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TEST TEST TEST >> >> >> >>> >> >>> >>> >> >>> >> >>> APRIL 9, 2014, CIVIL RIGHTS SUMMIT >> WELCOME TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS SUMMIT
THANK YOU TO THE GUITAR QUARTET FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
BUTLER SCHOOL OF MUSIC THIS SESSION IS BEING RECORDED PLEASE SILENCE YOUR MOBILE DEVICES AND RESPECT OTHER GUEST S BY NOT USING FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY DISRUPTIONS WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REMOVAL IF YOU MUST LEAVE THE AUDITORIUM DURING SESSIONS, PLEASE DO SO QUIETLY AND RESPECTFULLY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOLLOWING THIS AFTERNOON’S SESSION, MR TAYLOR BRANCH, CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS WILL BE SIGNING COPIES OF THEIR BOOKS FOR SALE IN THE LOBBY OF THE LBJ PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY >> PLEASE WELCOME THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, MR. BILL POWERS [APPLAUSE] >> WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH AND GOOD AFTERNOON IT IS A TRULY GREAT PLEASURE AND HONOR TO WELCOME ALL OF YOU TO THIS AFTERNOON’S SESSION OF THIS ALLERGIC EVENT THIS SUMMIT AS YOU KNOW CELEBRATES THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT I’M SO GRATIFIED THAT WE ARE HOLDING IT HERE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AND IN THE LBJ LIBRARY AS MOST OF YOU KNOW, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HAS BEEN AN ACTOR IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS STRUGGLE AND NOT ALWAYS ON THE RIGHT SIDE IN 1950 WE WERE THE DEFENDANT IN THE SUPREME COURT CASE OF SWEATT V PAINTER HAPPILY WE LOST THAT CASE [LAUGHTER] THE DECISION SPELLED THE DEATH OF SEPARATE BUT EQUAL, AT LEAST AS A LEGAL MATTER, AND THEREFORE PAVED THE WAY FOR BROWN VERSUS THE BOARD OF EDUCATION ONLY TWO DAYS AFTER THAT HISTORIC DECISION, WE INTEGRATED OUR GRADUATE SCHOOL AND WE BECAME ONE OF THE FIRST FLAGSHIP UNIVERSITIES IN THE SOUTH TO ENROLL AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED, PROGRESS WAS SLOW AND AT TIMES HALTING WE STILL HAVE CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME YET HERE WE ARE JUST MORE THAN A HALF CENTURY LATER AND WE’RE IN A VERY DIFFERENT WORLD AND THAT’S DUE TO THE LEGACY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND TO THE LEGACY OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT AND TO THE LEGACY OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON [APPLAUSE] AND WE’RE NOT THROUGH, OF COURSE THE PROGRESS MUST CONTINUE IN 2012 U.T. AUSTIN RETURNED TO THE SUPREME COURT TO DEFEND OUR ADMISSIONS POLICY THAT INCLUDES RACE AS ONE OF MANY FACTORS AND TO ARGUE FOR THE CRITICAL EDUCATIONAL IMPORTANCE AND EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF A DIVERSE STUDENT BODY THE SUPREME COURT REMANDED FISH ER TO THE FIFTH CIRCUIT, AND THAT DECISION MAY COME DOWN AT ANY TIME WE STAND READY TO DEFEND DIVERSITY [APPLAUSE] THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TAKES GREAT PRIDE IN HOSTING THIS
NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND WE TAKE GREAT PRIDE IN THE SON OF TEXAS, PRESIDENT JOHNSON, WHO WITH THE HELP AND SACRIFICE OF MANY THOUSANDS OF OTHERS FINALLY ENSHRINEED CIVIL RIGHTS INTO OUR LAWS THIS CAMPUS HAS BEEN TIED TO THE JOHNSON FAMILY AND THE JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION FOR A LONG TIME AND AT A VERY DEEP LEVEL THE STRONGEST TIE, OF COURSE COURSE, WAS ALSO ITS EARLIEST WHEN MRS. JOHNSON EARNED NOT ONE, BUT TWO DEGREES HERE IN THE 1930’S HER INVOLVEMENT WITH HER ALMA MATER NEVER WANED AND STILL LIVES ON THROUGH HER DAUGHTERS LYNDA AND LUCI AND THEIR FAMILIES, AND OF COURSE THROUGH THE LBJ FOUNDATION, THE LBJ SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, THE LBJ LIBRARY AND THE LADY BIRD JOHNSON WILDLIFE CENTER AND AS LBJ BEGAN TO DRAW TALENT FROM TEXAS, OTHER U.T. ALUMNI REPORTED TO THE WHITE HOUSE, LIKE LARRY TEMPLE AND GEORGE CHRISTIAN AND BILL MOYERS AND IN LATER YEARS VETERANS OF THE JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION OFTEN FOUND THEIR HOME ON OUR CAMPUS AND IN 1971 U.T. BECAME THE FIRST UNIVERSITY IN AMERICA TO BE THE HOME OF A PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY I DARE SAY THAT EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL [APPLAUSE] AND THAT SUCCESS HAS NEVER BEEN MORE EVIDENT THAN ON THIS DAY WHEN THE PRESIDENT’S LEGACY AND A UNIVERSITY’S MISSION HAVE COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE A HIGH ACHIEVEMENT OF OUR CIVILIZATION AND TO HELP ENSURE ITS FUTURE SO TO MARK UPDEGROVE AND EVERYONE AT THE LBJ LIBRARY, TO THE JOHNSON FAMILY I SAY CONGRATULATIONS, AND TO ALL OF YOU I SAY WELCOME AND THANK YOU FOR HELPING US WITH THIS IMPORTANT AND HISTORIC EVENT THANK YOU VERY MUCH [APPLAUSE] >> LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE FOLLOWING IS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON AND MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. THAT TOOK PLACE ON NOVEMBER 25TH, 1963: THREE DAYS AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN F KENNEDY >> I WANT TO TELL YOU HOW GRATEFUL I AM AND HOW WORTHY I’M GOING TO TRY TO BE ‘ALL YOUR HOPES >> WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH MUCH I’M SO HAPPY TO HEAR THAT AND I KNEW THAT YOU HAD THAT GREAT SPIRIT AND YOU KNOW YOU HAVE OUR SUPPORT AND BACKING BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT A DIFFICULT PERIOD THIS IS >> WELL, IT’S JUST AN IMPOSSIBLE PERIOD >> IT’S SO IMPERATIVE I THINK ONE OF THE GREAT TRIBUTES THAT WE CAN PAY IN MEMORY OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY IS TO TRY TO ENACT SOME OF THE GREAT PROGRESSIVE POLICIES THAT HE SOUGHT TO INITIATE >> WELL, I’M GOING TO SUPPORT THEM ALL AND YOU CAN COUNT ON THAT AND I’M GOING TO DO MY BEST TO GET OTHER MEN TO DO LIKEWISE I WILL HAVE TO HAVE Y’ALL’S HELP I NEVER NEED IT HAD MORE THAN I DO NOW >> YOU KNOW YOU HAVE IT FEEL FREE TO CALL ON US FOR ANYTHING >> PLEASE WELCOME MR. TOM JOHNSON [APPLAUSE] >> GOOD AFTERNOON I HAD THE GREAT HONOR OF CHAIR ING THE LYNDON B JOHNSON FOUNDATION FOR 30 YEARS AMONG THE FINEST ACHIEVEMENTS THAT CURRENT CHAIRMAN LARRY TEMPLE AND I CLAIM IS THAT WE RECRUITED MARK UPDEGROVE AS THE DIRECTOR OF THIS LBJ LIBRARY AND THIS THREE-DAY PROGRAM IS A TERRIFIC TRIBUTE TO MARK AND HIS WONDERFUL STAFF STAFF MARK, STAND, PLEASE [APPLAUSE] >> FROM 1965 UNTIL THE END OF HIS TERM I SERVED AS AN AIDE TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON ON APRIL 4, 1968, I HAD THE SAD DUTY OF TAKING A FLASH ASSOCIATED PRESS MESSAGE INTO THE OVAL OFFICE AND HANDED IT TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON THAT READ DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING HAS BEEN SHOT IN MEMPHIS OUR WORLD CHANGED THAT TRAGIC DAY PRESIDENT JOHNSON HAD ENORMOUS RESPECT FOR DR. KING
THEY WORKED CLOSELY TOGETHER TO PASS THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT ACT, THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, WHAT WE ARE CELEBRATING THIS WEEK, 50 YEARS LATER OUR PANELISTS TO DISCUSS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THESE TWO MEN IS ABOUT AS GOOD AS IT GETS FIRST, DORIS CONCERNS GOOD GOODWIN, A PULITZER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR, A FORMER MEMBER OF THE LBJ WHITE HOUSE STAFF AND ONE OF THE FIRST MEMBERS OF THE WHITE HOUSE FELLOWS PROGRAM THAT WAS CREATED BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND BY JOHN GARDENER GARDENER JOE CALIFANO, WHO SERVED AS DOMESTIC AFFAIRS ADVISOR, BETTER PUT, DOMESTIC AFFAIRS CZAR FOR PREJUDICE FROM 1965 TO 1969 AMBASSADOR ANDREW YOUNG, ONE OF DR. KING’S VERY CLOSEST AIDES, THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN UNITED STATES CONGRESSMAN ELECTED FROM THE DEEP SOUTH SINCE RECONSTRUCTION APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT CARTER AS UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND MAYOR OF MY CITY OF ATLANTA FROM 1982 UNTIL 1990 1990 TAYLOR BRANCH, PAUL LIT PULITZER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WRITINGS ON CIVIL RIGHTS, HIS BOOK, PARTING THE WATERS, AMERICA IN THE KING YEARS, WON THE PULL PULITZER IN 1989 OUR MODERATOR TODAY IS TODD PURDUM, A CONTRIBUTING EDITOR AT VANITY FAIR, A SENIOR EDITOR AT POLITICO HE RECENTLY PUBLISHED A BOOK BOOK, AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME, TWO PRESIDENTS, TWO PARTIES AND THE BATTLE FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 1964 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME TODD PURDUM, DORIS KEARNS GOOD WIN, TAYLOR BRANCH, JOSEPH CALIFANO ANDREW YOUNG AND [APPLAUSE] AND >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH TOM AND MARK AND THE ENTIRE STAFF OF THESON LIBRARY AND JOHNSON FOUNDATION IT’S WONDERFUL TO BE HERE I I WANT TO THIS BE A WONDERFUL CONVERSATION AND I HAVE ONLY ONE THING TO SAY TO MY FELLOW PANELISTS, NO FILLIBUSTERS WITH THAT SAID I THINK IT’S FAIR TO SAY THAT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON AND MARTIN LUTHER KING WERE TWO OF THE MOST COLOSSAL FIGURES OF THE 20TH CENTURY BILL MOYERS, JOHNSON’S LONG TIME AIDE SAID THAT THE PRESIDENT WAS 13 OF THE MOST COMPLEX AND INTERESTING AND DIFFICULT MEN HE HAD EVER MET [LAUGHTER] STAN 11 SON, DR. KING’S CLOSE AIDE, SAID HE WAS ANYTHING BUT THE PLASTER SAINT THAT WHITE AMERICA SO WANTED HIM TO BE SO I THOUGHT THAT WE MIGHT BEGIN OUR DISCUSSION TODAY NOT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, BUT AT THE END ON JULY FOURTH, 1964 1964, BECAUSE I THINK THIS EXCHANGE OFFERS A LITTLE BIT OF A WINDOW INTO THE COMPLEXITY OF THEIR PERSONALITIES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP IT WAS THE FOURTH OF JULY, PRESIDENT JOHNSON HAD COME HOME TO TEXAS AFTER SIGNING THE BILL TWO DAYS BEFORE, AND HE SEIZED ON A QUOTE FROM HIS PRESS SECRETARY THAT HE HAD BEEN IN CONTINUAL TOUCH WITH DR. KING WHY DO YOU SAY THAT, JOHNSON SAID? THAT’S THE LAST THING THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN IN CONTINUAL TOUCH WITH DR. KING READY SAID HE SAID I’VE SEEN FROM TIME TO TIME DR. KING, WHY DO YOU SAY THAT, JOHNSON DEMANDED WELL, HE SAID, YOU SAW HIM AT THE CEREMONY I SAY, WHY DO YOU SAY IT? BECAUSE I WAS ASKED, BECAUSE THEY HAD SEEN YOU THERE I’M SORRY HE WAS THERE, JOHNSON SAID IT WAS VERY UNFORTUNATE HE WAS THERE AND DON’T YOU GET HUNG IN ON IT SO I WAS STRUCK BY LISTENING TO THAT TAPE AND READING THOSE WORDS THAT ON THE MOMENT OF THE PRESIDENT’S GREATEST TRIUMPH HE WOULD HAVE SUCH COMPLEX FEELINGS ABOUT DR. KING, ALL OF YOU HAVE EXPLORED THAT QUESTION CAN I START WITH YOU, AMBASSADOR YOUNG, WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S INTENSE AND LET’S SAY BRIEF PARTNERSHIP WITH DR. KING? >> WELL, I DON’T THINK IT WAS THAT BRIEF, BUT IT WAS VERY INTENSE AND I THINK HE WAS VERY WARM AND PERSONAL WHENEVER I WENT WITH THEM THERE WAS NEVER AN ARGUMENT, NO TENSION THERE WAS GENTLEMEN’S DISAGREEMENT DR. KING SAW HIMSELF AS HAVING TO KEEP THE PRESSURE ON AND LET ME JUST END WITH THE STORY THAT WHEN WE LEFT BEFORE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT ACT — RIGHT AFTER THE NOBEL PRIZE, PRESIDENT JOHNSON TALKED FOR AN HOUR ABOUT WHY HE DIDN’T HAVE
THE POWER TO INTRODUCE VOTING RIGHTS LEGISLATION IN 1965 AND GAVE VERY GOOD REASONS, BUT HE KEPT SAYING I JUST DON’T HAVE THE POWER I WISH I DID WHEN WE LEFT, I ASKED DR. DR KING, WELL, WHAT DID YOU THINK? HE SAID I THINK WE HAVE TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO GET THIS PRESIDENT SOME POWER [LAUGHTER] AND I THOUGHT AT THE TIME THAT IT WAS AWFUL ARROGANT OF HIM TO SAY THAT EXCEPT THAT WE HAD NOT BEEN BACK IN ATLANTA FOR THREE DAYS BEFORE AMELIA BOYNTON CAME OVER FROM SELMA WITH A REPORT ON THE VOTING ATROCITYIES IN SELMA AND PLEADING WITH DR. KING, YOU’VE GOT TO COME HELP US IN SELMA AND THIS WAS NOT ANYTHING WE WERE AWARE OF OR PLANNED IT WAS THRUST UPON US AND WE WENT TO SELMA ON THE SECOND OF JANUARY AND BY THE END OF MARCH THE PRESIDENT HAD ALL THE POWER HE NEEDED TO GET THAT VOTING RIGHTS ACT INTRODUCED >> I WANT TO GET TO SELMA IN A MINUTE I KNOW JOE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT BUT IF I COULD JUST START BY ASKING YOU, TAYLOR, LYNDON JOHNSON’S VIEWS ON RACE EVOLVED OVER TIME AND I THINK WHEN HE BECAME PRESIDENT IN THE WAKE OF THE TRAGEDY OF THE ASSASSINATION A LOT OF CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS WERE NOT SO SURE OF HIS RECORD AFTER ALL, HE WAS MOST KNOWN TO MANY PEOPLE AT THAT POINT FOR HAVING WATERED DOWN THE 57 AND 60 BILLS TO GET THEM PASSED, THE FIRST LAWS SINCE RECONSTRUCTION BUT WHAT WAS THE ARC OF HIS CONSCIOUSNESS ON THE QUESTION OF RACE AND THE NECESSITY OF COMPREHENSIVE CIVIL RIGHTS LAW? >> I DON’T THINK I KNOW HIM WELL ENOUGH TO SAY THAT, AND I CERTAINLY WOULDN’T PRESUME THAT THE ARC IS MEASURED BY HIS VOTING RECORD HIS VOTING RECORD IS A PRACTICAL THING I THINK YOU MIGHT EVEN BE ABLE TO ARGUE THAT HIS VIEWS ON RACE WERE FIXED WHEN HE WAS TEACHING IN COTULLA OR EVEN BEFORE THAT WHEN HE TAUGHT DRAMA IN THE 1920’S BY TEACHING PEOPLE FIRST OF ALL TO MAKE ANIMAL NOISES AND BE COMFORTABLE EXPOSEING THEMSELVES IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE AND GETTING OUT OF THEIR SELF CONSCIOUSNESS ABOUT BEING AROUND OTHER PEOPLE AND GETTING A SENSE OF EXPOSEING YOURSELF TO DIFFERENT KINDS OF PEOPLE I THINK JOHNSON HAD AN ENORMOUS EMPATHY HIS WHOLE LIFETIME AND PRACTICAL POLITICS MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THAT TO EXPRESS ITSELF UNTIL HE GOT CLOSE TO THE WHITE HOUSE WELL, CERTAINLY IN THE 57 BILL SO I THINK THAT’S A MYSTERY WITH THE MAN IN PUBLIC LIFE AS LONG AS HE WAS IT PRESENTS A MYSTERY LOOKING BACK ON IT, DID HE SUDDENLY HAVE A CONVERSION, WHICH I THINK IS THE COMMON VIEW OF IT, TO TAKE HIS EARLIER VOTES AS REFLECTING HIS INNER FEELINGS AND THAT’S REALLY HARD TO RECONCILE WITH THE SUSTAINED SUSTAINED — NOMINATING THURGOOD MARSHALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE VIETNAM WAR, I THINK THAT THAT TENDS TO SHOW THE LONGEVITY OF THAT RECORD THROUGH THE UPHEAVAL AND THE BACKLASH AGAINST CIVIL RIGHTS, SHOW THAT THOSE WERE PROBABLY HIS SINCERE VIEWS, AND MY GUESS IS THAT THEY WERE FORMED LONG BEFORE IT IS POPULAR TO BELIEVE THEY WERE THERE >> GEORGE, ONE OF THE REVOLUTIONS TO DOING THIS BOOK AND YOU KNOW BOTH FAMILIES, BOTH MEN, IS JOHN KENNEDY’S ACQUAINTANCE WITH BLACK PEOPLE IS LIMITED TO HIS TWO VALETS AND TO THE LEADERS OF THE MOVEMENT HIMSELF JOHNSON HAD KNOWN PERSONAL PRY VATION, HE HAD KNOWN WHAT HATE CAN DO TO THE EYES OF A CHILD IN COTULLA WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH HIM IN HIS OWN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THESE QUESTIONS AND HOW THEY CAME TO US? >> I HAVE NO DOUBT I ONLY KNEW HIM REALLY IN THE LAST YEARS OF HIS LIFE IN 1967 UNTIL HE DIED BUT THERE WAS NO QUESTION THE TIME I SPENT WITH HIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND THEN ON THE RANCH HE WAS PROUDEST OF CIVIL RIGHTS OF ANYTHING HE HAD EVER DONE AND HE KNEW THAT IT WOULD STAND THE TEST OF TIME MY SENSE IS THAT ONCE HE BECAME PRESIDENT HE HAD THE POWER AND HE HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO DO MORE THAN HE COULD DO JUST AS TAYLOR SAID, HE WAS STUCK AND IT WAS RIGHT TO REPRESENT THE STATE OF TEXAS TEXAS HE IS A TEXAS SENATOR, HE’S A TEXAS CONGRESSMAN, BUT ONCE HE MOVED — I DON’T THINK IT WAS JUST JOHN KENNEDY’S DEATH, ALTHOUGH THAT GAVE HIM AN OPENING I DON’T THINK IT WAS JUST THE MOVEMENT WAS OUT THERE, ALTHOUGH THAT’S HUGE I THINK WHAT YOU SAID, MR. MR AMBASSADOR, AND WHAT YOU’VE POINTED OUT IN THIS TENSION BETWEEN MARTIN LUTHER KING AND LBJ IS A TENSION FROM THE MOVEMENT OF THE OUTSIDE THAT’S PUSHING TO THE GOVERNMENT FROM THE OUTSIDE IN AND THERE’S A PRESIDENT THAT KNOWS HE NEEDS THE MOVEMENT, BUT THERE WILL BE TENSION NO PRESIDENT WANTS PRESSURE FROM THE OUTSIDE THE SAME TENSION EXISTED BETWEEN LIEN COOL AND FREDERICK — LINCOLN AND FREDERICK DOUGLAS EVENTUALLY THEY BECAME VERY GOOD FRIENDSS AND LINCOLN UNDERSTOOD THAT HE NEEDED FREDERICK DOUGLAS AND THE ABOLITIONISTS JUST AS LBJ
NEEDED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND TOGETHER MARTIN LUTHER KING AND LBJ PRODUCED SOMETHING, THANK GOD THEY WERE THERE AT THAT MOMENT IN HISTORY, THAT CHANGED OUR COUNTRY FOREVER >> SECRETARY CALIFANO — [APPLAUSE] WHAT WOULD YOUR PERSPECTIVE BE ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP? YOU HAD THE GOOD OR BAD LUCK TO BE THERE WHEN THE RELATIONSHIP DISSOLVED IN A WAY >> WELL, I THINK THAT AT BOTH ENDS ENDS, I DON’T KNOW THAT DISSOLVED IN THE SENSE THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING MADE A DECISION ABOUT THE VIETNAM WAR AND THIS WAS THE GREATEST HAIR SHIRT THAT JOHNSON HAD TO WEAR DURING ALL THOSE YEARS I THINK HE ADMIRED KING I THINK THEY WERE BOTH QUITE GOOD AT POLITICS I MEAN, YOU SAID I WANTED TO MENTION SELMA AND ANDREW DID DID JANUARY OF ’65 — ’64, RATHER, IN A PHONE CONVERSATION, ONE OF THESE WONDERFUL TAPEED PHONE CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN KING AND THE PRESIDENT JOHNSON, JOHNSON STARTS TALKING ABOUT ABOUT — ’65, I’M SORRY, ABOUT THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND KING REMINDS HIM THAT THE FIVE SOUTHERN STATES HE DIDN’T CARRY HAD THE LOWEST VOTING RECORD AND THEN JOHNSON SAYS TO KING, NOW, THIS — IF YOU CAN FIND THE WORST CONDITION CONDITION — THIS IS JANUARY JANUARY 15TH , 1965 THE WORST CONDITION RUN INTO IN ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, LOUISIANA, SOUTH CAROLINA, WHERE PEOPLE WERE DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE, TO CAST A VOTE, IF YOU JUST TAKE THAT ONE ILLUSTRATION, GET IT ON THE RADIO, GET IT ON TELEVISION, GET IT IN THE PULPITS, GET IT IN THE MEETINGS, EVERY PLACE YOU CAN, THEN PRETTY SOON THE FELLOW WHO DIDN’T DO ANYTHING BUT DRIVE A TRACTOR WOULD SAY WELL, THAT’S NOT RIGHT THAT’S NOT FAIR THAT WILL HELP US FOR WHAT WE’RE GOING TO SHOVE THROUGH IN THE END [LAUGHTER] AND KING SAYS THAT’S RIGHT AND IF WE DO THAT, JOHNSON SAID , WE’LL BREAK THROUGH IT WILL BE THE GREATEST BREAK THROUGH OF ANYTHING THIS WAS THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT NOT EVEN EXCEPTING THE ’64 ACT I THINK THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT OF MY ADMINISTRATION, THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT IN FOREIGN POLICY WAS THE PASSAGE OF THE 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT, BUT I THINK THIS WILL BE BIGGER BECAUSE IT WILL DO THINGS THAT EVEN THE ’64 ACT COULDN’T DO INCREDIBLE A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THESE TWO GUYS THAT, I MEAN, WAS WONDERFUL AND IDEALISTIC AND WHAT HAVE YOU, BUT VERY PRACTICAL KING I THINK, AS YOU INDICATED, KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING JOHNSON WANTED HIM TO DO IT THERE’S ALWAYS, YOU DON’T LIKE THE PRESSURE AND THE OTHER WONDERFUL EXCHANGE HERE IS IS JOHNSON SAYS TALK ABOUT THE RIGHT TO VOTE, DON’T TALK ABOUT THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR FOR NEGROES, TALK ABOUT THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR EVERYBODY >> HE HAD ANOTHER MARVELOUS THING THE WEEKEND THE BILL WAS SIGNED HE CALLED JOHN CONNALLY AND SAID DON’T TALK ABOUT ENFORCING IT, THAT MAKES PEOPLE’S HACK HE WILLS GO UP UP, TALK ABOUT OBEYING IT >> AND THE MEAT OF THE COCONUT THAT WAS ONE OF HIS GREAT METAPHORS LBJ HAD THESE INCREDIBLE METAPHORS, THE MEAT IN THE COCONUT THAT’S WHAT THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT WOULD BE >> AND I WOULD LIKE YOU TO CONTRAST PRESIDENT KENNEDY’S RELATIONSHIP WITH DR. KING IT WAS SAID THEY HAD A PRICKLY RELATIONSHIP THAT KENNEDY THOUGHT HE WAS PREACHY AND STARCHY AND THEY DIDN’T RELATE AT THE POINT OF HUMAN DISCOURSE IT SEEMS THAT IT MIGHT HAVE SERVED THEM WELL IN A WAY >> IT’S JUST BEING SOUTHERN [LAUGHTER] >> IS THAT EARTH THINKNESS? [LAUGHTER] >> PRESIDENT KENNEDY AS YOU SAY REALLY DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE SOUTH OR OUR RACE AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON UNDERSTOOD IT ALL TOO WELL AND DR. KING WOULD SAY WHEN I TALK TO PRESIDENT KENNEDY HE ASKED QUESTIONS FOR AN HOUR, BUT WHEN I GO TO SEE PRESIDENT JOHNSON HE TALKS FOR AN HOUR [LAUGHTER] HE SAID HE KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS TO DO AND HE KNOWS WHAT — HE SAID, I DON’T HAVE TO CONVINCE HIM OF ANYTHING, BUT I THINK THEIR ONLY TENSION WAS I THINK JOHNSON WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE TAKEN THE POVERTY PROGRAM, AID TO EDUCATION, ALL OF THOSE ISSUES FIRST AND THEN COME BACK TO VOTING VOTING AND THAT WAS ONE POINT OF TENSION WE DIDN’T REALLY HAVE THAT CHOICE I MEAN, WE DIDN’T LIKE THE SIT- INS, YOU KNOW? WE DIDN’T LIKE THE BACK OF THE BUS THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH MORE RELEVANT ISSUES, BUT WE WERE SUBJECT TO THE PRESSURE PRESSURES OF THE PEOPLE
