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CNN Live Saturday

Interview with Martin Luther King III, John Lewis

Aired August 23, 2003 - 12:35   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.


RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands at the Lincoln Memorial to reflect on the upcoming 40th anniversary of the march on Washington and the "I Have a Dream Speech." Kings famous words are being remembered with teachings and rallies. Among those attended then and today, Georgia Congressman John Lewis. In 1963, he was just 23 years old and already a top King advisor and veteran of the civil rights movement. Congressman Lewis joins us from the rally along with Martin Luther King III, who is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Foundation, which his father confounded. Gentleman thank you for both for being us today.
Congressman Lewis, let me start with you. For those too young or not born or just simply forgotten, set the stage for us of what was going on in this country in terms of civil rights or the lack of it at the time that this march was staged in August of '63.

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: Well, first of all, people must remember in 1963, all across the American south hundreds of thousands of individuals were involved a mighty movement under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. People were arrested and jailed. Some people beaten, shot and killed in Alabama, in Mississippi, in Georgia. In the state of Alabama, in the city of Birmingham during the spring and summer of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was involved a nonviolent campaign there, boycotted. The police commissioner used dogs and fire hoses against innocent people engaged in nonviolent protests.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE), the leader of the NAACP in Mississippi assassinated. People had been arrested in Georgia, in Jackson, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee. So something had to give. President Kennedy, we know on nationwide television, second week in June and spoke to the nation and said that the question of race, the question of civil rights is a moral issue. A few days later, we came to Washington and had a meeting with President Kennedy and we told him we were going to march on Washington.

SAN MIGUEL: And what was the Kennedy administration's reaction? what I have heard and read the reports they didn't want you to march.

LEWIS: Well, that morning and I will never forget that morning when we met with President Kennedy. It was June 22nd. We were sitting there and one of the leaders of the so-called big six (UNINTELLIGIBLE) spoke up and said, Mr. President, we going to have a march on Washington and you can tell by the very body language from President Kennedy, he didn't like what he heard. He started to move in his chair from one side to the other side. And said if you bring all these Negro's to Washington, won't there be chaos and violence and disorder? And we will never be able to get a civil rights bill through the Congress.

Mr. Randolph responded and said, Mr. President, this will be an peaceful, orderly, nonviolent protest. Along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, we came out on the lawn of the White House, announced to the media and to the nation we were going to have a march on Washington. President Kennedy later saw that we were determined, not going to turn back, he assisted us through the Department of Justice in setting up plans for the march on Washington but he was very troubled by the possibility of all these people coming to Washington.

SAN MIGUEL: That's what I have indeed read in some of the historian's accounts of that.

Mr. King, how do you and your family rank the importance of the march and the speech in terms of opening minds in this country?

MARTIN LUTHER KING II, PRESIDENT SCLC: It has to be perhaps a top event of the decade and perhaps even century in terms of bringing people together. As Congressman Lewis has stated, Martin Luther King Jr. didn't call for the march, this was a coalition. But it really was called for by some of the other leadership, and on that day, that message that he prepared that he felt that god delivered for him to deliver was able to be one that all people could embrace throughout your nation, and even our world

SAN MIGUEL: Are you seeing enough young people?

You have got a chance to be there for a while, and looking around, are you seeing enough young people there?

I mean, I would think they more than anybody else need to be reminded of the struggles to get where they are right now.

KING: What I will say is one thing or two things are little different this time than have been in the past. The first thing is that there's a teach-in component. The teach-in that are going on right now provided information. The march and rally is what provides inspiration. So, when you have the information and inspiration, and then the final component is this afternoon, on the march and rally, there will be over half the speakers will be new generation leaders. And that's going to create a difference scenario because young people listen to young people.

SAN MIGUEL: Congressman Lewis, I have to ask you how the march paved the way for what came immediately after, I'm talking about the Mississippi freedom summer of '64. The Civil Rights Act later that year, and the voting rights act later that year in '65.

