April 5, 1968: Friday night
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| - | This is student body president Jon Kinney addressing | 0:02 |
| the crowd at Dr. Knight's house. | 0:06 | |
| (chatting) | 0:08 | |
| - | Blood loss between Dr. Knight and the students has not | 0:10 |
| yet been broken, Dr. Knight continues. | 0:11 | |
| - | But that's your decision. | 0:16 |
| There will be no seats. | 0:17 | |
| There will be no chance of my being effective | 0:20 | |
| in the ways that you say you want me to be. | 0:23 | |
| - | This is Dr. Knight's response to statements | 0:26 |
| on the part of the students that they would not leave | 0:29 | |
| his home this evening. | 0:31 | |
| - | Can you face that decision? | 0:32 |
| (chatting) | 0:34 | |
| I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to do it the other way. | 0:36 | |
| I'm going to have to do my best | 0:40 | |
| and suggest what I think the answers are for us, | 0:44 | |
| and then ask to work with you on your answers | 0:48 | |
| to these puzzles and see how we get these things together. | 0:54 | |
| I'm going to have to ask that we do that. | 0:57 | |
| - | Someone had suggested that the students proceed | 1:00 |
| to the chapel rather than stay at Dr. Knight's home, | 1:02 | |
| however, it has been pointed out that the chapel is locked. | 1:05 | |
| Dr. Knight's response. | 1:07 | |
| (clapping) | 1:09 | |
| - | I do realize it. | 1:18 |
| I have acted on it in some ways. | 1:20 | |
| If we can have the chance, I'll try to set | 1:24 | |
| them forth, the beginning of them, at least, | 1:29 | |
| tomorrow, and then you can help me. | 1:33 | |
| You can help me get at the things that hurt you most, | 1:36 | |
| because you clearly, at times, feel that I've missed those | 1:42 | |
| and I'm sure I have. | 1:48 | |
| But I think we need a chance, not under this stress, | 1:51 | |
| to try to say those things to one another, don't we? | 1:56 | |
| - | Dr. Knight (mumbling). | 1:59 |
| There's concern that you are that (mumbling) | 2:02 | |
| with your statements. | 2:05 | |
| Haven't we found out from the duke and duchess (mumbling) | 2:06 | |
| that on the war in Vietnam, the university is going | 2:08 | |
| to act amorally? | 2:11 | |
| How can we expect now, tonight, this university, | 2:13 | |
| not you, sir, not you as a citizen, because I trust | 2:17 | |
| you as a citizen. | 2:20 | |
| My trust means a lot. | 2:21 | |
| (mumbling) | 2:23 | |
| - | The debate between the students and Dr. Knight continues | 2:25 |
| at his home. | 2:27 | |
| (clapping) | 2:29 | |
| - | And whatever exactly, and here I honestly need | 2:36 |
| to talk more with someone like you, Jack, to know | 2:41 | |
| what you mean by an institutional promise. | 2:45 | |
| But if you think that I can, sitting here, make many sorts | 2:50 | |
| of promises for an institution, all I can say is | 2:56 | |
| that I simply don't have that power. | 2:59 | |
| (tape warping) exactly why I won't. | 3:02 | |
| But I've also told you that I will make my own statement | 3:04 | |
| about these matters. | 3:09 | |
| I won't sign it as a person, because in fact, | 3:11 | |
| I simply don't have that freedom. | 3:14 | |
| I can't sign it as a person. | 3:16 | |
| (shouting) | 3:18 | |
| - | Dr. Knight's response to a request that he sign | 3:21 |
| the petition presented to him by the students. | 3:23 | |
| - | I don't think I was. | 3:29 |
| But there are aspects of this one that I can't speak | 3:33 | |
| for the institution in. | 3:39 | |
| - | As you may have gathered, Dr. Knight earlier had signed | 3:41 |
| a petition, I don't know the exact time prior to this time, | 3:45 | |
| that was printed in the New York Times concerning | 3:48 | |
| the war in Vietnam. | 3:51 | |
| The students are questioning why Dr. Knight will not sign | 3:52 | |
| the petition presented to them, which we will have | 3:54 | |
| the text of for you momentarily, after we can conclude | 3:56 | |
| with our taping of these sessions. | 3:58 | |
| Dr. Knight, apparently, was not willing to sign the petition | 4:02 | |
| and the conversations continued. | 4:05 | |
| - | That's so? | 4:07 |
| - | Dr. Knight has pointed his petition presented to him. | 4:08 |
