despair. i hope, sir, as you can understand, our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. wow. that's "hardball" for you. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. and i've seen the promised land. i may not get there with you, but i want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land. >> welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight, we honor reverend dr. martin luther king jr. and the work that defined his life. as so many of you know in the months leading up to his assassination, dr. king was focussed on what he called the second phase of the civil rights struggle. the fight for economic justice. in november of 1967, dr. king organized the poor people's

campaign. he and the southern christian leadership conference met in south carolina. the goal? to devise an economic bill of rights that would call upon the federal government to help abolish poverty. >> as long as these intolerable conditions of poverty, terrible housing conditions and the syndrome of deprivation surrounding slummism, as long as these things exist, we have the dangerous possibility of people becoming so angry, so depressed. i think the way to reach them is to get them jobs is to give them a new sense of hope, a new sense of dignity, a new sense of self-respect. >> now we've grown a lot as a country since dr. king's death. we've sworn in our first black president, and there are so many reasons to be optimistic about america. but the economic inequality that

dr. king wanted to fix, that he knew had to be fixed has only gotten worse. today more than 46 million americans are living in poverty. the highest number since the '50s. and the divide between the rich and the poor keeps growing. in the past 30 years, the top 1% have seen their incomes skyrocket, up more than 200% while the poor has seen theirs remain stagnant. the dream that we can do better than our parents, that's the american dream. but americans now have less economic mobility than canada and most of europe. and so the dream remains far, far out of the reach of most american citizens. this day of celebration of dr. king's life reminds us the conversation about inequality is one we need to have. and yet the other side only seems concerned about the 1% and the economics of the 1%.

tax cuts for the rich, cutting programs for those who need them and more sacrifices from the poor. their front-runner wants these conversations saved for quiet rooms. no. the struggle that dr. king fought for and died for isn't over. it's really just beginning. i don't know what partisan stand dr. king would have taken if he were alive, but i do know what his tradition and his policy stands was. i was 13 years old when he was assassinated. i was a youth director of his new york chapter. i grew up in the aftermath of his death as we continued to fight this economic battle. as we are now in an election year, as this country is polarized by class and still dealing with institutional race, i say to those that are in national leadership now that we need to on this day focus on the inequality that martin luther

king tried to get us to focus on over four decades ago. one pundit said it's the economy, stupid, in an election year. i say it's the inequality in the economy, dummy. it's not just the economy. it's the inequality. it is not that we are envious or jealous. it's that we know when we are treated unfair, and we know because of the dr. kings of history that we cannot remain silent while unfairness is present. joining me now is congressman jim clyburn, democrat from south carolina. and assistant democratic leader. congressman, thanks for coming on the show this night. >> well, thank you so much for having me, reverend sharpton. it's a real pleasure to be on this program with you on what would have been dr. king's 83rd birthday. those of us who -- thank you. >> yes, go ahead. >> those of white house worked

with him back in the '60s, we still remember his admonishment. he said to us in no uncertain terms in his letter from the birmingham city jail, he told us that he was coming to the conclusion that the people of the ill will in our society was making a much better use of their time than the people of good will. and so on this -- what should have been his 83rd birthday, all people of good will need to come together and need to make sure that we do what is necessary to carry out the fulfillment of his dreams, as well as his aspirations. >> now congressman, i have spent the day in different cities. the fear i have is that we get so caught up in the memory and the nostalgia of the king days that we don't do the work of today because the inequality of today is a challenge. we do dr. king a disservice if

we act like that was back then and there are no challenges now. the gap between the rich and the poor. the 1%. what is going on in your state today in terms of the preparation for the republican primary. i think the battle for inequality, you were on the super committee. you're in the congress. where are we in making this country understand that we must deal with inequality, which is what dr. king's life was about over four decades ago? >> well, we are a big stagnant. you may recall that at the time of the meetings of the super committee, every chance i got, i talked about the recent study done by the general accounting office. an independent office that concluded that over the last 28 to 30 years, we saw the wealth

