throw more support behind president assad to discuss this i was joined earlier by senator richard black and i first asked him to talk about why he felt compelled to write this letter. well i've been a little bit like like the boy who said the emperor has no clothes the whole world has been sort of in a state of group think where no one is willing to to break out and begin to look at things in a very realistic manner i wrote a letter to president assad that said essentially two things first. the syrian forces had swept the column on mountain range where there are many villages that are occupied by christians and i thanked him for the very courageous battles of the syrian army that liberated the christians including thirteen nuns who had been held as human hostages. so that was number one as thanking him for the rescue of the christians number two is i told him that i could not explain how the united states which suffered three thousand deaths people who were who were sent to a fiery death on nine eleven how we could then come out in support of al qaida which was the very group that murde

so i said to the warner brothers if you don't let me hire richard pryor to be the black sheriff, blackart, i'm not going to do t they said, we can't. we found out he takes drugs, we're not going to do it. i said i quit. richard said don't quit. i didn't get my last payment, you know? i said, okay, richard. i said, okay, richard. and so then we all -- so richard and i were looking. and we looked at a lot of different actors and every african-american who ever was an actor came and auditioned and richard really, when we got cleavon little, and cleavon, he said, "man, he's handsome. he's classy." and he's black." i said, "what do you mean?" he said if i was the black sheriff, i could be cuban. i'm cafe au lait, man. but cleav. n, he'll scare the -- out of the west. there was nobody darker or more handsome and more classy than cleavon. he was -- you know, makes me cry to think about him. >> every time i think about that, what might have been -- we all know that wilder and pryor went on to do stuff together. >> oh, yeah. >> but that would have been the first wilder/pryor -- >> that would ha

english classes could spend an entire semester reading richard wright's black boy and how wright's reflectionss early life in jim crow south resonate in the lives of michael brown and the protesters in his community. in social studies teachers looking to help students make sense of the activism and response to brown's killing can use pbs' documentary about the murder of emmitt till to get them thinking about how a single death can launch a movement. science teachers may want to consider sharing this historical document with their students. in this 1851 article dr. samuel cartwright, at the time a widely published and well respected doctor, discusses his diskocove of a mental disorder he claimed caused slaves to run away. after reading the article students could explore the history of scientific racism and how it continues to influence our thinking even today. now some students may already be engaged with hip-hop's music or racialized music. music teachers can help them trace these themes across decades and genres of music by having them listen to and discuss everything from public enemy's figh

richard, let me start with you tonight. let's start with this blackssue because the fbi is very concerned about this. when i went on the facebook page today of the leader of this group, it was astonishing to me the things that he is saying on his facebook page. let's put up a little bit of it here. it says, there are committed and trained warriors on the ground in st. louis. and there are also spies and defleck tors on ground to all general orders are in full effect across this nation. he sals said this is the hour all the greats promgsed. if you die, die like a warrior. i will see you on the ground. what do you make of all this? >> i think martin luther king jr. said it best, violence begets violence. i don't think anybody out here i think if you talk to the brown family they wouldn't condone this type of violence. i think what we are looking for and what people of ferguson is looking for is answers to the fact that this individual was slain or even murdered some would say by a police officer. and i think you can't look at this in a vacuum, martha. y

lieutenant richard gozny of the 28th usct recalled that black soldiers went into the battles at the crater not expecting any quarter nor intending to get any. one soldier claimed that a confederate prisoner was killed by a black soldier with a bayonet and in agony, in an agony of frenzy. the reverberations of this battle echoed throughout the post-war years. very few americans in 1860 anticipated that in a few short years, 4 million slaves would be freed. americans struggled to come to terms with the meaning of the war, the end of slavery, and the role that blacks played -- the role that -- sorry. and the role that blacks played in the preservation of the union and emancipation through armed service. memory of the crater and its racial violence remained a particularly thorny problem for the black and white residents of petersburg and the nation at large. the veterans of mahone's virginia brigade, many of whom were from the petersburg area, continued to meet on the crater battlefield to remember fallen comrades, the cause for which they fought, and assure one another through the early years

