Booktv on twitter and facebook and we want to hear from you, two us twitter. Com booktv or post a comment on our facebook page, facebook. Com will snap all booktv. [inaudible conversations] we are going to go ahead and begin to begin. Thanks for being out here today, an awesome crowd. My name is emily, im a manager at politics and prose. On behalf of the staff thanks and welcome. If you could take a minute and silence your cell phone so we are not interrupted, that would be great. The event, we will have a brief talk, questions, we are filming and recording the event, you will have this human urge to shout your question but we have a microphone here and if you could ask the question, it gets recorded and everyone get the other question and answer. Thank you in advance for that and two more events today, sometimes we ask you to fold up your chairs but if you cannot fold up your chairs today that would be awesome. If you enjoy this event we have 500 other author events a year so check out our November December event calendar, sign up for weekly email and we opened a bookstore at the wharf. If you havent been down there it has been three weeks, check it out. We have other events there and it is beautiful down there. That is all the boring stuff. Im very excited to be introducing Beverly Tatum, clinical psychologist to the areas of research include black families and white communities, racial identity and the role of race in the classroom. A nationally recognized authority on racial issues in america she has toured extensively leading workshops and preventing papers and lectures on racial identity develop and. As a professor and administrator served as ninth president from 20022015. Upon her retirement, the first project was to work on updating and revising her critically acclaimed book why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria and other conversations about race. 100 pages longer and covers the impact of changing demographics, school and neighborhood segregation, affirmativeaction back lash, Great Recession of 2008, election of barack obama and subsequent postracial narrative, emergence of black lives matter and campus activism in the early days of the trump presidency, 20 years after this book was published in these polarized times today, Beverly Tatum of the approach of direct and open conversation about racial identity and communication is what we need to hear and have to act on. Join me in welcoming doctor Beverly Tatum. [applause] thanks, thank you all for coming, delightful to see you here. I have identified there are family members in this audience, classmates, friends. I am thinking there are some women i know there might even be some, at least one person from wesley . Thank you. Okay. The personal biography, identifying the audience, i am glad to see all of you, thank you for coming. I am going to Say Something about the title of this book which is why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria and other conversations about race. It is a long title. Many people refer to it simply by the first half, why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria. I always like to emphasize the second half, and other conversations about race. More than anything it is about the importance of breaking silence about race and racism and having these conversations. In that spirit it is my intention to talk a little bit about the book in its 20th Anniversary Edition and to lunch as quickly as possible into a conversation we might all participate in. Im looking forward to that and without further ado let me just say that i started working on this project as i was leaving my presidency at spelman college. I retired from the presidency in july 2015 with the idea i wanted to work on this book and get it ready for relief in fall of 2017 which is what happened. As i was working on it i found many people would stop me and say what are you doing now and i would say im working on this book and they would say what book and tell them the title and then they say two things, the first would be do they still fit together . If you know anything about racially mixed environment the answer to that question is yes, those kids are still sitting together in the cafeteria. And then the next question would be Something Like isnt anything better . It is the second part, the second question, is anything better, that i want to focus on in the opening part of our time together because it is a complicated question and how you answer that question will depend perhaps on your generation your generational status, your own Life Experience, but i want to take a moment and reflect on the last 20 years. The first thing i commented on in the book in the opening section of the book is the fact that our demographics have changed quite a lot even in the last 20 years but if you, like me, were born in the 1950s and probably a few of us in this room, what i can tell you is in the 1950s the Us Population was 90 white. In 2014, i was born in 1954, fast forward 60 years, the schoolage population, us schoolage population was more, for the first time, 50 children of color. That is a big change. There are some things that have not changed relative to that population. Even though our demographics are changing rapidly, the results of not only differential birthrates but immigration patterns. What we know is black and brown children are more likely to be in segregated schools than they were 20 or 30 years ago. White children are more racially isolated than they were 20 or 30 years ago. That part hasnt changed. You might ask the question during the q and a if someone wants to know how that is possible, 60 years, after brown versus board of education our schools are more segregated today than they were 20 or 30 years ago . The short version of that is it has to do with Supreme Court decisions in the 80s and 90s and 