judge gordon martin is here with us. [ applause ] lastly, moderator's prerogative, we took charlayne's book away from her. so based on the last comment from president clinton, he said there are new challenges in our world for civil rights and social progress, and that's really what this last panel is about. i wanted to begin with ray suarez. president carter just invoked god by saying we're all children of the same god. and when president kennedy introduced his legislation, he said we faced a moral crisis as a country and people that was as old as the scriptures and as clear as the contusion. clearly martin luther king led the movement really steeped in religion. you've written a book of the holy vote, the politics of faith in america and write about the advent of the cultural wars and how religion is a polarizing feature of the current national politics and less successful to helping us create the blessed community. is it no longer wise to invoke moral values and religion to promote civil rights? >> you have to understand if you invoke religion, it doesn't get you the same portion of

and i want charlayne hunter-gault's voice to be the last on this. i want you to answer the question from the audience. this person writes, i read your book many years ago and was moved by your story. how did what happened to you shape your decision in years to come and shape your career? >> it's all in this book. [ laughter ] but on lyndon johnson, i will say -- no, it shaped me -- i couldn't be an activist as a journalist, but i could be a passionate reporter for the things that i was seeing, and at the time that i entered, black people were portrayed in ways that were unrecognizable to themselves. and throughout my career, i have tried to portray all people in ways that are recognizable to themselves. now, on lyndon johnson, very quickly, in my book, it's written for young readers. those of you in this audience, it's for you to understand everything that we've been talking about. because there isn't anything that we've talked about today that isn't in here. but it's in your -- in terms that you can understand. and there is lyndon johnson's speech,

me either, frankly. >> charlayne and i haven't decided on you yet. >> well, exactly. the jury is totally still out, and i get that. but -- but -- we always take on more because america is constantly widening the idea of what civil and human rights mean and never narrowing it, which is a great genius for a people to have. if you are going to have a sort of habit that you keep coming back to, century after century, there are worse habits to have like biting your nails. but -- so we always widen the argument when people were trying to get on public -- public accommodations and mounting trailways and greyhound and heading south, they didn't think they were doing it for people who wanted to go to the movies and were in a wheelchair and there was no way to get the wheelchair into the movie but they were. they didn't think that they were doing it for people who could get kicked out of their apartments because they were gay. but they were. and so we are dealing with this constantly widening notion. now today, there are people who are not citizens of this country doing a lot o

and charlayne, i want to read the book. i'm sure i'll love it. >> oh, you will. >> i recommend you read it. >> you can buy her book. >> i will buy it. >> okay. >> the documentary on american experience documentary that's been shown and re-shown recently -- >> the freedom riders is by stan le nelson. you should see it. it's an excellent movie. >> kennedy did, after the first sit-ins, he sent a message saying, the new way -- you've shown that the new way to stand up for your rights is to sit down. now, why were -- did they make -- they rapidly learned the mississippi judge was a terrible mistake. i want to then say, charlayne brought onto the stage here robert kennedy. because he's a crucial part of all the questions we've asked so far. he called essentially all the signals on civil rights while his brother was alive. the president looked to him for civil rights. not to me at all in that sense, or to louie martin. he looked to his brother, robert. his brother, robert, by the way, liked very much dealing with the uncle of roge

that's the front edge of the wedge that charlayne was talking about. but america is still going to be built on that same dna, america is still going to be america once that change happens and once those children reach their maturity and are running things instead of just being told what to do. and so it means everybody has to stretch a little bit. and we did it before. we have done it before. we have -- we are constantly stretching and expanding that notion of who is worthy of my attention and my care and my inclusion. so we are going to do it again. but there is a lot of bad stuff that happens between now and the time that we finally get it. there always has been. every new people that's come to this country has had to get hazed first. and after they are hazed, then they are in. and once you are in, you eventually get to run things. so just think of all the people who are just part of our common culture today, whose own parents or grandparents never could have done the wonderful things that they are doing. that's the great genius of america, we are go

and was in the audience, so, you know, this -- all of this connection -- connectivity of how the charlayne story and others, and we all, you know, were doing our individual thing, trying to improve what we thought was the best options for us. >> now understanding it's 56 years later and you have the benefit of hindsight, let's go back to your young self and for history sake in this conference you have to answer the question of were you frightened? i mean, it's a situation where now we have all the troops showing up to protect you. >> sure, i was frighten -- well, we weren't frightened. we were frightened on the side of the unknown. when the governor called out the national guard to keep us out, yeah, we were frightened, and -- and the unknown was, you know, will i complete school that year? i didn't know whether it was going to collapse on me, but when president eisenhower sent the troops, i mean, that sent one hell of a message. the most difficult times for us is when we withdrew the troops from his side, and then we had to deal with students and harassment and the throwing of food and cu

very interesting, cold war, soviet union, communism, democracy, and then he said, the graduation of charlayne hunter and hamilton holmes from this university will be a major step in our war against communism and the soviet union and communism. and i said, excuse me? at which point i was no longer invisible, because everybody turned around and looked at me was probably the only person who stood up, maybe hamilton holmes, the other black student. i said to my professor, i have to meet this man. he said, come with us. afterwards at the reception, i was introduced to him, and he