Transcripts For CSPAN Axios Discussion On Race Relations Pro

CSPAN Axios Discussion On Race Relations Protests Police Reform July 12, 2024

Im coming to you from new york, new york, my home here, as most of us are sheltering in place from home, im doing the same. If you are watching us from facebook, twitter, one of the axios websites, thank you for being with us. We have an Incredible Program honoring juneteenth. I want to say thank you to our sponsor, bank of america, for this event. If you are on twitter or instagram, follow us with axios events or on the axios twitter axios account. Check news on axios. Com. Joining us right now, i want to get right to it, the man who i am very excited to talk to and i hope you are excited to hear from, coming to us from ofhesda, maine, founder like in a timid television, Robert Johnsonblack entertainment television, Robert Johnson. How are you . Robert im doing well. How are you . Dion im also doing well. Thank you so much for being with us. Robert my pleasure. Dion juneteenth is a particularly apt holiday for africanamericans because it is not come with the signing of a resolution or speech. It celebrates the day in 1865 where slaves who had been freed by president lincolns emancipation proclamation finally found out they were free and were able to some cases leave plantations where they were being held in bondage and in some cases not. One thing you are working on is a 40 trillion program for reparation 14 trillion program for reparations, which is revolutionary and deadly outside the box. Hear billionaire Robert Johnson advocating for is a man whothis can speak to why the American Dream israel and how anyone can become a millionaire. So why is billionaire Robert Johnson pushing for reparations of 14 trillion . Robert let me answer that question, but i want to give a little bit of a footnote to the issue of juneteenth. I think it indicates why reparations and other issues regarding the treatment of africanamericans slavery should be known as well. The actual emancipation of from thed not come emancipation proclamation, because when lincoln issued to that, the country was still in the civil war, there were not troops in the south to enforce the emancipation. Pretty much on paper. But it freed most slaves under the legal act, was something that was passed earlier was the compensation act. The compensation act said that when the u. S. Was at war against the south, they could seize property. Under the rebellion the government could take property. As a result the slaves were freed by the compensation act. The emancipation proclamation mobilized the country based on when it was written and what it stated. Now you move to juneteenth, and the fact that texas, while not in rebellion, the war was over in the other slave states, there were no union troops in texas. Slaves were not freed until one of the military generals arrive in texas with union troops and enforced the law that they had to be the slaves had to be free. Sure when we talk about reparations because we only have a few minutes here. Robert history is important as well. The point i want to make is when granger freed the slaves, he said you are free. However, if you are indigent Walking Around with nothing to do, you can be arrested, and you better find yourself some work to do. A my point is reparations is demand on the part of we benamericans thatw e made whole for the wealth that was stolen from slaves and periodd over a 300year factojure and de discrimination, and White America should recognize the debt and black america should be proud to accept of the atonement. I believe if that happens, we should see a Better Society with much more racial harmony, once you combined apology with forgiveness. 14 trillion in cash to every descendent of slaves. Dion what folks on the other side of the argument who dont believe reparations should happen say is that dr. Johnson is why we dont need reparations. He was able to pull himself up by his bootstraps, made a product ever but he loves, black and a timid television, and he made billions black and her timid television, and he made over a billion dollars. Robert the reason is because i am one in 40 million. You cfould at all the other people who make that kind of wealth and said they are five and 40 million. You should ask yourself, what would happen if there wereand slavesamericans no and africanamericans were treated with equal opportunity after slavery . Maybe there would be 500, 600 Robert Johnsons. Whats wrong with that . This is a country that we can equal opportunity for everyone, so why shouldnt we provide an equal langfield when you talk about one personapril Playing Field when you talk about one person 40 money dion i think what they think is that 14 trillion, somebody has got to pay that. Why should folks pay that money just for 40 or 50 more Robert Johnsons . Robert they should pay it because it is owed. The biggest wealth transfer that took place in this country has been slave labor going to plantation owners and people who own slaves, and that money circulated throughout this country for over 300 years. The one thing White America should know, slaves may have died, the children may have died, money doesnt die. Money can only circulate. Money multiplies. And every person who benefited from a slave dollar, that wage transfer, is still circulating in corporations and businesses and wealth income in america today. It is no secret that the net income of a white family is average, the net income of a black family is 17 ,000. That temple disparity can be traced directly back to the wall transfers that started with death wealth transfers that started withwealth transfers that started with slave labor. That is the best way to generate wealth, not having to pay for the work you get done. Dion the last question we have about a minute left that is the case why. What about how . You have a president who doesnt see it happening, you have assented that wont even take up a bill a senate that wont even take up a bill. Done . We get this robert two things. White America Needs to accept the need to atone for racism. Without that it wont happen. They will vote on the taxpayers. Taxpayers pay for Health Care Even though some people dont use it. Taxpayers pay for schools even though some people dont have children in schools. It is the same thing. 