what medgar could say about hinduism you can't say now, you know? i mean, it's almost unbelievable how little you can say now. and on the issue of when -- [inaudible] it was really sad because it wasn't even as if there was a court can case or a ban order or anything. it was a group of, right-wing hindu group that said sentiments were hurt by her book on hinduism, and penguin just sort of pulled back which frightened many other people. because, you know, at least penguin has the resources to fight a legal case. other people don't. i, when i wrote "the god of small things," five lawyers filed a criminal case against me for corrupting public morality. [laughter] and then, you know, i had to appear in court by which time i had won the booker prize, and so, you know, they kind of wanted to claim me but not claim the book. [laughter] so the judge would appear in court, and he'd say, he said once every time this case m comes before me, i get chest pains. [laughter] but it went on for ten years, you know? then, of course, there's this threat of sedition, a

an annual event in it's 12th 12th year, held at medgar evers college in new york. starts now on booktv. >> i'm dr. brenda green, director of the conference, and really pleased to have today three panel discussions, one focused on saving ourselves, saving our communities, reconstructing the historical narrative, and the state of publishing a 2014 odyssey. aid like the thank c-span for covering this event and introduce you to the moderator, linda baron, an author and poet. chair of the teacher education department at your college, and inspirational speaker and motivator. welcome, dr. linda baron. [applause] >> it is just a pleasure to be here at my sister college, medgar evers. i tent know -- i think you need to just be reminded the person you just heard speak was dr. brenda green, the director of the conference and the center for black literature at medgar evers. i have the most love and regard for a woman who keeps our traditions going intact, and i would quote marie evans except she is the most humble person over there if you say anything about her, she gets mad.

founded by christian missionaries for freed slaves. >> people gathered after the assassination of medgar evers -- >> brown: they heard from dr. king one of the organizers of the 1964 freedom summer who delivered the sermon at the if you recall for james cheney, andrew goodwin and others murdered nearby that summer. >> the angels gathered -- >> brown: natasha read a poem based on witnessing a cross burning on her family's lawn. >> we tell the story every year how we peered with from the windows, shades drawn, though nothing really happened. the charred grass now green again. we peered from the windows, shades drawn, at the cross trussed like a christmas tree, the charred grass still green. then we darkened our rooms, lit the hurricane lamps. at the cross, trussed like a christmas tree, a few men gathered, white as angels in their gowns. we darkened our rooms and lit hurricane lamps. the wicks trembling in their fonts of oil. >> brown: afterwards, natasha and reverend king talked about poetry's role in the movement. >> do you think of poetry? i think i certainly do see it as another kind o

that night they shot medgar evers in the back because they understood the climate, the whole issue had changed. when it became a moral issue for the president of the united states who was dragged kicking and screaming into civil rights it is like slavery becoming a moral issue. not just an issue of policy but they recognized this ultimately meant war. >> this reminded me that early on, thurgood marshall had no sense of who dr. king was. who is this preacher down south? as late as the 1960s the naacp is worried about him and lax collection of money, taking money out of their coffers etcetera but the strategic difference is such that thurgood marshall is of the opinion that dr. king is a great speaker. he is a wonderful speaker. he can change hearts and do this and do that. you walk away from a king speech and are so enthused you go back to segregated neighborhoods, segregated schools, back to racial inequality on the work site and the only place you make concrete change is if you change the law in terms of congress and the courts. >> thanks. all three of your books address in addition t

of trials in the 1990s and the early 2000 because murder is a crime without -- but the murderer of medgar evers, bobby frank cherry, involved in the birmingham church bombing, they were all ultimately brought to justice in a series of striking and horrifying trials in in cases 30 and 40 years after the crimes and not nearly everyone who was responsible for these outrages was brought to justice but there were many people who were brought to justice, and when you say the question about enforcement, one of the striking things that president johnson said on the weekend he signed the bill, he called his old friend, governor john connellly of texas. he said you don't want to talk about enforcing this law. that gets a man's hackles up. you want to be talking about obeying it because that's the right thing to do, and i thought that was a fascinating distinction and one that probably he learned at a very early age. >> we have time for one last question. >> thank you for taking the question. mr. williams, thank you for the howard university reference, at alumnus, i definitely appreciate that to the

