>> to me, first of all, all praises to alex haley to have the courage to write something like that and to put it on. it meant we have an opportunity now to be free, which we're doing it now. you know, by you celebrating 80 years -- it's taken us 80 years to talk about having black shows? my god, i'm worried. i'm thinking about my american indigenous people, how long it's going to take for them to get a show. but that moment in the show itself was just -- it was -- wow, i think back on that particular episode and i think about that time, what we're going through in the country, the fact i only had a paragraph, you were a slave and lincoln freed you and then alex haley went and did this wonderful story and i got to talk about our freedom, we're still running for it today. never stopped. >> i think the fact that made "roots" ground breaking was it was so realistic in the acting and the scenes and the discussion of what was going on, similar to what happened. do you see any show today that's giving america that same sentiment? that's having the same kind of cultural impact? >> not "roots."

you ever anticipate so much was going to happen now in the media, the king malcolm x revelation, alex haley now that's getting so much attention. so i discovered this about a year ago one of the things i always do and i didn't do this in my first few books, i'm a slow learner is if i find a great interview with an important person in my i track down the archives of the journalist who did the interview and i check to see if there are notes from the interview. if there are tapes or transcripts from the interview to see what got left out. when the case of ali, i found a sports illustrated reporter who had probably 30 hours of tapes that he made with ali. he just kept a tape recorder running the whole time. even when they were watching tv. so i could tell you what commercial was on right before ali came on to declare that wasn't going to fight in the vietnam war. but the best interview that the longest interview that king ever did was with alex of roots fame for, playboy magazine. so i found haley's archives at duke university. i asked them if they had the tapes from the interview. they said no

it was based on a 1976 book by alex haley about his family in africa and coming to america as slavesot just black america's story. we might have come over in the bottom of the ship, but we all came over on ships. your name means "stay put," but it don't mean stay a slave. as a 19-year-old kid, you know, "roots" was my first job. we're not children. we're very close to being men, yoboto. man: what's your name? kunta. kunta kinte. the character that i got to portray in "roots," kunta kinte the adult, was a dream role. burton: it was really ingenious to cast all of america's favorite television dads in the roles of the white slave owners and the villains. i'll be by to fetch you in the morning, captain. sleep well. it is difficult to explain in today's culture how unprecedented "roots" was. no one had ever seen the story of slavery before, told from the point of view of the africans. [ indistinct singing ] bianculli: it may be the first time that television allowed an embracing of black pride. then we's free. we's free, honey. one of the reasons that "roots" was so incredibly popular is

. - one of the things about "roots," is that it was a book adaptation by alex haley, which led to otheres, which were adapted by books by black authors, like "the women of brewster place," which was produced by oprah winfrey and starring oprah winfrey. - so, what's your idea of enjoying life butch fuller? running after every woman you see? - glory naylor's book, "women of brewster place" was a part of black feminism, which was a huge thing that started happening in black literature. so, when oprah got the rights to "women of brewster place," it had a track record that it was a significant enough piece. and because oprah was a big enough star at that point, she could populate it with people who had some name recognition. - i bet you got a new fellow? - i do have somebody. - "the women of brewster place" in 1989 really broke some new ground in terms of the kinds of women that were represented in that show. (upbeat music) - it's a drama about women, black women, and their tensions, their conflicts, their problems with men, their friendships with one another. - it was very kind of cutting e

alex, take a list to what republican candidate nikki haley said.we'll discuss. >> gay people have the right to marry, the same way a web designer has a right to say according to their religion they don't want to do it. i don't think this hurts us at all. i think the liberals will try and use this against us. >> alex, i saw you make a face there. too early to know the impact, political impact, of these recent rulings? >> yeah. i think it's too early to tell, in general, we've seen the political effect on the supreme court it's quite clear, this is the last institution that hasn't been felt by partisanship recent flip and basically every political institution in the country. democrats are going to use affirmative action case to a lesser extent the case involving the fake web design company. but to try to push further in the way that dobbs decision, you know, the repeal of roe v. wade worked at tmidterms. i think it's too early to feel it as potent. it's going to be one of the big issues in the 2024 action and democratic votes in particular have been

. >> alex, this was in the backyard of tim scott and nikki haley, both from south carolina. only in polling, but also in purely the amount of energy and the clear movement that continues to be seen around the country. this is now the ninth summer of trump rallies. and for donald trump, this is very much, it's much about the political as it is about the legal. and what you just heard from him was engaging the masses around his legal cases. and for donald trump, it is paramount to him to continue to not only put up his own defenses here, but make them part of his offensive campaign, as he seeks to really make this as much about the republican primary days as about the legal ones, alex. >> okay, vaughn hillyard, many thanks. revisionist history, marjorie taylor greene, comments said yesterday by her, it's gonna make you shake your head. but you won't shake your head at this, if you are in jacksonville beach this holiday weekend. it looks pretty nice. but it's hot. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ freestyle libre 2. try it for free at freestylelibre.us >> new reaction today after the supreme court str