but i think we can all agree that mother tony morrison is something decidedly different. she said many times, she didn't feel diminished by being a black woman writer. she understood her blackness as a thing that expanded the kinds of stories that she told. what is this black, as a beautiful thing, really mean in the day today? it's a very question that she asks. >> i wonder how you feel, as an historian, and somebody was documented the life of black folks in this country, how it takes you that suddenly, that's who people have decided to band, that they've decided to demonize. johnny morrison basically was used for the virginia governor, republican governor, to win an election, by demonizing her. >> yeah, well, in any form, in any color, that's equally disgusting. and why anybody would ban -- tony morrison is one of the greatest novelists in the history of the novel for. you know, when we think of the great novelists in the world, there is william faulkner, there is gabriel marquez, there's tony morrison. virginia wolf. tony morrison was the genius, and the fact that anyb

>> honestly i'm surprised but if somebody is out there i love what toni morrison did for us and for thehip but then again i don't want to spoil it. sometimes that happens. but that is my top one. >> i know that there are some books that are coming. >> yes. [laughter] but i feel like now we have the writers room and the talent with a much better adaptation and then they deserve it. so not to be like a classic love story. i did want to say one thing that because it becomes a fact of life but not the defining feature of life. i say i don't know if it works that way but, what i understand, what she is showing us are the considerable powers that she has but that's the lesson we should take so what are the games and also to the earlier point of the conversation to be able to impose that on anybody anywhere. and thenik to say i appreciate to see how the world should actually i be. but then looking at doing black women universes. >>y but once again it was a liberal freedom of expression but i think that's beautiful. >> i just want to say with bridger chan i have to confess that the first season

i [inaudible] i know somebody is thinking about screenplays but i love what toni morrison did for usn that book. or friendship, i love that she fits everything in that book. so toula is my number one but then again i don't want to spoil it because sometimes that happens. so hopefully a good screenwriter could work with that one but that would be my top one. >> all the october octavia butler books. there are some that are coming. here's the thing. i actually want someone to redo our eyes were watching god. i hated the screen version of that. [inaudible] i'm feel like we've now got the writing room, the talents, all the things to make that a much better adaptation and that is like such a classic love story. and i'm an avid woman, novel reader so i'm with all ofthat . i did want to say there's one thing about shonda which is i think the fact that shonda company is named shondaland. that's the point. it becomes merely a fact of life, not the defining feature of life and so while i'm like girl, i don't know that it works that way i also am like, what i understand is what she is showing us

we do need to reach alice walker and toni morrison and to ladies point, it's even pointed and maurice talked about earlier when he was on the call, you know, toni morrison said it you can't center whiteness we got to stop centering whiteness we got to stop centering white people because we center that and keep putting the conversations around. we are consciously or subconsciously still perpetuating the mythology that white people in whiteness are superior to everyone else. and we know that's a lie that's a lie. and nobody superior. nobody. you know what is superior is the power that some groups have had that have dictated the rest of our lives. but no one is superior to anybody. the stories of that their lives in not superior any of that kind of stuff. and i think that's what the battle's for and i think that that's why you see what we're seeing now with the ted cruz's know blowing up dr. egan's book like the they're saying that we're trying to hold on to white nationalism. we're holding on to white supremacy. we want make a make a make america great again. but it's only for white peo

they are not going to read toni morrison. they are not going to read a text that includes the infamous n word is their attitude is who needs it? no. i am not going to chance saying the wrong thing. coming off the wrong way and having some student report me to my bosses. so on the question of pressure, oh yes we have a lot of pressure. we have a lotle of pressure that pushes a lot of people to avoid the subject. question, is that a good thing? second, are there teachers who go about their work in an ignorant fashion? sure there are. i have no doubt there are teachers including white teachers are stupidly naÏve. i will give you an example of that period of my alma mater, princeton university, there is a teacher, an anthropologist who taught a course on taboo. that was the course. on the very first day of the class the teacher said something along the lines of, he used n word somehow. is it worse for me too say n word over me too punch somebody in the nose? something. and some of the black students got very upset and ended up ma

that so many school districts around this country are banning books, books by noted authors like toni morrisonut the horrors of slavery and history, i don't know what we expect from our students. we deny them the important historical information that they need and then we expect them to understand how offensive and how racist this conduct is. not fair to the students >> it's not fair to the students. if the adults won't allow them to learn black history. yeah expect them to contort themselves in a way that would demonstrate an understanding of slavery. what we are seeing is just the opposite. school districts are saying, no we do not want you to learn. >> let's put it into perspective here, because i want people to know what's on the video. >> it shows, students pointing annular dollar mounts a black students, lined up in their underwear. it is demeaning right. that sort of disgusting experience can stay with somebody for a long time. >> absolutely. it's called racialized trauma and we don't talk enough about it i think in this country. many students will have symptoms similar to those individ

