he represented rosa parks, martin luther king, john lewis, among many other civil rights luminaries.is success in the courtroom on civil rights is what makes up much of today's textbook for law students. i could go on. let's hear from mr. gray. are you with us? >> thank you very much. >> terrific. we're happy to have you today. how are you doing? >> i'm doing fine, and i want to thank the foundation and those of you who are responsible for having this program. i sat and listened some of the incidents from slavery time forward and just happy to be a part of your program here today. thanks for the invitation. >> absolutely. we're honored. we talked a few days ago. i've had the honor to read your biography and seen some of your other interviews. i have my own questions. we will get to the audience questions along the way as well. i wanted to start with a quote that i pulled out of your biography that struck me. you opened up with one of your chapters with the words segregation was the order of the day. when i was admitted to practice law in alabama, in september of 1954, we were segrega

martin luther king was in his late 20's. abernathy was a couple years older.as a few years younger. ms. parks was in her 30's. so, you had young people. there were young people at a&t, who had the sitting for students. and there were young students who started the freedom rides, that resulted in the desegregation of transportation. young people have played a very important role. including john lewis in the selma to montgomery march. i filed the lawsuit, when they were beaten back on bloody sunday. i filed that before the close of the day on monday. these people did it in a nonviolent manner. there was not any looting. there were people who did violence but it was only against those persons. whatever they decide to do and as they look back and see the young people and the old people, the white people and the black people, everybody, those persons who were involved in the movement, they did it in a nonviolent manner. whatever we do, violence is not the answer. jesus taught us to love one another and if we do that, and continue to use the methods that they find t

abraham lincoln lost his life, martin luther king lost his life.onfederacy in the democratic party which insisted on slavery, segregation and separation. yet i hear the same thing over and over. separation, segregation. and the marxist left how they demean lincoln and frederick douglass. and demean martin luther king what you mean a colorblind society? all of the civil rights activist and movements and supreme court decisions. all they did was enshrined the white dominant society. it is now bleeding into our classroom supported by the teachers union in media no link in are ulysses s grant black lives matter are no martin luther king jr. or frederick douglass this is a great country it is a magnificent country. look at the border people pouring over from every corner of the world to escape their countries and culture. it's a nation worth defending that so my book american marxism about that's what the show is about. see you next time on "life, liberty & levin". steve: former president trump on stage at cpac a short time ago. >> we will take back the

we have a few questions about martin luther king. i will save that one. you have a great story about the boy from troy. could you talk a little bit about your introduction to him and your impression of him as a young man? >> yes, john lewis was from troy, alabama, lived a rural area about 50 miles south of montgomery and about 50, 60 miles south of tuskegee. and he had heard about dr. king and read about him in the bus boycott. this is 1958. he wanted to go to troy state, which was a white college in his home county. they wouldn't accept him, and some of the kids down there tried to use the library, and they couldn't use the public library, so he sent a letter to dr. king and said he wanted to talk with him about going to troy state. dr. king gave him a bus ticket from troy, alabama, round trip to montgomery, and called me and told me when he was going to arrive at the bus station, and if i would go down and bring him to a meeting where he and reverend abernathy was at abernathy's church and talk about the possibility of helping him get into troy state. w

the question goes like this, how should we look at kennedy's complicated relationship with martin luther kingth wiretapping him, with following hoover's instructions against king? i think that question is asking about the fact that robert kennedy authorized the wiretaps of martin luther king. how should we think about that? >> you should read my book because i was concerned about that. very complicated. hoover's pressure, hoover's power, you know, they knew -- he knew that -- [inaudible]. hoover kept pressing, the whole levinson thing. i don't want to get too deeply into it, but the pressure to -- hoover's pressure on kennedy and the evidence he had -- martin luther king -- talking to levinson and all of this, finally in october of 63, he agreed to a temporary 30-day wiretap on king's phone in atlanta and new york. and if you read about it, so he did it. there are a couple of reasons that people speculate. hoover had things on the president, on his private life. and the civil rights bill, this is october. they're fighting to get the civil rights bill moved through the house judiciary committe

