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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
How do Race Relations Look 35 Years After Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death?; Al Hirschfeld Dies at 99
Aired January 20, 2003 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN HOST: And good evening again. We got a great compliment from one of you late last week. It wasn't even meant to be one, and sometimes those are the best kind.
It was a question. Were we going to do the same thing as we did last year on Martin Luther King Day and run the "I Have A Dream" speech, the whole thing uncut, with no "Brought to you by" interruptions. We're flattered, truly flattered that some of you remembered that we ran the speech last year, thought it was worth all 17 minutes of it, and hoped we do it again as sort of a NEWSNIGHT tradition.
Well we will for a couple of reasons. First, because we know that many of you have never heard the entire speech. It is odd that way. We all know the key lines, the "I Have A Dream" lines, for example. But there is so much more there.
Second, to us at least the message remains timely. The language has changed. The first time you hear Dr. King use the word "Negro," your head will snap back a bit. But the message remains.
And third, because no one else will. In these days when eight seconds of sounds seems like an eternity in a produced package, we don't let words run long enough. They come and they go so quickly, we can't absorb their meaning, can't think about them in our heads or feel them in our hearts. So we'll run it again. And if you heard it last year, we hope you'll listen one more time.
And if you've never heard the whole speech, this is a wonderful piece of history. It is a treat, and we hope you'll allow yourselves to enjoy it. That comes later in the program.
First and always, "The Whip" begins with the news of the day. And that starts in Iraq. Nic Robertson is in Baghdad for us. Nic, a headline on the events today.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, U.N. Weapons Chief Hans Blix comes to Baghdad, gets 10 points of agreement with Iraqi officials that he hopes will lead to a better cooperation for his inspectors. But there are still some points left unagreed.
BROWN: Nic, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight. On to the United Nations and the message today from the secretary of state. Michael Okwu was at the U.N. today and he's with us with tonight.
Michael, a headline, please.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, came to the United Nations today with a very clear message: time is running out for Saddam Hussein and the Security Council needs to at least start thinking about preparations for war with Iraq. Trouble is, he didn't get much support -- Aaron.
BROWN: Michael, thank you. And finally to the White House and an interesting question on the table considering the day. The Bush administration, race, and affirmative action. Our senior White House correspondent John King with us tonight.
John, a headline.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the president joined the country in paying tribute to Dr. King today. Mr. Bush suggesting that, in his view, schools and churches are far more important than the federal government in promoting racial equality. No direct mention at all of the affirmative action debate that has the president in hot water with many civil rights leaders. And in public, disagreement with his African-American secretary of state -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you. Back to all of you shortly.
Also coming up tonight, this Monday, the 20th of January, as we said, we'll bring you the speech "I Have a Dream." We'll bring it to you at about 25 minutes past the hour in its entirety. And we'll also talk to Dr. King's son Dexter King about preserving his father's legacy and being in the most unusual position of growing up King. Dexter King has a new book out.
And a farewell tonight to a Broadway legend, the master of character -- not to mention Nina's dad. The life and art of Al Hirschfeld. That's "Segment 7" tonight. Good program on a holiday Monday.
We begin with Iraq. The wheels of war and diplomacy both turning faster tonight. Everything is building to a point sometime next week or perhaps a bit later when decisions will be made on war in Washington. Whether United Nations will go along, whether the weapons inspectors will say there is no point continuing the inspections, that part is less than clear.
But the secretary of defense today said it will be known in weeks, not months, what the answer will be. But in the meantime, the troops keep shipping out, the inspectors keep on inspecting. And today the Iraqis promised at least greater cooperation. We have two reports tonight beginning first with CNN's Nic Robertson, who is in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (voice-over): Talks with Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. The last of four apparently productive meetings for Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. Their 30 hours in Baghdad bringing pledges of cooperation; notably, on the key issue of interviewing Iraqi scientists.
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Persons asked for interviews in private will be encouraged to accept this.
ROBERTSON: Other points agreed to: the Iraqis will search for more chemical warheads, hand over more documents to the U.N., and add more scientists to the list already given to the U.N. Baghdad has also undertaken to answer unresolved questions arising from its weapons declaration and pass laws banning the production of weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. will take Iraqi officials on helicopter inspections. Blix optimistic that the agreements will be kept.
BLIX: ... so I have no doubt that also this will be respected. There are, of course, other issues in there which we have discussed and where we have not reached (UNINTELLIGIBLE) conclusions.
ROBERTSON: One of those issues left outstanding after more than six hours of talks, the U.N.'s request to use U-2 surveillance aircraft to aid inspectors. However, despite the fact that Blix and ElBaradei are demanding increased cooperation from the Iraqis, just as the previous U.N. mission did, they appear confident the inspection process is working.
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: But there is already an inspection (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and that in and of itself is, as we I think agree, has a good insurance that new activities will not at least be started.
