00:00:08.240 - 00:00:56.580

the buffalo rew Rew err aereo Whoa! Can you any label? Hey, Larry Fun batty Wasow ive already, buddy. Whoa, yeah! Whoa! Yeah Larue e or mealy Oh, hello. My name is Maya. Angela. This evening, we'll discuss violence in the black American world. Violence One American said

00:00:57.780 - 00:01:30.770

violence is as American as apple pie. Yeah, I would like to add to that. Violence is live life represents two opposing poles struggling, vying with each other Positives and negatives aggressive and passives The violence inherent in nature are most obvious If if you want to see

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how nature provides for a little daisy to grow up in the springtime all soft and vulnerable Go and stand in a storm in a field alone at night and hear the lightning clap and the thunder roll and the rain pelts maddeningly down That is violent. But

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today, tonight I shall discuss violence, malicious violence, violence of man against man. I dedicate this program to the memory of Malcolm X Martin Luther King Mhm Yeah, Denmark. Vesey, who was born and died in the 18 hundreds and to the Denmark Vesey was born in August

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1968 to Dr Du Bois, who died in exile. Two, uh, the men and women who are nameless, that is to say, whose names have not come down through the centuries, but whose blood who's Who's agony? Uh, we we we are we inherit in America. The settling

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of the country was a long panorama of violence we see today the American proud of having ah taken the country, the pioneers who fought the Indians and killed them and our Children early in in their lives at three or four get guns. And on Christmas, mind

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you on Jesus Christ's birthday on the birthday of the Prince of Peace and they get guns and celebrate how the Indians were wiped out. Violence in America. Dr. William Greer and Dr Price Cobb have written a book called Black Raids. It's an important book. I would

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suggest all black Americans should by at least a copy and put it beside the other good books. You must have, they say, and this is a quote. People bear all they can and, if required, can bear even more. But if they are black in present day

00:04:08.650 - 00:04:33.260

America, they've been asked to shoulder too much. They have had all they can stand, they will be harried no more, turning from the torment as they are filled with rage, the growing anger of Negroes is frightening to white America. There is a feeling of betrayal, of

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undeserved attack. White people have responded with a rage of their own as the lines become more firmly drawn. Exchange of information is the first casualty. Now I'm impressed by the doctors, Cobb and Greer's book. I'm impressed by them. The the casualty they mentioned there. The the

00:05:03.440 - 00:05:22.960

the the lack of information is a strange one to notice. In a country where the communications media has its tendrils in every every home, in every thinking on every level, how is there a lack of communication? How is there a lack of understanding What has happened

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when whites say, um, we don't know why the black men in white Watts burned as it burned those The houses are so neat. The the lawns are so pleasant. Uh, neat manicure, palm trees and sidewall. They. There's no similarity between Watts and and Harlem, say, or

00:05:48.420 - 00:06:12.380

East ST Louis, say, or, uh, Chicago and certainly not Detroit. But one sees that behind that facade of meat manicured loans or the problems of economic and so sociological problems that do not allow the black man to take one step in his own on his own

00:06:12.380 - 00:06:46.960

path toward his own destiny. His own director. Destiny In what, what? What occasioned the outbreak in 1965? The revolt in Watts in 1965 was not was not at first mhm. There was a president set for a lot in 1919 in Chicago, there was a a riot

00:06:48.240 - 00:07:14.450

and a very important riot. In fact, during that year, there were 26 riots from the Chicago defender. Ah, August 2nd 1919 quote. Following the Sunday Afraid that he read tongues had blabbed there. Phil and Monday morning found the thoroughfare in the white neighborhoods throated with a

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sea of humans everywhere, some armed with guns, bricks, clubs and oaths. The presence of a black face in their vicinity was a signal for a carnival of death, and before any aid could reach the poor, unfortunate one. His body reposed in some kindly gutter. His brain

00:07:33.170 - 00:07:52.080

spilled over dirty pavement. Some of the victims were chased, caught and dragged into alleys and lots where they were left for dead in all parts of the city, white mobs dragged from surface cause black passengers wholly ignorant of any trouble and set upon them. An unidentified

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young woman and a three month old baby were found dead on the street at the intersection of 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue. She had attempted to board a car there when the mob seized her, beat her and slashed her body into ribbons and beat the baby's

00:08:09.250 - 00:08:30.950

brains out against a telegraph pole. Not satisfied with this, one rioter severed her breasts, and a white youngster bore it all off on a pole triumphantly, while the crowd hooted gleefully all the time this was happening. Several policemen were in the crowd but did not make

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any attempt to rescue until too late violence in America in the black American world, the that that that riot was 1919 in 1920 to 1921 there was a riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, For the first time, I suppose, well, liquid fire was dropped on the black American

