we're preparing for 50th anniversary to march on washington, martin luther king iii organizing a whole continuation rally around that. don't forget the march on legislation in '63 was to get legislation, jobs and freedom, led to the '64 civil rights act and '65 voting rights act. the move in '13 must be to get the congress in '14 and '15 to deal with preserving voter rights which has now been very much impacted by the supreme

we're talking live with martin luther king iii all about it. that's next.ng) how long have i had my car insurance? i don't know, eight, ten years. i couldn't tell ya' but things were a lot less expensive back then. if you're 50 or over you should take a new look at your auto insurance. you may be overpaying. actually that makes a lot of sense. old policy. old rates. and thanks to your experience behind the wheel, you might save $350 by switching to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford. plus, you'll get benefits that reward your driving record, like our promise that you won't be dropped. wait, you won't drop me, seriously? that's right, you won't be dropped. i'm gonna call. if you're 50 or over call now to request your free quote. i'm calling. i'm calling. call today and make the switch to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford. >>> this is miami live. one of the justice for trayvon rallies across the country. more than 100 coast to coast. people calling for federal civil rights charges against george zimmerman. >> their goal, pressur

. >>> joining me now is martin luther king iii. ng here, first of all, martin. >> thank you, rev. >> you know, protests over injustice is a key part of our history and of yours personally. >> it certainly is. and in fact that is part of what we're doing on august 24th as we reenact the march on washington. my dad always used those techniques. he also had a public policy agenda that he had in place that would ultimately create laws that would provide change for our nation. >> and he was always denigrated and called names. you know, the names that he called into stuff he had to endure, our stuff today is petty. the first thing they did is try to act like he was involved in some industry. they indicted him for income tax, said he was stealing money from the organization when it ended up totally being untrue. but always go after your character rather than deal with what you're trying to raise as an issue. >> well, that is certainly very true. what dad did, of course, is use the laws of the land to be exonerated. and they had to of cours

i worked closely with martin luther king iii. i think of how his father lost his life. elson mandela or a martin luther king. most of us will never approach anywhere near a level of greatness. but we all can do something. i can imagine 27 years in jail like mandela. i've been arrested for marches, but nothing like that. but if we can make our little contribution count, that's what is important, and that's what inspires me. if you have a question or comment, please e-mail me at askrev@msnbc.com. remember, friend or foe, i want to know. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >>> george zimmerman tells his story and republicans bash hillary as too old. let's play "hardball".

martin luther king iii simply wouldn't respond to us.on appeared on a number of programs but couldn't make time for the factor. finally, congressman charles rangle, well, he didn't respond at all. i thought that was pretty strange because on the night the zimmerman verdict came in i spoke with mr. rangel personally and he assured me he wanted to come on the program, but then he ran. so it's clear that people pushing racial injustice, that they believed happened in the zimmerman trial, they don't really want to talk about complicated racial problems in general. what the grievance industry does want is to divide the country along racial lines because that's good for business. and they may be succeeding. "wall street journal" asked the folks about the state of race relations in the u.s.a. 52% say they are very good for fairly good. 44% say fairly bad or very bad. but in january of 2010, the number was 72% saying very good or fairly good, just 23% saying very bad or fairly bad. you can see the state of race in america seems to be getting wor

great march on washington fifth anniversary with reverend sharpton involved in it, as well as martin luther king iii. they'll talk about the youth of our children. and so they want to use trayvon as a motivation at that march, that they're trying to encourage everybody to express themselves, to come out and do peaceful protests in washington, d.c. with them. so they are motivated in trying to move forward, craig. and not have a defeatist mentality. they want to have a conquer mentality. and they won't let somebody profile their child to define their legacy. >> we have not heard from any of the six jurors. we may not hear from any of the six jurors. if you could ask them collectively one question, what would that question be? >> well, you know, as officers of the court, we try to respect the jury's verdict, even if we don't agree with it. we try to respect their verdict and try to encourage people to accept the rule of law. i told tracy and sabrina, i tell all my clients, there's no guarantee at justice. there's a chance at justice. and that's all we have in america. and that's what makes us the grea

the justice department and the congress, the next march is the 50th anniversary march of martin luther king iii is doing with action network and all of us. the congress has to look at this federal law can supersede state law saying these laws violent people's civil rights. that is what the '63 march was about. the '63 march 50 years ago when i was a kid couldn't go. you probably weren't even born. led to the'64 civil rights act. we are talking about national law here. it always starts with protests because if someone doesn't raise the issue, they won't be dealt with. >> i want to get your take on president obama's remarks friday, the surprise remarks from the white house and then the response, if you will, that ensued the past two days. i'll play some of what the president said and then some of the response. take a listen. >> you know, there have been talk about should we convene a conversation on race. i haven't seen that be particularly productive when, you know, politicians try to organize conversations. they end up being stilted and politicized. >> i appreciate and applaud the fact that the

and as we mobilize, as you know martin luther king iii and i are having the march on washington on his father's "i have a dream" speech, how do we have this country with dr. king's dream 50 years later and you can't walk an innocent child through a neighborhood without the child being harmed, lest known killed, and nobody can say i watched the whole trial, no one can say what trayvon martin did wrong? they always get away with it, zimmerman said. who is "they" getting away with what? that's the basis of the civil rights inquiry. >> mayor triplett in sanford, one of the reasons i want to talk about this morning is the political element to this going back to the shooting and trayvon martin's death initially. president obama weighed in at the time and his comments were striking. this is what he said then. >> my main message is to the parents of trayvon martin. you know, if i had a son, he'd look like trayvon, and, you know, i think they are right to expect that all of us as americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves and this we're going to get to the bottom of exact

