. gallows sense of humor. it s not how tall you get, it s whether you keep your feet on the ground. everybody we ve talked to today tells those stories, that she was curious, kind, and funny. i like the fact that in 1985 the state of michigan declared aretha franklin a natural resource. michael eric dyson, thanks a mill to you, to eric diggins, to chris farley, to reverend al, all who have joined us in this last hour. not only could she cook she could burn. and that s a compliment, to be clear. people have said that about me and it has not been a compliment. i m thankful to aretha franklin for her life and for running the soundtrack to our lives. we re also grateful for the privilege we ve had, when is the last time you and i have been able to say we have breaking news and we ve smiled and laughed through the whole hour. thank you for that, aretha franklin. you ve given us all a very needed respite from the crazy world that we re in right now.
her songs is her activity as a civil rights icon, as an activist, as a supporter. you have some pretty specific examples of things she has done over the years. she was the daughter of reverend c.l. franklin, who was a partner and co-activist with dr. king. dr. king first did his i have a dream speech publicly in a speech he did in detroit of june of 1963, where he talked about a dream that later he did in that same august of the same year in washington, and she grew up in that household and she never left the movement. she, in fact, used to tell me how she in dr. king s last year did several cities with harry belafonte raising money so dr. king could make payroll. and then from there, and we are talking the 60s, from there all the way till now she was always involved. she would call me when we were in battles and say, reverend al,
influence is when it comes to civil rights? the reverend al was talking about her support of it but, you know, she s sort of an icon in a lot of ways. some of her songs are feminist anthems, they are civil rights anthems. what is songs are feminist anthems. respect right now should be a global anthem. she changed the pay treepatr monologue that was happening in music, men talking about women. instead she changed to to a dialogue where she is demanding respect. she s talking about the self-worth of women, projecting an independent spirit not only in the texts of her songs, her lyrics, but with her i understand pepti her independ lifestyle. it shaped the relationship between men and women in general and is part of what she s done as an artist. reverend al, what would you
joining me evan mcmullen, former cia operative who ran for president as an independent and the reverend al sharp ton. peter and frank also still here. frank, i got to start with you, this has to trigger any law enforcement official to hear a republican president say i need to be investigated by republicans because the deck will be stacked in any favor. what an offensive and revolting things to say. i wonder if he thought bob mueller should have quit when he was elected. there s people watching this statement and go, that s right, that s right their all democrats. and they simply don t do their homework and say this is all spin. peter alexander it s worse than spin, it s bs. nobody get worse from this president than the republican
they also want to see sweeping changes in police departments across the country. clark, a 22-year-old father of two boys was laid to rest today. his funeral drew hundreds of mourners as well as prominent civil rights activists as he supported clark s grieving brother, reverend al sharp ton gave the eulogy and called out the trump administration. yesterday, the president s press secretary said this is a local matter. no, this is not a local matter. they ve been killing young black men all over the country. and we are here to say that we re going to stand with stephon clark. video of the nighttime shooting has sparked controversy. officers were chasing a robbery suspect and thought clark had a gun. it turned out to be a cell phone. and then right after the shooting, officers were told to mute their body cameras and demonstrators are demanding an