All language subtitles for King.In.The.Wilderness.2018.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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Xernona Clayton:
I came over in the morning
to pick Martin up...

to drive him to the airport
to go to Memphis.

The children saw him going
to the airport all the time.

But this day, the boys
blocked the door...

and said,
"Daddy, don't leave."

And he said,
"Oh, I'll be
right back.

"I'm just
going down
to Memphis!

I'll be back."

Then they ran ahead of him
and blocked the stairs,

and said, "Daddy,
don't leave us."

And he said, "Listen,
I'm coming right back.

"I'm just gonna go
down there for a march.

"You know I explained
why I'm going.

"These... people have been
mistreated in Memphis,

"and I'm going to do
something about it.

That's my work,
and you know that."

They ran over to my car,

and then they jumped
on the hood of the car,

pleading again
through the window,

"Daddy, please don't go.

"Daddy, please don't leave us.

Daddy, please!"

Such pleading.

We backed out
of the driveway...

and got on the way.

And he said,
"What in the world
happened to these kids?

"They must
be trying to tell me

"that they're
missing me more.

"And when I come back,
I've gotta change my habits.

I can't go through this."

♪ ♪

Harry Belafonte:
I watched the transformation
take place

from the man that
I met in the first instance

to the man he became
in the end.

With all of his experience,

he really was
not quite ready

for the human heart

to reveal
as much villainy.

What he saw was more hate
than he saw resolve.

We were trying
to redeem the soul
of America

from the triple evils

of racism, war,
and poverty.

And Martin had become
far more exposed to enemies

by taking on
both civil rights

and the war issue.

(indiscernible chatter)
Yeah.

Joan Baez:
I couldn't imagine the pressure

that was on him--
nobody could.

None of us
could imagine that.

It was just too overwhelming.

♪ ♪

(indiscernible chatter)

Clarence Jones:
The most difficult
time of his life

was the 18 months
before his assassination.

Very difficult time.

Ralph Abernathy:
The Moses of 1968,
Martin Luther King.

(cheers, applause)

Bernard Lafayette:
He was disappointed...

and he wondered
whether or not

he could do any more
than he'd done.

♪ ♪

Clayton:
It had bothered him deeply

that the nation
had turned against him...

and I always tell people
he died of a broken heart.

C.T. Vivian:
I think he worried
about dying

before he had
accomplished enough.

It's as though--
though that he
knew that...

he was not gonna be here

for the rest
of the struggle.

We've got
some difficult
days ahead.

The movement ceased
to be political for him.

It was spiritual.

But it really
doesn't matter
with me now.

Young: He said, "We have
wandered in the wilderness
of 'separate but equal,'

"and we're about to move
into the promised land

"of creative integration,

"and I don't know
whether I'll get there,

but my people will get
to the promised land."

Get to the promise land!

(cheering)

Mine eyes have seen the glory

of the coming of the Lord!

(cheering, applause)

I'm 86, and you know,
there's an African proverb...

that says,
"If the surviving lions
don't tell their stories,

the hunters will get
all the credit."

♪ ♪

Clayton: I tell the story
of Martin Luther King
as I knew it.

I lived it.

I value all
of what they gave me,
now that I can remember.

I'm not just
telling stories.

I'm not making
a speech.

I'm telling you what happened.

♪ ♪

Man: Speed.
Man 2: Speed.

Civil Rights,
King, Vanocur,

roll 20,
sound 36.

Man:
Sandy.

Vanocur:
Dr. King...

this church is
as good a place as any

to go back
over your commitment

to the Civil Rights
Movement.

When you went
to Montgomery, Alabama,

and started
the bus boycotts there,

what was the philosophy
of the Civil Rights movement

as you saw it then,
more than 10 years ago?

♪ ♪

MLK Jr: Well, I would say,
then, the philosophy was

that we must go all out

to use legal
and nonviolent methods

to gain full
citizenship rights

for the Negro people
of our country.

And that particular struggle

centered on breaking down

all of the barriers
of legal segregation.

That period was
a great period
of hope for me,

and I'm sure
for many others.

Many of the Negroes
who had about lost hope

saw a solid decade
of progress in the South.

And I think we are
in a new era,

a new phase of the struggle,

where we have moved
from a struggle for decency,

which characterized
our struggle for 10 or 12 years,

to a struggle
for genuine equality,

because there are
three evils in our nation.

It's not only racism,

but economic exploitation
of poverty would be one,

and then militarism.

And I think, in a sense,

and in a very real sense,

these three are tied
inextricably together,

and we aren't
gonna get rid of one

without getting rid
of the other.

When you stood
in that August day in 1963

on the steps
of the Lincoln Memorial...

(cheering)

and you said,
"I had a dream"...

did that dream envision
a war in Asia...

and in the ghettos
of the North?

MLK Jr:
No, I didn't
envision that then.

In 1963, to be in the March
on Washington,

it meant a great deal.
It was a high moment,

a great watershed moment.

(cheers and applause)

But I must confess that
that dream that I had that day

has in many points
turned into a nightmare.

(crowd shouting)

♪ ♪

Sellers:
We were all caught off-guard

when we saw
the rebellions begin.

They started in Harlem,

and then Philadelphia
in 1964,

and then Watts in 1965,
which was the most massive.

Young:
Martin called me
early in the morning

saying that,
"There's a riot in Watts.

We-- we've gotta go
to Los Angeles."

(bell clanging)

(people chattering)

Thank you very much
my dear friends

of Los Angeles
and the Watts area of this city.

(people chattering)
Woman:
Quiet!

Now I live approximately
2,500 miles from here.

(indistinct chatter)
Shh!

I'm not free there,

and our brothers and sisters
are not free there...

and you are not free
in California

and in the North...
(people cheer)

I've said all over America,

and I've come out to Watts
to tell ya today...

Man: All right.
no matter
what color you are,

you are somebody!

(people cheer)
Yeah, that's right!
Yeah, that's right!

That's right! Yeah!

And all over
the United States
of America...

the Negro must join hands...

(man 2 speaks)

(laughter)
...and we
must work.

(shushing)

And we must work.
(cheering)

Dr. King said that,
"The riot...

became the language
of the unheard."

MLK Jr:
You all know my philosophy.

You all know
that I believe firmly
in nonviolence.

Or maybe some of you
don't quite agree with this.

Lewis:
Nonviolent is more
than a tactic.

It is one of those
immutable principles

that you cannot deviate from

if you're going to be able
to redeem the soul of America.

(people cheer)

Young:
The issues in Watts,
and in the North,

were far more complex
than black and white,

as they had been in the South.

He was dealing with racism,

but he was
dealing with racism
that was complicated

by unemployment
and unprepared migrants

moving from the South
to the North.

And I realized we were
in a different movement.

Sellers:
What we saw it as...

a lot of people
who were suffering

from the same kind
of poverty,

the same kind of absence
of employment opportunities,

and police brutality
were in the urban areas,

and they responded

with whatever weapons
they could find.

♪ ♪

Joe Califano:
The President,
during the riots,

was just... depressed.

About a week before,

Johnson had signed
the Voting Rights Act,

tells me, "This is
the most important piece
of legislation I'll pass.

Even more important
than the '64 Civil Rights Act."

He's virtually carried out
of the room on shoulders,

and then, we start
the massive rioting in Watts.

So he tells me,
"Call Dr. King."

(both speaking on phone)

MLK Jr:
Yes.

All of this was happening
about the same time

that the war
in Vietnam heated up...

and the President
was in the midst
of a very heavy burden

both with war
and domestically.

(Johnson speaks
on phone)

(MLK Jr. speaking on phone)

Young:
Dr. King made
the decision in '65

that he had to be
against the war.

♪ ♪

We went to meet
with Ambassador Goldberg

at the United Nations,

and Goldberg pretty much
agreed with us

that the war in Vietnam was
not in anybody's interest.

But the press said
that he had no business

having an opinion
about foreign affairs.

He was a civil rights
leader, see.

And... it hurt him.

He said to me--
he said, "Vivian, uh,

you don't think I know
what I'm talking about, do you?"

But he knew
how he felt about the war.

Also, I think Martin knew
that he had to be a part

of the North sooner or later.

MLK Jr:
One must understand

that the
civil rights legislation

that we have had
over the last few years,

even the voting bill--
rights bill--

which came
the other day,

didn't do too much
to improve the lot

of the thousands
and millions of Negroes

in teeming ghettos
of the north.

I opposed SCLC
moving North...

because we weren't finished
in the South.

We needed to continue
political education.

And we needed
to work

on building an economic base.

♪ ♪

Dorothy Cotton:
Martin could sit there
for an hour,

listen to us argue about,
"No, let's go here.

Let's go there.
Let's teach this,
let's-- whatever."

♪ ♪

But he would teach a lot
by asking questions.

Then a sudden quiet
would come over the room,

because he wanted
to make people think
about what they wanted.

♪ ♪

Martin could be very quiet

and have all the power
in the room.

Martin had decided
that we had to prove

that nonviolence was
relevant in the North.

That we had
to find a way

to get into
these northern cities

before the riots occurred.

And so, we went North
to Chicago.

