Rights movement, as bernie was. Having led demonstrations in west chester, pennsylvania, the home of their rustin. Barrett rustin. I was disappointed in that the movement in the mid1960s when most did not benefit from the change. Low income blacks were used for demographics. When the remedies came they helped middleclass blacks in that separation of interest continues to this day. One of the reasons why i left the movement and began to work on behalf of low income people of all races, the Civil Rights Movement, thats why. Taking the long view, you talked about the Civil Rights Movement. You also have the election of the first black president. Then we have the comments this past week from President Trump where he seemed to equate those who were taking the size of the White Supremacists, along with those who were marching in protesting in moral opposition to the White Supremacists. Where do you think the country stance of this moment . Guest let me begin by giving you a little of my background. I grew up in philadelphia. A fourthgeneration philadelphian. I grew up within walking distance of this building, which im doing in this studio. As a young man in south philadelphia i became aware of differences in what later i learned was the economic status of African Americans and others. We went to the night street 9th street italian market. I observed differences between africanamericans and whites in the amount of money they were spending, and how they spent their money and so forth. I was only seven years old at the time. When i was a college, historically black college in salisbury, North Carolina. The counselor said, what do you want to major in . I told her the story. She said if youre interested in that, you should study economics. That is why i began to study understand what explains what i later defined as racial inequality and American Economic life. Through my career at the Wharton School, through my career in philanthropy answer Public Service i have been on a mission to understand what explains the gross disparities in economic status between africanamericans and white people in this country. It is broad, it is deep, and it is persistent. Disparitythe economic lie at the root of many of the race problems we have in this country today. Host with you think of economic disparity . Race first of all i think is only a part of this. I think we place too much emphasis on race. With served the interests of the black community was the debate as to whether as to the causes. We have three things. The recolonization nests going back to africa, the insurrectionists and the accommodationists. In the 1960s we had king talking about social equality and economics. Race overshadows anything else unfortunately today. At the expense of looking at the economic realities there is a false narrative the Civil Rights Movement continues to perpetuate to this day. The false narrative is that kind of challenges we see today, the black on black crime, all the despair you see is somehow related to the legacy of slavery, discrimination, and racism. Hbo and google and Procter Gamble are about to throw more fuel on this flame by assuming that race is what defines these differences. The reality is black america achieved in the face of racism between 1865 and 1892, the number of black newspapers went 154. Two two the rate of black illiteracy declined from 80 to 45 at a time when we were just leaving slavery. Our business formation dates were higher in the 1920s them are whites. Black American History is tied to what it was able to achieve for itself. It was never determined by what White America would permit black america to do. That message is being lost on people today as we continue to perpetuate this myth that race alone defines black america and therefore we are separated at a tremendous expense in this country. We merely have to address that. Economics we started our own 1865s, are own railroad in that was started. It went from baltimore to maine. Selfsufficiency that gets overlooked when look at life through the prism of race. Host people will also say what about the confederate south . It is written into Southern State constitutions effective white rule. Voting rights restrictions that would later become jim crow, the applications that still exist today. How do you square those things . Guest had we respond to those barriers . We achieved against the odds. 1920 and 1940, the education gap between white and blacks in the south was a Free Education for whites, fifthgrader blacks. Because of the schools we erected that education glatt closed within six months in just 20 years. Their fate has never been tied to what whites would our would not permit us to do. You have a look at how we achieved against the odds. Instead of just looking at what white did. Care to weigh in . Guest that is where bob and i really part ways with respect to our interpretation. 1895, the late, great booker t. Washington made a speech in which he appealed to white people in the south. Look i will interpret what booker t. Washington said. He said in effect, listen, both of us are in a very dire straight because of the conditions of the south as a result of the civil war. Let us Work Together to move forward and develop ourselves together by trading together. That is based on the theory of international trade. Booker t. Washington never had a course in economics, but he understood that white folks would cooperate with black folks, both of them would rise together. He said of black people, put down your buckets where you are. Letsthat meant was that train ourselves to be productive, to learn to read and tote and produce products, be successful farmers. In white folks would gather notther and work with us, oppose us every step of the way, we both could rise together in the south. That