given that so many school districts out this country are banning books, books by noted author like tony morrisonit more difficult for teachers to teach the facts about the horrors of slavery black history. i don't know what we expect more students. we denied it the important historical information that we need. i expect them to understand how offensive in how racist's conduct. this >> segment? >> it is not fair to the students. if the adults won't allow them to learn black history, but yet, expect them to comport themselves in a way that would demonstrate an understanding of the horrors of slavery. what we're seeing is just the opposite, school districts are saying, no, we don't want you to learn it. >> let's put into perspective here, because i want people to realize that cnn has not seen the video. but it shows students pointing and yelling at dollar multiplexed is lined up in their underwear. it is demeaning. that sort of disgusting experience can stay with someone for a long time. >> absolutely. it is called racialized trauma. we don't talk but enough this country. many students will have sy

of education's where people arezy saying all kinds of crazy stuff and eliminating things like toni morrison so this isn't just about, speak to that and the need for white allies in this moment because i see that as political. my book became a critical race theory. i didn't know i was writing it but the definition of critical race theoryy and suddenly i was writing. who knew. what that debate is. what that really is is people being committed to making their kids done. when my kid has to throw out his my kids are going to know history. they will know who abrahamel lincoln is and stokely carmichael. it's going to be your kid who doesn't know these things and gets, outcompeted. then when we talk about the allies in this particular context, all you have to do when you go to the school board meeting is advocate for your kids to be smart. [applause] you don't have to advocate for any particular race or rule, just for your kid to be smart because that is all that education should t be. tell your kids the truth and the rest will play itself out. it's how terrible slavery was. why is it okay for me t

. >> when i was trying to sell my books on the street and getting nowhere and toni morrison was getting thousand dollars, you have to own what that feels like and that's why elected in their so that people can see you're a human being. it hurts when you have so little and somebody else seems to have so much. what makes the difference is before that, tony and i and june and other women have formed this circle. where we decided no matter what happened we would always be true to each other. that's what revolutionaries is really putting it all out there, understanding how it works but getting together beforehand or in the midst of deciding he will not be playing in this way. >> once the full program online anytime alexandra desanctus. just search alice walker or gathering blossoms under fire . >> welcomes all of you whether you're in person or online, it's my pleasure to be able to post this on behalf of the ridge foundation. i'm the director of the divorce century which is the center of the heritage foundation that handles leadership in life and this is a historic we obviously. in fact i c

ton of people who either didn't vote or are other 18 and they are going to turn the lives of the tony morrison book burners on their head to demand accountability for past, present and future. let's going. give it up for boris and chris. [applause] >> things, virginia and thanks for labyrinth book who donated over 700 books to the library at east jersey state prison where with my students you are about to meet three of my remarkable students, worked on and finished college degree, some include them to embody and there are several people here, jennifer who have been so important in the lives of those who have been demonized and forgotten so it is a special night. wboris and ron were in the clas that wrote the play. ron and russ were in the class where i traumatize them by dragging them through all of chauvin's politics and vision.wa [laughter] i've taught -- russ was not in the cost russ got out in july after 32 years and they have all read the book, ron helped editth the book but i'm going to set it up and passed the mic to them they can pull from that experience in the book but they think is

tons of people who either didn't vote, or are under 18 they're going to turn the lives of the toni morrison book burners on theiror hand as they demand accountability for the past, present and future. and on that note let's get going please give it up. [applause] think it virginia. thanks to labyrinth the books which donated over 700 books to the library at east jersey state prison where my students and you are about to meet three of my most remarkable students worked on in the case of ross finish their college degree summa cum laude. several people here, cecelia, dan, joe, others, jennifer been so important in the lives of those who have been demonized and forgotten. yes it is a special night. t orest and ron were in the class that broke the play. ron and russ were in the class where i traumatized them by dragging them through all of sheldon politics and vision. [laughter] and russ was not in the class but i've taught russ. russ just got out in july after 32 years. they have all read the book and ron helped edit the book. i'm just going to set it up and passed the mic to them. they can beg

