are purging voting rules and requiring new forms of voter i.d. and restricting voting hours. last night president bill clinton had this to say. >> thank you very much. last year in one of the most radical departures from established legal decision-making and my lifetime the supreme court threw it out. is this what martin luther king gave his life for? is this what lyndon johnson employed his legendary skills for? is this what america has become, a great diverse thriving democracy to restrict the franchise? >> back in the dust bin of old history, again today president obama will be speaking in just a matter of minutes and there is a lot at stake right now here in

the present for civil rights. in austin with the president is nbc news correspondent kristen welker. thank you so much for joining us. what do you expect to hear from the president today. >> reporter: i think the overarching theme from all of the prds who have spoken at this summit, there has been such incredible progress since 1964 but there's still a lot of difficult work that remains and i think that is going to be one of the key themes of president obama's speech. he will certainly talk about the progress, the mere fact he is president. the first african-american president is a sign of the significance of this civil rights act. having said that he's going to talk about the struggles that are being faced today, include being the high poverty rates among minority communities and democrats certainly have been folk u focusing on the pay gap between men and women and challenges facing the lgbt community. i think those are issues you're

going to hear president obama touch on, but certainly he's going to celebrate what president lyndon johnson accomplished. if you talk to historian, johnson's legacy has overshadowed by vietnam. i think this is a chance for this president and others to talk about some of the incredible historic pieces of landmark legislation that johnson was able to get passed the civil rights act. president johnson used not only his political prowess but collected the grief after president kennedy's assassination to move that legislation through. i've been interviewing some of johnson's former aides who say he wasn't afraid to use his political capital. he knew it was fleeting. he knew his time to get the civil rights pieces of legislation passed was limited. so he used every tool in his

tool box to get the legislation through and that is what the focus i think is going to be today. >> it took every tool at that time to get that legislation passed and a lot of questions being raised including president clinton's remarks whether that's that type of cooperation today. thank you for that. right now you're seeing mada staples, singing. she'll sing for several minutes before president obama takes the stage. we mentioned the important role of history in this debate and looming shadows on president johnson's legacy, wlr questions whether this event and look back at the positive accomplishments of his career could recast him in a different light. from that i want to turn to special guests on this. first of all, someone who is an authority on the equal rights movement and a lot of challenges in civil rights today, benjamin jealous, the former president of naacp and presidential

historian, michael beschloss, an authority on that legacy question. michael, i'll start with you while we're hearing this powerful performance. lbj is a dif isive figure. do you think this is a opening to recast his legacy? >> no question. the johnson people hope very much the next few days particularly for a generation of americans who doesn't know much about lbj, to make sure that at least these people know what he did not only for civil rights but education and poverty and did a lot to create the world we're living in. but the other part is for those who are old enough to remember vietnam, it's still a complex legacy. how could the person who did such wonderful things domesticically on vietnam in some cases make decisions that don't stand up that well today. >> i think one of the challenges for two-term presidents, they don't have the chance to double back on divisive issues in a second term.

this is an odd renaissance we're seeing for someone who didn't have the chance. ben, i want to go to you. on the other hand with key provisions of the voting rights act being struck down, do you think lbj's greatest accomplishments are being eroded right now? >> what we know is what rosa parks told us, which is that freedom is never truly -- truly one. every group that comes has to win it again and again. each generation has to win freedom over again. what we should really look to is what happened at that time to make sure that the civil rights act was passed and make sure that the voting rights act was passed. in between the two, you have freedom summer and thousands of people coming across the country, black and white, to mississippi to show that we can crush the walls of voting

suppression with a tidal wave of voter registration. and that's what we need right now. you're seeing people across the south standing up and saying, we're not going to take it this time. in florida, in 2012, the president won by 70,000 votes. that was only possible because the naacp signed up 120,000 voters. our folks were threatened with jail time and new fines because a new law was put in place. for instance, if you had the full amount of the clerk's office to sign people up to vote, for more than two days, you would be charged $50 per voting rights form. on the tuesday after martin luther king day with an office closed more than 48 hours, we had sheriffs across the country and it was enough to scare a whole lot of other groups from signing up voters but we did it anyway. from we recall, you can crush voter express with a tidal wave

