this perspective has so much power it is often called the cold war civil rights theory and civil right organizations are considered too weak to impact the country. from this perspective, national security concerns and not civil rights, gave the federal government to the power to protect the laws of the african-american americans. the cold war rights set the debate for the last decade. the response of southern injustice and the way legal scholars have narrated the beginning and the ground work of criminal procedure is for example dempsey, the fact that 1 african-american men were going to be sentenced to die, of course the supreme court had to step in. this is a mischaracter of justice. it falls into line with american democracy and liberalism but i think it incomplete. what about the empath of civil rights organizations before the cold war? it is mostly silent. it is supported by scholarships and african-american studies and provided a narrative of political activism and national politics that exist in the bound of reconstruction in the period post-1950s. the period in the middle, the

that is the civil rights movement, and i preface my comments like giving us a short sketch of the civil rights movement because even before carmichael calls for black power, he is is one of the key activists in the united states working for civil rights. before we can talk about the movement for black power, we power, we think about him as a community organizer and activist who was arrested 27 times for civil rights organizing, a student right here who joined the nonviolent action group, some of the most committed and brilliant young activists who were trying to not just desegregate parts of the self and washington dc and places like cambridge they are trying to transform institutions. and what is interesting about stokely carmichael is that he finds his vocation as an organizer, as an organizer. he visits mississippi for the first time at the age of 19, and it is the first time he is arrested as a freedom fighter june 8, 1961, and he spends not just time in the county jail in jackson, mississippi, but over 30 days in a penitentiary, one of the state of mississippi's worst prison farms.

when we think about the civil rights movement, it was always contested. millions had millions had a different conception of democracy that was not expensive enough. remember, the brilliant organizer, the lead organizer of the nonviolent coordinating committee in her own right, told those young students it was about more. by april of 1960 the new york times and newspapers were trying to say that is what it is about. and she said, this is not about lunch counters or hamburgers. this is about democracy. james baldwin says it in a way that only he can. the young people organizing all across the south are doing it to do more than what baldwin calls tasteless cups of coffee. that is not me. what is important, when we think about where we are today, carmichael's life provides an example of a life well lived. he does not become a hedge fund leader, the world's biggest baker. what he did was provide

to where it was pre-civil rights movement. the old dixiecrat spirit of the citizens council now have a new name and they are called the tea party. i was telling my brother the other day that i never thought i would live to see a time when those same spirits would come back. i thought they were gone forever, but a have come back in the form of tea party because that sounds better than the white citizens council. or the ku klux klan. the spirit is the same and you have to make the difference. it will not change unless we change it. but everybody goes along to get along now. it will be a different america for your grandchildren if we don't speak up and speak out. because we have a very very reactionary senate now. it is no accident. in the german newspapers, they were talking about it -- how conservative america has become. their prediction is america cannot stand as a great nation in the world, among world powers , with her country in 2014 still separated by race, color and class. you know, i'm an american and i always say i lov

by the 1950s you have a strong civil rights movement here anchored in reverend schettles worth. was the most outspoken, most vocal, most fearless of all the civil rates leaders. for that reason he was often the target of the klu klux klan. they bombed his church in 1956. the bomb damaged the church and literally blew away the walls of the bedroom where he lay. he walked out of that bombing that night without a scratch. he said later that event convinced him that god had anighted him, had selected him to lead the civil rights movement and that he could not be harmed, could not killed. and he showed fearlessness throughout this period. after the christmas night 1956 bombing, members of the congregation organized themselves into squausd. they took turns each night guarding bethel baptist church. in 1958 a young woman who lived across the street, lavern mcwilliams who was coming home from her job at a sandwich shop noticed smoke coming up beside the church building. she went over to wake up some of the guards and found they had actually fallen a sleep on the porch of the house next

movement by passing and signing the civil rights acts of 1964 and 1965. by the young age of 25, john had accomplished great things. with these monumental achievements behind him, he turned his attention to strengthening community organizations. president jimmy carter appointed him to an executive position. in 1981, he was elected to the atlanta city council. john was elected to congress in 1986 where he continued his campaign to protect human rights and expand civil liberties. he has represented the fifth district of georgia for 27 years. at the election earlier this month, he ran unopposed. john is the ranking member of the committee on oversight, and a member of the ways and means committee, and is part of the house democratic leadership. he is admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for his high ethical and moral standards and society also admires john lewis for these attributes and for his lifetime of work that has transformed our nation and left an enduring legacy for the future. earlier this year, president barack obama spoke about the civi

