NAACP's Director Discusses Race Relations Across the Country

Steve Adubato goes One-on-One with Hilary O. Shelton, Director, NAACP's Washington Bureau & Senior VP, Advocacy and Policy at the NAACP, to discuss race relations across the country.

6/15/18 #2149

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Hi, I'm Steve Adubato. Welcome to the Tisch WNET Studio here in Lincoln Center, in the heart of Manhattan, New York City. We are pleased to welcome, all the way from Washington D.C., Mr. Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the Washington Bureau, and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy for the NAACP. Good to see you sir. Well it's great to be with you. And thanks for having me. It's our pleasure. Today, the most interesting time, maybe ever, in our country in... well, I shouldn't say that, given the Civil Rights Movement and everything connected to it. I often think about race relations today, and in my sense, fearing, thinking we're further apart than ever. Am I wrong? Yes. I think the problem we're having now is as you talked about the 60s and how tough things were coming through the Civil Rights era and so forth, we thought we'd move past a lot of these things. And what we found out is that many of them were just kind of germinating on the ground, and sadly, and unfortunately, we're at a time when the dog whistle is saying to too many people that it's alright to hold these prejudicial and racial feelings. It's alright to even say them. A lot of them are keeping it to themselves. We wrote this off as much much of a fringe. We can't say that as much as we're seeing what's going on, sadly. I wouldn't say that things are getting worse. I say this, it's often times before we can solve these problems, they have to kind of show their ugly faces, and we have to address them head on. My fear... I get in a lot of fears you notice, is that we're having a hard time even talking to each other, as opposed to talking past each other, and I don't see... I want to be positive here, so help me. Where do you see a positive conversation about race taking place, other than what we're trying to... we do here all the time, here on public television? Go ahead. No, well first, you guys do a wonderful job on public television, and we're grateful for that. You're willing to ask the hard questions and have the conversations. More of America needs to do that. But as I look around the country, I see communities that are willing to do it, to take on the conversation, to raise the issue from various racial and ethnic minority perspectives and majority perspectives as well. So it's good to see some of what's going on, and a lot of those coalition's have grown stronger. Hmm. For instance, if you look at Black Lives Matter. I was just gonna ask you..."