Harry Belafonte asks Jay Z and Beyonce to sit down with him

>>> good evening, from new york. i'm chris hayes . tonight on "all in" moments away, in fact, i'll talk with an absolute icon, harry belafonte will explain why he's in florida standing in solidarity with the young people occupying the state capitol . you do not want to miss that.

>>> also tonight, bill o 'reilly thinks you should be scared of black men. i'll explain why he should be more scared of water.

>>> plus, the embattled mayor of san diego staged a face-saving news conference today, and if you thought it was awkward once, wait until you see him do the whole thing all over again.

>>> we begin tonight, however, with trayvon martin's mother, sybrina fulton speaking to the national urban league the day after attorney general eric holder addressed the group urging the assembled to fight the law of florida in her son's name. .

>> no college for trayvon. no grandkids coming from trayvon. all because of a law. a law that has prevented the person who shot and killed my son to be held accountable and to pay for this awful crime. my message to you is please use my story. please use my tragedy. please use my broken heart to say to yourself, we cannot let this happen to anybody else's child.

>> trayvon martin's mother is notably not the only one who's pointing sorrowfully to how the law was applied in trial of george zimmerman . yesterday juror b-29, the only person of color on that jury who found zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter spoke out. in an interview with robin roberts , she repeatedly referenced the differences in how her heart and the law prompted her to act.

>> i'm thinking to myself, did i go the right way, did i go the wrong way? i know i went the right way because by the law and the way it's followed is the way i went, but if i would have used my heart, i probably would have went a hung jury .

>> the specific law in florida that has become so controversial and its role in the trial of george zimmerman , the subject of so much contentious debate is, of course, stand your ground . repealing that law is just one of several demands being made by the group dream defenders who right now joined by legendary activist harry belafonte continue to occupy the florida state capitol for their second week. i'll ask harry belafonte why he decided to join the occupation and about jay z 's response, that jay z and other artists turned their back on social responsibility .

>> in the african-american community, somebody like belafonte makes a comment, you get offended by that.

>> i'm offended by that, because first of all, this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity, just who i am. i felt like belafontbelafonte, he went about it wrong. the way he did it in the media and picked up bruce springsteen or somebody. it was like, whoa, you just sent the wrong message all the way around. bruce springsteen is a great guy. you know what i mean ? you're this civil rights activist and picked up the white guy against me in white media .

>> joining me from the state capitol building in florida is legendary singer, songwriter, actor and social activist harry belafonte . he's joined by phillip agnew , executive director of the dream defe defenders. mr. belafonte, i imagine you and your office get calls all the time and requests to show up and support events around the country in support of civil rights and justice. why did you make the decision to go down to florida today ?

>> first of all, i had the opportunity of meeting phillip , i should say mr. agnew , earlier on. we've talked before, and in the course of our conversations, i got the very strong sense that there was a resolve and a point of view politically that was solidly rooted in the traditions of our nonviolence, as well as in the traditions of our taking on the challenges of the system. and in that conversation, they told me that this would unfold, that they were from here, and that they were going to challenge what happened with trayvon. and i've been monitoring that and watching it like rest of the world , and when he extended the invitation for the nation to come and to participate in this struggle, i heeded that call, and i come down here now to stand among them, with them, and to give them the benefit of any wisdoms i may bring from a history of social resistance and from not violent disobedience.

>> phillip , you and the dream key fe key fe defenders talked on this program. what do you see as the frontier in the struggle for racial justice right now?

>> i think you see it around the country in young people moving, students moving around the country, and i really think it's around our criminalization of young people . and so what you have there caught up in a very large net that's supported by profits, supported by private companies is young black, young brown, young poor, young people with a lack of opportunity and without the resources by which to fight against an oppressive system are wrapped up in a net and caught and insnared in that net, and from that point on, they just cycle. and so i see the frontier, the defining moment of our generation, to fight back against a private prism menace, to fight back against any system, set of laws that continue to criminalize our youth, funnel them out of educational systems and situations and into prisons and it dooms them for the rest of their lives.

>> mr. belafonte, you have been involved in the civil rights struggle for quite some time, and there are some people who have talked about the death of emmett till and the catalyzing effect that death of a young black man in which justice was not done and have talked about the catalyzing effect of trayvon martin's death. and obviously there is a very wide difference between the specific set of circumstances and historical circumstances of those two deaths, but do you see this moment around the death of trayvon martin as a catalyzing moment?

