editor for new audiences with minnesota public radio news i'm also the guest moderator for tonight's forum this event is being broadcast from westminster presbyterian church located on the nicolet mall in downtown minneapolis and it's my pleasure to introduce our guest speaker tab a smiley is an author publisher and social justice advocate and host of the late night public television talk show to have a smiley and the public radio program that have a smiley show he has written or edited eighteen books including the rich and the rest of us a poverty manifesto coauthored with friend and mentor cornell west and my journey with maya a memoir of his friendship with my angelot he's the founder of a wide reaching nonprofit foundation which is committed to empowering young people and to alleviating endemic poverty across all sectors of our society tonight he will help us in vision a community that is equitable inclusive and respectful of our ladies and gentlemen please join me and welcoming to the westminster town hall forum to have a smil didn't seek it i didn't choose but it's up to me to use it i must suffer if i lose it give a cow if i abuse it just a tiny little minute but all of eternity is in it the older we get the more we realize how fleeting life really years and so it behooves each and every one of us i think to be serious every day we wake up about maximizing the moment that we have i want to talk about that tonight how we maximize this moment that we've been blessed to have given all of the challenges that we face here in minneapolis in minnesota and though first by thanking the westminster town hall forum for this invitation for the minneapolis idea exchange as well to all those sponsors who my new friend i think i can call them tim my new friend brother tim earlier in his remarks listed all of those sponsors who have made this possible i'll host a television program on a radio program every day so i know that none of this happens without underwriters and so i just have a penchant for always coming out to say hello to meet and to greet and to to move on to do what they have to do and i understand that in a city like many others there is so much more that needs to be done and the mayor is really about to waste twenty five minutes after a good time me i thank you for your agreeing to moderate this conversation tonight to all of my good friends at minnesota public radio as most of you know for almost fifteen years now i've been honored to be a part of the public radio family on n p r and  still do that work every day so to minnesota public radio thank you for being here tonight thank you for recording this forum so that our fellow citizens here in this great city and this great state and surrounding communities can he be a part of this conversation and last but not least let me take a moment to thank those of you are looking back at me right now there must be nothing else to do in minneapolis tonight because you are packed in here tonight at this in this beautiful edifice this is  i've seen so many photos over the years of this great edifice but it's my first time coming inside and what a what a gorgeous place it is to have a conversation tonight so thank you to those of you who have made this issue important enough to put on your c to come out and join with us tonight now to my twenty five minutes of remarks that i've been asked to give on this subject no one left out creating communities of justice no one left out creating communities of justice i'm going to take speakers parag it even since i'm in a church and since i am so accustom in my black church in los angeles to my minister doing this practically every sunday i'm going to play the role of preacher for just ten seconds and ask you if you would turn to your neighbor all the black folks know exactly what i'm talking about somebody say ma'am we hear this every sunday turned to your neighbor so seriously turn to your neighbor and tell them that justice you are working with me i mean this turn to your neighbor and tell your neighbor the following justice  looks like in public now think it what you're saying and say it one more time justice is what looks like in public i thought it might be best for us to start with some operational definitions definitions if we can implement ties before we jump too deep in this conversation because it seems to me that we want to talk about leaving no one behind no one being left out in creating committees of justice we better start with a definition of what we mean when we say justice and for me and for dr king justice is what love looks like in public and i that's a love that everybody is we were just the call us everybody is worthy just because not because of your surname not because of your neighborhood not because of your earned annual income not because they were you went to school not because of who you know not because your mom and dad are not because the kind of car you drive the kind of hook up and access you have none of that matters love it means that everybody is equally wore the just because everybody is somebody who's child everybody is somebody who's kid and every single citizen in this city in the twin cities in this state in this nation in this world every other citizen is worthy just because i don't have the time to night truly brood down on nothing like i want to but imagine how our public policy in this city in this state the county and the nation imagine how our public policy would change right now put another way magic how our public policy would change sooner than at once and quicker than right now if we could ever operationalized that definition in our politics are you still with me that everybody is worthy why not just because if everybody were worthy just because that would mean that everybody would have access to an equal high quality education are you with me if everybody's worthy just because then everybody has access to universal health care if everybody is worthy just because nobody has to live next to an environmentally toxic dump site if everybody is worthy just because nobody has a minimum wage job we all have a living wage job if everybody is worthy just beca because