tavis: good evening, from los angeles, i am tavis smiley pin tonight, part two of the legacy of dr. king as we go into speech that challenged both america's participation in the vietnam war and the great divide between the house and have-nots, a speech that offers insights into the many crises we have today. a call to conscience coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: tonight, we conclude our deep dive into one of his most controversial speeches. his condemnation of the u.s. involvement in vietnam and the disparity that has been tearing the country apart. well awareo, he was of the fact that many americans were calling nonviolence obsolete and marginalizing him. and fact, a good friend coined a

term that defied dr. king and for a while would redefine the movement. keenan was well aware that -- dr. king was well aware that a younger generation of leaders was calling nonviolence obsolete. in fact, a good friend coined a term that defy dr. king and for a while would redefine the movement. >> the only way that black people in mississippi will create an attitude where they will not be shot down like pigs, where they will not be shot down like dogs is when they get the power to institute justice. tavis: dr. king understood their anger but could not agree to their tactics. erupted into violence,

dr. king sought to reach out to those who said that he had lost touch with his times. harry belafonte remembers the aftermath of one such meeting. >> i said to him, what troubles you, martin? camee says, well, i just from that meeting with the young people in new york -- in newark. and they said much to challenge me. greatey made justification for why they saw violence as an important tool to their liberation. was to take the truths they were experiencing, the pain they were experiencing, and say there is another way. and when i left i felt i had not convinced of them come a that i have not gone to them in the way which i would have loved to have gone to them. tavis: riverside church was one of the most famed houses of

worship in the nation. the edifice attracted wealthy and influential individuals from all walks of life. dr. king had preached here many times. however, even with his tradition of liberalism, the church in 1967 was not to factor liberalization. african-americans were not welcome at the front of the church. wendelin shepherd, a childhood friend of the man she called ml was in the pews than i. >> they did not want me sitting at the edges. is how would get to sit when he spoke. tavis: we all know that literally, literally, when you're to the day after he speaks here in your church, shot dead.67, he was i raise that task, if in the best of your recollection, that was the last time you saw him speak in person here at riverside.

>> that is true. tavis: beyond vietnam was a long speech, more than 45 minutes. when dr. king finished, the crowd erupted in sustained applause. but that support was short-lived by morning. the political fallout was intense and far-reaching. the already strained relationship between president johnson and dr. king became fractured beyond repair. organizationkings began to dry up and the mainstream press denounced him in a notion -- in no uncertain arms am a charging him as civil rights leader, he was not qualified to talk about human rights -- to talk about u.s. foreign-policy.

was the place irrelevant, the audience are relevant, and it just rests on his words and wherever he offered that speech he would've caught -- >> i think he would have caught the same firestorm. what they said was not only we don't like your message, we are in the middle of the war. and we don't want to hear you say we are violent. you are a civil rights leader. you are a black guy. stick to what you know and leave the war to us. it united "the new york times" and "the washington post.: -- post." will never be he respected again. go back to talking about we shall overcome. tavis: he has diminished his usefulness to his cause, to his country and to his people. "the new york times" claimed the fusion of the two issues could very well be disastrous for both causes. but as sharp as those assessments were, they probably

did not seem -- did not sting as much as the criticism that came from dr. king's colleagues within the movement itself. many civil rights leaders were much more limited and they attack them within the white house and the democratic party saying that you are taking attention away from civil rights. he said the reality is the war on poverty and money is going to the war in vietnam. >> i remember one day, just because they were all attacking speaking about something he doesn't know nothing about or is not our business, as though he was not assistance in -- was not a citizen and it was not our children in vietnam killing other people's children. tavis: angered by this negro getting out of his lane, foreign policy is not the lane, dr.

