ceremonies. ♪ >> watch live on c-span and c-span.org, and listen live on free c-span radio app. host: again, this is the mlk memorial in washington, d.c. the day set aside to remember the birthday of and the ivil rights history of the reverend dr. martin luther king. you can see that as you come around washington, d.c., several people visiting this morning. we saw a service earlier take place. f you walk the area, there are quotes memorializing him, as well. we'll continue to show you those the morning comes along. again, the final half-hour, looking at the legacy of obama on race relations. we're getting your thoughts on improved ink they have under this president. call us.ink hay have,

the president's time in office in eight years leading up to day.guration you can see full coverage of inaugural activities on the network. go to c-span.org, for more nformation and listen on a variety of sources. you can find more information at d. an.orgtochlt to donna, west port, massachusetts, she says race relations have improved. donna, first up. aller: gratitude and reciprocity to the reverend king or all the work he's done to help society grow into a better place. i believe president obama has improved racial relations and i to say that because he is he ixed blood and i believe

holds a very distinct character, is of mixed use he blood of african and white, but in an indigenous hawaii.of host: okay. caller: and to me, he represents innate ability that people nd i freshman massachusetts, have grownup with and how to deal with adversity and how to and respect all things amongst.ive with and host: let's hear from oklahoma, says relations have not improved. go ahead., aller: yes, i really hate to

admit this on this special day, martin luther king's birthday, but race relations are -- i'm in my 60s and i think it is worse than it's been since the 1960s. i didn't vote for president obama, but, you know, his in 2008, when i was out election night he going to be the next president, i really thought to myself, two admit this on this special day, martin luther things. i would hope that he bridge the final gap in terms of the massive improvement the decades over between the races and secondly with his father being muslim, i thought he would really help in terms of in the middle bridging the gap with palestinians,dents let's say, but on both accounts he failed miserably. disappointed. i was really, i took his message hopeful he i was would be, you know, transformative figure in those it's really sorry to

admit on this special day that kind of like went in the reverse direction on both and to worse.h cases, it is ohio says lin from relations have improved. good morning. caller: good morning. martin luther king day. feel like i want to thank donald trump for bringing to the surface all of the issues that really have had about ace and keeping it within themselves and their homes. now it's out. off, we can daid is begin healing. people feel, we can begin a process of healing our of the deep and -- but that wele racial issues experience everyday in america.

host: david live necessary kinggeorge, virginia. relations have improved. good morning. caller: good morning. of people majority has improved. when it comes to the criminal justice system, you still have blacks go into court, they get you need to treatment. whites made mistakes. ou also have blacks getting pulled over and pulled out of the car and everything. they have constitutional rights violated.re on the ground people, ost people care about each other and when it gets to political area or the justice becomes racist again. that is where we need more mprovement, need to be treated the same as everyone else under the law. steinof of twitter says if the president did such a of us ob, why are most

poorer than we should have been and why is the country more divided? twitter at c-spanwj, and facebook, as well. when it comes to events of this morning, we discussed what went congressman john lewis and president-elect trump. sharpton, of the action network spoke at the mlk breakfast this morning. the president-elect to reach out to congressman john ewis of georgia, about those remarks, and to try to make amended. here is the reverend sharpton. i think of donald trump and here on s marched saturday, kicking off king weekend, thousands of us, the icy rain. there were the fact all kinds of predictions about showed se weather, we anyway. how ronald out

reagan once called martin luther ronald ommunist and reagan ended up having to sign to make the day a federal holiday. > the same ronald reagan that denounced dr. king is the same to make that signed today a federal holiday. the dent elect trump in spirit of ronald reagan ought to lewis.ohn he ought to deal with the issues of today. be king to on king day like