now those are words our actions don't measure up to our language and so we're living in a country right now and i want to sort of echo the mayor hearing expound a bit on her thesis let me put it this way i believe that the greatest threat to this country right now the greatest threat to this democracy does not come from outside of our borders if you listen to the politicians in washington and certainly here in minneapolis with the somali community here you understand what i mean when i suggest that all of us are on high alert when it comes to talking about the future of democracy and wanting to suggest or believe or to think that somehow the greatest threat to our democracy comes from outside our borders and that great threat is terrorism others might think that the greatest threat to our democracy is not even terrorism from outside our borders but terrorism did domestically it's hard to to focus tonight it is hard to focus tonight on this first day of october when just hours ago in the state of oregon yet another mass shooting as we sit for this conversation tonight has taken the lives of at least thirteen confirmed dead and we don't know yet how many wounded yet another mass shooting so it's not even terrorism from outside our borders we don't want to come to terms with that and i keep it real what we believe is coming from the outside and god knows i don't want to i want to be clear i'm not suggesting that we cannot remain vigilant and that we not remain diligent in our duty to make sure that we protect our borders and certainly we know that there are folk out there who want to do us damage want to do us harm but we have yet to grow up america has grown wiser we've grown older but we ain't grown up here we've not grown up to the point where we're willing to have a conversation about us from the inside and so every time there is a shooting even when babies are killed in connecticut even when black folk are killed inside churches god help us when students are killed on a campus in oregon we still can't come to terms with doing something about guns on our stree go somebody asked me back stage before we came on what i think it's going to take for us to ever get to the place where we can have a real conversation about this domestic terrorism this domestic threat that we seem to face far too often you know what it's going to take it's going to take our leaders to find the moral authority to steeped themselves in courage and conviction and commitment and be willing to tell the truth about the suffering that many have to endure because of these guns on our streets put another way i hate to mix my metaphors here but we've got to find some leaders elected officials who are willing to fall on the sword so we can get the guns some have got to fall in the sword we can get the guns somebody will have to stand up with that courage and conviction and commitment born of a character says i don't care if i don't get reelected we're losing too many fellow citizens to guns and the n r a have your heart broken every time you see this happen and for the next twenty four forty eight seventy two hours of the new cycle this will be the story and everybody would cry from the white house on down everybody would describe what has happened here and in a few days from now we will return to business as usual as my grandmother used to say and when all has been said and done more would have been say then done and we come back to the same place every time this happens mostly and all day on fox news did i say that most print all day decrying the the international threat the global threat we won't get serious about this domestic threat and pardon me that would even my point because i don't believe that that kind of terrorism is the british threat facing our democracy i wanted to dance to the point i was trying to make i believe that the greatest threat facing our democracy today i believe that poverty is the new slavery poverty is the new slavery poverty is the greatest threat facing our democracy today and when we talk about poverty we can't just talk about poverty in a vacuum we are talking about poverty we're talking about income inequality we're also talking about economic you mobility all of three of those things have to be mentioned at once poverty income inequality and economic mobility to many of our leaders are willing to talk about income inequality that's their favorite o those three choices every day you talk about income inequality you even have republican candidates now for the white house and twenty sixteen talking about income inequality we don't want to tackle that ugly that p word poverty the truth of the matter is that income inequality is real but there is always going to be income inequality put another way some eye is gone always have more and some i is always going to have less i'm convinced as hard as it is for me to swallow this that i would never have the money that bill gates and warren buffett has on public t v and public radio is just not in my destiny i'm never going to i'm never going to achieve this so income inequality is always going to exist the threat to our democracy is not that some have more than others it's that those who don't have can't have a fire and the economic mobility to move from their station in life to a higher that is that is that now there are three distinct groups that make up the poor in this country you have the perennially poor you have the near poor or those who are just a paycheck or two away and i'm certain there are some of us in this building tonight i'm not going to look up but i know that if the census bureau is right that one out of two americans is either in or near poverty and buying in or near that government means just a couple of paychecks away if one out of two of us as americans is either in or near poverty pardon me on the radio i'm looking at the audience and pointing if one out of two of us is in that situation i think that means one you won you won you won you won you you get my point you start looking around this room you start going around many apples and if every other person is in or near their savings are not sufficient enough to take them through