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In the middle of the night, you know, when people,
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the sheriff, depending on his mood or his ability
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to be the local caudillo to set dogs out, okay,
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you can have the local crazies let loose,
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you could have the local trustees let loose, okay.
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All kind of things, and I worked at county.
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Issaquena County, its one of the Black counties
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that was set up right after the civil war.
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The Blacks never controlled any part of the county.
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Are you ready for this?
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Whites came in from Arkansas and ran the whole natural gas
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operation, which is where the money in the county was.
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And we didn't have a car.
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We literally walked that county.
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So you needed a good pair of shoes.
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And the sheriff, I remember when I met the Sheriff Rolio,
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Sheriff Davis said, "How're y'all?"
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'cause you know Southerners are funny, you know,
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they'll greet you and shoot you, too.
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(audience laughter)
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Sheriff Davis said, "Hi y'all, don't go to (mumbles)"
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Like that kinda conversation,
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praised me as I'm walking down to road, you know.
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"Where you goin?"
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"No place."
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Okay, so he'd go on about his business and,
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you know, it's another day.
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He'd come back and he'd see me again and Sheriff Davis says,
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"I'm building you a jail out there."
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He's building a cement wooden room number
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out in the middle of nothing.
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I mean, heaven help the poor soul who has to live in this
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because this unrelenting sun is
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really gonna bake this poor soul.
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And he said, "I'm building it."
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"I'm waiting for you to do something,"
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You know, that kinda thing.
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Then another time he came through, I mean every week he was
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improving his local, you know, judicial control system.
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He had this pick-up truck and then he had this
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barbed wire over the back of the truck so that
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if he had to get, pick us up,
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he was gonna put us in the truck.
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Luckily for us, he never did, because one of the things
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that I always try to do, I always try to be articulate.
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You know, and sometimes I was
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not opposed to joking with him.
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I would say, "Oh Sheriff Davis, oh no, no,"
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"not me, not this time."
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And he would go on, I tried not to ever,
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I tried to be the willow.
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You know, if he was blowing hard then I was bending, okay.
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I didn't wanna go tat for tat.
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I wasn't gonna win that, okay.
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A lot of times he just wanted to know where I was going,
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so I'd stop in the middle of the road and wait.
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I'd sit down in the grass.
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Because I didn't want him to know where I was going.
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I may be going to somebody's house who was weak,
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you understand what I'm saying?
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I went to a man's house one time and he ran whiskey,
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and if you know anything about the state of Mississippi,
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Mississippi's dry.
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So anybody who's got whiskey, you know,
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or what do you call it,
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that White Lightning, yeah.
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That's run by the sheriff.
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So, I'm sitting up there talking with
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literally one of the sheriff's men
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about joining us to go register to vote.
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I'll never forget it,
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this man had this water glass of White Lightning,
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and his position was: "This is what I do for my living."
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"Now, yous talkin' to me like the man."
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"You drink that White Lightning"
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"and still have the same conversation"
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"with me at the end of this glass"
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"that you're having at the beginning of this glass."
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"Convince me that this is what I need to do"
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"and I will be there tomorrow."
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Well he had talked to the wrong person 'cause at that point
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I could drink many a skunk under the table.
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And I sat there and I said: "For real?"
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And he said: "For real."
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I said: "You got time?"
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He said: "Yeah."
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"Good."
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And it took me six hours.
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And I sat right there at the table
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and I was giving him a lesson.
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The conversation was always around freedom.
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It was always around the right to dream this new world.
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You know, I used to say to people to on the plantation,
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"Have you ever thought that you could live in a big house?"
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Never crossed their minds in life.
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They had never even thought of it, you know.
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The notion, have you ever left the plantation?
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Have you ever read a book of choice?
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You know, so it wasn't always,
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Go register to vote.
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It was opening with, I used to call it,
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opening up the curtain at the window.
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That's what I used to call it.
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And I said, and look out,
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don't be afraid to see what's out there.
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And you're gonna have to be responsible now.
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So when I finished this glass of whiskey
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with this man six hours later,
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and I said to him, you know,
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"Two things; One, you do know you're gonna have"
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to break the tie with sheriff,"
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"because you don't wanna be in the position"
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"where the sheriff is gonna think"
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"that you're being duplicitous to him."
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"That will put you in a worse position"
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"than the one you're already in."
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"And you're gonna have to find some other work."
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And one of the things I keep saying to young black people,
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think of a job,
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think of ways that you can work independently.
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Think of being able to support yourself.
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Develop technical skills.
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Find a niche,
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because if you plan,
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if you have the mentality of going in to get that desk,
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that seat, in that agency, they got you already.
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They got you already, you know.
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You said something about opening up the curtains,
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which leads to my next question.
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(panel laughs)
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Can you go into how the movement helped you
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with your confidence?
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'Cause I wanna talk about, you know women,
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like feminism, you know,
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the women's movement,
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how it sparked the women's movement.
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So how did it help you raise your self-worth,
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like your notion of self worth and your confidence,
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and stuff like that?
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And if you know, like, cases of different women
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where that's happened, if you could give examples of that.
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I had seven boarders,
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from the beginning,
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Muriel talked about it.
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Depending on whether people owned the land, or not.
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Well, I was born to a family,
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of land owners, (mumbles).
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My grandparents, my great-grandparents,
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who were probably owners,
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of (mumbles) and farms, and animals,
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and all that sorta thing,
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and I've told you about very early on,
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we're given the task, that's yours,
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that you're supposed to do,
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and nobody ever expected you not to be able to do it,
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once you reach the point in your growth
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where you should be able to handle it,
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then you handled it,
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and it didn't even occur to you,
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to think that you couldn't do it,
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that you, maybe, ought not to do it.
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You did it.
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And so because, and your tasks, of course,
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become more complex and more demanding,
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the older you got and the more you grew.
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And I don't remember ever being told
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"Victoria, you need to do this."
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or "Victoria, you need to do that."
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and I said "I can't do it."
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Are you kidding?
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But that kinda thinkin'
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has never crossed your mind.
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It just wasn't there.
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So, I had the confidence.
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Now, I know that that was an exception,
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also, where are you in the state you lived
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also made a difference.
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Okay?
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Because there were others, probably,
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who did not have that confidence,
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because there's been nothing in their lives,
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you know, that trained them to be so.
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I had a good self image.
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I had high self-esteem,
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and so that was not an issue for me.
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It was not a problem for me.
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But, I knew that it was for others.
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So, here again, was another part of my task,
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was to find ways,
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to help people to discover their real worth
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in whatever ways that reveal themselves
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as we work together,
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as we did a citizenship education,
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as we set up a telephone tree in the community
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to alert people that something is about to happen
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and make sure that word get around the community,
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rapidly and fast.
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So, as you involve people, as people become active,
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certain potential gifts reveal themselves,
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and then when you see this,
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then of course, you zero in on that,
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you encourage that and invite them
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to cultivate that.
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Many of my citizenship education teaches,
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I mean, fresh (mumbles)
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"You really think I could teach this class?"
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"Of course you can teach this class."
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I see that they had that potential.
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And you built that self-esteem,
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or that self confidence.
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People only need a couple of futurists
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to begin, to know that they have something of worth
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to share with them.
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I don't know if that gives me (mumbles) to--
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I'd like to answer from my perspective,
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because it took me another 20 years,
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to get a lot of it together.
