Steve forbes, most recent book is reviving america. This has been built tv on cspan2 indepth. Cspan cremate americas cablevision company. [applause] all night. All day. Were going to be fighting for freddie gray. All night, all day, were going to be fighting for freddie gray. First of all, let me say that its an honor and a pleasure to be back here at red emmas. I was here months ago to introduce other new books i had written, and i consider it to be quite an honor theyve invited me back again. For those who may not be familiar, freddie gray was a young black man who had a fatal encounter with the police in the city of baltimore, and he is in a long list of such young black people who have had fatal encounters with the authorities. Im speaking of tamara rice in cleveland, and eric garner new york, and Michael Brown in ferguson, and sandra bland in texas, and hopefully what im going to be talking about this evening, that is to say, these events that span the period from the onset of the haitian revolution in 1791, up until the death of paul robeson in 1976, will shed light, i would hope, on why in north america, we have had this spectacular rise and surge of Police Killings and other misdeeded visited upon black people in particular. Now, first of all, with regard to the haitian revolution, 1791 to 1804, that rare revent, successful revolt of the enslaved, you cannot begin to understand the haitian revolution unless one sees this spectacular event in some ways as sequel to at the revolt against british rule in north america in 1776 that led to he formation of the slaveholding republic still known as the United States of america. That is to say, as i argued in my book, the counterrevolution of 1776, contrary to this Broadway Musical that use the hiphop form, such as holiday pam ton and contrary to what is routinely taught in schools from the atlantic to the pacific, the foundation of the United States of america in 1776 took place in no small measure because it was revolt against insipient abolitionism in london. That is to say, the case in june 1772 seemed to be suggesting that slave property, which even then in north america was worth in the millions, might be headed for the dust bin of history, as i explained in some detail in the book the counterrevolution of 1776, and just as those in the state now known as zimbabwe, then known as rhodesia, they thought london was working towards decolonizeddation, one vote,y they tried to continue their white racist minority regime by sitting up a new state of rhodesia. They said at the time they were walking in the foot steps of 1776. That is to say the 1776 was an attempt to escape the logic of abolitionist slavery in november 1965 in Southern Africa was an attempt to escape the logic of decolonization, and one person one vote, and african majority rules. Therefore you cannot begin to understand the trev veils veilsd the tribulations and the trials experienced by people of african descent in north america unless you understand that by several orders of magnitude, they fought against the formation of the United States of america. They sided with london, in its attempt to crush this slaveholding rebellion just like the africans did not accept the establishment of the new state of rhodesia in november 1965, and when you fight a war and lose, you can expect to be penalized and pulverizeed forever more unless and until you are able to turn the tables against your oppressors, and one of the ways we were able to turn the tables against our oppressors was through the haitian revolution, 1791 to 1804, which followed quickly upon the footsteps of the formation of the u. S. Constitution and the first convening of congress in some ways it was rebuke and a reputation of this new slaveholding republic, which is why i start the book with u. S. President George Washington expressing reservation about the haitian revolution, and what was come to be known as the haitian revolution in the case, what happens is that the africans in the islands, threaten known as hispaniola, were able to succeed against the french military, one of the most powerful examples of been valor and fortitude known to history, to this point, and established this independent black republic in 1804. But as you might have surmised, there was grave consternation in the slaveholding republic about the success and victory of the haitian revolution you. May recall if you look at many of the major slave revolts that rocked north america in the period leading up to the u. S. Civil war, 1800, denmark row velocity in south carolina, nat turners revolt, circa 1831 in virginia. They all had the fingerprints of haiti all over them, particularly gabrielles revolt in virginia in 1800 and takes place at the same time as the haitian revolution is unfolding, and also denmark vesseys revolt recall that denmark vestee in charleston, south carolina, was a seafarer and purportedly part of his aim and ambition was not only revolt against slavery, and then escape with numerous formerly enslaved but perhaps even to sail on to freedom in the island, then ruled by africans. That is to say, haiti. Now, what is interesting about many of these revolts is that theyre not unlike other revolts that are taking place within the hemisphere in which there is either inspiration by the haitian revolutionaries or direct instigation by the haitian revolutionaries. The fact the argument is make in this book is that the haitian revolution ignited a general crisis of the entire slave system that could only be resolved with that systems collapse. So if youre trying to understand why slavery collapsed in north america, you should not only look within the four corners of north america, but