a statue was unveiled at lee -- four days earlier, a ku klux klan primate was among the celebration for the unveiling. he proclaimed lee a "royal genius. the people of this community can count themselves fortunate to have this serene figure virtue." in 1921, he accepted a stonewall jackson statue for the community. -- neither slavery or emancipation was mentioned in his remark about virginia's golden age that romanticized vasalgel with slaves, plantations and make juleps. this is not the first or last time white southerners employed the confederates as cultural rallying points for political purposes. the civil war centennial. a generation later they appropriated $300 in annual pensions, about $2700 today, for the widows of confederate veterans. alive 1961.ll last year, a facebook position by 15-year-old blackfi female ignited a firestorm of confrontations between flagers advocating the confederate memorial versus a broad-based coalition to remove the statue demonstrators in tow to toe shouting matches at eight public rally. -- at a public rally. they denounced white supremacist and neo-

they'd given them the right to vote and crushed the ku klux klan. now blacks should rely on their own resources, not demand further assistance from the north. other factors also weakened northern support for reconstruction. in 1873, the country plunged. republicans were in no mood to divert further attention to the south. congress did enact one final piece of civil rights legislation, the civil rights act of 1875, which outlawed racial discrimination in places of public accommodation. this was a tribute to charles sumner, who had devoted his career to promoting the principle of quality before the law, but who died 1874. one of reason republicans adopted the civil rights act was that democrats, for the first time since before the civil war, swept the elections of 1874 and would control the house of representatives beginning in december 1875. meanwhile, the supreme court, to my own personal chagrin began whittling away at the guarantees of black rights that congress had adopted. henceforth, southern republicans, white and black, could expect little fu

you take a look at the mass murders that were happening in reconstruction, congress passed the ku klux klanct. this was 1870 and 1871. president grant was forcefully behind them. he was very angry with what happened. he was very much a person who wanted to build a different america, and he knew the confederates were resisting. he really forcefully sent down the federal army. we know now that he was more forceful than his immediate response. in those couple of years, he really did a great deal with that federal presence, and certainly the confederacy was terrified of president grant for good reasons. he had a reputation, and they knew he meant business. for a while, while they were actively trying to use the union army to suppress these groups, they were fairly successful, but they gave up. congress gave up and moved on to other things. after the election of 1872, when the dynamics of politics changed and the north started to withdraw, it just came back. when we look at other kinds -- another incident i like to talk about -- we had a great deal of anarchist violence in the early 20th century

for many people there's a long road to drive between black lives matter and the ku klux klan. >> byroni'd love to have a show that i can discuss all these things with you, but i'm not going to get into those right now. >> reporter: with no show, with no control for social media presence, lahren has been pushed to the sidelines for the moment at least. >> sounds like you shed a tear or two over this. >> don't tell anyone, i'm supposed to be tough. i'm a human being at the end of the day. something has been stripped from me and that's my ability to work. that's my ability to have a voice. that's been taken from me. wrongfully. i'm upset by it and i'm hurt by it and i feel betrayed by it. >> reporter: don't count her out. >> i'm not the kind of girl that sit in the corner cries over things. i don't consider myself a feminist but boy, i won't lay down and play dead ever. >> it's worth noting her lawyer sat in for that entire interview. >>> the explosive interview the ceo of united airlines, who's to blame for that forceful passenger removal? soon as i lel after a dvt blood clot, i sure had

. ♪ >> narrator: in the 1920s, hate groups like the ku klux klan murdered black americans and terrorizeds as well as catholics, but within 50 years, anti-catholicism would nearly disappear. >> one of the things that happens when a community is attacked is that it does protective actions and supportive actions, encouraging, for example, catholics to enlist as soldiers in the u.s. military, encouraging catholics to run for office, encouraging catholics to be part of civic organizations so that whole police forces in certain cities became irish catholic. so, there were really movements to get catholics integrated into the larger society and prove that they were as patriotic and as upstanding citizens as anyone else. >> i, john fitzgerald kennedy, do solemnly swear... >> narrator: in 1961, john f. kennedy became the first catholic president of the united states. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> he was so popular and he was so youthful and he did answer questions about his catholicism in incredibly brilliant and savvy ways that put people to rest. then there was, at the same time, va

