king, but also bob moses, the main organizer from sncc. here i am as a sncc person giving a talk as the editor of martin luther king's papers. i gave this talk, and the conclusion of it was that the movement would have happened even if he had not been born. i looked out, and here's karen -- here is coretta scott king kind of frowning. i think maybe i'm not going to be lasting long in this job. [laughter] mr. carson: it forced me to rethink my own attitude. every time i applied for a grant to do the king papers, i had to say, why is this important? why is it important? if king had never been born, why is it important? what did he provide to the movement? one way of understanding the last 30 years of my life is answering that question. i have to answer that question every day, every year. each year, i hope my answer becomes more sophisticated, that i understand that there was something essential. what i think was essential is that he was a visionary. there were a lot of people who were good at mobilizing people. there were organizers. there

nobody ever tony but sncc.dy taught me the role of young people, i really and truly they were the linchpin. they were what pushed radical reforms into the mainstream. that they made the movement work. they were the glue. is like asking john lewis, why don't you write a comic book? people kept laughing. and i kept asking. until finally one day john lewis tournament to me and he said, okay, let's do it. only if you write it with me. that day changed my life. so i say to you today, people are laughing at you, you're probably doing something right. [applause] but that was just the beginning. how do you go about a congressman say okay, i'll do it comes to actually getting a book put together published? it took us five years. the congressman has a day job. i'm on his staff. i did, too. so it meant every night, every weekend and people would go see the, go out relax, see a movie, we would go back to work. i told the kids the other day, you think homework is bad. tried out. in the meantime i also decide to go back to g

having grown up in atlanta, having heard so much about the rights movement nobody ever taught me about snccnobody talk me about the role of young people. it people. it really and truly they were the linchpin, they were what pushed radical reform into the mainstream. they made the movement to work. they were the glue. so i kept asking john lewis, why do you write a comic book? people kept laughing. i kept asking. until finally one day john lewis turned around to me and said, okay, let's do it. only if you write it with me. that day changed my life. i say to you today, people are laughing at you you are probably doing something right people. [applause]. that was just the beginning. how do you go from a congressman saying okay i'll do it to actually get a book put together published question market took us five years. congressman honestly has a j job, i am on his staff, i did too. we met every night, every weekend when people would go see their families, when people would go out and relax, see a go out and relax, see a movie, we would go back to work. i told the kids the other day you think ho