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Mr. Baldwin,
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I'm sure you still
meet the remark that:
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"What are the Negroes...
why aren't they optimistic?
4
00:01:34,220 --> 00:01:36,264
Um... They say, "But
it's getting so much better.
5
00:01:36,431 --> 00:01:37,557
There are negro mayors,
6
00:01:37,766 --> 00:01:39,517
there are negroes
in all of sports."
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00:01:39,684 --> 00:01:41,936
There are negroes in politics.
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00:01:42,103 --> 00:01:44,355
They're even accorded
the ultimate accolade
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00:01:44,522 --> 00:01:46,441
of being in
television commercials now.
10
00:01:48,401 --> 00:01:51,112
I'm glad you're smiling.
11
00:01:52,197 --> 00:01:55,617
Is it at once getting
much better and still hopeless?
12
00:01:56,826 --> 00:01:58,495
I don't think there's
much hope for it, you know,
13
00:01:58,661 --> 00:01:59,746
to tell you the truth,
14
00:01:59,913 --> 00:02:02,749
as long as people are using
this peculiar language.
15
00:02:03,291 --> 00:02:06,419
It's not a question of
what happens to the Negro here,
16
00:02:06,586 --> 00:02:07,921
or to the black man here,
17
00:02:08,797 --> 00:02:10,965
that's a very vivid question
for me, you know,
18
00:02:11,132 --> 00:02:13,301
but the real question is what's
going to happen to this country.
19
00:02:13,468 --> 00:02:14,552
I have to repeat that.
20
00:02:14,719 --> 00:02:16,971
♪ You're damn right,
I've got the blues, ♪
21
00:02:18,014 --> 00:02:20,892
♪ From my head
down to my shoes ♪
22
00:02:25,146 --> 00:02:27,857
♪ You're damn right,
I've got the blues, ♪
23
00:02:28,024 --> 00:02:30,276
♪ From my head
down to my shoes ♪
24
00:02:35,323 --> 00:02:37,242
♪ I can't win
25
00:02:37,992 --> 00:02:40,620
♪ 'Cause I don't have
a thing to lose ♪
26
00:02:44,958 --> 00:02:47,919
♪ I stopped by
my daughter's house ♪
27
00:02:48,086 --> 00:02:50,421
♪ You know I just want to
use the phone ♪
28
00:02:55,134 --> 00:02:56,761
♪ I stopped by
my daughter's house ♪
29
00:02:57,846 --> 00:03:00,807
♪ You know I just want to
use the phone ♪
30
00:03:22,620 --> 00:03:24,998
The summer has scarcely begun,
31
00:03:25,623 --> 00:03:28,126
and I feel already
that it's almost over.
32
00:03:30,128 --> 00:03:31,963
And I will be 55.
33
00:03:32,130 --> 00:03:35,967
Yes, 55, in a month.
34
00:03:37,969 --> 00:03:40,054
I am about to undertake
the journey.
35
00:03:41,097 --> 00:03:43,683
And this is a journey,
to tell you the truth,
36
00:03:44,350 --> 00:03:46,936
which I always knew
that I would have to make,
37
00:03:47,437 --> 00:03:49,689
but had hoped, perhaps,
38
00:03:50,315 --> 00:03:52,275
certainly had hoped,
39
00:03:52,609 --> 00:03:54,402
not to have to make so soon.
40
00:03:57,113 --> 00:03:59,240
I am saying that a journey
is called that
41
00:03:59,407 --> 00:04:01,367
because you cannot know
what you will discover
42
00:04:01,534 --> 00:04:02,785
on the journey,
43
00:04:03,328 --> 00:04:05,705
what you will do
with what you find,
44
00:04:05,872 --> 00:04:08,666
or what you find will do to you.
45
00:04:09,959 --> 00:04:11,461
Not only have a right
to be free,
46
00:04:11,628 --> 00:04:13,671
- we have a duty to be free.
- Yeah.
47
00:04:13,838 --> 00:04:16,799
And so when you sit down on the bus
and you sit down in the front,
48
00:04:16,966 --> 00:04:18,718
or sit down by a white person,
49
00:04:19,302 --> 00:04:22,347
you are sitting there because
you have a duty to sit down,
50
00:04:22,513 --> 00:04:24,432
not merely because
you have a right.
51
00:04:25,099 --> 00:04:27,518
The time
of these lives and deaths,
52
00:04:27,685 --> 00:04:30,688
from a public point of view,
is 1955,
53
00:04:30,855 --> 00:04:32,273
when we first heard of Martin,
54
00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,109
to 1968, when he was murdered.
55
00:04:38,237 --> 00:04:41,115
Medgar was murdered
in the summer of 1963.
56
00:04:42,033 --> 00:04:44,911
Malcolm was murdered in 1965.
57
00:04:45,078 --> 00:04:48,790
♪ Here, take my hand,
Precious Lord ♪
58
00:04:49,624 --> 00:04:51,209
♪ Lead me on ♪
59
00:04:51,542 --> 00:04:53,127
♪ Let me stand ♪
60
00:04:53,628 --> 00:04:55,171
♪ I am tired ♪
61
00:04:55,421 --> 00:04:56,923
♪ I'm weak ♪
62
00:04:57,256 --> 00:04:59,008
♪ I am worn ♪
63
00:05:01,219 --> 00:05:02,512
♪ Through the storm ♪
64
00:05:02,679 --> 00:05:04,055
The three men,
65
00:05:04,222 --> 00:05:08,393
Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin,
were very different men.
66
00:05:10,687 --> 00:05:14,190
Consider that Martin
was only 26 in 1955.
67
00:05:14,899 --> 00:05:18,277
He took on his shoulders
the weight of the crimes,
68
00:05:18,528 --> 00:05:21,364
and the lies,
and the hope of a nation.
69
00:05:25,326 --> 00:05:27,203
I want these three lives
to bang against
70
00:05:27,370 --> 00:05:30,581
and reveal each other,
as in truth, they did
71
00:05:31,457 --> 00:05:32,834
and use their dreadful journey
72
00:05:33,001 --> 00:05:34,752
as a means of
instructing the people
73
00:05:34,919 --> 00:05:36,421
whom they loved so much,
74
00:05:36,838 --> 00:05:38,006
who betrayed them,
75
00:05:38,673 --> 00:05:40,758
and for whom
they gave their lives.
76
00:06:00,111 --> 00:06:01,904
The moment a negro child
77
00:06:02,071 --> 00:06:03,740
walks into the school,
78
00:06:03,906 --> 00:06:07,577
every decent, self-respecting,
loving parent
79
00:06:07,744 --> 00:06:11,080
should take his white child
out of that broken school.
80
00:06:33,811 --> 00:06:35,480
Go back to your own school.
81
00:06:43,905 --> 00:06:47,408
God forgives murder
and he forgives adultery.
82
00:06:47,867 --> 00:06:49,327
But He is very angry
83
00:06:49,494 --> 00:06:51,954
and He actually curses
all who do integrate.
84
00:07:02,799 --> 00:07:05,051
That's when
I saw the photograph.
85
00:07:06,135 --> 00:07:08,054
On every newspaper kiosk
86
00:07:08,221 --> 00:07:11,140
on that wide, tree-shaped
boulevard in Paris,
87
00:07:11,307 --> 00:07:14,811
were photographs
of 15-year-old Dorothy Counts
88
00:07:14,977 --> 00:07:17,814
being reviled and spat upon
by the mob
89
00:07:17,980 --> 00:07:19,690
as she was making her way
to school
90
00:07:19,857 --> 00:07:21,442
in Charlotte, North Carolina.
91
00:07:22,443 --> 00:07:24,570
There was unutterable pride,
92
00:07:24,737 --> 00:07:27,532
tension and anguish
in that girl's face
93
00:07:27,698 --> 00:07:29,784
as she approached
the halls of learning,
94
00:07:30,118 --> 00:07:32,245
with history jeering
at her back.
95
00:07:33,996 --> 00:07:35,373
It made me furious,
96
00:07:35,998 --> 00:07:39,168
it filled me
with both hatred and pity.
97
00:07:39,627 --> 00:07:41,504
And it made me ashamed.
98
00:07:42,255 --> 00:07:44,841
Some one of us should have
been there with her!
99
00:07:48,636 --> 00:07:50,388
But it was on that
bright afternoon
100
00:07:50,555 --> 00:07:52,890
that I knew
I was leaving France.
101
00:07:54,016 --> 00:07:57,311
I could simply no longer
sit around Paris,
102
00:07:57,478 --> 00:08:01,357
discussing the Algerian
and the Black American problem.
103
00:08:02,316 --> 00:08:04,402
Everybody else
was paying their dues,
104
00:08:04,610 --> 00:08:07,697
and it was time
I went home and paid mine.
105
00:08:08,698 --> 00:08:10,950
♪ If you was white,
You'd be alright ♪
106
00:08:11,242 --> 00:08:13,786
♪ If you was brown,
Stick around ♪
107
00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:15,830
♪ But as you's black ♪
108
00:08:15,997 --> 00:08:17,165
♪ Oh, brother ♪
109
00:08:18,457 --> 00:08:20,710
♪ Get back, get back, get back ♪
110
00:08:23,713 --> 00:08:25,840
♪ I went to
an employment office ♪
111
00:08:26,048 --> 00:08:28,301
♪ I got a number
and I got in line ♪
112
00:08:29,510 --> 00:08:31,304
♪ They called
everybody's number ♪
113
00:08:31,470 --> 00:08:33,848
♪ But they never did call mine ♪
114
00:08:34,015 --> 00:08:37,101
♪ I said, if you was white,
You'd be alright ♪
115
00:08:37,268 --> 00:08:39,937
♪ If you was brown,
Stick around ♪
116
00:08:40,104 --> 00:08:41,731
♪ But as you's black ♪
117
00:08:41,898 --> 00:08:43,191
♪ Oh, brother... ♪
118
00:09:04,295 --> 00:09:06,380
I had at last come home.
119
00:09:07,673 --> 00:09:10,009
If there was, in this,
some illusion,
120
00:09:10,593 --> 00:09:12,178
there was also much truth.
121
00:09:13,721 --> 00:09:15,306
In the years in Paris,
122
00:09:15,681 --> 00:09:18,434
I had never been homesick
for anything American.
123
00:09:18,893 --> 00:09:21,145
Neither waffles, ice cream,
124
00:09:21,312 --> 00:09:25,524
hot dogs, baseball,
majorettes, movies,
125
00:09:26,442 --> 00:09:29,153
nor the Empire State Building,
nor Coney Island,
126
00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,073
nor the Statue of Liberty,
nor the Daily News,
127
00:09:32,281 --> 00:09:33,449
nor Times Square.
128
00:09:34,659 --> 00:09:36,452
All of these things
had passed out of me.
129
00:09:37,245 --> 00:09:40,915
They might never have existed,
and it made absolutely
130
00:09:41,082 --> 00:09:44,335
no difference to me
if I never saw them again.
131
00:09:54,053 --> 00:09:58,099
But I missed my brothers
and sisters, and my mother.
132
00:09:58,683 --> 00:09:59,976
They made a difference.
133
00:10:01,018 --> 00:10:04,230
I wanted to be able to see them,
and to see their children.
134
00:10:05,439 --> 00:10:07,191
I hoped that
they wouldn't forget me.
135
00:10:07,817 --> 00:10:11,112
I missed Harlem Sunday mornings
and fried chicken,
136
00:10:11,279 --> 00:10:13,698
and biscuits,
I missed the music,
137
00:10:13,990 --> 00:10:15,366
I missed the style...
138
00:10:15,574 --> 00:10:18,577
that style possessed by
no other people in the world.
139
00:10:20,162 --> 00:10:22,999
I missed the way
the dark face closes,
140
00:10:23,165 --> 00:10:25,876
the way dark eyes watch,
and the way,
141
00:10:26,043 --> 00:10:29,714
when a dark face opens,
a light seems to go everywhere.
142
00:10:30,506 --> 00:10:33,509
I missed, in short,
my connections,
143
00:10:33,676 --> 00:10:38,139
missed the life which had
produced me and nourished me
144
00:10:38,306 --> 00:10:39,557
and paid for me.
145
00:10:40,433 --> 00:10:45,229
Now, though I was a stranger,
I was home.
146
00:10:55,573 --> 00:10:59,285
I am fascinated by the movement
on and off the screen.
147
00:11:01,954 --> 00:11:03,372
I am about seven.
148
00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,917
I'm with my mother, or my aunt.
149
00:11:07,877 --> 00:11:11,172
The movie is
Dance, Fools, Dance.
150
00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:22,725
I was aware that Joan Crawford
was a white lady.
151
00:11:24,185 --> 00:11:28,272
Yet, I remember being sent
to the store sometime later,
152
00:11:28,773 --> 00:11:30,858
and a colored woman who, to me,
153
00:11:31,067 --> 00:11:32,902
looked exactly
like Joan Crawford,
154
00:11:33,235 --> 00:11:34,487
was buying something.
155
00:11:35,446 --> 00:11:37,156
She was incredibly beautiful.
156
00:11:37,907 --> 00:11:41,160
She looked down at me
with so beautiful a smile
157
00:11:41,911 --> 00:11:43,871
that I was not even embarrassed,
158
00:11:44,789 --> 00:11:46,248
which was rare for me.
159
00:11:55,466 --> 00:11:56,926
By this time,
160
00:11:57,301 --> 00:12:00,805
I had been taken in hand
by a young white schoolteacher
161
00:12:00,971 --> 00:12:03,849
named Bill Miller,
a beautiful woman,
162
00:12:04,475 --> 00:12:05,893
very important to me.
163
00:12:07,603 --> 00:12:11,148
She gave me books to read and
talked to me about the books,
164
00:12:11,315 --> 00:12:12,733
and about the world:
165
00:12:13,526 --> 00:12:17,196
about Ethiopia, and Italy,
166
00:12:18,114 --> 00:12:19,907
and the German Third Reich,
167
00:12:20,908 --> 00:12:23,202
and took me to see
plays and films,
168
00:12:23,577 --> 00:12:25,329
to which no one else
would have dreamed
169
00:12:25,496 --> 00:12:27,331
of taking a ten-year-old boy.
170
00:12:36,757 --> 00:12:38,801
It is certainly
because of Bill Miller,
171
00:12:39,093 --> 00:12:42,012
who arrived
in my terrifying life so soon,
172
00:12:42,805 --> 00:12:45,891
that I never really managed
to hate white people.