| It has been pointed out that the position of the students | 4:10 | |
| and Dr. Knight are fixed, and that perhaps no further | 4:14 | |
| discussion will get us anywhere. | 4:17 | |
| Some students are willing to leave. | 4:19 | |
| Others, apparently, intend to stay at the president's house | 4:21 | |
| for the duration of the night. | 4:24 | |
| The discussion is continuing, but no progress is being made. | 4:26 | |
| - | If I have to be in the position of doing it | 4:30 |
| or seeming to do it, because you said we will sit here | 4:37 | |
| until you do do it, then it loses it's meaning. | 4:44 | |
| And then I lose whatever effectiveness I could have | 4:48 | |
| in helping us in this time. | 4:52 | |
| And this I do believe. | 4:55 | |
| In fact, this I know. | 4:59 | |
| And the why of that is tied up | 5:04 | |
| with many of the things that I know you want | 5:09 | |
| to now confront most directly. | 5:14 | |
| The structure as it has been, all the rest of it. | 5:19 | |
| It happens to put certain limits on me, | 5:25 | |
| whether any of us like it or not. | 5:31 | |
| And if I'm to be useful in the way you want, | 5:35 | |
| and I truly wish to be, then I'd ask you | 5:44 | |
| to give me the chance to do that primly, that's all. | 5:51 | |
| - | I think we need to discuss among ourselves, | 5:58 |
| and think individually, at this point, | 6:01 | |
| what we're going to do. | 6:04 | |
| - | This is student body president Jon Kinney. | 6:06 |
| - | Student body president Jon Kinney. | 6:08 |
| - | So, in this case, is Dr. Strange here? | 6:11 |
| Is he around right now? | 6:16 | |
| - | Kinney is referring to Dr. Strange who began the march | 6:18 |
| in the main quad at seven o'clock this evening. | 6:22 | |
| Apparently, Dr. Strange was not present at that time. | 6:24 | |
| (mumbling) | 6:27 | |
| - | Referring to Dr. Strange, the organizer of the march. | 6:33 |
| - | Act as a moderator of sorts. | 6:36 |
| - | Sure. | 6:38 |
| (laughing) | 6:39 | |
| (mumbling and chatting) | 6:42 | |
| - | Well, I don't know. | 6:47 |
| I think-- | 6:48 | |
| - | He left over the fights. | 6:49 |
| - | A lot of the black students, from what I understand, | 6:50 |
| are deciding on whether they're going to stay here | 6:53 | |
| tonight or not on whether the white students stay | 6:56 | |
| and whether they're really can see or not. | 6:59 | |
| They came here with the idea that some of us were sincere | 7:01 | |
| in what we believe. | 7:04 | |
| I think maybe sincerity could express itself | 7:07 | |
| in different ways. | 7:09 | |
| Some of us staying, some elsewhere. | 7:11 | |
| I think my sincerity state says I stay, personally. | 7:13 | |
| I think if we all stay-- | 7:17 | |
| (clapping) | 7:19 | |
| - | As you can hear, President Kinney reversed his position | 7:23 |
| earlier in the evening that he would be leaving, | 7:26 | |
| feeling that this is too much pressure on Dr. Knight, | 7:28 | |
| and decided that he would be staying for the duration | 7:31 | |
| of the night. | 7:33 | |
| (clapping) | 7:34 | |
| - | We'll be staying with the black students. | 7:38 |
| And I think that means a lot to me, | 7:40 | |
| particularly if we look at the situation that has happened. | 7:42 | |
| If a lot of us leave, we must make sure that we make clear | 7:46 | |
| our feelings and our reason, and they must be true reasons | 7:50 | |
| to the black students, and I think you'd have | 7:53 | |
| to be honest. | 7:56 | |
| You'd have to be able to walk up to a black student | 7:58 | |
| and say I honestly believe I see Dr. Knight's point | 8:00 | |
| and I think there is a good point there. | 8:02 | |
| But I think somebody who does leave has to realize this | 8:06 | |
| and he should be able to walk up to a black student | 8:10 | |
| and explain the packets were wrong, what we did was wrong, | 8:13 | |
| or whatever, and what they were doing is wrong. | 8:16 | |
| I, myself, have made the decision. | 8:19 | |
| I think I will stay and, if Bunny, if you'll just try | 8:21 | |
| to take over at this point, and see how people feel, | 8:27 | |
| I think most people haven't | 8:31 | |
| (speakers drowning each other out) | 8:33 | |
| - | Quote you on this. | 8:33 |
| (mumbling) | 8:35 | |
| - | Is it this one? | 8:36 |
