00:00:11.140 - 00:01:06.150

the Buffalo Rue Err aereo Whoa! Canyon label Hey, Larry Food batty Wasow a bow Ready, buddy Whoa, yeah Whoa Cuello Rojo e or me lately Oh, mhm, Yeah. Hello. My name is Maya Angelo. We wear the mask that grins and lies

00:01:07.240 - 00:01:31.480

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes and this debt we pay to human guile With torn and bleeding hearts We smile and mouth myriad subtlety Why should the world be over wise in counting all our tears and sighs name Let them only see us while

00:01:31.480 - 00:02:03.360

we wear the mask We smile but oh, my God Our tears to the from tortured souls Arise, we see Ah, but God, the clay is vile beneath our feet and long the mile. Oh, but let the world think otherwise we wear the math. Well, that was

00:02:03.360 - 00:02:24.100

true, Mr Paul. Laurence Dunbar wrote that poem in the late 18 hundreds and it was true for many, many years. We wore the math, but our young people are saying today, take off the mask. They refused to wear the mask and we have to deal with

00:02:24.100 - 00:02:50.470

a reality that is mask less So that means then we must now take off the mask and look at ourselves. In the first program, I discussed positive African ISMs and how they helped us to survive. Now, in this program, I'm going to discuss negative Africanism. In

00:02:50.470 - 00:03:17.910

many cases, we have used them as survival tactics. But as Africans say today be today. Now we are taking off the masks. We don't need them anymore. There are sayings that include profound, uh, directions for us. The Africans say life is an unbroken line. We who

00:03:17.910 - 00:03:37.430

are here today in the middle say we are caretakers of and ADDers to those things that have gone before to those who are for those who are yet to come. You see, if we listen to these things, then then we can we can picture ourselves in

00:03:37.440 - 00:04:01.230

in a healthy future. And there's a poem that was written by Mr Hughes, a black American poet in the 18 hundreds again. And I think in this point we see how we've used what we called Tom is. Um, the poet says, You has told us so

00:04:01.230 - 00:04:21.070

often, master, that we as free as we can be. But we need some kind of checks, uh, so as well keep on being free. Please don't whip me this time, Master, though I knows you, it's good and kind. But ain't no slavery on this earth. So,

00:04:21.080 - 00:04:45.610

uh, like the slavery of the mind. Hey, but one compound solution to this problem, as I see if a man's minds and slavery ain't no way to set it free. Now, if the profits are right and if my own analysis of of the next 30 years

00:04:45.870 - 00:05:07.600

is valid, then we are going to suffer and endure a holocaust that will leave the world as we now know it in scattered pieces. The only way we can project ourselves into uh being able being healthy enough to pick up the pieces and build a healthy

00:05:07.600 - 00:05:30.030

society at its inception is to start now to look at ourselves. In 16, 19, one year before the celebrated Mayflower docking, the first Africans were brought to the shores of what later became the United States of America. In 16 29 they began their first appealed to

00:05:30.030 - 00:06:07.500

the authorities for their freedom. For 349 years, black Americans have big, besieged prayed. Why implored, threatened, fought for their freedom. They have risked and in many cases lost their dignity in a vain attempt for dignity. I suggest that this ability to take rejection, the refusal of

00:06:07.500 - 00:06:30.110

a request as a reason to continue begging as an Africanism and one that we must discard ruthlessly immediately. Unceremoniously, we must do it as unceremonious as as as a doctor cuts out rotten tissue and throws it into an incinerator we have in West Africa. In fact,

00:06:30.110 - 00:06:56.950

on the African continent, one is cajoled, extolled to exercise patience. If, uh, wrong has been done to a person, he is told. Oh, never mind exercise patience. If a person is in hospital or in jail and is in dire need, either of a lawyer are are

00:06:56.960 - 00:07:28.550

a doctor. Other patients are prisoners, other families or friends, complete strangers and even people who are themselves undergoing the same torture. Tell that person to exercise patience. Mhm. Now I suggest that it might not be patience indeed, that one should be exercising. It might be one's

00:07:28.550 - 00:08:02.580

brain. It might be one's ears. It might in fact, be one's muscles are ones. Eyes thanks. Black Americans have sung from the time we don t. I suppose all sorts of songs telling you to be quiet encouraging you to just wait. Uh, we have sung We

