Why Trump? Two Americas — Full Documentary

[0:31] Trump to national convention organizers have been busy preparing for the political show inside the [1:12] united center as well as thousands of demonstrators expected outside daddy's gonna be mad when he [1:35] finds out daddy's gonna be mad and you cannot tell me you're a born-again christian voting [1:44] democrat don't even try can you handle president trump again can you handle it what are you gonna [1:52] do you're gonna kill yourself what are you gonna pay some people to burn the cities down again [1:58] maybe some of you should have been aborted because you're wicked [2:23] good evening final preparations are underway here in the united center for a convention that begins [2:29] monday night with a tribute to president biden it's been 16 years since i had the honor of [3:18] accepting this party's nomination for president and and as we gather here tonight the people [3:26] who will decide this election are asking a very simple question who will fight for me [3:36] who's thinking about my future about my children's future about our future together one thing is for [3:48] certain donald trump is not losing sleep over that question it all feels so surreal or as i've said [4:06] before a script too unbelievable for even hollywood to truly understand how we arrived here we have to [4:21] go back to a time the political divide deepened even further and the america we once knew would never be the [4:31] same as outrage spreads over the killing of george floyd in the u.s protesters have taken to the streets [4:55] around the world the death of george floyd has suddenly created widespread anger there are hundreds [5:00] of other examples of black americans being unjustly killed 2020 has been a year unlike any within living [5:11] memory and one that exposed some of our deepest divides the pandemic has now killed more than 320 000 [5:18] people in the u.s america's race problem erupted anew this summer after the killing of george floyd all [5:26] of this happening in the midst of a national election it's saturday night at a nondescript bar in a quiet [5:44] rural town a place where the poor is heavy and the drinks are cheap there's also a confederate flag hanging [5:53] above i wanted to know what these folks thought about the racial divide in america today so i asked what [6:02] do you think about the civil rights black lives matter protests firstly i think the black lives matter is [6:16] the domestic terrorist organization they should be dealt with as such if black lives matter really cared [6:22] about black lives they wouldn't be looting and pillaging and burning communities where black people [6:29] have their livelihood now i'm getting to the point that i think it's all bullshit i mean these protest [6:39] really are they protesting anything are they just using that as an excuse to go out there and be dumb [6:46] how are we going to get rid of racism we should stop talking about it that's all we do we stop talking [6:52] about it all lives matter in this country not just black lives as i press further on the nation's [7:00] unresolved racial issues the disconnect became undeniable when it comes to race there was little [7:07] sympathy or acknowledgement of the realities of systemic racism black lives matter protest everybody [7:16] needs to grow the freak up have you ever experienced racism as far as me personally no but my family is [7:24] mixed so i mean i get it to an extent but don't do wrong and you won't get in trouble it's just simple [7:32] common sense facts have you ever experienced racism directly well no i haven't no i'm a white man so i [7:42] i've never experienced it but i've never i've never experienced white privilege everything i've ever got [7:48] i've had to work for i've had to work my whole life it was just one bar in a town you've never heard of [8:00] but for me it opened the door to a much bigger theme one that unpacks the roots of division and the [8:10] reasons why i just feel like systematic racism it's just an excuse for thugs and people that want to [8:20] ensue chaos i just feel like that's an excuse for them to just do whatever they want systematic racism [8:27] has been dead in this country for a long time america is an interesting place especially rural america you [8:49] know all that red on the electoral college map this is it and no matter how close you are to a big city [9:04] you still feel almost a world away at this point rural america's essentially an american pastime [9:16] waiting for one more chance to do it all over again now if you watched why trump part one you might [9:26] remember that line and you know that this is our family farm in southeast kansas the historical site [9:37] of the little house on the prairie ironic i know and that's my mom she's a former republican kansas [9:47] state senator who switched parties when donald trump was elected president she's one of the few democrats [9:54] left in the entire county and when i did that i realized that i didn't agree with anything that [10:01] the republican party stood for stands for today as for me well i'm a lifelong democrat documentary [10:11] filmmaker and i even volunteered for barack obama's first presidential campaign we'll talk more about [10:20] that later but in case you were wondering no i'm not a converted trump supporter but i still wanted to give [10:28] him a chance to earn my support so i asked anyone who would listen why trump driving across america [11:00] once in a while you find a place that's an intersection of american life a collision of urban [11:10] and rural of history and truth as i leave behind my roots in southeast kansas i gain ground on tulsa [11:20] oklahoma it's a city shaped by opportunity and exploitation where the discovery of oil led to [11:39] the theft of native american land before the dust bowl and the grapes of wrath this is where the [11:51] trail of tears came to an end what's called the trail of tears is the indian removal the tribes from [11:59] the deep south and so through acts of congress and treaties they forced the tribes west of the [12:08] mississippi to indian territory and that's where we are today it's where steps that once led to homes [12:20] now lead to nowhere and where the prosperity of black wall street was