173
00:12:46,809 --> 00:12:48,310
Though, God knows,
174
00:12:48,477 --> 00:12:51,480
I've often wished to murder
more than one or two.
175
00:12:56,694 --> 00:12:58,779
Therefore, I begin to suspect
176
00:12:59,321 --> 00:13:01,740
that white people
did not act as they did
177
00:13:01,907 --> 00:13:06,036
because they were white,
but for some other reason.
178
00:13:10,082 --> 00:13:14,378
I was a child of course,
and therefore unsophisticated.
179
00:13:14,795 --> 00:13:18,883
I took Bill Miller as she was,
or as she appeared to be to me.
180
00:13:19,592 --> 00:13:22,553
She too, anyway,
was treated like a nigger,
181
00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:24,305
especially by the cops,
182
00:13:24,472 --> 00:13:26,974
and she had no love
for landlords.
183
00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:30,644
♪ Richard!
Can't get him up! ♪
184
00:13:30,811 --> 00:13:33,355
♪ Richard!
Can't get him up! ♪
185
00:13:34,064 --> 00:13:36,901
♪ Richard!
Can't get him up! ♪
186
00:13:37,276 --> 00:13:39,987
♪ Lazy Richard!
Can't get him up! ♪
187
00:13:40,488 --> 00:13:41,655
♪ Richard! ♪
188
00:13:41,822 --> 00:13:45,242
In these days,
no one resembling my father
189
00:13:45,409 --> 00:13:48,120
has yet made an appearance
on the American cinema scene.
190
00:13:48,287 --> 00:13:49,788
♪ Can't get him up! ♪
191
00:13:49,955 --> 00:13:52,583
♪ We'll try to get him
on the phone ♪
192
00:13:52,750 --> 00:13:55,544
♪ I was laying down
dreamin'... ♪
193
00:13:55,711 --> 00:13:57,755
No, it's not entirely true.
194
00:13:58,422 --> 00:14:02,259
There were, for example,
Stepin Fetchit and Willie Best
195
00:14:02,426 --> 00:14:06,597
and Mantan Moreland,
all of whom, rightly or wrongly,
196
00:14:06,764 --> 00:14:08,057
I loathed.
197
00:14:08,641 --> 00:14:11,602
It seemed to me that they lied
about the world I knew,
198
00:14:11,769 --> 00:14:12,811
and debased it,
199
00:14:12,978 --> 00:14:15,606
and certainly I did not know
anybody like them,
200
00:14:15,773 --> 00:14:17,149
as far as I could tell.
201
00:14:18,275 --> 00:14:21,612
For it also possible that
their comic, bug-eyed terror
202
00:14:21,779 --> 00:14:24,114
contained the truth
concerning a terror
203
00:14:24,281 --> 00:14:26,534
by which I hoped
never to be engulfed.
204
00:14:28,035 --> 00:14:32,540
Yet, I had no reservations
at all concerning the terror
205
00:14:32,706 --> 00:14:34,667
of the Black janitor
in They Won't Forget.
206
00:14:34,833 --> 00:14:36,418
Give me police!
207
00:14:37,044 --> 00:14:38,420
Give me police!
208
00:14:38,587 --> 00:14:41,715
Give me...
Give me police!
209
00:14:41,966 --> 00:14:43,634
I think that it was
a black actor
210
00:14:43,801 --> 00:14:46,637
named Clinton Rosemond
who played this part,
211
00:14:47,555 --> 00:14:49,723
and he looked
a little like my father.
212
00:14:49,890 --> 00:14:51,642
I didn't do it. I didn't do it!
213
00:14:51,809 --> 00:14:53,769
I didn't do it! I didn't do it!
214
00:14:53,936 --> 00:14:55,854
He is terrified
because a young white girl
215
00:14:56,021 --> 00:14:59,149
in this small Southern town
has been raped and murdered,
216
00:14:59,316 --> 00:15:01,735
and her body has been found
upon the premises
217
00:15:01,902 --> 00:15:03,195
of which he is the janitor.
218
00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:05,030
Good morning, Tump.
219
00:15:06,323 --> 00:15:08,158
The role
of the janitor is small,
220
00:15:09,285 --> 00:15:12,705
yet the man's face
bangs in my memory until today.
221
00:15:12,913 --> 00:15:15,207
- I have done nothing.
- Nobody says you have, Tom.
222
00:15:15,416 --> 00:15:16,417
But they might.
223
00:15:16,584 --> 00:15:19,962
The film's
icy brutality both scared me...
224
00:15:20,129 --> 00:15:21,046
What for?
225
00:15:21,213 --> 00:15:22,631
...and strengthened me.
226
00:15:43,694 --> 00:15:46,405
Because Uncle Tom
refuses to take vengeance
227
00:15:46,614 --> 00:15:50,075
in his own hands,
he was not a hero for me.
228
00:15:52,995 --> 00:15:55,664
Heroes, as far as I could see,
where white,
229
00:15:55,831 --> 00:15:58,125
and not merely
because of the movies,
230
00:15:58,334 --> 00:16:00,544
but because of the land
in which I lived,
231
00:16:00,711 --> 00:16:03,422
of which movies
were simply a reflection.
232
00:16:04,340 --> 00:16:07,551
I despised
and feared those heroes
233
00:16:07,718 --> 00:16:10,554
because they did take vengeance
into their own hands.
234
00:16:11,096 --> 00:16:13,223
They thought vengeance
was theirs to take.
235
00:16:14,099 --> 00:16:16,644
And, yes, I understood that:
236
00:16:17,770 --> 00:16:20,522
my countrymen were my enemy.
237
00:16:32,201 --> 00:16:35,996
I suspect that all these stories
are designed to reassure us
238
00:16:36,163 --> 00:16:37,748
that no crime was committed.
239
00:16:38,749 --> 00:16:41,293
We've made a legend
out of a massacre.
240
00:16:45,422 --> 00:16:48,258
Leaving aside
all the physical facts
241
00:16:48,425 --> 00:16:49,593
which one can quote.
242
00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:52,763
Leaving aside rape or murder.
243
00:16:52,930 --> 00:16:56,517
Leaving aside the bloody catalog
of oppression,
244
00:16:56,934 --> 00:16:59,937
which we are, in one way,
too familiar with already,
245
00:17:00,521 --> 00:17:02,439
what this does
to the subjugated
246
00:17:02,815 --> 00:17:05,025
is to destroy
his sense of reality.
247
00:17:05,776 --> 00:17:08,696
This means, in the case
of an American negro,
248
00:17:09,029 --> 00:17:10,406
born in that
glittering republic,
249
00:17:11,365 --> 00:17:12,950
and in the moment you are born,
250
00:17:13,492 --> 00:17:16,870
since you don't know any better,
every stick and stone
251
00:17:17,037 --> 00:17:18,831
and every face is white,
252
00:17:19,623 --> 00:17:21,875
and since you have not yet
seen a mirror,
253
00:17:22,042 --> 00:17:23,502
you suppose that you are too.
254
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:28,257
It comes as a great shock
around the age of five,
255
00:17:28,382 --> 00:17:29,842
or six, or seven,
256
00:17:29,967 --> 00:17:32,344
to discover that Gary Cooper
killing off the Indians,
257
00:17:32,511 --> 00:17:34,638
when you were
rooting for Gary Cooper,
258
00:17:35,889 --> 00:17:38,225
that the Indians were you.
259
00:17:38,434 --> 00:17:41,812
It comes as a great shock
to discover the country,
260
00:17:41,979 --> 00:17:43,480
which is your birthplace,
261
00:17:43,856 --> 00:17:46,734
and to which you owe
your life and your identity,
262
00:17:47,276 --> 00:17:50,028
has not, in its whole system
of reality,
263
00:17:50,404 --> 00:17:52,573
evolved any place for you.
264
00:18:06,670 --> 00:18:08,839
I know how to do it,
technically.
265
00:18:09,006 --> 00:18:11,467
It is a matter of research
and journeys.
266
00:18:11,842 --> 00:18:15,512
And with you or without you,
I will do it anyway.
267
00:18:17,181 --> 00:18:20,017
I begin in September,
when I go on the road.
268
00:18:20,726 --> 00:18:23,645
"The road" means
my return to the South.
269
00:18:24,354 --> 00:18:27,566
It means briefly, for example,
seeing Myrlie Evers,
270
00:18:27,733 --> 00:18:28,859
and the children.
271
00:18:29,067 --> 00:18:31,528
Those children
who are children no longer.
272
00:18:33,071 --> 00:18:36,784
It means going back to Atlanta,
to Selma, to Birmingham.
273
00:18:39,161 --> 00:18:41,163
It means seeing
Coretta Scott King,
274
00:18:41,330 --> 00:18:42,623
and Martin's children.
275
00:18:43,415 --> 00:18:44,833
I know that Martin's daughter,
276
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:48,962
whose name I don't remember,
and Malcolm's oldest daughter,
277
00:18:49,129 --> 00:18:52,007
whose name is Attalah
are both in the theatre,
278
00:18:52,257 --> 00:18:53,967
and apparently are friends.
279
00:18:55,093 --> 00:18:58,472
It means seeing Betty Shabazz,
Malcolm's widow,
280
00:18:58,639 --> 00:19:00,224
and the five younger children.
281
00:19:00,933 --> 00:19:03,644
It means exposing myself
as one of the witnesses
282
00:19:03,811 --> 00:19:06,563
to the lives and deaths
of their famous fathers.
283
00:19:07,022 --> 00:19:10,317
And it means much,
much more than that.
284
00:19:10,692 --> 00:19:14,404
"A clod of witnesses,"
as old St. Paul once put it.
285
00:19:26,208 --> 00:19:28,919
I saw Malcolm before I met him.
286
00:19:30,295 --> 00:19:32,756
I was giving a lecture
somewhere in New York.
287
00:19:33,215 --> 00:19:35,843
Malcolm was sitting
in the first row of the hall,
288
00:19:36,009 --> 00:19:39,847
bending forward at such an angle
that his long arms
289
00:19:40,013 --> 00:19:42,766
nearly caressed the ankles
of his long legs,
290
00:19:43,016 --> 00:19:44,434
staring up at me.
291
00:19:45,686 --> 00:19:47,271
I very nearly panicked.
292
00:19:47,896 --> 00:19:51,483
I knew Malcolm only by legend,
and this legend,
293
00:19:51,650 --> 00:19:53,527
since I was a Harlem street boy,
294
00:19:53,735 --> 00:19:56,572
I was sufficiently astute
to distrust.
295
00:19:58,198 --> 00:20:01,577
Malcolm might be the torch
that white people claim he was,
296
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,537
though, in general,
297
00:20:04,079 --> 00:20:06,498
white America's evaluations
of these matters
298
00:20:06,665 --> 00:20:09,334
would be laughable
and even pathetic
299
00:20:10,002 --> 00:20:13,463
did not these evaluations
have such wicked results.
300
00:20:14,631 --> 00:20:15,757
On the other hand,
301
00:20:15,924 --> 00:20:18,427
Malcolm had no reason
to trust me either.
302
00:20:19,261 --> 00:20:21,722
And so I stumbled
through my lecture,
303
00:20:22,639 --> 00:20:25,976
with Malcolm never
taking his eyes from my face.
304
00:20:26,143 --> 00:20:30,272
♪ Don't know why ♪
305
00:20:30,772 --> 00:20:33,942
♪ There's no sun up in the sky ♪
306
00:20:34,109 --> 00:20:36,737
♪ Stormy weather ♪
307
00:20:37,279 --> 00:20:43,035
♪ Since my man and I
ain't together ♪
308
00:20:44,620 --> 00:20:50,292
♪ Keeps rainin' all the time ♪
309
00:20:54,838 --> 00:20:57,424
As a member
of the NAACP,
310
00:20:57,591 --> 00:21:00,719
Medgar was investigating
the murder of a black man,
311
00:21:00,886 --> 00:21:02,804
which had occurred
months before,
312
00:21:03,430 --> 00:21:05,390
had shown me letters
from black people
313
00:21:05,557 --> 00:21:06,808
asking him to do this,
314
00:21:07,142 --> 00:21:09,144
and he had asked me
to come with him.
315
00:21:09,603 --> 00:21:10,604
♪ Raise up! ♪
316
00:21:10,771 --> 00:21:14,232
♪ Get yourself together,
And drive that funky soul ♪
317
00:21:14,399 --> 00:21:15,692
I was terribly frightened,
318
00:21:16,401 --> 00:21:19,488
but perhaps that fieldtrip
will help us define
319
00:21:19,655 --> 00:21:22,032
what I mean by the word
"witness".
320
00:21:24,451 --> 00:21:27,454
I was to discover that the line
which separates a witness
321
00:21:27,621 --> 00:21:30,832
from an actor
is a very thin line indeed.
322
00:21:31,541 --> 00:21:34,419
Nevertheless, the line is real.
323
00:21:36,088 --> 00:21:38,507
I was not, for example,
a Black Muslim,
324
00:21:38,882 --> 00:21:41,259
in the same way,
though for different reasons,
325
00:21:41,426 --> 00:21:43,428
that I never became
a Black Panther.
326
00:21:44,137 --> 00:21:47,391
Because I did not believe that
all white people were devils,
327
00:21:47,975 --> 00:21:51,269
and I did not want young
black people to believe that.
328
00:21:52,437 --> 00:21:55,607
I was not a member of any
Christian congregation because
329
00:21:55,774 --> 00:21:58,068
I knew that they had not heard
330
00:21:58,235 --> 00:22:00,112
and did not live
by the commandment,
331
00:22:00,487 --> 00:22:03,031
"Love one another
as I love you."
332
00:22:03,991 --> 00:22:07,327
And I was not a member
of the NAACP
333
00:22:07,953 --> 00:22:09,997
because in the North,
where I grew up,
334
00:22:10,580 --> 00:22:16,003
the NAACP was fatally entangled
with black class distinctions,
335
00:22:16,795 --> 00:22:18,463
or illusions of the same,
336
00:22:19,214 --> 00:22:22,217
which repelled
a shoe-shine boy like me.
337
00:22:25,303 --> 00:22:28,306
I did not have to deal with the
criminal state of Mississippi,
338
00:22:28,473 --> 00:22:31,309
hour by hour and day by day,
339
00:22:32,019 --> 00:22:33,937
to say nothing
of night after night.
