Steve forbes, most recent book is reviving america. This has been built tv on cspan2 indepth. Cspan cremate americas cablevision company. [applause] all night. All day. Were going to be fighting for freddie gray. All night, all day, were going to be fighting for freddie gray. First of all, let me say that its an honor and a pleasure to be back here at red emmas. I was here months ago to introduce other new books i had written, and i consider it to be quite an honor theyve invited me back again. For those who may not be familiar, freddie gray was a young black man who had a fatal encounter with the police in the city of baltimore, and he is in a long list of such young black people who have had fatal encounters with the authorities. Im speaking of tamara rice in cleveland, and eric garner new york, and Michael Brown in ferguson, and sandra bland in texas, and hopefully what im going to be talking about this evening, that is to say, these events that span the period from the onset of the haitian revolution in 1791, up until the death of paul robeson in 1976, will shed light, i would hope, on why in north america, we have had this spectacular rise and surge of Police Killings and other misdeeded visited upon black people in particular. Now, first of all, with regard to the haitian revolution, 1791 to 1804, that rare revent, successful revolt of the enslaved, you cannot begin to understand the haitian revolution unless one sees this spectacular event in some ways as sequel to at the revolt against british rule in north america in 1776 that led to he formation of the slaveholding republic still known as the United States of america. That is to say, as i argued in my book, the counterrevolution of 1776, contrary to this Broadway Musical that use the hiphop form, such as holiday pam ton and contrary to what is routinely taught in schools from the atlantic to the pacific, the foundation of the United States of america in 1776 took place in no small measure because it was revolt against insipient abolitionism in london. That is to say, the case in june 1772 seemed to be suggesting that slave property, which even then in north america was worth in the millions, might be headed for the dust bin of history, as i explained in some detail in the book the counterrevolution of 1776, and just as those in the state now known as zimbabwe, then known as rhodesia, they thought london was working towards decolonizeddation, one vote,y they tried to continue their white racist minority regime by sitting up a new state of rhodesia. They said at the time they were walking in the foot steps of 1776. That is to say the 1776 was an attempt to escape the logic of abolitionist slavery in november 1965 in Southern Africa was an attempt to escape the logic of decolonization, and one person one vote, and african majority rules. Therefore you cannot begin to understand the trev veils veilsd the tribulations and the trials experienced by people of african descent in north america unless you understand that by several orders of magnitude, they fought against the formation of the United States of america. They sided with london, in its attempt to crush this slaveholding rebellion just like the africans did not accept the establishment of the new state of rhodesia in november 1965, and when you fight a war and lose, you can expect to be penalized and pulverizeed forever more unless and until you are able to turn the tables against your oppressors, and one of the ways we were able to turn the tables against our oppressors was through the haitian revolution, 1791 to 1804, which followed quickly upon the footsteps of the formation of the u. S. Constitution and the first convening of congress in some ways it was rebuke and a reputation of this new slaveholding republic, which is why i start the book with u. S. President George Washington expressing reservation about the haitian revolution, and what was come to be known as the haitian revolution in the case, what happens is that the africans in the islands, threaten known as hispaniola, were able to succeed against the french military, one of the most powerful examples of been valor and fortitude known to history, to this point, and established this independent black republic in 1804. But as you might have surmised, there was grave consternation in the slaveholding republic about the success and victory of the haitian revolution you. May recall if you look at many of the major slave revolts that rocked north america in the period leading up to the u. S. Civil war, 1800, denmark row velocity in south carolina, nat turners revolt, circa 1831 in virginia. They all had the fingerprints of haiti all over them, particularly gabrielles revolt in virginia in 1800 and takes place at the same time as the haitian revolution is unfolding, and also denmark vesseys revolt recall that denmark vestee in charleston, south carolina, was a seafarer and purportedly part of his aim and ambition was not only revolt against slavery, and then escape with numerous formerly enslaved but perhaps even to sail on to freedom in the island, then ruled by africans. That is to say, haiti. Now, what is interesting about many of these revolts is that theyre not unlike other revolts that are taking place within the hemisphere in which there is either inspiration by the haitian revolutionaries or direct instigation by the haitian revolutionaries. The fact the argument is make in this book is that the haitian revolution ignited a general crisis of the entire slave system that could only be resolved with that systems collapse. So if youre trying to understand why slavery collapsed in north america, you should not only look within the four corners of north america, but you should look to haiti, and as i said in a previous book, anything grow comrade to the crown, you should also look to the inspiration if not the instigation of british abolitionists in london. What is interesting as well is that the u. S. Slaveholding republic did not accept benignly this haitian revolution. You may recall that in the 1820s, you had a Massive Movement of the socalled free negro population, from north america to haiti. They were moving to haiti to not only escape the persecution they routinely encountered in north america, they were also intending to bolster and fortify haiti, this independent black republic, and play a key role in terms of keeping this independent republic afloat. You should also know that once upon once escaping to haiti, they did not forsake and forget their brothers and sisters here in north america. There were abolitionist societies on the island of haiti which were very much involved in helping to stir up antislavery sent independent the United States of america itself, and that leads to the second half of this story, which is that the United States, circa 1844, helped to instigate the splitting of the revolutionary island of haiti. Recall that this small island in the caribbean is now occupied by two states. Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was in 1844 that the u. S. Secretary of state, john c calhoun, from slaveholding south carolina, helped engineer one of the First Successful covert actions of u. S. Foreign policy in helping to fund a secessionist split of the island, leading to the formation of the Dominican Republic. This led continue sees extent, persistent conflict, between the two new states, that is to say, haiti on one side of the island and the Dominican Republic on the other side of the island. In fact, in one of the rare instances in the history of colonialism, the Dominican Republic, as the United States civil war was about to be ignited, circa 1860, and fight the former colonial powers that is spain back to the island to recolonize the Dominican Republic, that is to say most nations struggle against colonialism, but because of the socalled black scare, and the fear of haitian rule and haitian domination, those on the eastern side of the island invited madrid to come back and take over, but this rather pernicious event was quickly overtaken by the onset of the u. S. Civil war, and the United States, which had not recognize haiti, finally found out who its real friends and enemies were, because spanish cuba cuba then was controlled by spain was leaning towards diplomatic support of the socalled United States of america, and as we all know, the british abolitionists were barely able to prevent london from lending diplomatic support to the socalled con get recall states of america, but haiti stood four square in favor of the United States government as it fought this death match against the slaveholding Confederate States of america. By the way, april 15, 2016, marked the onset of emancipation of the enslaved in neighboring washington, dc, which is being marked as we speak. In any case, no good deed goes unpunished, and as a result of haiti helping to support the United States of america during its hour of need, during this u. S. Civil war that led to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of u. S. Nationals because of this traitorous revolt against abolition in the United States of america, and you might ask yourself parenthetically, how and why it is that a failed regime, Confederate States of america, which revolted against the United States government, and led to the slaughter of thousands, probably has more more monuments in many states of the United States of america than the folks who were victorious. Its very strange and unusual when those who lead a revolt and are squashed and defeated wind up somehow having mormonments more mobments than the people who help to squash them. You cannot begin to understand this conundrum unless you understand that those who revolted against washington in 1861 thought they were walkingy the footsteps of those that it revolted again london in 1776, in order to continue that institution known as slavery. In any case, after the u. S. Civil war ends, the United States government, its looks around its neighborhood, notices that canada is under british rule. Cuba is under spanish rule. Most of the caribbean, jamaica, barbados, Trinidad And Tobago under british rule, but you have these two independent states, that is to say, haiti, revolutionary haiti, and the dominican government, which has been able to oust the spanish after they had been invited back in 1860 by the dominican government with the able assistance of haiti. So the idea in washington, under president ulysses s. Grant, was to connect the island, or at least the Dominican Republic and ultimately haiti itself, and then deport the newly freed slave population en masse to the island. That particular scheme was barely defeated in the u. S. Congress. Otherwise a person like myself might not be sitting here speaking english but might be sitting on the island of his hispaniola speaking creole or french or spanish. Thats where this fishing book ends, but sadly enough, thats not where the trevials over island begins. There was u. S. A. Occupation of both haiti and the Dominican Republic. The u. S. Occupation didnt end until thed a meteorologist of Franklin Roosevelt circa 1934, and we also know in the Dominican Republic there was ample support for the dictator, rafael trujillo, who rule for decades until he met his maker in an assassination attempt that may have had u. S. Complicity. What is interesting about the d. R. , over its entire historical period, is the color phobia that persists and exists in the d. R. That is to say you might recall that in 1930s, the dominican government under rue heow massacred count countless haitian, and sammy sosa is a top home run hitter in u. S. Baseball history but after he retired, somehow magically his color was transformed and transmuted to my shade, until the shade that perhaps resembles the face of madonna, for example. This is not necessarily a peculiar idiosyncracy o sammy sosa. Its more a reflection of a culture, a culture not unlike the United States of america, that tentses to privilege White Supremacy and tends to downgrade and degrade those who happen to be darkskinned. That is a peculiar legacy of the history of slavery, and i dare say that if you want to understand how i gap my remarks with a shoutout to freddie gray and other victims of police terror. You want to understand the recent report from the chicago authorities that pointed out how the Chicago Police department is riddled with antiblack racism in terms of the disproportionate number of black people who are slain by the police, not to mention misused and abused be the police. Even if you want to understand something that may nat be as grave as the controversy