martin luther king jr. i'm so excited to have you on, dr. much. >> well, i follow you on twitter and i love every time you just lovingly rebuke these people who really in my mind pervert the meaning of your father's words for their purposes. how does it feel as his daughter hear him revoked in defense of teaching history? >> well, i mean, come on, it is -- it is -- it is insulting. at one point in my life i got really upset until i understood the essence of what my father said in the quote you just mentioned about nothing more dangerous than sincere ignoranc. i feel that i along with my brother and those who represent this legacy have a responsibility to continue to educate people on the truth of my father. you've done an excellent job at everything you just said about the fact that he was devoted to eradicating the triple evils of poverty, mill tear rimp and racism and while he evoked those words at the end of his speech, i encourage people to read the whole speech. i think there's a danger to reading the last part. he was a preacher. preach

the martin luther king jr. memorial, dedicated in 2001, sits on the northwest corner of the tidal basin. it was designed, among the cherry trees, which are generally in blue each year, on the anniversary of dr. king's death. the memorial design, is drawn from passages, which he says out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. dr. king himself, is depicted as that stone of hope, emerging from the mountain of despair. which sits behind him at the memorial. and there are a number of quotations from his famous speeches. one of the most famous, or perhaps infamous incidents in the history of the tidal basin, -- wilbur mills, one time a car being driven down radically driven down the avenue, they had mills and ate an exotic dancer name fanny fox. fox and her panic, jumped out of the limousine, and went into the tidal basin. for meals, the scandal cost him his chairman ship. >> the gift of the cherry trees, from the people of japan has not been a one way street. the united states intern, has gifted the people of j

first new national holiday since the creation of martin luther king day. i'm grateful to the members of congress, in particular the congressional black caucus who did so much to make thisday possible . i please we show the nation we can come together as rats republicans to commemorate this day in overwhelming bipartisansupport of congress . i hope this is the beginning of a change in the way wedeal with one another . we are blessed to mark this day. [applause] i had the honor to meet her in nevada more than a year ago. she told me she loved meand i believe it . i wanted to believe it. daughter of texas, grandmother of the movement to make juneteenth a federal holiday and you won't believe it, she's 49 years old. or 94 years old. you are an incredible woman. you really are. as a child growing up in texas, she and her family would celebrate juneteenth. and juneteenth 1939 when she was 12 years old, a white's mom torched herfamily home . but such heat never stopped her anymore than it stopped thevast majority of you that i'm looking at on this podium . over t

the martin luther king jr. memorial dedicated in 2011 sits on the northwest corner of the tidal basin its location was specifically designed among the cherry trees which are generally in bloom each year on the anniversary of dr. king's death. the memorial design is drawn from a passage in his i have a dream speech in which he says out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. dr. king himself is depicted as that stone of hope emerging from the mountain of despair which sits behind him at the memorial and at the base of of the of that are a number of quotations from his speeches sermons and writings. one of the most famous or perhaps infamous incidents in the history of the tidal basin involved us congressman, wilbur mills chairman of house ways and means committee one night in october of 1974 car being driven erratically down independence avenue was pulled over and everyone was surprised to find in the back not only mills but an exotic dancer named fanny fox known as the argentine firecracker. fox in her pani

abraham lincoln lost his life within, martin luther king lost his life. the union. they demyanmar continue lute i shall king. what do you have mean a color blind society? the civil rights acts passed by congress. all that did was enshrine the white dominant society. this is a poison. this american marxism will destroy this country if it's not spent. it's support by the teachers union, the media, the democrat party and the president of the united states. black lives matter, they are no frederick douglass or martin luther king, jr. this is a magnify sent country. look at border and people pouring over from every corner of the swormd trying to escape their country and their cultures. this is a country worth defending. that's what this book is about. that's what this movement is about, that's what this show is about. see you next time on "life, liberty & levin." [♪♪♪] jesse: welcome to "watters' world." i'm jesse watters. the democrats' lost cause. that's the subject of tonight's "watters words." ronald reagan won texas by 30 points, and 40 years later trump

and the first new national holiday since the creation of martin luther king holiday nearly four decades ago. i'm grateful. to the members of congress here today in the congressional black caucus who did so much to make this day possible? i'm especially pleased that we showed the nation that we can come together as democrats and republicans to commemorate. this day with an overwhelming bipartisan support of the congress. i hope this is the beginning of a change in the way we deal with one another. and we're blessed. we're blessed to mark the day in the president's opal lee as my mother say god love it. i the honor a meeting her in nevada more than a year ago. she told me she loved me and i believed it. i wanted to believe it. because over your incredible. a daughter of texas grandmother of the movement to make juneteenth the federal holiday and his opal is you won't believe it. she's 49 years old. before years old i you are incredible woman is opal you really are. as a child growing up in texas. she and her family would celebrate juneteenth. in june 10th 1939 when she was 12 years old. t