14took been over trillion over 30 years, break it out on a daily basis, 8 a day over 30 years. It is not a lot of money for forgiveness and it is the only thing that will bring this country back together. Dion mr. Johnson, thank you so much for joining us here. I really appreciate it. It was great to have you want. Robert thank you, my pleasure. Dion we go to now our secondguessed. He is the second guest. He is the honorable sylvester turner, mayor of the city of houston. Mr. Mayor, how are you . Mayor turner im doing fine, thanks for having me this morning. Dion thank you so much for being on. You have been a vocal advocate for change, and not just advocating for change, putting change in place. You pushed out a number of reforms on Police Department, banning chokeholds, issued a number of we cant wait principles that the campaign is an advocate for as well as pushing different measures in the city of houston. I want to talk about the push from advocates to defund the police. In your latest budget, you did the opposite. You gave police and asked her 20 million an extra 20 million for the upcoming fiscal year. People say the police need less funding and less power cap real reform and change. Whereas you have done the opposite even though you have clearly put in place some changes that are supposed to make this Department Better for the people they serve, regularly black folks. Particularly black folks. Mayor turner right, and i am is and what people are saying. Understand what people are saying. Every Police Department, everyone is different. When you look about the amount of dollars we spent per capita on Police Officers, we are among the 10 major metropolitan cities, we are number 10 in terms of how much we spent per capita on police. In the city of houston, to give a comparison, the city of houston has 5300 Police Officers covering 640 square miles. If you compare that to chicago chicago has roughly 12,000 to 30,000 Police Officers 13,000 Police Officers covering dion i think the idea is and that we need more or less please, is that police, it is that those funds should go to other organizations mayor turner what i believe people are asking for, they are asking for good policing. They are asking for policing system that is accountable. They are going beyond that. Want us to be investing in communities and neighborhoods that have been overlooked and n for decades,i just like the one i grew up in. I grew up in the north side of houston. I still live in that same neighborhood. Theypeople are wanting, want us to make sure that we are investing in quality, affordable housing. Quality parks. They want to make sure were providing economic and business job opportunities. Access to health care dion but i think what they also said they want is this issue of policing to change, and what people say is that for that to change, money has to be taken from the police mayor turner i would disagree in houstons case. I cant speak to what is happening in other cities, but i can speak to what is happening in this city. It is important, number one, we ask police to do everything, too much. We established crisis intervention teams. And in to beef that up, many ways take it from classified Police Officers is funding to multipleresponding to multiple Behavioral Health issues, substance abuse, Domestic Violence situations. There are a number of things we need to look at, alternative ways of addressing these issues, challenges within our community. The Police Department has to be viewed differently in terms of how you are making sure you are addressing the needs within this community. So i understand the cry, and were listening to people, but i want to expand more resources on crisis diversion, not having to call upon police to address our homeless situation. We need to be addressing that in a more holistic fashion. Not having to call on police to address mental and Behavioral Health issues dion what you are saying and your critics are saying is the same thing. I think what the disconnect where the disconnect comes is they think that you cannot fund those things and the police at the highlevel 20 million for police that cannot go to Mental Health. Mayor turner i disagree, and there is no one model that applies across the board dion we are now in the middle of an economic crisis. I would assume that your city as well as other cities around the country are going to be dealing with less resources, not more. How do you distribute all that money went they need more funding . Mayor turner it requires a holistic approach, requires a citywide approach. The business community, your nonprofits all have to participate. Before the george floyd incident occurred, when i came in 2016, i said to the people in the city we have to focus on communities that have been under resourced. This initiative called the complete community initiative. They were driving resources directly into these neighborhoods to bring about transformation. What people are wanting is not incremental change. They want substantive, fundamental, transformational change. It doesnt happen overnight, but you have to put in place the infrastructure and the means and the initiative to bring about that change, and that is what we are doing in the city. I cant speak to other cities, but what we are doing in this city. Dion that doesnt come from directing money away from death mayor turner no, because in the city of houston we have underfunded our Police Department for years. We have the same number of Police Officers today we had a in 1991. Im sorry . Dion