What is it . April 1867 and april 1968, it shifted against him because of his opposition to the vietnam war. I have seen three biographers on here before. Without the heavy lifting by the historians, i cannot have written a death of a king. No one has ever focused on the text. They have not focused on the last year of his life april 4, 68 one year to0 the date. What is the last year like . How does he navigate . How is america treating him . He left five years after i have a dream. He involved in the fiveyear period. Into the back, you say you didnt 19 interviews for this book. Which one did you learn the most . Good question. I suspect there is nothing like talking to correct scott skate caretta scott king. Kingked to caretta scott many times. Mr. Hardy passed away who wrote the vietnam speech for dr. King. And he said to me many times that he believed that speech beyond vietnam put a target on his back. When dr. King calls america the greatest purveyor of violence, it was a damning speech. He says about america. Mr. Harding dies believing he was partly responsible for putting that target on his back. You talk to and young and tta scott king. Re who i had a chance to interview and all of those notes ive been keeping and saving for a moment like this when the book would be written. You were three years old when he was shot and killed. Can you remember the first time you knew there was a Martin Luther king . She was certainly in my conscious before i turned 12. We discuss something prior occasion. I wrote about this in my memoir. The defining moment is a brutal beating i received in indiana. The brutal beating i received at age 12, i was in the hospital for a couple of weeks in traction as a 12yearold kid. I cannot understand why it happened. Who beat you . My father. My father or stepfather . My stepfather but technically my father. He had never lost his temper the form. Before. I was accused of doing something at my church. I was not called in for a meeting or to answer questions. The pastor stood in front of the whole congregation in kokomo, me. Ana and just blasted my father, of course, is embarrassed. Back in the day, the only place a black man could get any respect was in the black church. It was a major embarrassment to my father. He snapped a beat me so severely i was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. Not know how to practice my way through this. And member of my church, bequeath a good to me. A member in the bucks were these records in the box where these recordings of dr. Kings speeches. He was on the road all the time speaking. Some americans said he only gave one speech and his whole time in only had one line that i want to live that i want my children to be judged by the content of their character. He lived until 1968. Gordy followed king around. He put many of the talks on lp. My deacon collected down. Them he gave this box to. Me. When i got out of the hospital it had a chance to play the ooohhh when i heard heart in hishis soul, it resonated with me. He was talking to the nation about the power of love. Love was the only thing that could turn into enemy into a friend and how hatred was not really an option was to keep mice will be talking to a brokenhearted 12yearold kid. Was not really an option. Was talking to a brokenhearted 12 year old kid. All i ever charged with my life print, try to tv, make the world safe for his legacy and this was one of my contribution and to help people understand why i love markets of much stock in the last year of his life why i love martin so much. Year of his life, we helped to kill him because we abandoned hill. We vilified him in death. You have to come to terms with his demonization. You referenced the speech he gave in stockholm, here is an excerpt. Is not the i have a dream speech. I still have a dream that the prosperity and speeds peace would you enjoy in sweden will become the chief export of the world over and we will be able to an adjournment despair and bring new life into the dark chambers of pessimism. With this faith, we will be able to transform the discords of our world into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood and the world sing, weill be able to have overcome, we have overcome. Deep in my heart, i do believe we would overcome someday. Thank you. He would have been 37. Its hard to believe he was 39 when he was shot. Than the ie like him have a dream speech . That was not his best delivery. Prose. Prose, beautiful that delivery was not his best. His beyond vietnam speech in 1967 probably one of the worst delivered speeches in terms of the liver, worst ever. He was reading from a prepared text like he was that night. King starts out reading the 1963 andtext in august at some point if you listen to the tape, you are a voice in the background saying, tell them about the dream. Liat was the voice of maha jackson, the great gospel singer. And has threell parts. He started on a high, challenging america. He starts out on a high, a bit she told him to tell them about the dream, martin. He starts talking about his dream. Ref, thehe ad lib, the freestyle we come to know. That was not necessarily in his prepared remarks. He was reading off a paper which he differently. Infrequently. You talked about an incident that happened in 1958, he was stabbed at a book signing in new york. A woman was demented and walked up to him as said, are you dr. Martin luther king jr. . And he said, yes, i am. She stabbed him in the chest. They rushed him to the hospital. Obviously, he survived. He almost died in a sense that the doctors told him that the blade was just a few centimeters away from his aorta. Had it that the blade hit his aorta, he wouldve drowned in his own blood. Had dr. This way king release leaves, really it wouldvesneezed, punctured his aorta. After he got out of the hospital, he preached a sermon. If i had sneezed speech. He said i would not have been around for the montgomery bus and rosa parks and i will not have been here to do this. Rhythm. Of it was one of the greatest speeches delivered. He basically said i am so glad i did not sneeze. It was a beautiful rendition of him looking back at his life. He was stabbed before. In chicago leading a