340
00:22:34,771 --> 00:22:38,316
I did not have to sweat
cold sweat after decisions
341
00:22:38,483 --> 00:22:40,736
involving hundreds
of thousands of lives.
342
00:22:41,987 --> 00:22:44,322
I was not responsible
for raising money,
343
00:22:44,948 --> 00:22:46,700
or deciding how to use it.
344
00:22:47,367 --> 00:22:49,703
I was not responsible
for strategy
345
00:22:49,870 --> 00:22:51,955
controlling prayer-meetings,
marches,
346
00:22:52,122 --> 00:22:54,791
petitions,
voting registration drives.
347
00:22:55,500 --> 00:22:58,170
I saw the Sheriffs,
the Deputies,
348
00:22:58,420 --> 00:23:01,048
the Storm Troopers,
more or less in passing.
349
00:23:02,132 --> 00:23:03,925
I was never in town to stay.
350
00:23:05,177 --> 00:23:07,888
This was sometimes
hard on my morale,
351
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,266
but I had to accept,
as time wore on,
352
00:23:12,225 --> 00:23:14,978
that part of my responsibility,
as a witness,
353
00:23:15,270 --> 00:23:18,690
was to move as largely
and as freely as possible.
354
00:23:19,483 --> 00:23:22,569
To write the story,
and to get it out.
355
00:24:06,571 --> 00:24:08,824
We should all be concerned
with but one goal,
356
00:24:08,990 --> 00:24:10,242
the eradication of crime.
357
00:24:10,992 --> 00:24:13,787
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation is as close to you
358
00:24:13,954 --> 00:24:15,539
as your nearest telephone.
359
00:24:15,705 --> 00:24:17,165
It seeks to be your protector
360
00:24:17,332 --> 00:24:18,959
in all matters
within its jurisdiction.
361
00:24:19,126 --> 00:24:20,252
It belongs to you.
362
00:25:18,018 --> 00:25:20,979
White people
are astounded by Birmingham.
363
00:25:21,813 --> 00:25:23,190
Black people aren't.
364
00:25:25,650 --> 00:25:29,029
White people are endlessly
demanding to be reassured
365
00:25:29,196 --> 00:25:31,531
that Birmingham
is really on Mars.
366
00:25:35,410 --> 00:25:39,831
They don't want to believe,
still less to act on the belief,
367
00:25:40,832 --> 00:25:42,709
that what is happening
in Birmingham
368
00:25:43,418 --> 00:25:45,754
is happening
all over the country.
369
00:25:50,258 --> 00:25:52,844
They don't want to realize
that there is not one step,
370
00:25:53,011 --> 00:25:55,305
morally or actually,
371
00:25:55,764 --> 00:25:58,016
between Birmingham
and Los Angeles.
372
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:19,663
Move on, move on!
373
00:26:43,270 --> 00:26:44,896
We've invited three men,
374
00:26:45,105 --> 00:26:47,315
on the forefront
of The Negro Struggle,
375
00:26:48,149 --> 00:26:49,776
to sit down and talk with us
376
00:26:49,943 --> 00:26:51,820
in front
of the television camera.
377
00:26:51,987 --> 00:26:55,532
Each of these men, through
his actions and his words,
378
00:26:56,157 --> 00:26:58,451
but with vastly different
manner and means,
379
00:26:58,952 --> 00:27:02,289
is a spokesman for some segment
of the Negro people today.
380
00:27:03,081 --> 00:27:04,958
Black people in this country
have been the victims
381
00:27:05,125 --> 00:27:08,169
of violence at the hands
of the white man for 400 years.
382
00:27:08,336 --> 00:27:11,423
And following the ignorant
negro preachers,
383
00:27:11,589 --> 00:27:14,384
we have thought that it was
Godlike to turn the other cheek
384
00:27:14,551 --> 00:27:16,052
to the brute
that was brutalizing us.
385
00:27:16,219 --> 00:27:19,472
Malcolm X, one of the most
articulate exponents
386
00:27:19,681 --> 00:27:21,975
of the Black Muslim philosophy,
387
00:27:22,475 --> 00:27:25,603
has said of your movement
and your philosophy
388
00:27:25,770 --> 00:27:29,607
that it plays into the hands
of the white oppressors,
389
00:27:29,774 --> 00:27:34,446
that they are happy
to hear you talk about
390
00:27:34,738 --> 00:27:39,117
love for the oppressor,
because this disarms the Negro
391
00:27:39,284 --> 00:27:43,288
and fits into the stereotype
of the Negro as a meek,
392
00:27:43,955 --> 00:27:46,249
turning the other cheek
sort of creature.
393
00:27:46,416 --> 00:27:50,378
Would you care to comment
on Mr. X's beliefs?
394
00:27:50,587 --> 00:27:54,883
Well, I don't think of love
as...
395
00:27:55,050 --> 00:27:57,844
in this context,
as emotional bosh,
396
00:27:58,678 --> 00:28:01,848
but I think of love
as something strong
397
00:28:02,057 --> 00:28:07,020
and that organizes itself
into powerful direct action.
398
00:28:07,479 --> 00:28:10,899
This is what I've tried to teach
in the struggle in the South.
399
00:28:11,066 --> 00:28:14,694
We are not engaged in a struggle
400
00:28:14,861 --> 00:28:17,113
that means we sit down
and do nothing.
401
00:28:18,239 --> 00:28:20,575
There is a great deal
of difference between
402
00:28:20,742 --> 00:28:24,746
non-resistance to evil
and non-violent resistance.
403
00:28:24,913 --> 00:28:28,124
Martin Luther King is just a
20th century or modern Uncle Tom
404
00:28:28,291 --> 00:28:29,626
or a religious Uncle Tom,
405
00:28:29,793 --> 00:28:31,378
who is doing
the same thing today
406
00:28:31,544 --> 00:28:34,047
to keep Negroes defenseless
in the face of attack
407
00:28:34,214 --> 00:28:35,632
that Uncle Tom did
on the plantation
408
00:28:35,799 --> 00:28:37,342
to keep those Negroes
defenseless
409
00:28:37,509 --> 00:28:40,011
in the face of the attacks
of the Klan in that day.
410
00:28:40,512 --> 00:28:45,934
I think, though,
that we can be sure
411
00:28:46,101 --> 00:28:47,769
that the vast majority
of Negroes
412
00:28:47,936 --> 00:28:50,021
who engage in
the demonstrations,
413
00:28:50,188 --> 00:28:54,567
and who understand
the non-violent philosophy,
414
00:28:55,026 --> 00:28:57,028
will be able to face dogs
415
00:28:57,195 --> 00:29:00,073
and all of the other brutal
methods that are used
416
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:01,908
without retaliating
with violence,
417
00:29:02,075 --> 00:29:03,493
because they understand
418
00:29:03,660 --> 00:29:07,539
that one of the first principles
of non-violence
419
00:29:07,872 --> 00:29:11,084
is a willingness
to be the recipient of violence,
420
00:29:11,251 --> 00:29:14,796
while never inflicting violence
upon another.
421
00:29:18,383 --> 00:29:20,885
As concerns Malcolm and Martin,
422
00:29:21,261 --> 00:29:23,930
I watched two men,
coming from unimaginably
423
00:29:24,097 --> 00:29:27,559
different backgrounds,
whose positions, originally,
424
00:29:27,725 --> 00:29:29,018
were poles apart,
425
00:29:29,185 --> 00:29:31,855
driven closer
and closer together.
426
00:29:34,190 --> 00:29:37,485
By the time each died,
their positions had become,
427
00:29:37,652 --> 00:29:39,946
virtually, the same position.
428
00:29:41,448 --> 00:29:42,991
It can be said, indeed,
429
00:29:43,158 --> 00:29:45,368
that Martin picked up
Malcolm's burden,
430
00:29:45,743 --> 00:29:49,247
articulated the vision
which Malcolm had begun to see,
431
00:29:49,414 --> 00:29:51,374
and for which he paid
with his life,
432
00:29:51,833 --> 00:29:53,918
and that Malcolm
was one of the people
433
00:29:54,127 --> 00:29:55,753
Martin saw on the mountain-top.
434
00:29:57,464 --> 00:29:59,799
Medgar was too young
to have seen this happen,
435
00:29:59,966 --> 00:30:03,136
though he hoped for it, and
would not have been surprised.
436
00:30:04,179 --> 00:30:05,930
But Medgar was murdered first.
437
00:30:08,266 --> 00:30:11,561
I was older than Medgar,
Malcolm and Martin.
438
00:30:12,020 --> 00:30:15,690
I was raised to believe that
the eldest was supposed to be
439
00:30:15,857 --> 00:30:18,985
a model for the younger,
and was, of course,
440
00:30:19,152 --> 00:30:20,737
expected to die first.
441
00:30:22,030 --> 00:30:24,365
Not one of these three
lived to be forty.
442
00:30:26,367 --> 00:30:29,579
Two, four, six eight,
we don't want to integrate!
443
00:30:29,746 --> 00:30:32,707
Two, four, six eight,
we don't want to integrate!
444
00:30:41,966 --> 00:30:45,762
We want King! We want King!
We want King!
445
00:30:59,150 --> 00:31:01,444
We need an organization
that no one downtown loves.
446
00:31:01,986 --> 00:31:04,822
We need one that's ready
and willing to take action,
447
00:31:05,740 --> 00:31:08,993
any kind of action,
by any means necessary.
448
00:31:12,997 --> 00:31:14,165
When Malcolm talks,
449
00:31:14,332 --> 00:31:16,042
or one of the Muslim
ministers talk,
450
00:31:16,209 --> 00:31:20,129
they articulate for all
the Negro people who hear them,
451
00:31:20,713 --> 00:31:25,093
who listen to them,
they articulate their suffering.
452
00:31:26,219 --> 00:31:28,763
The suffering which has been
in this country so long denied.
453
00:31:29,556 --> 00:31:32,600
That's Malcolm's great authority
over any of his audiences.
454
00:31:32,934 --> 00:31:34,602
He corroborates their reality.
455
00:31:35,228 --> 00:31:38,189
He tells them that
they really exist, you know.
456
00:31:42,944 --> 00:31:44,779
Get back. Get back!
457
00:31:46,030 --> 00:31:47,907
I am!
458
00:31:48,157 --> 00:31:49,909
I am!
459
00:32:03,881 --> 00:32:06,259
There are days,
this is one of them...
460
00:32:09,053 --> 00:32:10,430
...when you wonder...
461
00:32:12,807 --> 00:32:14,225
...what your role is
in this country
462
00:32:14,392 --> 00:32:15,935
and what your future is in it.
463
00:32:17,061 --> 00:32:18,980
How precisely
are you going to reconcile...
464
00:32:21,733 --> 00:32:24,652
...yourself
to your situation here,
465
00:32:25,153 --> 00:32:28,615
and how you are going
to communicate...
466
00:32:30,575 --> 00:32:34,495
...to the vast,
heedless, unthinking...
467
00:32:36,331 --> 00:32:38,666
...cruel white majority
468
00:32:39,334 --> 00:32:40,543
that you are here.
469
00:32:41,961 --> 00:32:44,922
I'm terrified
at the moral apathy,
470
00:32:45,089 --> 00:32:46,633
the death of the heart,
471
00:32:47,467 --> 00:32:49,218
which is happening
in my country.
472
00:32:49,886 --> 00:32:54,432
These people have deluded
themselves for so long
473
00:32:54,891 --> 00:32:56,809
that they really don't think
I'm human.
474
00:32:57,810 --> 00:33:00,605
I base this on their conduct,
not on what they say.
475
00:33:01,230 --> 00:33:03,941
And this means that they
have become, in themselves...
476
00:33:05,652 --> 00:33:07,403
...moral monsters.
477
00:33:43,064 --> 00:33:45,566
Most of the white Americans
I've ever encountered,
478
00:33:45,733 --> 00:33:48,277
really, you know, had
a Negro friend or a Negro maid
479
00:33:48,444 --> 00:33:51,364
or somebody in high school,
but they never, you know,
480
00:33:51,531 --> 00:33:54,075
or rarely, after school was over
or whatever,
481
00:33:54,242 --> 00:33:55,827
came to my kitchen, you know.
482
00:33:55,993 --> 00:33:59,622
We were segregated
from the schoolhouse door.
483
00:33:59,789 --> 00:34:02,291
Therefore, he doesn't know,
he really does not know,
484
00:34:02,458 --> 00:34:04,085
what it was like for me
to leave my house,
485
00:34:04,252 --> 00:34:05,795
to leave the school
and go back to Harlem.
486
00:34:05,962 --> 00:34:07,422
He doesn't know
how Negroes live.
487
00:34:07,588 --> 00:34:10,216
And it comes as a great surprise
to the Kennedy brothers
488
00:34:10,383 --> 00:34:11,843
and to everybody else
in the country.
489
00:34:12,552 --> 00:34:14,679
I'm certain, again, you know,
490
00:34:14,846 --> 00:34:17,932
that again like most white
Americans I have encountered,
491
00:34:18,099 --> 00:34:19,350
they have no...
492
00:34:19,976 --> 00:34:21,728
I'm sure they have nothing
whatever against Negroes...
493
00:34:21,894 --> 00:34:23,521
That's really not the question.
494
00:34:23,730 --> 00:34:26,190
The question is really
a kind of apathy and ignorance,
495
00:34:26,524 --> 00:34:28,276
which is the price we pay
for segregation.
496
00:34:28,443 --> 00:34:29,610
That's what segregation means.
497
00:34:29,736 --> 00:34:31,571
You don't know what's happening
on the other side of the wall,
498
00:34:31,738 --> 00:34:32,864
because you don't want to know.
499
00:34:33,030 --> 00:34:34,699
I was in some way,
500
00:34:34,866 --> 00:34:37,952
in those years,
without entirely realizing it,
501
00:34:38,327 --> 00:34:41,414
the great Black Hope
of the great White Father.
502
00:34:42,373 --> 00:34:46,377
I was not a racist,
or so I thought.
503
00:34:47,170 --> 00:34:51,674
Malcolm was a racist,
or so they thought.
504
00:34:52,675 --> 00:34:57,096
In fact, we were simply
trapped in the same situation.
505
00:34:58,639 --> 00:35:00,433
Well, you tell that
to my boy tonight,
506
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,352
when you put him to sleep
on the living room couch.
