Transcripts For CNN Lincoln Divided We Stand 20240711

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Retribution. Lincoln wants to win the peace as well as win the war. Right after appomattox, lincoln appears at the window of the white house and accepts the applause of well wishers. Crowds are gathered around the white house. There are bands playing. Theres jubilation everywhere. And lincoln says, lets hear dixie. Someone in the audience says, dixie . Thats a confederate song. He says, no, we won it fair and square. Its the spoils of war. Lets have the music. Tad even waves a Confederate Flag that he brought back from the front. The war was over, but what was the political fallout of that . Congress approved the 13th amendment. Black people are not leaving the country, and so what is their fate going to be as americans . On april 9th, 1865, robert e. Lees surrender effectively brings the civil war to an end. In the four years of brutal violence, nearly 800,000 americans lost their lives. Despite the relief and celebration victory brings, the country has paid a hefty price, which weighs heavily on the president. Lincoln clearly internalized what the loss of life in the civil war meant for every family, every household. You see it in his face. Lincoln at the time he was elected president , hes 51. He looks like a young man. Four years later, he looks like your greatgrandmother. Lincoln knew in a way that was unique among the great warmaking leaders the consequences of the war he made. But now president lincoln must reunite a shattered country and integrate 4 million freed africanamericans into a racially divided society. The war is done. People are waiting for a great triumphal speech from Abraham Lincoln. But two days after appomattox, he does something a little bit more complex. He gives a speech that turns to a conversation about the challenge of reconstruction. He said, we need to have a nonideological approach to reconstruction. And he goes further in one element than hes ever gone before. He says that he believes that black people should be allowed to vote, at least those who have served in the armed forces and those who are very intelligent, by which we assume he meant literate. What a shocking idea that was. In a society that held the deepest racist ideologies about the incompetencesy of blacks. From a guy who was not an abolitionist, was not really purely antislavery in terms of doing very much about it, and he ends up saying that maybe blacks could vote. That is extraordinary. There was one person in the audience who did recognize how revolutionary that notion was, and that was a charismatic young actor named John Wilkes Booth. Booth says, that means nword citizenship. And then John Wilkes Booth vowed to kill him on the spot or soon thereafter. Booth is a hugely successful leading man, very popular among women. Hes also a marylander, technically a southern state. So he has this hatred for blacks and this sense of White Supremacy. And although the confederacy had been defeated, hes still committed to southern victory. Booth was what we would now call a racist terrorist. He had heard lincoln promise to enfranchise black veterans, and that is something that he cannot let happen. But he had no plan until april 14th, 1865. It had actually been published in the newspapers earlier that day that the president and mrs. Lincoln were expected at fords theatre. It triggers a multipronged plot to kill lincoln and his top cabinet members all on the same night. Booth believed that if he could eliminate the chief figures in the administration, that somehow the south might still prevail. Booth and his coconspirators gather in a dark tavern to choreograph three simultaneous murders. The plan is for booth to kill lincoln at fords theatre, George At Ser data to shoot the Vice President , Andrew Johnson. And for louis powell and David Harrold to murder the secretary of state, william seward. Booth is operating out of a kind of misguided, slightly psychotic urge towards selfdramatization, a theatrical gesture on behalf of the south against tyranny. Booth was given a grandiosity. He thinks, when i leave the theater, ill be the most famous man in america. Announcer this cnn original series lincoln Divided We Stand, is brought to you by cologard, colon Cancer Screening made easy. To find 92 of Colon Cancers even in early stages. Tell me more. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Ill do it. Good plan. It all starts with an invitation. To experience lexus. The invitation to lexus sales event. Lease the 2021 nx 300 for 359 a month for 36 months, and well make youre first months payment. Experience amazing. And well make youre first months payment. Mom and dad left costa rica, 1971. Dad was a bus driver at the chicago transit authority. Mom expressed herself through her food. That was her passion. And on august 20th, 1990, they opened lrazu. Last year business was great. And then the pandemic hit. We had to reset. The city had said that pick up and delivery was still viable. That kept us afloat. In the summer, we were so excited to have our customers back on our patio. Safely of course. And keeping our diners informed was so important. Last year was so hard, but the support from our customers, it honestly kept us going. Serving the community, serving the neighborhood. This is the dream that mom wanted. Were all born with 2. 