as the oscars being so white, you have to understand the history of slavery in the United States, its legacy, but more than that you have to take another step and understand how the United States was formed in a revolt against the abolition of slavery, and if you understand that you may be able to understand why in 2016, we may be staring down the barrel of a president cruz or President Trump or perhaps a worse alternative than that. With that, let me turn to this book. Paul robeson, the artist as revolutionary. Paul robeson, as you may recall, was born in new jersey in 1898, died in philadelphia in 1976. In between those two dates he excelled as a scholar at Rutgers University and the law school of columbia university. He excelled an an athlete, an allamerican player, baseball catcher, forward in basketball. He played for a while in the nationm at the National Football league, but he achieved worldwide renown as a cultural worker, as a singer, and as an actor. Its not an exaggeration to suggest that at the apex of Paul Robesons career he was certainly the best known black american on planet earth and may have been one of the best known u. S. Nationals in the world because his records were sold all over the world and his movies also were broadcast all over the world as well. But paul robeson did not find that particular renown to be ultimately satisfying because he knew that despite his own personal attainments and achievements, langishing in the hell hole that was jim crow were his brothers and sisters, particularfully diskie. What is striking about paul robeson as well and striking bat number of black cultural workers, particularly musicians, is that he found his initial fame and fortune not here in this country but overseas. That is a repetitive pattern whereby black americans and their artistic gifts are recognized more readily outside of the United States than inside the United States. In Paul Robesons case it was his moving to lon dont in the early 1920s that allowed him to climb the ladder of person success, allowing him to hobnob with the great and the good in london, allowing him to achieve what was one of his initial stellar accomplishments, which was playing the role of othello in the wellknown shakespearean play, and to excel in movies, initially in london, although he did make his mark in hollywood nonetheless. But a turning point for Paul Robesons life comes in the 1930s when he is on his way to germany and he confronts facetoface the bare teeth of nazi germany, and this shakes him up tremendously, and he goes on from there to the former soviet union where he encounters a friend from harlem, speaking of the late black lawyer, william l. Patterson, name you may recall because it was william l. Patterson who led the charge in the case, the scottsboro case, the case of the scottsboro nine, a case that arise inside dixie in 1930s involving nine black youth accused falsely of sexual molestation station of twoyearold american women. The case is important because under pattersons leadership and under the leadership of the International Labor defense with which he was affiliated the case was turned into an international cause celebre, not unlike what happened to apartheid in south africa in the 1980s. And it was that external pressure that was the first stage in the successful challenge to jim crow, which obviously reaches a victorious crescendo in the 1960s with the brown versus board of education case in 1954, the rice of rosa parks, Martin Luther king, et cetera, in then 1950s and 1960s about the first chapter of the case was struck under the leadership of william l. Patterson. Patterson happened to be a communist, black communist. He in fact had been trained to a degree in russia in the soviet union. He spoke some russian. He knew paul robeson because william l. Patterson, too, had been a lawyer in harlem at the same time paul robeson was in harlem. They reignited their friendship in the soviet union in the 1930s and it was pattersons roth proselytize that hoped to push robeson to the left from from that point he is transformed. You may recall that robeson goes to the front line during the spanish civil war in 1934 to 1935. One of the first chapters in the attempt by the fascists under Adolph Hitler to achieve world conquest, the spanish republic is overthrown because of this ample assistance provided by fascist germany and fascist italy none mussolini. Paul robeson contributes his talent and funding to keep the spanish republic afloat but to no avail. Paul robeson probably would have stayed in london to the end of his life but for the onset of world war ii in europe in august 1939. Fearing for his family, he decides to pack up and move back to his homeland. That is to say the United States of america. The United States of america then is engaged in a debate about world war ii and the u. S. Role in it. Parenthetically, you should know that in the runup to the bombing of pearl harbor, december 7, 1941, that is to say the bombing of Japanese Forces of pearl harbor, hawaii, the u. S. Colony in the pacific, that japan had made a very nonned and not unsuccessful effort to woo black americans. W. E. Ber due boys, booker t. Washington, Marcus Garvey and many more had contradictions between and amongst them but all were united around this idea of when japan bombed pearl harbor, in place in black america, was this infrastructure of protokyo support that paul robeson began to chip away at. That is to say that paul robeson was able to convince many black americans that their destiny and fate should rest with solidarity with washington in this death match with japan, italy and germany, rather than succumbing to the siren song of tokyo. You should also know parenthetically the next book i publish will be on this subject, protokyo sent independent black america, which was quite strong and resonant and somehow is disappeared into the rabbit hole of amnesia, paul robeson was able to chip away at that kind of sentiment and woo black americans into the fold, getting them tone list in great numbers in the u. S. Military where they played a pivotal role in the ultimate devastation of the fascist powers and particularly japan. But once again no good deed goes unpunished, and after the end of world war ii, you have the onset of the red scare and the