famously blocking a door at the university of alabama in 1963 to prevent black students from enrolling. since 1972 when richard78% of the vote in mississippi and 72% in alabama, both states have voted solidly republican. that was, of course, the nikds southern strategy. the exception was in 1976 when jimmy carter swept the south. in 2012, president obama won just 38% of the vote in alabama and 44% in mississippi. alabama didn't elect republican senator by popular vote until 1980. now the state hasn't elected a democrat since 1992, when voters picked richard shelby. he switched to gop two years later. this year jeff sessions is running unopposed after alabama democrats failed to field a candidate against him. the only state where a major party did not run a nominee. wow. republicans have held both senate seats in mississippi since the retirement of john stennis in 1998. in 2010 republicans in alabama won back the state legislature for the first time in 136 years. the gop currently holds 65 seats out of the 105 in the state house and 23 out of the 35 in the state senate. republicans took control of the mississip

black enough. >> could he act any more of a richard pryor through the voice of a white person?down to authority at every possibility, never confront injustice, keep your mouth shut. >> then he assumed jason must live among whites, the traitor. >> imagine he'll find support. i'm a white person. i'm outraged by this sense of betrayal. >> apparently all blacks must live together. how open minded brand. he smears him racially, deeming him not black enough to suit brand's stereotype. in his world, a black person must sound black, act black, live in a black area. congrats, russell, that makes you a full-blown racist. fo he says that speaking elle between thely is acting white. keep acting black or famous people won't like you. this smear that education makes you sound white destroys black lives. russell doesn't care, he's busy enforcing his own bigotry. later he compared jason's words to violence but would brand call out actual violence like his country's various beheaders? nope. that takes guts. what do you expect? brand is a victim of arrested development. he's getting to that unde

i'm richard lui and the entire "early today" team, thanks for watching. you gotta get to subway for the protein packed blackness, piled high with all your favorite veggies like green peppers and juicy tomatoes. now yours at a great price as our $3 six-inch select of august. subway. eat fresh. for the barbeque oven roasted chicken melt, now our featured footlong. with juicy chicken and monterrey cheddar, topped with tangy pickles and mmm! sweet barbecue sauce. now that's a $6 footlong special. subway. eat fresh. >>> from nbc bay area, this is "today in the bay." >>> well, good morning, everyone. it's 4:30. i'm scott mcgrew. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. lots to get to this morning. let's first check the forecast with meteorologist rob mayeda in for christina. >> seeing light rain. wet roads around san francisco. and the radar shows fast moving line of mainly light showers are from north to south, down the peninsula, passing san mateo into palo alto, los altos, sprinkles towards east bay, near 680 through the tri-valley, west out to castro valley. line from north to south. towards afternoon,

richard nixon is a hard man to let go of. by first -- i remember as a child in black and white fuzzy television seeing this odd man, he was on a good ticket with general eisenhower and there was some problem taking money from a secret fund. and i thought this is interesting. he never stopped being interesting. richard nixon was never boring. david mentioned he was probably as interesting in his after presidency as he was during his presidency. i chronicle in the book beginning with spiro agnew. remember spiro agnew being in some trouble and i said to my editor at the new yorker, thought lamented and just the legendary william shawn saying what are you thinking of writing next? i don't know. i have a feeling we are going to change vice presidents and presidents within a year. this is labor day of 73. a way out there kind of wild thought at the time. we agreed i would write a journal, not a diary but watch the events and interpret and talk about them. we didn't know where it was going and as he said at the time we don't know how to change vice presidents. that would be

lieutenant richard gozny of the 28th usct recalled that black soldiers went into the battle at the crater not expecting any quarter nor intending to get any. one soldier claimed that a confederate prisoner was killed by a black soldier with a bayonet and in agony, in an agony of frenzy. the reverberations of this battle echoed throughout the post-war years. very few americans in 1860 anticipated that in a few short years, 4 million slaves would be freed. americans struggled to come to terms with the meaning of the war, the end of slavery, and the role that blacks played -- the role that -- sorry. and the role that blacks played in the preservation of the union and emancipation through armed service. memory of the crater and its racial violence remained a particularly thorny problem for the black and white residents of petersburg and the nation at large. the veterans of mahone's virginia brigade, many of whom were from the petersburg area, continued to meet on the crater battlefield to remember fallen comrades, the cause for which they fought, and assure one another through the early years