AND — I MEAN, THERE WAS SO MUCH GOING ON WELL, WE SAW IT ON BLOODY SUNDAY >> YES >> THAT WAS A NAZILIKE COMMUNITY >> YOU HAVE SAID THAT THE MOVEMENT IN THE STREETS AND THE GRASSROOTS EFFORT THAT WAS SO WIDESPREAD ACROSS THE COUNTRY WAS DRAFTING THE ’64 BILL AZURE LY AS THE ALL WHITE LAWYERS IN THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT AND THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE CONGRESS WERE DOING THAT BUT THE TRUTH IS THE PEOPLE IN THE END WHO DID THE LEGISLATIVE SCUT WORK ON THE BILL WERE OVERWHELMINGLY WHITE MEN AT THE TIME WHEN THERE WERE FIVE BLACK MEMBERS OF CONGRESS DORIS, COULD YOU — >> WELL, EXCEPT THAT THEY HAD BEEN 30 OR 40 YEARS OF WORK AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY, YALE, PENNSYLVANIA, AND THE LAW SCHOOLS HAD BASICALLY PATTERNED , FASHIONED THE PATH TO FREEDOM AND THERE WAS PROBABLY MORE TENSION BETWEEN MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THURGOOD MARSHALL THAN THERE WAS BETWEEN MARTIN LUTHER KING AND LYNDON JOHNSON BECAUSE THURGOOD MARSHALL DID NOT — HE FELT VERY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH US BREAKING THE LAW THE CONCEPT OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE WAS NOT SOMETHING HE ADHERED TO BUT ACTUALLY, THE FIRST TIME I READ AN ARTICLE ABOUT CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE WAS WRITTEN BY HARRIS WOFFORD IN THE HOWARD UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW AND I ALWAYS THOUGHT HE WAS BLACK [LAUGHTER] >> YOU KNOW, BUT IT’S THAT FAMOUS EXCHANGE BETWEEN ROY WILKINS AND DR. KING ABOUT WILKINS DEMANDING TO KNOW JUST WHAT HAVE YOU DE DESEGREGATED, MARTIN, AND HE SAID MAYBE ONLY A FEW HUMAN RATES HEARTS AND APPARENTLY ONE OF THE HEARTS WAS JOHN KENNEDY IN THE SPRING OF 1963 >> I WOULD LIKE TO SAY HE WAS MOVED BY DR. KING’S WORDS AND EXAMPLE IN THE MOVEMENT, BUT THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS AFTER BIRMINGHAM THE DEMONSTRATIONS SPREAD TO OVER 200 CITIES LIKE WILDFIRE, ALL OVER PRESIDENT KENNEDY SAID THERE WERE EVEN DEMONSTRATIONS ON MILITARY BASES OVERSEAS AND WE’RE EITHER GOING TO PUT IT OUT ONE AT A TIME, RISKING SOMETHING THAT MAKES US LOOK BAD IN THE WORLD, OR WE WILL HAVE TO BITE THE BULLET SO I THINK THAT IT WAS — THE MOVEMENT, THE SYMPATHETIC DEMONSTRATIONS THAT SPREAD FROM BIRMINGHAM CREATED THE PRESSURE THAT PUSHED KENNEDY TO GIVE THAT SPEECH ON THE OTHER HAND, THAT SPEECH OUGHT TO BE MUCH MORE ICONIC THAN IT IS RIGHT NOW IT RANKS WAY BEHIND ASK NOT WHAT YOU DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY, BUT WE ARE CONFRONTED PRIMARILY WITH THE MORAL ISSUE IT IS AS OLDS AS THE SCRIPTURES AND CLEAR AS THE U.S CONSTITUTION IS WHAT DR. KING HAD BEEN ASKING HIM TO SAY THAT WAS A SHINING MOVEMENT AND THE NIGHT EDGAR MEDGARS WAS KILLED I THINK IT WAS AN ISOLATED MOMENT AND A COMBINATION OF IT WAS NOT WRITTEN HE DECIDED TO DO IT THAT AFTERNOON AND WAS STILL WRITING IT — >> EXACTLY >> IT WAS IMPROMPTU AND IN SOME SENSES IT CAME FROM THE HEART AND THAT’S ONE OF THE BEST THING YOU CAN SAY ABOUT THAT THAT HIS HIGHEST SPEECH CAME FROM THE HEART AND THE PRESSURE S OF THE MOVEMENT, BUT THE PRESSURES WERE SEVERE AND HE WAS CUTTING LOOSE FROM THE DEMOCRATIC SOUTHERN BASE THAT HAD ANCHORED DEMOCRATS IN THE WHITE HOUSE FOR A CENTURY AND HE KNEW THAT, BUT HE DID IT WITH VERY FINE WORDS >> I THINK I WAS GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE ARMY AT THE TIME OF THE ’63 MARCH AND INITIALLY ROBERT KENNEDY, WHO JOHN DOUGLAS WAS HIS REPRESENTATIVE, AND CY VANCE VANCE, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY ARMY, WE MET — JOHN DOUGLAS AND I MET WITH TWO OTHERS AND BOBBY KENNEDY DID NOT WANT THE MARCH TO TAKE PLACE PLACE, VANCE DID NOT WANT THE MARCH TO TAKE PLACE THE KENNEDYS SAW THIS AS A POLITICAL ISSUE THERE WAS NO — I MEAN, BOBBY KENNEDY WAS REALLY TOUGH ON THIS, BUT WE CAME BACK FROM THAT MEETING AND SAID THIS MARCH IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND AT THAT POINT THERE WAS TERRIBLE CONCERN ABOUT THE MARCH JUST TO GIVE YOU A SENSE, WE HAD MILITARY PEOPLE AND MUFT MUFTEE AND THE CROWD, WE CLOSED ALL THE LIQUOR STORES IN WASHINGTON WE LITERALLY CALLED HOTELS TO TELL THEM YOU NEED TO CANCEL EVENTS WE DON’T WANT ANYBODY TO STAY OVERNIGHT COME AND GO, IN AND OUT WE CAN’T TAKE THE CHANCE WE ASKED THE HOTELS TO IMPOSE OUTRAGEOUS PRICES FOR THEIR ROOMS I GOT IN AN ARGUMENT WITH THE CARDINAL IN WASHINGTON BECAUSE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WAS PROVIDING COTS WE DIDN’T WANT ANY COTS IN THE
GYMS [LAUGHTER] IT REALLY GAVE YOU A SENSE THAT I WATCHED THEM MARCH WITH VANCE IN THE ARMY WAR ROOM, FILM WE HAD PEOPLE ON TOP OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL IT WAS ALL REALLY SCARED ABOUT VIOLENCE, VIOLENCE, VIOLENCE AND SORT OF SOMETHING NOBODY REALLY WANTED IF ONLY THESE GUYS — IF ONLY KING WOULDN’T DO THIS IF ONLY THESE GUYS — WE EVEN HAD JOHN LEWIS WHO WILL BE HERE THIS AFTERNOON HAD A STINGING SPEECH ATTACKING KENNEDY AND WE DID EVERYTHING WE COULD TO PUT THE HEAT ON LEWIS TO TONE IT DOWN [LAUGHTER] >> BECAUSE THE ARCHBISHOP WAS GOING TO GET UPSET >> AND I THINK THAT MARCH HAD A PROFOUND IMPACT ON EVERYBODY IN THE GOVERNMENT I MEAN, I BEGAN TO SEE THINGS CHANGE DRAMATICALLY, BUT I WILL SAY, STILL SITTING IN THE PENTAGON THEN THEN, WITHIN A MONTH AFTER JOHNSON BECAME PRESIDENT THE GOVERNMENT CHANGED I MEAN, THE PRESSURE TO DO CIVIL RIGHTS — YOU KNOW BETTER THAN I DO, TAYLOR, BUT IT WAS IN HIS GUT IT WAS REALLY IN HIS GUT >> DORIS, IF I COULD ASK YOU ABOUT THAT BECAUSE HERE HERE IN THIS WONDERFUL INSTITUTION WITH NO DISRESPECT TO PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S CLAUSAL ROLE IN THIS BILL, IT’S FAIR TO SAY THAT MANY OTHER PEOPLE IN CONGRESS HAD A HAND IN IT TOO AND WE FORGET AND PROBABLY PRESIDENT JOHNSON WILL BE EAGER TO REMIND US WHAT A CRUCIAL ROLE THE REPUBLICANS PLAYED, FOR EXAMPLE , BUT I THINK IT’S LESS WELL-KNOWN THAT IN THE SENATE PARTICULARLY THE PRESIDENT WAS HALFING YOU CAN READ IN THE TRANSCRIPTS HE WAS CHOMPING AT THE BIT AT MIKE MANSFIELD AND HUBERT HUMPHREY WANTED WANTING THEM TO HOLD THE SENATE AROUND THE CLOCK AND THEY WANTED THE SENATORS TO TALK AND EXHAUST THEMSELVES WHAT DISCIPLINE MUST IT HAVE TAKEN HIM TO RESTRAIN HIMSELF, CONTROL HIMSELF AND NOT APPLY THE JOHNSON TREATMENT WILLIE WILLY-NILLY AS PART OF GETTING THE BILL DONE >> THAT SHOWS EXTRAORDINARY UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONGRESS HE KNEW FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME HE HAD TO TRUST HIS LEADERS THERE, PARTICULARLY HUBERT HUMPHREY WHO DID AN EXTRAORDINARY JOB DURING ALL OF THIS HE WOULD CALL WHEN HE NEEDED TO THE DISCUSSIONS WITH DIRKSON DIRKSON ARE JUST FABULOUS YOU COME WITH ME ON THIS BILL AND TWO HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW THEY WILL KNOW ONLY TWO NAMES, ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND EDGAR DIRK SON AND THE NAACP WILL BE FLYING YOUR BARN BUT JUST TO GO BACK TO WHAT WE WERE SAYING BEFORE, I THINK THAT TENSION BETWEEN A SOCIAL MOVEMENT, PUSHING AT A PRESIDENT, IS THE BEST MOMENT IN OUR AMERICAN HISTORY, THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT PUSHED IT, TEDDY ROOSEVELT, THE BACK RITIONIST BACKRITIONISTS PUSHED ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT PUSHED KENNEDY AND JOHNSON THAT’S WHERE THE CHANGE TAKES PLACE, THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT, THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVIE THEATER, MOVEMENT, AND YOU NEED A PRESIDENT OPEN TO THAT AND I THINK EVEN THOUGH JFK HAD STARTED TO BE OPEN TO IT AFTER THAT MARCH, WHAT YOU NEEDED WAS SOMEBODY WHO WAS GOING TO PUT IT AT THE TOP OF HIS AGENDA AND THAT’S WHAT LBJ DID HE WAS ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT HE COULD SAY IN HIS FIRST SPEECH TO CONGRESS, NO MEMORIAL WOULD MATTER TO JFK MORE THAN THE PASSAGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL SO HE USED THAT WHOLE FEELING TOWARDS JFK AND HIS DEATH TO HELP HIM, BUT THEN IT BECAME HIS THING AND WHEN YOU HAVE A LEADER THE STATURE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, WHEN YOU HAVE AN ANDREW YOUNG, WE WERE LUCKY TO HAVE THOSE MOMENTS AI SAID BEFORE IN HISTORY THOSE GENERATIONS DON’T ONLY EXIST GOD ALL MIGHTY WE NEED ONE NOW, A GENERATION OF THOSE KIND OF LEADERS [APPLAUSE] >> I THINK THESE TWO MEN KNEW EACH OTHER EVEN THE WEEK BEFORE THE PRESIDENT DECLINED TO RUN AGAIN I HEARD THEM ON THE PHONE TALKING LIKE BROTHERS, LIKE PASTOR AND MEMBER AND YET IN THE MIDST OF THIS YOU HAD TWO ALIEN FORCES, I THINK, DIVIDING THEM ONE WAS J EDGAR HOOVER AND THE OTHER WAS WHAT I CALLED THE HARVARD MAFIA THAT — >> I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY VIETNAM >> THAT’S THE HARVARD MAFIA >> THE BEST AND BRIGHTEST [LAUGHTER] >> I DIDN’T REALIZE UNTIL NICK COTS BOOK THAT WRITE ABOUT BLOODY SUNDAY WAS THE OVERTHROW OF ONE OF THE GOVERNMENTS IN VIETNAM AND JOHNSON WAS NOT FOCUSED ON VIETNAM AT ALL, HE WAS TRYING TO DEAL WITH SELMA AND MCNAMARA SAID WHY DON’T WE SEND IN TWO BATTALIONS AND JOHNSON SAID WE CANNOT WIN THIS WAR
AND MCNAMARA’S ANSWER IS NOBODY WILL KNOW EVERYBODY IS CONCERNED ABOUT ABOUT — WE’LL AT LEAST FLY THE FLAG BUT HE WAS LURED INTO VIETNAM AND ONE OF THE REASONS WHY DR KING STOOD UP AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM WAS HE THOUGHT HE WAS STANDING WITH PRESIDENT JOHNSON BECAUSE PRESIDENT JOHNSON WOULD SAY TO HIM OVER THE PHONE, LOOK, THEY’RE TRYING TO GET ME TO BOMB THIS, THEY’RE TRYING TO GET ME TO DO THAT YOU DON’T KNOW THE JOB I HAVE STANDING UP AGAINST THE GENERAL S THEY WANT MORE TROOPS, THEY WANT — AND SO HE FELT THAT PLUS THE MEETING WITH TRICKN TRICKNOTHAN, WHO EXPLAINED TO HIM THE BUDDHIST POSITION OF THE TENSION BETWEEN THE VIETNAMESE AND THE CHINESE AND IRONICALLY THE ONE WAR I HAD TO MEDIATE AT THE U.N. WAS BETWEEN CHINA AND VIETNAM AND SO THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT VIETNAM AND WE KNEW IT AND NOBODY WOULD ADMIT IT AND THAT I THINK PLUS — AND I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND WHAT HOOVER’S MOTIVATION WAS WAS BUT HE HAD A SICKEN I HAVE OR HATRED OF MARTIN LUTHER KING >> LET ME JUST PUT IN TWO POINTS ON HOOVER, I REMEMBER I WAS THEN BOB MCNAMARA’S ASSISTANT IN THE PENTAGON AND HOOVER SENT OUT THIS MEMO DESCRIBING DR KING TO ALL THE CABINET OFFICERS UNBELIEVABLE BUT YOU’RE RIGHT ABOUT THE SELMA THING AFTER BLOODY SUNDAY WHEN THE MARCH RESUMEED RESUMEED, JOHNSON SENT TROOPS, WE NATIONALIZED THE GUARD SO THAT WE COULD PROTECT THE MARCHERS I WAS — MY INSTRUCTION WAS TO SEND MEMOS TO THE WHITE HOUSE EVERY TWO HOURS ABOUT THOSE MARCHS AND THEY’RE ACTUALLY — >> YOU CAN READ THEM >> YOU CAN READ THEM THEY’RE ACTUALLY ON THE LBJ LIBRARY TAPES EVERY TWO HOURS WHERE THEY WERE , HOW FAR THEY HAD GOTTEN I SENT THEM TO JACK VOLENTE, WHO WOULD BRING THEM INTO THE PRESIDENT. THE QUESTIONS WOULD COME BACK HE JUST DIDN’T — HE WAS SO FOCUSED ON SELMA AND ON THAT MARCH WORKING, IT WAS REALLY QUITE REMARKABLE >> I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE FORGET IF THEY ARE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE PERIOD IS HOW MANY THINGS WERE ACHIEVED, AS HE POINTED OUT THE ASSASSINATION OF MET GAR EVERS HAPPENED JUST HOURS AFTER THE SPEECH SENATOR KENNEDY WAS IN THE TERRIBLE PLANE CRASH ON THE NIGHT THE SENATE PASSED THE BILL YOUR HEAD SPINS WITH ALL THE THINGS THE PRESIDENT IS DEALING WITH BUT IT WAS REMARKABLE HOW UNWILLING PRESIDENT JOHNSON WAS FOR SUCH A FAMOUS WHEELER DEALER TO WHEEL AND DEAL HE WAS SENT AWAY IN 20 MINUTES EMPTY HANDED THERE’S A MARVELOUS EXCHANGE ON THE TAPES WHERE JOHNSON TELLS HUMPHREY I’M AGAINST THESE AMENDMENTS I WILL BE AGAINST THEM RIGHT UP UNTIL I SIGN THEM! [LAUGHTER] HE NEVER DID HAVE TO SIGN THEM BUT THE OTHER POIGNANT PART TAYLOR IS THAT THE SIGNING OF THE BILL AND THE PASSAGE OF THE ’64 ACT TOGETHER WITH ’65, BUT IT REALLY REPRESENTS A KIND OF WATER MARK OF CONSENSUS AND JUST WEEKS LATER WITH THE NOMINATION OF BARRY GOLDWATER IN SAN FRANCISCO, THE REPUBLICANS BEGIN THEIR LONG TRANSFORMATION OF IDENTITY AND IN ATLANTIC CITY THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI FREEDOM DEMOCRATIC PARTY AND THE REGULAR DEMOCRATIC PARTY GIVE PRESIDENT JOHNSON INCREDIBLE HEARTBURN AROUND HEARTACHE TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW EVEN IN THE WAKE OF THE SIGNING OF THE BILL THE GOOD FEELING AND CONSENSUS THAT HAD MADE IT POSSIBLE BEGAN TO DISSIPATE >> I THINK WE HAVE TO LOOK AT THIS PERIOD WITH A SENSE OF HISTORY THAT IS RARE 50 YEARS AGO THERE WASN’T A REPUBLICAN IN CONGRESS FROM TEXAS TO THE ATLANTIC OCEAN IT WAS THE SOLID SOUTH AND 80% OF REPUBLICANS IN BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS VOTED FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 BUT AT THE SAME TIME WITH GOLDWATER ANNOUNCING HIS OPPOSITION TO THE BILL AND JOHNSON PUSHING THE BILL FORWARD, YOU ADDED SOMETHING UN PRECEDENT IN HISTORY, WHICH IS THAT THE PARTIES REVERSED ABRUPTLY THEIR 100 100-YEAR-OLD POSITION ON RACE, WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE LITMUS TEST OF DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA AND IT SWITCHED NOTHING BUT RACE — TRY TO IMAGINE SOMETHING TODAY THAT COULD HAPPEN IN POLITICS THAT NEXT YEAR WOULD HAVE REPUBLICAN S VOTING DEMOCRAT AND DEMOCRATS DEMOCRATS DEMOCRATS VOTING REPUBLICAN I GREW UP IN ATLANTA WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW ANY REPUBLICANS [LAUGHTER] THEY WERE POLAR BEARS, THEY WERE YANKEES >> NOT TRUE >> THERE WAS BLACK AND TAN >> ACTUALLY, WHEN I WENT TO GEORGIA IN 1954 THEY ASKED ME TO RUN A VOTEER REGISTRATION DRIVE TO SUPPORT EISENHAUER AND I SAID, BUT I’M A STEPHENSON SPORTER SPORT SUPPORTER