cold war. Paul robeson was considered to be virtually traitorous by washington because of his close friendship with moscow. Very interesting about the soviet union and the United States today. United states today the current line with regard to moscow is that its okay to be pro moscow between un22, 1941 exwhen hitlers forces invade russia, or the soviet union, and september 1, 1945, when world war ii concludes. So, its okay to be promos scow then. The only people who i know who tend to question that line are the late u. S. President her period hoover, and your home boy, pat buchanan down the road in washington, dc. In in but Paul Robesons position was if washington could ally with moscow to defeat his antagonist it would not be beyond the bounds of reason for robeson and his comrades to alie with to defeat theyre antagonist but washington would have none of it. In fact a turning point in the life of paul robeson takes place in 1946 when he confronts facetoface the then u. S. President hari s. Truman and wags his finger and denounce harry truman for this lethargy in pursuing lynchers who were mutilating and committing may hem against black people, including black soldiers in uniform. According to reports, Harry Trumans face was turning purple as he suffered the fuse laud of invective from paul robeson but that was a turning opinion for Paul Robesons life because from that point you began to see an increased persecution of paul robeson, that is to say, his passport was taken, which took away the life blood of his career because he may have been more popular abroad than in the United States of america. His income plummeted from the six figures to the four figures. A concert that he held in new york in the summer of 1949, was assailed and assaulted by murderous mob, bent, according to reports, upon physically mutilating paul robeson if not doing away with him altogether. This was a benefit concert for the Organization Led by william l. Patterson who was by that time back in north america, leading the civil rights congress, socalled communist front in the forefront of pursuing the lynchers and racists to their grave. Paul robeson was barely able to escape with his body intact but his tribulations did not end there. You may recall in 1951 paul robeson and William Patterson filed a petition with the United Nations charging the u. S. Authority with genocide against black people. A petition they published to accompany this very audacious maneuver was translated into numerous languages, sold thousands of copies, particularly abroad, put enormous pressure on the u. S. Authorities to do something about this bleeding wound known as jim crow. Recall that at this particular moment the cold war had erupted and washington was seeking to point the finger of accusation at moscow about human rights violations, but when robeson and patterson filed this petition, charging the United States with grievous human rights violations, washington was unmasked as something of a hypocrite. This put enormous pressure on the United States to do something about jim crow, and its not surprising that if you look at the brief, particularly the brief filed by the u. S. State department in the brown versus board of education decision, which reverses the ferguson decision of the 1890s, which said jim crow was legal and constitutional, brown vs. Board of education decade later reverses that particular charge. You cannot begin to understand why brown vs. Board of education took place without understanding the international situation, without understanding the role of the left which had international alliances, because i dare say that if you look at the history of settler colonialism and the United States is exhibit a. In terms of settler colonial regimes what is strike about the settler colonial regimes, particularly those in knowinger america and those in Southern Africa, if you look at the evolution of their regimes of oppression, be it jim crow and slavery in the United States, or apartheid and its predecessors in south africa you cant fund it without understanding the external pressure you. Cant understand the democratic elections in sought africa no 1994 without understanding the role of cuban troops who defeated the apartheid military on the battlefield of southern angola, leading to the liberation of South African occupied namibia, and then in the ether was the idea that if the apartheid authorities did not negotiate reasonably with their opponents the cube want troops might be satisfied with kicking their butts out of namibia, they might march to pretor to ya and eject them from power. That helped to induce reason into the negotiating team of the appar tight authorities. So going back to northed north america. You cant understand how jim crow was forced from its hold on north america without understanding the international situation, the reliance and alliances with the leftwing forces, et cetera, and paul robeson was the exemplar of that kind of movement, and as a result he paid a very heavy price. Finally in 1958, the United States authorities yielded to the global pressure, returned Paul Robesons part. He immediately left, returned to london, which by the way paul robeson always said if you want to understand his attraction to socialism, rather than looking to moscow, look to london. That is to say that he was very close to leftwing forces in london, even though he reportedly told the investigating authorities in the United States that he was not a member of the u. S. Communist party, i speculate that he may have ban member of the British Communist Party because he was very close to the british communists while he was living in london in the 1920s and and 1930s. So he returns to london, resumes his acting career, playing othello to thunderous applause, and travels throughout europe, and he is in some ways like familiarished man who is confronted with a banquet. That is to say he overdoes it in terms of his travel and his attention to adoring audiences, et cetera. His health has been deterouting for various ropes north, the least of the pressure he was under while under virtual house arrest in the United States of america, and so after his wife passes away in 1965 and had not only been one of his closest comrades butanals many ways his Business Manager and his confidante. He