gap widen in our society. you talked about the upper 1% earlier that has seen their household income go up 275% while the lower 20% saw their household incomes go up only 16%. the upper percentile, over 65%. so over the last 30 years, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. and if you think about where we started out 30 years ago, there was only about a 2% gap in there. so over this time, we have not done what is necessary to bring all people along in an equitable way. and notice i didn't say equal, i said equitable. >> very, i think, appropriate term in terms of your choice of words. i also think when you look at the policy, let me show you what -- one of the most

contemptable statements to people that are struggling around these working class issues was made by willard mitt romney. let me show you what he said the night he won the iowa caucuses. he kind of dismissed the drive to close the income gap and to deal with economic inequality like people were just jealous or envious of the rich. watch this, congressman. >> president obama wants to put free enterprise on trial. in the last few days, we've seen some desperate republicans join forces with him. this is such a mistake for our party and for our nation. the country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. >> bitter politics of envy. like there's no legitimate concern for what you and i have just talked about, the overwhelming increase of the rich's income while the stagnation of working class and poor people, but the problem is we're just envious. and then on top of that, he endorses the ryan plan, something you are combatting in

the congress, which is why i wanted you on this special holiday, where the ryan plan, two-thirds of the cuts come from low-income programs. medicaid, pell grants, food stamps, low-income housing. how do people talk about they believe in the american dream, let alone king's dream when they have a public policy of taking away from those that already have the least and act as though if they say something about it, they are engaged in the politics of envy. >> well, you know, that's a little bit like saying toro ros parks, you're just jealous, envious of that man who has a seat on this bus because you want a seat on the bus. that's the kind of foolishness that we've gotten out of this campaign. we ought to say to mr. romney and anybody else who maybe thinking that way that you need to get real about what is going on in this country.

i just talked about how the gap is getting wider, but he needs to understand that we are talking about fundamental fairness here. but if you look at the plan as he put forward, he has endorsed the ryan plan which said to people who are on medicare that if you continue in the program with this plan, it will cost you $6,400 more each year for your basic health care while his plan calls for the people in the upper 10% will get a big $300,000 tax cut while people making less than $40,000 a year will see an increase in their taxes. that's the kind of stuff that we've been doing for the last 30 years. and people who work hard every day are feeling the pain and they know that there's something out of whack in this system.

there's something that's rigged against them. and i think that they are going to demonstrate that at the polls this year like they never have before. >> well, congressman, i hope you're right. and we're going to do our part, you and i, to make sure people come out. thank you for spending some of this evening on dr. king holiday with us. you yourself was a civil rights activist. thank you for your time. >> thank you so much for having me. ahead -- republicans embrace king's legacy today. but how often do they practice what they preach? well, let's look at their records. and campaign obama. they are closely watching the republican contest in south carolina. what is that contest telling them? you're watching a special edition of "politics nation," remembering dr. martin luther king jr. on msnbc. i refuse to allow myself to fall into the dark chambers of

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the gop will fully embrace dr. king today. but we're watching what they do, not what they say. that's next. day. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪

welcome back to the show. many republicans are embracing dr. king's legacy today. calling him courageous and praising his leadership. but let's face it. for many republicans, their relationship with dr. king is, at best, awkward. this one pretty much sums up what i'm talking about. here's willard romney in 2007.

