black people.rybody on their heels and makes them think i want to disagree with you. it means anything that you want it to mean. there's 40 million ways to be black. you can do anything, you can be anybody. there's a million different ways, 40 million ways to be black. >> amani let me ask you about that. what does that mean, there is are 40 million ways to be black. are there certain ways that bind black folk to the community? >> it's up in the air to the extent there are 40 million distinct experiences, right, and identities in the united states. but on the other hand, there are a number of constraints that tend to frame the experiences of black americans, still. there's persistent racial inequality in virtually every sector that you can imagine. on the other hand, we have culture and traditions, right, that frame our identities as well. we aren't limited to those. but they exist. >> can you give me, what's a tradition that might connect black folk. >> that universally connect black folk? >> i don

on black crime. >> where is the outrage about the black on black crime. >> nobody has a march for them. >> we're joined by larry willmore. >> thank you, john. two things. one, no one has marches against black on black violence? hmmm. these are just a few from the last six months. what do you think these people are doing? do you think there's that many tyler perry movie openings? >> i think there might be. >> and number two, the difference between the trayvon martin shooting and black on black crime is that word crime. you know, that thing that people get arrested for? since the court of public opinion is the only court that will take the case, everyone feels the need to jump in and defend zimmerman. to the right, he's a victimized dudley do right. and to the left, he's elmer fudd hunting down black people. shhh, be very quiet. i'm racially profiling negroes. >>> here are the facts. check them out on fbi.gov. in 2011, preliminary figures show violent crime in the united states down 6.4%. that includes murders. now to doj.gov. the latest report released in 2005 shows most people are murd

the problem with black-on-black crime. one time i went to a jail with jesse jackson and a room full of black guys all there for drug offenses. he said why don't you help me shut this prison down. he said what do we do? he said don't come back no more. he didn't talk about the white man and unequal drug. he said you be responsible. that's the key. black leaders do talk about responsibility. right now there is a dead kid whose family isn't getting justice and has nothing to do with black-on-black violence. >> bill: in your parkway he is not getting justice. the justice system is on the case ands you know is flicked by the stand your ground law which we went over last night that very responsible way. >> it is. >> bill: it's a very difficult case. i don't know if you are going to throw around he didn't get justice because in your eyes the only justice is the arrest and conviction of george zimmerman. that's -- >> -- no, no; that's not true. justice for me would have been a thorough investigation. >> bill: that's what they are

the problem with black-on-black crime.e i went to a jail with jesse jackson and a room full of black guys all there for drug offenses. he said why don't you help me shut this prison down. he said what do we do? he said don't come back no more. he didn't talk about the white man and unequal drug. he said you be responsible. that's the key. black leaders do talk about responsibility. right now there is a dead kid whose family isn't getting justice and has nothing to do with black-on-black violence. >> bill: in your parkway he is not getting justice. the justice system is on the case ands you know is flicked by the stand your ground law which we went over last night that very responsible way. >> it is. >> bill: it's a very difficult case. i don't know if you are going to throw around he didn't get justice because in your eyes the only justice is the arrest and conviction of george zimmerman. that's -- >> -- no, no; that's not true. justice for me would have been a thorough investigation. >> bill: that's what they are doing, d

but what about black-on-black crime?or white-on-white, that's not the trayvon martin story, those are legitimate stories and now we're here to talk about. what do you garner from the numbers and what you saw in our first block? >> well, first of all, the numbers are very personal to me. black-on-black crime hit our house in a spe specific way. there isn't a man in our family older than 28 years old. so, when you look towards hiv, sickle cell, stroke, heart disease and murder, those men aren't there by their own choice but because someone or something took them away. my fathers and brothers were both murdered. all of those crimes run solved. so, that's very specific to me but what i make of the coverage is all of these are very relevant and very important stories to cover. so much real estate on a newscast. but if you want to find black-on-black crime or white-on-white crime, tune into your news every night. it gets covered every day. what isn't getting the coverage i think deserves are the sheer number of protests and pe

blackness is diverse. black expression is diverse.t out of which we do the things that we do our diverse. and so the thing we can suddenly packed that up in some little small box called barack, and/or for us to be successful, so when the brother talks about, a lot of, there was this whole movement about bow ties and stops taking these kind of things. a lot of these young students were directly correlated how they dressed to the capacity to succeed academically. then i'm looking at these white kids who are coming into my class at 8:30 a.m. and pajamas of flip-flops on and they're having no problem thinking that because they're dressed this way that they can't also be as exceptional as they think they can. >> just wait a moment for the microphone to make its way over to you. thank you. >> gentlemen, thank you so much. i'm an english teacher. i worked as a tutor of young men in private schools. the parents, they usually have mothers and fathers together wh@ are paying their tuition.@p@@dhh they might have a partiald@@ $ph scholarship. @