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I mean I had to have my own family.
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I had to start raising female children,
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to begin to put the other pieces to it,
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because, in my own personal experience,
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my grandmother was a very strong woman,
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and had been very active on behalf of Black people,
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but when it cam to some of the socialization skills,
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an especially, I was in a largely female household,
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so I didn't really know anything about men.
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They were just a phenomenon for me, (laughs)
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and so, to a large degree
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I dealt with an unknown quantity.
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When it came to book reading and all that kinda stuff,
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I had all that down,
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but developing personal confidence
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and interpersonal skills and all that kind of stuff,
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it took while to really kinda get it together.
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But, just to give you some example,
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I mean, I was very confident about being an organizer.
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I've been an organizer since I was nine years of age.
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So when I came to state, I was like a veteran,
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are you kidding me?
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You know how to take ten counties.
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If I could stay up that long at night.
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But then I worked with two men.
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I was getting into Issaquena,
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'cause I finally pulled out of Greenville
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and just went into Issaquena
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and I told them what to do,
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and literally, I told them what to do,
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and when we talked about it,
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but you know, you have to have--
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Organizing in part is convincing people,
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or working with people towards a commonality.
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But the other part of it is,
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you'd be surprised how few people have vision.
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How few people have any sense of what is beyond tomorrow?
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What is possible?
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What are we capable of?
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They could look at a child and say,
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and the child is having trouble reading and writing,
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and say that most people would discount,
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"Well this kid is just stupid."
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"What can we do with his kid?"
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It has to be the visionary eyes
263
00:10:46.179 --> 00:10:48.359
and the visionary as a parent,
264
00:10:48.359 --> 00:10:50.635
the visionary as a friend, visionary,
265
00:10:50.635 --> 00:10:52.735
not just an organizer or voter registration,
266
00:10:52.735 --> 00:10:54.651
to say you know, this cat,
267
00:10:54.651 --> 00:10:57.411
everybody is born with gifts,
268
00:10:57.411 --> 00:11:01.943
and it is the parent who is the principle teacher
269
00:11:01.943 --> 00:11:04.879
who has to unlock the door,
270
00:11:04.879 --> 00:11:06.155
and you don't know what door it is
271
00:11:06.155 --> 00:11:08.091
and you may be fighting the school system,
272
00:11:08.091 --> 00:11:09.751
you may be fighting everybody,
273
00:11:09.751 --> 00:11:12.545
and say "No, no, my kid has gifts."
274
00:11:12.545 --> 00:11:13.823
Do you understand what I'm saying?
275
00:11:13.823 --> 00:11:15.601
And letting that come forward.
276
00:11:15.601 --> 00:11:17.583
I have a kid who has a, what do you call it?
277
00:11:17.583 --> 00:11:18.531
Who is learning disabled.
278
00:11:18.531 --> 00:11:19.927
I mean, we didn't even know what the problem was.
279
00:11:19.927 --> 00:11:23.083
But, when she got the call, we finally had to tackle it,
280
00:11:23.083 --> 00:11:25.495
'cause something it not happen' here.
281
00:11:25.495 --> 00:11:28.915
This kid's got so many other things going for her,
282
00:11:28.915 --> 00:11:31.109
and then working up her confidence,
283
00:11:31.109 --> 00:11:33.188
so, that was part of what capped me in terms
284
00:11:33.188 --> 00:11:37.021
of my own personal (mumbles).
285
00:11:38.216 --> 00:11:39.729
A quick comment I want to make
286
00:11:39.729 --> 00:11:42.139
about what I certainly said before
287
00:11:42.139 --> 00:11:45.139
and at the same time to this applaud
288
00:11:47.924 --> 00:11:50.849
what both Miriam and Victoria have been saying,
289
00:11:50.849 --> 00:11:54.016
since then, so often in my experience,
290
00:11:54.894 --> 00:11:57.870
the issue of gender and SNCC is usually framed
291
00:11:57.870 --> 00:12:02.609
in terms of whether or not SNCC was a half lap behind
292
00:12:02.609 --> 00:12:03.844
the women's movement,
293
00:12:03.844 --> 00:12:06.004
because the women in SNCC did not say--
294
00:12:06.004 --> 00:12:08.452
I agree with you. I agree with you.
295
00:12:08.452 --> 00:12:10.494
That whether SNCC was half lap behind
296
00:12:10.494 --> 00:12:12.625
because women in SNCC did not say the same things,
297
00:12:12.625 --> 00:12:14.622
they did not have the same fights
298
00:12:14.622 --> 00:12:18.978
about equity that we associate with the women's movement
299
00:12:18.978 --> 00:12:20.331
in other places.
300
00:12:20.331 --> 00:12:22.433
Very different, men struggles.
301
00:12:22.433 --> 00:12:23.266
Exactly.
302
00:12:23.266 --> 00:12:26.043
And I think the place that we're coming form today
303
00:12:26.043 --> 00:12:27.827
is a place of acknowledgement
304
00:12:27.827 --> 00:12:31.994
of how many women in SNCC were rather half a lap ahead,
305
00:12:33.723 --> 00:12:37.598
in that they were already being powerful
306
00:12:37.598 --> 00:12:39.746
and refusing some of the differences.
307
00:12:39.746 --> 00:12:42.338
And so I think I just wanted to emphasize
308
00:12:42.338 --> 00:12:45.792
how much we're coming from that place of acknowledgment,
309
00:12:45.792 --> 00:12:48.987
rather then looking for a confession about--
310
00:12:48.987 --> 00:12:49.947
You're right.
311
00:12:49.947 --> 00:12:51.483
So let me tell you about somebody
312
00:12:51.483 --> 00:12:54.002
that we have not talked about at this conference,
313
00:12:54.002 --> 00:12:54.919
Ruby Doris.
314
00:12:57.368 --> 00:12:59.256
You may want to give her a chance
315
00:12:59.256 --> 00:13:00.203
to raise her question.
316
00:13:00.203 --> 00:13:01.036
Okay.
317
00:13:01.036 --> 00:13:02.206
And then respond.
318
00:13:02.206 --> 00:13:03.144
Okay, go ahead.
319
00:13:03.144 --> 00:13:04.968
So that's what I was gonna to ask you,
320
00:13:04.968 --> 00:13:06.958
I was gonna you ask you how did you deal
321
00:13:06.958 --> 00:13:09.345
with the frustration of when you went in
322
00:13:09.345 --> 00:13:10.763
and you knew what you was doing,
323
00:13:10.763 --> 00:13:12.418
and you knew what the plan was,
324
00:13:12.418 --> 00:13:14.782
and even though you knew it was gonna take a while
325
00:13:14.782 --> 00:13:16.606
to win people over,
326
00:13:16.606 --> 00:13:20.231
or to win them over to see what the whole picture is,
327
00:13:20.231 --> 00:13:21.720
and to see what they need to do,
328
00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:24.574
how did you deal with the frustrating part
329
00:13:24.574 --> 00:13:26.110
of people having no vision?
330
00:13:26.110 --> 00:13:28.104
Of people feeling that hey are so helpless,
331
00:13:28.104 --> 00:13:30.271
so hopeless, and helpless?
332
00:13:32.699 --> 00:13:34.018
How did you deal with that?