507
00:35:03,770 --> 00:35:05,188
And you tell it to him
in the morning,
508
00:35:05,354 --> 00:35:06,481
when his mother goes out of here
509
00:35:06,647 --> 00:35:07,982
to take care
of somebody else's kids.
510
00:35:08,149 --> 00:35:10,735
And tell it to me, when we want
some curtains or some drapes
511
00:35:10,902 --> 00:35:13,321
and you sneak out of here and
go work in somebody's kitchen.
512
00:35:13,488 --> 00:35:15,323
All I want is to make
a future for this family.
513
00:35:15,490 --> 00:35:18,242
All I want is to be able to
stand in front of my boy
514
00:35:18,451 --> 00:35:20,870
like my father
never was able to do to me.
515
00:35:28,461 --> 00:35:31,380
Lorraine Hansberry
would not be very much younger
516
00:35:31,547 --> 00:35:33,716
than I am now,
if she were alive.
517
00:35:34,967 --> 00:35:37,386
At the time of the
Bobby Kennedy meeting,
518
00:35:37,553 --> 00:35:39,430
she was thirty-three.
519
00:35:41,349 --> 00:35:45,603
That was one of the very last
times I saw her on her feet,
520
00:35:46,354 --> 00:35:48,940
and she died at the age
of thirty-four.
521
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:52,985
I miss her so much.
522
00:35:55,655 --> 00:35:58,407
People forget how young
everybody was.
523
00:35:59,367 --> 00:36:02,620
Bobby Kennedy, for another,
quite different example,
524
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:04,413
was thirty-eight.
525
00:36:05,832 --> 00:36:07,959
We wanted him
to tell his brother,
526
00:36:08,125 --> 00:36:10,586
the president,
to personally escort to school,
527
00:36:10,753 --> 00:36:14,298
on that day or the day after,
a small black girl,
528
00:36:14,674 --> 00:36:17,426
already scheduled
to enter Deep South School.
529
00:36:17,927 --> 00:36:19,637
"That way," we said,
530
00:36:20,263 --> 00:36:24,058
"it will be clear that
whoever spits on that child
531
00:36:24,517 --> 00:36:25,768
will be spitting on the nation."
532
00:36:27,645 --> 00:36:29,313
He didn't understand this
either.
533
00:36:29,981 --> 00:36:34,402
"It would be," he said,
"a meaningless moral gesture."
534
00:36:36,237 --> 00:36:40,908
"We would like," said Lorraine,
"from you, a moral commitment".
535
00:36:42,118 --> 00:36:43,452
He looked insulted,
536
00:36:44,036 --> 00:36:47,164
seemed to feel that
he'd been wasting his time.
537
00:36:49,250 --> 00:36:52,920
Well, Lorraine sat still,
watching all the while.
538
00:36:56,799 --> 00:36:58,259
She looked at Bobby Kennedy,
539
00:36:58,467 --> 00:37:01,345
who, perhaps for the first time,
looked at her.
540
00:37:03,472 --> 00:37:05,308
"But I am very worried,"
she said,
541
00:37:05,892 --> 00:37:08,477
"about the state
of the civilization
542
00:37:08,644 --> 00:37:11,397
which produced that photograph
of the white cop
543
00:37:11,564 --> 00:37:14,901
standing on that Negro woman's
neck in Birmingham."
544
00:37:18,070 --> 00:37:19,322
Then she smiled.
545
00:37:20,323 --> 00:37:24,160
And I am glad
that she was not smiling at me.
546
00:37:26,370 --> 00:37:28,789
"Goodbye Mr. Attorney General,"
she said,
547
00:37:29,624 --> 00:37:32,335
and turned
and walked out of the room.
548
00:37:35,671 --> 00:37:38,633
And then, we heard the thunder.
549
00:37:53,522 --> 00:37:56,525
...He stopped at his house
on the way to the airport
550
00:37:56,692 --> 00:38:00,821
so I could autograph my books
for him, his wife and children.
551
00:38:02,073 --> 00:38:05,201
I remember Myrlie Evers
standing outside, smiling,
552
00:38:05,409 --> 00:38:06,577
and we waved,
553
00:38:07,161 --> 00:38:10,289
and Medgar drove to the airport
and put me on the plane.
554
00:38:13,334 --> 00:38:15,962
Months later,
I was in Puerto Rico,
555
00:38:16,337 --> 00:38:17,588
working on my play.
556
00:38:18,923 --> 00:38:21,634
Lucien and I
had spent a day or so
557
00:38:21,801 --> 00:38:23,469
wandering around the island,
558
00:38:24,220 --> 00:38:26,222
and now we were driving home.
559
00:38:32,812 --> 00:38:35,314
It was a wonderful,
bright, sunny day,
560
00:38:35,815 --> 00:38:39,443
the top to the car was down,
we were laughing and talking,
561
00:38:39,610 --> 00:38:41,153
and the radio was playing.
562
00:38:44,490 --> 00:38:45,908
Then the music stopped...
563
00:38:47,743 --> 00:38:49,996
...and a voice announced
that Medgar Evers
564
00:38:50,496 --> 00:38:53,457
had been shot to death
in the carport of his home,
565
00:38:53,874 --> 00:38:57,628
and his wife and children
had seen the big man fall.
566
00:38:57,795 --> 00:39:01,590
♪ Medgar Evers was buried
from the bullet he caught ♪
567
00:39:03,509 --> 00:39:07,304
♪ They lowered him down
as a king ♪
568
00:39:10,224 --> 00:39:13,310
♪ But when the shadowy sun ♪
569
00:39:13,477 --> 00:39:15,354
♪ Sets on the one ♪
570
00:39:15,521 --> 00:39:17,732
♪ That fired the gun ♪
571
00:39:18,232 --> 00:39:21,193
♪ He'll see by his grave ♪
572
00:39:21,986 --> 00:39:24,572
♪ On the stone that remains ♪
573
00:39:24,947 --> 00:39:27,408
♪ Carved next to his name ♪
574
00:39:28,075 --> 00:39:30,453
♪
575
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:36,542
♪ Only a pawn in their game ♪
576
00:39:38,836 --> 00:39:41,630
The blue sky seemed
to descend like a blanket.
577
00:39:42,048 --> 00:39:45,217
And I couldn't say anything,
I couldn't cry.
578
00:39:46,510 --> 00:39:48,429
I just remembered his face,
579
00:39:48,888 --> 00:39:52,058
a bright, blunt, handsome face,
580
00:39:52,641 --> 00:39:56,479
and his weariness,
which he wore like his skin,
581
00:39:56,937 --> 00:40:00,691
and the way he said "ro-aad"
for road.
582
00:40:03,778 --> 00:40:06,113
And his telling me
how the tatters of clothes
583
00:40:06,322 --> 00:40:10,951
from a lynched body hung,
flapping in the tree for days,
584
00:40:11,994 --> 00:40:15,748
and how he had to pass that tree
every day.
585
00:40:19,168 --> 00:40:20,294
Medgar.
586
00:40:21,378 --> 00:40:22,671
Gone.
587
00:40:23,339 --> 00:40:25,174
♪ Baby, please don't go ♪
588
00:40:26,175 --> 00:40:28,052
♪ Baby, please don't go ♪
589
00:40:28,928 --> 00:40:31,931
♪ Baby, please don't go
Back to New Orleans ♪
590
00:40:32,139 --> 00:40:35,101
♪ You know I love you so
Baby, please don't go ♪
591
00:40:47,988 --> 00:40:51,242
In America,
I was free only in battle,
592
00:40:51,826 --> 00:40:53,327
never free to rest,
593
00:40:54,411 --> 00:40:56,789
and he who finds no way to rest
594
00:40:57,039 --> 00:40:59,083
cannot long survive the battle.
595
00:41:12,012 --> 00:41:14,140
And the young,
white revolutionary remains,
596
00:41:14,306 --> 00:41:18,144
in general, far more romantic
than a black one.
597
00:41:21,605 --> 00:41:24,525
White people have managed
to get through entire lifetimes
598
00:41:24,692 --> 00:41:26,193
in this euphoric state,
599
00:41:27,069 --> 00:41:29,280
but black people
have not been so lucky.
600
00:41:30,406 --> 00:41:33,117
A black man who sees the world
the way John Wayne,
601
00:41:33,284 --> 00:41:34,743
for example, sees it...
602
00:41:35,369 --> 00:41:37,288
would not be
an eccentric patriot,
603
00:41:37,788 --> 00:41:39,582
but a raving maniac.
604
00:41:42,501 --> 00:41:46,005
The truth is that this country
does not know what to do
605
00:41:46,172 --> 00:41:47,673
with its black population,
606
00:41:48,424 --> 00:41:52,094
dreaming of anything like
"The Final Solution".
607
00:41:58,809 --> 00:42:00,311
The Negro has never been
608
00:42:01,061 --> 00:42:03,814
as docile as white Americans
wanted to believe.
609
00:42:05,149 --> 00:42:06,275
That was a myth.
610
00:42:06,859 --> 00:42:09,069
We were not singing
and dancing down the levee.
611
00:42:10,196 --> 00:42:11,280
We were trying to keep alive,
612
00:42:11,447 --> 00:42:13,490
we were trying to survive
a very brutal system.
613
00:42:14,450 --> 00:42:16,452
The nigger has never
been happy in his place.
614
00:42:22,291 --> 00:42:23,834
One of the most
terrible things,
615
00:42:24,001 --> 00:42:25,711
is that,
whether I like it or not,
616
00:42:25,878 --> 00:42:27,296
I am an American.
617
00:42:27,463 --> 00:42:31,175
My school really was
the streets of New York City.
618
00:42:31,342 --> 00:42:33,636
My frame of reference was...
619
00:42:34,053 --> 00:42:36,388
George Washington
and John Wayne.
620
00:42:36,555 --> 00:42:39,225
But I was a child, you know,
and when a child puts his eyes
621
00:42:39,391 --> 00:42:41,018
on the world,
he has to use what he sees.
622
00:42:41,185 --> 00:42:42,436
There's nothing else to use.
623
00:42:42,603 --> 00:42:44,605
And you are formed
by what you see,
624
00:42:44,772 --> 00:42:46,899
the choices you have to make,
and the way you discover
625
00:42:47,066 --> 00:42:48,651
what it means
to be black in New York
626
00:42:48,817 --> 00:42:50,945
and then throughout
the entire country.
627
00:42:54,740 --> 00:42:56,992
I know how you watch,
as you grow older,
628
00:42:57,243 --> 00:42:58,911
and it's not a figure of speech,
629
00:42:59,078 --> 00:43:00,829
the corpses of your brothers
and your sisters
630
00:43:01,038 --> 00:43:02,331
pile up around you.
631
00:43:02,873 --> 00:43:05,084
And not for anything
they have done.
632
00:43:06,126 --> 00:43:08,045
They were too young
to have done anything.
633
00:43:09,713 --> 00:43:15,469
But what one does realize
is that when you try to stand up
634
00:43:16,220 --> 00:43:19,848
and look the world in the face
like you had a right to be here,
635
00:43:21,725 --> 00:43:24,520
you have attacked
the entire power structure
636
00:43:24,770 --> 00:43:25,980
of the western world.
637
00:43:30,401 --> 00:43:32,152
Forget "The Negro Problem".
638
00:43:33,153 --> 00:43:34,822
Don't write any voting acts.
639
00:43:35,364 --> 00:43:37,324
We had that. It's called
The Fifteenth Amendment.
640
00:43:38,075 --> 00:43:40,452
During the Civil Rights Bill
of 1964,
641
00:43:41,453 --> 00:43:43,747
what you have to look at is what
is happening in this country,
642
00:43:43,914 --> 00:43:45,624
and what is really happening
is that brother
643
00:43:45,791 --> 00:43:48,460
has murdered brother,
knowing it was his brother.
644
00:43:49,628 --> 00:43:52,840
White men have lynched Negroes,
knowing them to be their sons.
645
00:43:54,174 --> 00:43:55,634
White women
have had Negroes burned,
646
00:43:55,801 --> 00:43:57,428
knowing them to be their lovers.
647
00:43:58,679 --> 00:44:00,723
It is not a racial problem.
648
00:44:01,598 --> 00:44:03,309
It's a problem of whether or not
you're willing
649
00:44:03,475 --> 00:44:06,312
to look at your life
and be responsible for it,
650
00:44:06,478 --> 00:44:08,022
and then begin to change it.
651
00:44:09,898 --> 00:44:12,443
That great western house
I come from is one house,
652
00:44:12,609 --> 00:44:14,528
and I am one of the children
of that house.
653
00:44:15,279 --> 00:44:18,115
Simply, I am the most
despised child of that house.
654
00:44:18,782 --> 00:44:21,160
And it is because
the American people are unable
655
00:44:21,785 --> 00:44:25,205
to face the fact that
I am flesh of their flesh,
656
00:44:26,123 --> 00:44:30,002
bone of their bone,
created by them.
657
00:44:30,419 --> 00:44:33,505
My blood, my father's blood,
is in that soil.
658
00:44:44,641 --> 00:44:45,976
Good afternoon, Ma'am.
659
00:44:46,310 --> 00:44:47,770
It's raining so hard,
660
00:44:47,936 --> 00:44:50,564
I brought rubbers and coat
to fetch my little girl home.
661
00:44:50,731 --> 00:44:52,524
I'm afraid
you've made some mistake.
662
00:44:52,733 --> 00:44:53,942
Ain't this the 3B?
663
00:44:54,109 --> 00:44:56,320
- Yes.
- Well, this is it.
664
00:44:56,487 --> 00:44:57,863
It can't be it.
665
00:44:58,030 --> 00:45:00,449
I have no little
colored children in my class.
666
00:45:01,033 --> 00:45:02,993
Oh, thank you.
667
00:45:07,081 --> 00:45:08,624
There's my little girl.
668
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,169
Peola, you may you home.
669
00:45:22,888 --> 00:45:25,057
Gee, I didn't know
she was colored.
670
00:45:25,224 --> 00:45:26,517
Neither did I.
671
00:45:27,101 --> 00:45:29,686
I hate you,
I hate you, I hate you!
672
00:45:29,895 --> 00:45:31,605
Peola! Peola!
673
00:45:43,158 --> 00:45:46,662
I know very well
that my ancestors
674
00:45:46,870 --> 00:45:49,289
had no desire
to come to this place.