00:08:02.580 - 00:08:20.770

keep inching along like a pole interim. Not mind you, I think it's important here. Before we actually look at the survivals to realize they were functioning, they functioned, They were valid at a point. So we mustn't look back at our history and say, Oh, it wasn't

00:08:20.770 - 00:08:43.580

that a drag, Rather understand our idea this because it was necessary the American Indians to who's continent We were brought strangers in chains, slaves, more soul are today less than 600,000 in the United States. The Black American is upward of 25 million. And it is said

00:08:43.580 - 00:09:10.620

that that's a conservative estimate. So obviously we did use those those tactics and we survived. We in fact thrive. So that was fine. Until now. Now we look again, we reassess now black Americans sang mhm by and by by and by I'm gonna lay down this

00:09:10.620 - 00:09:43.400

heavy load I know my robe is gonna fit me Well, yeah, I'm gonna lay down this heavy load I tried at home at the gates of him Mhm. I'm gonna lay down is heaven Bishop Nero and the narrow specials are going to sing for you. Exactly

00:09:43.410 - 00:11:30.670

what we think about waiting. Mhm, Mhm. Oh, by all of the things, we will turn Well, well, well. I'll sing in my Yeah, Yeah. Mhm, Yeah. Mm mm. That

00:11:30.680 - 00:13:11.740

claim. Mhm. Trust me, Holly Wire. Mhm. He got a singer on that day. We discourage. Read windows? Yeah, Help! We're leaving. Leaving every day. We're trusting. Trusting in his holy word. Yeah,

00:13:14.840 - 00:14:01.050

he never found Yeah, I'm singing Can turn around. We found this. We came a long way. We have a long road ahead of us. It's we in our agony, in our pain we created great beauty, that beauty. We are not saying now that we must rid

00:14:01.050 - 00:14:32.860

ourselves of our or deny, but rather to be grateful for it. And now it's time to create something new, also beautiful. I am asking you, my people to to put your minds now on today the the close and closed relationships mhm in Africa of tribes of

00:14:32.860 - 00:14:59.480

families of clans led to a kind of miss mistrust. Now we see in in Africa, it's nothing to hear. A god person suggests that an every person is or maybe a little too selfish. And Ashanti may say that the the fantasies are proud. The beluga may

00:14:59.480 - 00:15:14.290

say the Lingala czar. Stupid. As this 1 may say, we're here in the States. Black Americans says, Oh, honey, he's from Portland. You know that person is from Seattle? No. Good. I was talking to a man the other day who told me. Oh, yes, The Louisiana

00:15:14.290 - 00:15:32.280

people, a very intelligent man. Fed Louisiana people. You can't trust them. They're evil. Uh, we're here in New York or Yes, And I live in Harlem. No, they live in Brooklyn. I, you know, have Brooklyn Negroes are hundreds point people. Say what? In the Fillmore? Nothing.

00:15:33.640 - 00:15:54.530

What? What? What does that mean? What is that saying to us now? We understand that we have. We have instances in Africa where tribal wars have been upgraded always by the European. But the pre European slavery, uh, wasn't It was a fact of African is a

00:15:54.530 - 00:16:20.360

fact of African history. And the tribal wars were facts. These these, uh, these antagonisms, uh, were there to be built upon by the European. As soon as he found himself economically concerned with the Africans. We We open ourselves to the colonial idea of separate and rule,

00:16:20.360 - 00:16:39.310

divide and conquer. Uh, we just see a case here. Recently in the in a nearby town, a mayor has sent a divisive force going between the black Americans in that town. Fortunately, in this case, they all seemed aware of what was what was trying to be

00:16:39.310 - 00:17:02.290

foisted onto them. And they didn't allow it to work in Nigeria today, the Civil war that's taking place there is, in fact, a tribal war. We see, uh, the evil who are in Biafra. Uh huh. Fighting The houses are fighting against. The houses are defending themselves

00:17:02.290 - 00:17:22.620

against the houses and the Uraba. The houses are Muslims. The evil are Christian. The houses are I mean, the houses. The Uraba are Christian and animist. A couple of weeks ago, in the local morning paper, there was a statement that the Ebo were starving and dying

00:17:22.620 - 00:17:44.760

like flies. The federal government from whom they have succeeded has offered them thousands of tons of food. They refused the food because they are afraid that the Uraba and the houses may poison the food before it gets to them. Now what does that tell us. What

