alabama because he had a lot on his plate. a new baby and a doctoral dissertation in a new churches to getting to know. so not looking to leave -- >> we believe this and take you live now to the u.s. senate where today members are meeting for what we expect to be a brief pro forma session. live coverage here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., october 8, 2024. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable george s. helmy, a senator from the state of new jersey, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patty murray, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under

the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 8:30 a.m. on friday, 8:30 a.m. on friday, >> and the u.s. senate has gaveled out for now. members are on break until after the november elections. lawmakers return they will begin work on spending legislation after passing a funding extension until december 20. we will have live coverage when the senate comes back right here on c-span2. we now take you back to our booktv programming. >> the way he treated, he remained humble. he would spend time with people who needed attention. he was p still the pastor to his flock and atlanta and in montgomery even as he became famous.mo i think the big thing that aspire to more than anything else is this bad did not have to keep going after he had been

shot at and his house of been bombed and stabbed into chess, and after the fbi begin coming down on him over and over again. moments were he could've hit pause. he could've taken a year off and gone on sabbatical and written a book. but he felt he was called by god and he not only kept going, he doubled down. he became more courageous. it would have been easy just to stick to voting rights and keep working on where he had some success. he speaks out against the vietnam war. that kind of moral courage to me is beyond inspiring andan it, jt spending that much time thinking about the choices that he made forever changed me. i'll talk to you afterwards about lou gehrig because my brain just won't go there right now. thanks. stand again and again. right. i often think about what america we would have without the loss the early loss of lincoln,

kennedy and martin luther king. could you speak to the momentum that was cut off after his death? you know something that, a lot of black activists after the assassination said is that we kill our prophets in america and we ought to do a study on the effects of assassin nation on american history. i'm not an expert, but when you think about the ideas that were lost, we think about the courage that was lost and and why, you know, we blame the you know, we can talk all day about conspiracy theories, but it's clear that and this is something harry belafonte preached the way to the end that we don't like radicals in this country. we're uncomfortable with radicals, even though we're a country born of revolution. we don't teach radicalism in our schools. we have managed to portray it as a bad thing. and look how many our radicals have been eliminated because of

that, because we've created that culture. i think, okay, let's do right here in the middle. just a second. let's go to to you. hi. thank you very much for coming to speak with us this evening. i am the generation of elementary that you talked about. i up watching my friend martin and growing up with this very idealized of martin luther king and being taught that the civil rights movement was over, that equality had been achieved once. we elected a black president. as we can see, the civil rights movement has not ended. it has transformed. it's taken on different focuses. so it's shifted away from segregation and towards police brutality to justice. my question to you is what impact do you see that has lasted across the decades since martin luther king's death that

is embodied in the civil rights movement today? you know i think that and i'd love to hear your response to that question, too, but i think that what's the thread that unifies the civil rights movement and always has abolition to today is among other things black dignity, true justice. the ideas that king talked in the bible, that we are all made the image of god and that only man has invented these arbitrary divisions and that quest for dignity is a line. and it's whether you're talking about police brutality, whether you talk about voting rights then or now, voting. it's about dignity if we're teaching people, if we're teaching people to, understand and apply dignity and equality, then we're we're you know, we're doing the right and but it doesn't have to be that doesn't it shouldn't be so complicated. what would you say. unfortunately, i did not hear

the second part of your question, your statement. and so i trust that he gave the right answer. you would have been better at that one. for his jonathan. valerie, could you all spend a moment on on the aftermath, dr. king, in terms of the people he trained and house is influence continued whether it was andy young as mayor or maynard jackson, john lewis had a to me his genius was as a manager of these very strong personalities ranging from stokely carmichael to john lewis to the women who about him but he gifted them with a sense of leadership and commitment to the struggle that went on after his. people talk about the did the spiraling down of sclc and traditional civil rights organizations but the world is different because of andrew young. the world was different because of being a jackson.

needless to say, the world didn't because lewis and he has a constellation people. what the fauntroy whitey walker fred shuttlesworth people sprinkle the poor across the south and the rest of the united states. and i think sometimes when we write these biographies of dr. king. now, just because i haven't read it. but but think what happens is that he all this happened and no one says no in fact his students, his pupils, his acolytes went on to do even more. so in your conversations, his compatriots and and all the folks that you're interviewed that any of this ever come out? well, the actions speak for themselves, because those people that you mentioned, you know, on to do great things. and i would include coretta scott king on that list of course. but what about you? what's your take on that? how did the the heirs or the people who inherited the the movement, how did they. i think inspired by king. i think those who were paying attention were inspired and jean, i might have to differ with your word manwich, because i don't think i don't think dr.

king advantage any of those people. what he did do was influence them. now. and we went from he said, dr. king used to say civil to you guys, like managing a of well well you can't do that can you. so but it's the influence is the lasting influence is. and i think that comes from speaking the truth because the truth will outlast a lot of things, it might take a long time to get back to that path, but eventually it will and people like benjamin mays made a great influence on man. it that i'm still quoting benjamin mays. you know. so i think the the trickle down the trickle down influence respect, dignity and a search for truth and a love of mankind

is what all of those acolytes, as you said got from from dr. martin luther king. and i just pray that they keep on keeping on. yeah. you know, and that your children, you and my and my daughters, you know, will be able to reflect it. also. and i think i'm going to take the privilege. the last question and i was just thinking about the amount of detail you in your book, some of it flattering, some of it not flattering. and i wonder, do you think that makes him a it makes something makes him someone that we can all relate to. he's just a myth. he's a person like you and and perhaps gives us hope that. we all have the opportunity to do the kinds of things that he's done. i think that's essential. and it's you know, central to

what i was trying to do with this book. i have a paragraph early on the book where i say, you know, he chewed his fingernails. he had a dog named topsy. he couldn't save his skin, was too sensitive. so at the same time, as we discussed, he was a progressive in every way. he had a hard to a blind spot when it came to women in roles of leadership. let's let's accept the fact he was human. let's look at and again, those little details. that's just that brings him to life. that's how i feel like i want you to read this book and feel like you got to spend some time with him, that you got to know him better and i want you to feel the loss that. we we all should feel that that this man was only with us for 39 years and that we as a country could take care of him and, that we didn't you know, we deserved he deserved better and we deserve better. and you can only really feel that kind of pain. think if you if you love him when you read the book. and i hope that's true. you mentioned story but that you

talk about -- gregory believe it was was it -- gregory that said that he was the reason you should not lose this it was about -- gregory saying that a movie had been made about martin luther king, which is which made him a real hero. he said to me. jesus was real. okay, here we go. all right. but we don't really we can't really prove it. right? we can prove martin luther king was real because we were here. i mean, i met him and we have him on film. we have him on tape. we have on tape. no matter what happens, no matter how many hundreds of years from now no one is going to deny martin luther king was real. but i would argue that if we go too far in making them into a mythological figure, you lose sight of how great it was. dick gregory knew it. people from atlanta who are

still with us today who knew him, could feel his reality and we just need to keep them alive in that way. [applause] >> if you are enjoying booktv been signed up for our newsletter using the qr code on the screen to receive the schedule of upcoming programs, often discussions, book festivals and more. booktv every sunday on c-span2 or anytime online at booktv.org. television for serious readers. >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill are fighting balanced unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to