dr. lowrie, how do you feel? first of all, let's go back. how was those times? because people don't realize this wasn't just a bus outing coming to washington. there was major struggles in the south. james farmer who headed one of the civil rights groups couldn't even make it, he was in jail. there had been blood shed. tell us the environment that this march happened in. >> well, you know, you sound like john kennedy.

dr. lowrie, how do you feel? first of all, let's go back. how was those times?ecause people don't realize this wasn't just a bus outing coming to washington. there was major struggles in the south. james farmer who headed one of the civil rights groups couldn't even make it, he was in jail. there had been blood shed. tell us the environment that this march happened in. >> well, you know, you sound like john kennedy. he was assured there was going to be violence. he was sure we'd have turmoil and turbulence of all kind at the march. but we had faith. god had brought us along, dr. king kept us under the commitment to let justice roll down but not let violence roll down in our experience. so we trusted god. and we prayed. when i got to washington, i came in early that morning from chicago, and there was nobody around. i came on a plane and i got nervous that we made a mistake. but then late morning, the place filled up. and we had been having martin tell us everybody who came this would be a non-violent experiment. a non-violent experience. and surely enough there

dr. lowrie, how do you feel? first of all, let's go back. how was those times? because people don't realize this wasn't just a bus outing coming to washington. there was major struggles in the south. james farmer who headed one of the civil rights groups couldn't even make it, he was in jail. there had been blood shed. tell us the environment that this march happened in. >> well, you know, you sound like john kennedy. he was assured there was going to be violence. he was sure we'd have turmoil and turbulence of all kind at the march. but we had faith. god had brought us along, dr. king kept us under the commitment to let justice roll down but not let violence roll down in our experience. so we trusted god. and we prayed. when i got to washington, i came in early that morning from chicago, and there was nobody around. i came on a plane and i got nervous that we made a mistake. but then late morning, the place filled up. and we had been having martin tell us everybody who came this would be a non-violent experiment. a non-violent experience. and surely enough ther

dr. lowryone spectrum you had older folks, middle aged folks, but asean is something we should always remember not because of what he said but what he represents. >> lets take a listen to asean yesterday at the march on washington. >> help us fight for freedom, racial equality, jobs, public education because i have a dream that we have overcome. >> when you say we shall overcome, asean, what does that mean to you? >> when i say we shall overcome, i was saying we will overcome the racism that has been done in our two worlds, as i say, because we have recently the trayvon martin case that the jury was all white and they convicted him not guilty even though he had shot and killed this boy, this young boy who was innocent. >> did you have a chance to meet sybrina fulton, who was trayvon martin's mom? >> yes, i did have a chance to meet her. >> what did you-all talk about? >> i introduced myself. we took some picks. she gave me advice to not let anybody push you around. don't let nobody tell you to

dr. king. joseph lowry was a freedom fighter along with dr. king. >> committed to be a nation of liberty and justice for all. >> julian bond a civil rights veteran who led a sit in at a segregated lunch counter at greensboro, south carolina. >> we're still being challenged, from the stand your ground laws. >> the spirit of dr. king's words captured the hearts of people not just around america. but around the world. >> part celebration, part commemoration, part renewal. it was 50 years ago on this day that dr. king led the famous march on washington and delivered his i have a dream speech. today the crowd heard from the first african american president. >> to secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance. >> the president stood on the spot where king spoke invoke the civil rights leader as an inspiration. >> how he gave mighty voice to the quiet hopes of millions. how he offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. >> mr. obama drew parallels between past and present. >> what was one a call for equality and

king and dr. lowry and others founded. that's organization that did tre direct action. i grew up in the new york city branch of sclc. i tell these young folks that work with me, i don't hear excuses. i grew up in a single parent home on welfare. reverend william jones in sclc, reverend jesse jackson told me i was somebody and i believed him. that's why e don't care if nobody gives you credit, i will. you helped turn my concept around about myself. let us hear from the legendary c.t. vivian. >> thank you, my brother. >> i don't want to leave out. >> hello good people. well, we're here again. after a half century here again. let's think about what it was that we really came to do. this 50 anniversary was to remind us of a time when we did not have too many leaders as we have today. more than that is to remind us of what we did in the past, but only for a minute for we have to really thank what are we going to do when we go home. what are we going to organize around? what problems are we going to solve? what are we going to do because we have to position ourselves really t

king and dr. lowry and others founded. that's organization that did tre direct action. i grew up in the new york city branch of sclc. i tell these young folks that work with me, i don't hear excuses. i grew up in a single parent home on welfare. reverend william jones in sclc, reverend jesse jackson told me i was somebody and i believed him. that's why e don't care if nobody gives you credit, i will. you helped turn my concept around about myself. let us hear from the legendary c.t. vivian. >> thank you, my brother. >> i don't want to leave out. >> hello good people. well, we're here again. after a half century here again. let's think about what it was that we really came to do. this 50 anniversary was to remind us of a time when we did not have too many leaders as we have today. more than that is to remind us of what we did in the past, but only for a minute for we have to really thank what are we going to do when we go home. what are we going to organize around? what problems are we going to solve? what are we going to do because we have to position ourselves really t

>> well, i was listening to the great reverend joseph lowry who was a contemporary of dr. king's, was a cofounder, and he said everything has changed, yet nothing has changed. i think that's always true in the quest for justice. obviously, when you have an african-american president, obviously when you have some of the advances we've seen in business and entertainment, et cetera, that's a big deal. at the same time we are still struggling with a racial wage gap, a racial wealth gap, stop and frisk, et cetera. but one of the things i'm excited about, people forget, dr. king was, what, 34, 35 years old on the steps. he was a young guy. and you've got a lot of young people who have been touched by trait von ma the trayvon martin tragedy who are now stepping forward. the dream defenders in florida trying to change laws in florida. you have a whole new generation that's moving ahead in north carolina, texas. let's not forget, dr. king was not an old guy. he never got to be 40 years old. he was a young person fighting for his country and we still listen to his words 50 years lat

do and we have got to make sure that as reverend lowrie said we came to commemorate and we have to agitate in our districts and that is important and dr. king would want us to continue to move on and work hard as john lewis says and still have the comeback. i think we are feeling the effects today of a southern strategy put together by richard nixon some time ago to dilute the power of african-american legislators. we have less power in the sense we are not in houses where we are in the majority. and so we have got to figure out how we work that and we need people to come out to vote like never before, especially in local elections, city council and state assemble and state senates and mayoral election p.m. that makes the difference on the bigger ends so the african-americans have the power that dr. king dream was all about. >> the dream is everybody. >> that's what i'm saying. >> representative, thank you for coming back. president obama is the first black president but not a civil rights leader. how important is his speech coming up on wednesday on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington? >> i think it's a very important spe

dr. king dream, say i saying it's social equality. you know, we've had problems around race relations, but it's about economic inequality. >> rich lowrye any part of this as a way to challenge republicans to try to jump start something in his second term on inequality, on the economy? >> i doubt it. and it's sort of an inappropriate forum for that, i would think. what i take away from the march on washington -- abraham lincoln referred to the declaration of independence as this electric cord going throughout all of american history and you had those marchers grabbing on to that chord and using that to make the country a more just place. >> robert gibbs. >> obviously, it would be a special moment, and i think, you know, we look back 50 years and see how much the country has changed, how much it still has to come, but understanding the role that martin luther king played, as "time" magazine pointed out this week, is probably one of the founding fathers of modern america. >> john lewis's speech, right? john lewis will be on this program next week, a special edition of "meet the press" as we mark that 50th anniversary. thank you all very