00:17:44.760 - 00:18:11.030

does that tell us about trust? What does that tell us about our recognizing the unity? It is important. It is imperative that we have unity and unity at all costs. That whatever the the concession one has to make, one makes it to say Yes, brother. You

00:18:11.030 - 00:18:26.290

are my brother. I'm a Baptist, and you are non believer. Fine. That is a stage. And I understand it. I'm in a stage and I understand it. When you get changed, you will be changed. But until you're changing after you are still my brother, this is

00:18:26.290 - 00:18:43.520

very important. We mustn't get so so C. Diddy as it were that we look down on this man or that man, we mustn't. We must deal with the oneness. And it is not just the oneness of of the of the same being under the same oppression.

00:18:43.530 - 00:18:58.790

We have a oneness that that can be traced back to a culture that we have kept all these years. As a West Indian friend of mine said in New York a few weeks ago, he said, I may as well be a black American. I said, Why

00:18:58.790 - 00:19:09.840

don't you tell people you're a West Indian, he said. I may as well be a black American or an African or anything. I am that when I walk down the street, the people don't look at me and say, Oh, that's a West Indian Oh, that's an

00:19:09.840 - 00:19:40.190

African They said, Oh, he's black There's some There's some truth in that when one of the African carry overs one of the facts first is that the the Iron Workers in Africa hundreds of years ago never taught that skill freely. They apprenticed close relatives or slaves.

00:19:40.640 - 00:20:01.110

Now, of course, we understand. I hope you understand that the slave, uh, pattern in Africa was totally different from the slave pattern as the Western Westerners practiced it. But the the slaves could inherit, they could marry into the family and so forth in Africa. Well, an

00:20:01.110 - 00:20:20.540

ironworker taught only those people close at home. When the Europeans came to take slaves, of course, they took the man who was skilled. Understandably, they took him and his apprentices. Now, today, in Africa, you can see villages that looked just as they looked 400 years ago

00:20:20.550 - 00:20:42.940

because everyone was taken out that new anything because knowledge was not open and free those people. Those iron smelters, the the gold workers, the all the brick makers had great skills in New Orleans. The ironwork that you see in New Orleans in the old quarter or

00:20:42.940 - 00:21:17.030

the Latin Quarter. All that grill work not only was executed by Africans, it was designed by Africans. Those men had great skills. They worked with simple tools mhm and made things of beauty. They fashioned pieces that were not only functional but had an aesthetic value as

00:21:17.030 - 00:21:54.750

well. Knives are seldom called beautiful. Mhm roots long as ancestral ties as certain singular birth burning straight passed through the womb of the earth. Scream now mhm burning pants of false guardian gods like my abuela Coal black from the bowels of the earth Burning read unrelenting

00:21:54.860 - 00:22:25.450

like the bitter smell of Sofia rivers. Mhm. Yeah, you are the creator, The Commandant. Mont Monument. Palpable breath of the sun shining Even at the midnight hour you create New God. You shatter yesterday's bleeding sufferings. The waters of your eternal spring drowned today's debris for preparing

00:22:25.940 - 00:23:00.490

for a naked future. Mhm! Give me your cosmic embrace. Give me the essence of this moment eternal life. The skies horizon You are the creator of New God Let me bask in the rhythm of your smile Tropical as Tom Tom Ecstasy Mhm The spearhead stride across

00:23:00.490 - 00:23:36.990

your back bone And on the splintered ice on this debris From here to their And my song began Mhm history is still a hair raising Slippery though her skull be split Mm hmm. Don't sleep at the hair splitting time hairsplitting tip of time You stumble mass

00:23:36.990 - 00:24:19.050

shooting your path from here And though you heard Lumumba and them are dead solid shadows loom in the cloud Where the spearhead wind strides across your bare backbone And on this splintered ice on this debris From here to there And my song began Yeah. Mm Mhm.

00:24:19.640 - 00:25:05.010

Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Okay. Mhm. Mm. Mm hmm. Who? Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. There are excellent pieces of work that we are very proud of. I must tell you that this is probably the most painful of the 10 programs for me. I know it's painful to watch.