THEY SAID NOT HERE [LAUGHTER] THEY SAID IN GEORGIA IF STEPHENSON WINS, RICHARD RUSSELL APPOINTS THE FEDERAL JUDGES IF EISENHAUER WINS, WE GET TO NOMINATE THE JUDGES AND THE WHOLE BEVY OF SOUTHERN JUDGES THAT REALLY SAVED THE NATION WERE ALL REPUBLICAN APPOINTEES >> BUT WHAT I’M SAYING IS THAT THERE’S THIS — AS AN HISTORIAN , AND I’M SO GLAD THE LBJ LIBRARY HAS ALL THOSE AMAZING TAPES OF JOHNSON BECAUSE I GUARANTEE YOU IF THOSE TAPES DIDN’T EXIST THERE WOULD BE — PEOPLE WOULD BE PUSHING A CONSENSUS THAT JOHNSON NEVER HAD HIS HEART IN ANY OF THOSE THINGS BECAUSE IF THERE’S ONE THING THAT OVER OVERSHADOWED THE TENDENCY OF RACE TO DETERMINE HOW WE PERFORM, IT’S OUR TENDENCY TO MISREMEMBER RACE I WAS BROUGHT UP TAUGHT THAT THE CIVIL WAR HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH SLAVERY PEOPLE WANT TO MISREMEMBER IT AND THOSE TAPES PRESERVE THE INTIMACY OF JOHNSON’S FEELINGS IN WAYS THAT I THINK WILL RESIST THAT AND WE REALLY NEED A BALANCE AGAIN ABOUT HOW — I THINK RACE , JOHNSON SHOWS THAT RACE WAS THE GATEWAY, THE CIVIL RIGHTS BILL, TO BROADER FREEDOMS FOR LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE IT OPENED THE DOOR FOR THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT, FOR ALL KINDS OF DISABILITY MOVEMENT MOVEMENT, THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO IMAGINE, THAT BACK THEN WOMEN COULDN’T SERVE ON JURYIES AND WOMEN COULDN’T DREAM OF GOING TO THE IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS , LET ALONE WEST POINT AND ALL THOSE DOORS OPENED IN THE THE WAKE OF GOING THROUGH THE GATE OF RACE BUT AT THE SAME TIME PEOPLE STARTED WANTED WANTING TO MIS MISREMEMBER IT AND SAY THIS WAS A BAD TIME PRESIDENT CLINTON TOLD ME ONCE IN ONE OF OUR INTERVIEW SESSIONS THAT HE COULD PREDICT HOW PEOPLE WERE GOING TO VOTE WITH 85% ACCURACY BY ASKING ONE QUESTION, DO YOU THINK THE 60’S ON BALANCE WERE GOOD OR BAD FOR AMERICA? AND THAT IS THE RE REINTERPRETATION OF ALL THIS WHEN IN FACT I THINK ANDY AND JOHNSON, THE CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS, WERE IN THE ROLE OF MODERN FOUNDING FATHERS THEY WERE CONFRONTING SUBJUGATION AND SETTING IN MOTION EQUAL CITIZENSHIP, BUT WE DON’T REMEMBER IT THAT WAY ALWAYS THAT’S WHY I THINK THIS 50 50th ANNIVERSARY IS SUCH A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE MEMORY MORE IN BALANCE OF WHAT REALLY HAPPENED [APPLAUSE] >> THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT I THINK FOR HISTORIANS 200 YEARS FROM NOW THOSE TAPES WILL STILL BE THE GOLD STAR BECAUSE YOU UNDERSTAND WHERE THE PRESIDENT IS COMING FROM FROM, YOU UNDERSTAND WHERE THE PEOPLE HE’S TALKING TO ARE COMING FROM I’LL NEVER FORGET YEARS LATER I MET THIS MAN NAMED DON KINDLE, THE CEO OF PEPSI COLA AND HE TOLD ME I KNOW YOU KNEW JOHNSON WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG GIRL, BUT I BET YOU DON’T KNOW THE FOLLOWING STORY HE TOLD ME WHEN NIXON WAS FIRST MADE PRESIDENT HE, KINDLE, WAS TOLD TO GO TO THE RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE TO TALK TO JOHNSON AND JOHNSON WAS SAYING HOW AM I GOING TO REMEMBER ANYTHING HE SAID I HAVE THESE TAPE MACHINES AND I HAVE VERBATIM CONVERSATIONS THOSE CHAPTERS COME OUT GREAT YOU TELL YOUR GOOD FRIEND NIXON , THERE’S NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN A TAPEING SYSTEM [LAUGHTER] AND THERE BY HE CONTRIBUTES TO THE DOWNFALL OF HIS GOOD FRIEND RICHARD NIXON >> THAT LAPSE IN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT NOTWITHSTANDING, PRESIDENT JOHNSON WAS TELLING BILL MOYERS THAT JUST THE CHANGE YOU TALKED ABOUT WAS COMING BUT DORIS, YOU’VE WRITTEN ABOUT HOW HE SAID HE FELT HE HAD TO GET CIVIL RIGHTS TO ESTABLISH HIS CREDIBILITY SO HE COULD THEN DO THE THINGS OF THE GREAT SOCIETY THAT WERE SO IMPORTANT TO HIM TO PUSH THE FREEDOM ENVELOPE FURTHER, TO PUSH OPPORTUNITY EVEN FURTHER I WONDER, JOE, IF YOU COULD TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT DID DR KING GIVE HIM CREDIT FOR THAT, AND YOU TOO, MR. MR AMBASSADOR, FOR DOING THAT? THEY WERE OBVIOUSLY ON THE SAME PAGE, THEY WERE DIVIDED LATER BY VIETNAM AND BY HOOVER, BUT DID DR. KING GIVE HIM CREDIT? >> I THINK ANDY CAN ANSWER THAT BETTER THAN I CAN I DON’T THINK HE WAS — RELEVANT IS THE WRONG WORD, BUT HE CERTAINLY WASN’T INVOLVED WHEN YOU LOOK AT EVERYTHING FROM HEAD START TO THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION, HIGHER EDUCATION, THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM, MEDICARE, MEDICAID AND WHAT HAVE YOU AND I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW RACE WAS AN ISSUE IN THOSE GREAT SOCIETY PROGRAMS BECAUSE SOMETHING YOU MAY REMEMBER ADAM CLAYTON POWELL POWELL, WE COULDN’T GET THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT THROUGH THERE WERE TWO PROBLEMS ONE WAS THE CATHOLICS WANTED HELP FOR PA REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONIAL SCHOOLS AND THE EVANGELICALS AND THE SECULAR JEWS DIDN’T WANT HELP FOR THOSE SCHOOLS AND BOTH HAD THE POWER TO BLOCK IT BUT JOHNSON SAW AS A KILLER PROBLEM THE CONGRESS BEGAN TO LOOK AT THIS AS A BLACK BILL, THE POOR SCHOOLS
THAT, INCIDENTALLY, FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO GO BACK THAT FAR, IS WHY HE TOLD ADAM CLAYTON POWELL, YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF TOWN POWELL WENT TO BIMINI, NEVER RECOVERED FROM THAT, BUT — AND THEN MOVED TO UCARI, IRISH CONGRESSMAN FROM NEW YORK JOHNSON DID NOT WANT BLACK INVOLVEMENT IN THAT LEGISLATION IN ANY PUBLIC WAY CAREY CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF LEASING BOOKS AND THINGS THE BILL PASSES THE HOUSE, JOHNSON SAYS, CALL SPEAKER MCCORMACK MCCORMICK, TELL HIM NOT TO SEND THE BILL HERE FOR ANOTHER MONTH BECAUSE I WANT TO SIGN IT ON HUGH CAREY’S BIRTHDAY HE FIGURED THIS OUT AND HE HAD THE BILL COME OVER I DON’T THINK IT WAS — I DON’T THINK IT WAS THAT KING WASN’T INTERESTED YOU CAN ANSWER THAT PART OF IT, BUT I SURELY KNOW THAT WE WERE CONSTANTLY WORRIED THAT PEOPLE WOULD SEE THESE GREAT SOCIETY PROGRAMS AIMED AT THE POOR ON A RACE BASIS >> AND WE DIDN’T WANT THAT EITHER AND I THINK THE LAST GATHER GATHERING WE HAD DR. KING BROUGHT TOGETHER 23 DIFFERENT MINORITY GROUPS, FOUR, FIVE DIFFERENT HISPANIC GROUPS, POOR WHITES FROM APPALACHIA AND THE POOR WHITES MOVEMENT AND THE IDEA OF THE GREAT SOCIETY CAMPAIGN WAS — WE KNEW SEGREGATION WAS ABOUT RACE, BUT WE DIDN’T EVEN THINK VOTING RIGHTS WAS JUST A RACIAL ISSUE AND I TO THIS DAY THINK THAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON KNEW POVERTY AND KNEW THE POOR AND HE HAD TAUGHT KIDS WHO CAME TO SCHOOL HUNGRY AND THOSE WERE THE PEOPLE HE WAS MOST CONCERNED HE WAS PROBABLY — I THINK DR KING THOUGHT HE WAS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT THE POOR THAN THE VOTE AND I THINK THAT HE WAS PROBABLY WRONG — HE WAS RIGHT IN SAYING THAT WE WOULD LOSE THE SOUTH, BUT WE’VE HAD FOUR SOUTHERN PRESIDENTS SINCE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT CLINTON, CARTER , BUSH AND OF COURSE JOHNSON HIMSELF , BUT WE HAVEN’T LOST THE SOUTH AND THE SOUTH IS GOING TO RISE AGAIN [LAUGHTER] [APPLAUSE] ON NOVEMBER FOURTH WE’LL SEE ANOTHER NEW SOUTH >> ALL RIGHT HOORAY! >> WE TEND TO FORGET HOW INTERTWINEED THE QUESTION OF ECONOMIC FAIRNESS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE ALWAYS WAS IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT MOVEMENT, THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON WAS THE MARCH FOR JOBS AND FREEDOM WHEN PRESIDENT KENNEDY PROPOSED THE BILL HE CITED THESE STATISTICS THAT HARRIS WOFFORD HAD WORKED UP FOR HIM BETWEEN A BLACK AND WHITE BABY BORN IN THE SAME PLACE, ON THE SAME DAY AND ON QUESTIONS OF OPPORTUNITIES AND LIFE EXPECTANTTY, BLACKS ARE DOING MUCH BETTER TODAY THAN IN 1963, BUT IN QUESTIONS OF LIFETIME EARNING POWER, ECONOMIC POWER, IT’S DISTRESSING DISTRESSINGLY ALMOST IDENTICAL WHAT DO YOU THINK BOTH DR. KING AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON WOULD HAVE MADE OF THIS ENDUREING GAP AND WHAT DO YOU THINK WE AS A COUNTRY TODAY CAN DO ABOUT IT? >> I JUST WANT TO POINT OUT ON THE LIFE EXPECTANCY, THE REAL PROMOTEER OF THAT WAS MEDICAID, NOT MEDICARE, NOT HIGH-TECH MEDICINE GIVING THE POOR PEOPLE HEALTH CARE DRAMATICALLY THE BLACK LIFE EXPECTANCY WENT FROM JUST OVER 40 TO 60 PLUS WITHIN A FEW YEARS THEY ARE ENTWINEED >> NO, I THINK THAT NOW I’M HOLDING THIS SOCIAL SECURITY CARD WITH MY PICTURE ON IT >> YOU LOOK CUTE [LAUGHTER] >> BECAUSE THERE ARE THINGS THAT WE WOULD — WE NEED TO DO WE NEED TO MAKE THE VOTE MORE ACCESSIBLE AND A SOCIAL SECURITY CARD WITH YOUR PICTURE ON IT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU NEED TO GET IN A HOTEL, YOU NEED TO GET ON AN AIRPLANE, YOU NEED A GOVERNMENT-ISSUEED ID AND THE SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION COULD DO IT FOR NINE CENTS APIECE AND IT WOULD DO A LOT TO SAVE MONEY IF THE GOVERNMENT BEGAN TO SEND ITS MONEY THROUGH BANKING CHANNELS IT WOULD PUT A LOT MORE MONEY IN THE BANK IF WE REALLY WANTED TO MAKE GOVERNMENT EFFICIENT — AND I THINK THOSE ARE THE KINDS OF
THINGS THAT DR. KING AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON WERE INTERESTED IN THEY WEREN’T JUST INTERESTED IN THE SHOW, THEY WERE INTERESTED IN THE DELIVERY AND HOW DO YOU WIPE OUT POVERTY YOU CAN’T JUST — DR. KING AT ONE POINT SAID A GUARANTEED ANNUAL INCOME JUST GIVE PEOPLE MONEY AND GIVE THEM A CHANCE, THAT WOULDN’T FLY TOO WELL IN TODAY’S WORLD, BUT WE STILL HAVE TO HAVE A WAY TO MAKE DEMOCRACY AND FREE ENTERPRISE WORK FOR POOR PEOPLE OF ALL DOLLARS >> TAYLOR AND DORIS, I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU BOTH, TOMORROW MORNING A YOUNG FELLOW WHO WAS — RECEIVED THE NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT AUGUST 28TH, WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S 100 100TH BIRTHDAY AND I REMEMBER THAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S NAME WAS NOT MENTIONED, WHITE HOUSE AIDES TELL ME THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA OBAMA’S GENERAL REACTION TO COMPARISONS BETWEEN HIS SITUATION AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON ‘S IS YADA YADA YADA SO SINCE YOU ARE A PROFESSIONAL HISTORIANS AND I’M JUST A JOURNALIST WRITING ABOUT HISTORY WHO COULD EASY BE IGNORED, I WANT TO ASK YOU WHAT COULD PRESIDENT OBAMA PROFITABLY TAKE AWAY FROM PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH DR. KING AND THE WORLD THEY FACED? AND IS THERE ANYTHING THAT COULD BE COMPARABLE, ANY INSTRUCTION WE COULD TAKE IN THE PRESENT DAY FROM PRESIDENT JOHNSON ABOUT HOW TO GET SOMETHING DONE? >> WELL, I THINK HE COULD SAY FIRST OFF HE NEEDS TO GET 67 SENATORS >> YOU ONLY NEED 60 NOW >> YEAH, WHICH HE DOESN’T HAVE AND IN THAT SENSE — AND TO CHANGE THE MOOD OF THE COUNTRY FROM CYNICISM TO OPTIMISM IS NOT SOMETHING THAT IS WHOLLY WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT IN THAT SENSE I THINK THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA IS FAIR TO SAY IT’S A TOTALLY DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT AND ATMOSPHERE ON THE OTHER HAND, I WISH HE TALKED MORE ABOUT RACE AND HOW IT CONTRIBUTED WHEN WE DEAL HONESTLY WITH IT, NOT TO BECOME THE ISSUE THAT DWARFS ALL OTHERS, BUT IS A WAY THAT HELPS INFORM ALL THE OTHERS WE GO NUTS WHENEVER HE EVEN MENTIONS ANYTHING THERE WAS A QUOTE IN IN THE “NEW YORK TIMES” SAYING THAT HIS COMMENT ABOUT TRAYVON MARTIN BETRAYED THE GREAT PROMISE OF AMERICA, WHICH IS NEVER TO DISCUSS RACE NEVER TO DISCUSS RACE TURNS AMERICAN HISTORY AND POLITICS INTO A FAIRY TALE AND I DO THINK OBAMA IS A LITTLE TOO CAPTIVE IN THAT, BUT HE IS FACING A GRIDLOCK WHERE — THAT IS NOT COMPARABLE TO WHAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON HAD AND THAT WAS BECAUSE OF TWO THINGS WORLD WAR II AND THE GREAT OPTIMISM THAT CAME OUT OF THAT, WE’RE GOING TO GO TO THE MOON, WE’RE GOING TO LICK POLIO, WE WERE OPTIMISTIC AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HAD BEEN BUILDING UP AN OPTIMISTIC, PATRIOTIC SENSE OF SACRIFICE FROM THE BROWN VISION FOR YEARS INTO THE 60’S THAT MADE PEOPLE SAY, WELL, MAYBE SOMETHING GOOD HAPPENED, CAN HAPPEN WHEN WE CONFRONT KNEES INTRACTABLE PROBLEMS SO OBAMA HAS NEITHER OF THOSE MAJOR ADVANTAGES SO I THINK THAT IT’S UNFAIR TO LOOK TO THE PRESIDENT TO DO ALL OF IT THE GREAT MOMENT FOR DR. KING TO ME WITH PRESIDENT JOHNSON WAS AFTER SELMA THEY HAD A PHONE CONVERSATION WHERE JOHNSON SAYS TO DR. KING, I COULDN’T HAVE DONE ANYTHING UNTIL YOU GOT DOWN THERE AND MOBILEIZED THE PEOPLE AND THERE WERE NUNS FLYING IN IN FROM EVERYWHERE INTO SELMA AND THE WHOLE MOOD OF THE COUNTRY CHANGED YOUR MOVEMENT AROUSEED THEM SO THAT I COULD GO BEFORE CONGRESS IN THAT NIGHT SESSION HE SAID THAT WAS ABOUT THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED AND KING IS SAYING ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ANAN AROUSEED, RESPONSIBLE CITIZENRY WITH AN OPTIMISTIC OPTIMISTIC, PATRIOTIC AGENDA GETTING RESPONSIVE GOVERNMENT, THAT’S WHAT AMERICA IS ABOUT SO IT’S NOT ALL UP JUST TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, IT’S UP TO US TOO >> I THINK THERE’S TWO MAJOR CHANGES IN OUR POLITICAL CULTURE TODAY THAT MAKE IT MUCH HARDER FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA THAN IT WAS FOR PRESIDENT JOHNSON ONE IS THAT IN THE OLD DAYS THEY USED TO STAY IN WASHINGTON TOGETHER ON THE WEEKENDS THEY FORMED FRIENDSHIPS OVER PARTY LINES THEY WEREN’T RUSHING HOME TO RAISE MONEY FOR THESE ESCALATING CAMPAIGN COSTS, WHICH I STILL AM CONVINCED ARE THE POISON IN THE SYSTEM TODAY [APPLAUSE] I SHOULDN’T SAY STUPID PEOPLE, BUT HOW MUCH TIME OUR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS SPEND RAISING MONEY AND GOING BACK TO DO IT RATHER THAN DOING THE BUSINESS OF THE COUNTRY AND TELEVISION ACCESS CERTIFY BATES IT THEY WANT MUSEUM ON EITHER SIDE , DISTRICTING EXACERBATE EXACERBATES EXACERBATE EXACERBATES IT THEY LOOK AT EACH OTHER WITH TRIBAL ALLIANCES NOW RATHER THAN FRIENDSHIPS I THINK THE BULLY PULPIT MAKES IT HARDER TODAY THAT IF THE PRESIDENT GIVES A SPEECH IT USED TO BE COVERED ON ALL THREE NETWORKS EVERYBODY WATCHED IT NOW YOU HAVE THE PUNDITS LIKE US SOMETIMES TEARING IT APART BEFORE IT’S EVEN BEGUN AND YOU’VE GOT PEOPLE WATCHING THEIR OWN CABLE NETWORKS, ONLY SEEING A PART OF THE SPEECH SO ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE TRUE , BUT I THINK THE ONE THING THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA CAN DO NOW , WHICH GOES TO THE HEART OF
LBJ AND WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT WITH A MIXTURE BETWEEN POVERTY AND RACE, WHEN HE TALKS ABOUT THE DEFINING ISSUE OF OUR TIME BEING THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR AND THE LACK OF MOBILITY PRESIDENT JOHNSON IN HIS HOWARD UNIVERSITY SPEECH TALKED ABOUT YOU CAN’T JUST BRING PEOPLE TO THE STARTING RACE AND — GATE AND THINK THEY’LL HAVE AN EQUAL CHANCE FOR THE RACE THAT OPPORTUNITY HAS TO BE DEEPLY BUILT INTO THE SOCIETY WHEN WE SEE NOW THAT IN OUR COUNTRY THE PEOPLE BORN IN THE BOTTOM FIFTH HAVE A LESS CHANCE OF GETTING UP BEYOND THAT THEN PEOPLE IN EUROPE, THIS WAS THE PROMISE OF AMERICA THAT IF YOU WORKED HARD YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO MOBILIZE THROUGH THE SOCIETY SOCIETY AND I THINK OBAMA HAS RECOGNIZED THAT, HE’S TALKED ABOUT THAT, AND IT SHOULD BE THE DEFINING ISSUE AND IN THE END DR. KING WAS TALKING ABOUT POVERTY THAT WAS THE WHOLE MOVEMENT WAS ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY WAS THE NEXT STEP AFTER CIVIL RIGHTS AND BOY, DO WE NEED THAT NOW NOW [APPLAUSE] >> IT’S VERY HARD, THOUGH AS MAYOR I COULD NEVER TALK ABOUT RACE IN ATLANTA BUT LOOKING BACK, EVERYTHING I DID TO HELP PEOPLE HELPED BLACK AND WHITE TOGETHER NOW, YOU DON’T SEE THAT AT THE TIME, BUT I DON’T THINK I EVER CAST A VOTE IN ALL OF MY POLITICAL CAREER THAT JUST HELPED BLACK PEOPLE THAT EVERY VOTE I CAST HELPED 10 TIMES AS MANY BLACKS AS WHITES AND WE’VE GOT TO DERACIALIZE THESE ISSUES TO GET PEOPLE TO LOOK AT THEM A BIT MORE OBJECTIVELY BECAUSE THE STABBING IN THE SCHOOLS TODAY, JUST BEFORE WE GOT HERE, 19 KIDS STABBED STABBED THAT’S NOT RACE THAT’S A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE VIOLENCE IT’S A SICKNESS THAT IS PERVADE ING OUR SOCIETY THAT’S FAR MORE COMPLICATED THAN ANYTHING DR KING AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON HAD TO DEAL WITH BERNICE KING IS DEALING WITH IT IN THE SCHOOL NAME FOR HER MOTHER WHERE SHE WENT IN TO A ROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD AND DECLARED — GOT THE GIRLS THERE IN THIS MIDDLE SCHOOL TO SAY WE’RE GOING TO TRY 100 DAYS OF NON- VIOLENCE AND SHE MADE IT WORK BUT THIS WAS A ROUGH SCHOOL THAT THE TEACHERS COULD NOT HANDLE, BUT GOING IN, TALKING ABOUT NON-VIOLENCE IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL, IT WAS ALL BLACK IT IS SOMETHING — WE’VE GOT TO DEAL WITH THE CULTURE OF VIOLENCE THE THINGS THAT PRESIDENT CARTER TALKED ABOUT, THE FACT THAT THERE ARE MORE SPOUSAL ABUSES, MURDERS, THAN THERE ARE IN THE WARS NOWADAYS MORE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE THAN MILITARY KILLINGS I MEAN, THAT IS A SICKNESS IN SOCIETY THAT WE’VE GOT TO SOMEHOW FIND A WAY TO FACE IT’S NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE >> MR. SECRETARY, YOU’RE LAST UP >> I’M LAST UP I WANT TO JUST SAY ONE THING ABOUT VIOLENCE I CANNOT RESIST THE FACT, BUT REMEMBER ALCOHOL AND DRUGS, BUT PARTICULARLY ALCOHOL, IS INVOLVED IN ABOUT THREE-FOURTHS OF THE RAPES IN THIS COUNTRY AND OF THE INSTANCES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SO WE HAVE A HELL OF A LOT OF PROBLEMS TO DO WITH THAT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE I THINK THERE ARE SOME LESSONS FOR PRESIDENT OBAMA I GUESS I DISAGREE A LITTLE BIT HERE I THINK ONE IS IT’S IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE, WHICH JOHNSON DID , WHEN YOU SIGN A LAW, THAT’S THE BEGINNING THAT’S NOT THE END WHEN HE SIGNED THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT, HE ANNOUNCED THAT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WAS FILING SUIT THE NEXT MORNING TO HAVE THE MISSISSIPPI POLL TAX DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL WE SENT SCORES OF MONITORS INTO THE OTHER SOUTHERN STATES SECONDLY I THINK THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES OF VARIOUS KINDS AND I’D SAY I THINK — MAYBE THIS IS SOMETHING TO MENTION MENTION, ESPECIALLY WITH DR KING, JOHNSON WAS VERY OPPORTUNEISTIC IN THE BEST WAY HE WAS OPEN POOR TUNEISTIC — OPEN POOR TUNEISTIC IN USING THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION IN HIS ABILITY TO GET THE ACT PASSED WHEN MARTIN LUTHER KING WAS ASSASSINATED, THAT NIGHT, THAT NIGHT HE SAID TO ME WE’RE GOING TO GET ONE GOOD THING OUT OF THIS HORRIBLE ACT WE’LL GET THE FAIR HOUSING BILL WE’VE BEEN TRYING FOR FOUR YEARS TO GET IT HE WANTED A DRAFT LETTER THE NEXT MORNING, WHICH HE SENT TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE HE SENT A HANDWRITTEN NOTE TO JERRY FORD, THE MINORITY LEADER OF THE HOUSE, TO GET THAT BILL PASSED WHEN REPORT KENNEDY WAS KILLED, HE SAID WE’RE GOING TO GET OUR GUN CONTROL BILL WE DIDN’T GET ALL OF IT WE GOT ABOUT HALF OF IT WE’RE GOING TO GET IT WE’RE GOING TO GET SOMETHING GOOD OUT OF IT I THINK THERE IS — THERE SHOULD BE SOME USE OF THIS IN A
MUCH MORE OPPORTUNEISTIC WAY AND A MUCH MORE IMMEDIATE WAY THAT’S THE LAST POINT I WOULD MAKE YOU HAVE TO GO FAST I KNOW — I THANK GOD WE HAVE PRESIDENT OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE I WISH HE HAD MOVED ON GUN CONTROL WITH THAT LAME DUCK SESSION HE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A GUN CONTROL BILL HE WAITED A COUPLE OF MONTHS TO LOOK AT IT YOU CAN’T AND IF WE HAD PROBLEMS THEN, WE’RE IN A WORLD — YOU LIVE IN IT MORE THAN ANY OF US, I GUESS, WITH YOUR REPORTING WE HAVE 30-SECOND ATTENTION SPANS AND LASTLY, AND I JUST — I THINK OBAMA, ONE OF THE PROBLEMS HE HAS IS BECAUSE HE IS BLACK I THINK THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE — [APPLAUSE] LET’S BE REALISTIC ABOUT THIS I THINK THERE STILL IS A LOT OF RESENTMENT ABOUT THAT AMONG PEOPLE IN CONGRESS, AMONG PEOPLE ALL OVER THIS COUNTRY AND WE’VE GOT TO GET OVER THAT WE’VE REALLY GOT TO GET OVER THAT [APPLAUSE] >> IN THAT CONTEXT, IT DOES SEEM WORTH REMEMBERING IN THIS ROOM THAT PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S LAST PUBLIC APPEARANCE WAS ON THIS STAGE IN THIS ROOM AT A CONFERENCE ON CIVIL RIGHTS MARKING THE OPENING OF SOME OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS PAPERS HERE IN THIS LIBRARY AND ON THAT DAY HE SAID NOTHING WAS MORE CLOSE TO HIS HEART, NOTHING WAS MORE ESSENTIALLY HIM AND HE ALSO FAMOUSLY SAID THAT WHITES STAND ON HISTORY HISTORY’S MOUNTAIN AND BLACKS IN HISTORY’S HOLE LOW AND THE CHALLENGE FOR AMERICA WAS TO STAND BLACKS AND WHITES ON LEVEL GROUND I’M HONORED TO BE PART OF THIS DISCUSSION TODAY, BUT I THINK YOUR DISCUSSION HAS SHOWN THAT THE WORK PRESIDENT JOHNSON SO NEGOTIABLELY BEGAN 50 YEARS AGO IS NOT OVER AND THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL YOU DO TO KEEP THE BALL ROLLING [APPLAUSE] >>> >>> I