5 billion heartbeats, that makes you a billionaire. So lets not waste the fortune within us. Invest in the people you love. Invefor 175 years,eats in new york lifeis. Has been helping invest in people act you love. On their love. So they can look back and say, we did good. naj at Fisher Investments, we do things differently and other Money Managers dont understand why. Money Manager because our way works great for us naj but not for your clients. Thats why were a fiduciary, obligated to put clients first. Money Manager so, what do you provide . Cookie cutter portfolios . naj nope, we tailor portfolios to our clients needs. Money Manager but you do sell investments that earn you high commissions, right . naj we dont have those. Money Manager so whats in it for you . naj our fees are structured so we do better when you do better. At Fisher Investments were clearly different. After years embroiled in civil war and personal tragedy, Abraham Lincoln is finally able to begin to repair the wounds that the presidency has inflicted on his marriage. Late in the day on good friday, 1865, lincoln takes a carriage ride with mary, and they start to think about plans for after his second term is over. They had been too sad during recent years to think about the future. And now they could talk about their plans. He said that he wanted to travel. This man who suffered so could at that moment find some joy and find some happiness. That evening, the lincolns head to fords theatre to enjoy a comedy with friends. As lincoln gets to the box, theres a murmur because people see him. [ applause ] all 1,600 people rose to their feet and started applauding the president. The Orchestra Conductor tells them play hail to the chief. And Abraham Lincoln removes his hat, looks down at the audience, and bows to them. Lincoln had been pretty closely guarded for the entire war. But when the war ended, the vigilance eased, and everyone let their collective guard down. Mary was sitting there with lincoln. They were whispering in one anothers ear. They were like a young couple, and she said to him, people can see. What will they think of us . And he said, they will think nothing of it. And then a man entered the box. Lincoln simply slumps in his chair. His head falls forward. Mary, when she saw the blood, began screaming. Major rath bone stands up, wrestles with booth. Booth yells freedom, and then he cuts him deep with a knife and rathbone lets go. Then booth leapt off onto the stage. He lands unevenly. At that moment, booth cries out what hes saying is, it is i, John Wilkes Booth, who has slain the tyrant. And then he yells the south is avenged. He runs off the stage and goes to the rendezvous point. But unfortunately the rest of the plot didnt work out. Lewis powell attacked william seward, but he survives. George atzerodt, who was supposed to kill Andrew Johnson, could not summon the courage to do so and left the scene. But John Wilkes Booth did the deed. As Booth Frantically rides to meet his coconspirators at a safehouse in maryland, fords theatre descends into pandemonium. They carry him out around the same balcony hes just entered in triumph and down the narrow stairs. Now the president is dying in the middle of a street. And someone from a Boardinghouse Porch across the street just yells, bring him in here. So they went into the boardinghouse of william peterson. Then they sent the word out to members of the cabinet, to the doctors. And the vigil begins. Lincolns breathing becomes more irregular. His gasps become louder and more rattling. And mary collapsed on the floor in hysteria. Anguished cries and shrieks. She screams one too many times, at least for edwin stanton, the secretary of war. And stanton said, take that woman out of here, and dont let her back in. Now, in the 19th century, there was no more sacred place for a wife than to be by the dying side of her husband. This was a sacred responsibility, and i think she was owed more than being robbed of that experience. Throughout the night, lincolns condition worsens. But as the country anxiously awaits news of the president , the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth begins. To reveal glowing skin. With vitamin c and pineapple extract. 3 products in 1 the efficacy of a vitamin c serum, the moisture of a cream, and an spf 30. Formulas that are clean and vegan. 