00:25:05.020 - 00:25:26.410

I hope it is. I I threatened the other day to a group of black Americans. It was my intention to pull the blankets. All that's true, We can't begin to create. Unless we we see where we've been, those positives and those negatives, we've got to be

00:25:26.410 - 00:25:50.850

ruthless with ourselves. Apathy is a fact. In the black American life, there's an attitude of indifference that's also so in West Africa. 1 may go to a bank or to a restaurant are those who go to bars like me to a bar. And the attitude of

00:25:50.850 - 00:26:28.670

the serving person is almost I'm doing you a favor. Now I know we've all seen the next scene in any black area in the United States. Apathy. Yeah, pride, distorted, pride gone wrong, misdirected, indifferent. Have you ever gone into a restaurant and wanted to apologize for

00:26:28.670 - 00:26:47.480

being there or just for being period? Godfrey Cambridge took me to a restaurant some years ago, and the waitress was so haughty and indifferent that he told her, Miss, I don't mean any harm. I just want ham and eggs. But if you show me where they

00:26:47.480 - 00:27:09.760

are, I'll fix them myself and eat them myself and take care of you, too. Mhm. I want you to watch this scene and see if you recognize anything in it. See which one of the characters you identify with? Good morning, miss. Yeah, What you want? I'd

00:27:09.760 - 00:27:27.570

like to hamburgers to go, please. And two chickens to go. Two hamburgers and two chickens. How do you want those chickens? I want the chicken's fried. And with the hamburgers. One with onions and one without onions, please. Oh, and our two orders of fries, please. Women.

00:27:27.580 - 00:27:43.090

How you want those Those hamburgers? Well, naturally, I want my meat cooked. I want it well done. And one with onions and one without onions. Two orders of fries and two fried chickens to go naturally, huh? Yes, please. Could you hurry? Please? Don't rush me now.

00:27:43.340 - 00:27:59.330

Uh, well, I'm double parked outside. You see that car? Yeah. You see that? I don't want to get a ticket. Yes, I read the side, right? Yes, I understand that, but, you know Well, keep your shirt on. Yes, I understand this, but that still doesn't I'm

00:27:59.330 - 00:28:12.960

double. Yeah, well, I'm trying to get the audio, put your place and, you know, place the order. I don't get that. Well, I don't have to order. Well, yes. Uh huh. Yeah, Well, okay, well, I'll tell you all over again. I want a hamburger. Two hamburgers,

00:28:12.960 - 00:28:27.160

one with onions, one without onions. I want my meat well cooked. I'd like two orders of fries to go. And I would like to fried chickens to go, please. Thank you. Could you place my order? Because I'm double parked? Yeah. Don't rush me now. I'm rushing

00:28:27.160 - 00:28:47.720

as fast as I could. Two fried chicken go to go to Hamburg. Two hamburgers to go. One with onions, one without. Yeah, I got all that. The fries. Two orders of fries. Thank you. Thank you very much for the restaurant that Jim. Uhh! Would you get

00:28:47.720 - 00:29:30.010

me two orders of fried chicken? Two hamburgers, one without onions, one with well done. And two orders of fries to go whenever you get time. No rush about it. That'll be 4 50 4, 50 one, two, three and four Makes four. And here is 50 cents.

00:29:30.020 - 00:30:04.110

Thank you very much. Wait a minute. No tip, huh? That's what I say about those kind of people. Don't never give tips to your best. Yeah. Sad. Funny, funny, sad, True. Painfully true. We've got to cut it loose. Mhm. There's a statement in the Black American

00:30:04.110 - 00:30:34.320

world these days. It's very It's very popular. It is sad that the black man has been castrated by Whitey and by the black woman. I'll repeat as statistic that I gave you earlier in this program. The Black Americans are upwards of 25 million today. 100 years

00:30:34.320 - 00:30:57.830

ago, we were around three million castrated men do not father Children now, so we accept that as a lie. However, there is some truth in that line. And the truth is, the African slaves who were brought here came from systems where the matrilineal descent petrol, any

00:30:57.830 - 00:31:22.160

all control was the custom. African women today choose or choose not to carry their husbands name. If they do, it's usually a western as um, when the slave owners became aware that this was that there was a maternal kind of control inherent in the slaves, he

00:31:22.170 - 00:31:42.910

developed it. Of course, this is a part of an intent to break up a family, the family unit, the structure that is really the backbone of not only the nation but all mankind. They post slavery, the reconstruction period, and that period after after that, for some