black teenager by a police officer. >>> and we'll look back at the long life and respected work of richard at attenborough the actor andthat's died at 90. >>> aaron is back with business. changes are on foot in the movie business. >> what would we see? where's our summer block buster? it's fair to say it's been a lacking summer for big hits. lots of movies that are doing pretty well. we're going to ask is it time for hollywood to change the schedule or focus less on the u.s. markets? >>> hello. thanks for being with us. for the we could week a school district in ferguson, missouri has cancelled classes in order to keep children at home and off the streets. it comes after severe clashes between local people and authorities after an unarmed black teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer. who can forget those pictures? school districts and parents are trying to find ways to keep little ones safe. should they protect them about knowing of the anger that's erupted in their community? >> this one here is going to the second grade. she was quite upset. she wants to wear her book bag and see her friends. we don't

richard flasher's 1975, "mandingo." moreover solomon himself in mcqueen's portrayal as a striking image of black manhood is a worthy protagonisttoo, were others. all of these important elements of african and african-american slave life have been part of tv and big screen movies since at least the 1970s. we hear from john earlier, of course. still, steve mcqueen's "12 years a slave" was a major contribution because it problem lis the first hollywood production to incorporate some version of all these charactes s and scenarios of southern u.s. slavery in one film and we haven't discussed the film that comes from -- depicts slavery in other parts of the atlantic world. i does so more ungrinchingly stamping the institutions and its benefactors with the savage violent brutality, physical, psychological and sexual that leave no room for excuses or apologies or civilized comprehension. "12 years a slave" is a master work, stunning cinematography and cast and gut-wrenching story moving and suspenseful and raging and eventually uplifting. still, it is a flawed and incomplete master work. this should come as a surprise, how could one f

richard danny did this today. >> fantastic, by the way. >> amazing. >> i love the bangs. >> the dress is awesome. >> so she has never owned a little black dress in herat long? >> she was a judge. she's retired now. i wanted to give her a beautiful little black dress that felt elegant and multi-purpose in her wardrobe. and this one is gorgeous. it's perfect. zenya makes it. >> i love your relationship. >> i love your relationship. >> a big round of applause. >> yes. >> go stand right over there. thank you. all righty. our second lady is angela, 46 from cheltenhamford, massachusetts. her daughter told her mother has had the same look since she was born 17 years ago. she asked to give her a brand new style. let's take a listen. >> this is a challenge, i don't know hot mom is. who is the mom here? okay, angela, why do you want this makeover? >> i've had the same haircut for probably the last 15 years. and i was -- i would love to have some -- >> time for a change. girls, how ready are you for this? >> oh my god, we're so ready, and she's so excited. she talks about it all the time. >> let's do this. >> she's here with her daughters nardina, angelina, ra

richard pryor, robin williams, dave chappel le and so on. when you think about the grates greats, you think of the blacks and the jewish. it takes suffering. you think about what it takes to become a comedian. they come from two categories, those with too many hugs or those not enough. we always hear that. >> that's interesting because robin williams and i didn't know this until his death, that he had a tough childhood. he was a chubby kid. he was raised in suburbs of detroit. he always had to fight for his parents' attention and he was bullied in school. i never knew that. >> i think that's maybe where that giving spirit and kind soul comes from, not wanting other people to be in that situation because we also noah long with being a comedian and an actor and an a-list movie star, he was a philanthropist, and he gave a lot of himself when he was battling a lot of problems within himself. he gave so much. he raised $50 million for comic relief. performed for the uso. one thing i learned yesterday jessica chastain released a staple he -- statement he changed my life. he gave me a scholarship and sent me to college. >> you are going to hear a

this one from richard roeper, film critic, tweeted just moments ago, lauren bacall was a great beauty, a natural to be filmed in glorious black>> she will be missed. >>> moving on to the crisis in iraq and word that more than 130 more u.s. troops are arriving on the ground there to assess the situation in that key city of erbil. the pentagon says they joined more than 800 u.s. service members already in iraq. meanwhile thousands of iraqi refugees have been trying to flee their village after isis forces took over. u.s. air force cargo planes made a sixth airdrop overnight of food and water to help the trapped civilians on sinjar mountain. >>> and the world health organization approved the use of an experimental ebola treatment given to two american aid workers. now the question, who should get it? the last doses made in the u.s. is going to two doctors battling ebola in liberia. it could take months to make more. canada just announced plans to donate up to 1,000 doses of its experimental vaccine to africa. but it's far short of what's needed there. >>> topping our health headlines, putting hand sanitizer in your child's backpa