years and the hood represents sin, which is appropriate. ( laughter ) and then in the 1920s, the ku klux klanhe look. ( audience reacts ) that's right. cornerback.k.k. outfits are cul. totally not cool. you guys are a terrorist group, not white girls at coachella. you don't do that. ( applause ) you have to give the spanish props for sticking with their outfits after the k.k.k. most people are, like, we can't do this. they are, like, this is still our thing, we are here first! like a guy in the '30s saying i don't care, i don't like big mustaches, i'm going to ride it out and see what happens. it's not like this will last forever. they won't be calling it the mustache of hitler, guys. ( laughter ) i can imagine someone in the k.k.k. seeing photos from spain and saying finally, a place where i can feel at home! i'm going to move there! then he gets there and find out even the guys in the hood speak spanish. he's going to be, like, it's a whole country of mexicans! ( laughter ) but let's move on because as stressful as the spanish klan was, it was still nice to get a vacation in because if you

. >> reporter: he says the statute is offensive and once used as a rallying point for the ku klux klan. >> we won't allow the confederacy to be put on a ped stole in our city. >> reporter: it's part of a southern state trend to move confederate symbols after the 2015 mass cure of nine black church goers in north carolina and the majority black city counsel and that year and legal battles slow the process. >> it's silently stoking the flames of hostility. that's the price to keep them up and we can move forward to the 21st century. >> reporter: they have gotten death threats. tonight, the difficult past. ga gabe gutierrez, nbc news. >>> a massive five-alarm fire near the university of maryland. a fire at an apartment complex under construction sent plumes of black smoke into the sky and forced the university to shut down the campus where some students complained of breathing problems. more than 200 firefighters responded. the cause is under investigation. >>> still ahead here tonight, black market medication. parents turning to under ground networks on social media to get the medicine t

jordan: race is not official -- not an artificial concept when you have the ku klux klan come to your house and spray paint it with red paint. >> again, those who did that -- do you follow what i am saying? prof. jordan: no i don't. >> they are told they are superior by the white. prof. jordan: you are right when we say we need to get past that. i hope that we do. i hope i will live to see it. but i have to see that race is itartificial concept, but exists, we have to deal with the fact that we have race. are you familiar with the discussions about the jail site here in richmond? what is your view on that? prof. jordan: i don't know what kind of money the city of richmond has, as far as memorializing that. one of my policies as a historian, i don't go into other people's cities and tell them what to do. as a historian, i provide them objective information and facts. i leave it up to local people to decide what to do. i am glad that the logan jail site is getting more attention and more people want to preserve it. the citizens of richmond will make that decision. to tell them what to d

symbolte hood became a of the ku klux klan. and was widely seen as protecting the identity of individuals, although in most communities, everyone knew who was underneath the hood. it was not just the terror of the klan and the lynching. more than 4000 individuals were illegally murdered with no consequences on the perpetrators on the 1880's into the 1940's. it was a constant process of terror, of intimidation. the other part however was not so physical. it have to do with intellectual and psychological intimidation. the publication of a book, "the negro, a beast," in 1900, which perpetrates the idea that african-americans were put on earth to serve white people. they are not their own being. they are not their own human, their own human beings, their own self, they are here as servants for society. that kind of intellectual structure and the psychological makeup that that had on white society as well as the detrimental effect on african-americans, which had to resist that constant barrage of negative image about them created a

black .quality in 1866 and 1867 the confederate, officers in particular, formed the core of the ku klux klan. they both fought well, we can say that much. in the middle. >> i am a professor. thank you for all of your perspectives. commemorativee landscape was largely violent until the racist violence of 2015 activated perspectives and energized the black lives matter movement to create discourses around these monuments. are you concerned that the potential removal of this considerate landscape might not necessitate not only acquiescing as westory, but also, move forth, eradicating a platform for oppositional voices? >> who would like to handle that? >> i agree entirely with your premise. as you well know, it is something we should bear in mind. thousands of civil war monuments in manynited states, cases the monument was put up to have the dedication ceremony. that is what people wanted even more than this thing that would be there forever. they have been in long decline and are in some form of senescence. zombie in some way. it is an interesting cultural problem. i would offer, as someone wh