00:31:42.920 - 00:32:08.620

50 60 years, the black man was not allowed to even get a job. He worked as sharecropper as a sharecropper in the most menial, usually agricultural, uh, conditions. The black woman, however, became stronger. She she sat down in that role that history had had cast her

00:32:08.620 - 00:32:35.410

in and that slavery, slavery had caricatured her in. So she began to believe that, yes, it's true. I'm so strong. And he also began to believe they both bought Uhh this this lie now when? When we see ourselves today, our young men in the street, sometimes

00:32:35.410 - 00:32:55.620

it's not this external pressure. It's simply that these young men will no longer be held in by mother saying, I told you to do it. That's the reason you should do it now Can we assuage our men's pain and agony anymore by trying to to bring

00:32:55.620 - 00:33:19.120

home an extra ham bone from the kitchen? We've just left. These are new times. We have to reassess that male female relationship. It's very important. We are not, in fact, the men of the family. We are still yes, in an economic bind that is true. Our

00:33:19.120 - 00:33:33.890

men still do not have the freedom to win the bacon and bring it home. We do. We do not have the open avenues, but we must prepare ourselves for the time when we do, while our men are opening the avenues, I'm talking particularly to the women.

00:33:33.890 - 00:33:55.770

Now I want you to see this next scene. It's unfortunate that this scene is repeated in thousands, maybe millions of black American homes on Friday nights or on the on the pay night. See it, read it, understand it and weep. Weep, Dry your eyes and change.

00:34:02.840 - 00:34:20.740

Hey, how you doing? How are you? Mhm. I see you ain't cooked. Mhm. And the house is just as dirty as it was when I left this morning. Pills as a Pigpen. I hope you don't think I am supposed to come home, work hard all day

00:34:20.740 - 00:34:38.020

and come home and cook and clean up too. You can't say anything to me. You can't even pass the time of day. I've been working hard all day. I'm not playing when I leave here, baby, I'll go out there and I hauled. Baby, You can't even

00:34:38.020 - 00:34:52.060

pass the time of day, huh? Sit up there reading the paper play like you're looking for a job. If you're looking for a job, you get a job, baby. Because jobs don't get you. You know, you go out and get a job for real, you know,

00:34:54.940 - 00:35:21.250

Don't you feel good? Ain't nothing wrong with it. Look here. I got paid today. I got some money for you. Well, there's no point in acting like, uh, Sosa. Didi, baby. I mean, I'm the only one that's making any money. I'm the only one that's bringing

00:35:21.250 - 00:35:37.350

any money in this house, you know? So don't actually like you're on your high horse with me. You what? You think I am? A machine? You think I'm a horse? You want me to be Mama and Papa too? Is that it? That's it, huh? Well, you

00:35:37.350 - 00:35:48.820

got another thought coming. I'm getting sick of it. For my part, I just don't know how if I can take it any longer, you know, like it's a drag. Every time I come in the food, there's no food. Cook. There's no place is filthy. You can't

00:35:48.820 - 00:36:20.690

even say anything. Now. Now, where you going now? Out in the street, huh? Can't you even pass the time of day with me? What, baby? What you doing with your suitcase? Paper? Where are you going? Maybe you and I can hardly believe me. I say we

00:36:20.690 - 00:36:38.120

don't leave. Maybe you're gonna leave me here with all these kids and all these bills. Yeah, Well, go on. I don't care. You ain't no good. No, I always do it. You wasn't no good. You ain't no good. You black man, ain't no good. Leave me

00:36:38.120 - 00:37:15.520

here. Just leave me. I don't care. I question a people's sincerity, My own peoples, in this case for freedom in their quest for freedom when they religiously hold on to the superstitions that helped to break a racist back. The we say don't count anybody in an.

