i can only think of nina simone. nina simone is thinking of the old mississippi. is that connection with the old mississippi that nina simone sang of similar to what we have with immigrants that there are efforts in this state that are antagonistic toward others, toward people of color? >> >> it's not the same, maybe a little worse. it's really disheartening to look at some of the officials who are responsible for guaranteeing basic rights. how they treat them and how they speak to them. i was treated in a similar way, but not nearly as bad. i knew my rights as an american citizen. >> i could demand my rights. i could fight. they can't. i could protect myself. they can't. >> let me remind everyone of the fact that april 5 of 2018, there was a raid >> in tennessee, which at the time, was the largest workplace raid in our nation in nearly a decade. it's so similar to this one that in syria. i have notes concerning it and we wrote secretary nielsen, probably to deaf ears, and it was similar the way the children were treated. they were traumatized in the actions and t

nina simone, langston hughes was a mentor. >> people forget he died in the 60s. >> as he was that shextraordinary obituary. absolutely beautiful that talked about his significance for black people at large. not just as a scholar. the judge will as an important social political force. as she's dying. he dies at 63 she dies in 6 to 5 at the very beginning of the year. something like heartbreakingly poetic about that relationship. >> robert, new york city, hi robert, you're on with professor imani perry. >> hi imani, how are you? >> i'm fine thank you. i wanted to ask you, if you could elaborate a little more on your concept of black formalism. if indeed that is still resonates at all with our current cultural lengths make state as an african-american community as a person that has worked with Ãbhe always fits black people because of formalism. so i just want to hear a little more of your thoughts on that and where we stand. and in philadelphia all that stuff was very large part of the community there that time as well which i had heard stories about. that's it. >> thank you. thank you r

>> it's interesting, as nina simone says, it's an artist's duty to reflect the times, and these are thealso open season on black bodies. what i wanted to do -- there's a study that says if you're ever held up at gunpoint, you should tell them personal things about yourself, you should say i have a child, you should say my mother's on her death bed and i want to see her , go all those things, because what happens is the gunman now empathizes with you and now sees you as a human and makes them more difficult to kill you. so with my art, i'm wondering if i can humanize black people enough, maybe they will stop killing us. >> trevor: it captured a complexity i truly enjoy in any storytelling and that is the complexity of black joy and black pain. >> absolutely. >> trevor: i often say to people, you know, people will say, like, on "the daily show" if anything, as black people, how do you laugh and this and that. black people can't wait for everything to be right to black. >> even in the midst of oppression, we find joy because we don't have a choice. i think, for me, the movie is something e

anybody heard of nina simone? this is one of our signature campaigns. we all know nina simone became the voice of the american civil rights movement. she would experience racism to the degree at her first recital her parents were asked to move to the back. activism is rooted in her dna. what is beautiful about this project is four artists out of new york city, as a form of arts activism. they acquired a property and had a plan to restore and create this through arts programming. you have heard about birmingham, where the natural museum of african-american history and culture made us aware that there was a plan to demolish a hotel. we established partnerships to activate and develop a public advocacy campaign that would result in the creation of this motel becoming the centerpiece of the newly created birmingham civil rights monument. i think this might be considered one of the most important civil rights landmarks in the entire world. it's where the birmingham campaign was planned and implemented. it's where black men, women and children tested the idea

>> that was nina simone and she was singing a song she wrote in honor of her dear friend lorraine hansberryd away. she takes a line from a speech that hansberry delivered to young black writers in which she said that it was a gift to be young and gifted and black. it was a song that in fact, a certain moments people thought this might become the next lift every voice and sing because was so incredibly popular as a beautiful old to hansberry. >> had nina simone moved overseas by that point? that was in 1969. did she end up in paris? >> yes and she was also in west africa. i don't remember the exact dates but it was four years after lorraine had passed away. >> speaking of lorraine hansberry, this is what you write about her, she was a black lesbian woman born into the establishment donica stopped black middle-class who became greenwich village bohemian leftist married to a man a jewish communist songwriter. she cast her lot with the working classes and became a wildly famous writer. she drank too much, died early of cancer, love some wonderful women and yet lived with an unrelenting loneline