remember the ku klux klan thing?hey are not a part of the republican party, how did they separate it? the left does need to pay attention to this. now that president obama's back, maybe this is something he will do and -- >> what you said was accurate. people that watch msnbc tend to be more liberal and fox, more conservative.ur that's all right. you can pick whatever you want. i can't remember a single time when a democrat compared the republican party with nazis. >> my god, bob. i can hear it in an hour, them do that. the left made their bed. it was the left that created the new right. they had this dialogue for so long, these safe spaces are creating the danger by preventing dialogue. >> they don't want to do it. they want an echo chamber. they don't want to hear any other viewpoints. they want to be close minded and they will do whatever it takes. to silence the other side. >> rush limbaugh has a warning for president trump about the border wall. we will hear from rush. rush. he's hiding a card! rush. it's time f

if the ku klux klan said we are going here, they are, and everybody decides let's shut down and let themy want, no. this is the reverse. what you've got is free speech that people died for and endorsements saying that the university is using that as an excuse. we've got mutual assistance with police and law enforcement agencies. you call in the state police, you call the local. whatever it takes. >> harris: this is interesting because liberal and people who are left-leaning speak on campuses every day. we never hear anything about it. >> steve: the good news here, if there is any good news, is that you are seeing the left get behind the argument that we would be making. the >> harris: if their canceling speeches. >> steve: it looks like we could be seeing a turning point. not just the fact of they have bill maher, also other universities stepping up. chicago putting out a few months ago, a very strong statement about free speech. it feels like it's turning and that's great news for everyone. >> harris: i want to get you in. >> meghan: i echo everything everyone is saying on this couc cou

the big question is when i say abraham lincoln was a republican and the democrats created the ku klux klan after they lost the civil war, the comment from the democrat is always what were once democrats are now republicans and what were republicans are now democrats, the parties's philosophies have changed to the point where now the democrats take credit for lincoln and bringing the civil war, i was curious what the black fellow there considers a good response to this insanity each >> colorblind in action. i is certainly the sort of deployment of history, what the republican party was like as a basis to make contemporary appeals but what happened is black republicans themselves feel like party leadership over relies on this historical narrative because the fundamental backdrop to that is if you knew better you would think better and black republicans feel the best way to do outreach is to tell people they are stupid but understand history. there is a real challenge if wants to remove these historical facts from the broader context. no one argue the numbers we see today in terms of black su

we know the klan grabs them, the local white knights of the ku klux klan. we knew it took a 44 day fbi search to find them. the state of mississippi refused, and the county refused to process it. so federal prosecutor, our friend john doar charged 18 men, including a sheriff deputy share, with denying the sncc activists of their rights. after years of challenges, seven men were found guilty in october 20, 1967. deputy sheriff cecil price, kkk imperial wizard sam bowers, alton wayne roberts, jimmy snowden, billey wayne posey. the last person convicted in this case was 2005. yes, your lifetime. when a grand jury convicted edgar killen of three counts of murder, he was sentenced to three consecutive twenty-year terms. he was 80 years old. there will be no more prosecutions from the mississippi burning case. just this summer, june, 2016, the cemetery there, the mississippi attorney general and the civil rights division of the justice department declared that the evidence has been degraded by memory and time. there are no more individuals that we can make a case

that is the press made it out as if he is a leader of the ku klux klan. he is no such thing. brief pause to expedite vetting. >> the president suggested a muslim ban. those words on the campaign trail. i know at cnn we have been calling this a travel ban. and there have been political commentators who at times have referred to it as a muslim ban. i don't think can you group mainstream media with political commentators in the same bunch. i don't think that's fair. now ben stein, i do want to ask you -- >> i think it is very fair with all due respect. the media made itself into a permanent attack machine against mr. trump. look, don't get me wrong, i am endlessly complaining about trump's mistakes. i think the tax plan is a disaster. but the level of invicktive against imis something i've never seen before. as i say, i worked for nixon. i know political attacks. >> let's talk about the tax plan. you told me you wanted to see him raise taxes on the wealthy. the details of the plan that were unveiled earlier this week show the wealthy stand to benefit under this proposal. >> i th