00:37:15.530 - 00:37:40.920

In an age when computers are daily accounting the amounts the numbers of babies born every minute, how can be encountered, uh, affect you negatively when people are sending a whole monkeys to the moon? How can a rabbit's foot or any talisman like that particular the the

00:37:40.930 - 00:38:02.490

thing itself? How can that affect you negatively or positively? The spirit of the thing is another thing. I don't I don't put that down, but I think we've got to break histories half Nelson on us. The African slaves that were brought here came from systems, religious

00:38:02.490 - 00:38:27.950

systems Where Shango Odom. Yeah. And various other names for God, For the one God were worshipped when they arrived in this in the United States or in the Caribbean or in South America. They were like empty vessels ready to have Christianity poured into them because they

00:38:27.950 - 00:38:51.300

understood the concept of the one God. Christianity didn't faze them. Uh, that is to say it wasn't difficult for them to believe in an immaculate conception because, after all, Shango and oh, doom were, uh, sufficient unto themselves. They created according to their belief, a lesser gods,

00:38:51.310 - 00:39:13.310

uh, young capon. There's a legend among the Ashanti, that young capon who, which is the name of God and in with the Ashanti that he was living very near man. But there was a woman who was beating a mortar breaking, uh, meal, breaking corn into meal.

00:39:13.320 - 00:39:29.350

And as she beat the stick was so high he kept moving away from her. He kept moving up, and so he went way up into the sky. She then took all the mortar sticks and place them one on top of the other like that until she

00:39:29.350 - 00:39:44.810

almost reached him and at the last moment she saw that she hadn't reached him. So she took the bottom stick to put it on the top, and they all fell down. And for that reason, God is way up in the sky and, uh, human beings are

00:39:44.810 - 00:40:02.620

down here. That is an African tradition. It wasn't difficult for the black American or the slave to accept the statement that, uh, Ezekiel went to heaven on a chariot wheel. Didn't a Nancy the spider in West Africa traveled up to heaven on his web whenever he

00:40:02.620 - 00:40:24.580

wanted to and speak to young happen. So what we see here is that we had a tendency. We leaned in. We give up. We surrender to a belief off times without really examining the belief I don't intend. It is not my intention to turn you against

00:40:24.580 - 00:40:42.310

religion. I'm a very religious person. I'm asking you only to turn to face it. Look at it, examine it not because someone else told you to do so or because it's nice to do so. But because you want to know where you're going. If if you

00:40:42.310 - 00:41:01.320

believe in God, then you are God's child too. Are you going to do harm to any child of God. Charity and every other virtue begins at home. So then you begin there and you'll be good to God's child. No tragedy of people in history have ever

00:41:01.330 - 00:41:47.940

stood up and saying I got a robe You got a road All God's Children got roads when people for miles around didn't even have a shirt on their back. Mhm, Mhm, mhm. I gotta roll You gotta roll all of God's to God Heaven

00:42:06.400 - 00:43:01.020

Oh, oh, everybody Everybody's talking about heaven I'm gonna everybody everybody talking about heaven Ain't going everybody talking about heaven Everybody's talking about everybody Heaven I'm gonna show all of the guys Heaven, everybody, everybody, Everybody heaven I'm the late Sam Cooke wrote a song called I know

00:43:01.020 - 00:43:25.000

a Change is gonna come I said the late Sam Cooke A change came for him. The late Otis Redding recorded that song, too. I'm sorry to say he is also the late Otis Redding. I suggest that neither of them anticipated the kind of change that did

00:43:25.000 - 00:44:12.890

take place a change from life to death, that waiting until my change comes is a very dangerous practice. They both sang fervently and black Americans safe reverently. I know a change is gonna come. Mhm Those by the liver. Mhm in a little tent. Oh, I just

00:44:12.890 - 00:44:53.770

like the river. I've been running every since. It's been a long a long time coming, but I know. Yeah, a change gonna come? Oh, yes, it will. It's been too hard living, but it's a gun. I don't know what's up there beyond the sky. It's been

00:44:53.770 - 00:45:47.040

a long home a lot of time coming, but I'm Yeah, change Gonna come? No. Yes, it will. That I Oh, my brother. And I said, Brother, help me, please. Yeah, but he winds up knocking me I got all my Ali's. Yeah, that time I'm not a

00:45:48.290 - 00:46:33.020

I could last a long Oh, but now I think I'm able Oh, carry on. It's been a long a long time coming, but I know. Mm. Changed all come. Yes, we will. Mm. Africans who were brought to the States for the most part came from

00:46:33.030 - 00:46:58.180

what was then called the Gold Coast. The slave coast and the Ivory Coast. Those names have changed. The Gold Coast is currently Ghana. The slave coast is includes the home a sum of Nigeria. The Ivory Coast, of course, is still called by its commercial appellation. It's