mississippi, i can only say of nina simone, [laughter] but she was thinking of an old mississippi that harvey remembers. is that connection with the old mississippi similar to what we have with immigrants that there are efforts in the state that are antagonistic towards others to the people of color. >> i would see that it's not the same. maybe a little worse. to look at some of the officials who are responsible for guaranteeing basic rights, and that is how they look at immigrants. how they treat them and how they speak to them. i can identify in the inhumanity because i was treated in a similar way but not nearly as bad. i knew our eyes. as an american citizen. in these individuals don't know their rights. i could demand my rights. i can find it. they can't. so i can protect myself. in the camp. >> let me remind everyone that the fact that on june, it was april 52019, there was a raid and be station tennessee which is time and it was the largest workplace rate in the nation. nearly a decade ago. it was similar to this one, it is eerie. i'm a nuts from a hearing we had concerning that

congressman cohen talked about nina simone. a lot of people in here are too young to remember her, but when she was talking about the record in mississippi, she was talking about plessy versus ferguson. brown v. board of education. she was talking about the little rock nine. she was talking about being blocked out of the university of mississippi. she was talking about sharonda goodman in chains. she was talking about the hostages of humanity and man's inhumanity to man. she was talking about brutality during the days of yesteryear. you asked the question, have things changed. i hope so. thank all of you. >> thank you very much. [applause] i yield myself five minutes for questioning. testimony was as a chief law enforcement official in scott county. he received no advance notice of the i.c.e. raids we are talking about here? >> no, sir. no advanced notice or notice while the raids were continuing. >> your testimony as the mayor of canton, that your conversation with the superintendent of education and your chief of police and f

becamethat nina simone the voice of the american civil rights movement. she was born in a rural town in where she lived learned to play the piano. she experienced racism to the degree that at her first recital , when her parents were sitting on the front row, they were asked to move to the back. fussed, cried, until they were seated back on the front row. activism is rested in her dna. [applause] rooted in her dna. [applause] for black artists out of new a form of arts activism, acquire the property, created an llc come apart and with the national trust and others, to plan, restore and reactivate this through arts programming. it has a bright future ahead of it. so you have heard about worming him -- burning ham. the nash -- you have heard about birmingham. the national museum made us aware there's a plan to demolish the ag gaston hotel. we created a plan for a public advocacy campaign that would result in the creation of this motel becoming the centerpiece of the newly created birmingham civil rights national monument. , this could beg considered one of

>> guest: that is nina simone singing a song she wrote in honor of her dear friend who had passed awaykes a line from a speech that was delivered to young black writers in which she said that it t was a gift to be young and gifted and black so it was a song people thought was incredibly popularfa and it was- >> host: had she moved overseas by that point did she end up in paris? >> guest: also in west africa but i don't remember theha exact date. but it was four years after. >> host: this is what you write about her, she was a black woman born into the established yon le-class who became a greenwich village bohemian mileftist married to a man and a jewish communist songwriter. she cast with the working classes and became a wildly famous writer who drink too much, died early of cancer, loved some wonderful women and lived with an unrelenting loneliness and was intoxicated by beauty and enraged by injustice. i hope these stories will unfold in the book as something much more than that. it sounds like an american life in some ways. >> guest: absolutely. although politically she was an inte

nina simone said it's an other artist's duty to reflect the times.pen season on black bodies. when i look at the news every day and hear you tell stories about black unarmed people killed and a week later you report the police officer is back on the force is traumatizing. very traumatizing for me every time i see that. i think for some people it's a news story. whenever i see a name come across the screen, a part of me dies. >> you said as a black artist you take tragedies and make them beautiful. >> yeah. i don't think we have a choice. i think black people have been making beauty out of misery for decades. and i think that's our superpower. >> you're not calling this an anti-cop film, are you? >> no. when people see the film, they'll see that just like black people on a monolith, neither are police. it's all layered. but i do think that when black people see the police uniform, it represents something that can be scary, that can be dangerous. and it could be the end of your life. >> you also call -- it's a first for you, writing. >> yeah. >> first