did not happen. With did happen what did happen is we have the ku klux klan, denial of the right to vote, we had black people terrorized after reconstruction. And put down every step of the way. That has been the history of black people, not only in the south, but in the north and all over this country. It is the opposition of what people to cooperate with black people and get out of the way, stop denying them the opportunity to acquire wealth, to get jobs, to use their education. Even when they get the education to be employed in jobs for which they qualify. That has been the history of the opposition of white people. , to advancing black people together. Guest im not denying the fact these conditions existed, but the reality is im from south philadelphia too. We were also able to build institutions, are on business leaders. Own black wall street. We had hospitals, Insurance Companies when white people denied us access. We established the saint teresa hotel in new york, the st. Charles in atlanta. Guest what happened to wall street in tulsa, oklahoma . Guest if current down burned down. Guest white people burned it down. Guest let me just say this to you. What happened to that section of North Carolina is whites could not destroy it in 40yea 40 years, urban renewal did in three years. And wipes out every 600 residents with a promise it would be rebuilt. That has never happened. The old section of miami for his ruined by urban renewal. Three years of that didnt whites cannot do in 50 years. That is a part of our history also. You have to look at the rules of the game and not just what white people permit or dont permit us to do. Bob, all, lets talk lets talk about solutions. Guest thats a great idea. Guest lets recognize the problems we are talking about, this deep, broad, persistent problem can be corrected with public policy. Let me cite an example. There is an organization, the National Urban league founded in 1910 to address the problems of africanamericans who moved from the south to the north. Forwardn league has put a mainstream marshall plan, a set of Public Policies, proven Public Policies that will address income inequality, employment, wealth inequality. These are policies that by increasing investment in human capital, major infrastructure programs, targeted to the areas of greatest need would go a long way for eliminating the racial inequality that the sets many many urban besets areas. Economists love statistics. The rate of unemployment among black people in this country today has been twice the rate of unemployment among white people since the statistics have been collected. The Median Income of 60 ofamericans is only the Median Income of white people. And has never africanamerican families have never had more than six dollars for every 10 white families have had. Lets look at wealth, net worth. The difference between assets and liabilities. The net worth of africanamerican families today is about 14,000, compared with a net worth of over 100,000 for white families. With those kinds of economic disparities, in not only diminishes the quality of life and the opportunities for African Americans, it even slows down the rate of economic growth. The broadd implement proven policies recommended by the National Urban league leadership, we would go a long improving the income, employment, the wealth positions of africanamericans. Not only benefiting africanamericans, but benefiting the nation as a whole. That is the kind of approach i think we should direct our attention to in this country today. Lets not belabor the point about history. History is what happened in the past. Lets deal with the problems today. We can solve these problems. Guest i agree. Guest lets move forward to address the racial inequality and disparities that are all over. We need to stop this nonsense, move Forward Together, white and black and latino and all of us together to improve the quality of our lives. If we can do that we know the way, that we have no will to do that in this country at this point. Host our guests are bernard anderson, Wharton SchoolProfessor Emeritus at the university of pennsylvania. And robert woodson, founder and president of the Woodson Center. The line for republicans, 202 7488001. The line for democrats, 202 7488000. A light for independents, 202 7488002. If youre on the phone, all the line for a bit before we get your call. I want to bring our conversation to the present day. Lets talk about the way we talk about issues of race. An oped from dr. Eric dyson at the washington post. Is obama to blame for trump and a revival of White Supremacists eight . State . Obamas initial reluctance to address race, and he references a biography that peter baker wrote, left an interpretive void that was gleefully filled by his successor who is all too eager to apply his poisonous perspective. Obama picked up the race talk in the second term, but it may have been far too little far too late. Obama, as he did in force policy foreign policy, led from behind. With you think about that . Guest race is emphasized at the expense of the kind of things bernie and i are talking about. Right now we are the most polarized nation. Obama was supposed to bring us together. We are more polarized now than we have ever been. The assumption is the problems facing black america somehow tied to what america has or has not done in the past and present, and therefore we have all these grievances. The Civil Rights Movement has declined into a race grievance industry. There is a great inspiration and then they dissolve to a business and into a racket. I think continuing to emphasize race is done at the expense of other things. Bernie talked about solutions. We spend too much time on symbols, like the selma to montgomery march. John lewis leads