against the african-american people and argued that they were a burden on america in that the ku klux klan was needed to kind of set things right in the south. one of the first rallies that national memorial association had in 1916, the flyer across the top had in all capital letters "birth of a race" and it was right after this movie -- right here in washington. so they were responding to that and affirming that we needed to be recognized as not a burden on this country but as contributing to it. and just think about the irony of 100 years later this museum opening with barack obama presiding over that dedication ceremony. >> a decade and a half ago our network focused on american writers and one of them james baldwin who i know testified before congress in the late 1960s and you quote him in your book. what did he say about the need for a museum like this? >> he was very supportive of it but he warned congress, he said, my history contains the truth about america. it's going to be hard to teach it. and i paraphrased baldwin with the title of my book. but he said that we were interconnect

history, and her latest book is called the second coming of the kkk, the ku klux klan and the .merican political tradition second, we will hear from richard wright, professor of american history at stanford university. professor whyte is a recipient of numerous honors, as are all of our panelists today. received jury .election finalist he's also the past president of this organization, the organization of american historians. he has been a macarthur fellow. various other awards and prizes, including a guggenheim fellowship. he has a forthcoming book entitled the republic for which it stands, the united states during reconstruction and the gilded age, agents exceed 5-1898, which is part of the oxford history of united states series. he was the author of, among other noted works, railroaded, the transcontinental's and making of modern america, remembering -- is that right? thank you. family'sing and a past, the organic machine, middle ground, indians come in hires, and republic scum of the great lakes region, 165218 50. it is your misfortune and none of my own, a new history of the ameri

so i work on the ku klux klan, the whole thing. i would go to court and they would say, lady, this is for the lawyers. they were big. guns on both hips. julian bond: when you told them you were the lawyer? elaine jones: their mouse would drop -- mouths would drop. they would have to go check with somebody. the judges, they could not believe it. this is the deep south. there was one case i had in alabama. i was trying to get a change of venue for a young black boy and i said to the judge that there was racism here and there was a , "-- if you are reading this sign you are too deep in --" and they said oh, i have heard about that sign. [laughter] elaine jones: so, i mean, a lot of experiences like that. julian bond: as was true in law school, is it gender or is it race or is it ever both? elaine jones: it is both. and i was asked, which is it, gender discrimination or racism? i said, i can't pull myself apart. i'm an african-american woman. that is what i am. but when people see me in the world where we live in, they see race first.

the same token, we have had other justices in our history, hugo black, who was a member of the ku klux klan who was the person who promoted most of the civil rights legislation, or not legislation but up held them when he was on the high court. when you have life tenure, you go in with a certain world view but over 20 years, 30 years, sometimes you evolve in your thinking, and so we worry about someone like gorsuch right now,. >> he's 49 years old. >> he could be there for 35, years, it's quite possible. i would think he's going to evolve in his thinking in that time. >> i would imagine this will play a bigger role now in terms of a judge making the decision of when to retire, when to step aside. >> without question, and i think the three who are on the court right now, the one that everybody's watching is ruth baden ginsberg. >> she's 80 years old. kennedy is 80. >> i think all of them are reichly to stay, and see if the next administration, if there is a next administration assuming the president trump is in office and runs for reelection. if he didn't, would they give another person, may

and at a later date came to have the largest ku klux klan in the nation. oregon, you wouldn't imagine that. i saw no signs of this racism growing up in the suburbs of portland or down in roseburg but these letters that people were writing were full of racism. we can't simply pretend that it doesn't exist. and over the course of the last year, we have seen this time and time again. we have seen groups that kind of are still deeply wetted to racism and discrimination and they've kind of come out and made themselves more publicly available. they've shared their thoughts more readily and engaged in moraysist acts against -- more racist acts against others. you have more people attacked in parking lots because of their race or you have more situations where graffiti has been scrolled on the side of buildings. we have mosques that have been burned. we have synagogues that have been defiled. we have individuals who look to be middle eastern being attacked because they were looking like they were middle eastern. and so clearly racism is not -- discussing this chal