| Wait a minute, which one? | 8:38 | |
| People are talking on it. | 8:40 | |
| (mumbling) | 8:42 | |
| - | This is former panel in a council, President Bunny Small, | 8:43 |
| speaking to the students. | 8:48 | |
| - | Maybe it's the way they say this affects, | 8:49 |
| act out what they feel about students. | 8:51 | |
| (mumbling) | 8:55 | |
| - | Mark Knight's reaction to the question, | 8:57 |
| as people say what was his reaction be, | 9:00 | |
| he has no comment. | 9:03 | |
| - | My reaction is that this, I can't tell you | 9:05 |
| what I feel. | 9:08 | |
| But this limits very much my freedom to do the very thing | 9:10 | |
| that you're asking that we do together. | 9:15 | |
| It's as simple as that. | 9:18 | |
| - | Sir, we understand your position. | 9:22 |
| Can you disclose your course of action should | 9:24 | |
| the students decide to stay here for the evening? | 9:27 | |
| Will you allow them to stay? | 9:29 | |
| (speakers drowning each other out) | 9:30 | |
| - | I certainly don't feel that removing them by force is | 9:33 |
| an answer to our problems. | 9:39 | |
| Yes, they may stay. | 9:41 | |
| - | Thank you, sir. | 9:43 |
| - | Dave Birkhead is speaking now at the rally, | 9:47 |
| Friday night, at Dr. Knight's house. | 9:50 | |
| - | Another point I'd like to make is Dr. King died | 9:53 |
| fighting the kinds of things he's fought for, | 9:56 | |
| that black people are dying on the streets, | 10:00 | |
| although we don't have casualty rates, yet, | 10:02 | |
| I assure you that they're dying on the streets tonight | 10:04 | |
| all over the country. | 10:06 | |
| I think the least we could do is sit around | 10:07 | |
| in these nice plush chairs, on this six-inch pile carpet, | 10:09 | |
| (laughing) | 10:11 | |
| and stick together in this thing. | 10:13 | |
| He's not gonna throw all of us out of school. | 10:15 | |
| (cheering and clapping) | 10:16 | |
| - | This is Paul Conroy for radio station WDBS speaking. | 10:23 |
| - | This is a petition entitled Shall Democracy Also Die | 10:26 |
| at Our Hands. | 10:29 | |
| Dr. Martin Luther King has been murdered. | 10:31 | |
| Now, we must choose between the promise of America | 10:33 | |
| the free, or a harvest of death and inhumanity | 10:35 | |
| which is the result of continued oppression | 10:37 | |
| of black Americans. | 10:41 | |
| We are all implicated. | 10:42 | |
| We have allowed to flourish a society so disturbed | 10:43 | |
| by the idea of racial equality that it could take the life | 10:45 | |
| of a man who asked only freedom for his people. | 10:48 | |
| For humanity from his white brothers. | 10:50 | |
| Not one man, woman or child in this country should be kept | 10:53 | |
| from any goal, denied dignity, forced to go hungry | 10:57 | |
| because the color God made his skin does not please | 10:59 | |
| some of us. | 11:01 | |
| We can refuse no longer. | 11:02 | |
| We ask that our fellow white citizens save their own freedom | 11:04 | |
| by insisting upon absolute equality and dignity | 11:07 | |
| for black citizens now. | 11:11 | |
| We ask that every white citizen who believes | 11:12 | |
| in the promise of the American dream take | 11:15 | |
| the following steps. | 11:17 | |
| One. | 11:18 | |
| Observe the call for a day of nation mourning | 11:20 | |
| and respect for Dr. King. | 11:22 | |
| Two, write or wire the President of the United States, | 11:23 | |
| insisting that he give the recommendation | 11:26 | |
| to the President's Commission on Civil Disorders | 11:28 | |
| immediate priority by sending legislations | 11:29 | |
| to Congress implementing those recommendations. | 11:32 | |
| Three, write or wire your senators and congressmen saying | 11:34 | |
| that you recognize that the time for equality is now | 11:37 | |
| and that open housing legislation | 11:40 | |
| requires immediate passage. | 11:43 | |
| Call city officials insisting that they show greater concern | 11:44 | |
| for the grievances and problems of the black community. | 11:47 | |
| - | Okay. | 11:52 |
| - | Tonight at the house of Duke University President | 11:59 |
| Dr. Douglas Knight, some 200 students are staying there | 12:02 | |
| until Dr. Knight meets a series of demands. | 12:05 | |
| So far, Dr. Knight has said that he sympathizes | 12:08 | |