metric ton of people who either didn't vote or under 8:00 they're going to turn the lives of the tony morrison book burners on their head if they demand accountability for the past, present and future. and on that note, let's get going. please give it up for boris, chris, and russ. [applause] >> thanks, virginia. and thanks to labyrinth books, which donated over 700 books to the library at east jersey state prison, where my students and you're about to meet, three of my most remarkable students, worked on and in the case of us are, finished their college degree summa cum laude, and there are several people here. and jennifer works have been so important in the lives of those who have been demonized and forgotten and, yeah, it's a special night. boris and ron were in the class that wrote the play. ron and russ were in the class where i traumatized them by dragging them through all of sheldon's politics envision. i taught and russ was not in the class but russ just got out in july after 32 years. and so -- they've all read the book, ron and, boris helped edit the book. but i'm going to set it up

they are not going to read toni morrison.not going to read a text that includes the infamous n-word because that attitude is going to be who needs it? i don't-- you know, no, i'm not going to chant saying the wrong thing, coming off the wrong way, and having some student report me to my bosses. so on the question of pressure, oh, yeah, we have a lot of pressure and i think, you know, we have a lot of pressure that pushes a lot of people to avoid the subject. question, is that a good thing? second, are there teachers who go about their work in an ignorant fashion? sure, there are. i have no doubt that there are teachers, including white teachers, who are heedless, who are stupidly naive. i'll give you an example of that. at my alma mater, princeton university, there was a teacher, anthropologist, who taught a course on taboo. that was the course. on the very first day of the class the teacher said something along the lines of -- he used (n word) somehow. >> right. >> is it, is it worse for me to say (n word) or for me to punch

could apply that because you have word of education where people are saying a kinds of stuff like toni morrisonsn't just about a discussion of thanksgiving. speak to that and the need for allies in this moment because i see it as political. they are trying to create consistency for donald trump. >> my book became a critical race theory. as i was writing it. i do know i was writing a critical race theory book. suddenly i was but who knew? what that debate is and i've said this a lot of times but what that really is his people beingnt committed. i don't want to do that because when it comes, when my kid has disavowed his college application for harvard or yale my kids is going to go history. my kid is going to know who abraham lincoln is. my kid is going to know who stokely carmichael is. it will be your kid who doesn'te know what if outcompeted by my kid your word about affirmative action. and we talk about the ally ship in particular in this particular context what i say to my friends is all young have to do when you go to the school board meeting as advocate for kids to be smart. [applause] yo

you have the board of education where people are saying crazy stuff and eliminating things like toni morrison. not just the table discussion at thanksgiving, the need for this moment because i see that, trying to create the next constituency to donald trump. >> my book became a critical race theory book when i was writing it and white people changed the definition of critical race theory and i was writing a critical race theory book, who knew? what that debate is and i said this a lot, what that really is is white people committed to making their kids dumb. don't want to do that because my kid has to fill out his college essay to go to harvard or yale my kid will know history. my kid will know who abraham lincoln is. like it is going to know who starkly -- stokely carmichael is. it will be your dumb ass kid who doesn't know these things and get outcompeted by my kids. then affirmative-action. why are you making your kids dumb? we talk about the allyship in this context. i say to my friends all you have to do to to the school board meeting is advocate for your kids to be smart. you don't have

and you quote toni morrison here. you know there will always be one more thing right and so the model defending, it seems to me, assumes that will eventually encounter the law or death by police. and so my concern is, if you're living as a model defendant, i think you're describing this as sort of like a tax that we, you know, are burdened by. but if you're living as a model defendant, who is it for? as it's not really for you? because if you were to die, i mean, look, is it for you know, is it for that your family that will be left behind? i mean i'm really about that. okay. that's an interesting point. so the model i talk toward the end of the book about this concept of, you know, being a black citizen in america is it's like being a model defendant. and that's a take on the of the model plaintiff in where you had the naacp and other civil rights groups that would carefully choose black plaintiffs for you know to cases because they didn't want them to have any blemish or stain in their personal history that could th

they are not going to read toni morrison. they are not going to read a text that includes the infamous because they're attitude is going to be who needs it. i don't you know, i've i am not going to charge vance saying the wrong thing coming off the wrong way and having some student report me to my bosses so on the question of pressure oh yeah we have a lot of pressure and i think you know, we have a lot of pressure that pushes a lot of people to avoid the question is that a good thing. second are there teachers who go about their work in an ignorant fashion? sure are. i have no doubt that are teachers, including white teachers who are he lists who are stupidly naive. i'll give an example of that at alma mater, princeton university, there was, a teacher, anthropologist who taught a course on taboo. that was the course on the very first day of the class, the teacher said something along the lines of he used -- somehow right? is it, you know, is it is is it is it worse for me to say -- or for me to punch somebody in the nose? so