of voter registration. >> as you say civil rights leaders did risk their lives to accompli accomplish. there's a broadway play right now chronicling that. and that's something coming up in remarks over and over again at the summit. we're awaiting second set of remarks from the director of the lbj library will be dipping in and out as news worthy things happen and take the president's remarks when those begin shortly. i do want to ask you again about lyndon b. johnson's legacy. fz not just civil rights, the current president, according to president clinton in his remarks, owe a lot in a range of issues to johnson, everything from voting rights to fair housing, there's medicaid. lyndon b. johnson's track record was diverse and listen to what he had to say about what president obama and he himself owed to lbj. >> we're here because the civil

rights act and voting rights act made it possible for jimmy carter and bill clinton and barack obama to be president of the united states. [ applause ] >> michael, how much do you think president obama owes to lbj? >> certainly his election, what president clinton said was very right. the degree to which this country changed. vietnam froze lbj's image so people in the 70s and 80s and beyond knew about medicare and knew about civil rights and all of these other things but it was almost as if lbj was the unmentioned figure. his picture was at the back of the wall and barely mentioned. in a way, ronan, what we're seeing today he's being brought back into the heart not only the democratic party but really the american history. i think this is fervently what the lbj people and survivors of that white house would like to see happen.

>> being brought back into the spotlight of history. ben, in the present, eric holder made comments yesterday about how he's treated as attorney general. he was at the national action network convention yesterday. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i am pleased to note that the last five years have been defined by significant strides and by lasting reforms, even in the face -- even in the face of unprecedented and unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity. if you don't believe that, you look at the way -- forget about me. you look at the way the attorney general of the united states was treated yesterday by a house committee. had nothing to do with me. what attorney general had to deal with that kind of treatment? what president has ever had to deal with that kind of

treatment? >> ben, what do you think of those blunt remarks implying that racism is still alive, even in the treatment of our most senior officials? >> we should count ourselves blessed that we have an ag who will speak to us about the truth. holder has been clear on a number of civil rights issues about what the facts are. at the same time, i know perhaps better than most just the ugly sort of threats and disrespect that those who seek to do the work of civil rights have been subjected to in these past several years. and so for him to speak honestly, i think is something that we should all frankly see as a sign of progress. we can finally have a grown-up conversation in this country about the way in which politics -- >> ben, i do want to know that john lewis is starting to speak. we'll take those in a moment. please go on. >> find a grown-up conversation as it happens about the truth

about politics and the reality the tea party that's drug politics in this country into a ditch that all of us are struggling to get out. to the disrespect to the president during his state of the union speech in 2010, all the way to the type of stuff we saw this week with the ag. it's time for it to stop. >> a lot of very big challenges today. let's listen to civil rights icon john lewis introducing the president. >> so fitting and so appropriate that president barack obama would join us today to honor the legacy of president lyndon johnson. now president barack obama was born into a dangerous and difficult time in american history. a time when people were arrested and taken to jail just for sitting beside each other on a bus. it was against the law for black

and white people to ride in the same taxicab or stay in the same hotel. people's homes were bombed and lives were threatened for taking a simle drink from the same water fountain and sharing the same table in a restaurant or at a lunch counter. there were signs everywhere, that said white and colored and they imposed an unholy order on the lives of the average american citizen. when president johnson used his political power and force of his will to pass the civil rights act of 1964, and later the voting rights of 1965, all of those signs came tumbling down. you will not see those signs and our children will not see the signs except in a museum or book

or video. president lyndon johnson, this man from texas liberated not just a people, but an entire nation from inhumanity of legalized operation. without the leadership of president lyndon johnson, and involvement of hundreds and thousands of millions people in the civil rights movement, there will be no president carter or no president bill clinton or president barack obama. lyndon johnson using his skill and power made this possible. when people said nothing had changed, i said come and walk in my shoes and i will show you

