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cox. >> koolen-de vries syndrome is extremely rare. >> hi. >> but friends don't have to be. >> this is joe. >> when you're connected, you're not alone. >> cox supports c-span as a public svice, along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. host: always glad to e mark morial from the national urban league to talk about the league's annual state of black america or. it's a 48 annual report and this one focuses on the 60th anniversary of the civil rights act of 1964. remind people what the civil rights act did for the state of like america at that time. guest: thank you very much and good morning to you and all of your viewers and listeners. the state of black america

focuses on the 1964 civil rights act, one of the most important pieces of legislation in american history. it was america's magna carta. it was signed by president johnson and he had to break a filibuster in the congress to get this past. the context in 1964 is we had witnessed as a nation march on washington, the jobs and freedom of august of 1963 and later, a month or so later, the bombing of the four little girls in birmingham, alabama and in november of 1963 of course, the tragedy that was the assassination of president kennedy. it riveted the nation in the nation was focused about whether it had the wherewithal and the courage to end legal segregation

which was the law of the land in the south. civil rights act of 1964 band discrimination in employment, it band discrimination in public accommodations, it band discrimination in voting and it band, if you will, discrimination by anyone, state or local or federal, nonprofit, universities who received federal funds and it ushered in the opening of doors, not just for african-americans but for women as well. the 1964 act covered gender discrimination. and racial discrimination and discrimination based on origin or religion as well. it was powerful we thought 60 years later given what we are facing as a country, we should look at whether that act made a difference. it's had an enormous effect on this nation. host: the act also set the stage

for the civil rights act of 1955 and the fair housing act of 1968. 60 years since, the civil rights act, the struggle for equality continues and you measure that via the equality index, what is that? guest: the equality index looks at the social and economic status of black america and compares it to white america. it shows black americans on average are at 75% of where white americans are. we are talking about unemployment, income, homeownership rates, business formation rates, life expectancy , very important ways to measure quality of life in this nation. life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a founding principle of this country says that we have to measure whether we are making progress toward parity

where racial differences become a -- become insignificant in terms of the way and conditions under which people live. this is important that we look at it in light of the current efforts across the board to suppress the vote. closing polling places, voter purges, any vote by mail, ending early voting, curtailing this and creating highly restrictive voter id laws. we've had over 1000 cases of legislation in probably2/3 of the states that seek to do that and they been successful in some cases probably about 50% of the states, voter expansion efforts have been underway. this is a tension as to access to the ballot box where there's been an extreme backlash to expanded voting in half these states beginning in 2013 when

the supreme court weakened the voting rights act and accelerated after the 2020 election. in the attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion. what i really mean is equal economic opportunity. everyone's right to have access to the american dream, not sistan paper, not this conceptually, not rhetorically but in reality. that's what this fight over diversity is about. there are attacks on this, the supreme court has been an enabler of these attacks. it is important that any attacks on books and teaching of history are addressed. we are facing a time when once again, after george floyd, there was an awakening and now there is a backlash to that of wakening. it's a common theme in american history. got to build a coalition that

says the american church is a future that is multiracial, multireligious, multi-gender, multi-orientation. that is the true spirit of american values. host: we are talking about the state of black america or from the national urban league, an annual report we talk about in this program if you want to join the conversation, the phone lines are split as usual this morning, demo rats -- democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001s independent (202) 748-8002. you mentioned the supreme court in 10 months ago, they actively ended affirmative action in higher education. what did affirmative action do? guest: affirmative action represented a series of steps. i am a beneficiary of affirmative action.

how did i benefit? the schools i attended, the high school i attended, the college i attended particularly university of pennsylvania began in the 1970's with an outreach ever come in a recruitment effort that was to really introduce opportunities opportunities for black students. i was one of those people area i was admitted to the university of pennsylvania. affirmative action included goalsetting and the consideration of race because race was dividing criteria to exclude people based on race and how do you correct for that? you don't correct for that by imagining it out of existence. you take into consideration the barriers people face when it comes to admissions.

i tell people that yes i'm a beneficiary of affirmative action but some people never sat for a tester wrote a paper. there was an aggressive outreach program to increase law students. they never took the bar exam for me. it's a door opener and opportunity creator. the supreme court's decision was wrongly decided. it was inconsistent with not only precedent but the way which we interpret the 14th amendment particular in the last 50 years. i think it will go down as a moment in supreme court jurisprudence like the dred scott case that is simply a wrong case wrongly decided at the wrong time. nonetheless, we must face the reality of the law and what the supreme court said.

