and of course langston hughes, not only a journalist, but a poet. i mean, would you just talk a little bit about him a little and that early context and how that motivated you to get started? thank you. thinking that langston hughes is such an extraordinary figure and for him, publishing goes to spain is because he's just fascinated by these volunteers and his reporting back. it. as nick mentioned, it's both kind of direct war reporting, but also it's poetry. and so before the war and then during the war, he these tremendous poems that really call out the hypocrisy of a country that is fighting for freedom, democracy abroad, while condoning segregation at home. he and other black americans are making really explicit connections between the racial hierarchies and germany and the racial policies in jim crow south. and so one things i am able to excerpt in the are a number of his poems both from spain that he writes back but also the war that answer about different points of entry to different corners of history, poetry, song. those are great ways to g

the same parent filed similar complaints about a book by poet langston hughes and 2 books about cuba. a committee determined that gorman's poem and the other books were, quote, more appropriate for students in middle school. >> coming up, nearly a year after its rival public publicized a launch. how many people are actually aware of the 9 a cage suicide and the 9 a cage suicide and ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ what do we always say, son? liberty mutual customizes your car insurance... so you only pay for what you need. that's my boy. now you get out there, and you make us proud, huh? ♪ bye, uncle limu. ♪ stay off the freeways! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> an autopsy report released today confirms that popular dj. stephen twitch boss died by suicide. according to the report, boston not have drugs or alcohol in his system when he shot himself. that in december. the report also says that his wife told investigators he did not show any signs of distress before his death boss is probably best remembered for serving as the official dj on the ellen degeneres

and in your 1989 film montage, called looking for langston, which focused on langston hughes, who wasem renaissance. that celebration of black gay sexuality has become something with which you are associated. and you say until you made that film, a black gay voice did not really exist. do you see yourself as not only a black artist, but also a black gay artist, and that you feel you need to raise your voice in that cause? well, i think at the time when i was making the work that it was really very important to be able to make a work that would somehow give a form to these experiences. at the time when i made looking for langston, it was, you know, the aids crisis was in full swing and, you know, people, friends of mine were dying left, right and centre. and i came across this wonderful poet, essex hemphill, who was such an incredible orator and inherited the mantelpiece of james baldwin, i would say, in terms of his poems. and there was a way that they gave a really powerful language and pictorial frame for making a work like looking for langston... but just exploring your sexuality.

children because, you know, as my momma told me when we first had langston, he's named after langston hughes, langston ellis, his middle name is shortened for ellis. and we put lot on that boy show how you did. he said, you're not going to start worrying about him into your bath until he puts you into the ground. and it's so and so you know. but then i said i said this on alex wagner the other day on msnbc. there's nothing i can say to my boy and there's nothing your your baby can say to her students that could save if a cop is having a bad day. nothing. there's not everything that tyree nichols did initially was right. mm hmm. hold up what you are doing. okay. all right, calm down now. y'all doing it a lot. now i'm sitting down. and then he realized they were trying to kill him. mm hmm. and then you get fight or flight. yeah, that's the psychological response to the realization, you know? so there's nothing. i could do. i'm on. keep talking to boy. take that down off of instagram. you don't need to do that. stop, stop you got to express yourself differently that rage can't go inward. it has

the fact that when i grew up and i knew who langston hughes was and josephine baker was and these iconic figures, but i had no idea they were clear -- queer. i had no idea i did exist, i had creative side should have had the right to look up to. that is another reason i keep writing and keep putting these things out into the world. i do not want us to keep going generation after generation where we do not have that history thanks preserved. i think that is the other thing. banning books does not mean history is being preserved. this just becomes a time capsule, so we all can remember what was happening right now. it comes a time capsule so 50 years from now, we know who was on the right night of history and who was on the wrong side of history. it never gets recorded, then the narrative can be flipped and turned into whoever at the time is in power. the final reason is, i get these messages. i got one from a kid in pennsylvania who was at a school board meeting fighting the book ban and said to the panel that reading my book helped them name their abuser. i get messages about the fact th

well one is about cuba, one is abc's of black history, and also -- about black poet langston hughes.you are hearing though, and we know this as parents, a lot of parents are saying, if my kid finds of books and interests them, i want them to find the book that interests them. maybe they do want to read up. if it is for middle school kids, maybe you have a really advanced reader. all of this can come into play and can come into discussion. and again, i encourage everybody to read the hill we climb. it is a beautiful. poem >> beautiful. >> i remember being in our. >> and have to say is a person of color i'm sitting here listening here to hearing you try not to be triggered by this. it feeds into the idea of this constant alienation of black and brown people in this country. >> again, what is erica saying, so okay, middle school elementary school, you can make the argument. you can make the argument, i don't know where it belongs. by the fact that one parent -- >> what is it in the palm that is so upsetting that pond? >> that's what i can figure out. that's why i went back and said wait

in the background , but it was words and had an author of the guy who wrote the words, it is langston hughesas. i can't remember the exact thing that the two or three lines said, but i will paraphrase, it said something like, when all the white ones are gone, it will be a more beautiful and brighter world. that is what it said, something to that effect. host: i want to show you, president biden did an interview with msnbc yesterday you're here is a portion of that where he talked about negotiating with republicans, the brinkmanship over the debt ceiling, and what he thinks about the work around using the 14th amendment clause of the constitution. [video clip] >> for members of congress, they think it might be ok to fault. are you prepared to vote on the 14th amendment? pres. biden: here is the deal. first of all, this is not your fibers -- father's republican party, this is a different group. i think we have to make it clear to the american people that i am prepared to negotiate in detail with the budget, how much you are going to suspend, where it is going to be cut. and the first two years

in the background , but it was words and had an author of the guy who wrote the words, it is langston hughesas. i can't remember the exact thing that the two or three lines said, but i will paraphrase, it said something like, when all the white ones are gone, it will be a more beautiful and brighter world. that is what it said, something to that effect. host: i want to show you, president biden did an interview with msnbc yesterday you're here is a portion of that where he talked about negotiating with republicans, the brinkmanship over the debt ceiling, and what he thinks about the work around using the 14th amendment clause of the constitution. [video clip] >> for members of congress, they think it might be ok to fault. are you prepared to vote on the 14th amendment? pres. biden: here is the deal. first of all, this is not your fibers -- father's republican party, this is a different group. i think we have to make it clear to the american people that i am prepared to negotiate in detail with the budget, how much you are going to suspend, where it is going to be cut. and the first two years