Of the book fracture. This is one hour 30 minutes. Good evening everyone thank you all for coming out tonight. Im one of the coowners of the bookstore and we are delighted to be here and sponsor this event. I dont know how many of you realize we also have a book operation here. That all started about a year ago. The owner approached us and asked us if we would help run his book operation and we were ecstatic at the possibility. One of the reasons was because we have such a parallel, a parallel, synergistic role in our communities with busboys and poets. We are very grateful for the opportunity to be here. I wish she was here but he had to go to another event. This is very much the sort of event that busboys are known for over the years and that we are asked dreamily prior to be a part of. The way this will work tonight is that our panel will talk for a bit and there will be questions from the audience and a microphone will be passed around. Just raise your hand. At the end of the event, their books are right here and you will have a chance to get their book and get it signed afterward. Thats the house rules. If you have a cell phone on, please turn it off. That would be a good idea. We dont wanted to interrupt the conversation. I want to start by thanking april ryan who really, this is her event. She came to us and asked us if we would consider working with her to create an event like this and sponsor it and we were really delighted by the prospect. We made it harder for her because we said we have to have authors, people have written about the subjects. She found not only authors, but great authors. So april, thank you. She really is the driving force behind us [applause]. I just have say, this is a tremendous book. She is too modest to say it so i will say it, its called the presidency in blackandwhite. It has just won the nonfiction ward award. Congratulations. There is a lot of controversy right now about whats classified and what isnt in washington. Im going to air on the side of caution. I dont want to reveal any secrets, secrets, but stay tuned for a few more headlines pertaining to that book. Just keep your eye out on the news in the next few months. Secondly, this is just a rumor, there is another one coming out and its in progress. So anyway, thank you april. She will be giving a little more detailed introduction of our panelist tonight. I think i can say just a brief word about each of them. Michael eric dyson is possibly our best customer. Hes gotta be up there at the top of our best customers. Hes a professor and an incredibly prolific author. Hes written 50 or 60 books including can you hear me now. Its great to have him. Its always great to be with him. Joyann reid who we hosted just a few weeks ago for her new book. I hope youve had a chance to read it. If you havent you have to get it, it, its called fracture. Its one of the smartest books about american politics, especially about the evolution of race in the democratic party. Its a fantastic book. Thank you so much for being here. What a contribution that book is. And then lastly, but not least, paul butler who is the author of lets get free. He is one of the most respected civil rights activist in the country per hes a professor at georgetown law. We are so delighted to have you. I feel very, very happy to be in such Great Company with all of them and with all of you. But i just want to say a couple more things about april. Many of you know she is a very familiar voice on radio, long time commentator on american policy. Obviously in that amount of time she has seen her fair share of politics and politicians. Shes a White House Correspondent for the Network Since 1997. Shes covered clinton, george w. Bush and barack obama. I think if you read her book, you will find its a compilation of a lot of years of observation, and a lot of them observations of american presidency. Shes learned a lot, thats for sure. I think from my point, the most important is about what she does with her recordings. Shes one of the first africanamerican journalists and she has been intent on remaining that form. They are too often marginalized and over the years she literally has become herself a news outlet and resource for millions of americans who might otherwise be left in the dark about how events in the news are affecting and shaping their own lives, their families and community. She should really be given a Public Service award. [applause]. It should be recognized at a far higher level than it is. Thank you so much for being the driving for something to all of you for coming here. We are delighted to have you. I tell you what, im floored. Any author who tries to get to this great place called politics and prose. This is the owner. Please support her and thank her because she didnt have to have her books in our books in her stores. We want to thank her for hosting us in providing the books and hosting all of you tonight. Thank you for coming out. We want to let you know there is food and libation. If you want to, if you need a little drink or little food while were talking, we encourage you and we think busboys and poets as well. Lets give them a big round of applause. [applause]. Welcome to race in american today, panel discussion. Im your moderator, moderator, april ryan. I want to move on down the line to migrate panel. I am in all of these people. I have short bios. You know who they are. Next to me, michael eric dyson, Georgetown Professor of sociology and authors of 16 books. They include can you hear me now, april 4, 1968. Lets give him a big round of applause. [applause]. Thank you michael for coming. The great joy and read. The author of the new book fracture. I am so happy for you. Joy and read as a National Correspondent for nbc, msnbc and to be honest with you, many people believe and its an unscientific statement that im going to make but i think youre one of earlier this year on a flight for the 50th anniversary of bloody sunday i ask the president would he consider america opposed racial or post obama . Listen to what he said. i think