3 products in 1 for bright, even, and glowing skin. Try the new Garnier Brightening serum cream. Already more than 1000 5star reviews. By garnier, naturally already more than 1000 5star reviews. Im a verizon engineer, part of the team that built 5g right. The only one from americas most reliable network. We designed our 5g to make the things you do every day, better. With 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. And in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband. The fastest 5g in the world. This is the 5g thats built for you. This is 5g built right. Only from verizon. Tonight. Ill be eating loaded tots for march madness. doorbell thanks boo. Piano Glissando i think you better double them tots. No, this me was last year. I didnt get my madness last year, so were doing double the madness this year. As carla wonders if she can retire sooner, shell revisit her plan with fidelity. And with a scenario that makes it a possibility, shell enjoy her dream right now. Thats the planning effect, from fidelity. Introducing Michelob Ultra organic seltzer its made with real fruit juice is six times filtered no added sugar no artificial aftertaste and is usda Certified Organic its a cut above new mango apricot Michelob Ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes as the late hours of april 14th, 1865, trickle into morning, president Abraham Lincolns condition worsens. And the heartbeat just grows fainter and fainter until 7 22 in the morning when he stops breathing and they pronounce him dead. Only then is mary brought in and collapses again at his bedside. Lincoln is killed on good friday and comes to be seen as a person who is made a martyr for a broader cause. Lithographers started printing these pictures of lincoln and washington Up In The Clouds looking down on the country, making this ultimate sacrifice. Black people in washington were gathering outside the white house gates, feeling the loss particularly keenly. He was seen as a protector. Even the Confederate Military leadership was appalled by the way that booth snuck up behind the man and shot him in the back of the head. Thats not a courageous act. Thats not an honorable thing that a soldier would do. So 20 confederate generals signed a paper that said they condemn the assassination. People were astonished that not all southerners applauded booth for what he did. The country was incensed that booth had vanished. It was and remains the greatest manhunt in american history. John wilkes booth rides out of washington, d. C. And into southern maryland, where he acquires firearms and meets up with coconspirator david herold. But booth injured his leg. Hes tired and hes in pain. Lucky booth knows a crow secessionist, racist, slaveholding doctor, samuel mudd. The next day, from mudd learns that Abraham Lincoln has been shot and then who shot him. Dr. Mudd tells booth, what have you done . What have you gotten me involved in . You gotta go. And booth and david herold leave. But when the Union Soldiers ask, where did the strangers go, dr. Mudd points in the opposite direction that John Wilkes Booth went. Union troops canvass maryland. With each passing day, the country grows hungrier for booths capture. The nation was transfixed by the manhunt. It was a national obsession. Secretary of war stanton authorized a 100,000 reward. Strangers were arrested on trains because they had black hair and a black mustache. And so booth and herold are desperate. There are union troops everywhere. They decide the best strategy is to hide while the troops pass through maryland. So for the next several days, booth and david herold camp out in the remote pine thicket. A former confederate spy brings the fugitives food and newspapers. Booth is shocked to learn that the country has dubbed lincoln a martyr and him a coldblooded killer. Booth really thought he would be a hero. Ten days after the assassination, booth and herold cross into virginia, believing they will be safe. They go to the geary farm. They dont tell the family who they are and what theyve done, and the family agrees to take them in. But then a Union Patrol Rides By and david herold and booth hide. That arouses suspicion, and so then the garretts say, you cant sleep in our house tonight. You got to sleep in that tobacco barn. As soon as they got done for the night, the garretts lock them in. Theyre trapped. The Garretts Point A Cavalry to the suspicious strangers sleeping in their barn. It quickly becomes clear that theyve found their assassins. This begins a twohour exchange because they want him alive. Eventually david herold cracks and turns himself in. Booth still wont come out, and so the soldiers set the barn on fire. John wilkes booth decides that hes not going to be taken alive. Hes seen what happens to men whos hanged, the loosened bowels, the eyeballs bursting. Hes not going to suffer those humiliations. He starts to level his gun as though hes leveling it to shoot. The sergeant fires one shot. It strikes booth in the vertebrae. Booth is then dragged to