change. [ applause ] when president barack obama walked through the doors of the white house, he ushered in a time of great hope, silent prayers and deep inspiration. as a nation we felt we may have finally realized division president johnson had for all of us us, to live the idea of freedom and eliminate injustice from our beloved country. we used the liberty we gained from johnson's legacy to elect a man with a courage and tenacity to do all he could to make society a better place and move us closer to the beloved

community. i know this man, this president, barack obama, you see the progress we made as a nation, that he understand there's much more work to do to redeem the souls america. and as president he set his soul loose to bring about meaningful change in america by passing comprehensive health care reform. thank you, mr. president. my dear friends, it is my great honor and pleasure, to present our friend, our president, president barack obama and first lady!

[ cheers and applause ] thank you. thank you very much. thank you so much. thank you. please, have a seat. thank you. thank you very much. please, please. what a singular honor it is for me to be here today. i want to thank first and foremost the johnson family forgiving us this opportunity

and the graciousness with which michelle and i have been received. we came down a little bit late because we were upstairs looking at some of the exhibits and some of the private offices that were used by president johnson and ms. johnson. michelle was in particular interested of a recording in which lady bird is critiquing president johnson's performance. she said, come, come, you need to listen to this. and she pressed the button and nodded her head. some things do not change. even 50 years later. to all the members of congress, the warriors for justice, the elected officials and community leaders who are here today, i

want to thank you. four days into his sudden preside presidency and the night before he would address a joint session of the congress in which he once served, lyndon johnson set around a table with his closest advisers preparing his remarks to a shattered and grieving nation. he wanted to call on senators and representatives to pass a civil rights bill. the most sweeping since reconstruction. most of his staff counselled him against it. they said it was hopeless. that it would anger powerful southern democrats and committee chairman.

that it risked derailing the rest of his domestic agenda. and one particularly bold aide said he did not believe a president should spend his time and power on lost causes, however worthy they might be. to which it is said president johnson replied, well, what the hell is the presidency for? [ applause ] what the hell is the presidency for? if not to fight for causes you believe in. today as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act, we honor the men and women who made it possible. some of them are here today. we celebrate giants like john

lewis, andrew young and julian bond. we recall the countless unheralded americans, black and white, students and scholars, preachers, and housekeepers whose names are etched not on monuments but in the hearts of their loved ones and in the fabric of the country that they helped to change. we also gather here deep in the heart of the state that shaped him, to recall one giant man's remarkable efforts to make real the promise of our founding. we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are

creating equal. those of us who have had the singular privilege to hold the office of the presidency know well that progress in this country can be hard and it can be slow. frustrating and sometimes you're sty stimied and the office humbles you. you're reminded in this great democracy you are but a relay swimmer in the currents of history, bound by decisions made by those who came before. relying on the efforts of those who will follow to fully vindicate your vision. but the presidency also affords a unique opportunity to bend those currents. by shaping our laws and by shaping our debates, by working within the confines of the world

as it is but also by reimagining the world as it should be. this was president johnson's genius. as a master of politics and legislative process, he grasped like few others the power of government to bring about change. lbj was nothing if not a realist. he was well aware that the law alone isn't enough to change hearts and minds. a full century after lincoln's time, until justice is blind to color and education is unaware of race and opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skills, emancipation will be a pro clamation but not a fact. he understand laws couldn't accomplish everything but he also knew that only the law

could anchor change and set hearts and minds on a different course. a lot of americans needed the law's most basic protections at that time. it's dr. king said at the time, it may be true that the law can't make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me. and i think that's pretty important. [ applause ] passing laws was what lbj knew how to do. no one knew politics and no one loved legs lating more than president johnson. he was charming when he needed to be, ruthless when required.

he could wear you down with logic and argument and horse trade and he could flatter. you come with me on this bill, he would reportedly tell a key republican leader from my home state during the fight for the civil rights bill, and 200 years from now school children will know only two names, abraham lincoln and everett dirkson. and he knew that senators would believe things like that. president johnson liked power. he liked the feel of it. the wielding of it.