333
00:13:34.018 --> 00:13:37.595
Because that's a main, main problem in the community.
334
00:13:37.595 --> 00:13:39.178
It's a big problem.
335
00:13:41.769 --> 00:13:44.100
Well that was going to have
336
00:13:44.100 --> 00:13:45.528
surly be alluding to early about--
337
00:13:45.528 --> 00:13:49.195
First of all, you find the level of entrance
338
00:13:50.878 --> 00:13:53.627
that you can get a person to make.
339
00:13:53.627 --> 00:13:56.869
For example, when I'm out there talking
340
00:13:56.869 --> 00:13:59.845
to people in the community,
341
00:13:59.845 --> 00:14:02.512
and I ask a couple of questions,
342
00:14:04.407 --> 00:14:08.240
and then of course, they make their responses,
343
00:14:10.009 --> 00:14:12.560
and I explain to them
344
00:14:12.560 --> 00:14:14.248
that what they're reading in the newspapers,
345
00:14:14.248 --> 00:14:15.990
what they're hearing on the radio,
346
00:14:15.990 --> 00:14:20.157
what they're seeing on the television is a false thing,
347
00:14:21.060 --> 00:14:22.713
there's nothing true about it.
348
00:14:22.713 --> 00:14:24.963
I tell them about a person,
349
00:14:26.312 --> 00:14:29.876
one of the young people who are in the community,
350
00:14:29.876 --> 00:14:33.329
and I say it's really regrettable that these people
351
00:14:33.329 --> 00:14:36.480
are printing these lies and saying these things
352
00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:38.196
about people that are not true.
353
00:14:38.196 --> 00:14:40.352
Do you know oftentimes these young people
354
00:14:40.352 --> 00:14:44.110
are here working with us, they don't have food.
355
00:14:44.110 --> 00:14:48.766
There are times where they're literally hungry,
356
00:14:48.766 --> 00:14:51.792
and if we don't respond to those things,
357
00:14:51.792 --> 00:14:54.548
they're gonna leave, and I don't blame them.
358
00:14:54.548 --> 00:14:55.548
I would too.
359
00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:58.684
Well see one thing that I know that you'll find
360
00:14:58.684 --> 00:15:01.724
in the rural areas of Mississippi,
361
00:15:01.724 --> 00:15:05.724
people can, they raise their gardens and things,
362
00:15:08.422 --> 00:15:12.412
and then they can things for the winter,
363
00:15:12.412 --> 00:15:14.662
and then all of a sudden somebody will say
364
00:15:14.662 --> 00:15:19.418
"Oh my goodness, we don't want'em to be hungry out here."
365
00:15:19.418 --> 00:15:21.252
"I can give something."
366
00:15:21.252 --> 00:15:22.809
That's all I want, too.
367
00:15:22.809 --> 00:15:24.592
If I can get them, you know--
368
00:15:24.592 --> 00:15:25.918
Whether or not there.
369
00:15:25.918 --> 00:15:30.196
If they're willing to give me a jar of preserves,
370
00:15:30.196 --> 00:15:34.363
or a can of whatever, or a few potatoes in the sack,
371
00:15:37.579 --> 00:15:38.912
that's an entry.
372
00:15:40.506 --> 00:15:44.006
Once you can get them to invest something,
373
00:15:47.132 --> 00:15:51.299
then they become curious about what's really going on.
374
00:15:52.816 --> 00:15:56.816
Within a year's time, our students were the,
375
00:15:56.816 --> 00:16:00.286
our volunteers were the best fed folks in Mississippi.
376
00:16:00.286 --> 00:16:01.990
(audience laughs)
377
00:16:01.990 --> 00:16:04.994
'Cause I had a whole cabinet of people,
378
00:16:04.994 --> 00:16:06.879
I'm serious, who--
379
00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.124
You know what their daily contribution was?
380
00:16:10.124 --> 00:16:12.746
They come down to the Freedom House and cook.
381
00:16:12.746 --> 00:16:16.303
So, when these youngsters come in from those jaunts
382
00:16:16.303 --> 00:16:18.895
that Miriam is telling you about,
383
00:16:18.895 --> 00:16:21.950
when they come in, honey, they have them a hot meal waiting.
384
00:16:21.950 --> 00:16:23.471
When they got in there.
385
00:16:23.471 --> 00:16:24.392
I'm serious.
386
00:16:24.392 --> 00:16:26.408
They really did that.
387
00:16:26.408 --> 00:16:27.968
The young men walkin' around there,
388
00:16:27.968 --> 00:16:30.568
you know, shoes got water on the bottom
389
00:16:30.568 --> 00:16:34.867
and some of those fellows find out about it,
390
00:16:34.867 --> 00:16:35.818
oh, they were sayin' to me
391
00:16:35.818 --> 00:16:37.602
"I had an uncle who's really similar."
392
00:16:37.602 --> 00:16:41.205
Why doesn't Giat (mumbles),"
393
00:16:41.205 --> 00:16:43.003
"you know he has such and such thing."
394
00:16:43.003 --> 00:16:45.500
I say "well he's simply just not able to do it."
395
00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:47.553
"Oh well, I could give him some"
396
00:16:47.553 --> 00:16:49.633
(laughs) You know?
397
00:16:49.633 --> 00:16:51.439
And so what happens, though again
398
00:16:51.439 --> 00:16:53.469
once you get them invested,
399
00:16:53.469 --> 00:16:55.302
then they get curious,
400
00:16:56.211 --> 00:16:58.443
the get to meeting these young people,
401
00:16:58.443 --> 00:17:01.110
listening, sharing, and finally:
402
00:17:05.226 --> 00:17:08.226
"You reckon I could pass that test?"
403
00:17:10.541 --> 00:17:11.595
Oh yeah.
404
00:17:11.595 --> 00:17:13.893
We all from the citizen--
405
00:17:13.893 --> 00:17:17.897
Ought to enroll in one citizenship education classes.
406
00:17:17.897 --> 00:17:20.407
If they weren't quite ready for that,
407
00:17:20.407 --> 00:17:22.724
while they are they down there in the kitchen
408
00:17:22.724 --> 00:17:24.324
and where there was somebody who would
409
00:17:24.324 --> 00:17:25.265
go back there and sit with'em,
410
00:17:25.265 --> 00:17:27.195
and bring a form along,
411
00:17:27.195 --> 00:17:31.099
and little by little you find something to affirm,
412
00:17:31.099 --> 00:17:34.689
you find something that they can buy
413
00:17:34.689 --> 00:17:36.689
and you work from there.
414
00:17:37.687 --> 00:17:39.795
You work from there and like I said,
415
00:17:39.795 --> 00:17:43.733
one or two victories, and that self confidence goes up,
416
00:17:43.733 --> 00:17:45.942
their self-esteem goes up and they become
417
00:17:45.942 --> 00:17:47.762
braver, and braver,
418
00:17:47.762 --> 00:17:49.530
and then you look up one night and
419
00:17:49.530 --> 00:17:52.171
there they are at the mass meeting.
420
00:17:52.171 --> 00:17:54.341
You know they're being liberated.
421
00:17:54.341 --> 00:17:58.266
Let me tell you this, I had a very close friend who was,
422
00:17:58.266 --> 00:18:01.331
when the movement came to Mississippi,
423
00:18:01.331 --> 00:18:05.089
I was an independent business woman, okay?
