james baldwin, of course, and the formative african-american writer.i really would caution people don't just connect with james baldwin, eloquently aboute african-american experience. ends connect with james baldwin because he connects eloquently with universal human experience. so that's what all great writers do. and whenever he talks about in that great essay, she has a stranger in the village, he talks about being in switzerland and being the only person of color in this little village. you know, on one level, it's a commonplace sign of race. on another level, it's a contemplation of the degree to which all of us, whatever our walks of life at some point, we're outsiders. and he connects with that experience. so powerful and with such poetic sentences that he's just a writer, that everybody should read. danny heitman the norton anthology has been expanded over the years to include newer writers. i bet that's a fun debate at the norton company. when they decide who to include t, what do you think about the expansions? well, that's all to the good. i

and like i say, this year's thing called -- 1965 debate at cambridge university in england with james baldwin and this conservative -- what's his -- conservative commentator. i can't remember his name right now. but that was my only time that i was protested. host: glenn, thanks for talking about it. i didn't find a picture from 1963 marchs but this from the history channel -- the 1964 march, i did find this in 1963 in birmingham, the children's crusade when the youth of birmingham marched for justice in that picture, the protesters being sprayed with fire hoses against the walls there. that again in 1963. the caller talking about the 1964 marchs. this is lucas in connect, a line for those 25-65. good morning. caller: good morning. so my first protest was actually in new york as a kid, back in 2003 when they wanted to put a cell phone tower antenna on our school, it was high school for me and my friend collin and me and him and my close friends went to protest and eventually we won and the school board and the people who controlled indian point in new york never put it up. host: why didn't yo

james baldwin, who i mentioned already just a lodestar in terms, i think being able to handle social justice issues in fiction as as in essays and i guess i just wanted to touch on also this sort of technology question, the social media piece and how it connects to justice. i it is since the advent of social media we haven't had all that long. right. but since its advent really ordinary, people have been sparking grass roots movements and change by uploading and sharing video. right. like capturing. youtube, facebook x formerly known as twitter instagram. we have now. and that's part of a really long of citizen journalism, which has always been used as a really effective tool when have eyewitness testimony to abuses of power i. i didn't want to leave that unsaid. you know i'm thinking. diamond reynolds you know live streaming on facebook as her boyfriend philando castile was bleeding to death because he'd been shot and she had the presence of to use what was at the time a very new technology live streaming on on on facebook just to demonstrate that injustice. just still thinking thro

an extension of james baldwin's seminal essay collection from 1963, the fire. next time i. i was so thankful to receive that invitation. i felt honored. and i also felt like i don't know how i don't know what to say. i don't know what to write. and in the midst of that feeling of writer's block, walking my boys to their daycare in washington heights, i encountered a mural around 175th street. it's no longer there, but it was part of a series of murals called the know your rights murals. and i had never noticed it before, but it was as if it were had been gifted to me in a moment where i didn't know. i didn't know what to say or do. and it was a beautiful mural. it was it was painted in in all shades of blue. and it had bits of the fourth amendment, and it was painted for the people of our neighborhood where there is inordinate police brutality to kind of educate us about how to protect ourselves from from police. and as it turned out, it was one of a series of murals across neighborhoods in new york, most plagued by police brutality. and so i decided i'm going to photograph

and, you know, there are other like that like the letter you cited james baldwin to, his nephew, he knew that letter would would be read was for public audience. the idea of these intimate letters you learn so much about people because you don't have that self-consciousness that you have when you know that there's an audience right, it's just your heart. can i say just that in this day and age, anything digital is public can be. yeah, yeah. so just be mindful that your private thoughts are not always private these days that you want to end. now, i just a funny story because i write historical fiction and where i get most the information is from letters that they left behind. so i just finished a harlem renaissance novel about the black woman, discovered every harlem renaissance writer, edmund fawcett, who was much involved with w.e.b. so i have some of their letters and reading some of their exchanges and his exchanges with other women. i, my daughter that she gets no money from me unless she makes sure that every email, every text, everything i've written is gone somehow, someway, or sh

a bigger delusion james baldwin would say. the author and finisher of our national existence.ced by easy equalization. there is nothing equal about this equation. we are at an existential cross roads in our political and civic lives. this is a choice that could not be clearer. remember what lewis brandeis said. the most important political office is that of the private citizen. vote. please. our ken ship with each other when you do. good luck and god speed. >> strong words from the soft spoken and great ken burns.