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community on black Americans. I would say that this was the first instance of napalm being dropped on human beings in Tulsa at that time, Black Americans had married Indians in many many instances and had built the initial money into into larger sums. It is said that

00:09:39.330 - 00:10:05.130

the white community wanted to oust the blacks, and so they would jump at any chance to do so. And the day before the riot, a a young white girl who had had arguments, disagreements with a young black boy, they worked in the same building. He is

00:10:05.130 - 00:10:25.180

a janitor, of course, and she is a secretary. Uh, they had an argument on that particular day. He tried to get into the elevator. She didn't want him in or vice versa. And so he talked to her badly. He called her a bunch of names and

00:10:25.220 - 00:10:46.860

just generally talk to her badly. She went and reported him, of course, the charge he was picked up. The charge was assaulting a white woman. Well, the red and yellow sensational papers played that up and said, uh, black man and Negro, uh, assaulted a white lady,

00:10:47.940 - 00:11:15.990

and the riot ensued, and thousands of people were homeless. 5000 people in the in the black neighborhood, with their hard worked for our homes, were made homeless. The area was raised. It looked, in fact, very much like what In 1965 what in 1965 was violent? It

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represented the A. People erase fighting for its life. Mhm. None in the land can say to us black men. Today you send the tractors on their bloody path and create a showcase for the Grapes of Wrath. You breed the slum that breeds a native son

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to damn the good Earth Pilgrim Fathers one. The new Negro strides up on the continent in seven league boots. The new Negro who sprang from the vigor stout loins of Nat Turner. Gallows martyr for freedom of Joseph Sinclair, says Black Moses of the Amistad Mutiny of

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Frederick Douglass Oracle of the Catholic Man. I'm Sojourner Truth I an ear of Lincoln's legions of Harriet Tubman, Saint Bernard of the Underground Railroad. None in the land can say to us black men. Today you duped the poor with rags to riches tales and leave the

00:12:41.770 - 00:13:08.110

workers empty dinner pails. You stuffed the ballot box, and honest men are muzzled by your demagogic den. None in the land can say to us black men. Today you smashed stock markets with your coin blitz screeds and make 100 million guinea pigs You counterfeit Christianity and

00:13:08.110 - 00:13:32.130

bring contempt upon democracy. None in the land can say to us black men today you prowl while citizens are fast asleep and hatch fifth column plots to blast the deep foundations of the state and leave the land of vast Sahara with a fascist brand. None in

00:13:32.130 - 00:14:01.960

the land can say to us black men. Today you send fire gutting tanks like swarms of flies and plump a hell with dynamiting skies. You fill machine gun towns with rotting dead and no man's land. Where Children big for bread at Point. By Melvin B. Tolson.

00:14:04.840 - 00:14:31.060

We went to to Los Angeles two watts three years later to see what happened since 1965. What gains have been made? What fantastic breakthroughs are there that we can rejoice about? Sarah Celebrate. We met with a Miss Mary Jane Hewitt, who is an expert on riot.

00:14:31.540 - 00:14:50.790

This is a subject she deals with, and, as I believe in the United States, the person most conversant on the subject of American riots. We met with her in Sid's Cafe in Los Angeles. Is there, Monsieur Tell me, is there a relationship. And how close is

00:14:50.790 - 00:15:11.450

the relationship between the the riots, the revolts of, uh of these years, say, of the last four years and the historic revolts of the 1919, 20 and 21? There is a relationship in that there's, um allez, but there's a distinct difference in that. I think what

00:15:11.460 - 00:15:31.440

characterizes the revolts of the 19 19 era was that it was people against people, whereas the more recent revolts are people against the symbols of authority and oppression. And I think that's the major difference in the earlier period, it was whites against blacks. For the most

00:15:31.450 - 00:15:52.940

part. In this period, it's blacks against the symbols of authority and oppression against the establishment. Well, now, when, uh then I can determine from that that when the black youth burned down a piece of property, they are in fact at property rather than that Personals. Uh,

00:15:52.950 - 00:16:15.460

that's how I see it. Very interesting. And if you look at the statistics of the more recent revolts, the casualty list is more often than not the revolt urz uh, rather than the representatives of authority. Mhm. I know you've done work in that 1919 1920 and

00:16:15.460 - 00:16:35.550

21 riot area and era. Uh, did you find that that the whole society was standing against the blacks or that groups of people like the KKK or the White Citizens Council, which we know wasn't formed then? But just groups were standing against black groups. It was

00:16:35.560 - 00:16:53.880

the white have nots against the black have nots. And I tie this to World War One, the after effects of World War you know, the United States entered World War One rather late. And the in fact, there's a theory that, uh, the thirst for action was

00:16:53.880 - 00:17:14.460

not wedded in World War one on the part of the American soldiers who went abroad to participate. And of course, this also marks the great period of migration mass migration of blacks from rural south to urban south and north. And so the war plants and the