2000s that limited the ways in which districts could desegregate, moving away from Court SupervisedSchool Desegregation plans, moving away from magnet schools because you cant take grace into consideration according to the 2007 Supreme Court decision. More often than not, children being assigned to their schools, going to the local neighborhood school. Neighborhoods are still segregated, that continue to be segregated. What else has changed in 20 years, the pattern of School Assignment in some ways, the same or worse than it was 20 years ago, the population has changed, and other changes in the last 20 years. And that has to do with the crash of 2008. The economic downturn, the Great Recession, what we know about the Great Recession is a disproportionate impact on communities of color. Black and latino communities. And the loss of net worth in us history, largely the result of the housing collapse and the ways in which those communities were targeted by high interest high risk loans. We know in the last 20 year period there has been pushback against affirmativeaction programs. We know for example there are a number of states, eight that followed the pattern of california and michigan incompletely outline the use of affirmativeaction in state run organizations including colleges and universities so you find places like uc berkeley and university of michigan having increasing difficulty bringing in native american students, particularly in california because of the change in policy that those institutions and the kind of racebased affirmative action outreach those institutions were doing no longer available to them as strategies. We also know in the last 20 years that there has been not only a pushback against affirmativeaction and downturn in the economy, but the rise in mass incarceration. We have learned a lot about that and many of you read the book by michelle alexander, the jude the new jim crow. Whatever reminds us is the Drug Enforcement policies, 3 strikes and you are out policy, started to take hold in the late 90s. 20 years later we have seen a rapid escalation of the number of black blue but not just black men but black women and latinos incarcerated. We know that the us incarcerates more people than any other nation. So we look at the impact of that on young people in terms of families that are separated as a consequence of prison sentences, children growing up, there is a statistic in Michelle Alexanders book that i cite in mind that there are more children separated from their parents today as a result of the prison system and was true during the time of slavery. Usa u. S. A. Today had a survey and they felt it was an important symbol, that the United States population had been able for the first time to elect a black president , yet the same weekend, the next day an the election, was the largest influx of signups for storm front. Org, a white supremacist hate site. So on the one hand we have the symbol of electing a black president. On the other hand in very close proximity, a dramatic rise in participation in white supremacist activity and the backlash we see today manifested in the streets of washington, dc and elsewhere, post the election of 2016, really has it roots back in 2008 as a response to the election of president obama. We also see that there have been a narrative, a postracial narrative, that was popular, after the first election, 2008, but that then quickly has been has been put aside, fortunately in my opinion, because it certainly wasnt accurate, that we were in a postracial state of being, but certainly that narrative was challenged by some other events of the last 20 years, most recently, the documentation of Police Shootings that we have all seen with the use of cell phone video, we have soon the impact of the trayvon mart ton shooting shooting and the acquittal of the man who shot him. I decent need to rehearse the examples of Police Shootings, whether were thinking about fill lap dough castille in minneapolis or Michael Brown in ferguson, massachusetts. The emergence of black lives matter part of the anywhere tough of the last 20 years, and also the spread of campus activism that was spawned in part in response to that block, then, of course, if we move quickly into the present time, the division, the divisive nature of the political election, the season in at the fall of 216, he election of the donald trump and the reality that were all experiencing right now. Ill comment. That later. Let me just say that thats a lot of stuff in the last 20 years. And what really krisal crystallized for me, the complex of the question, is it better, and the generational nature, was reflecting on what a 20yearold would sigh in response to that question. Lets imagine that for a moment. Let imagine youre bon in 1997 anyone here born in 1997 . Maybe not. But i was just speaking at Wesleyan University yesterday and a college the day before and Spellman College on tuesday, and at all of those places, there were a lot of students who were born in at the late 90s. 96, 9798. If you were born in 1997 you would be 20 just about now or soon, and think about this. If you were born in 1997 you are four years old when 9 11 happened. And you might not remember 9 11 but you would certainly your growing up experience would have certainly been shaped in a very significant way in the post9 11 america. When you were 11, the economy collapsed, and that might have had a very real impact on your family, depending on your personal circumstance, maybe aa parent lost a job, maybe the family lost the house. Maybe there are were some other difficulty economic circumstances associated with that Great Recession. Or even if that was not a factor in your life, certainly when youre 11 years old, president obama its elected for the first time. And that lead in to think about what it means to grow up from the time youre 11 to the time you are eight years later, 19, with a black president. And how does that shape your view of the world, to turn on the tv and see president obama talking, and see his wife and children living in the white house, and what that symbol means for you. But then lets imagine you are hearing, as youre turning on the news, and maybe believing, that this is a symbol that says, race is no longer such an issue in the United States. We are in a postracial narrative in a postracial society because this is what you see, youre 12, 13, 4 you see all those things. Then thank you turn 15 and Trayvon Martin is killed. 