the front porch. Booth looks at his hands and says, useless, useless. Tell mother i die for my country. With booth dead, americans are left to face the cold reality of their grief and the daunting task of rebuilding a broken country. Announcer this cnn original series, lincoln Divided We Stand is brought to you by consumer cellular, where low rates and awardwinning service are just the beginning. Just over a year ago, i was drowning in credit card debt. Sofi helped me pay off twentythree thousand dollars of credit card debt. They helped me consolidate all of that into one low monthly payment. They make you feel like its an honor for them to help you out. I went from sleepless nights to getting my money right. So thank you. It all starts with an invitation. To experience lexus. The invitation to lexus sales event. Get 0 Apr Financing on the 2021 rx 350. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. For 175 years, new york life get 0 Apr Financing on the 2021 rx 350. Has been helping people act on their love. So they can look back and say, we did good. On april 21st, 1865, a procession carries the body of Abraham Lincoln through the streets of washington, d. C. Lincoln was the First American president to be assassinated, and so if now we sort of think of attempts on president s lives as a horrible but present part of american history, at that time it absolutely was not, and it was a tragedy. 100,000 people lined Pennsylvania Avenue to watch lincolns coffin drawn through the streets of washington. It was decided that lincoln would be buried in springfield, illinois. And so a Great Railroad procession would bring Abraham Lincoln home along with his son, willie. Lincolns Funeral Train retraces the inaugural journey he took just four years earlier. Making the same stops in many of the same cities along the way. A Million People viewed the corpse of Abraham Lincoln. Major funerals were conducted in each city because every soldier, every brother, every father who was lost in that war was coming home with him on that train. Mary went into a very permanent state of mourning. She always wore black. To have her husband shot in front of her, it was really an experience she did not recover from. After lincolns assassination, mary secludes herself and her 12yearold son, tad, in the white house for more than a month. When she is finally forced to leave, she faces the reality of life as a widow and the harsh consequences of the debt she accumulated as first lady. You had to feel a lot of sympathy for her, for all the grief that she suffered over the years. But mary was in a real financial crisis. When she was in the white house, credit was limitless. But now they wanted to be paid. So in that financial jam, she decided to sell a lot of her clothes. There was a merchant in new york who promised to sell it secretly, quietly. But it broke in the newspapers, and the old clothes scandal was all over. All new york society look the through her clothes. There were a lot of insulting comments about how some of the clothes were still stained with her own sweat. A lot of comments about how lowcut they were. And she sold almost nothing. Again, she was the figure of mockery. To escape the relentless public abuse, in 1868 mary takes her 15yearold son, tad, and moves to germany. So she took tad to europe to be educated. He had been viewed of as the kind of leftover lincoln, and she wanted him to shine. But after four years of exile in germany, mary and tad return, and tad sadly was stricken ill. Here was tad, her third son, dying in front of her. And it was marys fourth deathwatch as a wife and a mother. Mary herself said it was the saddest of all of them. After tads death, her doctor prescribed clorl hydrate, which at that time was the most widely prescribed sedative. And she became addicted to it. She called it her powders. The drug causes confusion and hallucinations, worsening marys already fragile mental state. She suspected people of spying on her. She thought people were trying to poison her. And so she was put on trial for insanity. She entered the courtroom, and there, to her amazement, is her son, robert. She was very insulted, very upset understandably. He decided that for her own protection, she needed to be committed. Her only living son betrayed her. On may 19th, 1875, mary lincoln is declared insane by a jury of roberts friends and colleagues. She is taken against her will to an Exclusive San Tare Yum outside of chicago. The minute she got put in there, she started plotting. So from her little room, she organized a p. R. Campaign that would be the envy of the most brilliant p. R. Campaign of our times. Mary convinces newspapers to publish letters attesting to her mental soundness, leading the public to demand justice for the scorned widow. After only four months, she is retried and released from the institution into the care of her sister. Mary spends her final years out of the