specifically some of the things that were being suppressed, classic books, like the bluest eye by tony morrisonen the world and me, they knew a little bit about the suppression of 16 19. when they heard the story of rudy bridges being suppressed, even stories that were designed to tell little black it's what our history is, what we have struggled through, what we have triumphed over, they got angry when they heard about that. they were motivated when they heard about that. they brought their kids to read the books with us. i think the recognition that this so-called war on critical race theory is really a war on anti racism. the ability to talk about the fact that we are still not the country that we claim to be and that, for us to save our democracy, we have to be able to participate in it. when those two ideas come together, that's a strong motivating factor going into the midterms. >> on the one, how do you have christian conservatives, nationalist pushing this authority -- authoritarian back book banning agenda, attacks on schools and educators. in a place like dearborn, michigan, for examp

characterized as much for what they leave out, what they include, and that that that fact prompted toni morrison to say in her in essay, she described so many woman authored novels as including some of paragraph that said essentially and dropping a veil over events that are too terrible to relate in their eyes. the trauma of white violence is relegated to the borders of the novel until it isn't, but the centerpiece of the because of course, janie and her quest find a romantic partner. for years, readers and scholars like myself, celebrated the love story between janie and teacake and remained silent over the violence between them that set off the violence, brought their love story to a close. the violence i allude to is the janie teacake. many of us in this room know that teacake, janie and, this is hopefully not a plot. i'm sure it's not a plot spoiler for anyone, but i don't believe that it was an accident that janie kills teacake during the middle of a hurricane. just a few scenes before actually starts. the violence we learn that teacake had a brainstorm the to hit jamie to kind of keep her

when he was on thecall, toni morrison said . you can't centering whiteness.ve got to stop center of what people because if we keep putting the conversation around them are subconsciously furthering the mythology that white people and whiteness are superior to everyone else and we know that's a lie . nobody superior to nobody. what's superior is the power some groups that had dictated the rest of our lives but no one is superior to anyone. any of that kind of stuff and i think that's what the battle is for and that's why you see what we're seeing now with the 10 crews blowing up doctor ibram's book right now they're saying we're trying to hold on to white hinationalism and white supremacy. we want to make america great again but only for heterosexual white males and women are there allies who believe in that stuff and it's the to the guestroom. eei think we need to be very clear. these things are ultimately a distraction. the real problem for me is there's three levels of the fight. one is the fightagainst all systems of oppression . that's number one. what ar

board of education, where people are seeing all kinds of crazy stuff and eliminating things like tony morrison. so this isn't just about, you know, the table discussing it thanksgiving. speak to that and the need for white allies in this moment because i see that as political because they're trying to create the next constituency for donald trump and he's so my book my book became critical race theory book as i was writing like i didn't know i was writing for the rest of the book. but then, you know what? white people change the definition of race theory. and suddenly i was writing critical race theory book. who knew what that debate is? and i've said i've said this a lot times and it -- some people off. i don't know why, but what that really is, is white people being committed to making their kids dumb. i don't want to do that because when it comes, you know, when my kid has to fill out his college essay to go to harvard or yale or whatever, my kid's going to know history. my kid's going to know who abraham lincoln is. my kid's going to know who stokely carmichael is. my kid's going to read i

and you quote toni morrison here. you know there will always be one more thing right and so the model defending, it seems to me, assumes that will eventually encounter the law or death by police. and so my concern is, if you're living as a model defendant, i think you're describing this as sort of like a tax that we, you know, are burdened by. but if you're living as a model defendant, who is it for? as it's not really for you? because if you were to die, i mean, look, is it for you know, is it for that your family that will be left behind? i mean i'm really about that. okay. that's an interesting point. so the model i talk toward the end of the book about this concept of, you know, being a black citizen in america is it's like being a model defendant. and that's a take on the of the model plaintiff in where you had the naacp and other civil rights groups that would carefully choose black plaintiffs for you know to cases because they didn't want them to have any blemish or stain in their personal history that could th

need to be bell hooks, we need to be nicky, alice walker and tony marson and to ladee's point and earlier when he was on the call. toi morrisond you can't center whiteness, we've got to stop centering white people and keep putting the conversations around them we're-- the mythology that white people are superior to everyone else and that's a lie, that's a lie. there have been power that have dictated our lives, but i think that's what the battle is for. i think that's why you see-- we see now with the ted cruz's, blowing up dr. ibram's book like that, they're saying that we're trying to old onto white nationalism and white supremacy we want to make america great again, but for heterosexual white men and women, and allies of that stuff and that's to the detriment and that's what this is about. again, we need to be clear, i say, ultimately a distax, that's what it is, it's a traction. the problem for me, three levels of the fight and struggle as we call t one is the fight against all systems of oppression, that's number one, what are you doing to fight back any kind of hatred, marginalization and hatred in this planet. and the