i think i was inspired by michele alexander's booke." >> it is my pleasure to say, ms. colvin, without you we would not be where we are. [applause] thank you for sharing your story, and keep telling your story because we need to know, and our children need to know, and our children's children need to know your story. and we want to thank our sponsors today. we have the san francisco unified school district. we have marked as bookstores, who will be selling this -- ms. colvin's book, written about her, by philip house. we have sponsorship from the african diaspora, and the friends of the san francisco public library. i serve as part of the african- american interest committee that helped put this program together, and i want to thank all of you for coming, and i want to thank sfgtv for taking the program today. we want to thank the department here at san francisco public library, and we are having a reception in l58, and we want to thank read your catering for providing some delicious food for us to nibble on today, so will you please join us and say thank you again to m

michelle alexander calling it the new jim crow. between the 1960's and 1970's, the prison population across the country doubled. in the 1970's and 1980's, it tripled. in california, and build no new prisons between the 1960's and 1970's, the height of political action. between the 1970's and 1980's, they build more prisons in california alone and in the past 100 years. one thing that has happened is the warehousing of black folks in these facilities. if you think about what slavery is, the parallels, it is not just a metaphor when you talk about modern-day slavery. slavery denied black folks the ability to be mobile. you were trapped on one location, in a plantation. it broke up our families. it subjected us to daly wants and violence. anything can happen to you -- an example to you for somebody else. it exploded us for our free labor. all of those things happen in prison today. the u.s. has 5% of the world's population and over 25% of the world's prison population. that is a big part of the equation. i am not waiting for superman,

those of you who have read michele alexander's booke, it says that this needs to be a national conversation. part of the national conversation, i hope, is here. that is why we are going to turn it over to you, to engage in some conversation with our guests. >> i just want to say to the young people today, especially teenagers, boys and girls, some of whom might have been incarcerated, what advice would you give to them? >> first thing i would say -- believe in yourself. if you do not believe in yourself and have some kind of faith and try to work hard, and listen to your teachers and take advantage of all the resources that you have, learning resources. >> today is super bowl sunday. what can our black men in the nfl do to help us have some great people? that is the only place i get to see a positive role model is by watching sports. i think we have a lot of cultures we could really bring together, but we are not joining. >> great question. in 1968, when we saw the black system in the air, that did not happen in a vacuum. it happened in the context of a broader movement. i think we have to

michele alexander is a pen tested. it should be required reading. so certainly alexander's book gives us such clarity healthy realities that karen is level increased to know where our definition of creme chances and with it to a aren't some of. return unwillingly has decided to accept the level of bondage. we wouldn't otherwise to this and find it a couple. if i told you the statistics outside of things about prison he would find the love scene and hold of, well, it happens accruals. let me just to of a lease a human wall poona credible the projects in local communities to work. and let someone with practice all week ahead of the national lenders alike an african-american leaders, and that has not been my experience. i continue to the non-profit organization is addressing your return from housing to incarceration to all led by black men and women call from the monthly doing work cut r&d that as well beating brodeur says a thing. a saloon and ruinous of quinlan and of finance. there is no way to you could have never been never when you were not part

. >> late thursday, michele bachmann's political director left her campaign, just one day after her iowa state chairman defected to ron paul. >> that was peter alexander reporting. a judge will decide on january 13th if rick perry's name can appear on virginia's ballot. he tried to file a emergency motion to stop the state from printing the ballots without his name, but a judge denied that. >>> gingrich met the requirement for 10,000 signatures, and some of them were improperly excluded. he is acting independently, and gingrich has not yet joined a suit. they believe a campaign worker turned in false signatures forcing them to be kept off the ballot. >>> and nancy pelosi's daughter says her mother is ready to give up her political career. she said she would retire right now if the donor she has didn't want her to say so badly, but the california lawmaker's aides are saying it's not true. >>> here is veronica. you are looking good, always, but the whether is looking good, too. >> well, certainly for the weekend. some folks may be complaining about the walls, and that's today. we do have more clouds with us. high clouds, mostly, and it's a little chill

alexander hamilton concept album that i got to sing... i got to perform at the white house. >> hinojosa: right. a friend of michellend the prez... >> yeah, which was... and that was the first time i'd performed that song in public outside of the shower. so it was really terrifying and thrilling and amazing. but you know, that is... requires all this historical research and this part of my brain that has long laid dormant in terms of, you know, being accurate historically while getting to really play with contemporary music. and then you know, slipping back into my old heights bathrobe and writing those songs. so the fun for me is in trying to get as much done as i can. >> hinojosa: but more can you dream about? i mean, if you already have a play on broadway that's been a success and it's going to be made into a hollywood movie, kind of what... you know, what's like, the next thing? >> well, you know, you just continue to... i think the goal of any writer is to continue to find stories that move you, and... whether they're self generated or you hook into something, you know? like, when i read hamilton's biography, i

michele bachmann. tonight, the former campaign manager for herman cain who at one point was the frontrunner here in iowa said mr. cain has no plans at this time to endorse any republican candidate. >> peter alexander in mason city tonight. thank you. >>> while the romney campaign likes its chances in iowa, the wild card continues to be ron paul. he's got momentum, organization and a fiercely loyal base of supporters. our chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd is traveling with the paul campaign today. he joins us now from atlantic iowa. chuck? >> reporter: good evening, harry. when it comes to ron paul there are two key questions. one, can he widen his appeal among mainstream republicans and not just the closet libertarians inside the party? and two, does he have the infrastructure or is this a howard dean ruse from 2004 to win these caucuses and catapult him to new hampshire? at the core of ron paul's strength here in iowa, devoted followers like these who came from all over the country to help out in perry, iowa. joe stone made some 200 calls last night for the campaign and drove more than four hours from his minneapolis home today to catch a glimpse of his political h

michele bachmann. and romney hiship who has only spent ten days on the ground. four years ago he spend 77 dates here. it remains to be seen how he all plays out. >> peet you are alexander from des moines, iowa, for us this morning. thank you, sir. >>> let's bring in reed epstein from politico. good morning to you. let's start with newt gingrich. his campaign is seriously in trouble. is it game over for gingrich if he does not win in iowa? >> good morning, craig. certainly gingrich needs to perform in iowa to brings back the level of expectations that he had. just three weeks ago when he was the front-runner. if you look at what's going on here in des moines, gingrich is running scared almost, as if almost as if he's unable to respond from the barrage of anything tiff ads, in part because he is. up until this point he's been unwilling to return that kind of fire that the other candidates have trained on him. >>> for folks watching, who might not be family with what these caulk uses look like and how they are different from primaries, speak to that? what goes on in iowa is very unique in a lot of ways. >> it is very different. most of us who have voted before you familia

michele bachman and rick perry campaigning in iowa. we will take a closer look now at the votes the senate took this morning, with alexander bolton. he joins us by phone. he is a staff writer from "the hill." how did they turn out? >> the first thing they voted on payroll tax holiday and unemployment benefits. and a two month extension of the jobs act, which is a temporarily scheduled cut to medicare reimbursement that passed overwhelmingly, by a vote of 89-10. then the senate moved on to a couple of appropriations measures. the highlight is a $1 trillion omnibus spending bill, funding most of the federal government. that passed easily, with 67 votes, 32 against. in addition, the senate who addressed a couple of measures on emergency spending that were separated from the omnibus spending bill. one was about $8 billion in emergency spending to fund disaster relief, the bulk of it going to fema. the other bill was something house republicans insisted on, and almost 2% across the board discretionary spending cuts to offset emergency spending. that has been a fight since the beginning of september. democrats have argued emergency spen