ROBERTSON: For Iraqi officials, the calls for improved cooperation come at a time when they feel they have already done a lot to answer accusations they still have weapons of mass destruction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you prove more than 50 percent, you are right. The rest, you either help me do it if I'm not capable, or you accept my story, unless you have evidence to the contrary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: If Blix and Baradei really have made progress here then Iraqi authorities only have a very short time to give a verifiable demonstration of that new commitment. If Blix and ElBaradei are going to be able to reflect that, Aaron, in their report to the U.N. Security Council in just one week's time.
BROWN: All right. I just want to focus on one phrase for a second: "In private." Does in private mean in the country, or does it mean out of the country?
ROBERTSON: For right now, Aaron, it means in private, inside Iraq. Now of course the weapons inspectors will be free to ask the Iraqi scientists whatever they want. And amongst all those questions they may therefore choose in private to ask that question: would you like to leave Iraq to answer more questions? But at the moment, this specifically means in private, in Iraq.
BROWN: Nic, thank you. We'll see what the next chapter brings. Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
On now to Secretary Powell's sales job today at the United Nations, and a catch-22 for the administration. Every weapon the inspectors discover, each warhead the Iraqis reveal, is a powerful argument that the inspectors should be given more time to do their job. It is a seductive argument for many on the Council, including the Russians, the Chinese, and the French, who all hold veto power.
So if a case is to be made for a U.N. support, and the majority of Americans do not favor war without it, there is still work to be done at the U.N. Today, the secretary of state got started. Here's CNN's Michael Okwu.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell and 12 other foreign minister unanimously agreeing to implement sanctions against al Qaeda and eliminate support for terrorists. But the diplomats' unity on this resolution contrasted sharply with differences on Iraq and how much leeway to give Saddam Hussein.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: So however difficult the road ahead may be with respect to Iraq, we must not shrink from the need to travel down that road.
OKWU: Powell had hoped to corral his counterparts into taking more hard line stances on Baghdad. In meetings with ministers from France, Russia, and China, the secretary warned that time is running out. But after U.N. officials in Baghdad announced a 10 point agreement between the weapons inspectors and the Iraqis, France and Germany appeared to take even harder positions against military intervention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The choice is to continue in line with the efforts that we have made on the path of cooperation. The other choice is to move forward out of impatience over a situation in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will not be part of a military action as the federal republic of Germany. And we want to avoid military action by a success in the implementation of 1441.
OKWU: The German foreign minister warned that a military strike against Iraq would involve unpredictable risks for the global fight against terrorism, while the Chinese said the inspections have reached a new beginning. All of the this left the U.S. and Powell where they started almost two months ago: pushing a hawkish stance with the British by its side.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot be shocked into impotence because we're afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us. And so we'll have much work to do, difficult work, in the days ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU: While there doesn't appear to be any consensus on military intervention, there is a growing sense among diplomats here at the United Nations, Aaron, that essentially we should wait until January 27, the date of course when Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix will come before the Security Council with a report. The feeling essentially is that these inspections are much more focused, much more tough. The inspectors working with a great deal more of intelligence. So give them a little bit more time, and the Iraqis just may slip up -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well Michael, there was a time when January 27 seemed a long way away. But it's just a week away now, and we'll know a lot more next week. Thank you. Michael Okwu over at the U.N.
And this NEWSNIGHT continues on this Martin Luther King holiday. Next, the politics of race today. Is the Bush administration on the same page? And later, we'll go back to Washington, D.C., in the year 1963, and hear Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech in its entirety.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: President Bush attended Martin Luther King Day remembrances in a church in Landover, Maryland today. The location no accident. The Maryland suburbs are home to one of the country's largest concentrations of the black middle class.
No surprise either that given all the recent sensitivities surrounding the president's party and African-Americans, Mr. Bush spoke only in the broadest generalities and seemed to focus more on faith than race. For more on that, we turn to our Senior White House Correspondent John King -- John, good evening.
J. KING: Good evening again to you, Aaron. Perhaps a bit of a surprise to some following this debate in recent weeks sustained applause for the president as he visited that congregation in the Washington suburbs. This despite, of course, sharp criticism from many African-American politicians, many civil rights leaders, especially for the brief the Bush administration filed last week challenging the constitutionality of that University of Michigan affirmative action program.
The president steered clear of any direct reference to affirmative action today. But we did get a bit of a glimpse of his philosophy when it comes to race relations. Mr. Bush saying yes, the government can cut a check and spend money and do some things. But in his view, more progress, further progress in pursuit of Dr. King's dream of racial equality would be better served if it comes from the classrooms and the congregations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even though progress has been made, there's more to do. There are still people in our society who hurt. There is still prejudice holding people back. There is still a school system that doesn't elevate every child so they can learn.
