Dick Gregory Visit, Allen Building Takeover: Tape #6
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| (buzzing horn music) | 0:02 | |
| - | Good evening. | 0:06 |
| For WDBS Contemporary News, this is David Christy. | 0:07 | |
| WDBS now presents a summary of the events | 0:10 | |
| of the past four days on the Duke University campus. | 0:13 | |
| On Thursday, February 13th, at approximately 8:00 a.m., | 0:16 | |
| some 75 members of the Afro-American Society | 0:20 | |
| occupied Allen Building, | 0:23 | |
| renaming it the Malcolm X Liberation School. | 0:24 | |
| They presented 13 demands to the administration | 0:27 | |
| and vowed that they would not leave Allen Building | 0:30 | |
| until these demands had been answered. | 0:32 | |
| At approximately 4:15 p.m., | 0:34 | |
| the students let the girls in the group | 0:36 | |
| leave Allen Building for their own protection, | 0:38 | |
| and we asked them what had happened during the takeover. | 0:40 | |
| - | We came in the front door. | 0:42 |
| There wasn't any physical violence. | 0:43 | |
| All that secretary and the men, they lie. | 0:45 | |
| We escorted them out. | 0:47 | |
| They walked on their own | 0:48 | |
| two feet. | 0:49 | |
| - | Two feet. | |
| They broke the doors off. | 0:50 | |
| They chained the boards up, | 0:52 | |
| I mean put chains on the door. | 0:54 | |
| They boarded the doors up with boards and nails. | 0:55 | |
| We moved furniture and things like this. | 0:58 | |
| - | And barricaded the board. | 1:01 |
| This took us | ||
| one minute and 59 seconds. | 1:02 | |
| They barricaded everything. | 1:04 | |
| - | There had been some rumors spreading early in the morning | 1:06 |
| that the students would burn the university records | 1:08 | |
| if the police were called in | 1:11 | |
| to forcibly remove them from the building. | 1:12 | |
| It was later discovered, however, | 1:14 | |
| that these rumors were false, | 1:16 | |
| and the black students themselves denied | 1:17 | |
| that they were there to mutilate any university property. | 1:19 | |
| In the late morning, a forum was held on the quad | 1:22 | |
| to allow concerned individuals to express their opinions | 1:24 | |
| on the events of the morning. | 1:27 | |
| At this forum, a spokesman for the students | 1:29 | |
| in Allen Building explained what they were trying | 1:31 | |
| to accomplish by their actions. | 1:33 | |
| - | What we hope to accomplish by, you might say, | 1:35 |
| seizing a part of Allen Building this morning, | 1:38 | |
| we just rented a U-Haul truck and brought a few people. | 1:42 | |
| We sneaked them in. | 1:46 | |
| (crowd laughs) | 1:47 | |
| But that's all there was to it. | 1:48 | |
| This is supposed to be sort of a power play. | 1:52 | |
| We have to have something if we're gonna try | 1:54 | |
| to make some demands upon the university. | 1:56 | |
| It was nothing... | 1:58 | |
| We don't have anything to, | 1:59 | |
| no inner ground to bargain from. | 2:01 | |
| Our play right now is to show the trustees | 2:04 | |
| that we are together on this thing. | 2:08 | |
| We're aware that they are supposed to be in town | 2:11 | |
| for a meeting of the board of trustees, | 2:13 | |
| and we thought that it was most appropriate | 2:16 | |
| that we should try to take part of Allen Building | 2:18 | |
| while they were in town | 2:20 | |
| so they wouldn't have to rely on the news media | 2:21 | |
| which would sometimes distort our purposes. | 2:24 | |
| - | At 3:30 p.m., the administration issued | 2:28 |
| an ultimatum to the students stating | 2:30 | |
| that if they were not out of Allen Building in one hour, | 2:32 | |
| they would have to pay the consequences. | 2:34 | |
| We asked one of the students how he felt | 2:36 | |
| about the possibility of police coming in | 2:38 | |
| and forcibly removing them from Allen Building. | 2:40 | |
| - | Well, if a man is gonna send 85 or 70 cops | 2:43 |
| on a bunch of flimsy things that he thinks | 2:47 | |
| that are happening inside, | 2:51 | |
| I don't think at the moment we can say | 2:52 | |
| that we're gonna get 'em, but I can say this much. | 2:54 | |
| We're gonna fight all the way to the end to get them, | 2:57 | |
| and we're gonna leave (mumbles). | 2:59 | |
| - | The faculty met at 4 p.m. in Baldwin Auditorium | 3:02 |
| to discuss the situation | 3:04 | |
| as it had developed through the day. | 3:06 | |
| WDBS newsman Tom Fine reports. | 3:07 | |
| - | There was a faculty meeting this afternoon | 3:10 |