>> well, let me just make an observation that although there are different sets of circumstances under which both of these young men were murdered, i think that there is one thing that's a common thread, and that is the issue of race. i don't think either emmett till , nor what happened to young trayvon martin, would have happened had these young citizens not been citizens of color. so from that point of view, there is a consistency to the way in which america handles the issue of race. and when you find, what is essentially different from emmett till is that there was not a legal mechanism in place that justified the death of emmett till . there was a legal mechanism in place that the work of the justification, or at least tried to declare that it was justified in taking trayvon's life, and i think that we have come to a place now when this issue of taking life in the name of issues of race has got to be identified for what it is and we have to step to the plate. and let me just make another observation. there is a nation that is here waiting to ascertain how what is going on here in florida is to be defined in relationship to its future. i'm one of those catalysts of definition. i've come down to put the disposal of the young people here, not only the history, but also to offer a host of artists who are high-profile. a number of leaders who are very high-profile who are waiting to hear, how do we look at the strategy for the immediate future? part of my visit here is not just to show support for the demonstrations that are going on and will continue, but it is also to ascertain what is the larger strategy to all of this and to get to the table of debate? and i am that.

>> mr. belafonte, stevie wonder has announced that he will not be playing concerts in florida . he's essentially boycotting the state in the wake of the verdict. and as an entertainer, yourself, and as someone who's been involved in the struggle for social justice and as an entertainer, i wonder what you think of the boycott idea that a number of other entertainers have also talked about joining.

>> i think when one talks about demonstrating against oppression, nonviolently, one has to understand that nonviolence has a huge arsenal of artifacts and of detail that can be applied in the design of nonviolence. to boycott is an important, important thing for people to do. it touches the economic nerve. it touches the way in which people are, sustain themselves, and if we interrupt the machine, if we interrupt the economic flow, if we serve notice that no one can be indifferent to the cause that we're struggling here for, then i think that we will make a difference, and i think stevie wonder stepping to the table doing what he did is a wonderful signal. most people use the arts to escape from reality. by his protest, he's bringing reality squarely to the table of the american public.

>> mr. belafonte, you had called out jay z and beyonce in an int int interview you did a year ago, what you saw as an insufficient commitment to using their celebrity in the cause of justice, and i wonder if you think jay z who has a concert scheduled august 16th in florida , whether he should go ahead and perform that on seconcert.

>> i would be hard pressed to tell mr. jay z what to do with his time and his fortune. i can only be critical of what he's not doing. and i have to also say that this -- this conflict that's emerging was not from me as a direct attack on jay z or beyonce . i was at a press conference in switzerland. they asked about comparisons between the artists and the social engagement of the past. based upon a film that we were all watching. and what did i think about the way in which artists responded earlier in my life and how they were responding today? and i made the observation that the highly powerful voice that our community has, black america has, in that there is so much celebrity power, that it was sad to see the collective of the celebrity power had not been applied to bringing consciousness to the inequities that we face. now, let me hasten to say that artists who heard that responded, i think, in a very, very strong way. you'll find that jamie foxx , you'll find chuck dean, you'll find any number of highly profiled people in our arts community have taken that critique and called for conference. we've sat, we've talked, and i will tell you now that these people that i've just mentioned are officially behind dream defenders. they are prepared to come down. they're prepared to perform. they're prepared to bring resources to the table. that community is alive, and i would hope with all my heart that jay z would not take personally what was said because it was not said about him, personally. it was a question asked by a leading question given by a member of the press in switzerland. having said that, i would like to take this opportunity to say to jay z , and to beyonce , i'm wide open . my heart is filled with nothing but hope and the promise that we can sit and have a one-on-one and let's understand each other rather than trying to answer this question and answer these nuances in a public place . i think it is not the right place for us to be having our exchanges.

>> phillip agnew of the dream defenders and the great harry belafonte . a pleasure to have you both. thank you very much.

>> thank you.

>> thank you.

>>> up next, bill o 'reilly, am bass door to all races, say white people are afraid of black people . i'll explain to bill o 'reilly what he should really be scared of.