LEWIS: When we left at the end of the speech and we left Washington, and we went back to the south, there was so much hope, so much optimism. A part of that hope and optimism was dashed 18 days after the march on Washington. It was a terrible bombing of the 16 Church in Birmingham, Alabama where four little girls were killed on a Sunday morning. And because of what happened there, we intensified our effort to gain the right to vote in Alabama and in Mississippi. We went into Selma, and later we organized the Mississippi summer project. And we started to demand the right to vote. The Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. President Johnson signed it into law. Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He came back to American, had a meeting with President Johnson and we said we need a voting rights act. President Johnson tell, Dr. King, we don't have the votes in the Congress to get to get a voting rights act passed. Dr. King Jr. came back to Georgia, meet with the group of us and said we will write that act and we went to Selma. And we organized and we mobilized. And it was a confrontation in Selma known as bloody Sunday. And a few days later, President Johnson introduced the voting right act. Congress debated it, passed it, he signed it into law but the march on Washington was that beautiful, extraordinary message of Martin Luther King Jr. laid the ground work for Selma, for Mississippi. For these Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. And today, all around our world, because of what Martin Luther King, Jr. said 40-years-ago, people all over the world started to singing, we shall overcome. In Berlin, Manila, Budapest, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

SAN MIGUEL: Mr. King, I'll give you the last word. We have about a minute left here. Where do you think we stand now in this country, 40 years after your father uttered the words?

KING: We certainly stand challenged. We made great strides and Congressman Lewis and others continue, did so much and continue to do so much and so thankful that women and men like him are still in the forefront. But when you look at Medicaid, Medicare, when you look at the fact that 14, 15 million people living in poverty in America, 3 or 4 million homeless, 55 million people no health insurance. Women making 74, 75 cents to the dollar of men and blacks make 60 cents, we have obstacles to overcome. That's why we march today. Because, we have not created yet that freedom, justice and equality that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned, but it can happen. We know that the journey of a thousand piles starts with a first steps. We are engaged in a 15 month mobilization, registering and educating people so that they will vote. Registration with education creates participation.

SAN MIGUEL: Gentlemen, I'm envious you're here and I'm here and you're there. A lot of history being remember and a lot of looking forward we would hope as well. Congressman Lewis, and Martin Luther King III, thank you for being with us. We appreciated your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired August 23, 2003 - 12:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: Thousands at the Lincoln Memorial to reflect on the upcoming 40th anniversary of the march on Washington and the "I Have a Dream Speech." Kings famous words are being remembered with teachings and rallies. Among those attended then and today, Georgia Congressman John Lewis. In 1963, he was just 23 years old and already a top King advisor and veteran of the civil rights movement. Congressman Lewis joins us from the rally along with Martin Luther King III, who is the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Foundation, which his father confounded. Gentleman thank you for both for being us today.
Congressman Lewis, let me start with you. For those too young or not born or just simply forgotten, set the stage for us of what was going on in this country in terms of civil rights or the lack of it at the time that this march was staged in August of '63.

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: Well, first of all, people must remember in 1963, all across the American south hundreds of thousands of individuals were involved a mighty movement under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. People were arrested and jailed. Some people beaten, shot and killed in Alabama, in Mississippi, in Georgia. In the state of Alabama, in the city of Birmingham during the spring and summer of 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was involved a nonviolent campaign there, boycotted. The police commissioner used dogs and fire hoses against innocent people engaged in nonviolent protests.

(UNINTELLIGIBLE), the leader of the NAACP in Mississippi assassinated. People had been arrested in Georgia, in Jackson, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee. So something had to give. President Kennedy, we know on nationwide television, second week in June and spoke to the nation and said that the question of race, the question of civil rights is a moral issue. A few days later, we came to Washington and had a meeting with President Kennedy and we told him we were going to march on Washington.

SAN MIGUEL: And what was the Kennedy administration's reaction? what I have heard and read the reports they didn't want you to march.

LEWIS: Well, that morning and I will never forget that morning when we met with President Kennedy. It was June 22nd. We were sitting there and one of the leaders of the so-called big six (UNINTELLIGIBLE) spoke up and said, Mr. President, we going to have a march on Washington and you can tell by the very body language from President Kennedy, he didn't like what he heard. He started to move in his chair from one side to the other side. And said if you bring all these Negro's to Washington, won't there be chaos and violence and disorder? And we will never be able to get a civil rights bill through the Congress.