almost hidden by the flag on the right is the widow of the civil rights martyr medgar evers. among the items you'll be able to consider in the new museum is the gun, the hunting rifle, that was used to kill her husband. this is very difficult stuff. but they are going ahead in mississippi. you can see in this photo from the jackson free press that ms. he was really is nearly hidden by the confederate emblem that's part of the mississippi flag. the old confederacy lives on in the mississippi state flag, the rebel flag takes up much of the territory of what is the flag of the state and, yes, in a way it's a leftover but also it's not. this is not a historic picture of mrs. evers. this is now and that is still the mississippi state flag. and sometimes just visually it is hard to tell the difference between what used to be and what still is. the local mississippi chapter of the sons of confederate veterans like to buy billboards wishing happy birthday to confederate heroes to celebrate the war of southern independence. quote, southerners have less reason to be loyal to the collec

that night they shot medgar efforts in the back thaws the -- medgar evers in the back because the whole issue changed. when it became a moral issue for the president of the united states, who was dragged kicking and screaming into civil rights, it's like slavery becoming a moral issue. not just an issue of policy. but they recognized that this really ultimately meant war. >> what todd just said reminded me that early on, thurgood marshall had no sense of what who dr. king was. he thought, who is this preacher down south, making this noise? and as late as the 1960s, naacp is worried about him and lacks collection of money -- lax collection of money, taking money out of their coffers but the thurgood marshall is of the opinion that dr. king is a wonderful speaker. he can change hearts and you walk away from his speech and you so enthused but you go back to segregated schools and neighborhoods and racial inequality on the work sites. and that the only place that you macon crete change is of you macon crete change is if you change the law, both in the congress and the courts. >> all three o

. >> that concludes today's coverage of the national black writers conference at medgar evers college in brooklyn. you can watch more from the conference tomorrow on booktv. >> you're watching booktv every weekend on c-span2. >> i think what we need is something akin to the grace commission during the reagan administration or the brac commission, the base realignment and closing commission during, i think, the clinton administration. an outside group with integrity, former members of congress -- no current elected politicians -- to come in and do a complete audit of government from top to bottom. every agency of government, juan, has a piece of legislation or a charter that created it. it has a purpose. be it's not fulfilling that purpose or not doing it within reasonable budget, it should be cut or eliminated. let's just take head start. i mean, this came in with the highest motivation. do you know, and i didn't until i researched it, there are now three head starts. there's early head starlet, there's enhanced head starlet, and there's regular head start. why do we have the other go

i'm the chairman of the public administration department at medgar evers school at inappropriate business and the other is the commentary blog soon to be in book form called love and hate the time of obama and a host of inclusion showed which can be seen in various parts of the country. the introduction has to do with the topic race, power and politics. race and racism has been described as america's original sin beginning with the particularly odious form of racial-based lavery which began in this country the 1600's which is carried forward in its many iterations to this day. the issue of power has a three-part context. because it is a very important part of the concept of power it is one of the reasons why it was forbidden for black slaves to learn how to read and write. it certainly was also a reason why it black slaves were forget and -- for big didn't forbidden to own property and you see that in the 21st century but after emancipation emancipation the red line if you will was drawn at a different point. that had to do with access to political power and the battle with respect to acc

[inaudible conversations] >> next, from the national black writers conference at medgar evers college in brooklyn, a panel on changing historical narrative. [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. we're here -- enter well, i'm really glad to be here, in person, right here in front of you. you know, we in this panel we don't grown -- groan and bemoan the destructive narratives about us misrepresenting who we are and how we are with. this panel will help us to reconstruct, to tell our own stories, the real deal. our stories, this is our story, this is our song, let the work i've done speak to me. and so to moderate this panel on reconstructing the historical narrative of us is professor woodard who was given, i don't know if he'll tell you this, but his name was given him by mayor baracka, if i'm correct. he is the professor of history, public policy and africana studies at sarah lawrence college, a graduate of the university of pennsylvania, served on the board of directors of the urban history association, edited the unity of the struggle, newspapers children

that night they shot medgar evers in the back because they understood the climate, the whole issue had changed. when it became a moral issue for the president of the united states who was dragged kicking and screaming into civil rights it is like slavery becoming a moral issue. not just an issue of policy but they recognized this ultimately meant war. >> this reminded me that early on, thurgood marshall had no sense of who dr. king was. who is this preacher down south? as late as the 1960s the naacp is worried about him and lax collection of money, taking money out of their coffers etcetera but the strategic difference is such that thurgood marshall is of the opinion that dr. king is a great speaker. he is a wonderful speaker. he can change hearts and do this and do that. you walk away from a king speech and are so enthused you go back to segregated neighborhoods, segregated schools, back to racial inequality on the work site and the only place you make concrete change is if you change the law in terms of congress and the courts. >> thanks. all three of your books address in addition t