affirmative action is not a privilege or preference program, it was trying to undo privilege and preference. i challenge those who don't like affirmative action. come up with a better way to achieve meaningful equal economic opportunity, not rhetoric, not just on paper but in reality. think about the many in my generation and beyond who had the opportunity to attend some of the best colleges and universities in this country and what they been able to accomplish and how they can contribute to this great nation. the fundamental issue going forward is that in a diverse nation, we need diverse opportunities for people to be trained and get the best education. got to confront the fact that racial exclusion was the law of the land and the practice in this country for 300 plus years.

that was from 1619 through 1964. we are grappling with his but the end of the day, with the basic principle, everyone should have meaningful access to the american dream, to american prosperity, to america's best institutions, america's corporations factories in higher education. we don't want to create an artificial notion that typically someone can do better on a three hour test and that means they are more qualified than someone else. take into consideration the test but is not the only thing that did terms whether one is ready and able and suitable to go to one of the best universities in the country or go to any university. got to educate people with respect to what affirmative action is and what it is in and help people understand why the

vision for the future is what we need to focus on and that is a multicultural american democracy. host: plenty of calls waiting for you. let me get as many in as i can. vivian in brooklyn, democrat. caller: good morning. i believe i heard you say your organization has a conference on reparations. at this time, i would ask you for reparations for the urban league. i am 91 and i worked at urban league for 10 years, 1970-1980. in 1982, when the urban league erased my pension plan, they mailed all pertinent information to the wrong address.

i never received the information , never received the information presenting and denying me the opportunity to opt in to my ploy e pension plan. please one more thing -- resulting in incorrect benefit payments, benefits i earned a right to receive. i have been in touch and in communication with the total rewards staff and i even wrote directly to you, sir, august, 2022. would you please investigate this matter with the rewards staff? thank you. guest: obviously, i certainly feel or any unfairness you may have felt that i can't resolve

it personally or any individual case over the phone this morning. specially something happened 20 plus years before i joined the national urban league. if the caller would reach out to her human resources staff at info at.org, we certainly will look into it. host: david in connecticut is next. caller: thank you for c-span. my name is david redwing and i notice in the house for this week is a bill introduced to change the federal building name in detroit to the rosa parks federal building. i wondered if that's expected to pass without exception or you care to comment on that. guest: what building do you reference? host: building in detroit. i will look up the piece of legislation. is it something you heard of?

guest: i have heard of an effort to create a memorial to ms. parks. we would strongly support that. she spent a great deal of her career in detroit after leaving alabama. she was a staffer for the late congressman john conyers but rosa parks was one of the great figures in american history, one of the great heroines of the civil rights movement. she should absolutely be recognized in detroit and i'd love to get more information on the legislation so we can track it ends up for that. host: there was an effort to rename the post office in detroit that passed looks like it was signed by the president last year area perhaps there is more there. jay is next in north carolina,

independent. caller: good morning. question about the situation in gaza now. trying to understand why is it that the upper leadership or african-american members of congress like the minority leader of the house, mr. meeks and mr. clyburn, why are they such advocates of israel and what it's doing to the palestinian people and why can't they see the commonality in the struggles they face? guest: the issue raises a difficult issue for members of congress. i believe most members of congress, all politics is local. members like the ones you mentioned, it certainly depends on what their own constituents in their own districts are saying to them. this is nuanced because you can have people were sympathetic --

who are sympathetic to the israel or palestinian cause. i think unless i'm not a diplomat remember congress unless there is an effort not for some sort of temporary cease-fire but for a permanent anti-hostilities in both sides are willing to give ground for the creation of two secure self-determined independent states in the middle east, this saga will continue. it will continue in the future, it will continue into the next decade, it will continue to the next century. there has to be a commitment in all sides will have to give ground. both sides have hard-line positions we will never resolve it and people will continue to be killed. people will continue to be hurt

and money will continue to be spent not only on building nations but tearing nations down .i think the original attack is really citizens and the taking of hostages is wrong. i think is really reaction is been far too extreme. the killing of civilians is never consistent with international law it is a challenging and difficult issue but until and unless you have true, meaningful peace ever to get to a two state solution with both sides giving ground, cannot get everything you want, you can't draw a redline or blue line rain yellow line in the but the only way this will be resolved and it's painful for us as americans to see, is painful to see people baffling and writing in the way in which they are and i think there is a

