tv IconocLIST MSNBC December 11, 2016 4:00pm-5:01pm PST
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we all know kareem abdul-jabbar. the country's all-time leading scorer, six-time nba's most valuable player, 19 nba all-star. answer it's 7'2" the man who is said to have imspired a nine-year ban on slam dunks. but you might not know him as a social and political activist. >> kareem speaks out on issues like cancer care. >> i'm michael jordan, i said that because donald trump wouldn't know the difference. >> on november 2016, he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom, america's highest civilian honor.
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>> i'm flattered that people would be inspired by things that i have done and said. >> kareem's a phenomenon, but who are his heros and heroines. he's made a list of people who influenced his journey, from sports, movies, music, the wild west, even ancient egypt, they're all change makers. >> there's few people on there that probably would surprise people. >> he's not who you think he is, that's for sure. >> i structured my list basically with the people that influenced me when i was a young person. my teenage years of going to college and my young adult years. but then, i had to make it evolve, because it's been a long time. a whole lot has happened since then. >> kareem's career began as a
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15-year-old phenomenon in new york city. he led his high school team to 71 victories in 101 games and three championships. however his childhood idol, was an athlete from another sport. >> i would start with jackie robinson. because i was a big baseball fan. when i was a kid, he was my hero. even more so than all the cowboys that i used to want to be like. jackie robinson was, he was number one. >> jackie robinson could hit, he could field, he could run, he was just a superb athlete, a very smart athlete. he electrified the country. >> robinson was the first african-american in the modern era to play in the major leagues. he played his first pro game
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with the brooklyn dodgers. he was not immediately accepted by the players or the fans. until jackie came along, until baseball in the 20th century was exclusively for white americans. >> jackie robinson had to go endure a lot to do what he did in order to integrate baseball. he had death threats. >> they're saying that he shouldn't be in a white man's sport. not being able to stay at the hotels that the white players were staying at. some of the perceptions of a black man not being a human being. the death threats and the abuse. he carried the burden of black americans on his shoulders. >> jackie robinson achieved such iconic status in the african-american community because of what he went through.
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i believe that he was a hero in every african-american household. >> the other teams are -- did all they could to provoke him, they tried to hurt him. he played first base for a while and the other teams would try and damage his legs with their spikes. >> but the thing that really swung it for him is that on the sports field, he was a phenomenon. >> people that did not necessarily appreciate black americans, they saw he deserved a chance to be playing professional baseball because he was that talented and it really helped change people's minds about sports and from that vantage, other things changed. >> kareem, he absolutely idolizes jackie robinson, when kareem was thinking about where to go to college, jackie robinson wrote him a letter that encouraged him to choose ucla.
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>> kareem was lucky enough to meet his hero. >> i was 23 years old at the time and i had been a fan of jackie's my whole life. >> i had won rookie of the year award in the nba, and they had a dinner here in manhattan that i attended where they gave the rookie of the year award away. and jackie robinson came. so i was sitting at a table with bill russell and jackie came up to talk to bill, and that's the only time i got to meet jackie, but it was very special for me. it was a thrill for me to get a chance to finally meet him and to say hello under relaxed circumstances because it was really just the three of us there. >> robinson's entry into the major leagues opened the door to more black baseball player, reaching a peak in 1981, where almost one in five were african americans. next, kareem reaches into political history and chooses a woman who broke barriers.
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>> eleanor roosevelt is important to me because eleanor roosevelt was probably the first woman to become active in political ways that started to cause change, at a time when women weren't supposed to be politically active. >> eleanor roosevelt championed civil rights from the moment she moved into the white house. we found in opera singer marion anderson was banned from performing in washington, d.c., venues. so eleanor arranged for her to sing in front of the lincoln memorial to a crowd of 75,000. the concert was also broadcast live to the entire nation. ♪ my country 'tis of thee >> that moment becomes an iconic moment, in the history of not only eleanor roosevelt but the civil rights movement, as well as marion anderson.
