American Experience (1988) s20e06 Episode Script

1
THIS IS A SPECIAL PRESENTATION
OF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.
MAJOR FUNDING FOR AMERICAN
EXPERIENCE with captioning
IS PROVIDED BY THE
ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
NATIONAL CORPORATE FUNDING
IS PROVIDED BY LIBERTY MUTUAL
AND THE SCOTTS COMPANY.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
IS ALSO MADE POSSIBLE
BY THE CORPORATION
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
AND BY:
FUNDING FOR THE RE-RELEASE
OF EYES ON THE PRIZE
MADE POSSIBLE BY:
AND:
I KNOW THE ONE THING
WE DID RIGHT ♪
WAS THE DAY
WE STARTED TO FIGHT ♪
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE ♪
HOLD ON, HOLD ON ♪
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE ♪
HOLD ON. ♪
IT'S HARD TO BE BLACK
IN A WORLD CONTROLLED
BY WHITE FOLKS.
DUBOIS SAID WE ALWAYS HAVE
THE DOUBLE CONSCIOUSNESS.
WE'RE TRYING TO BE BLACK
AND MEANWHILE YOU'VE GO
A WHITE GHOS
HOVERING OVER YOUR HEAD
THAT SAYS,
"IF YOU DON'T DO THIS,
YOU'LL GET KILLED;
"IF YOU DON'T DO THIS,
YOU WON'T GET NO MONEY;
"IF YOU DON'T DO THIS,
"NOBODY WILL THINK
YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL;
IF YOU DON'T DO THIS, NOBODY
WILL THINK YOU'RE SMART."
THAT'S THE GHOST.
YOU'RE TRYING TO BE BLACK
AND THE GHOST IS TELLING YOU
TO BE A GHOST.
Narrator:
FOR ALMOST FOUR CENTURIES,
AMERICAN NEGROES WERE JUDGED
BY WHITE STANDARDS OF BEAUTY,
CULTURE, AND LEARNING.
TO BE ACCEPTED, MANY DOWNPLAYED
THEIR AFRICAN FEATURES
AND REJECTED THEIR
CULTURAL HERITAGE.
BUT TIMES WERE CHANGING.
POETRY IS BLACK ♪
POETRY IS BLACK PEOPLE,
YOU KNOW ♪
BLACK PEOPLE
LIKE BLACK POETRY ♪
BLACK PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND ME,
MOVIN' AND GROOVIN' ♪
Narrator:
IN THE 1960s, NEGROES
CELEBRATED THEIR OWN STANDARDS.
THEY WERE BLACKS IN AMERICA,
AND BLACK WAS BEAUTIFUL.
Woman:
CAN YOU REALLY IMAGINE
WHOLE GENERATIONS
LIVING AND DYING AND NEVER
ONCE HAVING LOVED THEMSELVES?
THAT'S WHAT WE TRIED TO CHANGE
WHEN WE MOVED INTO
THE BLACK ARTS,
BLACK CULTURE,
BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS MOVEMENT.
I SAID, "NEVER AGAIN
WILL I ALLOW ANYONE
"TO LIVE AND WALK
ON THE PLANET EARTH
AND NOT LIKE WHAT THEY ARE,
WHAT THEY BE."
Narrator:
THIS STRUGGLE FOR BLACK PRIDE
WAS GALVANIZED
BY THE NATIONAL CIVIL
RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
NOW, BLACK AMERICANS
BEGAN TO DEMAND RESPEC
ON THEIR OWN TERMS.
AMONG THEM WAS
CASSIUS MARCELLUS CLAY.
CLAY HAD WON THE OLYMPIC
GOLD MEDAL IN 1960.
FOUR YEARS LATER,
HE CHALLENGED SONNY LISTON
FOR THE HEAVYWEIGH
CHAMPIONSHIP OF THE WORLD.
I'M NOT GOING
TO GET KNOCKED OUT.
IF HE WHUPS ME,
YOU TELL THIS TO YOUR CAMERA,
YOUR TV MAN, YOUR RADIO MAN,
AND YOU RIGHT THERE
IN THE WHOLE WORLD.
IF SONNY LISTON WHUPS ME,
I'LL KISS HIS FEET IN THE RING.
I'LL BOW DOWN IN THE RING
ON MY KNEES,
TELL HIM HE'S THE GREATES
AND CATCH THE NEXT JE
OUT OF THE COUNTRY!
THAT'S WHAT I THINK
ABOUT SONNY LISTON!
Narrator:
LISTON WAS CONSIDERED A
DEVASTATING HEAVYWEIGHT.
HE HAD WON THE TITLE WITH
A FIRST-ROUND KNOCKOUT.
I'M FOR REAL, MAN.
Liston:
I'M FOR REAL.
YOU JUST GE
PAST PATTERSON.
COME ON, RANKED NUMBER TWO.
SLOAN'S GONNA FALL
IN FIVE OR IN FOUR.
MAN, I DON'T GET HIT.
I'M THE FASTES
THING ON TWO FEET, MAN.
Man:
I THOUGHT LISTON WOULD
ABSOLUTELY TAKE THIS KID APAR
AND JUST KILL HIM.
I MEAN, LISTON WAS
AN ABSOLUTE THUG.
AND THE VERY IDEA OF THIS
SPINDLY KID FROM LOUISVILLE
JUST OUT OF THE OLYMPICS
GOING IN THERE WITH LISTON
WHO'D HAD SO MANY FIGHTS
IN AND OUT OF THE RING
AND HAVING A CHANCE
WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR
ANYBODY TO DIGEST.
I SAW SONNY LISTON
A FEW DAYS AGO, CASSIUS.
AIN'T HE UGLY?
HE'S TOO UGLY
TO BE THE
WORLD'S CHAMP.
THE WORLD'S CHAMP
SHOULD BE PRETTY,
LIKE ME.
WELL, HE TOLD ME
TO BET MY LIFE
THAT YOU WOULDN'
GO THREE ROUNDS.
WELL, IF YOU WAN
TO LOSE YOUR MONEY,
THEN BET ON SONNY.
WHAT PERCENTAGE
OF THE FANS
WHO ARE COMING TO SEE YOU
FIGHT SONNY LISTON,
WHAT PERCENTAGE OF
THE FANS DO YOU FEEL
WILL BE COMING TO SEE HIM
AND WHAT PERCENTAGE
DO YOU FEEL
WILL BE COMING
TO SEE YOU?
WELL, 100% WILL BE
COMING TO SEE ME,
BUT 99% WILL BE COMING
TO SEE ME GET BEAT.
DO YOU REALLY
FEEL THAT WAY?
BECAUSE THEY THINK
I TALK TOO MUCH.
I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS
IN HIGH SCHOOL,
THE TEACHERS AT MY HIGH SCHOOL
DIDN'T LIKE HIM
BECAUSE HE WAS SO
ANTI-ESTABLISHMEN
AND HE KIND OF THUMBED
HIS NOSE AT AUTHORITY
AND GOT AWAY WITH IT.
AND THEY DIDN'T LIKE
THAT AT ALL.
THE FACT THAT HE WAS PROUD
TO BE A BLACK MAN
AND THAT HE WAS, UH, HAD SO MUCH
TALENT AND COULD ENJOY I
IN A WAY THAT WAS NO
SEEN TO BE
THAT DIDN'T HAVE THE DIGNITY
THAT THEY ASSUD
THAT IT SHOULD HAVE.
I THINK THAT WAS SOMETHING
THAT REALLY MADE
CERTAIN PEOPLE LOVE HIM
AND MADE OTHER PEOPLE THINK
THAT HE WAS, HE WAS DANGEROUS.
Narrator:
FOR MANY, CLAY'S FRIENDSHIP
WITH MALCOLM X
WAS ESPECIALLY THREATENING.
MALCOLM X WAS NATIONAL SPOKESMAN
FOR A BLACK RELIGIOUS
ORGANIZATION,
THE NATION OF ISLAM.
WE TEACH YOU TO OBEY THE LAW.
WE TEACH YOU TO CARRY
YOURSELVES IN A RESPECTABLE WAY.
BUT AT THE SAME TIME,
WE TEACH YOU
THAT ANYONE WHO PUTS
HIS HAND ON YOU,
DO YOUR BEST TO SEE
THAT HE DOESN'T PUT I
ON ANYBODY ELSE.
(cheering )
Narrator:
THE NATION OF ISLAM
TAUGHT BLACK PRIDE,
SELF-RELIANCE AND SELF-DEFENSE.
MANY SAW IT AS A MILITANT,
SEPARATIST GROUP.
ONE OF THE FIGHT PROMOTERS
GOT NERVOUS.
Man:
AND HE CAME TO ME, HE SAYS,
"ANGELO, UNLESS
CASSIUS MARCELLUS CLAY
"REFUTES THE REPORTS
OUT OF CHICAGO
THAT HE'S NOT A MUSLIM,
I'M GOING TO CANCEL THE FIGHT."
SO, I SAID, "WELL, GEEZ,
I'LL TALK TO THE KID."
AND I SAID, "BETTER STILL,
YOU GO TALK TO THE KID."
AND I MADE HIM GO OFF
INTO ANOTHER AREA
AND SPEAK TO THE FIGHTER.
SO CASSIUS CAME BACK,
AND I'M SITTING IN THE OFFICE.
HE SAYS, "ANGE, I DON'T THINK
WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A FIGHT."
I SAID, "WHY?"
HE SAID, "WELL, BECAUSE THEY
WANT ME TO SAY I'M NOT A MUSLIM,
AND I AM A MUSLIM."
YOU AIN'T GOT A CHANCE!
Narrator:
CLAY REFUSED TO DENY
HIS RELIGION.
BUT WITH MILLIONS
OF DOLLARS AT STAKE,
PROMOTERS WENT AHEAD
WITH THE BOUT.
I PREDICT THAT TONIGH
SOMEBODY WILL DIE
AT RINGSIDE FROM SHOCK!
(crowd cheering )
Announcer:
SONNY HAS A BIG MARK
BELOW HIS LEFT EYE.
HE'S GETTING HIT WITH
ALL THE PUNCHES IN THE BOOK!
(bell rings )
(bell rings )
THEY MIGHT BE STOPPING IT!
THAT MIGHT BE ALL,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
GET UP THERE, JOE!
GET UP THERE,
GET UP IN THE RING!
(wild cheering )
COME HERE.
I'M THE GREATEST THING
THAT EVER LIVED!
AND I DON'T HAVE
A MARK ON MY FACE
AND I UPSET SONNY LISTON,
AND I JUST TURNED 22 YEARS OLD!
I MUST BE THE GREATEST!
I AM THE KING OF THE WORLD.
HOLD IT, HOLD IT,
HOLD IT.
I'M PRETTY!
YOU'RE NO
THAT PRETTY.
I'M A BAD MAN.
I SHOOK UP THE WORLD,
I SHOOK UP THE WORLD!
Clay:
AND AFTER BEATING SONNY LISTON
AND AFTER BECOMING CHAMPION,
I NO LONGER HAD TO TALK
TO CONVINCE PEOPLE
THAT I WAS THE BEST,
BECAUSE THEY KNEW IT.
Narrator:
CLAY PUBLICLY CONFIRMED
HIS MEMBERSHIP
IN THE NATION OF ISLAM.
MUSLIM LEADER ELIJAH MUHAMMAD
REQUIRED HIS FOLLOWERS
TO DROP THE FAMILY NAMES
ORIGINALLY IMPOSED
BY SLAVE MASTERS.
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
CASSIUS CLAY WAS NO EXCEPTION.
ISLAM IS AN OLD, OLD RELIGION.
Man:
MY FATHER CALLED ME THAT NIGH
AND ASKED ME, DID I KNOW HOW TO
GET IN TOUCH WITH CASSIUS CLAY?
AND HE TOLD ME TO GET IN TOUCH
WHENEVER I COULD
AND LET HIM KNOW THA
HIS NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED.
HE WAS CHANGING HIS NAME
FROM CASSIUS MARCELLUS CLAY
TO MUHAMMAD ALI.
WHEN MUHAMMAD ALI
JOINED THE NATION,
IT WAS A CONTINUATION OF WHA
WE KNEW WAS HAPPENING ALREADY.
EVERYONE HAD SEEN MALCOLM
DOWN IN HIS CAMP.
EVERYONE HAD SEEN
KNEW THAT HE WAS TEACHING HIM,
INSTRUCTING HIM AT THA
PARTICULAR TIME.
SO WHEN HE CHANGED HIS NAME,
WE SAID VERY SIMPLY,
"THAT'S HIS NAME."
WHEN PEOPLE, IN FACT,
WHEN PEOPLE CALLED HIM
CASSIUS CLAY,
WE WOULD SAY,
"THAT'S NOT HIS NAME.
"CALL THE BROTHER BY HIS NAME
HIS NAME IS MUHAMMAD ALI.
GO ON, DO IT, GET IT, WALK ON."
AND WE WERE VERY PLEASED
AND VERY HAPPY.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
THE THING WITH ME
WAS THE INDIVIDUAL.
BUT THE TOUGH, TOUGH THING
ABOUT IT, REALLY, WAS
THAT IT WAS SUCH A PRETTY NAME.
WE HAD NURTURED I
AND PLAYED IT UP,
YOU KNOW,
"CASSIUS MARCELLUS CLAY."
AND THEN WE USED
TO RHYME ON IT.
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL NAME.
AND THEN HE CHANGED I
TO MUHAMMAD ALI.
PEOPLE RESENTED THAT,
YOU KNOW WHY? WHY?
A LOT OF PEOPLE
WOULDN'T CALL HIM.
TO ME, HE WAS STILL THE SAME
INDIVIDUAL, SAME GUY.
AND I ACTUALLY, I DIDN'T KNOW
WHAT A MUSLIM WAS, REALLY.
BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS
A PIECE OF CLOTH.
CASSIUS CLAY
IS A NAME NO MORE,
IS THAT RIGHT?
YES, SIR, IT'S MUHAMMAD ALI.
"MUHAMMAD" MEANS
"WORTHY OF ALL PRAISES"
AND "ALI" MEANS "MOST HIGH"
IN THE ASIAN-AFRICAN LANGUAGE.
HOW LONG HAVE
YOU HAD THE
NAME?
WELL, FOR ABOUT
TWO WEEKS NOW.
ANYBODY SPECIAL
GAVE YOU THE NAME?
YES, SIR, MY LEADER AND TEACHER,
THE MOST HONORABLE
ELIJAH MUHAMMAD.
(African drumming )
Narrator:
IN THE SPRING OF 1964,
ALI TRAVELED THROUGH
GHANA, NIGERIA AND EGYPT.
Jabir Herbert Muhammad:
THEY RECEIVED HIM AS THOUGH
HE WAS THE PRESIDENT OF THEIR
COUNTRY OR A KING, ACTUALLY.
IN FACT, IN GHANA I THOUGH
I MIGHT EVEN GET KILLED,
THERE'S SO MANY PEOPLE
WAS RUNNING TO ALI.
I RAN AWAY FROM HIM
TO SAVE MY LIFE.
AND THE SAME THING
HAPPENED IN EGYPT.
Narrator:
ALI RETURNED TO HIS BOXING
CAREER IN THE STATES.
IN 1965, HE ENTERED
A WAR OF WORDS
WITH FORMER HEAVYWEIGH
CHAMPION FLOYD PATTERSON.
Man:
I JUST EXPRESSED THE WAY I FEL
ABOUT THE THINGS HE BELIEVED,
AND HE EXPRESSED THE WAY HE FEL
ABOUT THE THINGS I BELIEVED.
I ONLY DID THIS BECAUSE OF, UH,
SOME OF THE DEROGATORY THINGS
HE WAS SAYING ABOUT MY BELIEFS.
HE CALLED ME A WHITE MAN'S
CHAMPION, AND I RESENTED THAT.
Narrator:
A DEVOUT CATHOLIC,
PATTERSON WAS SEEN AS A HUMBLE
AND GRACIOUS FIGHTER.
FOR MANY IN AMERICA, HE WAS
A MORE ACCEPTABLE CHAMPION
THAN THE BOASTFUL MUHAMMAD ALI,
A BLACK MUSLIM.
Ali:
SO I WOULD SAY I'M A BETTER
CHAMPION FOR AMERICA
THAN FLOYD PATTERSON,
AND I AM THE REAL CHAMPION.
I GO ALL THROUGHOU
THE STREETS, EVERYWHERE,
MEETING ALL THE PEOPLE.
I WOULD SAY I'M THE REAL
CHAMPION.
Narrator:
ALI AND PATTERSON TOOK
THEIR FIGHT TO THE RING
IN NOVEMBER 1965.
WELL, IT WAS A GOOD GUY/
BAD GUY SITUATION
WHERE PATTERSON WAS
A WELL-LOVED INDIVIDUAL,
AND HE'S FIGHTING MUHAMMAD ALI.
FLOYD ALWAYS HAD THIS THING
ABOUT SAYING, "CASSIUS,
CASSIUS, CASSIUS," YOU KNOW.
AND IT GETS TO BE
A RUB AFTER A WHILE.
HIS NAME WAS MUHAMMAD ALI.
THE FIGHT WITH PATTERSON MY
KID WAS DOING A NUMBER ON HIM,
SAYING, "WHAT'S MY NAME?" POP!
"WHAT'S MY NAME?" POP!
I FELT SORRY FOR FLOYD
BECAUSE MUHAMMAD
DID A NUMBER ON HIM.
Narrator:
IN 12 ROUNDS,
ALI DEFEATED PATTERSON
AND AGAIN PROVED
HIS RIGHT TO THE TITLE.
HIS NEXT MAJOR FIGHT WOULD
TAKE PLACE OUTSIDE THE RING.
(helicopters, gunfire )
BY DECEMBER 1965, AMERICA
HAD COMMITTED 180,000 TROOPS
TO THE ESCALATING WAR
IN VIETNAM.
(gunfire )
FOUR MONTHS AFTER
HE DEFEATED PATTERSON,
AMERICA'S HEAVYWEIGH
CHAMPION WAS DRAFTED.
ALI REQUESTED DEFERMEN
AS A MINISTER OF ISLAM
AND A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR.
HE ADDED HIS VOICE TO THE SMALL
BUT GROWING OPPOSITION,
BLACK AND WHITE, TO THE WAR.
Ali:
THE REAL ENEMIES OF
MY PEOPLE ARE RIGHT HERE,
NOT IN VIETNAM.
WE WHO FOLLOW THE MOS
HONORABLE ELIJAH MUHAMMAD
TAKE NO PARTS IN WARS.
AS THE HOLY KORAN TEACHES US,
WE TAKE PARTS IN NO WARS
ON THE SIDE OF INFIDELS
OR CHRISTIANS
OR NON-BELIEVERS IN ISLAM;
NO WARS UNLESS IT'S DECLARED BY
ALMIGHTY GOD ALLAH HIMSELF
OR HIS MESSENGERS.
Narrator:
ALI WAS TRAINING FOR
AN UPCOMING FIGHT IN ILLINOIS.