There is still a need for us to hear the words of Martin Luther King to make sure the hope of America extends its reach into every neighborhood across this land. So it's fitting we're here in a church that has got ministries aimed at healing those who hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: The timing is awkward for the president. The affirmative action debate and the dust-up over Senator Trent Lott's comments about segregation come at a time when this president desperately wants to improve his standing among African-American voters. He received just nine percent of that vote in the 2000 campaign. Aides say he is determined to get much more in 2004. But because of all the controversy, all the questions about racial policies and racial politics, key Democrats predict a tough road ahead for this president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: What we have seen is the administration talking the talk on the issues of civil rights, and then proposing judges who are hostile to civil rights. And then backing off a policy on affirmative action that had been embraced by Republicans and Democrats for 40 years. So there's one thing about talking the talk, there's another about walking the walk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: Perhaps the most fascinating part of this affirmative action debate is the glimpse in an administration that's quite proud of its secrecy at the views of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell, two key African-American Bush advisers on matters away from their portfolio of national security. Dr. Rice says she agrees with the president's decision in the Michigan case, but she also has gone public in going far beyond what the president has been willing to say, and saying that in some cases she believes race should be used as a preference in college admissions.
Quite a different view from Secretary of State Powell. He says he flatly disagrees with the president on this one. That he agrees and believes it is right for Michigan to have that policy in place. Secretary Powell, though, in his public statements, hastening to add he by no means questions this president's commitment to racial progress and racial equality -- Aaron.
BROWN: Would it be fair to assume that neither Secretary Powell nor Ms. Rice would have made the public statements or issued the public statements they had made without the White House's permission? J. KING: Absolutely not. Although Secretary Powell, we should note, was on record during the presidential campaign, when he was out campaigning for then Governor Bush. He was in Michigan and other places and he was asked about the Michigan Supreme Court case, which was then making its way through the court. So he had been on record publicly for some time. It would be very difficult for him to back away.
Dr. Rice was consulted by the president, as was Secretary Powell, as the administration debated filing this brief. Dr. Rice saw one media account about her involvement in that and decided she wanted to issue a public statement explaining her views. The president gave his blessing.
BROWN: John, thank you. Our senior White House correspondent John King with us tonight.
Coming up on NEWSNIGHT on this Monday, we'll check a number of other stories going on around the country and around the world, including former President Jimmy Carter trying to help end the continuing unrest in Venezuela. And then a little bit later, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech in its entirety on this day, the day the country remembers the slain civil rights leader.
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A few stories to fit in from around the world tonight, beginning with the war on terror. In Europe, police raided a London mosque and arrested seven men in connection the recent discovery of the poison ricin. The mosque is a known center for radical Islam. People who worship there include the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and the accused 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui.
Former President Jimmy Carter in Venezuela trying to get both sides talking in hopes of ending the general strike that has cripple Venezuelan economy. He met today with opposition and government leaders, including the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The opposition launched a strike. It wants to see the president ousted from power.
And at least four people have been killed by fires that swept through parts of the Australian capital of Canberra. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed as well. Six major fires are burning in the region. It's being called now the worst fire season in decades.
And some stories a bit closer to hope tonight, starting with a deadly avalanche in Canada. At least seven American skiers have died. They were caught in an avalanche in the eastern part of British Columbia, which is way in the western part of Canada. Thirteen others were rescued.
From California, a strange twist in the mystery of Laci Peterson. The home of the missing pregnant woman was broken into in recent days. Police describe the break-in as "bizarre," their words, but don't believe there's anything "smoking gun" in terms of the connection between the burglary and Ms. Peterson's disappearance.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech on this the national holiday commemorating his life. We'll also talk to his youngest child, Dexter King, as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The dateline was Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963. Russell Baker (ph) wrote this for "The New York Times." "No one could remember an invading army quite as gentle as the 200,000 civil rights marchers who occupied Washington today." Determination, dignity, righteousness in the best sense. It was true of the marchers and was best expressed by the man who led them into that gentle but historic battle on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
So here is the speech. The parts you know, the parts you may have forgotten and the parts you may never have heard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclaimation.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering injustice.
It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the colored America is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
One hundred years later, the colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land
So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.
Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked
"insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.
We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now.
This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.
Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizens.
This sweltering summer of the colored people's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning.
Those who hope that the colored Americans needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the colored citizen is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow.
I still have a dream.
It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interpostion and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope.
This is the faith that I will go back to the South with.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvacious slopes of California.
But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: August 28, 1963, a year later the Civil Rights Bill would pass the United States Congress. Our thanks to the King estate for giving NEWSNIGHT permission to air again this year the "I Have A Dream" speech.
We'll take a short break. When we come back, we'll talk with Martin Luther King Jr.'s, one of them. Dexter King, his youngest son. This is NEWSNIGHT around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It is not, I am told by someone who knows about such things, the easiest thing in the world to be a child of a public person. Imagine being the child of a martyr.
The children of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw their father loved and hated, revered and murdered. They saw the debate over the holiday play out, they hear his name invoked by all sorts of people, some as far from Dr. King as you can imagine.
Dexter King has written about the experience and his father and his father's legacy in a book called "Growing up King". He joins us tonight from Atlanta.
Nice to see you. You were a baby when he made the speech in Washington. You were only, as I recall, 7 when he died. Do you remember the day he died?
DEXTER KING, CHAIRMAN, THE KING CENTER: I do remember it, vivid live actually.