but that hunger was harnessed and redeemed by a deeper understanding of the human condition. by a sympathy for the under dog, for the down trodden and outcast and it was a sympathy rooted in his own experience. as a young boy growing up, in the texas hill country, johnson knew what being poor felt like. poverty was so common he would later say, we didn't even know it had a name. the family home didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing. everybody worked hard, including the children. president johnson had known the metallic taste of hunger.

the feel of a mother's calloused hands rubbed raw from washing and cleaning and holding a household together. his cousin ava remembered sweltering days spent on her hands and knees in the cotton field with lyndon whispering beside her, there's got to be a better way to make a living than this. there's got to be a better way. it wasn't until years later when he was teaching at a so-called mexican school, in a tiny town in texas, that he came to understand how much worst persistent pain of poverty could be for other races in the jim crow south. often times his students would show up to class hungry and when he would visit their homes, he would meet fathers who with paid

slave wages by the farmers they worked for. those children were taught he would later say that the end of life is in a spinach field, or a cotton patch. deprivation and discrimination, these were not abstractions to lyndon johnson. he knew poverty and injustice are as inseparable as opportunity and justice are joined. so that was in him. from an early age. now, like any of us, he was not a perfect man. his experiences in rural texas may have stretched his moral imagination, but he was ambitious.

very ambitious. a young man in a hundredary to plot his own escape from poverty and chart his own political career and in the jim crow south that meant not challenging convention. during his first 20 years in congress he opposed every civil rights bill that came up for a vote. once calling the push for federal legislation a farce and sham. he was chosen as a vice presidential nominee in part because of his affinity to deliver that southern white vote. and at the beginning of the kennedy administration, he shared with president kennedy a caution towards racial controversy. but marchers kept marching, four little girls were killed in a church.

bloody sunday happened. the winds of change blew. and when the time came, when lbj stood in the oval office, i picture him standing there, taking up the entire door frame, looking out over the south lawn, and in a quiet moment and asked himself, what the true purpose of his office was for. what was the end point of his ambitions? he would reach back in his own memory and he would remember his own experience with want. then he knew had a unique capacity as the most powerful

white politician from the south, to not merely challenge the convention, that had crushed the dreams of so many, but to ultimately dismantle for good the structures of legal segregation. he's the only guy who could do it. and he knew there would be a cost. famously saying, democratic party may have lost the south for a generation. that's what his presidency was for. that's where he meets his moment. and possessed with an iron will, possessed with those skills that he had honed so many years in

congress, pushed and supported by a movement of those willing to sacrifice everything for their own liberation, president johnson fought for and argued and horse traded and bullied and persuaded until ultimately he signed the civil rights act into law. and he didn't stop there. even though his advisers again told him to wait, again told him, let the dust settle. let the country absorb this momentous decision. he shook them off. the meat in the coconut as president johnson would put it,

is the voting rights act. he fought for and passed that as well. immigration reform came shortly after and then a fair housing act. and then a health care law that opponents described as socialized medicine that would curtail america's freedom but ultimately freed millions of seniors from the fear that illness could rob them of dignity and security in their golden years which we know today as medicare. [ applause ] >> what president johnson understood was that equality required more than the absence of oppression. it required the presence of economic opportunity he wouldn't

be as eloquent as dr. king would be in describing that linkage as dr. king moved into mobilizing sanitation workers and poor people's movement but he understood that connection because he lived it. a decent job, decent wages, health care. those two were civil rights worth fighting for. an economy where hard work is rewartded and success is shared, that was his goal. and he knew as someone who had seen the new deal transform the landscape of his texas childhood, who had seen the difference electricity had made because of the tennessee valley authority, the transformation concretely day in and day out in the life of his own family, he