and anyone that doesn't fit in this box can't be black. you hear it today in debates, jesse jackson a couple years ago seemed to you can't be against the president's health care plan and call yourself black? why not? the last time i looked in the near hitting the qualified to lead the experience i had about one year was a challenge to the notion of what is meant to be black and as i said to get out of there. >> when you hear the term post rachel, what does that mean? >> it doesn't mean a lot. i think it meant something when some of the more forceful writers i read shortly after the election of president obama discussed the possibility that now or word because they recognize the nation was capable of not only increasing blacks as americans but electing a black man to be the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet with so i was hopeful but it didn't last long like a lot of things like that the pop-up think it had a lot more fear the who behind it than the practical meeting. >> in your view does the republican party have the responsi

in this book walker calls on black people to assist and lead the black community. he believed in the american work ethic. he believes in individual ambition. he believes in protestant values, and he says that black people have to work hard to better themselves and to better the black community. he also denounss slavery. he said that it was a crime. he said that it went way back in history. he knew quite a lot about history, all the way back to ancient egypt. he criticized the founders for their hypocrisy on slavery and singled out thomas jefferson, and he said that violence might be necessary to end slavery and he said one day dpod would publish whites for the sin of slavery, and this is a book just as blunt as garrison's newspaper. it reached a large audience. it reached a large audience in the black population in the north. it was also carried into the south by black travelers and sometimes black sailors who go from port to port and would carry copies with them so it reaches quite a large audience and then the very next year walker died. he died in 1830. he died

black president.his name is william jefferson clinton. at one point, people said that obama was a muslim. what was his name? pastor wright looked anything but a muslim to me. that continues to float around. that he used to be the biggest drug dealer in arkansas and run drugs out of a private airport. that he had his white house aide it killed. that he had raped a woman, two. i will not even repeat some other things that were commonly said. i could go back through the charts. none of them -- there are some people who dislike barack obama. so many people walk around with race at the core of their heart, there is no reason to think it would stop. we have to be mindful of this. we live in a time where contempt towards people would disagree with is a common political play. it is awful. the notion that if we do not agree with someone's politics, we ought to tear them down. that if someone does not think like us, there is something wrong with them. the left things, if you do not agree with me, there is somet

oh, you know -- you know, a black girl and black guy just broke up. he left you for a white girl?ou know, that's just really what people say. >> so it would matter to you? >> i think -- i think it would, you know, unless, of course, she were not to act, i guess, so quote unquote white. >> what's that mean? >> you know, flipping the hair, "oh, my god," you know, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, "that is so ghetto." no. no. >> so she has to be the right kind of white girl? >> i guess so. >> wow. there's so much to go into on that. which way you want to go? where to you think that comes from? >> i think when she speaks about if her brother were to bring home a white girl, what it says, i think, to our kids, our black kids, is are we not good enough for our black brothers? what's wrong with us? you know, why -- do you like the silky straight hair? i can press my hair. it gives them a sense of, you know -- >> they're lesser? >> exactly. exactly. i think. >> did it surprise you to hear her say that? >> absolutely not. >> so you knew she felt that way? >> you know, it's so funny, i just wasn't surpri

so i'm agreeing with him. >> but that's also a critique of black men and black boys of black girls inr communities also. right? we're not just talking about white folks, this is stuff internally we also have to address. >> yeah, i mean, so -- yeah, i mean, so the pathology is complex and is very real, um, the level of disrespect that you're talking about, i think, is very -- that's true. it's very true. and i do think that we have to become stronger as a community and as a voting bloc. i think we have to really demonstrate that we are not going to accept the level of violence that is being inflicted on our communities whether it's young black men or young black girls. and, you know, i don't know -- i can appreciate your sensibility around the violence, right? and around, you know, the being able to mobilize and have armies. i think that that's, i'd like to see something like that happen myself, to be quite honest with you. to be real honest with you. because i don't like to see our people being slaughtered and being defenseless. i don't like that, you know? and i understand, you know,