PLEASE WELCOME MR. MICHAEL J KRAMER [ APPLAUSE ] >> LETTING A FEW PEOPLE GET SEATED ALL RIGHT WE’LL GET STARTED GOOD AFTERNOON, MY NAME IS MIKE KRAMER, I’M THE DIRECTOR OF THE TEXAS PROGRAM IN SPORTS AND MEDIA HERE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS WE ARE PLEASED TO PARTNER AGAIN WITH THE LBJ LIBRARY AND MUSEUM THIS IS PROBABLY ABOUT OUR FIFTH EVENT THAT WE’VE PARTNERED AT LEAST ON A PIECE OF A PROGRAM WITH THEM THEM TODAY’S CONVERSATION IS PART OF OUR SERIES CALLED THE MCGARR SYMPOSIUM ON SPORTS AND SOCIETY THAT WAS FOUNDED BY ONE OF THE DISTINGUISHED ALUMS, KATHY MCGARR WHO WE’RE PLEASED TO PARTNER WITH ON MANY OCCASIONS WE ALSO HAVE A — AN INTERESTING TIMING OF THIS TODAY YESTERDAY, ONE OF OUR PARTICIPANTS, DR. HARRY EDWARDS, WHO I’M GOING TO FORMALLY INTRODUCE HERE IN A MOMENT, WE FORMALLY ANNOUNCED THAT WE HAVE ESTABLISHED A PERMANENT LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS CALLED THE DR. HARRY EDWARDS LECTURE ON SPORTS AND SOCIETY [ APPLAUSE ] AND SO WE COULDN’T POSSIBLY FIND A BETTER PERSON IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS THAN DR. HARRY EDWARDS AND HE WAS GRACIOUS ENOUGH TO LEND HIS NAME TO THAT LECTURE AND WE EXPECT WE’LL HAVE SEVERAL PRESENTATIONS UNDER THAT NAME IN THE COMING YEARS TODAY IS — WE HAVE A CONVERSATION THAT’S GOING TO OCCUR ON THE AREA OF SPORTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS I’VE BEEN A PART OF MANY PANELS AND MANY PRESENTATIONS OVER THE YEARS AND NORMALLY YOU TRY AND FIND THE BEST PANELISTS AND THE BEST PEOPLE TO MAKE THAT PRESENTATION RARELY DO YOU HAVE THE PEOPLE, THE TOP PEOPLE, WHO ARE PRESENTING IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU HAD TO PICK ONE, TWO AND THREE, RARELY DO YOU GET ONE, TWO AND THREE TODAY WE’RE FORTUNATE THAT WE HAVE PROBABLY THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS SPORTS AND SOCIETY AND SPORTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE LAST 50 YEARS AND WE’RE ECSTATIC, WE’RE PLEASED, WE’RE PROUD THAT WE CAN PRESENT THEM AND HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH THEM WITH YOU TODAY SO LET ME SAY THAT AGAIN WE HAVE HERE PROBABLY THE TOP THREE PEOPLE IN THIS WHOLE AREA IN THE LAST 50 YEARS [ APPLAUSE ] SO LET ME GET ON WITH THE PROGRAM
IT’S THEM YOU’RE HERE TO SEE SEE I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE TO YOU DR. HARRY EDWARDS MR. BILL RUSSELL MR. JIM BROWN [ APPLAUSE ] TAKE IT AWAY, HARRY >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH IT’S A REAL LEARN TO BE HERE WITH TWO MEN THAT I HAVE KNOWN FOR ABOUT THE LAST 45 OR 50 YEARS AND IF YOU HEAR A TOUCH OF RESPECT AND AND ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION IN MY VOICE DURING THE COURSE OF THIS CONVERSATION YOU HAVE ME CORRECTLY I WANT TO BEGIN BY STATING THAT THERE HAVE BEEN FOUR ATHLETES OVER THE LAST HALF OF THE 20th CENTURY WHO HAVE BEEN UTTERLY TRANSFORM TRANSFORMATIVE THE FIRST, OF COURSE, IS THE IMMORTAL JACKIE ROBINSON THE SECOND — [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] — THE SECOND IS THE INDOMNITABLE MR. BILL RUSSELL [ APPLAUSE ] AND THE THIRD IS THE IN INCOMPARABLE MR. JIM BROWN [ APPLAUSE ] AND THE FOURTH IS THE ABSOLUTELY UNCONQUERABLE MS MS. BILLIE JEAN KING [ APPLAUSE ] I WANT TO FOCUS ON THE STRUGGLE AT THE INTER INTERFACE OF RACE, SPORT AND SOCIETY AND IN PREPARING FOR THIS CONVERSATION I WENT BACK AND READ JIM BROWN AND BILL RUSSELL’S FIRST TWO BOOKS, JIM BROWN’S OFF MY CHEST, AND OUT OF BOUNDS AND BILL RUSSELL ‘S GLORY FOR GLORY AND SECOND WIND I THINK THAT THOSE ARE FOUR BOOKS THAT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL ATHLETES ENTERING COLLEGE AND PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TODAY BECAUSE THEY SAY SO MUCH ABOUT WHERE WE HAVE COME FROM AND THE SACRIFICES THAT WERE MADE IN ORDER FOR THEM TO BE WHERE THEY ARE TODAY THE THINGS THAT STUCK WITH ME ABOUT — ABOUT THOSE BOOKS AND READING THEM, WAS FIRST, HOW WELL THE PHILOSOPHIES, THE PERSPECTIVES, THE ETHICAL ARGUMENTS AND SO FORTH OF JIM AND BILL HAVE STOOD UP OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS THE SECOND THING IS THAT THEY WERE SUPERSTAR ATHLETES WHEN THEY STOOD UP THEY WEREN’T A BUNCH OF OLD GUYS WHO HAD RETIRED AND SO FORTH THEY WERE SUPERSTAR ATHLETES WHEN THEY STOOD UP AND SPOKE OUT THE THIRD THING THAT STRUCK ME WAS THAT THEY NEVER WERE WILLING TO EXCHANGE WHITE RACEISM FOR BLACK ORTHODOXY THEY WERE ALWAYS ABOUT THE PEOPLE AND THEIR ARGUMENT WAS THAT I AS A MAN AM PART OF THE PEOPLE AND I INSIST ON BEING RESPECTED AS SUCH THROUGHOUT THEIR BOOKS AND THEN THE FOURTH THING THAT REALLY BLEW ME AWAY, THAT I FIND AMAZING TO THIS DAY IS HOW YOUNG THEY WERE WE’RE TALKING ABOUT 22, 23, 24 YEARS OLD WHAT WE CALL TODAY YOUNG ADULTS A WAY OF CONFINEEING AN ENTIRE GENERATION OF PEOPLE TO SANDBOX CITIZENSHIP [ APPLAUSE ] BUT THEY WERE SPEAKING OUT AT 24 YEARS OLD WHEN THIS HAPPENED SO I WOULD LIKE, FIRST OF ALL, TO GO BACK TO THAT TIME AND I’M GOING TO EXERCISE MY PREROGATIVES AS THE ONLY 72 72-YEAR-OLD UP HERE AND CALL YOU YOUNG MEN BY YOUR FIRST NAMES [LAUGHTER] AND ASK ABOUT WHAT TOOK YOU TO THAT PLACE? HOW DID YOU END UP AT THAT PLACE? AND WHY DON’T WE START, JIM, WITH WITH YOU IN TERMS OF THIS HOW DID YOU END UP AT THAT PLACE AT 23, 24 YEARS OLD? >> WELL, DOC, I WAS VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE A GREAT MOTHER, NO FATHER, WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH A GREAT COACH GREATEST MAN I EVER MET IN MY LIFE, ED WALSH, A GREAT MENTOR, CONTEND LEE KENNY MALLOY, THEY WERE IMPECCABLE IN ADVOCATING EDUCATION, SELF DETERMINATION AND I HAD AN EXAMPLE OF PEOPLE THAT WERE REALLY GOOD AND THERE WAS TREMENDOUS DISCRIMINATION IN THIS COUNTRY AT THE TIME AND IT WAS — IT WAS TOLD TO ME THAT I COULD BE LOVED AND POPULAR IF I WOULD BOW DOWN AND DO A LITTLE DANCE [LAUGHTER]
AND I DON’T KNOW IF I ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS [LAUGHTER] BUT I SAID “I DON’T REALLY DANCE.” [LAUGHTER] I JUST PREFER TO BE A MAN AN AMERICAN CITIZEN AND I PAY MY TAXES, I WANT MY RIGHTS SO FREEDOM, EQUALITY AND JUSTICE ARE WHAT I PURSUED, I PURSUED IT AT ALL COSTS BECAUSE NOTHING ELSE WOULD SUBSTITUTE FOR THAT NO TROPHY, NO FORMAL POPULARITY AND BECAUSE I WAS HELPED AS A YOUNG MAN, I KNEW THAT MY LIFE’S WORK WOULD BE TO HELP OTHERS SO THAT’S — THAT’S WHAT YOU HAVE HERE [ APPLAUSE ] >> BILL, WHAT — WHAT TOOK YOU DOWN THAT PATH THAT YOU TOOK? I WAS READING GORE FOR GLORY GLORY, YOU HAVE STATED THAT I HAVE NEVER BEEN ONE TO PURSUE BEING LIKED FROM DAY ONE I WAS ABOUT BEING RESPECTED AND WHAT TOOK YOU DOWN THAT PATH THAT 22, 23 YEARS OLD? >> WELL, I GUESS IT STARTED WHEN I WAS BORN MY MOTHER AND FATHER, THE FIRST THING I KNEW ABOUT LIFE, WAS MY MOTHER AND FATHER LOVED ME I WAS BORN IN THE SEGREGATEED SOUTH IN THE ’30S IN LOUISIANA >> LOUISIANA, UH-HUH >> AND MY MOTHER, OUR FIRST CONVERSATION SAID TO ME, THERE’S NOBODY ON THIS PLANET ANY BETTER THAN YOU ALSO THERE’S NOBODY ON THIS PLANET THAT YOU ARE BETTER THAN THEM AND SO — SO I GREW UP CAN WITH CONFIDENCE THAT I WAS OKAY AND — MY MOTHER AND FATHER ALWAYS TREATED EACH OTHER WITH RESPECT AND SO — SO WHAT I — WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WORLD, THAT’S THE WAY I THOUGHT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE >> AND EVERYTHING THAT YOU COULD CHANGE TO MAKE IT THAT WAY WHEN IT WASN’T >> HUH >> DID EVERYTHING THAT YOU COULD TO MAKE IT THAT WAY WHEN IT WASN’T >> WELL, MY MOTHER TOLD ME, WHEN I WAS YOUNG, SHE SAYS TO ME ONE DAY, “YOU CAN PLAY IN THE FRONT YARD, FOR THE FIRST TIME.” MOSTLY SHE KEPT ME IN THE BACK YARD ALL OF THE TIME AND SHE SAID, “THE REASON I WANT YOU PLAYING IN THE FRONT YARD IS PEOPLE WILL WALK BY AND THEY WILL SAY THINGS TO YOU GOOD OR BAD BUT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU IT HAS TO DO WITH THEM AND THEIR PERSPECTIVE AND SO YOU PLAY AND HAVE FUN FUN AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT THAT.” >> OKAY >> AND SO WHEN I GREW UP, I ENCOUNTERED THINGS, I KNEW THAT I WAS OKAY [LAUGHTER] AND SO — BUT MOVING AHEAD, A FEW YEARS AGO, I BET — I MET NELSON MANDELA AND WE HAD A BRIEF CONVERSATION AND I ASKED HIM HOW HE COULD BE SUCH A GOOD PERSON OF ALL OF THE THINGS THAT HE HAD ENCOUNTERED AND HE SAID IF I HAD REACTED THE WAY THEY PREDICTED THAT I WOULD ACT, THEN THEY WERE RIGHT BUT I — HE SAID I AM A MANDELA AND THAT’S WHERE I GET MY PHILOSOPHY FROM IS THAT THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE IS NOT HATE THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE IS IN INDIFFERENCE AND SO THE ONLY WAY AS A — AS HUMANS CAN EVOLVE IS THEY HAVE TO CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER >> THAT WAS — THAT WAS EVIDENT THROUGHOUT A NUMBER OF YOUR — CHAPTERS IN YOUR BOOK LET ME — LET ME ASK YOU, ASK YOU THIS JIM IN PARTICULAR I WAS LOOKING AT A BOOK ENTITLED THE 100 MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN AMERICAN SPORTS AND QUITE FITTINGLY B BILLIE JEAN KING WAS ON THE
COVER BUT THERE WAS A STATEMENT THAT YOU MADE EARLY ON IN ONE OF YOUR EARLIEST BOOKS WHERE YOU STATED THAT YOU A TIME WHEN YOU WERE NOT CONSCIOUS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT YOU STATED I WAS VERY CONSCIOUS OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND VERY ACTIVE IN WHAT I CALLED THE MOVEMENT FOR DIGITS TEE, E EQUALITY AND JUSTICE IN FACT IT SUPERSEDED MY INTEREST IN SPORTS SPORTS GAVE ME AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP THE CAUSE AND THAT IS WHAT I DEDICATED MYSELF TO DOING NOW, I KNOW THAT YOU SUPPORTED THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT BUT YOU WERE AHEAD OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN TERMS OF YOUR FOCUS ON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WHAT LED YOU TO MOVE BEYOND SIMPLE DESEGREGATION TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, TO STARTING THE BLACK ECONOMIC UNION, SETTING UP THESE OFFICES ALL OVER THE COUNTRY COUNTRY, TRAVELING THROUGH THE DEEP SOUTH IN A BUS WITH OTHER PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES TALKING TO BLACK SMALL BUSINESS PEOPLE IN GEORGIA, ALABAMA, TENNESSEE WHAT LED YOU TO THAT SENSE THAT THAT WAS THE DIRECTION THINGS HAD TO GO INTO? >> WELL, IT WAS HAD TO GET OFF OF THEIR BUTTS AND REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE CONDITION, USE AS MUCH INTELLIGENCE AND LABOR AS THEY COULD TO DELIVER THEMSELVES WE COULDN’T DEPEND ON THE GOVERNMENT OR CORPORATE AMERICA OR ANYONE AND SO I WAS ALWAYS A PERSON THAT ADVOCATEED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE AMERICA IT’S A CAPITALIST SOCIETY, IT’S BASED ON ECONOMICS IF YOU DON’T USE ECONOMICS IN YOUR COMMUNITY, YOUR COMMUNITY WILL NEVER GROW THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN THIS COUNTRY AND IN THE WORLD THAT PROVEN THAT COLLECTIVELY YOU CAN BE A MINORITY AND APPLY THE RIGHT PRINCIPLES AND EMANCIPATE YOURSELF SO I THOUGHT THAT THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY HAD TO APPLY ITSELF, HAVE THE GREATEST COMMUNITY, THE SAFEST COMMUNITIES AND PROBABLY MOST OF ALL, UNDERSTAND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SO THAT WAS THE WAY THAT I LED AND I ATTRACTED THE TOP YOUNG MBAS IN THE COUNTRY, SPENCER JORDAN WAS MY NUMBER ONE GUY, GRADUATED HARVARD, MAGNA CUM LAUDE AND I GOT THE TOP BLACK ATHLETES IN THE COUNTRY AND I PUT THEM TOGETHER AND WE GOT A GRANT FROM THE FORD FOUNDATION OF OVER A MILLION DOLLARS AT THE TIME AND WE HAD A FUND THAT ANY YOUNG BLACK ENTREPRENEUR COULD COME AND MAKE THAT LOAN AND GET THE BENEFIT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR NATIONAL BUSINESS PLANNING TEAM AND SO THAT WAS THE WAY I FELT WE COULD GAIN EQUALITY QUICKER THAN DOING ANYTHING ELSE >> YOU KNOW, I WANT PEOPLE TO REALLY UNDERSTAND WE’RE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING — THINK OF A 26, 25, 26, 27-YEAR-OLD ATHLETE TODAY THAT WOULD HAVE THAT KIND OF INSIGHT AND VIG THIS– AND VISION, THIS IS HOW FAR AHEAD YOU WERE IN TERMS OF THIS SITUATION IT ASTOUNDS ME EVEN NOW BILL, YOU, TOO, HAD A SENSE OF THE NECESSITY OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NOT ONLY DID YOU HAVE YOUR OWN BUSINESS HERE, BUT LONG BEFORE GLOBALIZATION CAME INTO THE LANGUAGE AND ELECTION SON OF — AND LEXIKON OF THE SOCIETY YOU HAD ALREADY SET UP RELATIONSHIPS IN WEST AFRICA AND WERE TALK TALKING ABOUT HOW WE NEEDED TO CONNECT WITH AFRICAN COUNTRYIES AND HAVE SOME MUTUAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SO FORTH YOU ALSO WENT INTO THE SOUTH SOUTH I MEAN, TWO MONTHS AFTER THE ASSASSINATION, I KNOW YOU WENT DOWN TO MISSISSIPPI AND IT WAS A FRIGHTENING TIME AND HELD INTEGRATEED BASKETBALL CLINICS IN MISSISSIPPI, TWO MONTHS AFTER MEGER EVERS DEATH OF COURSE YOUR BOSTON CELTICS TEAMMATES AS YOU STATED SAID DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT, YOU’RE GOING TO BE SAFE, YOU’RE GOING TO BE OKAY, JUST KEEP A LOW PROFILE [LAUGHTER] BUT YOU WENT DOWN AND HELD THOSE CLINICS, WHEN YOU WERE DOWN THERE, YOU TALKED TO YOUNG PEOPLE ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF COMPLETING SCHOOL, BECOMING ECONOMICALLY VIABLE AND SO FORTH >> WELL, MOST OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE — AS I COULD SEE, WERE ECONOMICALLY DEPRIVEED AND I SAW THAT AS ONE OF THE THE — ONE OF THE PLACES
WHERE YOU CAN PURCHASE E EQUALITY IF YOU HAVE WHAT — WHAT STARTED OUT AS A CHARITY, YOU COULD MAKE IT A FORCE AND I KNOW THAT I WAS — I WAS IN BOSTON AND THERE WAS A GREAT MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY I WOULD GO TO AFRICA PEOPLE TOLD ME, THEY SAID THE AFRICANS DON’T LIKE YOU WELL, THE PEOPLE THAT WERE TELLING ME THAT DIDN’T LIKE ME [LAUGHTER] SO I WANTED TO GO AND SEE FOR MYSELF OKAY AND SOME GUY CAME UP TO ME AND HE SAYS, “WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT AFRICA? YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM, THEY’RE NOT LIKE YOU AND YOU GOT NO BUSINESS DOING THAT.” SO I SAID “, YOU KNOW, I HAVE THIS FAMILY THAT ARE FRIENDS OF MINE AND THEY HAVE BEEN RECUSED OF SUPPORTING THE IRISH REVOLUTION THEY HAVE BEEN ACCUSED OF SUPPORTING THE IRISH REVOLUTION THE FAMILY WAS THE KENNEDYS, I KNEW ALL OF THEM IN FACT, I’M OLD ENOUGH THAT I REMEMBER MEETING AND SITTING AND TALKING WITH ROSE KENNEDY AND I SAYS “WELL, IF IT’S ALL RIGHT FOR THEM TO GO BACK WHERE THEIR ANCESTORS CAME FROM, WHY IS IT NOT ALL RIGHT FOR ME TO GO BACK WHERE I THINK MY ANCESTORS CAME FROM?” AND SO IT WAS ALL ABOUT — I NEVER, EVER CONSIDERED MYSELF AS A LEADER OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT ALL I DID WAS — ONE THING THAT I WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT I NEVER DID ANYTHING THAT MY FATHER WOULD BE A ASHAMEED OF AND SO THE — SOME OF THE THINGS I DID, FOR EXAMPLE, I COACHED THE BOSTON CELTICS I WAS A PLAYER COACH OF THE BOSTON CELTICS AND SO THEY SAID, “WELL, YOU’RE THE FIRST BLACK COACH IN THE N.B.A AND IN FACT YOU’RE THE FIRST BLACK COACH, MANAGER, IN BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES WHAT ABOUT THAT?” I SAID TO THEM, “IF RED HAD EVER SAID TO ME THIS IS A GREAT SOCIAL EXPERIENCE, EXPERIMENT, I WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT THE ONLY REASON I WOULD DO IT, BECAUSE I’M CONVINCED THAT I’M THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB.” [ APPLAUSE ] >> YEAH >> SO — SO WHAT I CONSIDERED, TRIED TO DO, EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE, BASED ON MERIT AND I EXPECTED ALL OTHER PEOPLE I SURROUND MYSELF WITH >> TO DO THE SAME >> NOW JIM AND I HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER SINCE COLLEGE AND HE USED TO TELL ME ALL THE TIME THAT HE WAS A BETTER BASKETBALL PLAYER THAN I WAS ANYWAY LAWSUIT.[LAUGHTER] >> THAT WAS 38 POINTS A GAME GAME >> I SAID, “JIM, NO.” [LAUGHTER] AND IF I — IN FACT I SAID TO HIM ONE TIME, I SAYS “YOU KNOW, I THINK YOU’RE ONE OF THE GREATEST ATHLETES, IF NOT THE GREATEST AT LEAST IN THE 20th CENTURY.” BUT LEAVE BASKETBALL ALONE [LAUGHTER] >> JIM — JIM SAW AND I SUPPORTED — IF YOU DON’T HAVE ANY WHEREWITHAL TO EXERCISE INFLUENCE, THEN YOU’LL NEVER SUCCEED IN EXERCISING INFLUENCE AND I TRIED TO — LIVE MY LIFE THAT WOULD
EXERCISE INFLUENCE I PERSONALLY AM NOT INTEREST INTERESTED IN THAT I’M JUST INTEREST ED IN — I RAISE MY KIDS AND I ALWAYS LET THEM KNOW THAT I LOVED THEM IN FACT, THAT’S ONE OF THE KEY THINGS ABOUT RAISING KIDS MY DAUGHTER, I HAVE TO FIGHT OFF HER TELLING ME WHAT TO DO NOW [LAUGHTER] SHE GRADUATED FROM HARVARD LAW SCHOOL AND THE MINUTE SHE GETS A DEGREE FROM HARVARD, SHE KNOWS EVERYTHING [LAUGHTER] SO I JUST TRY TO SEE WHERE THINGS ARE NEEDED, RECOGNIZE THAT THINGS ARE NEEDED , AND TRY TO PUT MYSELF IN A PLACE WHERE I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE >> LET’S JUMP TO THE PRESENT PRESENT WHERE DID THE TRAIN LEAVE THE TRACK? I MEAN, WHERE ARE YOU THE BILL RUSSELLS, WHAT ARE THE JIM BROWNS? I KNOW WE DON’T EXPECT PEOPLE TO DO THE SAME WAY — DO THINGS THE SAME WAY THAT THEY WERE DONE IN THE ’60S IN THE SAME SENSE THAT BILL YOU AND JIM DIDN’T DO THE THINGS THE SAME WAY THAT JACKIE ROBINSON DID OR JESSIE OWENS DID, BUT WHAT HAPPENED? HOW DO WE COME TO THE PLACE THAT WE HAVE THE LEVEL OF UN UNINVOLVEMENT, APATHY, ALMOST A LACK OF CONCERN ABOUT THESE BROADER ISSUES THAT YOU SPEAK OF NOW? >> WELL, YOU MENTIONED JACKIE ROBINSON I MET HIM A COUPLE OF TIMES WHEN HE DIED, I GOT A CALL FROM RACHEL ROBINSON SAID THAT SHE WANTED ME TO BE A PALL BEARER AT HIS FUNERAL I SAID GIVEN MY AGE, THAT’S AN OVERWHELMING HONOR WHY ME? SHE SAID, YOU WERE ONE OF JACKIE’S FAVORITE ATHLETES AND I TOOK THAT TO SAY THAT JACKIE HAD DONE A TREMENDOUS THING FOR US THAT HE — THAT HE WAS THE FIRST BLACK TO PLAY BASEBALL BUT HE WAS NEVER A PUSHOVER AND HE TOOK US TO A PLACE, OPENING UP THIS WHOLE WORLD FOR US, BUT I WAS NOT GOING TO REVISIT THAT PLACE I WANTED TO TAKE IT TO THE NEXT STEP >> WHICH YOU MOST CERTAINLY DID >> AND SO — WHEN RED ASKED ME HE SAID HE’S RETIRING, BACK TO MY COACH, HE SAYS I’M RETIRING, I GOT TO FIND A NEW COACH TO REPLACE ME HE SAYS, FIRST, DO YOU WANT THE JOB? I SAID HELL NO! [LAUGHTER] I SAID I’VE WATCHED WHAT YOU GONE THROUGH, I DON’T WANT NO PART OF THAT SO WE AGREEED, BOTH MADE OUT A LIST OF 10 GUYS THAT WE WOULD APPROVE OF HE SAYS NOBODY CAN GET THE JOB UNLESS YOU APPROVE OF IT IT SO I MADE A LIST OF 10 AND HE MADE A LIST OF 10 THERE WERE NO MATCHES [LAUGHTER] AND SO HE SAID, “WELL, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?” I SAID, “I DON’T KNOW.” HE SAYS, “OKAY — HE WILL DECIDE WHATEVER, IT’S JUST ONE COACH HE SAID THIS IS WHO I’M GOING TO HIRE I SAID RED IF YOU HIRE HIM, I AM GOING TO RETIRE WITH YOU I DIDN’T EVEN WANT TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM WITH THAT PERSON I CLEANED IT UP, I SAID PERSON [LAUGHTER] AND — AND HE SAYS, WHY? I SAID NO I WILL NOT BE ON THE TEAM WITH HIM HE SAYS, “WELL, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?” I SAID, “I’LL TELL YOU WHAT, I WILL TAKE THE JOB AS A PLAYER/COACH, AND IF IT DOESN’T WORK, IF YOU ASK ME TO I’LL QUIT OR
