good evening from los angeles. tonight part two of our look at the legacy of dr. king as we go deeper into his powerful often overlooked speech, beyond vietnam. which offers insight into many crises we face even today. we are glad you joined us. night two of the special rebroadcast of mlk, a call to conscience, is coming up right now.

tonight, we conclude our dive into one of dr. king's powerful and controversial speeches. nuanced condemnation of the country's involvement in vietnam and economic disparity taker the country apart. today we recognize king as one of the most profound respected leaders. 50 years ago. he was well aware of the fact that many americans were calling nonviolence obsolete and were marginalizing him. in fact, his good friend, a founding member of the student nonviolent coordinating

committee, coined a term that defined dr. king. and for a while, would define the movement. dr. king was well aware that a younger generation of leaders was calling nonviolence obsolete. his good friend a founding member of the student nonviolent coordinating committee coined a term that would for a while redefine the movement. [ indiscernible ] >> i mean 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 of -- and a majority to institute justice. >> dr. king understood their anger. but could not agree to their tactics. as many cities erupted with violence and the mainstream media seized on what they called urban riots. dr. king sought to reach out to those who said he had lost touch

with his times. harry belafonte remembers the aftermath of one such meeting. >> i said to him, what troubles you, martin? he said, well, yeah, i just came from that meeting with the young people in newark. and they could make great justification for why they saw violence as an important tool to their liberation. and the pain they are experiencing and say there is another way. and -- when i left -- i felt that i had not convinced them, that i had not gotten to them in the way in which i would have loved to have gotten to them. awe one of the famed houses of

wore shch in the country. completed with fund from rockefeller, it attracted wealthy and influential individuals from all walks of life. dr. king had preached here many times, however even with his tradition of liberalism riverside church in 1967 was not without de facto segregation. african-americans were not welcome at the front of the church. a childhood friend of ml was in the pews that night. they didn't want me sitting up here. i sit here or he and i both will leave. and that's how i used to get to sit where i wanted to when he spoke >> we all know that literally, literally, one year to the day after he speaks here in your church, april 4, 1967, he is shot dead. i raised that to ask whether or not to the best of your recollection that was the last time you saw him speak in person here at riverside. >> that is right. >> that is true?

>> that is true. >> beyond vietnam was a long speech. more than 45 minutes. when dr. king finished. the crowd at riverside church erupted in sustained applause. that support was short-lived by mourning the political fallout, and ins tentense and far reachi. and it became fractured beyond repair. donations to king's organization, sclc began to dry up. and the mainstream press denounced him in no uncertain terms, charging as a civil rights lead here wasn't qualified to evaluate u.s. foreign policy. is there anything that dr. king and handlers,ing or nierz could have done differently on the night beyond word that he uttered that may have changed the way he was treated the next day or, or was the place

irrelevant, audience irrel vanlt. and wherever he uttered that speech would have caught the same hell the next day? >> i think he would have caught the same firestorm against him. what they said was not only we don't like your message. we are in the middle of a war. we don't want to hear somebody say we are violent. it also says you are a civil rights leader. you are a black guy. stick to what you know and leave the war to us. and it united "the new york times" and "the washington post." a war critic and war supporter. they both said, he'll never be respected again. shut up and go back, go back to talking about, we shall overcome. >> the "washington post" said this. many who listened to him with respect, will never again accord him the same confidence. he has di mminished his usefulns to his cause, country and 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 sting as much as criticism that came from many of dr. king's colleagues within the civil rights movement itself. >> dr. king saw the world through a -- a door, not through a key hole. and the civil rights leaders, were so much more limited. they attacked him along with the, major media and the white house. and the democratic party. saying that you are taking attentiontion away from civil rights, and the reality is, the war on poverty, is going to the war in vietnam. >> i remember one day, just because they were all attacking him, why is he speaking about something he doesn't know about. not our business if he was not a citizen. and we were not. our children were dying in vietnam. killing other people's children. >> you get the sense that they were -- angered by this negro getting out of his lane. and it is not the lane that we allowed you or want you to run

in that comes to me in my reading of it. did you read the same thing? >> with one definition. if dr. king stepped into the foreign policier to, and said i approve -- and the vision that leads his people in truth and married to the best in american political goals. as a black man to reveal he had capacity to think and do analysis and could read history and could speak to global issues with great clarity. and he could also take on the establishment. and say, shame on you. and piece time and commission.

