 HBCU Dutchess Radio welcome back to our presidential series our distinguished guests this morning the distinguished president of the reigning HBCU of the year Benedict College and Dr. Roslyn Clark Artists who is at the center of a lot of attention these days has a tremendous political event coming up at the University coming up this weekend where a number of invited elected officials and presidential hopefuls will be there to talk about an important issue to our community's criminal justice reform among those presenters will be President Donald Trump and so Dr. Artists has so warmly agreed to talk with us this morning about the event and about some of the implications it's having and reverberations it's having throughout the HBCU community so Madam President an honor to have you on again. It's always my pleasure Jared thank you so much. So I guess we get right to the elephant in the room there's a lot of people that are upset that President Trump is going to be a part of this bipartisan criminal justice reform program which is hosted by a third party or organized by a third party has always been it's in its second iteration here in South Carolina which we know is an important early caucus state for the United States election cycle you know and Facebook has really exposed you know a lot of the the emotion and I think a lot of the differing interpretations of what it means when a president like him who's controversial in so many ways it's coming to visit but can you kind of speak to what your sense of the reaction has been and what some of the realities are and how there may be conflicts between the two. Sure happy to you know you and you indicated in your introductory comments that we're receiving a lot of attention. I prefer to describe it as being in the eye of the storm that's kind of what it feels like right now here in South Carolina as you might imagine many people particularly African-American people of color HBCU graduates not only Benedict graduates but HBCU graduates from around the country have weighed in they're reacting to false headlines like Benedict invites President Trump that obviously is not accurate the reality is that 2020 Justice Forum which is a bipartisan group of African-American leaders from around the country Democrats Republicans independent who have come together under one umbrella for the sole purpose of advocating for issues that are of importance to the African-American community and criminal justice reform is at the top of that list I am a part of 2020 and count myself among those leaders who care about these kinds of issues and recognize that we have to address them in a bipartisan fashion it really doesn't matter who is in the Oval Office we have to work through that system with where the feet of the power is and so I think people's emotional reaction to Donald Trump and the misunderstanding of how this came to be the idea that we extended a personal invitation to Donald Trump to come to an HBCU campus have caused people to be a little irrational understand that well-founded comments like those that were tweeted out earlier in the week have certainly elevated the conversation inflamed people as you might imagine this isn't the first time and unfortunately it won't be the last time our president says something incredibly controversial at this point I'm pretty certain it's purposeful right and yet we have to stay focused and very often those are diversionary strategies by people in power we know that in this White House lots of sensationalism comes out and some of that is a diversion I mean we're in the middle of an impeachment proceeding for goodness sake we're in the middle of you know a crisis in Syria so if everyone can be taken off task by the use of a horrible word lynching and not be focused on those other issues then all the better and I think we as African-American people have to cut to the chase on that we have to be clear we have to be focused we have to stay on message and we have to be committed to making sure that meaningful change continues meaningful change that impacts our communities that first step act was a big deal thousands of people are going to be released from prison that look like us and we can't be just self-satisfied with that we can't just say check done we got that done we have to keep pushing we have to keep asking the tough questions we have to keep pushing the candidates both democrat and republican on that issue and others like it and so it's unfortunate I realize it is not a popular position I realized that people are upset and yet my purpose is clear my focus is clear and I think we would all be well to really begin to step back from the person in the office and look more at the process of how laws get made and change and how we can be activists in that in that system and how we can work for positive change for people of color in this country republican democrat and independent alike let's talk about that a little bit because it this is not the first era that hbc's have been kind of at a fault line politically um this is going back generations hbc's have largely been and historically been seated in places um where there are conflicting politics with hbc graduates and and black residents and folks in power but yet as you mentioned our schools public and private still have to work with state and federal legislators for funding for advocacy and for development so where do you think that the future of helping our students our graduates our stakeholders understand that political process even though institutions and their leaders have to be apolitical do you think that there's something we can do to to connect our communities more with political realities and political processes so i think we're doing it um i dare say we're doing it here this week i hope that it's a model um i don't take any particular pride in being in the storm except that what's being lost in this conversation is the entirety of the programming this week that's happening on the campus of benefit college we had been prompt on campus friday discussing his new book open season which ought to be a bestseller um that really chronicles the inequities in the criminal justice system we have the n double acp on campus starting monday doing voter education voter registration we have the her ideas summon encouraging black women to go out and start businesses and build communities um our kids are going to have an advanced screening of just mercy uh which obviously chronicles the atrocities of our justice system so this is not just candidates parading through here and dropping sound bites on black kids this is a voter education empowerment issue oriented week of activities on the campus of benefit college and if on the other side of this storm um my kids can emerge broader better more well educated more well informed with a sense of satisfaction that they have put their imprimatur on an issue that's really important to our people we're training activists that's what black colleges do we're training the future voices that will drive these issues for our communities and so the unpopularity of donald trump notwithstanding listen nobody likes the things you know some of the policies nobody likes the things he says we understand that but we have to be discerning about separating the person from the policy and if that's a lesson that some of my students get this week we won we won and it's the beginning of an ongoing dialogue we have never been a people that have been able to be self-contained we're always in the crosshairs i'll give you a perfect example think about um any vices you know we talk we have these conversations you know we've had the issue in the media with maharie and others receiving money from you know vaping company for example um those companies make their money