for civil rights. people will choose their own part of marion barry's life to remember. but here in the district of columbia, here among those of us who still struggle for statehood, let us always celebrate marion barry, jr., freedom fighter. [applause] ♪ [applause] >> good evening. [applause] and thank you. for those of you who know me you know i am not shy. i am not a person that is lost for words. and like marion, i am not scared. but this has been overwhelming. and everything that has been said, there is nothing left to say except to you that marion was my dear friend. we have known each other since 1970. it was my partner. i knew him in a way that every time i listened, all i can think about is just one thing, the essence of him. that -- >> take your time, cora. >> he was not think. -- fake. everything he did, he did little. it was a person every day of his life. he was a person that loved his people. [applause] the above his people. -- he loved his people. he was a person that took great pride in

correct for some of the cases -- some of the cases that the supreme court has used to gut existing civil rights law. i don't think he would have let the voting rights act be gutted without having heard from an organized effort to speak back to this. i don't think he would have thought that it would be off of table to continue to talk about affirmative action. he was a staunch defender of the idea that there are consequences to our history. and if we don't have race-conscious means to deal with it, the burdens will rest with those who are least able to pay for them. so, i think he would have been very concerned about the consequence. the other thing that's important to say and to reckon with is a thurgood marshall couldn't have gotten appointed to the supreme court today. that we were able to accomplish something nearly 50 years ago that could not be done today. that's something for us to really ponder and worry about. that someone as transformative as thurgood marshall, who changed the face of law in the 20th century, could not be appointed to be one of the individuals who was assigned to inter

"she sings civil rights songs at every one of her concerts.was one of the few black voices white people would hear and it could hurt her career. so you look at the great taylor branch biographies and she's mentioned a few dozen times throughout, and she should be, she's there and stuff. and her political affect, she was on a first-name basis with everybody from harry truman through lbj, sang at the white house, campaigned for him, but her own autobiography has hundreds of listings of where she was and what she sang and why she sang it. and she's just the best known. there's a whole bunch of other people who did that much and more. never financially did more. mahalia was the lone black artist who could afford to do that at that time. the ward sister stos to a degree, but very few others could. but they were there. they were marching on the front lines. they were providing the music and the mass meetings. they were doing what they could. they were doing benefit concerts. that's never been really chronicled the way i they it deserved to be. so wh

p professor crenshaw teaches civil rights. she's been a leader in the critical race theory movement. she's published extensively in this area and is a graduate of cornell and has a master's degree from the university of will we. to my immediate right, larry gibson, is distinguished professor at the university of maryland school of law. a wonderful big ra 23i of justice marshal's years growing up here in baltimore.ófpy he was the first african american law professor at the yumpbt of virginia before accepting a faculty position here in maryland. he has been engaged in many activities here and has served as the associate deputy general. jose is one of our finest professors. here in baltimore and all the way up to the supreme court. he's taught here and at the wharton school and has received rewards for his teaching and scholarship and mentor ship. i'm going to begin the questioning of this pabl. and then i'd invite people who have questions to turn it over to the microphone and audience as we progress. >> close to the end of the

but now -- cheryl: watching the civil rights investigation.hy waste taxpayer money on an investigation if it ends up the same way that the staten island grand jury ended up today, no indictment of the officer who is on video administering a chokehold to eric garner? >> i'm not sure the staten island case is going to end up the same way as ferguson. this is standard operating procedure to open up a review. what holder announced with fanfare is like announcing they turned the lights on at justice department. they do this in every case involving a police death like this. cheryl: well, let's get your reaction to -- i'm note going to talk about al sharpton, all on the heels of what we saw in ferring pentagon and a lot of major issues happening right now with regards to ferguson and still a lot of unrest down there. do you think that between the ferguson protests and the garner protests tonight, do you think that the president is going to come up with a new strategy to deal with racism in this country, and the fact that many african-americans believ

civil rights. people will choose their own part of marion barry's life to remember, but here in the district of columbia here among those of us who still struggle for statehood, let us always celebrate marion barry jr. freedom fighter. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ what do you do when you have done all you can ♪ ♪ tell me what do you say when your friends turn away and you're all alone ♪ ♪ what do you do give when you give it all and it seems like you can't ♪ ♪ just when there is nothing left to do just watch my lord see you through ♪ ♪ out there you have done all you can ♪ ♪ how do you handle the guilt of the past ♪ ♪ tell me how do you deal with the shame ♪ ♪ how can you smile while your heart has been broken and filled with so much pain so much pain, so much pain ♪ ♪ tell me what do you need when you and it seems like you can't take anymore ♪ ♪ you just stand when there is nothing left to do you stand and watch the lord see you through ♪ ♪ you just stand ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ after you have