and the beyond veelt naietnam s and how it may have relevance, it was clear that those that we spoke with would have to deal with the interception of the two most influential and iconic african-american men in u.s. history. dr. martin luther king jr. and president barack obama. we can only speculate on how dr. king, were he alaf ive today, mt advise on iraq, afghanistan, and division at home, between rich and poor. considering dr. king devoted his life speaking for the poor and advocating for nonviolence no matter how challenging, some conclusions seem reasonable. let me just say this about -- vietnam and the speech. i don't think any people have known a terror greater than the black people have known in america.

and whose suffering is the greatest. not to dismiss what took place. and auschwitz and what the nazis did and what they did. this is not about that. and his home was bombed. it was no twin towers. it was a bomb. his house was wrecked. and his wife and children's lives were in jeopardy. he had been on many occasion driven off the road, fried to do things, and he looked around him. he was stabbed in new york. >> in harlem. >> so violence and terrorism, was not an abstract for scene

o -- for any one to suggest there is a current design on terror that would overwhelm dr. king and not him, have him settle softly, ready to encounter, a debate on it. >> not just being a pacifist. 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. >> king's friend and activist, tonybennett, on the front lines of the civil rights movement, he had seen horrors of comb battle as a soldier in world war ii. >> there has never been a good war. never been one.

& show you how to kill. it's too schizophrenic. it doesn't -- it doesn't make sense. and giving to the earth instead of taking from it. >> the fallout from beyond vietnam continued to plague dr. king in the last year of his life. >> he had to check the strength of his faith. because -- it would not show up. not open doors to their churches. and the democratic party, almost, turned against him. and he felt that he was right. and ultimately right would prevail.

and they must mold opinion. when dr. king was assassinated. nearly 3/4 americans disapproved of his stance against the vietnam war. many within the african-american community also criticized king. to young people in newark, king at 38 was a relic. thought he had ghaone soft. in the last year of his life this question remains, who was on martin's side? and the disapproval rating in black america. that, what they saw was martin luther king jr. bearing witness, being a sermon, living his life, a commitmeted life what he want to leave behind.

a committed life to justice. which pit him against the same johnson administration who had courageously supported the black freedom movement against white supremacist terror in the south. the civil rights movement against -- against jim crow in the south. and you see the connection of thought and action, theory, praxis, and keep in mind that this great truth teller was called the most notorious liar by the fbi and the most dangerous man in america. and when you love poor people that much. working people that much. and you would be more dangerous to the powers that people. >> while king's faith never wavered, those closest to him were well aware of his bouts of

depression. >> he was definitely getting lonelier. from the pinnacle of the great movement in selma brought people done to march and journalists from all around the world, to, to, crusade for voting rights act. that had been a couple years before the movement had splintered over whether he should go north, the movement had splintered over black power, then he had to take on the war and finally he had to take on the poor people's campaign. by the time he did that, he was very, very isolated and lonely. and, and, the depression -- the bouts of depression continued. and driven by conscience to make more of a witness. >> jesse jackson remembers a crucial meeting of family and friends.