>> you can see what i believed and what my family believed by looking at our lives. my dad marched with martin luther king. >> his dad marched with martin luther king. well, that's apparently not true. days later, a romney spokesman said, quote, he was speaking figuratively, not literally. not speaking figuratively, i'm literally amazed. and then there's ron paul who earlier this month called dr. king one of his heroes. but voted against creating the holiday we're celebrating today. one of his newsletters published in his name even called this holiday, quote, our annual hate whitey day. and paul is against the civil rights act of 1964 calling it federal infringement on private property. but it's not just dr. paul.

too often on the trail when it comes to minorities and the poor, we've heard candidates stoop to ugly rhetoric. >> i don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn their money and provide for themselves and their families. >> really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working. and have nobody around them who works. it is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all in child laws which are truly stupid. most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors and pay local students to take care of the school. >> so while you bask in the joy of king-inspired unity today, watch what they are saying the rest of the year. joining me now is joe madison, host of "morning with madison" on sirius xm. and perry baker jr. for the

grio.com. thanks both of you for being here. >> happy king day to you. >> joe, we were together at a breakfast this morning in washington for dr. king, sponsored by national action network. and you have been the tributes through the years to help make it a holiday. what do you make of these tributes you are hearing today from these gop candidates? >> let's take one thing that you mentioned today at breakfast and that is that they are going to be in south carolina where the confederate flag still flies over the capitol dome. and i know that and you know that during dr. king's life, that confederate flag also flew many times attacking him. how many times did he see that confederate flag flying in opposition every time he marched, every time he demonstrated. many, many times. number two, we were in detroit just this past weekend with the afl-cio. arlene baker there had a king

labor town hall meeting and you are talking about janitors. you know what the governor of michigan has done? he has taken the city of pontiac and one of the things they've done is they've gotten rid of all the janitors in the schools. all the janitors in the school. we had a city councilman tell us who teaches school that he has to vacuum his own classrooms. he has to bring toilet paper to his own classroom. and he also said under emergency management, as we -- as you've talked about on your show and others. >> i was in detroit yesterday on emergency management. >> they fired the first person they fired was the city attorney. they fired the city clerk. they might -- they might unincorporate the city. and they are heading to try and do the same thing to detroit, wipe out all union contracts and, in essence, all the council can do, all the mayor can do is adjourn, convene and adjourn a

meeting or listen to the people. they can't even pass a resolution if they wanted an al sharpton day. >> as joe outlines what we are still facing all over the country, today we saw the republican candidates, despite their past, say a lot of nice sounding things about dr. king. newt gingrich and rick perry praised king at a breakfast in myrtle beach, south carolina. let me play this for you because you are covering the race. i want to get your perspective. let me start with newton and mr. perry. >> the very first bill i co-sponsored in 1979 as a new freshman congressman from georgia was the holiday for dr. martin luther king jr. >> dr. king spoke to our conscience and spoke to the conscience of a nation. >> and willard tweeted that he saluted dr. king on today and

willard's tweet read on mlk day, we remember an outstanding american who brought our country closer to its historic promise of liberty and justice for all. these are kind words and i played earlier some of the contrary policies and things they said, but let me ask you. they debate tonight on martin luther king's birthday in south carolina where the confederate flag, which is the symbol of the confederate, which wanted to maintain slavery and later segregation. do you think they will be questioned and will denounce the flag so offensive to the values of americans, will they be questioned and denounce that flag still flying while they are debating tonight on the state capitol of the state they are running in? >> i think that's a good question, whether it will be asked or not. i don't know that yet. we'll find out from the network in some ways. i know in the past romney has

condemned the flag and said it's a state's rights issue. i don't know whether the differences are today and if they'll be pressing it today. i think in terms of their comments today. it's good they are saying those things. i think that whatever their comments in the past have been, there's been some good parts of this campaign in their perspective. all these guys have courted tim scott, the black congressman from south carolina. they court his endorsement. they all -- herman cain was doing very well earlier in the race. there's been some moments of progress. i hope we see that as opposed to rhetoric -- i hope we hear more about how they'd address major problems like unemployment. i hope we hear more details about that and less generic rhetoric. >> now let me ask you this, joe. the debate tonight is by fox news. let's just be real clear. and the question i have is given that they chose to do it on dr. king's holiday and in south carolina, clearly dr. king was not just for blacks, but he clearly was for issues of