THE STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION
DEMANDED THAT HE APOLOGIZE
FOR REMARKS THEY
CONSIDERED UNPATRIOTIC.
IF HE REFUSED, THE COMMISSION
WOULD CANCEL THE FIGHT.
Man:
WHAT ABOUT YOUR
UNPATRIOTIC REMARKS
THAT YOU MADE?
I APOLOGIZE FOR SAYING
THINGS TO THE NEWSPAPERS
THAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID
TO THE, UH, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
OR TO THE DRAFT BOARD, RATHER,
I MEAN TO SAY.
I APOLOGIZE FOR OPENING MY MOUTH
AND SAYING THINGS
THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
TAKEN UP WITH THEM
AND NOT WITH JUST, UH, NEWSPAPER
WRITERS OVER THE TELEPHONE.
COMMISSIONERS,
DO YOU HAVE
ANY QUESTIONS
TO ASK OF
THE WITNESS?
Man:
MR. CLAY
MUHAMMAD ALI, SIR.
MR. CLAY
MUHAMMAD ALI, SIR.
OR MR. MUHAMMAD ALI,
EITHER ONE.
JUST MUHAMMAD ALI,
SIR.
WHEN YOU APPEARED
BEFORE THIS COMMISSION
Narrator:
THE FIGHT WAS CANCELLED.
ALI'S NEXT FOUR BOUTS TOOK PLACE
OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
WHEN ALI MADE HIS STATEMEN
THAT HE WAS NOT GOING
TO BE A PARTY
TO AN UNJUST WAR
AGAINST THE VIET CONG,
UH, VIETNAM, THE VIET CONG
PEOPLE,
THAT, UH, IT WAS A BACKLASH
FROM THE WHITE COMMUNITY.
SOME OF THEM WOULD CALL HIM
ALL TIMES OF NIGHT,
THREATEN TO BLOW UP HIS HOUSE.
THEY WOULD THROW ROCKS
AT HIS HOUSE.
SOME WOULD EVEN DRIVE BY
IN CARS, HOLLERING AND DRUNK
AND SHOOTING AT HIS PLACE AND
DIFFERENT THINGS LIKE THAT.
WE FEEL LIKE
IF WE SEND A BOY
FROM OWENS COUNTY
AND DRAFT HIM FOR
THE ARMED FORCES,
WE FEEL LIKE WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE
GOOSE IS GOOD FOR THE GANDER.
THEY SHOULD GO.
THE ENTERTAINERS AND THE SO-
CALLED MINISTERS SHOULD GO, TOO.
MR. MUHAMMAD ALI IS
FROM LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.
DID YOU KNOW THAT?
YEP.
HE WAS BORN IN LOUISVILLE,
KENTUCKY.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING
IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, TODAY?
THEY'RE MARCHING
FOR OPEN HOUSING.
THEY'RE MARCHING
FOR OPEN OCCUPANCY.
NOW, HERE'S A BLACK MAN
WHO CAN'T LIVE WHERE HE WANTS
TO LIVE IN KENTUCKY,
AND THE HONKY'S GOING
TO SEND HIM TO VIETNAM
TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM
FOR VIETNAMESE PEOPLE.
(cheers )
WELL, I THINK THAT HE'S HURTING,
I THINK, THE MORALE
OF A LOT OF YOUNG NEGRO
SOLDIERS OVER IN VIETNAM.
AND THE TRAGEDY TO ME IS
THAT CASSIUS HAS MADE
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
OFF OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC,
AND NOW HE'S NOT WILLING
TO SHOW HIS APPRECIATION
TO A COUNTRY THAT IS GIVING HIM,
IN MY VIEW,
A FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY,
HURTS A GREAT NUMBER OF PEOPLE.
Narrator:
ALI'S REQUESTS FOR
DEFERMENT WERE DENIED.
HE WAS ORDERED TO REPOR
TO THE HOUSTON DRAFT BOARD.
REFUSAL TO SERVE COULD
MEAN FIVE YEARS IN PRISON.
WHAT MIGH
THIS DO
TO YOUR
BOXING CAREER?
NO COMMENTS ON THE BOXING
CAREER, NO COMMENTS ON NOTHING.
I JUST FACE THE JUDGE.
AND THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO FACE
IS THE JUDGE.
Jabir Herbert Muhammad:
BEFORE ALI WAS TO APPEAR
BEFORE THE INDUCTION BOARD,
HE CALLED ME THAT MORNING
AS HE DO MOST MORNINGS
OR MOST NIGHTS
AND HE WAS ASKING ME, YOU KNOW,
LIKE, "WHAT DO YOU THINK IS
GOING TO HAPPEN?"
I THINK ALI WAS ALREADY
CONVINCED IN HIS OWN CONSCIENCE
THAT HE WAS GOING TO STAND UP
FOR HIS PRINCIPLES,
BUT HE ALWAYS LIKED TO BOUNCE I
OFF TO ME HOW I FELT ABOUT I
BECAUSE WE ALSO REALIZED
THE REPERCUSSION
THAT THIS COULD HAVE
ABOUT HIS CAREER.
Narrator:
APRIL 28, 1967.
ALI ARRIVED AT THE HOUSTON
INDUCTION CENTER.
APPARENTLY,
YOU STILL HAVE
A LITTLE BIT OF
HUMOR LEFT IN YOU.
AND THE PEOPLE WHO WERE TO BE
INDUCTED THAT DAY CAME IN.
I EXPLAINED TO THEM
THAT AS I CALLED THEIR NAME,
THEY WOULD TAKE A STEP FORWARD
AND THAT STEP FORWARD
WOULD CONSTITUTE
THEIR INDUCTION
IN THE U.S. ARMY.
OKAY, SO THEN I STARTED
DOWN THROUGH THE LIST,
STARTING WITH THE A's.
ARMY ALWAYS STARTS WITH THE A's
AND ENDS WITH THE Z's.
SO I STARTED WITH THE A's.
AND WHEN I GOT DOWN TO THE M's,
MUHAMMAD ALI
I SAID, "MUHAMMAD ALI,"
AND I LOOKED HIM IN THE EYE,
WONDERING IF HE WAS
GOING TO DO IT.
AND HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.
THEN I CALLED, "CASSIUS CLAY,"
AND HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.
BECAUSE WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE
THAT THE NAME WAS CORREC
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MR.
MUHAMMAD ALI HAS JUST REFUSED
TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE UNITED
STATES ARMED FORCES.
NOTIFICATION OF HIS REFUSAL IS
BEING MADE
TO THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY,
THE STATE DIRECTOR OF
THE SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM,
AND THE LOCAL SELECTIVE
SERVICE BOARD
FOR WHATEVER ACTION
DEEMED TO BE APPROPRIATE.
Narrator:
ALI WAS SENTENCED
TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON.
HE APPEALED THE DECISION.
FOR MANY, ALI REMAINED
A POPULAR FIGURE.
BUT HIS STRUGGLE COST HIM
THE HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE.
UNTIL THE COURTS MADE
A DECISION,
HE WAS EFFECTIVELY
BANNED FROM BOXING.
Ali:
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY
TO THOSE OF THE PRESS
AND THOSE OF THE
PEOPLE WHO THINK
THAT I LOST SO MUCH
BY NOT TAKING THE STEP
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY
THAT I DID NOT LOSE A THING.
UP UNTIL THIS VERY MOMENT,
I HAVEN'T LOST ONE THING.
I HAVE GAINED A LOT.
NUMBER ONE
(applause )
NUMBER ONE, I HAVE GAINED
A PEACE OF MIND.
(cheering, applause )
I HAVE GAINED A PEACE OF HEART.
Man:
GIVE THE CHAMP
OUR GOOD WISHES.
Narrator:
IN 1970, THE SUPREME COUR
OVERTURNED ALI'S CONVICTION.
IT WAS AN EXPENSIVE VICTORY.
ALI HAD LOST THREE YEARS
AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS CAREER.
BUT FOUR YEARS LATER,
HE DEFEATED GEORGE FOREMAN
IN ZAIRE.
AT THE AGE OF 32,
ALI WAS ONCE AGAIN
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION
OF THE WORLD.
Man:
BUT HE WAS THE GENUINE PRODUC
OF THE MOMENT.
HE WAS THE BEST EXAMPLE.
HE WAS THE NEGRO KID WHO CAME UP
IN THE BLACK MOMENT,
WHO WAS CASSIUS CLAY
AND THEN BECAME MUHAMMAD ALI,
THAT TOOK ON ALL
OF THE CHARACTERISTICS
AND WAS THE EMBODIMENT OF
THE THRUST OF THE MOVEMENT.
HE WAS COURAGEOUS.
HE PUT HIS CLASS ISSUES
ON THE LINE.
HE DIDN'T CARE ABOUT MONEY.
HE DIDN'T CARE ABOU
THE "WHITE MAN'S SUCCESS"
AND THE THINGS
THAT YOU ASPIRE TO.
HE BROUGHT AMERICA
TO ITS MOST WONDERFUL
AND ITS MOST NAKED MOMENT.
"I WILL NOT PLAY YOUR GAME.
"I WILL NOT KILL IN YOUR BEHALF.
"YOU ARE IMMORAL, UNJUST, AND
I STAND HERE TO ATTEST TO IT.
NOW DO WITH ME WHAT YOU WILL."
AND HE WAS TERRIBLY,
TERRIBLY POWERFUL AND DELICIOUS
AND HE MADE IT, HE MADE IT.
Narrator:
MUHAMMAD ALI HAD FORCED AMERICA
TO RECOGNIZE HIM
ON HIS OWN TERMS.
IN THE MID-1960s,
BLACK STUDENTS DEMANDED
THAT SAME RECOGNITION
FROM HOWARD UNIVERSITY
IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
HOWARD WAS A PRESTIGIOUS
BLACK INSTITUTION
THAT HAD PROVIDED LEADERSHIP
FOR THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
Man:
THE WHOLE ATTITUDE OF THE CIVIL
RIGHTS MOVEMEN
WAS SHIFTING, AND HOWARD WASN'
SHIFTING WITH IT.
THE ATTITUDE WAS THAT, UH
ONE OF INTEGRATION,
OF ASSIMILATION,
AND THE WHOLE MOVEMEN
WAS BEGINNING TO SHIF
TOWARDS ONE OF SELF-IDENTITY
AND SELF-EMPOWERMEN
AND HOWARD WAS RESISTING THA
AS OPPOSED TO CARRYING
THAT FORWARD.
YOU'VE GOT TO CONFORM TO
THE SOCIETY IN WHICH YOU LIVE.
YOU'VE GOT TO LIVE WITHIN I
OR OUTSIDE OF IT.
YOU CAN'T STRADDLE THE FENCE.
NOW, ARE YOU GOING TO LIVE
OUTSIDE OF THE AMERICAN CULTURE
OR ARE YOU GOING
TO LIVE WITHIN IT?
AS LONG AS YOU STAY IN AMERICA,
YOU'VE GOT TO CONFORM.
WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO?
(violin music )
Narrator:
FOR NEARLY A CENTURY, HOWARD
GRADUATES HAD BEEN TRAINED
TO COMPETE WITH THEIR WHITE
COUNTERPARTS ON EVERY LEVEL
EDUCATIONAL, CULTURAL, SOCIAL.
BY THE 1960s, HALF THE
NATION'S BLACK PHYSICIANS
AND A FOURTH OF ITS BLACK
LAWYERS WERE HOWARD GRADUATES.
KNOWN AS "THE BLACK HARVARD,"
HOWARD MIRRORED WHITE SCHOOLS IN
MANY WAYS, INCLUDING CURRICULUM.
FEW COURSES FOCUSED
ON BLACK HISTORY OR CULTURE.
(marching band music )
HOWARD'S ANNUAL HOMECOMING
CELEBRATION, OCTOBER 1966.
FOUR MONTHS EARLIER,
BLACK POWER HAD BECOME
A RALLYING CRY
FOR MANY IN THE
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
AT HOWARD, FIVE WOMEN RAN
FOR HOMECOMING QUEEN.
AMONG THEM WAS ROBIN GREGORY.
Woman:
SHE HAD AN AFRO,
WHICH, OF COURSE,
WAS THE STATEMEN
THAT SHE MADE PHYSICALLY.
AND ROBIN TALKED
ABOUT THE MOVEMENT.
ROBIN TALKED ABOU
BLACK POLITICS.
ROBIN WAS NOT THE TRADITIONAL
HOMECOMING QUEEN CANDIDATE.
I FELT IT WAS REAL IMPORTAN
AT THAT TIME, YOU KNOW,
BECAUSE THE BLACK POWER
MOVEMENT WAS NEW,
THAT WE, AS A PEOPLE, BEGIN TO
ACCEPT OURSELVES, YOU KNOW,
JUST AS WHO WE WERE, BECAUSE
OVER THE YEARS, I MEAN,
THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS
AMOUNT OF SHAME, YOU KNOW.
WE WERE MADE TO FEEL
UGLY, ESSENTIALLY,
BY MEDIA IMAGES AND THINGS
THAT PEOPLE TOLD US
AND WE DID EVERYTHING
THAT WE COULD
SO THAT WE WOULDN'T LOOK
LIKE WHO WE ARE,
WHICH WAS, YOU KNOW,
DESCENDANTS OF AFRICAN PEOPLE.
Narrator:
THE CAMPAIGN LASTED TWO WEEKS.
ON ELECTION NIGHT,
THE AUDITORIUM WAS PACKED.
Giddings:
I REMEMBER VERY MUCH THE EVENING
WHEN THE HOMECOMING
QUEEN WAS CROWNED.
THE LIGHTS WENT DOWN.
THE CANDIDATES WENT BACK.
THEN YOU HEARD
THE CURTAINS OPEN,
AND YOU HEARD THE CRANK OF
THE REVOLVING STAGE BEGIN.
AND AS THE STAGE REVOLVED
AND TURNED AROUND
TOWARD THE AUDIENCE,
THE LIGHTS BEGAN TO COME UP
AT THE SAME TIME.
WELL, BEFORE YOU SAW ROBIN,
YOU SAW THE WAY THE LIGHTS CAS
A SILHOUETTE ON THE CURTAINS
AND YOU SAW THE SILHOUETTE
OF HER AFRO BEFORE YOU SAW HER.
WELL, THE AUDITORIUM EXPLODED,
AND EVERYBODY EXPLODED.
IT WAS A WONDERFUL MOMENT.
PEOPLE STARTED JUMPING UP
AND SCREAMING
AND SOME WERE RAISING
THEIR FISTS.
THEN, SPONTANEOUSLY,
A CHANT BEGAN.
THE CHANT WAS, "UMGAWA, BLACK
POWER, UMGAWA, BLACK POWER."
AND A CHAIN WAS CREATED.
PEOPLE STARTED TO MARCH TO IT,
TO THE RHYTHM
OF "UMGAWA, BLACK POWER,"
AND THERE WAS A LINE
THAT WENT ALL THE WAY
AROUND THE AUDITORIUM.
AND MORE AND MORE PEOPLE
JOINED THE LINE.
I DID, TOO, AS IT WENT AROUND
THE AUDITORIUM
AND FINALLY OUT THE DOOR
AND INTO THE STREETS
OF WASHINGTON, D.C.,
PAST THE CAMPUS AND STILL
CHANTING, "UMGAWA, BLACK POWER."
AND THAT WAS REALLY
THE LAUNCHING
OF THAT MOVEMENT AT HOWARD.
Narrator:
THE MOVEMENT GREW.
IN APRIL 1967,
A STUDENT BLACK POWER GROUP
INVITED MUHAMMAD ALI
TO SPEAK AT HOWARD.
Ali:
SEE, WE HAVE BEEN BRAINWASHED.
EVERYTHING GOOD AND OF
AUTHORITY WAS MADE WHITE.
WE LOOK AT JESUS, WE SEE A WHITE
WITH BLOND HAIR AND BLUE EYES.
WE LOOK AT ALL THE ANGELS,
WE SEE WHITE WITH BLOND HAIR
AND BLUE EYES.
NOW, I'M SURE IF THERE'S
A HEAVEN IN THE SKY
AND THE COLORED FOLKS DIE
AND GO TO HEAVEN,
WHERE ARE THE COLORED ANGELS?
THEY MUST BE IN THE KITCHEN
PREPARING THE MILK AND HONEY.
(laughing, cheers )
WE LOOK AT MISS AMERICA,
WE SEE WHITE.
WE LOOK AT MISS WORLD,
WE SEE WHITE.
WE LOOK AT MISS UNIVERSE,
WE SEE WHITE.
EVEN TARZAN, THE KING OF
THE JUNGLE IN BLACK AFRICA,
HE'S WHITE!
(applause and cheers )
Narrator:
OVER THE NEXT THREE SEMESTERS,
STUDENTS AND SOME FACULTY
PUSHED HOWARD
TO PROCLAIM ITSELF
A BLACK INSTITUTION.
THEY DEMANDED MORE COURSES
IN BLACK CULTURE AND HISTORY.
THEY DEMONSTRATED AGAINS
MILITARY TRAINING ON CAMPUS.
A PROTEST AGAINS
THE WAR IN VIETNAM
LED STUDENT GOVERNMENT LEADERS
TO DENOUNCE FELLOW STUDENTS.
IT HAS BEEN APPARENT THA
THROUGHOUT THE YEAR,
CERTAIN ELEMENTS HAVE ATTEMPTED
TO TRANSFORM HOWARD UNIVERSITY
INTO A HAVEN OF BLACK POWER AND
A CENTER OF RACE CONTROVERSY.
WHILE WE RECOGNIZE THE NEED
FOR NEGROES TO ORGANIZE
POLITICALLY AND SOCIALLY
AND MANY OF US HERE HAVE LED
VITAL DEMONSTRATIONS
FOR THE PEOPLE,
ANY TENDENCY TO DISRUP
THE NORMAL PROCESSES
OF THIS UNIVERSITY
AND ACCEPTED STANDARDS
OF SOCIETY
CANNOT BE CONDONED.
AS A STUDENT LEADER,
YOU FELT LIKE YOU WERE BEING
PULLED APART,
PULLED IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS
BY WHAT YOU THOUGHT THE RIGH
WAY TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM WAS
AS OPPOSED TO WHAT THE POPULAR
OPINIONS ON CAMPUS
HAPPEN TO REFLECT:
A MUCH MORE MILITANT ATTITUDE
ON THE PART OF SOME STUDENTS
IN DEALING WITH
THE ADMINISTRATION;
TECHNIQUES AND TACTICS
THAT WERE DIRECTLY COMING
FROM THE BROADER CIVIL RIGHTS
STRUGGLE OFF THE CAMPUS,
AND YOU HAD TO FEEL
LIKE THIS WAS NOT NECESSARILY
GOING TO WORK
ON A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS.