424
00:18:05.089 --> 00:18:07.700
I had a very dear friend who also served
425
00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:09.617
as a member of my firm,
426
00:18:12.082 --> 00:18:16.278
prior to my finally closing the business down,
427
00:18:16.278 --> 00:18:19.606
and going full time with the movement,
428
00:18:19.606 --> 00:18:22.570
and her husband told her, she told me this later,
429
00:18:22.570 --> 00:18:26.043
"I know that you will follow Victoria anywhere."
430
00:18:26.043 --> 00:18:28.018
"But please, hear what I say this time."
431
00:18:28.018 --> 00:18:30.006
"Not this time 'cause it's very, very dangerous."
432
00:18:30.006 --> 00:18:32.127
"Those people will kill you out there."
433
00:18:32.127 --> 00:18:35.412
And so she, again, 'cause I sad she distanced herself,
434
00:18:35.412 --> 00:18:38.562
she took her husband's advice and distanced herself.
435
00:18:38.562 --> 00:18:40.603
I met her somewhere one day and I said
436
00:18:40.603 --> 00:18:43.785
"Oh, by the way darling, there's going to be"
437
00:18:43.785 --> 00:18:47.426
"a very important event taking place tomorrow."
438
00:18:47.426 --> 00:18:50.388
"Reverend Cameron is going to declare"
439
00:18:50.388 --> 00:18:52.888
"for congressional candidacy."
440
00:18:54.029 --> 00:18:56.171
"He's going to run for office."
441
00:18:56.171 --> 00:18:58.331
And she said "What is that?"
442
00:18:58.331 --> 00:19:02.945
And so I kinda took the time to explain to her what it was,
443
00:19:02.945 --> 00:19:04.779
and I said "It's gonna happen at 12 o'clock sharp."
444
00:19:04.779 --> 00:19:06.495
"So you should be off from work by then,"
445
00:19:06.495 --> 00:19:09.170
"you can come by and see what's going on."
446
00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:12.072
Seeing is better then hearing, you know.
447
00:19:12.072 --> 00:19:15.572
And so she said "Okay, I think I'll come."
448
00:19:17.741 --> 00:19:21.405
So she went to work the next morning,
449
00:19:21.405 --> 00:19:23.655
she told her boss-lady that
450
00:19:25.267 --> 00:19:27.205
she was gonna get off early today
451
00:19:27.205 --> 00:19:31.611
because she was going to a political meeting,
452
00:19:31.611 --> 00:19:34.055
she didn't have a clue what a political meeting was
453
00:19:34.055 --> 00:19:35.628
(laughs)
454
00:19:35.628 --> 00:19:36.877
That's why you probably shouldn't have told her.
455
00:19:36.877 --> 00:19:39.710
(audience laughs)
456
00:19:45.165 --> 00:19:48.042
So her boss was "Listen, you don't have time"
457
00:19:48.042 --> 00:19:50.241
"for any socializing, you have a job."
458
00:19:50.241 --> 00:19:52.150
I mean, this is the way she talked to her,
459
00:19:52.150 --> 00:19:55.741
and she said she didn't argue with her,
460
00:19:55.741 --> 00:19:58.497
she just went on about her work,
461
00:19:58.497 --> 00:20:01.370
so by the time she'd done everything she needed to do,
462
00:20:01.370 --> 00:20:02.945
she went in looking for her,
463
00:20:02.945 --> 00:20:05.867
and she had gone in her room and had gotten into bed,
464
00:20:05.867 --> 00:20:07.162
and so she went in and said
465
00:20:07.162 --> 00:20:09.568
"Miss, I'm getting ready to leave."
466
00:20:09.568 --> 00:20:11.766
"Now, if there's anything else you need?"
467
00:20:11.766 --> 00:20:13.596
And the lady forgot she was supposed to be asleep,
468
00:20:13.596 --> 00:20:14.584
she jumped back up and said
469
00:20:14.584 --> 00:20:17.640
"I told you that you have a job."
470
00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:20.876
"You cannot be goin' to these kinda things."
471
00:20:20.876 --> 00:20:24.596
And she said "Well, ma'am, I am going."
472
00:20:24.596 --> 00:20:26.128
"Now, if there's something else you need me to do,"
473
00:20:26.128 --> 00:20:30.978
"I'll do it before I leave. But, I'm going to this meeting."
474
00:20:30.978 --> 00:20:34.448
She said "Well, if you go, don't you come back"
475
00:20:34.448 --> 00:20:37.411
and she said stood there and she looked at her and said
476
00:20:37.411 --> 00:20:39.744
"Okay. Thank you very much."
477
00:20:40.622 --> 00:20:44.275
She said "And got my stuff together, all of my stuff."
478
00:20:44.275 --> 00:20:47.937
Where before she would left her, you know--
479
00:20:47.937 --> 00:20:50.801
she said "I will tell you no lie."
480
00:20:50.801 --> 00:20:54.028
"When I walked out of that house"
481
00:20:54.028 --> 00:20:56.926
"and started down the street,"
482
00:20:56.926 --> 00:21:01.384
"for the first time in my life I knew I was adult,"
483
00:21:01.384 --> 00:21:04.168
"and that I could decide what I was gonna do with my life."
484
00:21:04.168 --> 00:21:05.350
She said "I can't even--"
485
00:21:05.350 --> 00:21:07.772
she said "I can't describe the feeling"
486
00:21:07.772 --> 00:21:09.384
"that came over me."
487
00:21:09.384 --> 00:21:12.899
'Cause if anybody'd told her she would've done that,
488
00:21:12.899 --> 00:21:16.247
probably ten minutes before she did it--
489
00:21:16.247 --> 00:21:17.655
The situation just evolved.
490
00:21:17.655 --> 00:21:19.139
She just stepped to the plate.
491
00:21:19.139 --> 00:21:19.984
Absolutely.
492
00:21:19.984 --> 00:21:20.920
And she said that--
493
00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:24.248
Anybody well enough to share
494
00:21:24.248 --> 00:21:26.564
their SNCC impressions?
495
00:21:26.564 --> 00:21:27.397
Allison.
496
00:21:31.622 --> 00:21:34.246
Juana, why don't you share some of your SNCC impressions.
497
00:21:34.246 --> 00:21:36.770
What do you want me to say?
498
00:21:36.770 --> 00:21:39.082
Do impressions of a (cross talk drowns out speech)
499
00:21:39.082 --> 00:21:40.590
Oh, I think that the conference is great.
500
00:21:40.590 --> 00:21:44.296
The best part that I like about the conference
501
00:21:44.296 --> 00:21:47.964
was when Dr. Bob Moses got this award
502
00:21:47.964 --> 00:21:50.744
because he's surly a great man,
503
00:21:50.744 --> 00:21:52.674
and our Algebra Project, by me being in it,
504
00:21:52.674 --> 00:21:55.364
I can say is a great program,
505
00:21:55.364 --> 00:21:57.029
and he did so much for the Algebra Project,
506
00:21:57.029 --> 00:21:59.655
not only for the Algebra Project, but for other people,
507
00:21:59.655 --> 00:22:01.929
and he just made so many peoples lives better,
508
00:22:01.929 --> 00:22:03.438
and I believe he really deserved the award
509
00:22:03.438 --> 00:22:04.764
and he got it today.