own son and that goes a long way and that is playing out on staten island. >> we're hearing from civil rights groups that they will stage traditional marches going into early next year. what concrete steps do you think protesters are going to take next on the ground there in staten island. >> well, right now, again, while so many people are still kind of in a state of flux and trying to figure out what to do, organizers are already pulling together protests and demonstrati demonstrations. today later on at 5:30 in foley square, a big march under the umbrella, this stops today. we're echoing words that eric garner said right before he was killed. a bunch of organizations are coming together. so, they do have demand. they want an end to broken windows policing. they want an end to the police department essentially policing itself. so, you know, as they're trying to figure out what the next steps are, first it's mobilizing the people and that's what they're doing now. >> thank you so much for the update on that story. >> thanks for having me, ronan. >>> we want you to weigh in on one of the big

this would greatly improve the state of civil rights and human rights in america. i thank the subcommittee for the opportunity to testify and would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. thank you. >> thank you, doctor alexander. >> thank you, senator durbin and ranking member cruz for inviting the aclu to testify at today's hearing. for nearly 100 years the aclu has worked to defend and preserve the rights that the constitution and the laws of the united states guaranteed. i would especially like to thank you, senator durbin, for your tireless leadership as chairman. you have held hearings on a variety of critical issues, from solitary confinement to racial profiling and addressing barriers to voting, and for that we are so very thankful. my written testimony provides an extensive and broader view of the state of civil and human rights. but today i will focus my remarks on three areas of unfinished business. one, the militarization of police. two, sentencing reforms, and three, criminal disenfranchisement and voting. we are standing at a crossroads in

hopefully, he will be unable to get sexually aroused. >> it's very hard to achieve civil rights for aedical world is describing this group as mentally ill. so one of the goals of the gay rights movement was to eliminate that kind of thinking represents prejudice, it doesn't represent science. >> the dilemma of the homosexual told by the medical profession he is sick, by the law that he is a criminal, shunned by employers, rejected by heterosexual society. at the center of his life, he remains an outsider. >> i think gay men got sort of sick and tired of seeing the "revolution" going on all around them while they were being vilified and kept completely to the margins. something is always going to light the spark, and it was about to happen somewhere. >> in june of 1969, the police staged a raid, just a routine raid on a gay bar, the stonewall inn in greenwich village in new york. and unlike a routine raid, in this case, men fought back. >> stonewall was a watershed moment in really the development of civil rights for the lgbt community. within four years of stonewall, the american psyc

this would greatly improve the state of civil rights and human rights in america. i thank the subcommittee for the opportunity to testify and would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. thank you. alexander.u, dr. >> thank you, senator durbin, and ranking member cruz, for inviting the aclu to testify at today's hearing. for nearly a hundred years, the aclu has worked to defend and preserve the rights that the constitution and the laws of the united states guarantee. i would especially like to thank you, senator durbin, for your tireless leadership as chairman. you have held hearings on a variety of critical issues from solitary confinement to racial profiling and addressing barriers to voting, and for hat we are so very thankful. my written testimony provides an extensive and broader view of the state of civil and human rights, but today i will focus my remarks on three areas of unfinished business. one, the militarization of police, two, sentencing reform, and, three, criminal disenfranchisement in voting. we are standing at a crossroads in america r

when it comes to civil rights, i think there is no civil right more important than the right of every child to access a quality education. and in my view, the most compelling civil rights issue of the 21st century is the need to expand school choice and educational options so that every child regardless of race, ethnicity, zip code, wealth, has fair opportunity to receive an excellent education. unfortunately that has not been a focus of committee. for the past two years. i'm hopeful it will become a focus of the committee in the coming years. i would note as well that a disturbing pattern has been demonstrated over the last several years of the federal government violating the constitutional rights of the citizenry. whether it is the i.r.s. disregarding the first amendment rights of citizens, asking individual citizens, tell us what books you're reading. tell us the content of your prayers. whether it is a consistent disregard for the second amendment. whether it is a disregard for religious freedom including unfortunately the federal government right now litigating against the littl