| starting at four o'clock in Baldwin Auditorium. | 3:12 | |
| The ultimatum was read to the assembled faculty members. | 3:17 | |
| A motion was made that the ultimatum not take effect | 3:21 | |
| until the faculty had time to deliberate upon it. | 3:25 | |
| At which point, Dr. Douglas Knight, | 3:28 | |
| the president of the university, | 3:30 | |
| arrived at the faculty meeting | 3:31 | |
| and said that the motion was out of order | 3:33 | |
| since the process had already been set in motion | 3:39 | |
| and it could not be retired. | 3:41 | |
| At this point, one of the faculty members got up | 3:43 | |
| and moved that the meeting be adjourned | 3:47 | |
| since there was nothing they could do. | 3:50 | |
| This motion was defeated, | 3:52 | |
| at which point, approximately 50 members of the faculty | 3:54 | |
| who had voted to adjourn the meeting walked out. | 3:57 | |
| - | At 5:45 p.m., a force of police officers | 4:02 |
| both state and city equipped with riot gear | 4:05 | |
| began to move toward Allen Building. | 4:07 | |
| Also at this time, the black students | 4:09 | |
| voluntarily left Allen Building | 4:11 | |
| and marched off the main quad, | 4:12 | |
| where they encountered some police cars who were coming | 4:14 | |
| to support the main body of the police. | 4:16 | |
| In the confusion, one girl was slightly bumped | 4:18 | |
| by one police car, and some students | 4:20 | |
| began to beat on the car. | 4:22 | |
| At this time, the main body of students | 4:24 | |
| turned back to Allen Building to find | 4:25 | |
| that the police had barricaded the doors. | 4:27 | |
| A throng of some 1,500 students formed around Allen Building | 4:29 | |
| and began yelling at the police. | 4:32 | |
| Somewhere in the confusion, a teargas grenade was thrown, | 4:34 | |
| and after that, the police began | 4:37 | |
| to completely saturate the quad | 4:38 | |
| and surrounding buildings with gas. | 4:40 | |
| WDBS newsman Kip Vosburg reports on the situation | 4:42 | |
| as it existed on the main quad. | 4:45 | |
| - | I'm right now in the Canterbury Hall | 4:47 |
| overlooking the main quad, and out the window, | 4:49 | |
| I can see a little bit of smoke still going on. | 4:52 | |
| The students regrouped. | 4:55 | |
| There goes a grenade right in front of us. | 4:57 | |
| The smoke I can see is pouring up out of it. | 5:00 | |
| Several people are dispersing, running. | 5:02 | |
| The students evidently regrouped about 10 minutes | 5:05 | |
| after they were dispersed, | 5:09 | |
| regrouped and charged again toward the police. | 5:11 | |
| The police then retaliated with the gas, and I can... | 5:14 | |
| Some of the students now are going into the building, | 5:19 | |
| but I hope in a moment, I hope in a minute | 5:21 | |
| to have a student up here in just a second possibly | 5:24 | |
| to tell us exactly what's going on. | 5:27 | |
| (people chanting) | 5:28 | |
| I don't know, maybe you can hear in the background | 5:29 | |
| some of the students now downstairs below me | 5:30 | |
| as they come in upstairs. | 5:33 | |
| You got one? | 5:35 | |
| All right, just a minute, we have here in just a second | 5:35 | |
| a student who was involved just a moment ago | 5:38 | |
| and saw exactly what happened. | 5:40 | |
| Your name please? | 5:42 | |
| - | Bill Roof. | 5:44 |
| - | And Bill, where were you | 5:45 |
| when this latest activity broke out? | 5:46 | |
| - | Staying down in front of FF Dorm. | 5:49 |
| - | And exactly what did you see? | 5:51 |
| - | Smoke. | 5:53 |
| - | Smoke? | 5:54 |
| And that, in a word, is just about what we see right now. | 5:55 | |
| Are the students still out there? | 5:58 | |
| Are they in any way charging the police? | 5:59 | |
| Are the police charging the students? | 6:01 | |
| Can you give us a description of what was going on? | 6:02 | |
| - | Small groups were sorta getting close to the police | 6:05 |
| and calling them names and provoking them, to some extent, | 6:08 | |
| mainly because a lot of people | 6:10 | |
| are getting run out of the rooms | 6:12 | |
| because of the tear gas in the rooms. | 6:13 | |
| - | I see. | 6:14 |
| All right, we still see, | 6:15 | |
| there went another grenade, I believe, over there, | 6:17 | |
| or that might just be a little bit of smoke still going on | 6:19 | |
| from one that had just recently gone off. | 6:22 | |
| I see also a lot of photographers out there, | 6:25 | |
| a lot of bulbs. | 6:27 | |
| A cheer going up just there, | 6:28 | |