| with the demands, however, he feels that if he went along | 12:10 | |
| with the demands, he would be taken as speaking | 12:15 | |
| for the University, rather than speaking his own opinion. | 12:17 | |
| The students have vowed to stay here. | 12:20 | |
| This is the way Dave Birkhead put it. | 12:23 | |
| - | Another point I'd like to make is Dr. King died | 12:25 |
| fighting the kinds of things he's fought for, | 12:29 | |
| that black people are dying on the streets, | 12:32 | |
| although we don't have casualty rates, yet, | 12:34 | |
| I assure you that they're dying on the street tonight | 12:36 | |
| all over the country. | 12:37 | |
| I think the least we could do is sit around | 12:38 | |
| in these nice plush chair and this six-inch pile carpet | 12:40 | |
| (laughing) | 12:43 | |
| and stick together in this thing. | 12:44 | |
| He's not gonna throw all of us out of school. | 12:46 | |
| (cheering and clapping) | 12:47 | |
| - | That was Dave Birkhead, one of the negotiators | 12:49 |
| with President Knight. | 12:50 | |
| That's the story from President Douglas M. Knights house | 12:52 | |
| in Durham, North Carolina. | 12:55 | |
| Bob Conroy kicks full power news. | 12:56 | |
| Tonight, some 300 students are at the house | 13:02 | |
| of President Dr. Douglas M. Knight of Duke University. | 13:03 | |
| Duke students sitting in until Dr. Knight meets | 13:06 | |
| a series of demands. | 13:09 | |
| Those demands are that one, observe the call | 13:10 | |
| for a day of national mourning in respect for Dr. King. | 13:13 | |
| Two, write or wite the President of the United States | 13:16 | |
| insisting that he give the recommendation as | 13:18 | |
| to the President's Commission on Civil Disorders | 13:20 | |
| immediate priority by sending legislation | 13:22 | |
| to Congress implementing those recommendations. | 13:24 | |
| Three, write or wire your senators and congressmen saying | 13:27 | |
| that you recognize that the time for equality is now | 13:30 | |
| and that open housing legislation requires immediate passage | 13:32 | |
| and four, call city officials insisting that they show | 13:36 | |
| greater concern for the grievances and problems | 13:39 | |
| of the black community. | 13:41 | |
| Dr. Knight has said to the student negotiators | 13:43 | |
| that he is in sympathy with these four demands, | 13:46 | |
| however, he cannot sign the petition | 13:48 | |
| because it would reflect upon the University | 13:50 | |
| rather than his own personal belief. | 13:53 | |
| The students have said they will stay until he changes | 13:55 | |
| his mind, as Dave Birkhead put it-- | 13:57 | |
| - | If Dr. King died fighting these (tape distorting). | 14:00 |
| - | We have Ken Ross on the line, what's going on now? | 14:13 |
| - | Yes, Evans, Dr. Knight has just finished | 14:16 |
| a rather lengthy discussion with the students here | 14:18 | |
| at his home, and ending up what could be best described | 14:21 | |
| as a stalemate. | 14:23 | |
| Our microphones were there for the duration | 14:24 | |
| of the discussion. | 14:27 | |
| I will now relay to you, the discuss just ended | 14:28 | |
| but a few minutes ago, I will now relay to you | 14:30 | |
| via our tape recorder, the general gist | 14:32 | |
| of what was happening. | 14:35 | |
| The tape runs some 15 minutes. | 14:36 | |
| I might add that this tape has not yet been edited. | 14:37 | |
| We have not had time to edit. | 14:39 | |
| There are points that are very choppy. | 14:41 | |
| Some questions, but I think it is important enough | 14:42 | |
| to air right now. | 14:45 | |
| I will pick up roughly 20 minutes ago, | 14:46 | |
| when I spoke into the microphones announcing | 14:48 | |
| that Dr. | 14:51 | |
| Knight, Douglas Knight, was coming into the living room. | 14:54 | |
| (chatting) | 14:59 | |
| Dave Birkhead speaking to the crowd here | 15:01 | |
| at Dr. Knight's house. | 15:02 | |
| Dr. Knight will be coming out shortly. | 15:03 | |
| This is Ken Ross for WDBS, contemporary news. | 15:05 | |
| - | Dr. Knight is now coming out. | 15:08 |
| - | Has emerged from the room where he was in conference. | 15:10 |
| He is standing next to Duke student body president | 15:13 | |