career, anti-king, reagan came around and reagan was the one who established martin luther king day s a celebration of king and later in his career really spoke to the power and value of king. it is an interesting story. martin luther king, you know, who am i to say, got it right. you have to stand up for what you believe in. but you do not do it violently. as soon as you do that, you lose your leverage. you lose your credibility. you lose your own kind of decency. my position is that what has happened today with this toxicity is that it is much easier to vilify the other, not speak to them and have a get to a fever pitch where we see things like january 6 happened. we need to pivot enough to bring the guardrails back in. agree to disagree. fight the fight. march in the streets where we need to, but do not light buildings on fire. do not break windows. this is taking things too far. canceling the other people, you know, canceling people on your side to our written communication with them is the first step. how we treat our own. we talked about this earlier, critical importance of say

martin luther king jr. >> the impetus of the whole festival was the fact that when martin luther kingty america, went up in flames with rioting and not wanting a repeat performance of what happened. that made it easier for the city to okay the idea of having some sort of event that would keep people occupied during the weekend. >> the festival's main goal was to remind us of who we are. remind us of what's important to us. remind us of where we came from and the community that we've managed to build in spice of everything that this country has done to try to tear us down. >> reporter: the festival showcased an astonishing group of performances. the likes of david ruffin of the temptations. ♪ i've got sunshine ♪ ♪ on a cloudy day ♪ a babyfaced 19-year-old stevie wonder. the chambers brothers. ♪ pop-soul group the fifth dimension. ♪ this is the dawning of the age o aquarius ♪ the crowd who'd come to see those acts, 300,000 strong. >> as far as i could see, it was just black people. this was the first time i'd ever seen so many of us. it was incredible! >> reporter: but the footage of th

but i want to start with martin luther king and his birthdays as a federal holiday in 1983 i think helps to cement the civil rights movement as part of our national narrative and ongoing journey towards a more perfect union and it is part of valerie's the tactic of the civil rights movement the peaceful nonviolent struggle and yet we rarely ask about the particularly short lifespan of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the tactics of peaceful nonviolent and as you point out in your book what you describe as a violent times and broad protest under protest begins as earlybl as 1964 the turned to violence is universally condemned is the question of why they are pretty down their own community but i think this particular the civil rights movement in the shift of violence as a tragedy, i want to quote this on the 50th anniversary on marxism former president barack obama ava speech in which he described that transition in the following way. if were honest with ourselves we admit during the course of 15 years there was times when some of us claiming to push for change lost ourr way. the

when she was working as a crossing guard in savannah at the martin luther king exit off of 95 she thought the children were not bringing books back and forth to school and asked them why and they said because they were not allowed to take the books home from school so she brought everybody a dictionary and told them to use it to help them because she didn't want their life opportunities to be i guess diminished because they didn't have a large vocabulary. and she stamped in each book "a mind is a terrible thing to waste." she used her own money from cleaning houses. i met her and i know that area. [inaudible] she's had a huge impact on people and it was a great idea to make sure that everybody has a dictionary. >> since 1995 when you founded the project along with french, how many dictionaries have gone out to children? >> over 33,700,000. >> how do you get them out there? >> this project started out with grants and then i spoke to different organizations about this idea because they were intrigued in the idea of the dictionaries and the literacy that is so important to everyone always tr

i tell everybody we have got to embrace martin luther king. both republicans and democrats should stand and say that is our vision for america. it has not always been but it has been, in my lifetime, and we need to make sure it continues to be. host: on the line for republicans, this is a joseph out of tallahassee, florida. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: basically, i really enjoyed c-span because you get to see the news and interviews live in person. i have been listening to everything and what everybody is saying. it's like everybody wants what they want and they want it now. i'm just as human as anybody else but i know that will not work. it reminds me of the story when i was a child and i read it to my children and grandchildren at bedtime, the story about goldilocks and the three bears. goldilocks stumbled into this little cottage, the bears were gone, and she went ahead and looked the chair was either too hard or too soft but the baby chair was just right for her. the porridge wa

