you have to remember, tavis, she lived in a period that was very difficult for us as black people andially as entertainers. you know, to kind of have hypocritical life of being admired by the white population but not being able to mingle with them. having to be relegated to kind of servitude status going through the service entrances or back entrances and alleys and performing on gorgeous stages, doing television shows, and yet being relegated to a kind of second-class citizen in her daily lives. i think that would have affected you and i, you know? tavis: how do folks respond today by "strange fruit" written by the jewis brother. >> his name was james allen. tavis: how do people respond when you perform today, "strange fruit"? >> well, i recently shared an evening with al jereau at the disney concert hall and i made a decision to sing that at as the last song on my show, and i received a standing ovation. tavis: quite a way to end. >> yes, it is quite a way to end. but i feel this song is still very relevant to what is going on today. you know, it speaks about the racial inequalities

for the black community, but what does it mean for all of us that we as sending these and people intoan unprecedented situation. >> i say it in somewhat of a different way. i feel that our society has rationalized the laws and caramelized racialized black pe. black men specifically are disproportionately represented in prison. prison complex braces its predictions of how many prisoners the right to build on our children, but children's third grade reading level. if you look at the black school in a predominately black neighborhood and then you look at a prison, just looking at the pictures you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. >> to you think the conference that you have on justice helped educate and sensitize. you come back and >> guest: in many ways we were all like-minded people of the different disciplines. we were singing to the choir. what we did was we shared information, each other to do something to act. it is more than just examining the problem. it is a problem. it is disparity. now that we know this we stimulated that. what do we do? >> host: why are we afr

us of color can talk about race or racism. as john mitchum's said on the two the press comment white people get queasy when black people talk about racism. >> host: why? 11 a society with all of the changes and progress but speaking to race if we really know our history with the white unearned advantage with black supremacy and white interior day that we realize that these are lies and when you check but history to say the enslavement of black people was the economic engine that builds in this country, how proud we do be if you were to realize all of the advantages you have with the disadvantage of other people? they made us the legal and subhuman in order to justify their christian notions of enslavement. from every first president even abraham lincoln called a great emancipate your he was not inviting the union or south for our liberation. he was fighting to help hold and the union together and we were free of the process. i think when light-- whites looked at that when it is revised and changed and obscured truth is a hebrew word that means truth. the truth is hard to take. and some people cannot believe it. >> host: those of us that come from biblical really say the truth will set you fr

and get people employed as well. that's why i was pleaed to hear certain members of the congressional black caw us -- caucus bring up with the president streamlining the s.b.a. if we get small business into this, they'll hire quicker than big businesses. big businesses, when they hire somebody, they give the people they already have overtime, make them work more hours, often. so that's why we often see employment as a lagging indicator, whevpb the g.d.p. is improving. if we can get the small business to get some loans, that might be something that could really spark up the economy so i was very pleased to hear chairman benny thompson make this point because i think the small business development has got to be a key strategy we pursue in getting america back to work. i yield to the gentlelady. . ms. fudge: small business growth that is where most of our people are employed. we have to do it fairly. for those people who might be watching us for the first time, we don't just represent african americans or just minorities. there are very few of us in this entire caucus that represent african americans. so no one should