it s life care. back to washington, everyone, donald trump becomes president in just four days. let s discuss now, paris denard. joshua dubois michael higginbothom. and the author of ghosts of jim crowe and mark anthony neil, eye professor of african-american studies. good evening to all of you. what do you think of what the congressman said. i think it s just one, i
greatest icon and civil rights leader of our time i could not believe it. i could not believe that he would do that on martin luther king weekend. that added insult to injury. i immediately said i wasn t going to go. it was this on top of his insults to disabled, to women, to gold star parents. to me, this was just the last straw. the day after hillary clinton lost. she said americans owe trump an open mind and chance to lead. if she can attend the inauguration should you and your other colleagues reconsider? i am open minded to actually making some progress i actually issued a letter on behalf of our 50 members to have a meeting
he s fighting with him over not wanting to go to the inauguration. what do you think is happening behind the scenes now at trump tower? are they trying to fix this, do you think? or it just gives them space between now and inauguration day. well, i think the way they handled mlk iii s appearance today at trump tower is a way to try to fix it. they met with mlk iii, president-elect trump met with mlk iii. didn t come down and answer questions. hopefully giving a symbol, this is something we re doing to recognize king day. we want to show we re reaching out to an african-american leader. i think it solves the problem for today. but not going-forward. do you think it s strategic he didn t come down afterwards with him. normally everyone who s a name who goes from steve harvey to kanye west or whoever, donald trump would
the question for these gentlemen, what are they seeking to achieve nor communities in those meetings. i went back and loaninged at the transcripts of when dr. martin luther king jr. met with and called lbj after one of his initial meetings. he had some specific tangible objectives for those conversations. he was trying to pass the voting rights act. he was trying to get an african-american cabinet secretary appointed. to me, i love martin iii. this meeting feels more like cover for donald trump than trying to achieve a specific objective. getting a better affordable care act or working on sessions problematic positions. i mean, that s the type of thing we need our civil rights leaders to be fighting for, not just a photo op with donald trump. congressman john lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district which is in horrible shape and falling apart, not to mention crime infested, rather than falsely complaining about the election results, all talk, talk, talk, no
in our country, there are some of those who are going to have to resist this agenda that he campaigned on. which is one of not unity, but decisiveness and bigotry. i intend to do my job, i also intend to fight to protect the gains that have been made and represent the most vulnerable in our country. people should know that you decided not to intend the inauguration before the incident with congressman lewis. congresswoman chu. it was the incident with congressman lewis that was the decider for you? helped you make your decision, why is that? oh, yes. it wasn t until saturday that i made up my mind. i was trying to decide and going back and forth. when i heard that trump denigrated and disrespected the greatest icon and civil rights leader of our time i could not