that's our show for today, i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. >> >> >> >> >>this week on talk to al jazeera civil rights leader julian bond [ ♪ music ♪ ] this week on "talk to al jazeera", civil rights leader julian bond. >> here are these ordinary people, innocent people doing nothing at all, walking down the street. ball bam, bam police jump and beat them in a horrific way the 50th anniversary of the selma to montgomerie march was marked protesters across the country are calling to an end of

what they say is racial discrimination in the u.s. justice system. >> i would have them say we'll knock on these doors, we'll be machines moving and yelling and screaming and making noise. >> another testament that there's more work to be done. video of racial chants sung by university of virginia students. >> where did they learn this? where is this ugliness coming from? it's scary to me that these young men, who you expect more from, or i upset more from the tea party is not helping the country become post racial. bond says they are racist. >> and they know it too. they are wrong-handed people going wrong-handed things. i wouldn't compare them to the ku klux klan the social activist expressed outrage about discriminatory anti-l.g.b.t. laws. >> they helped me and why should

i not help them. they helped me push the needle forward. i'm eager to push the needle forward for them. >> i spoke to julian bond in atlanta georgia. julian bond we sit here today, of all days the 50th anniversary of the selma march, 1955. tell me about that day for julian bond. >> it was a magic day. i was not in selma on that day. i was in atlanta. obvious things were going on hearing about them by telephone. saying my job was to publicise student nonviolent coordinating committee, things that they did, and let the people in the field know what was going on and for some of them to do something about it in a sense you were a forerunner to twitter. you were sending out the news and information before we had that. >> you could say i was an early

twitter the first tweeter of the era. tell me let's talk about that. now, with ferguson with tamir rice in cleveland, with the horror in oklahoma the fraternity brothers on a bus. how important are images video telling the story. >> they are important. they show to a looking public what is going op in ways you couldn't show before. you could show photograph pictures of things but it would take a couple of days to get them out. bam, bam - whatever you want to see you see the selma march, the fact that the images went worldwide, how much of an effect did that have on the work you did on the ground? >> it had a tremendous effect. almost immeasurable. you can't tell.

here are ordinary innocent people doing nothing at all, walking down the treat. bam, bam these police jump and beat them in a horrific way, and all of a sudden the world sees it in the way the world couldn't see it before. it was a magic transformation in the way people learn these things. >> was there a sense that you can say it the world - listen we are not kidding about this this is happening? >> absolutely. this is it. these are real people it's happening to real people, and you can see it. i hate to say magic, but assist magic you are a veteran of the civil rights movement you worked at it all your life. it's 20, 50 years on the same things go on. you talk about emit tilo his influence on you. talk about that as it pertains to this.

>> his picture was in "jet" magazine, and pictures of the bloated corpse - ugly ugly pictures. to see them and know this is a real person a real human being, and that's the way he used to hook and that's the way he looks now - it's frightening. >> how old were you when it happened? >> i was one year older than he was. >> he was your age. it could have been like someone in your classroom. >> exactly so. someone like me my age, the same age as i am. scary. >> getting back to selma a little bit, to the march, you all had a purpose. you wanted to get the vote. that's a tangible thing. is there, in civil rights today, that seemed gold that tangible goal or is it still elusive. >> it's a tangible goal to get the story told quickly, strongly, let people know about it in ways they couldn't know

as quickly as they could know before. in those regards it's a little different. it's the same at the same time bam, bam, bam, bamming bam - now the world can see this thing happening. in ways the world couldn't see it before. >> now the world sees it and they react differently, it's different to it was back then. >> it was different. it's quicker. as i say, bam, bam, bam - in the way the world couldn't appreciate before. >> the reaction in the streets and media, setting aside the picture. the way the community reacts to something they find to be horrific like some of these events we talked about. how is that reaction different? >> we have seen a buy in charlottesville virgin a -- virginia a university of virginia student saying "don't hit me hit someone else if you have to hit council. don't hit me."

the appeal he makes is so real it can be rejected it can be pushed away. >> but let's talk about the organised response to things like that. ferguson for example, seemed disorganised in the way they responded to the actual event and the grand jury and the justice department. is there a vacuum of leadership in black america and civil rights america? >> i don't think there's a vacuum of leadership, i think there's a vacuum of organization. and these are not the same thing. in ferguson the leadership was there. it was mobilizing people. it was saying "let's do something about this let's raise hell about this." today, things are not happening as quickly and are not put together as quickly as they were then. >> if someone said today we are going to make july yn bond the

de facto head of -- julian bond the de facto head of ferguson response what would you have done differently. >> i would have organised people to march in a particular way, in a particular direction. i would have them saying we are all going to knock on these doors, we'll make this noise, we'll do this thing right here. we'll be machines moving and yelling and screaming and making noise. that's the difference i would make we look back on the civil rights the movements and we see students people like yourself john lewis, martin luther king so many others. we could have a long list. when we look today often we see jesse jackson and al sharpton. the young leaders, where are they? >> they are around. they are around. the people who are the dreamers who mobilize the sit-in on the

