Allen Building Crisis: Tape #9
MP3
Loading the media player...
Transcript
- Download transcript as:
-
Text
-
PDF
-
WebVTT (includes timecodes)
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
| [Unidentified Speaker] - At that time the student committee | 0:01 | |
| met and decided that we should, if there was going to be | 0:04 | |
| a complication, that not just Dr. Knight should speak. | 0:06 | |
| And so we pressed to request that both the Afros speak | 0:10 | |
| and that speakers from the concerned people who | 0:14 | |
| had met at Page also be given permission to speak. | 0:17 | |
| And we went on, planning a program where we would speak | 0:20 | |
| with Dr. Knight, and we made our plans in that regard. | 0:25 | |
| Sometime last night we were informed by Dr. Knight | 0:30 | |
| that he couldn't make it. | 0:33 | |
| It was unsafe to have a meeting on this campus. | 0:36 | |
| So we couldn't meet with him. | 0:42 | |
| However we asked if it was alright for us to have a meeting | 0:45 | |
| and he said, "Oh, that's O.K.", so I guess | 0:49 | |
| it's only unsafe for him to come out and talk. | 0:52 | |
| (audience applause) | 0:57 | |
| I guess he's afraid there might be some gas left. | 1:04 | |
| This morning we extended an invitation to Dr. Knight | 1:08 | |
| to come and speak here. | 1:13 | |
| He has repeatedly refused our invitations. | 1:15 | |
| We have people where he is at now | 1:18 | |
| to ask him again to come here. | 1:22 | |
| We've assembled peacefully, it's pretty safe in here, | 1:24 | |
| I think, - I don't see things flying around. | 1:28 | |
| And we have asked him again to- | 1:35 | |
| (audience laughter) | 1:36 | |
| (applause) | 1:39 | |
| I think Dr. Knight is more afraid of words | 1:47 | |
| than paper airplanes. | 1:50 | |
| (applause) | 1:52 | |
| [New Speaker] - Like, all this applause, it's nice you know, | 1:54 | |
| when the black students came in you applauded. | 1:59 | |
| Well that was all good but, like it would be better | 2:01 | |
| if you took some inspiration from the black students, | 2:04 | |
| and like fight for young humanity, and assert young humanity | 2:07 | |
| like we're trying to do here. | 2:10 | |
| That's what we entertain to do. | 2:12 | |
| So all the students got to assert your humanity. | 2:13 | |
| Now the main thing here is our demands. | 2:17 | |
| These things are vital to the survival | 2:21 | |
| of blackness on this campus. | 2:24 | |
| We intend for blackness to survive on this campus. | 2:26 | |
| Now the press, which was under the wrong impression, | 2:31 | |
| is under wrong impression that we just presented | 2:36 | |
| these demands the other night when we visited | 2:40 | |
| Dr. Knight at his house. | 2:43 | |
| Well, the fact of the matter is, that we | 2:46 | |
| have been negotiating about these specific demands | 2:49 | |
| ever since September. | 2:54 | |
| These specific demands we have been negotiating | 2:57 | |
| for the past two and a half years on general things | 3:00 | |
| that affect black students on this campus. | 3:05 | |
| We have been working in the interest of black students | 3:08 | |
| ever since the Afro-American Society has been formed. | 3:10 | |
| [New Speaker] - All these, the things that people go through | 3:16 | |
| (inaudible) running a plantation around here. | 3:19 | |
| They got slaves out here, that's all they got, | 3:22 | |
| and they don't want to band together. | 3:25 | |
| (applause) | 3:27 | |
| So like, this is just as important to us | 3:31 | |
| as these other demands, because a lot of these people | 3:33 | |
| working here, they're like in the low income bracket too, | 3:36 | |
| you know, and they fighting the same thing we fighting. | 3:40 | |
| All those fighting the system, this racist American system, | 3:43 | |
| and like, we are all under it. | 3:46 | |