understood that government had a role to play in broadening prosperity to all of those who would strive for it. we want to open the gates to opportunity, president johnson said. we're also going to give all of our people black and white, the help they need to walk through those gates. now, some of this sounds familiar it's because today we remain locked in the same great debate. about equality and opportunity and the role of government in ensuring each. as was true 50 years ago, there are those who dismiss the great society as a failed experiment and an encroachment on liberty

and argue the government has become the true source of all that ails us and poverty is due to the moral failings of those who suffer from it. they are also those who argue, john, that nothing has changed. that racism is so embedded in our dna that there's no use trying politics, the game is rigged. but such theories ignore history. yes it's true that despite laws like the civil rights act and the voting rights act and medicare, our society is still racked with division and poverty. yes, race still colors our political debates and there have

been government programs that have fallen short. in a time when cynicism is too often passed off as wisdom, it's perhaps easy to conclude that there are limits to change. we are trapped by our own history. and politics is a full'ser rand and if we roll back big chunks of lbj's legacy or don't put too much of our hope, invest too much of our hope in our government. i reject such thinking. not just because medicare -- [ applause ] not just because medicare and

medicaid lifted those from suffering and the poverty in this nation would be far worse without food stamps and head start and programs that survive to this day, i reject such cynicism because i have lived out the promise of lbj's efforts. because michelle has lived out the legacy of those efforts, because my daughters have lived out the legacy of those efforts and i and millions of those in my position had a position to take the baton that he handed to us -- [ applause ] because of the civil rights moment, because of the laws president johnson signed, new doors of opportunity swung up for everybody, not all at once but they swung open.

not just blacks and whites but also women and latinos and asians and native americans and gay americans and americans with a visibility. they swung open for you and open for me. that's why i'm standing here today because of those efforts, because of that legacy. [ applause ] and that means we have a debt to pay. that means we can't afford to be cynical. half a century later, the laws lbj passed are fundamental to our perception of ourselves and our democracy as the constitution and bill of rights.

they are our foundation, essential piece of american character. but we are here today because we know we cannot be complacent. history can travel backwards and travel side ways. and the gains the country has made requires the vij lens of its citizens. our rights, our freedoms, they are not given. they must be won. they must be nurtoured through struggle and discipline and faith. and one concern i have sometimes during these moments, the celebration of the signing of the civil rights act, the march

on washington, from a distance sometimes these commemorations seem inevitable, they seem easy. all of the pain and difficulty and struggle and doubt, all of that is rubbed away. and we look at ourselves and say, things are just too different now. we couldn't possibly do what was done then, these giants what they accomplished. yet they were men and women too. it wasn't easy then. it wasn't certain then. still, the story of america is a story of progress. however slow, however incomplete, however harshly challenged at each point on our

journey, however flawed our leaders, however many times we have to take a quarter of a loaf for half a loaf. the story of america is a story of progress. and that's true because of men like president lyndon bajohnson. [ applause ] in so many ways he embodied america with all of our gifts and all of our flaws. and in all of our restlessness and all of our big dreams. this man born into poverty weaned in a world full of racial

hatred, somehow found within himself the ability to connect his experience with the brown child in a small texas town. the white child in appalacia and black child in watts. as powerful as he became in that oval office, he understood then. he understood what it meant to be on the outside. and he believed that their plight was his plight too. that his freedom ultimately was wrapped up in theirs. and that making their lives better was what the hell the presidency was for.

[ applause ] >> and those children were on his mind when he strode to the podium that night in the house chamber, when he called for the vote on the civil rights law. and it never occurred to me, he said, in my fondest dreams that i might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students that he had taught so many years ago. and to help people like them all over this country. but now i do have that chance. and i'll let you in on a secret, i mean to use it. and i hope that you will use it with me. [ applause ] >> that was lbj's greatness and

that's why we remember him. if there is one thing that he in this year's anniversary should teach us and one lesson that i hope malia and sasha and young people every learn from this day, is that with enough effort and enough empathy and enough perseverance and courage, people who love their country can change it. in his final year, president johnson stood on this stage, racked with pain, battered by the controversies of vietnam, looking far older than his 64 years, and he delivered what would be his final public speech. we have proved that great progress is possible, he said.