you should look to haiti, and as i said in a previous book, anything grow comrade to the crown, you should also look to the inspiration if not the instigation of british abolitionists in london. What is interesting as well is that the u. S. Slaveholding republic did not accept benignly this haitian revolution. You may recall that in the 1820s, you had a Massive Movement of the socalled free negro population, from north america to haiti. They were moving to haiti to not only escape the persecution they routinely encountered in north america, they were also intending to bolster and fortify haiti, this independent black republic, and play a key role in terms of keeping this independent republic afloat. You should also know that once upon once escaping to haiti, they did not forsake and forget their brothers and sisters here in north america. There were abolitionist societies on the island of haiti which were very much involved in helping to stir up antislavery sent independent the United States of america itself, and that leads to the second half of this story, which is that the United States, circa 1844, helped to instigate the splitting of the revolutionary island of haiti. Recall that this small island in the caribbean is now occupied by two states. Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was in 1844 that the u. S. Secretary of state, john c calhoun, from slaveholding south carolina, helped engineer one of the First Successful covert actions of u. S. Foreign policy in helping to fund a secessionist split of the island, leading to the formation of the Dominican Republic. This led continue sees extent, persistent conflict, between the two new states, that is to say, haiti on one side of the island and the Dominican Republic on the other side of the island. In fact, in one of the rare instances in the history of colonialism, the Dominican Republic, as the United States civil war was about to be ignited, circa 1860, and fight the former colonial powers that is spain back to the island to recolonize the Dominican Republic, that is to say most nations struggle against colonialism, but because of the socalled black scare, and the fear of haitian rule and haitian domination, those on the eastern side of the island invited madrid to come back and take over, but this rather pernicious event was quickly overtaken by the onset of the u. S. Civil war, and the United States, which had not recognize haiti, finally found out who its real friends and enemies were, because spanish cuba cuba then was controlled by spain was leaning towards diplomatic support of the socalled United States of america, and as we all know, the british abolitionists were barely able to prevent london from lending diplomatic support to the socalled con get recall states of america, but haiti stood four square in favor of the United States government as it fought this death match against the slaveholding Confederate States of america. By the way, april 15, 2016, marked the onset of emancipation of the enslaved in neighboring washington, dc, which is being marked as we speak. In any case, no good deed goes unpunished, and as a result of haiti helping to support the United States of america during its hour of need, during this u. S. Civil war that led to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of u. S. Nationals because of this traitorous revolt against abolition in the United States of america, and you might ask yourself parenthetically, how and why it is that a failed regime, Confederate States of america, which revolted against the United States government, and led to the slaughter of thousands, probably has more more monuments in many states of the United States of america than the folks who were victorious. Its very strange and unusual when those who lead a revolt and are squashed and defeated wind up somehow having mormonments more mobments than the people who help to squash them. You cannot begin to understand this conundrum unless you understand that those who revolted against washington in 1861 thought they were walkingy the footsteps of those that it revolted again london in 1776, in order to continue that institution known as slavery. In any case, after the u. S. Civil war ends, the United States government, its looks around its neighborhood, notices that canada is under british rule. Cuba is under spanish rule. Most of the caribbean, jamaica, barbados, Trinidad And Tobago under british rule, but you have these two independent states, that is to say, haiti, revolutionary haiti, and the dominican government, which has been able to oust the spanish after they had been invited back in 1860 by the dominican government with the able assistance of haiti. So the idea in washington, under president ulysses s. Grant, was to connect the island, or at least the Dominican Republic and ultimately haiti itself, and then deport the newly freed slave population en masse to the island. That particular scheme was barely defeated in the u. S. Congress. Otherwise a person like myself might not be sitting here speaking english but might be sitting on the island of his hispaniola speaking creole or french or spanish. Thats where this fishing book ends, but sadly enough, thats not where the trevials over island begins. There was u. S. A. Occupation of both haiti and the Dominican Republic. The u. S. Occupation didnt end until thed a meteorologist of Franklin Roosevelt circa 1934, and we also know in the Dominican Republic there was ample support for the dictator, rafael trujillo, who rule for decades until he met his maker in an assassination attempt that may have had u. S. Complicity. What is interesting about the d. R. , over its entire historical period, is the color