| I'll try to see what exactly is going- | 6:29 | |
| - | Threw it back. | 6:30 |
| A guy threw it back to 'em. | 6:31 | |
| - | Oh, one demonstrator picked up a grenade, | 6:32 |
| threw it back at the police still smoking, | 6:35 | |
| and that evoked a great cheer from the crowd | 6:37 | |
| and the spectators surrounding them. | 6:39 | |
| I see now that it looks like there is some activity | 6:42 | |
| going on right in front of me down below. | 6:44 | |
| A lot of students are regrouping and... | 6:47 | |
| Are those students or police | 6:51 | |
| going toward Allen Building there? | 6:53 | |
| - | Building, those are police. | 6:54 |
| - | Those are police. | 6:55 |
| They're heading back toward Allen Building. | 6:56 | |
| - | It's just cops. | 6:58 |
| - | Just police right at the moment out there. | 6:59 |
| There is a... | 7:01 | |
| Well right now, it's kinda hard to see | 7:03 | |
| exactly what is happening. | 7:05 | |
| I see more students falling back. | 7:06 | |
| Perhaps a threat was put out for another smoke bomb | 7:09 | |
| or whatever that is that is being thrown out there. | 7:13 | |
| - | Tear gas, a mild tear gas. | 7:16 |
| - | It's a very mild tear gas? | 7:18 |
| - | Mild tear gas. | 7:18 |
| - | Thank you. | 7:19 |
| And I hear two or three grenades go off. | 7:21 | |
| There's lights on all outside in front of here now | 7:22 | |
| as the students once again are charging inside the building. | 7:24 | |
| There is another smoke bomb going off | 7:27 | |
| right between here and Allen Building in that quad. | 7:29 | |
| There went something. | 7:32 | |
| I couldn't tell exactly what that was. | 7:33 | |
| There's- | 7:35 | |
| (man speaking faintly) | 7:36 | |
| Evidently, there still is a lot of activity | 7:37 | |
| going on out there, which is the understatement of the year. | 7:39 | |
| It's a little quieter now out there. | 7:43 | |
| There went another grenade. | 7:46 | |
| I can't see from my vantage point | 7:47 | |
| exactly what is going on down there. | 7:49 | |
| I see a lot of smoke flowing around, | 7:53 | |
| a lot of people running. | 7:55 | |
| I hear a lot of cheering out there, | 7:56 | |
| but at this moment, I can't exactly describe | 7:58 | |
| what is going on, for the windows are just to my left | 8:01 | |
| and the activity is just to the left of the windows | 8:04 | |
| and I can't see around that corner. | 8:06 | |
| - | The violence subsided around 7:00 p.m., | 8:08 |
| and the students adjourned to the Page Auditorium, | 8:10 | |
| where there was a meeting at 8:30. | 8:13 | |
| At the meeting, the students voted to boycott classes | 8:14 | |
| for Friday, Saturday, and Monday. | 8:17 | |
| They also voted to fight for complete amnesty | 8:19 | |
| for the black students who had occupied Allen Building. | 8:21 | |
| It was also revealed that five people had been arrested | 8:24 | |
| during the confrontation. | 8:27 | |
| Meanwhile, 131 police officers | 8:29 | |
| were moved out of Allen Building at 8:05 p.m. | 8:31 | |
| Four of them had been injured. | 8:33 | |
| And that's how things stood after Thursday's activities. | 8:35 | |
| Friday morning, the class boycott went into effect, | 8:38 | |
| and the day remained reasonably quiet. | 8:41 | |
| There was a rally on the main quad at 3:30 p.m., | 8:43 | |
| and some UNC students demonstrated their support | 8:45 | |
| for the activities of the Duke students at this rally. | 8:48 | |
| Downtown at District Court, | 8:51 | |
| the five people who were arrested went on trial, | 8:52 | |
| and four of them were convicted, | 8:55 | |
| the fifth having his case dismissed | 8:56 | |
| due to lack of sufficient evidence. | 8:58 | |
| Dr. Knight promised Friday night | 8:59 | |
| that he would address the student body | 9:01 | |
| at a convocation Saturday. | 9:03 | |
| However, the adjutant general of North Carolina | 9:04 | |
| requested that he cancel this speech | 9:07 | |
| to avoid any large gathering of Duke students. | 9:09 | |
| The students themselves then planned a convocation | 9:11 | |
| for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Page Auditorium. | 9:14 | |
| So on Saturday morning, some 1,600 students arrived at Page | 9:16 | |
| to hear the speakers who were scheduled to appear. | 9:20 | |
| The president of the Afro-American Society | 9:22 | |
| opened the proceedings, and he commented on amnesty | 9:25 | |
| for those students involved | 9:27 | |
| in the occupation of Allen Building. | 9:29 | |