Belafonte:
I do not know that everything
that Martin said or did...

he was quite
prepared for.

He had felt that
in many ways,

dealing with the South was
a more predictable outcome,

because in the North,

the racial hypocrisy
was very subverted.

It gave the appearance
of being not like the South,

the South was
the center of all evil,

and the North was a place
of the higher experience.

And Dr. King said,
"No, that's not the case."

♪ ♪

We moved into an apartment
on 16th and Hamlin.

It was a walk-up apartment

with no lights, no heat...

and it took quite
an adjustment.

I never got scared
in the South.

(people shouting)

Young:
I knew the dangers...

and I was prepared

to get killed
in the South,

but I wasn't
ready to--

you know, to have a junkie
stick a knife in me

in the middle of the night,
coming into that apartment...

for maybe $15 or $20
that I had in my pocket.

That first night was
a very cold night,

and I got really worried

that there weren't gonna
be enough blankets.

So we went and got
the blankets,

and went over to see Dr. King
in his apartment.

And, as we were
sitting there,

the doorbell rang,

and there was
a young man there.

The first thing he said
when he came in the door was,

"Are you really
Martin Luther King?"

They had a very lovely
conversation,

with Dr. King really saying,
"We want you to join
the movement."

Pretty soon, later, there was
another knock on the door,

and there was like
a whole train of them
going down the stairs.

And those young men
came back a number
of times to see Dr. King.

MLK Jr: Yes.
(people chattering)

Lafayette:
People in the community,
they would just hang around,

waiting for him
to come downstairs,

you know, so they
could see him.

But he would
invite them in,

sit down and talk
to people.

They didn't think
he was the kind of person
they could talk to,

and it made them feel...

well, honestly,
that they were worthwhile...

as well.

♪ ♪

Vivian:
Martin understood

that if you ran with folk,

you could organize folk.

Remember, we've spent
all of our lives

being hated
in one form or the other.

But when we see somebody
who really cares for people--

people, period, right--

that person
is worth knowing.

Young:
The first week
we moved in,

the temperature dropped
to about 16 degrees
below zero.

And people came to us

to complain
that they had no heat.

And to find babies
wrapped in newspaper--

we had to start
firing the furnaces.

So we got
all the money we could

and we got enough coal to get
all of the furnaces to work.

We called
the movement
in Chicago

The Movement
to End Slums.

And it plunged us
into several issues.

One was the area
of poor housing.

The other was the area
of quality education,

and also unemployment.

Henry Mitchell:
I feel like we know
more about our problem

than Dr. King,
because we live here.

Man:
What would you suggest
that he do, Reverend Mitchell?

I would suggest
when it comes
down to our city,

he should get
the hell out of here.

Jesse Jackson:
So first we ran
into stiff black resistance.

We had never met that
in Montgomery,

or Birmingham,
or Selma before.
That was different.

A lot of the ministers were
part of the patronage system.

Mayor Daley's
patronage system

was one where
people's jobs

were handed out
based on the number

of votes that
they could produce.

They called it
the Daley Machine.

Nash:
Martin had anxiety,
because, as he put it,

"We don't want
to flunk." (laughs)

"We don't want to fail
in our projects."

We met regularly
with Mayor Daley...

and we disagreed...

because we were
challenging the way
Chicago was structured.

I think we're
beginning to crystallize

some of the problems
and understand

what we might do to begin
to make some changes.

Does it mean
demonstrations,
too, possibly?

Yes, it would
mean demonstrations,

but I think just when
it would mean demonstrations,

we wouldn't be able to say.

♪ ♪

Young:
At the same time,

we were still being pulled
back to the South,

and James Meredith decided
to have a march in Mississippi.

♪ ♪

Newscaster:
When James Meredith,
a Negro who desegregated

the University of Mississippi,
started the march,

only three friends
walked with him.

The surest way to power
is through the vote.

And it is for this reason
that I have decided

to use all
of my spare time

trying to encourage Negroes
to register and vote,

and that is the purpose
of this march today.

Mississippi wanted
black folk to leave.

They didn't want them
to be there to vote.

They were trying
to starve them out.

They were pushing
people off the land

and wanted them
to go North.

And the violence continued.

James Meredith's march
was a march against fear.

We had seen
people in Mississippi

getting killed for trying
to register to vote,

because they didn't want
them to have power.

So he was
trying to empower
African Americans

to not be fearful
of all the threats.

Newscaster:
"If I can walk through
Mississippi without harm,"

Meredith told reporters,

"other Negroes will see
that they can too."

Sellers:
At that time,

me and Stokely Carmichael
were officers of SNCC,

the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee.

And someone
came along and told us

that James Meredith
had been shot.

Meredith:
I'm hit in the leg
and in the head.

(tires screeching)
Ain't nobody gonna
get me in a car.

Man:
Here it comes
right now, Jimmy.

The Meredith March
wasn't on anybody's agenda.

He didn't consult
with anybody.

But with the shooting
of Meredith,

Dr. King
and civil rights leaders
rallied around that.

This march that
we are continuing,

started
by James Meredith,

I am convinced will have
as great an impact,

or probably
a greater impact

than the march
from Selma to Montgomery.

If a man can still be
shot down on the highways
in Mississippi,

peacefully walking,
that march needs to be big.

Reporter:
Thank you
very much, gentlemen.

Carmichael:
No more questions.

Young:
Martin felt
we could not ignore

what was happening
in Mississippi.

We got the march.

So, we had to divide what
we were doing in-- in Chicago...

and so we had
a Mississippi March
and a Chicago Movement.

(crowd booing)
(playing "Dixie")

Boy:
Where's Meredith?
Go home!

He's a fucking
tootsie roll!

Nigger go home!
Boy: Where's Meredith?

♪ ♪

Reporter:
From the moment
that the civil rights leaders

rushed in to continue
James Meredith's march,

there has been a struggle
to see whose philosophy
would guide the steps.

Carmichael:
Hey, check this out now!

Reporter:
The philosophical
struggle deepened

as the march column moved
deeper into Mississippi.

The voice
of Stokely Carmichael,

young leader of the
Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee,

spoke louder and louder.

At Greenwood, he sounded
the march's new rallying call.

Carmichael:
It's time we stand up
and take over.

We want
Black Power!
Crowd: Black Power!

We want
Black Power!
Crowd: Black Power!

We want
Black Power!
Crowd: Black Power!

We want
Black Power!

In SNCC, we saw
a changing movement,
tactically.

We want
Black Power!

Sellers:
Our focus was
on empowering communities.

Carmichael:
We don't have
to be ashamed of it.

Sellers:
Not only politically,

but in terms
of culture and identity.

Carmichael:
What do you want?
Crowd: Black Power!

Carmichael:
That's what we gonna get.

Lafayette:
What they were
basically saying

is that black people needed
to appreciate black.

And it wasn't a color,
it was a culture.

Now, when I was growing up,

to call a person
of color "black"

was considered derogatory.

Those were fighting words.

But, there was a term
that was used as well

during that period,
"white power."

Jones:
Stokely Carmichael
gets control

of the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee,

and he purges
the organization
of all white people.

He said, "You go back
and work in your community.

We want to have
total control."

It rippled throughout
the movement.

Edelman:
I will never forget
Dr. King's face

when Black Power
first began to emerge.

He looked like
the most stricken man.

We must never forget...

there are
some white people
in the United States

just as determined
to see us free

as we are
to be free ourselves.

(crowd cheering)

Young:
We were taught that

there were good people
and bad people,

and we never viewed this
as black against white.

We're taught that racism
was a sickness,

and you don't get mad
with sick people.

They just don't know
any better.

They'd been taught that
they are better than you.

Frank McGee:
What do you mean
when you shout,

"Black Power,"
to these people back here?

I mean that
they are oppressed

because they are black,

and their rallying cry
must be "Black Power,"

so that
they can use that

to ensure justice
for themselves.

Jones:
Martin was
very uncomfortable,

but he knows that he has
to be there to support

the courage
of Stokely Carmichael

without supporting
the message...

or the form
of the message.

Dr. King was
not opposed to power,

but to elevate
so-called black power
over white power...

would break that which
he was seeking to build:

the coalition among
white and black people.

I feel that
while believing firmly

that power is necessary,

that it would
be difficult for me

to use the phrase
"Black Power,"

because of the
connotative meaning

that it has
for many people,

and the feeling
that this may represent

our desire to rise
from a position

of disadvantage
to one of advantage,

thereby subverting justice.
On the other hand--

Sellers:
Some of the people
on the march

were intimidated
by the whole effort
of Black Power.

They must ask themselves
why they are afraid
of the word "black"

and why they're afraid
of the phrase "Black Power."

Sellers:
As long as we were
talking about non-violence

and all that kind of thing,
everybody felt comfortable.

Do you think they're really
afraid of it or just feel
that it's not a good--

Anytime when we talk
about black people
having power,

the assumption is
that black people

want to be violent
against white people.

Mr. Carmichael,
are you as committed

to the nonviolent approach
as Dr. King is?

No, I'm not.
Why aren't you?

Well, I just don't
see it as a way of life.
I never have.