675
00:45:51,792 --> 00:45:55,671
But neither did the ancestors
of the people who became white,
676
00:45:56,338 --> 00:45:59,508
and who require of my captivity
a song.
677
00:46:02,177 --> 00:46:04,096
They require a song of me,
678
00:46:05,305 --> 00:46:09,643
less to celebrate my captivity
than to justify their own.
679
00:46:26,660 --> 00:46:29,204
I have always
been struck, in America,
680
00:46:29,371 --> 00:46:31,915
by an emotional poverty
so bottomless,
681
00:46:32,082 --> 00:46:36,336
and a terror of human life,
of human touch,
682
00:46:37,129 --> 00:46:41,049
so deep that virtually no
American appears able to achieve
683
00:46:41,216 --> 00:46:43,260
any viable, organic connection
684
00:46:43,886 --> 00:46:47,431
between his public stance
and his private life.
685
00:46:52,811 --> 00:46:56,899
This failure of the private life
has always had the most
686
00:46:57,065 --> 00:47:00,903
devastating effect
on American public conduct,
687
00:47:01,528 --> 00:47:03,489
and on black-white relations.
688
00:47:05,908 --> 00:47:08,952
If Americans
were not so terrified
689
00:47:09,119 --> 00:47:10,579
of their private selves,
690
00:47:11,371 --> 00:47:13,457
they would never have become
so dependent
691
00:47:13,624 --> 00:47:16,126
on what they call
"The Negro Problem".
692
00:47:16,502 --> 00:47:18,962
They said it wasn't nice
to say "nigger".
693
00:47:22,257 --> 00:47:23,175
Nigger!
694
00:47:23,342 --> 00:47:25,177
Nigger! Nigger!
695
00:47:25,886 --> 00:47:29,431
Poor little nigger kids,
love the little nigger kids.
696
00:47:29,598 --> 00:47:30,933
Who loved me?
697
00:47:31,308 --> 00:47:32,643
Who loved me?
698
00:47:33,185 --> 00:47:36,104
This problem,
which they invented
699
00:47:36,313 --> 00:47:38,607
in order to safeguard
their purity,
700
00:47:39,399 --> 00:47:43,362
has made of them
criminals and monsters,
701
00:47:43,946 --> 00:47:45,572
and it is destroying them.
702
00:47:48,033 --> 00:47:53,413
And this, not from anything
Blacks may or may not be doing,
703
00:47:54,122 --> 00:47:55,582
but because of the role
704
00:47:55,749 --> 00:47:58,794
of a guilty and constricted
white imagination
705
00:47:59,169 --> 00:48:00,879
has assigned to the Blacks.
706
00:48:12,599 --> 00:48:14,351
Look man,
don't give me that look.
707
00:48:15,435 --> 00:48:17,271
You should have got
what was coming to you
708
00:48:17,604 --> 00:48:19,606
after spitting
in that guy's face.
709
00:48:21,900 --> 00:48:23,026
Why you...
710
00:48:24,653 --> 00:48:27,823
It is impossible to
accept the premise of the story,
711
00:48:28,448 --> 00:48:32,202
a premise based on the profound
American misunderstanding
712
00:48:32,369 --> 00:48:35,414
of the nature of the hatred
between black and white.
713
00:48:35,956 --> 00:48:37,708
That time is now.
714
00:48:39,918 --> 00:48:42,462
The root of the black man's
hatred is rage,
715
00:48:43,338 --> 00:48:45,382
and he does not so much
hate white men
716
00:48:45,549 --> 00:48:48,051
as simply wants them
out of his way,
717
00:48:49,011 --> 00:48:50,429
and more than that,
718
00:48:51,013 --> 00:48:52,472
out of his children's way.
719
00:48:55,267 --> 00:48:57,936
The root of the white man's
hatred is terror.
720
00:48:58,103 --> 00:48:59,271
I'm gonna kill you.
721
00:48:59,438 --> 00:49:01,481
A bottomless
and nameless terror,
722
00:49:02,065 --> 00:49:04,401
which focuses
on this dread figure,
723
00:49:04,651 --> 00:49:07,904
an entity which lives
only in his mind.
724
00:49:15,537 --> 00:49:16,663
Run!
725
00:49:16,830 --> 00:49:17,956
Come on!
726
00:49:18,123 --> 00:49:21,084
I can't make it,
I can't make it!
727
00:49:27,341 --> 00:49:29,217
When Sidney
jumps off the train,
728
00:49:29,468 --> 00:49:31,136
the white liberal people
downtown
729
00:49:31,303 --> 00:49:33,055
were much relieved and joyful.
730
00:49:34,014 --> 00:49:36,725
But when black people
saw him jump off the train,
731
00:49:37,225 --> 00:49:41,271
they yelled, "Get back
on the train, you fool!"
732
00:49:44,691 --> 00:49:46,485
The black man
jumps off the train
733
00:49:46,693 --> 00:49:48,654
in order to reassure
white people,
734
00:49:49,613 --> 00:49:51,907
to make them know
that they are not hated,
735
00:49:52,908 --> 00:49:54,993
that though they have made
human errors,
736
00:49:55,911 --> 00:49:58,538
they done nothing
for which to be hated.
737
00:50:03,001 --> 00:50:06,380
♪ I'm Chiquita Banana
And I'm here to say ♪
738
00:50:06,546 --> 00:50:07,839
♪ I am the top banana... ♪
739
00:50:08,006 --> 00:50:10,133
In spite of
the fabulous myths
740
00:50:10,300 --> 00:50:11,802
proliferating in this country
741
00:50:11,968 --> 00:50:14,429
concerning the sexuality
of black people,
742
00:50:15,055 --> 00:50:18,558
black men are still used,
in the popular culture,
743
00:50:18,892 --> 00:50:21,937
as though they had
no sexual equipment at all.
744
00:50:24,231 --> 00:50:27,776
Sidney Poitier,
as a black artist, and a man,
745
00:50:28,276 --> 00:50:30,737
is also up against
the infantile,
746
00:50:30,904 --> 00:50:32,989
furtive sexuality
of this country.
747
00:50:34,074 --> 00:50:37,285
Both he and Harry Belafonte,
for example,
748
00:50:37,452 --> 00:50:40,914
are sex symbols,
though no one dares admit that,
749
00:50:41,581 --> 00:50:45,961
still less to use them as any of
the Hollywood he-men are used.
750
00:50:50,048 --> 00:50:53,093
Black people have been robbed
of everything in this country...
751
00:50:53,260 --> 00:50:54,678
I've got something
to say to you, boy.
752
00:50:54,845 --> 00:50:58,014
...and they don't want to be
robbed of their artist.
753
00:50:59,015 --> 00:51:00,851
Black people
particularly disliked
754
00:51:01,017 --> 00:51:02,561
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,
755
00:51:02,728 --> 00:51:05,647
because they felt that
Sidney was, in effect,
756
00:51:05,814 --> 00:51:07,441
being used against them.
757
00:51:08,483 --> 00:51:10,360
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
may prove,
758
00:51:10,527 --> 00:51:12,946
in some bizarre way,
to be a milestone,
759
00:51:13,488 --> 00:51:17,242
because it is really quite
impossible to go any further
760
00:51:17,409 --> 00:51:19,035
in that particular direction.
761
00:51:19,494 --> 00:51:23,874
♪ If you ever plan
to motor West... ♪
762
00:51:24,958 --> 00:51:28,336
The next time,
the kissing will have to start.
763
00:51:35,343 --> 00:51:37,679
Well, you've got your ticket?
764
00:51:38,555 --> 00:51:39,806
Here you are.
765
00:51:42,058 --> 00:51:43,268
Thank you.
766
00:51:44,394 --> 00:51:47,105
I am aware
that men do not kiss each other
767
00:51:47,272 --> 00:51:51,735
in American films, nor,
for the most part, in America
768
00:51:52,611 --> 00:51:56,281
nor do the black detective
and the white Sheriff kiss here.
769
00:51:59,534 --> 00:52:01,995
You take care, you hear?
770
00:52:07,459 --> 00:52:08,585
Yeah.
771
00:52:09,795 --> 00:52:11,880
But the obligatory,
fade-out-kiss,
772
00:52:12,339 --> 00:52:15,550
in the classic American film,
did not speak of love,
773
00:52:16,176 --> 00:52:18,094
and still less of sex.
774
00:52:19,137 --> 00:52:21,181
It spoke of reconciliation,
775
00:52:22,641 --> 00:52:25,185
of all things
now becoming possible.
776
00:52:47,958 --> 00:52:50,710
I knew a blond girl
in the village
777
00:52:51,169 --> 00:52:54,381
a long time ago,
and eventually,
778
00:52:54,548 --> 00:52:56,758
we never walked
out of the house together.
779
00:53:00,345 --> 00:53:03,098
She was far safer
walking the streets alone
780
00:53:03,598 --> 00:53:05,225
than when walking with me.
781
00:53:06,434 --> 00:53:09,062
A brutal and humiliating fact
782
00:53:09,646 --> 00:53:12,232
which thoroughly destroyed
whatever relationship
783
00:53:12,399 --> 00:53:15,443
this girl and I
might have been able to achieve.
784
00:53:18,405 --> 00:53:20,657
This happens
all the time in America,
785
00:53:21,950 --> 00:53:23,827
but Americans
have yet to realize
786
00:53:23,994 --> 00:53:26,204
what a sinister fact this is,
787
00:53:26,371 --> 00:53:27,831
and what it says about them.
788
00:53:31,042 --> 00:53:33,628
When we walked out
in the evening, then,
789
00:53:34,838 --> 00:53:37,424
she would leave
ahead of me, alone.
790
00:53:38,550 --> 00:53:42,971
I would give about five minutes,
and then I would walk out alone,
791
00:53:44,514 --> 00:53:47,893
taking another route, and
meet her on the subway platform.
792
00:53:50,145 --> 00:53:52,022
We would not
acknowledge each other.
793
00:53:52,689 --> 00:53:54,774
We would get into
the subway car,
794
00:53:54,941 --> 00:53:58,820
sitting at opposite ends of it,
and walk, separately,
795
00:53:58,987 --> 00:54:01,406
through the streets
of the free and the brave,
796
00:54:02,032 --> 00:54:05,744
to wherever we were going...
a friend's house, or the movies.
797
00:54:16,796 --> 00:54:18,048
All over the country,
798
00:54:18,214 --> 00:54:21,176
families such this
are enjoying new prosperity.
799
00:54:21,593 --> 00:54:24,554
They have new interests,
news standards of living,
800
00:54:24,721 --> 00:54:27,724
a buying power
they've never enjoyed before.
801
00:54:27,891 --> 00:54:28,975
There are good prospects
802
00:54:29,142 --> 00:54:31,770
for practically all types
of goods and services.
803
00:54:32,228 --> 00:54:35,273
All too often though,
they are overlooked prospects.
804
00:54:35,649 --> 00:54:38,610
Since 1940,
in San Francisco alone,
805
00:54:38,777 --> 00:54:42,364
the Negro market
has increased by 89%.
806
00:54:43,406 --> 00:54:46,618
Here are millions of customers
for what you have to sell.
807
00:54:47,285 --> 00:54:52,290
Customers with
15 billion dollars to spend
808
00:54:52,874 --> 00:54:55,210
Someone once said to me
809
00:54:55,377 --> 00:54:59,005
that the people in general
cannot bear very much reality.
810
00:54:59,923 --> 00:55:02,926
He meant by this
that they prefer fantasy
811
00:55:03,093 --> 00:55:06,429
to a truthful recreation
of their experience.
812
00:55:07,847 --> 00:55:10,517
People have quite enough
reality to bear,
813
00:55:11,017 --> 00:55:12,978
by simply getting
through their lives,
814
00:55:13,353 --> 00:55:14,688
raising their children,
815
00:55:15,063 --> 00:55:17,065
dealing with the eternal
conundrums
816
00:55:17,232 --> 00:55:20,276
of birth, taxes, and death.
817
00:55:21,111 --> 00:55:25,156
Negroes are continuously making
progress here in this country.
818
00:55:25,323 --> 00:55:27,534
The progress in many areas
is not as fast as it should be,
819
00:55:27,701 --> 00:55:28,827
but they are making progress,
820
00:55:28,994 --> 00:55:30,412
and we will continue
to make progress.
821
00:55:30,578 --> 00:55:35,208
There's no reason that they, in
a near and foreseeable future,
822
00:55:35,375 --> 00:55:38,169
that a Negro could also be
president of the United States
823
00:55:39,546 --> 00:55:41,006
I remember, for example,
824
00:55:41,631 --> 00:55:45,093
when the ex-Attorney General,
Mr. Robert Kennedy,
825
00:55:46,845 --> 00:55:50,015
said that it was conceivable
826
00:55:50,932 --> 00:55:54,185
that in 40 years in America,
we might have a Negro president.
827
00:55:55,979 --> 00:55:59,899
And that sounded like
a very emancipated statement,
828
00:56:00,066 --> 00:56:01,526
I suppose, to white people.
829
00:56:02,694 --> 00:56:04,112
They were not in Harlem...
830
00:56:05,447 --> 00:56:07,240
...when this statement
was first heard.
831
00:56:08,783 --> 00:56:11,036
And did not hear,
and possibly will never hear,
832
00:56:11,661 --> 00:56:13,329
the laughter and the bitterness
and the scorn
833
00:56:13,496 --> 00:56:15,040
with which this statement
was greeted.
834
00:56:15,290 --> 00:56:17,459
From the point of view of the
man in the Harlem barbershop,
835
00:56:17,625 --> 00:56:19,878
Bobby Kennedy
only got here yesterday.
836
00:56:21,963 --> 00:56:24,883
And now he's already
on his way to the Presidency.
837
00:56:25,550 --> 00:56:28,720
We've been here for 400 years
and now he tells us
838
00:56:28,887 --> 00:56:32,474
that maybe in 40 years,
if you're good,
839
00:56:33,391 --> 00:56:35,435
we may let you become president.
