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those meetings conclude today and we'll issue a readout this afternoon. finally as some of you may be aware, the united states of america vietnam war commemoration was launched in 2012 authorized by congress in support of a national 50th commemoration. to help thank veterans and their families if their service and sacrifice. notably thousands of organizations known as commemorative partners have joined the commemoration to honor america's 7 million vietnam veterans both at home and abroad and the ten million families of all those who served. this saturday, january 13th at 4:00 p.m. eastern, a special commemoration of the service courage and legacy of vietnam war veterans and gold star families and a renewal of american commitment will be
why is that it? is it the uphill fight we're talking about here? >> it is. i think that we have to always -- >> is it recruitment? where does it come from? >> i think that it's a little bit of both. i mean, when we look at the history of this country, the discrimination that happens on the basis of race, as well as gender, black women have to contend with both. of course, money is a factor in politics. it does take a great deal of money. a lot of times, it's hard to get in the networks where the large cash flows are. >> when you look at today, when you look at the 50th commemoration of the death of dr. martin luther king jr., can you talk about personally how his legacy has affected your work and, specifically, your political future? >> yes. dr. king has been a major influence in my life. just understanding how you invigorate the people and bring the people together, to change big systems. what dr. king did, this was before social media and the things we take for granted now, and he was able to make big differences and change the
anniversary of the end of world war ii. and the beginning of our 50th commemoration of the decade-long war in vietnam. to those who fought in both wars, thank you for your selfless service. americans are ever grateful for your sacrifices. the president and vice president understand and value the service and sacrifice of veterans. that's why they've provided strong and increasing resources for care and benefits, support of the new g.i. bill to educate the next generation of american leaders, tremendous support to help v.a. drive down the backlog and claims by almost 90% and improve access to quality health care for all veterans. as the president said in his state of the union address this year, as a new generation of veterans come home, we owe them every opportunity to live the american dream they helped defend. the first lady and dr. jill
courts and it decided it needed to be refleshed, something that caused incredible devastation in the field and had not only the north carolina case was mentioned the at the opening but other laws went into effect. we got an active lawsuit in texas. >> texas. >> which has been challenged now twice under a federal court trying to make sure that the people of texas are able to vote without discriminatory barriers and how many courts have to decide a law like the texas law is problematic and makes it hard for people to vote unnecessarily. >> you talk about the way that congress and president johnson are able in part because they are being pushed by the social movement from the outside to make changes that some of them wanted to make some of them didn't but nonetheless, the landscape change and i got to say between the 50th commemoration, between the on going marches in moral mondays
inside of there. the president sending a full complement of his cabinet. but also the ordinary folks, the men and women part of that movement then and now really showcase showcased. that is what is happening here. i'm joined right now by one of the people that is pushing for the ongoing movement for voting rights. and i want her to step in now. gloria brown marshall. gloria brown marshall. gloria tell me what you think this commemoration means and how we can connect the past 50 years ago to today when it comes to the issue of voting rights. >> i think it comes down to power. we have the power then. even though people try to make the black community feel powerless. and even today there's a sense that we are powerless when we are not. we have political power, we have economic power, and we're going to show that power. and i think that's what this 50th commemoration is about. the voting rights cases before the court now, the legal issues before the court regarding photo
this 50th commemoration. and more than 100 members of congress are expected to be there this week to commemorate selma. but from the republican controlled house, as of this afternoon, none of their leaders were going. this was the headline all day. g.o.p. leaders to skip selma event. none of the leaders of the house. steve scalise, kevin mccarthy, it might be awkward to send steve scalise. this was the word all day. no top republicans going to selma. thanks very much. and then late tonight as reported by dana bash, kevin mccarthy apparently had a change of heart. he has decided he will make the trip to selma after all. we reached out to his office and they confirmed the trip is now on his schedule. a late addition. the march in selma 50 years ago
the 50th commemoration. we'll be back with more speakers, more interviews, more music right after these messages and of course coming up later the president of the united states.
people's environment. and joy, let me ask you a little bit about that. because part of the challenge that this movement represented by this 50th commemoration is, is that this is not just about race, this is not even primarily about civil rights, this is about lbgt questions, immigration, environment. that seems like a tougher coalition of people to hold together. >> yeah, it's difficult. because you're trying to sort of build this multi-faceted view of what civil rights means, when i think in the minds of many people, civil rights means what it meant 50 years ago. it meant an african-american issue. and it was even sometimes getting the civil rights establishment to accept the expansion of the feed for civil rights into an lbgt community. so you have a challenge, because some of these coalitions are sort of fractured, and they each have their own needs and their own priorities. so getting everyone on to the same page, but i think that's ones of the reasons the fight against it is so tough, and the fight against it is so fierce, because i think there's always
biden look disciplined and on message. he won by a unique tea party environment of 2010. maine has always been a quirky state, it's got an independent senator. this may not play very well. the good news is he's got a couple months and about a year and a half to make his campaign about something besides -- >> doesn't he know when he's talking about an issue of race? >> we're days away from the 50th commemoration of the historic 1963 march on washington where dr. king delivered that important speech "i have a dream" where he talked about the content of our character and not the color of our skin. i can't think of anything, just if you look at the words, true or not true that president obama heights white peop hates white people, where is that coming from? that is crazy. but ever since 2002 we have to have these moments where we have to have a racial debate. i'm not going to do that.
>> it was very, very significant. fdr was vulnerable in terms of the coalition that he was trying to pull together at that particular time but i think also placing this in the context of this moment when we have come to this run-up of the 50th commemoration and continuation of the march on washington to understand that there were other figures like a. phillip randolph and walter whiten gauging in these ongoing efforts to get equal justice for all. it's also interesting to look at the military at that particular moment. there are articles outstanding and it gives us a good sense of how the military has been the battlefront for issues of equal justice and equality for quite some time. in the 1940s it was still a segregated military. today we're thinking more about sexual assault and sort of the roll back of don't ask, don't tell. it's still an interesting historical corollary to think