returned to the United States, moved into a working Class Community in the city of philadelphia, and becomes a virtual recluse because of his deteriorating health, although its fair to say that the rising forces, antijim crow forces in the United States, they knew what side of the bread their bread was buttered on because they paid homage to paul robeson repeatedly, that is particularly the case for the troops of the civil rights movement, im speaking of sncc, and their snyder and Coretta Scott king, widow of Martin Luther king, and andrew young, one of kings closest associates, also paid homage to paul robeson during his declining years in philadelphia. Finally in january 1976, the man who was born in new jersey in 1896, passed away, but his passing, i dont think, squelched the causes to which he gave his life, the cause of socialism, which i hope and believe is having something of resurgence in the United States in 2016. The cause of antiracism, the cause of liberation of africa, the cause of progressive humanity because one of the key notes of Paul Robesons life was his almost maniacal study of foreign languages. He reportedly could read dozens of languages. He sung in dozens of languages and spoke, of course, german and russian and french and spanish and english and studied African Languages as well, and this was all part of a political project because for robesons point of view, humanity was one, humanity as one were all marching towards the same goal, that is to say, socialism, albeit at different speeds, and he felt that in terms of communicating more effectively with global audiences, that he should be able to speak in the tongue of virtually any audience that he encountered. A noble project indeed. But i would say, just in conclusion, that once again, if youre trying to understand the tribulations and trials of black people in north america over the centuries, particularly post 1776, you have to understand in the first place the reality that the United States of america was established as a slaveholding republic, even though i can understand why lawyers as a rhetorical device will often speak warmly of the founders and their noble documents and declaration of independence and the constitution and how they were so flexible they were able to be expanded to all of the rest of us who were initially excluded, understand that as a rhetorical argue. But the reality of the matter is that the founders did not have people like myself in mind when this country was established just like they did not have cattle or furniture in mind when this socalled republic was stabbed. We were considered on the same level cattle and furniture but we overcome the points of view, but once again we were able to fight that glorious struggle. That leads because we had support in the International Community and for those in the black lives matter movement, for those in the antipolice terror movement, until and unless you ingest that basic lesson, that is to say that International Solidarity is a prerequisite in order to achieve some success and victories in the United States of america youll be left in the dust because i think that one of the lessons that the trump and cruz campaigns are telling us is that there is this stunning array, this stunning crossclass coalition, within the euro American Community that encompasses the wealthy and not so wealthy, and in many ways that particular coalition of 2016 replicates the kind of coalition that helped to subdue and subjugate a continent, and enslaved the africans, et cetera, and when i hear that phrase, make America Great again, it makes me recall just to go back to this book, that in the island of martineque in the french caribbean, at one point slavery was abolished but then it came back. And i think that if were not careful, perhaps slavery will not come back but perhaps something even worse will return. Thank you very much for your attention. [applause] any questions or comments . Come up to the mic. Id like to thank you for your mountain of work and your continued commitment to the facts and to truth, and its just an authorize be in your countenance, sir. Keep writing. [applause] my question for you is that given that you argue in your book confronting black men, that the haitian revolution, which was decidedly a violent insurrection, precipitated the abolitionist slavery in the United States, what is your opinion on violence as protest and a vehicle for change in todays political climate, for example, the riots that resulted after the murder of freddie gray, or prison uprisings as a response to mass incarceration. Thank you. I guess everybody heard the question. Well, i find myself in strange agreement with u. S. Secretary of state john kerry who, during his visit to hiroshima, the site of the first and hopefully only use of atomic weapons, was compelled to say that he saw war as the last resort that should be arrived at, and he did not exclude war altogether, just said it should be the last resort arrived at, and i would Say Something similar with regard to that very probing question that was just posed. That is to say, that i dont think that given the correlation of forces in north america, with many of our folks not being armed, only armed with strong lungs to yell and protest, and given the militarized nature of the police, and the militarized nature of these police guards who, bill the way, in places like california and new york, have very strong unions, who make political contributions to politicians and, therefore, are helped to entrench their power even further given the correlation of military force is dont think that violence should be our first option with regard to pushing them back. However, if you push people into a corner, and if you brutalize them, as has happened in this city of baltimore, and if you have these examples like freddie gray, where a person enters into the custody of the police alive, and leaves dead, its perfectly understandable why there are forces in this city who refuse to accept that in a supine fashion, and i think thats reasonable, because they are trying to understand the lessons of history as well, and they recognize that if unless you give a forceful response, then you are guaranteed to have a slew of freddie grays going forward, which i find wholely and totally