Missouri, is working to overcome racial determination after the right in ferguson three years ago. Thank you for joining us. Guest thank you for having me. Host we saw the events unfold three years ago, why take a look at this issue now for this magazine piece . Guest it is something i have been curious about for a long time. One propensity of American Media is we often Pay Attention when something really bad happens and then we do not check in again. Ofas curious, what sort initiatives were being taken . Have there been any progress . Had there been any healing in the community . When i started this, i made st. Louis one of my first stops. I was interested in what i found. Host early on in this piece, you compare the people in st. Louis to those in selma. Explain the similarities you saw. Guest that comparison came from reverend darrell gray, who i interviewed for the piece. He is a long time civil rights activist. He has come to st. Louis. He is based in a church in montreal, but he has been active in st. Louis in these protests and the broader movement. The reason as best i understood the reason he compares this to selma is because selma was a tough nut to crack. Part of what helps crack it is the intentional decision to involve white allies. It is something they are doing intentionally in st. Louis. He said, st. Louis, just like, had the potential to help just like selma, had the potential to help. Host we are joined by christa case bryant, a heartland correspondent for the Christian Science monitor to talk about her recent piece on Race Relations in the st. Louis area after the 2014 ferguson riots. Democrats can call 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. We have a special line for st. Louis residents. If you live in or near st. Louis, call 202 7488003. Paint a general picture what is the mood in st. Louis all of these years afterwards . Do you see things like protests . Have things gone back to normal if you talk to the people . What did you see . Guest i was only there for a week. I cannot pretend to explain the mood everywhere. Among the people who ive spoken with, it was hopeful. I went to south africa six years after apartheid. As amember there w commitment to have a frank conversation about things. Just because apartheid ended, does not mean we are all set. There is hope. There is good momentum. It was similar in st. Louis. I felt there was frank conversations going on. A recognition it is not comfortable to have these conversations, but it is important and vital. What is interesting is it was not the people you would expect to have those conversations. They were people who were personally affected by racial inequities in st. Louis or people who have studied this in particularave a lifelong or Career Interest in these issues. It is just regular, everyday people who feel this is not right. This is not right i do not know my neighbors who live five miles away from me. It is not right raising my child in a city where they are getting the wrong impression about the other side. It was refreshing and interesting to see how they are tackling it. I would say there is still a sober mood. There is frustration, three years after ferguson, has not been changed in a systemic way. The conversations residents are having and the way they are pushing the envelope gives them a lot of energy and help and momentum. Host we forget discuss how the issue of Race Relations is not just for people within communities of caller, everybody has an interest in it. I want to read a passage from your piece. It talks about how it can be other people to be a part of this. Often, a lot of white people want to jump into healing without reckoning the history and mistrust and deep hurt, said david white, a member of four drew ferguson. You have to deal with that first before you can get to feeling. Did you see the reckoning with history taking place there required before as mr. Dwight put it . Guest yes, there is a lot being done in that way. I am sure much more can be done. It seems like a good start. Aspect of it there was a woman i met named tiffany who started a group named touchy topics tuesday. He came out of the incident in her neighborhood. It would shortly after Michael Brown was killed in ferguson. Another man was killed in her neighborhood. She saw the neighborhood splitting and polarizing in a way that made her uncomfortable. She did not want to have to choose between two sides. She went to a neighborhood meeting, got talking with whites neighbors of hers he is africanamerican. They decided to get together for coffee. She is a woman of faith. She was praying about how can i be a blessing to my community. The answer she got was to start this group, touchy topics tuesday. She started with a simple question, what about my skin offends you . It may not sound something digging into history or pattern of segregation, but it is that sort of simple question and honest desire to get answers helping to start those conversations. Had white group, she participants who she got close with. Even they found there were some mismatched expectations. They ended up having some really significant difficulties in the relationship in which they had to work through. She and her friends were telling me about it and how they had to work through the commitments. Example it is not about history per se. It is all of the things that history has caused. It on ae working on personal level. On a broader level, another group i spoke with was started by two suburban moms. They it is a Reading Group for parents who want to read books to their kids that would spark conversations about race and racism. They encourage their community to delve into history and st. Louis here there is a fantastic exhibit at the Missouri History Museum about civil rights in st. Louis. It was a really impressive exhibit. It are doing interactive things. They have groups going in there morelping to spark conversations and understanding about the history and st. Louis. Host ryan is calling on our independent line from