schoolteachers are laid off in school district after school district, in cities across the nation, and the quality of education is under attack. when 10% of the people control 2/3rds of the net worth, when unemployment has skyrocketed to nearly 14%, 15%, economic equality is under attack. in 2012, the right to vote is under attack. democracy is under attack. why is democracy under attack? let us walk back to 1890. poll taxes, literacy tests, and comprehension tests were launched in an effort to keep newly freed slaves from participating fully in the election process. the grandfather clause, when these were taken together, a state that in the 1880s had a black governor, there were only 750 black men on the voting rolls. indeed, i spoke to my mother. 1953, she returned to new orleans a graduate of boston unive

tavis: worse than that in black america. >> historically black colleges and universities it's about 700. my wife said you said you go, girl and the girls went and what happened to the boys? they've been left behind and they're not putting it together. they're not working. they're not acting like men. like they're supposed to act and like we think women want them to act. so this is an encouragement to boys to be the kind of men that i think they want to be and that women want them to be. tavis: if i took the conservative line of thinking or the concern of argument on these kinds of issues what they typically say the problem with black america is there aren't fathers in the household and i hear that over and over again and there is some truth to that obviously but you're talking about women across the board. >> there are more poor white guys not meeting their responsibilities than there are african-americans. this is something in the americans' head where they think of poverty, they think it's black but it's mostly white. it's 3 to 1, isn't it, 30 million of white americans in poverty an

as well -- and was well aware of education and its importance for the future of black america. my mom was educated from kindergarten through eighth grade in washington, d.c.. which is recognized as the mother church of all black catholics. washington, d.c. was south of the transfer -- the mason decisiodixon line. st. augustine was established in the late 1850's during the separate but equal and in most cases on equal time. this school was started by the first order of black roman catholic nuns, the oblate sisters of providence out of baltimore, maryland. their purpose was to educate black children. these nuns persistence and unflinching sacrifice influence my mother's life and my life. my mother was in high school when the march on washington occurred. the weeks leading up to the march, my mother participated in many peaceful demonstrations and picket lines in front of the white house. again, this is another example of unshakable persistence and sacrifice. she did this being afraid and not reacting when the white agitators were spitting on her and her girlfriend. it was importan

entitled to lash out in a violent way. >> would they feel that way. >> i can't speak for all of black america and all of brown america or white america. >> bill: in your research. >> my research suggest to me that there has always been a link between poverty and crime. that's why dr. west and i have written this book because our very democracy is trend by poverty. we argue in this book that poverty is a matter of national security. we argue in the book that poverty isn't color coded. when one out of two americans is either in or near poverty, that's a societal crisis, bill. we are getting dangerously close to cementing a permanent american catastrophe when people feel put upon don't exexpress by doing work that's not a black or brown thing that's an american problem. >> what in your book is the primary reason for the poverty? >> a lack of opportunity. >> bill: which comes out of where? >> a lack of opportunity and corporate greed and political indifference and politicians ons left and the right not making poverty a priority. a bipartisan consensus that poverty doesn't matter. a lot of reasons

each share we ask what is the stake of black america? -- each year we ask, what is teh state of black oamerica? i must report that the state of black america is that we are under attack. we are the quality of education. how is the quality of education under attack? when tens of thousands of schoolteachers are laid off in school district after school district, in cities across the nation, and the quality of education is under attack. when 10% of the people control 2/3rds of the net worth, when unemployment has skyrocketed to nearly 14%, 15%, economic equality is under attack. in 2012, the right to vote is under attack. democracy is under attack. why is democracy under attack? let us walk back to 1890. poll taxes, literacy tests, and comprehension tests were launched in an effort to keep newly freed slaves from participating fully in the election process. the grandfather clause, when these were taken together, a state that in the 1880s had a black governor, there were only 750 black men on the voting rolls. indeed, i spoke to my mother. 19

entitled to lash out in a violent way. >> would they feel that way. >> i can't speak for all of black america and all of brown america or white america. >> bill: in your research. >> my research suggest to me that there has always been a link between poverty and crime. that's why dr. west and i have written this book because our very democracy is trend by poverty. we argue in this book that poverty is a matter of national security. we argue in the book that poverty isn't color coded. when one out of two americans is either in or near poverty, that's a societal crisis, bill. we are getting dangerously close to cementing a permanent american catastrophe when people feel put upon don't exexpress by doing work that's not a black or brown thing that's an american problem. >> what in your book is the primary reason for the poverty? >> a lack of opportunity. >> bill: which comes out of where? >> a lack of opportunity and corporate greed and political indifference and politicians ons left and the right not making poverty a priority. a bipartisan consensus that poverty doesn't matter. a lot of reasons

over the years about resorting to racism as an all purpose explanation of all that is wrong with black americathing that jiefs with the facts. i've gotten letters to the editor that say things, i guess mr. riley has never been a young black man in new york trying to catch a cab at night. [ applause ] >> we are ran that letter in the paper and my mother got quite a kick out of it. >> john: does race matter when you are talking about race. outside the studio people told us it absolutely does matter. >> one person can say something and it can mean something differently because of their race. >> if a white person says something against me there is a major problem. >> i think that is definitely the public per, whether you like it or not. we can laugh and i can have a defense, obviously laughs when they find out my husband is black but you are protected you can't call me a racist because i have a black husband and couple interracial children here. bottom line it shouldn't matter. you should be able to engage in legitimate discourse about the facts and critique academic disciplines without people res