"he's black."update. a producer has been fired. name not revealed. they didn't mention this on their own air waves. that's what you've discovered. >> yeah. this is just a continuation of the arrogance of that network. one, they blamed it on an error in the editing process first which is nonsensical. then they fired a producer. they wouldn't say who it was and they called him a seasoned producer. then they said he was trying to save time. critical slip, less than two seconds. that's a lie. and then they put out a press release on good friday saying they apologize to their viewers but they won't say to their viewers we apologize to you. until they go on the today show and apologize, until they go on the nightly news and apologize and point out they did this five times, not once, five times, then they haven't apologized at all. we are going to congress and we are asking congress, which is looking a deal between comcast and verizon, and they are looking at potential anti-trust issues, we are asking the

oh, you know -- you know, a black girl and black guy just broke up. he left you for a white girl?know, that's just really what people say. >> so it would matter to you? >> i think -- i think it would, you know, unless, of course, she were not to act, i guess, so quote, unquote, white. >> what does that mean? >> you know, flipping the hair, oh, my god, you know, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, that is so ghetto. no. no. >> so she has to be the right kind of white girl? >> i guess so. >> wow. there's so much to go into on that. >> which way you want to go? >> where do you think that comes from? >> i think when she speaks about if her brother were to bring home a white girl, what it says, i think, to our kids, our black kids, is are we not good enough for our black brothers? what's wrong with us? you know, why -- do you like the silky straight hair? i can press my hair. it -- it gives them a sense of, you know -- >> they're lesser? >> exactly. exactly. i think. >> did it surprise you to hear her say that? >> absolutely not. >> so you knew she felt that way? >> you know, it's so funny, i just was

people and black experience. so what i want in part for my work in novels is to have that leave some counter story to it has been categorized as the race redemption novel. these novels which tend to create a great deal of sentimentality and i think wrongheadedness at least emotionally wrongheadedness about the black x or the jim crow and the civil rights movement. what is important to me first of all using the media in one of the bits of media that influenced me was the eyes on the price theory back in the 80s. even though i will not, i deny it, but i'm old enough to have actually been a distant but first-hand witness of, for example, in 1863 birmingham movement. to see it again in the 80s on film, to see it rendered to the black-and-white pictures is a very influential, in my own rendering it into literary imagery. like wise looks like the bloods of the oral histories of the outworn movement and other things have influenced me. what i try to do with that is to present very, very factually the experience of ficti

following the black arts movement, is this huge surge of black women's literature. ... did that sound sensible? okay, we'll talk more about it in a minute. thank you. >> well, i came to writing through my interest in the black arts movement. growing up in the suburbs of chicago i came up -- and has gulley came across a copy of but we face. and was so struck by the power and immediacy of those writers and that movement that i decided to study the black arts movement in school. when i went to grad school i concentrated on that. did not doubt that the black arts movement was not considered a major literary movement within american universities in the english department came up against a lot of resistance for studying a particular movement. when i was in chicago i had the fortune to meet and follow hockey mad booty. so when i was an undergrad i would go to readings and i would listen and read his work and i was so struck again by the time i atomic educrats quite a sight of with the about him. i was fortunate enough to have an extensive interview in a lot of time with them.

we can't do that. >> look at the black-on-black crime rate. we have a problem in the black community. the only thing the black leaders have done is to boost the sales of hood december and skittles. they need to teach young black men and women have to comport themselves in such a way that they don't draw attention to the negative stereotypes. >> let's be clear -- let's be clear. many of us are going around the country talking to young black men about how to conduct themselves, make good choices and live a good life. we can't presume that's not what's happening. >> that's not what al sharpton and some of these other people are doing. >> al sharpton is not the focus of the discussion here. >> all you're doing is racializing every irn you. it doesn't benefit the black community. the only thing this is about -- >> this issue racialized itself. >> it's being used in an opportunistic fashion. it has to do -- >> that is not true. >> it has to do with trying to boost black turnout for the next election. i think it's part of the electoral politics. >> t

their purpose was to educate black children.se 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 important for her to peacefully continue in her fight for justice and civil rights. i mother was the first to obtain a college degree and went on to an education in education that lasted for decades. my work ethic was derived from her. when you are the daughter of a teacher and administrator i had a front row seat to watching a woman at work in the classroom. most of all, i would -- i truly mean this and the gravity of this hit me last week when i was before commission -- rules committee. i'm humbled and thankful for

the theme for black history this month is black women in american culture and history. all these organizations are organizations of black women who do an outstanding and amazing job. i would also like to acknowledge members of the official family, supervisor malia cohen, supervisor, fifth district, supervisor chu, supervisor olague, and supervisor weiner. i am going to miss some people. we have port commissioner kim brandon with us today. [applause] and a host of others. i am sure i will get the names as they come up. i would like to thank you for being here, and welcome. we are going to start the program with an indication by reverend carolyn dyson. reverend dyson, who is going to do the indication for us, also has the signal honor of being the first woman ordained in the baptist church in the city and county of san francisco, back in 1982. join me in welcoming rev. dyson, please. [applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. an indication. we come as a community today, calling for the validation and good things on this occasion, in celebration of black history. we have gat