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>> eleanor roosevelt set the template for modern day presidential spouses, like nancy reagan, hillary clinton, and michelle obama. >> i'm sure eleanor roosevelt was conscious about what she was doing. she wasn't just doing this as a whim. it was something she saw needed to be outlined for the nation as a whole and her status as the first lady enabled her to go out of her way to explain this to the nation. >> she's the one who turned the office of the first lady into an actual office. and it wasn't enough for her to sit pretty and decorate the oval office. she was like, no, i want to do something. i've got a platform. i've got resources and i want to use them. >> more than a million african-americans enlisted during world war ii but for decades they'd been blocked from the air force and, until 1942, the marines. the navy only accepted blacks as cooks and waiters.
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black soldiers even had to give up their seats on trains to nazi prisoners of war. >> eleanor roosevelt thought that the treatment of black americans was something we should be ashamed of as a nation. >> and so she took action, starting with the air force. >> there was a black unit of fighter pilots that were trained at tuskegee, alabama. they were called tuskegee airmen and they were very capable pilots, but this was at a time when blacks weren't considered intelligent aenough to fly airplanes. >> knowing the event would be captured by photographers, in march of 1941, eleanor roosevelt took a seat in the back of pilot c. alfred anderson's plane, and went for a flight. >> once she did that, people saw that this pilot was as competent as any other pilot of any other racial category. >> just three months later, her
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husband fdr issued an executive order prohibiting discrimination by any government agency, including the armed forces. one person soldier who had become a victim in the military was kareem's hero, jackie robinson. five years before signing to the dodgers, jackie had been drafted into a segregated army cavalry unit. but in 1944 he was arrested sitting in a seat reserved for white soldier its on a military bus and faced a court-martial. robinson contested the charges, receiving huge support from civil rights groups, athletes, even officials in the war department. jackie was acquitted and the case became a watershed in military race relations. >> and he had the opportunity to join his unit and go fight or take an honorable discharge. and he took the honorable discharge. i always saw that as divine intervention because he had important things to do after the
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war was over, such as integrating baseball, providing a great role model for little kids like me. >> coming up, basketball, activism, and changemakers kareem admires from the world of music. >> we have to use our voices and raise the awareness. the cadillac xt5... what should we do? ...tailored to you. wait it out. equipped with apple carplay compatibility. ♪ now during season's best, get this low mileage lease on this cadillac xt5 from around $429 per month, or purchase with 0% apr financing. but...my doctor recommended prilosec otc 7 years ago, 5 years ago, last week. just 1 pill each morning. 24 hours and zero heartburn, it's been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10 straight years, and it's still recommended today. use as directed
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as kareem abdul-jabbar reveals the people who have inspired him, he's showing us that he's more than just an athlete. >> i had fun trying to put the list together, because i hadn't ever thought about putting a list together of all the things that have influenced my life. >> reflecting his own passions, his choices are change makers. >> kareem is very intellectual and he's very well read and very well spoken. and i wasn't surprised at all to see his list from spending so long with him, listening to him talk about these people.
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>> people like basketball legend bill russell, who has more championship rings than any player in the history of the game. but it's what he did off the court that landed him on the list. >> i met bill russell when i was 14 years old, my first year in high school. i got a chance to meet him. i learned a lot about playing the game of basketball from watching him and i also learned a lot about the political activism in observing some of the things he did in his life. >> i think bill russell's value to the civil rights movement was the way in which he handled the abusive language, the abusive environment in which he was, you know, kind of thrust upon him in the city of boston at the time. it must have been a difficult challenging situation for russell to be a black athlete in a mostly white city.
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>> he did not express his outrage in and an outdoorward way. you have to help people understand that this is a rational position that you're taking and that you have the truth behind you. >> in 1963, russell was invited to join martin luther king's famous civil rights march on washington, d.c. 50 years later, he was one of those commemorating the event. >> good afternoon, it's nice to be here, i was sitting in the first row 50 years ago. and it's nice to be anywhere 50 years later. >> kareem said he really liked the way bill russell handled himself and he wanted to have that kind of presence, that strong, quiet presence. i would call it like quiet power, i guess, that's how i describe kareem.