BROWN: What do you remember?
D. KING: Well, first of all, my brother and I were watching television and a news flash bulletin appeared saying that my father had been shot in Memphis.
Certainly we were very confused and immediately ran back to my mother's bedroom and she, of course, was on the phone talking to Memphis, trying to get details. So it was a very chaotic and traumatic period.
BROWN: You were 7, you were a child. Were you at all aware that your father was engaged in activities that could be dangerous to him?
D. KING: Yes, we were always aware. As you know, my parents' home was bombed before they moved to Atlanta and the only child, or sibling around at the time was my eldest sister Yolanda. So we always knew there was danger working but yet we did the best to try to cope with it.
BROWN: I'm going to talk about the King Center these days. Let me ask a little bit more about you and your dad and the family and the like.
Seven-year-olds have quite a narrow view of the world, pretty much revolves around them. Did you have a sense at 7 that what your dad was doing was important or historic or long lasting?
D. KING: Yes, we did. My mother, and both our parents actually would take time out to share with us the work that they were doing and we would spend quality time talking.
However, I was very young so I didn't understand the full effect of it or impact, but we knew it was important because we would see him certainly or television or we would hear about him or in public see a lot of people gather around. So from a child's perspective, we understood it was important.
BROWN: Was it hard growing up the child of Dr. King?
D. KING: Yes, it was in many ways. Not so much because of internal pressure but I would say external pressure. There was always someone who would run up and say, you know I want you to be just like your father. I want you to be a minister or I want to you do great things. So certainly there was always that pressure there.
BROWN: And did you ever wish you could be Dexter somebody else and just run away from it all and figure out who you are and live your life without that pressure?
D. KING: Sometimes, yes. I would think that way. But certainly the blessings greatly outweighed the burdens.
BROWN: I assume one of the blessings is the work you do now at the King Center. Talk a little bit about where the King Center is and perhaps even how it's evolved over time.
D. KING: Well, the King Center, as you know, was founded by my mother in 1968 after my father's death, to really serve as a living memorial and official institutional guardian for his legacy.
And we have continued to educate the world about his teachings of nonviolence and also his philosophies. It's also one of the largest visited tourist attacks in the Southeast. And certainly we want to see that generations yet unborn will know the same message and have the same authentic feel of what my father's message was all about so that it really doesn't become lost. That's the important thing, that it remains in that for generations yet unborn.
BROWN: Do you remember the segregated South? You were pretty young. Do you remember it?
D. KING: I do, actually. I remember the sign, separate quarters, separate water fountains. I remember actually being discriminated against and called bad names and also dealing with racist organizations, confronting the Ku Klux Klan at a march and rally. So I do remember those symbols and vivid signs of racism, in the South in particular.
BROWN: Well, the worst of that, we hope, is over. It's good to talk to you and, again, our thanks to the Center for allowing us again this year to run the entire speech. It is one of the great and important speeches of the last half of the 20th Century in American life. We appreciate it. Thank you.
D. KING: Well, we thank you as well.
BROWN: Thank you. Dexter King from Atlanta this evening.
Next on NEWSNIGHT, the passing of an artistic legend, Al Hirschfeld. We'll wrap it up for Monday after this short break.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Finally from us tonight, in appreciation of the artist Al Hirschfeld, who died earlier this morning in his home here in Manhattan. He lived to be 99.
For more than 75 of those 99 years, mostly on the pages of "The New York Times," Mr. Hirschfeld spun us a world in pen and ink.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARGO FEIDEN, WORKED WITH AL HIRSCHFELD FOR 33 YEARS: He loved to draw. He loved the challenge of having a subject to capture. Every single drawing was a new challenge for him.
What can I do in this drawing that I haven't done before? Right up until the very end, he was doing things that he had never done before.
Hirschfeld is not really a caricaturist. He preferred and I prefer the designation characterist, because it was not interesting to him to exaggerate somebody's big nose and make it even bigger.
And the reason that we say characterist is because he got into somebody's character and he drew what was inside.
The tradition of putting Nina's name in his drawings started the day she was born. He was very happy to be the proud father of a newborn baby girl. He amused himself after that by hiding her name.
AL HIRSCHFELD, ARTIST: I did it just to herald her appearance on this planet and I had no ulterior motive in doing it. I didn't think anybody would notice it.
FEIDEN: He could make a line that is impossible to make. It was a talent that was beyond ordinary human abilities, even for artists. But even his last day on Earth, he spent drawing all day long.
I will remember Hirschfeld as a man with such an important work ethic, such an important striving for perfection. He was sort of the mix between that and Santa Claus because he would bring such joy into a room.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: What a nice way to end. We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
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King Jr.'s Death?; Al Hirschfeld Dies at 99>
Aired January 20, 2003 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
AARON BROWN, CNN HOST: And good evening again. We got a great compliment from one of you late last week. It wasn't even meant to be one, and sometimes those are the best kind.