georgia, good morning. Caller good morning. We, as a country, have been serious enough about addressing the problem of race. It is a problem. It has been a problem for hundreds of years now. It seems like to me we keep going in circles. We recognize it is a problem, but we are not doing enough to solve the problem. We all have the list here at the end of the day. We all have lives, we all are going to do what we are going to do. We need to coexist. Ferguson has done a good job. It is like that everywhere. It is not just ferguson. You only say ferguson because it blew up in ferguson. In the hunt and atlanta it is like that. You see the police. If you are a black man, you see the police, and you feel weary3. You grow up with it w eary. You grow up with it. I was stopped by the police. Friend, she was a white female. They told my friend to walk up the street. They stopped me and put me up against the jury and wanted to search me. Host i want to give christa case bryant a chance to respond. Guest did you have a specific question . Host just onto the moon this is not just an issue for st. Louis and the surrounding area. Sensese did you get a of the National Impact . S point,o the caller there is a frustration. St. Louis has great civil rights activists going way back, even before those that may National Made national news. There is a frustration we have been dealing with this for more than 100 or 200 years, how come we are still here . Many people around the country, including some white folks would resonate with what you are saying. You have to start somewhere and you have to keep pressing forward. That is what was inspiring to me to the example of st. Louis. Even though it could feel like, have we not been here before . How come we cannot see any systemic change . There is still a feeling of persistence and determination we need to press forward. There is help and there is an awakening in people who do not live in the home, who do not whorience in the hood, do not expensive on a daily basis. They want to be involved as well. Host i want to talk about the activism you encountered. He talked with someone named alyssa sullivan. Alyssa sullivan never expected she would get thrown in jail. Where she a point concluded it was more dangerous for her to sit at home, ignoring what now she sees as an unequal does the system for black and white people and to drive her meeting man downtown and stand face to face her minivan downtown and stand face to face with police in riot gear. Talk about that event. Me,t as she explained to when ferguson happened, she felt, oh, that is scary. I feel badly for the people involved and for the things coming to light, but it does not feel like something i should or could be involved in. The way she started learning and dug into the issues, understanding them better, what is my role and my responsibility not just to my immediate community, but to my Broader Community . When the verdict came down this fall, not guilty for another white policeman in another shooting in an africanamerican man, she felt compelled to join the protest. She did and she had this experience she never imagined she would have had. It was really eyeopening to her, but also galvanized her more to be more committed and involved. Host ginger is in the line calling from st. Louis, missouri, good morning. Caller good morning. There are a lot of things i would like to touch on. In st. Louis, you knew a new police chief. I am hoping for great things for us. You know if you were is a kid was pulled over, it was a black kid pulled over. When you go to the mall, always pulled over with a black group of people in a car, never white. You think, theres something wrong. I do business and i talk with people of varying economic they would say things to me that would disappoint me. Iwould hear the nword and would think, oh, my god, you . Your stature. You have education and you say that . Do did they do not that anymore because that is how i feel. There are great things going on in st. Louis right now. There are groups and they are forming. Maybe because of trauma and what we feel like is going on on a grander scale. We know in st. Louis, things are not fair. It has never been fair in my life and i am 56 years old. I joined groups, i was a volunteer in the school system. It is important for white people to stand up and say, that is not right. That is what i tried to do. Host i want to give her a chance to respond. Guest there is an element similar to the previous question ,f we keep working at this we keep talking about it, how come we have not seen significant change . I was reminded when the caller was speaking about something i heard from george mitchell. Know, we have meetings and after every single one, you could say that is a failure. We do not have a peace deal you. At one point, there was a meeting and they had a peace deal. He emphasized how important each one of the previous meetings had been in helping the two sides understand and know each other better and work toward that final solution. Wheno not know exactly that last little cap on the chisel will break things down bring them all down. It is important to keep chipping away. It is what i saw among people i spoke with in st. Louis. Host we are joined with the Christian Science monitors about acase bryant piece you wrote about Race Relations in st. Louis more than three years after ferguson ryans. Democrats, 202 7488000. Republicans, 202 7488001. Independents, 202 7488002. Are in st. Louis, you can call 202 7488003. You bring up the issue of same race issues. A it, you tell the story of black Police Officer as well as captain harry johnson. I want to play a piece of video accompanying your piece. [video clip] ferguson was not an anomaly. People were not surprised. When you operate in a capacity that does not coincide with the community your policing, it causes problems. When you do not change that and the Community User feels like they are being abused, it is going to boil over. Being an africanamerican man as a Police Officer, i