violently erased with a million [12:43] people that requested tickets it's really remarkable that it's first happening here in oklahoma and i'm [12:48] assuming candidate biden will have some rallies as soon as he gets out of the basement trump fever [12:56] taking hold ahead of the u.s president's first rally since the united states began to ease [13:02] coronavirus restrictions the 19 200 seat arena is set to be the venue of trump's first rally in three [13:09] months i'd never been to a trump rally before i'd only seen them on tv but it felt like more than just [13:20] a rally it was a stage for america's stark divisions all eyes were on tulsa to witness what [13:30] would unfold under the scorching oklahoma sun i've been watching facebook i have a white privilege [13:42] here in the united states apparently right guys guys to the table please sorry about your [13:49] minutes [13:52] we're going to be in oklahoma and it's a crowd like i guess nobody's seen before tremendous [14:08] requests for tickets like i think probably has never happened politically before [14:13] he'll put people at risk as everyone's pointed out in violation of the cdc guidelines we were calling the [14:24] big bok center the great petri dish of of tulsa and he was just coming and bringing the virus of course [14:30] herman cain one of his allies died shortly after catching the virus presumably at that event and [14:38] unfortunately he passed away from a thing called the china virus the president could seize on the [14:45] opportunity and heal tensions or fan the flames of division even further president trump is set to [14:52] hold his first rally since the pandemic started this saturday in tulsa oklahoma the location has [14:58] prompted some forceful responses that's because 99 years ago in tulsa hundreds of african-american [15:08] men women and children were killed by a white mob the attack stands as one of the most horrific acts of [15:14] racist violence in american history the president is facing further criticism since the rally will be [15:22] for juneteenth which commemorates the end of slavery in the united states this was a tough few years of [15:31] racial relations in general how could a president of the united states that has all the research available [15:39] in the world not know how important that date was to black people to not interfere with the celebrations [15:48] that were going to be happening on greenwood was egregious the story of the massacre and the story of [15:54] greenwood isn't it just a tulsa story in oklahoma story this is a story of national importance and it [16:00] was a story that had been deliberately buried i thought it was one of my jobs to help get that story out [16:12] so i've been researching and writing about the tulsa race massacre for 45 years but there's one thing i have [16:20] heard consistently in 1975 in 1982 in 1999 in 2020 which is why haven't i heard of this thing before [16:32] greenwood was a remarkable place it was a vibrant community it was a community where the american dream [16:39] is working for black black people in the united states well greenwood was the historic black business [17:01] district which was a thriving district with people businesses movie theaters candy shops there were two [17:09] african-american newspapers there were more than 30 restaurants there were 30 grocery stores and meat [17:15] markets this is no food desert everything you could imagine law offices doctor's offices there's an [17:22] african-american hospital there are dress shops hardware stores you name it and it was just a thriving [17:29] black community and they said a dollar would be passed around 20 times before it left the community [17:35] because black folks at that time couldn't really spend money in white stores when i think about [17:55] the black wall street of the early 1900s i think about collective economics this was a massive community [18:04] of prosperity in group economics that's what i think about and that's what i know we need to [18:10] replicate and so i'm so inspired by it i'm inspired by the fact that they were able to build that [18:16] and the way they did it was by helping each other out you have the population of tulsa in 1900 roughly [18:37] about 1200 people and in oklahoma there was oil the discovery of oil and everybody wanted jobs so you [18:47] had the state whites and the state blacks flocked here overnight by 1921 within a three four five year [18:57] period you had this massive influx of people and these people were from georgia they were from new jersey [19:05] they were from all over the place and they came here looking for work and the greenwood itself was [19:10] brand new it wasn't there 500 years it was just brand new like a brand new area of town i tell people [19:16] all the time if you want to know what greenwood looked like just look at the 1920s u.s population census [19:23] of tulsa in the greenwood area yeah but this is one of these old neighborhoods that still exist in [19:40] tulsa that's overlooked but it was actually here when the massacre actually occurred this is what [19:51] greenwood would have felt like the houses would have porches neighbors would have known each other [19:57] because they would have talked from porch to porch on a weekday evening to a hot sunday day after church [20:03] people families would have been gathering that's what communities were about it was about knowing [20:09] knowing each other today our homes are different we don't want to know our neighbors you know but in [20:14] those days it was beneficial to you to know your neighbors if you got in trouble you knew the neighbor [20:22] you know so that was definitely here doing the race massacre yeah that tree been there before [20:35] tulsa existed you know it's just uh probably about 200 years or more it's hard to kill her because of [20:45] the roots you know we think about knowledge as power sometimes knowledge is a you know it makes you angry [20:58] but you can't do anything about it because it is just history it shouldn't have been and it could [21:04] have been different there are so-called black wall streets in almost every city across the country there [21:15] were because we kept moving to try to find a better life and establish a better life and seemingly [21:20] everywhere we went there was abject violence abject racism abject discrimination and even when we were [21:32] triumphing and even when we were doing it amongst ourselves folks couldn't take that and they had to [21:41] come and destroy it when the smoke cleared greenwood was gone 35 square blocks nice houses working class [21:57] houses shanties apartment buildings restaurant stores the dreamland theater the offices of the tulsa [22:05] star newspaper were all destroyed what's left is is is charred trees and blackened rubble the loss of human [22:28] life you know we often talk about the loss of business and commerce what about human capital 300 black [22:40] people most of them men most of them leaders of families most of them black business owners killed [22:49] buried in masquerades you have many women and children put into internment camps you have things [22:57] looted you have everything gone stolen disappeared it destroyed the soul of the city and so the people [23:08] blame it on the black community thinking if we just blame it on them and say well it was their fault [23:12] it was a negro uprising then we can somehow maybe preserve the the legacy of tulsa as this great [23:20] american city and the expansion to the west that's one of the best kept secrets in the country even in [23:30] this city a white racist mob out of jealousy and anger just burnt 36 blocks to the ground and not [23:41] apparently not an ounce of remorse there was no responsibility no reparations were made [23:49] to any businesses or any homes of course the insurance companies rejected all claims i did a [23:55] post on facebook recently about that and i had hundreds of people chiming in i never learned anything [24:01] never learned it in school i finally learned it in college or my grandfather told me but i never knew [24:05] it in school or things like that it wasn't in the textbooks there was a conspiracy of silence you know [24:10] you can't blame the victims of a massacre for the massacre and then cover it up for decades without [24:18] having the help of the media the school system the courts it's truly the definition of systematic [24:26] racism the president announced that he's coming to tulsa and he's coming on june 19th which is [24:56] kind of a big deal here because it's also has actually had a juneteenth celebration for a long time [25:03] but the the big fear was you know is is the group that's following trump going to clash with the group that [25:10] is going to be downtown celebrating juneteenth is there going to be some sort of a conflict between [25:16] them um so there was a great deal of fear that that that would happen the city was kind of on edge [25:26] like a lot of places were and so there was a discussion there you know maybe a hundred thousand [25:30] people going to show up and and there was a lot of concern all the way around check check one two check [25:40] one two all right get right here so you can get them in the background all right it's the day before [25:50] donald trump's rally his first rally here in tulsa oklahoma this is the line to get in these people [25:57] have waited two days so far before tomorrow night's rally and you can see it goes all the way down the [26:05] block all the way around this corner they're excited we'll see what happens here come on let's take a [26:11] look and they have their flags and they're ready to go how y'all doing ready ready to go ready for [26:26] another four more years um i'm doing the craziest thing of my life camping out solo why do you love [26:36] why do you love donald trump because he cares about us he cares about our country just so energized [26:43] 100 energized and seeing trump is the best part here in the morning i'll put my stuff in the truck [26:49] before before we go in in the morning and then we'll go and see see the president [26:54] the best president make sure you get that part [27:00] i want a nation i guess one that reflects very much what was 50 years ago he's the only one that [27:06] stood up and said you know china is taking advantage of us and we're going to do something about that [27:14] tulsa's always kind of been a place where a lot of different people and ideas collide [27:32] i'm not going to give up i'm not getting my knees for anybody and you know what black lives matter [27:36] they all matter that's fine better come out and vote for trump it's disrespectful you picked [27:42] the weekend where you know blacks celebrate their freedom their actual freedom and you pick that [27:50] weekend to come down here and cause all this chaos it hurts i'm not even gonna lie it hurts it's [27:56] disrespectful to me i'm not prejudiced in any way but it's not fair that they think they've been all [28:03] abused and they haven't all been abused neither have all whites so they act like there's something [28:12] special everybody's special not just the blacks it's unfortunate it's unfortunate that it happened [28:27] here a long time ago and you know i hurt for people who like obviously racism to some degree [28:33] still exists on a very very small minuscule level but most people out here are peaceful are considerate [28:41] and anyone who wants to have logical dialogue is willing to participate [28:45] i feel it's just entirely disrespectful and you know it's just there's nothing you can really say [29:04] it's it's just disgusting you know they call him a racist that's horse crap he's the most least racist [29:12] president we've had ever obama was a racist do you like obama no i don't i think he's the anti-christ [29:22] that's what i think well he ain't done with us yet we just showed up like i say to support trump [29:29] i'm still waiting for my dinner at the white house so i'm serious attending my first trump rally [29:41] i quickly realized how easy it is to get caught up in the political theater of it all right god bless [29:48] you man right now jesus name right now everybody right by the instigators the provocateurs the virtue [30:03] signalers i am here to give peace and love because that's what tells us about is peace and love [30:13] and the religious right he just loves you and he has a call on your life president donald trump the [30:41] quasi puppet master had everyone going including me but despite all the distractions i had to remember [30:52] why i was here to understand why so many people support the man causing all of this chaos [31:03] in a city like tulsa all these years after the tulsa race massacre it was impossible to overlook the [31:12] perspectives of those who just a few blocks away stand in opposition to donald trump i don't think he's [31:25] a good president i don't think i think how he acts is what's trickling down in our nation and as a [31:31] country i'm like what's happening now is a reflection of who our leader is don't be a democrat stop again [31:45] trump administration is like a dull knife it just won't cut it talking loud and saying nothing but we're not [31:59] going to be as low as you mr president we're going to show you what true decency and dignity and self [32:08] pride is we're not violent we are fighting violence what's going on over there is a lot of bigotry [32:27] supporting a platform that has shown racism separatism on the contrary over here there's a lot of [32:39] collectiveness a lot of togetherness a lot of unity celebrating the emancipation of slaves [32:45] palpable division of cultures and perspectives here left me searching for answers to help make [33:03] sense of it all i called on an old friend to meet me in tulsa's greenwood district bishop carlton [33:12] pearson a protege of oral roberts who rose to towering heights as a renowned evangelical pastor [33:31] he also served as a religious advisor to both bush presidents so if anyone could help bring clarity [33:45] to this situation it was him well of course i i told you i became a republican when ronald reagan [34:15] ran of course he succeeded by george herbert w bush i got invited there and i don't even know why but i [34:25] was on nationwide television and when i was sitting in the president's office he said would you like to [34:30] see the file we have on you i said excuse me file what do you what do you mean file he said we've got [34:36] a file on all you preachers all you all the prominent ones that have a large audience there was robert [34:42] shuler there was all robbers okay hagan you know jerry falls senior they said we we want to work with [34:50] the church we were involved with george jr the faith-based initiative i don't want any longer to [35:03] for us to publicly denounce african-american leaders in strategic positions the first time in history [35:11] the man that i have selected to be the next chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general colon l powell [35:17] urge the senate to promptly confirm condoleezza rice as america's 66th secretary of state thank you [35:29] all president how much more on your new team sir condoleezza rice is the second new cabinet member [35:37] announced by president bush thank you if black people turn against the only voices we do have [35:45] it weakens it weakens it weakens that voice's influence hear me this please just hear me we may [35:52] not like them but if they have no influence with us then their role in a position of authority as it [35:59] relates to us is weakened the white people or the republicans or many of these folk they want blacks [36:05] around them because they want blacks influence now if the blacks around them don't have any influence [36:11] they're not going to listen to them anyway we need to use these people and their influence for our game [36:17] but if we denounce them and demonize them they're not helping anybody that's poor strategy we'll do [36:23] this in the order which the hands came up let me say my advice to you reverend pearson who i love and [36:31] respect is to tell them they better cover themselves with the blood because when judgment come they will be [36:41] judge we can't make it no other way you can't have judgment based on somebody's title you can't have [36:50] judgment based on who we admire if they're going to be on the other side that's their choice religion [37:04] and the christian religion in particular has dominated the u.s government for many many years [37:09] and that same spirit is operating through the church in america today make america great again [37:15] basically means make america hate again legally where you can actually put your knee on a black [37:22] man's neck and kill him while the while the cameras are rolling while he's calling his mother's name out [37:28] so nobody who supports trump would actually say that except the openly aryan neo-nazis white supremacists [37:42] they would say it they really believe they are above all the races so but the church won't say that but [37:53] will show that i know trump's the first president including reagan that the evangelical church has [38:08] felt was their savior that group so monolithically almost like a cult group follows this man who is a [38:16] virus in my opinion and his base is christian evangelical christians i can't comprehend other than [38:25] deep-seated racism that the christian church monolithically institutionally would support this kind [38:32] of a human being the dude has some kind of spell and a cult following that's that's uh strong as [38:38] hitler hitler didn't do what he did by himself all of eastern europe cooperated with him and he was [38:52] supported by protestant evangelicals and the catholic church the church has missed its chance it's on [38:58] it's going to end up on the wrong side of history he's not a christian and the church is whom he's used [39:04] pretty much racist misogynist homophobic president name-calling childish doesn't believe in repentance [39:13] uses the church the photo op or the bible upside down i bet he's never read a chapter in that bible [39:18] nor a paragraph in the constitution trump gives us our strength you know internally and personally [39:28] he also is a very uh pro-christian president he's the first president we've had that has had the guts [39:36] to stand up for biblical principles and so they see him as their hero they see him as their rescuer [39:45] we're in a satanic battle right now good versus evil i'm not even really a christian man all right [39:54] but i'm going to fight on the side of these christians who want to go to church people don't look at [40:20] america the same way now when they think of america they think of donald trump they think of riot in the [40:24] streets they think of racism