I grew up in the slums
of New York,

and I learned there
that the only way
that one survived

was to use his fists.
I realized the reality--

Lafayette:
When Stokely became
chairman of SNCC,

he had
a different approach.

For me,
it's always been a tactic
and never a way of life.

Lafayette:
He believed
in self-defense.

Could you comment
on that, Dr. King?

The Negro has
an opportunity
to inject morality

in the veins
of our civilization,

and for this reason,

I will continue
to preach non-violence,
I will to continue--

Young:
Martin was
an amazingly tolerant,

understanding father figure
for all of us.

He understood
Stokely's frustrations,

and he never
took it personally.

I think
Dr. King never forgot

that we were all
on the same side.

He didn't have
any enemies.

Edelman:
What I remember was
the listening, the patience.

He was always there
to say, "I don't go there,

but I want
to really understand
why you go there."

But that was
the first real breach

in the nonviolence commitment

that many of us
had grown to accept.

MLK Jr:
I'm sick and tired
of violence.

I'm tired of shooting!
I'm tired of hate!

I'm tired of selfishness!
I'm tired of evil!

I'm not gonna use violence,
no matter who says it.

(cheers, applause)

I had not,
before meeting Dr. King...

ever taken the option
of violence off the table.

We are a minority living
in the belly of the beast.

When Dr. King stepped in,

he methodically
would look at violence

and challenge those
who would seek the gun
as the solution,

because morally,
you cannot defeat
the enemy

by becoming the enemy.

But Stokely really believed
that in the long run,

the gun was gonna have
to be the answer.

And we begged the President.

We begged
the federal government.

That's all we've been doing!

Young:
I accused Stokely
of being...

just an angry,
frustrated young man.

Carmichael: It's time we
stand up and take over.
(crowd cheers)

Every courthouse in Mississippi

oughta be burned down tomorrow
to get rid of the--

Young:
Anger eats away
at your own soul,

and it hurts you.

Everybody has
a right to be angry.

Everybody has a right
to be frustrated.

But, if you give in
to your anger

and your frustrations,

you know, you're gonna lose.

♪ ♪

(applause)

MLK Jr:
This day,
we must commit ourselves

to make any
sacrifice necessary

to change Chicago,
this day.

(applause, cheers)

That summer of '66
did feel like a very
turbulent time.

We must avoid
the error of building

a distrust
for all white people.

Finley:
There was some question

about whether
it was appropriate

for white people
to stay working
with the movement.

And I remember one
of my black friends
saying to me

"We need to know
we can do this ourselves."

And in the middle
of all that,

was the rising
of the Vietnam War.

Many of the staff
who were very strongly
opposed to the war

were trying to get Dr. King
to speak out against it.

(crowd cheering)

Young:
Martin was now
being pulled

back in to the war issue
by the student left,

and so you had
almost three things

coming together
in Chicago,

pulling the same leadership
in different directions.

This day, we must decide

that our votes will determine

who will be the Mayor
of Chicago next year.

(cheers, applause)

Mayor Daley was very upset
about what was going on here,

and he was in touch
with Lyndon Johnson

and said, "Get this
Martin Luther King
off my back."

(both speaking on phone)

Young:
The area
that the movement

insisted on getting into
was open housing.

What-- what is the make-up
of the community here?

What would be
the reaction
of the community

to a Negro family
moving in?

Oh, I don't think
they'd like it.

They're very clannish
in a way.

Chicago is probably
the most segregated city I know.

It's not only segregated
black and white,

but the Irish,
the Italians,

the Polish,
the Jewish community.

Almost everybody lives
in its own enclave in Chicago.

And so we started
marching into those
ethnic neighborhoods,

and we were
challenging Chicago

simply by marching.

Woman: I've moved out
of a neighborhood
that was colored.

Everybody that lives
with a colored has to move.

Reporter: Why?
Because you're not safe
walkin' the streets at night.

You cannot leave the house.

Negroes have a right

to move in under
the constitution.

The only thing is,
what kind of a Negro?

(crowd chattering)

Lafayette:
Our marches were
to the real estate offices,

because the real estate
agents controlled

the movement of people.

They're the ones
who were managing
this discrimination.

MLK Jr:
Every time
Negroes went in,

the real estate
agents said,

"Oh, I'm sorry.
We don't have anything listed."

And then we sent some of our
fine white staff members in

to those same
real estate offices,

and the minute
the white persons got in,
they open the book,

"Oh yes, well, we have
several things.

Now what exactly do you want?"

(applause)

Something is gonna happen
as a result of this...

and I'm not losing faith.

I still have faith
in the future.

Men:
Communist!
Communist! Communist!

Officer:
Move it back.
Move it back. Move it back!

Young:
I remember marching
through Gage Park.

(chanting)
We want King!
We want king!

And the difference
in the South...

you had maybe
a couple hundred, at most...

of the riffraff
of the Klan.

(people chattering)

(loud bang)

Young:
But, in Chicago,
it was 10,000.

I mean,
everybody came out.

Get outta here!
What? I live in here!

Get outta here!
I live here!

Those fucking niggers
don't live here!

(people shouting)

Lafayette:
I remember
coming on those marches,

prepared for anything.

(people shouting)

(man speaks)

MLK Jr: Oh, I've been hit
so many times,

I'm immune to it.

But it was well beyond
what we anticipated.

♪ ♪

Reporter: Dr. King,
the superintendent
of police of Chicago

said that your
civil rights tactics
have aroused hatred

among Chicago
white residents

and are hampering
the Negroes' progress.

MLK Jr:
There is no doubt
about the fact

that there are many
latent hostilities existing

within certain
white groups in the North.

And these latent hostilities
have come out in the open,

and I don't think
you can blame

the Civil Rights
Movement for that.

Certainly no one
would blame a physician...
Reporter: Mm-hmm.

or using his instruments
and his know-how

to reveal to a patient
that he has cancer.

Now we have
only revealed in Chicago

that there is
a blatant social

hate-filled cancer.

And what we're trying
to get rid of is hate.

Jackson:
Nonviolence had the power
to pull the worst fever

out of them and show
our moral strength.

They had the stick.
We had the Bible.

Young: I remember
this one young lady
came up to Dr. King,

just spitting
in his face, calling him
all kinds of names.

And he said, "You know...

you're much too beautiful
to be so mean."

Man:
What are we supposed
to do, officer?

(on bullhorn)
Why don't you go home
and act like adult people?

Young:
And, when we came
back through there,

she came out
of the crowd again,
and went up to him,

and said, "I'm sorry.
(chuckles)

I-I-I-I-- I never should
have been so rude."

The nonviolent approach...
is radical.

Radical enough to believe

that under the
worst conditions,
there's hope.

It's radical
enough to believe
that people who display

some of the most insensitive
kind of attitudes...

can be changed.

Its ultimate goal is
to win your opponents over.

So, you had
to psychologically
disarm them.

You confront
your opponent,

and you look your opponent
in the eyes

so that they will not
see you as a target,

but as a human being.

So, you are forcing
your humanity on them.

(people shouting)

Finley:
Mayor Daley was
very distressed,

and he really
wanted it to end.

So, one
of the religious groups
in Chicago

decided to call
a meeting

to try to come
to some agreement

that would stop
the marches.

Man:
Through the democratic
process of discussion...

around the conference table,

an agreement has
been reached unanimously...

and I think all of Chicago
will be indebted to them.

Thank you very much.

(applause)

(chattering)
Man 2: Would you hold it
one second please?

Just hold
your questions.

Reporter:
Dr. King.

One of the most
significant programs
ever conceived

to make open housing a reality
in a metropolitan area

was agreed upon here today

at the table of reconciliation.

Therefore, the Chicago
Freedom Movement
hereby agrees

to halt neighborhood marches

and demonstrations
in Chicago

on the issue
of open housing,

so long as these
pledged programs

are being carried out.

Reporter 2: Dr. King,
you say you're satisfied,
but are you?

You don't sound
too happy

about what's happened
in there. Are you?

Well, I don't know
what you mean.

What do you mean?
(laughter)

Reporter 2:
You don't seem like
you really are happy.

Well, I'm a very honest man,

and I wouldn't say
on this paper

something that I don't believe.

I think that this is

a very significant
step forward.

I'm not happy

about the
total problem

that we face
in the United States
of America.

I always have to look
at the ultimate,

and in terms of the ultimate,

we are still a long,
long way from our goals.

Thank you.

Finley:
The staff was
really disappointed.

We did not get a definitive
statement from them

that discrimination in housing
will end in Chicago.

But one of the things
that Andrew Young said was...

"Sometimes you only win
half a loaf,

and then you
have to keep pushing
for the rest of it."

The extent that there were
successes that came later...

Dr. King didn't get
to see that.

Belafonte:
Up to the moment
of his death...

I think that
Dr. King referred

to the experiences
in Chicago

more regularly than almost
any other experience.

I think Chicago was a--

was a huge awakening...
for him.

He saw that the movement

now was reflective
more of the truth

of what America
was about

than just what we'd
experienced in the South.

And Martin said
to me, "Clarence...

"I've seen some
hate-filled eyes and mouths...

in Mississippi and Alabama."

He said,
"But the hate I saw...