everybody in this march. They walk 43 miles are some of the worst black poverty in the country. What we did at the Woodson Center is go in response to the county residents who had no sewage, no recreation centers. We invested about 11 million bank, theyears, hsbc bush administration, we built two Industrial Parks so on back it up in a plant that h hyun dai could open a plant. This is the work we need to do to help rebuild those communities and set of just symbolicallyere whining about race in america. We are the most polarized. Has he is talking about nothing to do with the reality of poor people in this country. Bernie talks about income. You cant really generalize about white income versus black income. The biggest gap is between low income blacks and upper income blacks. Racism on is if wire blacks suffering equally why arent blacks suffering equally . Where low income blacks suffering and systems run by their own people . These cities are run by black elected officials. Black professionals are running our school system, our health care system, our prison system. If we fought for racial equality, why are our people failing and systems run by their own people . These are the issues when he to debate, but we cant have a reasonable debate in this country. That is whether Woodson Center is establishing a coalition of people left and right of center who want to recover and restore the Civil Rights Movement so we to not separate people into identity groups, about bringing us together to have these kinds of discussions. Host with the you think about that . Guest i dont want to blame the victims for their condition. I was very disappointed with barack obama. Delegate to the Democratic National convention in denver in 2008. Electeday, i was an delegate from the sixth Congressional District of philadelphia. Obama won philadelphia, but lost pennsylvania. Of hiss the state popularity in the city of philadelphia. But i was very disappointed that president obama never found his courage,mmoned his used his Political Capital to directly address racial inequality in American Economic life. He did not pursue the kinds of policies through the federal avernment that might have had direct impact in improving the economic position of africanamericans and latinos. I have concentrated on policies that would change these conditions and improved economic status. Economists often obfuscate the issue. Lets take the question of the minimum wage. There has long been a proposal to reduce property by increasing the minimum wage. If you look at the evidence, you increasingde that the minimum wage is not a very effective policy for reducing poverty. In contrast, increasing the value and expanding the eligibility for the earned income tax credit is a much better way to reduce poverty. What is poverty . As former very simple senator Daniel Patrick moynihan said when he was an assistant for richard nixon. Poverty is simply you dont have enough money. People are not poor because of the toothpaste they used to brush their teeth, this hope they used to wash their face the soap they use to wash their face. The cause of poverty is that people dont have enough money. Isn the solution to poverty to see that people earned more money. If we pursue the policy that increased income increases the capacity for people to earn more then opend a opportunities for them to get a job host brian is calling from missouri. Hes on the line for democrats. Whats on your mind . Caller thank you, sir. I appreciate you, cspan. I cannot speak for the 1960s, but i can speak for the 1970s. I grew up around st. Louis. The Race Relations wasnt that bad. Divisions started during the 1980s when they started the drug war and the rightwing wing hate media sponsored by fox news and all the people with them is what divided this country. We have turned the corner, though. Charlottesce in white andre were more have protesters than black. Us white people have to stand up against racism and what is right did you ask to be born black . Did you ask to be born white . We are all gods children and we need to come together and donald trump they are sugarcoating donald trump and blaming everybody else. It is donald trump and it is his fault and he needs to apologize to the whole nation and try to bring this country back together. You all have a nice day. Have ai think that we race reavens industry its taken to every area of society where even in high racial where they have indoctrination day now, black scholars with their victims incomesking sixfigure talking about how bad race is is come i wish they would tell us how they achieved. What they are doing is really driving us apart. The assumption is they are down there talking about linguistic racism when are talking about you bond x again ebonics again. Its racism to expect blacks to use standard english. They are trying to polarize us and Companies Like google and others are getting ready to release a film on slavery and lynchings and all this emphasizes just driving us apart. It is an industry. We have made a commodity out of race and we have made a commodity out of poverty. Have we address that and an honest discussion about that, were not going to move away host people will hear you say that and they will recognize the point you make against the cult of victimhood, but does the other side of that argument then blame people who are for segregation . Saying youre not trying hard enough. Guest you cannot generalize portable poor people. I identify four categories of poor people. There are those who are just broke. They will be fine. The second category are people theire on assistance and character is intact but they see if they work, they will lose benefits. They are fine. Category three are people who are disabled. , people whoategory are poor because they are