like -- don't act like a pawn if made a king. it is time for us to get bigger than that, that is what dr. king did. i hope he reaches out to john lewis. he, senator booker, would at some point, congressional caucus. i hope campbell, he will meet ith all civil rights leadership, but not photo ops, to deal with issues we marched about, voting rights, the criminal justice reform, police reform, as well as jobs. in serious times and we unserious d discussion. e need serious discussions about serious achievements that need to be done in this society. host: again, that is this morning, part of several eechts aking place in and around

washington, d.c. in connection with martin luther king day. memorial there that you are seeing, part of several quotes you will see here if you visit the memorial in washington. tom from lebanon, pennsylvania, says relations have not improved. ahead.rning, go caller: good morning. caucasian man, married to years, e woman for 30 i've seen the racist bigots that come out of all forms since obama has been elected and as he's leaving, i fear for race relations in the united states in the trump administration, as well, because of the lack of respect that donald trump has for reverend ewis from the great state of georgia. relations race

between whites and blacks have we think theyr as have since martin luther king, keep goingght has to on. host: nance frewoodside, new you are on.ad, caller: this is nancy from woodside, new york. live in new york, however, where i think it has improved is with the young people. the young people help elect i see here and in new york, it's a little different, but inter-racial couples all over the place. my own granddaughter is half caucasian, and half -- the young people, as always, are going to turn this around, okay. it all over, girls elected and as he's leaving, i fear for race relations in the united states in the trump dating ration, as

black men, black girls with white men, so on and so forth. it will be the -- it has definitely improved with the youth of our nation and that is where our nation is with our youth. the ones that take us ahead. this "new york times," morning talks about what might happen under the trump administration when it comes to inmates. the previous guest was talking about for the first time, prisoner necessary local, state and federal prisons quadrupled in 1980 to 2.2 2015, is actually shrinking. obama administration sees that reflection of more approachs sensible to sentencing and justice department officials moved ahead with an issue that meant to if it "second chances, is inquiry criminal offenders and ease their path back to communities. they set up a school system in federal prison, put in place dating houses andway mental health facility for women at federal prison in danbury,

and stopped using private prisons because of safety and security concerns. "new york times" story this morning. go to the opinion pages of nelson, oday," dean africanenior fellow for opposing ffairs, his about senator jeff sessions saying he should be confirmed as attorney general. some things he writes is that, sessions has consistently demonstrated respect for people of all ages, races, he supported cases attacking segregation in alabama public schools, he's employed many african american staffers, including chief legals saying he should be confirmed as attorney general. some things he writes is that, sessions has years and r seven worked on prosecution of members ku klux klan for the murder f a young black man and spear headed effort to give rosa parks medal of honor. a isagree with sessions on few issues, including aspects of criminal justice reform, put my

disagreement on particular issues does not mean he is not qualified to be attorney general. hear from lynn, columbus, ohio, says relations have improved. good morning. caller: good morning. host: you're on, go ahead. do believe that improved, have especially amongst the younger generation, as when you see the marches for black lives matter, you see not just young youth, black youth, you see all sorts people of different backgrounds. i have a problem with the person saying they expected more out of barack obama because father and hisan father was muslim. why it should be on him to prove and improve race elations because of who his father was. to realizek and have

black people did not ask to come here, they were enslaved, so let's look upon the history of the europeans and wonder why things happened the way they happened and why people do not and know the tory really brutal and nasty things that were done and continue to to black people in america. and as far as barack obama, he great president. but he was not allowed to do things he would have done simply because he was a black man in office. want everybody to know, god does not just judge individuals, he judges nations. says lloyd in tennessee relations have not improved. i'm 60 years old, white ran the first amazed by how people that i interface with during the a whole were plaque had

different atmosphere around them. i felt like, to me, my impression, having obama in like they had lt a stake in america. know, they had excel in america, whereas before there were so doors presented to them that, you know, block their path or change the direction of their lives. obama got ly, when second term, just like he had that hot mic event the russian he's saying icers, he said his first term, he'll be able to do more in my