"in Illinois...

was equal or greatest
to any of the hate
I've seen in Mississippi."

He was really... shaken.

Young:
When we left Chicago,

I remember his
battles with conscience.

He was very depressed
that he hadn't been more...

forceful in his non-violence.

MLK Jr:
I will continue
to work against violence

and riots
with all my might,

that it is just
as important

to work passionately
and unrelentingly

to get rid of the conditions
that bring violence into being.

Do I sense that
it is your feeling

that the
Civil Rights Movement,

as a movement,

has entered sort of
a different stage?

Young:
I said, "Wait a minute.

"You're doing better
than anybody else is doing.

There's no reason
for you to feel guilty."

But he always felt
he was not doing enough.

MLK Jr:
It was easier to integrate
public facilities,

it was easier to gain
the right to vote,

because it didn't cost
the nation anything.

And the fact is
that we are dealing
with issues now

that will call for something
of a restructuring

of the architecture
of American society.

It's gonna cost
the nation something.

Young:
As much as he did,

he always blamed himself
for not doing enough.

♪ ♪

He was a kind
of workaholic where he--
he was never content.

He was driven by a kind
of a need for perfection.

And he was always feeling
that he wasn't doing his best.

I think
because of his feeling

that somehow
he wasn't good enough

to be the leader.

Those were periods when...

he was really
just physically exhausted.

♪ ♪

Belafonte:
Dr. King came to New York
with great regularity,

and whenever he was
here on quiet time,

he often stayed
at our home.

And we also made sure
that his space

was filled with the things
that brought him pleasure,

including
his favorite drink,

Bristol Cream Sherry.

♪ ♪

I think one of the things
that attracted him
to my environment...

was that...

here I was,
a very prominent
black American.

And my wife then
was a young woman
named Julie Robinson,

who was white,

and that she and I
were married

and brought children
into the world,

and at no point was
her presence in my life
ever obscured.

And Dr. King watched
the environment around me

accept that
and treated us

with a lot of kindness
and respect.

In Martin's earlier life,

in his youth
as a student,

his first real love...

was a white woman.

He adored
this young lady

and was deeply pained

when the wrath
of Daddy King

and everybody else
came down on him...

when he suggested

that he wanted
a relationship
with this young lady.

It betrayed everything
that Daddy King had
in mind for his son.

(applause)

Merv Griffin:
It's rare, Doctor,

that we get a chance
to see you in New York.

You've discovered
it's a fun city?

(laughter)
Well, I have--

I haven't quite discovered
that side of New York.

Really?
Being a Baptist clergyman,

they keep me involved
in other areas.

Griffin:
Ah. Right.
(laughter)

Your home is
actually in Atlanta?

Atlanta, Georgia.
Atlanta.
That's right, yeah.

Do you have a church
at this time in Atlanta?

Yes, I am the co-pastor

of the Ebenezer
Baptist Church
in Atlanta,

and my father is Pastor,

so we are working together
there as a team.

Both you and your father?

That's right,
they put up the two Kings.
Is there any seniority?

(chuckles)
Well, he makes it clear,
(laughs)

sometimes consciously
and sometimes unconsciously,

that he is the pastor,
Right.

and I'm the co-pastor.
(laughter)

Jesus was
the leader
in the way.

For he said,
"I am the way...

"the truth...

and the light."
Now that gets all of it--

Belafonte:
When I met
Daddy King in Atlanta,

I understood
the real meaning
of "patriarch."

He was a huge force
in the community
as a black minister.

Glory to God.
Belafonte:
Very imposing.

Something wrong
with your head.

Belafonte:
And when you met him,

you understood that
you were dealing
with the power.

What was also
fascinating for me

was the subservience
that Martin reflected

when talking
with his father.

Not just parental,
but as someone whose view

of where we should
be going as a people

held great substance
for Martin.

Vivian:
Martin really
understood his father,

but he understood also

the difference between
he and his father.

So in a sense,
we look into a future

shrouded with impenetrable
uncertainties.

Vivian:
There was
a great difference

between he
and his father's preaching.

♪ ♪

Martin made his points
at a different level

and in a different way
than most other preachers did.

And the reason
for that was his--

because he had
this unusual education.

Jackson:
Dr. King finished
high school at 15.

He finished
Morehouse at 19.

He finished seminary at 22,
his PHD at 26.

He knew that strong minds
break strong chains.

Belafonte: I think
his faith in the teachings
that he had studied,

his constant references
to Thoreau and--

I never knew
of these guys,

never heard
of these people

until Martin
came in one day

and in the midst
of some rather casual moment,

he would evoke
what Nietzsche said,
and what Thoreau had--

and I'm sitting there saying,
"Well, who is Nietzsche?"

Daddy King used to say,
"Just get in there
and talk the gospel.

"stop all
with this college stuff

"and all these
highfalutin people
you keep evoking.

People don't
know who they are."

He said,
"Yes, they do."

Cotton:
You could wake
Martin up from a nap,

and he could do a sermon.

I remember
saying to him,

"You are due at the church
in 20 minutes,"

I mean, like his mother.
(laughs)

And when he got
to the church,

you would think
he'd been studying
all night.

He was a natural preacher.

Vivian:
Everybody loved Martin
as soon as they heard him.

There was
a desire for people

to be a part
of an educated ministry.

The only thing
that we had was Christianity.

The only thing
that white America

allowed us to have
was our churches.

Belafonte:
Martin's moments
when the curtain was drawn,

and he was not
on public display,

was a man who revealed
his deepest concerns

about his right to do
what he was doing.

The fact that
he was touched

by that calling
in history disturbed him,

because he didn't
quite understand it.

He referred everything
to divine intervention,

to divine power.

"It's what God
has called on me to do."

♪ ♪

And in the depth
of that belief,

that religious commitment,

those voices that he heard
really existed for him.

Daddy King, I don't think,
was fully approving

of where the movement
was going.

He saw nothing
but chaos.

(bangs)
(crowd shouting)

Those fucking niggers
don't live here!
(shouts)

He saw nothing but rage.

He saw these young,
young people.

We're gonna pitch
the tents!

All:
We're gonna
pitch the tents!

We're gonna pitch
the tents!

Belafonte: With
the birth of SNCC,
(bangs, hisses)

and the kinds of passion

that poured forth
from these young people...

MLK Jr:
Come on,
everybody follow me.

many of whom were not
much younger than his son.

And the fact that his son
was the spearhead of it...

was even more
threatening for him.

♪ ♪

Sellers:
Dr. King asked
me and Stokely

to come over and have
dinner at his house,

and that he just
wanted to talk.

And so, we went
over to his house.

He wanted to understand
where Black Power came from.

He wanted to know
everything we were thinking,

where we were
going with it.

The discussion was
about three hours long.

And then what
we wanted to know was,

as a moral icon
of the movement,

when was he going
to make a statement

against the war
in Vietnam?

(indistinct chatter)

Jones: The leaders
of the peace movement were
reaching out to Dr. King

and wanted him
to get more actively
and publicly involved.

But I resisted,

because my initial
reaction was

I felt that they were
trying appropriate

the legitimacy
they didn't have.

(chanting)
Hey, hey, LBJ,

how many kids
have you killed today?

Hey, hey, LBJ--

Jones:
Politically, we had
to be very cautious

about whether
or not we wanted
to publicly criticize

what could be described

as having been
the greatest President

for civil rights
since Abraham Lincoln.

This is after
the Civil Rights Act
of 1964,

the Voting Rights
Act of 1965.

And here
we're going to publicly
excoriate and criticize

the man without
whose leadership

none of this would
have been possible.

(indistinct chatter)

Young:
The anti-war movement was
a new constituency for us.

♪ ♪

There was
a spiritual connectivity

that we were
comfortable with,

and we understood
their positions.

They wanted
to emulate our tactics.

But, there were
radical elements

of violence
and anti-American discussion,

and we didn't want him
taking his moral position

into an extreme-left
environment

with kids who were
kind of anti-American,

who were communists,
who were burning
American flags.

(people shouting)

Young:
And we could
not control that.

♪ ♪

Califano:
Johnson was worried...

because communists were
on the other side on the war,

and over the years...

the FBI was constantly
investigating King

and citing one or two
of his associates

who they said
were communists.

He was afraid
that the FBI would leak it,

that Hoover would really get
King branded as a communist,

and it would build up
an enormous backlash.

Jones:
For a long period of time,

every conversation
was wiretapped secretly
by the FBI.

And the contents
of the conversations,

written down,
transcribed verbatim.

And put in files
marked "Top Secret."

And a top agent
at the FBI said

that Martin Luther King Jr.

is the most dangerous
and most powerful
Negro ever.

Califano:
In 1964, they were
bugging Dr. King,

and they also picked up
his sexual activity.

Hoover would send
these memos out.

The memos would be
all about King's life.

I mean, they were
obviously designed
to destroy this guy.

Lewis:
I think
J. Edgar Hoover hated...

despised Dr. King.

Alexander:
Hoover just was
one of these people

with an immense
amount of power

who abused
that power.

He used
information improperly.

He was singularly arrogant
about his position.

And underlying it,

had this feeling of superiority
to people of color.

