Discussion as we ask our viewers how far as the u. S. Come on the issue of Race Relations and how much further do we need to go . And what are your thoughts on how elected officials handle this issue . Give us a call. If youre in the eastern or central time zone, call us at 2025853880. If youre in the pacific time 81. S, its 20258238 you can also go to facebook or twitter. And a good wednesday morning to you. That story out of the nba. The San Francisco chronicle this morning. Nba stands strong in punishing racism. Heres the los angeles times. Banned for life. Clippers owner Donald Sterling is fined 2. 5 million. The commissioner said he will press for a sale of a team. Thats commissioner adam silver and the nba commissioner. And then theres a photo from the front page of the u. S. A. Today sports photo. America, enough is enough. Equality. E demand the story the issue and its broader implications also making it into the papers. Heres a few more headlines from u. S. A. Today. Racist rants are sadly all too family. A column by a lady who writes the banned for life Los Angeles Clippers owner offers how racial differences continue to create painful realities. But we have been here before, she writes. And as a haitianamerican black woman, i venture to say we will be here again. Here being a place are the whole country is focused on one individual caught saying discriminatory things host thats her column in todays u. S. A. Today. Another headline below has the impact well beyond the world of sports. That also in the u. S. A. Today. Also i want to read you a bit from the Editorial Board of the wall street journal also on this subject. The Editorial Board of wall street journal writes host a few different views on this subject today. Were talking about it this morning in our first 45 minutes on the jashjash. Its also the subject of several hundred comments on our Facebook Page, facebook. Com cspan. A few comments on our questions. How far have we come . Tina writes since obama took office, it appears weve taken a step backwards. And below that were opening up our phones this morning as a forum. The larger issues of Race Relations in america and well start with david calling in from atlanta, georgia. David, good morning. Caller yes. Host morning, david. Caller thank you. By me basically being from the south, you know, what Donald Sterling is saying is basing the mentality which most white people have. You have people still flying the Confederate Flag and things. They actually lost a war and things. They know how but the problem that it see is also mr. Sterling was jewish. He also made some comments about israel and blacks. Did they think that we are dogs in israel. If more of these answers would be put out host david, let me ask you. What do you think the role of public figures is in this debate . Take it to the larger Public Policy realm. Caller what i think should be done, you know, in situation like this is the courts are basically trying to turn back, you know, things that we blacks have suffered for and through like the Civil Rights Act and affirmative action and these different types of things, all these are coming because we have a black president in office and a lot of people you know, like i say, i live with these people. Ive seen racism up personal, up close and personal. Some of my people have been hung and lynched and things down here in the south. Paula deen made a statement about how and duck dynasty, how we feel we are all right as slaves and we was all right doing the ant blum and south. No, we had do that in order to survive, in order for the next generation to come and try to hange. Host thats david calling in from atlanta, georgia. Lets go to cornell waiting in new jersey. Race relations in the u. S. How far have we come . Caller weve come a long way but we have a long twice go and that is indicative of when president obama was elected. It shows what the filibusters alone has had 30 something filibusters but with all the president combined and now, they have filibustered him over 400 times. No one has ever disrespected the office that the presidency is screaming out during the speech. And do you think its a difference in politics or you think theres a racial angle to this . Caller oh, definitely a racial angle to it because the policy that hes put forth, they have been trying to do health care for decades. What im disappointed in is that hes reached out to the republicans as far as hes made more republicans appointments than any other democrats that i can remember in my lifetime and yet still be vilified. He has hes got the health care that they do have. Its really a republican plan. If it was a democratic plan, it would be a single pair option or a single pair system or a public option. Now, im a democrat, but im going going im not to force my views on people eaning the prochoice thing. Host mary is up next. Good morning. Caller good morning. Race relations, weve come a long, long way. We have a black president. We have people that own teams. We have all of the things. We do the same things as white people that white people do as black people. But i still have to say am i going to be treated fair when i go to the store . Am i going to be treated fair if i go block this reservation for the hotel . And i still have to tell the sons and family how to behave when youre driving so you wont get arrested for nothing. And we still have to do this. Why did the president have to show his birth certificate to the likes of donald trump . Donald trump and people like that represent the racism that were trying to get rid of. Host mary what, do you think the role of the federal government is . Were coming up on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Theres been questions out there. Is it time for another Civil