voting rights act was in a way of cruel legacy to have to live up to because they were so revolutionary. they restored the fourteentfourteent h and 15th amendments and appeared at least in terms of legal racial discrimination to finish the unfinished business of the civil war and reconstruction. there was a whole lot of other unfinished business addressing the questions that the 99% movement is still to this day grappling with. i don't think you can draw any simple one-to-one correspondence. it's a changing river with lots of confluences and news sources of springs bubbling up but i think the people who left the civil rights movement narrowly defined behind considered those basic issues in broad terms to be part of the unfinished business of the movement and that they never for his many victories often unheralded that

i emphasized words there were also failures that they learned from and i think they see those broader issues as part of what you are referring to. >> the martian watching 10 in 1963 was for jobs and they were intimately linked. the night he proposed the bill john kennedy cited a series of sobering statistics about the differential prospects of a black-and-white way be born in the same day in the same city and questions like life expectancy health the situation is better today. on questions like lifetime earning power and income it's distressingly the same. >> one sorry, that's all the time we have today created thank our panelists for really interesting discussion.

>> i remember conversation i had with a group of people at the table with the two on it. it wasn't about where it was from. it was about ukraine. it was about politics and it was about education and religion and after that moment i was like wow this week is going to be intense but it's been cool to see the evolution of our friendships and our bonds from talking about politics and talking about

experiences and what we have learned who we have met and this is an experience i will never forget. >> i have always been cynical about it and always thought like i can never go that far in politics and politics is such a classic environment but slowly throughout the week different speakers and people i've met have chipped away at that opinion. it's been so ingrained in my head. i thought maybe i do want to make a difference in run for something local and stay local in my community because like president obama said yesterday he told us don't get cynical because the nation doesn't need any more cynical people. that's not going to help us relieve the problems that we have. >> one of the things that i know our social media we are able to suppress our opinions very easily. we can send a tweet about what we think and i think that starts the conversation and we like to talk a lot so there is conversation on social media and we like to get our opinions out

there. >> i think this whole week has been about learning. i come from a small town where it's very politically homogenic and there's not much chance for people who don't think the same to get their opinions out without being ridiculed great being here with the other delegates has given me an opportunity to learn other viewpoints and to also get my ideas out without the fear of being shunned for thinking differently. >> in his book down to the crossroads aram goudsouzian tells the story of james merit at the first african-american to attend the university of mississippi. the author was interviewed on "after words" by demos senior fellow rich benjamin. this is an hour.

>> what a pleasure to be with you today to talk about your book. i looked at its cover and i was immediately intrigued by it. some say you can't judge a book via its cover but let's start by judging this book by its cover. tell me about the cover. >> guest: thanks for having me. it's quite a struggle to pick the perfect image for the cover. it's a picture from the last day of the march june 261966 as the leaders lead the march the final leg of the meredith marc into jackson mississippi and it was kind of a struggle to pick the right picture because on the one hand he wanted to capture the sweep of the march. he wanted to capture the human element in the many people that were part of this long three-week civil rights demonstration that started in memphis and ended in jackson. on the other hand you want to make sure you highlighted the key figures in the march the main leaders and that includes martin luther king stokely

carmichael and it includes the quixotic man who started the whole thing james meredith and this image was lucky enough to capture the whole -- the three of them. let's go let's backtrack a bit and tell us about the march you are referring to and the title of the book and i chose it. >> guest: the title is "down to the crossroads" civil rights by power and of march two -- to civil rights march that begins in june 1966 and ends three weeks later and in those three weeks you can make an argument that the civil rights movement transforms and it approaches its crossroads. the call for black power is first heard. stokely carmichael unveils that slogan if you will midway through the march and immediately generates controversy. in immediately generates a great swelling of enthusiasm on many local black people and in many ways unites a new direction of black policies.

those changes might have happened over the course of time anyway but with the meredith march did was dramatize the shift. .. >> well, if you are talking about the pure, physical act of marching, one of the marchers that i interviewed, she talked about how it was a status symbol, ventilated tennis shoes.

in other words, the walk for so many miles that there were holes in the tissues. you're talking about jews in mississippi. hot, open highway. it is just the physical rigor of being part of this march to marching somewhere between anywhere from eight to 15 miles of very. there are some die-hards who did most of those three weeks. if you just want to talk about the physical aspect of it, it can be quite rigorous. mix that in with camping at night, makes that and with dealing with the fears about possible attacks may extend with the many demonstrations, voter registration and then make sense of violence. >> and in a dramatic moment a lot of folks tend to be familiar with the solemn march on the mn

bridge. this march in particular so, how did it begin? who was the main protagonist? >> it is a unique story in the sense that it begins in the minds and actions of one man. he is famous for in the grading the university of mississippi in 1962, causing the so-called hormuz crisis. it led to severe resistance from white authorities. pretty much prompted a federal constitutional crisis for the kennedy administration to ultimately, and the national guard after the great ride. and then they spent a year and will miss before graduating, incredible isolation, incredible hardship under constant protection from federal marshals and much of that began -- again, and his mind he was a very singular man. he was not someone who associated himself with a large movement, but he was very determined that the same time to try to combat institutions of