YOU CAN FIRE ME, IT DOESN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE AND I WILL GIVE WHOEVER YOU REPLACE ME WITH 100% COOPERATION.” BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO — I HAD GROWN TO LOVE THAT ORGANIZATION AND I WASN’T GOING TO DO ANYTHING TO HARM IT >> TO MESS IT UP >> SO — I DID A PRETTY GOOD JOB >> I THINK YOU DID 11 N.B.A. CHAMPIONSHIPS — >> WHAT I TOLD EVERYBODY WAS I WAS A PLAYER/COACH WITH NO ASSISTANTS I DIDN’T HAVE ANY ASSISTANTS IS THAT NOBODY COULD WORK WITH YOU [LAUGHTER] I HEARD THAT STORY [LAUGHTER] >> I CAN BE DIFFICULT >> I KNOW [LAUGHTER] >> BUT, YOU KNOW, I HAD A SONG WRITTEN FOR ME AND HE TALKED ABOUT MY FATHER AND THE KEY LINE TO THE SONG WAS: I AM MY FATHER’S SON AND HE TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE A MAN BY BEING ONE AND SO — SO I THINK THAT I CAN HAVE FRIENDSHIPS WITH GUYS THAT POLITICALLY WERE COMPLETELY OPPOSED BUT SINCE I DEMAND RESPECT, ALSO GIVE RESPECT SO THE THINGS THAT I DID, I TRIED TO DO FOR THE RIGHT REASONS NEVER TO PROVE ANYTHING TO SOMEONE I DON’T KNOW NOW, JIM IS A LIFE-LONG FRIEND PROBABLY AFTER MY FATHER, THE BEST FRIEND THAT I’VE EVER HAD AND THE WHOLE THING WAS BASED ON MUTUAL RESPECT YOU KNOW WHAT’S ODD ABOUT IT TO ME IS JIM AND I HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER SINCE COLLEGE, AND THAT’S IN THE ’50S AND I DO NOT REMEMBER, AND HE SAYS HE DOESN’T REMEMBER, WHEN WE MET [LAUGHTER] >> MOMENTOUS TIME THERE, MOMENTOUS MOMENT, YEAH >> BUT — BUT THE FOUNDATION IS — THE WHOLE THING IS WE LIVE IN AMERICA, AND THE BETTER AMERICA IS FOR EVERYBODY HERE, THE BETTER AMERICA WILL BE >> FOR EVERYBODY [ APPLAUSE ] >> AND LET ME — GO AHEAD, JIM >> I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE WHAT YOU SAID, BILL BECAUSE THIS IS A VERY DIVERSE AUDIENCE AND SOMETIMES I’M MIS MISUNDERSTOOD I THINK SOMETIMES YOU’RE MIS MISUNDERSTOOD BUT WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT JACKIE ROBINSON, AND I KNEW JACKIE VERY WELL, I HAD A LOT OF ADMIRE REHABILITATION ADMIRATION FOR HIM BUT I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT THE MAN THAT TRULY INTEGRATEED BASEBALL WAS NOT JACKIE, IT WAS FRANK RICKY YAK KEY JACKIE CALLED HIM MR. RICKY HE STEPPED OUT OF THE POWER STRUCTURE HE DECIDED BASEBALL SHOULD BE INTEGRATED ONE THING MIGHT BE BECAUSE IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO DO THE OTHER THING MIGHT BE BECAUSE OF BOX OFFICE, THERE WAS A WHOLE BLACK AUDIENCE OUT THERE THAT WENT TO BASEBALL GAMES HE COULD HAVE CHOSEN SATCHEL PAGE OR JOSH GIBSON BECAUSE THEY WERE GREAT, GREAT BASEBALL PLAYERS BUT HE CHOSE JACKIE BECAUSE HE KNEW JACKIE HAD THE ABILITY TO PLAY GREAT BASEBALL YET PLAY THE POLITICAL ROLE THAT HE HAD TO PLAY EVEN THOUGH IT WAS KILLING HIP SO HIP — KILL HIM SO I SAY TO YOU I HAD A LOT OF RESPECT FOR BRANCH RICKY AND PEOPLE LIKE HIM SO IF I DIGRESS FROM THERE, I GO TO SLAVERY AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND YOU MUST TAKE NOTE OF THESE THINGS TO BE ABLE TO LIVE IN AMERICA PROPERLY, I FEEL AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD REPRESENTED HARRIETT TUBMAN AND HARRIETT TUBMAN WAS GIVEN TREMENDOUS PRAISE FOR BEING THAT PIONEER WHO BASICALLY LIVED HER LIFE TO FREE THE SLAVES
WHAT IS ALSO OVERLOOKED IS THAT THOSE FREE HOUSES THAT THOSE PEOPLE PUT UP FOR THE SLAVES TO STAY AT AND TO HIDE THEM AND TO GET THEM UP TO THE NORTH AND GET THEM TO CANADA WERE REGULAR PEOPLE REGULAR PEOPLE NOTHING SPECIAL BUT THE COMMONALITY WAS THAT THEY WERE GOOD HUMAN BEINGS WHEN WE TALK, THE THREE OF US, I WANT TO EMPHASIZE THIS THIS, WE ALWAYS TALK ABOUT THE CATEGORY OF GOOD HUMAN BEINGS BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT WHITE, BLACK, WHATEVER >> RIGHT >> AND THAT BECOMES IMPORTANT IN BEING A MAN BECAUSE IF I HAVE THE CHARITY IN MY SOUL OR THE WISDOM TO RECOGNIZE THE GOOD GOODNESS IN PEOPLE, THEN I’M A MAN A MAN OF GOD A MAN OF TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING THEREFORE, NOTHING YOU CAN DO OR SAY TO ME WILL CHANGE MY ATTITUDE ABOUT MY MANHOOD MANHOOD AND OVER THE YEARS, THE BIGGEST PROBLEM THAT WE’VE HAD IN THIS COUNTRY IS WHENEVER YOU STAND UP FOR THE RIGHT THING, EVEN THOUGH IT’S FOR THE OVERALL POPULOUS, PEOPLE TAKE THE ATTITUDE THAT YOU ARE A RACE RACIST OR THEY CALL IT AN OPPOSITE RACEIST AND SO I WANTED TO MAKE THAT POINT BECAUSE WHEN YOU SAY, WHERE ARE WE TODAY, ONE — WELL, THE ONE GUY THAT I DEPEND ON MOST, YOUNG MAN THAT JUST WON THE SUPERBOWL, AND WHO IS A TREMENDOUS HUMAN BEING AND WHO HAS GOTTEN THROUGH SOME TROUBLED TIMES AND WHO UNDERSTANDS WHAT WE’RE DOING IS RAY LEWIS AND RAY, I THINK, CAN BE THE LEADER OF A LOT OF THESE YOUNG INDIVIDUALS WHO NEED THAT LEADERSHIP WHO WANT TO LEARN WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN MAKING TREMENDOUS CHANGE WITHIN THIS COUNTRY SO I JUST THOUGHT THAT I WOULD INTERJECT THAT >> THERE’S NO QUESTION THAT THE — EVERY GENERATION HAS TO DEVELOP ITS OWN LEADERSHIP AND I THINK THAT WE CAN — PEOPLE OF OUR GENERATION CAN DO THEIR ANALYSIS AND TELL THEM ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST AND WHERE WE THINK THEY ARE NOW, BUT ULTIMATELY IT’S GOING TO BE THIS GENERATION THAT’S GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THE LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY LET ME ASK YOU, I KNOW THAT THAT — BECAUSE WE ARE RUNNING SHORT HERE, BUT LET ME ASK THIS: I KNOW THAT PROGRESS MANY TIMES IS A LOT LIKE THE CONCEPT OF PROFIT IT REALLY COMES DOWN TO WHO WHO’S KEEPING THE BOOKS [LAUGHTER] AND SO IN LOOKING AT WHERE WE ARE, HOW MUCH PROGRESS HAVE WE ACTUALLY MADE IN SPORTS? GIVEN THE FACT THAT WE’RE DOWN TO 8% AFRICAN-AMERICANS IN BASEBALL, FROM 21% IN 1973 THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION OF BOXING HAS JUST ABOUT BEEN WIPED OUT I REMEMBER A TIME AND YOU DO DO, TOO, WHEN THERE WAS ALI, FRASIER, FOREMAN, PATTERSON, JIMMY ELLIS, JIMMY YOUNG, ERNIE TURRELL, BIG CAT CLEVELAND, A GUY BY THE NAME OF LARRY HOLMES COULDN’T BREAK INTO THE LINE IF HE WAS A SPARRING PARTNER TODAY YOU COULDN’T FIND TWO PEOPLE IN A 100 IN THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY WHO COULD TELL YOU IF THERE WAS A BLACK HEAVYWEIGHT CONTENDER AROUND NOW WHEN YOU LOOK THE A THE FACT THAT THE N.B.A. IS — AT THE FACT THAT N.B.A. IS ONE QUARTER FOREIGN BORN WE ARE LOSING SPOTS THERE HOW MUCH PROGRESS HAVE WE — HAVE WE ACTUALLY MADE? WHERE ARE WE IN TERMS OF THAT CONCEPT >> WELL, HARRY, I’M GOING TO JUMP IN THERE BECAUSE I THINK A SIMPLE WAY I CAN SAY THAT JIMMY CARTER, PRESIDENT CARTER, EXPERIENCED YESTERDAY WAS ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROGRESS, ABOUT HEART, ABOUT HONESTY, AND ABOUT THE FUTURE HE IS ON TOP OF IT IN EVERY WAY SO I WOULD SAY TO ALL OF AMERICA, IF YOU CAN GET A TAPE OF THE JIMMY CARTER PRESENTATION, OF YESTERDAY, AT THAT — [ APPLAUSE ] — UNBELIEVABLE >> THERE’S A MOVEMENT GOING ON NOW ABOUT UNIONIZEING COLLEGE ATHLETES I WOULD BE VERY INTERESTED IN BOTH OF YOUR OPINIONS IN THIS UNIONIZATION EFFORT IT’S JUST STARTING, AND I THINK PEOPLE ARE REALLY LOOK LOOKING AROUND ABOUT AN OPINION, A DISPOSITION, A PERSPECTIVE ON IT THAT THEY CAN KIND OF UNDERSTAND AND WRAP THEIR MINDS AROUND JIM, BILL? >>> BILL, YOU WANT TO TAKE
IT? >> WELL, FOR ME, IF I HAVE HAVE — I HAVE THIS PHRASE THAT I USE, ALL GREAT FORTUNE S ARE [INDISCERNIBLE] EITHER CHEAP OR SLAVE LABOR AND SO THE NCAA IS ONE GROUP EVERYBODY IS FOCUSING ON THEY HAVE THIS MONEY MACHINE MACHINE AND TO KEEP IT THIS WAY, THE LABOR FORCE HAS TO BE FREE OR VERY LOW WAGES THAT’S WHY YOU LOOK AT A LOT OF THE GREAT COMPANIES IN THIS COUNTRY, THEY PAY THEIR LABOR — THEY CAN’T EVEN AFFORD TO GO TO THE PLACE WHERE THEY WORK I KNOW WHEN I WAS A ROOKIE, 100 YEARS AGO — [LAUGHTER] [LAUGHTER] — THE AVERAGE SALARY IN THE N.B.A. WAS $5,000 THAT’S NOT EVEN MEAL MONEY NOW AND IN THE MIDDLE ’60S WE STRUCK THE ALL STAR GAME, THE 20 TOP PLAYERS IN THE LEAGUE, GOT TOGETHER AND STRUCK AN ALL STAR GAME TO FORM THE UNION AND THE OWNERS SAID “NO WAY WAY.” “WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO THAT THAT.” SO WE SAID, ” OKAY, THE ALL STAR GAME.” WELL, ABC TELEVISION SAID TO THEM YOU WANT US TO TELEVISE BASKETBALL, YOU CAN’T GET YOUR PLAYERS ON THE FLOOR SO THEY SAID, WELL, LET’S TALK TO ‘EM AND SO THEY SAID, “WELL, WE DON’T WANT TO LOSE FACE SO WHAT WE’LL DO IS IF YOU GUYS WILL PLAY THE ALL STAR GAME, AT THE END OF THE YEAR WE’LL RECOGNIZE THE UNION.” SO THE VOTE, 11-9, TO PLAY AND WE PLAYED THE ALL STAR GAME SO AT THE END OF THE YEAR, WE SENT OUR LAWYER IN TO TALK TO THE COMMISSIONER AND HE SAYS, “I RECOGNIZE THE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION, BUT WE DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO TALK ABOUT I’M NOT GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT ANYTHING.” SO OUR LAWYER SAYS “OKAY, I’LL SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER.” THAT’S THE BEGINNING OF THE NEXT SEASON THE COMMISSIONER SAID, “WELL “WELL, THE PLAYOFFS START NEXT WEEK.” HE WAS LIKE OH, NO, WE’RE NOT GOING TO PLAY IN THE PLAYOFFS BECAUSE YOU SEE WHAT WE KNEW THEN WAS OUR CONTRACT WAS FOR THE REGULAR SEASON GAMES ONLY NOT FOR PRESEASON, ALL-STARS OR PLAYOFFS SO WE SAID, “WELL, WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT SEPTEMBER.” THE PLAYOFFS IS WHEN EVERYBODY GOT WELL YOU ALMOST DOUBLED THE PRICE OF TICKETS AND YOU SOLD OUT EVERY GAME AND THEY SAW THAT REVENUE GOING OUT THE WINDOW, SO THEY SAID, “OKAY, WE’LL TALK TO YOU WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT?” AND SO WE HAD A LIST OF THINGS THAT WE HAD TO CHANGE CHANGE AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE KNEW WAS BASEBALL WAS THE ONLY SPORT THAT HAD ANTI- ANTI-TRUST EXEMPTION THE REST OF US HAD TO — THE REST OF THE SPORTS HAD TO GO THROUGH ANTI-TRUST LAWS SO ALL OF THE AGREEMENTS WITH THE N.B.A. NOW ARE BASED ON COLLECTIVE BARGAIN BARGAINING AGREEMENTS >> JIM, WILL WITH WORK IN COLLEGE? IS THAT A MODEL FOR COLLEGE? IS THAT SOMETHING THAT THESE YOUNG ATHLETES SHOULD BE LOOKING AT? >> I’M GOING TO SIMPLIFY IT I’M TOTALLY AGAINST THE UNION IN COLLEGE I DON’T LIKE THE NCAA I THINK IT’S A GREEDY ORGANIZATION AND A DICTATORIAL ORGANIZATION AND AN ORGANIZATION THAT’S TOTALLY UNFAIR FOR THE PLAYERS I MEAN, THE PLAYERS CAN’T EVEN GET ENOUGH MONEY TO BRING THEIR PARENTS TO A GAME BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, I THINK THAT WE HAVE ALL GOTTEN AWAY FROM THE VALUE OF EDUCATION
[ APPLAUSE ] SO I’M AN ADVOCATE OF LET’S GO BACK TO FOUR YEARS OF COLLEGE [ APPLAUSE ] AND LET’S GRADUATE AND DON’T LET’S CHOOSE TO PLAY FOOTBALL — BASKETBALL, FOOTBALL, WHATEVER OR NOT AND AS YOU KNOW, THERE’S A VERY LOW PERCENTAGE OF INDIVIDUALS THAT MAKE THE PROFESSIONAL TEAMS BUT EVERYBODY CAN GET, WITH A SCHOLARSHIP, CAN GET A COLLEGE EDUCATION SO WE HAVE THREE EMPHASIZE THE EDUCATION AND THE VALUE OF IT BECAUSE THAT’S GOING TO REALLY BE THE INGREDIENT THAT’S GOING TO MAKE THE CHANGE IT’S NOT GOING TO BE A STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE NCAA AND THE UNION AND ALL OF THAT BECAUSE THAT’S STRICTLY MONEY >> YEAH >> AND AS WE KNOW, WITH THESE PLAYERS TODAY THAT WE HAVE, MILLIONAIRES, OVER THREE — TWO-THIRDS OF THEM GO BANKRUPT WITHIN THREE YEARS SO IT CAN’T BE THE MONEY SO WE PUT THE VALUE BACK ON EDUCATION AND MAKING THAT DEDICATION TO YOUR COLLEGE AND LET THE NCAA SUPPORT THAT WITH GIVING THE PLAYERS THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF MONEY SO THEY CAN LIVE A DECENT LIFE WHILE THEY GET A GREAT EDUCATION [ APPLAUSE ] >> WE ARE RUNNING SHORT HERE HERE, BUT I DO WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT ONE OTHER THING HOW CLOSE ARE WE IN ATHLETIC ATHLETICS IN THIS COUNTRY TO REALLY MEASURING PEOPLE, EVALUATING PEOPLE, BASED UPON THE CONTENTS OF THEIR CHARACTER AND THE CALIBER OF THEIR COMPETENCE AS OPPOSED TO WHAT THEY ARE AND WHO THEY ARE? WE HAVE A SITUATION NOW WHERE WE HAVE ACTIVE ATHLETES COMING OUT AND SAYING THAT I’M GAY, JASON COLLINS, QWAME HARRIS, USED TO BE WITH THE 49ERS, MOST CERTAINLY MIKE SAMES, BRITTANY GRANIER, A YOUNG MAN THAT PLAYED AN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME TODAY, THE FIRST ACTIVE DIVISION 1 ATHLETE TO COME OUT AND SAY THAT I’M GAY HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO PUTTING THIS MADNESS BEHIND US ABOUT EVALUATING PEOPLE BASED UPON THESE — ALL OF THESE SECONDARY, INCONSEQUENTIAL KINDS OF THINGS AS OPPOSED TO THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER AND THE CALIBER OF THEIR COMPETENCE? HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO ACCEPT ACCEPTING THAT IN THE NFL, SAY, OR IN — >> ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME, WILLIAM? >> HUH? >> YOU WANT THAT ONE? [LAUGHTER] >> WELL, WHAT I’LL SAY ABOUT IT IS WHEN THEY — THE FIRST ATHLETE WE HEARD ABOUT COMING OUT AS GAY, ASKED ME HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT PLAYING WITH A GAY PLAYER? AND I HAD ONE QUESTION COULD HE PLAY? [LAUGHTER] >> THE CALIBER OF HIS COMPETENCE >> RIGHT THAT’S ALL >> I CAN’T ADD TO THAT >> HUH? >> I CANNOT ADD TO THAT [LAUGHTER] >> OKAY WELL, GOOD >> SO — SO JIM, WAS A PROFESSIONAL IN THE MOST MACHO OF ALL AMERICAN SPORTS SPORTS AND — IT SEEMS TO ME, IT MAY NOT BE A GOOD CORRELATION, BUT A LOT OF QUESTIONS THEY ASKED ABOUT GAY ATHLETES THEY WERE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME QUESTIONS THEY USED TO ASK ABOUT US, BLACK ATHLETES ATHLETES >> ABSOLUTELY, ABSOLUTELY [ APPLAUSE ] >> YOU KNOW? >> WELL, ISN’T IT A SIMPLE SITUATION? WE HAVE LAWS IN THIS COUNTRY COUNTRY AND WE TRY TO ABIDE BYLAWS WE HAVE DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS, WE HAVE DIFFERENT RACES, GENDER, AND IF YOU ARE A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, AND TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING, THEN HOW CAN ANYONE ELSE JUDGE YOU? I MEAN, I THINK IT’S THAT SIMPLE YOU KNOW? I CAN’T GET INTO THE RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF IT TO THE SEXUAL ASPECT OF IT THAT I LOOK FOR THE, AS YOU SAID EARLIER, THE CHARACTER OF A PERSON AND THAT’S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME BECAUSE I HAVE MY OWN THINGS THAT I’VE GOT TO DEAL WITH, YOU KNOW [LAUGHTER] I DON’T HAVE AN ANSWER TO EVERYTHING SO — >> WE ARE GETTING PRETTY CLOSE TO THE END HERE AND TYPICALLY AT THIS TIME, YOU KNOW, IS WHEN THE MODERATOR WILL ASK HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE REMEMBERED AND ONE THING OR ANOTHER
BUT I HAVE — I HAVE RESEARCHED THAT AND I LOOKED AT 31 PEOPLE WHO SAYS HOW THEY WANTED TO BE REMEMBERED AND THEN WHEN I ACTUALLY READ THE FOLLOW-UP, NOT ONE OF THEM WAS REMEMBERED THE WAY THEY SAID THEY WANTED TO BE REMEMBERED SO WE WON’T WASTE OUR TIME WITH THAT BIT OF MORBID WISH WISHFUL THINKING [LAUGHTER] BUT I DO HAVE — I DO HAVE SOME — A COUPLE OF LAST QUESTIONS FOR YOU WE’VE GOTTEN PRETTY SERIOUS HERE AND I THINK THAT THIS WONDERFUL AUDIENCE DESERVES A LITTLE CHOCOLATE SHAKE WITH THEIR BROCCOLI SO LET ME — LET ME ASK FIRST, BILL, YOU THE QUESTION THAT I’VE BEEN WANTING TO ASK YOU FOR THE LAST 45 YEARS, JUST BETWEEN ME AND ME AND I MEAN — 11 N.B.A. CHAMPIONSHIP S IN 13 SEASONS I MEAN, I LOOKED AT THIS THING WHERE LEBRON JAMES COME OUT AND SAID WHEN HE PUT HIS MOUNT RUSHMORE PLAYERS UP, HE LEFT YOU OFF AND I DIDN’T HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT BECAUSE IT’S REALLY NOT MOUNT RUSHMORE, IT’S MOUNT RUSSELL RUSSELL [LAUGHTER] AND THE FACES HE HANGS ON IT, WHO CARES, HE CAN PUT IN ANYBODY HE WANTS TO UP THERE BUT I DO HAVE A QUESTION 11 CHAMPIONSHIPS IN 13 YEARS YEARS, 13 SEASONS, IT’S MIND BOGGLEING THE QUESTION THAT I’VE HAD FOR YOU FOR THE LAST 45 YEARS, IS WHAT HAPPENED WITH THEM OTHER TWO? [LAUGHTER] [ APPLAUSE ] >> HARRY — >> CAN I DO ONE THING? [LAUGHTER] >> ALL RIGHT MY TEAM WENT TO THE FINALS 12 TIMES ONE YEAR I — I HAD A SEVERE SPRAINED ANKLE AND I WASN’T ABLE TO PLAY AND WE LOST >> OKAY, NOW WE’RE — [LAUGHTER] — >> BUT, I VERY RARELY BRING THAT UP [LAUGHTER] I TELL YOU WHY THAT’S A TEAM GAME AND MY TEAM LOST AND OF COURSE IT’S BEEN A TEAM GAME, I WANT TO ALSO GO TO THE OTHER SIDE AND SAY MY TEAM WON SO I GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR BEATING US >> OKAY SO THEM LAST TWO, YOU JUST LOST >> YEAH >> OKAY ALL RIGHT WE CAN — [LAUGHTER] >> LET ME — IT’S HARD TO TALK ABOUT YOURSELF BUT I CAN TALK ABOUT YA [LAUGHTER] YOU KNOW, THE 11 CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE PRECEDED BY TWO COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIPS CHAMPIONSHIPS, TWO OF THEM THE COMMON DENOMINATOR IN THE TEAM SPORT WAS YOU TEAM SPORT MEANS THAT YOU ARE A TEAM, EVERYONE HAVING RESPONSIBILITY, AND YOU WIN TOGETHER NOT MICHAEL JORDAN BEING ACROBATIC OR LEBRON JAMES BEING A FREAK OF NATURE [LAUGHTER] BUT BILL YOUR CONTRIBUTION >> MADE THE DIFFERENCE >> TO THE SUCCESS OF THE TEAM IT IS YOUR CONTRIBUTION WE DON’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH WHETHER YOU’RE THE GREATEST THAT HAS EVER BEEN AND ALL OF THAT, WE KNOW THAT YOU’RE THE GREATEST CONTRIBUTOR >> YEAH >> AND THE OBJECTIVE OF A TEAM IS TO WIN >> THERE SHOULD BE A PICTURE OF BILL RUSSELL NEXT TO THE WORD WINNING, WINNER, IN THE DICTIONARY >> THERE YOU GO, THERE YOU GO, ABSOLUTELY THAT’S MY MAN >> LET ME — [ APPLAUSE ] >> THERE’S NEVER BEEN A GREATER CONTRIBUTOR IN ANY SPORT >> AND TWO MINUTES THAT I GOT LEFT, I HAVE GOT A QUESTION FOR — >> THAT’S A FRIEND OF MINE >> I KNOW, I KNOW >> WHAT BILL IS ESSENTIALLY TELLING YOU IS THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY HIM THAT MONEY YOU OWE HIM YOU’RE IN GOOD SHAPE [LAUGHTER] LET ME, I HAVE A QUESTION HERE JIM, YOU ARE AN ACTOR, YOU PRODUCED A NUMBER OF VERY SUCCESSFUL MUSICAL GROUPS OF COURSE YOU UNDERSTAND THE POLITICS OF — OF ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY AND HOW MUCH MILEAGE YOU CAN GET OUT OF THE FORM — OF FORMS SUCH AS FOOTBALL AND SO FORTH SO I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU YOU JUST IN THE END HERE BECAUSE I REALLY VALUE YOUR JUDGMENT ON THIS PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA LEAD LEADING UP TO HIS FIRST CAMPAIGN, FAMOUSLY WENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AND PLAYED BASKETBALL I MEAN THEY HAD IT ALL OVER THE TV WITH THE BASKETBALL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL TEAM TEAM HE LEADING UP TO HIS SECOND ELECTION, HE FAMOUSLY CHANNELED AL GREEN’S I’M SO IN LOVE WITH YOU IT BECAME THE NUMBER ONE PHONE RINGER ACROSS THE COUNTRY AFTER THAT I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU: DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE PROJECTED THE SAME CACHET