| - | So we want complete amnesty | 9:31 |
| for all the black students on this campus | 9:33 | |
| because we have, we have a right to do what we did | 9:35 | |
| because we were fighting for our humanity. | 9:39 | |
| We were asserting our humanity. | 9:41 | |
| (crowd applauding and cheering) | 9:43 | |
| You better get together and fight for yours. | 9:44 | |
| (crowd applauding and cheering) | 9:45 | |
| - | Wade Norris, president of ASDU, then spoke | 9:49 |
| concerning the tactics employed by the black students. | 9:52 | |
| - | Quite frankly, I still believe the ends have to be just, | 9:55 |
| but I don't think in all cases those ends can be achieved | 10:00 | |
| in this present process without the application of pressure. | 10:03 | |
| - | The high point of the meeting came | 10:07 |
| when Howard Fuller addressed the students. | 10:09 | |
| Commenting on what the recent events were all about, | 10:11 | |
| he said... | 10:13 | |
| - | That's what it's about. | 10:14 |
| It's about human beings. | 10:15 | |
| All men are created equal | 10:18 | |
| (crowd applauding and cheering) | 10:21 | |
| with certain unalienable rights, | 10:22 | |
| and that among these rights | 10:24 | |
| are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. | 10:26 | |
| That's what it's about. | 10:30 | |
| (crowd applauding and cheering) | 10:31 | |
| - | He then addressed himself | 10:35 |
| to the white students in the crowd. | 10:37 | |
| - | Let me pose a question. | 10:39 |
| Why is the administration and the board of trustees | 10:41 | |
| uptight about 13 demands | 10:47 | |
| that relate to people being people? | 10:50 | |
| You know why? | 10:52 | |
| Why? | 10:53 | |
| First off, because they're black people. | 10:54 | |
| - | Right. | 10:57 |
| - | First off, because they're black people. | 10:57 |
| Understand that first off, because they're black people. | 10:58 | |
| And second of all, | 11:01 | |
| because they are beginning to act in their self-interest. | 11:03 | |
| In other words, they're beginning to understand | 11:07 | |
| how America operates. | 11:09 | |
| And so the man is saying, "Oh no, they're getting educated. | 11:11 | |
| "They're beginning to see what we've been doing, | 11:14 | |
| "and we don't want that." | 11:16 | |
| But you know what the real reason is? | 11:17 | |
| You know what the real reason is? | 11:19 | |
| They're worried that if they | 11:21 | |
| have to deal with the black students, | 11:23 | |
| and they're gonna have to deal with them, | 11:25 | |
| (crowd cheering) | 11:26 | |
| that some of y'all | ||
| are gonna wake up and say, | 11:27 | |
| "Damn, if they're getting that, | 11:29 | |
| "well, here, I've got something to do with myself." | 11:31 | |
| (crowd cheering and applauding) | 11:34 | |
| - | Dean Griffith also spoke at the meeting. | 11:37 |
| After the major speakers finished, | 11:40 | |
| Mark Pinsky got up and suggested | 11:41 | |
| that the students march to Dr. Knight's house | 11:43 | |
| to ask him to discuss their demands. | 11:45 | |
| Howard Fuller seconded this motion, | 11:47 | |
| and the students proceeded to Dr. Knight's house. | 11:49 | |
| Dr. Knight met with them, | 11:51 | |
| and after some arguing between the crowd and him, | 11:53 | |
| he agreed to meet with the black students | 11:55 | |
| at 8:00 p.m. that night at his house. | 11:57 | |
| Commenting on the usefulness of discussion | 11:59 | |
| in achieving the desired ends, Dr. Knight said... | 12:01 | |
| - | You've got to give us a reasonable chance to go that way. | 12:04 |
| And it was that reasonable chance, by the way, | 12:08 | |
| that was denied when you moved in on Allen Building. | 12:11 | |
| (crowd protesting) | 12:14 | |
| Two days, this list turned up two days before you moved in. | 12:18 | |
| - | A meeting was then scheduled | 12:22 |
| for 11:00 p.m. at Page Auditorium | 12:24 | |
| to hear the accomplishments of this earlier meeting. | 12:26 | |
| Howard Fuller and the black students | 12:28 | |
| arrived at Page at 11:45 | 12:30 | |
| and announced that a statement would be made | 12:33 | |
| by Dr. Knight on Sunday at 2:30 in Page Auditorium. | 12:34 | |
| But when the time for this meeting came, | 12:38 | |
| Dr. Knight sent Dr. Kerckhoff | 12:40 | |
| to make the statement in his stead. | 12:42 | |
| Chuck Hopkins opened Sunday's meeting | 12:44 | |
| with these statements. | 12:46 | |
| - | Black students have agreed to a joint statement | 12:48 |
| which will be read by Dr. Kerckhoff. | 12:50 | |