and mild headache for three days. and -- i thought about quitting. and my democratic friend. some of my moorehouse classmates have turned against me. i felt real down, depressed. maybe i should quit. everybody got real quiet. and then said, you know, just like down in georgia, we can turn a minus into a plus. go on to memphis. preached himself out of a depression. he went from quitting, we have to go on. on to memphis. and i took copious notes. and i have healed the sick. try to do my father's will. and i am not understood by my own family members. then as he parade -- disciples

slept. not my will, but thine be done. with that depression, sense of go ahead. during the very tough time. he was in real isolation. because some times the road to ultimate change. and that tension between politician and profit. and if martin king were alive would his unrelenting assistance there is a firm line between right and wrong find a willing audience or would his insistence on holding america's feet to a moral fire be seen as hubris? >> i wondered sometimes going to -- king holiday celebrations whether king would be invited. i wonder going to the big mega churches. and martin luther king shows up. and, i would look to speike to y

celebration. what are you going to say? i am going to speak out against poverty and injustice and the wars that are going on. well, you know, we have invited -- these political leaders. they might be embarrassed if you talk about that. you know, you just wonder whether he would be welcome. martin luther king day. >> every year now, ever since the 25 years we have now celebrated the, the anniversary of king's birth. that, that you get this transformation of brother martin and santa claus with that lovely smile. toys in his bag. everybody is smiling. as if he wasn't a freedom fighter. elites making them shake in their boots. and they're hunting him down. haunting him down. every day from december of 1955

to his death april 4, 1968. that's one of the ways in which you domesticate people who are on fire for justice. >> what became clear to me as our conversation drew to a close how influenced everyone who came in contact with dr. king was. whether or not they knew him personally, as so many we talked to did, or just came to know his life in word through the prism of history. so what i have always had to do was to concentrate on what ml would do. and if he could take what he took. there is nothing i can't take. and but he also had visions for us. and he himself was the kind of

vision, you heard dr. king, looked at him, you were inspired. you thought, how extraordinary that it is a possible for a human being to become a martin luther king. that's premarkable. that's remarkable. if that's possible. then other things are possible. we need those visions. we need the inspiration. >> we decide to conclude our conversation about beyond vietnam where it began. with dr. harding, the primary architect of the important speech and the connection he believes it had to dr. king's death one year to the day later. i'm convinced the bullet had something to do with the speech.

and over the years that's been quite a struggle for me. >> in his grief, vince earth harding turned to reverend james lawson, struggling with his own sense of guilt. it was lawson who asked dr. king to come to mom fis emphis to su the striking garbage workers. less than a week later, martin luther king jr. would be assassinatedbalcony of the lorain hotel in memphis. >> 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 -- that you were the one who invited martin there. and the pastor and friend that

he is. he is probably picked up what i was stroog to struggle with. was trying to struggle with. what was clear to me, martin wanted to come to memphis. he said when i first call martin to invite him, he was in the staff meeting. and i can hear the voices, just booming on to the telephone. martin, tell him you can't come. martin, we have got too much to do. martin. just say no, martin. and he said, martin -- pay no attention and said okay, let's arrange it. and i was not forcing martin. it was not me primarily, martin saw those garbage workers and

knew he wanted to stand with them. knew he needed to stand with them. and a burden off of my shoulders, because i too knew that this is what martin wanted, needed, to say. and -- with all of the people who said he shouldn't, if he was willing to go up against them, then it was a privilege for me to go with him. >> despite the negative repercussi repercussions, dr. king never retreated from his convict, that america had somehow lost her moral compass. in fact, dr. king had resolved come sunday, april 7, 1968, his sermon topping wou inic would b america may go to hell. >> now let us begin -- now let

us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful struggle. and the struggle is too hard. will that be another message, of hope, of solidarity. of commitment to that cause, whatever the cause. to this moment in history. >> dr. king opposition to the vietnam war was not the only controversial aspect of the last year of his life. at the time of his assassination in 1968 he traveled to memphis to support striking sanitation workers and challenged the economic gap that was tearing at the fabric of america. one can imagine how he would address our current reality where one in four children lives

in poverty and more than 45 million americans struggle to afford even the most basic of necessitie necessities. he was brilliantly linking war and poverty together in '67. reminded us then as he would do now, no doubt, that war is still the enemy of the poor. that's our show tonight. thank you for watching. and as always, keep the faith. ♪ ♪ for more information on the show, visit tavis smiley -- >> michael t. williamson and his performance in "fences" that's next time. we will see you then! ♪ ♪

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