Bob Dylan:
COME, SENATORS, CONGRESSMEN,
PLEASE HEED THE CALL ♪
DON'T STAND IN THE DOORWAY,
DON'T BLOCK UP THE HALL ♪
Narrator:
THROUGHOUT AMERICA,
STUDENTS WERE CONFRONTING
THE NATION'S INACTION
ON CIVIL RIGHTS
AND ITS INVOLVEMEN
IN THE VIETNAM WAR.
AS PROTEST ESCALATED,
SO DID CONFLIC
BETWEEN STUDENTS AND POLICE.
DURING A CIVIL RIGHTS PROTES
IN FEBRUARY 1968,
THREE UNARMED BLACK STUDENTS
WERE SHOT AND KILLED BY POLICE
IN ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA.
THEN WHAT WE WERE DOING
AT HOWARD AND THE DANGERS THERE
SEEMED MINIMAL COMPARED
TO WHAT OTHER PEOPLE
WERE WILLING TO FACE FOR
THE SAME KIND OF REASONS.
Narrator:
STUDENTS AT HOWARD MOVED
WITH A NEW URGENCY.
THEY ISSUED A MANIFESTO.
IT DEMANDED THAT HOWARD MOVE
TOWARD THE STUDENTS' VISION
OF A BLACK INSTITUTION.
THE STUDENTS SET A DEADLINE FOR
THE ADMINISTRATION'S RESPONSE.
OH, THE TIMES,
THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'. ♪
Black:
IT WAS ALMOST UNHEARD OF
IN THOSE DAYS
TO PLACE DEMANDS
ON ADMINISTRATORS,
BUT YET PEOPLE DEMANDED THE
RESIGNATION OF THE PRESIDEN
AND THE DEAN OF LIBERAL ARTS
AND THE VICE PRESIDEN
OF THE UNIVERSITY.
MANY OF THE ELECTED STUDEN
GOVERNMENT LEADERS
WOULD HAVE GONE THAT FAR.
Narrator:
IN MARCH 1968,
PROTESTERS WENT FARTHER.
WHEN THE UNIVERSITY FAILED
TO RESPOND TO THE MANIFESTO,
1,200 STUDENTS TOOK OVER
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING.
(chanting):
UMGAWA, BLACK POWER.
BEEP, BEEP, BANG, BANG,
UMGAWA, BLACK POWER.
BEEP, BEEP, BANG, BANG,
UMGAWA, BLACK POWER.
BEEP, BEEP, BANG, BANG,
UMGAWA, BLACK POWER.
BEEP, BEEP, BANG, BANG,
UMGAWA, BLACK POWER.
BEEP, BEEP, BANG, BANG,
UMGAWA, BLACK POWER.
Woman:
THIS IS A PRESS RELEASE
ISSUED BY THE STUDENTS
WHO ARE STAGING THE SIT-IN
IN THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING.
IF HOWARD UNIVERSITY PERSUADES
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMEN
TO SERVE AN INJUNCTION
AGAINST US,
MANY OF US WILL STAY IN
THE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING
AND BE ARRESTED.
Man:
CAN'T HEAR YOU.
I'M SORRY, BROTHER.
WE FEEL THAT THE ADMINISTRATION
MUST GIVE SOME PUBLIC INDICATION
THAT THEY WILL MOVE
TO ESTABLISH DEMOCRACY
AND A BLACK-ORIENTED CURRICULUM
BEFORE WE CAN
DISCONTINUE OUR PROTEST.
OUR POSITION IS LEGITIMATE,
AND WE MUST CONTINUE TO PUSH
FOR ALL OF OUR DEMANDS.
SPECIFICALLY, THE BLACK ISSUE
WAS THAT HOWARD SHOULD EXIS
FOR THE BENEFI
OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY;
THAT IT OUGHT TO BE INVOLVED
IN ECONOMIC CHANGE
AND POLITICAL CHANGE;
THAT IT HAD A MISSION, LET'S
SAY, OR A PURPOSE, A GOAL
THAT DIDN'T ALLOW I
JUST TO BE A PLACE
WHERE YOU CAME AND GO
A LIBERAL EDUCATION
AND BECAME A MEMBER
OF THE MIDDLE CLASS
AND WENT ON WITH
NO CONSCIOUSNESS.
IT WAS, FOR ALL PRACTICAL
PURPOSES, A BLACK UNIVERSITY.
I DON'T KNOW HOW IT COULD HAVE
BEEN MORE BLACK,
AND I'M NOT SURE WHA
THEY WERE TRYING TO SAY.
BUT HOWARD PROVIDED
A MAINSTREAM EDUCATION
WHICH PREPARED PEOPLE TO BE
COMPETITIVE IN EVERY FIELD.
I DON'T RECOGNIZE,
AND I DON'T THINK
THE WORLD RECOGNIZES,
THAT THERE IS ANY BLACK PHYSICS.
THERE'S NO BLACK ENGINEERING,
THERE'S NO BLACK MEDICINE.
SO THAT THE MISSION
OF THE UNIVERSITY
WAS TO TRAIN STUDENTS TO BE
COMPETITIVE AND COMPETEN
IN WHATEVER FIELD.
Man:
WHY ARE WE OUT HERE?
THIS BUILDING IS JUS
LIKE WASHINGTON, D.C
Narrator:
NEWS OF THE TAKEOVER SPREAD
THROUGHOUT WASHINGTON.
ON CAPITOL HILL, LEGISLATORS
REMINDED THE PRESS
THAT CONGRESS WAS RESPONSIBLE
FOR MORE THAN HALF OF
HOWARD'S ANNUAL FUNDING.
Man:
I AM SHOCKED AND DISMAYED
BY THE SITUATION
THAT HAS DEVELOPED
AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY
HERE IN THE NATION'S CAPITOL.
I BELIEVE THAT CITIZENS
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY
WHO BELIEVE IN
DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES,
WHO CHERISH AN ORDERLY SOCIETY
AND WHO, WITH THE TAX DOLLARS
WHICH THEY PAY,
SUPPORT THIS NATION'S
INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING,
WILL BE OUTRAGED BY THE FAC
THAT IT HAS BECOME NECESSARY,
TEMPORARILY AT LEAST,
TO CLOSE THIS INSTITUTION
BECAUSE OF A STUDENT UPRISING
THAT CAN ONLY BE
DESCRIBED AS ANARCHY.
Narrator:
THE FOLLOWING DAY,
STUDENT LEADERS TELEPHONED
MEMBERS OF HOWARD'S
BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
Man:
I WAS PRIMARILY CONCERNED
WITH PROTECTING THE STUDENTS
AND THE UNIVERSITY
FROM CHAOS AND VIOLENCE.
THEY WERE ORGANIZED,
AND THEY HAD TAKEN OVER
A COUPLE OF THE BUILDINGS
AND THEY SEEMED QUITE
PERSISTENT AND INSISTENT.
AND A FEW OF US
ON THE BOARD FEL
THAT IF WE DIDN'T ESTABLISH
SOME COMMUNICATION WITH THEM
THAT THINGS WOULD GET WORSE
AND WORSE AND WORSE.
WE WANT TO MAKE
HOWARD UNIVERSITY
A UNIVERSITY WHICH IS QUITE
RELEVANT TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY.
WE WANT HOWARD NOT SHUT OFF
FROM GEORGIA AVENUE
AND 14TH STREET.
WE WANT HOWARD UNIVERSITY
TO STAND
AS A PINNACLE OF BLACK AMERICA
AS FAR AS EDUCATION
IS CONCERNED.
YOU KNOW, WE'RE TALKING
ABOUT HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
WE'RE TALKING
ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE
BLACK PEOPLE ASKING FOR FREEDOM
AND MORE RIGHTS.
WE DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS
AT WHITE UNIVERSITIES.
Reporter:
REALISTICALLY,
REALISTICALLY,
HOW LONG CAN YOU SI
IN THIS BUILDING?
INDEFINITELY.
REALISTICALLY,
WE'RE GOING TO
STAY HERE
UNTIL, YOU KNOW,
WE GET WHAT WE
WANT.
AT SOME POINT, THE UNIVERSITY
TRUSTEES AND ADMINISTRATION,
THEY WANTED TO NEGOTIATE.
THEY WANTED TO SI
AND TALK WITH US
TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON.
AND SO WE PUT TOGETHER
A NEGOTIATING TEAM,
AND THE TEAM WAS HEADED
BY ADRIENNE MANNS.
AND SO WE WERE GOING BACK
AND FORTH, BACK AND FORTH
ON A LOT OF ISSUES.
AND IT CAME DOWN TO TWO
THAT WERE A PROBLEM.
FIRST WAS NABRIT'S RESIGNATION.
AND THE TRUSTEES TOLD US THAT HE
PLANNED TO RETIRE THE NEXT YEAR
SO THAT THEY FELT THERE WAS
NO NEED TO ASK HIM TO RESIGN.
AND SECONDLY, WAS ON THE MATTER
OF "BLACK," THE WORD "BLACK."
WE WANTED HOWARD
TO MAKE A STATEMEN
ABOUT ITS COMMITMEN
TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY,
TO THE WELFARE
OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY.
AND THE TRUSTEES SAID,
NO, THEY COULDN'T DO THAT.
Narrator:
THE TAKEOVER HAD ENTERED
ITS THIRD DAY.
STUDENTS EXPECTED TO BE EVICTED
BY THE WASHINGTON, D.C., POLICE,
A FORCE THAT WAS
PREDOMINANTLY WHITE.
DESPITE THE BRAVADO, MANY FEARED
POLICE ACTION ON CAMPUS.
TELL THE D.C. COPS THA
WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED ♪
TELL THE D.C. COPS
THAT WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED ♪
JUST LIKE THE TREE THAT'S
STANDING BY THE WATER ♪
Clark:
I FELT STRONGLY
THAT WE SHOULD DO
EVERYTHING WITHIN OUR POWER
TO KEEP POLICE FROM COMING
INTO THIS CONFLIC
OR COMING ON CAMPUS,
BECAUSE I HAD IMAGES OF POLICE
USING THEIR NIGHTSTICKS
AND THEIR BLUDGEONS,
AND WORSE, REALLY.
I HAD BEEN IN OCTOBER '67
AT THE PENTAGON
FOR THE BIG PEACE MARCH.
AND I'D SEEN HOW THEY HAD BEA
THOSE PEOPLE AT THE PENTAGON.
YOU KNOW, YOUNG WHITE PEOPLE.
AND I SAID, IF THEY'LL
DO THAT TO THEM,
Narrator:
BY THE FOURTH DAY, TRUSTEES WERE
READY TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION.
AGAINST THE STUDENTS.
CLARK PLEADED WITH THE STUDENTS
TO END THEIR PROTEST.
HE TOLD THEM THE TRUSTEES
WOULD NOT ACCEP
THE STUDENTS' DEFINITION
OF A BLACK UNIVERSITY,
BUT THEY WOULD GIVE STUDENTS
A GREATER VOICE
IN DEVELOPING THE CURRICULUM.
WE TALKED ABOUT IT THAT NIGHT,
AND THAT MORNING WE GOT UP
AND WE WENT DOWN,
AND WE SAID, YOU KNOW,
"IT'S TIME FOR US TO GO."
AND WE GAVE OUR REASONS
WHY WE SHOULD GO.
AND WE ASKED ALL THE PRESS
TO LEAVE WHO WERE THERE.
AND WE HAD OPEN MIKE
SO A STUDENT CAN COME UP
AND THEY COULD SAY WHETHER
THEY WERE FOR IT,
WHETHER THEY WERE AGAINST IT,
WHATEVER THE REASON.
THAT WENT ON
FOR ABOUT AN HOUR,
AN HOUR AND A HALF, TWO HOURS.
WE TOOK A VOICE VOTE,
AND THE AGREEMENT WAS
THAT WE SHOULD GO.
Man:
MR. BROWN, WOULD
YOU CALL HOWARD
A BLACK
UNIVERSITY NOW?
NO, HOWARD IS NO
A BLACK UNIVERSITY NOW.
Man:
IS THERE A POSSIBILITY
THAT IT WILL BE?
WE ARE WORKING
TOWARDS THAT END.
BUT WE HAVE MADE A MAJOR
MOVE, IN OUR PROTEST HERE,
TO MOVE HOWARD TOWARDS
BECOMING A BLACK UNIVERSITY.
HOWARD IS WELL ON ITS WAY
TOWARDS BECOMING
A BLACK UNIVERSITY
THE TYPE OF BLACK
UNIVERSITY WE WANT TO SEE.
IF WE DIDN'T BELIEVE THAT,
WE WOULD NOT HAVE COME
OUT OF THAT BUILDING.
WE ARE CONCERNED
FIRST WITH THESE YOUNG PEOPLE,
THE STUDENTS OF HOWARD
UNIVERSITY, AS HUMAN BEINGS,
AND WE ARE IDENTIFIED WITH THEM
AS HUMAN BEINGS.
Narrator:
THE STUDENTS ENDED
THEIR TAKEOVER.
IT HAD LASTED FIVE DAYS.
POLICE HAD NOT INTERVENED.
THE FOLLOWING SEMESTER,
HOWARD UNIVERSITY SPONSORED
A NATIONAL CONFERENCE CALLED
"TOWARD A BLACK UNIVERSITY."
IT ENERGIZED A GROWING
BLACK STUDIES MOVEMEN
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
(singing to the tune of
"Study War No More" )
DOWN BY THE HONKY'S STORE ♪
DOWN BY THE HONKY'S STORE ♪
DOWN BY THE HONKY'S STORE ♪
GONNA LAY DOWN
MY SHUFFLING SHOES ♪
DOWN BY THE HONKY'S STORE ♪
AND I AIN'T GONNA
SHUFFLE NO MORE ♪
I AIN'T GONNA
SHUFFLE NO MORE ♪
I AIN'T GONNA
SHUFFLE NO MORE. ♪
"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND
THE LIFE, SAITH THE LORD.
"HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME
"THOUGH HE WERE DEAD,
YET SHALL HE LIVE,
AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH"
Narrator:
TWELVE DAYS AFTER
THE TAKE-OVER AT HOWARD,
MARTIN LUTHER KING
WAS ASSASSINATED.
ANGER TORE THROUGH
AMERICAN CITIES.
IT WAS THE NATION'S
FIFTH YEAR OF CIVIL UNREST.
Crowd:
WE WANT NIXON!
Narrator:
IN NOVEMBER OF 1968,
REPUBLICAN RICHARD M. NIXON
WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT.
HIS CAMPAIGN HAD CALLED
FOR LAW AND ORDER.
Nixon:
WE'VE BEEN PUTTING OU
BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
FOR PROGRAMS FOR FEDERAL JOBS
AND FEDERAL HOUSING
AND FEDERAL WELFARE,
AND I'LL TELL YOU
WHAT WE'VE REAPED.
WE'VE REAPED A HARVEST OF RIO
AND FRUSTRATION AND FAILURE.
AND NOW THEY WANT TO PU
BILLIONS MORE
INTO THE SAME PROGRAMS,
AND I SAY NO.
MY FRIENDS, I SAY
WHEN YOU'RE ON A WRONG ROAD,
YOU GET OFF OF I
AND YOU TAKE A NEW ROAD.
MANY OF US HAD EXPERIENCED
GREAT EXPECTATIONS AND HOPE
DURING THE GREAT SOCIETY
AND PROGRAMS OF THE '60s
AND CIVIL RIGHTS AND SO FORTH.
WE SAW NIXON'S ELECTION
AS TAKING AWAY THOSE GAINS.
WE SAW THE SYSTEM MOVING
AWAY FROM A COMMITMEN
TO PEOPLE AND HUNGER AND HOUSING
AND POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT.
Narrator:
THE NIXON YEARS SAW A RISE
IN GOVERNMENT REPRESSION
OF BLACK ACTIVISTS AT THE
NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS.
FOR EXAMPLE, I WAS PUT IN JAIL
ONE NIGH
BECAUSE MY SIGNAL
LIGHT DIDN'T WORK.
ANOTHER TIME I WAS PUT IN JAIL
BECAUSE THE REGISTRATION
OF MY CAR
WAS NOT IN MY GLOVE COMPARTMEN
BUT IN THE TRUNK,
IN MY BRIEFCASE
AND THEY WOULDN'T ALLOW ME
TO GET MY BRIEFCASE OU
OF THE TRUNK.
BUT WHAT IT PREVENTED ME
FROM DOING
WAS HAVING A RALLY THAT NIGHT.
IT PREVENTED ME FROM ORGANIZING.
WHOA, WHAT CAN IT BE?
WHAT CAN IT BE, WHOA WHOA
BE, WHAT CAN IT BE?
OH, THAT'S HOLDING ME,
WHAT CAN IT BE THAT'S
HOLDING, HOLDING ME,
HOLDING ME FROM FROM FROM
GETTING FREE?
WHOA WHOA WHOA DO YOU,
DO YOU, DO YOU KNOW?
Narrator:
NEW VISIONS WERE EMERGING.
BLACK NATIONALISTS LIKE POE
IMAMU AMIRI BARAKA
CALLED FOR A BLACK UNITY
BASED ON COMMON CONCERNS
AND A SHARED AFRICAN HERITAGE.
ALL THEM BIG BLACK BAD BAD ME'S
NEED, NEED, NEED TO HOOK UP,
HOOK-HOOK-HOOK UP,
INTO A BAD BLACK WE,
A BAD, BAD, A BLACK,
BLACK BLACK WE,
YEAH A BAD WE, YEAH, YEAH,
A BAD BAD WE, SEE?
YEAH, WE, A WE, A BAD, BAD
BLACK DEVIL JAMMING WE, YEAH.
Narrator:
MARCH 10, 1972.
BLACK NATIONALISTS AND ELECTED
OFFICIALS, OFTEN AT ODDS,
PUT ASIDE THEIR DIFFERENCES
TO HOLD A NATIONAL BLACK
POLITICAL CONVENTION.
IT TOOK PLACE IN GARY, INDIANA,
A CITY RUN BY A BLACK MAYOR.
Chavis:
I REMEMBER WHEN WE
FIRST SAW THE SIGN
SAYING "WELCOME TO GARY"
AND WE GOT DOWNTOWN GARY,
I MEAN, WE THOUGHT WE WERE
IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY.
I MEAN, TO SEE A CITY
IN THE UNITED STATES,
GIVEN THE BACKDROP, NOW, OF ALL
THIS NIXON REPRESSION GOING ON
A SENSE OF DISILLUSIONMEN
IN SOME QUARTERS OF THE NATION,
TO DRIVE INTO GARY, INDIANA,
AND SEE STREAMERS,
RED, BLACK AND GREEN,
AND "WELCOME, NATIONAL BLACK
POLITICAL CONVENTION."
I MEAN, IT WAS A FULFILLMENT OF
WHAT A LOT OF OUR DREAMS WERE.
Narrator:
8,000 PEOPLE ARRIVED IN GARY.
NEARLY HALF WERE DELEGATES
REPRESENTING OVER 45 STATES.
THEIR GOAL: TO DEVELOP
A NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA
THAT WOULD SET PRIORITIES
FOR BLACK AMERICA.
