And this is cape up. Mitch landrieu is the former mayor of new orleans. Former independent governor of louisiana and one of the most outspoken white southern voices on race in the united states came to the podcast in tiny seventeen after he succeeded in removing the last four confederate monuments in new orleans now four years later our nation is in a different and more perilous place when it comes to race as true history is simultaneously being debated openly dismissed. And you see the push back now with people just completely frozen is just a basic history. We cover a lot of ground here including police reform voting rights and what he would say to senator. Joe manchin about the filibuster here at all right now. Mitch landrieu welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for having me in a continuation of a conversation. You and i have been having for now years and that is our country race. Our country's desperate need for not only racial reckoning but also reconciliation. And i would just love for you to start out by giving your assessment on where we are as a nation right now. Well i think that the word that comes to mind to media sobering and as you said in your question about this continuing conversation that we've been having it occurs to me that this is a conversation that the country's been having with itself sometimes well and sometimes very poorly since the beginning of our time it sure feels like we head backwards right now Bought that i am mindful that we just celebrated the first anniversary of john lewis's death And when people would get down in the dumps and say we haven't made much progress he would admonish us and say i'm evidence that we've made a lot of progress but we still have a very long way to go in. Freedom's not free. You have to work for it every day. I i am a little bit chagrined in not in a good place on why it seems to be so hard for us to do with obviously right for the future of the country but as a practical politician on whose job a used to be to assess. What's possible and what's necessary. It's important for us to realize that we were in. We are in a critical moment that this is a this is a time in. This happens every now and then where the country has to make a decision and that decision really matters about whether you're going to go back whether you're gonna go forward so i believe that we're in this really very difficult struggle where we have to continue to advocate very strong for the very simple idea that we all come to the table. Democracy is equals and that everybody should have a fair shot at the american dream. We don't have it right now. And that there are forces that continued to reject that very idea and that is a very dangerous face to begin. It's one that has to be confronted. Meaning meaning it needs to be spoken about spoken to and dealt with not to be ignored. Aren't so you talk about there. Are those forces.