510
00:22:04.764 --> 00:22:07.806
And that was the best part I liked about it.
511
00:22:07.806 --> 00:22:08.897
I'm agreeing with her.
512
00:22:08.897 --> 00:22:10.264
The conference was great
513
00:22:10.264 --> 00:22:12.552
and I hope to come to the next one.
514
00:22:12.552 --> 00:22:13.918
And that's it.
515
00:22:13.918 --> 00:22:15.203
And I'm agreeing with him.
516
00:22:15.203 --> 00:22:17.062
The conference was great.
517
00:22:17.062 --> 00:22:18.359
I really enjoyed this conference
518
00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.250
it gives me an opportunity to get to know about my heritage.
519
00:22:21.250 --> 00:22:23.226
To get to know about the accomplishments
520
00:22:23.226 --> 00:22:25.618
of others that led the way for us
521
00:22:25.618 --> 00:22:27.164
to be able to go before other people
522
00:22:27.164 --> 00:22:29.061
and do other things
523
00:22:29.061 --> 00:22:32.449
is showing us what other people had to do
524
00:22:32.449 --> 00:22:34.949
to pave the way for us to come
525
00:22:36.958 --> 00:22:38.970
and be able to just be here today,
526
00:22:38.970 --> 00:22:41.028
and all the accomplishments that they had to go through
527
00:22:41.028 --> 00:22:42.754
then all the hardships they had to go through
528
00:22:42.754 --> 00:22:44.272
for us to be able to be stand here
529
00:22:44.272 --> 00:22:46.960
and listening to them and getting to understand
530
00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:49.043
what the project's about.
531
00:22:49.964 --> 00:22:51.758
I think what we had here today,
532
00:22:51.758 --> 00:22:53.702
in 40th anniversary of
533
00:22:53.702 --> 00:22:56.106
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
534
00:22:56.106 --> 00:23:00.164
was a history that dealt with it's development.
535
00:23:00.164 --> 00:23:01.406
Who developed it.
536
00:23:01.406 --> 00:23:03.086
Why it was developed,
537
00:23:03.086 --> 00:23:05.340
and the role of Ella Baker
538
00:23:05.340 --> 00:23:07.377
and the real accomplishments
539
00:23:07.377 --> 00:23:10.124
of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
540
00:23:10.124 --> 00:23:13.044
It's early maneuvers in the McComb,
541
00:23:13.044 --> 00:23:15.724
it's move into the delta of Mississippi,
542
00:23:15.724 --> 00:23:18.267
it's pulling together the Freedom Summer Project,
543
00:23:18.267 --> 00:23:20.153
which as far as I'm concerned,
544
00:23:20.153 --> 00:23:23.545
was the most creative, extensive, inclusionary,
545
00:23:23.545 --> 00:23:25.971
indigenous political operation ever done
546
00:23:25.971 --> 00:23:27.523
in the Civil Rights Movement.
547
00:23:27.523 --> 00:23:29.663
It involved the National Council of Churches,
548
00:23:29.663 --> 00:23:32.123
it in involved the creation of the Freedom Democratic Party,
549
00:23:32.123 --> 00:23:33.607
it involved the Wednesday Group,
550
00:23:33.607 --> 00:23:35.471
a group of people who flew in every Wednesday,
551
00:23:35.471 --> 00:23:37.299
got information and the flew back out
552
00:23:37.299 --> 00:23:39.863
and then talked to their congressman and their senators.
553
00:23:39.863 --> 00:23:42.531
It involved the creation of the Freedom Schools.
554
00:23:42.531 --> 00:23:46.840
On today, 2000, you can go to the NEA building
555
00:23:46.840 --> 00:23:51.007
on 16th street in Washington, D.C. and buy that curriculum.
556
00:23:51.844 --> 00:23:55.757
The politicizing of the gender question
557
00:23:55.757 --> 00:23:58.713
was done by a memo written by Theresa Depazzo,
558
00:23:58.713 --> 00:24:01.820
Casey Hayden, Emily Schrider and Mary King.
559
00:24:01.820 --> 00:24:04.647
That memo was fed throughout the country
560
00:24:04.647 --> 00:24:07.315
and led to the politicizing of the gender question
561
00:24:07.315 --> 00:24:08.812
as we know it today.
562
00:24:08.812 --> 00:24:11.823
So the ramifications of this conference
563
00:24:11.823 --> 00:24:14.306
will live on as long as people question
564
00:24:14.306 --> 00:24:16.114
what is citizenship?
565
00:24:16.114 --> 00:24:17.743
Who has the right to vote?
566
00:24:17.743 --> 00:24:19.890
Who has the right to make the decisions?
567
00:24:19.890 --> 00:24:22.363
And how do we make a better,
568
00:24:22.363 --> 00:24:25.584
how do we make America what it is supposed to be?
569
00:24:25.584 --> 00:24:27.780
SNCC, without Mississippi,
570
00:24:27.780 --> 00:24:29.034
would not be SNCC.
571
00:24:29.034 --> 00:24:32.759
But Mississippi would not be changed without--
572
00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:36.115
Mississippi recently elected a governor, Musgrove,
573
00:24:36.115 --> 00:24:38.151
who was not supposed to win.
574
00:24:38.151 --> 00:24:41.635
The organizing of the Black vote in Mississippi
575
00:24:41.635 --> 00:24:42.831
made that happen.
576
00:24:42.831 --> 00:24:46.051
So I think that we have a lot to be proud of,
577
00:24:46.051 --> 00:24:48.798
and the young people who turned out today,
578
00:24:48.798 --> 00:24:50.631
from across the South,
579
00:24:51.537 --> 00:24:53.847
have made it very, very clear,
580
00:24:53.847 --> 00:24:55.905
they're not gonna wait for us
581
00:24:55.905 --> 00:24:56.803
to tell'em what to do,
582
00:24:56.803 --> 00:24:57.895
and as Julian Bond,
583
00:24:57.895 --> 00:24:58.728
who spoke here today, said,
584
00:24:58.728 --> 00:25:01.851
"If they want to take the torch,"
585
00:25:01.851 --> 00:25:03.438
"that's what they got to do."
586
00:25:03.438 --> 00:25:04.391
"Take it."
587
00:25:04.391 --> 00:25:06.001
Hi, my name is Krista Hanson,
588
00:25:06.001 --> 00:25:07.699
I'm 11th grade at a near high school
589
00:25:07.699 --> 00:25:09.147
in Jackson, Mississippi,
590
00:25:09.147 --> 00:25:10.793
I'm a part of the Young People's Project, with Dr. Moses,
591
00:25:10.793 --> 00:25:14.960
and I think that the conference was very well put together.
592
00:25:16.393 --> 00:25:18.382
I learned a lot about the movement,
593
00:25:18.382 --> 00:25:20.632
more about Dr. Moses' past,
594
00:25:22.419 --> 00:25:27.181
how SNCC got started and what they're doing now,
595
00:25:27.181 --> 00:25:28.353
and I think it's great,
596
00:25:28.353 --> 00:25:30.527
and I hope to be back next year
597
00:25:30.527 --> 00:25:33.027
for the 41st year anniversary.