00:17:14.470 - 00:17:31.520

industries were manned, in essence, by the blacks, for the most part during World War One. And then the whites and the blacks come home after World War One, where they fought to make the world safe for democracy. They find blacks occupying positions. The whites find blacks

00:17:31.520 - 00:17:50.340

occupying the positions they formerly held moving into neighborhoods they formerly did not occupy. And, uh, job scarcity, um, economic tension, economic molest. All of these factors characterized the era. And I think this has a lot to do. All of these factors have a lot to do

00:17:50.340 - 00:18:07.850

with the fact that they have not. White said About two, in essence, put the blacks back in what the white is considered to be their proper place. I see now, uh, where their gains made. I mean palpable gains, tangible gains made out of those historic riots

00:18:07.850 - 00:18:31.500

of the twenties. No, not really. Because there was no victory. I see the difference, I think. And the significant difference is that for the first time, American blacks fought back the earlier periods. In the 19 3 rebellion in Atlanta, for example, the blacks passively, um, accepted

00:18:31.510 - 00:18:47.070

the attacks on the part of whites. Whereas in the post World War one period, the blacks, for the first time in our history, really stood on their feet and fought back against the attack. And as the black people began to assert themselves as they never had

00:18:47.080 - 00:19:10.730

before in American history, the tension built. The most classic case was the Chicago riot, which began with a young black boy going swimming in that forbidden era era of the lake. And, as we know very often, even though there's no fine line drawn. One part of

00:19:10.730 - 00:19:28.520

the lake was for blacks, and one part of the lake was for once, and this young boy dared to cross over to the forbidden area forbidden for blacks. And he was stoned by whites as he swam, and it looked as though he was going to drown

00:19:28.530 - 00:19:45.900

and an effort was made to rescue him. Then there was battling, going on on the beach between blacks and whites as the boy was in trouble out here, Uh, and then the police got involved in the whole conflagration. The boy did drown by the way he

00:19:45.910 - 00:20:03.890

did, he did drown. Now it was never proven whether he drowned because of a stone that may have hit him or whether he just frightened or whether he was tired. And that's still a big unknown. However, he did drown, and the Chicago riot rebellion revolt was

00:20:03.900 - 00:20:25.410

the result. And as I said earlier, the difference between the riots of 1919 and the more recent riots of the sixties is that the 1919 era was people against people. Americans against Americans, blacks against whites, blacks actually fighting back mhm against attacks by white. How would

00:20:25.410 - 00:20:42.720

you explain the characteristic of riots following riots in a kind of chain reaction? Uh, way as we've seen it, one city goes up one day and three days later. 10 cities of burning. How would you explain that? Well, there was a study done by a young

00:20:42.720 - 00:21:01.150

man at Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania. I've forgotten his name. However, he did a historical study of urban rebellions, and there are certain characteristics that dominate. One is they usually take place. These rebellions take place during the peak of the heat, the hot season. They usually take

00:21:01.150 - 00:21:18.740

place on weekends. Mhm so the temperature is the mean. In fact, he traced the mean temperature, and it usually was around 86 degrees, the mean temperature, which means more often than not. It was high humidity and high temperature, usually on the weekends when people are idle

00:21:18.740 - 00:21:35.430

and certainly poor people in in in disadvantaged communities are idle. They're not on the golf course or on their boats. They're sitting idly in their communities and the least thing may trigger an explosion now. The other characteristic in this historical tracing was that more often than

00:21:35.430 - 00:21:55.850

not, the explosion was triggered by police authorities acting in a fashion which was viewed as oppressive and unfair on the part of the disadvantaged peoples. So if there's any linkage, and I think this still holds true with the exception of the rebellions that followed the assassination

00:21:55.850 - 00:24:32.530

of Dr Martin Luther King, that they more often than not take place in late, hot, humid summer. No American idea, the new site of the Watch Cultural Center And, uh, how far will it take in from those cars? The whole empty

00:24:32.530 - 00:24:50.130

space, What was here before a commercial buildings that were burned out during the August rebellion in 1965? And as you can see, there's been very little rebuilding since. I see that the new cultural tender will be built with a grant from HUD matched by the city

00:24:50.130 - 00:25:11.580

of Los Angeles. That's housing and urban development. Yeah, the Western regional administrator of How Bob Kits down here Thursday last week for the dedication of the new site. This is the old building, the old What's happening coffeehouse. Yes, What was it? Originally? It was a furniture

00:25:11.580 - 00:25:24.090

warehouse owned by Nat Diamond, who was well known in these parts. It's been condemned, and the city has allowed the group to fund the institute and the What's happening coffeehouse to stay there until the new facility is built here across the street. In this empty lot,

00:25:24.100 - 00:25:39.460

I see there was some great artwork done in here. Oh yes, they have poetry and jazz seminars and the buffoons Mummers, a drama group. It's a swinging place. Swinging place is going to be happening across the street. That's right. It'll have filmmaking, drama, arts and crafts.

