Vigil #11
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | To the funeral on Martin Luther King yesterday | 0:04 |
and the official representative of the university | 0:07 | |
and I was asked to say a word or two on my experiences | 0:10 | |
or my observations. | 0:15 | |
That I am delighted to do. | 0:18 | |
Just that it is, it is hard to believe | 0:21 | |
that Martin Luther King is dead. | 0:25 | |
It is just so difficult to believe that a movement | 0:29 | |
for our social justice and equality, | 0:34 | |
a movement to create the beloved community | 0:39 | |
is alive here at Duke. | 0:43 | |
The light from your candle, I can assure you, | 0:47 | |
is reducing the darkness in this world. | 0:52 | |
This is a great moment. | 0:57 | |
Like Martin Luther King, my eyes physically now | 1:01 | |
have some vision of the glory | 1:08 | |
of the coming of social justice to this country | 1:12 | |
because of you. | 1:16 | |
Martin Luther King would call you drum majors | 1:18 | |
and majorettes for justice and humanity | 1:22 | |
and great witnesses for the beloved community. | 1:27 | |
I do not know if you realize the ultimate significance | 1:31 | |
of what you're doing. | 1:35 | |
I haven't seen anything like it. | 1:38 | |
I've been involved in quite a few civil rights | 1:40 | |
activities in my life, but I haven't seen anything | 1:43 | |
anywhere comparable to this. | 1:48 | |
You would expect, of course, the victims | 1:53 | |
of oppression to sacrifice, | 1:55 | |
to take the hearts on, | 1:59 | |
to take the rein, to expose their health, | 2:03 | |
to do everything possible to remove the yolk | 2:08 | |
of injustice and oppression, | 2:11 | |
but you do not expect people born of privilege | 2:15 | |
to undergo this kind of harsh treatment. | 2:20 | |
This is one of the things, I think, | 2:25 | |
that will help to redeem this country | 2:28 | |
and help create people of community. | 2:31 | |
This is magnificent. | 2:35 | |
You are making profound history. | 2:38 | |
Congratulations on your intelligence, | 2:42 | |
your determination, your dignity, and your good faith. | 2:45 | |
Your methods are as noble as your goals. | 2:48 | |
When 15, 20, | 2:54 | |
25 years from now, | 2:57 | |
you see your life pass in review, | 3:01 | |
you see a play by of your existence, | 3:04 | |
you might be proud of what you are doing now | 3:07 | |
because you are going to know in your heart | 3:12 | |
that you made a profound contribution | 3:15 | |
to the transformation of the institution and equality | 3:19 | |
of American culture. | 3:23 | |
Our course here is right. | 3:27 | |
Make no mistake about it. | 3:32 | |
The university administration has taken the wrong side | 3:34 | |
of a great moral issue. | 3:41 | |
You are standing for the highest good | 3:44 | |
and the public interests, including Duke's interest. | 3:48 | |
Duke's interest cannot be different | 3:54 | |
from that of justice and equality, | 3:56 | |
the best in the American tradition. | 4:00 | |
The intransigent of whoever ran this university | 4:04 | |
is typical of the insensitivity and the arrogance | 4:08 | |
of male power. | 4:12 | |
Somehow, they are insensitive to the deeper | 4:16 | |
dimensions of the problem. | 4:21 | |
But this is an old story of the struggle of men to be free | 4:24 | |
and to challenge the existing structure. | 4:31 | |
I have just one comment to make about Dr. King's funeral. | 4:36 | |
The only thing I have to say about my experiences there | 4:40 | |
is that your commitment and behavior here | 4:46 | |
made the experience more bearable, | 4:51 | |
ethical and meaningful and less tragic. | 4:55 | |
As I saw from afar, the casket carried his lifeless body, | 5:01 | |
I was sustained by the knowledge of the 1,000 | 5:08 | |
and more bodies full of life, integrity, and vision | 5:11 | |
were carried on his legacy on the spirit | 5:14 | |
and in conformity with his ideals and his methods. | 5:17 | |
I was uplifted by the fact that you had made | 5:24 | |
his mission your very own | 5:27 | |
and I'm sure that Martin Luther King would be proud, | 5:31 | |
mighty proud of you. | 5:37 | |
Your vigil here wiped my tears | 5:39 | |
and helped to sustain me and provided even at a tragic | 5:45 | |
moment (mumbles) for myself. | 5:50 | |
What is involved in this movement? | 5:55 | |
Is the character of America's future. | 5:58 | |
What kind of society are we going to have? | 6:02 | |
Are we to have a free and open society or are we to have | 6:05 | |
chaos and confusion, and a society using, | 6:10 | |
really, police methods. | 6:15 | |
What we are witnessing here with reference | 6:17 | |
to the curfew is something of the police state methods | 6:20 | |
and they're going to increase unless America | 6:26 | |
solve this problem. | 6:30 | |
The other night, a few minutes after the announcement | 6:33 | |
of the assassination of Martin Luther King, | 6:37 | |
a great soul, John Strange, came in our house. | 6:41 | |
John said to me, "Sam, how much more can you take? | 6:47 | |
"Can you take anymore? | 6:52 | |
"Haven't you taken enough?" | 6:55 | |
I reflected. | 6:58 | |
My mind roamed over in a split second | 7:01 | |
the pilgrimage of my people since 1619. | 7:04 | |
I wanted to give a religious answer. | 7:09 | |
I couldn't. | 7:11 | |
How could I say anything in the name of God | 7:13 | |
when Martin Luther King, a good man, | 7:16 | |
a great soul, had been assassinated? | 7:19 | |
I struggled over alternatives, | 7:23 | |
but that didn't satisfy me. | 7:27 | |
I've been haunted by that question. | 7:31 | |
John Strange, I think I have the answer now. | 7:34 | |
