Since 1988. She is assisting on human rights. Ssues karen has been the heart and soul of the human rights and deborah so its a giant treat to have karen here and i know you wee heard this before but are also blessed to have john pulitzerere who was a prizewinning biographer and contributor to the New York Times book review. They print periodicals. [laughter] he is a professor at Vanderbilt University from chattanooga. There is a border dispute between georgia and tennessee but we are pleased he is from north georgia. [laughter] [applause] you are obviously not running this year. Im not running in tennessee, thats for sure. He has embarked on a project in addition to the numerous books he has written and have been bestsellers and Pulitzer Prize winners, his last year, he published the soul of america, the battle for our better angels and that project i think along , may bein this group better than introducing you to them, introduce him to you and i will introduce you them to you which is to say this is a group of people who share your desire to find out what it is and to remember what it is our countries based on and that soul israel. We believe the Carter Center has a special place. Based on that soul here. Do, as we get ready he is ready for the spotlight again. We will have a Panel Discussion but as an introduction, there is video we will show very briefly that highlights the work of the human rights defenders that the Carter Center supports. As i said yesterday, the Carter Center has done its very best to only but on ideals ideals as put into practice and to support the people who on the ground every day, day in and day out are fighting the battles for human rights in their own communities. I think these examples are remarkable. You will hear more about them but i will show the video briefly about the human rights defenders and then john meacham will direct the rest of the panel. There will be time for questions that have been preasked so once we get there, we will let them go for a while. After we have had to many questions. Very much for being here. Im excited about the panel. [applause] bowies heroes] [applause] mr. Meacham as a tennessean, i am the diversity. I appreciate it very much but i think we should all be honest that the only reason we are here is because of mrs. Carter. So thank you. [applause] i know its the only reason you got the card. Start with a little bit of whats happening right now. Im interested, mr. President in your views at whats happening at the u. S. Mexico border with family separation and your reaction to what we are seeing their and what you think ordinary americans can do about it. President carter every day, we send a graceful signal around the world that this is what the president and the United States government stands for and that is torture and kidnapping of those children, separation from the parents and deprivation of those who are incarcerated and there are thousands of unknown children still incarcerated that has not been revealed by the government. Try to think of what isis is doing. Its a disgrace to the United States and i hope it will soon 2020ded, maybe not until elections. Im not sure. Hopefully as we change president s. 4 would mr. Meacham it be basic political activism that you would advise people worried about it . Should they just tried to change the president . President carter i think everyone in the United States should take the same position and for human rights, the basic measurement of how governments are performing, that would be the best thing to do. What we would do is apply human rights in the finest and most precise way we can and as fulfilling as we can to comply with the universal declaration as soon as possible. If you apply the basic human rights standards to every instance that happens in diplomacy and everyday life, that would be the best thing for the United States to do and i hope all americans will take us up. Mr. Meacham what would a Carter Mondale administration how would the administration have by saudio the murder arabia of Jamal Khashoggi . Believe wearter i would have demanded a complete high aboutut how high up the orders came from. As you know, they sent about 15 where he the embassy was destined to be, scheduled to be, and he apparently they killed him and cut them up in little pieces and buried him in an unknown place. That could only have been done under the orders from some of the highest people in any government. I would demand an accounting for that will stop when i was president , we tried to put human rights as a measuring stick in every incidents. We didnt always succeed but thats what our effort was. Mr. Meacham one more off the top of the news and then we will dive in. Proven to have interfered with one of our human rights which is the right of free and fair elections. What is your reaction . How should we deal with that . President carter the president himself should condemn it and which 16happened intelligence agencies of already agreed to and there is dont doubt that the russians did interfere in the election. I think the interference, though not yet quantified, should be fully investigated would show its from the election in 2016. He was put into office because the russians interfered. On his behalf. You say President Trump is an illegitimate president . [laughter] i can retracter what i just said. [laughter] [applause] mr. Meacham having made news [laughter] lets talk about eleanor roosevelt. [laughter] which to me is news. Talk about your interest in human rights, give them both your background in the segregated south and your International Experience in the navy, heading into your public career. I grew up in ar Little Village in georgia which had about 50 families. My family was the only one that was white. All the rest of them were africanamerican. I grew up completely immersed in africanamerican culture, black culture. As a little child, i could see that there