we continue our series today by remembering medgar evars. bill clinton hon in order civil rights legend at an arlington national cemetery tribute. >> the miening of medgar evars life was that he came home and even though he had a gorgeous wife and beautiful kids and an unbelievable life to look forward to he said it can't be that i was a soldier in the american army and i stood up for freedom, and i can't vote. >> michael: evars dedicated his life to trying to break through what he called the cotton curtain. he rallied people to boycott businesses that wouldn't serve african-americans and petitioned for equal air time for african-americans on television. after he was rejected by the university of mississippi school of law, he fought get other african-americans into the school. on june 12, 1984 he was murdered outside of his home by byron de la beckwith. jerry mitchell has reported extensively on the life, death and legacy of medgar evers. he joins me tonight from that city in mississippi. jerry thanks as always for coming on the show. you kn

medgar evars born in mississippi in 1925. he served in world war ii. right around the time he turned 30, mr. evars tried to attend the law school at the university of mississippi at ole miss. ole miss was not yet integrated and the school turned him town on the basis of his race. he then became the first field secretary in his state for the naacp and at that time that was a job that was not some kind of metaphor for bravery, it was the soul of bravery. right at the outset of mr. evars' work in mississippi a 14-year-old boy was kidnapped off the porch of a store in money, mmississippi. he was taken in retaliation for him whistling or flirting or maybe just speaking to a woman who was white. the kid, emmett till, was black, 14 years old. he was tortured, and his body was dumped into the river. one local law enforcement hesitated to prosecute anybody for the murder. it was medgar evars who took it upon himself to investigate that crime personally. the woman whom medgar evars married said her husband dressed in disguise when he was doing that investigation

today torial service mark 50 years since the killing of major adverse -- medgar evars. -- evers. the naacp officer was shocked and killed outside his -- shot and killed in 1963. >> major league baseball is ready to suspend 20 players at the center of a performance enhancing drug scandal. espn reports that alex rodriguez and ryan braun are among the players who could receive a 100- game suspension. after been suspected records are handed over to major league baseball. president obama is welcoming the baltimore ravens to the white house today. he will congratulate them on their super bowl victory. 34-31.ens beat the 49ers the president will meet with reporters today on the south lawn of the white house. also, pizza hut is offering a rock-bottom deal. >> chrysler is refusing to recall its jeeps. here is more.york jeepsysler is saying it's are safe and is refusing to comply with a recall of 3 million grand cherokee's and suvs. officials say rear end collisions were linked to fire deaths. safety officials may take chrysler to court over this. chrysler previously could have a recall or

and, of course, that night medgar evars was watching in mississippi and i was murdered in jackson andso it's profound. >> you know, the idea, bill, congressman, of this whole question of i know from studying this, when kennedy was shot down in texas, he was in texas for a reason. he needed texas and at least georgia. he was hang on to two southern states a at that point in his races for re-election. he knew had bad things had gotten for him politically down there. >> he understood. he really understood before that. there was another bombshell kennedy dropped and that was in 196 0. he did something unthinkable. he picked up a fe telephone and called coretta scott king, the wife of martin luther king jr. expressed his concern about martin being in jail in birmingham. that hit the news media and that angered a lot of people. now, what it did, though, is it won him the election. because daddy king, father of martin luther king, was ready to enforce nixon and he would through that endorsement endorse kennedy and a group of black ministers around the country got together, put together a blu