there was a extraordinary opening in the novel by james baldwin, another country and metaphor what is happening here today. and response to that story. a young man without any hopes, no dreams was slapped in the fanc when he looks to see a shiny ball with so many glittering lights of reflection but can't seem to see himself reflected there. for so many in this community the dream is look across at the city and sky line and still not able to see themselves reflected there. so, i was so important when mayor breed talked about opportunities for all of our community members. and now because of this event and the stewards who believe in the promise of making sure that people can see themselves reflected in their own communities and images of success and hope and possibility, that this extraordinary accomplishment and this momentum being built in sunnydale can be rep ruicated for so many lives at home, units, at play and is severs and centers and hub as and require s extraordinary leadership doug talked about and mayor breed talked about and we are so lucky to know we have the steward in dr

and i get this from james baldwin. and i'm paraphrasing here, that the messiness of the world is in part a reflection of the messiness of our interior lives. we have to deal with our own wounds so we can open ourselves up to the beauty and brilliance of other people so we can be committed to justice. so i am making the claim that reaching for higher forms of excellence in pursuit of a more just world is a radical politics. amna: you write about who you call the heroes, the prophets, the leaders of democratic life, people like baldwin, people like dr. martin luther king, and is it not sort of human nature to turn people into heroes and heroines, to aspire to some kind of ideal? is there something that undermines our democratic life with that? >> absolutely. it is ordinary. it makes sense that people will find in the lives and witness of other people examples, heroes, people they look up to, but the thing i'm worried about, and democracy should always be concerned about, is when prophets who are authorized by voices or a

i will quote james baldwin in the 1968 article of the new york times.he said, the crisis in the heart and minds of black people anywhere, everywhere is not caused by these star of david, but rather the old rugged roman cross on whom christian dms most prized jew was murdered and not by jews as a son of a pastor myself, i found that quote to be the most profound as it pertains to the dilemma right now, between the black and jewish community and manual noah. thank you. both the three votes are going to continue this conversation. we'll be posting it this afternoon online. thank you, both. and thank you for watching inside politics, cnn news central starts after the break we live our lives on our homes fabrics. and though we come and go, are odors stay, it's called odor transfer, left untreated. those odors get trapped inside fabrics and then really smells into your ehr you need for breeze fabric sure its formula proven to deliver long-lasting odor fighting power. >> so you can enjoy ball laughing, precious, even hours after spraying. the more everyone phr

there was a extraordinary opening in the novel by james baldwin, another country and metaphor what is happening here today. and response to that story. a young man without any hopes, no dreams was slapped in the fanc when he looks to see a shiny ball with so many glittering lights of reflection but can't seem to see himself reflected there. for so many in this community the dream is look across at the city and sky line and still not able to see themselves reflected there. so, i was so important when mayor breed talked about opportunities for all of our community members. and now because of this event and the stewards who believe in the promise of making sure that people can see themselves reflected in their own communities and images of success and hope and possibility, that this extraordinary accomplishment and this momentum being built in sunnydale can be rep ruicated for so many lives at home, units, at play and is severs and centers and hub as and require s extraordinary leadership doug talked about and mayor breed talked about and we are so lucky to know we have the steward in dr

and, at a very fundamental level, this book is making the case james baldwin was right, if we are goingo were martyred, then there is malcolm and medgar, and evers , as americans stood up in the face of oppression. what do we do with the people committing the evil and are perpetrating the oppression? the reason i want to talk to you about this is, i feel like you've made really interesting choices about what history to tell in this book. and i am fundamentally divided, because, part of me is very happy that nobody has heard of theodore bilbo. being lost to history, yeah, good. i'm glad you are. but, part of me wants everybody to know who he was and what he did, and i feel like part of why we seem unprepared and ill- equipped to deal with our generation's worst confrontation with oppression and tyranny, is because we don't know much about the tyrants and the oppressors of history. >> yes. i agree. >> [ applause ] >> so how do you thread that needle? it's a great insult, it's a great curse to tell someone, you will be forgotten, lost to history. you will have no headstone. on the other ha

