along with harry belafonte, dr. king was facing bankruptcy, we couldn't go any further.ack, we couldn't fill up an auditorium this size with aretha franklin and harry belafonte. we stepped on the stage in texas. on that stage at the put tear gas in the fan and had to evacuate the building. she kept right on singing. she sang for carter, mandela, clinton, obama. b after all, before we had this level of technology, -- there s a group. i was called last week to see aretha. i met with her at least a month for the last three years. she called me at night and jackie would say get the phone, aretha is on the phone. we'd pray a while and cry a while. i came last wednesday, aretha was in a coma. she had not been able to wake up or move in some days. i was with erlene and i said wake up, baby, wake up, baby. she opened her eyes. i rubbed her hands one more time. it was a hard good-bye. we came back that night and had another prayer meeting. shakespeare said when she shall die, took her hand and cut it up in little stars and she will make the heavens so fine that all the world will

that's what harry belafonte teaches us. he was the first artist in america to sell 1 million copies of an album. with calypso. first artist. this wasn't no dude that said, i think i'm going to become political and conscientious. he was at his height and did what he did. comparable to what beyonci's evolution and development, as the most gifted global entertainer right now and her own unapologetic blackness. people like you are surrounding her, in her ear i wrote the introduction to her lemonade book. the fact that young people like you are informing a context within which it makes sense for her to emerge.is extremely important.there's a dialectical tension and relationship between social pressure and movement and self-realization as an artist. you can only realize yourself to the degree that a social movement provides a schema, an agenda of what's possible. then i will answer your second question briefly.it's jacked up. you are out there. you were on the streets. is there a - -. of course there is. it's predictable because

and she and harry belafonte did an 11-city tour for free.in houston, texas. on that stage, dr. king was about to give her a bouquet of flowers. someone put tear gas in the fan, but she was back the next day. tough as nails. tough and yet tender. then of course she sang at dr. king's funeral. she never stopped making the occasion. i miss her so much already. >> well, we are going to miss her right now. it's funny how life works, reverend, how just in a time when the country is kind of reintroducing itself to what it wants to be about in terms of tolerance and how it wants to treat one another in terms of the complexion of their skin and the content of their character, as dr. king would put it, we lose such a huge voice of a time that we thought we had settled this once and for all. why? why do you think we lose someone like aretha? is it a reminder? >> remember that elton john was a multi-cultural event when she sang last summer. she had a sense of universialit. she felt dignity was non-negotiable. so i remember that, and of course her cookin

aretha franklin and harry belafonte stepped on the stage in houston, texas. with aretha. i met with her at least a month for the last three years. she called me to reach my on the phone. talking to the fire. prayed a why and cried a while. i came last wednesday. aretha was in a coma. not able to wake up or move some days. i was with -- i said wake up, baby. wake up baby. she opened her eyes. the warmth of her hand one more time. it was a hard good-bye. we came back that night with sabrina for another prayer meeting. a group playing in the background. i thought it was the last time shakespeare said when -- when she shall die take her hand up in stars and she will make the heavens so fine, all the world will be in love with night. aretha had the power to make the film directors cry. it was deep and profound. she got sick. we talked more and more. she called late at night. are you coming? yes. you bringing bread? i'm not bringing bread. not going to bother. inside joke. we went to four or five hospitals. to cap off singing and service, she went to new york knowi

. >> laura: harry belafonte of calypso. >> harry belafonte of hate.e is his calypso -- a little bit of his upcoming album that the documentary is based on. >> an album that speaks from the pain of the heart of a little boy wanting to see his people, this is a project that attracted some of the most brilliant,t, award-winning musicians and artists. >> now chaka khan, stevie wonder -- i hope he is going to sing a duet of "you are the anti-semite of my life" -- thatd would be cute together. chaka khan, common, why are these people lending their name to someone like louis farrakhan? this man has peddled hate like no one else. i have to tell you, when i started listening to some of his original compositions, laura, this is something you could put a playlist together, it's really fun -- l >> laura: for a radio show, yeah. >> for the radio show. he's got a song called "heed the call, yell, of white man's heaven is a black man hell." listen. >> of torture, and misgivings, yet the bible speaks of a heaven filled with material luxury, which the white man and th