| All of us got to fight it, their fight is our fight. | 3:49 | |
| We fight with the non academic employees. | 3:53 | |
| All this is our fight, it's everyone's fight. | 3:55 | |
| You've got to realize that. | 3:58 | |
| I'm not just up here talking for me. | 3:59 | |
| [New Speaker] - It's just, the thing is, they trying | 4:04 | |
| to find people they can control. | 4:06 | |
| They can't control black people, | 4:08 | |
| so they don't want to bring black people on campus. | 4:09 | |
| (applause) | 4:12 | |
| But we gonna force them to bring black people on campus. | 4:13 | |
| That's part of the change we fighting for. | 4:16 | |
| They gonna bring black people on this campus. | 4:19 | |
| Black professors, black administrators, | 4:21 | |
| and all the students they bring here, I don't care | 4:25 | |
| how they come here, they're gonna end up black! | 4:27 | |
| (cheers of approval) | 4:30 | |
| (applause) | 4:32 | |
| [New Speaker] Black people aren't willing to compromise, | 4:38 | |
| because all this belongs to us, we don't compromise. | 4:40 | |
| All this belongs to us, | 4:43 | |
| aint no such thing as watered down demands. | 4:44 | |
| We water this stuff down we aint got nothin'. | 4:47 | |
| All this belongs to us, | 4:50 | |
| we shouldn't even have to ask for this. | 4:51 | |
| When they first brought black students on this campus | 4:52 | |
| they were supposed to make this atmosphere here | 4:55 | |
| so black students could relate, they were supposed make | 4:57 | |
| this thing here, so black students could get an education. | 4:59 | |
| All we get is indoctrination. | 5:02 | |
| (applause) | 5:04 | |
| [New Speaker] - So we want complete amnesty for | 5:14 | |
| all the black students on this campus, because we had | 5:17 | |
| a right to do what we did, because we were fighting for | 5:20 | |
| our humanity, we were asserting our humanity. | 5:25 | |
| You better get together and fight for yours! | 5:28 | |
| (applause) | 5:30 | |
| Don't come in here (inaudible) at me, | 5:34 | |
| cuz I'm telling you what's true, babe. | 5:36 | |
| I'm telling you what's true, whether you like it or not. | 5:38 | |
| You getting messed over baby, and you better realize it man. | 5:40 | |
| (applause) | 5:43 | |
| Cuz the longer you sit back and don't do nothin', | 5:44 | |
| you aint gonna get nothin'. | 5:47 | |
| Oh yeah, you trying to play it safe, see? | 5:48 | |
| No, don't nobody wanna die, I don't wanna be no martyr. | 5:50 | |
| I want to be here to enjoy what I'm fighting for. | 5:53 | |
| But aint nobody ever get it if you don't start bucking baby. | 5:56 | |
| No one will tell you how to defeat them. | 6:00 | |
| The administration isn't gonna ever tell you the right way | 6:03 | |
| to get what you want from them, | 6:06 | |
| cuz they don't want to give it to you. | 6:08 | |
| The administration isn't gonna ever tell you the right way | 6:12 | |
| to get what you want from them. | 6:15 | |
| You gonna have to find it yourself. | 6:16 | |
| You can bet when they start calling you irresponsible, | 6:18 | |
| and irrational, you're doing the right thing. | 6:20 | |
| (thunderous applause) | 6:23 | |
| So you get yourself together, and you get this thing right, | 6:38 | |
| what you want, and you realize you've got | 6:42 | |
| to do some kicking baby, to get what you want. | 6:45 | |
| Student power, black power, power to the people. | 6:49 | |
| Power to the students, fight for your right. | 6:53 | |
| You better get down and buck it! | 6:55 | |
| (applause) | 6:58 | |
| [New Speaker]- I know you aint gonna agree with everything | 7:09 | |
| but you better agree with that part saying | 7:11 | |
| you getting messed over too. | 7:13 | |
| If you agree with that, | 7:15 | |
| you can't help but agree with the rest of it. | 7:16 | |
| But you get yourselves together. | 7:19 | |