unacceptable. Id like to really thank you for your insight on mr. Robeson. I have a question. During the time of that gray area from 1941 to 1945, that you expounded on an area expounded on an area in which we did not focus on the communistic situation. Can you expound more on that . Sure. Well, as you know, the war in europe began in late august, 1939, with hitler sweeping through europe. At that particular time there was a kind of ambivalence, even amongst progressive forces, as to how and whether the United States should enter that particular conflict because the lesson of world war i was quite fresh. Recall that world war i, 1914 to 1918 itit was truly world war because one of the reasons britain was able to prevail was they were able to conscript thousands upon thousands of africans to fight on their behalf, not to mention indians and south asians. The United States entered the war belatedly after selling fundamentally to both sides, and then there was this propaganda put forward by the racist u. S. President , Woodrow Wilson recall there was a debate at Princeton University whether his name should be removed from various entities at that ivy league university. Widow wilson responsible for the restoration of jim crow in washington, helping to drive numerous black families into poverty but in world war ii he brought forward the fact that this is would war that would make the world safe for academicracy, and puppies and ice cream would occur if people made sacrifice during the war. Many fell for this nonsense, even manning black leaders fell for this. This was fresh in the mind when world war ii was erupting and particularly after when japan bombs pearl harbor which pushes United States in the war because there was a fair amount of protokyo sent. Amongst black americans. If you look at world war ii youll find the United States was yanked into an alliance with moscow to confront germany and in fact if you look at the casualty lists in terms of who made the largest sacrifice during world war ii, well, in terms of the allies, the United States, britain, france, et cetera, its by far the soviet union. In many ways it was the soviet union that broke in the back of fascism. The United States had this del plame because the fed their people of anticommunist and antisovietism and then had to reverse. In an earlier book i wrote, i talked at length about how u. S. President Franklin Roosevelt was encouraging hollywood to make prosoviet, even prostalin movies you. Can find some of youtube. Mission to moscow, for example, is exhibit a. In that regard, which represents stalin as this benevolent leader, takes an antitrust line, at swords point with stalin at that time, and its interesting is that after the war, of course, many of these filmmakers were hauled before congressional committeess and grilled about their prosoviet productions in world war ii and congress did not want to hear that in many ways they had been encouraged and enticed to do so by roosevelt himself. It would be as if silver Sylvester Stallone remember the rambo movie that shows the bib bin character as a kind of hero because the United States was in the same trench with the religious zealots, fighting moscow in the 1980s in afghanistan. A rather Strange Alliance that has given rise to this explosion of religious zealotry which we face on a regular basis throughout the world. It would be as if Sylvester Stallone was called before congress in 2016 and grilled about making a rambo movie that seemed to glorify an anti excuse me Osama Bin Laden type character. He could say i was just following the line. Why are you grilling me now . Go back and read the newspapers about what washington thought about afghanistan in the 1980s. Well, it was a like situation with regard to world war ii. That is to say that washington, moscow alliance, was something that was accepted in broad circles at that particular moment because it was seep as the difference between seen as the difference between life and death because the german war machine was quite formidable and it was not preordained that washington would prevail over this war machine, but for the ample assistance of the red army surge out of moscow. So thats part of the context for my remarks with regard to robeson and antifascism did and the changing line in the United States with regard to moscow, et cetera. Thank you for your talk. Just had kind of a quick question. What were seeing with both books confronting black jacobins, were seeing an articulation of a black radical tradition propelling forward these shifts in world historical movements such as establishment of slavery and decolonization later. Where can we locate these movements of black internationalism, of the black radical tradition, and International Solidarity, in against the wars of imperialism right now in southwest space the neocolonialization of africa . Well, there is a peace movement, as you know in the United States of some strength, and as you know, as we speak, theres a democracy spring unfolding in washington, dc, a very courageous effort by activists of various ages to confront the warmakers. One of their key issues, campaign finance, but i think that they emerged in the wake of other efforts of activism. Recall the conference of codepink had in washington, dc just a few weeks ago, focusing on saudi arabia, which in many ways is a country that should be focused on. When youre trying to unravel, for example, the proliferation and profusion of war. Not only because of their direct intervention in yemen, across the red sea from ethiopia, an intervention which washingtonest racisting but look at the explosion of religious zealotry throughout africa you. ll find the hand of the house of saud in terms of funding extremism issue including in nigerarch africas most powerful economy and most populace nation with the boko haram religious zealots have been wreak having voc. Were approaching the second anniversary of the kidnapping of the teenaged girls in northern niger nigeria, and who knows what feat of those teenaged girls although we have reports that some of them have been turned into suicide bombers and some have been sex slaves. We also know that this has been too much even for president obama who is in his recent revealing interview in atlantic magazine issues a somewhat