that we should judge people by the skin color, not by the content of their character, that martin luther king said, that some races are guilty for what some of the same color did, privileged or victimized or oppressed, it is very dangerous to unit cohesion and morale. and that's one reason why i've been so active in the senate to stop it in its tracks. mr. wood: i couldn't agree with you more. in 1985 to 2005, i start off as young second lieutenant, like we all do. and my -- one of my first units was a motor transport. the truck section for marine corps infantry battalion and we had city kids and country kids, all different backgrounds in terms of economic strata. we had african-americans. we have conventional, traditional european whites. my maintenance chief was an american samoan. my operations chief was a black american marine. and they were all united in the same basic training. they all had to achieve their rank by merits. they all either took each other to task for not living up and operating to standards. or praising somebody who had done a really great job. and it worked. because the

. >> critical race theory goes against everything martin luther king has ever told us -- "don't judge us by the color of our skin." and now they're embracing it, right? they're going backwards. >> american students deserve a rock-solid civics education grounded in actual facts, not divisive propaganda that tells them they're little more than a product of their racial background. >> young children set off to school with eyes full of hope and hearts full of pride in their country, only to be taught that white privilege defines the nation. >> critical race theory says every white person is a racist. critical race theory is bigoted, it is a lie, and it is every bit as racist as the klansmen in white sheets. [ cheers and applause ] >> how did critical race theory go from being an esoteric legal theory in the '70s and '80s to its mainstreaming as a sort of political -- as a political tool? >> yeah, and it's a complicated thing, because we're having a really ding-dong debate about this these days, where people will watch those clips and they will thk that what all those people meant is that

but i want to start with martin luther king and his birthday as a federal holiday in 1983 i think helpedcement the civil rights movement that is part of the national narrative and our ongoing journey towards the more perfect union and as a part of that the tactics of the civil rights movement, the peaceful nonviolent struggle and yet we rarely ask about particularly the kind of short lifespan of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the tactics of the peaceful nonviolent protests and as you point out in your book would you describe as the protests begins as early as 1964 in harlem and in philadelphia and a handful of other cities. the turn towards violence of course is universally condemned in its i own period when the silence broke out in response to george floyd last summer it is universally condemned. but i think that particularly the civil rights movement and the shift to violence as a tragedy is captured and i want to quote this on the 50th anniversary of the march on washington the former president barack obama gave a speech in which he describes that transition in the followi

having to go through to the emergency room is a greater performance wireless as well you for martin luther king 55 years ago declared that all of many inequalities healthcare was in domain. in terms of, i need you. the officers were doing there. they were defending this capital will be this year er for your commitment to congress's the senate gap is wide enough for floor. >> senator from iowa. a senator: are we in

that pressure to hoover's pressure and kennedy and everything that he had, martin luther and king and [inaudible]. so finally, and 63, he upgraded to a temporary 30 day wiretap. and atlanta and in new york. and if you read about courtney evans, he so he did it. [inaudible]. and for a couple of reasons that people speculate. hoover had things on the president. and the civil rights bill. this was october they were fighting to get the civil rights bill moved in the committee. he would often come and had a communist connection or whatever. and so i think that it was an attempt and i'm speculating here to also but he again, president kennedy was killed a month later. president johnson came in became president and lyndon johnson it and hoover and had no problem with dealing with king. so yeah, and i hope you'll read about in the book. bizarrely give it a lot of thought. and i sort of land out. and it certainly was not diminished in fact, fast-forward rated robert kennedy martin luther king become much more closely aligned in terms of looking forward to talking about poverty and they care ab

martin luther king said. should judge people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. it's a small victory. i still think the unions will try to smuggle this in. the biden administration is promoting it too much in the military. military contractors are still promoting it. that's why i have legislation that would ban federal funding for it in the school and the military and shine a bright light on it for the defense contractors with this as well. >> martha: you talk about the infiltration of the military and education. there's lobbyists that have pushed this stuff and came a lot after the death of george floyd where these corporations and institutions were concerned about the discussion going on in the country. so they paid for a program that would help to make them feel like they were doing something about it. and those people, you know, they really cleaned up over the course of this, didn't they? >> yeah. a lot of charlotte tans out there that have gotten rich to purpose these un-amer

