Bill Moyers Reflects on This Historic Moment

PUT INTO CONTEXT WHAT WE'RE SEEING TODAY.

WHAT WENT THROUGH YOUR MIND FIRST AS WE SEE GEORGE FLOYD'S FINAL FAREWELL AND BEING LAID TO REST?

THE FIRST IMAGE I HAD -- AND I'M VERY GLAD TO BE WITH YOU, CHRISTIANE -- THE FIRST IMAGE I HAD WAS OF A CONVERSATION I DID MANY YEARS AGO WITH ONE OF THE WISEST MEN OF OUR TIMES, THE LEGENDARY MYTHOLOGIST JOSEPH CAMPBELL WHO SAID TO ME, IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD, CHANGE THE METAPHOR.

AND I THINK THE FUNERAL THAT WE SAW TODAY IS PERHAPS THE BEGINNING OF CHANGING THE METAPHOR THAT WE USE TO ADDRESS CIVIL RIGHTS FROM THE VALLEY OF DESPAIR, LET'S SAY, BECAUSE VERY LITTLE HAS CHANGED OVER THE LAST 25 YEARS DESPITE ALL THE CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION.

THAT IS, VERY LITTLE HAS CHANGED IN THE DAILY LIVES OF MOST AFRICAN-AMERICANS.

TO, PERHAPS, A METAPHOR OF, YOU KNOW, THE BEGINNING OF CHANGE, THE SAM KOCH SONG THAT THEY SANG AT THE FUNERAL A FEW MINUTES AGO, A CHANGE IS GOING TO COME.

WHEN I LOOK AT THESE YOUNG PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY, AND MANY OF THEM ARE MILLENNIALS, AS I HAVE THREE MILLENNIAL GRANDCHILDREN, MANY OF THEM ARE MILLENNIALS WHO HAVE NOT -- WHO'VE BEEN RATHER LETHARGIC IN THE PAST FEW YEARS ABOUT THE POWER OF POLITICS TO CHANGE ANYTHING.

AND I SEE THEM NOW LOOKING BEYOND THIS MOMENT TO THE COUNTRY THAT WE'RE GOING TO BECOME IN THEIR ADULT MAJORITY IF WE DON'T CHANGE.

SO I HEAR THE SOUNDS OF CHANGE.

I'VE HEARD THEM MANY TIMES IN THE LAST 50 YEARS.

BUT SOMETHING ABOUT THIS IS BRACING.

AND ONE THING IS THAT, OF COURSE, THE VICTIM HERE WAS NOT JOHN KENNEDY OR ROBERT KENNEDY OR MARTIN LUTHER KING OR MALCOLM X OR ANY NOTABLE OR ICON.

IT WAS A KIND OF EVERYDAY -- GEORGE WAS A KIND OF EVERYDAY FELLOW.

HE HAD MADE HIS MISTAKES, SPENT SOME TIME IN JAIL, CAME OUT, TRIED TO TURN HIS LIFE AROUND.

HE WAS AN EVERYMAN TRYING TO MAKE A BETTER LIFE FOR HIMSELF IN A COUNTRY STILL DOMINATED BY WHITE RULES AND WHITE PEOPLE.

AND THE FACT THAT IT'S AN EVERYMAN, IT'S A RATHER ORDINARY FELLOW LIKE SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY, WHO HAS BECOME THE SYMBOL OF PERHAPS A NEW UNITY IN OUR EFFORT TO CHANGE THE WAY RACE RELATIONS ARE CONDUCTED IN THIS COUNTRY.

SO THAT WENT THROUGH MY MIND AS I WAS WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE FUNERAL.