black as hell. >> even though there is such obvious anger and charismatic anger, you can also see his own softness. and itationalizing really wrangles him. conflictwas also this within richardburton. he had been a great actor and he chose a different style. >> as john barrymore did. >> exactly. >> hamlet was the peak and after that, it was down. he was a glamorous hamlet. i grew up time, thinking of hamlet as a glamorous figure. >> here is another insert from kenneth brenna -- branagh. it has been more about shakespeare than anyone over the life of his career. >> henry the fifth is still so much fun. >> take a look at this. >> i knew him. jest, mostnfinite awesome fancy. he has borne me on his back 1000 times. and now what imagination it is. lips that i have kissed i know not how often. your son was your fleshest of merriment. one now to mock your own grinning, quite chock full. chamberyou to my ladies . to this favor she must come. tell me one thing. >> what is that? alexanderey'll think did this fashion on the earth? >> i want to talk about mark one more time. there is a story that you touch on -- because he plays enormously deranged. of an audiencent that is legitimately

richard fleischer's 1975 "mandingo." solomon himself in mcqueen's portrayal as a striking positive image of black manhood is a worthy protagonist but so too was others. all these important elements of african and african-american slave life have been part of tv and big screen movies since at least. 1970s. still no is a major contribution to slave thermography, because it probably is the first hollywood products to incorporate some version of all of these characters and scenarios of southern u.s. slavery in one film. of course, we haven't even discussed the film that comes from other -- you know, that depict slavery in other parts of is the atlantic world. it does so moreover, and while flinch glynn. master work, boast seg stunning cinematography, brilliant task and gut-wrenching movement, and eventually uplifting. still, it is a flawed and incomplete master work how could one film counter a comprehensive view of a 250-year-old institution involving millions of person, to say nothing of racial and gender -- in an ever-expand i ever-expanding slave labor, and the diverse rows of enslaved women, but also inaccurate contextualizati

richard nixon. >> the first moment was at the burning tree country club in 1954. pete cook and i were looking for a summer job. we were the only two white guys out there. after the black caddies have gone after their afternoon bags, the vice president was put out on the bench. the assistant looked over at me and pete cook and called us over and we went around 18 holes at burning tree country club with richard nixon, who was not a scratch golfer. >> what do you remember about him and that meeting? >> he was in his early 40's, not athletic but enjoying himself immensely. i do remember him yelling across a couple of fairways, "hey, steve, why aren't you up on the hill, there is a vote?" i remember that and i remember nixon was an irreverent figure but enjoying himself. caddying, and is burning tree still there? >> i grew up in washington, d.c.. i was not a professional caddy. black kids pulled me aside and said, here's how you do it, you grab the handle here and do this , put it over your shoulder like you know what you are doing. they told us that and instructed me -- we wanted a job during the summer and we wanted to make some money. up in d.c. boy -- i grew the city,

black. in 2007 the company pulled a handbag with the swastika design. >>> let's talk about some trending hollywood headlines now with usa today entertainment reporter arianna thompson. there is a new richardpryor movie out. his son is not happy about it. >> his son is completely not on board with this at all. he told me his father's wife has taken control of everything. she's not communicating with the children and she's sort of going ahead and doing everything she wants. lee daniels is the director of this biopic and when i talked to richard pryor, jr., he said i haven't even had a conversation with lee daniels which is so counterintuitive. wouldn't you want the story to be as robust as possible and get the people who were closest to him? >> it sounds like he did talk to some of the children because mike epps was going to play richard pryor. >> it's a big mess. i think this is a huge family divide and there are some people that may have talked to hollywood people and then other people like richard pryor, jr. who feel left in the dark. what was amazing to me is junior looks so much like his father. when i was sitting there talking to him, i'm like oh, my god. >> is he as funny? >> he's no

