the black church is extremely important to black america.most americans will even a divine power, in a god. increasesthat number in black america. they need to believe in something. they don't have a lot of other indications from government or industry that any help is coming. a chance towe have do for ourselves, and they think this is the most important thing in the world, and they say that now possible through images and through media that we can make these products for ourselves. there is this thing called the internet which is its own platform. there is a great opportunity. i have seen it. i remember the old phrase we used to have called each one teach one. booker t. washington and all these guys showed, in a time that was far more hostile, with a lot more obstacles legally speaking and so forth, that a little willpower could go a long way. your take is -- i obviously follow everything you say. i saw your comments about the butler. i wonder what you make of this season of black film. we are heading toward the academy awards. " is the one

but he can be the president of black america and be the president of all america. he can be the president of white america and be the president of all america. because at certain points in certain times, people need to be helped. some of us need help at any particular time. like the banking industry needed help at a particular time. that didn't make him the president of the banking industry. like the auto industry needed help at some point, that didn't make him the president of the auto industry. but people evolve and the president has evolved, i believe, and now he feels a certain freedom now that he is in his second term and he's thinking about legacy here. >> don lemon, thank you very much. don will have a special program at 11:00 p.m. eastern. "my brother's keeper" a special on this initiative. >>> the president's initiative comes two years ago to the week that trayvon martin, black 17-year-old teen was gunned down by george zimmerman. a number of parallels were drawn today between that case and another unarmed black teen jordan davis who was shot and killed fo

higher than necessary unemployment in black america.oblems that young men of color face, and an understanding that it fuels the underground economy and the drug trait. it fuels the violence problem that we have in many, many communities. that's why it's timely, it's necessary. i would even add, lawlawrence, s is a nation of great prosperity, a nation of great ability. a nation of great innovation. and a nation of great compassion cannot stand idly by and let people be in the circumstances that they are without trying to meet them halfway. say you've got to be responsible. say you've got to pull yourself up. but giving you the tools necessary and the open doors necessary for you to do it. >> marc morial and joy reid, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. >> tomorrow night on "the last word" jordan davis' parents will join me. coming up, the latest from kiev where riot police went after protesters, 14 protesters and possibly 7 police officers seem to have been killed. ameriprise asked people a simple question: can yo

government wanted was a unit of black heroes marching home in triumph, showing the rest of black america what they were capable of. the u.s. government, army went to sabotage them, put restrictions on them and gave them to the french as a throw away. they fought with the prejudice and became a decorated combat unit. >> do you think the story line in comics are getting more diverse or are main stream audiences noticing what existed all along? >> i think there's a new conversation about diversity in commissi comi comics, particularly when it comes to gender. female fans are now half the audience, and yet the - in some ways comics have been lagging behind in terms of positive representation of women in the pages of comics themselves. it's an ongoing conversation. i think there has been improvement, but i think any time that you have a new character, particularly a female or mainority character headlining the book, it's something of a cam bit. at the event of the day it's a publishing day, coming down to sales. it's hard to predict how about the market will respond to something like that, wh

is to start conversations about the conditions of black america and to engage in further narratives andere we go from there. >> what are the most important statistics in your book? >> i think there are many. i would start with education. i think it's very important to look at the conditions of children, particularly starting to examine the progress that's taken place since 1970. right now, black children are 16% of the population of children in public schools but they represent 42% of the children educated in high poverty schools. we're continuing to see segregated or children educated in what's considered segregated environments so as we continue to look at how we're educating our youth and happening with respect to the quality of education that they're receiving, grounding our conversation in these statistics is important. >> james, monique's book is broken down into categories with education, she was just talking about environmental justice, life style and politics and education, for example, the dropout rate for african-american students has dropped from 10% in 2005 to 8% in 2010. h

one could even ask that question underscores the reality of being a black man in america. for every jobless white male 20 years and older there are two or more black men out of work. the unemployment rate for white men is .1%. for black men, it's 12%. if you answer there had are more plaque males in american prisons, you're wrong. there were far more black men in universities. in as recently as 2000 it was the other way around. the importance of the turn around while tackling the challenges that remain, two mayors equip city leaders with the right tools to help black men in the united states. we go to new orleans mayor mitc, there is still a lot of hopelessness and lack ever opportunity amongst young black males in america. >> ali, unfortunately for some that is absolutely the case. i want to thank again mayor landrew with mayors united. mayors focused on the issue of violence in our communities, and as it disproportionately effects black men and boys. even though things are moving in the right direction as you laid out in the earlier piece about black men in college as opp