off black communities right cigarettes alcohol lottery they make their profit margin off communities of color black preachers made cadillac gmc ought to reinvest in the black community these companies that make their money on black people ought to give it back to some black people but people we take this righteous and Ignatian stance oh that's dirty money oh that's a republican oh that's a bad thing why shouldn't we benefit we pay taxes we live in this country we buy goods we are consumers you know we we it is it's almost self-deprecating um we take a righteous standpoint and we can't afford it we can't afford it it doesn't it's irrational and it doesn't make sense and we can't afford it as a people we have to people have to invest in us when we invest in them and we're not holding people accountable in that way are you worried and and i don't mean any disrespect but from the question but i think it's something that people are wondering you who have gotten a long-term extension for the work that you've done a bit of a hbc of the year hbc president of the year are you worried about your job because of this um so really interesting jared yesterday i had back-to-back listening sessions with every student on this campus i wanted them to hear from me why and how this is happening how they can prepare themselves what our expectations are of them for the week and to be able to ask me any questions that they might have and one of the students stood up and said how did you feel when you got the news that donald trump was coming and i said my stomach dropped and i was scared because i knew it would be unpopular i knew people would be angry i knew my alums would be angry i knew the community would be angry i knew there would be a lot of strong emotional reaction i knew there would be the miss you know misinformation floating around about how it was and he came to be on campus um and so as a human being my initial reaction was oh my god how am i going to weather this and so i was but my board has stood i kept them informed of course as this has evolved when there was the back and forth he might come he's not coming he is coming oh my god he's really coming so i kept them informed all along the way um i think every president knows right don't surprise your board and so you know i took some backlash oh she negotiated this deal in secret nope actually i didn't my cabinet and board were very well aware during this entire process that it was a possibility and when we got official word of course even when we had a hint we started informing the board in writing and verbally so the board has been incredibly supportive um they're committed to stand my board shares flying in to greet the president and my finance committee shares flying in tonight they're coming to stand with me and weather the storm we're going to take this l for our community but it's so it's so interesting that that that's your that's your gut reaction when the president however controversial you may be says he's coming and you know what your community is going to say because it was it seemed to be seemed to me that in your position if i heard bernie sanders was coming and i know that my senior senator in the state is lindsay graham then my stomach is going to drop because i'm okay so i'm going to have i'm going to have this guy in coming to south carolina for the primary thing and a guy who i know is is never going to lose his seat is running is running the show on my appropriations possibly south carolina is among the most interesting states politically socially and otherwise um obviously you know it's history right 64 percent of slaves in this country came in through south carolina we have a long and pauling history in south carolina we also happen to be the home of the majority whip right big jim clobber is my congressman right here in south carolina but i also have governor mcmaster it's a red state i got lindsay graham i got tim scott and i got jim clobber it's an interesting contrast and so you know i have steve benjamin as a mayor who was you know just the immediate past president of the national conference of the years democrat right so we have this interesting mix of leading people you reference lindsay graham and appropriations right um so i have leaders on both sides of the aisle in south carolina and yet the expectation is that because i'm black i have to be on one side of that issue and i cannot engage with the other and that does my institution a disservice what i said to my board and what i've said publicly and privately long before this came down the pike is i'm not red i'm not blue i'm purple i'm all about benedict i've got to advocate for my students at benedict college that is my job that's who i am that's what i do i will vote my personal preferences and conscience when i go to the ballot box but as for me and my role as president of benedict college i have no political affiliation i care only for benedict and the students she serves now and we know you're running the convocation and again we appreciate the time that you can afford us and then the last question and we'll get you on when this is over what do you think is going to be the benefit for benedict and for you personally and your brand as a distinguished president so again i harken back to my students because they're kind of the point of it all um question i got from the student is this going to put us on the map doc i mean having trump here plus ten leading democrats i mean that keeps getting lost in the conversation biden warren harris and you name it they're all going to be here so um the student says is this going to put us on the map i said son we are the hbcu of the year we are the hbcu that put the bc in hbcu we were on the map long before trump took the white house however however the eyes of the world will be on this campus and so our students are deciding how they'll wrestle with that some students want to listen some students want to volunteer some students are leaving the campus some students will protest um and they are free to express themselves in the ways that they see fit um my concern is only for their safety and for how we um present ourselves to the world people expect there to be a problem people want to see a uva and what i've said to my kids is that's not who we are we are the best of bc we are bigger than this this is a moment in time when the world is watching benedict college let's show them who we are let's be intelligent let's be disciplined let's be clear uh they will not see angry mobs of benedict students if you see that on the news you best believe those are not benedict students out there those are kids that come from usc and other places we've seen this happen before i mean we've seen this happen before look at billard we saw it happen at billard where david do those are not billard students yeah those were not billard students people will come from other places and seek to create a ruckus my kids are prepared my kids will be the ones with the our voice our vote shirts on the discipline kids who are um advocating who may protest but will do so with a sense of decorum and pride in who they are the people because they genuinely feel in their heart this person is not for me and so you know i hope that the aftermath is that people who didn't know benedict before know benedict and they know us in a good light they know us for being um open-minded they know us for being um willing to participate in the process that seeks to uh that is supposed to serve us but has not always served us well candidates in the future need to know benedict votes benedict students are engaged connected intelligent and prepared and they're going to have to be accountable to benedict college students and graduates and generations that will come out of this institution