inequality across the board. wouldn't you think it would be inappropriate in this time, particularly on king's birthday, a holiday, a federal holiday, if they were not questioned and not at least among the other issues they deal with talk about economic inequality, what they would do about it, gauk the continued institutional racism, what they would do about it, talk about the flag and talk about the issues that we face today that king even had dealt with over four decades ago. >> i'll make this quick. look. south carolina left this union over states' rights. dr. king was in favor of federal funding for public education. these candidates are opposed to it. dr. king was in favor of medicaid and medicare. these candidates to the ryan plan want to cut it. dr. king was in favor of minimum wage. you ask newt gingrich how often he voted for or against minimum

wage. dr. king -- and that's what i want to hear. i don't want to hear flowery words about i voted for his holiday. i mean, i supported this. the reality is the public policy issues that dr. king fought for. they oppose to this day. and that's what should be asked. are you in favor of public funding for education? are you in favor of continuing medicaid and medicare at the levels that will help people? are you in favor of minimum wage? those are the real issues. that's what should be asked. and they know that they are opposed to it and, therefore, they do not stand where dr. king, you or i stand. >> now perry, you've been covering this race. let me ask you quickly. have you seen in south carolina, which has a huge african-american population and some latinos have you seen a lot of diversity in these crowds? and do you see any evidence of outreach by these candidates in the republican party to -- other

than what has traditionally now been a white electorate in the republican party? >> we know, speaker gingrich went to an african-american church on saturday. he got a lot of questions about his food stamps remarks. i know like i said the candidates are trying to get tim scott's endorsement. so they are on the ground in that way. how much outreach they are doing, the crowds i've seen have not been overly diverse. that's not surprising because the republican voting electorate in south carolina is not overly diverse either. what you'd like to see in this campaign, not only in south carolina but also in florida is a little more of the republicans trying to go out beyond the core base and trying to reach -- trying to reach black voters, latino voters, trying to reach democrats. trying to broaden out their party. that's what you hope to see in this campaign not only this month, not only today but throughout the rest of the election. >> maybe the strategy is that they want to run from that to appeal to some voters that are anti that rather than try to

bring the country together. joe madison, perry baker, thanks to both of you for being here tonight. ahead -- the great divide. the gop's search for the anti-romney is dividing the party. what it means for obama's re-election. and this country has come a long way but the dreams dr. king represented remains a dream. there's much work to do. you're watching a special edition of "politics nation." remembering dr. martin luther king jr. on msnbc. ♪

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and let us do as we did physically here today, being able to find the strength to walk through our mountains of despair to a stone of hope, knowing if we put our hope and faith in you, that you can use us as you did martin. happy birthday, martin. we will continue to keep the dream alive. may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes...

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my high school science teacher made me what i am today. our science teacher helped us build it. ♪ now i'm a geologist at chevron, and i get to help science teachers. it has four servo motors and a wireless microcontroller. over the last three years we've put nearly 100 million dollars into american education. that's thousands of kids learning to love science. ♪ isn't that cool? and that's pretty cool. ♪ welcome back to "politics nation." five days to go until the south carolina primary. and the split inside the republican party shows no sign of healing. the battle to be the conservative alternative to willard romney is in full swing.

the evangelical leaders met in texas over the weekend in a last-ditch effort to stop willard. and they decided to support rick santorum. mr. santorum sounds like a confident man. >> we need to get this eventually down to a conservative alternative to mitt romney. and those two -- when we finally get matched up and we believe it will be us, once this field narrows and we get it down to a two-person race woo have an excellent opportunity to win this race. >> but newt says he's the man. especially for conservatives. >> the only way that a massachusetts moderate can get through south carolina is if the vote is split. >> if romney wins here, he has an enormous advantage going forward which i why i think it's important for every conservative who wants to have a conservative nominee to rally around. and i hope every conservative will reach the conclusion that to vote for anybody but gingrich is, in fact, to help romney win the nomination and to help him win the primary in south