richard attenborough who died at the age of 90. and in sport number one rory-mcilroy continues number one from a dramatic final round coming up. ♪ now, parents of michael brown, the unarmed blackger shot dead by a white police officer in the u.s. two weeks ago called for calm in front of the funeral and he will be buried today and the parents called for a day of silence and it led to days of violent protests in st. louis. the suburb of ferguson where the teenager was shot. now the killing has increased racial tensions. >> all i want the peace. and the baby laid to rest. please, please, so we can lay our son to rest. >> reporter: police in riot gear are no longer on the streets of ferguson and it has been peaceful the past few days and the police officer who killed michael brown are as loud as ever and john reports. >> reporter: he is struck by a notion as many young black men here, it might have been him. >> anyone of us any day, everybody know who he is. the young man was shot. so it's no different. black men in america, it's cut and dry, grew up with the same circumstances, same opportunities. >> reporter: the protests have gone from sometimes violent to somber but the facts

richard russell actually proposed the creation of a voluntary racial relocation commission. this would be a federal body that would encourage what they called equitable distribution ever blacke throughout the nation, right? so we're tired of being challenged on race just get them out of here. one application to the oeo from an african-american poor person in the south i think expresses the counter to that. some people who were evicted have left the county she said and have gone to other areas of the state. yet others have elected to stay in the county and help solve the problems of their native land. these people deserve the right to be given a chance to be productive citizens of their choosing. it's almost a right to be here and not have to go somewhere else. so that's one facet in the south of the war on poverty. the challenges that community action face though made it particularly vulnerable as we've seen. democratic mayors and governors and congress people very angry that federal funds are being used to challenge state and local governments. johnson agreed with them. community action was very often implicated with civil rights activism. johnson said the rat browns dh. r

richard russell actually proposed the creation of a voluntary racial relocation commission. this would be a federal body that would encourage what they called equitable distribution ever blackthroughout the nation, right? so we're tired of being challenged on race just get them out of here. one application to the oeo from an african-american poor person in the south i think expresses the counter to that. some people who were evicted have left the county she said and have gone to other areas of the state. yet others have elected to stay in the county and help solve the problems of their native land. these people deserve the right to be given a chance to be productive citizens of their choosing. it's almost a right to be here and not have to go somewhere else. so that's one facet in the south of the war on poverty. the challenges that community action face though made it particularly vulnerable as we've seen. democratic mayors and governors and congress people very angry that federal funds are being used to challenge state and local governments. johnson agreed with them. community action was very often implicated with civil rights activism. johnson said the rat browns dh. rat

richard russell actually proposed the creation of a voluntary racial relocation commission. this would be a federal body that would encourage what they called equitable distribution ever blackoughout the nation, right? so we're tired of being challenged on race just get them out of here. one application to the oeo from an african-american poor person in the south i think expresses the counter to that. some people who were evicted have left the county she said and have gone to other areas of the state. yet others have elected to stay in the county and help solve the problems of their native land. these people deserve the right to be given a chance to be productive citizens of their choosing. it's almost a right to be here and not have to go somewhere else. so that's one facet in the south of the war on poverty. the challenges that community action face though made it particularly vulnerable as we've seen. democratic mayors and governors and congress people very angry that federal funds are being used to challenge state and local governments. johnson agreed with them. community action was very often implicated with civil rights activism. johnson said the rat browns dh. rat br

richard danny did this today. >> fantastic, by the way. >> amazing. >> i love the bangs. >> the dress is awesome. >> so she has never owned a little black dress in her. >> a big round of applause. >> yes. >> go stand right over there. >> all righty. thank you. >> she's 46 from massachusetts. her daughter told her mother has had the same look since she was born 17 years ago. she asked to give her a brand new style. let's take a listen. >> i don't know who the mom is. who is the mom here? okay. now, angela, why do you want this makeover? >> i have had the same haircut for probably the last 15 years, and i was -- i would love to have some -- >> time for a change. >> girls, how ready are you for this? >> she's so excited. she talks about it all the time. >> let's do this. >> she's here with her daughters nardina, angelina, ramora, and their friend mary lou. >> beautiful group, by the way. >> can't wait to see them without their masks. one more look at angela before, and bring out angela. ♪ you got me begging you for mercy ♪ >> wow. >> fantastic. >> all right. you got to take off your blind folds. >> oh, my gosh. >> you want to see what they see? >> turn