| Although in some instances, the university appears | 12:54 | |
| to have been adjusting themselves | 12:57 | |
| to some aspects of black students' problems, | 12:58 | |
| the lack of effective communication | 13:03 | |
| and black student involvement | 13:05 | |
| and the processes needed | 13:07 | |
| to deal correctly with these problems | 13:09 | |
| has led us to where we are now. | 13:12 | |
| It is the hope of the black students | 13:15 | |
| that the constructive results obtained | 13:17 | |
| would make Duke University more relevant | 13:21 | |
| to the needs and aspirations of black people. | 13:24 | |
| (crowd applauding and cheering) | 13:27 | |
| - | Dr. Kerckhoff then spoke and reviewed the answers | 13:31 |
| which had been made to the Afro-American's demands. | 13:33 | |
| He said that a black adviser would be hired | 13:36 | |
| with the consultation of the black students | 13:38 | |
| and that provisions for a black dorm next fall | 13:40 | |
| were being made. | 13:43 | |
| He went on to say that propositions | 13:44 | |
| for a black studies course were being made, | 13:46 | |
| and a meeting would be held in March to discuss these plans. | 13:48 | |
| He said that the black students who flunked out | 13:51 | |
| at the end of the semester are having their cases reviewed | 13:53 | |
| and would be enrolled in the new summer program. | 13:56 | |
| Dr. Kerckhoff expressed dissatisfaction | 13:59 | |
| with the grading system for blacks and whites together | 14:01 | |
| and also asked the students | 14:03 | |
| to help get the blacks a committee in the student union. | 14:05 | |
| He discussed a wide variety of methods | 14:08 | |
| determining admissions and pledged an increase | 14:10 | |
| in the number of black students on campus. | 14:13 | |
| Dr. Kerckhoff's committee is committed | 14:15 | |
| to study police harassment of black students, he said, | 14:17 | |
| and then concluded his resume with a statement | 14:19 | |
| that the black students involved in Thursday's takeover | 14:22 | |
| have voluntarily submitted themselves | 14:25 | |
| to the pickets and protests regulations. | 14:27 | |
| Dr. Kerckhoff then went on to make the purpose | 14:29 | |
| of his committee clear to the students. | 14:31 | |
| - | We are a committee representative | 14:33 |
| of the university faculty | 14:35 | |
| and its educational values and concerns. | 14:37 | |
| We are charged with understanding and reconciling | 14:40 | |
| manifest concerns of the student body, | 14:44 | |
| at this time, by the black students primarily, | 14:46 | |
| with the educational mission of the university. | 14:49 | |
| We are concerned with maintaining academic values | 14:53 | |
| of learning, objectivity, | 14:56 | |
| and evaluation of ideas and persons, | 14:58 | |
| and these are paramount in our educational mission. | 15:01 | |
| We will make every effort to be responsive | 15:04 | |
| to interests and concerns of black students | 15:07 | |
| and to special problems of acculturation | 15:10 | |
| to the academic environment. | 15:13 | |
| We are committed to action. | 15:16 | |
| - | Howard Fuller then arrived at the meeting | 15:18 |
| and concluded the formal program with these comments. | 15:20 | |
| - | I sincerely hope that the white students who are here | 15:24 |
| and all students for that matter | 15:29 | |
| and for those of you who are faculty members | 15:31 | |
| that we begin to realize the significance of involving | 15:33 | |
| all people in whatever is gonna happen to their lives. | 15:38 | |
| And I think that it's very important | 15:42 | |
| that white students at Duke and on any other campus | 15:44 | |
| that they be involved in the things | 15:49 | |
| that are deciding their existence on this campus. | 15:50 | |
| And I hope that all of us are gonna begin | 15:53 | |
| to take a whole new look at our whole process of education | 15:55 | |
| because one of the problems | 15:59 | |
| that we're having in this country | 16:00 | |
| is that those things that we are learning | 16:02 | |
| are fast becoming irrelevant to the people | 16:04 | |
| who are outside of these walls. | 16:06 | |
| So I hope that the whole educational process | 16:08 | |
| will take a new look at itself | 16:11 | |
| and that out of this will come the chance | 16:14 | |
| to have a country that not necessarily | 16:19 | |
| has to be integrated in the old sense | 16:22 | |
| but at least a country where there will be some respect | 16:25 | |