BUT NOT EVERY BLACK
ORGANIZATION WAS REPRESENTED.
Woman:
ONE OF OUR N.A.A.C.P. LEADERS
CAME TO THE CONVENTION
AND HE OPPOSED
TO OUR BEING THERE,
AND HE WAS SAYING THAT WE
WERE SEPARATING OURSELVES.
BUT WE DIDN'T SEE IT THAT WAY.
THERE WAS A SENSE OF ALIENATION
FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
DEMOCRATS TAKING US FOR GRANTED,
REPUBLICANS WRITING US OFF
AND THE AGENDA ITEMS FOR
JOBS AND PEACE AND JUSTICE
WOULD NO LONGER BE
AN AFTERTHOUGH
FOR SOME OTHER PARTY
OR SOME OTHER PERSON.
THERE WAS A SENSE THAT WE HAD
TO ASSERT THIS NEW DYNAMIC.
Narrator:
EXPECTATIONS WERE HIGH
ON SATURDAY
AS MAYOR RICHARD HATCHER
OPENED THE CONVENTION.
Man:
IT WAS PROBABLY
ONE OF THE MOST GLORIOUS
MOMENTS OF MY LIFE
WHEN I WALKED OUT AND SAW
ALL OF THESE BLACK PEOPLE
OF EVERY COLOR,
EVERY HUE, EVERY SHADE;
THE COLORFUL DASHIKIS
AND OTHER AFRICAN GARB
THAT SOME OF THEM WORE
MIXING WITH THREE-PIECE
SUITS, AND SO FORTH.
IT WAS JUST AN INCREDIBLE
SIGHT TO BEHOLD.
I BELIEVE THAT THE '70s
WILL BE THE DECADE
OF AN INDEPENDEN
BLACK POLITICAL THRUST.
ITS DESTINY WILL DEPEND UPON US
HERE AT GARY THIS AFTERNOON.
HOW SHALL WE RESPOND?
WILL WE WALK IN UNITY
OR DISPERSE IN A THOUSAND
DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS?
WILL WE STAND FOR PRINCIPLE OR
SETTLE FOR A MESS OF POTAGE?
WILL WE MAINTAIN OUR INTEGRITY
OR WILL WE SUCCUMB TO
"THE MAN'S" TEMPTATION?
WILL WE ACT LIKE FREE BLACK MEN
OR LIKE TIMID,
SHIVERING CHATTELS?
WILL WE DO WHAT MUST BE DONE?
THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS
CONFRONTING THIS CONVENTION,
AND WE YOU AND I ARE THE
ONLY ONES THAT CAN ANSWER THEM
AND HISTORY WILL BE THE JUDGE.
THANK YOU.
Jesse Jackson:
WE ARE PREGNANT!
WE ARE READY FOR CHANGE.
AND WHETHER A DOCTOR IS THERE
OR NOT, THE WATER HAS BROKE.
THE BLOOD HAS SPILLED.
A NEW BLACK BABY
IS GONNA BE BORN!
WE KNOW WHO OUR PARENTS ARE.
THEIR BABY HAS NOW BEEN BORN.
WE ARE GROWN WE AIN'
TAKIN' IT NO MORE.
NO MORE "YESSIR, BOSS,"
NO MORE BOWING AND SCRAPING.
WE ARE 25 MILLION STRONG.
CUT US IN OR CUT IT OUT.
IT IS A NEW BALL GAME!
Narrator:
THE CROWD BEGAN CALLING
FOR "NATIONTIME."
Jackson:
WHAT TIME IS IT?
WHEN WE COME TOGETHER,
WHAT TIME IS IT?
Delegates:
NATIONTIME!
WHEN WE RESPECT EACH OTHER,
WHAT TIME IS IT?
Delegates:
NATIONTIME!
WHEN WE GET OUR SELF-CONFIDENCE,
WHAT TIME IS IT?
WHEN WE FORM OUR OWN POLITICAL
PARTY, WHAT TIME IS IT?
Delegates:
NATIONTIME!
(cheering )
Jackson:
I HAD DRAWN MUCH OF
THE STRENGTH OF NATIONTIME
FROM A POEM WRITTEN
BY LEROI JONES,
AMIRI BARAKA AT THAT TIME.
THE SENSE OF PEOPLE SAYING,
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
SAYING, NOTHING'S
HAPPENING, MAN.
SAYING, WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING?
IT'S NATIONTIME,
IT'S TIME TO COME TOGETHER.
IT'S TIME TO ORGANIZE
POLITICALLY.
IT'S TIME FOR PARTNERSHIP.
IT WAS AN ENORMOUSLY EXCITING
EXPERIMENT AND AN IDEA.
COULD WE COME TOGETHER,
THIS DIVERSE GROUP?
AND IN THE ABSENCE OF THE GLUE
THAT HELD IT TOGETHER
PREVIOUSLY
MEANING DR. KING,
MEANING MALCOLM X
IN THE ABSENCE OF THOSE LEADERS,
AND PARTICULARLY DR. KING,
WHAT WOULD EMERGE OUT OF THIS?
COULD THERE BE A CONSENSUS?
Narrator:
THE CONVENTION'S THEME WAS
UNITY WITHOUT UNIFORMITY.
BUT AGREEMENT ON A SINGLE BLACK
AGENDA WOULD BE DIFFICULT.
Man:
CHAIR RECOGNIZES
A GENTLEMAN FROM OHIO,
MR. McLYNN.
Mr. McLynn:
MR. SPEAKER, I MOVE THA
NOMINATIONS BE CLOSED.
Crowd:
NO!
Narrator:
CONGRESSMAN CHARLES DIGGS
ATTEMPTED
TO CLOSE NOMINATIONS
FOR CONVENOR.
BUT MANY DELEGATES
HAD BEEN SHUT OU
OF OTHER POLITICAL CONVENTIONS.
THEY WERE DETERMINED
TO BE HEARD AT GARY.
Diggs:
ALL THOSE IN FAVOR OF
CLOSING THE NOMINATIONS
SIGNIFY BY SAYING "AYE."
Crowd:
NO!
OPPOSED "NAY".
Crowd:
NAY!!
Diggs:
IN THE OPINION OF THE CHAIR,
THE AYES HAVE IT.
(crowd yells "NO!" )
Chavis:
AND UNFORTUNATELY,
DIGGS MISREAD THE CROWD.
BECAUSE WHEN HE SAID,
"THE CHAIR RULES
THAT THE NOMINATIONS
ARE CLOSED"
HEY, PANDEMONIUM BROKE OUT.
WE WANTED AN OPEN CONVENTION,
NOT A REPRESSED CONVENTION,
AND SO DIGGS, YOU KNOW, GO
HIMSELF IN SOME HOT WATER.
AND IT TOOK AMIRI BARAKA,
IMAMU BARAKA,
TO COME WITH HIS VERSION
OF AFRICAN CONSENSUS.
I REMEMBER BARAKA'S STATEMENT.
HE SAID, "NOW,
SISTERS AND BROTHERS,
"WE MUST USE SOME
SCIENTIFIC PROCESS
"TO BRING THIS
GATHERING TOGETHER
SO THAT WE CAN ACHIEVE
OUR OBJECTIVES."
BUT IT WAS THE WAY
THAT BARAKA SAID IT.
HE DIDN'T SAY IT ARROGANTLY.
HE SAID IT CARINGLY.
I WASN'T AN ELECTED OFFICIAL.
I WASN'T A MAYOR, OR
I WASN'T A CONGRESSMAN,
BUT I WAS A BLACK NATIONALIST.
I WAS AN ACTIVIST.
AND I THOUGHT A LOT OF THOSE
PEOPLE HAD COME TO GARY
BECAUSE OF OUR ORGANIZING,
OUR PLEADING WITH PEOPLE
TO COME AND BE PART OF A WHOLE
BLACK POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT.
AND I THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTAN
THAT THE THING NOT FLY APART.
CAN WE DO THAT?
CALIFORNIA, WILL
YOU ACCEPT THAT?
CAN WE MOVE BY
GENERAL ACCLAMATION
TO ACCEPT THAT AND ADD
THAT TO OUR RESOLUTION?
ALL RIGHT.
Narrator:
WITH BARAKA PRESIDING, INTENSE
DEBATE BEGAN ON THE AGENDA.
Hatcher:
IT WAS A WONDERFUL AGENDA.
IT ADDRESSED THE ISSUE
OF POLITICAL PARITY,
BUT WE ALSO TALKED
ABOUT ECONOMIC PARITY
AND THE NEED TO ESTABLISH
ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS.
MANY OF THE DISCUSSIONS
THAT ARE ONGOING TODAY
WERE OCCURRING AT THAT MEETING.
UNEMPLOYMENT
THE DISPROPORTIONATE LEVEL
OF UNEMPLOYMENT AMONG BLACKS;
THE DISPROPORTIONATE LEVEL
OF POVERTY AMONG BLACKS
AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT,
WHAT KINDS OF NEW
INSTITUTIONS COULD BE CREATED
TO ADDRESS THOSE PROBLEMS.
Delegate:
WE HAVE A VERY BRIEF
AND A VERY IMPORTANT RESOLUTION
THAT WE WOULD MAKE
AND IT HAS TO DO WITH THE
SUFFERING OF OUR YOUNG CHILDREN
AS IT RELATES TO
THE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES
THAT ARE IN EXISTENCE
IN THE SOUTH.
Narrator:
DELEGATES PROPOSED REMEDIES
FOR YEARS OF INEQUITY
IN EDUCATION, HOUSING
AND JOB OPPORTUNITIES.
AND THEY WENT FURTHER,
ADDRESSING ISSUES ON BEHALF
OF ALL AMERICANS:
THE NEED FOR NATIONAL
HEALTH INSURANCE,
FOR DAY CARE AND ELDER CARE, AND
FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARDS.
ALL OTHER
POLITICAL PRISONERS.
Crowd:
MOVE THE QUESTION!
MOVE THE QUESTION!
Narrator:
THE PUSH TO ESTABLISH
NATIONAL PRIORITIES
COLLIDED WITH LOCAL INTERESTS.
Baraka:
SOME OF YOU ALL NEED
TO COOL YOURSELF OU
A LITTLE BIT NEW YORK
Baraka:
AFTER THOSE MEETINGS,
PEOPLE WOULDN'T GO TO SLEEP.
THEY WOULD CAUCUS,
AND EACH STATE WOULD CAUCUS.
THEN THERE WOULD BE
CAUCUSES INSIDE THE CAUCUSES,
BECAUSE THEN YOU HAD
THE ELECTED OFFICIALS CAUCUSING
INSIDE THE STATE
AND THEN YOU'D HAVE
THE BLACK NATIONALISTS
AND THEN A LOT OF TIMES THERE
WAS MARXISTS OR SOMEBODY ELSE
AND THIS DOCUMENT TELLS YOU WHY
"THE MAN" OWES YOU REPARATIONS.
HERE, HONEY, YOU WAN
REPARATIONS? TAKE IT.
THIS IS REPARATIONS.
THIS IS HOW YOU BEEN INJURED,
THIS IS HOW YOU BEEN DESTROYED.
YOU WAS CHANGED FROM
AN AFRICAN INTO A NEGRO.
YOU'VE BEEN DAMAGED, INJURED.
THEY TOOK YOUR NAME,
TOOK YOUR COLOR.
I DON'T HAVE MY PRETTY
BLACK COLOR ANYMORE.
Man:
THANK YOU.
I WANT AN AFRO,
I CAN'T EVEN WEAR ONE.
THE MAN DONE MESSED IT UP.
SO MANY WHITE FOLKS IN AMERICA
KEEP WANTING TO KNOW,
"WH-WH-WHAT'S WRONG WITH 'EM?
NIGGERS MUST BE CRAZY."
NO, BABY UNDERSTAND ONE THING:
NIGGERS GOT MORE SENSE TODAY
THAN EVER BEFORE
IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA.
AND WHEN NIGGERS
WAS BASICALLY CRAZY,
THAT'S WHEN HE THOUGH
WE HAD GOOD SENSE.
YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT,
WHEN HE'S RUNNING AROUND
GOOSING ME IN THE RUMP, RUBBING
MY HEAD "C'MERE, JABBO."
"YAH, YA SIR, BOSS"
WHEN I WAS BASICALLY CRAZY.
NOW WE'RE TALKING ABOU
GETTING OUR THING TOGETHER,
GETTING OUR SANITY
TOGETHER, BABY.
ONCE YOU GET YOUR
MIND TOGETHER, BABY,
AIN'T NOBODY DEAL WITH YOU.
THAT'S WHAT THIS CONVENTION
IS ALL ABOUT
GETTING OUR MINDS TOGETHER.
AND WHEN WE LEAVE HERE, IT'S
GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT DAY.
THE LAST DAY OF
THE CONVENTION WAS SUNDAY.
WE WERE SLATED
TO WRAP UP AT NOON.
AND THE PURPOSE OF THAT LAST DAY
WAS THE ADOPTION
OF THE RESOLUTIONS
THAT HAD BEEN
AGREED TO BY THE BODY.
LET'S GET BACK
AND DEAL WITH THE SITUATION.
NOW, PLEASE, WILL YOU DELEGATES
RETURN TO YOUR SEATS?
Narrator:
DELEGATES PUSHED TO ADOP
THE NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA.
BUT SOME MICHIGAN DELEGATES
FELT THE DOCUMENT WAS TOO
SEPARATIST IN TONE
AND MIGHT HURT BLACK ALLIANCES,
ESPECIALLY WITH ORGANIZED LABOR.
THE DELEGATION
THREATENED TO WALK.
Baraka:
WE ARE GOING TO VOTE.
ONLY ONE MORE UNREADINESS
WHICH WE'RE GOING TO ALLOW.
AND THAT IS TO HEAR
WHAT MICHIGAN HAS TO SAY
BECAUSE WE ARE GOING
TO CALL THIS VOTE.
Man:
MR. CHAIRMAN
IT WAS MY UNDERSTANDING,
AND I BELIEVE THAT THE SIX-MAN
COMMITTEE WILL CONFIRM IT,
THAT THE AGREEMENT BEFORE YOU
RULES OUT A WALK-OUT BY US
OR ANY MINORITY
WE, TOO, ARE TRYING
TO PRESERVE BLACK UNITY.
YOU MUST REMEMBER
THAT 65% OR BETTER OF THA
DELEGATE BODY FROM MICHIGAN
WERE FROM LABOR AUTO WORKERS,
STEEL WORKERS, MUNICIPAL
WORKERS, AND SO FORTH.
AND YOU HAD SOME OF THE MOS
RENOWNED LABOR PERSONALITIES
FOLDED INTO THAT DELEGATION,
WHO WERE INTERNATIONAL FIGURES.
Narrator:
MICHIGAN ASKED FOR MORE TIME,
BUT THE REQUEST WAS DENIED.
AS PRESSURE MOUNTED
TO APPROVE THE AGENDA,
MEMBERS OF THE MICHIGAN
DELEGATION BEGAN TO WALK.
AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR,
THE FRAGILE COALITION AT GARY
SEEMED ON THE VERGE
OF FALLING APART.
MICHIGAN, MICHIGAN
Hightower:
WE FELT LIKE ONCE THE MICHIGAN
DELEGATION WALKED OU
OTHERS WERE GOING TO WALK OUT.
AND WE WERE REALLY
AFRAID, YOU KNOW.
EVERYBODY WAS JUST LIKE STANDING
THERE DUMFOUNDED FOR A WHILE,
REALIZING WHAT'S
GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT.
Narrator:
BUT THE COALITION HELD.
NOT ALL THE MICHIGAN
DELEGATES HAD WALKED.
Man:
MR.CHAIRMAN
MICHIGAN HAS NOT WALKED OUT;
ONLY PART OF MICHIGAN
HAS WALKED OUT!
AND TO SECOND THA
MOTION, MR. CHAIRMAN,
I ALSO WANT TO POINT OU
THAT WE WANT TO PROCEED WITH
THE ADOPTION OF THAT AGENDA
BECAUSE THE TIME IS LONG PAS
WHEN A STATE OR A INTERES
CAN INTIMIDATE
THE WHOLE BLACK NATION!
IT'S NATIONTIME!
IT'S NATIONTIME!
Crowd chanting:
"IT'S NATIONTIME!"
Chavis:
IT'S NATIONTIME!
IT'S NATIONTIME!
LET THE BLACK NATION RISE!
YOU COULD HEAR IT REVERBERATING,
ALL THOSE PRIDE STRUGGLES
FROM THE '40s AND THE '30s
AND THE '50s AND THE '60s
CAME TO BE FULFILLED
IN THAT MOMEN
OF CRYING THA
IT'S NATIONTIME, NOW
NOT NEXT YEAR, NOT NEXT CENTURY,
BUT NOW,
IN 1972, IN GARY, INDIANA.
PEOPLE WENT BACK HOME, ROLLED UP
THEIR SLEEVES
AND RAN
FOR PUBLIC OFFICE IN A WAY
THAT BLACKS HAD NEVER THOUGH
ABOUT RUNNING FOR
PUBLIC OFFICE BEFORE.
Crowd:
IT'S NATIONTIME!
Narrator:
THE NATIONAL BLACK AGENDA
WAS PUBLISHED
ON THE BIRTHDAY OF MALCOLM X.
IT ARTICULATED A NEW SPIRIT OF
INDEPENDENT BLACK POLITICS.
WITHIN TEN YEARS
THE NUMBER OF BLACK ELECTED
OFFICIALS IN THE UNITED STATES
JUMPED FROM 2,264
TO MORE THAN 5,000.
Captioned by
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ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
NATIONAL CORPORATE FUNDING
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AND THE SCOTTS COMPANY.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
IS ALSO MADE POSSIBLE
BY THE CORPORATION
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
AND BY:
FUNDING FOR THE RE-RELEASE
OF EYES ON THE PRIZE
MADE POSSIBLE BY:
AND:
THIS IS A SPECIAL PRESENTATION
OF AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.
MAJOR FUNDING FOR AMERICAN
EXPERIENCE with captioning
IS PROVIDED BY THE
ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
NATIONAL CORPORATE FUNDING
IS PROVIDED BY LIBERTY MUTUAL
AND THE SCOTTS COMPANY.
AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
IS ALSO MADE POSSIBLE
BY THE CORPORATION
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING
AND BY:
FUNDING FOR THE RE-RELEASE
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MADE POSSIBLE BY:
AND:
I KNOW THE ONE THING
WE DID RIGHT ♪
WAS THE DAY
WE STARTED TO FIGHT ♪
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE ♪
HOLD ON, HOLD ON ♪
KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE ♪
HOLD ON. ♪
ONLY OUR BROTHER,
MARTIN LUTHER KING,
EXHAUSTED A MEANS OF NONVIOLENCE
WITH HIS LIFE BEING TAKEN
BY SOME RACIST.