martin had a conversation with harry belafonte, not long before he died. he said, listen, harry, i am beginning to wonder. i am beginning to fear what we are integrating into. you see, i believe we are going to win this integration struggle, but i'm beginning to fear we may be integrating into a burning house. he said, i see a country that abuses labor, that abuses working people. he said, i fear integrating into a house that looks like that. if people can't take care of their families, it is senseless to just come together on social issues and walk mississippi fields together. ultimately, we have to come to a place where we are sharing goods, resources and power. [applause] and if we cannot come to that place, then it isn't worth integrating into that, and i fear that my dream has become a nightmare. what we havesion, before us are two critical options. economicse option of for the people and by the people, or the option of economics by a few people for themselves. [applause] this has been the traditional model, and i believe that if we are sincere in our

about there was once a time with racism that they couldn't fill a room with aretha franklin and harry belafonteas suffering from pancreatic cancer and wanted to give some relief. that speaks to who she was. >> she commanded that kind of respect that she sang about by the sheer magnitude of her talent. but also the kind of person that she was behind that talent. you know, spoke volumes as well. >> trace: it is amazing. you watch this outpouring. we talked in the break, greg. i covered the ray charles funeral a few years ago. i had never seen anything like it. it was amazing. again, it was a funeral service. they said this is not a show, it's a service. but it was truly amazing to watch until you get to today. this is something that we've never seen. >> yeah, there was ray's and whitney's. that was basically a prelude. this is going to outdo every one of them, this is going to be the marathon, the mother of all marathons. fittingly so. >> the first time you were called to play with aretha franklin, has to be a thrill. >> as a musician, there's nothing like it. maybe outside of stevie wonder who i

king's last year did several cities with harry belafonte raising money so dr. a check to help us out with our work with national action network, she would come on my radio. so she came here in 30 rock and did "politics nation" and she did interviews very -- you know, very -- she was very selective. >> right. >> but for her to come to the studio was not something she would often do, but she wanted to come and show that she identified with us, and she was always concerned, always politically involved, always on the forefront of doing something, but her way. she said, i'm not there to lead marches. she said with the women's movement, i'm not gloria steinem but i'm going to use my platform and my talent. believe me, to have her give her impermature on the cause, it brought it -- >> a great story, reverend al, you needed money for something and she sent you a check. you needed the money. >> i needed the money real bad, but i framed the check. it was a long time before i deposited it. what i didn't tell was that, she said, boy, haven't you heard how you can copy a ch

and introduced the freedom of singers and we raised money in chicago and that kind of thing, harry belafonte helped us out and provided all the venue. anyway, so, i went back to get my job, my assignment, and james foreman told me that there were no more assignments. i said, what do you mean no more directorships? you told me if i wanted to help raise the money, i would be able to get one of these assignments as director of voter registration. bill hanson was in arkansas. bob moses in mississippi and charles in southwest georgia, and i looked on the map and they had an "x" through selma, an "x." they said, we're not going to selma. i said, what do you mean you're not going there? i mean -- and they said, we sent two teams of sncc workers, and they came back with the same report. you can't accomplish anything in selma, alabama. and they gave the same reason. white folks are too mean, and black folks are too scarred. yeah, they were scarred, okay? yeah. so, we're not going to selma. so, i kept stomping behind him and said, you promised me you're going to give me a directorship. he said, well,

finally, if you talk about meeting with kanye west and others, why don't you meet with people like harry belafonte, malcolm jenkins or micha michael bennett or colin kaepernick. instead of beating up on nfl players, why don't you listen to them. and then make an nfrt tainvitat lebron james, a great genius who has put his money where his mouth is and his identification with those who are vulnerable. talk to people like this. talk to serena williams and ask her about her journey. invite kamala harris the senator into your chambers and speak with people who have wide intelligence aunts deep understanding and profound wisdom about the nature of race in this country. and when you do that, then you will begin to transform your perspective and then you will begin to understand the harm you've done that is great against those who are citizens of the united states of america for whom you are their leader and for whom you should speak. >> if the white house is watching, definite food fory michael ire eric die son, thank you. and a reminder, sunday msnbc shares the story of a former white sue premises who ha