over the years about resorting to racism as an all purpose explanation of all that is wrong with black americaeing something that jiefs with the facts. i've gotten letters to the editor that say things, i guess mr. riley has never been a young black man in new york trying to catch a cab at night. [ applause ] >> we are ran that letter in the paper and my mother got quite a kick out of it. >> john: does race matter when you are talking about race. outside the studio people told us it absolutely does matter. >> one person can say something and it can mean something differently because of their race. >> if a white person says something against me there is a major problem. >> i think that is definitely the public per, whether you like it or not. we can laugh and i can have a defense, obviously laughs when they find out my husband is black but you are protected you can't call me a racist because i have a black husband and couple interracial children here. bottom line it shouldn't matter. you should be able to engage in legitimate discourse about the facts and critique academic disciplines without p

i think modern black america the legacy of the civil war. it is impossible for me to think of my existence without the civil war. i grew up in a household that was infused with political struggle of african-americans. i didn't know it at this time. it is quite clear that political struggle dated back to the civil war. my father, as david mentioned, was a black panther in baltimore. the most -- probably the most radical wing of the civil rights black power struggle. my parents met there. had they not met there, i would not be sitting on this panel today. so it is very easy for me to say that in the most subjective way. even more importantly than that, when you think about this in a sort of bigger way. when you think of african-americans as an entire people, what i didn't understand until i started taking this path back into history is that there very much was another option on the table, that is, black people not being here at all. black people being recolonized and leaving for africa or caribbean or some other part of a yet-determined united

irthink modern black america is the most important legacy. it's my favorite of the civil war. frankly, it is virtually impossible for me to think about my very existence without the civil war. i grew up in a household that was suffused with political struggle of african-americans. i didn't know it at this time. it is quite clear that political struggle dated back to the civil war. my father, as david mentioned, was a black panther in baltimore. the most -- probably the most radical wing of the civil rights black power struggle. my parents met there. had they not met there, i would not be sitting on this panel today. so it is very easy for me to say that in the most subjective way. but i think even more importantly than that, when you think about this in a sort of bigger way, when you think of african-americans, the entire people, what i didn't understand until i started taking this path

when you're looking at the conditions of black america, what centuries of slavery and jim crow had done, they had systematically denied african-americans their basic human rights, but what the powerful southern democrats did was to link their racism with anti-communism and to say that the right to health care is socialist medicine, it's communistic and the right to education is nothing but communism and so by having human rights framed as communistic and then by putting enormous pressure on the naacp to back off on this human rights frame it, in fact, led to a civil rights movement and not a human rights movement. >> so, now, with those two wars in context, let's talk about a truman coming from where he's coming from and coming off what we know about fdr, how he moved towards even getting to the point, you mentioned his veterans of being veterans, you know, of thinking about desegregating the army. and you talked about desegregating the army and when you talk about civil rights and truman, we sort of stick him there. there's a broad picture, so if you would with discuss that. >> part of

you can't compare it to one hateful guy who thinks all black people hate america. it's a different argument. >> cenk: on the reverend wright issue do you think that's what they're trying to drive at. president obama is black reverend wright is black they're the same. they eight america. >> the character asass incarceration. it's guilt by association being near this guy. this guy's belief of black on this issue and every list of everything that president obama wants to do, it's based on hating america. >> cenk: i know i'm basing this on the race issue. but hannity and limbaugh put it on the race. >> they do. >> cenk: why is it black take over america? >> they take a movement and blow it up to an extreme. black liberation theology is not violent or take-over. it started in the 1960s, and it was all about basically focusing on how blacks are mistreated in the country, and how they need to fight for equality . >> cenk: how dare they! i didn't know black liberation was that dangerous, my god! >> they assume most viewers are not going to do their home work on black libera

i think modern black america is the most important legacy. it's my favorite of the civil war. frankly, it is virtually impossible for me to think about my very existence without the civil war. ew

black american president, remember? >> the first gay president. >> and this is just really so disappointing? that we are now dealing wish shall division again and acting as though americanged since the '50s. they are taking us right back to the past. >> the tragedy is, and no one is better equipped to say this than a black man in america like michael, but there are authentic race problems in america. this completely makes real race problems in authentic. >> it's a strategy. >> it becomes an artificial -- it's just a strategy. it's a split ploy to say how do we gain votes. for the people who have truly experienced discrimination and have been the recipient of racial contempt, they don't count because this is fake, a phony. >> let me go back to 2000 and we can go back to every election. this is 2000. this is al gore at the naacp convention. >> and blocking an accurate census because they don't want to count everyone that they don't think they can count on. i want to count everyone. i want to count all the people of this country. >> and then he screams, they don't even want to down you in the census. and then, of course, the james bird ad. >> i remember that al gore speec