david rudovsky is a civil rights lawyer and he joins us by phone from philadelphia. what do you mean by the inherent misconduct of trying to hold police responsible? [ >> can you hear me? >> i can hear you, very clearly. can everybody else? go ahead. >> so the conflict as they work together in law enforcement, and prosecutors don't like to indict and charge fellow law enforcement officials. that becomes a huge problem. as though the people have said in those kinds of situations if it was a civilian involved in this choke hold, if it was a civilian out in ferguson using that kind of force they would be arrested right away, they would be indicted. they might have a good self defense claim in trial. where it's a police officer it really is a double standard. >> so what is the solution to that? obviously lawyers, prosecutors do have to work with police. we can't take that part of the equation apart. how do police get treated fairly. and on the other side of the coin, how if you're a policeman in america i would be worried about doing everything for fear everybody has the

work of the civil rights division over the last six years.nd thank you steve also for being a strong partner in the investigation. throughout this investigation, and beyond, the attorneys from our offices -- >> there you heard the news, the city of cleveland is now the 9th city to agree to a consent decree with the department of justice to correct what eric holder described as unconstitutional police practices. what happened in cleveland two years ago is what led this particular department of justice investigation and it reads and sounds like something out of a hollywood movie with some unfortunate circumstances. when they thought they heard shots being fired, they took off, the police started chasing them, all and all, 13 officers of the course of the next 23 minutes fired 137 shots. eventually killing timothy russell and melissa williams, the two people inside that car, at 1 point, 1 of the officers was apparently on the hoar firing directly into the windshield. as it turns out russell and williams had no weapons on them, at least nothing w

mike miers with the new york civil rights coalition.the evidence, i've read the evidence. you know the black eyewitness testimony, the refrain goes on, hands up, don't shoot. >> i've read the evidence with respect to ferguson. >> that's what i'm saying. >> the evidence has not been released -- >> but that's what they're referring to. >> they're in the streets of new york over the grand jury decision with respect to the police officer in staten island. they moved everything together now, no justice, no peace, hands up, don't shoot. people don't care about evidence. you have a situation where you have a grand jury where both grand juries were not runaway grand juries. i believe based on the evidence i read did the right thing. this grand jury's evidence is secret, not known -- >> let's release it. >> they can release it, but moreover the prosecutor apparently did not want a runaway indictment. >> let me go to darryl parks. you can hear the refrain, hands up, don't shoot. but you have six black eyewitnesses that said -- i'll quote one of t

for civil rights. people will choose their own part of marion barry's life to remember, but here in the district of columbia, here among those of us who still struggle for statehood, let us always celebrate marion barry, jr., freedom fighter. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ what do you do when you have done all you can? ♪ tell me, what do you say when friends turn a way? ♪ what do you do when you give ♪ ♪ ♪ the guilt of your past? tell me, how do you deal with the shame? ♪ how can you smile when your heart has been broken and filled with pain, filled with pain? ♪ tell me what do you give when you give in your all and it seems like you can't make it through? ♪ child, you just stand when there's nothing left to do ♪ ♪ you just stand, watch the lord see you through ♪ ♪ yes, after you've done all you can, you just stand ♪ ♪ stand and be sure ♪ be not entangled in that bondage again. you just stand. stand and into her ♪ ♪ god has a purpose, yes, god has a plan ♪ ♪ tell me what do you do when you've done all you can and

they've announced a federal civil rights investigation and the d. a.up in new york wants people to know that question that you just heard garner's family answer what did this grand jury see or hear that convinced them this case should not go to trial, the d. a.up there is asking to have some of those grand jury transcripts released. that phrase, black lives matter is trending on twitter this morning after a night of protests that snarled traffic in new york and washington. there were protests down south and on the west coast. >> our history, sadly, requires us to say that black lives matter. >> reporter: video of eric garner in a police chokehold shouting i can't breathe was not enough to indict. the coroner called it a homicide complicated by health issues. the obama administration reacted quickly ordering a federal civil rights investigation. >> this is not a new york issue nor a ferguson issue alone. >> this isn't a blackish and it isn't a whitish, it isn't a latino issue it's an american issue. >> when anybody in this country is not being treate

