take, for example, selma, alabama. , where in 1965, african americans were beaten by police on the edmundturning point in the civil rights movement commemorated each year. but alabamians also commemorate a less-inspiring history, preserving their slave-owning confederate heritage with an annual civil war reenactment in that very same city. but this year, a young, progressive african american mayor took a stand against the confederates. >> when we came into office, we told people that they had to pay for police to be at those events. >> so these confederate soldiers. they come here this year? >> we urged them to pay for those services and they said no. >> so you stopped the confederate soldiers. up top! yeah! the south will rise again! not without this permit. screw you, confederate, soldiers. let's give this week to the selma marchers. >> no, it's across the world. >> you made the selma marchers pay to have police come? that's dicey territory. i feel like the police should probably work for free on the selma anniversary. just spitballing here. the new mayor just didn't get it. surely the

that was on our way to selma, alabama for the 50th anniversary of blood he sunday. those words ring true today. who are week? this book really goes into the heart of the matter. when you talk about race, isn't it strange to say then president obama? it has just been 10 days or 11 days, can't even keep count now but the bottom line is we have a society that is divided and i am going to go back to something my children's favorite singer leslie odom junior, we are a united divided state so when it comes to matters of race, african-americans have the highest numbers of negatives in every category and issue of policing very important as well as pieces in this book. traditionally in the african-american community there is an instinctive coming of age called the talk, something black fathers or father figures give their sons. meant to be a lifetime tool that might help these boys strategically navigate interactions with law enforcement with the goal of awarding altercations. .. >> what monticello, thomas jefferson's home which i believe is the only private house that is on

are no more free than the black people of selma, alabama were in 1955.hat's keeping us down, what's keeping us locked inside is crime and violence and criminal gangs." so in response to that he promoted a program called operation ceasefire where police would stop cars on any pretext, of a minor traffic violation, speeding, tinted windows, you name it, because they wanted to search those cars for guns. >> brown: so with good intentions, best intentions, of protecting the black community, but you're suggesting all of that helped foment what's come in the mass incarcerations. >> exactly. i mean, the story, my story is a tragedy, right, because it is a story of best intentions in many cases. you have people, often they don't-- part of-- part of the story that people didn't know what was going to happen next. so in the 1970's, they chose not to decriminalize marijuana. that was a big debate in d.c. at the time, and when they didn't do it and they said, "well, it's not that big of a deal if we don't decriminalize marijuana because nobody's really going to pris

when i was in high school, king led thousands of people on a 50-mile march from selma to montgomery, alabamag restrictions. during that march king said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. that line inspired this book, "the moral arc: how science and reason lead humanity toward truth, justice and freedom." its author, mikal shermer, says now some people complain there's not must have social justice when we're living in the most moral period ever in history. what do you mean? >> the expansion of civil rights, women's rights, gay rights, animal rights. more people are freer and have more rights than at any time in history. and yet people still complain that it's bad now, worse than it's ever been as if all the work that dr. king did counted for nothing. so we followed the trend lines, not the headlines -- that's the job of the media, of course, to report the bad news, but it's good to take those long-term trends over the course of centuries and look at the abolition of slavery, abolition of judicial torture, the granting of the franchise to all adults, and americ

i composed a song for him, i knew his wife, all his children and i was in the selma march with him and the march on alabamaege and the march on washington. i was right right beside his side. we saw the public face, the public man. what was he like in those private moments when he was out of the public eye? darling, he was always on stage. his dedication was of such immense proportion that he never forgot for a minute that he was there to lead my people. he never forgot that for a minute. and when he was not on stage, he was still on stage. he was always talking about equal rights. you've said in the past that you would have worked to try to get him the presidency. do you think realistically that he could ever have had a shot? yes, he could have. yes, he could have, baby. he could have if he hadn't gotten killed and we'd had a little bit more support. you really think america was ready for a black president? yes, i do. because even black politicians in washington these days say they don't think that's the case. not now! jesse jackson was no match for him! there's not been a man since then. and his dream cam

then-president obama to selma, alabama, and i had asked him a question about, quote-unquote, postracial versus post-obama era. and he said i would not equate my election with seminal moments like the passage of the civil rights act of 1964, the voting rights act of 1965. those were massive changes in legal status that represented fundamental breaks in america's tragic history and were the pillars, the 13th amendment, the 14th amendment and 15th amendment of civil rights acts of the '60s. those were, those represented the dismantling of former discriminationing in this country. there's nothing that's going to compare to that moving forward. our work is to build on that work, to fine tune where we see formal discrimination or state-sponsored discrimination still occurring. but increasingly our work has to do with dealing with the ongoing legacy of a divided society. closing the opportunity gaps, closing the achievement gaps, closing the wealth gaps that inevitably have been passed on from generation to generation because the gaps were so wide. and that involves no one piece of legislation

that was on our way to selma alabama for the 50th anniversary of blood he sunday. those words still ring true today. who are we? this book goes into the heart of the matter. when you talk about race -- this piggybacks on what then president obama said -- isn't it strange state then president obama? it's only been ten days -- the bottom line is we still have a society that is divided. i'm going to think, i'll go back to my child's favorite singer, leslie ogden junior, we are united divided states. when it comes to matters of states race, they still have the highest number of negatives and issues of policing are very important as well as the pieces where i start in this book. traditionally in the african-american community, the american black committee, there is an instinctive coming-of-age truth for our young black men called the talk. it's something black fathers or father figures give their son. it's meant to be a lifetime tool that might help these boys strategically navigate interactions with law enforcement. the ultimate goal is to avoid all altercations. it's

that was on our way to selma, alabama, for the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday. and those words still ring true today. but, again, who are we? so this book really goes into the heart of the matter. when you talk about race -- and this is kind of piggybacking off what president obama said, then-president obama -- isn't it strange to say then-president obama? it's just been ten days. [laughter] or eleven days, i don't know, i can't even keep count now. but the bottom line is that we still have a society that is divided. and i'm going to think about, and i'm going to go back to something, my children's favorite singer, leslie odom jr., and this song called "seriously." we are our united divided states. so when it comes to matters of race, african-americans still have the highest numbers of negatives in almost every category. and issues of policing are very important. that's one of the pieces where i start in this book. traditionally in the african-american community, the american black community, there is an instinctive coming of age truth for our young black men ca