tonight we look at the state of black america at 9:00 p.m. on c- span. >> spend the weekend in oklahoma city with book-tv and american history tv. saturday, checked in on literary lights. life. sunday, oklahoma history and american history tv on c-span 3. tour the oklahoma city bombing memorial plus a look into african-american life in the 1920's oklahoma and native american artifacts. once a month, they local content vehicle displaced cities across the country and this weekend is oklahoma city on c-span 2 and cspan 3. >> the head of planned parenthood wants politics kept out of women's health issues. that is the message that cecile richards brought to reasons to inform in new jersey at princeton university's woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs. the daughter of former texas governor ann richards, she spoke for about one hour and 20 minutes. [applause] >> i have to say i am honored to have the opportunity to introduce cecile richards. she has served as the head of planned parenthood since 2006. every year nearly 200 cente

rights. >> i think there is lots of opposition you look at the poll numbers, it is about half of black americaou go into the churches it is much stronger. >> meantime the ad wars have begun with new political attacks from obama and romney campaigns. >>> a look at this mornings other top stories investigators still trying to figure out how an illegal immigrant worked for two decades of security supervisor at newark's liberty airport. the man from nigeria used identity of a murder victim who died 20 years ago the stay in the country. he was arrested yesterday and faces charges including identity theft. >> overseas and the group human rights watch claims a prison in iraq supposed to be shut down last year is open. prisoners at the detention center in baghdad were tortured and abused. it was closed in 2011 and iraqi authorities took it over if december. human rights watch says iraqis are still held there illegally. >>> new era in france, a new socialist president, was just sworn in to office in paris. he is hollande he took the oath of office in a ceremony before a crowd of 400 guests he is off to

if you look at the poll numbers, it's about half of black america does not like this. if you go into the churches, it's much stronger. a lot of hypocrisy because there is no shortage of gay black people in the world. i think as a very -- population, feeling that. >> bill: why do you have to be hypocritical, juan, you just demonized a bunch of church-going people. you have to respect the fact that there are people who believe that marriage should be held at this standard as far as what nature dictates. and they should be respected. >> yeah. but i don't respect the idea that you would stigmatize or act some discriminatory manner. beating up. i don't like that stuff. >> bill: go ahead, mary katharine. >> do i think that democrats and liberals do need to come to grips with the fact that a large block of their voting public is antigay marriage and that's just a fact of life. they sort of tend to blame it on only evangelicals and mormons and move on there are hearts and minds that they need to win if they want to keep winning these votes. >> bill: do you think that barack ob

other words i think there is lots of opposition you look at the poll numbers, it is about half of black america, does not like this, if you go into the churches it is much stronger. >> reporter: obama campaign is on the attack, unleashing a 2 minute ad, casting mitt romney as a job killer. >> they have more money than their families will ever spend. yet they didn't have the money to take care of the very people, that made the money for them. >> reporter: it is a subject romney campaign and many republicans are eager to debate. >> consider the promises the debt, the deficit, 8% unemployment, health care, green jobs, gas prices, wall street, lobbiests, i mean, you can go on and on and on and everyone of these cases this president has made a big big promise using his words which is why we feature his words but the reality is it has not squared up. >> reporter: according to the polls top priority for most americans is still economy, 62% versus just 7%, who cite same- sex marriage as their top issue in washington kelly wright, fox news. >>> new this morning, police involved shooting in southeast dc.

policy as he spoke about civil rights in the 1960 campaign as if he would be the representative for black america and he won the overwhelming black vote in that election, but he didn't do much once he was president. he really was as he strides: a bystander. he made a commitment and then did not. that does change the inmate to 60 when he witnessed through the newspapers and television at the time the birmingham riots in protest and police chief condor and the fire hoses disrupting the protesters. he was really horrified by that and i really think that is when he truly understood or begin to understand the civil rights need to do something about. soon after that in june in 1863, he spoke out very eloquently against segregation in the south and many for civil rights legislation. that ultimately led to the civil rights act of 1964 and two lesser extent the voting rights act of 1965. >> host: his three years in the presidency, with a hopeful? >> guest: overall. he did not achieve everything he set out to do. think at times he was more interested in getting rid of that it in 64 than and he wasn't for i

if you look at the poll numbers, it's about half of black america does not like this.o the churches, it's much stronger. a lot of hypocrisy because there is no shortage of gay black people in the world. i think as a very -- population, feeling that. >> bill: why do you have to be hypocritical, juan, you just demonized a bunch of church-going people. you have to respect the fact that there are people who believe that marriage should be held at this standard as far as what nature dictates. and they should be respected. >> yeah. but i don't respect the idea that you would stigmatize or act some discriminatory manner. beating up. i don't like that stuff. >> bill: go ahead, mary katharine. >> do i think that democrats and liberals do need to come to grips with the fact that a large block of their voting public is antigay marriage and that's just a fact of life. they sort of tend to blame it on only evangelicals and mormons and move on there are hearts and minds that they need to win if they want to keep winning these votes. >> bill: do you think that barack obama is going t