| for people as people | 16:29 | |
| and a belief in humanity | 16:32 | |
| and that this country will begin to set some priorities | 16:34 | |
| for the education of its people | 16:37 | |
| and for the growth of its people | 16:39 | |
| rather than for the destruction of people in other lands | 16:41 | |
| and within this country. | 16:44 | |
| So I hope that this is the beginning of that kind of stuff. | 16:46 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 16:48 | |
| - | After this, the students voted | 16:49 |
| on plans to help their status | 16:51 | |
| and also voted to end the class boycott. | 16:53 | |
| On WDBS Sunday night, Dr. Knight expressed his pleasure | 16:56 | |
| in the accomplishments made and said this. | 16:59 | |
| - | That discussion, I think, | 17:02 |
| was valuable for those of us who took part in it, | 17:04 | |
| most of all because we learned so much from one another | 17:08 | |
| about issues which many people at Duke | 17:15 | |
| and many people in the country have said | 17:18 | |
| divided us as a nation | 17:20 | |
| and which we ourselves, like everyone else in the country, | 17:23 | |
| have felt at times to be the sharpest issues | 17:27 | |
| of national disagreement in these last years, | 17:31 | |
| the issues of equal rights and opportunities | 17:36 | |
| for all people in this country. | 17:41 | |
| - | And that's the summary of events | 17:46 |
| that's making contemporary news. | 17:47 | |
| WDBS will bring you any further developments | 17:49 | |
| on the Duke campus as they happen. | 17:51 | |
| For WDBS Contemporary News, | 17:53 | |
| this has been David Christy. | 17:55 | |
| Good evening, this is David Christy | 18:04 | |
| for WDBS Contemporary Reports. | 18:06 | |
| Monday evening, in the Indoor Stadium, | 18:08 | |
| Dick Gregory spoke to Duke students | 18:10 | |
| as part of the Black Week at Duke program. | 18:11 | |
| The speech was preceded by a gathering at Dr. Knight's house | 18:13 | |
| and was followed by a reception in the Flowers Lounge. | 18:16 | |
| Mr. Gregory missed the session plan for Monday afternoon | 18:19 | |
| due to the snow in New York City | 18:21 | |
| which prevented his plane from leaving, | 18:23 | |
| but he was here on time for the speech at 8:30. | 18:24 | |
| He centered his speech on the problems | 18:27 | |
| which the youth of America today | 18:29 | |
| will have to face and solve. | 18:31 | |
| Following are some excerpts and high points of the speech. | 18:33 | |
| - | The hardest thing that I find in talking to you youngsters | 18:36 |
| is not only do I have to tell you that the problems | 18:41 | |
| confronting America today you have to solve. | 18:44 | |
| The embarrassing thing | 18:50 | |
| is I have to tell you youngsters in America | 18:51 | |
| that you have to solve problems today | 18:53 | |
| that you had nothing to do with creating. | 18:57 | |
| That's the big problem today, | 19:01 | |
| that us old fools, we're so busy lying to you youngsters, | 19:03 | |
| and after we finish lying to you, | 19:08 | |
| we run around and state the problem | 19:10 | |
| is why we can't relate with you | 19:12 | |
| is because there is a generation gap. | 19:14 | |
| The number one problem confronting America today | 19:17 | |
| is the problem of moral pollution. | 19:20 | |
| This is the most morally polluted, degenerate, | 19:24 | |
| insane nation on the face of this earth, bar none. | 19:27 | |
| (crowd applauding and cheering) | 19:30 | |
| You young folks have the job today | 19:31 | |
| of making America the morally dedicated nation | 19:33 | |
| the Founding Fathers meant for her to be. | 19:36 | |
| Now I hope you don't make the mistake | 19:41 | |
| that so many of these right wing crackers | 19:42 | |
| that are so damn busy running around eulogizing the country. | 19:44 | |
| You know, save the eulogy for when she die. | 19:48 | |
| Thanks to you youngsters, America is not dead yet. | 19:52 | |
| So if you quit eulogizing her | 19:56 | |
| and examine this old broad and find out where the cancer is | 19:58 | |
| and run her on into the hospital and cut it out, | 20:01 | |
| you might save her. | 20:04 | |
| And the day you youngsters work | 20:07 | |
| to make this country the beautiful country she should be, | 20:09 | |
| that's the day we don't have to walk all around the world | 20:14 | |
| trying to convince ourselves that America is beautiful. | 20:17 | |
| Let me tell you something. | 20:21 | |