spotlight before passing away in 1882 at the age of 63. Mrs. Lincoln was such an important confidante for her husband, and the tragedies of her life were enormous. It really bothered me that according to the lincolnistas, mary was just veain, unstable. I think she was a really interesting, complicated woman, and sadly buying excessive amounts of things could not outweigh the sorrow she always carried because she was always in fear of being abandoned. But of all the tragedies the lincoln family suffered, the greatest was the fact that the legacy of the lincoln family starts and ends with abraham. Robert lincoln went on to become the modernday equivalent of what you might call a hedge fund guy. He hung out with very powerful, rich men of the day. In the end, his descendants became known really for decadence and entitlement, and it led to the utter destruction of the house of lincoln. Theres no lineage, so lincoln is lost to us. He came down, showed up, did what he had to do, and was gone. Ive always found that to be almost supernatural. But lincolns premature departure left the nation struggling to find a path forward. The years after his death are fraught with turmoil that america is still working to overcome. Since suzies got goals, shell want a plan to reach them. So shell get some help from fidelity, and shell feel so good about her plan, she can focus on living it. Thats the planning effect, from fidelity. car horn splash turn todays dreams into tomorrows trips. With millions of flexible booking options. All in one place. Expedia. Were all born with 2. 5 billion heartbeats, that makes you a billionaire. So lets not waste the fortune within us. Invest in the people you love. Tonight. Ill be eating loaded tots for march madness. doorbell thanks boo. Piano Glissando i think you better double them tots. No, this me was last year. I didnt get my madness last year, so were doing double the madness this year. Garnier infuses vitamin c in the new Garnier Brightening serum cream to reveal glowing skin. With vitamin c and pineapple extract. 3 products in 1 the efficacy of a vitamin c serum, the moisture of a cream, and an spf 30. Formulas that are clean and vegan. 3 products in 1 for bright, even, and glowing skin. Try the new Garnier Brightening serum cream. Already more than 1000 5star reviews. By garnier, naturally in the wake of lincolns death and the passing of the 13th amendment, freedom finally begins to reach the far edge of the former confederacy. Enslaved people in large parts of the south, they didnt have access to the pathways of freedom that the Emancipation Proclamation outlined. So thousands of enslaved people remain living in bondage. When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a number of Slave Holders took their enslaved workers to texas as a way of evading emancipation. Juneteenth is the moment on june 19th, 1865, when the news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reaches the enslaved people in teengs. Its a sane sign to the former confederates that youre not going to be able to get around the law. Southerners do not adapt well to their new reality. The war has left their land, their economy, and their way of life in ruins. And without lincolns leadership or a clear path to reconstruction, chaos ensues. After the war, the south faced a big problem of economic redevelopment. Confederate currency is worthless. All the banks in the south were bankrupt not to mention the fact that youve got to figure out a system of labor to replace slavery. The south is flooded with disgruntled southern whites who hate freed blacks, and they soon enough turn to terror in the form of the ku klux klan. You cannot imagine a worse time for someone like lincoln to leave the stage. Everything hes learned and the esteem hes held in is needed to get us through reconstruction, and hes murdered. And the guy who replaces him couldnt be a worse pick for that moment. Lincolns assassination elevates Vice President Andrew Johnson to the presidency. Johnson, a slave Holding Tennessee democrat was put on lincolns 1864 ticket to appeal to border state slaveowners. Andrew johnson was incredibly racist. He had no personal interest in securing equality for black men. And the radicals quickly realized that hes siding with the southern whites over and over again. Johnsons policy makes it pretty easy to get a pardon fn youre a highlevel confederate official, and he says, im not going to tell you who can vote. That sends a signal to white southerners that theres not going to be a lot of oversight, that they can do a lot of things to deny africanamericans rights and to inflict violence on them without the possibility of being punished for it. In 1869, johnson is succeeded by lincolns former Union General ulysses s. Grant. During his administration, the 14th and 15th amendments are passed. The 14th Amendment that does guarantee citizenship, and then the 15 that gives black men