00:25:39.470 - 00:26:09.100

A complete cultural center. Marvelous. Thank you, otherwise known as release the Department of Public and Social Services, otherwise known as Relief Aid to Dependent Children of Line and the infirm and so on. And it's one of the new buildings in the area. Mary Jane. They used

00:26:09.100 - 00:26:24.250

to People who were on relief in this area used to have to go five or six or 10 miles, isn't it? This is a part of the results of, uh, burning cities burning buildings. Many new facilities are being brought into the formerly neglected communities such as

00:26:24.260 - 00:26:43.620

that doctors building across the street and the concentrated employment project, which, as you see, is a joint project, the California State Department of Employment and Economic and Youth Opportunities Agency of Los Angeles. This is an effort to reduce the importance of the Department of Public and

00:26:43.620 - 00:27:23.780

Social Services down the street and make people more self sufficient by training and job placement, in contrast to the dilapidated buildings and vacant lots outside. As the Reverend Brown said, Here's an example of community pride. The philosophy being brainpower is manpower. Yeah, yeah. Hey,

00:27:23.790 - 00:27:55.660

I don't want on the bathroom. Thanks. What's happening in Watson's represented right there. These are indigenous organizations that grew out of the explosions of people who were determined to assert their own pride, their own identity. But as far as the largest society is concerned, nothing's happening.

00:28:14.640 - 00:28:46.300

And that's what you mean. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right there. Okay. Well, I'm a writer, and I really like I was telling that that's the route. And like he said, this, you know, the land. This is a revolution. This is the problem here. We ain't got no

00:28:46.300 - 00:29:04.460

land. Yeah, we're just sitting on it. You tell me this. This guy don't give us a Cadillac. We just drive right on the way. You know? Still ain't got nothing. Nothing solid. They ain't got the land. And that's what we've been talking to. My brother. Welcome.

00:29:04.470 - 00:29:17.300

This is excellent. I ain't no people trying to flush or anything like that. Still like it is because I ain't no actor. I'm Mr Brother. That's it. So I don't know what's all this, because I ain't. You saw Malcolm telling us to do. About what? What's

00:29:17.300 - 00:29:36.950

brother Malcolm telling us to do about it on this all Get our own blackness and know what blackness is and for really? Well, look at the revolution, right? Ain't nothing new that's been going on. You see it on TV every day. Hop along, Cassidy with the

00:29:36.950 - 00:30:02.280

white horse and things you know And Toronto. Hey, you know what about Superman? Why you got to be flying around? You know, white, I'll be nail in the 19 sixties. The black community is asserting itself. It is determined to make its own determination. Self determination is

00:30:02.280 - 00:30:21.980

the key phrase I'm I'm impressed personally by walking down the street in 1968 the same streets. I could have walked down in 1958 1948 even 1938 with my hair natural and a piece of African cloth in my address or wearing a piece of African cloth in

00:30:21.980 - 00:30:39.540

those years, decades one decade ago, I would have been laughed at. I have been laughed at. I have been ridiculed and, in fact, denied. But today, in 1968 as I walk down the street in the black community in Watts of 68 with Miss Hewitt with her

00:30:39.540 - 00:31:00.540

beautiful hair beautiful and with in an African cloth from Ghana, I'm met on the street by people who say, Sister, welcome, sister. Welcome. And I see the psychological advance that has been made since 1965 and I'm thrilled by it. Can you say the same? Yes, indeed.

00:31:00.540 - 00:31:20.500

And this this is the point. I'm making that the change is in the self determination, the increasing black pride. But without some economic and political progress, I'm afraid that the black pride will come to naught eventually. The psychological advance appears to be a small one. When

00:31:20.500 - 00:31:50.620

one sees what other desires in fact needs, there are in, what, 1968? After we left Los Angeles about three in the afternoon That evening, Watts exploded again and the paper thin covering was ripped off. And one sees that the the evils that the hidden timber that

00:31:50.730 - 00:32:17.530

was set fire to in 1965 was still there, dry resting, ready to be fired again. The the positive, though, that psychological advance, that ability to see one man as a brother and and any man as a brother and any woman as a sister is going to

00:32:17.530 - 00:32:46.490

be a very pleasing. It's going to have wonderful repercussions in in the future, especially if it has the chance to bloom to expand. We don't want to find ourselves, in fact, in a a concentration camp situation and fighting each other inside the prison. We don't want

00:32:46.490 - 00:33:09.950

to find that we went to hear Mr Stokely Carmichael talk at a Black Panthers rally in Oakland, and this was the most important thing, Mr Carmichael said. We must develop an undying love for our people. Our slogan will become first our people then and only then