veiled criticism of this socalled saudi ally which explains why he is headed to saudi arabia shortly because saudi arabia blaze an outsized role in the global economy. Not only as the major swing producer of oil and you may be able to point the finger of accusation at saudi arabia when you try to unravel how and why it is that the barrel of oil in 2014 was over 100 now hover egg at the 30 level, which may be good for you who buy gasoline at the pump, but has been devastating for an intriguing list of countries, including venezuela, iran, nigeria, and russia. And i think that what im saying with regard to casting a critical eye upon u. S. Imperialism, u. S. Foreign policy, the alliances that the United States is now ensnared in, including with the medieval regime of saudi arabia, i am not the only person who has this kind of critical outlook. Although, if i were forced to be honest i will try to do so i do think that our movement, our peace movement, our solidarity movement, our antiimperialist movement, needs some renewal. It needs newer forces. It needs deeper study. It needs more militant protests, because im sure that youre paying attention to some of these hot spots across the globe. The fact that this tension in the South China Sea between the United States and chinese forces. The fact that pentagon chief ash carter was just in new dehli as part of this uncirclement of china strategy, at the same time as john kerry, secretary of state, was in japan. You know, im sure, that the u. S. Bases in the philippines are being revived. U. S. Bases in Northern Australia targeting china. That president obama himself will be headed to vietnam been rather shortly, and you may recall that despite the fact that these are two, quote, communist regimes, unquote, they fought a rather bitter war shortly after the vietnam war, and by the way, if youre trying to understand the rise of china in recent decades to the point where now its jumped by many judges be many to have an economy larger than the United States. You have to understand the fixation and obsession with moscow that not only led to an eye lines with a religious zealot which exploded all over the world and this alliance with china in return for china waging war against vietnam, it was able to attract foreign instressment from the United States which crated a juggernaut which the United States is trying to corral, and i dare say that either this corralling will not work, or it will have the unintended consequence of creating a new behemoth. Im seeking of the alliance between india and japan which stretches back to the founding of buddhism. There was protokyo sentiment in india as well. Of course, fought shoulder to shoulder with Japanese Forces against the allies. So, United States has this penchant, this proclivity for getting ensnared in these alliances but not thinking through all of the possible downstream consequences, and then People Like Us wind up paying the price, and i think that one of the many reasons why we wind up paying the price is because not enough of us are energized, not enough of us are sufficiently informed, and theres this comforting notion, which im well aware of since i teach teenagers for a living, that what is obtaining today will be the case tomorrow. I understand that sentiment because its comforting that allows you to sleep at night, but sadly and tragically, history does not often allow for such a pleasing result. Things can change. But let us hope that we will be able to muster the intelligence and their energy to ensure that these dooms day scenarios will never have the opportunity to unfold. Anybody else have any questions of comments . Heres one. So, i wanted to know if you wanted to comment on what is happening now between the u. S. And the Dominican Republic and haiti, particularly the expulsion of haitians from the Dominican Republic and also the role of particularly the United States ndos since the earthquake and the role in the u. S. In terms of haitis internal affairs. Well, as you probably know, the latter point, the u. S. Role since the january 2010 earthquake is getting considerable attention, not lease because of the president ial run of secretary of state hillary clinton, who had a pivotal role in the, quote, restoration, unquote, of haiti. Her spouse, former u. S. President bill clinton was a kind of vice roy in haiti there have been many lords what happened to all the money that was contributed by many u. S. Nationals and nationals from all the world to haitian relief and what happened with regard to the kind of housing that was going to be built for haitians, many of whom are still in very poor conditions. Secretary clinton is receiving quite a grilling from certain audiences. Assu assu assume. Even if they have adequate paper documents, it is like people in the United States now adays, colorphobia. There have been many protests at this outrage. Not only in the dr consulate in new york city but the people like the rider juno diaz. A writer from oregon has been protesting and a number of writers with haitian origin. I am confidant sufficient pressure will be placed along the dr government to insure this human rights outrage is ended sooner rather than later. Thanks for the talk. It is excellent. I wonder if you can situate your book on haiti in the context of the emergence or resurgence in the haitian revolution over the last 1015 years. I am wondering if you can situate your book and to you see it it intervening in the resurgence of haiti and via the classic text by clr james. Guest well, the last point first. The questioner is referring to the book by the intellectual who wrote a book and my book is seen as an omage of the classic text. Hopefully the years have allowed more documentation and insight to emerge. In johns book he takes a more positive view of washington and the United States than i do in my book. I think that he takes the traditional line of the United States as this revolutionary country engaging in solidarity. I am taking a different point of view. And being a british subject, born in trinidad, a former briting colony, he has a bone to pick with london. Being born here in north america, with my jaundice view of this particular country, the United States and the america. In any case, with regard to your earlier point, i am speaking