| Jon Kinney and surveying the room. | 15:15 | |
| He is now descending the stairs and is apparently going | 15:17 | |
| to be making a statement to the students here | 15:20 | |
| at his home. | 15:23 | |
| His wife is standing next to him, he is speaking | 15:24 | |
| with her, and is not moving up to the balcony | 15:26 | |
| where I'm standing, I assume to make a statement | 15:29 | |
| to the students here at Duke. | 15:32 | |
| This is Dr. Knight's statement. | 15:34 | |
| (chatting) | 15:35 | |
| - | I believe that Dr. Knight would like to say something | 15:38 |
| at this point. | 15:41 | |
| - | Ideally, not in that atmosphere. | 15:43 |
| And I assure you, I've got no wish at all | 15:48 | |
| to be combative with you, because I meant what I said | 15:53 | |
| outside beforehand. | 15:58 | |
| - | This is Dr. Knight's response to the chants | 16:00 |
| of the students of hell no, we won't go. | 16:03 | |
| - | I don't think we're gonna settle | 16:06 |
| the questions that torment us and tear us apart | 16:09 | |
| by your operating as though you were a mob, | 16:15 | |
| which I don't believe you are. | 16:20 | |
| (chatting) | 16:21 | |
| Yeah, well I'm concerned, too. | 16:25 | |
| - | Yes! | 16:28 |
| (chatting) | 16:29 | |
| - | All right, all right. | 16:30 |
| Here's what I'd like to ask of you. | 16:32 | |
| You came, you expressed your concern this evening | 16:36 | |
| about some very specific things. | 16:38 | |
| I've got some concerns about those. | 16:40 | |
| Some of 'em I agree with, some of 'em I don't. | 16:44 | |
| - | Which ones? | 16:51 |
| (chatting) | 16:52 | |
| - | What I'd like to ask is a chance to start articulating | 16:55 |
| the concerns we have together | 17:03 | |
| at the memorial service tomorrow, for I am going to speak. | 17:05 | |
| And that doesn't mean one way articulation. | 17:09 | |
| If you're trying to find, as I'm trying to find, | 17:14 | |
| and all of are, I think, some ways to keep | 17:18 | |
| our society together, then I don't think pushing | 17:25 | |
| one another is the answer to it, even though you see | 17:32 | |
| a society where you feel all the horror of people | 17:35 | |
| who have pushed one another in the most brutal way. | 17:39 | |
| I don't think we can solve it here by pushing one another. | 17:42 | |
| I'm not setting out to push you. | 17:45 | |
| I don't wanna feel that I myself am pushed, | 17:49 | |
| and therefore I say yes, this, this, this and this. | 17:53 | |
| And I can tell you that if I were in that position, | 17:56 | |
| I wouldn't be of any use to you or anybody else | 18:01 | |
| for very long. | 18:07 | |
| What I would like to do is to speak tomorrow, | 18:11 | |
| not only to a little bit to the meaning | 18:16 | |
| of the fix that we're all in. | 18:23 | |
| I can't call it anything else. | 18:27 | |
| I'd like to suggest some of the concrete things | 18:30 | |
| that I feel we have been doing in the university. | 18:32 | |
| I'd like to suggest some of the things we can do beyond it. | 18:39 | |
| If we don't try to meet the frustrations | 18:44 | |
| of this world with violence. | 18:49 | |
| Either the pressure of numbers or the pressure | 18:56 | |
| of violent acts, I still believe there are some things. | 18:59 | |
| I think they're crucial ones. | 19:04 | |
| I think we've got to have enough order so | 19:08 | |
| that we can accomplish 'em. | 19:11 | |
| And I'm asking you for the privilege of our working | 19:14 | |
| those out together. | 19:21 | |
| The idea of a combined group to work on certain of them | 19:23 | |
| as hard as we can is a crucial idea. | 19:28 | |
| The idea of salaries for our employees that are | 19:33 | |
| as good as we can make 'em, and that have, | 19:39 | |
| no, that isn't fair. | 19:41 | |
| That are as good as we can make them is a crucial idea. | 19:45 | |
| I don't think you can deliver it to me as a mandate, | 19:52 | |
| however, an order, a demand. | 19:56 | |
| I think you to understand how we try to do our best | 20:02 | |
| in the light of the other things we also have to do | 20:07 | |
| in the university. | 20:10 | |
| And I'm not trying to pussyfoot with you, | 20:12 | |
| I'm just telling you the truth about it. | 20:14 | |
| And I'd like a chance to put these, but also, | 20:17 | |