00:33:09.960 - 00:33:31.830

me and you as individuals. Our people first are people. First, we came to this country as black men and as Africans. It took us 400 years to become Negroes. Understand that. That means that the concept of a black man is one who recognizes his cultural, his

00:33:31.830 - 00:33:53.000

historical and the roots of his great ancestors who were the greatest warriors on the face of this earth. Africans, Africa, African. Many of our people's mind have been whitewashed. If a Negro comes up to you and you turn your back on him, he's got to run

00:33:53.000 - 00:34:09.200

to the hunky. We're going to take time and patience with our people because they're ours. They're ours. All of the Uncle Tom's, We're gonna sit down and we're gonna talk, and when they slap, we're gonna bow. And when they slap, we're gonna bow and we're gonna

00:34:09.200 - 00:34:35.810

try to bring them home. And if they don't come home, we're going off them, That's all. That's all. Whoa! We have to recognize who our major enemy is. The major enemy is not your brother. Flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood. The major enemy

00:34:35.820 - 00:34:56.600

is the hunky and its institutions of racism. That's the major enemy that is the major enemy. Yeah, and whenever anybody prepares for a revolutionary warfare. You concentrate on the major enemy, were not strong enough to fight each other and also fight him. We will not fight

00:34:56.600 - 00:35:13.420

each other today. We will not fight each other. There will be no fights in the black community among black people. There will just be people who will be off. There will be no fights. There will be no disruptions. We are going to be united for the

00:35:13.420 - 00:35:28.520

three m's, the missionaries, the money and the Marines. That is precisely the way it's moved all over the world. It is the way it moves against us. They have sent the missionaries in. We sent them out. They have sent the money in with the poverty program.

00:35:28.530 - 00:35:55.870

The Vietnamese and the Koreans are pulling the money out. The next thing comes, the Marines comes the Marines. And if we're talking seriously, we get prepared for the Marines. Shocking, isn't it sad, painful? True. It's awful that one is able to open an A magazine, a

00:35:55.880 - 00:36:21.170

leading journal, and see the kinds of of armory that have been developed to keep the black man in his place. Some great minds spent thousands and thousands of hours and use millions and millions of dollars to come up with things like, uh, the mace, the the

00:36:21.170 - 00:36:52.240

other kinds of gas that absolutely, uh, makes renders a person immobile. The the hand rifle that will go through will shatter a brick building. It's shocking when you think that Americans are developing machinery, death dealing machinery to cope with other Americans when we we wouldn't have

00:36:52.250 - 00:37:17.290

had to develop, had to to create as a people and h rap brown a Malcolm X um uh, Stokely Carmichael had the situation not been what it is. You see, if you read Machiavelli a great book called The Prince, it's 65 cents paperback. The book was

00:37:17.290 - 00:37:41.650

written in the 15th century. Machiavelli was ousted. He was sent into exile when he was living. He was living in the Italian city state, and he decided to create two develop a way of dealing with power. That book the prince has been has become the the

00:37:41.650 - 00:38:05.060

foundation for Western International Affairs and National Affairs with a statesmanship, politics and power. If you read that book, you will see that it was inevitable, uh, that our people would create. We would give out of ourselves collectively a Stokely Carmichael a, uh H Rap Brown. We

00:38:05.060 - 00:38:30.330

are in a desperate situation today. Violence in the United States, Violence in the black man's life. There is a film that was done in Cuba. The film Admittedly, it's propaganda. It's high, very effective propaganda. But it doesn't lie if those hits store Gentlemen came back today.

00:38:31.220 - 00:39:06.280

Jefferson, Washington and length. Yeah, and Walter Cronkite put them on channel two. Find out what they were thinking. I'm sure they'd say thanks for pulling up so much. We don't want to take a ball. Not with the clothing but the words into action. I'm a way.

00:39:07.620 - 00:40:12.640

Sure now all now Wait. Loans. Come way. Put it off! Long way. I didn't know. Hey, now, now come. Let's get it's there for you every day and she just want what's right? Constitutionally, I went and a look in my oh history there in

00:40:12.650 - 00:41:01.570

black and white. Oh, see now, now, now, now, now, now Everyone should love his peace. Shalom each other. Don't take little Mr No one lost to grab your Now is the time Now is the Now is the moment. Now is the moment coming on we put

00:41:01.570 - 00:41:21.280

it off long enough. Now, no more way to know. There's a certain Now. Now, come on, let's get some of that stuff. Gets their u N for every here. And she just wanted to be a great constitutional. I went and took the look in my history

00:41:21.280 - 00:41:52.130

books. It's bands I can wipe. Oh, now, now, now, Now, Now, Now, Now, Now, Now, Now, Now, Now, Now! Yeah, yeah. The violence in the black American world is not simply the violence that we see the society projecting on the black American but the violence. There