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>> kareem's early years were defined by his dominance in sports, but his other less well known passion is music. >> music was a very big mode of expression in my household, my parents both sang, they sang in the choral group. and my dad played brass instruments, trombone being the primary instrument of choice. >> his dad went to juilliard on a g.i. scholarship but they played jazz in his house every single day that kareem was growing up and he loved it. you know, he got to go and meet people with his dad, his dad would play at the clubs at night. his dad was actually a police officer, a transit cop, but he really wanted to be a musician. >> jazz formed the sound track to kareem's early life. one name in particular stood out. >> it was louis armstrong really that affected me, because i loved his music, his
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personality. he made me love, and i totally enjoyed his music. >> this was a virtuoso. this was an individual who almost single-handedly, you know transformed the genera of jazz music. i can't think of any other cultural figure who was more important than louie armstrong. >> i was born in 1900. in james alley they called it. it's the back of town, that's the real new orleans. >> from his humble beginnings in new orleans, armstrong developed into a major musical force. he gave jazz a direction and a purpose, and created a sound accessible to everyone, regardless of race or gender. >> initially in the 20th century, people like louis armstrong broke down barriers because jazz music was new and exciting and the swinger
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really brought something out of america. >> people came out from their homes and went to ballrooms and danced to jazz music. >> jazz is definitely an aspect of black culture that has been appreciated and enjoyed around the world. but it's also enabled a lot of the musicians to make statements about what happens in america having to do with the issues of race. you have someone like louis armstrong, who was denied the ability to perform on stage with white jazz musicians. and he had to make a statement about that. so he said he was never going to perform in new orleans again. and that's his hometown. >> kareem never got to meet armstrong, even though they were both living in new york. after satchimo quit new orleans. >> he really was a big hero in the neighborhood that he lived in queens, i have heard stories
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about how he used to treat the kids in his neighborhood, very interesting then and really promoted music his whole life. i would like to know what it was like starting a whole new genre of musical entertainment that took over the world. that must have been a pretty amazing aspect to go through. and i'm pretty sure that it must have been many times scary. >> while louie armstrong broke be down barriers in the past, kareem's next game changing entry is right up to date. beyonce. >> i think beyonce is very important because her access to, especially young women, and young people in general, is pretty profound. and it's more or less across the board. and it has nothing to do with
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race. young people like her. doesn't matter if it's here in america or south america. europe, asia, people listen to what she has to say and are inspired by it and informed by it. >> well, women's rights, it's something that's always been something close to my heart. and i know now being a mother, it's really important that i can do what i can and use my voice. and to know that there are women around the world that don't have a voice. we have to use our voices and raise the awareness and be a part of something where we can leave our legacy and help improve this world. >> i think beyonce's instincts really enable her to find the things to talk about that are meaningful. and i think that has to do with her intelligence and her observational abilities to identify what's important and talk about it. >> beyonce is vital, i think to
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the entire, like, tapestry that is the united states of america right now, because she provides representation and visibility for so many people who have not had it for so long. >> i think music is very important for breaking down barriers because music is a universal language and everybody relates to it. they might like their style of music, but there's always something that you hear that catches your attention and kind of motivates you to ask questions. >> coming up, kareem shows us the value of humor. >> you get people to laugh about the ironies of life, and about life's inconsistencies. >> not many black people get bitten by snakes. f? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order
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>> there's absolutely a fun side to me but i never really tried to show that, because growing up, i thought i had to be very tightly wrapped and not very frivolous because people would judge all black americans by my conduct. >> he could be aloof or seemingly aloof until you approach him and you engage him in a conversation. >> kareem's fun side was first revealed in the public in 1980, when he appeared in the legendary spoof movie "airplane" as roger the pilot. >> roger. request vector, over. >> what? >> flight 209er, clear for vector at 324. >> we have clearance, clarence. >> roger roger. that's our vector, victor? >> kareem has a really try sense of humor. so in order to see it, you have