CHARISMA AND COOL, SAY IF HE HAD BEEN INTO BOWLING AND HAD — [LAUGHTER] — AND HAD CHANNELED GLEN CAMPBELL’S THE WICHITA LINEMAN? DO YOU THINK THAT HE WOULD HAVE — JUST AS A GUY WHO UNDERSTANDS THE ENTERTAIN ENTERTAINMENT PART OF THIS THING [LAUGHTER] >> I’M SPEECHLESS [LAUGHTER] >> I THINK EVERYBODY ELSE WOULD HAVE BEEN, TOO, IF HE HAD STOOD UP THERE AND SUNG THE WICHITA LINEMAN >> I DON’T KNOW HOW TO ANSWER THAT I WON’T ANSWER IT [LAUGHTER] AND I ALMOST DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT [LAUGHTER] >> ALL RIGHT! >> OKAY [LAUGHTER] >> I DON’T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THAT >> WE ARE DOWN TO THE LAST 15 SECONDS >> I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING TO YOU >> PLEASE >> I’M SITTING BETWEEN ONE OF MY LIFETIME BEST FRIENDS AND A GUY THAT I’VE KNOWN 50 YEARS I GOT NO BUSINESS BEING HERE HERE, OKAY BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS SUCH AN HONOR FOR ME TO BE INVITED BECAUSE — BECAUSE ALL I’VE EVER TRIED TO DO IN MY ADULT LIFE IS TO MAKE MY FATHER PROUD OF ME AND WE WERE — WE WERE — MY FATHER DIED A FEW YEARS AGO, BUT HE WAS — HE WAS 75, HE SAYS TO ME, “YOU KNOW I LOVE YOU.” THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT HE EVER SAID THAT AND HE SAYS, “AND I’M PROUD OF YOU.” THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME HE EVER SAID THAT HE SAID “I’M PROUD THAT YOU’RE MY SON AND I’M PROUD JUST AS PROUD THAT I’M YOUR FATHER.” AND THAT WAS MY HERO YOU KNOW, I’M GOING TO TELL YOU A QUICK STORY [LAUGHTER] WE GOT ZEROS ON THE CLOCK, YOU’VE GOT TO BE QUICK >> OKAY >> QUICK? >> I GOT MY FIRST $100,000 CONTRACT AND I CALLED MY FATHER AND I SAID “YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORK ANYMORE I’M MAKING ENOUGH FOR BOTH OF US.” AND HIS REACTION WAS, “I DON’T WANT YOUR DAMNED MONEY MONEY I GOT MY OWN MONEY.” AND HE’S WORKING THE FOUNDRY FOUNDRY AND I SAID “THAT’S A TERRIBLE JOB, WHY WOULDN’T YOU GIVE IT UP?” HE SAYS ” “LISTEN, I’VE GIVEN THESE PEOPLE 35 OF THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE, NOW I’M GOING TO GIVE THEM A FEW OF THE BAD ONES.” [LAUGHTER] >> IT — IT HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS HONOR FOR ME TO TO — TO SHARE THIS STAGE WITH TWO OF THE GREATEST MEN MEN I WON’T SAY BASKETBALL PLAYER OR FOOTBALL PLAYER THOSE ARE THINGS THAT YOU JUST HAPPEN TO BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD AT DOING BUT TWO OF THE GREATEST MEN, TWO OF THE GREATEST CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY THAT I’VE EVER HAD THE PLEASURE OF BEING ASSOCIATED WITH [ APPLAUSE ] >> LET ME THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR REMINDING US, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR REMINDING US OF WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE AND WHAT WE STILL HAVE TO DO DO THANK YOU >> GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYONE I’M BERNICE KING
AS CEO OF THE KING CENTER IN ATLANTA AS WELL AS THE LAST BORN CHILD OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING AND DR. CORETTA SCOTT KING I COUNT IT AN HONOR AND PRIVILEGE TO BE PART OF THIS HISTORIC REMEMBRANCE ALL OF US HERE TODAY ARE NOT ONLY FORTUNATE TO BE BENEFICIARYIES OF ONE OF THE MOST PI VALUE MOMENTS IN OUR NATION’S HISTORY, BUT OUR PRIVILEGE TO BE PRESENT AT THIS MOMENT, 50 YEARS LATER TO PAR TACK PARTAKE IN THE FIRSTHAND ACCOUNTS OF THOSE WHO WILLINGLY SACRIFICED SELF FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF HUMANITY MY FATHER, DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., ONCE SAID THAT AN INDIVIDUAL HAS NOT STARTED TO LIVE UNTIL HE AND I WILL ADD SHE, CAN RISE ABOVE THE NARROW CONFINES OF HIS OR HER INDIVIDUALISTIC CONCERNS TO THE BROADER CONCERNS OF HUMANITY THIS AFTERNOON WE HEAR FROM THREE MEN, WHO LIKE MY FATHER, SERVED IN THE GREAT CAUSE OF BOTH CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND ROSE ABOVE THE NARROW CONFINES OF THEIR INDIVIDUALISTIC CONCERNS TO ADDRESS THE BROADER CONCERNS OF HUMANITY IT IS MY GREAT HONOR TO INTRODUCE THEM OUR FIRST PANELIST IS A FORMER NEIGHBOR TO ME AND MY FAMILY I GREW UP WITH HIS CHILDREN, ATTENDED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WITH HIS CHILDREN JULIAN BOND MR. BOND WAS A FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE STUDENT NON- NON-VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE KNOWN AS SNIC, WHICH HE SERVED AS COMMISSIONS COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FROM 1961 TO 1966 IN 1965 HE WAS ELECTED TO THE GEORGIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SERVED UNTIL 1975 BEFORE MOVING ON TO THE GEORGIA SENATE FROM 1975 TO 1986 IN 1972 THE YOUNG AND BRILLIANT JULIAN BOND CAPTUREDED THE IMAGINATION OF THE NATION WHEN HE BECAME THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO BE NOMINATED FOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES BUT HE WITHDREW HIS NAME FROM CONSIDERATION BECAUSE CONSTITUTIONALLY HE WAS TOO YOUNG TO BE ON THE BALLOT MR. JULIAN BOND ALSO HELPED FOUND THE SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER SERVING AS THE ORGANIZATION’S PRESIDENT FROM 1971 TO 1979 AND HE SERVED AS CHAIRMAN OF THE NAACP FROM 1998 THROUGH 2009 2009 TODAY HE CONTINUES TO SERVE THE GREAT CAUSE OF EQUALITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE AND IS AN ELOQUENT VOICE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND PEACE CURRENTLY HE TEACHES CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY AT THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN WASHINGTON, D.C OUR SECOND PANELIST IS MY CONGRESSMAN, JOHN LEWIS [APPLAUSE] HE HAS OFTEN BEEN CALLED THE CONSCIENCE OF THE CONGRESS, AND WITH GOOD REASON BECAUSE HE HAS SERVED AS A TIRELESS CHAMPION OF THE OPPRESSED AND A VOICE FOR THE POWER POWERLESS CITIZENS OF OUR NATION A FOUNDING MEMBER AS WELL AND CHAIRMAN OF THE STUDENT NON- VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE, HE WAS AN ARCHITECT AND A KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT THE HISTORIC MARCH ON WASHINGTON IN AUGUST 1963 HE WAS THERE IN SELMA AS WE REMEMBER ON BLOODY SUNDAY IN 1965, EXPERIENCING VIOLENCE IN THE FRONT RANKS OF THE HISTORIC VOTING RIGHTS MARCH TO MONTGOMERY SINCE 1986 HE SERVED IN THE CONGRESS AS A U.S REPRESENTATIVE FROM GEORGIA GEORGIA’S FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT AND IN 2010 WAS AWARDED THE MEDAL OF FREEDOM BY PRESIDENT OBAMA, WHO RECOGNIZED THAT HIS PRESIDENCY
WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE COURAGEOUS SACRIFICES OF PEOPLE LIKE JOHN LEWIS AND HIS COLLEAGUES IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TODAY JOHN LEWIS IS INSPIRE INSPIRING JOURNEY OF HOPE AND HEALING SERVES AS A LIVING TESTAMENT TO ONE OF MY FATHER’S PRINCIPLES OF NON-VIOLENCE, WHICH IS UN UNEARNED SUFFERING IS INDEED REDEMPTIVE CONGRESSMAN LEWIS RECENTLY MADE HISTORY WHEN HIS HAPPY DANCE WENT VIRAL [LAUGHTER] OUR FINAL PANELIST HAS BEEN A CONSTANT SOURCE OF WISDOM AND GUIDANCE FOR MY FAMILY AND FOR ME SINCE MY FATHER’S ASSASSINATION SO MUCH SO THAT MY SIBLINGS AND I CALL HIM UNCLE ANDY AFFECTIONATELY ANDREW JACKSON YOUNG WAS A TRUSTED AIDE TO MY FATHER DURING THE MOVEMENT AND HE SERVED MY MOTHER AS AN EQUALLY INVALUABLE ADVISOR AND FRIEND WHO SHE OFTEN CALLED ON IN MAKING VERY DIFFICULT DECISIONS HE WAS A KEY STRATEGIST AND NEGOTIATOR ASSISTING MY FATHER DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNS, ESPECIALLY IN BIRMINGHAM AND SELMA, WHERE HIS LEADERSHIP IS REFLECTED IN THE PASSAGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 AND THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 REVEREND YOUNG WAS ELECTED TO THE U.S. CONGRESS IN 1972 1972, THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN ELECTED FROM THE DEEP SOUTH SINCE RECONSTRUCTION IN 1977 PRESIDENT CARTER APPOINTED HIM AS THE NATION NATION’S FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS IN 1981 PRESIDENT CARTER AWARDED HIM THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM AND FRANCE AWARDED HIM THE LEGION D’HONNEUR, THE HIGHEST CIVILIAN HONORS FOR BOTH OF THOSE NATIONS AMBASSADOR YOUNG WAS ELECTED MAYOR OF ATLANTA IN 1982 AND SERVED WITH DISTINCTION TO 1990 AND WAS LATER INSTRUMENTAL IN BRINGING THE 1996 OLYMPICS TO ATLANTA AS A CLERGYMAN, CONGRESSMAN, AMBASSADOR, MAYOR, CIVIL RIGHTS AND BUSINESS LEADER, WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO CALL HIM [LAUGHTER] ANDREW YOUNG HAS EXPERIENCED A RESUME NO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CAN HOPE TO MATCH ALTHOUGH MANY OF THEM HAVE CALLED ON HIM FOR ADVICE AND COUNSEL AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT HE REMAINS A MAN OF EXTRAORDINARY HUMILITY AND HE IS ONE HECK OF A STORY TELLER WHO NEVER FAILS TO PROVIDE INTRIGUING AND INSPIREING MESSAGES THAT ARE DRAWN FROM A TREASURE TROEV OF REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES, BOTH HISTORIC AND CURRENT DAY MODERATING THIS HEROS OF THE CIVIL RIGHT MOVEMENT, VIEWS FROM THE FRONTLINE PANEL, WITH THESE CIVIL RIGHTS ICON ICONS, WILL BE LONNIE BUNCH, WHO IS THE FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL HUMAN OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE, WHICH WILL OPEN NEXT YEAR, 2015 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, PLEASE WELCOME LONNIE BUNCH, AMBASSADOR ANDREW YOUNG, CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS AND MR JULIAN BOND [APPLAUSE] >> NOW I KNOW WHAT THE PIPS FELT LIKE WITH GLADYS KNIGHT KNIGHT [LAUGHTER] I HAVE TO TELL YOU OFTEN WE USE THE TERM HERO AND IT’S A TERM THAT WE USE MUCH TOO OFTEN, BUT IN A WAY THESE THREE EXTRAORDINARY MEN ARE TRUE HERO S [APPLAUSE] THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHOSE EFFORTS, BOTH DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND IN THE YEARS AFTER, TRANSFORMED AMERICA IN MANY WAYS THEY’RE HEROS BECAUSE OF THEIR COURAGE, THEIR PERSONAL SACRIFICE AND THEIR LEADERSHIP THEY MADE AMERICA BETTER AND THERE IS NO HIGHER ACCOLADE THAN YOU CAN GIVE SOMEONE WHO HAS MADE THEIR COUNTRY BETTER SO ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL THAT YOU’VE DONE FOR US [APPLAUSE] LET ME BEGIN THIS BY ASKING YOU TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR EARLY INVOLVEMENT IN THE MOVEMENT CONGRESSMAN LEWIS, YOU TALK A LOT ABOUT HOW YOU WERE TOLD NOT TO GET IN TROUBLE I’M WONDERING FOR THE THREE OF YOU WHAT LED YOU TO TROUBLE THE WATER, TO PICK UP THE GAUNTLET
OF CIVIL RIGHTS? >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH, LONNIE I’M DELIGHTED AND VERY PLEASED TO BE HERE I’M HONORED I GREW UP IN RURAL ALABAMA ABOUT 50 MILES FROM MONTGOMERY OUTSIDE OF A LITTLE PLACE CALLED TROY AND WHEN I WAS GROWING UP I SAW THE SIGNS I DIDN’T LIKE THE SIGNS THAT I SAW SAYING WHITE ONLY, COLORED COLORED ONLY, WHITE WAITING, COLORED ONLY I WOULD ASK MY PARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, AND THEY WOULD SAY THAT’S THE WAY IT IS DON’T GET IN THE WAY, DON’T GET IN TROUBLE BUT IN 1955 AT THE AGE OF 15 I HEARD ABOUT ROSA PARKS, HEARD THE WORDS OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. ON THE RADIO, AND THE ACTIONS OF ROSA PARKS, THE ACTION AND LEADERSHIP OF DR KING INSPIRED ME TO FIND A WAY TO GET IN THE WAY, AND I GOT IN TROUBLE, GOOD TROUBLE, NECESSARY TROUBLE I REMEMBER IN 1956 AT THE AGE OF 16 THAT SOME OF MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND COUSINS, WE WENT DOWN TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN THE LITTLE TOWN OF TROY TRYING TO GET A LIBRARY CARD, TRYING TO CHECK OUT BOOKS, AND WE WERE TOLD BY THE LIBRARIAN THAT THE LIBRARYIES LIBRARYIES FOR COLORED ONLY — FOR WHITES ONLY, NOT FOR COLOREDS MANY YEARS LATER JULIAN AND I WENT BACK TO THE SAME LIBRARY, JULY 5TH, 1998, FOR A BOOK SIGNING OF MY BOOK, WALK WITH THE WIND [APPLAUSE] AND I WAS GIVEN A LIBRARY CARD AND I’LL MAKE IT SHORT, LONNIE YEARS LATER I MET DR. KING, A I FIRST MET ROSA PARKS IN 1957 WHEN I WAS 17 THE NEXT YEAR, 1958, I MET MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., CHANGED MY LIFE AND I HAVEN’T LOOKED BACK YOU CANNOT LOOK BACK I GOT INVOLVED, WENT OFF TO SCHOOL IN NASHVILLE AND STUDY A PHILOSOPHY OF DISCIPLINE AND NON-VIOLENCE, DEEPLY MOVED BY THE TEACHING OF A YOUNG MAN BY THE NAME OF JIM LAWSON THAT WE KNOW VERY WELL HE TAUGHT US THE WAY OF PEACE, THE WAY OF LOVE, THE WAY OF NON-VIOLENCE IN NASHVILLE WE HAD NON- NON-VIOLENT WORKSHOPS EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT NEAR FISHER UNIVERSITY DURING THE FALL OF 1959 AND THE EARLY PART OF 1960 WE STUDIED WHAT GANDHI ATTEMPTED TO DO IN SOUTH SOUTH AFRICA, WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED IN INDIA WE STUDIED THE ROLE OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, WHICH IS WHAT DR KING WAS ALL ABOUT IN MONTGOMERY AND BLACK AND WHITE COLLEGE STUDENTS AND SOME HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WOULD HAVE THESE TESTINGS AND SOMEONE WOULD COME IN AND PULL US OFF THE LUNCH PANEL IN SCHOOL, SPIT ON US, PUT THINGS DOWN OUR BACKS, BUT MOST OF US IN NASHVILLE IN 1960, ACCEPTED THE WAY OF NON- VIOLENCE AS A WAY OF LIFE, AS A WAY OF LIVING >> JULIAN? >> WELL, I GOT INVOLVED IN THE MOVEMENT WHEN I WAS A STUDENT AT MOREHOUSE COLLEGE IN ATLANTA IN 1960 I WAS SITTING IN A CAFE , THERE WAS A CHAIN OF DRUG STORES IN ATLANTA CALLED YATES AND MILL SON, AND THERE WAS ACROSS FROM MOREHOUSE COLLEGE THE PLACE YOU WENT IN BETWEEN CLASSES OR INSTEAD OF CLASSES [LAUGHTER] AND I WAS SITTING THERE AND A FELLOW STUDENT I KNEW ONLY AS A FOOTBALL PLAYER, HIS NAME WAS LONNIE KING, NO RELATION TO THE FAMOUS KING FAMILY AND HE HELD UP A NEWSPAPER AND SAID HAVE YOU SEEN THIS? AND I THOUGHT HE WAS ASKING DO YOU READ THE NEWSPAPER? AND I WAS A LITTLE PUT OFF BECAUSE I THOUGHT EVERY COLLEGE STUDENT EITHER DID OR SHOULD READ A NEWSPAPER EVERYDAY BUT REALLY HE MEANT HAD YOU SEEN THIS STORY AND THE STORY TALKED ABOUT GREENSBORO STUDENTS SITTING IN FOR THE THIRD DAY AND IT TOLD HOW THESE STUDENTS HAD GONE TO THE LOCAL F AND W WOOL WORTH’S DEPARTMENT STORE, GONE OVER HERE AND HERE AND OVER HERE AND THEN SAT AT THE LUNCH COUNTER, ASKED FOR SERVICE AND WERE REFUSED SERVICE AND SAT THERE UNTIL THE STORE CLOSED AND SAID WE’LL BE BACK TOMORROW AND TALKED ABOUT HOW THEY DRESSED, COMPORTED THEMSELVES AND IT WAS HOW TO SIT IN AND HE SAID HAVE YOU SEEN THIS AND I SAID I HAVE SEEN IT HE SAID WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT ? >> I THINK IT’S GREAT, WONDERFUL I SAID I KNOW IT WILL HAPPEN HERE IN ATLANTA AND HE SAID WHY DON’T WE MAKE IT HAPPEN AND BEFORE I COULD SAY WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE, HE SAID YOU TAKE THIS SIDE OF THE CAFE, I’LL TAKE THIS SIDE AND WE’LL CALL A MEETING AND MAKE IT HAPPEN AND WE WERE IN THE MIDDLE OF A COMPLEX OF BLACK SCHOOLS , MOREHOUSE COLLEGE COLLEGE, WHICH WAS FOR MEN, MORRIS BROWN COLLEGE, CO- CO-EDUCATIONAL, ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, THE GRADUATE SCHOOL, AND THE INTER INTERDENOMINATIONAL THEOLOGICAL CENTER, A COLLECTION OF THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS
SO WE MADE SURE WE HAD SOMEBODY FROM EACH OF THESE SCHOOLS BECAUSE WE DIDN’T WANT IT TO BE A MOREHOUSE COLLEGE EVENT ONLY AND WHEN WE WE HAD A MASS OF PEOPLE THEN WE HAD OUR FIRST SIT-IN DEMONSTRATIONS AND I WAS CHOSEN TO LEAD PEOPLE TO THE CAFETERIA AT THE ATLANTA CITY HALL AND YOU GOT TO CITY HALL BY GOING UP A SET OF STAIRS AND THEN GOING TO THE BASEMENT AND THE CAFETERIA WAS THERE SO I LED A COUPE OF ABOUT 15 PEOPLE, MEN AND WOMEN, TO THE CAFETERIA AND WE CAME IN THE CAFETERIA AND WE SAW THESE BLACK WOMEN WORKING AT THE STEAM TABLES THERE AND THEY’RE LOOKING AT US WITH A MIXTURE OF FEAR AND ADMIRATION FEAR BECAUSE THEY HAD READ IN THE PAPERS ABOUT SIT-IN DEMONSTRATIONS NOW THEY WERE COMING TO ATLANTA AND ONE THING THAT WAS CERTAIN BEING ARRESTED WOULD FOLLOW AND THEY THOUGHT THE POLICE WOULD COME AND THEY WERE A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT THAT BUT ADMIRATION BECAUSE THEY WERE GLAD OF WHAT WE WERE DOING WE CAME UP TO THE STEAM TABLES AND THE CASHIER, WHICH I LATER FOUND OUT A WHITE WOMAN WAS THE MANAGER OF THE CAFETERIA AND SHE’S AWFULLY POLITE, SOUTH SAN SANNERS ARE SO POLITE SHE SAID I’M AWFULLY SORRY, THIS IS FOR CITY HALL EMPLOYEES ONLY I SAID YOU HAVE A BIG SIGN OUT FRONT THAT SAYS CITY HALL CAFETERIA, THE PUBLIC IS WELCOME SHE SAID WE DON’T MEAN IT [LAUGHTER] I SAID WELL, WE’LL STAND HERE UNTIL YOU DO SHE CALLED THE POLICE AND THEY ARRESTED US AND TOOK US AWAY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I FOUND MYSELF IN JAIL BECAUSE SO MANY OF US HAD BEEN ARRESTED AT SO MANY TIMES AND PLACED IN ATLANTA THEY DECIDED TO TRY ONE PERSON FOR EACH GROUP OF ARRESTEES AND I WAS CHOSEN TO BE TRIED FOR MINE SO I FOUND MYSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE BEFORE A JUDGE AND STANDING BETWEEN TWO MEN WHOM I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE I FOUND OUT THEY WERE MY LAWYERS, ONE AN OLDER MAN, COLONEL AT WALDEN, THE DEAN OF BLACK LAWYERS IN GEORGIA AND THE YOUNGER MAN, ATTORNEY HOLLOWWELL, THE YOUNGER OF THE TWO THERE WAS SOME BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE JUDGE AND MY LAWYERS WHICH I REALLY DON’T UNDERSTAND AND THE JUDGE SAID TO ME HOW DO YOU PLEAD? AND I WAS REALLY — DIDN’T QUITE KNOW WHAT TO SAY ON THE ONE HAND I KNEW I HAD THE RIGHT TO BE THERE THIS IS A STATE SUPPORTED PUBLIC PLACE MY TAXES PAY FOR IT I HAD A RIGHT TO BE IN THIS CAFETERIA BUT ON THE OTHER HAND A POLICEMAN HAD ASKED ME TO LEAVE AND I DIDN’T LEAVE SO I DIS OBEYED THE POLICEMAN SO WAS I GUILTY, WAS I NOT GUILTY? I TURNED TO ATTORNEY HOLLOW HOLLOWWELL AND HE WAS LIKE THIS [LAUGHTER] AND MY HEART SANK AND I TURNED TO ATTORNEY — I’M SORRY, THAT WAS THE OLDER MAN THE YOUNGER MAN SAID, NOT GUILTY, YOU FOOL [LAUGHTER] AND I HAD THE QUICKNESS OF MIND NOT TO SAY THAT OR ELSE I WOULDN’T BE STANDING HERE NOW [LAUGHTER] SO I WAS BOUND OVER TO A GRAND JURY AND SENT BACK TO MY CELL AND LATER WE WERE ALL ARRESTED AND THAT’S HOW I GOT IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT >> AMBASSADOR YOUNG? [APPLAUSE] >> I THINK I — I ALMOST THINK I WAS BORN INTO IT IN NEW ORLEANS I GREW UP IN A NEIGHBORHOOD WITH AN IRISH GROCERY STORE ON ONE CORNER, ITALIAN BAR AND A NAZI PARTY ON THE THIRD CORNER [LAUGHTER] AND I WAS THREE, FOUR YEARS OLD AND I COULD SEE THESE PEOPLE H EILING HITLER AND MY FATHER TOOK ME TO SEE JESSE OWENS IN THE 1936 OLYMPIC FILMS AND HE SHOWED ME — TOLD ME THAT WHITE SUPREMACY IS A SICKNESS AND YOU DON’T GET UPSET WITH SICK PEOPLE, YOU HELP THEM AND HE USED JESSE OWENS, JESSE OWENS WON THE 100- 100-METER DASH AND HITLER GOT UP AND STORMED OUT AND HE SAID NOW, JESSE DIDN’T GET MAD HE JUST WENT ON AND WON THREE MORE GOLD MEDALS AND HE SAID DON’T GET MAD IF YOU LOSE YOUR TEMPER IN A FIGHT YOU LOSE THE FIGHT DON’T GET MAD, GET SMART SO IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD WE WERE IN A CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT DAY-BY-DAY AND THEN YOU HAD TO GO TO A SEGREGATED SCHOOL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN AND THAT WAS CLASS WARFARE BECAUSE MY PARENTS HAD BEEN TO COLLEGE AND NOBODY ELSE IN THE SCHOOL HAD SO YOU EITHER HAD TO RUN, FIGHT OR NEGOTIATE AND I LEARNED TO DO ALL THREE WHEN APPROPRIATE [LAUGHTER] >> I WONDER, EARLIER TODAY YOU STARTED TO TALK ON THE EARLIER PANEL ABOUT THE SORT OF IMPACT ON THE MOVEMENT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 1964 SITTING HERE, YOU ARE THE PEOPLE WHO SHAPED THE FREEDOM RIDERS, SHAPED THE S SNIC VOTEER REGISTRATION ISSUES, SHAPED THE BIRMINGHAM CAMPAIGN
HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW YOU SEE THE MOVEMENT SHAPEING AND MAKING POSSIBLE THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF ’64 >> THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT MOVEMENT, THE LEADERSHIP OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND OTHERS CREATED A CLIMATE, CREATED THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PASSAGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE HAD BEEN ARRESTED GOING TO JAIL CHURCHES HAD BEEN BOMBED, BURNED ON APRIL THE 19TH, 1960, I WAS RETURNING HOME NEAR FISH FISHER UNIVERSITY, AND ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED CITIZENS OF THE CITY OF NASHVILLE, PEOPLE DIDN’T LIKE IT BECAUSE HIS HOME WAS BOMBED, HE WAS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL, DISTINGUISHED LAWYER, WORKED WITH THURGOOD MARSHALL BEFORE NOON THAT MORNING HIS HOME WAS BOMBED, LIKE 6:30 BY 7:00 WE WERE IN A MEETING MEETING WE SENT A TELEGRAHAM TO THE MAYOR OF THE CITY AND SAID MEET US AT HIGH NOON AT CITY HALL MORE THAN 4,000 STUDENTS MARCH ED IN AN ORDERLY FASHION AND ALL ACROSS THE SOUTH PEOPLE WERE DEMANDING ACTION ACTION THE NAACP HAD A SLOGAN, FREE BY SIX, JULIAN, AND YOU COULD BE SITTING IN THE STUDENT UNION, THE CAFETERIA AND THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS WOULD BE SAYING TO US THE WHOLE OF AFTER COULD WOULD BE FREE AND LIBERATEED AND WE COULDN’T GET A HOT DOG AND COCA-COLA AT A LUNCH COUNTER SO WE HAD BEEN CHALLENGEED PEOPLE DIDN’T LIKE — I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST GOT ARRESTED THE FIRST TIME, I FELT FREE I FELT LIBERATEED AND I THINK MANY OF US FELT THAT WAY THAT YOU COME TO THAT POINT WHERE YOU CANNOT GO BACK, YOU HAVE TO GO FORWARD AND WE CONTINUED TO PUSH REMEMBER IN JUNE OF 1963 PRESIDENT KENNEDY MADE A SPEECH, I BELIEVE IT WAS JUNE 11th 1963 WHEN HE SPOKE TO THE NATION AND A FEW DAYS LATER THE SO-CALLED BIG SIX, THE LEADERS OF THE NAACP, THE URBAN LEAGUE, THE NAACP I SAID, DR KING >> APRIL RANDOLPH WE MET IN NEW YORK CITY, 1963 AND IN THAT MEETING WE SAID WE WERE GOING TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON IT WAS UP AGAINST ROOSEVELT, TRUMAN AND THIS WAS HIS CHANCE HE WANTED TO MARCH AND HE TOLD THE PRESIDENT, WE’RE GOING TO MARCH AND LATER WE MET AND ORGANIZED AND INVITED FOUR MAJOR WHITE RELIGIOUS AND LABOR LEADERS TO JOIN US AND THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON I THINK WAS ONE OF THE FINEST HOURS AND I MIGHT SAY HERE, WHEN I LOOK BACK ON IT, JULIAN, AND ANDY, I THINK IT WAS ONE OF THE GREAT UNDER COUNT, THE MEDIA SAID 250,000 I THINK IT WAS MANY MORE IT WAS A SEA OF HUMANITY THE PROGRAM WAS OVER AND PEOPLE WERE STILL TRYING TO GET INTO WASHINGTON TO PARTICIPATE IN THAT MARCH ON THE STEPS — TO THE STEPS OF THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL >> SO WOULD YOU AGREE, AMBASSADOR, THAT MOVEMENTS MOVEMENTS — MOMENTS LIKE THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON WERE CRUCIAL IN SHAPEING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE WHICH ULTIMATELY LED TO THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT? >> WELL, I THINK WHAT JOHN HAD DONE AND WHAT JULIAN HAD DONE IN THE STUDENT SIT-INS WAS — HAD CREATED A MOVEMENT IT WAS FOLLOWED BY THE FREEDOM RIDES THE FREEDOM RIDES LEFT SNIC STUDENTS FOR THE MOST PART CAMPED OUT OR PLANTED THROUGHOUT MISSISSIPPI WE WERE TRAINING WORKERS WITH THE CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION PROGRAM THERE WAS REALLY A SOUTH SOUTH-WIDE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON WAS SORT OF A CULMINATION OF THAT MOVEMENT I DON’T THINK — I DON’T THINK WE COULD HAVE JUST A AMOSTLY SUNNYIED THE MOVEMENT AND HAD — I MEAN A MARCH AND HAD IT SUCCEED THAT WAY IT TOOK THE FREEDOM RIDES, IT TOOK THE SIT-INS IT TOOK MEDGAR EVERS’ DEATH IT TOOK ALL OF THE SUFFERING SUFFERINGS THAT WE HAD — HAD BUILT UP THROUGH THE YEARS
AND WHAT THE MARCH DID WAS TOOK A SOUTHERN PREDOMINANTLY BLACK MOVEMENT AND MAKE IT A NATIONAL MULTI MULTIRACIAL, MULTICULTURAL MOVEMENT? >> YOU KNOW, JOHN IS THE ONLY SURVIVING SPEAKER FROM THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON JOHN IS ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATED — HAD A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN IN THE SIT-INS IN NASHVILLE, THEN IN THE FREEDOM RIDES, THEN IN FREEDOM SUMMER IN MISSISSIPPI, THEN IN ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE MOVEMENT, THIS MAN HAS BEEN INTO EVERYTHING AND BEEN INTO ALMOST EVERY JAIL JAIL — [LAUGHTER] AND HE REALLY IS A SINGLE FIGURE THAT IS JUST A WONDERFUL , WONDERFUL PERSON [APPLAUSE] >> JULIAN, IT IS VERY KIND OF YOU TO SUGGEST THAT, BUT I MUST TELL YOU I WAS DEEPLY MOVED BY THE ACTION OF HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE AND ALSO WHAT I CALL THE SPIRIT OF HISTORY SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO GET IN THE WAY AND YOU MOVE AND INSPIREED TO SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT AND MAKE A LITTLE NOISE THAT’S WHAT I TELL PEOPLE TODAY I SAY, YOU’RE JUST TOO QUIET QUIET YOU NEED TO MAKE SOME NOISE [LAUGHTER] >> JULIAN, FOR INSTANCE , JUST VOTED AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM IN THE GEORGIA LEGISLATURE AND GOT PUT OUT >> WELL, I TOOK A POSITION AGAINST MY ORGANIZATION OF STUDENT NON-VIOLATING COORDINATING COMMITTEE, JOHN LEWIS AS THE CHAIRMAN TOOK A POSITION AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM AND AS A CONSEQUENCE MY COLLEAGUES TO BE IN THE GEORGIA STATE LEGISLATURE EXPEL LED EXPELLED ME OR WOULDN’T ALLOW ME TO BE ADMITTED AND DECLARED MY SEAT VACANT AND DECLARED A NEW ELECTION TO BE HELD, AND I RAN IN THAT ELECTION AND I WON THAT ELECTION [LAUGHTER] AND I WAS PUT OUT AGAIN AND THEY THREW ME OUT AGAIN AND THEN I RAN IN ANOTHER ELECTION AND WON THAT ELECTION AND THEN WENT TO THE SUPREME COURT AND WON THAT COURT CASE TOO SO IT WAS A LONG, LONG HAUL UP THERE >> THAT’S PART OF THE MESSAGE PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR A QUICK FIX AND THEY SAY WHERE IS THE MOVEMENT NOW I DON’T KNOW IT’S PROBABLY ON SOMEBODY’S i PHONE OR iPAD THE AIR ARAB SPRING REALLY NEVER WOULD HAVE OCCURRED IN THE 50’S, BUT WHEN A SINGLE WORKER WHO COULD NOT GET HIS PERMIT, HIS WORK PERMIT TO RUN HIS PUSH CART IN TUNIS DECIDED AFTER FRUSTRATION TO PULL GASOLINE ON HIMSELF AND SET HIMSELF ON FIRE, EVERYBODY TOOK A PICTURE OF IT AND IT WAS ALL OVER THE WORLD IN A MATTER OF MINUTES MINUTES AND THAT’S WHERE I THINK THE NEXT MOVEMENTS ARE GOING TO COME FROM >> AND ON THIS POINT, JULIAN AND LONNIE, THERE WAS A LITTLE BOOK, LITTLE COMIC BOOK THAT MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. HAD ADDED, CAME OUT IN 1967 — NOT 67, BUT 57, 58, CALLED THE MONTGOMERY STORY MARTIN LUTHER KING AND THE MONTGOMERY STORY, PUBLISHED BY THE FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION THOSE OF US IN NASHVILLE READ IT THE STUDENTS IN GREENSBURG READ IT FIRST AND PEOPLE WERE SAYING IF THEY CAN DO IT IN GREENSBURG GREENSBURG, WHY CAN’T WE DO IT? AND JIM LAWSON USED THAT COMIC BOOK — IT WAS ONLY 14 PAGES AND SOLD FOR 10 CENTS AND THAT SAME BOOK WAS TRANSLATED AND USED IN EGYPT JUST TWO OR THREE YEARS AGO SO THE MENTAL OF THE MOVEMENT, TEACHING THE PHILOSOPHY AND THE MOVEMENT OF NON-VIOLENCE HAS BEEN SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD AND I THINK SOME HISTORIAN MANY, MANY YEARS AGO HAD E PREDICTED THAT MAYBE IT WOULD BE AN AMERICAN NEGRO WHO SAID THAT IT WOULD CARRY THE MESSAGE OF NON-VIOLENCE TO THE WESTERN WORLD >> IF I CAN JUST DO A SHAME SHAMELESS PLUG OF SOMEBODY ELSE ‘S WORK IS JUDGMENT DAY’S BY NICK COTS YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THAT ANY TIME AND YOU GET A REAL FEEL FOR DR KING AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON, BUT THE NEW JIM CROWE BY MICHELLE GRIFFITH, IS ANOTHER
BOOK THAT IS TELLING US WHERE OUR STRUGGLE IS HEADED NOW SO WE CAN’T JUST LOOK BACK WE’VE GOT TO SEE WHERE WE’RE GOING NOW AND ALSO WE STILL NEED AN ASSURANCE OF THE RIGHT TO VOTE, THE RIGHT TO HAVE — OF A SOCIAL SECURITY CARD WITH YOUR PICTURE ON IT THAT WOULD LET YOU GET YOUR CHECKS CASHED OR VOTE THESE ARE THINGS THAT COULD BE DONE ALMOST INSTANTLY AND AUTOMATICALLY WITHOUT A GREAT DEAL OF FIGHT IN FACT, IT WOULD SAVE THE GOVERNMENT MONEY IF THEY AUTOMATED THEIR PAYMENTS TO INDIVIDUALS AROUND — AND REQUIREED THEM TO HAVE BANK ACCOUNTS AND DO EVERYTHING ELECTRONICALLY I MEAN, IT’S JUST — THERE ARE GOOD SENSE MOVEMENT WAIT IS TO HAPPEN — WAITING TO HAPPEN >> ONE THING, WHEN THE SMITH SMITHSONIAN DECIDED TO HELP CREATE A NEW NATIONAL MUSEUM IN BLACK AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE WE SURVEYED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ABOUT WHAT THEY KNEW, WHAT THEY WANTED TO KNOW AND WHAT WAS INTERESTING WAS THE NOTION THAT THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT WAS INEVITABLE MORE THAN ANYBODY ELSE THE PUBLIC SAID TO US WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN ANYWAY YET THE REALITY IS AS WE SIT HERE YOU ALL KNOW HOW STRATEGIC YOU HAD TO BE, HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS, AND SO I ALMOST WONDER IF YOU COULD TALK TO US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT A MOMENT WHERE YOU DESPAIR, WHERE YOU WORRIED THAT THIS WAS REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN AND A MOMENT WHERE YOU SUDDENLY REALIZED THAT I THINK WE CAN MAKE THIS TRANSFORMATION THAT WE’VE ALL SACRIFICED FOR >> I CAN ANSWER THAT VERY EASILY THE MOMENT OF GREAT DESPAIR I FELT WAS WHEN DR. KING WAS KILLED I WAS NOT HIS BEST FRIEND, I WAS NOT THAT CLOSE TO HIM I HAD A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE OF BEING TAUGHT BY HIM WHEN HE TAUGHT AT MORE HOUSE, BUT WHEN HE DIED I FELT AS IF ONE OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS HAD DIED, SOMEBODY I KNEW CLOSELY AND THAT WAS NOT THE CASE I JUST FELT EVERYTHING WE’VE WORKED FOR IS OVER IT’S ALL THROUGH, ALL FINISHED, WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING ELSE AFTER THIS THAT PASSED OBVIOUSLY AND I WAS ABLE TO DO THINGS AFTER THAT AND AMONG ONE OF THE BEST MOVEMENTS I HAD WAS — MOMENTS I HAD WAS THE FIRST TIME I WAS ARRESTED IN ATLANTA AT ATLANTA CITY HALL HALL AND LIKE JOHN, I HAD THIS FEELING OF FREEDOM AS THE POLICEMAN PUT ME IN THE PADDY WAGON AND THEN TOOK ME TO JAIL AND I FOUND MYSELF IN THIS ENORMOUS ROOM WITH ALL THESE OTHER MEN AND I SAID TO MYSELF I BETTER NOT ASK THEM WHY THEY’RE HERE [LAUGHTER] THEY ASKED US AND KNEW BECAUSE THEY HEARD ON THE RADIO, THEY KNEW WHY WE WERE THERE AND THEY WERE SO HAPPY TO SEE US AND YOU JUST FELT SO GOOD, SO GREAT >> CONGRESSMAN — LIKE JULIAN, WHEN I HEARD THAT DR. KING HAD BEEN ASSASSINATED, IT WAS A SAD TIME FOR ME AND A VERY DARK HOUR I MIGHT — I LOVEED DR. KING IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR HIM I DON’T KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO ME GROWING UP VERY, VERY POOR IN RURAL ALABAMA AND SEEING SEGREGATION AND RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, HE GAVE ME A WAY OUT, MAYBE A WAY IN BUT THE PHILOSOPHY AND THE DISCIPLINE OF NON-VIOLENCE TEND TO TELL US THAT YOU SHOULD NOT GET LOST IN A SEA OF DESPAIR THAT YOU SHOULD BE HOPEFUL YOU HAVE TO PICK YOURSELF UP AND CONTINUE TO MOVE >>> [APPLAUSE]
>> WE COMMITTED TO CARRY ON AND WE DID, BUT THE LOW POINT FOR ME THEN CAME WHEN ROBERT KENNEDY WAS ASSASSINATED BECAUSE I DIDN’T HAVE A FOLLOW-UP PLAN DR. KING HAD PREPARED US DR., BUT I WAS EXPECT KING PREPARED US, BUT I WAS RESPECTING ANOTHER LEADER LIKE LYNDON JOHNSON GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE.ING ANOTHER LEADER LIKE LYNDON JOHNSON GOING TO THE WHITE HOUSE AND WE DIDN’T KNOW — THE COUNTRY FELL APART AND WE LOST THAT ELECTION IN 1968, WHICH I THINK WE WOULD HAVE WON IF PRESIDENT JOHNSON HAD RUN AND DR. KING WOULD HAVE BACKED HIM WE WERE AGAINST THE WAR IN VIETNAM WE WERE NOT AGAINST LYNDON JOHNSON AND WE SAW OURSELVES TRYING TO HELP HIM OUT OF THE WAR, BUT THE COUNTRY WAS SO CONFUSED WE LOST — WE LOST THE MOVEMENT BY ONE VOTE PER PRECINCT, DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NIXON AND HUMPHREY AND THAT’S WHERE WE LOST THE SUPREME COURT THAT’S WHERE WE LOST THE ECONOMY WE STILL HAVEN’T FIGURED OUT WHY WE’RE POOR, STILL AND WHY WE CAN’T — I WENT TO CONGRESS AND ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS THAT NIXON DID AND — AFTER HIS SECOND TERM WAS TO BREAK UP THE BRETTO N WOODS AGREEMENTS I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT WAS, BUT THAT WAS THE ECONOMIC AGREEMENT THAT HELD THE WORLD ECONOMY TOGETHER TIED TO THE DOLLAR AND THE DOLLAR WAS TIED TO GOLD AND THAT MEANT THERE WAS ECONOMIC STABILITY ALL OVER THE WORLD FROM 1944 TO 1974 WHEN THEY BROKE UP THAT AGREEMENT FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE IN THE CONGRESS, IN THE BANKING COMMITTEE WHERE I WAS SITTING AND DIDN’T HAVE SENSE ENOUGH TO KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON, IT CHANGED EVERYTHING OIL WAS $2.50 A BARREL IT WENT TO AS HIGH AS $160 A BARREL THIS EQUILIBRIUM IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY IS — IS WHY I SAY WOULD BE A STUDY IN ECONOMICS BECAUSE THE ECONOMICS IN TODAY’S WORLD DID NOT MAKE SENSE AND MOST OF US DON’T EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW WE’RE GETTING SCREWED [LAUGHTER] >> WHEN ROBERT KENNEDY WAS KILLED I COULDN’T MAKE UP MY MIND WHO TO SUPPORT FOR PRESIDENT AND JOHN WAS WITH ROBERT KENNEDY IN CALIFORNIA AND HE CALLED ME FROM CALIFORNIA THAT NIGHT AND HE SAID BOBBY HAS WON THE PRIMARY AND WE’RE GOING ON TO NEW YORK HE SAID MEET US IN NEW YORK I SAID OKAY, I WILL HE SAID TURN ON YOUR TV SET BOBBY IS GOING DOWN TO MAKE THE ANNOUNCEMENT AND I TURNED ON MY TV SET AND BAM, HE WAS GONE DO YOU REMEMBER THAT? >> YES >> WELL, I WONDER AS YOU TALK ABOUT THE DEATHS AND THE VIOLENCE, TWO WEEKS AGO I GUESS I WAS WITH CONGRESSMAN LEWIS AND FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I WALKED ACROSS THE EDMUND PET PETTIS BRIDGE AND WHAT STRUCK ME IS AS YOU GET TO THE TOP OF THE BRIDGE HOW MUCH YOU CAN SEE AND HOW MUCH FURTHER THERE WAS BEFORE YOU RAN INTO THE ALABAMA STATE TROOPERS AND IT STRUCK ME BECAUSE MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS WELL, I NEED TO TURN AROUND AND I WONDERED HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH FEAR? HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THE COMRADES WHO WERE LOST? THE VIOLENCE THAT YOU SUFFERED ON BLOODY SUNDAY? HOW DO YOU AS INDIVIDUALS, HOW DOES THE MOVEMENT DEAL WITH THAT PRESSURE AND THAT FEAR? >> WELL, YOU GROW, YOU COME TO THAT POINT IN YOUR LIFE YOU HAVE WHAT I CALL AN EXECUTIVE SESSION WITH YOURSELF , JUST DON’T TALK BACK TO YOURSELF [LAUGHTER] AND YOU SAY I’M NOT GOING TO BE AFRAID I’M NOT AFRAID I AM NOT AFRAID BACK IN 1961 WHEN WE WENT ON
THE FREEDOM RIDE, WHEN THOSE OF US LEFT NASHVILLE, WHEN WE LEFT WASHINGTON ON MAY 4 MAY 4TH , 1961, THE SAME YEAR THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WAS BORN , WE WERE PREPARED TO DIE SOME OF US FIND NOTES AND WILLS THAT IF IT TOOK OUR DEATH, AS DR. KING WAS SAID, TO REDEEM THE SOUL OF AMERICA, I THINK SOME OF US WERE PREPARED I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE ON THAT BRIDGE I THOUGHT I SAW DEATH, BUT I WAS NOT AFRAID YOU HAD TO CONTINUE TO MOVE ON YOU GET BEATEN, YOU GET ARRESTED, YOU GET THROWN IN JAIL, BUT MAYBE YOU WILL SURVIVE >> YOU KNOW, I THINK UNFORTUNATELY I’M NOT A SADIST, BUT PROBABLY THE HOURS THAT I AM MOST THRILLED ABOUT IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT WAS WHEN I GOT BEAT UP IN ST. AUGUSTINE BECAUSE I HAD BEEN THE NEGOTIATOR, I HAD BEEN THE BEHIND THE SCENES GUY I WASN’T ALLOWED TO GO TO JAIL [LAUGHTER] AND ALL OF A SUDDEN HERE I AM DR. KING SENDS ME TO ST AUGUSTINE TO STOP THE DEMONSTRATION AND I GET THERE AND JOSE WILLIAMS SAYS WHO IS GOING TO LEAVE THIS MARCH WITH ANDREW YOUNG? AND THEY WERE ALL READY TO MARCH AND SO I HAD SEEN, YOU KNOW, A COUPLE HUNDRED KLANS MEN OUT THERE IN THE OLD SLAVE MARKET AND I THOUGHT I SHOULD LEAD THEM AND THEY’LL TURN AROUND WHEN THEY SEE WHAT I SAW THEY WON’T MIND TURNING AROUND EXCEPT WE GOT THERE AND THEY SAW AND I GOT THEM IN A CIRCLE AND WE PRAYED AND I SAID NOBODY NEEDS TO GO DR. KING SAID WE SHOULD — AND SOMEBODY STARTED SINGING SINGING, BE NOT DISMAYED WHERE THERE BE TIDE, GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU AND EVERYBODY WANTED TO GO DOWN THERE AND MARCH AND I SAID OH LORD [LAUGHTER] BUT TO KEEP EVERYBODY FROM GETTING BEAT UP I KEPT THEM ON ONE SIDE OF THE STREET AND I WENT ACROSS TO TRY TO TO — TO REASON WITH UNREASONABLE PEOPLE BUT I WAS DOING PRETTY GOOD UNTIL SOMEBODY HIT ME FROM THE BACK WITH A BLACKJACK AND THEN I DIDN’T KNOW ANYTHING EXCEPT THAT SOMEBODY WAS PICKING ME UP AND I SAID NO, WE CAN’T STOP NOW WE HAVE TO GO ON AND FINALLY, WE WALKED ON THROUGH, BUT IT WAS ALMOST 40 YEARS LATER BEFORE I SAW THE PICTURES YOU KNOW, OF WHAT HAPPENED AND — BUT THAT NIGHT I FELT GOOD I FELT LIKE, YOU KNOW, PLAYING FOOTBALL YOU RUN INTO THE LINE, YOU GET CLOBBERED, YOU GET UP, YOU TRY IT NEXT TIME AND IT WAS NOT FRIGHTENING THOUGH THE GUY WHO THE POLICEMAN WHO PULLED ME OUT SAID THAT IF HE HADN’T, THEY WOULD HAVE PROBABLY KILLED ME BUT I DIDN’T MEET HIM UNTIL 45 YEARS LATER AND HE WAS — JUST HAPPENED TO BE A BIG SIX 6’6″ GREEK WHO HAPPENED TO BE FROM NEW YORK AND AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED HE WAS THE ANGEL THAT SAVED ME THAT NIGHT >> JULIAN, WHAT ABOUT YOU? >> NONE OF THESE THINGS EVER HAPPENED TO ME [LAUGHTER] I FOUND MYSELF ON OCCASION IN PLACES WHERE I THOUGHT SOMETHING BAD MIGHT HAPPEN, BUT IT NEVER DID, NEVER HIT, NEVER STRUCK, SO I HAD NONE OF THESE EXPERIENCES >> BUT YOU STILL FIND WAYS TO DEAL WITH YOUR FEARS? >> YES AND GENERALLY IT WAS TO SAY, WELL, HE’S DOING IT AND HE’S DOING IT, AND SHE’S DOING IT IT SO WHY CAN’T I DO IT? [APPLAUSE] >> IN SOME WAY SINCE YOU MENTIONED SHE, THIS IS A PANEL THAT’S RIPE WITH TESTOSTERONE, SO I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ROLE OF WOMEN AND GENDER IN THE MOVEMENT AND ALSO TO HELP US UNDERSTAND WERE THERE TENSIONS IN TERMS OF THE CHANGING IDENTITY, CHANGING WORLD OF WOMEN AND THEIR ROLE HERE IN THE MOVEMENT ITSELF? >> OH, THERE ARE ALL KINDS OF TENSIONS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN THE MOVEMENT AND THE STUDENT NON-VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE, WHICH I THINK WAS THE BEST OF ALL THESE ORGANIZATIONS IN TERMS OF THE WAY WOMEN WERE TREATED REALLY UP HERE COMPARED TO MANY OF THE OTHERS, EVEN THERE WE HAD ENORMOUS TENSIONS BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN OVER THE ROLES EACH WOULD PLAY