And I said,
"They should take

that son-of-a-bitch's name
off the building."

Because he was
the antithesis

of what you want
in a democracy.

♪ ♪

Lewis:
You know,
during those days,

we assumed that we all were
being wiretapped or spied on.

But I think
the people who made
the recordings...

were really sick.

Young:
Everything the FBI
was doing to hurt us

made us question

whether this country
was so sick that
it couldn't be saved.

We were never running

a program of personal piety.

We were running
a program of social,

and political,
and economic justice.

And it's while
we are yet sinners

that Christ died for us.

And...

it's one of the things
that makes it possible

for us to understand
the difficulties

and weaknesses
in other people

is that we're aware
of them in ourselves.

Baez:
I think it's very important
for us to see

that you can go on doing
the good works

and have slipped
and fallen, you know,

or gotten drunk,
or womanized, or whatever.

But since we have no idea
how his struggle felt,

we don't have
any room to criticize it.

Jones:
Martin Luther King Jr.
was a human being,

and he was imperfect.

He was conflicted
by traveling so much

and may not have felt...

that he was
being the best father
or husband that he could be.

But his love
for his family...

was unchallengeable.

Coretta Scott King:
When I met Martin,

I had, unfortunately,

a stereotype impression
of a minister.

Piety is good,

but I think there's
a kind of a false piety,

you know, which I--
I don't like.

And he was a--
just a-- a human being,

very, very warm and--
and very down to earth,

and just different.

Clayton:
Coretta believed
in his cause so much...

that she was willing
to pay the price,

and she tried hard

to have him spend as much time
with the children as he could,

'cause he wasn't home
that much.

Coretta:
You pass
your plate this way.

Clayton:
When he was home,

she insisted
that he have dinner
with the children.

(indistinct chatter)

Martin:
Daddy, you not talking.

I'm too hungry, Martin.

I'm so hungry.
I'm busy with this dinner.

I guess this is one
of the most frustrating
aspects of my life.

The great demands
that come as a result

of my involvement
in the struggle
for justice and peace.

It's just impossible
to carry out

the responsibilities
of a father and husband

when you have
these kinds of demands,

but fortunately I have
a most understanding wife.

Michaelis:
Now, alright.
This leads me to ask you.

Did you educate Mrs. King
to become equal to you

in terms of sharing
this burden...
(MLK Jr. laughs)

or did you research her
before your marriage

to see that she had
the potential for this or--

I wish I could say,
and satisfy my masculine ego,

that I led her
down this path,

but I must say
we went down together,

because she was as actively
involved and concerned

when we met as she is now.

(chanting)
Hey, hey, what do you say?

Mrs. King are you taking
part in this demonstration

as an individual
or as a wife?

Well, I'm taking part
as an individual and a wife.

(both laugh)
I'm both.

Lafayette:
Martin Luther King wrestled
with coming out publicly...

taking a stand against
the war in Vietnam.

But, Mrs. King was involved
in the anti-war movement
long before.

So she had
a lot of influence

on Martin Luther King
coming to that conclusion.

I come to express
my own personal witness

for the cause of peace.

And in the
civil rights struggle,

if we win all
of the rights
and privileges

that we are fighting for

and have no world
in which to exercise these,

then there is really
no need for our efforts.

MLK Jr:
I decided that I would
leave it to my wife to...

take the stands and make
the meetings on the peace issue,

but I came
to the conclusion

that I could no longer be
a silent onlooker,

but that in some real way,

I had to be an involved
and concerned participant.

Fernandez:
Andy Young called me.

I was the executive director
of the group

that wanted to stop
the war and engage

the religious community
to help do that.

So, Andy proposed
that Dr. King give
a speech in New York,

and Dr. King decided to make
a full-blown statement.

So, I said, "Well,
what about Riverside Church?

Because I think place
makes a big difference."

Belafonte:
When he came
to the Vietnamese speech,

he struggled with it.

And, I remember very much

because he wrote a big part
of it in our home.

I have on my wall
in the hallway,

a copy of his writings

and the notes that he made.

He had a habit
of using a yellow pad,

constantly making notes,

and he'd crumble up
these things

at the end of an evening
and toss it away.

And I'd just do a swan dive
right into the garbage pail

and retrieve those papers,

'cause he always left
some really profound
sentence or something

that I thought was worth...

retrieving and saving.

Baez:
Dr. King knew
where his heart was,

but he also knew
the criticism

and the splits
that would happen

the moment
he said anything

against the war in Vietnam,
and, of course, he did.

Lewis:
The night of April 4th, 1967,

I believe that
Martin Luther King Jr.
delivered

probably one of the
most powerful speeches
I ever heard him deliver.

Ladies and gentlemen.

Lewis:
He said, in effect,

that he was not going
to butcher his conscience.

I knew that I could
never again raise my voice

against the violence
of the oppressed
in the ghettos

without having
first spoken clearly

to the greatest
purveyor of violence

in the world today--
my own government.

♪ ♪

Lewis:
He said as a nation,

we talk about nonviolence
here in America,

and then we engage
in violence abroad.

He said in effect
that the bombs

that we're dropping
in Vietnam,

they would be shattered
over America.

Young:
Dr. King was worried
that the government

had gotten us into war
where we didn't need to be,

and that we were
hurting ourselves.

The returning veterans,
the inflation,

the unemployment,
the consequences of the war.

Lewis:
He literally
poured out his heart.

The depth and essence
of his soul.

I've heard many sermons.

I was at the March
on Washington..

But I think the speech

at Riverside Church
was his best.

If America's soul
becomes totally poisoned...

part of the autopsy
must read, "Vietnam."

When the speech ended...

the place exploded.

And I knew
it was electric.

I knew he had hit it
out of the park.

But the next morning,

he was blasted in virtually
every editorial column
in America.

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

Young: Some of us
didn't want him to be
that hard in the speech,

but he said,
"I'm trapped...

by my own,
you know, beliefs,"

and I think that
that was one of the things

that J. Edgar Hoover used

to try to turn the government
completely against him.

Jackson:
Dr. King took on
our government in a war time.

He was taking on
angry people

and misguided people
in a war time.

Crowd:
♪ The land of the free ♪

♪ And the home
of the brave ♪

(man shouts)
Man 2:
Commie Jew!

(indistinct chatter)
(scattered applause)

(men shouting)

♪ ♪

He said, "Many of my friends
are turning on me.

"Many of my Morehouse friends,
my classmates.

"Preachers have said
I can't come to their pulpits,

'cause we shouldn't
be engaged in the war."

Clayton:
He said,
"You expect your enemies

"to disagree with you.

What I didn't understand
is how our friends
would leave me."

They stopped giving.

They stopped calling.

They stopped caring...

and he was devastated.

Edelman:
Change is painful.

The loneliness,

and what it must
have felt like

when he was so abandoned
by so many

and told to
"stay in your place."

Jones:
He really felt betrayed.

And he said
over and over...

"They don't know me."

MLK Jr:
They applauded me...

when I told Negroes
to be nonviolent.

These same people are
damning me when I say,

"You ought to be nonviolent

toward little brown children
in Vietnam."

Belafonte:
The way all of America
turned on him

when he stepped
into the Vietnam drama...

was perhaps
the single most...

challenging moment
for Martin.

♪ ♪

Jones:
Martin went through
very difficult,

emotional times in 1967.

He had a doctor in New York,
and I remember...

sitting with Dr. Logan.

And he generally felt
that the state

of Martin's emotional health
was such that...

that he maybe should seek
some kind of...

third-party independent
psychiatric counseling.

And I looked
at Dr. Logan...

and I said,
"That's not gonna happen."

I was very blunt,
and I said...

"If not within 24 hours,
within 24 days...

"the FBI would find out,

"and everything
that Martin King said
to that psychiatrist...

"would be immediately
in FBI files.

Just can't take
that chance."

♪ ♪

Reporter:
This year,
major Negro riots

have broken out
in Detroit and Newark,

and about 80 cities
and towns all over
the country.

Already it's become
the worst crisis
in the country

since the Civil War.

MLK Jr:
The despair is deep.

The bitterness is wide

in the ghettos
of our nation.

And I will continue
to raise my voice...

with all of my might
against riots

because I know
that black rioting

can mean black suicide.

Don't point
that gun at me!

Don't you ever put
that hand on a gun.
Wait a minute.

Wait a minute,
don't point that gun at me!

MLK Jr:
What must be said

is that our nation's
summers of riots

are caused by our nation's
winters of delay.

Johnson:
Pillage, looting,
murder, and arson

have nothing to do
with civil rights.

We will not tolerate
lawlessness.

Carmichael:
You gon' sit in front
of your television set

and listen
to LBJ tell you that,

"Violence never accomplishes
anything, my fellow Americans."

(cheering)

But, you see,
the real problem
with violence

is that we have
never been violent.

We have been
too nonviolent.

(cheering)
Too nonviolent.

MLK Jr:
I've decided
to stick with love.

And so, I'm not gonna
give you a motto

or preach a philosophy,
"Burn, baby, burn."

I'm gonna say,
"Build, baby, build!

Organize, baby, organize!"

(applause)

Lafayette:
Martin Luther King
called me from Atlanta.