at a forum in a few days by a newly formed haitian Study Institute at the City University in new york. I am optimisic about what it will be able to do but this reflects the interest in haiti you are making reference to. I think, once again, those of us whose ancestors realize the institution may have continued to persist but because of the haitian revolutionaries, we owe a debt of gratitude to haiti, which many of us are trying to repay. One of the points i will mission at the Haitian Institute formation meeting is after doing research in haiti, the archives, like many buildings in haiti, it was devastated by the earthquake. But when i was there, i noticed they had been able to get foreign aid and repair the building that is archived. One of the flaws, i think, and i chose my words carefully, of much of what i know in haiti and america focus on the revolution but much of the research is done in france because it is the colonial power and the documents are easier to gain access and some people find it more pleasant to be in paris than port of prince. But i think that if we are to do justice to haiti, we will have to rebuild the archive, one point i want to make, if you go to singapore you will find as a part of foreign aid, various governments will microfilm documents related to singapore and turn them over to singapore. I think one of the initiatives i will press on the Haitian Studies Institute is that Haitian Studies Institute or authorities in haiti go around the world and sweep up documents about the revolution. In my book, i talk about the role of russia in the postrevolutionary process. I dare say if you go to russia you will probably be able to sweep up some documents that will be revealing. The thing about haiti is it is an independent country so there are diplomats all over the world. That is one of the ways it was able to lobby on our behalf. Haiti saw itself as the spokesperson for dispossessed africans. They had diplomates in madrid and all over and i think we need to gain access to all of those documents and we can reconstruct a truer history of haiti. I think there is also another consequence of that kind of outreach can which is that it can help to bring haiti more tension and mostly help to bring haiti more allies in the International Community. I just want to continue on your thoughts around haiti. My brother said a couple years ago that haiti was never forgiven globally for successfully liberating itself and setting the stage for what happened around the world with africans. I want to know, it stuck with me, and given your wealth of knowledge, do you think it is plausible . Guest the cover of this book reverses the narrative of what is happening in the first few decades of the 19th century. You have africans who are involved in executing their punitive oppressors, their punitive european oppressors. It is interesting you mention this idea of haiti not being forgiven. Economically and financially relative to a lot of other countries it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. So that is what i mean. You may recall during the president ial election a few years ago, a wellknown person said they were being published for unknown reasons. I was talking to a friend from detroit who was saying the same thing about michigan. Michigan had one of the strongest left wing movements in the 1940s and first few years of the 1950s particularly in ford local 600, it had a strong black Liberation Movement and still does to a degree. The idea he put forward is detroit has never been forgiven for being so audacious to house a black Liberation Movement. I think there is something to both of these statements. Recall the term of reparation that under gunpoint haiti was prepared to pay repation to their formal colonial occupiers in paris. In fact, you would not be remist a miss if you suspected part of the reparation haiti paid to france tickled into the north ameri america. The period before the u. S. Civil war, new orleans may have had the most millionaires per capita than any use city and many of the former enslavers in hispanola fled helterskelter to savannah and wilmington and new orleans. So the United States has been a beneficiary of the sweat and coil of the poor folks in haiti. I have already made reference to haitis attempt to fight off being nixed by the United States. I have made reference to the occupation by the u. S. Authorities. Of course, after the cuban revolution in 1959, the United States endured another bout of hysteria and was concerned about the rise of radicalism in haiti which helps to shed light on u. S. Backing for these regimes that arose in haiti post1959. You can see this as part of this continuing penalizing of haiti which had the gumption to kick out the slave masters. But on the other hand, recall that haiti became independent in 1804 and the United States recognized haiti in 1862 during the height of the civil war. 58 years. Speaking of cuba, the cuban revolution was 1959, barack obama made overtures to cuba to reach fruition in 2014. That is 55 years. In some ways, we are having progress in the United States with regard to recognizing revolution regimes. It took 58 years to recognize the haiti process and only 55 to recognize the cuban revolution progress. We are obviously making steady progress and on that note forward never, backward never, all dnight, all day, we will fight for freddie gray. Thank you very much. [applause] we are open until 11 00 and the kitchen closes at 10 30. You are welcome to holler at me if you want a book. I am sure gerald will be signing them. Thanks. [inoaudible conversations] here is a look at the bestselling non Fiction Books at powells bookstore in portland, oregon. Looking at the paper industry, and then mary roach looks at how scientist address issues of panic, exhaustion and heat in military combat. And two books from the same author, the look at cancer, the emperer of all maladies and the latest, the gene which examines the future of genetic manipulation. We continue with the examination of war zones and the difficulties faced when reenter society. The geek feminist is up next. Collection of essays on feminism, writing and pop culture. And wrapping up the list, historian and engineer henry pat cow ski, explores the infrastructure and the Economic System in the