It was a question. Were we going to do the same thing as we did last year on Martin Luther King Day and run the "I Have A Dream" speech, the whole thing uncut, with no "Brought to you by" interruptions. We're flattered, truly flattered that some of you remembered that we ran the speech last year, thought it was worth all 17 minutes of it, and hoped we do it again as sort of a NEWSNIGHT tradition.
Well we will for a couple of reasons. First, because we know that many of you have never heard the entire speech. It is odd that way. We all know the key lines, the "I Have A Dream" lines, for example. But there is so much more there.
Second, to us at least the message remains timely. The language has changed. The first time you hear Dr. King use the word "Negro," your head will snap back a bit. But the message remains.
And third, because no one else will. In these days when eight seconds of sounds seems like an eternity in a produced package, we don't let words run long enough. They come and they go so quickly, we can't absorb their meaning, can't think about them in our heads or feel them in our hearts. So we'll run it again. And if you heard it last year, we hope you'll listen one more time.
And if you've never heard the whole speech, this is a wonderful piece of history. It is a treat, and we hope you'll allow yourselves to enjoy it. That comes later in the program.
First and always, "The Whip" begins with the news of the day. And that starts in Iraq. Nic Robertson is in Baghdad for us. Nic, a headline on the events today.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, U.N. Weapons Chief Hans Blix comes to Baghdad, gets 10 points of agreement with Iraqi officials that he hopes will lead to a better cooperation for his inspectors. But there are still some points left unagreed.
BROWN: Nic, thank you. We'll get to you at the top tonight. On to the United Nations and the message today from the secretary of state. Michael Okwu was at the U.N. today and he's with us with tonight.
Michael, a headline, please.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the U.S. Secretary of State, Colin Powell, came to the United Nations today with a very clear message: time is running out for Saddam Hussein and the Security Council needs to at least start thinking about preparations for war with Iraq. Trouble is, he didn't get much support -- Aaron.
BROWN: Michael, thank you. And finally to the White House and an interesting question on the table considering the day. The Bush administration, race, and affirmative action. Our senior White House correspondent John King with us tonight.
John, a headline.
JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, the president joined the country in paying tribute to Dr. King today. Mr. Bush suggesting that, in his view, schools and churches are far more important than the federal government in promoting racial equality. No direct mention at all of the affirmative action debate that has the president in hot water with many civil rights leaders. And in public, disagreement with his African-American secretary of state -- Aaron.
BROWN: John, thank you. Back to all of you shortly.
Also coming up tonight, this Monday, the 20th of January, as we said, we'll bring you the speech "I Have a Dream." We'll bring it to you at about 25 minutes past the hour in its entirety. And we'll also talk to Dr. King's son Dexter King about preserving his father's legacy and being in the most unusual position of growing up King. Dexter King has a new book out.
And a farewell tonight to a Broadway legend, the master of character -- not to mention Nina's dad. The life and art of Al Hirschfeld. That's "Segment 7" tonight. Good program on a holiday Monday.
We begin with Iraq. The wheels of war and diplomacy both turning faster tonight. Everything is building to a point sometime next week or perhaps a bit later when decisions will be made on war in Washington. Whether United Nations will go along, whether the weapons inspectors will say there is no point continuing the inspections, that part is less than clear.
But the secretary of defense today said it will be known in weeks, not months, what the answer will be. But in the meantime, the troops keep shipping out, the inspectors keep on inspecting. And today the Iraqis promised at least greater cooperation. We have two reports tonight beginning first with CNN's Nic Robertson, who is in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTSON (voice-over): Talks with Foreign Minister Naji Sabri. The last of four apparently productive meetings for Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei. Their 30 hours in Baghdad bringing pledges of cooperation; notably, on the key issue of interviewing Iraqi scientists.
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Persons asked for interviews in private will be encouraged to accept this.
ROBERTSON: Other points agreed to: the Iraqis will search for more chemical warheads, hand over more documents to the U.N., and add more scientists to the list already given to the U.N. Baghdad has also undertaken to answer unresolved questions arising from its weapons declaration and pass laws banning the production of weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. will take Iraqi officials on helicopter inspections. Blix optimistic that the agreements will be kept.
BLIX: ... so I have no doubt that also this will be respected. There are, of course, other issues in there which we have discussed and where we have not reached (UNINTELLIGIBLE) conclusions.
ROBERTSON: One of those issues left outstanding after more than six hours of talks, the U.N.'s request to use U-2 surveillance aircraft to aid inspectors. However, despite the fact that Blix and ElBaradei are demanding increased cooperation from the Iraqis, just as the previous U.N. mission did, they appear confident the inspection process is working.
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY: But there is already an inspection (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and that in and of itself is, as we I think agree, has a good insurance that new activities will not at least be started.
ROBERTSON: For Iraqi officials, the calls for improved cooperation come at a time when they feel they have already done a lot to answer accusations they still have weapons of mass destruction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you prove more than 50 percent, you are right. The rest, you either help me do it if I'm not capable, or you accept my story, unless you have evidence to the contrary.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: If Blix and Baradei really have made progress here then Iraqi authorities only have a very short time to give a verifiable demonstration of that new commitment. If Blix and ElBaradei are going to be able to reflect that, Aaron, in their report to the U.N. Security Council in just one week's time.