white supremacy. but after old mess and he drifts of the radar screen for a while and struggles to find his place. he spends time in washington d.c., except to a to nigeria which the band is after one. he has an eye and a larger political career. he envisions this march from memphis to jackson. he sees it as having a number of goals. one is to encourage people to register to vote, encourage african-americans to register to vote. the voting rights act was starting to stimulate the beginnings of mass will registration, but for your ordinary black person they realized that going to the courthouse and register and vote and casting a ballot could be accompanied by serious danger, loss of credit to all sorts of reprisals. the other aspect was what he called a walk against fear. he saw the goal of voter

registration tied into this battle against this culture. he also had a personal ambition. he saw this as a chance to resuscitate his career and a chance to build a political following and ultimately run for office in this new dawning age a black politics. on the second day of the march she just comes through hernandez, mississippi, the first town along his route. and he gets a nice, warm reception. they're going to register to vote and encourage him and he tells stories of these old african-american men who have been so intimidated by powerful lights for so long that now define them, standing at and even as hostile and its are glaring in temperament cross the towns where they still support. he sees this as just beginning to achieve his personal vision. but a few miles south he continues his walk. a dipping stretch of road. and there are mississippi state

policeman, a patrol, two fbi agents, local police, but none of them stop the man from jumping out of the woods and shooting down of firing three shots. says -- the march m.l. little bit of attention. that image is plastered on the front page of every newspaper in america. ridges international audiences and becomes a rallying cry to pass more civil-rights legislation. edberg camino, causes all sorts of excitement and tension and black members throughout the country. jackson, mississippi, memphis, tennessee. what began as one man's walk gets transformed into an extravaganza. basically every civil-rights organization descends apartment

is determined to carry on his walk. >> what inspired him that had not before? >> everyone saw the original work as a solitary endeavor. he had not invited the participation. he said, you can come follow me, but you have to be a man, serve this article, patriarchal view and you have to be independent. we're not going to try to raise a to do in the early people vulnerable to violence. you have to be a man, independent, and to move in small groups. as the only way it is what will work. so it was not a walk that invited as participation. once the naacp and core and snake in all the major civil rights organizations come then it becomes -- it's almost like a chance to replicate the success. >> and he did not die. what became of him?

>> was wounded. he did not die. when he was shot to the was a misinterpretation. the ap reporter put out a bulletin that he had died which caused even more hysteria. so marriage was wounded and ended up recuperating. he was in new york. all these organizations are marching in is nine. and it has his someone -- he except that that is occurring. on some level it's a blessing, but the same time for those three weeks he is frustrated because the march has diverged and become a mass march that he did not want. he saw it being centered around him as an individual and his ideas for how to combat what supremacy. now it has become a mass nonviolent march starring martin that the king and lots of federal attention and media attention and impact on local communities. >> part of what i love about this book is your colorful portrait of personalities that are so richly steeped in

history. of course we read about elsewhere, but there are presented here. the two that come to mind for me are starkly carmichael and, of course, martin luther king. what was the participation? >> i think i see james meredith, martin luther king, so the carmichael as the three central characters. for carmichael he sees this as a unique opportunity. these new chairman of the student nonviolent coordinating committee which has always been on the progress of vanguard of the civil rights movement founded by yang stevens bushing the civil-rights establishment. by the mid to late 1860's a research question of who they are is an organization. they are exceptionally frustrated with what they see as a very slow pace in terms of the reforms of the civil rights act as been passed among the voting rights act has been passed, but they don't see it being enforced and forced the legislation is on the books.

rather than seeing the president as the airline a chance to see him as an enemy. they don't care anymore about lobbying when america. it don't care about appealing to the national council -- conscience. they're much more concerned with developing lakers' a local scale. they don't define themselves by the idea of a mass march anymore. by the same token, when he gets shot the recognize an opportunity. the march will be traveling through mississippi. he has done the most organizing, in particular the mississippi delta. they diverge to a mississippi delta. saw the largest black communities in the state. he is really made a name. service see this as a chance to create the moving, evolving demonstration of grass-roots organizing at the same time showcase the new direction. carmichael, not that he's an unknown prior to march, but it's

really what catapults him into a political celebrity. by the end of the march he is essentially considered the heir to mount attacks. the voice of black radicalism, exceptionally charismatic my gift for talking to local people and connecting to so many different audiences, whether that is in harlem or the mississippi delta. he is charismatic, powerful, and provocative. it's almost like he makes a rhetorical point to not appeal. even when it's pushed and pushed and pushed, he's almost cleverly stubborn about how he presents it says. >> that part of what animates the sentient. the other main character, and let the king, he becomes an summer is the moral center of

the march. without killing it is not the march that it is. his name and presence trust people and about the local people along the route of the marchers sometimes just really want to see more licking but also what draws more federal attention, national media attention says. if we drive martin luther king out this much doesn't mean anything. we need him for the tension and we want to generate. and king is constantly being pushed in multiple directions. this much reveal some in some ways as is most morally powerful because he is constantly trying to articulate the discontent. betty is trying to craft it into his larger language, his core principles, nonviolent action, the integration of america. to do so he is constantly using his rhetorical gifts to try to merge these messages into