well, event's on a saturday, august 24th, and martin luther king iii and i have bus, caravans leavingountry. go to the website, www.nationalactionnetwork.net. put your name in and find out where someone is going and coming back the same day on that saturday. if that's too far for you, though, mary, you can make your voice heard by writing your congress person, saying that i'm concerned about jobs, justice, and voting. i couldn't march, but i'm with those that are marching august 24th. richard writes, how can we count on congress to restore voting rights protection when all the house of representatives is interested in doing is voting for abortion bans and repeal obama care? richard, the fight for voting rights is alive, especially today. this is the 49th anniversary of the historic 1964 civil rights act, today. >> this civil rights act is a challenge to all of us to go to work in our communities and in our states, in our homes and in our hearts. to eliminate the last vestiges of injustice. in our beloved country. >> with president lyndon johnson's signature, the civil rights act becam

and the march with martin luther king iii and all of us would be around this voting, this right to vote. joan, i think that it is very interesting that we hear the right wing talk about responsibility should be taught in minority communities, black, latino communities. isn't one of the most responsible things a family can do is vote and participate in the affairs of their city, county, state, and national government? so how do you on one hand tell people to be responsible, and on the other hand put impediments in their way to exercise their civic duty of voting? >> well, it's ridiculous, reverend al, and you have called it out, as you should, the notion that the cause of racism personal irresponsibility is ridiculous. and, you know, if you want to talk about irresponsibility, i would say the governor of north carolina is rather irresponsible because it seemed at least a couple days ago that he hadn't even read this bill that he was pledging to sign. >> right. >> he said something about there is plenty of opportunities for voter registration yoon line. no, you can't register to vote onli

. >> reverend bryant, as we look at this 50 years later and we're getting ready, martin luther king iiill of us come together to march and deal with the issues of today, voting rights and equal protection under the law, the challenge is for activism today is to put that spotlight on not only these particular cases, which clearly is front and center in the minds of the nation now, because people like us went to florida, but also to deal withstand your ground laws and other laws which laws were changed in the '60s when there was discipline in strategic action. >> one of the critical place, reverend sharpton, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary is what made magic johnson a great play was not all of his shots, but his ability to pass. marching is the first step. martin luther king jr. did an incredible job. but we cannot forget the legacy of thurgood marshall. he marched all the way to the point line and thurgood marshall had to help pass the law. what we've done in the past jeer raise your attention on stand your ground and now we have to move forward op chaining the law. that's why we're

law here at the naacp convention civil rights, heavy weights from reverend jesse jackson, martin luther king iii call for the law's repeal. holder suggested stand your ground may escalate confrontation. today the white house made clear to reporters the president feels the debate should be held at the state level. >> it's a component of what we are saying now about actions that states could take to look at the laws on their books and evaluate them against the standard, which is are these laws improving or making worse the situation with regards to gun violence? >> and the nra weighed in on all of this saying that self-defense is not a concept but a basic human right. shep? >> shepard: jonathan serrie in orlando. jonathan, a live look near where you are in orlando where police estimate hundreds of people plan to attend what they're calling a march against gun violence. and for a second day today, dozens of protesters holding a sit-in at the office of florida's governor rick scott in the capital of tallahassee. they say they plan to stay until the governor calls a special session to reevaluate the

we're preparing for 50th anniversary to march on washington, martin luther king iii organizing a whole that. don't forget the march on legislation in '63 was to get legislation, jobs and freedom, led to the '64 civil rights act and '65 voting rights act. the move in '13 must be to get the congress in '14 and '15 to deal with preserving voter rights which has now been very much impacted by the supreme court and deal with stand your ground, stop and frisk and others. if all we do is come out of this with a conversation, that's good for commentators but won't be good for the community. >> how much do you think this is a national discussion about the civil rights aspect of this. that was the catalyst for 100 cities march but expanded to a discussion on race? do not you think? aren't the two inextricably intertwined. >> it has led to a conversation. a conversation many of us are having it, now all of america is having it. i'll tell you why, alex, many of us questioning what's going on with law enforcement and shootings and all, when it became unto this case, became clear to this country we'

in any event, the most surprising thing to me, victor blackwell, interview with martin luther king jr. iiiis the foundation for the charges? he didn't know. and that's because there are no claims for civil rights. hate crimes act or civil rights charges, again george zimmerman. none. absolutely none. >> and earlier in this hour i spoke with attorney general alberto gonzales who didn't see the elements were there nor a civil rights charge for the just it department to explore either. while he thinks the exploration should take place he doesn't necessarily believe that it is there, that the case there, but much more from you all late other than in the next hour. thanks so much. including talking about the whitey bulger case and all that's taking place in that surprising case. also involving the witnesses and whether some might be too afraid to testify now. explain why. and katherine jackson's testimony, again, her son michael's concert promoter, aeg. all that straight ahead, after this. vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a lot more people but a friend under water is something comple

martin luther king, jr.,'s son, martin iii celebrating the great march on washington and the fact they will focus a lot on trayvon martin and the criminal justice system as it relates to our young people and how tracy and sybrina will be there with them and want to get as many people there as possible so the department of justice will see we are still screaming out for justice for trayvon an unknown trayvons. >> benjamin crump, attorney for trayvon martin's family. thanks so much for reminding us grief may be reasonable but despair is unacceptable when this family refuses to be in despair. thank you. >> up next a closer look at this case and the role of race in this case. i'm going to bring my panel in. what if george zimmerman was an african-american man. that was his attorney actually asked that question last night. oh man. gotta think fast, herbie. back pedal, back pedal. [ crowd cheering ] oh, he's down in flames and now the ice-cold shoulder. one last play... no, game over! gps take him to the dog house. [ male announcer ] make a powerful first impression. the all-new nissan sentr