professor Michael Eric Dyson is known for his rapid-fire commentary threading hip-hop lyrics with Bible verses in his signature alliteration to make his point about politics, pop culture and certainly racial justice in America.

The Vanderbilt professor was back in Chicago recently for a couple of Martin Luther King Junior Day observances, including the city's interfaith breakfast last week we sat down with him to get thoughts on the latest starting with what he thinks the next 4 years will be like now that President Donald Trump has just begun his second term.

>> Well, first of all, he's inheriting a tremendously robust economy.

Much like the former President Obama said, yeah, you did a great cause.

I gave you a great the economy.

He's inheriting yet another economy.

Now during the election, you know, as politicians on both sides to be fair, want to do.

It's doom and gloom for what the existing administration has done.

We promised something different, but he's inheriting a rather robust economy.

And if you can do anything to continue that we would obviously be supportive at the same time, he's already developed a list that of people that he wants to go after Liz Cheney, John Bolton, and these are not raving left-wingers.

Excuse me.

These are not radical.

Libertarians or even liberals.

So the tragedy of the next 4 years will be that if we're not able to have government as usual where the institutions prevail over any particular individual administration, although they're always impacted by them.

And we have to both be conscious of the fact that he is the President United States of America.

But we must also oppose those things that we think are deeply and profoundly problematic.

And unfortunately, this probably going to be a lot to oppose.

>> You talk some of the country's most elite universities.

And since Trump's first administration, we know the Supreme Court has struck down the use of race in college admissions.

Some universities have already started notice fewer black students enrolling, Hispanics as well.

Have you noticed a difference at Vanderbilt?

>> Yeah, well, not immediately because Vanderbilt practices a variety of commitment to diversity.

That is not vulnerable.

So what the law says you can you can evade the law.

My point is, do you want the commercial with the product?

You don't have to pronounce or an ounce.

What it is that you're attempting to do because it's important to have education that is diverse number of axes, race, class, gender, orientation, geography region, religion.

So those things make for vibrant classroom and you don't have to offend any law of affirmative action to achieve those goals.

You have to be conscious.

You have to be intentional and you have to understand what makes for a vibrant classroom even before dei or affirmative action.

You know, when there were no black people involved and no women, how did they decide who got into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, right?

You're a violent player from Oklahoma and we don't have people coming from there.

We need you.

So there was already a diversity of application even before gender race came into play.

And I suspect we'll have to lean upon those issues.

Having said that, there's no denying looking at Harvard thing in there.

Law school class an extreme diminishment of of the pool of diverse people.

They are.

That's to the detriment of America, right?

If America Fund ultimately said, hey, we don't want black people, you know, in these arenas, then we'd have no Michael Jordan in basketball because without affirmative action, Michael Jordan would have never played in the NBA without the conscious attempt to bring in people who have been historically denied.

We would have never enjoyed his skills or so.

So my point is that it is extremely important for us to continue to practice a variety of diversity in education, even be on the official or legal restrictions of affirmative action.

>> And at the same time, companies are slashing their dei initiatives.

Many had been quietly scaling long before this most recent election because there's some reflections that people think that to the big companies are doing it to cozy up to President Trump.

What do you think of that?

Were reduced company Sussex, sincere in the first place?

>> Probably not or they were, but they feel intimidated and they run, you know, hide at the first prospect of resistance.

I think black people in others have to practice dei, too, did not economic investment, right?

Get involved in a boycott yourselves.

I mean, if Walmart thinks that it's OK to seize your program, it's all right for us to seize our economic investment or again, we can ask Walmart you can get rid of the official dei program, but do the things that you know are consciously encouraging your customers, a number of whom are people of color to be involved.

So again, there are ways around the legal restrictions that have been imposed and affirmative action, you know, rulings for education have been taken so rapidly and readily by these companies.

Those were not the rulings for them, but they figure well, let's let's go along and do the same thing.

Well, lets do the same thing when a right just causes championed and you want to see the kind of spreading of a good idea, which is diversity, which is having a workforce that reflects those who constitute our communities or those who are consumers.

There's always a way to get to the issue of diversity in a creative fashion.

If you have the desire or the intent and for those corporations that don't do it, we've got to make them pay.

>> What do you think of the state of American cities right now?

And do you think some of those cities and you know who are mostly governed by Democrats, will they suffer under a Trump There's no question.

He's a vitriolic, vicious man.

He small-minded and petty.

>> He's in group.

Previously.

Chi is a foolish fashion season them with a dictator.

But that's on a good day.

And it's nice when you really think, right?

I mean, this is what he's done.

He's performed these things.

However, I would say to those mayors, a number of whom happen to be African-American.

If you have an opportunity to work with him and forge a connection in a way that's beneficial to your city.

Go ahead.

I'm a social critic.

My job is to bring the force of critique to bear.

But here we are in Chicago.

Think about Brandon Johnson, an extraordinary man, intelligent, well versed, a union man, a man who's an educator.

Look, nobody is immune to criticism.

So everybody in that office has to be prepared.

But the piling on when I think about Brandon Scott in Baltimore who is seen as the dei mayor or Karen Bass because a bridge collapsed because of a ship being out of place.

Right?

Or Karen Bass with the wildfires there in Los Angeles and being pummeled.

Well, Brandon Johnson here in Chicago, despite the economic reversals of fortune for those who are less fortunate and vulnerable into something more powerful.

So we've got to say on the one hand, let's pay attention to the wind, which there's a relationship between the federal government and the local government and what goodies you can drive for your people.

And at the same time, hold a proudly the banner of commitment to the vulnerable and cities suffer to a degree.

But they got to fight back.

I mean, the what Trump has shown is that if you are willing to raise your voice and speak up and say what you believe is true.

There are at least enough people who will rally around you to be able to defend your position and forge a kind of coalition that might