there is no doubt there was a significant moment of racial history. I said that with all civility. But later he went on to say it was settlements like the emancipation proclamation. Are the massive changes of the bill stand is status and he also said the 13th and 14th amendment from the 1960s. From formal discrimination in this country for going and with that said where are we now . A riposte civilrights . In the next 60 months are we opposed obama . I will start with you. [laughter] first of all, will come to rue politics prose and for bringing up all together and faq for starting with may. [laughter] and talk about post racial that is a goal. Today about the United States of america is one of the most race conscious countries ever put together anywhere. The foundation was explicit the braze conscience put it to the founding documents. So your lack of citizenship them the struggle to bring about equality of africanamericans from the desire to be post racial that africanamericans and White Americans have and by no means you cannot thank everyone but to transcend that racial path to put it behind us to put a period of the end of the sentence that we add a point where race matters. But that matters with everything is so explicit and used to be of the part of White Americans with the jim crow policy or who could live on the block . So now we come to our history and to get post racial the race is something were living every day. Sir africanamericans have no desire to transcend race. And to litigate the issue of race. And with those opposite poles that could never be brought into you and. Lets go with the prosecutor and of litigation. In the way of the visuals. To say we have talked about for years. When people see the numbers did you know, that . Of course, we did there is the paradox how does all of that play into post obama and though litigation an issue . And the problem is White Supremacy. And that has not been impacted at all. And then they say they knock it down. I love the president. [laughter] that when he was elected that he would reverse 400 years of White Supremacy. People hoped they would make Racial Justice is a bid to get part of the agenda and he has not. Because of his amazing political talent to have the other issues like lgbt quality to be further along than we are. And as Obama Took Office in for a white family is 22,000 that has gone down. And to look at the criminal Justice System. The problem is criminaljustice it is insomuch what is it legal but what is legal. In todays cover form to think of the change that this country needs to fully establish Racial Justice mentioning that speech at selma were the movement of the 60s it is about transformation. [applause] understanding week of from knowledge is it fair to put these hopes of this president when it took 400 years . Can we put all of this on this president and how do we go forward . It is great to be here with the gifted paul butler. Of course, it is not fair to pick all of our hopes are in one man or all eggs in one basket. But it is unavoidable. He is tall, a terrific and talented in children that are of projected brilliance this is a rebuttal to the report of the black family. But on the other hand, will get the humility of obama in responding to your question of. When he says i wouldnt put by presidency of the 14th amendment or the civil rights bill most of a said it is the greatest thing ever me being president that is our egos. See you can see he is explicitly and conscious the humbled and in a refreshing fashion if you juxtapose him on the other side of the aisle who reminds us, i dont want to name names of his billions san he holds the trump card so to speak. [laughter] now was james brown says now as the purveyor of the paradox to pursue a project that says the professor said is highly ironic and disappointing to this degree. With that gravity and wait but yet history has done that and pressed upon him with Martin Luther king, jr. Of historical necessity. The blessings are you the man. The u. S. Of black man that has ever successfully nurtured in his own mind i will be the most powerful democracy in the history of the world. On the other hand, what the professor is suggesting we never thought it would be opposed racial realities. He says in his second book about the audacity of hope dont put the post racial ted here because were not there yet. But opposed racial is post negro. It means post black we have been there done black. Now that obama has spent elected were good we have wiped our units with no more responsibility. But with great diplomacy understanding there isnt much he could be critical about in this country because they would not have been. And president then senator obama said when stuff gets tough then those with the particular orientation get guns. And he got beat down. He knew then never again to speak ill of White Brothers and sisters of america because people are sugar in even with the biracial half white man makes a comment about what america. You are still perceived as a black man. But what obama has done to deliver a tirade in ways that have been called out. Solar his genius that he talks about, he has existed in the midst not only of White Supremacy that some groups are inherently inferior that does not have to do with the assertions of the legitimacy but in institutional mechanism that is self perpetuating. In light of that it attempted to Lundberg Obama to wipe his name nuclear to make certain obamacare could not proceed damages it of late to pretend it would not exist in has stood the test of time jihadist reasserted some of the stereotypes that should not be tolerable that what he is responsible for is his own mouth of bully pulpit his own Political Capital and the degree to which he is supported hydride know he is a great man . Because lately he has turned course he is changes modus operandi and language to defend black people and 2. 