harry belafonte helped us out and provided all of the venue. anyway, so i went back to get my job. my assignment. james foreman told me that there were no more assignments. i said what do you mean, i'm one of the directorships you told me if helped raise the money i could get an assignment of director of voter registration, bob moses was in mississippi and charles sharrod in southwest georgia. i looked on the map, they had an "x" through selma. an "x." we're not going to selma, dallas county. i said what do you mean you're not going there? we sent two teams of sncc workers and they came back with the same report. you can't accomplish anything in selma, alabama. and they gave the same reason. white folks too mean and black folks too scarred. yeah, it was scarred, okay. yeah. so we're not going to selma. so i kept stomping behind me, i said you promised me you'd give me a directorship. well, you can be assistant director to bob moses. i said, man, i'm 22 years old. i'm no assistant director. you know? i've got -- if i want to be an assistant director, i will get married. so he said,

harry belafonte went on an 11-city tour to raise money for them.up until when i started with national action network. she would call me and say, reverend al, what's your address? i want to send you something. give me the home address. she'd send checks to help out. she would come to my birthday party. she would lend her presence, which gave you the kind of stature and validation that you couldn't pay for. she was committed around civil rights issues, around feminist issues, but she did it with her presence because she was the most accomplished and celebrated female vocalist of all time. >> when i was a little girl i used to sing "respect." for me it was, before i even fully understand what it was doing and why it resonated so much to me, i loved the song. it was part of this idea that i could do whatever i wanted. as a woman, i could be whoever i wanted. and she gave voice to it at a time when women were fighting for that right, fighting for the right of equality. i just wonder, without her, who fills that void? >> that's a good question. she was n

there's some very famous ones like paul robeson and people like that, i think harry belafonte had some problems, his friends did . you weren't successful, it really wasn't -- the house un-americanan activities wasn't going to call in a janitor who had, you know, the communist h manifesto. they didn't get any kind of political currency off of that. a lot of us were like, uh-huh, right. you could say anything youan was nobody was listening. but if you had an important jobn if you had an important position, if youou had -- if wht you said impacted many americans, hadic any kind of cultural, political impact, then you were treated poorly. y most poor people it kind of went right over. >> host: were race relations>> shifting at this point, you know, red dust is taking place in the 50s, early '50s? >> guest: you know, the thing about america and shifting racea relations, they're always but they never, like, get solved. s it's all shifting, shifting, it's shifting, but still you have people wandering around saying i'm'm white even though t doesn't even make sense to say you're white. ii mean,

king's life, she did concerts with harry belafonte to raise money so dr. king to be payroll.ork, she would call me, refverend al, what's that address? and would send a check to help even now. she was the type of person that was an activist in her heart as long as it was for civil rights and human rights for everybody. she never stopped with that. she would call my radio show. i'm on three hours a day in detroit. if she's home, she would listen to talk radio and call under another name and give an opinion then i would say, that's aretha franklin. yeah, it's me. she was the ultimate activist but not the kind to go out and show boat and didn't go to rally and marches, she was the one that would contribute in her name. i never forget when i turned 60, three years ago and we had this big party, birthday party and governors there and mayors there. and everybody from here is there. aretha franklin walked in and everybody couldn't believe it and she did a birthday thing for me. >> wait a minute, she sang at your birthday party? >> she sang on may radio show my birthday party. playing

fame now ones like paul rob son, i think harry belafonte had some problems. if you -- the house on unamerican activities wouldn't call in a janitor who had the communist manifesto in his pocket because they didn't get any political currency, so a lot of us were, uh-huh, right, you can say whatever you want because nobody was listening but if you had an important job, an important position, if you -- if what you said impacted many americans, had any kind of actual tyler or political impact -- cultural or political impact, your were treated poorly. most people, it went right over them. >> host: were race relations shifting this point? in the early '50s. >> guest: the think about america and shifting race relations, they're always shifting but they never, like, get solved. it's shifting, it's shift, shift, but still, you have people wandering around saying, i'm white, even though it doesn't make sense to say, you're white. in europe, there were no white people. there were britainons and ten different races there, the druids druids and the celts and goes on and o