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to actually spend time with him. communication, because you get >> comedy is a great form of communication, because you get people to laugh about the ironies of life and about life's inconsistencies. and in order to do that, you have to have an insightful appreciation of what goes on in life. >> next on kareem's list, comedian and good friend, richard pryor. >> i have richard pryor on my list as someone who absolutely was an inspiration. >> not many black people get bitten by snakes, because black people stroll too cool in the woods. snake. now white people get bit all the time. because they have a different rhythm. they be in the rhythm of --
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>> he was a trendsetter, a lot of the things that are said today, even if he said them today they would still be controversial. so you can imagine how controversial they were at the time he said it, which is utterly remarkable. >> richard had a house on maui and kareem had a house in hawaii, so they would go out and hang out and visit each other. >> although what audiences saw on stage was a very funny man, only his close friends saw the turbulence behind the act. >> richard pryor was all over the place. some of the things that he talked about, he would talk about his use of drugs and his love life, and his professional life, trying to be a comedian and working in clubs that were run by mafia people. >> it's no fun picking on mexicans. you guys got a country. >> he had some really interesting and kind of scary aspects of his life. he was raised in a house
quote
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of prostitution, his grandmother was a madam who ran a brothel, and that's where he was raised. >> my grandmother was the lady that used to discipline me, beat my ass. >> kareem was always doing imitations of richard pryor like when we were traveling, he would start laughing out loud no matter where we are. i would say what were you thinking about when you laughed? and he says, something richard pryor said once, and he would do it is and do it in such an animated way, the exact way you could see richard pryor doing it. >> he's been dead some time now, but without richard pryor we would not have people like chris rock or dave chappelle, who talk about the way these absurdities affect our lives now. >> kareem's next choice was also an entertainer. as well as one of the most significant change makers in boxing.
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mohammed ali. >> my experience with mohammed ali really started when i was going to ucla and i saw him one night on sunset boulevard and he was out there doing magic tricks for people passing by. that's hard to imagine, the heavyweight champion of the world, just entertaining strangers as they pass by. but that was part of his charm. he really was always on and he was always about entertaining people. >> i am the greatest. >> he had a great sense of humor. i was on an airplane with him. and before the plane was about to take off, the steward's came by and she said, "champ -- mr. ali, you have to put your seat belt on." they're about to take off. he said "superman don't need no
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seat belt." she said "superman don't need no airplane either." >> when you look at mohammed ali and kareem abdul-jabbar you have two men who are very, very similar, but who are also very, very different. >> one similarity is that both men changed their names. ali changed his name from casious clay. what he called his slave name. for similar reasons, kareem changed his name from lou alcinder when he was 24 years old. although he had first met ali in 1976 at ucla, kareem would get to know him much better after ali refused to fight in vietnam. >> he pushed boundaries because he came about at a time when black americans were supposed to be very thankful for the opportunities they got and not rock the boat. and he really understood that our war in vietnam was immoral and illegal and he said something about it. and he was not going to go serve
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in that war. and that caused him definite conflict with the united states government. people were so annoyed with him that they stripped him of his title. and said that he had to go in the draft. >> the masses of the whites don't seem to love peace such as you few minority who do. so therefore they overshadow and outshine you by millions and millions and millions. ♪ >> and amazingly, incredibly, americans eventually saw where he was coming from, and i think obviously as unfortunately the vietnam war played out, a lot of people saw that this guy might have been right. >> his political sensitivities were absolutely on mark when he said, i believe it was ain't no viet cong ever called me nigger. and that made so much sense, and
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eventually, when they did strip him of his title, bill russell, jim brown and other people decided that maybe black athletes could help him, and they invited me to a summit meeting, where these black athletes were going to try to help mohammed ali. it worked out that we didn't have any power really to help him, but it enabled me to establish a relationship with him and a friendship, and that lasted for me until he died. >> for many of us, we became enamored of mohammed ali because he was someone who was willing to speak his mind, to stand up for what he believed and to suffer the consequences. >> coming up, another legendary fighter and change maker, bruce lee.