WHAT IS BEING DONE TO US
IS WHAT WE HATE,
AND WHAT HAPPENED TO MARTIN
LUTHER KING IS WHAT WE HATE.
YOU'RE DARN RIGHT,
WE RESPECT NONVIOLENCE.
BUT TO SIT AND WATCH OURSELVES
BE SLAUGHTERED
LIKE OUR BROTHER?
WE MUST DEFEND OURSELVES,
AS MALCOLM X SAID,
BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
Man:
AT THIS POIN
I QUESTION THE WHOLE PURPOSE
OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
IN MY THINKING,
THEY WERE NECESSARY.
IT WAS A SHOCK TREATMEN
FOR WHITE AMERICA
TO SEE BLACK MEN RUNNING
AROUND WITH GUNS
JUST LIKE BLACK MEN
HAD SAW WHITE MEN
RUNNING AROUND WITH GUNS.
YEAH, THAT WAS
A SHOCK TREATMENT.
IT WAS GOOD IN THAT EXTENT,
BUT IT GOT A LO
OF BLACK PEOPLE HURT.
THERE WAS NO JOKE
ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON,
BUT WE BELIEVED WITH OUR HEARTS
THAT WE SHOULD DEFEND OURSELVES,
AND THERE WERE SO MANY
THAT DID DO THAT.
Narrator:
BY 1968, THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
WAS PART OF AN INCREASINGLY
VOLATILE POLITICAL SCENE.
THAT SUMMER, THE NATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN CHICAGO
WAS DISRUPTED BY VIOLENT CLASHES
BETWEEN DEMONSTRATORS
AND POLICE.
I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING
AS HORRIBLE IN MY WHOLE LIFE.
WE SHALL OVERCOME ♪
WE SHALL
OVERCOME ♪
Narrator:
THE WAR IN VIETNAM
POLARIZED THE NATION
AND THE POLITICAL AND
RACIAL UPHEAVAL AT HOME
SOON BECAME AN ISSUE
IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.
THIS IS A NATION OF LAWS,
AND AS ABRAHAM LINCOLN HAS SAID:
"NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,
NO ONE IS BELOW THE LAW."
AND WE'RE GOING TO
ENFORCE THE LAW,
AND AMERICANS SHOULD
REMEMBER THA
IF WE'RE GOING TO
HAVE LAW AND ORDER.
I THINK IT'S FAIR TO SAY
THAT IN
AS THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION
CAME INTO OFFICE,
AS WE CAME INTO OFFICE IN 1969,
THERE CERTAINLY WAS A STRONG
PERCEPTION OF RADICALIZATION.
Narrator:
IN CHICAGO, AND IN OTHER CITIES,
F.B.I. DIRECTOR J. EDGAR HOOVER
EXPANDED SURVEILLANCE
OF ORGANIZATIONS
IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY,
ESPECIALLY THE BLACK
PANTHER PARTY.
(Buddy Guy's "The Day
I Met the Blues" playing )
Narrator:
DIRECTIVES ISSUED
BY F.B.I. HEADQUARTERS
A FEW WEEKS AFTER THE ELECTIONS
CALLED FOR:
"IMAGINATIVE AND HARD-HITTING
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE MEASURES
AIMED AT CRIPPLING
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY."
ON CHICAGO'S WEST SIDE,
THE PANTHERS HAD JUST OPENED
THEIR FIRST OFFICE IN ILLINOIS.
WELL, THE THING THAT I REALLY
LOVED ABOUT THE BLACK PANTHERS
IS THAT THEY REFUSED
TO BE IGNORED.
UH, IT WAS VERY EASY TO IGNORE
BLACK PEOPLE BACK THEN
BECAUSE EVERYBODY FIGURED,
WELL, IT'S JUST A LOT OF TALK
AND THEY'RE NOT GOING
TO DO ANYTHING.
THEY'LL JUST GO ON AND ON
AND ON MOANING AND GROANING
ABOUT HOW TERRIBLE EVERYTHING IS
AND THEY, OF COURSE, AT BEST,
THEY JUST MIGHT GET INVOLVED
IN SOME ACTS OF NONVIOLENCE,
BUT THAT'S ABOUT IT.
AND THEN THEY JUST KIND OF,
YOU KNOW, BUSINESS AS USUAL.
YOU COULDN'T HAVE BUSINESS AS
USUAL WITH THE BLACK PANTHERS.
THE BLACK PANTHERS WERE
DEFINITELY GOING TO BE HEARD.
SO WE'RE SAYING, WE ALWAYS SAY
IN THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY,
THAT THEY CAN DO ANYTHING
THEY WANT TO TO US.
WE MIGHT NOT BE BACK
I MIGHT BE IN JAIL,
I MIGHT BE ANYWHERE,
BUT WHEN I LEAVE,
YOU'LL REMEMBER I SAID,
WITH THE LAST WORDS ON MY LIPS,
THAT I AM (crowd responds)
A REVOLUTIONARY.
AND YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE
TO KEEP ON SAYING THAT.
YOU'LL HAVE TO SAY THA
"I AM A PROLETARIAT."
"I AM THE PEOPLE."
"I'M NOT THE PIG."
YOU'VE GOT TO MAKE
A DISTINCTION.
AND THE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO
HAVE TO ATTACK THE PIGS.
THE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO
STAND UP AGAINST THE PIGS.
THAT'S WHAT THE PANTHERS
ARE DOING ALL OVER THE WORLD.
Narrator:
FRED HAMPTON, A FORMER
N.A.A.C.P. YOUTH ORGANIZER,
BECAME, AT AGE 20,
CHAIRMAN OF THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER
OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
THE PANTHERS' PROGRAM
DREW MIXED REACTIONS
IN CHICAGO'S BLACK COMMUNITY.
MANY BLACK PEOPLE INITIALLY
WAS VERY, VERY AFRAID
OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
I UNDERSTOOD WHERE THEY WERE
TRYING TO GO POLITICALLY
AND FELT THAT THEY
HAD TO CHANGE THINGS.
AND WHEN I TALK ABOUT FEAR,
I WAS AFRAID THEY WEREN'
GOING TO DO IT RIGHT,
AND I WAS ALWAYS TRYING
TO COOL THEM OU
AND SAY, "THAT'S NO
THE RIGHT WAY TO GO."
THEY WERE TOO DIRECT.
YOU COULD TELL THA
THIS WAS A MOVEMEN
THAT WAS VERY
MEANINGFUL TO THEM.
AND NONE OF THEM WAS SUICIDAL,
SO IT WASN'T LIKE
THEY WERE OUT THERE
TRYING TO FIGURE OU
A WAY GET KILLED,
BUT THEY DID
HONESTLY AND TRULY BELIEVE
IN POWER TO THE PEOPLE
I MEAN, THAT WAS THEIR SLOGAN.
HERE YOU FOUND SOME BROTHERS
AND SISTERS
SAYING FIRST, YOU KNOW, LOOK,
THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
GUARANTEES US THE RIGHT TO BEAR
ARMS AND TO PROTECT OURSELVES.
AND WE UNDERSTAND
THAT WE NEED PROTECTION
IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY,
AND IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY
TO PROTECT BLACK WOMEN
AND BLACK CHILDREN,
NOT THE POLICE,
BECAUSE THE POLICE IS NOT HERE
TO SERVE AND PROTECT US,
ONLY TO CONTINUE TO ENSLAVE US.
IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY
TO SEE TO I
THAT OUR PEOPLE HAVE
A DECENT PLACE TO LIVE,
DECENT FOOD TO EAT, AND QUALITY
HEALTH CARE, NOT THE SYSTEM.
SO THAT FRIGHTENED
A LOT OF PEOPLE.
I MEAN, THEY DIDN'T THINK
THAT IT COULD HAPPEN.
THEY DIDN'T THINK IT WAS RIGHT.
PEOPLE LEARN BY EXAMPLE.
I DON'T THINK ANYBODY
HAS AN ARGUMENT WITH THAT.
I THINK THAT WHA
HUEY P. NEWTON SAID,
THAT PEOPLE LEARN BASICALLY BY
OBSERVATION AND PARTICIPATION,
I THINK THAT EVERYBODY
CAUGHT ON TO THAT.
SO WHAT WE'RE SAYING IS SIMPLY
IF THEY LEARN BY OBSERVATION
AND PARTICIPATION
THEN WE NEED TO DO MORE ACTING
THAN WE NEED TO DO WRITING.
AND I THINK THE BLACK PANTHER
PARTY IS DOING THAT.
WE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT A
BREAKFAST-FOR-CHILDREN PROGRAM.
WE'VE GOT ONE.
Panther:
COME ON IN, LITTLE BROTHERS,
COME ON IN, LITTLE SISTERS,
Y'ALL CAN SIT DOWN
AND GE
SOMETHING TO EAT.
Y'ALL TAKE OFF
Y'ALL'S COATS.
(animated chatting )
SIT DOWN, MAN.
Y'ALL CAN EAT AS MUCH
AS Y'ALL WANT TO.
Narrator:
THE NEW BREAKFAST-
FOR-CHILDREN PROGRAM
SOON ATTRACTED THE ATTENTION
OF THE F.B.I.
CLAIMING THE PROGRAM SERVED
TO INDOCTRINATE CHILDREN,
THE BUREAU DIRECTED
FIELD OFFICES
TO "FORMULATE SPECIFIC
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES
TO DISRUPT THIS
NEFARIOUS ACTIVITY."
THE F.B.I. STEPPED UP
ITS EFFORTS
TO RECRUIT BLACKS TO INFILTRATE
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
MY RECRUITMENT BY THE F.B.I.
WAS VERY EFFICIENT,
VERY SIMPLE, REALLY.
I'D STOLEN A CAR AND WEN
JOYRIDING OVER THE STATE LIMIT,
AND, UM THEY HAD A POTENTIAL
CASE AGAINST ME
AND I WAS LOOKING FOR
AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK IT OFF.
AND A COUPLE MONTHS LATER
THAT OPPORTUNITY CAME
WHEN F.B.I. AGENT ROY MITCHELL
ASKED ME TO GO DOWN
TO THE LOCAL OFFICE
OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
AND TRY TO GAIN MEMBERSHIP.
I THINK EVERYONE THAT WAS
IN THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
KIND OF UNDERSTOOD,
IT WAS A GIVEN,
THAT WE WOULD HAVE WIRETAPS,
THAT WE WOULD BE FOLLOWED,
THAT WE WOULD BE HARASSED,
WE'D BE LOCKED UP,
THAT WE WOULD EVEN
BE BEATEN BY THE POLICE.
Narrator:
IN THE WINTER OF 1969,
LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
LAUNCHED EFFORTS
TO UNDERMINE
AN ATTEMPTED COALITION
BETWEEN THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
AND THE BLACKSTONE RANGERS,
A CHICAGO GANG.
Saffold:
THE PANTHERS WERE PURSUING
AN IDEOLOGY THAT SAID:
WE NEED TO TAKE THESE
YOUNG MINDS, THIS YOUNG ENERGY,
AND TURN IT INTO
PART OF OUR MOVEMEN
IN TERMS OF BLACK LIBERATION
AND THE REST OF IT.
AND I SAW A VERY PURPOSEFUL,
INTENTIONAL EFFOR
ON THE PART OF
THE POLICE DEPARTMEN
TO KEEP THAT HEAD
FROM HOOKING UP TO THAT BODY.
IT WAS LIKE, YOU KNOW,
DO NOT LET THIS THING BECOME
A PART OF WHAT COULD ULTIMATELY
BE A POLITICAL MOVEMENT.
BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY
WHAT IT WAS.
Narrator:
F.B.I. AGENTS WROTE AN ANONYMOUS
LETTER TO JEFF FORT,
THE LEADER OF
THE BLACKSTONE RANGERS,
WARNING RT THAT THE PANTHERS
HAVE "A HIT OUT FOR YOU."
THE BUREAU KNEW THA
THE INFORMATION WAS FALSE,
BUT BELIEVED THAT FOR
MIGHT TAKE "RETALIATORY ACTION"
AGAINST THE PANTHERS.
MEANWHILE, CITY OFFICIALS
ANNOUNCED A CRACKDOWN ON GANGS.
Reporter:
WOULD YOU SAY THAT STREET GANGS
CAN DO NO GOOD?
IS THAT WHA
YOU WOULD SAY?
NO, I WOULDN'T SAY THAT.
I THINK THAT THE ENERGY
OF YOUTH, PROPERLY DIRECTED,
COULD BE A TREMENDOUS
BETTERMENT,
COULD LEAD TO A TREMENDOUS
BETTERMENT OF OUR CITY
AND TO INDIVIDUALS'
PROGRESS THEMSELVES.
I'M COMPLAINING
ABOUT THE MISDIRECTION.
I'M COMPLAINING ABOUT THE FAC
THAT 620 OUT OF 693 SHOOTING
VICTIMS ARE BLACK THEMSELVES,
AND I THINK THAT'S A TRAGEDY.
THAT IS WHERE BLACK GENOCIDE
IS OCCURRING HERE.
Narrator:
THE CHICAGO POLICE EXPANDED
THEIR ANTI-GANG CAMPAIGN
TO INCLUDE
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
IN LATE MAY, FRED HAMPTON
WAS SENT TO PRISON.
HE HAD BEEN CONVICTED
ON A CHARGE
OF STEALING 71 DOLLARS' WORTH
OF ICE CREAM BARS.
WE TRIED TO DEVELOP NEGATIVE
INFORMATION TO DISCREDIT HIM,
JUST LIKE WE DID EVERYBODY ELSE;
WE, MEANING THE F.B.I.
I TRIED TO COME UP WITH SIGNS
OF HIM DOING DRUGS OR SOMETHING,
AND NEVER COULD.
HE WAS CLEAN,
HE WAS DEDICATED.
I'VE HAD PRIVATE
CONVERSATIONS WITH HIM.
WE GOT ALONG PRETTY WELL.
Narrator:
WHILE FRED HAMPTON
WAS IN PRISON,
A POLICE RAID ON THE PANTHER
OFFICE TURNED INTO A SHOOT-OUT.
FIVE POLICEMEN AND THREE
PANTHERS WERE WOUNDED.
(several conversations
going on at once )
NOBODY WAS UP THERE
EXCEPT THE POLICE
WHEN THE FIRE STARTED?
Panther:
RIGHT ON.
FRANK, YOU WANT TO COME?
Panther:
GET A PICTURE
OF THAT DOOR.
CHECK THA
DOOR OUT, MAN.
THEY FIRED
A SHOTGUN.
Rush:
THEY SHOT UP THE DOOR
AT THE OFFICE THERE,
ARRESTED SOME PANTHERS.
AND JUST TO SHOW YOU
THE NATURE, UH, UH
OF THE RAIDING OFFICERS THERE,
THEY BURNED BOXES OF CEREAL
THAT WE HAD ON THE THIRD FLOOR.
THEY DELIBERATELY
SET FIRE TO THAT.
THEY DIDN'T SET FIRE
TO THE SECOND FLOOR.
THEY SET FIRE TO THE THIRD FLOOR
WHERE ALL THE, YOU KNOW
THAT WAS KIND OF INDICATIVE
OF WHAT THEY WERE THINKING
AND HOW THEY WERE MOVING.
Man:
THE IDEA ON THE PAR
OF THE POLICE
WAS TO PSYCH THE COMMUNITY OUT.
THEY CALL ME UP THE NEXT DAY;
I SAYS, "IS THE OFFICE OPEN?"
"WELL, NO, THE POLICE
BOARDED THE PLACE UP."
I SAY, "OPEN IT BACK UP
YOU GOT THE LEASE TO THE PLACE."
"WHAT?"
I SAYS, "OPEN IT UP!
TAKE ALL THAT BOARDING DOWN,
PAINT THAT PLACE."
AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
MEMBERS STARTED WORKING
FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS,
THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW,
THE COMMUNITY STARTED BRINGING
WOOD, PAINT AND EVERYTHING,
AND OPENED THAT BLACK PANTHER
PARTY OFFICE RIGHT BACK UP.
AND, OF COURSE,
THIS WAS AN ATTEMP
TO TERRORIZE US
OUT OF EXISTENCE.
AT THE SAME TIME,
IF WE WOULD CLOSE DOWN,
IT WOULD LEAVE
THE BLACK COMMUNITY
SAYING,
"WELL, THEY STOPPED THEM."
Narrator:
IN A REPORT MADE PUBLIC
IN THE SUMMER OF 1969,
F.B.I. DIRECTOR HOOVER DECLARED
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
THE NUMBER ONE THREA
TO THE INTERNAL SECURITY
OF THE UNITED STATES.
I THINK, FRANKLY,
THAT HE OVERSTATED THE CONCERN
THE REAL CONCERN
THAT THE BLACK PANTHERS
WERE TO THE COUNTRY.
I THINK IT WAS LEGITIMATE
FOR HIM TO STATE THAT THEY WERE
A VIOLENT AND UNLAWFUL ELEMENT,
BUT REFERRING TO THEM
AS THE MOST DANGEROUS,
OR MOST IMPORTANT
AND I DON'T REMEMBER EXACTLY
THE WORDS HE USED
THE GREATEST THREAT TO
THE UNITED STATES AT THAT TIME,
I THINK WAS AN OVERSTATEMENT.
THE POLICE COMMUNITY HAS
SORT OF A BUILT-IN REWARD AND
PUNISHMENT SYSTEM OF ITS OWN.
AND YOU GET A LOT OF REWARDS
WHEN YOU GO AFTER WHO THE BOSS
SAYS IS THE BAD GUY
AND YOU GET HIM.
AND I THINK WHAT J. EDGAR HOOVER
WAS ABLE TO DO
WAS TO GIVE
POLICE OFFICERS THE IMPRESSION
THAT IT WAS OKAY,
IT WAS OPEN SEASON.
YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY
ABOUT THE LAW.
YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY
ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE
IN THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
OF GOVERNMEN
AND THE JUDICIAL BRANCH
OF GOVERNMENT.
I THINK WHAT HE,
IN EFFECT, SAID
IS "IT'S OUR BALL GAME, GUYS.
"WE'VE GOT THE AUTHORITY,
WE HAVE THE CAPACITY.
LET'S CRUSH 'EM."
Narrator:
PANTHER LEADER FRED HAMPTON
WAS STILL IN PRISON,
BUT EFFORTS WERE UNDERWAY
TO APPEAL HIS CONVICTION.
FREE FRED HAMPTON,
FREE FRED HAMPTON ♪
WE NEED OUR WARRIOR
BESIDE US. ♪
WE WERE SUCCESSFUL,
AND WE GOT HIM OUT OF JAIL
TOWARDS THE END OF THAT SUMMER
BECAUSE A SUPREME COURT JUSTICE
IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS
LOOKED AT WHAT KIND OF
A PERSON HE WAS,
LOOKED AT THE KIND
OF CASE IT WAS
AND GAVE HIM AN APPEAL BOND.
THAT'S THE FIRST TIME
I SAW FRED HAMPTON.