sorry, we all have about a minute left. One last question before we go, and thanks again for your time these new reforms you put in place, no chokeholds, no stranglehold like chokeholds, forcing further warnings to be given whewn officers do break these rules, there are some exceptions, like an objective reason can be found i think is the wording. How do you keep that room being the get out of jail free card for these officers the same way that i feared for my life has been used by a number of Police Officers who killed unarmed black civilians . Mayor turner you have to hold people accountable, and let me just say, we implemented we cant wait, but that is the first step. There are additional reforms that are coming. We took a look at the independent Police Oversight board, to see how we can strengthen that and can make it even more impactful and effective. So the steps put in place in terms of the executive order next week the city council meeting, we are having a hearing where were listening to people who marched and protested and devastated to get their input. I dont want anyone to assume that the executive orders we put in place is the end of the line. These reforms are constantly taking place. It is not one step and on. Making sure you have the right people in these positions, command positions, supervisory positions and mayors and City Council Persons who can follow up on the internet of these orders were put in place. Follow up on the intent of those that we put in place. You for being here, that was a great conversation. Im sure he was what he said that he was like be a part of it. Now, were going to turn it over to the axios ceo. Thank you fornd making this conversation possible. Week, we sat down with a series of meaningful conversations with the ceo of bank of america. Here are some clips from that conversation. As a historian who studied the movements across the 500 years of history of africanamericans and black americans in society, how do we handle this movement and that context . , how doyou think now you think about it in a Historical Context in the industry . Possible tot is frame this in a Historical Context. This is a hundreds of years struggle. What is powerful to me is that as i look at this moment, i realize that it eliminates, it helps us remember that american democracy has always been tainted by american discrimination and racism. Are things that we have seen many times in the past. As a historian, i am a little tired of mourning and seeing broken bodies. It on the other hand, i am seeing things that give me hope. I am seeing a diverse array of people protesting and demanding america change. Demanding that america live up to its stated ideals. I see people around the country thatears ago thought racism was not important. It now, they are saying this is important. Like bank oftions america saying how do we help . How do we contribute to using this moment to be a Tipping Point . Call tothis moment is a understand our history. Is a longand this arc. To understand that this could be a Tipping Point. This could be a moment where we come together, we cross racial and political lines and we demand fairness and freedom. For me, this is a moment for we look back and learn through learn through the long history of protests, but we also learned that america has always been a work in this editor to been great leaps forward. Pandemic, there will also be a great great leap forward and talk about the health care and economic. Does economic mobility mean to a mayor and how does a Company Think about that . Economic mobility is all about hopes and dreams and aspirations. It can i grow up . Middleclass . Will people in the system be on my side as i tried to lift myself or am i stuck . The promise of america economically in the 20th century or the generation of people in the 20th century, mostly whites and immigrants, what made america different was that you were not destined to remain in the same cast for the same class as her parents. There was a real and meaningful opportunity to move up. , that kind of mobility has stalled. It has particularly installed africanamericans, even the 60smericans from and 80s when there was some ability. We cannot fix this if we think it is a little problem. If we think it is something that one or two pieces of legislation or initiatives can correct. Sustainedrequires a effort across the board and why should we do it . Americathe promise of is that everyone should be a stakeholder and a shareholder and a participant in the American Dream. Mobility, he gave a great definition. Latinoyou define it as a leader in our country . What otherabout civil rights leaders have said. The opposite of poverty is not wealth, it is justice. Economic mobility, we need economic justice. That addressing systemic inequities, that is integrallytied tied to opportunities. You cannot separate them entirely. You have to work on both fronts and find a way to create impact in these areas where they connect. It is a leadership that we have to take because we represent america in this country and around the world, we have more customers and clients, more communities. It is an idea that we have to give them a two. It is a moment in time where it is incumbent upon us to make things happen. I am here in new york. She is also in new york, but we are socially distanced. I am here with valerie jarrett. Adviser tonior president barack obama. Thank you so much for being with us. Ms. Jarrett my pleasure. Dion the pleasure is really all my. I want to start here, because you were part of the dissent that happened a couple of years happened, it it felt like things were going to be the same and they turned out very different. Roseanne barr sent out a tweet that was racist comparing someone to a monkey. Ande was a twitter outrage it seemed like it was going to play out and what usually does with a famous person saying thats not w

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