And he said
to me very directly,

"I need you
to come on down here now,

"because this may be
my last campaign...

and we're going for broke."

The Southern Christian
Leadership Conference

will lead waves
of the nation's poor
and disinherited

to Washington, D.C.,
next spring.

Jackson:
He said, "Let's go
to Washington.

"We're going
to Washington.

"If necessary,
go to jail...

"civil disobedience...

"and convince
this Congress

to shift from war in Vietnam
to war on poverty."

Young:
It was Marian Edelman...

who came to Martin
with the concept

of the Poor People's Campaign.

Edelman:
I got called to Washington
to testify about poverty

and what was happening
in Mississippi.

This is an urgent situation,

which must be looked into
and which must be met.

In the middle of it all,

I asked them
to come and see
for themselves.

And Bobby Kennedy
came with them.

Kennedy:
There is starvation,

and men and women
who can't find jobs.

And it's a reflection
on all of us.

The fact that
you have young children

in the United States
at the present time

with the wealthiest
nation in the world

who are hungry,
and their parents are hungry

is completely unsatisfactory.

Edelman:
Robert Kennedy went
back to Washington.

I told him I was gonna
stop through Atlanta

and see Martin,
and he said,

"Well, tell him to bring
the poor to Washington."

I went down to Atlanta...

and went to SCLC,

and he was depressed.

I mean, he was sitting
in his office by himself.

And I told him
what Robert Kennedy said,

he ought to bring
the poor to Washington.

And he lit up.
He just lit up.

Young:
I think he was realizing

that he was
running out of gas.

(coughing)

Young:
And the attacks
and the criticisms on him

were getting more
and more vicious.

(inaudible)

But he was really
aware of the fact

that we had not...

hardly raised
the issue of poverty.

MLK Jr:
We have to do it...

for our own
sense of dignity,

our own self-respect,

our own
determination.

But we can't do it

if we don't give
our all to it.

Lafayette:
Martin Luther King embraced

the idea of the Poor
People's Campaign,

and he wanted
to move ahead with it.

Man:
By no means--

Lafayette:
But initially,
he did not have

the support
of his executive staff.

Man:
And when
we go out there--

Lafayette:
People felt already
committed to what

they were working on
at that time.

From our perspective
as organizers, it was--

He was the pilot
of the plane,

but we were the ground crew.

Without the ground crew,
the plane cannot leave
the ground.

Younger Jackson:
Give the realities of--

Lafayette:
Martin Luther King
went on a fast

to reunite people
and get them

to think collectively
how they could participate.

MLK Jr:
As we go
into these communities--

And they finally started
coming aboard.

And we must
remember that we are

the custodians
of a philosophy.

Lafayette:
But he talked
about his frustration.

Clayton:
His staff was
all concerned.

They said, "You know,
we haven't seen him

laugh in a long time."

Now, I don't know
whether we gon' win,

or lose, draw,
or what we gon'
bring back, and I--

but I'm not gon' sit by and--

Clayton:
So, they called me
and told me,

"Think of something
to do to make him laugh."

And this was January 15th,
which was his birthday...

which ended up
being his last birthday.

Young:
Now, some folks celebrate
Abraham Lincoln,

but we're gonna celebrate
Martin Luther King's day today.
Don't let him outta here!

All:
♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday
to you ♪

♪ Happy birthday, Dr. King ♪

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

We know that you--
you really don't need much,

but we thought
of some things
you ought to have.

Man: Oh yeah.
So, we searched around,

and knowing what's
coming up for you,

we thought you'd
be strung out of shoe string,

so when you go to jail,

here's some
shoestring potatoes--

(laughter)

Then, we know how fond
you are of our President,
Lyndon Johnson...

(laughter)

and we know how
you supporting everything,

and I got
this little cup for you,

and I want this back,
because this is mine.

And it says--
let me read it-- it says,

"We are cooperating
with Lyndon Johnson's
War on Poverty.

Drop coins and bills
in the cup."

(laughter)

And this is a special gift
from me, a real one.

(laughter, applause)

Lord, I thank you.

Belafonte:
I don't think
anyone possessed

the capacity for humor,

both in receiving it
and responding joyously...

as Dr. King.

Much of the time,
I was the victim.

If he felt
somebody was sensitive,
he wouldn't pick on 'em.

But he would take something

that somebody else said
or did and blame it on me.

He had a good way
of imitating people.

He would imitate Andy
or he would say,

"Now, Andy, if you
do something foolish

and you go out there
and get assassinated..."

He said, "I promise

I'm gonna preach
the best funeral for you."

Young:
And then he would start
preaching your funeral.

And he would do
a very sadistic caricature

(laughs)
of all of your faults
and foibles,

and things that you would never
want said about you in public.

And he'd weave it into a sermon,

and quite often he'd have
a similar demon from the Bible

who had the same problems.

And by the time
he got through,

he had everybody laughing

at what was
a life-and-death situation.

Mostly his life.

That was the way
of externalizing the fact that

(laughing)

he had to somehow talk about...

the elephant in the room...

that we all had to live with.

Martin joked
about it.

Because... there wasn't
any other way to be.

Dr. King...
do you--

do you fear
for your life?

Not really.

I face the fact that
something can happen

to my life.

Ultimately, it isn't
so important

how long you live.

The important thing
is how well you live.

Mmm.
(audience applauds)

Dr. King's expression
of his anxiety

about this whole world
in which he found himself,

was not unfounded.

His fears were very real,

because the conditions
were very real.

MLK Jr:
What is it that America
has failed to hear?

Belafonte:
I had noticed
that he had a tick.

He had occasion to... be--

get caught.

It has failed to hear that
the plight of the Negro poor

has worsened
over the last few years.

Belafonte:
It wasn't consistent,

but it was apparent
in enough situations

for us to know that there was
a psychological problem here.

♪ ♪

And then one day,

that tick was
no longer evident.

I said to him-- I said,

"Now what happened
to the tick?"

He said, "It's gone."

And I said, "Well,
how'd you get rid of it?"

And he said,
"I made my peace
with death."

(chattering)

I know all of you
are studying hard

and you're just
doing fine in school,

and I'm glad
to see you.

Kids:
We are glad to see you!

MLK Jr:
Thank you very much.

Young:
I think he always knew that
each and every thing he did

could be the last thing
that he did.

Thank you.

And he used to say that if
you're really gonna be free,

you have to overcome the love
of wealth and the fear of death.

You all just took off
from school, huh?

Kids:
Yeah.

Young:
He was prepared to die,

but he was
also determined that...

his death and his life
would have meaning.

And I think that's what
he was wrestling with,

with Vietnam...

(indistinct chattering)

and Chicago...

Tell Hosea and Ralph
to rush off.

Young:
and the Poor People's
Campaign.

Hello, give me some sugar.
Woman: Where we stopping?

Where we stopping?
Where we stopping?
Where we stopping?

♪ ♪

Lafayette:
It seemed to me we can
begin to build up every Sunday

a big march to, you know,
march around the Capitol
some place.

Dr. King appointed me
as program administrator.

By the time we get
to seventh march,

it could really
be massive for those people--

Lafayette:
And usually our campaign

was related to
discrimination and racism,

so we were talking about,
you know, black people
for the most part.

But I said, "Well, there are
Chicanos who are poor.

You want them to be in--"

He said, "Yes, we want
them to be involved."

I said, "Okay."

So I said, "What about
the Native Americans?"

He said, "Well, yeah,
Native Americans."

So, by this time, he...

turned around
and looked up at me,

'cause he'd anticipated
the next question.

I said,
"Well, Dr. King, uh,

what about
the poor whites?"

And he said to me...
(chuckles) a little disgusted,

he said, "Are they poor?"

I said, "Well, yes."

"Well, we want them involved!"

MLK Jr:
We assemble here
together today

with common
problems,

bringing together
ethnic groups

that maybe
have not been together

in this type
of meeting in the past.

I know I haven't been
in a meeting like this,

and it's been one of my dreams

that we would come together

and realize
our common problems.

Black people,
Mexican Americans,

American Indians,
Puerto Ricans,

Appalachian Whites,
all working together

to solve the problem

of poverty.

Edelman:
That was a very big thing
that happened.

Of getting--
finding common ground

among the poor.

MLK Jr:
And I do want to--

Edelman:
That didn't make
things easy...

but it was
a big benchmark

into the next stage
of the Civil Rights Movement,

which had to do
with economic rights.

MLK Jr:
Ultimately, we are
concerned about

a guaranteed annual income,

and the other thing I think
it is very necessary to say

is that everybody's
on welfare in this country.

When it's for white people
and rich, we call it subsidies.

Suburbia was
built by federally-
subsidized credits,

and the highways
and expressways that
take people out there.

So, I think
we've gotta see that
when it comes to poor people,

we call it welfare,
handouts dolled,

but when
it comes to rich people,
we call it subsidies.

And it's the same thing.
It's all welfare.

Lafayette:
We were in a staff meeting,

and Martin Luther King
got this call from Memphis.

♪ ♪

Reporter:
On February 12th,
1300 workers

in the city's sanitation
department went on strike.

And what began
as a union matter

soon became
a civil rights cause.

