the media is attracted to conflict. there was no bigger conflict at the time than what was happening in the segregated south. at the same time, i think it was this notion that, you know, once it became from nonviolent to this sense of a black power movement, the media didn t quite know how to deal with it at the time. it was when you say black power, are you suggesting violence? are we now threatened? it presented a different face. but once again, television was there to capture it. lester, we are looking forward to seeing this documentary. it comes at a very interesting time because so many people have been referring to the march on our lives as one of the biggest things since the anti-war movement or the civil rights movement. so, it s going to be interesting to see how the media continues to interact with this new movement. lester, thanks very much. we re looking forward to watching it. you bet, ali. thanks. be sure to catch hope & fury mlk the movement and the media tomor
good to see you, ali. he was a strategist. the whole idea of doing these things early in the day so the reels could get back to new york, he was a strategist with the media. if he hadn t been, might the civil war the civil rights movement have been as successful? i think it s fair to say it probably wouldn t have been. ali, you and i deal with it every day, media savvy organizations and individuals. they know our deadlines. they know our attraction to conflict, those sorts of things. but to go back and look at the martin luther king story, the civil rights story through that lens a bit different. you don t think about how savvy that movement was and understanding the power of images. right down, you look at the 1963 children s crusade, the march in birmingham, make sure the kids were dressed in their sunday best. the point was to show the rest of america what was happening in the segregated south in a way that didn t alienate white america.
kids are safe in their communities and going and are safe going to school. so many of the kids from parkland that i ve spoken to and their parents, they come from gun-owning families or ex military families or pro-second amendment and they don t want guns taken away from law-abiding citizens. isn t there a space for the gun lobby in this very movement. well i ve considered myself a major part of the gun lobby for 40 years and i m supportive of so much of what they are doing. all right. richard, i enjoy speaking to you. we re going to keep on talking because we re on the same side of getting to a solution on all of this. richard feldman a former nra lobbyist and susanna is had stayed with me. she is a student at marjory stoneman douglas high school. coming up, a new nbc documentary hope and fury , the movement and the media explores how social movement and the media have influenced each other from the civil rights movement through today. lester holt anchor of nbc news
begins, a 1954 boy beaten to death because he allegedly flirted with a white woman. the mother demanded the casket be opened and published in a black publication, jet magazine. it shocked the nation s consciousness at the time. moving forward, i think the big difference is groups are still, like black lives matter, are still using the power of the camera, but not necessarily our camera. those two clips you saw, those two deaths involve people shooting on their cell phones, that people are able to go around the media now. we see it on every level from the white house on down, the this ability to control your own narrative through the camera. the idea is still the same. it s power of imagery. lester, what struck you the most in doing this documentary? i think it was the level of sophistication to understand the media, but also it wasn t always a love affair.
lester, the role of the media has changed largely because of things like cell phones and body cameras and closed circuit tvs. here s another clip from hope and fury with images propelling the black lives matter movement today. when cell phone images of unarmed african americans killed by police went viral. the body of michael brown laying on that ground for 4 1/2 hours shocked america back into its consciousness once again. it woke so many people up, that thought emmet till was a figment of the past and not a relevant figure of the present, emmet till is michael brown and tamir rice and sandra bland and eric garner. lester, what are you seeing in the new generation of activist s? first of all, to point out, the emmet till is 40u ohow our