president obama speaking out about the civil rights issue of our time. policing in america. are the laws and methods applied fairly, justly and equally across all communities? the heat surrounding this question is now at a boiling point. today we saw more protests spreading to cities across the country. in ferguson, today, we saw the first meeting of a 16-member commission, appointed to find solutions after the shooting of michael brown. and i was at the white house today as the president devoted his day to meetings with officials and civil rights leaders. >> this is not a problem simply of ferguson, missouri. this is a problem that is national. it is a solvable problem. but it is one that, unfortunately, spikes after one event and then fades into the background until something else happens. what we need is a sustained conversation in which in each region of the country, people are talking about this honestly and then can move forward in a constructive fashion. >> the white house today taking a series of steps, creating a task force on 21st century policing. releasing a repo

correct for some of the cases -- some of the cases that the supreme court has used to gut existing civil rightslaw. i don't think he would have let the voting rights act be gutted without having heard from an organized effort to speak back to this. i don't think he would have thought that it would be off of table to continue to talk about affirmative action. he was a staunch defender of the idea that there are consequences to our history. and if we don't have race-conscious means to deal with it, the burdens will rest with those who are least able to pay for them. so, i think he would have been very concerned about the consequence. the other thing that's important to say and to reckon with is a thurgood marshall couldn't have gotten appointed to the supreme court today. that we were able to accomplish something nearly 50 years ago that could not be done today. that's something for us to really ponder and worry about. that someone as transformative as thurgood marshall, who changed the face of law in the 20th century, could not be appointed to be one of the individuals who was assigned to interp

they have to do with anybody's, white, black, civil rights. have you to demonstrate willfulness that the officer intended to deny, to violate, in this case mr. garner's civil rights. >> well, it has to be intentional in the federal case, is what you're saying. >> yes. >> and in the federal case, again, coming back to what george will just explained to you, was clear deputy ra vags of your constitutional rights. the man's dead. i don't know that they can get a convictions, if that's your thinking, but i don't think that's the job of the prosecutor. and what we've seen in the local grand juries, i think, has been the effort by prosecutors to cover themselves, to avoid saying, i have no responsibility, although the prosecutors work so closely with the police. you know, the old saying, you can get a ham sandwich indicted by a grand jury. but in these cases what you see is prosecutors going before the grand jury, feeling they have to present exculpatory evidence for the defendant. they don't need to do that. they don't have to say a thing. they jus

leave things alone we're not going to be under the scrutiny of civil rights. option either. >> all right. lori levinson, stand by. debbie rose, tom fuentes. we will take another break. i think the mayor of new york, bill de blasio, the police chief in new york, bill bratton, they're going to be speaking momentarily taking reporters' questions on these developments. our special coverage resumes after this. how much money do you have in your pocket right now? i have $40, $21. could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement? i don't think so. well if you start putting that towards your retirement every week and let it grow over time, for twenty to thirty years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. ♪ uh, and i know my iq. okay. uh, and i know-uh-i know what blood type i have. oh, wow! uh huh, yeah. i don't know my credit score. you don't know your credit score? --i don't know my credit score. that's really important. i mean -- i don't know my credit score. don't you want to buy a house...like, ever? you should

do you think there is a legitimate basis for federal civil rights investigation? >> look, eric holder is the one who uses the word or the phrase "occupying force" to describe the new york pd. that's the way this regime talks about israel. i'm not putting these words in their mouth. i'm not the one who's saying them. but i do think we have to honestly interpret and analyze and honestly hear what they are saying. this -- the idea that we need civil rights violations from the federal government, this is promoting the division. we need -- i hear all these civil rights leaders say, chris, that we need to start the healing. nobody's doing that. there are too many people profiting off of this strife. there are too many people promoting it, too many people making a living, making money off this racial divide, not doing a thing to -- we had the first black president-elected. you know how many people voted for this guy hoping and thinking this kind of thing was over? it's worse, chris. it has gotten worse. and one of the reasons why, no criticism, legitimate criticism of th

many people in this nation have their particular roles as pastors and civil rights leaders. and in a meeting held right before the thanksgiving holiday, members of the congressional black caucus were reminded of the giant role that they have played over the years in combining passion with legislation. hearings with pain. as early as the 1990's we held hearings on the questions of excessive force, as well as the issues of racial profiling along the highways of america. the issue of excessive sentencing in the crack cocaine disparities. the issue of dealing with the overincarceration of minorities and the overfilling of jails. today, mr. speaker, i rise to ead to my colleagues, we are legislators. we cannot legislate without the partnership of republicans. and so i stand as a democrat and a member of the congressional black caucus that has always been cited as the conscience of america to say hat we need to work in step on the conspicuous achilles heels of america. that is, the criminal justice system. as we stand here today, every one of us has applauded a police officer, has