Rights Act . Caller yes, it is. Its time for the one that we have to be strengthened and to keep going. Without the federal government, we would be have been riots on the streets. As my neighborhood, were tired. Were tired of hearing the racist calls. When the president was elected and then we had town hall meetings, white men showed up with guns as if this mans going to take their right to arm themselves away. We still have a lovely world we live in. We have blacks, whites, asian, hispanics, everybody ready to live together. We just have to get rid of this element that still exists called abundant racism. Host carol olds writes in Great Strides and Race Relations are shown by the outrage of sterlings rant. The last vestige of racism will doon sigh with the soon die with the old. Lets go to heather virginia. Heather, good morning. Caller good morning. Ell, about the i think that racism is beyond color, mother, beyond child. Mean, we are basically being bred out. Theyre continuing their bloodline, their heritage, their riches, their roles and i dont think that little guy is out. I think that they have a set and to effect that they are definitely going to be here for all that time. Host and heather, who is they youre talking about . Caller i really dont know, the doctors, the government, the rich people. Im a broke white female. I have a little girl and i think victimized and nobody has stood up and say how they are changing, how we raise our children. All the children is born with a defects and everything. And its crazy the research they do with our d. N. A. , with the animals and all kinds of stuff. And its just they will not die. Host heather in virginia this morning. A few of our callers brought pup the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and we talked about it already. Heres a recent gallup poll on Public Opinion 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One of the findings of the polling work that report that came out earlier this month. A majority of americans continue to believe that a solution to the race problems in this country will eventually be worked out although blacks are somewhat less optimistic than whites, gallup finds. Attitudes have changed overtime. First in the more negative direction including in particular, a starkly negative poll conducted in 1995 after the o. J. Simpson verdict. After that attitudes have become more positive as of last summer. 58 of americans said that a solution to relations between blacks and whites will be worked out while 40 say it will always be a problem. Gallup found blacks are less positive than whites that a solution the race problem will be worked out. Well bring you some more from some of that polling work from gallup, but our phones are open as were asking our viewers Race Relations in the u. S. How far have we come . And what is the role of Public Officials in this debate thats happening in the country . Larry is in a coma, washington. Larry, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing this morning . Host im good, sir. Go ahead. Caller i think Race Relationships have improved but we still have a long way to go, sir. Because a friend of mine plays professional sports and i wont mention his name, but he went to go get an apartment and he got discriminated against and he millions. And personally, ive been discriminated basically all my life and i work for a fortune 500 company and im 52 years old. And when they hire, they never hired anyone of the black color all and im quite sure those people that are in mccord, theres a lot of africanamerican men that are out there that are qualified to do those jobs. But theres too much nepotism and cronyism thats going on. Host thats larry in washington. A few more comments from twitter. Race relations have not come far. American has come far in the act of denial by using institutional discrimination. And jim writes in. We have reached a point in america where freedom speech in ones own home is now punished at least if youre a rich white guy. Here is a column by kathleen parker. She writes the past few days have provided a cornucopia of reprehensible statements she goes on in that column that you can read in todays Washington Post. But were here to back forum for this debate here in the washington journal this morning for about the next half hour or so. Randalls next in washington, d. C. Randall, good morning. Caller well, i think actually i know this is a short segment. Part of the problem is is with poor whites who actually have a lot in common with blacks. But because of hate and host randall, are you still there . Caller yes. Can you hear me . Host go ahead. Caller because of hate and racism, blacks and whites arent getting together. And thats because you know, the laws change. The sentiment is still there, which is what the laws were based on. Additionally, the Structural Racism is not addressed and for some reason, we see signs of the racial problems, the message offense slavery, why black people are behind and we see stuff with tavon martin and other young blacks being killed in the south and theyre calling it and not recognizing it as murders. Theyre calling it suicides and stuff like that host so randall, whats the role of government here . Whats the role of elected officials in this debate . Caller so heres the problem. Unless they can do more, because of the large sentiment and indifference about racism about white people. Yes, you may not directly discriminate but its that thing that is like that you think until the attic. Obviously, we want to change. But we dont have the power to change it. Host randall in washington, d. C. Lets go to judy waiting in conley springs, north carolina. Judy, good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to say that i am 65 and ive lived through