| I'd like a chance to put some other things | 20:21 | |
| that weren't on your list this evening. | 20:23 | |
| Because I think there are some positive things | 20:25 | |
| in this community, this inner community | 20:31 | |
| and this regional community, that we can do | 20:34 | |
| that we can't ever do just by expressing our frustration | 20:39 | |
| with what is. | 20:43 | |
| Much as I feel that frustration and have felt it, | 20:46 | |
| much as you feel it. | 20:50 | |
| I did try to do some of that. | 20:55 | |
| I'm not saying this to justify myself. | 20:57 | |
| But I tried hard enough to do some of that | 21:00 | |
| in the Vietnamese puzzle so that I finally went | 21:04 | |
| and talked with, had the privilege, really, | 21:10 | |
| if you'll let me put it that way, of talking | 21:12 | |
| with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense | 21:16 | |
| about some of things you were feeling. | 21:19 | |
| And, I don't think I'm one small person, as you are. | 21:22 | |
| But I don't think it was useless talk | 21:28 | |
| because I was talking about what you and I both felt | 21:31 | |
| and why we felt it. | 21:35 | |
| I'd say that some of the same things can be done | 21:38 | |
| with the fearful internal problem. | 21:43 | |
| I don't think they'll be done if we feel so violently | 21:49 | |
| toward one another, if we can't either communicate | 21:53 | |
| or accomplish anything together. | 21:58 | |
| (mumbling) | 22:02 | |
| - | The question from the floor is by Jack Boger. | 22:04 |
| This was the president's opening address, | 22:09 | |
| as you will see, a debate between Dr. Knight | 22:11 | |
| and principally Jack Boger and other students | 22:14 | |
| on the floor below the balcony ensued. | 22:16 | |
| Jack Boger continues his questioning. | 22:18 | |
| - | We cannot be moved. | 22:20 |
| If I may be allowed to say one or two thing | 22:22 | |
| to you in response. | 22:24 | |
| I really feel that an old order is changed | 22:25 | |
| the United States of America. | 22:30 | |
| I think the tanks that right now are rumbling | 22:32 | |
| down the streets of Washington witness to this change. | 22:34 | |
| And one of the things that we, as young people, | 22:37 | |
| will not allow in the future are institutions | 22:39 | |
| that can remain, in a sense, immoral. | 22:43 | |
| Good men involved at all levels of Duke University, | 22:46 | |
| who somehow cannot take moral stands | 22:49 | |
| because of various forces seemingly beyond anyone's control. | 22:52 | |
| This is what has put the violence in the streets tonight. | 22:57 | |
| It's one of the major causes. | 23:00 | |
| And in this new order, we have to stand up morally, | 23:02 | |
| as institutions, we have to make stands, and we have | 23:07 | |
| to make stands that meet the situation at hand. | 23:10 | |
| We cannot take a situation where the country seems | 23:14 | |
| to be falling apart and meet it with maybe | 23:16 | |
| and it might happen in the futures and we're very concerned. | 23:19 | |
| I have no doubt of your deep concern, | 23:23 | |
| but we've come here non-violently as students | 23:25 | |
| of this university saying we must do something important. | 23:29 | |
| Duke University, we must do it now. | 23:34 | |
| We are non-violent, but we will not be moved. | 23:37 | |
| (clapping and cheering) | 23:40 | |
| - | As you can see, the crowd responded quite positively | 23:47 |
| to the statement in reply to Dr. Knight's opening statement | 23:49 | |
| and the discussion continues at Dr. Knight's home. | 23:52 | |
| (clapping) | 23:55 | |
| (chanting) | 24:05 | |
| (mumbling) | 24:09 | |
| At this point, the students began singing, | 24:13 | |
| but they were quieted in an effort on the part | 24:17 | |
| of some students to allow Dr. Knight to speak. | 24:20 | |
| One student said we would like to stand behind you, | 24:22 | |
| Dr. Knight, and the discussion continues from that point. | 24:24 | |
| (mumbling) | 24:27 | |
| - | Yeah, we're here to stand behind you, | 24:29 |
| we're not here to oppose you. | 24:31 | |
| Let's hear a negro student. | 24:32 | |
| - | What? | 24:33 |
| - | I think that they have a right. | 24:35 |
| They not only have a right, but I think that they're | 24:36 | |