king, that we have allowed you to run in. that is what i read in it. stepped intog had the foreign-policy issue and said i approve of all that you do, he would have been exalted as a man of vision who leads his people in truth and he is married to the best in american a lyrical -- american political goals. what he did was to do the unthinkable. and the undesirable as a black man, first of all, to reveal that he had the capacity to think and to do analysis and could speak to global issues with great clarity. and he could also take on the establishment and say shame on you. way is such a commitment to the life and health of america, i cannot forget that the nobel peace prize [indiscernible]

tavis: when we started thinking again about the vietnam speech and how it might be relevant to us today, it was clear that it would have to deal with the interception of the most respectedl iconic and african-american men in history, dr. martin luther king jr. and barack obama. considering that dr. king devoted his life to speaking for the poor and to advocating for nonviolence, no matter how challenging the conflict, some conclusions seem reasonable. >> let me just say this about the anon and asked about vietnam in his speech. [indiscernible] throughout a number of centuries. this is not to play heads up.

it is not to say who's suffering was the greatest. auschwitzto dismiss and what they nazis did and what the japanese did. this is not about that. this is about the fact that dr. king understood terror. he lived with it every day. his home was bombed. it was no 20 hours, but it was a bomb. his house was wrecked -- it was no twin towers, but it was bombed. his house was wrecked. he had on many occasion driven off the road. people try to do things to him. and he looked around him and he saw a lot of murder. terror is terror. tavis: he was stabbed here in new york. >> yes, and in harlem. so violence and terrorism was not an abstract.

for anyone to suggest that there is some current design on terror that would overwhelm dr. king not have him philosophically encounter a debate on it is somehow somewhat specious. >> i don't think the issue is just being a pacifist. that is not what dr. king called on everyone to be. he called on everyone to put justice at the center and he said that violence does not create justice. bennett was one of the first non-african-americans to be on the front lines of the civil rights movement. he had seen the horrors of combat up close as a soldier during world war ii. >> i don't think there is -- there has never been a good war. there has never been one.

it is legalized murder. you're killing somebody. teaches you to believe in god. and then at 17, we are going to show you how to kill. it is too schizophrenic. it doesn't make sense. we should believe in god, believe in being a human being. and giving to the earth instead of taking from it. tavis: the fallout from beyond the anon continued to play dr. king in the last year of his life. >> he had to check the front of his face. members would not open doors to their churches and the democratic party almost turned against him. blacks who work for the white house turned against him. so it was a lonesome journey. but the more he became accustomed to it, he gained strength. even in his solitary role

because he felt that he was right and ultimately that the right would prevail. and that became his ultimate strength. i would rather live at my conscience than love with the crowd. and leaders, he said, can i follow opinion polls. they must lead opinion. many within the african- american community also criticized king to young people. at 38, dr. king was already a relic. he had gone soft. the black power movement was going strong. who was on martin's side? >> we know when he was shot down, he had 72% disapproval ratings in the country, 70 five percent disapproval ratings in black america. what they saw was arjun luther king junior bearing witness, being a sermon, living his life,

a committed life. that is what he wanted to leave behind, a committed life to justice that itself against the same lyndon johnson administration that had courageously supported the black movement, the civil rights movement against jim crow in the south. connectionou see the of thought and action, fear and indeed --concept and witness anddeed, truth bearer. notorious liar by the fbi. tavis: and the most dangerous man in america. >> that kind of love is dangerous. when you look people -- when you love poor people that much, working people that much, you will be dangers to the powers that be.

tavis: while king's faith never wavered in the end of his life, most close to him were aware about his doubts of depression. lexie was deftly getting lonelier -- >> he was definitely getting lonelier. the movement of broad people to march and journalists from all over the world to crusade for voting rights act am a that had only been a couple of years before. the movement had splintered over whether he should go north. the movement had splintered over but our. then he had to take on the war. finally, he had to take on the poor people's campaign. by the time he did that, he was very, very isolated and lonely. bouts ofepression, the depression continued. i think they became stronger. as they became stronger, he was driven more by conscience to make more of a witness. tavis: jesse jackson remembers a crucial meeting of family and friends. >> we got to the meeting early

one saturday morning. and he came in the meeting and said i've had a migraine headache for about three days. i thought about quitting. we cover the back of the bus. public condemnations. we have the right to vote. down. real i felt depressed. maybe i should quit. and everybody got real quiet. then he said, but you know, we can turn a minus into a plus. we have to go on to memphis. he preached himself out of the depression. but we have to go on to memphis. and i took copious notes. it was much like jesus let this cup pass from a pic maybe have done the best i can do. i've healed the sick. i have tried to do my father's will.