with some hardship or to calm some health scare some downturn in their employment some catastrophic family incident a couple of paychecks away from being poor fifty percent of us so you've got the perennially poor you have the near poor and you have the new poor you know the new poor are the new poor are the former middle class the new poor are the former middle class those folks you in this room just like you who did everything right went to school worked hard bought a home stay in a job for fifteen twenty thirty years and then one day  nice as we like to frame this downsized or pink slipped you got fired in some corporation took your job here at home by they are still making money more money abroad so we end up paying the price for that so there are folk who play by the rules who to no fault of their own now find themselves as part of the new pool for this country but your point this reality is not sustainable one percent here me one percent of the people in this country cannot continue to own and control forty plus percent of the wealth put another way the top four hundred wealthiest individuals watch this now there are four hundred of us plus in this room tonight imagine being in that the four hundred wealthiest americans have wealth equal it to the bottom one hundred and fifty million fellow citizens four hundred individuals have wealth equivalent to the bottom one hundred and fifty million fellow citizens that is not sustainable i hate to sound in politic over public radio but let me just keep it real and tell you the truth that is not a democracy now democracy now you can call it and oligarchies you gotta plutocracy but it's not a democracy that is not the way democracies are supposed to work where a few people have everything and the rest of the folks don't have anything nobody's hating on you or anybody mad at you have god has blessed you the universe is shined on you to do well god bless you the problem is when those scales become so imbalanced you can't sustain a democracy like that you can't do it in the country can i keep it real you can't do it in the country and minneapolis you can't do it in your city now let me make you in the presence of your mayor let me make you a little bit more uncomfortable were talking before we came out and i started asking some questions and i regretted five minutes later that i'd ask because the news was so disconcerting the mayor started to share with me the numbers i see these young people from this kwanzaa school here tonight these beautiful precious black  something is wrong minneapolis you don't want to hear this but i'm saying it in love something is wrong in this progressive city something is wrong when there are schools in your city that have now fallen below the achievement rate in the state of mississippi something is wrong minneapolis something is wrong progressive minneapolis when the white folk are doing well and the black focus leiden people of color slide in the other direction something is wrong minneapolis something is wrong minneapolis when the achievement gap is not shrinking but widening something is a role in minneapolis so it seems to me if we don't have an exchange of ideas it's got to start with somebody telling the truth and i can do  that i can do that because in a few hours i'm catching a plane back home to los angeles i might not get to say this in l a why after leaving work but i can see it in minneapolis and take my behind home but the truth of the matter is that i said to the mayor i said to brother tim and says to tony i said something is wrong for those of us who look at minneapolis as a progressive beacon of light and a whole and you start to look and drill down on the you're not as progressive as you think you are in your mind you are in your head you are in your heart you are but in your a public policy the mayor is fighting an uphill battle to talk about  this is what i call doing the righteous work is what i call doing the heavy lifting is not the popular narrative in it sometimes mean you might not get reelected but somebody has got to tell the truth about the suffering of everyday people and you know why you know why because of nobody tells the truth about the suffering of everyday people then that suffering gets rendered invisible and the worst thing you can do to people who them invisible so they get marginalized they get exploited they become an afterthought and then that becomes the condition of the nation sustainable and at some point how might i put this anybody who played monopoly in the game of monopoly what happens when one player has everything thank you thank you game over do you see my point when one percent of the people have everything and a nobody else got nothing to words game game over it works in monopoly and it works in real life that's why our democracy is in trouble because you can't sustain this w haves keep having more and the have nots keep living with lists you can't sustain this now don't run out and say that tabish called for anarky last night at westminster yes that's  not what i say it but i'm telling you that the handwriting is on the wall and if you think we can continue this way with people not having their humanity respected their d here in minneapolis as you go forward trying to not just pro fess progressive progressivism not just profess it but to live it to be it be an act it we have to start a conversation about the facts about the truth that amongst all of this prosperity all of this well to do all of this advance for the team and i were talking you know this stuff better than i do the students in this region in this city have some of the highest a c t scores in the nation on  one in the highest a c t scores in the nation somebody is kids are doing awfully well some kids are going to the best colleges and universities in this country got the highest scores all want in on the other hand students are failing because they're not being given access to an equal high quality education an incumbent of minneapolis to beat you all down i love this city i've been a so many times over the course of my life and i was honored at the invitation to be here but as we move around the country