we are glad you have joined us, james foreman jr. and maggie sift. coming up right now. >> contributions from'm to your pbs station from viewers like you, thank you. america's criminal justice system has become a critical debate. the impact on people of color. however, the war on crime that deeg began in the 1970s, in the book "locking up our own, crime and punishment in america." professor foreman, good to have you on this program. ru part of a grand legacy. good to be here. >> let me start with the remarks of the relatively new attorney general, jeff sessions. he wants to go back to the re n reagan era tactics, my read of it was undoing everything that eric holder tried to do. is that the right or wrong direction? >> it is the wrong direction, he wants to take us back to policy that is have proven to have fail and caused great damage. if you think about attorney general session, he said marijuana is slightly less deadly than heroine. people have gotten to a point where they recognize the era in the approach, they recognize the incredible damage and

you're also the son of a very prominent civil rights leader, james foreman.ct the dots for me, the kind of work as a public defender but, more importantly the mass incarceration problem now to the civil rights movement. how do you see it? >> well, they have this similarity. both of them, that is to say jim crow and mass incarceration, both have led to a whole part of the population being locked out of opportunity by being defined by a certain status, either your race or the fact that you have a criminal conviction. and that means you can't get a job, you can't get public housing, you can't get student loans, you can't live freely as an american citizen. and so i think really what the civil rights movement was about was finding the most acute thing that was harming black people which at the time as jim crow and responding. and i see the movement to fight mass incarceration in much the same way today. >> brown: all right, the new book is "locking up our own; crime and punishment in black america" james foreman, jr. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> sreeniva

we are glad you have joined us, james foreman jr. and maggie

join me next time for conversations with james foreman jr.ut his latest book and actress maggie siff. that's next time. see you then. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> be more. >> be more. pbs. - today on america's test kitchen, dan prepares cuban braised shredded beef, becky shows how to make fried sweet plantains, julia makes mango, orange, and jicama salad, and adam reviews grapefruit knives in the equipment corner. america's test kitchen is brought to you by dcs. dcs: manufacturers of professionally styled indoor and outdoor kitchen equipment.

join me next time for conversations with james foreman jr.ut his latest book and actress maggie siff. that's next time. see you then. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> be more. pbs. >>> good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley, tonight a conversation with a legendary folk artist ar arlo guthrie and the son of the famous troubadour artis gutherie. we hope that you will enjoy a conversation with arlo guthrie in just a moment.

busboys and poets bookstore in the nation's capital to cover a talk by yale law school professor james foreman. he'll be discussing his book "locking up our own: crime and punishment in black america." wednesday we head the new york where journalists amie parnes and jonathan allen will talking about hillary clinton's 2016 -- will talk about hillary clinton's 2016 campaignful we'll also be in dallas where tony smith will discuss his book, "why wilson matters." thursday we're in durham, north carolina, for a talk by benjamin waterhouse, history professor at the university of north carolina. his book, "the land of enterprise," charts the development of business in america. we'll also be at the smithsonian 's museum of natural history in washington, d.c. with a report on the impact that humans are having on our planet. and on saturday and sunday, we'll be live from the los angeles times festival of books. featured authors include annie jacobson, hugh hewitt, adam hochschild and lisa lucas. that's a look at some of the events booktv will be covering this week. many of these events are open to the p