| As long as we got that Indian locked up on that reservation, | 20:22 | |
| if you can believe this country is beautiful | 20:26 | |
| with him up there, you are sick, sad, | 20:29 | |
| and out of your mind. | 20:31 | |
| Regardless of how no good countries are | 20:33 | |
| on the face of this earth, | 20:36 | |
| at least they own up to what they are. | 20:37 | |
| South Africa makes no bones about the fact | 20:41 | |
| they don't like them niggers. | 20:44 | |
| America is the only country on the face of this earth | 20:47 | |
| that run around preaching one thing | 20:50 | |
| and practice something else. | 20:53 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 20:56 | |
| I do not advocate destroying the capitalistic system, | 20:57 | |
| but I say to you young folks, | 21:00 | |
| you better work like hell | 21:02 | |
| to beat the capitalists into their rightful position, | 21:03 | |
| and that is behind the United States Constitution | 21:06 | |
| and not in front of it. | 21:09 | |
| When you get to the point where you upset the capitalists | 21:11 | |
| where he's gonna lose some money, | 21:14 | |
| you run around, there is all these people | 21:17 | |
| running around here talking about | 21:18 | |
| "We're sure doing a lot for the colored." | 21:19 | |
| Ain't nobody doing nothing for us. | 21:21 | |
| We was out here marching under the Constitution, | 21:23 | |
| and we didn't do nothing but get kicked in our butt | 21:25 | |
| and shot in our head. | 21:27 | |
| When them niggers start burning that property down, | 21:28 | |
| the capitalists said, "Give them what they want." | 21:30 | |
| That if democracy is as good as we tell you it is, | 21:33 | |
| then why in the hell are we running all over the world | 21:37 | |
| trying to ram it down people's throat with a gun? | 21:40 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 21:43 | |
| And I hope you young folks | 21:44 | |
| at this or any other institution | 21:46 | |
| do not make the same mistake | 21:48 | |
| that us old fools made when it was our turn | 21:52 | |
| to go through these institutions. | 21:54 | |
| (chuckles) You see, we were so busy | 21:57 | |
| trying to learn how to make a living | 22:00 | |
| when we was in college, | 22:02 | |
| we forgot to learn how to live. | 22:03 | |
| I meet so many people who say, | 22:06 | |
| "Well, I've got to go away to school | 22:07 | |
| "to learn how to be somebody." | 22:09 | |
| Hell, you was born somebody. | 22:11 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 22:13 | |
| So I say to you youngsters, | 22:14 | |
| as you work to change the system, | 22:15 | |
| please let your number one point of order | 22:19 | |
| be these colleges and universities across this country, | 22:21 | |
| please change them immediately. | 22:24 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 22:26 | |
| A transcript don't mean a damn thing | 22:27 | |
| to nobody else but to the system and to you. | 22:29 | |
| And if you think this transcript is important, | 22:31 | |
| you leave this or any other institution | 22:34 | |
| and 10 years from now meet somebody you wanna marry | 22:36 | |
| and see if they ever wanna see your transcript. | 22:39 | |
| (crowd laughing) | 22:41 | |
| So you got a big, big job. | 22:42 | |
| Man, we're past | 22:46 | |
| worrying about white folks in this country five years ago. | 22:49 | |
| We're saying we're tired | 22:53 | |
| of this institutionalized racism. | 22:57 | |
| We're saying we want black studies | 23:00 | |
| because we all at once want to find out who we are. | 23:02 | |
| Since we decided we ain't your nigger, | 23:06 | |
| we wanna know who we are. | 23:08 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 23:09 | |
| Take out your Declaration of Independence, | 23:10 | |
| and I want you to get way back behind them fools | 23:13 | |
| while they're watching them niggers burn the town, | 23:16 | |
| and I want you to read your Declaration of Independence | 23:19 | |
| as loud as you can read it, | 23:22 | |
| and maybe for the first time, | 23:25 | |
| they'll understand what they're looking at. | 23:27 | |
| "We hold these truths to be self-evident, | 23:32 | |
| "that all men are created equal | 23:38 | |
| "and endowed by the Creator | 23:43 | |
| "with certain unalienable rights. | 23:47 | |
| "That when these rights are destroyed | 23:51 | |
| "over long periods of time, | 23:54 | |
| "it is your duty | 23:57 | |
| "to destroy or abolish that government." | 24:00 | |