florida state conference that's youth leadership. that's raising hell and a lot of noise. they'll make it again. >> is the raising hell working? >> itself. not as well as it might, but give it time. they'll give you hell. >> you think it takes time. >> it takes time. you can't say bam, we are going to do this thing, you have to be together. you have to figure out what you are going to do what plan you have. you have to be organised. in a way we are not organised today. >> often we see the video, singing the song the students and we act in different ways. do you act in a deflated way. i think oh lord. do the kids learn anything at all. where is this ugliness coming from. it's scary to me that these

young men who we expect more from or i expect more from. they are college students after all. why are they a better trade, better educated, why are they acting like idiots. >> can you answer any of those questions? >> no i can't imagine why they behave in the way they do. >> when you see the university of oklahoma students. do you think i thought we beat in? >> i thought this would have happened. when i see it and learn it's not done it's the same bunch of idiots doing the same stuff over and over again. i think what the hell is going on. >> selma came to mind for many because of the film that came out in the summer. at the time selma was a culmination of something, wasn't it. >> yes, it was a culmination of a movement made up of many people working hard some doing this some doing that pushing the needle faster and faster and

faster. i don't think you have that any more. >> do you think we don't have that any more because they got the vote. there's not one thing - for example, gay marriage - as soon as you get gay marriage it becomes a bit more nebulous what they are fighting for. with the vote. they got the vote and then it's scattered. >> i don't think it's that at all. i think the things that we still haven't got, we haven't learned how to demand them in ways we demand the earlier appeals. when we learn how to do it we'll be back in line again. >> let's talk about the film selma. it was - you know it was a hit. it brought a lot of education to people. what do you think of the movie? >> i think it could have been better than it was. >> people in the civil rights movements like myself don't like a movie about the civil rights.

this one i didn't like the portrayal, which i thought was unfair. he was a champion he was portrayed as a nit. he was a real good guy. >> in your estimation did lyndon b johnson impede or help to facilitate civil rights. >> he helped push it forward. we wouldn't have the civil rights act, the voting act. a series of good things happened. no one can tell me that is not true. >> what weren't, aside from johnson had positive influences in recent history on civil rights. >> it's hard to say. none had an overwhelming october on civil right. if you take away president john

have been. he's up here. none of the others are. >> is there someone who is surprisingly good, who we don't thing about often that did good things? >> no there's not. >> let's talk about president obama. he walked across the edmund pettus bridge, a bridge named for a confederate general and a member of the ku klux klan in alabama. what did that feel like? >> i watched it on tv like most did, and walked across the bridge myself several times, and hope to walk across it again. i was happy to see it. i think it meant something positive that the black president of the united states has walked across this bridge segregation is - was named after this - this bridge was named after a segregationist and a black president walked across the bridge. suddenly part of that is erased

in my mind so it's a step forward. >> president obama - how has he been - how do you view him through the prism of civil rights? >> well he's had a difficult time because he's had a congress that has said "no, no no" to almost everything he wants to do. no matter what he tries to do he can't do it because the republican congress says "no, no no" to everything he does. he's in a mess here where he can't do what he wants or needs to do. i don't think we know about president obama yet. we need to give him some time. >> he only has about a year and a half left. >> i mean even after that see what he does how he behaves, and... >> in the past you talked about the tea party as being, you know essentially racist. do you believe that? >> sure absolutely. they know it too.

>> what has there are affect been on race relations in the country? >> it's been mad. they are a native element. they are taking their negativity and applying it to the american political system. it's not a good outcome or a good thing for the country. it doesn't signify that we'll rise up. in fact it makes us fall down. >> and do you compare them or is it possible to compare them to what you faced 50 years ago? >> no no they are not quite the same thing. they are wrong headed home doing wrong headed things. i wouldn't compare them to the ku klux klan that i faced. >> going back to the ku klux klan what are particular - or what was the scariest time you had in the movement? >> i can remember being in downtown lapt picketing -- atlanta, picketing department stores that wouldn't serve black

people, serve food or allow us to go in and get something to eat. i felt fear that these spindle-legged little monsters you know real boys posed a threat to me. luckily nothing untoward happened, but the threat was always there. >> you have said that obama is to the tea party what the moonis to a wear wolf. what do you mean by that? >> i mean that obama is to the tea party what the moon is to the wear wolves. >> thank you. we needed to clarify that. i'm glad we were able to get to the bottom. that. >> coming up julian bond talks about another rights movement, the battle for l.g.b.t. equality. stay with us. >> sunday night. >> 140 world leaders will take the podium. >> get the full story. >> there is real disunity in the