if we're going to confront the thing that threatens us the most i repeat myself yet again somebody has to tale the truth about the suffering because the suffering is increasing and in minneapolis a most progressive place i shudder to think god help us all if we can get it right here if we can't get it right here if we can't get it right here a where in america we find citizens of the good conscience of the good will who understand it and love means that everybody is worthy just because citizens who understand that justice is what love looks like in public if ya'll can't figure that out here in progressive minneapolis then god help us all our clothes are the words of modern the king jr the person i regard as the greatest american this country's ever produced and i believe that the future of this country our destiny the destiny  and a love that liberates people justice for all as this is the goal now justice for all service to others and a love that liberates people and we can accomplish those three things that we are not going to  cowardice ask is it safe expediency ask is it politic vanity ask is it popular the conscience ask is it right and every now and then people good people people i mean analysts have to say doesn't matter if it's safe doesn't matter if it's politic doesn't matter if it's convenient all that matters is that it's right and our individual you you're listening to the westminster town hall forum broadcast from westminster presbyterian church on the nicolet mall in downtown minneapolis i'm tony randolph weekend editor an editor for new audiences at minnesota public radio news and i'm the gas moderator for tonight's forum our speaker as you know is to have a smiley author public television host and social justice advocate and while the ushers are collecting questions from our in house audience i'd like to invite the radio audience to join us at westminster church to hear former u s congressman patrick kennedy on tuesday october thirteenth at seven pm when he'll explore the topic treating the pain of mental illness and addiction a personal journey additional information on this event can be found at westminster dot org and i know you just sat down but i passed you mr smiley if you would please step back up to the pulpit and i can present to you some questions from our audience and actually before we get to the first audience question i want to ask my own question if that's ok moderators privilege please please go go on you is that you talked about king's legacy and you talked about poverty and income inequality and economic mobility and i'm wondering if you think that it's possible to mount a poor people's campaign some of my what dr king did fifty years ago it's a good question i think that is starting to happen slowly i believe that that movement you're talking about of a serious movement and movements as we history students you know are rare movements are rare and they seem to happen this way you start with a moment that moment build some momentum and the momentum turns into a movement a moment then momentum and then movement i don't have a crystal ball tony so i can't tell you where we are on that on that line but i believe that we we have moved through the phase of being in a moment where we're starting to get traction on this issue as i said in my talk tonight even republicans now are talking about the issue of income inequality so my sense is it's going to be an issue it's going to be a topic in this presidential race and let me say how much i appreciate bernie sanders how much how much i appreciate bernie you for raising this issue hillary clinton is a friend of mine has been for years and bernie's a friend of mine and on the planes for many many years and i'm not so sure they were happy when i suggested some months ago on national television that somebody needed to come from the left and run for the nomination this is a is an election it's not a coronation this is this is this is and it's an election this is not an option and so i thought this you need to be challenged from her left not because i don't like her or not because she's not my free will because i believe that number one being pushed from her left flank is going to make her a more progressive number one and number two i believe that barack obama became a great candidate everybody now is talking about income inequality and poverty and economic mobility we thank him for that but i think that we are in the process now of the of that of that moment starting to build some momentum very quickly will move on i have been poverty debate what we're asking for we're going to be going to hear more about this in the coming months i'm going to be leading a campaign with others about this very issue in the history of this country and certainly in my lot of time in your life time there has never been a single presidential debate you know we get to and we get down to the two finalists we're going to have the president debate commission give us those three debates that we get every four years right there has never been a debate exclusively about the issue of poverty or income inequality or economic immobility and i believe that now tony is that time that that moment that we are seeing can turn to momentum if for ninety minutes the eyes of the entire nation of all the media focused for ninety minutes on the issue of poverty and income inequality and both of these candidates are being put on the record about what they're going to do with very limited president i believe that that moment you know that we talk about time things happen in time the passage of time we call kronos kairos is a moment in time a specific powerful opportunistic moment in time we can actually get something done i believe that this can a question from our audience what are we as a nation going to do about gun violence what can we do at the state and or local level the short answer is as i tried to intimate earlier tonight is that we have t leaders who have the courage the conviction on the commitment to take a stand on this issue every time this happens but we essentially get his lip service and  critiquing the n r a because they speak they toss so much money