i say to all the of the trump supporters don't repeat repent which [40:36] means to rethink we can't do four more years of this why this man who's so crippling and so so [40:44] undignified after the election you need to say okay this is enough enough is enough the big thing is [41:16] apparently a lot of people think america has a racism problem no no this is not a racism problem [41:23] systemic it is not a systemic racism problem it is not no there are people yes that are racist [41:32] but as a country we are not you look at other countries around the world nope nope i think we're [41:43] good unless they start throwing tear gas you know and i think donald trump is the greatest thing that [41:51] ever happened to america they say he's a racist i don't see where that's at okay do you believe in [41:55] jesus yes yes story so do i so if i called you brother would you be upset you know i you don't [42:02] have many people i think color people that i walked up and call them brother you know they say i'm not [42:06] your brother and i said do you believe in the lord yes i do then you're my brother then yeah we're all [42:11] brothers and sisters of christ yes let them say what they want i don't care they say black lives matter [42:15] we all matter you matter i matter everybody does i didn't do it i didn't do it you were you're a slave [42:22] i i wasn't but but i will tell you that i have experienced a lot in my life right uh that i have [42:29] to i don't fight it i just have to i just have to work twice as hard right the white people weren't [42:35] the one that really started the slaves blacks bought slaves here you know the first person to [42:40] own a slave was owned by a black man you know that as i prepared to leave tulsa the city felt like [42:56] a reflection of america's unresolved struggles with race and division the layered history here [43:06] unfortunately complicates everybody's narrative and everybody has a story you know white folks [43:13] that squatted here they have their own narrative as being heroes read their books you know they're [43:18] proud of what they've done they still think it was land that god intended for them to use because [43:23] the indians didn't know how you think about the billionaires that the oil and gas industry created [43:33] who came here out the statehood and was able to become millionaires and billionaires of oil and gas [43:41] that belong to a indian tribe that got no benefit from it and people say get over it you know why would [43:51] you want to get over that and you want to talk about your rights i ain't got time for that not today [43:58] outside the rally demonstrators served as a stark reminder of how raw these fractures remain [44:27] what did you guys think how was it it was okay it was really good best speech ever he's given [44:35] thank you did you guys see the speech who i did president trump who's that we did he spoke for two [44:41] hours it was gibberish i don't think it had any real direction i mean um i don't know it was [44:53] awesome probably the best time of my life i'm sorry my voice is literally almost gone he's done more [45:03] for the united states of america than any president in history we're either close to or over one million [45:11] people wanting to go we've never had an empty seat and we certainly won't in oklahoma not one empty seat [45:18] but thousands the tulsa fire marshal says just 6 200 people showed up in the 19 000 seat arena tick tock [45:25] users and fans of korean pop music are claiming they registered hundreds of thousands of tickets [45:30] for the rally as a prank the prank spread on tick tock and it wasn't just teens taking parts i recommend [45:38] all of those of us that want to see this 19 000 seat auditorium barely filled or completely empty [45:42] go reserve tickets now oh my god i just registered for trump's rally and i'm so excited to not go trump was [45:50] reportedly stunned at the sight of all those empty seats trump may have imagined a royal reception but [46:01] reality had other plans either way it's time for me to hit the road the history of racism in america [46:31] is apparent across its vast landscape reflected in the exclusion of non-whites and rural sundown towns [46:39] but also in the decline of once thriving urban hubs empty factories and abandoned storefronts [47:03] tell the tale of cities where industries once flourished but have since vanished just abandoned [47:29] completely neglected forgotten and this is what's left here in east st louis right across the river [47:37] is the arch the st louis arch the road home takes me through east st louis a place where race and [47:49] hardship intersect here opportunity is scarce a familiar pattern in rust belt cities hollowed out by [47:59] decades of disinvestment and decline just across the mississippi river from the gateway to the west [48:06] prosperity feels within sight but out of reach and on this side of the rivers east st louis what you see [48:14] here today one of the city's largest employers the casino queen is holding a job fair with the help [48:27] from the urban league of st louis for some it's one of the few options left for me it's home it will always [48:37] be home i love being here um even when i left i still come back all the time so um although i do [48:45] understand that things are not perfect but things aren't perfect anywhere especially right now so it's [48:52] kind of hard to say or speak on the lack of opportunities when i also know that things are [49:02] ever-changing and just just disadvantaged but people are disadvantaged everywhere so you tell me that [49:13] he's gonna have the security manager come and speak with me okay i have five-year-old twins so i can only [49:19] work while they're in school sure sure it's been a very depressed community over the last um several decades [49:27] we've seen a lot of dilapidation in the smaller areas the 25th and states the outer areas near the [49:36] bridge we've seen just areas that have been very depressed and so we really need uplift and we need [49:41] renewal because that's what what the city needs right now desperately so here is our area that we are [49:49] getting the guys dressed we have a bigger closet at our headquarters but we got brand new suits brand new [49:55] suits