and this, prior to a civil rights bill, prior to the civil rights act of '64, this would use federal to force the issue of equal employment. it created the president's commission on equal employment opportunity which would be chaired by vice president johnson. it then required that all federal contractors advertise and prove that they are equal opportunity employers. which was a big thing. they could not discriminate based on race. and that made a difference to all of those contractors that nasa had. total number of african-american employees throughout the installations was always going to be small. we're talking in maybe double digits at the most in some places. particularly in this time period. we look at 1960-1964, '65. that's going to be a very small number of african-americans in that type of work force in the south. one case he was a space contractor. he worked for rca, and that's julius montgomery. he was a range rat which meant that when a missile came down or something went wrong, he and a crew went out and worked on it to find out what was wrong, fixed it. his first day on

>> civil rights means any americans' rights may have been violated by the authorities.not about skin color. it's about behaving responsibly toward a fellow citizen. >> well the excessive use of force comes under this civil rights claim. the argument is that the officer actually deprived this individual of his constitutional right. the right to be free from a fourth amendment claim, an unreasonable search and seizure. >> lose on that though. there is enough testimony put forth. >> 50 witnesses. >> right. that the man was committing an illegal act. albeit it was a illegal act, albeit it was a very small act. >> although, bill, i'll say on the way you weigh these standards, and the case was graham versus connor in 1989, scalia, kennedy, justice white, they were all in the majority. i think it was marshal blackman were in the dissent. you have to -- again, you have to take into account different circumstances. the severity of the crime at issue. the guy was selling, you know, cigarettes. so the severity of the crime not so much. was he a flight risk? was he posing a danger

one, upon civil rights basis against officer wilson.wo, against the police department and the city of ferguson when the time comes. those are not issues we discuss publicly upon our team. we'll certainly give the parties a chance to work that out, among the parties f they choose so, if and when we need to make a public issue, we will. but as of now, it's not. >> when you say give the parties to work it out, are you suggesting a possible settlement? >> no. i mean, i think the chance to resolve whatever differences we may have that could be a settlement. it could be some form of litigation if needed. it just depends. they'll have a chance to do whatever they deem proper in the situation and we'll react. >> finally, mr. bruntrager, reacting to that, what do you think of the merits of a civil lawsuit by the brown family against your client? also, what do you think of the merits of a federal lawsuit, if they decide so bring it, which would have to prove that officer wilson intended to violate michael brown's civil rights? >> let me start wit

there was no civil rights case. >> you know how the fade rale government, they investigate civil rights violations all the time. many of them are not in media, whether it's white -- >> i'm talking about trayvon and george. >> i'm talking about in general. >> i'm asking a question. i'm asking you that -- >> you're talking about one or two cases. >> do you agree with me were eric, yes or no. was there a civil rights find in the george zimmerman case yes or no. >> that's an interesting point. >> answer the question. >> no, i'm not. >> then you can't be on the show. >> the issue is whether or not there was a likelihood of one. and with those facts there was a chance. >> what was the upshot? >> there was a chance. >> let's not talk about wishing and hoping. >> you don't know unless you investigate, judge jeanine. >> i'm asking you a question. answer it. did the federal department of justice find a civil rights injustice in the trayvon martin-george zimmerman case? no. you're afraid to answer. >> they have to investigate. >> why don't you answer the question? because you don't want to. let's

so there was a conviction on civil rights laws. they had to show in this police officer was motivated by the color of the victim's skin not because he per seeped the guy as a threat. >> david shuster for us, thank you. >>> still ahead on al jazerra america, secretary of defense chuck hagel receivers a new report on sexual assault in the miles an hour tail i but the news conference certainly took a attorney. also how a faulty valve and winds always kept nasa's newest space craft on the ground for another day. >>> significantly more u.s. troops have been speaking up about sexual assault in the military, that's according to a report released today by the secretary of defense chuck hagel. in it the pentagon announces new plans to deal with the problem. jamie macintyre joins us from washington. what else have we learned from this report, jamie. >> reporter: depending on who you listen to, this report either shows that the pentagon has made substantial progress combating sexual assault in the military or it shows that not enough has chan