Lafayette:
The sanitation workers
were strikin'

because the wage
was so low.

And they were concerned
about safety.

So they were trying to get
some support and protection.

Jones:
One of the most
powerful things

that you see
during that time

is all of the garbage
workers had

these sandwich
board signs

that said,
"I am a man."

That was saying,
"We want to be treated
with dignity."

Reporter:
With the strike deadlocked,

behind the leadership
of Negro ministers,

the marches grew larger

and the ministers reveled
in the new unity.

Lafayette:
When Martin Luther King
got the call,

he said he had to go.

He said, "You guys stay
and continue working

on the Poor
People's Campaign."

Young:
We did not want him
to go to Memphis at all,

but he got up
at 6:00 in the morning...

(indistinct chatter)

and he said,
"I'ma catch this flight
to Memphis."

♪ ♪

Martin went
to a march that we had
nothing to do with.

No pre-planning, and...

And it got disrupted.

(shouting)
(glass shattering)

♪ ♪

(shouting)

Jones:
There were
some young men

outside of the
garbage workers

who took
the wooden sticks
that had held

some of the "I am a man"
signs together

and used them
to smash windows.

(shouting continues)

Henry Loeb:
When the march
degenerated into a riot,

abandoned
by its leaders,

the police,
with my full sanction,

took the necessary action
to protect the lives

and property
of the citizens
of Memphis.

Man on bullhorn:
We urge you to return

to your homes immediately...

for your own safety.

Reporter:
Why didn't you check out
the situation in Memphis

with your staff
before you came here,

especially
since it's in the midst

of a very touchy
sanitation strike?

Well, I would be
honest enough to say

that I was completely...

caught with a miscalculation.

(glass shatters)

Reporter 2:
What steps
have you taken

to avert
new violence
in Memphis?

Well, we're gonna
take those steps,

and we're not
gonna stop here.

We are gonna have,
in Memphis,

a massive
nonviolent demonstration,

and we're gonna do it
in the next few days.

And we are gonna
take the steps

that we've taken
in every other situation.

We are gonna
take the steps

of uniting
this community.

Nonviolence can be
as contagious as violence.

♪ ♪

Young:
In between the first march

and our going back
to Memphis,

Martin gave us
a good cussin' out

about not being
supportive of him.

And it was the only time

I saw him angry
at the whole staff.

♪ ♪

He cussed us out,
got up, and walked out.

And we went behind him,
trying to reassure him,

but he just--
he just went on off.

Jackson:
Dr. King said,
"I feel so alone."

He was frustrated,
he was full of pain, and...

I understand that pain now.

He said,
"I-- I've pondered.

"Maybe I should quit now.

Maybe I've done
as much as I can do."

Young:
I thought it was wrong
to take on another movement

in the state we were in.

We were tired...

and we knew
he was tired.

♪ ♪

The thing I think
he had dreamed about
from childhood

was to be able
to pastor a church
like Riverside Church.

And they actually
offered him the job
as interim pastor.

All of us said, "Look,

"you're entitled
to a sabbatical.

You've been at this
for 12 years nonstop."

He wouldn't
even consider it.

♪ ♪

He used to say,
"Some of us are not
gonna live to be 50,

so you better
live good right now."

It was almost as though
he saw death as an escape.

And that he could
not escape...

the way
we wanted him
to escape.

Clayton:
Before Dr. King left
to go to Memphis,

we all had dinner
together at their home.

♪ ♪

His mother was there,

and we all had a wonderful,
wonderful afternoon.

Playin' the piano,

singin' church songs,
tellin' jokes.

He said to me,
"You know what?

"I bet you don't really
know that I can--

I'm a good singer.
Did you know that?"

He said,
"I'ma prove it to you.
So, give me a B-flat."

I gave him a B-flat,
and he starts singin',

and, man, oh,
we got the rhythm
of a gospel song.

And we just had such fun.

Now, I was to drive him
the next morning

to the airport
to go to Memphis.

His mother
called me and said,

"I know you're takin' ML
to the airport tomorrow.

"While you have his ear,

"will you tell him
I wish we could have

"more family moments
like that?

"Can you tell him
to plan it in his schedule

sometime after
he comes back?"

♪ ♪

Lafayette:
After the march that
broke out in violence,

we all went to Memphis,
for two reasons:

to support
the sanitation workers' march,

so it would be nonviolent,

but also to continue
our discussion

of the Poor People's Campaign.

That night, there was
a mass meeting

at Mason Temple Church,

and Martin Luther King
was scheduled

to go and speak,

but it was
pouring-down raining.

♪ ♪

Jackson: Dr. King,
he'd sit in the room
most of the day.

He said, "I have a headache.
I don't feel like going.

But, Jesse, will you go?"

(faint cheering, applause)

Jackson:
So, we went over there,
and we walked in the door.

Church was
about three-quarters full,
and people cheering.

You could sense
they were expecting him.

Martin Luther King is already
in his pajamas in bed...

and we were working
on a press statement
for Washington, D.C.

Jackson:
We went out
the side of the church

and called him
on the pay telephone,

and said, "Martin,
come just for a few minutes.

"You don't have to stay long.

They're--
they're so ready for you."

♪ ♪

Lafayette:
I could only hear
one side of the call,

but Martin Luther King said,

"Now, are you telling me

"that you want me
to get up out of my bed,

"and take off my pajamas,
and get dressed,

"and come out
in the pouring-down rain...

okay, to speak
at this meeting?"

So, obviously, the answer
on the other side said, "Yes."

Abernathy:
The Moses of 1968,
Martin Luther King.

(cheering, applause)

Young:
Martin came
to that church

thinking that he was
just gonna make remarks

and not to give
a major speech,

but he got up,
and he gave that speech

as though he knew
that the end was near.

So, I'm happy tonight.

I'm not worried
about anything!

I'm not fearing
any man!

Mine eyes have
seen the glory

of the coming
of the Lord!

(cheering, applause)

♪ ♪

Lafayette:
The next morning,

we were workin'
on the press statement

for the Poor People's Campaign.

Martin Luther King said
to me, "Now, Bernard,

"the next project
we're gonna work on

"is to institutionalize

and internationalize
nonviolence."

♪ ♪

Young:
I was on the witness stand
most of that day.

We got permission
to march,

and I came back
to the Lorraine Motel.

He was childish and giddy
and cussed me out.

You know, "Where you been?"

He threw a pillow at me.
I threw it back.

But, everybody else picked up
pillows, and they were--

it was like a bunch
of 10-year-olds.

And just about that time,

Billy Kyles knocked
on the door and said,

"You all are due
at my house by 6:00.

My wife's
got dinner waitin'."

And so, he jumped up,
and went upstairs...

to put on a shirt and tie.

♪ ♪

Jackson:
I was coming
across the courtyard,

and from the balcony,
Dr. King said,

"Jesse, you don't
even have on a tie!"

So, I said,
"Dr. King, a prerequisite
for eating is an appetite."

He said, "You crazy."
We laughed.

Young:
He was just
extremely relaxed

and comfortable
and playful.

It was the happiest
I had seen him in a long time.

We'd been laughing
and playing, and... pow!

And he raised up.

The bullet hit him
right here.

It severed his tie.

♪ ♪

I got up and went
running toward him,

but he was
non-responsive.

So, I got up and went
and called Mrs. King.

It was a long ten steps

to take from where he was
to that phone.

I said, "Mrs. King,"
I said, "Dr. King been shot.

"I think he's been
shot in the shoulder,

but I think
you should come."

I really couldn't say
what I saw.

It was like too much to say.

It was like
I just couldn't say that.

I couldn't say that.

♪ ♪

Reporter:
What Dr. Martin Luther King
called his beautiful dream,

expressed so dramatically
during the 1963 March
on Washington,

was shattered tonight
in Memphis, Tennessee,
by an assassin's bullet.

In Memphis,
and in New York,

in Boston,
Raleigh, North Carolina,

there are reports of looting

and other angry reactions
to the killing of Dr. King.

(indistinct chatter)

It was awful.

My first thought was
to go out and tell children

not to loot and not to riot
and ruin their lives.

And this little boy
about 12...

looked me straight
in the eye and said,

"Lady, what future?
I ain't got no future.

I ain't got nothing to lose."

(siren approaches)

Fernandez:
I was in Sarasota, Florida,
with my parents,

and we see this happening
on the television,

and the first thing out
of my mother's mouth was...

"He deserved it.
He was a rabble-rouser."

Carmichael:
When white America
killed Dr. King last night,

she opened the eyes
for every black man
in this country.

He was the one man
in our race

who was trying
to teach our people

to have love,
compassion, and mercy

for what white people
had done.

When white America killed
Dr. King last night...

she declared war on us.

♪ ♪

Reporter:
A Day after the death
of Dr. Martin Luther King,

there is
a countrywide reaction.

Turmoil in at least
a dozen more cities today:

Washington, Chicago,
Detroit, Boston, New York.

These are just
a few of the cities

in which the Negro anguish
over Dr. King's murder,

presumably by a white man,

expressed itself
in violent destruction.

