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anniversary of the act of 1964. remind people what the civil rights act did for the state of like america at that time. guest: 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 his.it was america's m. 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: also set the stage for the civil rights act of 1955 and the fair housing act of 1968. od60 years since, the civil rigs 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 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 expnt waye

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 ion 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 a■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. ■ein 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 conceptual, not et■y■÷ically 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 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-orientatio. 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 net 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:mj amative 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 you don't correct for that by imagining it out of existence. you take into consideration the barriers people facecomes to ad. 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 doorthe supreme court's s 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 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. 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.

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 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 access to the american dream, to american prosperity, to america's best institutions,merica'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 th■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. call 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 y

mailed all pertinent information to the wrong ai never receivedn , 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:nk-span. my name is david redwing and i notice in the house for this week is a bill introduced t dets

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 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 detroitshe was a stafe 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■ leader of the house, mr. meeks and mr. clyburn, why are they such advocates of israel and what it's doing to the people 't they see the commonality in the struggles they face? guest:n 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■0this is nuanced becaun 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 s are willing to give ground for the creation of secure self-determined independent states in the middle east, this saga will continue. ill 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 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. between jewish americans and african-americans in this country with respect to a range of issues. this hasertainly 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: theiewers 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 moventtactics is simply inaccur. 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 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 these matters far more seriously and has the movement by the lack of accountability in the idea that people in law eorcement, i was a mayor of the city and i had to clean up corruption in new orleans. i believe in holding officers accountable at theam 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 had not been actively involved in

advocacy around civil rights and justice involved in that >> joe biden called it his lift every voice plan. in the report, we evaluated whether he had lived up to those commitments that he put down on

paper in the middle of 2020. so we have to educate people. and one of the things i'm saying to people is, this is an election that's not just about personalities. this election is an election about a and the future direction of the country. and don't get bamboozled by rhetoric only. look at what people have both done and what they say and what they do and so we'll be we evaluated president obama when 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 foundatiation 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 ■ail 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 b a loaf of bread. we continue to lead the world when it comes to democracy and that means access to the ballot box.■■ñ it's disappointing to me, it's inconsistent with americantheseo 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.

if one commits fraud, them. don't punish the entire electorate with restrictive voting laws. that is the fundamental point of american democracy and american democrac proportion meant. we have had 10 years of gerrymandering, racial gerrymandering, this supreme court and i will give this supreme court credit forn 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 r 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 protec 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 brazil they have a national day in november and if de to pay 10r earnings if you want assistance. should we use drastic measures like that? how can we inspire people to vote that have not voted? gues isures. i think the right to vote as a right to choose. but i do believe we have to make it easier for people to vote. i think use the role of government to promote voting and city participation. i think every school should have every 18-year-old registered to vote. i think there should be voting

prec vote by mail, early voting, vote in person as you choose. there should be a set of national standards that applied to 50 states. we are one of the only western democracy that does not have a set of national standards when it comes to national elections. crucial and so important and we should move towardis voter supps to make it difficult to vote will be looked at in the future as a dark time in american history. we should not be doing some of the things we are doing. in houston, harris county, the state has said we are going to take over the administration of the elections process. they did like drop boxes, early

votiity. why are you hell-bent on making it more difficult for people to be able to vote? let's make it easier for them to we have the technology, the mechanisms in place to do that and it should be the law of the? i am not for them. host: mark morial from the urban league. it's time fotheir national report you can see it online. we always appreciate your time. great day. host: you do the same. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncior 2024] >> c-span's live at the state department where secretary of state anthony blinken will be giving a briefing on the ongoing conflicts between israel and tkpwa*z, as well as -- gaza as well as russia and ukraine.

this brief something expected to begin shortly.ing live coveragen c-span.

>> what do white americans on tf post-oppression. how did you answer that question? >> well, i answered it by making the claim th already been paid and let me define what i mean by reparations. restitution or making amends for wrongs that have been done to those who have been wronged by making financial restitution or are the source of payment. and my argument is that reparations by and large have already been made to black civil rights act and affirmative action programs, through cultural reparations that have

been madems. and basically the 1972 employment act. and that a free society can go no further in making restitution to a group of who might have been suffering from the residue effects of slavery. host: are those financial reparations? guest: no. there is no one living today who was a slave. i was basing my notion on the act of 1988 in which the state made an apology for the japanesd through world war ii and made a payment of $20,000 to each former detainee still alive when the act was passed. because there are no slaves today, there can be no, on my

reasonin going by the logic of the civil liberties act of 1988, there can be no compensation. but we can make the assumption, of course, undercontinued even r jim crow, when america was a systemic and racist country, when white supremacy did rein supreme over the -- reign supreme over the land, that restitution was due to black americans. i make the case in my book that the was a form of reparation than the affirmative action program that forms of mas to a group of people who were suffering from the residue effects of slavery. host: earlier this week university of texas was on our

program and he expressed the argument for financial reparations. take a look at what he has to say. we'll have you respond. >> in 2020, many people didn't understand about shraeufpbry and the way in which black labor built the wealth in the united states. but also built up global capitalism. there are extraordinary books about this, including the harvard slavery report, including empire of cotton. craig so many just interesting, important books.■j it's not just the labor of slavery, we were used as collateral, we were used as

mortgage securities, we w used to provide global investment for everything from harvard university to banks and businesses. black people, we created the fist financial instruments that lead to private equityedge funds and venture capital. not just in the united states but across and around the world. this is demonstrably evidence. so, first of all, it's the fact that we don't want to talk about that, we don't want to talk about that and once you talk about that, you open up a pandora's box but it shouldn't be negative because there has been reparation for other groups in the past, including reparation for the holocaust and those things were correct. those were the morally good, ch.

the notion that our ancestors wered individual whroz built america, this broad language and therefore we the descendants are

now due payment, i don't think have any sort of status in a free society. even the collusion betweened state and whites and given the way in which

had played a significant role in creating racists out of white, what the civilige following. it's not gist that you cannot use your property in discriminating against blacks, we are going to now make you into nonracists. we are going to resocialize your sensibilities blacks.

it was a moral form of reparations. i call it a eugenic will moment in history because it sought to resocialize white people to radically different types of people, to making them into nonracist by telling them how they could and cannot use their property. toda if there any forms of racism committed against blacks, those claims can be brought before courts financial compensation can be administered to the victims of racism. host: as a philosopher, what is your thought on that effort in 1964 to change white people sensibilities? guest: it was heavy-handed but it was proper. >> last week in his state of the union address, the president directed the united states military to build a temporary