598
00:25:34.965 --> 00:25:36.494
Hi, my name is Tiffany Emerson,
599
00:25:36.494 --> 00:25:38.393
I'm a 9th grade at Murrah high school
600
00:25:38.393 --> 00:25:39.647
in Jackson, Mississippi.
601
00:25:39.647 --> 00:25:41.196
I'm also a part of the Young People's Project
602
00:25:41.196 --> 00:25:42.331
with Bob Moses.
603
00:25:42.331 --> 00:25:45.127
I learned how Ella Baker started
604
00:25:45.127 --> 00:25:49.776
and how she related to the students as her children,
605
00:25:49.776 --> 00:25:51.741
for what they did within the movement.
606
00:25:51.741 --> 00:25:53.855
I learned about Bob Moses' past
607
00:25:53.855 --> 00:25:57.629
and I learned about what his plans for the future,
608
00:25:57.629 --> 00:25:59.976
and also for the SNCC, what they want to do,
609
00:25:59.976 --> 00:26:01.918
and I guess they want to start from a young people,
610
00:26:01.918 --> 00:26:04.418
so that's what we're here for.
611
00:26:07.030 --> 00:26:08.187
Hi, I'm Meredith Hinckle,
612
00:26:08.187 --> 00:26:09.856
I'm a sophomore at Provine High School
613
00:26:09.856 --> 00:26:11.396
near Jackson, Mississippi,
614
00:26:11.396 --> 00:26:14.837
and today at the 40th anniversary of Ella Baker,
615
00:26:14.837 --> 00:26:16.423
I learned a lot about her as well.
616
00:26:16.423 --> 00:26:20.253
We was here, my congrats to Dr. Bob Moses
617
00:26:20.253 --> 00:26:22.426
for winning the Ella Baker Award,
618
00:26:22.426 --> 00:26:23.426
as well as--
619
00:26:26.037 --> 00:26:27.537
I had fun at this,
620
00:26:28.407 --> 00:26:30.944
I participated in the Welding's workshop
621
00:26:30.944 --> 00:26:32.370
and I think they did a great job.
622
00:26:32.370 --> 00:26:34.293
I commend them on that as well.
623
00:26:34.293 --> 00:26:35.126
Thank you.
624
00:26:35.126 --> 00:26:37.793
(crowd chatter)
625
00:27:09.032 --> 00:27:09.897
Would you like to share
626
00:27:09.897 --> 00:27:11.553
your impressions of the conference?
627
00:27:11.553 --> 00:27:13.631
Sure, I guess--
628
00:27:13.631 --> 00:27:15.288
I've (audio cuts out) today so,
629
00:27:15.288 --> 00:27:16.727
I'm just getting a feel for it today,
630
00:27:16.727 --> 00:27:18.119
and hopefully, I'll get more tomorrow.
631
00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:20.157
I've been enjoying myself.
632
00:27:20.157 --> 00:27:23.876
I guess it's (giggles)
633
00:27:23.876 --> 00:27:25.376
I'll expand later.
634
00:27:28.403 --> 00:27:32.190
I guess, I thought it was really interesting.
635
00:27:32.190 --> 00:27:33.328
I'm coming back tomorrow.
636
00:27:33.328 --> 00:27:34.938
I'm kinda looking forward to coming back
637
00:27:34.938 --> 00:27:38.813
to hearing some more discussions on some more issues.
638
00:27:38.813 --> 00:27:41.206
I especially, I wished I could have gone to more
639
00:27:41.206 --> 00:27:45.541
of the specific topics, specific discussions,
640
00:27:45.541 --> 00:27:47.505
but, because they're all at the same time,
641
00:27:47.505 --> 00:27:50.106
it's unfortunate, you're only able to go to one.
642
00:27:50.106 --> 00:27:52.130
But I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.
643
00:27:52.130 --> 00:27:54.524
I think it'll be good.
644
00:27:54.524 --> 00:27:55.950
Am I responding to any kind of questions?
645
00:27:55.950 --> 00:27:57.720
Or just giving some general comments?
646
00:27:57.720 --> 00:27:59.604
Just general comments and reactions.
647
00:27:59.604 --> 00:28:01.976
What's your most compelling experience.
648
00:28:01.976 --> 00:28:03.470
My most compelling experience has been,
649
00:28:03.470 --> 00:28:04.368
there's been a number.
650
00:28:04.368 --> 00:28:06.862
One being in the presence of Bob Moses
651
00:28:06.862 --> 00:28:09.356
and Casey Hayden as we just kind of figure out
652
00:28:09.356 --> 00:28:10.654
how to create the space to create
653
00:28:10.654 --> 00:28:14.654
some positive social change in American society.
654
00:28:16.471 --> 00:28:17.830
That's been positive.
655
00:28:17.830 --> 00:28:20.590
Just being around so many people that you've read about,
656
00:28:20.590 --> 00:28:23.877
and talked about as, but in history and--
657
00:28:23.877 --> 00:28:26.490
It's great to be able to put names to faces
658
00:28:26.490 --> 00:28:28.928
and actually meet-and-greet some of the folks
659
00:28:28.928 --> 00:28:31.676
who've done so much to make a positive impact
660
00:28:31.676 --> 00:28:33.077
on American society.
661
00:28:33.077 --> 00:28:34.056
That's it.
662
00:28:34.056 --> 00:28:36.794
In the presence of movement activists
663
00:28:36.794 --> 00:28:39.977
who have contributed so much to the uplift of America,
664
00:28:39.977 --> 00:28:41.646
but also, the other thing that's inspiring
665
00:28:41.646 --> 00:28:44.590
is to listen to the younger people and also,
666
00:28:44.590 --> 00:28:46.921
people who weren't in the movement in the 60's
667
00:28:46.921 --> 00:28:49.282
are talking about getting active in social change.
668
00:28:49.282 --> 00:28:53.449
I think all those conversations have been very positive.
669
00:28:56.779 --> 00:29:00.279
Give me a grab focus and..
670
00:29:04.070 --> 00:29:04.903
Okay.
671
00:29:07.476 --> 00:29:10.086
Well, my name is Hollis Wagner
672
00:29:10.086 --> 00:29:14.532
and so far I think the conference has been going good.
673
00:29:14.532 --> 00:29:18.362
It's been a good process on sharing.
674
00:29:18.362 --> 00:29:20.144
I think it's a good, in particular,
675
00:29:20.144 --> 00:29:22.394
that enough people are here
676
00:29:23.538 --> 00:29:26.662
has got different pieces of the puzzle,
677
00:29:26.662 --> 00:29:31.535
and putting it together that allows one to get the whole.
678
00:29:31.535 --> 00:29:33.618
I'm very impressed, also,
679
00:29:34.850 --> 00:29:37.794
by the large number of young people that are out.
680
00:29:37.794 --> 00:29:40.145
Not just all the nerd young people,
681
00:29:40.145 --> 00:29:42.859
in terms of just being out,
682
00:29:42.859 --> 00:29:44.757
but ordinary young people who seem to be
683
00:29:44.757 --> 00:29:46.919
doin' meaningful work,
684
00:29:46.919 --> 00:29:49.483
and are interested in doing meaningful work,
685
00:29:49.483 --> 00:29:50.749
and are very inquisitive.
686
00:29:50.749 --> 00:29:53.313
So, ask good questions, and make good comments.
687
00:29:53.313 --> 00:29:56.775
So far, I've been very impressed with the conference.