| (applause) | 7:20 | |
| [New Speaker] - Now what I think needs to be done here | 7:37 | |
| is first of all, one's got to try to identify | 7:40 | |
| what it is these people are asking. | 7:43 | |
| They're asking for the right to make decisions | 7:45 | |
| that are going to affect their lives. | 7:48 | |
| I think that's what students, white students, | 7:50 | |
| black students, have all been asking all across | 7:53 | |
| this country for several years now. | 7:56 | |
| (applause) | 8:00 | |
| [New Speaker] - In the past majorities of student bodies | 8:08 | |
| haven't realized this on the whole, and therefore | 8:12 | |
| things like the vigil last year weren't, | 8:15 | |
| you couldn't bring that off, you couldn't get that large | 8:16 | |
| of a group to withdraw, | 8:19 | |
| and therefore affectively build power. | 8:21 | |
| So what happens is you have to actively disrupt | 8:24 | |
| that decision making process. | 8:27 | |
| You have to walk into a central records office | 8:30 | |
| and grab some files and say that if you want | 8:32 | |
| to get power, now I'm sure you're sitting out there saying, | 8:38 | |
| "well is this legitimate, or is this illegitimate". | 8:41 | |
| That's an individual bag, I guess, but the thing is | 8:46 | |
| that's the only other viable alternative, I believe, | 8:48 | |
| if you really want to get power and make rapid changes | 8:51 | |
| which I think the black student's concerns certainly | 8:54 | |
| come into that category. | 8:57 | |
| (applause) | 8:58 | |
| [New Speaker] Quite frankly, I still believe the (inaudible) | 9:06 | |
| have to be just, but I don't think in all cases those | 9:10 | |
| (inaudible) can be achieved in this present process | 9:13 | |
| without the application of pressure. | 9:16 | |
| (applause) | 9:18 | |
| [New Speaker] - I (inaudible) in the university | 9:35 | |
| the sort of violence that we had on campus yesterday | 9:39 | |
| and that other universities have already had. | 9:42 | |
| I've spent about the last 3 days trying as hard | 9:44 | |
| as I could to prevent that very sort | 9:47 | |
| of thing from coming about. | 9:49 | |
| I hope the student body in this university will | 9:54 | |
| do everything that it can to turn away from violence | 9:57 | |
| in any of the events that follow in the university's future. | 10:00 | |
| I very strongly believe that we should try | 10:06 | |
| as hard as we can to avoid that. | 10:08 | |
| I also hope, on the other hand, that the people who | 10:10 | |
| are now in power in the university system will act | 10:13 | |
| with a little bit more patience, with a little bit | 10:17 | |
| more humanity before they set up a situation where | 10:21 | |
| that violence can occur again. | 10:24 | |
| (applause) | 10:26 | |
| [New Speaker] I ask you which is worse. | 10:35 | |
| A group of students going into an office because they felt | 10:39 | |
| they had no other channels for the input of their concerns, | 10:42 | |
| and taking it over for a day, doing very little damage | 10:46 | |
| in the office, and writing on the walls. | 10:50 | |
| The place was left with food laying around | 10:52 | |
| and that sort of thing, however cash, which was laying | 10:54 | |
| out on tables, was not touched. | 10:58 | |
| As far as they can now tell, | 11:01 | |
| none of the records in there were damaged in any way. | 11:04 | |
| I don't think the students went in there | 11:08 | |
| to uselessly wreak havoc on the records of the university | 11:10 | |
| or anything else, and the fact of the matter is, | 11:14 | |
| that's the situation. | 11:17 | |
| That building was occupied for about 9 or 10 hours | 11:18 | |
| and that's what happened there. | 11:21 | |
| Now I ask you if that is worse than someone, somewhere, | 11:23 | |