BROWN: All right. I just want to focus on one phrase for a second: "In private." Does in private mean in the country, or does it mean out of the country?
ROBERTSON: For right now, Aaron, it means in private, inside Iraq. Now of course the weapons inspectors will be free to ask the Iraqi scientists whatever they want. And amongst all those questions they may therefore choose in private to ask that question: would you like to leave Iraq to answer more questions? But at the moment, this specifically means in private, in Iraq.
BROWN: Nic, thank you. We'll see what the next chapter brings. Nic Robertson in Baghdad.
On now to Secretary Powell's sales job today at the United Nations, and a catch-22 for the administration. Every weapon the inspectors discover, each warhead the Iraqis reveal, is a powerful argument that the inspectors should be given more time to do their job. It is a seductive argument for many on the Council, including the Russians, the Chinese, and the French, who all hold veto power.
So if a case is to be made for a U.N. support, and the majority of Americans do not favor war without it, there is still work to be done at the U.N. Today, the secretary of state got started. Here's CNN's Michael Okwu.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell and 12 other foreign minister unanimously agreeing to implement sanctions against al Qaeda and eliminate support for terrorists. But the diplomats' unity on this resolution contrasted sharply with differences on Iraq and how much leeway to give Saddam Hussein.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: So however difficult the road ahead may be with respect to Iraq, we must not shrink from the need to travel down that road.
OKWU: Powell had hoped to corral his counterparts into taking more hard line stances on Baghdad. In meetings with ministers from France, Russia, and China, the secretary warned that time is running out. But after U.N. officials in Baghdad announced a 10 point agreement between the weapons inspectors and the Iraqis, France and Germany appeared to take even harder positions against military intervention.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The choice is to continue in line with the efforts that we have made on the path of cooperation. The other choice is to move forward out of impatience over a situation in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will not be part of a military action as the federal republic of Germany. And we want to avoid military action by a success in the implementation of 1441.
OKWU: The German foreign minister warned that a military strike against Iraq would involve unpredictable risks for the global fight against terrorism, while the Chinese said the inspections have reached a new beginning. All of the this left the U.S. and Powell where they started almost two months ago: pushing a hawkish stance with the British by its side.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We cannot be shocked into impotence because we're afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us. And so we'll have much work to do, difficult work, in the days ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OKWU: While there doesn't appear to be any consensus on military intervention, there is a growing sense among diplomats here at the United Nations, Aaron, that essentially we should wait until January 27, the date of course when Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix will come before the Security Council with a report. The feeling essentially is that these inspections are much more focused, much more tough. The inspectors working with a great deal more of intelligence. So give them a little bit more time, and the Iraqis just may slip up -- Aaron.
BROWN: Well Michael, there was a time when January 27 seemed a long way away. But it's just a week away now, and we'll know a lot more next week. Thank you. Michael Okwu over at the U.N.
And this NEWSNIGHT continues on this Martin Luther King holiday. Next, the politics of race today. Is the Bush administration on the same page? And later, we'll go back to Washington, D.C., in the year 1963, and hear Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech in its entirety.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: President Bush attended Martin Luther King Day remembrances in a church in Landover, Maryland today. The location no accident. The Maryland suburbs are home to one of the country's largest concentrations of the black middle class.
No surprise either that given all the recent sensitivities surrounding the president's party and African-Americans, Mr. Bush spoke only in the broadest generalities and seemed to focus more on faith than race. For more on that, we turn to our Senior White House Correspondent John King -- John, good evening.
J. KING: Good evening again to you, Aaron. Perhaps a bit of a surprise to some following this debate in recent weeks sustained applause for the president as he visited that congregation in the Washington suburbs. This despite, of course, sharp criticism from many African-American politicians, many civil rights leaders, especially for the brief the Bush administration filed last week challenging the constitutionality of that University of Michigan affirmative action program.
The president steered clear of any direct reference to affirmative action today. But we did get a bit of a glimpse of his philosophy when it comes to race relations. Mr. Bush saying yes, the government can cut a check and spend money and do some things. But in his view, more progress, further progress in pursuit of Dr. King's dream of racial equality would be better served if it comes from the classrooms and the congregations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Even though progress has been made, there's more to do. There are still people in our society who hurt. There is still prejudice holding people back. There is still a school system that doesn't elevate every child so they can learn.