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hi i'm richard lui with your hour's top stories. winter weather making an early appearance in areas from the great lakes to the northeast. the chicago area got up to four inches with another five expected on top of that. and president-elect donald trump's expected choice for secretary of state is getting some pushback from republicans concerned about exxon mobil's ceo rex tillerson's close ties to vladimir putin. senator marco rubio tweeting "being a friend of vladimir is not an attribute i am hoping for from a secretary of state." now back to "iconoclist." next on kareem's list, another fighting legend who has achieved immortality, thanks to a small handful of feature films which at the time were unique and game changing.
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bruce lee. >> bruce was somebody that i got to know well and i considered him to be a friend. i trained with him for four years and it was a lot of fun. he dreamed at one point of making movies on his own and being able to have people that he wanted to act in the movie and eventually i got an opportunity because of that. >> this is kareem with bruce lee in "the game of death." it was kareem's first appearance on the big screen, but it was to be lee's last. >> i was very happy to get the opportunity to act with bruce. i knew i would have to be the villain. but the villain, they get a lot of work in those movies. bruce lee is on the list because of the way he was an innovator. the martial arts is such an
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insular kind of world, every martial arts teacher and artist thinks that their system is the only valid one, and everybody else stinks, and bruce wasn't about that. he was born in san francisco and was actually an american citizen. people don't know too much about that. >> i think kareem probably saw in bruce lee some of the similar attributes that he saw in jackie robinson and bill russell. in a sense that bruce lee kind of reinvented a lot of -- and forced folks to reinterpret their views, you know, on karate, on chinese culture, on asian-americans. bruce lee was an outspoken advocate for his craft. >> away from the cameras, though, bruce wasn't at all what people might expect.
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>> what you see on screen is just something that somebody wrote. as a real life human being, bruce was a very down-to-earth person and he really enjoyed life. bruce was a practical joker, he would try and pull tricks on people. he often would try to surprise his wife with just weird stuff that he would bring home in bags. and he was really the life of the party. he played the bongos and he was a good dancer. and most people don't know that about him. he had a good time. he enjoyed himself and he was a good friend. >> kareem cherished his relationship with bruce lee quite a bit. he trained with him when he was at ucla. and he went over there, and actually he was on his way to see bruce lee, he was flying over to see him in hong kong the day he died. he was on his way to see him, he spent a lot of time with him over there in hong kong. they were very, very good friends.
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>> bruce lee achieved immortality in movies. kareem's next choice was a man who had immortality thrust upon him. he was an ancient egyptian. born nearly 5,000 years ago. his name was imhotep. >> he was a genius at a number of different things. he was an architect. he was a center. he was an administrator for the egyptian pharaoh. >> imhotep is an interesting individual and once again, we're talking about someone who is a trailblazer, someone who initiaish i initiates, someone who innovates. >> imhotep is the person that designed the very first pyramid in egypt. >> at over 200 feet, the pyramid of josur in the necropolis of sakarah was also the first human built structure, constructed entirely of stone.
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imhotep was one of the few commoners in egypt to achieve immortal status. >> he contributed so much to the science and infrastructure of egypt. >> and few of us would be aware of the debt of gratitude the modern world owes this ancient egyptian for his work in a field that kareem is especially passionate about. health. >> he's probably the father of modern medicine. >> imhotep comes along at a time when disease is often interpreted as some sort of indication as unseen spiritual ailment, for which spiritual antidotes are required. he was one of the first individuals to begin to locate causality for a disease in the physical realm and to begin to diagnose ailments.