840
00:56:37,187 --> 00:56:41,941
♪ It was a dream,
Just a dream I had on my mind ♪
841
00:56:46,488 --> 00:56:51,993
♪ It was a dream,
Just a dream I had on my mind ♪
842
00:56:56,122 --> 00:56:58,291
♪ And when I woke up, baby ♪
843
00:56:58,583 --> 00:57:01,377
♪ Not a thing could I find ♪
844
00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:09,928
♪ I dreamed I was an angel
And had a good time ♪
845
00:57:10,595 --> 00:57:14,516
♪ I dreamed I was satisfying
And nothin' to worry my mind ♪
846
00:57:14,682 --> 00:57:16,559
♪ But it was a dream ♪
847
00:57:17,936 --> 00:57:20,855
♪ Just a dream
I had on my mind ♪
848
00:57:31,699 --> 00:57:33,284
Let me put it this way,
849
00:57:34,327 --> 00:57:36,663
that from a very literal
point of view,
850
00:57:38,081 --> 00:57:40,083
the harbors and the ports
851
00:57:40,333 --> 00:57:43,753
and the railroads
of the country,
852
00:57:46,506 --> 00:57:47,674
the economy,
853
00:57:48,508 --> 00:57:52,303
especially
in the southern states,
854
00:57:52,554 --> 00:57:56,141
could not conceivably be
what it has become
855
00:57:56,683 --> 00:57:58,518
if they had not had,
856
00:57:58,685 --> 00:58:01,271
and do not still have,
indeed, and for so long,
857
00:58:01,479 --> 00:58:03,064
so many generations,
858
00:58:03,231 --> 00:58:04,315
cheap labor.
859
00:58:49,152 --> 00:58:51,613
It is a terrible thing
860
00:58:51,779 --> 00:58:53,656
for an entire people
861
00:58:53,823 --> 00:58:58,077
to surrender to the notion
that one ninth of its population
862
00:58:58,244 --> 00:58:59,495
is beneath them.
863
00:59:00,163 --> 00:59:02,957
And until that moment,
until the moment comes,
864
00:59:03,875 --> 00:59:06,044
when we, the Americans,
865
00:59:06,252 --> 00:59:10,506
we, the American people,
are able to accept the fact
866
00:59:10,673 --> 00:59:12,258
that I have to accept,
for example,
867
00:59:12,425 --> 00:59:14,594
that my ancestors
are both white and black.
868
00:59:15,678 --> 00:59:19,098
That on that continent we are
trying to forge a new identity
869
00:59:19,265 --> 00:59:20,850
for which we need each other,
870
00:59:21,768 --> 00:59:24,896
and that I am not
a ward of America.
871
00:59:25,271 --> 00:59:27,815
I am not an object
of missionary charity,
872
00:59:28,733 --> 00:59:31,611
I am one of the people
who built the country.
873
00:59:32,946 --> 00:59:34,322
Until this moment,
874
00:59:34,739 --> 00:59:37,367
there is scarcely any hope
for the American Dream,
875
00:59:38,534 --> 00:59:41,579
because people who are denied
participation in it,
876
00:59:43,289 --> 00:59:45,083
by their very presence...
877
00:59:46,417 --> 00:59:47,627
...will wreck it.
878
00:59:48,419 --> 00:59:51,214
And if that happens, it is a
very grave moment for the West.
879
00:59:51,381 --> 00:59:53,675
Thank you.
880
01:00:37,302 --> 01:00:39,012
We're here in the studio today
881
01:00:39,178 --> 01:00:41,931
with seven men who have
two things in common:
882
01:00:42,932 --> 01:00:45,810
they are entertainers
and artists;
883
01:00:45,977 --> 01:00:47,729
and they've all
come to Washington.
884
01:00:47,895 --> 01:00:50,064
They are seven out of some
two hundred thousand
885
01:00:50,231 --> 01:00:52,900
American citizens
who came to the capital
886
01:00:53,109 --> 01:00:55,820
to march for freedom
and for jobs.
887
01:00:56,237 --> 01:01:01,034
Will this tremendous outburst
now lead to a course of action,
888
01:01:01,200 --> 01:01:02,368
Mr. Belafonte?
889
01:01:02,535 --> 01:01:05,997
The now that is being
spoken about is the fact that
890
01:01:06,164 --> 01:01:07,999
in a hundred years, finally,
891
01:01:08,708 --> 01:01:11,461
through whatever the causes
have been in history,
892
01:01:11,627 --> 01:01:14,505
and most of them have been
because of oppression,
893
01:01:14,714 --> 01:01:18,843
the Negro people
have strongly and fully
894
01:01:19,010 --> 01:01:20,553
taken the bit in their teeth,
895
01:01:20,720 --> 01:01:23,097
they're asking absolutely
no quarter from anyone.
896
01:01:23,264 --> 01:01:25,641
But I do say that
the bulk of the interpretation
897
01:01:25,808 --> 01:01:27,393
of whether this thing
is going to end
898
01:01:27,560 --> 01:01:29,270
successfully and joyously,
899
01:01:29,437 --> 01:01:31,064
or is going to end disastrously,
900
01:01:31,230 --> 01:01:34,192
lays very heavily
with the white community,
901
01:01:34,359 --> 01:01:36,402
it lays very heavily
with the profiteers,
902
01:01:36,569 --> 01:01:39,280
it lays very heavily
with the vested interests.
903
01:01:39,447 --> 01:01:42,533
It lays very heavily
with a great middle stream
904
01:01:42,825 --> 01:01:44,077
in this country,
905
01:01:44,243 --> 01:01:47,455
of people who have refused
to commit themselves,
906
01:01:47,622 --> 01:01:49,624
or even have
the slightest knowledge
907
01:01:49,791 --> 01:01:51,876
that these things
have been going on.
908
01:02:03,471 --> 01:02:06,974
I am speaking as
a member of a certain democracy
909
01:02:07,141 --> 01:02:09,811
in a very complex country,
910
01:02:10,353 --> 01:02:13,564
which insists on being
very narrow-minded.
911
01:02:15,525 --> 01:02:19,112
Simplicity is taken to be
a great American virtue,
912
01:02:19,404 --> 01:02:21,030
along with sincerity.
913
01:02:22,490 --> 01:02:23,449
I am sorry.
914
01:02:23,616 --> 01:02:24,826
I am deeply sorry.
915
01:02:25,368 --> 01:02:26,411
And I am sorry.
916
01:02:26,577 --> 01:02:27,995
I'm deeply sorry about that.
917
01:02:28,162 --> 01:02:29,747
They are no excuses.
918
01:02:29,914 --> 01:02:31,165
I am solely...
919
01:02:31,332 --> 01:02:32,750
We have made
plenty of mistakes.
920
01:02:32,917 --> 01:02:34,460
For that, I apologize.
921
01:02:34,877 --> 01:02:36,421
I am very sorry.
922
01:02:36,671 --> 01:02:39,590
I'm sorry I did this to you,
but you gotta get used to it.
923
01:02:39,757 --> 01:02:41,551
It's one of those
little problems in life.
924
01:02:41,717 --> 01:02:42,718
I take full responsibility.
925
01:02:42,885 --> 01:02:44,679
I'm here today
to again apologize.
926
01:02:44,846 --> 01:02:46,848
I'll just apologize for that
to her.
927
01:02:47,014 --> 01:02:49,725
For any mistakes I've made,
I take full responsibility.
928
01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:52,478
It's an honor to serve
the city of Ferguson
929
01:02:52,645 --> 01:02:54,105
and the people who live there.
930
01:02:59,068 --> 01:03:00,653
One of the results of this
931
01:03:01,112 --> 01:03:04,449
is that immaturity
is taken to be a virtue too.
932
01:03:05,366 --> 01:03:08,828
So that someone like that,
let's say John Wayne,
933
01:03:08,995 --> 01:03:10,913
who spent most of his time
on screen
934
01:03:11,080 --> 01:03:12,331
admonishing Indians,
935
01:03:12,915 --> 01:03:16,002
was in no necessity to grow up.
936
01:03:25,761 --> 01:03:29,265
We were free and we decided
to treat ourselves
937
01:03:29,432 --> 01:03:31,517
to a really fancy,
friendly dinner.
938
01:03:36,272 --> 01:03:39,275
The head waiter came and said
there was a phone call for me,
939
01:03:39,984 --> 01:03:42,195
and my sister Gloria
rose to take it.
940
01:03:46,532 --> 01:03:48,993
She was very strange
when she came back.
941
01:03:50,286 --> 01:03:51,662
She didn't say anything,
942
01:03:52,538 --> 01:03:55,249
and I began to be afraid
to ask her anything.
943
01:03:58,211 --> 01:04:02,381
Then, nibbling at something
she obviously wasn't tasting,
944
01:04:02,548 --> 01:04:06,260
she said,
"Well, I've got to tell you
945
01:04:06,427 --> 01:04:08,596
because the press
is on its way over here.
946
01:04:09,805 --> 01:04:11,849
They have just killed Malcolm."
947
01:04:52,181 --> 01:04:54,642
There is nothing in the evidence
948
01:04:54,892 --> 01:04:58,271
offered by the book
of the American republic,
949
01:05:00,815 --> 01:05:04,694
which allows me really to argue
with the cat who says to me,
950
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:08,990
"They needed us
to pick the cotton,
951
01:05:09,824 --> 01:05:11,534
and now they don't need us
anymore.
952
01:05:12,577 --> 01:05:14,870
Now they don't need us,
they're gonna kill us all off,
953
01:05:15,705 --> 01:05:17,373
just like they did the Indians".
954
01:05:19,083 --> 01:05:21,335
And I can't say
it's a Christian nation.
955
01:05:22,003 --> 01:05:23,462
though your brothers
will never do that to you,
956
01:05:23,629 --> 01:05:25,381
because the record is
too long and too bloody.
957
01:05:25,548 --> 01:05:26,757
That's all we have done.
958
01:05:29,051 --> 01:05:35,141
All your buried corpses
now begin to speak.
959
01:05:37,184 --> 01:05:39,604
I say violence is necessary.
960
01:05:40,438 --> 01:05:42,481
Violence is a part
of America's culture.
961
01:05:42,648 --> 01:05:44,734
It is as American as cherry pie.
962
01:05:44,900 --> 01:05:46,402
Black power, Brothers.
963
01:06:11,010 --> 01:06:12,386
If we were white,
964
01:06:13,721 --> 01:06:16,515
if we were Irish,
if we were Jewish,
965
01:06:16,682 --> 01:06:20,227
if we were Poles,
if we had, in fact,
966
01:06:20,394 --> 01:06:22,855
in your mind,
a frame of reference,
967
01:06:23,481 --> 01:06:24,774
our heroes would be
your heroes too.
968
01:06:24,940 --> 01:06:26,859
Nat Turner would be a hero
for you instead of a threat.
969
01:06:27,026 --> 01:06:29,320
Malcolm X might still be alive.
970
01:06:30,780 --> 01:06:33,115
Everyone is very proud
of brave little Israel,
971
01:06:33,491 --> 01:06:36,535
a state against which I have nothing,
I don't want to be misinterpreted,
972
01:06:36,702 --> 01:06:38,120
I'm not an anti-Semite.
973
01:06:38,371 --> 01:06:40,247
But, you know,
when the Israelis pick up guns,
974
01:06:40,414 --> 01:06:42,458
or the Poles, or the Irish,
975
01:06:42,625 --> 01:06:45,503
or any white man
in the world says,
976
01:06:45,670 --> 01:06:47,630
"Give me liberty,
or give me death",
977
01:06:48,506 --> 01:06:50,132
the entire white world applauds.
978
01:06:50,633 --> 01:06:53,469
When a black man says
exactly the same thing,
979
01:06:54,595 --> 01:06:55,971
word for word,
980
01:06:57,098 --> 01:06:59,975
he is judged a criminal
and treated like one
981
01:07:00,142 --> 01:07:01,852
and everything possible is done
982
01:07:02,019 --> 01:07:03,604
to make an example
of this bad nigger,
983
01:07:03,771 --> 01:07:05,731
so there won't be
any more like him.
984
01:07:07,316 --> 01:07:09,485
Look out
across this land we love,
985
01:07:10,111 --> 01:07:14,448
look about you whatever you are,
this unending scenic beauty,
986
01:07:14,865 --> 01:07:16,033
and there's freedom,
987
01:07:16,492 --> 01:07:18,536
it's an inherent American right
988
01:07:18,703 --> 01:07:21,914
meaning many different things
to every single citizen.
989
01:07:22,540 --> 01:07:25,459
It's a leisurely afternoon
of golf along a pleasant course.
990
01:07:26,419 --> 01:07:29,714
It's an amusement park,
a rollercoaster ride.
991
01:07:31,298 --> 01:07:32,967
A day at the county fair.
992
01:07:37,847 --> 01:07:39,223
A day of excitement,
993
01:07:39,557 --> 01:07:43,352
unrestricted travel
across all our 50 states,
994
01:07:43,686 --> 01:07:46,272
unlimited enjoyment
of all these jewels
995
01:07:46,439 --> 01:07:48,023
in the continent's crown.
996
01:07:49,358 --> 01:07:51,819
For all of us,
there's all of America,
997
01:07:51,986 --> 01:07:56,657
in all of its scenic beauty,
all of its heritage of history,
998
01:07:57,283 --> 01:07:59,326
all of its limitless
opportunity...
999
01:08:00,619 --> 01:08:04,832
We've dropped too many bombs
on Vietnam now.
1000
01:08:06,500 --> 01:08:10,087
Let us save our national honor!
1001
01:08:10,588 --> 01:08:12,256
Stop the bombing,
1002
01:08:12,465 --> 01:08:13,924
and stop the war!
1003
01:08:20,598 --> 01:08:23,601
What I am
trying to say to this country,
1004
01:08:23,893 --> 01:08:25,019
to us,
1005
01:08:25,478 --> 01:08:27,646
is that we must know this.
1006
01:08:28,773 --> 01:08:30,775
We must realize this,
1007
01:08:32,151 --> 01:08:34,487
that no other country
in the world
1008
01:08:34,653 --> 01:08:38,532
have been so fat
and so sleek, and so safe,
1009
01:08:38,699 --> 01:08:42,244
and so happy,
and so irresponsible,
1010
01:08:43,287 --> 01:08:44,497
and so dead.
1011
01:08:44,872 --> 01:08:48,584
No other country can afford to
dream of a Plymouth and a wife
1012
01:08:48,876 --> 01:08:50,711
and a house with a fence,
1013
01:08:51,212 --> 01:08:53,506
and the children
growing up safely
1014
01:08:53,672 --> 01:08:56,509
to go to college
and to become executives,
1015
01:08:56,675 --> 01:08:57,760
and then to marry,
1016
01:08:58,010 --> 01:09:00,554
and have the Plymouth
and the house
1017
01:09:00,721 --> 01:09:02,014
and so forth.