688
00:29:56.775 --> 00:29:57.608
Sure.
689
00:30:04.332 --> 00:30:07.499
I did the negative one, comin' down.
690
00:30:08.769 --> 00:30:09.885
Did you (mumbles)
691
00:30:09.885 --> 00:30:10.718
That's what I'm saying.
692
00:30:10.718 --> 00:30:12.218
To investigate it.
693
00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:17.684
Whoever you want, who was there
694
00:30:17.684 --> 00:30:20.649
(crowd chatter drowns out speech)
695
00:30:20.649 --> 00:30:22.719
so it's kinda hard, for all the--
696
00:30:22.719 --> 00:30:24.142
Do you want us?
697
00:30:24.142 --> 00:30:26.641
You let us know when you're ready.
698
00:30:26.641 --> 00:30:27.641
I'm ready.
699
00:30:27.641 --> 00:30:29.263
Do you want to ask me anything?
700
00:30:29.263 --> 00:30:31.029
I just, you're impressions
701
00:30:31.029 --> 00:30:32.169
of the conference.
702
00:30:32.169 --> 00:30:35.021
Sort of the best experience that you've had here.
703
00:30:35.021 --> 00:30:37.781
Most compelling thing that's come across to you.
704
00:30:37.781 --> 00:30:39.989
My impressions of the conference
705
00:30:39.989 --> 00:30:43.761
have been that it's like seeing a long lost family member.
706
00:30:43.761 --> 00:30:45.936
Okay, because you have a lot of these folks
707
00:30:45.936 --> 00:30:47.466
who have come back together,
708
00:30:47.466 --> 00:30:49.766
and who can share stories,
709
00:30:49.766 --> 00:30:53.329
and who bring home memories about a lot of things
710
00:30:53.329 --> 00:30:58.187
that many people, who in 1990, have forgotten ever occurred.
711
00:30:58.187 --> 00:31:01.263
There's another generation who don't even--
712
00:31:01.263 --> 00:31:03.682
who were not even aware that these things took place.
713
00:31:03.682 --> 00:31:06.233
They just sort of take for granted what happens now.
714
00:31:06.233 --> 00:31:07.973
A lot of the advantages that young folks
715
00:31:07.973 --> 00:31:10.318
are even able to enjoy now are as result
716
00:31:10.318 --> 00:31:12.665
of the extreme sacrifices
717
00:31:12.665 --> 00:31:15.149
of the people during the 60's had to make.
718
00:31:15.149 --> 00:31:17.539
To really simplify it,
719
00:31:17.539 --> 00:31:19.335
there are those who are sticking their necks out for what--
720
00:31:19.335 --> 00:31:21.255
are sticking their hands out
721
00:31:21.255 --> 00:31:24.257
for what others stuck their necks out for.
722
00:31:24.257 --> 00:31:25.472
And I think the conference is great.
723
00:31:25.472 --> 00:31:26.992
I'm enjoying it.
724
00:31:26.992 --> 00:31:29.270
I'm lucky, it's a learning experience.
725
00:31:29.270 --> 00:31:32.270
You got some things to say about it.
726
00:31:34.377 --> 00:31:36.251
Ditto to that,
727
00:31:36.251 --> 00:31:40.064
but as a historian, I think the most profound part
728
00:31:40.064 --> 00:31:43.314
of the conference was the presentations
729
00:31:44.321 --> 00:31:48.488
that shared that the movement did not stop in 65 or 66,
730
00:31:50.760 --> 00:31:52.935
and SNCC, in fact, did not.
731
00:31:52.935 --> 00:31:56.018
I'm a member of SNCC in the late 60's
732
00:31:56.935 --> 00:32:00.007
and as we moved from some of the direct action,
733
00:32:00.007 --> 00:32:04.423
activities, and moved on to the economic development,
734
00:32:04.423 --> 00:32:07.217
as well as political activities,
735
00:32:07.217 --> 00:32:12.105
it's a part of the story that very often is not included,
736
00:32:12.105 --> 00:32:16.022
because people get into the more dramatic times
737
00:32:17.073 --> 00:32:18.833
in the early 60's.
738
00:32:18.833 --> 00:32:21.928
So I find that in addition to everything
739
00:32:21.928 --> 00:32:25.424
that's wonderful about the reunion and the remembering,
740
00:32:25.424 --> 00:32:28.689
I'm gratified and humbled that we're beginning
741
00:32:28.689 --> 00:32:32.022
to piece together the rest of the story.
742
00:32:34.164 --> 00:32:36.678
They find out you you are trying to capture the vote,
743
00:32:36.678 --> 00:32:37.511
it's fine.
744
00:32:38.815 --> 00:32:42.982
(crowd chatter drowns out speech)
745
00:32:51.662 --> 00:32:54.017
I don't think we see the connection between
746
00:32:54.017 --> 00:32:56.004
our well being, don't you?
747
00:32:56.004 --> 00:32:57.684
'Cause they've heard politicians today
748
00:32:57.684 --> 00:32:58.525
"Vote for me."
749
00:32:58.525 --> 00:32:59.663
you know you'll have better streets,
750
00:32:59.663 --> 00:33:01.398
you'll have all this, and all this,
751
00:33:01.398 --> 00:33:02.674
it's been bullshit,
752
00:33:02.674 --> 00:33:04.250
and so they've got disillusioned with it.
753
00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:05.083
They don't believe,
754
00:33:05.083 --> 00:33:06.437
there's no connection
755
00:33:06.437 --> 00:33:11.405
between voting for a candidate and their condition.
756
00:33:11.405 --> 00:33:12.484
I think that once they start beginning
757
00:33:12.484 --> 00:33:15.073
to see the connection, they're gonna vote.
758
00:33:15.073 --> 00:33:16.152
See, in Mississippi and other places,
759
00:33:16.152 --> 00:33:17.153
they saw a connection.
760
00:33:17.153 --> 00:33:20.099
They saw how all the tax money was being spent over
761
00:33:20.099 --> 00:33:22.776
in the White community and the schools were better,
762
00:33:22.776 --> 00:33:25.389
roads were better, everything was better,
763
00:33:25.389 --> 00:33:28.700
and they saw that by voting you could
764
00:33:28.700 --> 00:33:31.148
(crowd discussion drowns out speech)
765
00:33:31.148 --> 00:33:32.473
Even the White politician in some
766
00:33:32.473 --> 00:33:35.126
(crowd discussion drowns out speech) gonna be more
767
00:33:35.126 --> 00:33:37.370
responsive because Black folks
768
00:33:37.370 --> 00:33:39.552
had the laws of power our place,
769
00:33:39.552 --> 00:33:42.220
a lot of those counties are African-Americans
770
00:33:42.220 --> 00:33:46.113
made up a majority of the county 60-70% of the count,
771
00:33:46.113 --> 00:33:48.370
yet, there was an all White government.
772
00:33:48.370 --> 00:33:50.312
With time it changed, though.
773
00:33:50.312 --> 00:33:52.729
That's my analysis of it.
774
00:33:52.729 --> 00:33:53.562
I was just wondering,
775
00:33:53.562 --> 00:33:57.312
because I didn't realize it's a huge problem.
776
00:34:00.846 --> 00:34:01.679
Thank you.
777
00:34:01.679 --> 00:34:03.980
All right. Thank you, thank you.