BUT WOMEN PLAYED AN ENORMOUS ROLE IF YOU LOOK AT THE MOVEMENT AS A TOTALITY, HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR WOMEN THERE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN A MOVEMENT [APPLAUSE] IF YOU LOOK AT — IF YOU LOOK AT ORGANIZATION AS OLD AND AS VETERAN VENERABLE AS THE NAACP, WOMEN ARE ALL THROUGH THE ORGANIZATION, ALL THROUGH THE LEADERSHIP, ALL THROUGH THE — RUNNING THINGS, DOING THINGS WOMEN WERE INDEPENDENCE I BELIEVE IN THE MOVEMENT — INDISPENSABLE AND ARE INDISPENSABLE ANYWHERE, EVERYWHERE, BUT THERE WERE ALWAYS TENSIONS AT THE SAME TIME >> YOU CALL THE ROLL, THOUGH THOUGH, YOU CAN GO BACK, MARY M c MCCLEOD AND THE SIN OF THE MOVEMENT TO ME WAS DOROTHY HEIGHT FOR SOME REASON DIDN’T TO SPEAK AT THE MARCH ON WASHINGTON, BUT ROSA PARKS MRS. BOINTON WENT TO SELMA IN 1929 AS A 19-YEAR-OLD AND SHE REGISTERED TO VOTE WHEN SHE TURNED 21 IN 1932 SHE STILL — SHE LED A GET OUT THE VOTE MARCH IN THE BACK OF A CONVERTIBLE IN 2010 FOR BARACK OBAMA THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS AND SHE STILL IS ON THE BATTLEFIELD SHE WAS THE ONE THAT CAME TO GET DR. KING AND MADE US COME TO SELMA IT WAS NIGH DIANE NASH IN NASHVILLE WHO I SAW — I WAS IN NEW YORK AND SAW ON TELEVISION AND WE SAW JOHN AND BERNARD AND BEVIL AND I KNEW JIM LAWSON FROM CHURCH DAYS AND MY WIFE SAYS TO ME, IT’S TIME FOR US TO GO BACK HOME I WOULD NOT HAVE LEFT NEW YORK PROBABLY ON MY OWN, BUT AT EVERY JUNCTURE — FANNY LOU HAM MA IN MISSISSIPPI THERE JUST COULD NOT HAVE BEEN A MOVEMENT WITHOUT THE WOMEN THE NIGHT WHEN WE WERE MARCHING IN Z AUGUSTINE ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I HAD TO GO WAS THERE WAS NO MEN, IT WAS MOSTLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND WHEN I WENT BACK I WENT BACK TO THE POOL HALL AND I CUSSED EVERYBODY OUT [LAUGHTER] AND BLAMEED THE BLACK MEN WHO WERE SITTING AROUND SAYING THAT THEY COULDN’T BE NON-VIOLENT FOR GETTING ME BEAT UP AND THE NEXT NIGHT THEY MARCHED WITH US, ABOUT 25 OF THEM MARCHED WITH US, AND THE KLAN WOULDN’T BOTHER — I WOULD SAY IF THERE WERE 25 BLACK MEN IN THE MARCH YOU WON’T GET TOUCHED >> LONNIE, I MAY GET IN TROUBLE HERE, BUT IT WILL BE GOOD TROUBLE [LAUGHTER] I AGREE WITH ANDY AND WITH JULIAN I THINK THERE WAS SOME MALE SHAW SHOW CHAUVISM YOU MENTIONED ELLA BAKER SHE HAD BEEN WORKING WITH LC LCS C AND DR. KING SUGGESTED OR RECOMMENDED OR MAYBE JUST INSTRUCTED HER TO COORDINATE COORDINATE, TO BRING TOGETHER ALL OF THESE YOUNG PEOPLE THAT WERE SITTING IN AND SHE MADE THE DECISION TO ORGANIZE THIS MEETING AT HER HER — SCHOOL THAT SHE GRADUATED FROM IN RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA AND ELLA BAKER TODAY MUST BE CONSIDERED THE MOTHER OF THE STUDENT NON-VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE AND EVEN IN MONTH MONTGOMERY IN 1955 WAS A WOMAN BY THE NAME OF JOHANNE ROBERTSON — >> THE WOMEN DECIDED THAT DR KING SHOULD LEAVE >> SHOULD LEAVE? >> THEY WERE THE ONES — THERE WAS A TENSION BETWEEN THE BAPTISTS AND THE METHODISTS — >> THAT’S WHAT I’M GOING TO GET TO [LAUGHTER] THE MOVEMENT HAD ALL OF THESE MINISTERS AND A LOT OF THESE RELIGIOUS CREATURES WANTED TO TREAT THE MOVEMENT LIKE IT WAS THEIR OWN CHURCH CHURCH AND YOU GO TO A MASS MEETING MEETING, THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE WERE WOMEN LOOK AT SOME OF THE OLD PHOTOGRAPHS YOU GO TO — PEOPLE ARE GETTING READY TO GO DOWNTOWN TO SIT IN FROM THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN NASHVILLE, IT WAS THE YOUNG WOMEN AND JULIAN IS RIGHT, A LOT OF THE GUYS TALK ABOUT I CAN’T BE NON-VIOLENT, I PLAY FOOTBALL [LAUGHTER] YOU CAN BE NON-VIOLENT YOU CAN STAND IN LINE AND KEEP THE PEACE SO WOMEN PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE ROLE WITHOUT WOMEN, WITHOUT THE YOUNG WOMEN, MIDDLE AGED WOMEN, OLDER WOMEN, THERE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN A MODERN DAY CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT [APPLAUSE]
>> BUT YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I CAN UNDERSTAND RACEISM IS I UNDERSTAND SEX SEXISM I HAD TO TELL MY OWN DAUGHTERS, I SAID LOOK, DO NOT LISTEN TO ME I AM YOUR OPPRESSOR [LAUGHTER] I WANT YOU TO BE SWEET AND CUTE AND SIT ON MY LAP AND BE DADDY ‘S LITTLE GIRL AND YOU START TALKING ABOUT BEING A LAWYER AND AN ENGINEER, I’M GOING TO DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO DISCOURAGE YOU ONE OF THEM PACKS UP AND SAYS I’M GOING TO UGANDA OH, NO BUT DADDY YOU PREACH THAT ALL THE TIME BUT NOT FOR YOU [LAUGHTER] AND MY CHILDREN HAD TO — THEY HAD TO RESIST MY PROJECTING MY MALE CHAUVINISM ON TO THEM AND I ENCOURAGED IT EVEN THOUGH I FOUGHT AGAINST IT >> I THINK THE CHANCE TO HELP PEOPLE REMEMBER, PEOPLE LIKE ELLA BAKER, I GUESS ONE OF THE QUESTIONS I WANTED TO ASK YOU IS AS YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT THE WAY WE REMEMBER THE MOVEMENT, ARE THERE OTHER PEOPLE THAT QUICKLY COME TO MIND TO YOU THAT WE’VE LOST THEIR STORY OR WE DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW CENTRAL THEY WERE TO THE MOVEMENT? >> I DON’T THINK IT’S THAT WE DIDN’T KNOW HOW CENTRAL THEY WERE BECAUSE THOSE OF US WHO KNEW THEM KNEW HOW CENTRAL THEY WERE, BUT I THINK HISTORY, THE LARGER HISTORY, HAS FORGOTTEN THESE WOMEN THERE ARE THREE EXCELLENT BOOKS WRITTEN ABOUT ELLA BAKER WONDERFUL BOOKS THAT TELL HER STORY AND YOU COULD READ ALL THREE OF THEM TO SOME GREAT PROFIT PROFIT, BUT I DOUBT — TO SOME GREAT PROPHET, BUT I DOUBT IF THEY HAVE MANY SALES OR ARE PROMOTED BY THEIR PUBLISHERS >> IN OUR DEFENSE, LET’S SAY THAT MARTIN WAS 25, 30 I WAS THREE YEARS YOUNGER I’M STILL TRYING TO BREAK AWAY FROM MY MOMMA [LAUGHTER] HIS MOTHER WAS ONE OF THE MOST STRONGEST, DOMINEERING FEMALES YOU EVER WANT TO MEET SHE DOMINATED DADDY KING SHE RAN EBB EBENEZER BAPTIST CHURCH WE COULDN’T WORK UNDER ELLA BAKER IT WOULD JUST — IT JUST WAS A PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIER THERE SO WE PASSED HER OVER TO SNC SNCC [LAUGHTER] WE WERE TRYING TO BREAK AWAY FROM OUR MOMMAS AND THEY STILL NEEDED A MOMMA [LAUGHTER] AND SHE WAS A GOOD ONE >> SHE WAS A GOOD MOTHER AND SHE WAS OLDER, BUT I TELL YOU, SHE WAS AS RADICAL AND AS FOCUS ED FOCUSED AND SHE WAS ALWAYS PUTTING US TO PUSH >> IT WAS SHE WHO TOLD US NOT TO JOIN SCLC, NOT TO JOIN THE NAACP, NOT TO JOIN THESE OLDER CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR YEARS AND YEARS AND IN OUR OPINION HADN’T DONE ANYTHING SHE SAID DON’T JOIN THEM START SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BRAND NEW WE STARTED THE STUDENT NON- NON-VIOLENT COORDINATING COMMITTEE >> WELL, CON STANCE BAKER MOTLEY DID AS MUCH OF THE WORK FOR THE NAACP AS THURGOOD MARSHALL OR JACK GREENBURG AND I’D SAY IT’S THROUGHOUT THE MOVEMENT >> AND PRESIDENT JOHNSON APPOINTED HER TO A JUDGESHIP JUDGESHIP, RIGHT? >> MY NIECE IS NAMED AFTER HER >> YOU KNOW, I WAS ON THE PLANE COMING HERE AND IT WAS FULL OF STUDENTS AND WE BEGAN TO TALK TO THEM ABOUT THIS EVENT AND TWO THINGS STRUCK ME FIRST, PRESIDENT CARTER WALKED DOWN THE AISLE AND SHOOK EVERYONE’S HAND, RIGHT RIGHT, EVERYONE BUT AS HE PASSED WHERE MY WIFE WAS SITTING SEVERAL OF THE STUDENTS SAID, NOW, WHO IS JIMMY CARTER? SO AFTER WE LECTUREED FOR ABOUT AN HOUR — BUT THE OTHER THING THAT THEY ASKED US, I SAID WELL, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW OFFICE KNOW? AND THEY SAID TO ME, WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT ARE THE CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES TODAY? WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WOULD TELL US WHO ARE TRYING TO BECOME ACTIVISTS ACTIVISTS WHAT WOULD YOU TELL US ARE THE LESSONS THAT YOU’VE LEARNED, WHAT ARE THE LESSON LESSONS THAT YOU WOULD PASS ON TO US? IN ESSENCE ONE WOMAN SAID TO ME , HOW DO YOU HELP US HELP AMERICA? >> WELL, I’M GETTING OLDER, SO I’M WORRIED ABOUT THE JUDGMENT AND WHAT JESUS ASKS IS DID YOU FEED THE HUNGRY, DID YOU CLOTHES THE NAKED, DID YOU HEAL THE SICK, DID YOU SET AT LIBERTY THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED ?
NOW, HE DOESN’T MEAN PASSING OUT MISSIONARY BASKETS IN THIS DAY AND AGE HE MEANS WE’VE GOT TO FIND A WAY TO DEFINE AN ECONOMIC ORDER WHERE WE WIPE OUT HUNGER ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH AND WHERE THE PEOPLE CAN BE CLOTHED AND HOUSED AND THERE IS ENOUGH WEALTH, THERE’S ENOUGH TECHNOLOGY, THERE’S ENOUGH UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN NEED, BUT WE HAVE NOT DEVELOPED THE VISION TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER AND MAKE IT WORK AND THAT’S AN ECONOMIC VISION, IT’S A GLOBAL VISION VISION, IT’S A TECHNICAL VISION AND SOMEBODY WAS TELLING ME WHAT THEY WERE HEARING ABOUT TWITTER ABOUT THIS CONFERENCE, AND I DON’T KNOW ABOUT TWITTER, SO THAT’S Y’ALL’S MOVEMENT [LAUGHTER] AND SOMEHOW THERE HAS GOT TO BE SOME GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE RESOURCES OF THE EARTH ARE UTILIZED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS OF HUNGER, OF DISEASE AND WAR >> I THINK THE MOST PRESSING NEED FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND FOR ALL AMERICANS, FOR ALL OF US, IS TO MOVE WITH MORE THAN DELIBERATE SPEED TO CREATE A TRULY MULTI MULTICULTURAL, MULTIRACIAL DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE IN OUR COUNTRY, IN AMERICA ON THIS LITTLE PIECE OF REAL ESTATE, TO HAVE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN A SHADOW WE NEED TO PASS COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM AND SET PEOPLE ON THE PATH TO CITIZEN SHIP CITIZENSHIP [APPLAUSE] >> I DON’T ACCEPT THIS IDEA AND I KNOW JULIAN HAS BEEN INVOLVED AND OTHERS HAVE BEEN INVOLVED, ALL OF US — I DON’T ACCEPT THIS IDEA THAT INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE ILLEGAL, THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS AN ILLEGAL HUMAN BEING WE ALL COME FROM SOME OTHER PLACE OR SOME NATIVE AMERICAN AND WE NEED TO DO IT AND I THINK WE’VE BEEN TOO QUIET STUDENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD BE OUT THERE AGITATING AND SPEAKING UP AND SPEAKING OUT AND DEMANDING OF THEIR GOVERNMENT TO ACT, TO DO SOMETHING AND DO IT NOW >> I THINK IF YOU — [APPLAUSE] IF YOU SURVEYED THIS AUDIENCE AND SAID WHAT IS THE MAIN ISSUE I THINK MOST PEOPLE WOULD SAY EDUCATION AND I WOULD AGREE WITH THEM, BUT I WANT TO SUGGEST SOMETHING ELSE AS WELL AND THAT WOULD BE HOUSING SEGREGATION WHICH THE CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS, INCLUDING THE NAACP, WHICH I HEADED FOR 11 YEARS, HAVE NOT DONE AS MUCH ABOUT THIS AS THEY COULD AND AS LONG AS THE WHITE PEOPLE LIVE OVER HERE AND BLACK PEOPLE LIVE ON EVERY HERE AND THE OTHER PEOPLE LIVE OVER HERE AND THE OTHER PEOPLE OVER HERE , AS LONG AS WE’RE SEPARATE IN THIS MATTER SOME OF THE PEOPLE WILL GET SHORT SHRIFT AND IN THIS SOCIETY IT’S THE PEOPLE OF COLOR >> EVERYBODY IS GETTING SHORTCHANGED I MEAN, YOU CANNOT GET A COLLEGE EDUCATION EVEN IF YOU’RE WHITE AND COME OUT WITH NO STUDENT DEBT I MEAN, THAT’S A NATIONAL CRISIS WHEN YOU USED TO BE ABLE TO GET — MY WIFE GOT HER MASTER’S DEGREE FOR $16 A SEMESTER AND SHE WAS A TAX PAYING TEACHER ALL THE REST OF HER LIFE BUT NOWADAYS YOU COME OUT WITH A MASTER’S DEGREE AND YOU HAVE AT LEAST 100,000 DOLLARS’ WORTH OF DEBT NOW, WHO CAN START OUT WITH A FAMILY WITH 100,000 DOLLARS’ WORTH OF DEBT EVEN IF YOU’RE WHITE AND MIDDLE CLASS? IF YOU’RE IN THE UPPER CLASS YOU’RE OKAY BECAUSE THEY’VE SET IT ASIDE FOR YOU, BUT THE POOR AND THE MIDDLE CLASS COME OUT OF COLLEGE WITH TWO STRIKES OF DEBT AND THAT IS PUTTING THE LID LID — THAT’S WHY I SAY WE’VE GOT TO FIND A WAY TO MAKE FREE ENTERPRISE AND DEMOCRACY WORK FOR THE POOR AND THE MIDDLE CLASS LIKE IT HAS DONE FOR THE RICH [APPLAUSE] AND WE DON’T LIKE TO ADMIT IT, BUT WE ARE THE RICH NOW I MEAN, WE ARE THE RICH AND IF YOU’VE GOT — ESPECIALLY WITH LYNDON JOHNSON MEDICARE CARD YOU’RE WEALTHY AT MY AGE [LAUGHTER] >> SO I GUESS AS I’M LOOKING AND LISTENING TO WHAT YOU SAID, WHAT I’M STRUCK BY IS THIS NOTION THAT THE MOVEMENT
CONTINUES, RIGHT? THAT IT MORPHS IN NEW WAYS AND I WONDER ARE THERE OTHER ISSUES THAT YOU THINK REALLY REALLY — AND YOU WONDER WHY MORE PEOPLE, MORE AFRICAN-AMERICANS AREN’T TAKING THE LEAD I KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, JULIAN, YOU AND THE NAACP CAME OUT EARLY OVER ISSUES OF SEXUAL IDENTITY, SEXUALITY AND THAT’S A DIFFICULT ISSUE FOR MANY PEOPLE IN OUR COMMUNITY IS THAT ONE OF THE ISSUES FOR THE FUTURE? >> I TELL YOU SOMETHING, I’M A LITTLE ASHAMED OF, I WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE NAACP FOR 11 YEARS AND WHENEVER SOMEBODY SAID LET’S THINK ABOUT SAME SEX MARRIAGE, I WOULD SAY NO NO AND THE REASON WASN’T THAT I WAS AGAINST IT, I WAS FOR IT IT, BUT I THOUGHT WE WOULD VOTE NO AND I WOULD RATHER HAVE US HAVE NO POSITION THAN HAVE A BAD POSITION SO ONE DAY AFTER I WAS NOT CHAIRMAN ANYMORE, I’M SITTING AROUND OUR BOARD TABLE WE HAVE 64 BOARD MEMBERS 64 BOARD MEMBERS [LAUGHTER] AND SOMEBODY DOWN HERE SAID I MOVE THAT WE SUPPORT SAME SEX MARRIAGE AND I’M THINKING, NO, NO, NO NO IT’S NOT THE TIME LET’S NOT DO IT SOMEBODY SAID I SECOND IT AND THE CHAIRMAN SAID, ARE YOU READY FOR THE QUESTION? AND A COUPLE OF PEOPLE SAID YEAH, I HAVE A QUESTION AND I WONDERED WHAT THE QUESTION WAS GOING TO BE AND ONE MAN SAID IF YOU HAD ASKED ME TO VOTE ON THIS TWO YEARS AGO I WOULD HAVE SAID NO, BUT I’VE CHANGED MY MIND MIND AND ANOTHER PERSON SAID THAT AND ANOTHER PERSON SAID THAT THAT TWO PEOPLE WERE ABSENT, WHICH MEANT THERE WAS 62 PEOPLE IN IN IN THE ROOM, AND 60 OF THEM VOTED AYE AND TWO OF THEM VOTED NO [APPLAUSE] >> CONGRESSMAN, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER ISSUES WE SHOULD BE WRESTLEING WITH? >> WE HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO PUT PEOPLE TO WORK, GIVE PEOPLE A JOB AND THE CONGRESS MUST GET — THAT’S ANOTHER STORY [LAUGHTER] THE CONGRESS MUST GET ITS OWN ACT TOGETHER [APPLAUSE] >> IS THAT POSSIBLE? >> WELL, I DON’T WANT TO BE PARTISAN, YOU KNOW, BUT WE NEED ANOTHER ELECTION OR TWO TWO [LAUGHTER] PEOPLE NEED TO REGISTER AND THEY NEED TO VOTE THEY NEED TO VOTE [APPLAUSE] I’VE SAID IT IN THE PAST AND I’VE SAID THE VOTE IS PRECIOUS, ALMOST SACRED IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL, NOT VIOLENT INSTRUMENT OR TOOL WE HAVE IN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY AND WE SHOULD USE IT IT WE’VE GOT TO MOBILIZE AND ORGANIZE AND GET EVERYBODY TO PARTICIPATE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS IN SPITE OF ALL OF THE CHANGES, IN SPITE OF ALL OF THE PROGRESS, EVEN WITH PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIGNING THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT ON AUGUST 6TH, 1965, THERE ARE STILL FORCES IN AMERICA WANT TO TAKE US BACK TO ANOTHER PERIOD, MAKE IT HARDER AND MORE DIFFICULT FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON TO PARTICIPATE AND WE CANNOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN [APPLAUSE] >> LET ME SAY I WAS WITH MRS KING WHEN WE WENT TO VERSUS MRS. GANDHI IN INDIA AND SHE SAID I TELL OUR BOYS AND GIRLS TO GO TO AMERICA, TO GO TO ENGLAND, MAKE AS MUCH MONEY AS YOU CAN, LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, BUT HURRY BACK TO MOTHER INDIA THAT’S WHAT — I SEE THE IMMIGRATION CYCLE AS BEING IMPORTANT FOR OUR SURVIVAL I THINK WE NOT ONLY NEED TO BRING IN PEOPLE, BUT AS WE EDUCATE THEM AND AS ANOTHER GENERATION GROWS, THAT SECOND AND THIRD GENERATION WENT BACK TO INDIA AND CREATED A MIDDLE CLASS THE CHINESE, WHO ARE DOING A LOT, ARE EDUCATED IN THE UNITED STATES WHO ARE RUNNING CHINA THE NIGERIANS, THE SOUTH AFRICANS, THE ZIMBAWANS, THE FACTORY OF FREE ENTERPRISE AND IDEALISM IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND IT ALWAYS AND IT ALWAYSWILL BE AND IT HAS TO CONTINUE THAT WAY BUT WE NEED TO KEEP THE CYCLE GOING BECAUSE WITHIN 2025 AT PRESENT ECONOMIC GROWTH RATES, SIX OF THE 10 FASTEST GROWING COUNTRIES ARE ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT CONTINENT AND BY 2025 THE LARGEST MIDDLE CLASS ON THE PLANET WILL BE IN AFRICA NOW, IF AMERICAN BUSINESS IS GOING TO BE INVOLVED IN AFRICA, IT’S GOT TO BE DOING SOMETHING WITH AFRICANS AND WITH AFRICAN-AMERICANS GETTING READY FOR THAT EMERGING MIDDLE CLASS OR THERE’S GOING TO BE CHAOS CHAOS AND IF THERE’S CHAOS IN NIGH YEAR JEER
NIGERIA, THERE’S CHAOS IN TEXAS AND THERE IS ONE WORLD AND WE’RE CRUCIAL TO IT AND WE CAN’T TAKE IT EASY NOW THE STRUGGLE IS JUST BEGINNING FOR THIS GENERATION AND GENERATIONS TO COME >> WELL, I THINK AS OUR TIME IS RUNNING OUT, WHAT STRIKES ME IS THAT MANY OF US ARE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT AMERICA IN PART WE’RE OPTIMISTIC BECAUSE IT’S AN AMERICA THAT PRODUCED HEROS LIKE YOU AND THAT YOUR WORK CONTINUES TO MAKE THIS COUNTRY BETTER AND I HAVE TO SAY ON BEHALF OF A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO WERE MY AGE WHO WEREN’T INVOLVED IN THE MOVEMENT, BUT WHO WENT THROUGH THOSE DOORS AND WINDOWS THAT YOU OPENED, THANK YOU AND FOR THOSE OF US HERE, THANK YOU SO MUCH [APPLAUSE]