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movement even in the movie "selma," reading and knowing about it it wasn't all harrowing and terrible. i heard you in other interviews talk about how it was a good time for the civil rights movement. talk about that? >> it was a wonderful time the best time of my life to be in the civil rights movement. to do this thing, this thing, this thing, with this group of people my colleagues people on the student nonviolent coordinating committee with me people marching down the street with me walking across the bridge with me, these people were the best people. i loved being with them. i hope i get to be with that again, and again, and again. >> as you get together with some of those people as i am sure you do from time to time do you shake your head sometimes. can you believe what is still going on? >> i say not only can you believe what is going on but can you believe we are still going on. it's hard to believe. >> and you are still going on. you are taking tours through the

south, teaching people about what you did then. you are teaching at university do you feel moved to do that. >> very much so. i feel compelled to do it. it's one of those things if i don't do it who will do it. >> i'm going back to the vacuum of leadership. do you see people and inspire a spark and though that okay one day i will hand this stuff off to them? >> sure. i see that. maybe tomorrow morning, maybe next week maybe next year or something, sure i see it happening. >> i'll call your attention to a letter you wrote, also 50 years ago, julian bond democratic candidate for the georgia house of representatives. in it you say you want to talk about housing, getting better jobs getting better pay and improving schools. 50 years ago. that was for the georgia state senate. has that gotten better?

>> yes, the georgia legislature and the state of georgia is a better place than it was than when i wrote that letter. it's not a perfect place, far from it but it's a better place now than it was then. >> we are not post racial. >> no we are not post racial. we are better. >> what would define post racial, and is it possible. >> i think it is possible. it's something - you know it's a dreaming you have. and if - understand the dreaming, you understand it's a dream. >> can you recount any intersection you had with dr king that kind of inspired you to keep doing this? >> i can't say we were best friends or buddies. i had an association with them this time. one time he and i walked across the campus, and i said to him doc, how are you doing - his

friends call him doc. >> he said i'm not doing well i feel awful, i have a nightmare. >> i said doc, turn that around say "i have a dream." >> really it came from you, you were the "i have a dream" guy. >> i wouldn't say that. >> what brought you to the movement in the first place. what made you wake up saying "i want to put myself in harm's way and make it better. >> i was going to morehouse college in atlanta. sitting in a drug store having lunch. a student came up and said "have you seen this hell of a newspaper", and said greensboro students state in for a third day. he said have you seen that. >> i said good. he said "don't you think it should happen here." i said "what do you think we?" he took one side of the drug store, i took the other. we started a movement. that was where. >> atlanta. >> you were hooked?

>> i was hooked. i couldn't stand back. >> you see the l.g.b.t. fighting for civil rights and you are a proud supporter of them. what draws you to that fight as well? >> well because i worked in the civil rights movement with many gay people many lesbians. they helped me. why should i got help them? they helped me to push the needle forward. i'm eager to push the needle forward for them. i want to help them and hope they want to help me some more. >> what do you say to counterparts in the gay rights movement about what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong? >> i don't know what they are doing wrong, but they are doing something so right. it's amazing the speed with which the movement for gay rights came to the country, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam - good for you. keep going brothers sisters, keep at it. >> people look at the civil rights movement, in that

community, the gay, latino community. they look at you as a hero. who were your heroes. i have many heroes. names are too numerous to mention now. people i march with people i went to gaol with people that did this or that or the other. they are my heroes and the people that came before me wb deboys is a hero of mine. >> tell me why? >> he's one of the smartest people in the world. to read what he wrote and understand the thought that he went into. wow, why can't i be like that. some day i will. >> do you think the media is doing a good job of offering racial - no not a got job. i'm not sure what it is or why it is. eems like they are missing something.

they are not telling the story the way it should be told. they are not telling it all. they are leaving something out. i'm missing something. >> do you feel like you had that something before and it's gone. >> yes, i think i had it a media that told the tory more clearly in the past than today. not told in better better than today. >> still ahead on "talk to al jazeera" - julian bond talks about where he'd like race relations to be 50 years from now. hi i'm erica pitzi, coming up at the top of the hour - heavy fighting in yemen as houthi rebels make gains in the port city of aden. peace talks are possible. there's one big condition also closing statements in the trial of the accused boston marathon bomber. how strong is the prosecution

case and can the defense head off a death penalty, and five years since a deadly explosion at a west virginia mine what has change and what has not?

>> i'm michael shure this is talk to al jazeera our guest this week,

julian bond, long time veteran of the civil rights movement. [ ♪♪ ] i'm michael shure, and this is "talk to al jazeera". our guest this week is julian bond long time member of the civil rights movement. 50 years from now where do you imagine if you close your ice, race relations will be in the county. >> i don't know, but i hope people say we've come forward more than we hoped they would. if they say that that will be okay with me. >> that's 100 years from selma. someonize "what do you want julian bond to be remembered for when it comes to civil rights what would you say. >> i want people to say he was a raisman, a man that cared about his race and help him as much as he could. >> you said racist history. history is race not racist history. what does that mean? >> it means history is waste. we are learning history, we are reading history. what we are seeing what is happening history, we want to

look at it and see what is happening? >> and you are a raceman. >> yes, and i'm a raceman. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. you. this is al jazeera america. i'm erica pitzi in new york. here are the top stories. despite air strikes, houthi rebels make advances in yemen as the saudi-led coalition agrees to let the red cross deliver humanitarian aid. [ gunfire ] in syria hundred of people from the yarmouk refugee camp on the outskirts of damascus escape to safety as i.s.i.l. takes control. and an outpouring of grief for those killed in the kenyan university