duality of african-americans who understand that the palestinians have been without a homeland and have faced incredible challenges. also understand there is a long-standing relationship between jewish americans and african-americans in this country with respect to a range of issues. this has certainly created tension and conflict but for members of congress, all politics is local and members will really into what they hear from their constituents in many have jewish constituents and some have, if you will, arab, muslim constituents. i think that is what you are seeing perhaps in the members you mentioned. host: kevin in alexandria, virginia, line democrats. caller: the building in detroit named after rosa parks is the

rosa parks transit center. host: thanks for that. guest: thank you. host: did you have a question wanted to ask? caller: that's all i wanted to say. host: the viewers always help us out here. this is jeff and racing, wisconsin, good morning. caller: i'd like to know what your view is on the blm movement. guest: i think the black lives matter movement was important that got young people significantly involved in the fight for justice and civil rights in this country. like most activist movements, there was certainly those in the movement who sought to exploit the situation and unnecessarily brought violence. to suggest everyone in that movement was committed to those tactics is simply inaccurate. i think it was important

movement post george floyd and it was a powerful reaction to the many high profile healings of unarmed people, particular unarmed black man by law enforcement in this country, some for which there was no accountability. it's good that in the case of george floyd, he was convicted into courts of law and will now pay a price for taking george floyd life. ditto for the men who took ahmaud arbery's life. it reflects the fact that the biden administration has taken these matters far more seriously and has the movement by the lack of accountability in the idea that

people in law enforcement, i was a mayor of the city and i had to clean up corruption in new orleans. i believe in holding officers accountable at the same time i believe in holding anyone who would take the life of anyone accountable. whether they wear a badge and had a gun or someone in the community, a domestic abuse, a gang banger or whatever they were. i think the black lives matter movement was a constructive movement in the sense that i got a lot of young people who had not been actively involved in advocacy around civil rights and justice involved in that conversation. host: what is the national urban links role in an election year? do you endorse? guest: we do not endorse but we

educate, register and mobilize. we put together a scorecard in the state of black america on joe biden. in 2020, we challenge joe biden and we challenged donald trump to put together a set of policy measures in writing that dealt with the issues that faced the black community. the issues don't just face the black community. joe biden had a lift every voice plan. we evaluated whether he had lived up to those commitments that he put down on paper in the middle of 2020. we have to educate people. one of the things i am saying to people, this is an election that is not about personalities. it's about agendas in the future direction of the country.

don't get bamboozled by rhetoric only, look at what people have both done and what they say and what they do. we will be doing that. we evaluateded president obama he left office. we have a tough time doing any meaningful evaluation on donald trump because they were not engaged engage with us or provide information to us. you send us what you think is your best case about what you done. we want people to know, we will register, educate and mobilize people to be able to vote. the foundation of american democracy's participation in the election process. we want high voter turnout. we want everyone to be able to vote. i believe all americans should have the ability to vote by mail

or early vote or on election day if that's your choice. we don't think it should be harder to vote then it is. send in a tax return. we don't think it should be harder to vote than it is to buy a loaf of bread. we continue to lead the world when it comes to democracy and that means access to the ballot box. it's disappointing to me, it's inconsistent with american values for all of these days to play all of these games with all this legislation to make it more difficult for people to vote and create a false bogeyman of nonexistent fraud. don't punish the entire electorate with restrictive voting laws. that is the fundamental point of american democracy and american democracy means you have a fair

proportion meant. we have had 10 years of gerrymandering, racial gerrymandering, this supreme court and i will give this supreme court credit for decisions that it made in the alabama congressional reapportionment case. there will be additional districts that give african-americans of their choice to elect candidates of their choice. they are being created now because of the voting rights act and the intervention of the judicial system. let's hold up american democracy. let's not play games to manipulate the rules to affect the outcome. let's make it so that every american, some states can only vote by mail. some have same-day registration. some states have gone to great lengths to make it difficult for people to vote. and those restrictions are

targeted at young voters, disabled voters, black voters come poor voters, indigenous and native voters, latino voters. we will make sure our voice is loud and it is clear and we will be trying to help people overcome these barriers because they are real. that is our role. it's nonpartisan but to be very aggressive when it comes to the protection of democracy. host: last coffee this morning this is sammy in kingston, north carolina. caller: we have a project approximately 1100 registered voters. i am a former city councilman. we are going door to door to get people to the vote. my wife is from brazil and in