, and anyone who doesn't fit into this box can't possibly be black. you hear it even today in debates. jesse jackson, couple of years ago, saying you can't be against the president's healthcare plan and call yourself black. why not? last time i looked in the mirror, i think i qualified. so, the whole experience i had in that one year was just a challenge to the whole notion of what it meant to be black, and as i said, i can't wait until my dad's next duty assignment to get out of there. >> host: whenoy hear the term post-racial, that does that mean to you? >> guest: doesn't mean a lot. i think it meant something when some of the more thoughtful writers i read shortly after the election of president obama, discussed the possibility that now, finally, we can move forward because they recognize that this nation was capable of not only embracing blacks as americans but electing a black man to be the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet. so i was hopeful but it didn't last long and it's like a lot of things like that, that pop up. i think it ha

with black representation absent in the congress for 28 years, the nation's 12 million black americans at that time looked to congressman depriest as their own. black representation in congress did not occur until 101 years after the first congress met on march 4th, 1789 and only after the civil war had ended in 1865. the first african-american to serve in congress was a senator highland rebels, a republican who represented mississippi. the first black to serve in the house of representatives was joseph h. rainey, a republican also representing south carolina. between 1870 and 1887, 17 african-americans were elected members of congress, all from the new reconstruction governments of the former confederate states. all but two were born in the south, just under half were born in slavery. the greatest number, seven, serving at any one time representing in this photograph until 1969 when there were a total of nine members seated. for most african americans, the election of congressman depriest was like a dream come true. the chicago defender defined the swearing in of mr. depriest as a ful

an intellectual well educated black. get yourself a black buddy. >> yeah.carson has a line that if you do cross it -- >> yeah, "the national review." >> this guy has been throwing out racist and homophobic stuff for years. >> yeah. >> i never thought somebody could look like a weak-chinned ts el lot, but he does. >> you say what obama was saying the idiot of [ censor bleep ] >> oh dear. >> for years now [ censor bleep ] you are a bunch of hypocritical [ censor bleep ] >> they just need to work out things. [ laughter ] >> it wasn't addressed to the court. it was addressed to conservatives. we heard this all the time in the bush administration. >> oh, yeah. bush himself saying things like that. and nobody jumped on bush at that point, are you threatening judges. >> i love that? right-wing world people calling the president a thug. >> yeah he got all up in their . . . faces. >> yeah. >> and was -- yeah and was threatening them. all of a sudden john roberts had to walk to the other side of the street to avoid barack obama. >> and it was an oh, my starts and str

gold ♪ black gold ♪ you are black gold ♪ are you black gold ♪ you are black gold ♪ hold your head as gold ♪ black gold ♪ you are ♪ are you ♪ you are ♪ black gold ♪ (cheers and applause) >> jon: welcome back. i'm here with the great esperanza spalding. thank you so much. >> thank you so much. >> jon: that was just the most beautiful sound and, what is your band's name, do you have a name for the band. >> yes, we're radio music society. and we accept members. we just happen to be the only members here tonight, unless any of are you interested. >> jon: in joining radio music society. >> yeah. >> jon: what is the barrier to entry, do you need to have any kind of ability or -- >> you have to have the ability to be willing to turn on the radio and open yourself to what comes out. >> jon: i am so totally in your society now. >> okay. >> jon: that would be great. you are remarkable. did you always play, we talked about i play the airbase. >> uh-huh. >> jon: a little bit am but i most play it up here. >> yes. and that distinguish was class of bass player are you. >> jon: is that true. what ar

this is our celebration of black history month.ity hall to recognize this and to recognize the great work that pat williams is doing because about the stories that need to be told. and i, as my life becomes unfolding in front of a lot of other people you're going to hear about me and i want you to know there's a lot of part of the black community that has to do in my peam and gsh famed -- family and so i want to tell you a story. it's a true one. so when i was growing up in the projects in seattle, washington, my neighbors were black. we had businesses in the black community because that's where we could start. that's where my dad was able to cook in restaurants. and there was a gentleman who owned the gas station. his name was darnell. and he came to the restaurant every day to have his meal and to support my father's struggle as he tried to make that restaurant business succeed. well, it was during those times that i learned very quickly observing things in the restaurant who were the gp friends to my father and who was just busi