| (crowd cheering and applauding) | 24:03 | |
| Now I know them old fools is gonna assume | 24:06 | |
| that was some message Malcolm X left for Rap Brown, | 24:10 | |
| (crowd laughing) | 24:13 | |
| but I'm sure with a minimum amount of persuasion, | 24:18 | |
| you'll be able to teach them | 24:23 | |
| that that was their beloved Declaration of Independence, | 24:24 | |
| yeah, that one with the mistake on it, | 24:30 | |
| that one where they forgot to write "for white only." | 24:34 | |
| Are you really sick enough to believe | 24:37 | |
| you can still draft niggers into the army | 24:39 | |
| and send them to Fort Benning, Georgia | 24:42 | |
| and teach them how to be guerillas | 24:44 | |
| and then go all over the world killing folks | 24:46 | |
| to liberate foreigners, | 24:48 | |
| then they're gonna come back home and kill you | 24:50 | |
| to liberate their mammy? | 24:51 | |
| You're out of your minds. | 24:52 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 24:54 | |
| Briefly, before I leave you tonight, | 24:54 | |
| let me discuss with you black attitudes in America today. | 24:56 | |
| Lord knows we got some attitudes. | 25:00 | |
| Thank God, it's about time. | 25:03 | |
| - | Right. | 25:05 |
| - | Black folks have got an attitude today | 25:06 |
| because we're tired of these insults. | 25:10 | |
| Insults me to have white America | 25:13 | |
| ask black folks to be non-violent. | 25:16 | |
| She owns the mightiest Navy, the mightiest Army, | 25:19 | |
| the mightiest Air Force, | 25:21 | |
| owns all the police, state police, federal police, | 25:23 | |
| local police, sheriffs police, | 25:26 | |
| CIA, FBI, and she comes to us with all them guns | 25:27 | |
| and we ain't got a damn thing, | 25:30 | |
| and she says, "Be non-violent, boy." | 25:31 | |
| We say, "You go to hell." | 25:33 | |
| (crowd cheering and applauding) | 25:35 | |
| But since you love non-violence | 25:36 | |
| the way you think you love non-violence, prove it. | 25:38 | |
| Get up on that reservation and get my Indian brother off | 25:41 | |
| because you can't be no more non-violent | 25:45 | |
| than he's been for the last 75 years. | 25:46 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 25:49 | |
| Don't play no more games with us, that's what we're saying. | 25:49 | |
| Just call us plain old black. | 25:52 | |
| Because 20 and 30 years ago, | 25:55 | |
| black folks in America had an empty stomach. | 25:56 | |
| Today, black folks in America have a full stomach | 25:58 | |
| but a hungry mind, | 26:00 | |
| and a hungry mind will not tolerate | 26:02 | |
| the same thing an empty stomach did. | 26:03 | |
| Empty stomachs deal on smell, | 26:04 | |
| and hungry minds deal on sound. | 26:06 | |
| And all at once, this country | 26:08 | |
| don't sound right to us any more. | 26:10 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 26:12 | |
| You're gonna have to create an atmosphere in America | 26:13 | |
| where, for the first time in America, | 26:15 | |
| black folks will trust white folks. | 26:17 | |
| And how will you do that? Simple. | 26:20 | |
| You get up on that Indian Reservation | 26:21 | |
| and cut my red brother loose. | 26:23 | |
| You free my Mexican brother. | 26:25 | |
| You give my Puerto Rican brother his constitutional rights. | 26:27 | |
| And last but not least, | 26:30 | |
| because my Jewish brother plays a lot of games with himself, | 26:31 | |
| but he should paint his face as black as mine | 26:34 | |
| and see what you Gentiles say about him | 26:36 | |
| every day of the week, and he'll realize | 26:37 | |
| he in the same bag with the rest of us. | 26:39 | |
| So what we're saying, short, simple, and sweet, | 26:42 | |
| you're gonna free my Jewish brother, my Mexican brother, | 26:44 | |
| my Puerto Rican brother, my Indian brother. | 26:46 | |
| When we see this, we will look around | 26:49 | |
| and say, my white brother, for the first time, I trust you. | 26:50 | |
| Come into my ghetto, and together we'll solve our problems. | 26:54 | |
| Again, let me say to you youngsters | 26:58 | |
| thank you so very much this evening. | 27:00 | |
| May God bless you, | 27:02 | |
| and may nature have a lot of fun with you. | 27:03 | |
| Thank you. | 27:04 | |
| (crowd applauding) | 27:05 | |
| - | And that's the report from the Indoor Stadium | 27:07 |
| that's making contemporary reports. | 27:09 | |
| (buzzing horn music) | 27:11 |
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