there is not a black america and a white america, a latino america, and asian america.here is the united states of america. by introducing you to a distinguished group of jonorians, kenneth mack , robert caro, and and dorisschloss, kearns goodwin will join us later from san francisco. she is the author of the bully pulpit and other books. i am pleased to have all of them here as we talk about the presidency, who has inhabited that office, what it takes, and how we measure greatness, and i begin with michael beschloss. kind of person is attracted to the presidency? nowadays, it is a shrinking number and someone who is willing to go through, in many ways, a torturous experience that was not the case for many. the first thing to say is we are not opening this office to as many people who would be great residents as we used to earlier. it is now 24 hours a day. you are expected to be on all the time. john kennedy, in the summer of 1961, was on vacation in hyannisport. up.berlin wall went there was an inquiry in the press office about what does the president think about the

black teen, you know, the thug. it's okay to be a little bit afraid, a little bit of apprehensive in america of the young black teen, except it's really not. the thug here is a white businessman named michael dunn. and it's not fair. and so we've got to do a little bit more, the prosecutors have to do a little bit more to rebalance that and show what a good kid jordan was and what a terrible neighbor and friend and ex-husband michael dunn was. and we just got to find a way to see that done. >> now two jurors have spoken out since the verdict. here is part of what they said. >> everybody is making this a white and black thing. and it's not. in our decision-making process, nobody brought up not one race. never. it was never brought up. >> sitting in that room, it was never presented that way. >> ron, what is your reaction to that? and what is your reaction to that, john? >> well, the -- i think it's juror number 8, the young lady, she said it wasn't a black and white thing and nobody discussed that in the room. and i don't see how you could not discuss it with within 30 seconds of getting to the gas station, michael d

do we still need to have black history month in america? dn't morgan freeman make a statement about this? >> yes, he did. >> he doesn't necessarily like the black history month syndrome. >> he doesn't like the point of actually having to have a moment to remind people. he thinks it should be an ongoing continuous evolution away from all the old bigotry, slavery and so on. >> i love me some morgan freeman. you know that. i've told you that many times. i call you some nights and say i love me some morgan freeman. but i don't agree with that. because black people in america are working from a deficit. so at some point you have to do something to equal the playing field. and we call attention to it. you don't have to do that forever. but it has a unique problem. so we have to do that. and guys like stevie wonder who fought so hard to make that a holiday, he's not an moron. you have got to do that and create awareness and hopefully the goal one day as a nation, a country, and it is not a month, but an overall awareness that lasts 12 months. that

there is not a black america and a white america, a latino america, an asian america.here is the united states of america. >> let me begin by introducing you to a distinguished group of historians. kenneth mack is a professor of law at harvard. he is the author of "representing the race: the creation of the civil rights lawyer." jon meacham is executive editor and vice president of random house. he is the author of "thomas jefferson: the art of power" and other books. robert caro, the author of "the passage of power," the fourth volume of his series "the years of lyndon johnson," and michael beschloss, the author of "presidential courage: brave leaders and how they changed america" and other books. doris kearns goodwin will join us later in the program from san francisco. she is the author of "the bully pulpit: theodore roosevelt, william howard taft, and the golden age of journalism" and other books. i am pleased to have all of them here as we talk about the presidency, who has inhabited that office, what it means, what it takes, what is the toll, and how do we measur

like, this is the burden that i live, just by virtue of having been born black and living in america,have been born into a racist system, a racist society that has placed on my black male body a set of ideas that invoke fear in people. and that's what jordan davis is dealing with,that's what trayvon martin was dealing, and that's what killed them. i know that i still have that possibility. i still walk around in a black male body in the united states of america and that can get me killed >> and it's 2014. i mean -- >> we all have this frame of reference, you know, i think like getting a ticket where admittedly, i was going a little bit in excess of the speed limit, but, you know, a police officer pulled me over, and then radioed for another police officer, they boxed me in. and then, you know, proceeded to come over to the car. and i was sitting there, trying to make sure i didn't make any gesture whatsoever that could be interpreted, saying this person is going for a weapon. and i remember, i was coming from class, i had a suit and tie, and like, this is kind of completely immaterial

has strenuously and stood justly avoided framing any of his policies that specifically targeted black americand people of color. for that reason today felt like a real break-through. here it was first black president with black boys behind him talking about the brute fact life for them in america is more difficult. the question now is, will what the president announce today succeed in making it easier? from washington, d.c., senior adviser with the u.s. programs division. open society foundations. he was at the launch in the president's unusual i have the today and is participating in its implementation. and here with me in new york, the associate professor of history, director of the institute. you were in the room today. what was it like to be there? >> well, thanks for having me again. there were so many emotions. and having had a chance to be in that room, it felt different. it felt different from any other time we've had this kind of audience with president obama or anyone in the cabinet or in the white house. it felt different. i think folks were generally eager. that we can finally dri

