I know this is not the time you are used to seeing me here, which makes me all the more grateful that you are here.

The reason I'm here is because one hour from now at 9 p.m. Eastern, it's the premiere of my new documentary.

My production company, surprise inside, the great folks at left-right films, our partners at MSNBC films,

a great director named Matt Kay, everybody came together to produce our new documentary, which I'm very proud of.

It's airing here tonight for the first time ever.

I am really proud of it.

I am nervous and excited to finally have it out in the world tonight. But I have to tell you something.

When we first got the release date for the movie, when we first learned that tonight was going

to be the release date, I wrote this statement at that time about what the film is about

and why now seems like an important time to make a movie like this and for people

to see a movie like this. So at the time when we got our release date, I said this. I said, quote,

at a time when confrontations with the government and grassroots protests are back at the center of

American political life, the civil rights movement is more than just a moral cornerstone for our

country.

It's a living, breathing, practical manual for how to fight for what's right and win that fight,

and maybe even save your own soul in the process.

Andrew Young's story is not gauzy or romantic.

It's the gritty truth of what it takes to build and sustain a winning movement. It's about how hard it is to be a hero and how beautiful too.

So that is the statement that I wrote when we first got a release date for the movie that we are showing here tonight.

I swear what I did not know at the time, what we did not know at the time was that we would be releasing this film

literally the night before what may end up being the largest single day of protest ever

in American history. It's like we programmed it, but we did not. The No King's protests

...