00:41:52.130 - 00:42:17.980

is a mountains of violence between the black American and the black American. This is is a result of the slavery of slavery's heritage. The white man made it very clear that he was of value and the black man was of no value. If a black man

00:42:17.990 - 00:42:34.200

killed a white man, he was immediately so merrily killed in the most horrible way. And he knew that if he killed a black man, he would at best at worst, get off with maybe two years and at best he might be clapped on the shoulder and

00:42:34.450 - 00:43:04.520

approved. I mean, his actions approved of the frustration that is a part and parcel, a real, uh, element in the black man's life makes him thrash out at something, and obviously he hits that one nearest him. This past three weeks, I've spent the weekend sitting in

00:43:04.520 - 00:43:31.420

my car near the hospitals that are close to our that operate are located in the Black Ghettos and every Saturday night and Friday night and sometimes Sunday morning, the there the sirens and their ambulances and the police and families bringing men who have been cut for

00:43:31.420 - 00:43:53.380

a quarter shot for a dime. One wife was cut on Friday night by her husband because she didn't have his dinner ready when he came home. Cut seriously, Miss Rosa Guy has written a book called Bird at My Window, and in that book she deals with

00:43:53.380 - 00:44:16.920

the peasant in the urban situation. She shows us almost tediously what happens to a dream deferred. What happens whether it rots or dries up like a raisin in the sun, or whether it explodes? What you ever done for me, Mama, bring me into the world. That's

00:44:16.920 - 00:44:27.560

that when your father left me a post sick woman helpless with three Children to take care of. If I ain't never done nothing for you. How come you grow up? You think you was born grown? I ain't forgotten a thing, Mama. Matter of fact, after tonight,

00:44:27.560 - 00:44:37.920

there ain't nothing I can ever forget. I ain't forgetting me and faith being locked away like we ain't even had a mother. While you kept Willie Earl talk about boy, wasn't it better you go somewhere where you could eat than stay home and starve to death?

00:44:39.390 - 00:44:50.410

Listen here. The minute I see my way clear, ain't you come out in school? I guess you did a hell of a lot to see me go through school saying I didn't make some mistakes away. I reckon I should have done more to keep you in

00:44:50.410 - 00:45:04.040

school. I realized that too late, but don't think it did my heart. Good to see you bumming around on the street. But then wasn't the things that made you know killer mistakes? That's what you call a person going through this life. Gotta gotta, right to have

00:45:04.040 - 00:45:18.340

some. All I wanted was to see my Children grow up to be law abiding, decent citizens to get married and have a family under the eyes of law. And God ain't nothing wrong with that. What more can poor folks do? What broke And poor folks expect

00:45:18.350 - 00:45:33.950

honesty. Yeah, Mama, Honesty. You ain't honest, Mama. And Willie Earl ain't honest. You're sitting there talking and talking. But you're scared, Mama, Uh, you're scared and you ain't honest enough to show it. And you know why you're scared, Mama. You're scared because you figure I'm gonna

00:45:33.960 - 00:45:48.360

kill you because you ain't ever been honest in your life. You scared because you know, when you pray to God, you keep your eyes closed tight so you won't see that you're doing the devil's bidding. You never admitted in your life that we were so heavy

00:45:48.360 - 00:45:59.450

around your neck that your tits were dragging the ground while it was your head up in the clouds where you figure your soul should be. You couldn't get rid of the load fast enough. That's why Willie Earl ain't gone through school. And if it wasn't for

00:45:59.450 - 00:46:13.290

me, fake wouldn't have made it either. Well, you ain't even known that little Willie was smarter, dumb in school. You rushed him out so fast, he was the oldest So you've got to him. Willie Earl was always a right smart child. It was a dishonest bastard.

00:46:13.880 - 00:46:28.340

He took one look into your eyes and got tricks about fooling your but Oh, but you understood him. It was a kind of smartness. You understood faith. And I was something else. You couldn't dig us. If all three of us have gotten penny ante jobs and

00:46:28.340 - 00:46:41.850

throwing a few pennies your way while we step the rest in our back pockets, you would have been telling yourself in the rest of the world a lie that you raised us successful. But now I made it a different kind of way. And I poured it

00:46:41.850 - 00:46:58.200

out to you like my soul. And you have to close your eyes because suddenly you found my life to be your conscience. All you had to do was to be honest, Mama, you let Willie Earl leave school because of those few pennies. He threw your way

00:46:58.210 - 00:47:16.450

and you kept me out so I could make your life. Better yet, all the while you melt on your stiff, sick knees with your eyes closed, covering your mind with prayers. But everything boomerang because I was honest. And you never had no use for honesty. So

00:47:16.450 - 00:47:30.200

you said I was no good. And that gave you the best reason to rob me of my life. Rob. You of your life, boy. I gave you your life and all you want to do is just make me suffer. But Willie Earl made you happy. Never

00:47:30.200 - 00:47:43.690

had no big house, but it was a clean one. You ain't never left it hungry. And you was always proper and clean. And many is the day that very pennies you're talking about. Your brother brought in. They filled your stomach. I ain't seen it that way.

