from the protests of the 60s to the black panthers, all straight ahead on a second look. good evening. this is a second look. for most of a half century one woman has had a front row seat to history. in the process made history herself. velda davis was the first black female news anchor on the west coastn. her years at channels 4, 5 and 9 witnessed and reported the people, events and struggles that shaped our area and the nation. now she has written a book about her personal and professional journey. it's called never in my wildest dreams. she stopped by to talk act her book and life and we start where she starts in the book in the 60s where the bay area was often in the vortex of those turbulent times. >> some called the 60's a time of revolution. protesters in the streets and across the campuses and a popular rap said the revolution would not be on the television. but it was, and one of those who brought the images of turmoil from the streets to the living rooms was velda davis, television reporter. >> during the years -- i call acute protests there were so many things,

i grew up with the black panthers doing peace and freedom benefits for them.o on the one hand i like the softness of spirituel the day, but i also like the energy that you need to be a warrior where you need to be. i love martin luther king, but also malcolm x, sometimes you have to really hold your ground. compassion, kindness, education. rather than more killing. >> when you graduated in 1965, it was the height of the civil- rights movement. you just alluded to the environment that you were growing up in. as a young musician, what was it like for you in san francisco at the time? >> it was heaven on earth. we would go down to the fillmore and see these great band, the doors, and jimi hendrix, cream, and then go down to the grove to see other music. you could go to the mission district to hear mexican. everywhere i went there was this multi dimensional color and i felt like it was on necessary for me to do just one. like baskin-robbins, i want all the flavors. you cannot just be a mexican play music. there is a lot of beauty in that, but it was not for me. i

black panthers and all that had been working, you know, since the early '60s, and the weathermen andhe s.d.s. had been reflecting since the early '60s. and the free speech movement in berkeley had an effect on everybody. country joe and the fish were doing the same thing from berkeley, and-- that was just a fulmination of events that we were happy to be part of, you know. (paulsen) your music, from the beginning in the airplane-- it was different from other people. and i have to believe you never aspired to be bobby vee. it was always-- i was a child of the weavers. i was--not raised on the weavers, but when i came into music, i was musically raised by the weavers. they were the first person who struck me as a force. they eventually became the form from which i wanted to be-- the kind of band i wanted to be in. and when we started our band, this was the template that, unconsciously, anyway, i said, "well"--marty asked me the first night he met me-- he said, "you want to start a band?" i said, "yeah, we could do that. but there has to be a woman in it." 'cause i had always been swept

as a matter of fact, the black panthers threatened me many times. they caught me in an elevator at the palmer house in chicago and said, "we know that you are with martin luther king, but we want you to be on our side. and if you're not going to be on our side, when you come to harlem we will get you. " and of course . scared to death with these four beautiful strapping men, you know, pinning me up against the wall for the wrong reason. (laughter) ek: you don't say anything. (laughs) absolutely quiet. and when i came to harlem to do the apollo theater, they were there when i was doing speeches on behalf of martin luther king and trying to . they were ridiculing me, of course, and they threatened that they would get me again. but i stood my ground and walked from the seventh avenue theresa hotel to, all by myself, back to the apollo theater, as slowly as i could, doing the window shopping. and . no matter how many words they threw at me, i stood my grounds and no harm was done. q: this is a show largely about free expression and the first amendment.

i see racism in the ku klux klan and the black panthers and people like that. who actually are, come out and say they're racists. but i don't see it in the tea party. i think the tea party is a very promising wave of civic action in this country, and i applaud them. and i hope that their interest in the constitution will get us all to be reintroduce ourselves to the constitution. again, my friend, seth lipski who's written a wonderful book about the constitution, a reader's guide or what is it again? "a reader's guide to the constitution," something like that. "a citizen's guide to the constitution." and i urge people to get that book because it's challenging even if it's wrong, it challenges your sense of government's limits of the enumerated bill of rights, the enumerated powers of the constitution, and these are things that i think we're going to be discussing in the years ahead. and i think seth's book is a good place to start. >> host: we have an e-mail, do you know any neoconservatives, and if so, what is your opinion about them? [laughter] >> guest: i kn

i see racism in the klu klux klan and the black panthers who come out and say they're racist but i don't see it in the tea party. i think the tea party is a very promising wave of civic action in this country and i applaud them and i their interest in the constitution will get us all -- to reintroduce us to the constitution. again my friend has written a wonderful book about the constitution. a readers guide of what is it again. the readers guide of the constitution or something like that. a citizens guide to the constitution and i urge people to get that book because it's challenging even if it's wrong. it challenges your sense of government's limits of the enumerated powers of the constitution and these are things that i think we're going to be discussing in the years ahead. and i think the book is a good place to starred. >> this email, do you know any neoconservatives? and if so, what is your opinion about them? laugh plaintiff >> i know a lot of neoconservatives. and my opinion is that they're a force for good in the world. >> you started writing about neoconservatives in 1984, the