AND I WAS A YOUNG, WHITE STUDEN
IN A PREDOMINANTLY BLACK CHURCH,
FULL TO THE RAFTERS,
WELCOMING FRED HAMPTON BACK.
OKAY, YOU CAN PU
YOUR HANDS DOWN NOW.
WE SAY ALL POWER TO ALL PEOPLE.
(audience repeats )
WE SAY WHITE POWER
TO WHITE PEOPLE.
(audience repeats )
BROWN POWER TO BROWN PEOPLE.
(response )
YELLOW POWER TO YELLOW PEOPLE.
(response )
BLACK POWER TO BLACK PEOPLE.
(audience repeats )
Brown:
WE'D GO OUT,
WE'D DRIVE ALONG TO SOME
SCHOOLYARD OR SOMETHING
AND THERE WERE LIKE
200, 300 PEOPLE
WAITING THERE
FOR FRED TO SHOW UP.
AND THE PHENOMENAL PART WAS
THAT, I MEAN, THESE ARE ALL
PEOPLE FROM THE STREETS,
I MEAN, WHO WERE NO
GOING TO GET UP
AND GO TO WORK OR ANYTHING ELSE
AND NEVER HAD NO DISCIPLINE
AND NEVER WOULD,
BUT THERE THEY WERE,
IT WAS 6:30 IN THE MORNING
FREEZING CHICAGO WEATHER.
AND FRED WOULD
HAVE THEM OUT THERE
DOING PUSH-UPS
AND JUMPING JACKS
AND GETTING THEMSELVES ENERGIZED
FOR THE DAY'S WORK,
WHICH INCLUDED MAKING
THE BREAKFAST,
WHICH INCLUDED SELLING PAPERS,
WHICH INCLUDED WORKING
IN THE MEDICAL CLINIC
WHICH INCLUDED A BUNCH OF STUFF.
IT WAS A VERY DAY-TO-DAY
KIND OF A THING,
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
AND YOU'D HAVE FRED OUT THERE
RALLYING THEM.
AND HE'D SAY, "ALL RIGHT,
ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE."
EVERYBODY SAID,
"POWER TO THE PEOPLE."
HE'D SAY, "NOW, I'M NOT GOING
TO DIE ON NO AIRPLANE."
EVERYONE WOULD SAY, "NO."
"I'M NOT GOING TO DIE
SLIPPING ON NO ICE."
THEY'D SAY, "NO."
HE'D SAY, "I'M GOING TO DIE
FOR THE PEOPLE
BECAUSE I'M GOING TO
LIVE FOR THE PEOPLE."
HE SAID, "I'M GOING
TO LIVE FOR THE PEOPLE
BECAUSE I LOVE THE PEOPLE."
HE'D SAY, "I LOVE
THE PEOPLE WHY?"
AND THEY'D SAY, "BECAUSE
WE'RE HIGH ON THE PEOPLE."
AND THAT WAS FRED HAMPTON.
WHEN YOU SAW THIS
THIS WAS 21 YEARS OLD
IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE.
YOU COULD NOT NOT BE MOVED
BY FRED HAMPTON.
Narrator:
IN THE FALL OF 1969,
CHICAGO WAS THE SCENE
OF A CONTROVERSIAL TRIAL.
THE DEFENDANTS WERE LEADERS
OF THE ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATIONS
THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE DURING
THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION.
NATIONAL PANTHER CHAIRMAN
BOBBY SEALE
INSISTED ON SPEAKING
IN HIS OWN DEFENSE.
ON OCTOBER 29,
TRIAL JUDGE JULIUS HOFFMAN
ORDERED SEALE BOUND AND GAGGED.
THIS IS A SYMBOL
TO EVERY ONE OF US.
BLACK MEN IN OUR COURTS
ARE GAGGED.
BLACK MEN IN OUR COURTS
DO NOT FEEL AS THOUGH
THERE IS ANY JUSTICE.
BLACK MEN IN OUR COURTS,
WHENEVER CASE THEY COME,
FEEL THAT JUDGES
DO NOT UNDERSTAND
AND ARE WITHOUT MERCY.
Narrator:
TWO WEEKS LATER,
A GUN BATTLE ON CHICAGO'S SOUTH
SIDE FURTHER ESCALATED TENSIONS.
A FORMER PANTHER
AND TWO POLICEMEN WERE KILLED.
THE DEATHS PROVOKED A RESPONSE
FROM INFORMANT WILLIAM O'NEAL'S
F.B.I. CONTACT.
MITCHELL BECAME MORE SPECIFIC
DURING THAT TIME.
UM HE WANTED TO KNOW
THE LOCATIONS OF WEAPONS CACHES.
HE WANTED TO KNOW
IF WE HAD EXPLOSIVES.
UM, HE NEEDED TO KNOW WHO
WAS STAYING AT WHAT LOCATIONS,
WHO SPENT THE NIGHT WHERE.
HIS INFORMATION DIDN'T CHANGE
SO MUCH AS HE REQUESTED
MORE DETAIL, AND I KNEW WHY.
THE SHOOT-OUT ON THE SOUTH SIDE
HAD PRETTY MUCH LAID
THE FOUNDATION WITHIN THE PARTY,
WITHIN THE BLACK PANTHERS,
WE KNEW THAT THE POLICE
WOULD REACT SOME TYPE OF WAY.
Narrator:
EXPECTING POLICE ACTION,
THE BLACK PANTHERS
HAD FORTIFIED THEIR OFFICE.
F.B.I. INFORMANT O'NEAL
WAS NOW HEAD OF PANTHER
SECURITY IN CHICAGO.
WE'RE VERY CONFIDEN
THAT NOBODY'S COMING IN
THE FRONT DOOR NOBODY.
NO GAS.
NOBODY GETTING ON
THE ROOF THERE.
I WANT YOU
TO KNOW THAT.
NOBODY GETTING
ON THE ROOF.
WE BELIEVE IN, WHAT IS IT
FIRE COVER AND FIRE?
YES, WE DO DEFEND OUR OFFICES
AND WE DO DEFEND OUR HOMES.
THIS IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGH
EVERYBODY HAS,
AND NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT THAT.
THE ONLY REASON THEY GET MAD
AT THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
IS FOR THE SIMPLE REASON
THAT WE'RE POLITICAL.
AND THEY DON'T WANT TO ADMI
THAT THERE'S A LOT OF YOUNG
ORGANIZATIONS AROUND
BUT WE ARE A POLITICAL
ORGANIZATION.
WE ARE AN ORGANIZATION
THAT UNDERSTANDS
THAT POLITICS IS NOTHING
BUT WAR WITHOUT BLOODSHED,
AND WAR IS NOTHING BU
POLITICS WITH BLOODSHED.
Narrator:
ON NOVEMBER 19,
F.B.I. AGENT ROY MITCHELL
DREW A FLOOR PLAN
OF HAMPTON'S APARTMEN
BASED ON INFORMATION
SUPPLIED BY INFORMANT O'NEAL.
ON DECEMBER 4,
AT 4:45 IN THE MORNING,
14 POLICEMEN
NINE WHITE AND FIVE BLACK
RAIDED THE APARTMENT.
DEBORAH JOHNSON,
EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT,
WAS ASLEEP IN THE BACK BEDROOM,
NEXT TO FRED HAMPTON.
THE FIRST THING I REMEMBER AFTER
FRED AND I HAD WENT TO SLEEP
WAS BEING AWAKENED BY
SOMEBODY SHAKING FRED
WHILE WE WERE LAYING IN BED,
SAYING, "CHAIRMAN, CHAIRMAN,
WAKE UP, THE PIGS ARE VAMPING."
THIS PERSON THAT WAS
IN THE ROOM WITH ME
KEPT SHOUTING OUT, "WE HAVE
A PREGNANT SISTER IN HERE.
STOP SHOOTING."
EVENTUALLY THE SHOOTING STOPPED
AND THEY SAID WE COULD COME OUT.
I REMEMBER CROSSING OVER FRED
AND TELLING MYSELF OVER
AND OVER, "BE REAL CAREFUL.
"DON'T STUMBLE.
"THEY'LL TRY TO SHOOT YOU.
"JUST BE REAL CALM.
"WATCH HOW YOU WALK.
"KEEP YOUR HANDS UP.
"DON'T REACH FOR ANYTHING.
DON'T EVEN TRY
TO CLOSE YOUR ROBE."
WHEN I WAS IN THE KITCHEN, I
HEARD AN UNFAMILIAR VOICE SAY:
"HE'S BARELY ALIVE"
OR "HE'LL BARELY MAKE IT."
THEN THE SHOOTING STARTED
BACK AGAIN.
THEN I HEARD THE SAME
UNFAMILIAR VOICE SAY:
"HE'S GOOD AND DEAD NOW."
I KNEW IN MY MIND I ASSUMED
THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT FRED
AND I KNEW WHEN I LEF
OUT OF THERE
I COULDN'T LOOK
TOWARDS THE ROOM.
Narrator:
PARTY LEADERS MARK CLARK
AND FRED HAMPTON
WERE KILLED IN THE RAID.
FOUR OF THE SEVEN SURVIVING
OCCUPANTS OF THE APARTMEN
WERE WOUNDED.
ALL WERE CHARGED WITH ASSAUL
AND ATTEMPTED MURDER.
Johnson:
WHEN THEY LOCKED ME UP
AT THE POLICE STATION,
I KEPT BEGGING THEM FOR A CALL,
TO MAKE ONE CALL.
I CALLED, I THINK, THE OFFICE
THE BLACK PANTHER OFFICE
AND I SPOKE TO BOBBY RUSH.
HE TOLD ME THAT FRED WAS DEAD,
FRED HAD BEEN KILLED.
I REMEMBER WALKING
OUT OF THE OFFICE
AND LOOKING THROUGH A LITTLE
CLEARING OVER ON THE NEXT BLOCK,
WHICH WAS RIGHT IN FRON
OF THE MONROE STREET ADDRESS
AND SEEING A LOT OF
POLICE CARS OVER THERE
AND AT THAT TIME,
BOBBY RUSH CAME TO THE OFFICE.
HE HAD JUST COME FROM OVER THERE
OR MAYBE THE CORONER'S OFFICE.
WE WALKED BACK OVER THERE
AND WE BOTH WERE SPEECHLESS.
WE JUST WALKED THROUGH THE HOUSE
AND SAW WHERE
WHAT HAD TAKEN PLACE
AND WHERE HE DIED
AND IT WAS SHOCKING.
AND THEN I WAS, YOU KNOW,
I JUST BEGAN TO REALIZE
THAT THE INFORMATION
THAT I HAD SUPPLIED
LEADING UP TO THAT MOMEN
HAD FACILITATED THAT RAID.
I KNEW THAT, INDIRECTLY, I HAD
CONTRIBUTED, AND I FELT I
AND I FELT BAD ABOUT IT.
AND THEN I GOT MAD.
YOU KNOW, I HAD
AND THEN I HAD TO
CONCEAL THOSE FEELINGS,
WHICH MADE IT WORSE.
I COULDN'T
I COULDN'T SAY ANYTHING.
I JUST HAD TO CONTINUE
TO PLAY THE ROLE.
Narrator:
F.B.I. HEADQUARTERS AUTHORIZED
PAYMENT OF A $300 BONUS
TO INFORMANT WILLIAM O'NEAL
FOR "UNIQUELY VALUABLE SERVICES
WHICH HE RENDERED OVER
THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS."
THEY CAME IN OUR COMMUNITIES
LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGH
AND THEY JUST SNATCHED
FRED'S LIFE, JUST LIKE THAT.
AND IT'S JUST LIKE, WHY?
THIS BROTHER HAS DONE NOTHING
TO NONE OF YOU ALL.
THE ONLY THING THA
THIS BROTHER HAS DONE
WAS TO INSTILL A SENSE
OF PRIDE AND DIGNITY
AND SELF-DETERMINATION
IN HIS PEOPLE.
Narrator:
STATE'S ATTORNEY EDWARD HANRAHAN
GAVE AN OFFICIAL ACCOUN
OF THE RAID TO THE PRESS.
AS SOON AS SERGEANT DANIEL GROTH
AND OFFICER JAMES DAVIS,
WHO WERE LEADING OUR MEN,
ANNOUNCED THEIR OFFICE,
OCCUPANTS OF THE APARTMEN
ATTACKED THEM WITH SHOTGUN FIRE.
THE OFFICERS
IMMEDIATELY TOOK COVER.
THE OCCUPANTS CONTINUED FIRING
AT OUR POLICEMEN
FROM SEVERAL ROOMS
WITHIN THE APARTMENT.
THEREAFTER, THREE TIMES SERGEAN
GROTH ORDERED ALL HIS MEN
TO CEASE FIRING
AND TOLD THE OCCUPANTS
TO COME OUT WITH THEIR HANDS UP.
EACH TIME, ONE OF THE OCCUPANTS
REPLIED, "SHOOT IT OUT"
AND CONTINUED FIRING
AT THE POLICE OFFICERS.
THE PRESS AT THE BEGINNING
HAD TAKEN HANRAHAN'S LINE.
THIS WAS A SHOOT-OUT.
200 SHOTS WERE FIRED.
THE PANTHERS FIRED HALF OF THEM.
NOBODY WAS REALLY
CHALLENGING THA
EXCEPT A YOUNG
SUN-TIMES REPORTER
BY THE NAME OF BRIAN BOYER,
WHO WENT DOWN THERE,
AND HE SAW THE EVIDENCE.
IT DIDN'T TAKE A GENIUS
TO LOOK AT WHAT WAS THERE
AND SEE THAT ALL THE BULLETS
WERE GOING IN ONE DIRECTION
AND ALL THOSE BULLET HOLES
WERE POINTING TOWARDS
FRED HAMPTON'S BEDROOM
AND THE MIDDLE BEDROOM
WHERE VERLINA AND DOC SATCHEL
AND EVERYONE WAS.
Narrator:
CONFLICTING DESCRIPTIONS
OF THE RAID
MADE HEADLINES
IN THE CHICAGO PAPERS.
THE ACCOUNT THAT WE
MADE PUBLIC YESTERDAY
GIVES A DETAILED EXPLANATION OF
WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT APARTMENT.
I STAND WHOLEHEARTEDLY BEHIND
IT AS ABSOLUTELY ACCURATE.
Reporter:
THERE IS ONE
INCONSISTENCY.
WELL, FOR EXAMPLE
I DO NOT INTEND TO QUIBBLE
OUT THAACCOUNT.
DO YOU INTEND TO
GET AT THE TRUTH?
THE ACCOUNT THAT WE GAVE
OF THE EVENTS IS THE TRUTH.
Narrator:
STATE'S ATTORNEY HANRAHAN
SUPPORTED HIS ACCOUN
WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
INTENDED TO PROVE
THE PANTHERS HAD FIRED
AT THE POLICE.
WE WENT, TOOK THOSE PICTURES
AND SAW THEY WEREN'
WHAT THEY APPEARED TO BE.
THE BACK DOOR, THE CIRCLES
AROUND THE BULLET HOLES
TURNED OUT TO BE NAIL HEADS.
WE WENT AND WE SAW THA
THEY WERE NAIL HEADS,
BECAUSE WE HAD POSSESSION
OF THE APARTMENT.
THAT THE PANTHERS WERE
SUPPOSEDLY FIRING INTO,
THAT TURNED OUT TO BE
THE BEDROOM DOOR.
IT WAS THE DOOR THAT THE POLICE
HAD MADE INTO SWISS CHEESE
WITH THEIR MACHINE GUN BULLETS.
Narrator:
THE CONTROVERSY GREW.
THIS BLATANT ACT OF
LEGITIMATIZED MURDER
STRIPS ALL CREDIBILITY
FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT.
IN THE CONTEXT OF OTHER ACTS
AGAINST MILITANT BLACKS
IN RECENT MONTHS,
IT SUGGESTS AN OFFICIAL POLICY
OF SYSTEMATIC REPRESSION.
THE BLACK PANTHERS PREACH
EVERY DAY: HATE;
KILL WHITEY;
KILL THE POLICE;
KILL THE PIGS;
HATE, HATE, HATE.
THAT'S ALL YOU HEAR FROM THEM.
DID THEY EXPEC
THOSE POLICE OFFICERS
TO WALK INTO THAT APARTMEN
WITH PEASHOOTERS?
YOU'VE SEEN THE GUNS
THAT WERE THERE.
WHAT WERE THEY THERE FOR?
Johnson:
MEMBERS OF THE BLACK
PANTHER PARTY
WERE TAKING PEOPLE FROM THE
COMMUNITY THROUGH THE APARTMEN
SO THEY CAN ACTUALLY SEE
WHAT WAS GOING ON.
PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO GO
THROUGH THE HOUSE
AND THEY WERE LINED UP
ALL AROUND THE BLOCK
IN THE COLD, IN THE WINTERTIME,
TO SEE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Panther:
DON'T TOUCH NOTHING,
DON'T MOVE NOTHING,
BECAUSE WE WANT TO KEEP
EVERYTHING JUST THE WAY IT IS.
DON'T TOUCH NO WALLS.
THIS IS THE ROOM
WHERE THE FIRST BROTHER,
MARK CLARK, WAS MURDERED.
EVEN IF THEY WANTED TO TAKE
SOMEBODY TO JAIL,
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN
A SIMPLE MATTER
OF JUST SHOOTING SOME TEAR GAS
IN HERE TO DRAW EVERYBODY OUT.
THIS IS WHERE OUR CHAIRMAN
HAD HIS BRAINS BLOWN OU
AS HE LAY IN HIS BED SLEEPING
AT 4:30 IN THE MORNING.
Taylor:
I THINK THAT THE POLICE WAITED
TILL DECEMBER 17
TO ACTUALLY SEAL THAT APARTMENT,
SO IT WAS OPEN FOR ALMOS
TWO WEEKS.
AND WE SPENT THE BETTER PAR
OF THOSE TWO WEEKS
GETTING THAT EVIDENCE
OUT OF THERE.
AND SO WE WOULD BE TALKING TO
PEOPLE WHEN THEY WENT THROUGH.
WHILE WE WERE WORKING, PEOPLE
WERE WALKING THROUGH CONSTANTLY
AND I'LL NEVER FORGET
I DON'T KNOW WHAT DAY IT WAS
OR WHAT,
BUT I JUST REMEMBER
SOME OLDER BLACK WOMAN
COMING THROUGH THERE,
SHAKING HER HEAD
AND GOING, "IT'S NOTHING
BUT A NORTHERN LYNCHING."
THE PEOPLE WHO HAD JUST COME
PURELY OUT OF CURIOSITY
WERE SAYING,
"THIS IS ATROCIOUS."
EVEN LAW-AND-ORDER
PEOPLE WERE SAYING,
"THIS IS UNLAWFUL
AND IT'S DISORDERLY.
"AND IT'S OBVIOUSLY NOT PAR
OF WHAT I WANT TO CONDONE
"IN TERMS OF MY LAW ENFORCEMEN
OR MY TAXES, TO BE PROTECTED.