was a great differentiation between white and black. My mother was a registered nurse and never paid any attention to segregation, she treated everyone the same. She was part of the medical establishment in plains, georgia so she was impervious to this. Grew up in that environment and later, i became chairman of the board of education in our county. I demanded that the other Board Members go to visit schools and to see whats going on. Kidsund that the black as close aso school they could to where they live because they did not have school buses. White kids had school buses but black kids didnt. Gotafricanamerican kids handmedown textbooks, inferior schools. The board of education later insisted that africanamericans get textbooks, too. So when they finally got a few everybody saw the school buses carrying children and they knew this was being done and segregation started to go away. So thats how i grew up. It was a completely segregated area. I went into the navy when i was 18 years old. I went to georgia tech at naval rotc and i eventually got into submarines. I was in a submarine in 1948. Harry truman was commanderinchief and president and who i still think of the best president who has lived in my own lifetime. Ordainedarry truman that racial segregation be abolished and in all the military sort services. It so because of transition an easy on my submarine and other ships around me and how much benefited brought to everybody and the attitude toward one another, fellow citizens and fellow navy men equally. That was a very good test seven or eight years before Martin Luther king jr. Became famous or rosa parks. Harry truman was the one that broke the ice and started desegregation america. Mr. Meacham your religious upbringing must of been essential. President carter it was. I grew up also immersed in a church in plains which was baptist and my father was a sunday School Teacher and we went through many parts of the bible. I was a particularly the sermon on the mount and the chapter of matthew. Essence ofs out the what is presently known as universal human rights. He spelled out the proper relationship between the powerful and the week, between the jews and gentiles, between men and women and he said everybody should be treated equally. That was the foundation of what said and itevelt evolved into the universal declaration of human rights. There are times in Human History where the United States has gone through all the basic measure of revisions and struck at the andnce of the primary moral ethical values are and put them terms but also semilegal terms which was in the development of the declaration of human rights. That has never happened before or since in history. Im afraid that now they are being abandoned around the world. The Carter Center is fighting against that every day. Mr. Meacham when you were running for president in 1975 and 1976, did you know that the asan rights agenda would be central to you if you got there . President carter i did. I would say when i became president , during my term, there was a general sigh of relief in america that finally we have resolved racism and gotten over years of slavery and 100 years of official and legal discrimination by white people against black people. The kind of had a sigh of relief but lately, with developments in the white house and other places, its become a very burning issue again. There is a great deal of discrimination and racial animosity that is evolving and come to the forefront again. One of the demonstrations of that is not only between africanamericans and why people but we have seen that on television lately. Also at the border. We assume someone trying to come to our country like my grandparents did many years ago is inferior to those who are longestablished here like i am. That discrimination against newcomers to our country is another indication of a serious in ourights mistake country that is being promulgated worldwide. We are all entitled to some basic human rights. Without being embarrassed about it. Mr. Meacham one of the things you hear and i agree with as abouts when people say the current moment, this is not who we are. It kind of is. Right . Tension, we are southerners and faulkner was right, the pass is never dead and its not even past. President carter thats right. Mr. Meacham when i look at your you are annk about army on the right side of this in this perennial struggle between our better angels and worst instincts. But its never on this side of paradise going to be resolved. To thinko thank is there a benefit to us being more honest about our worst instincts . And racism and xenophobia isolationism and nativism are parts of the american character . And our struggle is to make them ebb as opposed to flow . President carter that certainly is part of our political situation. Past, overcoming slavery and overcoming racial ,iscrimination of 400 years slavery was officially abolished, its a way for the United States to correct its longstanding mistakes. Sometimes, its not easy to do it, to face altercation in our country. Luckily, this time instead of having a civil war, we are having a war of political factions. Partyeral, the democratic is now standing on the side of ofsenting the finest aspect American Civil Rights is to the hope our party will continue to show everyone in the United States and around the world is equal to everybody else not only in the eyes of human beings but also in the eyes of god. Mr. Meacham mr. Vice president , can i ask you we talked about 1948 which in many ways is a huge Inflection Point in the formation of the human rights question. You have the declaration with mrs. Roosevelt, you had the of the Democratic Party after fellow minnesota and said the party had to walk out of the shadows into the sunlight of civil rights which sent Strom Thurmond back to the selfprofessed. Can you talk about your upbringing in minnesota and how you were shaped in