There is still a need for us to hear the words of Martin Luther King to make sure the hope of America extends its reach into every neighborhood across this land. So it's fitting we're here in a church that has got ministries aimed at healing those who hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: The timing is awkward for the president. The affirmative action debate and the dust-up over Senator Trent Lott's comments about segregation come at a time when this president desperately wants to improve his standing among African-American voters. He received just nine percent of that vote in the 2000 campaign. Aides say he is determined to get much more in 2004. But because of all the controversy, all the questions about racial policies and racial politics, key Democrats predict a tough road ahead for this president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: What we have seen is the administration talking the talk on the issues of civil rights, and then proposing judges who are hostile to civil rights. And then backing off a policy on affirmative action that had been embraced by Republicans and Democrats for 40 years. So there's one thing about talking the talk, there's another about walking the walk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
J. KING: Perhaps the most fascinating part of this affirmative action debate is the glimpse in an administration that's quite proud of its secrecy at the views of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell, two key African-American Bush advisers on matters away from their portfolio of national security. Dr. Rice says she agrees with the president's decision in the Michigan case, but she also has gone public in going far beyond what the president has been willing to say, and saying that in some cases she believes race should be used as a preference in college admissions.
Quite a different view from Secretary of State Powell. He says he flatly disagrees with the president on this one. That he agrees and believes it is right for Michigan to have that policy in place. Secretary Powell, though, in his public statements, hastening to add he by no means questions this president's commitment to racial progress and racial equality -- Aaron.
BROWN: Would it be fair to assume that neither Secretary Powell nor Ms. Rice would have made the public statements or issued the public statements they had made without the White House's permission? J. KING: Absolutely not. Although Secretary Powell, we should note, was on record during the presidential campaign, when he was out campaigning for then Governor Bush. He was in Michigan and other places and he was asked about the Michigan Supreme Court case, which was then making its way through the court. So he had been on record publicly for some time. It would be very difficult for him to back away.
Dr. Rice was consulted by the president, as was Secretary Powell, as the administration debated filing this brief. Dr. Rice saw one media account about her involvement in that and decided she wanted to issue a public statement explaining her views. The president gave his blessing.
BROWN: John, thank you. Our senior White House correspondent John King with us tonight.
Coming up on NEWSNIGHT on this Monday, we'll check a number of other stories going on around the country and around the world, including former President Jimmy Carter trying to help end the continuing unrest in Venezuela. And then a little bit later, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech in its entirety on this day, the day the country remembers the slain civil rights leader.
Around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A few stories to fit in from around the world tonight, beginning with the war on terror. In Europe, police raided a London mosque and arrested seven men in connection the recent discovery of the poison ricin. The mosque is a known center for radical Islam. People who worship there include the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, and the accused 20th hijacker, Zacarias Moussaoui.
Former President Jimmy Carter in Venezuela trying to get both sides talking in hopes of ending the general strike that has cripple Venezuelan economy. He met today with opposition and government leaders, including the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. The opposition launched a strike. It wants to see the president ousted from power.
And at least four people have been killed by fires that swept through parts of the Australian capital of Canberra. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed as well. Six major fires are burning in the region. It's being called now the worst fire season in decades.
And some stories a bit closer to hope tonight, starting with a deadly avalanche in Canada. At least seven American skiers have died. They were caught in an avalanche in the eastern part of British Columbia, which is way in the western part of Canada. Thirteen others were rescued.
From California, a strange twist in the mystery of Laci Peterson. The home of the missing pregnant woman was broken into in recent days. Police describe the break-in as "bizarre," their words, but don't believe there's anything "smoking gun" in terms of the connection between the burglary and Ms. Peterson's disappearance.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech on this the national holiday commemorating his life. We'll also talk to his youngest child, Dexter King, as NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The dateline was Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963. Russell Baker (ph) wrote this for "The New York Times." "No one could remember an invading army quite as gentle as the 200,000 civil rights marchers who occupied Washington today." Determination, dignity, righteousness in the best sense. It was true of the marchers and was best expressed by the man who led them into that gentle but historic battle on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
So here is the speech. The parts you know, the parts you may have forgotten and the parts you may never have heard.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR., CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclaimation.
This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who had been seared in the flames of whithering injustice.
It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the colored America is still not free.
One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
One hundred years later, the colored American is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land
So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.
Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given its colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked
"insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.
So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.
We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now.
This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.
Now it the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.
Now it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizens.
This sweltering summer of the colored people's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.
Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning.
Those who hope that the colored Americans needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.
There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the colored citizen is granted his citizenship rights.
The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for white only."
We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.
No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.
You have been the veterans of creative suffering.
Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow.
I still have a dream.
It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interpostion and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engulfed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope.
This is the faith that I will go back to the South with.
With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.
With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvacious slopes of California.
But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: August 28, 1963, a year later the Civil Rights Bill would pass the United States Congress. Our thanks to the King estate for giving NEWSNIGHT permission to air again this year the "I Have A Dream" speech.
We'll take a short break. When we come back, we'll talk with Martin Luther King Jr.'s, one of them. Dexter King, his youngest son. This is NEWSNIGHT around the world.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: It is not, I am told by someone who knows about such things, the easiest thing in the world to be a child of a public person. Imagine being the child of a martyr.
The children of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. saw their father loved and hated, revered and murdered. They saw the debate over the holiday play out, they hear his name invoked by all sorts of people, some as far from Dr. King as you can imagine.
Dexter King has written about the experience and his father and his father's legacy in a book called "Growing up King". He joins us tonight from Atlanta.