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>> people don't reallied where medicine started. and it started in egypt. the greeks and romans learned about medicine from the egyptians. it just all started with imhotep. coming up, we travel back to the frontier period of u.s. history and one of kareem's boyhood heroes. >> i think it's so charming that he was so into like cowboys and the wild west. ♪ see ya next year. this season, start a new tradition. experience the power of infiniti now, with leases starting at $319 a month. infiniti. empower the drive.
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his list of great change makers reveals an enormous range of interests. >> one of my change makers is james b. hickcock, also known as wild bill hickock. he was a childhood hero. >> as a child, kareem was fanatical about cowboys. >> well, you know, the cowboy is kind of an american icon and i grew up at a time in the '40s and '50s when every little boy wanted to be a cowboy and there were lots of cowboy movies, and cowboys were seen as heroes. >> when you think of wild bill hickock, you think of the guy twirling the guns, but he was an important part of history. >> hickock wasn't just a cowboy, like kareem, he was an activist. >> he had a very interesting life and was very much an advocate for emancipation of the
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black americans. >> as a child, he and his family helped slaves escape along the route now known as the underground railroad. >> he and his father and uncle regularly traveled back and forth between central illinois and the southern shores of lake michigan delivering slaves that got to be free. >> he probably helped hundreds of slaves escape. >> wild bill hickock was a hero of the underground railroad. >> during the civil war, hickock was a spy for the anti-slavery union army, later becoming a law man in a notoriously lawless outpost in kansas. >> he was not, per se a gunfighter, but he was someone who did know how to protect himself and he was a dead shot. >> in 1876, hickock was murdered during a game of poker in deadwood, south dakota.
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the cards he was holding have become known as the dead man's hand, aces and 8s. kareem's next choice is a veteran congressman who was at the forefront of the civil rights movement. john lewis. >> i think john lewis is unique as a civil rights activist because he actually marched with dr. king. he's the only person left, i believe, that marched with dr. king and he has served as representative from his district in georgia. >> he's a lieutenant to dr. king, he's faithful, he's loyal, he puts his life on the line again and again. he is totally committed to nonviolence, everyone is not committed to nonviolence. he is committed to nonviolence.
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>> i read his biography and learned a lot more about the nature of american racism and it helped me to get a better grasp of how to deal with it. >> lewis was one of the big six, the organizers of the big six with the march on washington, d.c., with martin luther king's famous "i have a dream" speech. two years later lewis was severely beaten and suffered a fractured skull after organizing what's been known as the bloody sunday rights march in alabama. >> that was really a very important moment in the civil rights movement. because here we have people peacefully marching to demonstrate for voter registration and they get to this one town in alabama, and they sent the state police after them, and they just took their billet clubs and beat these people down. >> not many people make kareem get emotional.
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i think in the 24 years i have known him, i have only seen him cry twice and one of those times was when he introduced john lewis. he got all choked up. he got all choked up. it was in front of a crowd in d.c. and he got to introduce him at an event and said he was an absolute american hero and how brave he was to do what he did. >> he served as a representative in the house of representatives for a very long time and still is active in trying to make sure that we continue to progress on these issues. >> it doesn't matter whether you're black or white, latino, aszian american, or native american, whether you're gay or straight, we're one people,
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we're one family, we all live in the same house, not just the american house, but the world house. >> if you ever meet john lewis, the thing that strikes you about him is how peaceful of a man he is, and how happy of a man he is. and he could be filled with bitter rage from the stuff that he went through. and he's not. and i think that also, like, makes kareem that way too. >> coming up, kareem introduces another of his change making heroes and an insight into white house dinners. >> i absolutely lost it. i said that's what you talked to the president about? hashtag "no sleep." i got it. hashtag "mouthbreather." yep. we've got a mouthbreather. well, just put on a breathe right strip and ... pow! it instantly opens your nose up to 38% more than cold medicine alone. so you can breathe ... and sleep. shut your mouth and say goodnight mouthbreathers. breathe right.