the ability to vote. The 14th Amendment and beyond laid out a very clear blueprint for racial equality. There were black legislatures from mississippi sitting in the congress and sitting in the senate. That happened. Formerly enslaved black people are getting educated. Schools are being set up. Election of 1870 in virginia, 140,000 black men will vote. So reconstruction was not a failure. Reconstruction was abandoned. The economic project of slavery yielded also a kind of Caste Thinking about White Supremacy, and we see that that psychology still continues even after the civil war is over. Africanamericans are not given the land that theyre entitled to, and so generally black americans are required to work as Tenant Farmers with white landowners. Theyre sharecroppers. They became dependent on the very people who had held them enslaved. So any kind of Economic Opportunity was taken away from them. And so the country moves down the wrong path immediately. By using political terror, White Supremacists are able to overthrow one by one the congressional reconstruction governments. The old southern democratic regimes have been reinstalled, and the way is open to one of the great disgraces of american history, the imposition of jim crow and segregation. Its brutal. Its terrorism against the black population. You have the White Southern Population using violence to suppress the black population. This becomes a new normal in america. Remember i gave you that stat about virginia and 140,000 formerly enslaved People Voting in the 1870 election . In 1,900, the only eligible black man to vote in georgia was now 10,000. The failure of the reconstruction thats really important is the failure of the federal government to ensure that black men would actually receive equal protection of the laws and would actually be allowed equal access to the polls. You pass the amendments on paper, but you didnt have the leadership in place to make it real. So you have a missing century of progress, and its almost impossible to imagine what america would have been like if the bullet had missed. From reconstruction until the civil rights movement, you have black leaders invoking lincolns name to get white men and women to live up to that promise. On the steps of the lincoln memorial, king is talking about the promise that lincoln had made has not been fulfilled. In 1964, the Civil Rights Bill outlaws discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or nationality. But since its passing, laws supporting and debilitating the Enfran Enfranchisement Of Black Americans have ebbed and flowed. For every policy upholding equality, there is another undermining it. Lincoln certainly would acknowledge how far we have come because we really have, but were not there. We are definitely not there, and in recent times, it seems were going backwards. I think in many ways, lincoln would be most disappointed with what we have not accomplished. Still a long push for basic humanity, for basic civil rights, for what people are missing and saying all lives matter, theyre missing a history in which black peoples bodies and lives have been thought of as expendable, inconsequential, not fully equal. This notion of expendability is something that we have not yet been able to shed. Hands up dont shoot the connection between the moment of abolition that lincoln lived through and the black lives Matter Movement today is that it was about imagining who had rights and bringing more people into that conversation. What happens if we prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable in the society . Even though progress is never linear, lincoln set in motion a process. Theres something about this country that seems like it wants to get to a better place, even in the most difficult times. Racial violence in america has changed shape and form, but the country built on the backs of the enslaved has not been able to shake White Supremacy from its dna. Lincoln ushered the country through the civil war, but would he have been able to navigate its complicated aftermath . What would have happened had lincoln lived . Lincoln took a giant step toward equality, took a giant step toward extending opportunity, and i live with the speculation of what would have happened had he been permitted to complete his own work. We always like to think about a Better Future than the one we saw. One can argue that lincoln had the kind of temperament that he might have been able to see his way through reconstruction and come to a better result. But the fantasy that lincoln could somehow have singlehandedly managed the consequences of the abolition of slavery, i think is just that. Its a the social forces would have presented lincoln with the same quandary his successors face. Very much the same problems we confront today. This cnn original series lincoln Divided We Stand is brought to you by consumer fidelity investments. Lets go introducing