around in washington and in state capitals all across the country but this is not about attacking the n r a it's about up we act like there is no ground we act like we let the n r a make the argument that there is no ground between a repeal of the second amendment which nobody is asking for and sensible gun laws you're trying to tell me that we can't find some common ground between not attempt to repeal the second amendment but warning to put some sensible gun laws on the books we can't find any common ground between those two polders i just don't buy it i don't buy so it's going to either be leaders who will take a stand or there's going to have to be a groundswell see what's going to happen is this is this is the long view of this and it sounds stupid to say but i guess since you asked if the leaders don't have the courage to do it there's going to be a groundswell from the people but here's the problem with the groundswell is going to call a long time and a whole bunch of our loved ones are going to die in the process before a number of us who are impacted personally by gun violence decide that enough is enough you take my point i mean does it require every one of us in our own individual families to be so afflicted and affected and demoralized by gun violence that we've been raise our voices because that's what happens in this country most of us don't say nothing until it happens to us and then we then we get this righteous indignation we can become righteously indignant at that moment but by that process by that methodology that's a whole lot of folks getting killed to build the anger quotient high enough were enough of us say enough is enough and i don't know about you but i got to come time isn't really a question and several people put this these were words on the cards black lives matters so i guess the question is what is your take on black lives matters they're protesting around the country and here in the twin cities and there's been a lot of controversy about tactics you so can you give some comment some thoughts about what you have seen with the black lives matters movement sure first of all let me just say that well behaved people rarely get anything done thank you ever heard of the boston tea party or the american revolution ever heard of the civil war well behaved people rarely get anything done so  with this conversation about tactics i'm over there because what these black lives matters protesters are doing by raising their voices is trying to our consciences about what's happening to the lives of everyday people having to the lives of the most vulnerable of our citizens from california to the carolinas so anough of that conversation about they have they have been a gift they have been a gift but if the truth be told the best of the black tradition the best of the black tradition is reminding america that she does have a conscience the best of the black tradition is black people being the conscience of this country the best of the black tradition is holding america accountable the best of the black tradition is being a patriot and being a patriot means that you are that you're willing to rebuke your country when she's wrong that's what being a patriot when it means that you love your country enough to tell her when she's wrong to rebuke her when she's wrong and to show more another way that she can be made better that the other day i repeat it's not so much about the tactics because again you have to get in the way you really have to get in the way to be heard to make a contribution to make a difference what's more important for me is that we start to pay attention that we listen to the message we get so caught up with methodology sometimes that we miss the message and sometimes in our politics we get so that we ignore good ideas and i believe that they have been good ideas and i believe that there are that their message is something each of us ought to pay more attention how would you how would you approach the education to fix deficiencies that you've identified yes i don't know enough about the crisis specifically here in minneapolis i know what i read i know what the mayor and i discussed him and i discuss i know certain things but i would you don't have to know all the facts to answer the question in this regard malcolm x said that education is our passport to the future because tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today if malcolm was everybody and he was right about that education is our passport to the future because tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today mack was right about that but what malcolm didn't even know what some of us have yet to come to terms with is that in this world racism is so real discrimination is still so prevalent people are becoming so much more nativist turning inside and blaming everybody else outside because things have gotten so tight in this economy and so now the truth of the matter is that even with an education a high quality education if you look a certain way you got a certain last name you sound a certain way on the phone during the fall interview used to don't get the job the data is not because i say that the data researchers have laid this out that job discrimination is more rampant than ever before because things are so tight in this economy people trying to hold on to what they have that we are still discriminating against people who have an education so if you a black man same degree so before i answer this in greater detail it's important to stand that even now we must accept that education i hate to say this but it's the truth that education isn't even the great equalizer that wants was now having say a day without an education you're twice defeated without education your trash defeated your race is one strike against you your gender another strike against you without education you're twice defeated so let me be clear that not getting an education is not the answer to the prayer that's not the answer either but i want to be clear about what happens these days when you have a high quality education but to your question more expression is what i said earlier tonight and i don't need to