we know how much still remains to be done. if our efforts continue and if our will is strong and our hearts are right and if courage remains our constant companion, then my fellow americans i'm confident that we shall overcome. [ applause ] >> we shall overcome. we. the citizens of the united states. like dr. king, like abraham lincoln and countless citizens who have driven this country inexerably forward, president

johnson knew ours in the end is a story of optimism and story of achievement and constant striving that is unique upon this earth. he knew because he had lived that story. he believed that together we can build an america that is more fair, more equal, and more free than the one we inherited. he believed we make our own destiny. and in part because of him we must believe it as well. thank you. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [ applause ] >> that was president barack obama delivering a major address on civil rights and talked excessively about the legacy president lyndon b. johnson,

seen as a dif divisive president and opened the doors to the civil rights moment. he talked about what he hopes young people will take away from today and from that legacy and how much he owes personally to that legacy. to dissect the significance of today's speech, i want to go to michael beschloss, presidential historian and also ben jealous, the former head of the naacp. tell me, gentlemen, what do you think the significance of this speech is in terms of president obama's legacy? did he say anything new substanti substantively? will this be a rallying call in terms of his popularity right now? >> what he could have done that he didn't do was really put out a clear call for the passage of section four of voting rights act, the restoring of section

four. there's a bill moving through congress right now, and it will go a long way, not far enough but great first step. it is not a lost on most people in our country that even as we go through these commemorations, as the president spoke to sort of speeding up the spirit of these times, he could have spoken more specifically to say it is deeply disturbing we find ourselves having to once again make the case for voting rights, make the case for protecting our fellow voters. what he did speak to i thought was powerful, was that president johnson knew in his bones the truth about the south, which is that across the south, people will sort of every rank in society often struggle more than in the rest of the country. we are a poor region. and what president johnson understood is that if we switch the script and went from fighting against each other to fighting for each other, we could all prosper more.

you see that and throughout georgia here and maryland, in those places where we have embraced the diversity of the south, we have prospered disp disproportion naltly for those -- >> he did make the argument once again, you need more than the absence of oppression, you need the presence of economic opportunity, which put the civil rights fight in today's context. i want to go to kristen welker our nbc correspondent there on the ground. how do you think it was received there in the room? >> reporter: oh, i think the reception was very strong. i think president obama gave a robust defense of what president johnson had accomplish the. i want to pick up on the point that ben jealous just made. i've been talking to members of congress, including elijah cummings who hoped president obama would go into detail in

defending voting rights act. and the president is going to give a more robust, broader defense of that tomorrow in new york when he addresses the national action network. is som can expect to hear looking forward. i think today, president obama laid the groundwork for some of his remarks that he's going to give tomorrow. also defended democratic principles, the role of government in bringing about some of these changes through the law. and also, in terms of, i think, some of the changes that certainly he has talked about in his own agenda, immigration reform, and those sorts of things. so i think that today president obama really wanted to focus, it seems like, on the legacy of johnson, and in a way also defend the democratic principles that he continues to talk about clearly regularly. >> it's interesting you mention immigration, kristen. it does seem to be an overaveraging into today that he

used the legacy of lbj to broaden out the conversation. what do you think the key policy agenda that the president introduced in addition to just the race facet of civil rights, where he mentioned immigration prominently? is he trying to broaden out this conversation? he talked about more con sit wensys too. >> he said lbj was a great man because he tried to deal with the most fundamental problems, like poverty, education, whatever the cost. there was an interesting reference when he was talking about the advisers that told him not to do civil rights at the beginning of this presidency because it might be too costly. obviously what he was thinking of himself is his advisers in his own presidency who said don't do health care, it will be