a lot of these things. Our was in high school, high school was integrated. It was the first year that the black students came to our school and there was a little bit of tension, but we learned to get along and of course, things i remember in a small southern town and we got along well. Duringed tv reports that the 1960s in boston when the schools were integrated. There were buses that were gangs of people surrounded and there were some terrorism up there too. I think the south gets a bad rap a lot of times. I wanted to say that theres racism on both sides and 2012 when Maxine Waters called john boehner in it and she did not want to feed them, she did not want to feed them in the house, congress, she didnt want to feed them at all. That was a racist statement as well. I think theres a lot of it on both sides. And i hate when theres a policy different in the congress and between the three branches of the government. I hate to see it attributed to race rich. I can remember when there were racism. I can remember when george w. Bush said an effigy and that was a lot of disrespect there too. I see some pretty bad things that go on but i hate that racism ris blamed for it when quite often its a policy difference, its not a race issue. And i thank you for listening. I thank you for cspan. I really enjoy it. Host judy calling in from conley springs, north carolina. A comment from theo on twitter. There is racism in america . Yes. For example, those who voted for obama just because of his skin color. Bill writes in. This is getting old and racism is getting to be an old excuse for not taking personal responsibility. Lets go to patrick waiting in san augustin, texas. Patrick, good morning. Caller good morning. How are you doing, sir . Host im good. Caller i come from a small town and in the small town im from, you know, its probably like the jim crow, you know its still, you know, people, you know, black and white, people separating from each other, you know. Host and patrick, tell us some examples. Hat do you see specifically . Caller well, from in the areas racial they profiling. They have certain types of people. Nd i dont feel like if they mix with as far as i can say their people as much as our people, you know. We dont mess with their people but they mess with our people more than the White America. Host patrick, when you say their people and our people, do you mean racial lines that youre drawing there . Caller yes, sir. I mean, were all the same people. We all have the same color, but why the africanamerican race or even the hispanic race or any other race have more problems than the White America . Host all right. Thats patrick calling in from texas. The issue of racial inequality coming up in a recent Supreme Court decision. The decision that upheld the michigan constitutional amendment banning the consideration of race in Public University admissions. Heres an article about that. Justice sotomayor accuses colleagues trying to wish away racial inequality. She noted john roberts famous statement in 2007 that the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is stop discriminating on the basis of race. Oo simplistic, she said john roberts responded with a short sharp statement of his own according to the Washington Post reporting on it. To disagree with the views on the cost and benefits of racial preferences is not to wish away rather than to confront racial inequality. People can disagree in good faith but it does more harm than good to question the openness and candor of those on either side of the debate. Thats a story from last weeks Washington Post when that decision came out. Those comments from sotomayor also the subject of a column by Jennifer Rubin who writes for the Washington Post. Shes talking about sotomayors statement from the bench reading from her descent. She said steven briar did not join in the same sentiments. Her dissent is of a piece and left wing outrage finding no factual basis for continued federal you suppertation if you want to read more, thats Jennifer Rubins column in the Washington Post. But weve got about 15 or 20 minutes left to continue this discussion with our viewers. Were asking Race Relations in the u. S. How far have we come . Lets go to keith waiting in new york. Keith, good morning. Caller yes. The misinformation by white people who are prejudice anybody can be prejudice but when you put prejudice into option that affects peoples lives, thats racism. Like the corporate control justices on the Supreme Court who pretend that racism doesnt exist, Donald Sterling, who sees his black players on the Basketball Team as slaves, and the Donald Trumps and the bundy who is dont pay their taxes. So a lot of people get confused for or deflating the issue. Racism, weve come to a point but people in power are trying o turn the clock back with suppressions and the Republican Party intent on cutting the social Safety Network and we see that the clock is being turned ack. And it is trying to be repealed. Host more from that gallup poll that we talkedaearlier in this segment. Some other findings. A majority of the blacks living in the its continue to say that new civil rights laws are needed o protect blacks lets go to glen waiting in tennessee. Glen, good morning. Thanks for calling the washington journal. Caller yes. Thank you for letting me be able and i agree pinion 100 with justice sotomayor. And also i feel that racism is , bedded in American Society sort of institutionalized right here. I agree with the caller from new york that says that racism is embedded into the media. Its embedded into the Justice System. When you look at the Supreme Court and you see the opinions, you see congress. Feel that racism have been spared on the airways, unchecked for years. I mean, you look at the congress me