2012. So, youre 15, youre in high school. Do you identify with Trayvon Martin . Maybe you do if he looks like you. Even if he doesnt, maybe you are one of those teenagers who is texting on twitter, criming while white, responding to what it means to be profiled, if you are young person of color, and the privilege that crimes if youre white and not seeing an suspect. Lets imagine youre 15, youre thinking about all these things that people still hearing its a postracial society. Smooth be confusing. Then youre 17, maybe a high school senior, Michael Brown is killed in ferguson, ferguson erupts, black lives matter in the news, people are talking about that. What does that mean to you . And then maybe you are just starting college and now its 2016. Maybe youre a sophomore. And we are having this election season, and maybe you are involved in that election process, maybe not, but however you were thinking about that now, the election result is donald j. Trump has been oleaked pratt and not too long after that White Supremacists are holding a rally in washington, dc, celebrating his election. Fast forward, this comes after my becoming would published but fast forward to the spring and we have charlottesville and Deadly Violence Associated with that. So, lets and that 20yearold, is it better . Maybe not. And i raise that question from that 20yearold perspective because if you ask a 6 yearold thats me ask a 63yearold, has there been progress in your lifetime, i can say yes to that we. I can say yes because in 1954, was born in tallahassee, florida, to educated parents, my father was a college professor, he taught both my points were educated at Howard University, my father went ant to earn masters degree at the university of ohio in the 50s and now 1954, teaching at florida a m. Historically black college or at that time a college, now university. And he wants to get a doctorate in art education. That was his field. And he is thinking about going to Florida State, which is also in tallahassee, but in 1954, even after brown vs. Board of education, Florida State was still a segregated institution, whitesonly institution and he couldnt attend Florida State, but the state of florida was obligated by law, according to that Supreme Court decision to provide access. So what did the state of florida do . It basically said, we will provide you access. We will give you a train ticket to pennsylvania. And my dad got his doctorate at penn state, and he would always tell me the state of florida didnt pay his tuition but they did pay his transportation. To help him get to penn so he could earn that degree. When he complete his degree in 1957, he and my parents, my mom decided they did not want to raise their children in florida, and part of the great migration moved to massachusetts, which is where i grew up and he was the first africanamerican professor at Bridgewater State college, now Bridgewater State university. Tell that story to say when someone says has there been progress in your lifetime, i have to say yes, you know. I went to Wesleyan University, the university of michigan. I didnt have the challenges that my father had, in terms of getting access to education. If you were born in 1997, your arc of history its much shorter and happens to be at a time when a lot of things were moving backward, not forward, and that is the background for this new edition of why why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria and other conversations about race. She answer is the same but the context is different and with that opening id like to launch into our collective conversation. So let me pause there and see if you have questions. You can even take comments though i say that with hesitation because im the speaker. Lets just be clear. Okay. But i invite questions, and even a little bit of commentary if someone is interested in stepping forward remember let start there. If you have a question, they are going to invite you use the mic because we of going to be on television. Booktv. Cspan. Okay. We have someone to get us startedment thank you. So, my name is charles branch. I have two boys, one 19, one 17 and they both attend a school in bethesda, all boys private school, and they would they had a table, the black table, and i would ask them, well, why do you sit at the table with all the black kids . Part of the pane that i sent them there was to have a broader understanding of our country and the predominant people. And be able to navigate. And they said, well, dad, these are the guys eye know and the guys who are like me and talk about the things we talk about. But to your point about being 19 and 20, they fit the profile in the sense of, yeah, their experience far different than mine growing up and for them things are a bit more challenging than they were for me, but just as a parent, it was just very interesting for them to answer that question. Yes. I just wanted to offer that. Let me just say that you are not alone as a parent. Ive had the opportunity to talk to a lot of parents who will sill, i put my child in this context, in hopes they would have this opportunity to engage across lines of difference, and what i like to say there are a number of educators here. Id like t