term, which means he wanted to do things which would well with americans. host: fleetwood, says relations improved. good morning. caller: good morning. that was th the lady from new york. oung people are going to lead us forward in this race to tions, but i also want say that, you know, relations would improve, if you want to participate. if you don't want to participate and make relations better, they will not make them better. arack obama could not do anything all by himself, you things e was -- a lot of he wanted to do, a lot of things he wanted to improve. if you want to participate and want to see america improve and better, you participate, all you have to do is look at some

looks like a , it coalition of people from all colors, all e, all countries. hen you look at the other donald trump's rallies, you don't see that. statement. host: harold lives in westwood, jersey, relations have not improved. harold, tell us why. caller: i certainly want to say martin luther king is one of my heroes, as was abraham lincoln. sister was -- is a nun and was principal of a catholic in washington, d.c. next to a public school, there not one white student in my school, but the parents kids in her school were uccessful in getting a wall built between the catholic public school to

protect the students of the catholic school. who got that e wall done were instrumental in the federal government, that is got the wall built. hese were obviously all black people paying tuition so they ust have been relatively high in the government, at least to have enough money to pay for the tuition. now we certainly have a lot of do. to as regards our president, who i whole time, he had al sharpton in the white house, that was a horrible mistake. old holder as the was a y general, that horrible mistake. eric holder, now, i understand $300,000 a year from fightate of california to

the law. host: okay. ne of the other things that came out recently, mr. holder will be working on redistricting his s, as well as post-white house career. improved.ays relations hi. caller: i think relations have improved, however, there are anti-african american, however you want to people that still want to not see improvement done, those are people in congress and like the gentleman that was just on the phone there have race relations improved and he loved martin luther king, but didn't like obama brought in eric holder and had al sharpton in the white house, that is

something that shouldn't, he shouldn't have said, i mean, because what was wrong with that? eric holder is doing what he's supposed to do. happened here. american people voted against their own interest when they voted donald trump in because think that the -- president obama hasn't done anything when the republican congress that had stifled any that president obama or this country could have made in years.st eight host: again, for the next couple minutes, your thoughts on race relations, if they improved under president obama's eight office.n 202-748-8000 if you think they have improved. 202-748-8001 if you do not think have improved. the "washington post" takes a of at the history importance of today as far as rev rent martin luther day and day that celebrates him talking rights.eedom this story talks about rise 1961 ng by congress in involved 400 demonstrators from across the country who the supreme o test court rule that found egregation during interstate

travel was uncondition stitutional. plaques were forced to change og bus when is they entered andregion and sent separate poorly kept waiting area, lunch counter and bathrooms. rides left washington and headed for new orleans and met busesenerly every step. bus tires were punctured by one other waited down an explosive row onboard. you can find this in the "washington post" this morning. carolina, molly, go ahead. i don't think that anyone can help the situation in this country. i believe there is no human being that can solve the problems. it is in the hands of god and i wonderful ve the black people in this country, we white and yellow, and

together, the bad people are against each other. the bad plaqblacks, the bad whi and any other kind. good people, of we are all fighting for each other, black, white, red and god help this country. day it will be solved together.n all work host: okay, glenda in dallas, texas, says relations have improved. how are you this morning? caller: blessed. how are you? i would like to say i agree with the lady from north carolina, 100% and i in my personal life changed because i meet people, work with them, live with them, but what i to saytogether. host: okay, glenda in dallas, texas, says relations have improved. how are you this morning? that how

can we forget, not that it is how can we forget that racism lie in the hand of racism, white people, slavery, i don't have a roblem with that, but that is the reality of history, is that our history ofin whites, people. we love them today. them.e i have white friends of all color. color and nds of all we love one another, but we can't forget that problem, that the hand of the white man. host: one more call. javier says relations have not improved. go ahead. they : of course not, can't improve. that is not in the interest of t -- of the progressives, if the case, then they would have that how nothin with. for being, reason existence and extreme poverty in the united states, then