THIS IS NOT THE POLICE
FUNCTION HERE."
PEOPLE REALIZED THAT THERE
HAD BEEN A TRIAL, A CONVICTION
AND AN EXECUTION IN THAT HOUSE.
YOU KNOW, IT CAN
HAPPEN TO ANY OF US.
AND THAT WAS, THAT WAS FEAR,
SHAME, YOU KNOW, SORRY
WHAT COULD WE DO?
HOW COULD WHY COULDN'
WE HAVE PROTECTED FRED?
Woman:
I WISH I KNEW HOW IT WOULD
FEEL TO BE FREE ♪
I WISH I COULD BREAK ALL
THE CHAINS HOLDING ME ♪
I WISH I COULD SAY ALL THE
THINGS THAT I SHOULD SAY ♪
Clements:
I HAD A MASS FOR FRED
AND I WAS JUST SHATTERED,
I WAS DEVASTATED.
AND IN THE MIDST OF THIS MASS,
I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN
TO OUR CHILDREN
BECAUSE WE HAD ALL
THE SCHOOLCHILDREN THERE,
ALL 1,300
AND I WAS TRYING TO EXPLAIN
TO THEM THE IMPORTANCE OF FRED.
AND I WASN'T GETTING THROUGH,
AT LEAST I FELT LIKE
I WASN'T GETTING THROUGH.
AND IN THE MIDS
OF MY EXPLANATION
I JUST BURST INTO TEARS.
AND THE NEXT THING I KNEW,
HERE WAS ONE
OF OUR EIGHTH-GRADE BOYS.
HE JUMPED UP AND HE SAID,
"I AM FRED HAMPTON!"
AND THEN A GIRL
IN THE SIXTH GRADE,
SHE JUMPS UP,
"I AM FRED HAMPTON!"
AND ANOTHER KID IN FIRST GRADE,
"I'M FRED HAMPTON!"
AND BEFORE YOU KNEW IT,
THE WHOLE CHURCH,
KIDS WERE ALL SHOUTING,
"I AM FRED HAMPTON!"
AND WOW, I JUS
FELT SO WONDERFUL.
I FELT LIKE, GEE WHIZ, THIS
DEATH WAS NOT IN VAIN AT ALL,
BECAUSE THESE KIDS ARE SAYING
THAT THEY ARE WILLING
TO GET UP HERE
AND SPEAK OUT FOR LIBERATION,
FOR FIRST-CLASS CITIZENSHIP.
Narrator:
IN THE WEEKS THAT FOLLOWED,
PUBLIC PRESSURE LED TO A SERIES
OF INVESTIGATIONS.
AN F.B.I. BALLISTICS
EXPERT ESTABLISHED
THAT ALL BUT ONE
OF THE MORE THAN 90 SHOTS
HAD BEEN FIRED BY THE POLICE.
ALL CHARGES AGAINS
THE PANTHERS WERE DROPPED.
NO POLICE WERE INDICTED.
BUT THE FAMILIES
OF HAMPTON AND CLARK
AND THE SURVIVORS OF THE RAID
SUED THE GOVERNMEN
FOR VIOLATION OF
THEIR CIVIL RIGHTS.
YEARS LATER, THE CASE WAS CLOSED
WHEN FEDERAL AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENTS AND THE POLICE
AGREED TO AN OUT-OF-COUR
SETTLEMENT OF $1.8 MILLION.
THE SCOPE OF THE F.B.I.
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE PROGRAM,
COINTELPRO BEGAN
TO EMERGE IN 1971
AFTER POLITICAL ACTIVISTS
BROKE INTO AN F.B.I. OFFICE
IN MEDIA, PENNSYLVANIA.
STOLEN F.B.I. FILES DOCUMENTED
EXTENSIVE F.B.I. OPERATIONS
AGAINST U.S. CITIZENS
AND ORGANIZATIONS,
INCLUDING TRADITIONAL
CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS.
AMID GROWING CRITICISM OF THE
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE PROGRAM,
PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON
REAFFIRMED
HIS SUPPORT FOR THE F.B.I.
DURING GRADUATION CEREMONIES A
THE BUREAU'S NATIONAL ACADEMY.
I AM HONORED TO BE HERE
TO BREAK INTO YOUR
GRADUATION CEREMONY
TO REASSURE YOU, AND ALL OF
THE MEN IN LAW ENFORCEMEN
THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY,
OF THE SUPPORT YOU HAVE
AT THE VERY HIGHEST LEVELS
IN GOVERNMENT FOR YOUR WORK.
AND I AM HONORED TO SPEAK
FOR THE ENTIRE NATION
IN SAYING TO YOU,
"CONGRATULATIONS,"
WISHING YOU WELL IN SEEING
THAT THIS NATION
IS ONE IN WHICH WE WILL
HAVE RESPECT FOR LAW,
IN WHICH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CAN HAVE FREEDOM FROM FEAR.
WE HAD TALKED ABOU
POLICE BRUTALITY.
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
TALKED ABOUT THE POLICE
AS AN OCCUPYING FORCE
IN THE COMMUNITY.
BUT WE HAD NOT REALLY
UNDERSTOOD THE EXTEN
TO WHICH THE WHOLE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
THE POLICE, THE COURTS,
THE PRISON SYSTEM
IS VERY MUCH INTERTWINED
WITH THE ECONOMIC OPPRESSION
OF BLACK PEOPLE.
Narrator:
BLACKS AND LATINOS FILLED
THE NATION'S PRISONS
IN DISPROPORTIONATE NUMBERS.
AT ATTICA CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY IN UPSTATE NEW YORK,
THEY COMPRISED MORE THAN
60% OF THE INMATE POPULATION.
MOST CAME FROM POOR
INNER-CITY NEIGHBORHOODS.
Man:
I THINK THE SYSTEM WAS DAMAGING
TO THE PEOPLE THAT CAME IN.
THE ONLY INSPIRATION
ANYBODY COULD HAVE
NOT TO GO BACK, OR DESIRE NO
TO GO BACK TO A PLACE LIKE THAT,
IS BECAUSE OF WHA
A HORRIBLE PLACE IT WAS.
THERE'S ALWAYS THE TENDENCY
TO PUSH PRISONS TO THE FRINGES
OF OUR AWARENESS
SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE
TO DEAL WITH WHAT HAPPENS
INSIDE OF THESE
HORRIFYING INSTITUTIONS.
CONDITIONS IN 1971, BEFORE
THE REBELLION, UH WAS BAD.
YOU KNOW BAD FOOD,
BAD EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS,
VERY, VERY LOW, LOW WAGES.
WE WERE CALLED SLAVE WAGERS.
MYSELF, I WAS WORKING
IN THE LAUNDRY
AND I WAS MAKING
LIKE 30 CENT A DAY
BEING THE WARDEN'S LAUNDRY BOY.
AND THAT WAS THE TITLE YOU HAD
WITH MY JOB "WARDEN'S BOY."
AND I'M FAR FROM A BOY.
WE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF THE JAILS
AS A KIND OF EXPLOSIVE RESOURCE
FOR REVOLUTIONARY CHANGE.
CERTAINLY PEOPLE LIKE MALCOLM X
HAD COME OUT OF PRISON
AND THE NATION OF ISLAM
HAD DONE A GREAT JOB
OF TRANSFORMING A LOT OF PEOPLE
WHO HAD BEEN IN PRISON.
AND SOME PEOPLE IN PRISON
HAD BEEN IN THE PANTHERS.
SO WE SAW REVOLUTIONARY ACTIVITY
AS A MEANS OF TRANSFORMING
PRISONERS INTO REVOLUTIONARIES.
Narrator:
ONE OF THE MOST IMPASSIONED
VOICES TO EMERGE
WAS GEORGE JACKSON'S.
HIS PUBLISHED
LETTERS FROM PRISON
HAD REACHED A WIDE AUDIENCE.
ON AUGUST 21, 1971,
JACKSON WAS SHOT TO DEATH
IN SAN QUENTIN PRISON
IN CALIFORNIA.
AT ATTICA, THE NEWS OF HIS DEATH
GREATLY AFFECTED THE INMATES.
WHEN IT REALLY HIT ME IS GOING
TO BREAKFAST THAT MORNING.
EVERYBODY WAS QUIET AND NOBODY
WASN'T PICKING UP NO SILVERWARE.
WHEN YOU GO IN THE DINING ROOM,
IN THE MESS HALL,
YOU HAD TO PICK UP
A KNIFE, SPOON AND FORK
AND WHEN YOU COME OUT,
YOU HAD TO HAVE THAT.
NOBODY WAS PICKING UP,
NOBODY WAS TALKING.
I DON'T KNOW THAT I CAN
DESCRIBE IN WORDS
HOW IT AFFECTED ME,
BECAUSE GEORGE WAS,
IN EFFECT, MY MENTOR.
I REMEMBER HIS GOING
TO COURT IN SHACKLES
AND THE BROTHER WOULD
STAND ERECT, YOU KNOW,
PROUD BLACK MAN THAT HE WAS.
AND THEY HAD NO
BROKEN HIS SPIRIT.
AND THESE ARE THE THINGS
THAT DR. KING AND
MALCOLM TALKED ABOUT
THE BREAKING DOWN
OF THE BLACK MAN'S SPIRIT.
Narrator:
THREE WEEKS LATER,
A FIGHT BETWEEN INMATES
AND GUARDS AT ATTICA
SPARKED A PRISON-WIDE UPRISING.
VIOLENCE SWEPT THROUGH
THE INSTITUTION.
Reporter:
AN ESTIMATED 1,000 PRISONERS
TOOK OVER FOUR CELL BLOCKS
AT ATTICA STATE PRISON
ABOUT 9:30 THIS MORNING.
Blyden:
THE GENERAL CHAOS WAS SUCH
THAT EVEN I WAS TAKEN ABACK,
BECAUSE YOU HAD 40 OR 50
CORRECTION OFFICERS
WHO NO LONGER, IT APPEARED,
HAD CONTROL OF THE INSTITUTION.
SO ORDER HAD TO BE MADE
OUT OF THIS DISORDER
AND AT THAT POINT, THE MUSLIM
CONTINGENT IN THE YARD
I THINK THERE WERE
35 MUSLIM BROTHERS
SAW TO IT THAT THERE
WAS NO FURTHER INJURIES
TO THE HOSTAGES.
Narrator:
THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED
INMATE LEADERSHIP
RELEASED 11 INJURED GUARDS,
BUT STILL HELD HOSTAGE
39 PRISON EMPLOYEES.
COMMISSIONER OF CORRECTIONS
RUSSELL OSWALD
AGREED TO NEGOTIATE.
ACCOMPANIED BY ADVISERS
AND A LOCAL TELEVISION CREW,
HE ENTERED THE YARD WHERE
1,200 INMATES WERE IN CONTROL.
Inmate:
TAKE IT AS YOU WALK,
TAKE IT AS YOU WALK.
MAKE SURE YOU GE
THAT ROOF OVER THERE.
Narrator:
THE NEWS TEAM WAS PERMITTED
TO TALK TO THE HOSTAGES.
Reporter:
HAVE YOU BEEN
TREATED ALL RIGHT?
YES, I HAVE SO FAR
BEEN TREATED VERY GOOD.
Narrator:
THE MEETING WITH COMMISSIONER
OSWALD QUICKLY FOCUSED
ON INMATE FEAR OF REPRISALS
FOR THE REBELLION.
Inmate:
IN VIEW OF
THE FACT NOW
THAT THE SHERIFF'S
DEPARTMENT, THE
VARIOUS COUNTIES,
AND THE STATE TROOPERS
HAS TAKEN OVER
BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN DECLARED
NOW A STATE OF EMERGENCY
YOU COULDN'T GUARANTEE
NO REPRISAL ANYWAY.
THIS IS NOW OU
OF YOUR HANDS, ISN'
IT, COMMISSIONER?
NO, IT IS NOT.
YOU STILL CONTROL
THE STATE TROOPERS?
ABSOLUTELY.
YOU WANT TO PU
YOUR "NO REPRISALS"
IN WRITING?
YES.
I TALKED AS RATIONALLY
AS I COULD WITH THEM
AND LISTENED TO THEM
FOR SOME PERIOD OF TIME.
AND ULTIMATELY, THEY
SAID THEY HAD AN AGENDA
OF WHAT THEY WANTED.
AND I SAID, "WELL,
GIVE ME THE AGENDA."
Narrator:
THE AGENDA INCLUDED DEMANDS
FOR IMPROVED CONDITIONS.
THE INMATES CALLED
FOR EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS,
AN END TO CENSORSHIP
OF LETTERS AND MAGAZINES,
ADEQUATE HEALTH CARE
AND HIRING OF BLACK AND
SPANISH-SPEAKING GUARDS.
DISTRUSTFUL OF STATE OFFICIALS,
THE INMATES ALSO ASKED
FOR OUTSIDERS
TO OBSERVE NEGOTIATIONS.
ASSEMBLYMAN
ARTHUR O. EVE
OF BUFFALO;
THE PRISON SOLIDARITY
COMMITTEE OF NEW YORK;
MINISTER FARRAKHAN
FROM THE MUSLIMS;
WE WANT HUEY P. NEWTON FROM
THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
Narrator:
IN ALL THE INMATES REQUESTED
13 OBSERVERS.
I FELT GOOD.
YOU KNOW, I FELT RELIEVED.
I FELT, I GUESS, LIBERATED
THAT I DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY
ABOUT THE BAR
IN THE FRONT OF ME.
EVEN THOUGH I FELT AND KNEW
THAT I WAS IN PRISON,
AND THAT'S THE REALITY,
BUT THAT VISIBLE THING
WASN'T THERE NO MORE.
YOU KNOW, THE WALLS WAS THERE,
BUT THAT BAR WASN'T REALLY
IN THE FRONT OF ME,
THAT VISIBLE BAR
IT WAS MORE INVISIBLE THEN.
Inmate:
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAI
UNTIL YOU GET THE CUE!
COME ON, IT'S ON NOW.
ALL OF US HERE REALIZE THA
WHEREVER THERE IS THAT STRUGGLE,
THERE IS SACRIFICE.
Narrator:
THE NEXT MORNING, COMMISSIONER
OSWALD RETURNED TO THE YARD,
STILL SEEKING A NEGOTIATED
SOLUTION TO THE CRISIS.
Oswald:
I TALKED WITH THE GOVERNOR'S
LEGAL COUNSEL YESTERDAY
AND HE TOLD ME THE SAME
AS MR. SCHWARTZ TOLD ME
AND THAT IS, THAT THE
GOVERNOR, NOR NO ONE ELSE
HAS THE POWER TO GRANT AMNESTY
FOR THE COMMISSION OF A CRIME
AND THAT'S THE, THE
FALLS WITHIN THE PURVIEW
OF THE LOCAL LAW
ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES.
MR. OSWALD,
MR. OSWALD
NOW, YOU AND I KNOW
THAT THAT'S A LIE.
AMNESTY WAS VERY IMPORTAN
TO THE INMATES
BECAUSE IT TO A GREAT DEGREE
WOULD DETERMINE
WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM
AFTER THE STATE TOOK OVER;
WHETHER OR NOT THERE WAS
GOING TO BE
A PEACEFUL KIND OF TAKEOVER
AND SUBSEQUENTLY, HOW
THEY WOULD BE TREATED.
Narrator:
THE TALKS HAD REACHED
AN IMPASSE.
TENSIONS IN THE YARD INCREASED.
WE HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR OVER
29 HOURS FOR FOOD AND WATER.
WE HAVEN'T GOT NONE.
WE'RE GOING TO KEEP MR. OSWALD,
RUSSELL G. OSWALD, HERE
UNTIL WE GET THE FOOD AND WATER.
(inmates cheer )
I'LL SEE AS SOON
AS I GET BACK THERE
THAT FOOD IS BROUGH
INTO THIS YARD.
Narrator:
PROTECTED BY THE INMATE
SECURITY FORCE,
COMMISSIONER OSWALD
LEFT THE YARD.
THE HOPES OF BOTH SIDES NOW
RESTED ON THE OUTSIDE OBSERVERS
WHO ARRIVED IN ATTICA
LATER THAT DAY.
Man:
WE WERE LED DOWN A LONG CORRIDOR
WHICH HAD BEEN TRASHED
AND BURNED OU
IN THE INITIAL RIOTING.
THE FIRST FEELING
OF SHOCK, I THINK,
FOR SORT OF A SEDENTARY,
MIDDLE-CLASS PERSON LIKE ME
WAS THE FEELING OF BEING
OUT OF REACH OF THE LAW
THAT ONE ORDINARILY
THINKS PROTECTS YOU
THAT SORT OF PROTECTION WE ALL
TAKE FOR GRANTED
UNTIL YOU DON'T HAVE IT.
AND ALL OF A SUDDEN I REALIZED
THAT THERE WASN'
ANYTHING IN THERE TO PROTECT ME
EXCEPT THESE OTHER INMATES
WHOM IT'S ALL TOO
EASY TO THINK OF, YOU KNOW,
AS MURDERERS AND
THIEVES AND SO FORTH.
AND THAT IS A SOMEWHAT SCARY
FEELING, THERE'S NO QUESTION,
BUT VERY SHORTLY AFTER THAT,
WE ALL GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS
TO TRY TO, YOU KNOW, WORK
OUT THE PROBLEMS THERE.
THE INMATE LEADERS GOT INTO
SOME VERY FERVID ORATORY.
THEY WERE GREAT ORATORS.
WE ARE MEN, WE ARE NOT BEASTS,
AND WE DO NOT INTEND TO BE
DRIVEN OR BEATEN AS SUCH.
THE ENTIRE PRISON POPULACE HAS
SET FORTH TO CHANGE FOREVER
THE RUTHLESS BRUTALIZATION
AND DISREGARD
FOR THE LIVES
OF THE PRISONERS HERE
AND THROUGHOU
THE UNITED STATES.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE IS
BUT THE SOUND BEFORE THE FURY
OF THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED.
Inmates (cheering):
RIGHT ON!
THE MOMENT I SAW HIM
SPEAK ON TELEVISION,
I SAID TO MYSELF,
"ELLIOTT, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
BECAUSE I FELT THAT THEY
WOULD MAKE HIM PAY FOR THA
AND PAY DEARLY.
Narrator:
THE FIRST MEETING
OF OBSERVERS AND INMATES
LASTED ALMOST TILL DAWN.
A PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEM
SET UP IN THE YARD
KEPT THE 1,200 INMATES INFORMED.
Eve:
THERE WAS A SENSE OF HOPE
THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME
THERE WERE SOME OUTSIDERS;
PEOPLE WOULD NOW BEGIN TO LISTEN
AND HOPEFULLY SOME CHANGES
COULD BE MADE.
Narrator:
ON SATURDAY, THE THIRD
DAY OF THE UPRISING,
TROOPERS SURROUNDING
THE PRISON YARD
WAITED FOR A DECISION
BY THE STATE.