phobia that persists and exists in the d. R. That is to say you might recall that in 1930s, the dominican government under rue heow massacred count countless haitian, and sammy sosa is a top home run hitter in u. S. Baseball history but after he retired, somehow magically his color was transformed and transmuted to my shade, until the shade that perhaps resembles the face of madonna, for example. This is not necessarily a peculiar idiosyncracy o sammy sosa. Its more a reflection of a culture, a culture not unlike the United States of america, that tentses to privilege White Supremacy and tends to downgrade and degrade those who happen to be darkskinned. That is a peculiar legacy of the history of slavery, and i dare say that if you want to understand how i gap my remarks with a shoutout to freddie gray and other victims of police terror. You want to understand the recent report from the chicago authorities that pointed out how the Chicago Police department is riddled with antiblack racism in terms of the disproportionate number of black people who are slain by the police, not to mention misused and abused be the police. Even if you want to understand something that may nat be as grave as the controversy as the oscars being so white, you have to understand the history of slavery in the United States, its legacy, but more than that you have to take another step and understand how the United States was formed in a revolt against the abolition of slavery, and if you understand that you may be able to understand why in 2016, we may be staring down the barrel of a president cruz or President Trump or perhaps a worse alternative than that. With that, let me turn to this book. Paul robeson, the artist as revolutionary. Paul robeson, as you may recall, was born in new jersey in 1898, died in philadelphia in 1976. In between those two dates he excelled as a scholar at Rutgers University and the law school of columbia university. He excelled an an athlete, an allamerican player, baseball catcher, forward in basketball. He played for a while in the nationm at the National Football league, but he achieved worldwide renown as a cultural worker, as a singer, and as an actor. Its not an exaggeration to suggest that at the apex of Paul Robesons career he was certainly the best known black american on planet earth and may have been one of the best known u. S. Nationals in the world because his records were sold all over the world and his movies also were broadcast all over the world as well. But paul robeson did not find that particular renown to be ultimately satisfying because he knew that despite his own personal attainments and achievements, langishing in the hell hole that was jim crow were his brothers and sisters, particularfully diskie. What is striking about paul robeson as well and striking bat number of black cultural workers, particularly musicians, is that he found his initial fame and fortune not here in this country but overseas. That is a repetitive pattern whereby black americans and their artistic gifts are recognized more readily outside of the United States than inside the United States. In Paul Robesons case it was his moving to lon dont in the early 1920s that allowed him to climb the ladder of person success, allowing him to hobnob with the great and the good in london, allowing him to achieve what was one of his initial stellar accomplishments, which was playing the role of othello in the wellknown shakespearean play, and to excel in movies, initially in london, although he did make his mark in hollywood nonetheless. But a turning point for Paul Robesons life comes in the 1930s when he is on his way to germany and he confronts facetoface the bare teeth of nazi germany, and this shakes him up tremendously, and he goes on from there to the former soviet union where he encounters a friend from harlem, speaking of the late black lawyer, william l. Patterson, name you may recall because it was william l. Patterson who led the charge in the case, the scottsboro case, the case of the scottsboro nine, a case that arise inside dixie in 1930s involving nine black youth accused falsely of sexual molestation station of twoyearold american women. The case is important because under pattersons leadership and under the leadership of the International Labor defense with which he was affiliated the case was turned into an international cause celebre, not unlike what happened to apartheid in south africa in the 1980s. And it was that external pressure that was the first stage in the successful challenge to jim crow, which obviously reaches a victorious crescendo in the 1960s with the brown versus board of education case in 1954, the rice of rosa parks, Martin Luther king, et cetera, in then 1950s and 1960s about the first chapter of the case was struck under the leadership of william l. Patterson. Patterson happened to be a communist, black communist. He in fact had been trained to a degree in russia in the soviet union. He spoke some russian. He knew paul robeson because william l. Patterson, too, had been a lawyer in harlem at the same time paul robeson was in harlem. They reignited their friendship in the soviet union in the 1930s and it was pattersons roth proselytize that hoped to push robeson to the left from from that point he is transformed. You may recall that robeson goes to the front line during the spanish civil war in 1934 to 1935. One of the first chapters in the attempt by the fascists under Adolph Hitler to achieve world conquest, the spanish republic is overthrown because of this ample assistance provided by fascist germany and fascist italy none mussolini. Paul robeson contributes his talent and funding to keep the spanish republi