too difficult for you to do. but the other thing is that, remember, he said the office -- the office humbles you. >> he described himself as just a relay swimmer in the currents of history. >> very interesting, and very different from his own talk about presidential leadership from the beginning. but there is one thread that runs throughout, i think, president obama's thinking that was there today, which was essentially presidents can't do it all. john kennedy sent a civil rights bill to congress. lbj did the same thing with the voting rights bill. but those things would have been impossible without fair-minded people, both african-american and otherwise, of the grass roots demanding that these things be done, pressuring presidents to go where they might not otherwise have gone. >> ben, he didn't go into policies specifics, though he did allude to voting rights specifically. yesterday on this program, they

asked to allow pictures to combat voter i.d. laws. social security cards. do you think that that's an idea that could ever gain support? it was a pretty fringe proposal. and he did specifically mention young in his remarks today. >> sure. that's the type of thinking that we need. we have seen people across the south trying to fight these laws, do things like put photos on your library card. and that's good thinking. and that's an issue that needs to play itself out. one thing i do want to be clear about, ronan, this is never just about black and white. i'm talking about the black civil rights community. you can go back to frederick douglass talking about nationality, and going on a tirade against the chinese -- excuse me, the bill in congress that was pushing chinese out of the country. you can go all the way through, right after the passage of the civil rights act, as the president was talking about,

just now, that the same groups came together to end the europe-only preference for migration to this country. so we've always been clear that what we're fighting against is this long lingering sort of pattern in this country of excluding people of color. and, you know, that really went from black folks, the irish, chicanos, the chinese who built the railroads across this country, the native peoples of this country, and all we fought for, all of us, on this theory, again, that if the rights of all of us are secure, we'll all prosper. >> and gay americans, to big cheers in the room today, to women. >> absolutely. >> your msnbc.com op-ed today said if they will push more registration, obviously, a big part of the legacy of the organization that you led. how will that help? >> the only way to tear down the

walls of voter suppression that are being built across our country right now is with a tide al wave of voter registration. you can look at a state like georgia where the tea party governor won by 258,000 votes or so. the president lost by about 310,000 votes. there are 830,000 unregistered people of color there right now. 600,000 black, 230,000 mostly latino, and asian. you can go up to the next state, the tea party governor won by 60,000 votes. she may win by 100,000 this year. there are 300,000 unregistered voters there. if they were signed up, a candidate like her could never win again. that's what we need to be focused on. at the end of the day, small peanuts for people in this country who really care about insuring that our country moves in an inclusive, fair, and just

direction for all of us. >> and i think the president's remarks were a cry of the heart, and a rallying call on that. i found them very moving. thank you for our live coverage of this event. that wraps up our part of our special coverage of president obama's speech, civil rights summit at the lbj civil rights library in texas. joy reid is up next with "the reid report." the conditions in new york state are great for business. new york is ranked #2 in the nation for new private sector job creation. and now it's even better because they've introduced startup new york - dozens of tax-free zones where businesses pay no taxes for ten years. you'll get a warm welcome in the new new york. see if your business qualifies at startupny.com

[ female announcer ] f provokes lust. ♪ it elicits pride... incites envy... ♪ ...and unleashes wrath. ♪ temptation comes in many heart-pounding forms. but only one letter. "f". the performance marque from lexus. but only one letter. and it feels like your lifeate revolves around your symptoms, ask your gastroenterologist about humira adalimumab. humira has been proven to work for adults who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira

saw significant symptom relief, and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma, or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your gastroenterologist about humira today. remission is possible.

hello, everyone. i'm joy reid. we just heard president obama deliver the keynote address at the lbj center in texas. we'll have much more on that coming up in the hour.

including an interview with former adviser to president clinton in civil rights veterans vernon jordan. but first, we need to get you caught up on the other big story of the day. the high school stabbing attack in pennsylvania. we're hearing for the first time from one of the victims. >> what was going through my mind? will i survive, or will i die? >> we hope that he can make amends on what he's done and hopefully he'll come out with the truth on what his display of action, what caused it. >> i just hope that one day, that i can forgive him and anyone else who got hurt can forgive him. first of all, he needs to forgive himself. >> 16-year-old alex ribal is being charged as an adult in the rampage that hurt the victims in murrysville.