1018
01:09:02,598 --> 01:09:05,684
A great many people
do not live this way,
1019
01:09:06,352 --> 01:09:07,937
and cannot imagine it,
1020
01:09:08,187 --> 01:09:11,440
and do not know that when
we talk about "democracy",
1021
01:09:11,607 --> 01:09:12,983
this is what we mean.
1022
01:09:29,416 --> 01:09:31,752
The industry is compelled,
1023
01:09:31,919 --> 01:09:33,337
given the way it is built,
1024
01:09:33,546 --> 01:09:35,381
to present
to the American people
1025
01:09:35,548 --> 01:09:38,467
a self-perpetuating fantasy
of American life.
1026
01:09:39,635 --> 01:09:42,930
Their concept of entertainment
is difficult to distinguish
1027
01:09:43,097 --> 01:09:44,932
from the use of narcotics.
1028
01:09:45,099 --> 01:09:47,893
What worries you about
them having black partners?
1029
01:09:48,060 --> 01:09:50,229
Do you think people are
gonna look down on them,
1030
01:09:50,437 --> 01:09:52,648
- or judge them?
- Yes, I think people look down.
1031
01:10:00,739 --> 01:10:03,492
To watch the TV screen
for any length of time
1032
01:10:03,659 --> 01:10:06,412
is to learn some really
frightening things
1033
01:10:06,620 --> 01:10:09,123
about the American
sense of reality.
1034
01:10:09,999 --> 01:10:13,294
We are cruelly trapped between
what we would like to be
1035
01:10:13,460 --> 01:10:15,379
and what we actually are.
1036
01:10:15,546 --> 01:10:19,049
And we cannot possibly become
what we would like to be until
1037
01:10:19,216 --> 01:10:23,846
we are willing to ask ourselves
just why the lives we lead
1038
01:10:24,013 --> 01:10:26,473
on this continent
are mainly so empty,
1039
01:10:26,640 --> 01:10:28,726
so tame, and so ugly.
1040
01:10:30,561 --> 01:10:33,856
These images are designed
not to trouble,
1041
01:10:34,315 --> 01:10:35,608
but to reassure.
1042
01:10:36,150 --> 01:10:39,737
They also weaken our ability
to deal with the world as it is,
1043
01:10:40,905 --> 01:10:43,240
ourselves as we are.
1044
01:10:46,869 --> 01:10:49,496
I would like to add someone
to our group here,
1045
01:10:49,747 --> 01:10:51,248
Professor Paul Weiss,
1046
01:10:51,415 --> 01:10:53,000
the sterling professor
of philosophy at Yale.
1047
01:11:05,888 --> 01:11:07,598
Were you able to listen
to the show backstage?
1048
01:11:07,765 --> 01:11:09,016
I heard a good deal of it,
1049
01:11:09,183 --> 01:11:11,101
but then I was behind
the whatsitmajig.
1050
01:11:11,268 --> 01:11:13,312
- Yes.
- So I heard only some of it.
1051
01:11:13,479 --> 01:11:15,356
Did you hear anything
that you disagreed with?
1052
01:11:15,522 --> 01:11:17,441
I disagreed with
a great deal of it,
1053
01:11:17,608 --> 01:11:20,402
and of course, there's
a good deal I agree with.
1054
01:11:20,694 --> 01:11:25,157
But I think he's overlooking
one very important matter,
1055
01:11:25,324 --> 01:11:26,408
I think.
1056
01:11:26,659 --> 01:11:29,620
Each one of us,
I think, is terribly alone.
1057
01:11:29,828 --> 01:11:32,414
He lives his own
individual life.
1058
01:11:32,581 --> 01:11:35,709
He has all kind of obstacles,
the way of religion or color
1059
01:11:35,876 --> 01:11:38,671
or size or shape
or lack of ability,
1060
01:11:38,921 --> 01:11:40,881
and the problem
is to become a man.
1061
01:11:41,048 --> 01:11:43,425
But what I was discussing
was not that problem, really.
1062
01:11:43,592 --> 01:11:45,886
I was discussing
the difficulties, the obstacles,
1063
01:11:46,095 --> 01:11:48,472
the very real danger of death
1064
01:11:48,681 --> 01:11:51,266
thrown up by the society
when a Negro, when a black man,
1065
01:11:51,433 --> 01:11:52,726
attempts to become a man.
1066
01:11:52,893 --> 01:11:55,688
All this emphasis
upon black man and white,
1067
01:11:55,854 --> 01:11:59,316
does emphasize
something which is here,
1068
01:11:59,483 --> 01:12:02,194
but it emphasizes,
or perhaps exaggerates it,
1069
01:12:02,361 --> 01:12:05,906
and therefore makes us
put people together in groups
1070
01:12:06,073 --> 01:12:07,533
which they ought not to be in.
1071
01:12:07,700 --> 01:12:10,119
I have more in common
with a black scholar
1072
01:12:10,285 --> 01:12:12,871
than I have with a white man
who is against scholarship.
1073
01:12:13,163 --> 01:12:15,624
And you have more in common
with a white author
1074
01:12:15,791 --> 01:12:18,002
than you have with someone
who is against all literature.
1075
01:12:18,168 --> 01:12:20,629
So why must we always
concentrate on color,
1076
01:12:20,796 --> 01:12:22,006
or religion, or this?
1077
01:12:22,172 --> 01:12:24,049
There are other ways
of connecting men.
1078
01:12:24,216 --> 01:12:25,384
I'll tell you this.
1079
01:12:25,592 --> 01:12:28,053
When I left this country
in 1948,
1080
01:12:28,220 --> 01:12:29,847
I left this country
for one reason only,
1081
01:12:30,014 --> 01:12:31,557
one reason...
I didn't care where I went.
1082
01:12:31,724 --> 01:12:34,143
I might've gone to Hong Kong,
I might have gone to Timbuktu.
1083
01:12:34,309 --> 01:12:36,186
I ended up in Paris,
on the streets of Paris,
1084
01:12:36,353 --> 01:12:38,272
with 40 dollars in my pocket
and the theory
1085
01:12:38,439 --> 01:12:40,858
that nothing worse
could happen to me there
1086
01:12:41,025 --> 01:12:42,651
than had already happened
to me here.
1087
01:12:42,860 --> 01:12:45,070
You talk about making it
as a writer by yourself,
1088
01:12:45,237 --> 01:12:47,156
you have to be able then
to turn up all the antennae
1089
01:12:47,322 --> 01:12:48,490
by which you live,
1090
01:12:48,657 --> 01:12:50,284
because once you turn your back
on this society,
1091
01:12:50,451 --> 01:12:51,785
you may die.
1092
01:12:52,578 --> 01:12:53,954
You may die.
1093
01:12:54,121 --> 01:12:55,914
And it's very hard
to sit at a typewriter,
1094
01:12:56,081 --> 01:12:57,207
and concentrate on that,
1095
01:12:57,374 --> 01:12:59,293
if you are afraid
of the world around you.
1096
01:12:59,585 --> 01:13:01,962
The years I lived in Paris
did one thing for me:
1097
01:13:02,504 --> 01:13:04,923
they released me from
that particular social terror,
1098
01:13:05,090 --> 01:13:07,509
which was not the paranoia
of my own mind,
1099
01:13:07,676 --> 01:13:10,512
but a real social danger visible
in the face of every cop,
1100
01:13:10,679 --> 01:13:13,807
every boss, everybody.
1101
01:13:18,187 --> 01:13:20,981
I don't know what most white
people in this country feel.
1102
01:13:21,148 --> 01:13:22,816
But I can only include
what they feel
1103
01:13:22,983 --> 01:13:24,568
from that state
of their institutions.
1104
01:13:24,818 --> 01:13:27,112
I don't know if white Christians
hate Negroes or not,
1105
01:13:27,279 --> 01:13:29,364
but I know we have a
Christian church which is white
1106
01:13:29,531 --> 01:13:31,200
and a Christian church
which is black.
1107
01:13:31,366 --> 01:13:32,826
I know,
as Malcolm X once put it,
1108
01:13:32,993 --> 01:13:34,828
the most segregated hour
in American life
1109
01:13:34,995 --> 01:13:36,330
is high noon on Sunday.
1110
01:13:36,497 --> 01:13:38,499
That says a great deal for me
about a Christian nation.
1111
01:13:38,665 --> 01:13:41,210
It means I can't afford to trust
most white Christians
1112
01:13:41,376 --> 01:13:43,504
and I certainly cannot trust
the Christian church.
1113
01:13:43,670 --> 01:13:46,173
I don't know whether the
labor unions and their bosses
1114
01:13:46,340 --> 01:13:48,342
really hate me.
That doesn't matter,
1115
01:13:48,509 --> 01:13:49,968
but I know
I'm not in their unions.
1116
01:13:50,135 --> 01:13:51,386
I don't know
if the Real Estate Lobby
1117
01:13:51,553 --> 01:13:52,930
has anything against
black people,
1118
01:13:53,097 --> 01:13:55,849
but I know the Real Estate Lobby
is keeping me in the ghetto.
1119
01:13:56,016 --> 01:13:58,852
I don't know if the board of
education hates black people,
1120
01:13:59,019 --> 01:14:01,355
but I know the textbooks
they give my children to read,
1121
01:14:01,522 --> 01:14:03,232
and the schools
that we have to go to.
1122
01:14:03,398 --> 01:14:04,942
Now, this is the evidence.
1123
01:14:05,150 --> 01:14:06,902
You want me to make
an act of faith,
1124
01:14:07,236 --> 01:14:09,655
risking myself,
my wife, my woman,
1125
01:14:09,822 --> 01:14:11,156
my sister, my children,
1126
01:14:11,323 --> 01:14:14,284
on some idealism
which you assure me
1127
01:14:14,451 --> 01:14:16,495
exists in America,
which I have never seen.
1128
01:14:16,662 --> 01:14:18,080
Hold on a second.
1129
01:14:23,585 --> 01:14:25,671
All of the Western nations
1130
01:14:26,088 --> 01:14:27,756
have been caught in a lie,
1131
01:14:28,882 --> 01:14:31,343
the lie of their pretended
humanism.
1132
01:14:32,928 --> 01:14:37,182
This means that their history
has no moral justification,
1133
01:14:37,975 --> 01:14:40,936
and that the West
has no moral authority.
1134
01:14:47,109 --> 01:14:48,694
"Vile as I am,"
1135
01:14:49,278 --> 01:14:52,531
states one of the characters
in Dostoevsky's The Idiot,
1136
01:14:53,157 --> 01:14:56,952
"I don't believe in the wagons
that bring bread to humanity.
1137
01:14:57,828 --> 01:15:00,956
For the wagons
that bring bread to humanity,
1138
01:15:01,290 --> 01:15:04,918
may coldly exclude
a considerable part of humanity
1139
01:15:05,085 --> 01:15:06,920
from enjoying what is brought."
1140
01:15:10,007 --> 01:15:12,801
For a very long time,
America prospered.
1141
01:15:13,135 --> 01:15:16,722
This prosperity cost millions
of people their lives.
1142
01:15:17,431 --> 01:15:21,810
Now, not even the people who are
the most spectacular recipients
1143
01:15:21,977 --> 01:15:24,271
of the benefits
of this prosperity
1144
01:15:24,813 --> 01:15:27,357
are able to endure
these benefits.
1145
01:15:28,025 --> 01:15:31,195
They can neither understand
them nor do without them.
1146
01:15:32,279 --> 01:15:36,825
Above all, they cannot imagine
the price paid by their victims,
1147
01:15:36,992 --> 01:15:39,536
or subjects,
for this way of life,
1148
01:15:40,078 --> 01:15:42,623
and so they cannot afford
to know why
1149
01:15:42,789 --> 01:15:44,249
the victims are revolting.
1150
01:15:49,004 --> 01:15:50,297
Down!
1151
01:15:50,923 --> 01:15:53,508
- On the ground!
- Get on the ground, now!
1152
01:15:56,970 --> 01:15:57,930
Damn, man!
1153
01:16:02,100 --> 01:16:04,102
This is the formula
1154
01:16:04,436 --> 01:16:07,231
for a nation
or a kingdom decline.
1155
01:16:09,316 --> 01:16:12,444
For no kingdom can
maintain itself by force alone.
1156
01:16:13,278 --> 01:16:17,783
Force does not work the way its
advocates think in fact it does.
1157
01:16:20,494 --> 01:16:21,912
It does not, for example,
1158
01:16:22,079 --> 01:16:25,249
reveal to the victim
the strength of the adversary.
1159
01:16:31,380 --> 01:16:34,716
On the contrary,
it reveals the weakness,
1160
01:16:35,050 --> 01:16:37,636
even the panic
of the adversary.
1161
01:16:40,138 --> 01:16:43,850
And this revelation
invests the victim with passion.
1162
01:16:55,696 --> 01:16:57,614
There is a day in Palm Springs
1163
01:16:57,781 --> 01:17:01,576
that I will remember forever,
a bright day.
1164
01:17:03,495 --> 01:17:06,415
I was based in Hollywood,
working on the screen version
1165
01:17:06,581 --> 01:17:08,625
of the autobiography
of Malcolm X.
1166
01:17:10,002 --> 01:17:12,170
This was a difficult assignment,
1167
01:17:13,171 --> 01:17:15,424
since I had known Malcolm,
after all,
1168
01:17:16,300 --> 01:17:18,010
crossed swords with him,
1169
01:17:19,011 --> 01:17:20,178
worked with him,
1170
01:17:20,887 --> 01:17:23,056
and held him
in that great esteem
1171
01:17:23,223 --> 01:17:25,600
which is not
easily distinguishable,
1172
01:17:25,767 --> 01:17:27,269
if it is distinguishable,
1173
01:17:27,894 --> 01:17:28,979
from love.
1174
01:17:31,732 --> 01:17:33,567
Billy Dee Williams
had come to town
1175
01:17:33,734 --> 01:17:35,319
and he was
staying at the house.
1176
01:17:36,028 --> 01:17:38,655
I very much wanted Billy Dee
for the role of Malcolm.
1177
01:17:41,992 --> 01:17:43,702
The phone had been
brought out to the pool,
1178
01:17:43,869 --> 01:17:45,162
and now it rang.