USING A VIDEO CAMERA,
THEY RECORDED THE ACTIVITIES
OF THE INMATES.
Trooper:
AND THERE IS THE UGLIEST,
BLACKEST NEGRO GENTLEMAN
I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE
IN THAT BLACKOUT.
BOY, WHEN THEY PAINTED HIM,
THEY PAINTED HIM DARK.
THE MAN DOING THE SPEAKING
IS WEARING A BRIGHT RED ROBE.
HE'S JUST GOTTEN SEVERAL
VERY LOUD RESPONSES
FROM THE THE CROWD.
TYPICAL RABBLE-ROUSER TYPE TALK.
(inmates cheering speaker )
Frank Smith:
IT WAS A GOOD FEELING, YOU KNOW,
AND ESPECIALLY AFTER
WE START DEALING
AND START ORGANIZING, AND STAR
TALKING ABOUT THE CONDITIONS
AND START TALKING ABOU
WHY WE WERE OUT THERE
AND START TALKING
ABOUT THE GRIEVANCES
AND START TALKING ABOU
WHY WE WERE REBELLING
AND WHY REBELLING WAS NECESSARY
THE FEELING BECAME MORE
AND MORE AND MORE INTO ME
AND I START FEELING
A PART OF IT MORE.
AIN'T NOTHING DEAD ABOUT US.
WE AIN'T GONNA DIE
WE WILL NOT DIE IN HERE.
IT WAS ALMOST A COMMUNITY
WITHIN A COMMUNITY.
AND IT WAS SOMEWHAT
VERY, VERY IMPRESSIVE
THAT THEY HAD SAID,
"THIS IS OUR HOME
AND WE'RE NOW GOING TO MAKE I
AS LIVABLE AS POSSIBLE."
AND THERE WAS A TREMENDOUS
AMOUNT OF DISCIPLINE
THERE WITHIN THE YARD.
Narrator:
FAMILIES AND FRIENDS
OF THE HOSTAGES
GATHERED OUTSIDE THE PRISON
WALLS, WAITING FOR NEWS.
RELATIVES AND SUPPORTERS OF
THE INMATES DEMONSTRATED NEARBY.
Protesters (chanting):
THE RICH SET THE BAIL,
AND THE POOR STAY IN JAIL!
Narrator:
THAT EVENING, THE MOOD
IN THE YARD CHANGED.
WILLIAM QUINN, A GUARD HUR
IN THE INITIAL TAKEOVER,
GOVERNOR NELSON ROCKEFELLER
AND COMMISSIONER OSWALD
HAD EARLIER AGREED
TO MOST OF THE DEMANDS
CONCERNING PRISON CONDITIONS,
BUT REBELLING INMATES COULD
NOW FACE MURDER CHARGES
UNLESS AMNESTY WAS GRANTED.
THE NEXT DAY, STATE TROOPERS
MOVED INTO POSITION
TO RETAKE THE PRISON,
IF ORDERED.
Trooper:
THE TIME IS 1:55 P.M.
WE'RE ON THE ROOF OF C-BLOCK
LOOKING AT A DETAIL
OF 270-MARKSMEN
WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO KI
CLEAR THE CATWALKS
UPON COMMAND.
Wicker:
WE THOUGHT THAT THE SITUATION
HAD REACHED CRISIS,
THAT IN FACT THERE WAS ABOU
TO BE
AN ATTEMPT TO RETAKE THE PRISON.
WE THOUGHT THAT THERE WOULD
BE A LOT OF BLOODSHED.
THAT IF THAT HAPPENED,
THERE WOULD BE A MASSACRE.
AND HIS RESPONSE WAS, BASICALLY,
THAT HE SYMPATHIZED
WITH OUR POSITION.
HE FELT THAT EVERYTHING HAD
BEEN DONE THAT COULD BE DONE.
HE WAS VERY ANYONE WHO
REMEMBERS GOVERNOR ROCKEFELLER
WILL REMEMBER
HIS EFFUSIVE MANNER.
HE THANKED US FOR OUR EFFORTS
AND THAT SORT OF THING.
BUT THE NET EFFECT OF IT WAS
THAT HE FELT EVERYTHING HAD
BEEN DONE THAT COULD BE DONE.
HE COULD NOT GRANT AMNESTY
AND IN FACT SAID, "EVEN IF
I COULD, I WOULDN'T DO IT."
Narrator:
WITH NEGOTIATIONS DEADLOCKED,
INMATES REQUESTED BLACK
AND LATINO REPORTERS
AND A MEMBER OF
THE ESTABLISHMENT PRESS.
IT WAS AN ATTEMPT TO SPEAK
DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC.
Y'ALL DUDES RUNNING AROUND
HERE SHOOTING THAT DOPE,
RUNNING AROUND HERE
SHOOTING THAT DOPE,
GETTING HIGH, RAPING THEM
SISTERS, THEM WHITE FOLKS,
JUSTIFYING IT IN THE CAUSE
OF REVOLUTION
WELL, WE'RE GONNA DIE HERE
IN ATTICA, TODAY OR TOMORROW.
AND WE ASK YOU TO GET TOGETHER,
GET OUR PEOPLE
TOGETHER, AND UNITE.
THE PEOPLE IN HERE
ARE TREATED LIKE DOGS.
NOT ONLY THE BLACKS THE
PUERTO RICANS AND THE WHITES.
AND WE'RE GONNA GE
WHAT WE DEMAND,
OR WE'RE GONNA DIE TRYING.
AND I WANT YOU BROTHERS
TO GET TOGETHER,
BECAUSE WE TOGETHER HERE.
AND THESE PEOPLE THINK
WE SHUCKING AND JIVING,
BUT WE IS FOR REAL.
ALL THESE DOGS UP THERE
WITH ALL THOSE RIFLES
ARE TRYING TO KILL US.
BUT WE AIN'T GONNA QUIT.
YOU KNOW WHY WE'RE
NEVER GOING TO QUIT?
BECAUSE WE'RE ONE
WE'RE ONE UNIT.
WE'RE TIRED OF BEING BEATEN;
WE'RE TIRED OF BEING OPPRESSED.
WE GONNA GET THIS IF WE ALL
HAVE TO DIE ALL OF US.
Inmates:
WE ARE READY TO DIE!
GONNA DIE, ALL OF US.
Eve:
THE HOSTAGES APPEALED
TO THE STATE
NOT TO COME IN, NOT TO KILL;
THAT THE INMATES'
REQUESTS WERE RIGHT.
ON THAT LAST DAY WE WERE THERE
IT WAS A VERY EMOTIONAL
KIND OF EXCHANGE
FROM THE HOSTAGES
AND FROM EVERYONE.
I JUST HOPE
THAT THE COMMISSIONER
AND THE OTHER PEOPLE
IN THE COMMITTEE THA
THEY'VE GATHERED TOGETHER
CAN COME UP WITH A SOLUTION TO
SOLVE THESE PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS
AND OURS.
Man:
I'LL TELL YOU WHAT I GOT TO SAY:
WE'VE STOOD OUT HERE
SINCE THURSDAY.
AND MY SON IS IN THERE.
MICHAEL SMITH IS ONE
OF THE HOSTAGES.
I'VE TALKED TO SEVERAL
OF THE OTHER PEOPLE HERE
THAT HAVE HUSBANDS IN THERE,
AND SOME OF THE FATHERS.
AND I CAN'T SPEAK
FOR ALL OF THEM,
BUT MY FEELINGS ARE THIS:
YOU CAN ONLY PACIFY A KID
WITH A PACIFIER SO LONG.
AT 3:00 THIS AFTERNOON,
WE WAS LED TO BELIEVE
THAT THERE WAS GOING TO
BE A DEFINITE DECISION.
THEY WAS GOING TO
BRING THEM OUT.
NOW, DAMN IT ALL, DO IT!
Narrator:
MONDAY MORNING, DAY FIVE.
COMMISSIONER OSWALD DEMANDED
THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OF THE HOSTAGES.
IN RESPONSE, THE INMATES
POSITIONED EIGHT OF THE HOSTAGES
ON THE CATWALK.
BY THEIR SIDE STOOD INMATES
ARMED WITH KNIVES AND CLUBS,
THREATENING TO KILL THE HOSTAGES
IN CASE OF AN ATTACK.
Michael Smith:
I WAS LED BLINDFOLDED
TO THE TOP OF THE CATWALK.
AND I CAN RECALL, WHEN THA
HELICOPTER FLEW OVERHEAD,
BESIDES BEING ABLE TO HEAR IT,
YOU COULD ACTUALLY FEEL
THE CONCUSSION OF THE PROPELLERS
FROM THE HELICOPTER OVERHEAD.
(helicopter rotor )
Frank Smith:
WE KNEW THAT THEY WERE
GOING TO COME IN,
BUT WE NEVER KNEW
THAT THEY WERE GOING
TO COME IN THERE THAT WAY.
THAT WAS REALLY A BIG SURPRISE,
THE WAY THAT THEY CAME
IN THE YARD.
WE THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING
TO COME IN THERE
AND BUST SOME HEADS OPEN,
AND THAT KIND OF WAY.
AND ONCE WE START SEEING
THE HELICOPTERS
AND THEY START SHOOTING
THE GAS PELLETS
AND I START SEEING PEOPLE
GETTING OPENED UP WITH SHOTGUNS,
THEN I KNEW THAT THEY WERE
REALLY COMING IN THERE
IN A VIOLENT, VIOLENT WAY.
(sustained gunfire )
Voice from helicopter:
JUST ALL LAY DOWN!
SURRENDER PEACEFULLY!
YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED!
IT'S AN AWFUL SCENE.
WILLIAM KUNSTLER HAS SAID THA
PEOPLE ARE DYING IN THERE AND
I AGREE WITH THAT.
I THINK THAT PEOPLE
ARE DYING IN THERE
AND THE SCENE IS I'M
GOING TO CUT THIS OFF.
HELICOPTERS ARE STILL
FLYING OVERHEAD.
IT SEEMS THERE WAS
AN ANNOUNCEMEN
FROM THE HELICOPTER RIGH
ABOVE ME TO THE INMATES BELOW
THAT THEY SHOULD PUT THEIR HANDS
ON THEIR HEADS AND COME OUT.
I DON'T KNOW WHETHER
ANYONE HAS DIED INSIDE
AND I'M UPSET.
THIS IS UNFORTUNATE,
WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE.
WHATEVER HAPPENS, AFTER
THE SITUATION HERE IN ATTICA,
THE PENAL SYSTEM HERE
IN THE UNITED STATES
AND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE
KEPT INSIDE OF THEM
WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
Narrator:
AS THE INMATES SURRENDERED,
THEY WERE HERDED
INTO AN ADJACENT YARD.
(roar of rotors and orders
from helicopter )
Voice from helicopter:
YOU WILL NOT BE HARMED!
Blyden:
WE WERE MADE TO STRIP,
LAY IN THE MUD FACE DOWN
AND CRAWL TO A GUARD
10 TO 20 FEET AWAY
FROM THE GUARD
THAT HAD YOU STRIPPED.
AT THAT POINT, THAT GUARD WOULD
MARK AN X WITH WHITE CHALK
ON THE BACK OF SELECT INMATES
WHO WERE THEN REMOVED
FROM THE MUD PHYSICALLY
BY TWO ADDITIONAL GUARDS,
PLACED IN A LINE, TO RUN A
GAUNTLET OF CORRECTION OFFICERS
TO BE BEATEN ALL THE WAY
TO ANOTHER CELL BLOCK.
Frank Smith:
YOU KNOW, YOU GOT TO LE
ME EXPLAIN IT THIS WAY.
YOU KNOW, IT WAS VERY,
VERY BARBARIC, YOU KNOW,
VERY, VERY CRUEL, YOU KNOW,
AND I AND I REALLY FEEL IT,
YOU KNOW, WHAT THEY
REALLY DID, YOU KNOW.
THEY RIPPED OUR CLOTHES OFF.
THEY MADE US CRAWL ON THE GROUND
LIKE WE WERE ANIMALS, YOU KNOW,
AND THEY SNATCHED ME,
AND THEY
THEY LAY ME ON A TABLE,
YOU KNOW,
AND THEY BEAT ME IN MY TESTICLES
AND THEY BURNED ME
WITH CIGARETTES
AND THEY DROPPED
HOT SHELLS ON ME
AND THEN PUT A FOOTBALL
UP UNDER MY THROA
AND THEY KEPT TELLING ME
THAT IF IT DROPPED,
THEY WAS GONNA KILL ME.
AND I REALLY FELT, YOU KNOW,
AFTER SEEING SO MANY PEOPLE SHO
FOR NO APPARENT REASON
THAT THEY REALLY WERE
GOING TO DO THIS.
ARMED REBELLION
OF THE TYPE WE HAVE FACED
THREATENS THE DESTRUCTION
OF OUR FREE SOCIETY.
WE CANNOT PERMIT THA
DESTRUCTION TO HAPPEN.
IT HAS INDEED BEEN
AN AGONIZING DECISION.
Wicker:
WE HAD PREDICTED THE DAY BEFORE
THAT I
WAS GOING TO BE A MASSACRE.
HERMAN BADILLO TURNED
TO ME AND SAID,
"I DON'T KNOW WHA
THE HURRY WAS."
HE SAID, "THERE'S
ALWAYS TIME TO DIE."
AND I DON'T KNOW WHA
THE HURRY WAS, EITHER.
YOU KNOW, THOSE GUYS WEREN'
GOING ANYWHERE.
THEY WERE INSIDE 30-FOOT WALLS.
IT WAS SEPTEMBER,
IT WAS GETTING COLD UP THERE,
THE FOOD WAS RUNNING OUT,
THE SANITARY CONDITIONS
WERE BAD,
THE PLACE SMELLED AWFUL.
I MEAN, THAT SENSE OF FREEDOM
THAT THE GUYS HAD HAD
TO BEGIN WITH,
JUST BEING OUT OF THEIR CELLS
THAT WAS BEGINNING TO WEAR AWAY
IN THE REALITY
OF THEIR SITUATION.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HURRY WAS.
THEY COULD HAVE WAITED TWO DAYS,
THREE DAYS, FOUR DAYS.
THOSE GUYS WOULD HAVE GIVEN UP.
THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO GO IN
AND KILL THEM ALL.
BUT, THEY DID.
Narrator:
39 MEN WERE KILLED
IN THE ASSAULT:
29 INMATES AND 10 HOSTAGES.
AMONG THE DEAD, INMATE LEADER
ELLIOTT BARKLEY.
89 MEN WERE SERIOUSLY WOUNDED.
HOSTAGE MICHAEL SMITH WAS SHO
FOUR TIMES IN THE ABDOMEN.
THREE INMATES WERE FOUND
STABBED TO DEATH,
KILLED EARLIER
BY OTHER PRISONERS.
INITIAL REPORTS
BY STATE OFFICIALS
THAT THE HOSTAGES HAD DIED
OF SLASHED THROATS
WERE REFUTED BY
THE MEDICAL EXAMINER.
THE FIRST EIGHT AUTOPSIES
WERE ON THE CASES IDENTIFIED
TO US AS HOSTAGES.
ALL EIGHT CASES DIED
OF GUNSHOT WOUNDS.
Narrator:
THE MEDICAL EXAMINER'S
FINDING WAS SIGNIFICANT.
THE INMATES HAD NO FIREARMS.
GUNFIRE BY STATE TROOPERS
AND PRISON GUARDS
WAS RESPONSIBLE
FOR ALL THE DEATHS
DURING THE RETAKING
OF THE PRISON.
Reporter:
WHAT DID YOU DO DURING
THOSE MOMENTS
WHEN THE ASSAULT WAS
ACTUALLY TAKING PLACE,
THE ORDER HAD
BEEN GIVEN?
WELL, I KEPT IN TOUCH BY PHONE,
AND I'LL NEVER FORGET THE MOMEN
WHEN THE REPORT WAS GIVEN
THAT 14 GUARDS
HAD COME OUT ALIVE.
AND WHILE I WAS ON THE PHONE
WITH BOBBY DOUGLAS,
HE SAID, "NOW IT'S 15, NOW
IT'S 16, NOW IT'S 17."
HE SAID, "NOW 18"
AND WE WENT UP TO 21,
AND I WANT TO TELL YOU
I WAS I JUST WAS
ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMED.
I JUST DIDN'T SEE
HOW IT WAS POSSIBLE
WITH 1,200 MEN IN THERE, ARMED
WITH ELECTRIFIED BARRICADES,
WITH TRENCHES,
WITH A PLEDGE WHICH THEY SAID
THAT THEY WOULD ALL GO RIGH
DOWN FIGHTING TO THE LAST MAN,
HOW IT WAS GOING TO BE POSSIBLE.
Reporter:
WHAT DOES
THIS TELL YOU
ABOUT THE PRISONERS,
GOVERNOR?
PARDON ME?
WHAT DOES THIS
TELL YOU ABOU
THE PRISONERS?
THE FACT THA
SO MANY MEN DID
EMERGE UNHARMED.
ARE YOU TALKING NOW ABOUT
WELL, I THINK WHAT IT TELLS
IS THAT THE USE OF THIS GAS
IS A FANTASTIC INSTRUMEN
IN A SITUATION OF THIS KIND.
GOVERNOR, AFTER THA
ORDER HAD BEEN GIVEN,
DID YOU PRAY?
NOT AFTER IT I PRAYED BEFORE.
Narrator:
IN TOWNS NEAR ATTICA,
PEOPLE GATHERED TO MOURN
THE DEAD HOSTAGES.
IN THE CITIES,
FAMILIES AND FRIENDS
CARRIED THE BODIES OF THE DEAD
INMATES TO THEIR GRAVES.
IN A COUNTRY TROUBLED BY UNREST,
THE CALL FOR LAW AND ORDER
REMAINED POPULAR.
BUT MANY WONDERED:
WAS THE NATION WELL SERVED
BY LAW ENFORCEMENT USED
TO SILENCE VOICES OF DISSENT?
AND WAS AMERICA WILLING
TO MAINTAIN ORDER,
NO MATTER WHAT THE COST?
Marvin Gaye:
MOTHER, MOTHER, THERE'S
TOO MANY OF YOU CRYING ♪
BROTHER, BROTHER, BROTHER ♪
THERE'S FAR TOO
MANY OF YOU DYING ♪
YOU KNOW WE'VE GO
TO FIND A WAY ♪
TO BRING SOME LOVIN'
HERE TODAY ♪
YEAH ♪
FATHER, FATHER, WE DON'
NEED TO ESCALATE ♪
YOU SEE, WAR IS NO
THE ANSWER ♪
FOR ONLY LOVE CAN
CONQUER HATE ♪
YOU KNOW WE'VE GO
TO FIND A WAY ♪
TO BRING SOME LOVIN'
HERE TODAY, OH ♪
PICKET LINES
AND PICKET SIGNS ♪
DON'T PUNISH ME
WITH BRUTALITY ♪
TALK TO ME ♪
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