carolina. >> as the gop splits, president obama waits for his opponent. every candidate but willard has a negative favorability rating. wow. look at that. and willard is barely seen as favorable. this is the republican's best alternative to president obama? joining me now, msnbc analyst richard wolffe, the author of "revival, the struggle for survival inside the obama white house." and nia-malika henderson, reporter for "the washington post." >> thanks. >> it's great to be here. >> is the republican party ever going to be able to unite behind just one of these candidates? >> well, at some point they'll obviously have to when this thing goes to the general. and that's what you see mitt romney already trying to look forward to. he's running this race like he's already in the general, like his opponent is already obama. but you have all these other

candidates. perry, paul, gingrich and santorum fighting amongst themselves for a coal coalesced conservative base. this is a vote really that looks a lot like the huckabee vote in 2008. he got about 30% of the vote. of course, lost in 2008 to john mccain. he got about 33% of the vote. i think you'll be looking at a split vote going into this primary on saturday. but again, this ultimately benefits mitt romney. in some ways, ultimately i think also benefits barack obama. the longer this thing goes on, the weaker mitt romney is because he's going to have to pivot to the right. he's going to have to pivot to evangelicals, and piv to the tea party. he's going to get a little more battered and he's also going to be spending more and more money. he would very much like this thing to wrap up. there are rumors that gingrich seems to suggest that if he doesn't win this thing that he'd likely drop out and in talking

to some of perry's folks there has been some sense he'd do the same thing. he's polling about 6% right now. but again, i think ultimately south carolina is a state that doesn't look to elect pastors. they look to elect and support a president here. and that's why mitt romney is probably feeling pretty good going in here despite this evangelical come to jesus meeting over the weekend. >> this meeting did happen, and there are some evangelicals not only in south carolina but around the country. this divide, what does it mean? what does it say about willard mitt romney? and then what does it say about president obama's chance for re-election if this divide continues, even if romney wins and the divide is not healed in the sense that some of the republican base will not enthusiastically come out and support him. >> evangelicals are a powerful force in terms of organizing, not just in terms of policy.

if you look at a state like florida, yes, romney's numbers are good but evangelical conservatives have a very strong turnout operation when it comes to republican primaries in florida. so he's got a challenge there. he's got another challenge beyond florida which is that nothing happens in february. and it's a chance, frankly, for those conservatives to get their act together because all of this happening now is too late for south carolina. maybe too late for florida, too. and then moving forward you ask what it means for obama. if you have just a handful, just a small fraction of evangelical voters who do not show up for romney, cannot reconcile themselves for him in a general election in a close election that can make all the difference. ask john kerry what it's like to is have a slightly less enthusiastic turnout when running against a sitting president. >> according to the polls, you said south carolina doesn't just vote for a pastor, but votes for who they think will be president. well, let's look at the fact

that 80% of those that were polled want a candidate that can beat president obama. only 47% agree on issues -- want a candidate that agrees with them on issues or that they agree with, and 42% want a true conservative. so overwhelmingly, they want a candidate that can beat president obama. now when we look at the head-to-heads, president obama versus willard, head-to-head, 46% to 45% for romney. when we look at president obama to newt gingrich, 51% to 37%. when we look at president obama to rick santorum, 50% to 38%. so if what you are saying nia-malika holds true in five days, the advantage that romney may have even with the evangelicals and conservatives far right questioning him, his

argument that according to polls he has the best chance of beating the president or at least giving him a tied vote, according to the polls at this point. much ahead of the other two, santorum or gingrich, should be a solid argument. >> yeah, and that's certainly the argument he's been making all across this state so far. he's been in the low country. he's been up state a bit. he's also been down in charleston. so that's the argument he's making. he's been campaigning with tea party favorite nicky hailey. her negatives are higher than they used to be but she is certainly a presence to have on the stump and really articulates this message about electability that is mitt romney's main message in this race. and i think again if you look at 2008, if evangelicals were such a strong voice here and certainly they are, but i think ultimately when voters in 2008 looked at mike huckabee versus john mccain. and, remember, john mccain was certainly no favorite of evangelicals. he referred to some of these