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tmom didn't want another dog. she said it's too much work. lulu's hair just floats. uhh help me! (doorbell) mom, check this out. wow. swiffer sweeper, and dusters. this is what i'm talking about. look at that. sticks to this better than it sticks to lulu. that's your hair lulu! mom, can we have another dog? (laughing) trap and lock up to 4x more dirt, dust and hair than the store brand stop cleaning. start swiffering.
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important for me because i wouldn't have had anything to do with my life after basketball if i did not have the incentive to write books and speak my mind. >> i'm michael jordan, and i'm here with hillary. i said that because i know that donald trump couldn't tell the difference. >> i met hillary back when her husband was president. they had a night of jazz at the white house and i got to meet her and we have been friends ever since then. >> in 2012, hillary clinton, in her role as secretary of state made kareem an international cultural ambassador. >> this is my latest book. >> i heard about that, thank you. >> she wanted him to travel around the world and teach people about american culture, who better to do that? >> thank you, sir. >> next on kareem's list, the man who nearly 50 years after martin luther king's dream of
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freedom and equality became america's first black president. >> i barack hussein obama do solemnly swear. >> barack obama should definitely be on the list. black americans are proud of him. he's been a very popular president and a very effective president. i think what i like about barack obama is the fact that he had the courage to go for it. other black americans have run for president, but they didn't have it together in realistic terms. but obama knew what he had to do to get elected and did it. i know that president obama has broken down barriers because so many black people did not think that he could achieve what he achieved. so many white people thought that he would be a complete failure as the commander in
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chief and the chief executive of the united states and he's done an admirable job and no one can deny that. >> kareem particularly admires barack obama for his efforts to shake up u.s. health care. >> what i hope people appreciate what barack obama tried to do. of course he wasn't able to do it because of the resistance that he received from the republican establishment, they decided that they weren't going to let him do anything and it was very difficult for him to get his agenda acted upon after the republicans gained control of the senate and the house of representatives. so i think that that's very unfortunate, but it does not diminish him as someone to be admired in any sense. >> the admiration was mutual, that became apparent in 2016 when president obama awarded kareem the presidential medal of
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freedom, not only for his activism, but for his outspoken -- >> he's emerged as someone who people have turned to for wisdom and insight. >> even as it worked out, president obama. >> kareem got to go to some white house dinners. i didn't get to go. but i said what did you talk to the president about? you know, i'm like you got to sit next to the president all night? what did you get to talk to him about? he wanted to ask me how to cure his athlete's foot. i about like absolutely lost it. i was like that's what you talked to the president -- well, yeah, i'm an athlete and we have to deal with that stuff and he's like, and he had a problem and he needed some advice. so no real powerful news? he goes, we don't have time to get into that. i was like, wow. >> kareem's list has covered many areas of life, spanning the
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centuries. but for him, there's one name that stands out above all others. >> at the top of my list would be jackie robinson, because he's somebody that i admired all of my life, and i have so much in common with him. as a baseball fan, what jackie robinson stood for as a civil rights activist was incredible. >> i think martin luther king said something along the lines that if it with respect for jackie robinson, i wouldn't have been able to do what i did. >> people that helped me understand what was important and why, people that were my heroes in sports or the authorities that i read, or the politicians that i admire, they all had the means to communicate something broader than just what they were known for. they had other ideas that were
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on a broader scope unanimous just what they did. >> given all of the similarities that kareem's list has with kareem himself, i think he could put himself on his own list, because he's in great company. this is martha stewart, businesswoman, self-made millionaire and media mogul. >> first you'll need a shank. >> that roast has had more than 2 billion impressions. that's almost kardashian like. >> now she's about to choose her favorite entrepreneurs, ones whose work inspires her. business mavericks who have shaped today's world. >> it's a list that will entertain you, that will intrigue you. >> visionaries. >> bill really changed the way we do business. >> disrupters. >> find the void and go for it. >> brand builders. >> meme say that
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