| who is responsible for decisions allowing the situation | 11:27 | |
| to exist (inaudible) for about twenty minutes where there | 11:30 | |
| was a standoff between a mass of students and people | 11:33 | |
| inside of the university and policemen, which anyone | 11:38 | |
| with any level of intelligence and experience would know | 11:43 | |
| it's going to erupt sooner or later into a violent conflict. | 11:46 | |
| And someone was either too incompetent, | 11:50 | |
| or too intransigent to stop that. | 11:53 | |
| Now, when you think about the idea of amnesty, I think you | 11:55 | |
| ought to think about which one of those two is worse. | 11:58 | |
| (applause) | 12:01 | |
| [News Broadcast 1] | 12:11 | |
| - | For WDBS News at the entrance to the Duke Hospital | 12:12 |
| this is Tom Fine reporting. | 12:15 | |
| At approximately 1:05 this morning, approximately | 12:17 | |
| twenty five Durham City police arrived at the main entrance | 12:20 | |
| of the Duke Hospital and immediately proceeded inside | 12:24 | |
| and a very short time later exited the building taking | 12:28 | |
| with them the group of people who were inhabiting one | 12:31 | |
| of the offices in the Duke Hospital in protest | 12:35 | |
| for an alleged incident this morning. | 12:38 | |
| There was no violence whatsoever. | 12:41 | |
| The group of people were arrested for trespass | 12:43 | |
| included both workers and non workers. | 12:46 | |
| People sympathizing with the worker's cause here. | 12:49 | |
| The van has just left for the Durham City jail, | 12:53 | |
| there'll be further reports later on. | 12:57 | |
| This has been Tom Fine for WDBS News. | 12:59 | |
| [News Broadcast 2] | 13:04 | |
| (interviewee) - That is not true, I did not strike anybody. | 13:05 | |
| I have never struck a female before, | 13:08 | |
| nor do I intend to do so in the future. | 13:10 | |
| (interviewer) - What was the situation between you | 13:12 | |
| and the hospital employee that caused such | 13:15 | |
| a ruckus at this current time? | 13:17 | |
| - | Well I have no idea what the ruckus is all about | 13:19 |
| because I haven't heard anything and other when people | 13:21 | |
| have called me on the phone, such as you. | 13:25 | |
| [News Broadcast 3] | 13:30 | |
| - | A number of workers are still occupying the office | 13:32 |
| of, the Nursing Office on the fist floor | 13:34 | |
| of the Duke Hospital in protest of their grievances | 13:36 | |
| and also an incident this afternoon in which | 13:39 | |
| Miss Caroline (inaudible), a worker, | 13:41 | |
| was struck by a doctor. | 13:43 | |
| Members of Local 77 have also joined in. | 13:45 | |
| Most of the workers here are black. | 13:48 | |
| The union leaders said they should | 13:51 | |
| have called for student's support. | 13:52 | |
| A number of white and black Duke students have arrived. | 13:54 | |
| The university has locked the doors | 13:58 | |
| to the hospital on the campus side. | 14:00 | |
| All those students are still entering the building | 14:03 | |
| from the main entrance side, and the emergency room side. | 14:05 | |
| Right now a period of hushed anticipation | 14:09 | |
| among the people occupying the office as they await | 14:15 | |
| what must be the inevitable arrival of police | 14:20 | |
| to evict them forcibly. | 14:22 | |
| They've all already been warned that they will be charged | 14:24 | |
| with criminal trespass, and they have been told that they | 14:26 | |
| are interfering with patient care | 14:30 | |
| by occupying the nursing office. | 14:32 | |
| We will provide you with updates as soon as they happen. | 14:34 | |
| Bob Chapman for WDBS. | 14:38 |
Item Info
The preservation of the Duke University Libraries Digital Collections and the Duke Digital Repository programs are supported in part by the Lowell and Eileen Aptman Digital Preservation Fund