a bigger delusion, james baldwin would say, the author and finisher of our national existence. prophecies. do ent be seduced by equalization. there is nothing equal about this equation. we are at an existential cross-roads in our political and civic lives. this is a choice that could not be clearer. >> if you haven't sat and watched the whole thing and then rewound it and watched it again, do yourself a favor, treat yourself, and as soon as we get off the air please do so. everything that renowned historian ken burns had to say is a precious gift in this moment. so that was from a commencement address at brandeis university on the 19th, about a week ago. it has exploded online since it was so eloquently and powerfully delivered last weekend. burns explained why he sees right now, this moment, as a moment to suspend his long-standing commitment and attempt at neutrality. he implored those new graduates to remember that the most important political office is that of a private citizen. vote, he said, urging them to deliver our nation from the other route, which threatens to engulf

it was 1965 debate at cambridge university in england when james baldwin and the conservative commentator. i can't remember his name right now. that was my only time that i was protesting. host: glenn, thank you for talking about it. from the history channel, in 1960 three in birmingham the children's crusade when the youth of birmingham marched for justice in the picture of the protesters being sprayed with fire hoses against the wall there. in 1963 in the caller about the 1964 marches. caller: my first protest was in new york as a kid back in 2003 when they wanted to put a cell phone on our school. me and my close friends all went to protest and eventually, we won. host: why did you not one of the cell phone tower? caller: it was harmful with radiation which we found from studies back then. host: have you protested since then? caller: of peaceful protest honking for peace. host: did you feel that it made a difference? caller: a lot of people were receptive because you know how bad it was and how much we were lied to about the death count? host: this is noah in alabama on the line for th

there was a extraordinary opening in the novel by james baldwin, another country and metaphor what is no dreams was slapped in the fanc when he looks to see a shiny ball with so many glittering lights of reflection but can't seem to see himself reflected there. for so many in this community the dream is look across at the city and sky line and still not able to see themselves reflected there. so, i was so important when mayor breed talked about opportunities for all of our community members. and now because of this event and the stewards who believe in the promise of making sure that people can see themselves reflected in their own communities and images of success and hope and possibility, that this extraordinary accomplishment and this momentum being built in sunnydale can be rep ruicated for so many lives at home, units, at play and is severs and centers and hub as and require s extraordinary leadership doug talked about and mayor breed talked about and we are so lucky to know we have the steward in dr. tonia who has been leading the authority through a reform process to insure we

pains and problems when, in fact, people end up reenslaved, a bigger problem, a bigger solution, james baldwinor and finisher of our national suicide, as mr. lincoln prof profesized. we are at an existential crossroads in our political and civic lives. this is a choice that could not be clearer. >> wow. the emmy award winning filmmaker joins us now. he is this year's recipient of the national constitution center's liberty medal for illuminating the principles at the heart of the american idea. ken, great to have you on. i want to start right there with the american idea. everything you said jumped out at me. you said do not be seduced. i think that's so important in the age of the cult of trump. even more important, you used the word fragile. i don't think people understand just how fragile our democracy is. can you explain how easily it can be unravelled? >> i think all you need to do is go back to where in 1932 you'd want to be where everything was great with ideas and politics and arts and architecture, in movies, in painting, in music, there would be no better place on the planet than berl

up re-enslaved with a bigger problem, a worse infliction and addiction, a bigger dilution, as james baldwinour national existence, our national suicide as mr. lincoln prophesied. do not be seduced by equal -- we are at an existential crossroads in our political and civic lives. this is a choice that could not be clearer. >> ken burns delivering the commencement address at brandeis university. ken burns, like jon meacham, taking the large view, the long view of history, and delivering a powerful address that culminated with a commentary about what's happening in our country today, where we may be about to be going, and making a plea to the young people in that room but also to the audience that's going to see it larger than that, that this is, from a man who has soe perspective on these things given his life's work, is pivotal moment. >> it is. the root of memorial day, and the word memorial is memory. you wonder in listening to ken's speech over the weekend at brandeis, you wonder, is our memory so fleeting that we have forgotten about something else that ken mentioned? one of the greatest