these signed inand when you with president carter, did you know this was a lifetime gig . [laughter] Vice President mondale i do now. [applause] Vice President mondale our upbringings were different. There were a lot of similarities. My dad was a farmer and a minister. Was a devout methodist. He would give three sermons every sunday morning. Mr. Meacham 3 . Vice president mondale in these little towns and i would go to sunday school, wednesday night prayer and dinner and then i would sweep and cleanup the church. That was my religious leadership. [laughter] not bad preparation for the Vice President. [laughter] Vice President mondale yes, i was sweeping around there. Youre not being helpful. [laughter] mr. Meacham i will be quiet now. Vice president mondale one of found mostthat i impressive about our years together was how much our suited us to Work Together even with anybody briefing us. Cartersven though background from the south was different, it was very similar. We had 125 years without a southern president until jimmy carter. The difference was, he stood for civil rights. And one of the great contributions to human rights in our country and in the world was in thesonal courage small town in southern georgia, standing up for civil rights when it was not the thing to do. Houseoing into the white and speaking up for human rights and filling in the blanks of what america should do as the leader in the world of human rights. It was my privilege over those four years to try to work with the president as he led us in this remarkable direction which nota precedent which is perfectly complied with today but it made a difference which still has a big effect in the world. Thinkacham when you back, is there an example or two you would point is to or a case study about how we should be doing this . Vice president mondale i thought the boat people issue was a good issue about human rights leadership. The vietnamese communist government decided to push their citizens of chinese ethnic on seaworthy sea boats. Many of them lost their lives as a result. Carter tried to intervene in a positive way to provide an alternative for these boat people to live a decent life. President carter we were trying to admit 12,000 per month of the refugees, you might say, from the vietnam war. A lot ofident mondale them were drowning at sea and we got the navy to go out and pick these people up. It wasnt a very popular thing at the time but i think of proved to be a great step forward. These poorhing was then the boat saw American Navy trying to help them and save their lives and set them on a new way. I dont think they will ever get over that. That was carters leadership. [applause] mr. Meacham when you went up to the hill to talk to your former colleagues about these kind of issues, did they get it . Vice president mondale some of them did and some of them still havent gotten it. [laughter] Vice President mondale we had to work on it but we have pretty good support on the hill, i would say in both parties. As one of the positive members i positive memories of that time, we spent a lot of time the main people the main thing is that senators are afraid of it. They say you are right and i know youre right but ive got to get elected and this will not be very popular. Themember we get some of come i can remember a couple of them said im going to vote for you but im going to lose the election and i want president carter to put me on the federal bench afterwards. [laughter] mr. Meacham so the jobs broker. Vice president mondale yeah,. President carter and a lot of is voted for us and lost. Vice president mondale i think them lost their seats. Mr. Meacham what about latin america . I thinksident mondale this is maybe where we first proved the depth and breadthth of the president s program and it began with the panama canal issue. What second to do it human rights . That was a symbol of colonial rule for 100 years or more. We had run not place our way. We would employ the locals but they had no role in the policy or leadership of the program or management of the program. The president went out and said we are going to let the people of panama run this program. We will help them and we need the right to come back in if our security is imperiled. That worked very well. Its working well now. It wasnt going to work. I remember the general in charge of our troops down there said there is no point in trying to stay on here with military force because there is so much anger about us that we cannot do it. So that has worked and its been very successful. Hill and go up on the lobby a lot and push a lot but it got done. That broughtter about beneficial changes in latin america. Office, z and i got an 2 3 of the countries in south america were under dictatorships, military dictatorships mostly. All of the praise he is president s in the administration had been in bed with military dictators because they got from bauxite and bananas and pineapples and so forth. Charge wouldin send their children to west point so it was a close relationship. I took the other way around and rights. Implement human years, every eight country in south america was a democracy. That was a profound and very rapid change from one form of government to another. The people down there brought it about. [applause] one for you and then we will go to dr. Ryan. World watching around the given thenalism, what affect does that have on the human rights agenda and what do you wish can do . Folks what can i do to participate to push back against that . President carter the Carter Center has made a very thorough analysis of whats happened to human rights on a global basis after 9 11. Was an unprovoked attack against the United States. , and some off 9 11 this is excusable i guess, would have been in a war now for over 15 years in afghanistan. We have also greater restriction of privacy of the average american citizen. Have passed, that has change