martin had a conversation with harry belafonte, not long before he died and what he said, he said, listen, harry, i am beginning to wonder. i am beginning to fear what we are integrating into. you see, i believe we are going to win this integration struggle, but i'm beginning to fear we may be integrating into a burning house. he said, i see a country that abuses labor, that abuses working people and he said, i fear integrating into a house that looks like that. if people can't be safe, if people can't take care of their families, it is senseless to just come together on social issues and walk mississippi fields together. and ultimately, we have to come to a place where we are sharing goods, resources and power. [applause] and if we cannot come to that place, then it isn't worth integrating into that, and i fear that my dream has become a nightmare. so, in conclusion, what we have before us are two critical options. we have the option of economics for the people and by the people, or the option of economics by a few people for themselves. [applause] this has been the traditional model, an

you have the 17-year-old boy who was lynched by a mob and harry belafonte accounts that juxtaposed withthe klan initiations and they celebrated by eating popcorn and watching them light it. >> in charlottesville, which is a powerful way to end the movie. >> it's stunning, it's jarring. >> ron, you still carry your ku klux klan card. >> i have it. >> do you have it? >> let's do it before they go to commercial. >> why do you keep that? wow. >> because it's a memento of my career, and if i'm ever in a car crash, and i die and some poor cop will come up on my mangled black body and he'll find this and freak out. >> he'll say what do do i with this? >> you're the member of the klan. hold it up. >> are you still a standing member? >> no, this is good for the year of 1979. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> wonderful film. >> thank you. >> spike lee and ron stallworth. thank you. "blackkklansman" is in theaters now. most people prefer a long vacation to a weekend getaway, but what's best for your health? columnist john tierney new >>> new research shows americans living in colorado

. >> harry belafonte once said, sometimes the good lord makes himself a person who holds the vision ofause that man loves truth. more than he loves his own life. martin luther king jr. was such a man. and because he was, there is an aggressive move to water down his message. and to sanitize his words. and to make him comfortable to the status quo and make him acceptable to the american talent. there has been a move to hijack the very identity of martin luther king jr. of martin luther king jr. but we must be clear, that his message was prophetic and radical. rooted in the radical message of jesus christ which was his foundation. dr. king was tied to a god of love and justice. his loyalty was to god and his faith is what summoned him to his activism. dr. king was uncompromising in his commitment to eradicate war and racism and poverty. he was ever determined in his quest to tear down the door of injustice and opportunity. that was closed to the masses outside. martin luther king jr. was uncompromising and is power to hit the conscience of america and demand that america stand before the

. >> harry belafonte once said, sometimes a good lord makes himself a person who holds the vision ofn palette. there has been a move to hijack the very identity of martin luther king jr. but we must be clear that dr. king's message was both prophetic and radical. rooted in the radical message of jesus christ, which was his foundation. dr. king was tied to a god of love and justice. his loyalty was to god and his faith is what summoned him to his activism. dr. king was uncompromising in his commitment to eradicate war and racism and poverty. he was ever determined in his quest to tear down the door of justice and opportunity. that stood closed to the masses left outside. martin luther king was uncompromising in his charge to subpoena the conscious of america and demand that america stand before the seed of morality and face her hypocrisy and make good on the promises that she put down on paper. martin luther king demanded, as he said at the funeral of the four little girls in birmingham, that we must not only arrest the person who created the bomb, but we must arrest the society that

on one occasion we took an 11-city tour with her as aretha franklin and harry belafonte, and they put gas in the vans and she did is it 1 concerts for free. he added, aretha has always been a very socially conscious artist, an inspiration, not just an entertarian. -- entertainer. recently in michigan where she was named the michiganian of the year in 20035, was awarded the detroit news lifetime achievement award in june. according to pastor robert smith jr. of new bethel baptist, a few times a year aretha would send the church checks, big ones not small ones. that was in addition to her annual free concerts featuring famous gospel singers and free holiday meals, and speaking of food, aretha's generous support of food banks in metro detroit was one reason why she was named the 2008 music cares person of the year. her generosity literally fed detroit families, and her music fed the world's souls. i was honored personally to have the opportunity to be with aretha on many occasions, and i was particularly honored to have the opportunity to introduce her a year ago in june 2017 when she ga