Michelob Ultra organic seltzer its made with real fruit juice is six times filtered no added sugar no artificial aftertaste and is usda Certified Organic its a cut above new mango apricot Michelob Ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes im a verizon engineer, part of the team that built 5g right. The only one from americas most reliable network. We designed our 5g to make the things you do every day, better. With 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. And in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband. The fastest 5g in the world. This is the 5g thats built for you. This is 5g built right. Only from verizon. It all starts with an invitation. To experience lexus. The invitation to lexus sales event. Lease the 2021 rx 350 for 429 a month for 36 months, and well make youre first months payment. Experience amazing. There have been 46 american president s and 46 different interpretations as to what the responsibilities of that office entailed. But lincoln remains the standard to which his successors, democrat and republican, are held. Lincoln embodies so many traits which are considered quintessentially american. Hes the man who rose through his own hard work from very modest beginnings to the pinnacles of power. And hes the man who, quote, unquote, freed the slaves. He used political power for moral purposes. So people see him again as the person who reflects what we want america to be. By the fact that hes gone so dramatically and so quickly at the peak of his power just as the war is folding up has forever trapped him in this amber. This is the perfect president and person. Since his death, lincoln has been martyred and idolized. History has cast him into the role of americas savior. There are important ways in which thinking about lincoln as a martyr discouraged American People from thinking about the flaws of what he did or failed to do. The fact of lincolns death encouraged sort of a rosie rosy picture of who he was in life. We do a disservice to him and the country when he put him on a pedestal and we believe that he never made mistakes. I could not read lincoln and not be impacted when he talks about race and he talks about whites being superior to blacks. That cuts to the heart. Even if youre trained to be objective, honest historians come to the realization that their interpretations of the past are colored by their own prejudices, by their own lives experiences. And as a woman of color, i see the world through a different pair of eyes. People want heroes. We have to believe that there is this Benevolent White president who loved everybody who wanted us as one country because in lincoln doesnt believe in that, it makes the entire american story a lot harder to understand when it comes to race. Abraham lincoln is not the great emancipator. But Abraham Lincoln heard black peoples concerns and listened to them and helped to move the country toward policies that would actually make that freedom real. Lincolns life story is a story about what can happen when a thoughtful leader listens to the right people. One of the founders of the naacp said about lincoln, i love him, not because he was perfect, but because he wasnt and yet he triumphed. The world is born of those hating and despising their fellows. To those i love to say, do you see this man . He was one of you, but he became Abraham Lincoln. We can become better versions of ourselves. We can change over time. Lincoln was evolutionary. And in being evolutionary, he became revolutionary. The idealized version of lincoln is america at its best. Its america looking at the things that are wrong and trying to make them right. Dr. Kings speech began by saying that he stands in the shadow of the memorial to the american president 100 years ago issued the Emancipation Proclamation and changed america. I think his Guiding Spirit remained a hope for people. When i look at Abraham Lincoln, im asking, what does it take to move politicians who may be reluctant, they may not understand the urgency, they may feel they have to be pragmatic when there is an opportunity for revolutionary change. The more than 150 years that have followed his presidency, each generation has reexamined and redefined lincolns legacy. The road to a more Perfect Union has been long and bloody. But like lincoln, despite the tragedies that derail us, we adjust, adapt and soldier on. And as lincoln said in his message to congress in december 1862, the dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country. Hi, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Thanks so much for joining me. Just ahead on cnn out of control. People on spring break pack miami beach, florida, forcing the city into a state of emergency. A historic surge, thousands of children in u. S. Custody alone without their parents. Also a show of solidarity. New yorkers come out in forc

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