expound on anymore if we believe that love means that every body is worthy just because i know the mayor believes that because what she wants  this city what i want for this seat which you want for this city is that everybody has the opportunity to fulfill their god given talent that their talent will take them wherever they can go but when the scales to get to school safely and sometimes teachers who are best enthusiastic about being there it's cetera et cetera et cetera that's a difficult spot to be in and so if i were the superintendent i guess i would that every one of the students is equally worthy just because and my job then becomes to make sure that every one of them has access to an equal high quality education not to defy i define it what does that mean taboos well f if the goal is to make sure that every student in this city has access to an equal high quality education this ain't rocket science show you pick the school in town that's the best and whatever they have you fight to make sure their body else has that same thing it's very simple it's simple so it's not about it's not about judging outcomes it's not about judging outcomes but about making sure that everybody starts at the same place so whatever the best school in town has then every school in town ought to have that if we believe that all students are worthy just because i was in it that's my working  this is another word that's on a couple of cards reparations we don't really want to go there and i do it very simply and very quickly i believe in reparations but i and the truth be told i have been blessed i am grateful every day every day i wake up i thank god that i've been blessed beyond measure i grew up just down the road from here in a place called indiana born in mississippi but raised in indiana i am one of ten kids my mother and father and my grandmother big mama three adults and ten kids thirteen of us lived in a three bedroom trailer with one bathroom not a house we grew up i grew up in a trailer park a dirt poor trailer park with thirteen people sharing one bathroom and three bedrooms my mom and dad had one bedroom my seven younger brothers and me had the second bedroom in my two sisters and my grandmother  bedroom thirteen people in a one bathroom three bedroom trailer that's how i grew up the first to tell you that you can build an entire life on hope alone just on a whole just on whole and hard work you can build a whole life and meaningful life but even hope these days need some help i believe you can build a life on hold but hope could use a little bit of help and so for me because i've been so blessed i'm not one who and the way that i would define reparations our education about yours jobs with a living wage if we could do this all day long universal health care there's so many difficulties that black folk have to endure an encounter every day so many maladies and tragedies that we have to again try to deal with every single day so there are ways to define reparations and we can talk about that all night long but for me it's not about a check it's not about you know forty years in a movie it's about providing those kinds of services those kinds of opportunities that black people are going to lacking for so long because of the lingering effects of slavery segregation jim crow and jane crow and now we just have time for one more question or and a couple of people asked this too what can one person do what a great place to close i love that question  every one of us in here tonight as we leave has to assign ourselves each of us has to assign our sales every one of us in here to have our consciences pricked by something that we see every day some of that we walk past every day something that just disrupts our spirit there's something in minneapolis that the undead ought to settle your soul this is a great place to live but this ain't utopia no place is i love l a i live in l a but it's far from utopia and so  as i move around my city in los angeles i see every day things that are disturbing for me that that violate my humanity that disrespect my own dignity put another way i don't believe that any of us can come into the fullness of almont humanity if we can't revel in the humanity of other fellow citizens you would never experienced the depths the fullness the whole use of your own humanity if you can't revel in the humanity of every other fellow citizen so there has to be there has to be something that just outrages your senses that you know needs to be addressed and whatever that thing is i can't tell you what it is you know what your own sensibilities are but there's got to be something that you say tonight i'm going to assign myself to do something about this right where i am i'm going i'm going to do what i can is no so attempted to brighten the corner right where i am a song says brighten the corner where you are brighten the corner where you are some form for someone far from harbor you may guide across the barge just brighten the corner right where you are can you imagine how different how much better our world would be if every one of us in minneapolis and beyond tonight decide that there's one thing that's contesting our own humanity that we're going to assign our sails to do something about because by any other definition that's what racism is the contest station of somebody is humanity homophobia is the contest station of somebody as humanity ages and is the contest station of somebody's humanity classism is the contest station of some bodies humanity this achievement g growing is the contest station of somebody is humanity this is what we're fighting against how do we navigate our lives in a world in a city in a county in a state we're too many of us have become too confortable with the contest station of other people's humanity and if we become so comfortable by that as opposed to being conflicted by it  come again into the fortress of our humanity come to king once again that our destiny as a people is inextricably linked together injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and every one of us are gay and believe must do our part to assad ourselves to honor that legacy justice for all