Mr. Randolph responded and said, Mr. President, this will be an peaceful, orderly, nonviolent protest. Along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others, we came out on the lawn of the White House, announced to the media and to the nation we were going to have a march on Washington. President Kennedy later saw that we were determined, not going to turn back, he assisted us through the Department of Justice in setting up plans for the march on Washington but he was very troubled by the possibility of all these people coming to Washington.

SAN MIGUEL: That's what I have indeed read in some of the historian's accounts of that.

Mr. King, how do you and your family rank the importance of the march and the speech in terms of opening minds in this country?

MARTIN LUTHER KING II, PRESIDENT SCLC: It has to be perhaps a top event of the decade and perhaps even century in terms of bringing people together. As Congressman Lewis has stated, Martin Luther King Jr. didn't call for the march, this was a coalition. But it really was called for by some of the other leadership, and on that day, that message that he prepared that he felt that god delivered for him to deliver was able to be one that all people could embrace throughout your nation, and even our world

SAN MIGUEL: Are you seeing enough young people?

You have got a chance to be there for a while, and looking around, are you seeing enough young people there?

I mean, I would think they more than anybody else need to be reminded of the struggles to get where they are right now.

KING: What I will say is one thing or two things are little different this time than have been in the past. The first thing is that there's a teach-in component. The teach-in that are going on right now provided information. The march and rally is what provides inspiration. So, when you have the information and inspiration, and then the final component is this afternoon, on the march and rally, there will be over half the speakers will be new generation leaders. And that's going to create a difference scenario because young people listen to young people.

SAN MIGUEL: Congressman Lewis, I have to ask you how the march paved the way for what came immediately after, I'm talking about the Mississippi freedom summer of '64. The Civil Rights Act later that year, and the voting rights act later that year in '65.

LEWIS: When we left at the end of the speech and we left Washington, and we went back to the south, there was so much hope, so much optimism. A part of that hope and optimism was dashed 18 days after the march on Washington. It was a terrible bombing of the 16 Church in Birmingham, Alabama where four little girls were killed on a Sunday morning. And because of what happened there, we intensified our effort to gain the right to vote in Alabama and in Mississippi. We went into Selma, and later we organized the Mississippi summer project. And we started to demand the right to vote. The Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. President Johnson signed it into law. Dr. King received the Nobel Peace Prize. He came back to American, had a meeting with President Johnson and we said we need a voting rights act. President Johnson tell, Dr. King, we don't have the votes in the Congress to get to get a voting rights act passed. Dr. King Jr. came back to Georgia, meet with the group of us and said we will write that act and we went to Selma. And we organized and we mobilized. And it was a confrontation in Selma known as bloody Sunday. And a few days later, President Johnson introduced the voting right act. Congress debated it, passed it, he signed it into law but the march on Washington was that beautiful, extraordinary message of Martin Luther King Jr. laid the ground work for Selma, for Mississippi. For these Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. And today, all around our world, because of what Martin Luther King, Jr. said 40-years-ago, people all over the world started to singing, we shall overcome. In Berlin, Manila, Budapest, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

SAN MIGUEL: Mr. King, I'll give you the last word. We have about a minute left here. Where do you think we stand now in this country, 40 years after your father uttered the words?

KING: We certainly stand challenged. We made great strides and Congressman Lewis and others continue, did so much and continue to do so much and so thankful that women and men like him are still in the forefront. But when you look at Medicaid, Medicare, when you look at the fact that 14, 15 million people living in poverty in America, 3 or 4 million homeless, 55 million people no health insurance. Women making 74, 75 cents to the dollar of men and blacks make 60 cents, we have obstacles to overcome. That's why we march today. Because, we have not created yet that freedom, justice and equality that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned, but it can happen. We know that the journey of a thousand piles starts with a first steps. We are engaged in a 15 month mobilization, registering and educating people so that they will vote. Registration with education creates participation.

SAN MIGUEL: Gentlemen, I'm envious you're here and I'm here and you're there. A lot of history being remember and a lot of looking forward we would hope as well. Congressman Lewis, and Martin Luther King III, thank you for being with us. We appreciated your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com