00:46:58.180 - 00:47:21.110

still called called Code. Even mhm. They the slaves came from established governmental institutions. That is to say, there was a paramount chief in a pyramid IQ structure. There is a Paramount chief. There were was his coach, army or linguist, his speaker. There were the elders. There

00:47:21.110 - 00:47:46.390

was a governmental, very firm governmental establishment, A structure this slave could understand the concept of authority from above. Those slaves who gave the slave owners the greatest trouble in trying being being brought to the States were, for the most part, from the crew people or people

00:47:46.390 - 00:48:07.530

who were who had autonomy within a clan or within even a family. So they rebelled against the idea of some great unknown power being able to tell them what to do, they didn't make good slaves. In fact, most of them, uh, died by their own hand

00:48:07.540 - 00:48:33.710

or are were killed immediately. Our ancestors, though, understood the concept of of big man big balls master somebody overhead, telling them what to do now. As I said earlier, this is the most painful subject for me because I am a black American. I have lived in

00:48:33.710 - 00:48:53.500

Africa. I live there now. I really shouldn't use the past tense. But the fact is I am a black American. And all the follies, all the foibles, all the failures are mine. All the achievements to all the beauty, all the art is mine. I am asking

00:48:53.500 - 00:49:19.900

you now to help me too painfully examine these follies and fables and and follies and ways in which we have. We have helped ourselves to two sort of sink down, you know, further and further. And keep sinking our Children down, which is even more important now.

00:49:20.270 - 00:49:41.680

Laws are made by men. It is not the other way around. They are made by men for men. If a law is an Amoral, if it is made by Amoral people or if it is made for the wrong reason, then it must be remade. I mean,

00:49:41.680 - 00:50:08.310

that makes sense. Uh, don't I don't ask or suggest to you too blatantly or without thinking rebel against authority. I asked you rather first examine the authority. Is it fair? Law is supposed to be fair. Is it fair? If your answer is no, then you must

00:50:08.320 - 00:50:31.990

deliberately make steps to change those laws not live under them, because, after all, that's what the white man said you did. That's not where it's at. The woods are on fire. Damn Now, When we opened this program, I used a poem and told you who had

00:50:31.990 - 00:50:57.550

written it in the iron Smelting, uh, part of the program. I used three segments from a poem from Poems by Mr Willie Cut Sexily, a South African kill P Etc. Carol Rape, etc. Coated Steel. A great poet whose work is often found in the Negro Digest

00:50:57.550 - 00:51:17.280

and other good journals. I'm going to close this program with the same with the poet. Another point for Mr Coated Steel. But first, I shall do a small poem about me and you see if you can dig it. I wrote this one. He went to being

00:51:17.280 - 00:51:36.460

called a colored man after answering to Hey, ***, Now that's a big joke. Anywhere you figure Hey, baby, watch my smoke from Colored Man to Negro with the n in camps was like saying Japanese instead of saying Japs, I mean during the war, his next big

00:51:36.460 - 00:51:53.370

move was a change for true from Negro in caps to being a Jew Now seeing Yiddish, Your mama Light yellow, brown and dark brown skin They were okay Colors to describe him. Then he was a bouquet of roses. But if you want to drag him I'm

00:51:53.370 - 00:52:19.850

telling you, Dad, just make the mistake of calling him black Honey, I don't play that now get to that. Don't get caught Searching past what we see and hear Seeing past the pretensions of knowledge we moved to the meeting place The pulse of the beginning the

00:52:19.860 - 00:52:45.670

end and the beginning in the stillness is of the night In the stillness is of the night Informed by the rhythm of your spirit We hear the song of warriors and rejoice to find far in our hands Ain't no mountain high enough Can you dig it?

00:52:46.950 - 00:53:29.740

The silences of the wind know it too Ain't no valley low enough Freedom How do you do? Thank you very much. The buffalo Rue Err aereo Whoa! Canyon label Hey, Larry Fun batty Wasow a bow Ready, buddy Whoa yeah whoa yeah Cuello Rue e or me

00:53:29.740 - 00:54:15.750

lately o e or me late Oh, yeah before Yeah, before they Oh, they mean ceramic bowl. Oh, he or me lately? All rooms. The bathroom. Barueri. Rio. Well, what can you any label a Larry food?