. >> there is not a black america and a white america and latino america, an asian american america, there is the united states of america. >> rose: let me begin by introducing you to a distinguished group of historians, kenneth mack is a professor law at harvard, and creation of the civil rights lawyer, jon meacham is executive editor of random house and thomas jefferson, the art of power author among other books, i do not caro, the fourth volume in the series the years of lyndon johnston, and michael beschloss, brave a players and how they changed america and other books, doris kearns goodwin will join us later in the program from san francisco, the author, author of this the bully pulpit, theodore roosevelt and taft and the golden age of journalism, i am pleased to have all of them here as we have the presidency who inabouted this office, what it means, what is the toll and how we measure greatness, i will begin with michael beschloss. what kind of person is attracted to the presidency? >> now a daze, nowadays it is a shrinking number and one that is willing to go through many way

he famously said with black enterprise i'm not the president of black america.s this stuff he can do now that he couldn't do or maybe even wanted to do his first term? >> company have done it the first term. yes. would he have taken the shrinks and are a gross the right? yes. now it's a rare opportunity to course correct. now it's time to shape the legacy where his supporters were saying especially when we're still dealing with a downed economy look at these double digit unemployment rates. president do something for us. but now -- i think going back to that week after the zimmerman acquittal when he said trayvon martin could have been me, and he looked in the camera and said here are our expenses and here's why the community is so hurt and it touched a nerve. that right there switched the trajectory. now it's time to shape the legacy that i'm not only the first black president but i understand the plight. >> i know people want teeth. they want this to mean something, go somewhere, have resources, but is still a success, the symbolism of the president united sta

dubois who, america's, black-america's preeminent intellectual. working at the crisis during that early period, he talks about a variety of episodes. and he actually urges vehemently self-defense by people who were facing mobs. but there are a couple of really salient quotes that i have in the book where he talks for half of the quote about the necessity of self-defense, and then he goes on in the other half and says, but we shouldn't and can't seek to achieve reform by violation. so he's very cognizant of the fact that 10% of the population is not going to get their political agenda executed in a serious way through violence. but he's also urging people to take up guns in self-defense against mobbers. and it is, it is sometimes surprising. i show, when i was doing the early versions of the book, people would look at this and say, duboise? duboise said this? not only that, but he picked up a shotgun at the beginning of the atlanta riots and made some quite inflammatory statements about his willingness to defend himself and his family. >> host: so

they should be called out because the organization would do it any -- if it is about advancing blacks in americashould -- politics should matter. >> right, and i asked alvin holmes about that and yet he manages to say, what does he say? when blacks vote for blacks the way we want them to, i'm paraphrasing. that is okay. but when they vote another way suddenly a white man is making him do it. apparently if you do that and you're black and conservative, you have stockholm syndrome. >> you don't think this is shock i ing, this tape? you don't find that term "uncle tom" offensive? you don't find that wrong? >> i do find the comments offensive. i think the comments are offensive. now, let's not make -- let's not mix apples and oranges, right? the comments made by the senator in alabama were offensive, bigoted and wrong. the comments made by representative barber were his feelings, and the comments made -- but the naacp never -- >> legendary conservative, thomas soul weighs in on the confrontation with the alabama lawmaker. and he explains why he turned on senator cruz. i go head to head with james ca

i share you a view that's what happens to black people in america you get the achievement and they change the rules. that's kind of the way it works (laughter) but it is an incredible on a serious note frankly an incredible achievement and something i want to enjoy day in and day out. i love the cat on the streets read it was going to be named after me he said i'm kind of a tea bargain guy i don't like you at all but i'm going to enjoy rolling over you everyday (laughter) i always want to be accommodating. i'll tell you how significant this is from the african-americans started up. this kids in the school yard i go to make a speech to the school and i know, you know, i've been out of politics for awhile officially. (laughter) unelected for a while and i warranted through the school yard and the little kids stopped and kept checking me out i'm hoping they'll think i'm j z or small business. i go in the school and as i start to come out this little 8-year-old black kid who has all his little friends lined up because he clearly in this highly integrated school has been telling them about me

>> the british invasion played a huge role in not just introducing themselves to america, but reintroducing a lot of blackyear that the t.a.m.i. show comes out as a movie. and it's got everybody. >> the t.a.m.i. show was really the first rock 'n' roll concert movie. the stones headlining and the first time that us white kids got to see james brown, and nobody will ever get over it. ♪ >> everybody remembers james brown's performance. he gave them what black audiences had been seeing for years. but had not really been seen outside of the black community. and people were electrified by it. >> james brown just kills the show. what's the phrase they have in gospel music? he wrecks house. ♪ >> and it really began his journey into becoming a main stream figure. ♪ >> the stones then close, and they were afraid it was the biggest mistake they ever made following james brown. ♪ >> we see jagger coming alive, doing things that he hadn't done before. >> it was great, because you're seeing a seasoned professional with james brown, and a young performer and band figuring out who the hell they are. ♪ >>> when i say stap

