oratory, but in sacrifice. there was enormous amount of bloodshed in the months and the immediate weeks leading up to this march 50 years ago. tell us what people standing on that mall would have been thinking about, about the level of sacrifice and violence that they were experiencing. well, first of all, a lot of people were afraid even to come to the march. don t let people kid you that it was a cakewalk. black people and white people were scared of it. the federal government, the district of columbia canceled liquor sales for the first time since prohibition, they were so scared. they canceled elective surgery, they stockpiled plasma, they had riot troops in the suburbs. major league baseball canceled not one, but two washington senators games, fearing that we would still be cleaning up from armageddon. so we were fearful. one reason the march on washington has such a patriotic glow today is that white america was immensely relieved. they were shocked! they were terrified. an
air. the big march in detroit, the week later. of course, the birmingham monday less than a month later. then kennedy. there was a season of tumultuous uprising in our country and a lot of bloodshed along the way and a lot of fear. and that issue of where the vines was coming from and who should fear the violence. i ll talk to you for a moment. i have something i would like us to listen to. on meet the press, roy wilkins being asked about the likelihood that it would be marchers who would riot. let s take a listen. mr. wilkins, there are a great many people, as i m sure you know, that believe it would be impossible to bring more than 100,000 militant negroes into washington without incidence and possibly riot. i don t think there will be any rioting. i don t think a hundred thousand people, just assembling, is cause for apprehension about a riot. the city of washington has accommodated much larger crowds
people were. but this march was an opportunity to come and participate. and people wanted that. they had seen what the media was showing us with all these demonstrations, all this violence, all this passi resistance. and while people didn t want to be involved in all of that, they did want, somehow, to be a part of it. they sensed that change was coming. it was sweeping over the country for the first time. and it took such courage and seriousness of purpose to be here. we re going to take a quick break. speeches, there are more of them to come this morning, including martin luther king iii, reverend al sharpton, and family members of both emmett till and trayvon martin. we ll bring you those and many more live here on msnbc s continuing coverage. there is much more ahead live from washington, steps away from the lincoln memorial. hi, i m terry and i have diabetic nerve pain.
imagine soot. which is not actually what we re talking about. and the thing that does, if you could take the carbon dioxide in the air and make it a different color, we would have dealt with the problem by now. right. because it, unlike smog and unlike dirty drinking water and unlike the fire, cuyahoga river catching on fire, iconically outside cleveland, there is no way to see the problem. so pollution conjures things as people can see, and i think that s a really important thing. i feel like, you know, being down in north carolina yesterday and talking to talking about that voting rights fight down there and seeing that voting rights fight being born, essentially, and then thinking about the 50th anniversary march on washington this weekend and the actual anniversary next wednesday, i m thinking a lot about political tactics. totally. and i feel like you have been very smart about figuring out what s politically possible on climate and what s likely to make change more
we want to know how you re advancing the dream. and we don t just want to know by having you tell us, we want you to show us. head to advancingthedream.msnbc.com. to share what you re doing to help further dr. king s dream. use #advancingthedream and tweet us a picture that explains how you re helping our nation to move forward. we re going to be right back with our special coverage of the 50th anniversary of the march on washington, live from washington, d.c. [ dennis ] it s always the same dilemma who gets the allstate safe driving bonus check. rock beats scissors! [ chuckles ] wife beats rock. and with two checks a year, everyone wins. [ female announcer ] switch today and get two safe driving bonus checks a year for driving safely. only from allstate. call 866-906-8500 now. [ dennis ] zach really loves his new camera. problem is.this isn t zach. it s a friend of a friend who was at zach s party and stole his camera.