he was pilloried in the press, the black press as well as the white press, the most famous black man in the world just married a white woman and his own children weren't comfortable with it will. this was 1884, not 1984 or 2012. his response was generally thank you very much. i will love and marry whom i wish. which is a very modern notion. at a time where racial ideas, oh, god, were self-wrought. what he was called though to get to your question, was generally a colored man. or a negro. the term black was not used that often. he was also called the "n" word lots and lots and lots of times in his life, even on posters. n word fred to appear tonight, meet at such and such a street corner. mobs were organized sometimes to try to attack him at public speeches by that kind of phrasing on an alternative poster to the abolition poster. so this is a man that lived every day, this american deeply american problem of racial identity. but i can also tell you this. he never ever stopped trying to figure out who his father was because not only did he want to know who his father was, he knew his

by 1913 the community was supported by a black-owned grocery store and other black businesses. after world war i, more and more blacks from southern communities were moving into d.c. as part of the great migration. with the racial shift in the nation's capital came greater racial intolerance, conflict and more and more segregation. in 1919, racial riots occurred in numerous cities throughout the country including chicago and washington, d.c. de priest was considered a hero in chicago during their riots for repeatedly making trips to the chicago stockyards to rescue black workers who were trapped inside. he also broke through hostile white crowds to get meat for people living in the black community. at the unveiling of the lincoln memorial in 1922, blacks were herded in to a separate section, away from the main seating area. a marine used racial epithets in addressing them. even the keynote speaker dr. robert moton, the second president of the tuskegee university was relegated to this segregated area. in his speech he compared the may flower destined for plymouth, massachusetts,

a black kid growing up in a poor black family. ten kids, 13 of us living in a three bedroom trailer. if anybody felt invisible in this all-white community i was raised in, it was me. i understood the rage. and so i had to pick these books out. i had the strength of the black folks in my church to seek these books out. years later, james washington, classic text, a testament of hope, which is an anthology of the text of dr. king's work who i regard as the greatest american this country produced and not because he is in the oddend and he is my friend, but because he wrote a book that saved my life. cornell west wrote, race matters. it changed my world views about race matters in this country. those are some of the books that impacted me. >> so, obviously this is a conversation so we're going to have a q & a segment. so if you have question, write them on cards being handed around, and i think lovely miss michelle -- we have some volunteers that will gather your cards and we'll get to as men questions. i'm a baldwin -- magic and mayh

so for the black community or the black cinematic community to have been championed by george lucas,een championed by the magical experience associated with green screen, that we haven't really been afforded before. now we're afforded that by the master of it, by the inventor of it and what we are able to do and such an incredible story, the tus keyingee airmen, the gods of the sky. these young men, 18, 19 years old that were able to go and conquer the world and even be humble about it and not care that anyone know about it. >> how did that opportunity sort of connect with you personally? what was it like to play an airman and particularly one so powerful. >> i always felt the character i play, lightning, as the embodiment of audacity of youth. there is something in your body in a young man in your late teens and 20s, the notion of death is so far away from you and that's what you need to be able to get into this flying tin can and go and try and save the world, and you know, when we -- i got to be around the tuskegee airmen, one of the things that struck me is under these particular

rich black people are killing rich black people.ite people aren't killing rich white people. it's people who are struggling in this country having a problem in the country, people on drugs who have the issue. i feel like in the last couple of weeks that white folks have tossed in this black-on-black notion to divert the true issue of racism in this country. i feel like this conversation is so hard for us to have. it is filled with such poison in this country that we have created that it makes the conversation almost unbearable. to the point where if i can say you people are harder on your people than our people are harder on your people, it removes me from the equation. >> buck davis and goldie taylor, thank you very much. >>> north korea and a long range rocket. there's fear tonight that it can be a prelude to war. a report from the launch site straight ahead. here's a chance to create jobs in america. oil sands projects, like kearl, and the keystone pipeline will provide secure and reliable energy to the united states. over the co

we can't do that. >> the crimes, look at the black-on-black crime rate. we know the crime rates. we have a problem in the black community. >> yes. >> and the only thing they have done is boosted the sales of hoodies and skeultss. they need to teach them how to comport themselves in such a way they don't draw attention to the negative stereotypes. >> let's be clear. many of us go around the country and talk to young black men. >> good, good. >> so we can't presume that's not happening. but you must also -- >> that's not what some of these other people are doing. >> al sharpton is not the focus of the discussion. >> all you're doing is racializing every issue. and it doesn't benefit the black community. >> this issue, madam, racialized itself. >> it's been use in an opportunistic fashion. >> that is not true. >> and it has to do with trying to boost black turnout for the next collection. i think it's part of the electoral politics. >> that is not true. >> i hope not. i hope it's not true. >> to identify trayvon as being suspicious. when george zimmerman chased him down and shot him