now these four officers have been charged and this tape was released by the head of the new black panthers party in houston. he's going to join us in just a minute. and also we're going to talk to one of the defense attorneys involved, dick deguerin. obviously a huge discussion in texas. the mayor of houston has said that he should probably be prosecuted for releasing the tape. prosecuted for releasing the tape. more of,,,, 3q lysol knows you work hard every day to help keep your family healthy. especially during cold and flu season. that's why we make lysol disinfectant spray. it is approved to kill more germs than any other brand, even h1n1. and it works on hard and soft surfaces to help keep your home healthy. lysol, the number one pediatrician-recommended brand. let lysol do more for you. check for coupons in your sunday paper. >>> hmm. something has grown on rebecca's head. >> i don't know. >> this is my secret way of supporting the vikings. viking colors. >> secret? >>> yeah, well, you know, from the midwest. i love the way the packers are a team that's owned bys community, so i'm ro

i invite people to do a little research on the way he handled the black panther, angela davis when he was governor, treated her like she was a, devoted so much police to this one individual. and the definition of like ronald reagan being a saint is something that is widely believed but has no basis in fact. host: the president has authorized airport screeners under tsa to unionize. the "wall street journal" this morning saying new york, new york. frank, republican line. caller: good morning. that lady who gave the lengthy die tribe should try and implicate a president regardless of who it was with the deaths of westerner, goodman, and shah, is not taking into conversation the temper of the locale and the times. and it's a cheap shot, has no bearing in truth whatsoever. i'm sitting here in new york with tavern on the green closed because of the unions, 400 employees out. i have another tavern closed partly because of the smoking law, the economy, and again the unions. their greed is just unstoppable. i have to agree with my southern brother who called earlier that any republican or pol

the last time i heard that was in the 60s when the black panthers saw we started the war on poverty. they said we're willing to take care of our own families, schools, ect., ect., and you are starting a war on poverty creating jobs for yourselves. you're poverty pimps. 30 years later, he says that to us. i'm over there, well, i wasn't arguing at this point in time because i was questioning whether my services were breaking the cycle. we helped people, but not breaking the cycle. we had an argument as to whose fault it was. ultimately he said if you could do anything you wanted to do without worrying about money or regulations, what would you do? come to my office next month and show me. i had been through this with my family. i thought for a week and a half, what would i do if i was all powerful? i came to the conclusion i didn't know. the thing i did know is my mother got me act. back to the office, and i said i don't know what i would do, but my mother knew how to get me out, and i think most moms and dads know how to get their own kids out. i take this money, set it aside and pay

the last time i heard poverty pimping was in 60s one the black panthers saw we were starting the war on poverty and what they said is we are willing to take care of our own families with their own lunch programs. you guys are starting this war on poverty and you are going to create jobs for yourself. so it was 30 years later that jerry brown says that to us. i will start doing with him at this point in time because i was questioning whether my services were breaking the cycle and helping people. .. an engineer. and, you know, i had a database system that could tell me what's happening in the family's life. i'm going to pay that information and we're going to see what kind of patterns what they would do themselves. and as we're bound to learn something. and he's adventurous enough to say okay. that would be interesting and so that was a start of the family independence initiative. and it started really as an experiment to try to see what the capacity was of families help themselves but also what i had learned is that nobody actually it out of poverty by themselves and what i had been

[laughter] there are a few others, bobby rush, former black panther. [laughter] i'll give you one more just because of the history, terrible, terrible liberal now, but john louis was a total hero during the freedom ride, and you can't make somebody like that. it drives me crazy he's become a liberal, but he's one that's hard to hate because of his proud history. [applause] >> thank you for being here today. i'm tom from new york. so much of the structure of the overreach is based or not commerce clause. as leading voice of the conservative movement, do you want to repeal and replace with an amendment that clarifies that government cannot be overstretched? >> no, just add an amendment that says please read this document before you make a decision. [applause] >> unfortunately -- >> there, we have it. it was my law firm who brought one the two big commerce decisions. we got the morris act declared unconstitutional because violence against woman is not the matter of commerce, and the other was lopez, the gun free school zone act, and that was the first tim

black hawks won it, 5-3. >>> finally, matt molson single handedly beat the panthers, gave the islanders a 2-0 lead and cappedhis second career hat truck with an empty netter. islanders have won 6 of 7 after beating florida 5-1. that's your early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. >>> sandra bullock's ex makes a strange move to rehab his tattered image. your early morning entertainment headlines are straight ahead. >>> plus, she's an example for public servants, for seniors, heck, she's an example for us all. you're watching "early today." >>> welcome back on this tuesday morning. thering forecast in the pacific northwest the mechanics couple of days. temperatures will come crashing down. storm systems still around with some moisture. we're talking snow, even m city. today it's fine down in the southwest. just rainshowers, seattle and portland. cold front will go through. temperatures will drop. then the snow elevations will too. rain changing to snow. especially wednesday night into thursday. may even be muff to have to shovel a little bit. especially many seattle. >>> if are you bauching us o