king and reverend abernathy.us tonight. >> my pleasure. >> let me start with you, mrs. abernathy. it's such an honor that you would come and do a show and national network forum tonight. you and dr. abernathy were side by side with the king from day one. dr. abernathy nominated him the president of the montgomery movement and your house and church was actually bombed the night they formed the southern christian leadership conference. >> that's right. >> you lived under daily threat. i don't think people understand the price that was paid to get us to where we are today. give us a sense of how it was to be the co-pilot of this great movement. >> well, one of the things is that we had death threats every day for five consecutive years. there was a woman hired by the white citizens council, or the koo klux klan. we thought it was the white citizens council. she came on duty at 7:00 a.m. in the morning and worked until 7:00 p.m. in the evening and a man came on duty at 7:00. they called us everything with death threa

innocence, ralph abernathy was ahead of king because king was faltering -- in a sense, ralph abernathy was ahead of king because king was a faltering profit. he was a very human profit. -- human prophet. ands: i love the back story these prophetic moments in history. but there is even a story on how he got a newspaper. how he gotory of access to a newspaper. >> there is some debate on this . but i found a rare tape of dr. king preaching. it's the first time he addresses a mass meeting after he gets out of birmingham jail. so on april 22, you can hear him delivering a version -- a version of "letter to arming from- "a letter to birmingham jail." they have to bring you breakfast and they have to bring your lunch and they say, reverend, i know what you're talking about and tomorrow i will bring you a paper. >> talk about his reaction when editorial by these white clergyman who are saying, centrally, that is ill-timed. this is not the right strategy. to me more about the letter or the op-ed piece and then his response to it. >> it is really important to understand the mood he was in. depre

juanita abernathy. dr. king called them his favorite -- called him his favorite preacher, the pastor emeritus of the baptist church in cleveland and one of the pre-emflent ministers of our history, the -- preeminent ministers of our history, the reverend otis marks jr. one of the leading figures of the civil rights movement who was in the trenches for the last 50 years, unparalleled in black history, honored to have everend c.t. goodyear. and of course the the founder and president of the rainbow push coalition, reverend william augustus jones augustus junior and justice john scott and went on to found operation push, ran for president and has been a guiding force to all of us. our mentor and on this occasion , i put him on that side so he could, for just two hours, the the young man on the podium again. [applause] reverend jeffrey lewis jackson. [applause] don't mess with me, i put you over here and your piano and again. mannd you'll be an old again. [laughter] .ou will age 40 years and one we will be join

treaty, and unsure abernathy responded, they were, quote, with him in spirit, and the room exploded in applause. over the next several hours, you can sense the tension. there is tension here, right? they're not sure what to make of each other, they don't know if this is going to work, right in but so over the next several hours the delegates bond over food, over culture, music played and singing. and a growing realization that they are stronger together than apart. and that more importantly, perhaps, sclc was taking them seriously and took their issues seriously. miles horton, a founder of the highlander folk school which was a training center for civil rights and labor activists going back to the 1930s, after the conference wrote dr. king, quote: i believe we caught a glimpse of the future and the making of a bottom-up coalition. so king was assassinated three weeks after this, after this conference. sparking urban disorders in more than 100 cities across the can country and sparking a lot of concerns, you know, that echoed what folks who were opposed to the campaign had been sayin

other speakers include the reverend jesse jackson, juanita abernathy, the widow of late civil rights leader ralph aber in a they, reverend joseph lou re, and the nacc -- and the naacp chair. this is two and a half hours. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen. i'm reverend davis the coordinator for the national action network. thank you so much. thank you for being here this morning, especially all of you vf been -- who have been here this week. we have had a wonderful time this week and want to thank all of you who came from all over the country to be with us. now we're about to get started on our program, i would like to introduce our founder and president of the national action network, the reverend al sharpton. [applause] >> good morning. ood morning. good morning and thank you. movement, measure the 2013. we are live on 1190 wliv, c-span, and it will run on c-span again during the week, three times, and msnbc. every year at the end of our national convention, we have the leaders of various national civil rights groups join us to talk about what they have done and we have done in

. >> reporter: juanita jones abernat abernathy, widow of ralph abernathy, believes her church shouldm on what she considers sacred ground, where slaves were shipped in a boxcar during the civil war, where historically black colleges spellman and morehouse once held class in the basement. >> the church is a landmark in the community. and it needs to remain there as a landmark. >> reporter: the city's first offer to friendship, nearly ten times its appraised value, about $10 million. the pressure to move is obvious. you see the white top of the georgia dome stadium and how it looms over the churches. the new stadium would sit where that church is now. and over here, there would be a new roadway around the new stadium. the falcons' owner says no one is interested in force says the church off their property and that he will invest millions in the community. atlanta's mayor says he'll accept the church's decision but hopes they'll take the offer. >> and they will be a stronger church, a stronger organization that is more capable because of the millions of dollars that we're going to pay f

. >>> welcome, i'm bob abernathy, it's good to have you with us. president obama hosted the annual easter prayer brkfa at the whithouse friday, nearly a week after western christians celebrated the holiday. leaders from many christian traditions attended. the president called easter a time to remember the sacrifice of jesus and recommit to following his example. he reflected in particular on caring for the needy. >> when we tend to the sick, when we console those in pain, when we sacrifice for those in need, wherever and whenever we are there to give comfort, and to guide and to lo, th christ is with us. >> the former anglican archbishop of capetown, south africa, desmond tutu is this year's recipient of the templeton prize, given to those who affirm life's spiritual dimension it comes with the world's largest annual award, $1.7 million. tutu was chosen for his work quote advancing spiritual practices such as love and forgiveness. tutu was an outspoken critic of racial apartheid and later chaired south africa's truth and reconciliation commission.