it easier for the government to convict so that state actors would be fearful of violating the civil rightse people with whom they come in contact. >> looking live in chicago. chuck? >> well, the judge is absolutely right about the function of the justice department in a situation like this. it was established in 1870 after the civil war in the midst of a lot of racial violence in the south to provide the kind of law enforcement against reshlly motivated attacks in the confederacy. this is the arjal core mission of the justice department to is intervene in cases where possible racial motive or racial overtones there's been a failure of state justice or misuse of what they call authority under color of state law. so i think whether they can actually get over the legal hurdles or not is entirely appropriate for eric holder to proceed now with the the state procedure having been exhausted and coming up with nothing, it's the federal government eastern. and i want to tell you something. it's important for the legitimacy of the whole legal system that all the people you're watching in the street

commission on civil rights.eed to have a conversation with you, and as we have this conversation, i want to roll in the picturesover the demonstrations going on in new york. it is on the move. >> i want to tell you one thing first, tony. >> yes, please. >> when i was chair of the commission, we did several hearings and studies about the new york police department. a big one after [ inaudible ] was shot and killed in new york. and this very thorough study, which got wide publicity, it's still on -- you can get it on the internet, police practices and civil rights, show that statton island is the place where the largest number of stop and frisk stops without a charge were made and they were mostly of black people, and that that was the place where most of this happened. also we made a lot of recommendations for what the police should do, and we were told that the police would make all of these changes. there have been studies even since then, and everyone finds the same thing, and that is the training that is prom

next on booktv "after words" with guest host michael meyers executive director of the new york civil rights coalition. this week jason sokol in his latest book "all eyes are upon us." in that the historian argues that while the northeast enjoyed a reputation as a bastion for racial equality in reality blacks were relegated to living in ghettos and working menial jobs until northern leaders challenged citizens to practice what they were preaching. this program contains language that some may find offensive. >> host: jason it's very difficult to decide where to begin with your book. we are going to make a teaser to the audience. we are going to get to the conflict in a clash between at brooks and joe biden. that's a teaser. let's begin where you you began and that is with some history. this is a history book but the precipice to brown v. board of education and the springfield locale. >> guest: right. well the sense of history, i do have an argument they are about the way that northern history operates versus the way that southern history operates. that is, woodward famously wrote about the bu

act -- 1964 civil rights act.he wanted to take it introduce the word sex. she wanted to introduce a word that would provide for equal opportunity. so she held back because she knew that smith could bring a lot of southern votes with him. smith intended this simply as a gimmick. well, he gets onto the floor to talks about how he wants insert the word sex into this. there is laughter's and giggles around the chamber. martha follows smith up on behalf of the amendment and says -- if there was any need we need this amendment, the laughing prior -- they tting up your prove it -- here -- they prove it. eventually, it was included in the civil rights act. another key legislation action. this is a campaign poster for shirley chisolm. i love this. it is not for her congressional campaign, it is actually for something else entirely. it is actually for a presidential campaign that she waged in 1972. the democratic convention -- actually rounded up about 10% of the vote. she is the first to run -american woman for president,

americans did not have the civil rights act or the voting rights act. when john dingell took his first oath of office as a member of this house, millions of african-americans across the south, could not vote for representatives in this house. just four months after taking office, he bravely challenged the eisenhower's administration leadership on civil rights. he rows in this chamber with great audacity to demand that the president protect those being denied those fundamental rights as americans. it almost cost him his seat. but all of us who know john understand why he was willing to risk everything for a cause that was just. americans did not have the clean air, the clean water act or the safe drinking water act. nor did they have the endangered species act or the environmental policy act. john realized that if congress did not act to protect our environment, future generations would inherit a nation spoiled by neglect. o he became a crusader for con conservation. the american people didn't have s-chip. he fought his entire life in public life to make

helped lead the fight for the civil rights act. for more than half a century, in congress, john introduced a bill for comprehensive health care. is, until he didn't have to do it anymore. [applause] i could not have been prouder to by my side when i signed the affordable care act into law. john will retire at the end of but at 88, he's still going strong. and his life reminds us that change takes time. it takes courage and persistence. hard enough and long enough, change is possible. as a university of chicago student, abner mikva stopped by the local democrat headquarters and asked to volunteer. i love this story. he asked, who sent you? and ab said, nobody. the committee man said, we don't want nobody that nobody sent. [laughter] that's chicago for you. despite that abrupt dismissal, ab went on to devote his life to service, reformed the illinois criminal code, defended and consumer rights. in 1993, struck down the pentagon's ban on gays in the military. he was overturned on that one, but history proved him right. inspired the ne