leaders. jerry falwell and pat robertson as basically a far right figures that shouldn't be necessarily taken seriously. but he was able to win a pretty good margin of victory here. about 3%. and came out on top. i think that's what they're going to be thinking about when they come to the polls. the people i talked to, still some undecideds. i think we'll get some polls out from your network. we'll get a chance to see what folks are thinking. i think if this state does what it always has done for the last 20 or 30 years in picking a candidate that they have picked the nominee of this party for the last 30 years. >> richard, the thing that comes to me, though, is even if romney wins the nomination based on some of the factors nia-malika has raised, the question then comes down to who can turn out their base. and clearly if the evangelicals and some of the conservatives have lingering questions about

mr. romney, his turnout won't happen. the president seems to have made moves that seems to have increased a level of enthusiasm in his base. for example, african-american voters which is only part of his base, there were some loud noise he's was having problems in his base. but the polling shows 95% of african-americans are with him, and it appears whether it's minorities, whether it's labor or working lclass, middle class his base will come out because of fear of what the opposition is. won't this really come down to how expansive each candidate's base is at the general election and their ability to turn it out? >> that's a big part of a re-elect for sure. and one part that's been sailing under the radar for many months is the ground game that's the obama campaign has been putting into action. we saw it in iowa, to some degree in new hampshire as well. it's been going on across the country. many people, in many states this has really been happening and they never really left.

that's important because while the romney campaign is battling against people in its own party and looking at a shorter contest. remember one of the benefits of the longer contest that the republicans thought would be great for them, one of the benefits was that not only would the candidate get better but they'd get more organized across the country. that certainly gave president obam a in 2008 the groundwork fr his victory. maybe romney will never get a chance if he wraps it up right now. nia-malika hand henderson and john wolffe, thanks for joining us. we remember the hatred that dr. king and so many others face insi ed in the struggle. it's an amazing history. that's next. >> may be some tear gas ahead. i say to you this afternoon that i would rather die on the highways of alabama than make a butchery of my conscience. k

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you can make a difference. ♪ i give new generations better opportunities. ♪ i protect the lives that make up my community. ♪ i'm discovering ways to improve our quality of life. [ male announcer ] history made its mark. make yours.

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he turned his attention to equal rights for chicago's poor. it was what dr. king called phase two. it unleashed a torrent of hate. after facing a mob in chicago, he told reporters, quote, i think the people of mississippi should come to chicago to learn how to hate. author and historian rick pearlstein researched 1960s politics. he dug deep into chicago archives where he found stark evidence of the backlash and later wrote, i felt like i was peering into the dark soul of america to depths i never thought. much has improved since that time but we clearly still have more work to do. joining me now is rick pearlstein. he's also the author of "nixon land." the rise of a president and the fracturing of america. rick, let's go back to dr.

king's time. how did it play out in 1964 after barry goldwater's defeat? >> well, after barry goldwater's defeat it was really a triumphant moment for the civil rights movement. out of the selma martyrs, lyndon johnson went before a joint session of congress. he quoted martin luther king saying we shall overcome and passed a voting rights bill and he signed it under the capitol rotunda and said the slaves came here in chains and we finally have broken the last shackles of those fierce and ancient bonds. but five days later the watts riot emalated the south central los angeles and that's when we really began to see the backlash. >> now give us a sense because a lot of people don't understand that dr. king was not universally loved while he was alive. and he was one of the most

controversial people in the country. the fact is today 95% of people see him favorably. but in his lifetime, he was viewed less than 50% favorable by whites and many blacks. tell us what we faced while he was alive according to your research. >> yeah, that's what i call the santa clausification. he was hated and kept his prophetic witness going. in my book nixon land i wrote about what happened when he went to chicago and marched through neighborhoods merely for the right of people to buy homes that they could afford according to existing chicago open housing laws. and while that was going on, the senate race was happening between a civil rights supporting liberal paul douglas and a republican who was on the fence named charles percy and the letters that paul douglas got from his constituents in the neighborhoods that king marched through were absolutely