00:47:43.690 - 00:48:00.820

Mom. Ain't nothing in my life I ever wanted for you Children. But good. I never had a word. Not a fault. Not a prayer in my life. That wasn't for you. And I never had no happen. You was too poor to have happiness. 82 pole. But

00:48:00.820 - 00:48:14.710

I had dreams. You ain't never had a dream, Mama. You only had a thought to have a dream. Mama, you have to have an image. And the only image you ever had was of a man pin to across and you would have pinned us all there

00:48:14.710 - 00:48:31.750

to for your salvation. Oh, that's where you send Mama. I have seen God knows I paid for it through you when I walked in that funeral parlor and had to look at that man's head that you didn't bashed it. And you don't think I suffer well,

00:48:31.750 - 00:48:54.120

anyway, after the day, you don't have to worry about suffering. Well, now, how you mean that? I mean, Mama, that you and your misbegotten Children will quit the scene before the rain stops falling. There will only be one. They're beholding to see the morning to justify

00:48:54.120 - 00:49:09.920

Big Willie's life. You talked like you ain't got good sense going. I got good sense, Mama. That rain I walked through tonight cleared my brain of a lot of things that was clouding it. Oh, and I swear to God, Mama, I ain't never had better sense.

00:49:11.370 - 00:49:33.510

Sun comes up in the morning, Mom. It's gonna shine on a little more honest world because Big Willie's misbegotten breed will be dead. You then going clean out of your mind, it's you and me and Willie Earl Mama. First you, Then I'm going to whatever hospital

00:49:33.510 - 00:49:49.880

little willies in. Then, after me Mhm. There won't be no whole body left for the funeral. Wait. What even the well are you doing? My God! Wait. What are you feeling? Please talk to your brother. He was going to clean out his mind. Talk to him.

00:49:49.890 - 00:50:01.800

Where did you know? You don't have no business being here and soaking wet at that? Look at the polls. You got all over the place, Faith. I know, I know. Faith got into your weight breaking down doors and everything. I know. It must have been you

00:50:01.800 - 00:50:12.210

that broke down the door downstairs. Yes, but it's because I found out faith you wouldn't tell me. But I found out how Willie Earl and Mama screwed us up. Oh, yes, I know. I don't like that. Ever since they've been here, I can't even go and

00:50:12.210 - 00:50:25.760

clean out his mind. I think I found out why I went after Willie Earl that night. What are you talking about? What his mama got to do with that? She was in it with him. No, I swear. Wait. Mama never knew anything about she did faith.

00:50:25.810 - 00:50:39.730

She did. I never told her weight. That's where I did. Oh, yeah. But she knew it. No way. No. How will The earlier is always taken close to the chest. She's the one that caused her faith. She was the one that caused him to be dishonest.

00:50:39.740 - 00:50:53.010

She robbed me of my life. You knew it. That's why you never liked her. What are you talking about? Weight. Hello. Mama never worshipped her like you did. Oh, accepted her father. But I love him. But she did me in faith. You remember how they took

00:50:53.010 - 00:51:03.200

my money when I was in the army? She and Willie Earl. No, wait. It was me. I'm the one who never seemed to tell you that Mama was six. So you can know where your money was gone. I didn't want to tell you because I knew

00:51:03.200 - 00:51:18.410

how you'd wear it to know in about her. Of all the Children I know you love a bad. Okay. Wait. What are you blaming her for? What are you blaming us for? I ain't blaming you for nothing. Faith. You are the best part of us. The

00:51:18.410 - 00:51:36.110

one who must survive. No, I wouldn't hurt you. It's them. She and Willie Earl that robbed me. Its them. They've got no business living on account of they ain't honest. Stay honest enough way, But they pull. God knows you've got no academic people because they're poor

00:51:36.110 - 00:51:51.260

and sick and miserable. Who are you gonna blame? God? Well, if you must blame somebody, blame him. He's the one who decides where you're going to be born and how you're gonna live. Then he got to take the blame for how they must die. Wait. Listen

00:51:51.260 - 00:52:02.860

to me. All people make mistakes. I don't care how rich and how great they are and the natural living the way we forced to. We had to make a few. Poor people don't have a chance because I'm doing what they think is right. They have to