we felt like john lewis and martin luther king when they organized and protested, it made a differencee. we saw and witnessed -- i was there on january the 6th and we know what happened then and what didn't happen. another reason we need to pass the john lewis voting rights act. that's the only way we can make a change when we get more people registered to vote without voter suppression, that's why we have the john lewis voting rights act. >> you as a member of the house have floor privileges in the united states senate. you're one of the few people on the planet who is allowed to walk onto the senate floor. but apparently, they don't want to hear your voice. they don't want to hear you raise your voice in any way, no matter how pleasant that music actually sounded in the hart building today. >> thank you. and you're absolutely right. this is why we will continue. because it is our voices that will make a difference. and we know that. it's been tried and proven and tested throughout history. we had the august 6th, 1965, legislation passed because the president, then president johnson,

let's do a better job of living up to them and you can see the same thing with martin luther king and his i have a dream speech where he yes the declaration as a promissory note that needs to be redeemed in neither case. are they attacking our foundations or suggesting that america is irredeemable? but simply that we have work to do and as lovers of this country we need to get about that work to live up to the ideals that we all share and that sort of constructive view of patriotism rather than one that is critical that seeks to tear down that seeks to divide is i think a narrative that americans will embrace. i think it is honest and true and it gives a complete picture to our children of how they should see this country. yet thank you for that bill. that's just terrific and i just say at the shameless self-promotion here at the heritage foundation other people are working on this as well, of course, but a heritage we are trying to produce that kind of material a little mini film series. we're working on right now to make available to parents and others, but i want to take it back to

martin luther king jr. martin, always good to see you.thank you. >> let's take a look at the landscape. by your count 389 voter suppression bills across 48 states. what is your takeaway from this overall push? >> my basic takeaway objective is trying to sound like they're trying to suppress democracy. i felt it was beyond hypocritical to go around the world and promote it and reduce it at home. this makes it much more difficult for the black and brown community, for students, maybe for seniors. we should be expanding this process not reducing. we have a monumental task. ideally the goal is to get the john lewis voter restoration act passed as well as the for the people bill as well. those two things could address these bills across our nation. we're having a march in about five cities, so far, and four or five sister cities are joining, so at least ten marches, to mobilize what the organization march on with a number of organizations. and then we want to register a minimum of 2 million people for next year. >> do you think getting public

mark: these conversations of course there are several with martin luther king jr. they shut so much interesting lighting on the relationships between lbj and the civil rights movement generally and of course in particular and brian williams what your sense of what these conversations tell us about that read. brian: something melody just touched on and this needs to be said as a new generation of students during this time glenn often younger folks feel that all of history should have sensitivities. and you are going to hear figures of speech terminology and vocabulary that is time specific read and thankfully our country does not talk away some of the people on these tapes notably our president talks talk back then. but i hope it is helpful to teach our language standards have migrated. remember the new york times used words to describe japanese adversaries during world war ii that we would never dream of using an conversation or anyone else for that matter in 2021. but on the subject of civil rights, to be essentially when the president is talking about marshall, h

martin luther king jr. used to have with the president of the united states, 60 years ago. 60 years ago. i'll ask our first guest, tonight, former-attorney general of the united states, eric holder, whether civil rights leaders will be having urgent voting-rights meetings with the president of the united states, 60 years from now. before today's white house meeting, vice president kamala harris returned to her alma mater for the first speech she has given there, as vice president of the united states. she said this. >> this is about all voters. it's about all voters. this is not about democrats or republicans. this is about americans. let's be clear about that. and who is prepared right now to stand up for what we say are some of our fundamental values? some of the fundamental pillars to a democracy, to our democracy. this is the fight of our lifetime. this is the fight of our lifetime. >> after the white house meeting, the president of the national urban league said this. >> democracy is under vigorous, vi

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then of course the face of the civil rights movement in the south after 1955 would be doctor martin luther kingson the first black man at least who had a serious chance. as a minister and doctor king's lieutenant and mayor of atlanta who was a minister taking it up to january 5th for those who has at the knees are baptist church he is done ministers so because of the fight against anti- black racism and white supremacy was unrelenting black christians by and large could not avoid being slaves. so our ancestors developed a form of christianity with the liberating god added center and that was both after one's death. but liberation honors. black christianity was supposed to be a redemptive force for the nations whose original sin was slavery. that's a completely different identity and the sister denominations whether methodist or the baptist church. anglicans i'm ashamed to say worse level accepting the baptism of black people as you know an anglican priest was the negro and indian advocate said these people are human beings there are questions whether africans were real human beings are not. i k