be dealt with. but until you look within and figure out what you can improve for yourself as a group or an individual in your own community, when you do that, then you can deal with the structural and institutional racism with a much clearer, educated mind. and yes, it is very tough, eric, to talk about race honestly in any form, especially on television, and it's not any easier, i have found out recently, if you are african-american and if you're coming at it from the perspective of a black person. >> now, brian, i'm going to turn to you. you wrote a really moving piece for "salon" where you talked about getting shot, almost dying. two african-americans committed the crime. and yet that didn't change your idea or your commitment to opposing stop and frisk laws. now, how did the media react to that? and tell me what you learned being at the center of that sort of media firestorm. >> well, overwhelmingly the response to the piece was positive. people sent me personal notes