john: seventh blacks been victims in america? >> years ago, john. duals did not have access to education, housing, jobs. times have changed, and we don't live in that era anymore. john: let's talk about affirmative action, given america's history of discrimination, it seems reasonable to me that whites should try to make amends, tried to give a break to minorities grace that i had. what is wrong with that? before you answer, let's bring in a white person who opposes affirmative action. jennifer gratz was denied admission to the university of michigan, you say because you are white. aviano was because of your race? >> well, they're proud of the fact that they use race and admission to help some people into heard others. the university of machinelike i applied -- johnn not prrudly hurt others. they say they help some. >> when i applied to the university of michigan and a point system in place. you needed 100 points to be accepted. a perfect act score and an applicant to los points, and a standing as sake was one point. you're black, as bennett, are nat

over the years i told students that was the only black man in america who is qualified to be president because i had abraham lincoln experience. i said that because we did live in a locked cabinet on the banks of the shoshone river outside of cody, wyoming. my father worked shagging shoes. he worked in the car dealership. he worked in a bakery. it was able to take a living. at the same time, we lived a lot off the lead. they had a garden. we raced critters. i father did finished and we made life. on the social side, there is discrimination might do us in texas, but not so much. it wasn't because anybody above to anybody anymore or less. there was because everybody there had to santa marta. everybody there had to struggle to make life. so you didn't have much time or energy to be struggling about race when everybody was struggling to get enough to eat. so that's the kind of thing that happened. on the social and, my parents who are deeply religious pentecostals were sent with the white pentecostal bunch. part of why we don't really left cody was social and racial. the one they were atta

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and internet connections but between the abysmal conditions that keep eritrea and a media black hole america's thirteen point drop in the rankings. and the inability of other world powers like china and russia to improve their standing in the two than fourteen world press freedom index plane paints excuse me a global community in decline. uninhibited access to information is humanity's most powerful weapon which is why every society should arm itself with a free and open press in order to be truly free. i. i. for the last three years california has experienced a drought of epic proportions according to u.s. drought monitor nearly the entire state in the midst of an extreme drought the second highest level in the scale all parts of central california are experiencing exceptional drought the highest level on the scale although some rain has recently hit the state department of water resources is saying at this point it's virtually impossible to reverse the effects of the drought california governor jerry brown is urging all residents to make major cutbacks when it comes to water and cities such

it really raises a consciousness about what it means to be black in america in our justice system. not as a defendant but as a victim. so much of this trial was about jordan davis, whether he was guilty or innocent of a crime and proving he's a good kid, proving he's a good person and trying to play against those stereotypes that dunn advanced. every racial stereotype you could possibly advance about a black teen, dunn used it. thug, gangster, rap music. how do you combat those biases when all the men on the jury look like michael dunn and none of them look like jordan davis? >> lisa, that raises an important question. we were talking yesterday about this question of whether or not angela cory may have -- how do i say this -- >> overcharged. >> overcharged, thank you. but i guess the question is, if she hasn't gone for first-degree, would we be saying she didn't shoot high enough? given that we're talking about murder. >> no, i don't think so. here's why. first of all, there's a great strategic advantage if she just charged him with second-degree murder. she would have had a jury o

i'm a free black man in america, let me live.amily. >> hymes has a new life ahead of him on the outside. >> bye, california correctional center! >> later we'll see where he is two months after release. >> officer brucell, also known as red bull, works in south block. >> my job is third watch. south block rotunda officer. my main job is to control the flow of traffic during chow and also during the course of the inmates returning back to the units because of medical or dental appointments or mental health appointments they have. go back. get an escort. you've got to be escorted. you've got to be escorted this time of day. welcome to my world. i'm the eyes and ears of this south block rotunda. here, everybody is looking at me as the point man, hey, which way we got to go? that's it. that is the completion. we are done. we are done. successful. well, here we go. i'm regrouping now. i rethink everything. i look, and i do the same program with another unit. dining hall one, this is yard five, let me know when you are done, chow house

i told my students i was the only black man in america qualified to be president because i had a logxperience. and i said that because we in fact did leave them a log cabin outside of the island. my father worked shining shoes and in a car dealership, he worked in the bakery, and he was able to make a living doing this kind of stuff. at the same time, we lived a lot of the land. we had a garden, we raised critters. my father hunted and fished, so we ate wild game and wild fish. and we made life. on the social side, there was discrimination but not so much into was entitled to think because nobody loved anybody any more no less and everybody there they didn't struggle to make life so you don't have much time or energy to be struggling about race. on the social and, my parents who are deeply religious. part of why we ultimately left. he was becoming a minister and if they wanted to fire their pastor and have my dad become their pastor and neither was ready for that for a young black preacher from texas to take over a white congregation with wyoming. so they ran and they ended up in bil