to put our guys in got the shirts got ties what we do is we help men and women with life skills [50:06] soft skills building their foundation to help them be successful on the job then we got some shoes as [50:12] well i mean doesn't get much better than getting them suited and ready for the job don't get much [50:18] better than that i appreciate it yes sir it's pretty scarce like i'm gonna be honest with you it's not that [50:31] many job opportunities out there but i'm appreciative of the opportunity that they're giving me today [50:38] and i'm super excited about it so i'm gonna be poker dealer car dealer nice yeah got this job [50:48] for a lot of people inner cities evoke a kind of fear a different world all together something foreign [50:59] but i see something else generations born into a system that was never built for them with the [51:07] underpinnings of american systemic racism woven around every corner like tulsa east st louis was [51:18] also the site of one of the deadliest race riots in american history today its decline narrates a [51:29] familiar tale of de-industrialization and the lasting impact of racial injustice what does that sound [51:37] like just listen they're building all around east st louis you see they put the highway there and [52:14] bypassed east st louis that's when things started to decline for east st louis i don't know it's been [52:30] pretty rough here yeah but i like i say i have always said if a person can make it here they could just [52:37] about make it anywhere in the world i don't know east st louis just have been left behind is there [52:47] an exit uh the other exit right down here on fourth street it's called barack obama avenue so that's [52:55] the first exit to east st louis to understand how race in america has shaped our politics i'm heading [53:20] back to chicago my home for two decades and the city where i produced multiple documentaries [53:28] including chicago at the crossroad which examines the root causes of violence in the nation's third [53:35] largest city a city that became a scapegoat for conservative echo chambers and even the 45th [53:43] president of the united states did i mention it's barack obama's hometown i'm meeting with david axelrod [53:54] the architect and senior advisor of barack obama's presidency to explore how race impacted the nation's [54:02] first black president to my chief strategist david axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of [54:21] the way almost from the very beginning barack obama received extreme pushback from the republicans how much [54:38] of this was typical partisan politics and how much was it racial indignation it's a really good question [54:46] i think it was typical partisan politics that capitalized on uh sort of latent racial [54:55] divides in our country you know i'm not sure that it's a coincidence that barack obama was the first [55:07] president who had a member of the house stand up and shout at him during a nationally televised speech [55:14] from the well of the of the house also those who claim that our reform efforts would ensure illegal [55:28] immigrants two is false the reforms the reforms i'm proposing would not apply to those who are here [55:38] illegally you know that kind of disrespect i think was new uh to american politics and um you know [55:57] races as old as the republic these racial divides and i think we underestimated how close to the surface [56:03] they were during president obama's first and second term was the first time i had seen [56:12] visuals symbolic of racism at rallies nooses portraits of animals did you guys ever address [56:25] this how do you even deal with that well first of all he was from chicago so raw racial politics was [56:38] not new to him we saw the council wars the white resistance to mayor harold washington and his general [56:48] habit was to focus on the task at hand so we didn't spend a lot of time talking about that [56:55] he asked his legislative director about whether he thought a bill would pass and the legislative [57:01] director said well it depends how lucky you feel mr president and uh obama smiled and said phil [57:08] i'm a black guy named barack hussein obama and i'm president of the united states so i feel lucky every [57:13] day speaking with david axelrod the chief strategist behind barack obama's historic presidency took me [57:24] back to what feels like a lifetime ago nearly 15 years when we were all fired up and ready to go [57:34] t-shirts before the end of the night we will have the next president of the united states so stay [58:04] tuned i'm brian schildorf live in grand park please proceed to your right on the south ramp of congress [58:10] parkway here we are in grand park on election night the crowds are just beginning to stream in it's [58:27] about six o'clock the polls are scheduled to close across the country in the next couple hours so let's [58:32] go talk to some people and barack obama is just like the best person to be our president at this [58:39] time right now he's he's here for change yes we can make change happen i believe he can do it [58:45] look at all these people of course this is history this is all chicago right here [58:52] there's a lot of energy and uh you know i'm really starting to feel it and i don't know it just feels [58:57] good it feels like change we've been talking to dozens of people here tonight and that's the number [59:04] one issue people have been talking about his change what makes you lean towards obama the [59:12] change and the fact of saying the number of young people yeah obama obama who you voting for honey [59:21] he's different he's going to change the world of course he's different it's about the future [59:27] supposedly he's going to start tonight it is an expired crowd who are ready for barack obama to be [59:34] the next president of the united states the polls are still coming in senator barack obama will carry [59:40] the state of virginia this is an important this is the language i actually use at cnn america has been [59:59] defined through the lens of whiteness everything everything has been defined that way this guy [1:00:09] clearly is about to give a speech as a president-elect of the united states the 44th president [1:00:15] is stunning we now get to say