something coherent, find this unity. it is just a burden. by the end of the march is worn down. first by the same token the market doesn't have any power. >> why did he call it a mistake? >> is toward the end of the march 90 is just gone through some fairly extraordinary trials the marchers had just gotten the philadelphia. since june 21st, 1966, exactly two years later -- the two-year anniversary of the murder of three civil rights workers. it was, of course, large national story. they're going there to commemorate those murders and lead a demonstration through philadelphia off the main root of the march but they saw it as a unique political opportunity and allied with the local black leaders. but because they are also the root of the march, they get less

protection from the state police, the people were supposed to be protecting them of a local police, some of them had been directly involved in or under in federal -- under federal and case -- investigation for. are not talking about a sympathetic law enforcement. so what happened is they are essentially attacked by a mob. people throw things at them. they hurled insults at the. it her cherry bombs at kings feet. as they are marching, the finish the rally in our marching people throw rocks at the site. there's one marcher that as an epileptic seizure. people don't let the medical truck near in for a while. it's an incredibly stressful situation, and it could have descended and a far worse. luckily they were able to march back into the black community in philadelphia before it got worse

. king with later said that was the most scared yet never been. but right after that he had to get to yazoo city where the marchers had congregated. by the time he got back there there was a large rally going on for black power spill. some of the speakers like willie ricks and ernest thomas were using very provocative rhetoric. king was trying to pull it back into its core principles and given a beautiful, moving speech about how they could not get there guns that night, molotov cocktails. tnc and a brighter vision. he saw that day coming in mississippi. is so worn down at that point by trying to bring everyone under his white arms that he wondered if he could still work with the organization's.

>> and what were the other dramatic tensions are seminal moments during the march? >> the major incidents of violence. this is just the few days before the end of the march. a few days after the violence. after the philadelphia violence king and others have the attention of -- petition the federal government. the state of mississippi is not adequately protecting. we need a federal presence as it exists. many protection of u.s. marshals, the national guard, the justice department personnel we need the federal government. they are essentially ignored by president johnson. he had grown over the past year somewhat alienated from the civil rights movement. he had seen the urban riots in places like watson 65, controversy over the morning and report which was a government report that seemed to stigmatize black families regarding issues

of poverty. black backlash against that. and he was seeing groups painting him as an enemy. so increasingly johnson kept his distance from the grassroots of the last transition. and he basically refuses to have any federal presence. what that gives the governor of mississippi is carte blanche to use violence against the marchers. he had been using the state police tomorrow less protect the marchers, but now with the march coming to an end he knows there will be any federal intervention so when they get to can the marchers and made a point throughout the march to try to stay and set up their big tent on land and the black community, public land. black people pay taxes to. we have a right to use this land. whites can't dictate whether we can use this land and not. what happens is, of course, and many places along the way they

say they can't. the police kind of let it happen because they don't want it to escalate. when they get to can -- at this point because it's close to the and there been about a thousand people participating. and they come to the ball field of the school, mcneil elementary and the first the police just sort of let them do it. and then who rolls up but a huge contingent of mississippi our patrol, the same that had been supposedly protecting and. doning riot gear and launching tear-gas in the crowd. not using teargas as crowd control, not using it to push people of the land. they're launching canisters directly into the crowd, using it. they move their way in and the hitting people with nightsticks and kicking them, pulling here,

dragging him into ditches. and absolutely chaotic scene. practically dark at that point, and it was as harrowing violences existed within the movement. because it is dark and smoky in the photographer's, is difficult -- there's no real iconic image is. and because it doesn't get the support of the federal government because even after that tear gas attack the federal government's response is fairly lukewarm. were sorry it happened. retribution. basically disappeared from popular memory. does not have the same residence as bloody sunday when the marchers a tear gas on the bridge one year earlier. >> and that brings me back to the cover and how images make history and what gets lost and one doesn't. i want to return to the fate of black power, but first of what talk about white people. we know what you just described

about white law enforcement, culturally at the time, jerry lee lewis, johnny cash, elvis is sprouting on the scene. what is going on in the psychology of white america had this time? how are they responding to the civil rights movement. >> so for liberal whites the shooting triggers another round of out rage against the jim crow south. they see it as another example of violent retribution. and people write to their congressman just as they had done with birmingham. the editorials in the newspapers , condemning the violence. some of the documents came across him people writing and talking about their own ideas. it sort of honor of this great liberal guilt. the civil rights movement has been at least since 1960 has been a major news story for the

past 56 years. and to some extent the march continued that sort of liberal turned. by the same token because of this emerging -- because of something like the watts riot and the controversies over the morning and report we're starting to see the language of backlash, the phrase backlashes just aren't developed as a buzzword. some whites are sort of increasingly alienated. they think blacks are moving too fast. the civil rights of man is achieved what it should.