I can go on affirming life, | 7:38 | |
Negroes can go on affirming life | 7:41 | |
because of people like you | 7:44 | |
and because of people like you. | 7:48 | |
This provides hope and succor to my spirit. | 7:53 | |
You are creating that kind of community | 7:59 | |
where in the days ahead | 8:03 | |
after this long night of separation and misunderstanding, | 8:08 | |
you and I, | 8:15 | |
white and black together, | 8:18 | |
can shout from the mountaintops and the valleys | 8:21 | |
of our inner being and say | 8:27 | |
what is inscribed | 8:31 | |
on Martin Luther King's grave. | 8:34 | |
We are free at last, | 8:38 | |
free at last, | 8:40 | |
thank God almighty, we are free at last. | 8:42 | |
- | As you know, I am here because Doug Knight's health | 8:54 |
is such that it makes it inadvisable for him | 8:57 | |
to be present himself. | 9:00 | |
He's, as you may recall, suffered a severe case | 9:03 | |
of hepatitis last fall, | 9:06 | |
has scheduled in recent weeks, has exceeded any reasonable | 9:08 | |
limit for someone recovering from that illness. | 9:12 | |
I understand that the normal recovery period | 9:17 | |
continues for at least a year | 9:20 | |
and sometimes a great deal longer. | 9:22 | |
During that period, both fatigue and stress | 9:25 | |
must be avoided. | 9:27 | |
Failure to do this involves serious risk. | 9:29 | |
Dr. Knight is crucially important to this university. | 9:33 | |
He is now in the Duke Hospital, having been | 9:37 | |
brought there today. | 9:39 | |
His condition is a matter of deep concern | 9:41 | |
to his doctors as well as to ourselves. | 9:43 | |
I am sure that you too must share this feeling. | 9:47 | |
This is a time of great national concern over many | 9:51 | |
long existing problems in our society, | 9:55 | |
a time of real national turmoil. | 9:59 | |
I realize your deep concern | 10:02 | |
with respect to the human issues which have now | 10:06 | |
so intensely been brought into focus | 10:09 | |
both here and elsewhere. | 10:12 | |
I personally share this concern with you. | 10:16 | |
Our nation is in the throes of great trouble | 10:20 | |
and we who care must work, | 10:23 | |
must work much harder than we have in the past | 10:25 | |
to solve the problems that face us. | 10:28 | |
Duke University has its own responsibilities in this effort. | 10:32 | |
Now let me comment on the request | 10:38 | |
you have made of President Knight. | 10:40 | |
I think the crucial, | 10:43 | |
the central, most important issue with which | 10:45 | |
we are faced and one to which we must respond | 10:48 | |
is the financial situation of our non-academic employees. | 10:50 | |
We recognized this in 1965 and felt that we then | 10:58 | |
should start to move forward with those employees. | 11:02 | |
Since 1966, we have increased wages | 11:06 | |
an average of nearly 20%, shortened work weeks, | 11:09 | |
improved fringe benefits, liberalized overtime provisions, | 11:13 | |
and implemented training programs to upgrade | 11:17 | |
employee skills, thereby increasing | 11:20 | |
their individual opportunities. | 11:24 | |
I cite these as evidence as our own desire to improve | 11:27 | |
the wellbeing and financial status | 11:29 | |
of our non-academic employees. | 11:33 | |
One of you request that Dr. Knight was that he press | 11:37 | |
for the $1.60 minimum wage for Duke employees. | 11:39 | |
I know that he is just as interested in such a wage | 11:43 | |
as you are, and so am I. | 11:46 | |
The present federal minimum wage for most business | 11:49 | |
and commercial organizations is $1.60. | 11:52 | |
For universities and colleges, however, | 11:55 | |
it is $1.15 and will not go | 11:58 | |
to the $1.60 figure until 1971, | 12:01 | |
about three years from now. | 12:06 | |
We will be at the $1.60 minimum rate by July 1, 1969 | 12:08 | |
and we shall make a significant step toward this | 12:14 | |
by July 1 of this year. | 12:16 | |
This is going to cost a great deal of money. | 12:21 | |
As a practical matter, it will require increased income | 12:23 | |
and a reexamination of many of the operations | 12:27 | |
and activities of this university. | 12:31 | |
Now President Knight, in his chapel, | 12:34 | |
addressed last Saturday, | 12:36 | |
spoke of the appointment of a committee to consider | 12:38 | |
and I quote, "those developments which will serve us best | 12:42 | |
"in this great university." | 12:47 | |
The membership and scope of that committee | 12:50 | |
will be determined by President Knight | 12:53 | |
upon his return to his office. | 12:56 | |
The other request you presented to Dr. Knight | 13:00 | |
are, as I'm sure you recognize, of a personal nature | 13:03 | |
and can be answered only by him. | 13:07 | |
And now let me return briefly to my earlier comments. | 13:14 | |
I am sure that at this time of personal anguish | 13:17 | |
and national turmoil, Duke University | 13:21 | |
has a special role to play. | 13:25 | |
I want it to fulfill this role and to realize | 13:27 | |
its capacities for leadership. | 13:31 | |
This, I am sure, is also your hope. | 13:35 | |
We cannot achieve this premise divided among ourselves, | 13:38 | |
but we can together. | 13:43 | |
I am confident that we, together, can find ways | 13:45 | |
of working with mutual confidence and respect | 13:50 | |
and thereby, arrive at the goals that we all seek. | 13:53 | |
Thank you very, very much for letting me be here with you. | 13:59 | |
(audience applauds) | 14:14 | |
♪ We shall overcome some day ♪ | 15:51 | |
♪ We shall ♪ | 15:58 |
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