one of the young people that he trained was thurgood marshall. a lot of people don't know about charles hamilton houston. he is in my biography and he is a real hero to me. because he someone who created change over time and change that is still with us today. but there are other people and i just mention this is the 50th anniversary and thinking about people like bob moses, david dennis. there is such an amazing range of people who participated. and again the stories of people who would go into a battleground to try to create change. those are american heroes of the highest calling. but we forget sometimes the courage that they are exhibiting at the american dream. sometimes we forget people who played a larger role than doctor king. people who have been active in terms of the local naacp working with a woman by the name of joann robinson who was a professor at alabama state to put into place what king ultimately leads. join robinson has a strong and capable mind. you know, she had been involved with getting black and white women together in a w

the lawyer, argue, said to him, if only the native americans had a thurgood marshall, we could make much more progress on their count. what you have seen subsequent and dave might know this better than i can tell you -- over the course of the years after '64 and '65, the civil rights act that todd described, that you see other groups, hispanic-americans, women, the disabled, everybody pursuing basically that strategy of change through the courts, through judicial rulings, that say they have rights in this country. and that part of that line of strategy is also, getting back to our first question, to shift public opinion and to do so through activism, whether it's disabled people blocking the entry to a building or people complaining as we saw out with the chavez and the movie that is out now, working for the rights or migrant laborers-but doing so in line with the strategic -- the successful strategic effort that have been made by the naacp, as well as sclc and dr. king. >> may i just emphasize or clarify something that todd said. in the montgomery boycott there were two victor

. >> if we could just get a black guy on the supreme court to replace thurgood marshall.need enlightened african-american leadership not just anybody. michael jordan is great and i love what he's done. but i think he would tell you also the problem is bigger than just who will own a team. >> let's talk about plaiters. we saw they had muscle. they turned their jerseys inside out, right? they stood up with black power. >> what do you want the players to do before they quit tonight? >> this should be the -- first of all, they should stop using the n-word in the locker room. you can't have it both ways. you can't say donald sterling, you just respect each other every day. that's got to stop, number one. or else this really means, if you continue to disrespect yourself and call each other the n word, then you're just as bad as donald sterling. so stop it. the second thing is basically, this should be the beginning of a movement to make the nba players association strong. because overnight, you've got -- you will be the most powerful organization overnight. you have all these y

president johnson, i was with him when he nominated thurgood marshall.told them that he was going to nominate him. and he said, after he finished his monologue, he hung up on a sparkman or someone who might oppose him and said, you know what i'm going to do? i'm going to put him on the supreme court today. and that's, indeed, what he did. what obama's doing, i think, is important as well. not just a few of these executive orders, but using his bully pulpit, getting in the face of people. talking to white business leaders about full opportunities for black and latino people. talking about the rights women, not in theory. lily ledbetter is only a procedural part of title 7. we can't get too excited about that. >> you brought the actual pen and a piece of living history for us here. >> this is the pen that was given to me by president johnson. >> yeah, so it is an honor, and you're one of the perfect people to reflect on this. soy appreciate your time, clifford alexander, former associate special counsel to president johnson. appreciate it. >>> coming up, i

mary bonito, and thurgood marshal. screaming no, they said yes. >> well, that's correct. we all know that any movement, any movement for social justice, has many, many interlocking parts. the very first marriage case was in 1971, baker versus nelson in minnesota. so that's 45 years ago. we've got 45 years of heroes and people that have stood up and said that couples under the constitution must be treated fairly and it is one of the key avenues for taking care of one's family, because benefits are based on marriage at the state level. i salute the prop 8 case because they did stand up and they did correct the law in california alone. edie windsor changed the covers history for everybody. but these are all important supporting parts. >> i would add one more name to that lexicon and that is kate kendall, out of san francisco. so there have been many, many people that deserve credit. and i think what you're seeing is sort of the post supreme court carping about who gets what. i think joe becker simply was trying to cover o

from the reverend martin luther king , jr., to justice thurgood marshall, to tony morrison, to spike lee, to congressman john lewis, whom we are expecting to have with us today. i think he is coming right from the hill. all of these graduates of these schools have gone ton to lead in fields ranging from politics, to literature and the arts. for 70 years the united negro college fund has been the financial lifeline that allowed many students at historically black colleges to thrive. every year the fund provides more than $100 million in scholarships to tens of thousand of students. over the decades the fund has raised and distributed more than $3 billion in educational assistance. and in 1999 was the beneficiary of a one billion dollars gift from the bill and melinda gates foundation. a billion dollars may seem like a lot of money even here in washington but the need is so great that for the united negro college fund, even a billion dollars will run out eventually. and that is just one of the challenges the united negro college fund faces as it enters its 8th decade. here to address t

to justice thurgood marshall to tony and him marshall to tony and morrison and congressman john him and him and him lewis who is and him and him and coming right in from the hill. all of these graduates of these schools have gone on to lead in and schools have gone on to lead in fields ranging from politics him to literature, to the arts. and and for 70 years, the united negro college fund has been the and financial lifeline that's allowed many of the students at an historically black colleges and him to thrive. and him every year, the fund and him provides more than $100 him and million in scholarships to tens of thousands of students. over the decades, the fund has raised and distributed more than $3 billion in educational an $3 billion in educational assistance. and in 1999 was the beneficiary of a $1 billion gift from the in of a $1 billion gift from the a and bill and melinda gates foundation. $1 billion may seem like a lot of money, even here in washington. but the need is so great that for the united negro college fund, even $1 billion will run out eventually. and that's just one

i think about thurgood marshall and i think about him, clarence thomas -- this guy talks about affirmativetion. he would not have even gone the education if it wasn't for forward action -- if it wasn't for affirmative action. receivede vote romney in the last election was from white americans, specifically, we know who they are, 60 and over. particularly white males. people, get out and vote. vote, we will take care of this. host: "the wall street journal" has this picture. a few of the devastation. president obama survey the distraction brought by a mudslide that killed 41 people in washington state last month. mr. obama mourned privately with families affected by the disaster. here's a little bit from president obama's visit yesterday in washington state. [video clip] >> there are families who have lost everything and it will be a difficult road ahead for them. that is what i wanted to come here. to let you know that the country is thinking about all of y ou. we are not going anywhere. we will be here as long as it takes. while very few americans have ever heard of oso before the disaste

one of the young people that he trained was thurgood marshall. a lot of people don't know about charles hamilton houston. he is in my biography and he is a real hero to me. because he someone who created change over time and change that is still with us today. but there are other people and i just mention this is the 50th anniversary and thinking about people like bob moses, david dennis. there is such an amazing range of people who participated. and again the stories of people who would go into a battleground to try to create change. those are american heroes of the highest calling. but we forget sometimes the courage that they are exhibiting at the american dream. sometimes we forget people who played a larger role than doctor king. people who have been active in terms of the local naacp working with a woman by the name of joann robinson who was a professor at alabama state to put into place what king ultimately leads. join robinson has a strong and capable mind. you know, she had been involved with getting black and white women together in a w