00:52:02.870 - 00:52:23.480

sometimes go against the instinct to save themselves and their Children, right? Mm. Is it saving them when you you make them into nothing lit up for the garbage collectors? Both for the city prisons Kill us for kick. Ain't you gonna give them blame for that? They

00:52:23.490 - 00:52:37.540

got blame way. Your whole life is one big blame. They got to blame for where they were born in and they suffer for where they have to work. they have off limits. Size hung and hung on there for the clothes they have to wear. Never mind

00:52:37.540 - 00:52:50.800

the color of their skins. They pay every day the penalty of having to live there without ever seeing the part they play in that crime. They do penance in their ugly houses, and then they're ugly streets. Why did you never expected any sub sculpture of yours

00:52:50.800 - 00:53:06.210

to turn to gold? So why do you expect us to be so much better than the things that made us that shaped us that far? I'm not thinking. Why must we be super people? Superman and Giants? You got to blame the God's way. They know innocent

00:53:06.210 - 00:53:23.940

guy so they don't go free. Faith. They just don't go. Listen to me. Wait. There's a lot of folks that don't remember how smart you used to be. Uh huh. I remember whatever, whatever so little I did with my life. I owe to you. There were

00:53:23.940 - 00:53:39.040

a lot of things you want to be and probably could have been to. But you never had the chance. Oh, you got to Oh, wow. That don't have to be dead weight. Not all. What else a kid working with me. Oh, man, it's over for and

00:53:39.040 - 00:53:49.730

he just went back to college. All you have to do is stop drinking and get yourself together and brush up on some of your studies. You can start again. I know you can't wait. I'll help you. I swear to God I'll help you if it takes

00:53:49.740 - 00:54:05.290

every single day of my life. I did what I wanted to do, faith once in my life, and I know it's that feeling that makes life worth living house That way it's doing what you have to do and feeling free with the world around, and then

00:54:05.290 - 00:54:28.700

you. That's when you don't go against instinct. So when you can feel free like a bird and you can sort of spread your wings and just take off, I reckon that's a strange feeling. Highway, because we beast, we ain't birds. He lost the sense of faiths

00:54:28.700 - 00:54:45.370

words as Mama made her dash for the door shaking off faiths hand. He jumped quickly in front of Mama, grabbed her arm as she reached the door, thrusting the knife downward in one powerful plunge into her chest. But her body did not move It was another

00:54:45.370 - 00:55:07.700

form which had pushed itself between them that Slade quietly to the floor. He found himself looking down into faith's eyes. As her startled gaze changed into meaninglessness, her mouth opened, gasping for air. He pulled the knife out, knowing it was too late. He stared up at

00:55:07.700 - 00:55:29.660

Mama, searching for sympathy for understanding the sympathy she must feel for his mistake. It didn't make sense to him, but the hypocritical mouth above him opened and screams tore through it, as though all her insides were gushing up through the opening, Wade reached for her blindly.

00:55:30.940 - 00:55:51.550

Now here, Miss Guy shows us in a capsule in one book. What happens to a dream deferred? Mr Langston Hughes says. Does it rock in the sun, or does it explode? In this case, it explodes in many black American, uh, worlds in in. In the texture

00:55:51.640 - 00:56:13.680

of the life is so full of terror, it's always on the panic Brink on the brink of absolute chaos. That is the truth. Violence in Black American living Miss Margaret Walker has a poem called Now and we'll close with that poem. Time to wipe away the

00:56:13.680 - 00:56:45.290

slime from inner rooms of thinking and covert skin of suffering indignities and dirt and helpless degradation from furtive relegations to back doors and dark alleys and balconies of waiting in the cleaning rooms with their closets and previous marked for colored only. And the drinking soda soda

00:56:45.290 - 00:57:20.400

fountains tasting dismal and disgusting with it dry and dusty flavour of deep humiliation Hearing vulgar as shout to mothers Hey, you *** girl Girly, anti and and Grammy My old mammy was a wonder And I love those dear old darkest who were good and survived Negroes

00:57:20.400 - 00:57:52.980

with their kerchief heads and faces in their soft and menial places Feeling blood and hate commingled in a savage supplication full of rites and ceremonies, Father, Separate, Unequal, reinforced by mobs who mass with a priest of cult and clan Dressed and road in purest white Mark

00:57:52.980 - 00:58:43.750

Inc legal with the clocks and a fiery burning cross Time to wipe away the slime. Time to end this bloody crime. I thank you. A bathroom. Barueri Rio. Whoa, Canyon LeBeau! Larry Fun batty Wasow a bow Ready, buddy? Whoa! Yeah! Whoa! LaRue e or me lately?

00:58:44.120 - 00:59:26.220

Oh, e or me lately? Oh, yeah, before Yeah, before their Oh, they mean ceramic bowl. Oh, your me late. Oh, room the Buffett rule Woken uni LeBeau. Yeah,