| probably thinking certain things | 24:38 | |
| that aren't being expressed right now. | 24:39 | |
| - | Someone has made a request that one of the negro students | 24:43 |
| present speak for those here. | 24:46 | |
| Questions from the floor. | 24:49 | |
| - | We may, all of us who are working for the group | 24:53 |
| at this university, find that our time and our money | 24:55 | |
| and our efforts and our whole future may be ruined | 24:58 | |
| because there is a possibility that something can happen | 25:02 | |
| to us here tonight because of university ordinances. | 25:05 | |
| We've all put in something on the line. | 25:09 | |
| We have realized we're here to do something, | 25:12 | |
| and need for you to put something on the line, too. | 25:14 | |
| But we're not asking anymore from you then | 25:16 | |
| we're willing to give ourselves, and I think we have a right | 25:19 | |
| to ask that if you will just give it. | 25:22 | |
| (clapping and shouting) | 25:23 | |
| - | When we drove through Yale, and (mumbling) in 1964 | 25:27 |
| to greet a Martin Luther King, I'd hate to see us giving | 25:29 | |
| one in 1972 or 1980, when we finally can come | 25:31 | |
| around to it. | 25:34 | |
| This is the time for dramatic action, direct action. | 25:35 | |
| Duke in is a very, very explosive situation in this town. | 25:38 | |
| - | This is Jack Boger addressing the president | 25:44 |
| from the floor of his home. | 25:46 | |
| - | We're fortunate enough to have black leaders | 25:48 |
| that have some modicum in opposition to some | 25:49 | |
| of the forces in the town that would keep them suppressed. | 25:52 | |
| I think Duke is one of the strong developments | 25:55 | |
| in this town must take at this point, a dramatic stance. | 25:57 | |
| (clapping) | 26:00 | |
| - | Jack, I think I'd have to use the word out | 26:04 |
| of my own generation, and say that maybe | 26:07 | |
| a dramatic stance isn't as important as a determined | 26:11 | |
| and wise one that will itself stand. | 26:18 | |
| - | Right now, it is. | 26:22 |
| (buzzing) | 26:23 | |
| - | Evans? | 26:31 |
| - | Yes, Ken. | 26:32 |
| - | This is Ken at Dr. Knight's home. | 26:33 |
| As you can imagine, there are a number of reporters | 26:34 | |
| in Dr. Knight's home trying to get outside lines | 26:37 | |
| and they're are only five lines here, | 26:38 | |
| so we were having momentary difficulty in maintaining | 26:40 | |
| our connection, however, our broadcast will now continue | 26:42 | |
| as Jack Boger questions from the floor. | 26:45 | |
| - | Having now with the march of Washington, | 26:47 |
| these things do matter, in the midst of great crises, | 26:49 | |
| men of morality cannot afford to be bound by institutions | 26:52 | |
| that claim to be amoral. | 26:55 | |
| (clapping and cheering) | 26:58 | |
| - | If I may. | 27:08 |
| I'm simply trying to state to you that the way | 27:13 | |
| to take our actions is not under this kind of pressure. | 27:15 | |
| I don't care whether you call it non-violent or not, | 27:20 | |
| it's pressure of a sort that makes it impossible | 27:23 | |
| to accomplish the very things you ask me to accomplish | 27:27 | |
| and you must know that. | 27:31 | |
| - | Why? | 27:32 |
| (shouting) | 27:33 | |
| - | Wait a minute! | 27:35 |
| - | It is for (mumbling) in Selma, Alabama has done | 27:36 |
| what they did if there wasn't pressure put upon them | 27:38 | |
| by people who were interested enough in the common interest | 27:40 | |
| of humanity to get up and say we're not | 27:42 | |
| gonna take this anymore. | 27:44 | |
| And that's what we're saying. | 27:46 | |
| And you don't seem to understand that. | 27:47 | |
| And I mean, it's that simple. | 27:48 | |
| Today. | 27:50 | |
| (clapping) | 27:51 | |
| - | I know that. | 27:59 |
| I know that. | 28:00 | |
| - | Can you tell us one of the things tonight? | 28:05 |
| (mumbling) | 28:07 | |
| - | Take a stand. | 28:08 |
| (mumbling) | 28:10 | |
| - | You know, I get-- | 28:13 |
| (mumbling) | 28:14 | |
| (laughing) | 28:17 | |
| - | The crowd is reacting with amusement to a question | 28:28 |
| if Dr. Knight would run for President in November. | 28:30 | |
| We continue. | 28:33 | |