it needs to be defined through how we look at america not just a white [1:00:23] prison it's from where i'm from words it's hard to put into words man it feels good this is a great [1:00:37] moment for america and america is speaking and i think when america speaks we need to listen and it's [1:00:42] time for us to come together as a people he can change the world he has the power to change the world and i [1:00:48] believe he can i believe he will and i believe tonight the world will change i hadn't looked at [1:01:02] this footage since that night in grant park nearly 15 years ago thinking back to that november night [1:01:14] it never occurred to me that anyone in the country wouldn't want this what barack obama was promising [1:01:21] what he represented even though 60 million votes were cast for the republican challenger john mccain [1:01:29] it still felt that america had reached a breakthrough that we were now united as americans well that's not [1:01:44] exactly what happened we will keep you posted throughout the night while we report live in [1:01:49] grant park in chicago well i don't think there's any question that the election of a black man named [1:02:11] barack hussein obama as president united states was a chasmic change in this country i think a lot of us who [1:02:18] supported barack obama were fearful that he could never be elected that you would never have a country [1:02:27] the majority voters step up and elect a black man as president and once it happened i think there's [1:02:35] no question there was an immediate pushback action donald trump sucks just remember that put that in the [1:02:48] fucking video all right go ahead where does the the resentment for him come from a lot of middle [1:02:54] america a lot of white people he's black even though his mother was white he's black to a lot [1:03:00] of these people you know this is we got too much racism in the culture you know that i mean come on [1:03:04] come on you know the joke when he was running for president well they called the white house for a [1:03:08] reason there is a black and white divide okay and there's a fear that white people have of blacks and [1:03:17] blacks have of whites the society has become this beautiful colorful mosaic known as the american [1:03:25] people but the republican party is primarily an aging white party the republican party is a group of old [1:03:34] white people that are buying catheters and walkers from fox news commercial interruptions well wait a [1:03:40] minute our ideas don't work anymore because the whites are losing demographic power and so now that the [1:03:46] demography is shifting out with the democracy does that not make sense what the fuck are we doing [1:03:55] okay and i think the people have had enough and so we're gonna we're gonna speak out about this and [1:03:59] we're gonna create this movement how does this era differ from the nixon reagan wallace mccarthy [1:04:09] southern strategy villainizing civil rights we saw it with george floyd that was 50 years ago it's the same [1:04:16] same thing well well things have changed but this is what is important in american history black [1:04:26] success has always been followed by a white backlash in 2009 i said we're living in the age of the [1:04:34] beginning of white minority resistance and so what you're gonna see more of this boogaloo boys proud [1:04:42] boys this is not going away there is a paradox of progress here everybody's watching a black [1:04:52] president to see okay what's he going to do that's going to make us fearful nervous about having a [1:05:01] black president what did happen it raised the level of resistance and fear among those people who did not [1:05:20] vote for him i hear that obama finally gave his birth certificate for black people who've been waiting [1:05:32] hopefully for a hundred years for a possibility of change we get a black president and this man has [1:05:37] the gall along with his supporters to say that the first black president isn't an american citizen he's [1:05:45] from africa well his mother's in kansas as many of you have been briefed uh we provided additional [1:05:55] information today about the site of my birth from the time that he was elected the people on the other [1:06:03] side of the divide were avowed a resistance to anything that he would do and what do you do to [1:06:10] reinforce this notion of their lack of humanity is you've got to demonize them you've got to animalize [1:06:19] them and how do you do that is you you treat them like something other than human beings people [1:06:27] have provided affidavits that they in fact have seen this birth certificate and yet this thing just [1:06:33] keeps on going when they don't have obama bowing to the king of saudi arabia bow bow down remember [1:06:39] that one does everybody remember that if i run and if i win we will have a rich country again we'll have [1:06:51] a great country again and you know in a certain way what i almost like the most will be respected as a [1:06:59] country again okay thank you thank you very much thank you thank you very much by the end of barack [1:07:52] obama's second term the financial crisis he inherited had faded life felt back on track but beneath the [1:08:03] surface racial tensions were nearing a breaking point fueled by a legacy of systemic oppression [1:08:21] and police brutality a powder keg of built-up pressure ready to explode by 2020 donald trump's [1:08:53] presidency had deepened america's divisions creating two americas separated by race burning not even their [1:09:04] own city to the ground the immediate response of just vandalism looting rioting arson it's completely [1:09:10] unjustifiable so for donald trump followers and it's all right group to justify three people being shot and [1:09:18] two people being murdered last night nothing about that is justifiable the divide couldn't be more [1:09:23] stark i feel like we're going backwards instead of forwards that's something that trump is definitely [1:09:28] inflaming what do you have to lose you know i'm grateful trump came here he saved our town donald trump [1:09:41] is a daily dose of exaggeration but not about one thing the size and fervor of his following stand in [1:09:49] the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters okay it's like incredible [1:09:56] at that trump rally you ain't gonna see number white people who want to start some who want to try [1:10:00] some y'all got to stop y'all racism right because we search our history all the time that's how we [1:10:06] know what happened i just think it's important people remember that these problems have existed for [1:10:11] hundreds of years and that trump is not the problem he is the symptom he is the product of all these [1:10:17] things going unchecked for so many years that's how you get a white ring fastest like that the george [1:10:24] floyd protests redirected america's attention to a fiery topic buried for so long and trump was the [1:10:33] perfect person to spark that flame for a different perspective i decided to go south to atlanta georgia [1:10:45] the hometown of dr martin luther king jr to sit down with the outspoken musician and activist [1:11:06] david banner to talk about race in donald trump's america and what comes next was the election of [1:11:22] donald trump in 2016 explained by white backlash against having a black president that's a very hard [1:11:32] question because on the surface hell yes you know it's sort of how i felt about liberal white people [1:11:40] when obama was president screaming post-racial how dare you say post-racial you're not black [1:11:46] you don't know what what is past or what's come for that's like me telling a woman that oh pregnancy [1:11:52] isn't that bad how in the hell would i know when any other group of people go to a president they [1:11:57] have demands not i want to be treated well i want to feel good i want leadership if you want leadership [1:12:03] go to the boys club if you want to feel good go to church this is politics you don't have to like [1:12:08] who's running i don't care who's running are you willing to do something then we can talk [1:12:14] now i'm not saying in any way because what people do is take sound bites and clips and then people [1:12:19] won't come back and look at the whole documentary i'm not saying that i liked anything about trump [1:12:24] but what i can say is he activated the people in america and he tore the veil off america's face [1:12:31] so if you notice those liberal whites stop saying post-racial america you know what i'm saying [1:12:42] do you think trump is fueling a lot of this absolutely that's the only reason that the white [1:12:47] supremacists feel comfortable in our country right now is of course because of him exactly trump is [1:12:52] just another form of hitler otherwise why wasn't it this bad a couple years ago before he was elected [1:12:57] you know what i'm saying i mean it wasn't this bad but think about it but none of his [1:13:01] wives were american millennials not american neither was ivanka on a surface level yes he was a fallout [1:13:14] of obama but um i think it was a fallout that was necessary because if you think about all those [1:13:23] millions of people who voted for trump they didn't just pop up it's the same thing i say about all of [1:13:29] those white people who were in those lynchings pictures of black people getting hung all over [1:13:33] the south not just the south just to be clear those people didn't disappear they just became [1:13:40] grandparents and then trump supporters and they came back out what separates the children from our [1:13:52] grandparents is the struggle we want to erase the struggle and the struggle is what makes us who we [1:13:59] are you know without that pressure that coal remains a piece of coal and you will never see if it [1:14:09] has the internal fortitude to become a diamond you know so i really believe if nothing else that [1:14:16] trump put the pressure on black america and we will become the diamond and as soon as that pressure was [1:14:22] lifted we went back to sleep it's my opinion to reclaim the american dream and reaffirm that fundamental [1:14:43] truth that out of many we are one that while we breathe we hope and where we are met with cynicism and [1:14:50] doubt and those who tell us that we can't we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the [1:14:57] spirit of a people yes we can thank you god bless you and may god bless the united states of america [1:15:05] obama elected 2008 two terms black success trump gets elected white backlash that's what you've always [1:15:16] seen in america black success followed by white backlash and so that's how we have to look at what's going [1:15:24] on to understand how today follows the pattern that's always existed in the united states this is going [1:15:40] to be the next battle in america for the soul of america because it's being redefined because people of color [1:15:48] black latino asian and american no we're not going to be satisfied with this you're not going to have [1:15:55] to have a real reckoning no i'm not satisfied coming up next on why trump i continue my journey across [1:16:17] these united states now more divided than ever to ask everyday people what the american dream [1:16:25] means to them and if it's even worth dreaming about any more along the way i explore the state [1:16:41] of patriotism you know who who sparked this all this donald j trump the growing threats to american [1:16:52] democracy i'm at war right here at home trying to protect our homeland from evil and you know i don't [1:17:06] want communism i don't want socialism and i don't want marxism in this country and how history will [1:17:14] remember donald trump well this is what lincoln said this is the last best hope for mankind this [1:17:20] country this experiment but we lost our way finally i have unfinished business in tulsa oklahoma where a [1:17:33] new conservative movement is seeking to rewrite history it's to change the culture of our children [1:17:42] the real divide in america today is between traitors and patriots between the godly and the godless [1:17:51] it was democrats that destroyed black wall street democrats tonight is the 100 year centennial [1:18:01] the 1921 race massacre in tulsa oklahoma let us be reminded that it was on this street with terror [1:18:11] rain this is the last trump rally donald trump will sail off into the sunset [1:18:46] newie after tonight or or he'll have another four years one or the other [1:19:05] you