prayed, disciples slept. thy will be done. it was a very tough time because he was in real isolation because sometime the road to ultimate , there is real tension between politician and prop het. his insistence on holding america's feet to a moral fire be seen as hubris? toi wonder sometimes going the big mega churches who might have a martin luther king celebration, martin luther king shows up and says i'd kind of

like to speak at my celebration. they'd ask him what are you going to say? i'm going to speak out against poverty and injustice and the wars that are going on. know, we have invited these political leaders and they might be embarrassed if you talk about that here -- about that. you just wonder whether he will be welcomed at martin luther king day. >> every year now come ever since the 25 years we now celebrate the anniversary of king's birth, you get this transformation of brother martin like santa claus with that lovely smile and toys in his bag and everybody is smiling and glad to see him as if he wasn't a freedom fighter who was unnerving and unsettling and and housing. he leads, making them shake in

their boots, them haunting him down every day from december of 1955 to his death april 4, 1968. so he undergoes santa clausification. and is the way you desaint domesticate people on fire for justice. tavis: how profoundly influenced everyone who came into contact with dr. martin luther king was . >> what i have always had to do was to concentrate on what ml would do, what he would want, rather than showing my anger. because, to tell you the truth, a lot of it is still in me. if he could take what he took, there is nothing that i can't take. vision foring had a the future. he held up something. he didn't sibley school does.

he did and he was right to. but he also had visions for us. and he himself was a kind of vision. you heard dr. king. you looked at him. you were inspired. you thought how extraordinary. it's possible for a human being to become a martin luther king. that's remarkable. if that's possible, then other things are possible. the visions. we need the inspiration. tavis: we decided to conclude our conversation where began, with dr. vincent harding, the primary architect of this important speech on the connection he believes he had to dr. king's death when you to the day later. that that theced bullet had something to do with that speech.

beenver the years, that's quite a struggle for me. tavis: in his grief, he turned to reverend james lawson who was also struggling with his own sense of guilt. it was lawson who ask dr. king support the garbage workers strike. he was assassinated while standing on the balcony of the motel in memphis. >> i'm still wrestling with my own difficulties. one day, i was on the phone with jim about something or another and i said to him, jim, how do you feel about the fact that you were the one who invited martin there? how have you dealt with that?

being the wonderful pastor and friend that he is, he has probably ticked up what i was trying to struggle with. and he said, vincent, what was that martinwas wanted to come to memphis. he said, when i first called martin to invite him, he was in a staff meeting. and i could hear the voices just booming on to the telephone. martin, tell them you can't come. martin, we've got too much to do. martin, is say no. -- just say no. and he said martin paid no attention and said, ok, jim, let's arrange it here at -- arrange it. not told me that i was coursing martin. i was not forcing martin.

it was not me primarily. garbageaw those workers and he knew that he wanted to stand with them. he knew he needed to stand with them. so i don't take that on my own shoulders, vincent. and that was a kind of burden off of my shoulders because i, too, knew that this is what martin wanted, needed to say. and with all the people who said , if he was willing , then itagainst them was a privilege for me to go with him. tavis: despite the negative repercussions that followed his "beyond vietnam" speech, he never receded from his --viction that america had

us present, now let us rededicate ourselves to the long endeavor but you. struggle.tiful some say the struggle is too hard. a commitment to their cause, whatever cause. the choice is ours. though we may prefer it otherwise, we must choose in is crucial moment of human history. tavis: dr. king's opposition to the vietnam war was not the only controversial aspect of the last year of his life and at the time of his assassination, he had traveled to memphis to support

striking sanitation workers. one can only imagine how he would address our current reality where one in four children live in poverty today and more than 45 million americans struggle to afford even the most basic of necessities and and as he brilliantly linked war and poverty in that speech, he reminded us then as he no doubt would now that war is the enemy of the poor. that is our show for tonight. thank you for watching. as always, heat the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i am tavis smiley could join me next time the conversations of johnny cash. that is next time. we'll see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. thank you. >> be more. r:

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