march, he was released on. Stabbed,en stoned, would know about the j we knew about the jailings. Had to come to i terms with this. Jay accor over J Edgar Hoover listed him as the most dangerous man in america. King, the most dangerous man in america. I have asked my times how you can be the most dangerous man in america when the only weapon you are using is love . I talked about the power of love and the potency of love that we may need to reconsider in the world we live in. The Riverside Church is where . Manhattan, west side. What was the atmosphere . Dr. King had been speaking on the record about his opposition to the vietnam war. He was a big name and he was an even bigger name at the time, Benjamin Scott a he had been out at the war and there were others. It was the young people. Stokely carmichael holds pushing dr. King to be more vocal in his opposition. Nobody wanted him to talk about it except for james, who was pushing him to talk about the vietnam war. Everybody wanted him to stay out of step king took some time, and to this moment of high drama where he was going to give a Public Policy speech coming out against the war. He chose the location in manhattan. He was speaking to a group of clergy, the right place in the right city. He gives this speech about beyond vietnam. That america is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today and what he called a racism,hreat poverty, and militarization will ship was there in the video . Theres audio of the entire peoplebut the video, came and got some [indiscernible] there is no video of the entire speech. Lets listen to some of the audio. War speak out against this because i am disappointed with america. There could be no great disappointment where there is no great love. I am disappointed with our failure to be forthrightly with the triple evil of racism, economic exploitation, and militarization. We are presently moving down a dead end road that lead to national disaster. It is time for all people to call upon america to come back home. God has a way of standing before the nation and it seems that [indiscernible] you are too arrogant. Who got mad at him because of the speech . Every body. The next day, the media turns on him. Why . They did not see what they saw as his arrogance that he was sent america is the greatest purveyor of arrogance. They said we have given you like to talk about civil rights but not licensed to talk about national policy. They said we did not give you the right to talk about federal spending. War is thesaying the enemy of the poor. Basically, martin had gotten too big for his britches and moved out of talking just about civil rights and people do not want to hear it. Were not talking about fox news , were talking about the liberal media. When you read in death of the king, what the New York Times said about him and the Washington Post said about him, it is embarrassing and shameful. All of these years later to read what these publications said. Every major newspaper came after him the next day. The media turns to him first and then the white house. He and johnson work together. The white house turned on him. Turned onamerica had him. 75 of the American People thought he was irrelevant in the last year of his life. Inside a black america, almost 60 of black people thought he was person on the grotto. The last year of his life, the media turns on him among the white house, white folks, black naacp came out publicly against him. The urban league came out against him. Powell junior blasted him publicly. Ralph, the only black Nobel Laureate comes out publicly against him. He is on the board of the naacp. The naacp passed a resolution to condemn dr. King. Ralph saw it before it went out and he toughened the language. It was not tough enough for him against dr. King. He is even tougher on dr. King. A Nobel Laureate like dr. King was against a war but a peace prize recipient is going against him and i cannot quote on cspan what is in the book, what Thurgood Marshall, i cannot even use the language what Thurgood Marshall said and felt about dr. King. That was on the year when he was on the supreme court. I made a note, what was it that are good marshall disliked. He did not like his strategy, his style. There were a lot of negroes uncomfortable with martin being a people face with the marches. Only ee and the elite negroes. In an was born uppermiddleclass family. He said i choose to side with the port and with the underprivileged. A lot of gujarat elite bourgeois elite who said you have gone into phd and from the right family, act more well behaved and stucco that marching and protesting. He was always a step. Thurgood marshall also complained about the fact that , do the work in the streets and crated a bunch of lawsuits and other issues that in the indio naacp had to deal with. He is causing all this trouble. Theres a line i will not quote of the ugly stuff marshall said. This is ugly enough. Imagine Thurgood Marshall saying he is a boy on a. Ns body that is the kind of hate he had coming out of him. Organization,own he cannot get support. We did the last interview with Stokely Carmichael and it was 1998 and was dying at the time. I didnt up and heart i did it up in harlem. The reason i bring it up is in your book you talk about Stokely Carmichael. A lot of other blacks at the time started to differ with dr. King. Lets walk watch a little bit of this. [video clip] king. Martin luther occupied the center of the stage, no question about it. But there were areas where in progress,e there was those areas were not making progress anymore. Now, oncee, freedom they saw the problems, it doesnt exactly serve them. Reasons was to bring more precision to the movement, it came to clarify number one that dr. King king was loved and admired and respected by all of us, nonviolence was a principal for him and for him alone. There is the answer right there. Theres a wonderful book out about Stokely Carmichael. A great book. Glad to see him get the respect he deserved. Dr. King loved stokely. They disagreed on tactics. Power was a, black wonderful slogan but not a tactic to stop tactic. Pushingtokely that was martin to be more vocal against the war. They got to speaking in a