0 those debtor unfurled under that banner of the hateful Confederate Flag that is the obama we were promised and they obama that is finally coming into gestation and we hope with the birth of that baby will survive after he leaves office. [applause] i am loath to ever follow. It is not a good idea. I have a thesaurus. Id love a big word. I really do. I of maynard. And one of the points that professor dyson made that it is important the opposed racial moment in america is on the arrival of american slaves. Looked at the history of African People it took no time at all for africans into enslaved people to adopt this style, of the customs with the right of man for White America a media leave after slavery they attempted to become pros racial go back and look at the photos. Frederick douglass even adopted the hairstyle of White America and attempted to run for office. To buy into the whole idea to put florida very american in a static. It was fully bought into by africanamericans to go to school of the White Americans to get the same education who never thought of the separatist ideal that was the country itself the response to a reconstruction the former slaves that all they did not exact revenge but to buy into the social norms down to the way we do our hair. The first black millionaire to help africanamerican women adopt the hairstyle. The response was vicious the end of reconstruction was not an after thought it was violent days of vicious rebuke because we think of black people as racially forget this country was highly regionalized we talk about pitchforks to say we have to kill them to prevent them from thinking they could marry our daughters and the our equal. They had to have federal troops march their children into elementary school. Bob so screaming mothers, women, lynchings so every president of peru barack above a has had to confront that tyler in buchanan and linkedin bol had to be confronted what to do with all of these africans sometimes 90 percent of the population that were feared and loathed by those who live with them. Woodrow wilson confronted what to do about though lynchings of black soldiers coming home and had worn the uniform walked around proud as if they were white been trying to be opposed racial he failed utterly in his response but we have that post racialism failing on the part of black america to get over slavery the country could not get over slavery they would not allow people to get past it when they wanted nothing more to be opposed racial to assimilate they had to go to the Supreme Court and march and risked death, lynching, of burning of churches and murder so that whole idea is the anachronism and it is the wrong people to do it. [applause] an amazing panel. But to continue that thought, every president had to address the issue so can one president be exempt . Greg that is the question if eisenhower was forced to confront that and didnt he didnt want to confront the brown vs. Board of education think when jfk was elected he wanted to have the massive tax cut he did the southerners to do that he but he was forced to the murder makes him based to confront that. To confront the race question he did not want to do it. Nixon didnt want to deal with the blessing. Every president after the 44 had to deal with the race question it is unfair to say the first black president is the only one who gets the past. Not only gets the past. [laughter] but here is the point. If you say you dont want my dash you want to be exempt from the normal characterizations of other president s because of your color, which is fair that you cannot be exempt from the responsibility every other president has had to address the issue. That existential terror, and that kind of money hes that this president experiences with his very bawdy the torn mandate and the agenda of the american democracy that he lives every day he said i am biracial so i resolve the conflicts of the nation. If that is the case then how can we expect the first africanamerican president to be exempt from dealing with the most serious issue that has torn this nation apart . Characterized that how can re not expect him to deliver that political power to that issue . That is part of the disappointment we have experienced. Professor butler, we have mapped out their issues and their problems when they were enslaved in this country. Where do we go from here . We can talk until the cows come home but where do you go from here . Particularly the Civilrights Movement was the most successful in the nation. Lgbt community. Pro immigration and then you have pope francis come into this nation he dropped to the microphone at the white house and said we have defaulted on our promise every note though whole self one that was one of the strunc statements from the i have a dream speech. Where do we go from here . We know there are problems. Lets talk about solutions. The day after obama was elected the first time we i five my arista and giving each other response to said there is a homeless guy outside an africanamerican outside starbucks every day she gives him a little bit of change. But when she saw him lying there with his handout said barack obama is president. Get a job. And the concern is that is not understanding the problem that the president has played into the narrative so when he goes to Morehouse College says nobody cares so much discrimination you have suffered. To say again over the glass ceiling. But you think he could say that . But it comes with a responsibility you have the privilege to talk about it in a certain way you also have the obligation and i dont see that lifting up. I think in his heart but we have not seen it in his actions. Because he doesnt want to focus on race so what he says about africanamerican unemployment says i cannot pass a black jobs bill the 56 the e economy than the rising tide lifts all votes so if you dont have the boat in the first place bid you will not rise up. So the problem is not africanamerican culture or behavior it is that when we go out and look for jobs but to send out a resume a that is the same qualifications with the call back so it isnt the color line so if you think of ways we can address that with regard to the criminal Justice System especially