| - | Kind of stand that evidently will satisfy you, | 28:34 |
| some of you, the stand that you've called dramatic, | 28:39 | |
| maybe even melodramatic, and-- | 28:44 | |
| (mumbling) | 28:47 | |
| No, I'd have to say this, I've made it-- | 28:51 | |
| (mumbling) | 28:55 | |
| Look, look. | 28:57 | |
| I guess, that at the moment, I would simply like | 29:00 | |
| the privilege of articulating what I think some | 29:04 | |
| of these stands are and I don't think this is the setting | 29:06 | |
| in which I can do it. | 29:08 | |
| And I don't think that's unreasonable. | 29:11 | |
| - | When then I don't think we can leave. | 29:13 |
| (clapping) | 29:14 | |
| - | We won't get it done, and what have | 29:19 |
| you accomplished by that? | 29:20 | |
| - | What did Martin Luther King accomplish? | 29:23 |
| - | How do we know we're gonna accomplish yet. | 29:24 |
| - | We'll try. | 29:26 |
| - | We're trying, you know. | 29:28 |
| We don't wanna see the country-- | 29:29 | |
| - | So, can I-- | 29:31 |
| - | I'm trying, too. | 29:32 |
| I'm trying, too. | 29:33 | |
| I'm simply telling you this isn't the setting | 29:34 | |
| in which to put together the wise and the dramatic action | 29:36 | |
| that Jack was speaking of a few moments ago. | 29:42 | |
| (shouting) | 29:45 | |
| - | I'm not just talking about dramatic action. | 29:48 |
| I'm talking about meaningful action. | 29:49 | |
| - | I know. | 29:50 |
| I know that. | 29:51 | |
| The one thing that I regret more than any of you know is | 29:55 | |
| inevitably you don't believe I really have fought | 30:04 | |
| for some of these things that you're talking about. | 30:06 | |
| (shouting) | 30:08 | |
| - | I trust that you fought for these things. | 30:10 |
| But I think there comes a time when we can't temporize | 30:12 | |
| and we can't work this way when we've got to make | 30:15 | |
| some stands now. | 30:18 | |
| Some of these demands we have don't take a great deal | 30:23 | |
| of time, they take a decision. | 30:27 | |
| They could take a decision on the part of the university, | 30:29 | |
| or on the part of an individual. | 30:31 | |
| These can be made without a great deal of consultation. | 30:34 | |
| It's a dramatic decision, but also, a meaningful decision. | 30:37 | |
| It's one that breaks some guys, it's one that makes others. | 30:39 | |
| - | Jack, we can say many things back and forth. | 30:43 |
| I do agree with Dr. Knight that this is not the time | 30:49 | |
| or the place for a statement. | 30:52 | |
| - | No! | 30:54 |
| - | I think we-- | 30:55 |
| - | As you can hear the reaction of the students, | 30:57 |
| this is Jon Kinney, student body president speaking | 30:59 | |
| to the students. | 31:01 | |
| President Kinney said that he, at this time, | 31:03 | |
| did not feel that anything could be achieve | 31:05 | |
| by staying there. | 31:07 | |
| If you will stay with us, you will see | 31:09 | |
| that his position later changed, however, at this time, | 31:10 | |
| he continued and said-- | 31:12 | |
| - | You'll wait until tomorrow morning, at the chapel service, | 31:14 |
| to hear what Dr, Knight has to say. | 31:16 | |
| (shouting) | 31:18 | |
| If we wait here, we'll wait. | 31:20 | |
| (chatting) | 31:21 | |
| (shouting) | 31:27 | |
| - | What they want! | 31:29 |
| Easy to stay because we're here! | 31:31 | |
| What is there if we keep the machine going | 31:34 | |
| and come again if we have to. | 31:36 | |
| (chatting) | 31:38 | |
| What good if we make a stand now? | 31:40 | |
| (cheering and clapping) | 31:42 | |
| - | Could I point something out to you? | 31:45 |
| You say make a stand as though I had taken no stand | 31:50 | |
| in these matters. | 31:54 | |
| - | What about the country club? | 31:56 |
| - | What's the stand on the country club? | 31:59 |
| - | Yeah, what about it? | 32:01 |
| (chatting) | 32:03 | |
| - | I saw the depths of your feeling about it. | 32:05 |
| I'd have to say to you that I hadn't looked on that | 32:14 | |
| as the important issue. | 32:19 | |
| Not nearly as important as the chance to work | 32:22 | |
| with members of my community who may not see the matter | 32:27 | |
| of country club membership as you do. | 32:30 |
Item Info
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