nation to join us in this march. martin luther king was almost at the level of sainthood. stokely carmichael understood that he needed that symbol in order to provide legitimacy for what he was trying to do. we want to put president johnson on the spot. he called a conference two days ago to fulfill these rights. we want those rights fulfilled. they cannot be fulfilled with words. words cannot stop bullets. and we need action and we need it now from the federal government. no more questions, gentlemen. all right. we have the march. the most impressive thing about this march on mississippi is a developing coalition among civil rights leaders. there are reports of differences between leaders, and they are true. but their organizations have always been divided. a split among them is nothing new. put them all together on a march on a highway in mississippi, and frictions emerge because of personal competition and individual ego.
george asked me to ask you to do that, do him one thing. tell your friends when you leave here between now and tuesday, don t go up there. leave it alone. they re going to handle this situation. governor wallace has ordered 500 alabama national guardsmen into tuscaloosa. at the moment they are under his control. it would require hardly more than the flourish of a pen to convert their status to federalized troops and place them at the disposal of president kennedy. national guard units are commanded by a governor unless they re federalized and the president becomes their commander in chief. kennedy had to make the decision of what to do next. president kennedy has done some significant things in civil rights. at the same time, i must say that president kennedy hasn t done enough, and we must remind him that we elected him.
the civil rights bill for which he fought so long. johnson gets that civil rights bill moving in the first few weeks after kennedy s assassination. dixiecrats led by richard russell announced a filibuster. that is, they would continue to talk and prevent the bill from coming forward for a straight up or down vote. this bill which we feel is a perversion of the american way of life and a great blow at the right of dominion over private property that has been the genesis of our greatness. lbj and his allies knew they were short. so thus began a 24/7 campaign. he bullied. he cajoled. he made deals in order to get enough senators on board. surprisingly, after a year on capitol hill, this bill is stronger than the one president kennedy first requested. president johnson should have the bill on his desk by the
could comfort themselves by pointing an accusing finger at the south, they could do so no longer. once again showing open hostility towards the civil rights demonstrators. these people here are firmly opposed to these marches. moreover, they don t see where they serve any useful purpose. most of the national press categorizes chicago as a defeat for king. i can say that i have never seen, even in mississippi and alabama, mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as have i seen in chicago. there was a growing feeling that king s movement wasn t working. he had lost a lot of support from whites and blacks. martin luther king is a good man. he s my brother. he s still like me. we re all catching hell. he s got his approaches to freedom. he s doing his best. and he s changing now too. he sees now that it seems to be impossible to do what he want to do.
i think that there s a realization in this country that black power is not just a mere slogan, nationally or internationally. it is real that black people can come together and start determining for their lives how they re going to live and controlling their economic and political lives. so it means you have to build a movement so strong in this country that if one black man is touched, every black man will rise up and let this country know they re not going to tolerate it. you better quit coming down here and talk about loving these honkys to death. during these rebellions, you have to stop looking and start shooting. black power! the issue is one that moves across civil rights, moves across poverty. we get this explosion of violence. you have the watts riots. then subsequently riots in