1179
01:17:46,288 --> 01:17:47,539
And I picked up.
1180
01:17:48,999 --> 01:17:50,625
The record player
was still playing.
1181
01:17:54,838 --> 01:17:58,884
"He's not dead yet,
but it's a head wound."
1182
01:18:02,220 --> 01:18:05,098
I have some very sad news
for all of you,
1183
01:18:05,682 --> 01:18:09,603
and I think sad news
for all our fellow citizens
1184
01:18:10,729 --> 01:18:13,774
and people who love peace
all over the world.
1185
01:18:14,649 --> 01:18:17,235
And that is that
Martin Luther King
1186
01:18:17,611 --> 01:18:18,904
was shot and was killed tonight.
1187
01:18:27,204 --> 01:18:29,790
I hardly remember
the rest of the evening at all.
1188
01:18:31,875 --> 01:18:33,543
I remember weeping, briefly,
1189
01:18:34,044 --> 01:18:37,214
more in helpless rage
than in sorrow,
1190
01:18:38,131 --> 01:18:40,175
and Billy trying to comfort me.
1191
01:18:41,843 --> 01:18:44,346
But I really don't remember
that evening at all.
1192
01:18:45,764 --> 01:18:50,268
♪ Mother dear,
May I go downtown ♪
1193
01:18:50,435 --> 01:18:54,314
♪ Instead of out to play, ♪
1194
01:18:54,940 --> 01:18:59,861
♪ And march the streets
of Birmingham ♪
1195
01:19:00,028 --> 01:19:03,740
♪ In a Freedom March today? ♪
1196
01:19:05,492 --> 01:19:09,704
♪ But Mother,
I won't be alone ♪
1197
01:19:10,163 --> 01:19:14,668
♪ Other children
will go with me, ♪
1198
01:19:15,210 --> 01:19:20,090
♪ And march the streets
of Birmingham ♪
1199
01:19:20,507 --> 01:19:23,927
♪ To make my country free ♪
1200
01:19:26,847 --> 01:19:28,515
The church was packed.
1201
01:19:29,182 --> 01:19:32,018
In the pew before me
sat Marlon Brando,
1202
01:19:32,519 --> 01:19:34,438
Sammy Davis, Eartha Kitt.
1203
01:19:35,188 --> 01:19:36,690
Sidney Poitier nearby.
1204
01:19:38,108 --> 01:19:41,278
I saw Harry Belafonte
sitting next to Coretta King.
1205
01:19:43,321 --> 01:19:44,823
I have a childhood
hand over thing
1206
01:19:44,990 --> 01:19:46,616
about not weeping in public.
1207
01:19:47,033 --> 01:19:51,663
And I was concentrating
on holding myself together.
1208
01:19:52,956 --> 01:19:55,125
I did not want to weep
for Martin.
1209
01:19:56,293 --> 01:19:57,836
Tears seemed futile.
1210
01:19:58,962 --> 01:20:01,965
But I may also have been afraid,
1211
01:20:02,549 --> 01:20:04,968
and I could not have
been the only one,
1212
01:20:05,469 --> 01:20:10,474
that if I began to weep,
I would not be able to stop.
1213
01:20:12,642 --> 01:20:14,936
I started to cry,
and I stumbled.
1214
01:20:16,271 --> 01:20:17,689
Sammy grabbed my arm.
1215
01:20:21,610 --> 01:20:24,279
The story of the Negro
in America
1216
01:20:24,571 --> 01:20:26,740
is the story of America.
1217
01:20:27,824 --> 01:20:29,826
It is not a pretty story.
1218
01:20:33,038 --> 01:20:34,289
What can we do?
1219
01:20:37,000 --> 01:20:38,835
Well, I am tired.
1220
01:20:39,503 --> 01:20:41,296
I don't know how
it will come about,
1221
01:20:42,631 --> 01:20:44,799
I know that no matter
how it comes about,
1222
01:20:44,966 --> 01:20:47,219
it will be bloody,
it will be hard.
1223
01:20:48,887 --> 01:20:51,515
I still believe that we can do
with this country
1224
01:20:51,681 --> 01:20:54,100
something that
has not been done before.
1225
01:20:55,143 --> 01:20:58,230
We are misled here
because we think of numbers.
1226
01:20:59,814 --> 01:21:02,817
You don't need numbers,
you need passion.
1227
01:21:03,818 --> 01:21:06,029
And this is proven
by the history of the world.
1228
01:21:07,948 --> 01:21:10,033
The tragedy is that
most of the people
1229
01:21:10,200 --> 01:21:12,953
who say they care about it
do not care.
1230
01:21:13,245 --> 01:21:16,623
What they care about is
their safety and their profits.
1231
01:21:17,415 --> 01:21:19,793
♪ When I was laying in jail ♪
1232
01:21:20,001 --> 01:21:24,506
♪ With my back turned
to the wall ♪
1233
01:21:30,554 --> 01:21:32,389
♪ When I was laying in jail ♪
1234
01:21:32,556 --> 01:21:36,893
♪ With my back turned
to the wall ♪
1235
01:21:42,023 --> 01:21:44,442
♪ I just laid down
and dreamed I could... ♪
1236
01:21:46,444 --> 01:21:47,946
The American way of life
1237
01:21:48,113 --> 01:21:50,323
has failed
to make people happier,
1238
01:21:50,532 --> 01:21:51,992
or make them better.
1239
01:21:52,701 --> 01:21:56,288
We do not want to admit this,
and we do not admit it.
1240
01:21:57,289 --> 01:21:58,665
We persist in believing
1241
01:21:58,832 --> 01:22:01,209
that the empty and criminal
among our children
1242
01:22:01,376 --> 01:22:05,213
are the result of some
miscalculation in the formula
1243
01:22:05,380 --> 01:22:06,756
that can be corrected.
1244
01:22:07,299 --> 01:22:09,968
That the bottomless
and aimless hostility
1245
01:22:10,135 --> 01:22:13,179
which makes our cities among
the most dangerous in the world
1246
01:22:13,680 --> 01:22:17,392
is created and felt
by a handful of aberrants,
1247
01:22:18,310 --> 01:22:21,354
that the lack, yawning
everywhere in this country,
1248
01:22:21,521 --> 01:22:24,983
of passionate conviction,
of personal authority,
1249
01:22:25,150 --> 01:22:29,070
proves only our rather appealing
tendency to be gregarious
1250
01:22:29,237 --> 01:22:30,363
and democratic.
1251
01:22:32,115 --> 01:22:34,576
To look around
the United States today,
1252
01:22:35,243 --> 01:22:37,954
is enough to make
prophets and angels weep.
1253
01:22:39,414 --> 01:22:41,374
This is not the land
of the free.
1254
01:22:41,750 --> 01:22:45,045
It is only very unwillingly
and sporadically...
1255
01:22:46,254 --> 01:22:47,756
...the home of the brave.
1256
01:23:03,605 --> 01:23:06,900
I sometimes feel it
to be an absolute miracle
1257
01:23:07,609 --> 01:23:11,237
that the entire black population
of the United States of America
1258
01:23:11,404 --> 01:23:14,908
has not long ago
succumbed to raging paranoia.
1259
01:23:16,076 --> 01:23:17,744
People finally say to you,
1260
01:23:17,911 --> 01:23:20,497
in an attempt to dismiss
the social reality,
1261
01:23:21,748 --> 01:23:23,375
"But you're so bitter!"
1262
01:23:29,506 --> 01:23:33,343
Well, I may
or may not be bitter,
1263
01:23:33,968 --> 01:23:38,515
but if I were, I would have
good reasons for it.
1264
01:23:39,099 --> 01:23:43,269
Chief among them that American
blindness, or cowardice,
1265
01:23:43,436 --> 01:23:47,148
which allow us to pretend
that life presents no reasons
1266
01:23:47,315 --> 01:23:48,400
for being bitter.
1267
01:24:13,383 --> 01:24:16,678
In this country,
for a dangerously long time,
1268
01:24:17,554 --> 01:24:19,764
there have been
two levels of experience.
1269
01:24:20,890 --> 01:24:22,559
One, to put it cruelly,
1270
01:24:22,726 --> 01:24:26,813
can be summed up in the images
of Gary Cooper and Doris Day,
1271
01:24:26,980 --> 01:24:29,566
two of the most grotesque
appeals to innocence
1272
01:24:29,733 --> 01:24:31,401
the world has ever seen.
1273
01:24:32,152 --> 01:24:36,197
And the other,
subterranean, indispensable,
1274
01:24:36,781 --> 01:24:39,701
and denied,
can be summed up, let us say,
1275
01:24:40,160 --> 01:24:43,371
in the tone and in the face
of Ray Charles.
1276
01:24:43,663 --> 01:24:45,999
♪ Hey mama,
Don't you treat me wrong ♪
1277
01:24:46,166 --> 01:24:48,626
♪ Come and love your daddy
All night long ♪
1278
01:24:52,380 --> 01:24:55,592
♪ I know it's all right now
Hey, hey ♪
1279
01:24:58,845 --> 01:25:00,764
♪ When you see me in misery ♪
1280
01:25:01,598 --> 01:25:03,349
♪ Come on baby, see about me ♪
1281
01:25:03,516 --> 01:25:06,352
There has never been
any genuine confrontation
1282
01:25:06,519 --> 01:25:08,730
between these two levels
of experience.
1283
01:25:11,900 --> 01:25:15,570
♪ Should I be bad ♪
1284
01:25:16,738 --> 01:25:18,615
♪ Or nice? ♪
1285
01:25:21,159 --> 01:25:24,287
♪ Should I surrender? ♪
1286
01:25:25,872 --> 01:25:30,502
♪ His pleading words
so tenderly ♪
1287
01:25:32,128 --> 01:25:36,174
♪ Entreat me ♪
1288
01:25:37,550 --> 01:25:42,180
♪ Is this the night that love ♪
1289
01:25:42,847 --> 01:25:47,644
♪ Finally defeats me? ♪
1290
01:25:47,852 --> 01:25:52,649
You cannot lynch me
and keep me in ghettos
1291
01:25:53,566 --> 01:25:56,569
without becoming
something monstrous yourselves.
1292
01:25:58,154 --> 01:26:02,116
And furthermore, you give me
a terrifying advantage.
1293
01:26:03,243 --> 01:26:04,828
You never had to look at me.
1294
01:26:06,454 --> 01:26:07,831
I had to look at you.
1295
01:26:09,332 --> 01:26:13,461
I know more about you
than you know about me.
1296
01:26:15,046 --> 01:26:17,966
Not everything that is faced
can be changed,
1297
01:26:19,551 --> 01:26:23,471
but nothing can be changed
until it is faced.
1298
01:26:32,272 --> 01:26:33,898
History is not the past.
1299
01:26:35,149 --> 01:26:36,484
It is the present.
1300
01:26:37,694 --> 01:26:39,654
We carry our history with us.
1301
01:26:40,738 --> 01:26:43,157
We are our history.
1302
01:26:44,868 --> 01:26:48,997
If we pretend otherwise,
we literally are criminals.
1303
01:26:53,334 --> 01:26:54,836
I attest to this.
1304
01:26:56,129 --> 01:26:58,256
The world is not white.
1305
01:26:59,757 --> 01:27:01,634
It never was white,
1306
01:27:02,844 --> 01:27:04,637
cannot be white.
1307
01:27:05,889 --> 01:27:08,892
White is a metaphor for power,
1308
01:27:10,894 --> 01:27:15,231
and that is simply a way of
describing Chase Manhattan Bank.
1309
01:28:05,073 --> 01:28:06,824
I can't be a pessimist,
1310
01:28:08,326 --> 01:28:09,619
because I'm alive.
1311
01:28:10,954 --> 01:28:13,748
To be a pessimist means
you have agreed that human life
1312
01:28:13,915 --> 01:28:17,669
is an academic matter,
so I'm forced to be an optimist.
1313
01:28:17,835 --> 01:28:19,671
I am forced to believe
that we can survive
1314
01:28:19,837 --> 01:28:21,339
whatever we must survive.
1315
01:28:22,548 --> 01:28:23,549
But...
1316
01:28:27,887 --> 01:28:29,347
...the Negro in this country...
1317
01:28:32,558 --> 01:28:34,352
...the future of the Negro
in this country...
1318
01:28:36,187 --> 01:28:38,022
...is precisely as bright
1319
01:28:38,189 --> 01:28:40,191
or as dark as the future
of the country.
1320
01:28:42,193 --> 01:28:45,405
It is entirely up to
the American people
1321
01:28:46,239 --> 01:28:47,448
and not representatives.
1322
01:28:47,615 --> 01:28:49,867
It is entirely up to
the American people
1323
01:28:51,035 --> 01:28:55,748
whether or not they are going
to face and deal with
1324
01:28:55,915 --> 01:28:58,918
and embrace the stranger
they have maligned so long.
1325
01:28:59,502 --> 01:29:02,088
What white people have to do
is try to find out,
1326
01:29:02,255 --> 01:29:05,216
in their own hearts,
why it was necessary
1327
01:29:05,383 --> 01:29:07,051
to have a "nigger"
in the first place,
1328
01:29:07,427 --> 01:29:09,721
because I'm not a nigger,
I'm a man.
1329
01:29:10,346 --> 01:29:12,807
But if you think I'm a nigger,
it means you need him.
1330
01:29:13,099 --> 01:29:14,517
The question you've got to
ask yourself,
1331
01:29:14,684 --> 01:29:17,270
the white population of this
country has got to ask itself,
1332
01:29:17,687 --> 01:29:19,731
North and South,
because it's one country,
1333
01:29:19,897 --> 01:29:21,065
and for the Negro,
1334
01:29:21,232 --> 01:29:22,984
there is no difference between
the North and the South...
1335
01:29:23,151 --> 01:29:26,654
it's just a difference
in the way they castrate you,
1336
01:29:27,321 --> 01:29:31,868
but the fact of the castration
is the American fact.
1337
01:29:33,036 --> 01:29:36,122
If I'm not the nigger here
and you invented him,
1338
01:29:36,289 --> 01:29:37,707
you the white people
invented him,
1339
01:29:38,458 --> 01:29:40,001
then you've got to find out why.
1340
01:29:42,253 --> 01:29:43,671
And the future of the country
depends on that,
1341
01:29:43,838 --> 01:29:45,840
whether or not it's able
to ask that question.
111263
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