i'm bob abernathy. can follow us on twitter and facebook and watch us any time on the pbs app for iphones and ipads. there's more on our website, including mour of our interviews about religion and the environment and links to additional environmental resources. audio and video podcasts are also available. join us at pbs.org. as we leave you, the boston children's chorus performing at the interfaith prayer service for victims of this week's bombing. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> announcer: major funding for "religion and ethics news weekly" is provided by the lily endowment, an indianapolis-based private mily fouation decated to its founder's interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >>> and the corporation for public broadcasting.

king and reverend abernathy and apologized for what happened.applause] >> there are so many of these stories. terrific stories. what kept you two going? how do you sustain -- but noted they do? detect a little bit about that just a minute ago. >> what motivated me is his word, troublemaker. i've heard the word from what i was knee-high to grasshopper. i was a troublemaker. troublemaker because you wrote in to see people who didn't have food. the congressmen, the troublemaker. i sat back and let the disparate troublemaker from every good, every angle i could look at it. after a while it became a division of people. i saw a skinny guy and in the company and can't be paired with all the dust settle, gandhi was called a troublemaker. come across the pond is a guy down there in georgia by the name of martin. other good deeds he did in his life in the dust has settled company called mark and a troublemaker. i can go to harriet tubman, underground railroad. i said back then i go back to south africa and think about a guy incarcerated for 28 years and t

young remembers how fellow minister ralph abernathy discovered an fbi bug while speaking at an alabama >> he said, look here. he took the microphone out and put it up on top of the pulpit. he said, little doohickey, i want you to tell president johnson, i want you to tell j. edgar hoover, i want you to tell george wallace, i want you to tell everybody. that no matter what they think, we are going to be free. and the whole church just cheered. >> but there were no cheers when fbi surveillance caught dr. king in an embarrassing moment. it was 1964 at the willard hotel in washington, d.c. >> a bunch of guys were in the room clowning, and they were having a very good time. and then it quieted down, and someone was left in the room and was recorded in the act of sexual intercourse. and they assumed it was dr. king. >> the same year at another hotel in los angeles, the fbi recorded dr. king telling a dirty joke about the recently assassinated president john kennedy. hoover sent the tape and transcript to bobby kennedy. the fbi tapes did not endear king to the attorney general or the white ho

luther king or abernathy or lowery. we can't say anything but thank you. >> thank you. >> our pleasure and our privilege. >> thank you for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> guns for everybody. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with the president who's doing the right thing. there was once a congressman from massachusetts, jimmy burke was his name. why don't you want background checks? because we're going to have guards at schools instead. how do you know that they don't have mental problems? because we're going to force them to have background checks. got it? we'll only give guards to background checks because that way, you see, we make sure everyone has to buy a gun. got it? do you? we sell guns. yesterday here on "hardball," the gun owners of america had no defense for his opposition to background checks. >> why is it bad for the government of the united states to maintain information on wife bet beaters, addicts, criminals, so the

was feeling sick and did not plan to speak but did so at the urging of his friend, ralph abernat abernathystored video. this shows james earl ray's return to memphis to face trial for dr. king's assassination. ray was arrested june 8th at london's heathrow airport as he tried to board a flight to brussels. here ray is being red read his rights on the plane to memphis. >>> president obama's just about an hour away from landing in colorado where he will push congress to pass federal gun control laws. the president will meet with officials close to the site of the aurora movie theater massacre. next week, the president will make that same case in connecticut just an hour away from newtown. meantime, here in new york city, gun control from the cities to the suburbs is the topic of the national action network's annual conference in new york. richard lui is there. you spoke with a number of people personally affected by gun violence? >> reporter: yeah, we just finished listening to the immigration reform panel. but the first panel of the day was on that what you just talked about, gun violence.

i've got pauline abernathy, one of the world's greatest -- actually bowling pauline and steven bird or incredible experts on a broad array of the differences in the types of debt, your repayment options, and also the incredible number of legislative efforts being made and consumer protection efforts being made in the student debt arena right now because the debt is truly unique, and actually among the most toxic forms of debt we can get our kids into. so without further adieu i'm going to introduce you to jane bennett clark who will come um here -- the program,-under speakers will come um and speak at the podium for a few minutes and then we'll all sit down and hopefully answer your questions. jane? thank you. >> so as kathy says, i have been covering college financial aid. we also have annual rankings we have been doing for other dozen years, and so we have been focusing on the value. we focus on net price, and we focus on average debt for about a dozen years. we also tried to explore the decisionmaking process that parent goess through as their kids are applying for college and choos

i have got pauline abernathy too chollet pauline and stephen burd are experts on a broad array of the differences in the types of debt that your repayment options, and also with the incredible number of legislative efforts that are being made in consumer protection efforts that are being made in the stood in that arena right now because the debt is truly unique. and actually among the most toxic forms of that we can get our kids into. so, without further ado, i am going to introduce you to james clark who is going to come up and just so you know the program speakers are going to come up and speak of the podium for a few minutes and then sit down and hopefully answer your questions. >> so, as kathy said, i've been covering college financial aid. we also have the rankings that we've been doing. we've been focusing on the values and on the net price, and we focus on the average debt for about a dozen years. we also tried to explore the decision making process that parents go through as their kids are applying for college and choosing a college, and i have kind of conclude it as a parent