Nice to see you. You were a baby when he made the speech in Washington. You were only, as I recall, 7 when he died. Do you remember the day he died?
DEXTER KING, CHAIRMAN, THE KING CENTER: I do remember it, vivid live actually.
BROWN: What do you remember?
D. KING: Well, first of all, my brother and I were watching television and a news flash bulletin appeared saying that my father had been shot in Memphis.
Certainly we were very confused and immediately ran back to my mother's bedroom and she, of course, was on the phone talking to Memphis, trying to get details. So it was a very chaotic and traumatic period.
BROWN: You were 7, you were a child. Were you at all aware that your father was engaged in activities that could be dangerous to him?
D. KING: Yes, we were always aware. As you know, my parents' home was bombed before they moved to Atlanta and the only child, or sibling around at the time was my eldest sister Yolanda. So we always knew there was danger working but yet we did the best to try to cope with it.
BROWN: I'm going to talk about the King Center these days. Let me ask a little bit more about you and your dad and the family and the like.
Seven-year-olds have quite a narrow view of the world, pretty much revolves around them. Did you have a sense at 7 that what your dad was doing was important or historic or long lasting?
D. KING: Yes, we did. My mother, and both our parents actually would take time out to share with us the work that they were doing and we would spend quality time talking.
However, I was very young so I didn't understand the full effect of it or impact, but we knew it was important because we would see him certainly or television or we would hear about him or in public see a lot of people gather around. So from a child's perspective, we understood it was important.
BROWN: Was it hard growing up the child of Dr. King?
D. KING: Yes, it was in many ways. Not so much because of internal pressure but I would say external pressure. There was always someone who would run up and say, you know I want you to be just like your father. I want you to be a minister or I want to you do great things. So certainly there was always that pressure there.
BROWN: And did you ever wish you could be Dexter somebody else and just run away from it all and figure out who you are and live your life without that pressure?
D. KING: Sometimes, yes. I would think that way. But certainly the blessings greatly outweighed the burdens.
BROWN: I assume one of the blessings is the work you do now at the King Center. Talk a little bit about where the King Center is and perhaps even how it's evolved over time.
D. KING: Well, the King Center, as you know, was founded by my mother in 1968 after my father's death, to really serve as a living memorial and official institutional guardian for his legacy.
And we have continued to educate the world about his teachings of nonviolence and also his philosophies. It's also one of the largest visited tourist attacks in the Southeast. And certainly we want to see that generations yet unborn will know the same message and have the same authentic feel of what my father's message was all about so that it really doesn't become lost. That's the important thing, that it remains in that for generations yet unborn.
BROWN: Do you remember the segregated South? You were pretty young. Do you remember it?
D. KING: I do, actually. I remember the sign, separate quarters, separate water fountains. I remember actually being discriminated against and called bad names and also dealing with racist organizations, confronting the Ku Klux Klan at a march and rally. So I do remember those symbols and vivid signs of racism, in the South in particular.
BROWN: Well, the worst of that, we hope, is over. It's good to talk to you and, again, our thanks to the Center for allowing us again this year to run the entire speech. It is one of the great and important speeches of the last half of the 20th Century in American life. We appreciate it. Thank you.
D. KING: Well, we thank you as well.
BROWN: Thank you. Dexter King from Atlanta this evening.
Next on NEWSNIGHT, the passing of an artistic legend, Al Hirschfeld. We'll wrap it up for Monday after this short break.
This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: Finally from us tonight, in appreciation of the artist Al Hirschfeld, who died earlier this morning in his home here in Manhattan. He lived to be 99.
For more than 75 of those 99 years, mostly on the pages of "The New York Times," Mr. Hirschfeld spun us a world in pen and ink.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARGO FEIDEN, WORKED WITH AL HIRSCHFELD FOR 33 YEARS: He loved to draw. He loved the challenge of having a subject to capture. Every single drawing was a new challenge for him.
What can I do in this drawing that I haven't done before? Right up until the very end, he was doing things that he had never done before.
Hirschfeld is not really a caricaturist. He preferred and I prefer the designation characterist, because it was not interesting to him to exaggerate somebody's big nose and make it even bigger.
And the reason that we say characterist is because he got into somebody's character and he drew what was inside.
The tradition of putting Nina's name in his drawings started the day she was born. He was very happy to be the proud father of a newborn baby girl. He amused himself after that by hiding her name.
AL HIRSCHFELD, ARTIST: I did it just to herald her appearance on this planet and I had no ulterior motive in doing it. I didn't think anybody would notice it.
FEIDEN: He could make a line that is impossible to make. It was a talent that was beyond ordinary human abilities, even for artists. But even his last day on Earth, he spent drawing all day long.
I will remember Hirschfeld as a man with such an important work ethic, such an important striving for perfection. He was sort of the mix between that and Santa Claus because he would bring such joy into a room.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: What a nice way to end. We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Good night for all of us at NEWSNIGHT.
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King Jr.'s Death?; Al Hirschfeld Dies at 99>