vituperative and astonishing. we white people have taken a lot from the negro. we've been patient and now feel pushed against the wall. as their ultimate aim, the same as the soviet union when all property was collectivized. i want to wake up in the morning and find my milk and newspapers on the porch and not find they've been stolen. and most strikingly in the context of barack obama being called hitler, letter after letter called martin luther king a dark-skinned hitler. it was astonishing to see the vituperation. i mean stuff like -- >> go ahead. >> i was going to say something like today the insufferable arrogance of this character places him on a pedestal as a dark skinned hitler. am i living in germany under

hitler's rule or in america's. >> so they used this analogy even against dr. king. and one of the things your research reveals is that we don't talk enough about the bias and how some of us had to face it in howard beach and others. we act like this was a southern problem. and dr. king had occurred. we talk about goldwater. connect quickly for me conservative elements of today and how it feeds back into those days. and is there a connection? >> yeah, of course. in 1964 goldwater lost overwhelm league and lost also in these neighborhoods in chicago overwhelmingly where there were traditional democratic union voters. but in 1966 in the senate election i talked about, a lot of the letter said as long as someone like martin luther king is marching and taking our property, that was one of the claims. that they were taking the property, not wanting to buy the property. and as long as paul douglas supports him for senate, then

we're going to vote republican. and they did. the republican won that race and those particular districts went 80% more for the republicans than they ever had in history. >> wow. >> because the republicans that year chose as their official platform in a meeting on august 2nd, 1966, to oppose open housing as causing the divisions in america and not healing them. >> rick perlstein, thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >> next, my special commentary on hope for the future. wake up!

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a leader who has protested injustice with a passionate, unrelenting commitment to nonviolent action. in the spirit and tradition of martin luther king jr. and i am talking about your leader, our leader, the reverend al sharpton. >> that was coretta scott king, the widow of dr. king as she gave me really a challenge. a challenge that we must continue in the tradition of dr. king. we all are not going to be perfect, but we all should be committed to the highest standards of nonviolence and peaceful co-existence.

and equality. that's what dr. king was about. that is why today president obama said this about dr. king. >> if you look at that speech talking about dr. king as a drum major, what he really said was that all of us can be a drum major for service. all of us can be a drum major for justice. there's nobody who can't surf. nobody who can't help somebody else. >> national action network had a breakfast in washington this morning where we talked about moving forward and making sure dr. king's dream becomes a reality. special adviser to the president valerie jarrett and the founder of motown, a friend of dr. king's spoke. i wanted to share with you some of what they said. >> fighting for a nation that reflects our most deeply held values is what it means to carry on the legacy of dr. reverend

martin luther king jr. who believed timelessly in the timeless creed that i am my brother's keeper. i am my sister's keeper. >> he inspired us so many years ago with his dream. he left it with us to turn those dreams into reality. and in many ways we have, but there is more to do as we all know. >> dr. martin luther king helped change this country for the better. but it would, in my judgment, be the wrong thing for us to do to just remember how great he was and not try to live up to whatever individual greatness that all of us can have in some special way. it may just be in your family. it may just be in your workplace. it may be in your school. but all of us have a responsibility to make things fair and to make things equal and to make things right. those that fought with him

understood that. >> and everybody says we're the next dr. king and i hasten to answer that question by saying, where was the first dr. king before you met him? he was silent. he was somewhere off into the rural parts of black america in the most humble of an environment. >> you may not be the next dr. king, and certainly i won't, but you can be the first you and i can be the first me and we can make that mean something in small ways, large ways, whatever it is. but none of us should accept inequality. none of us should accept unfairness. if this day means anything, it should be a day to commit ourselves to making ourselves part of the struggle to make america better and to make us all fair and equal. that's what dr. king would want. that's what you and i should want. that is why many of us keep