(siren blaring)
(bells clanging)

The assassination
and its aftermath

temporarily pushed aside
the President's plans

to pursue his new
Vietnam peace effort,

as he put in a busy day
at the White House.

♪ ♪

Califano:
I think of all
the ups and downs

and all the turmoil,
and the tragedies

that occurred
in those years...

I never saw
Johnson sadder...

sadder about
an event

than he was at the
assassination of King.

And he said to me...

"Give me a draft letter
to the Speaker.

"You know, we're
gonna get one thing out
of this awful event.

We're gonna get
our Fair Housing bill."

♪ ♪

Reporter:
As part of the national day
of mourning tomorrow,

hundreds of communities
across the nation

have planned
memorial services

and peaceful marches
in tribute to Dr. King.

It is, in this way,

despite the ugly rioting
and looting in many cities,

that thousands
of Americans have planned
to express their grief

quietly and with dignity.

Nowhere was this
more evident

than in Atlanta, Georgia.

Clayton:
Before the funeral,

Dr. King's body was
to lie in state

at Spelman College.

A security officer
at Spelman

called Mrs. King
and said,

"There must be
thousands here.

What must we do?"

Then I said, "Mrs. King,
the public will wait.

You need to see him first."

So, we dashed over
to the campus.

I didn't see the body
'til I got up close.

I nearly died.

♪ ♪

He looked awful.

He had a big blob
of clay on his face.

Mrs. King was
standing there
in such pain.

The embalmer loudly said,

"His jaw was blown off!

This is the best
I can do."

And, oh, she nearly fainted.

♪ ♪

So I took out
some loose powder,

and I dabbed
a little on his face.

Toning it down.

And Coretta smiled.

It was working.

And, she said,
"Open the door
and let 'em in."

♪ ♪

Martin Luther King chose

the best person
possible as a wife,

and her stamina
gave the country
and the world relief,

because everybody
were just crashing

over this man's
untimely death.

A man who lived for
and died for goodness,

now ends up like this.

I would have preferred
to be alone

at this time
with my children.

We were always
willing to share

Martin Luther King
with the world...

(cameras clicking)

because he was
a symbol

of the finest
man is capable
of being.

Yet to us, he was a father
and a husband.

I am surprised
and pleased

at the success
of his teaching.

For our children
say calmly,

"Daddy is
not dead.

"He may be physically dead,

but his spirit
will never die."

(cameras clicking)

(Martin Luther King Sr.
sobbing)
No. No.

(indistinct chatter)

(wailing)

(wails)

(wailing)

(sobbing)

Clayton:
Through their tears,
Mama King said to me,

"I want you to know that
when the tension of the moment,

"you know,
tapers a little bit,

"I can tell you fully...

how much I appreciate
what you did."

And I said, "What I do?"

She said, "Well,
you told Martin what I said,

that I wanted him
to spend more time with me."

She said, "He called me."

And she thinks
that she was one

of the last persons
he talked to.

And she said, "I know
I'm gonna feel good

about that one
of these days."

Jones:
I got a call
that Mrs. Kennedy

would like very much to pay
her respects to Mrs. King.

It was the day
of the funeral...

and Mrs. Kennedy
walks over...

to Mrs. King.

The now
two widows embrace...

and they hold one another.

♪ ♪

(indistinct chatter)

Lafayette:
I was on my way
to the funeral,

and I had
to pass the office,

and the office door
was open, our SCLC office,

and people were
bringing things outta there.

Abernathy:
We gather here
this morning

in one of the darkest hours

for Martin Luther King,

sent forth as a Moses

in the wilderness
of this sick nation of ours.

I went across
the street over there,

and sure enough, it was
a test of my nonviolence.

These people were
taking things off the wall,

and off the desk,
and everything else.

And I had to calm them down,

'cause they were frantic,
and they were wailing,

and moanin' and groanin'.

So, they were not like thieves.

They were people who had felt

they had lost
Martin Luther King,

and they were just
trying to find something
they could hold on to...

that Martin Luther King,
perhaps, had touched.

But I missed the funeral.

I got there in time
to see Robert Kennedy

and some others
come out of the church,

but the wagon had...
okay, gone off.

Man: Back. Move back,
move back.
(indistinct chatter)

All the way
to the sidewalk.

All the way. All the way
to the sidewalk. Move back.

(indistinct chatter)

Belafonte:
There has been
a lot of historical tragedies

that give us time to...

reflect on...

much that
has been lost to us

and the cruelty of...

the issues of race.

None more profoundly...

robbed me of
an important part

of what I thought
my life would be

than when Martin
was murdered.

His death was not just
a great loss historically,

but in a deep personal sense,
I lost a friend.

Abernathy:
The cemetery is
too small for his spirit.

The grave is too narrow
for his soul.

We commend his legacy

of courage and love
to ourselves.

Our children,
and our children's children.

We commend his life...

to the universe.

♪ ♪

My first reaction was...
to be mad with him.

"You got us in all this hell,

"now you're going to Heaven,
and leaving us in Hell.

(chuckles)
Why don't you
take us with you?"

But I was panicked...

to know how we followed,

and...

it-- well, we were not able
to stay together...

without him.

And the movement
began to fragment.

Lafayette:
What has happened in the past
has been our lives.

As older people,

we've gone through
those different periods...

and we have suffered,

and we have also made
some progress.

But this is what
our lives were about.

The question is
the next generation.

'Cause it's not
what you've gained,

it's what you can maintain.

Martin Luther King went
to the blackboard

and taught us nonviolence.

But nonviolence
is not confined

to any historical period.

♪ ♪

Jackson:
He speaks to
this generation clearly,

as if he's in yesterday's
morning paper.

His strategies,
his philosophy,

his world-view
remain real today.

♪ ♪

Vivian:
He wanted
a future world

that was changed because
of our nonviolent struggles.

He wanted his life
to be remembered

by making
the nation realize

that nonviolence
is what we must,
in the end, have.

Alexander:
I think people discovered
only after his death

that he was more radical
than they actually knew.

I don't think he wanted us
to take anything

other than all
that we deserve,

and that's what radicalism,
in the best sense, is about.

Using the power
that you have

to help transform
this society for the better.

Nash:
With Martin Luther King,
we have the holiday,

and we talk about
how wonderful he was,

but we really
should develop his work.

It's our responsibility.

Everybody's responsibility.

There are
300 million of us,

and social change is
the job of each of us.

♪ ♪

Lewis:
When you see something
and it's not right,

not fair, not just,

you have a moral obligation

and a mandate
to do something,

to say something,
to speak up, to speak out.

Edelman:
He is issuing as much
of a call to us today

as he was calling
to us in 1968...

and I hope we will
hear that call

and finish the next phase
of his movement.

He talked
about the importance
of keep going forward.

And he said,
"If you can't fly,
you drive.

"If you can't drive, you run.

"If you can't run,
you walk.

"If you can't walk, you crawl,

but keep moving forward."

Jones:
From 1956
until April 4th, 1968,

Martin Luther King, Jr.,

may have done more

to achieve
political, social,

economic justice
than any other person

in the journey
of American history.

Young:
The problems we have
that Martin lived for

are still with us.

And the complexity
of good and evil
in this world

is gonna always
be with us.

I don't know
that anybody struggled
with it any more

or did any better
than Martin King
in my lifetime.

He always said,
"We've come a long, long way,

but we still got
a long way to go."

And somewhere,
wherever Martin is,

he's struggling
beyond this place
in time and space.

MLK Jr:
Well, I never like
to discuss

Martin Luther King's
influence.

I'm just trying
to do a job,

and I think it's a job
that has to be done,

and I'm not trying
to do it merely for myself,

or merely for my children,
or merely for the Negro,

but for America,
because I think it's true

that if this problem
isn't solved,

the soul of our nation
will be lost.

And the only way to redeem
the soul of America

is to remove
or to eradicate racism

in all of its dimensions.

♪ ♪

Cotton:
♪ I'm-- I'm gonna do what
the spirit says do ♪

♪ I'm gonna do
what the spirit says do ♪

♪ What the spirit says do,
I'm gonna do ♪

♪ Oh Lord, do what
the spirit says do ♪

We used to sing...

♪ I'll go to jail ♪

♪ If the spirit says, "Jail" ♪

♪ I'll go to jail ♪

♪ If the spirit says, "Jail" ♪

♪ If the spirit says, "Jail" ♪

♪ I'll go to jail,
oh Lord ♪

♪ I'll go to jail ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "Jail" ♪

♪ I'm gonna march ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "March" ♪

♪ I'm gonna march ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "March" ♪

♪ If the spirit
say, "March" ♪

♪ I will march, oh Lord ♪

♪ I'm gonna march ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "March" ♪

♪ I'm gonna love ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "Love" ♪

♪ I'm gonna love ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "Love" ♪

♪ If the spirit
say, "Love" ♪

♪ I will love, oh Lord ♪

♪ I'm gonna love ♪

♪ If the spirit say, "Love" ♪

♪ I'm gonna do ♪

♪ What the spirit say do ♪

♪ I'm gonna do
what the spirit say do ♪

♪ If the spirit say do ♪

♪ I will do, oh Lord ♪

♪ I'm gonna do
what the spirit say do ♪

(music fades)