have teenage sons it is not guaranteed what kind of Police Officer they will run into. Monsters who do not deserve to wear this badge. When using an officer i have the same fear for my sons. It motivates me to do two things to reach as Many Community will as i can and to make it so officers who do not want to do this job like this, go do something else. Do not make it hard on the rest of us. Do not make the community the freefall of who you are. A lot of officers do not see millions out there are afraid. There is such a lack of trust with Police Agencies nationwide. As agencies, we have to do a better job of engaging our community and building that trust. When you think about it, your work is easier because they do not feel apprehensive about interacting with you. They become an asset. That should be the goal for any leased apartment nationwide any Police Department nationwide. Putting akeep bandaid and expected to hear. Here andto go out t heal the committees ourselves. Host be a lot of callers who want to chime in, but talk about what you saw about effort to alleviate the trust between the alleviate the mistrust between the police and the community . They are on the front lines of healing the divide and working hard at it. It is tough. Another component of it, which she alluded to, is there has been a significant spike in byron crime in st. Louis. Violent crime in st. Louis. It was in the number it was of murdersone place per capita. Whether you are black or white, whether you are a good upstanding Police Officer or part of the 10 that captain needing toked about be performed or switched out of the Police Department, you are deeply affected by that environment. It makes policing really hard. Buildrk they are doing to trust among their own community is vital. Host shelby is on the democratic line from tallahassee, florida, good morning. Caller good morning. Happy new year. I have been enjoying cspan, you have wonderful history programs regarding cspan2 and three, giving us a lot of insight. It brings a lot of learning into the homes. My comment and question is of theefits and how perimeter of whiteness . It seems to create this boundary of whiteness. Wrote the history of white people. It would be good to get her on in light of the discussion. It seems to me there is i have a 90yearold mother this morning i am fixing breakfast for, a black woman. Called ina woman who from philadelphia. She said she was 80. She said she was a sunday school teacher. I sit with a 90yearold black mother who is a mother of a church. This promoter of using got to somehow put forward this using god to sum up what this forward as part of it as well. Wehave a history where discuss race as a part as if it is a club. Therefore, if there is a white club a club has members mother talks to us about being sick and tired of being sick and tired. Host i want to give her a chance to address some of the issues you brought up. One was the economic factor. Another was the world religion may play in this divide. Did you find people talking about those issues . Guest yes, quite a few of the people i spoke with. Cor bush, who is running tori bush, who is running for she was led to bring the best blessing and healing as she could. Me i me people told do not know i was supposed to run for the devil because love pushes out hate. It is like that pushes out the darkness. It is one example of people who feel a mission in this work. Reverend gray is another one. While there may be instances where religion is used in a negative way, it can be a powerful force for good. Host but the economic factor what about the economic factor . Guest it is a huge part of what the Ferguson Commission but that in the wake of the Michael Brown killing and the riots. It is something michael gray and other frontline protesters are working on. Ofy stage protests in area shopping areas and malls not just downtown, but in suburbs, where they wanted to make a to thetion economy. Once the Business Leaders say, we cannot have this anymore, you need to do something about this, real change happens. The ryan john is on line from herndon, virginia, on on our credit democratic line, good morning. Man who cameyoung from africa, i want to thank all of the black leaders who fought and died for the freedom. When we grew up in africa, are Police Officers used to know every house. Police officers who do not live in the community they go to work, they make a paycheck, the right the ticket as much as they want, and they go to their family. The problem we have is Race Relationships start from the community. We found out ferguson the police was making money out of the community toward ticketing every driver. As a community, we need to understand do not expect people to do something good for your community. Host i want to give her a chance to respond. What about leasing the people in the community about policing the people within the community . Guest i believe st. Louis Police Officers are required to live within the city. It is a step in the right direction. As far as Police Officers many supply when his banality Police Officers taking money, it is a problem. Ferguson has taken steps to address it. There are many other municipal unicipalitiesm issue being raised more and more. Ryan calls from michigan on our independent line, good morning. Caller good morning. I have traveled a lot in my life. I have seen quite a bit. I have wondered i have role models from the past, whether they be george washington, founding fathers, and franklin and ben franklin. Logically, i cannot take credit for what they have done. Logically, how can i take any blame . I am not understanding this from the past. If a white guy like me has enjoyed a life with no prejudice in his heart, i cannot take any credit for the past, nor can i take any blame. I have no guilt. Host i will take one more call and i let her answer both. Raymond, good morning. Caller good morning. Timese a letter to the and got a response this morning. Host are you there . Caller i got a response this morni