variety of places around the country and stokely came to ebenezer, Martins Church and listen to him preach. There was a love but they disagree on tactics. Another person you write about is ralph abernathy. Heres an interview we did in 1989. I want you to explain this one. [video clip] to ignore andng rewrite history. Onyou go to the king center, the marches and demonstrations, and if you go to the Atlanta International airport, you see pictures of me at martin marching together at somebody has cropped me off. They have decided i am not going to feel my rightful place in history. That is talking about the family the prior in your book, you talk about the disagreements the two had. What was the relationship and what did they disagree about . Ralph was his dear friend. He was the last person to introduce a when he gave a speech. He gave them a wonderful introduction. They were deeply abiding friends. Yet, from my research and the works of others have done, i cannot speak for them, there is a sense and some of the work that ralph had a bit of an ego. And at times, he suffered a bit of i do not want to be too strong, but maybe slight jealousy. What about the nobel prize story . Martin was getting more exposure. It underscores that ralph thought he was getting cut out. They go to sweden for the nobel peace prize. The acceptance that martin had received. They are leaving the hotel. The motorcade is lined up and dr. King and his family and aides and are all traveling to sweden for the ceremony. They come out to get into the car and dr. King and mrs. King went to get into this particular car. Ralph followed them with his wife. And the chief of protocol said to him him a this car is for dr. Him, this card is for dr. King and ralph said, i do with him. He said i understand, but this is for dr. King. Ralph stood there and argued and protested with the chief of protocol. Dr. King had to say to ralph, ralph, ralph. Ralph got into the car but his jaw was tight for the rest of the day. Dr. King wanted to give all the money to the movement and he did. Agains jaw was tightened but he got the money should be split between the kings and him. I do not want to take anything away from the courageous life that ralph lived and dr. King call to ms. Dear friend. That is dr. Kings characterization. None of us are perfect. There are some good in the worst of us. Ralph had, it seemed, some issues with the fact that dr. King was getting more exposure. 2013 nce jones, in before we run the clip, who is the . A loan a young lawyer. Dr. King recruited him to work with him. He paid a courtesy of going to his house in california to recruit him to work for the movement. Clarence did not fancy the idea. Dr. King said i am preaching tomorrow, why dont you go hear me preach. He laid in on him. He laid in on him with a sermon groestalked about elite ne who do not want to give back to the movement. Clarence eventually [indiscernible] he snuck out when martin was in the firm and help j burning hell birmingham jail. Man who is the young snuck those notes out of the prison in his pocket, in his underwear and socks, as snuck it out of the prison and got it published. One of the great writings that king ever did. Clarence encouraged him as nothing out. Dr. King would be how old . 85. Clarence jones. [video clip] in a speech of 1967, dr. King said we suffer from a kind of contrast tois in our psychological abundance and will learn to swim the season like fish and fly the Airline First and will not learned the simple art of walking the earth like brothers peter and brothers. The legacy of dr. King is committed to nonviolence is unequivocal and unambiguous. You have a Great Library here. Kingnce is the one who dr. Signed to write to be beyond the vietnam speech. Clarence, being the lawyer he is, gives him a speech that basically said on the one hand this and on the other hand this. Dr. King read the speech as set what is this . A brief on theme one hand and the other hand and thats not what i wanted. He took the assignment away from Clarence Jones a gave it to vincent harding, it is neighbor a data assignment to vincent harding. He took responsibility of writing it. His neighbor and gave him the assignment to vincent harding. He died a few months ago. It for you tos rip the cover off of the onion . Theres a lot of negative about what was going on. These three to principal biographers who i cannot thank enough. The work to make it easier for him it was to write a book about king. I wanted to focus on this last year. There are so many layers. I wanted this book to be a historical novel. Historically accurate and at the back of the book, all types of pages of endnotes and see the resource material i used to write the text. I wanted to write it i worked with dr. Rich to give me the texture to make it read like a page turning novel so people can follow it. There were a lot of layers. We had to look at the last year and figure out what we thought were the high point. The significant points to give a sense of the hill and hate, and ask him. You cannot talk about his life linearly. Give a sense of the hell and hate coming at him. This bullet that he knows is out there with his name on it but there are significant flashback scenes to tie into the last year. The nonviolence, the civil rights and vietnam war. Here is some clip. I want you to explain this in a second. [video clip] people do not know, it is really hard. I am not the only one. You have to cook the children pinto beans. They do not know what it is to get a good meal. I want you to know that you have my moral support. I am going to be praying for you and coming back to see you at we are going to be demanding when we go to washington that something be done and done immediately about these conditions. The Poor Peoples Campaign was what . Most everybody disagreed again. In the last years life, he no doubt is hope for it in his face and he knows his time is limited. That he knows the death he knows death is in his face and he knows his time is limited. Why does he know it is limited . He feels it. He just knew. He knew the time was coming. Everybody thought about the mountaintop speech before he died. I may not get there with you but prior to