778
00:34:03.980 --> 00:34:04.957
Want to share some impressions
779
00:34:04.957 --> 00:34:07.096
of the conference so far?
780
00:34:07.096 --> 00:34:08.856
Oh mind is, woo!
781
00:34:08.856 --> 00:34:09.939
Mind blowing.
782
00:34:10.951 --> 00:34:15.769
It's so great having people back together, reunion,
783
00:34:15.769 --> 00:34:19.269
to think back on the struggle for freedom.
784
00:34:21.012 --> 00:34:23.748
How you can renew your energies,
785
00:34:23.748 --> 00:34:25.581
renew your commitment.
786
00:34:28.771 --> 00:34:30.246
I'm glad it's happening.
787
00:34:30.246 --> 00:34:33.798
I'm glad that God let me live 40 years to see it.
788
00:34:33.798 --> 00:34:34.794
Thank you.
789
00:34:34.794 --> 00:34:37.199
Go ahead, bring it down for the camera.
790
00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:41.537
In this conference I believe the evaluation
791
00:34:41.537 --> 00:34:44.454
of the problems that the generation
792
00:34:45.643 --> 00:34:47.556
that had passed before me
793
00:34:47.556 --> 00:34:50.649
faced and how they accepted them.
794
00:34:50.649 --> 00:34:54.838
Not accepted them, but how they fought against them,
795
00:34:54.838 --> 00:34:59.276
and developed a new system for me to live in,
796
00:34:59.276 --> 00:35:00.942
a better system for me to live in,
797
00:35:00.942 --> 00:35:02.229
although it's not totally right,
798
00:35:02.229 --> 00:35:06.578
which we'll be talking about in the conference.
799
00:35:06.578 --> 00:35:08.268
How do we get to a just society?
800
00:35:08.268 --> 00:35:11.144
If we realize the society we live in now is not just,
801
00:35:11.144 --> 00:35:14.777
and this conference is kind of giving us options
802
00:35:14.777 --> 00:35:16.594
and teaching us how they got to what they believed
803
00:35:16.594 --> 00:35:17.664
was a just society,
804
00:35:17.664 --> 00:35:21.497
and how we should attempt to do it once we on.
805
00:35:22.769 --> 00:35:24.759
I'm looking at this conference as an opportunity
806
00:35:24.759 --> 00:35:26.876
to meet some very wonderful people,
807
00:35:26.876 --> 00:35:29.658
I mean, this is a tribute to Miss Baker,
808
00:35:29.658 --> 00:35:31.627
but also as something that,
809
00:35:31.627 --> 00:35:34.672
it's kind of developed for me as a way to identify
810
00:35:34.672 --> 00:35:36.589
how we help our people,
811
00:35:38.653 --> 00:35:41.905
how we narrow the generational gap,
812
00:35:41.905 --> 00:35:43.666
and how we learn from the older generation,
813
00:35:43.666 --> 00:35:46.218
and how the older generation learn and listen to us,
814
00:35:46.218 --> 00:35:48.003
so that it's not just someone talking at you
815
00:35:48.003 --> 00:35:49.153
about what happened,
816
00:35:49.153 --> 00:35:50.185
but have them listen to us,
817
00:35:50.185 --> 00:35:51.370
and have us listen to them,
818
00:35:51.370 --> 00:35:53.130
instead of screaming, you know,
819
00:35:53.130 --> 00:35:54.740
"Our generation is faced with this"
820
00:35:54.740 --> 00:35:57.545
and saying "Well, we dealt with it just like this."
821
00:35:57.545 --> 00:36:00.133
And trying to put'em together.
822
00:36:00.133 --> 00:36:02.769
That's pretty much what I'm (mumbles.)
823
00:36:02.769 --> 00:36:05.345
I've had experience, some prior experience,
824
00:36:05.345 --> 00:36:08.436
in civil rights and all the movements,
825
00:36:08.436 --> 00:36:11.325
and I'm here just to share experience
826
00:36:11.325 --> 00:36:12.324
and meet a lot of people,
827
00:36:12.324 --> 00:36:14.290
talk to young people and see what their ideas,
828
00:36:14.290 --> 00:36:16.648
and what changes they think should be made
829
00:36:16.648 --> 00:36:20.084
and there's a lot of pressure eon these young people that,
830
00:36:20.084 --> 00:36:22.294
young students that come to these conference,
831
00:36:22.294 --> 00:36:25.986
because of their needs and their ideas are different,
832
00:36:25.986 --> 00:36:28.391
and we are set in our ways and don't want to change,
833
00:36:28.391 --> 00:36:29.850
and we have to change
834
00:36:29.850 --> 00:36:33.451
in order to work and learn from these young students,
835
00:36:33.451 --> 00:36:36.312
and that's why I'm spending time taking with them,
836
00:36:36.312 --> 00:36:38.925
trying to learn, to get their ideas of what they think,
837
00:36:38.925 --> 00:36:40.935
and what changes I need to make,
838
00:36:40.935 --> 00:36:42.626
and I don't want to give up the power,
839
00:36:42.626 --> 00:36:44.682
I don't want to pass the torch on to them,
840
00:36:44.682 --> 00:36:46.467
so they gotta take it from me.
841
00:36:46.467 --> 00:36:48.307
But I appreciate them, and they should.
842
00:36:48.307 --> 00:36:50.389
'Cause they have good ideas,
843
00:36:50.389 --> 00:36:52.297
and their needs, and their ideas are different
844
00:36:52.297 --> 00:36:55.471
because of technology and the changes,
845
00:36:55.471 --> 00:36:56.603
and I enjoy talkin' with them
846
00:36:56.603 --> 00:36:58.754
because they have a lot of ideas
847
00:36:58.754 --> 00:37:00.921
and we should be flexible.
848
00:37:02.181 --> 00:37:03.665
How do you think things are different now,
849
00:37:03.665 --> 00:37:06.300
then they were in 1960?
850
00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:07.818
Well, difference--
851
00:37:07.818 --> 00:37:10.485
Maybe we should be asking him.
852
00:37:11.888 --> 00:37:13.593
I believe I can say,
853
00:37:13.593 --> 00:37:15.973
the problem that I face today
854
00:37:15.973 --> 00:37:18.386
I believe are different form the problems they faced then
855
00:37:18.386 --> 00:37:20.710
because we have more opportunities,
856
00:37:20.710 --> 00:37:22.815
and some of these opportunities,
857
00:37:22.815 --> 00:37:25.976
they are opportunities but the still may be harmful.
858
00:37:25.976 --> 00:37:27.126
As you know I said earlier,
859
00:37:27.126 --> 00:37:28.276
I have some friends who are in prison,
860
00:37:28.276 --> 00:37:31.785
I have friends who are dead because of gunshots,
861
00:37:31.785 --> 00:37:34.589
and also I have some friends who are addicted to drugs,
862
00:37:34.589 --> 00:37:36.636
and I face these problems today,
863
00:37:36.636 --> 00:37:39.789
they faced problems of injustice, oppression,
864
00:37:39.789 --> 00:37:41.386
and racism.
865
00:37:41.386 --> 00:37:44.585
I believe although those, those three things are prevalent,
866
00:37:44.585 --> 00:37:49.067
they're major fixtures in our society today,
867
00:37:49.067 --> 00:37:51.577
but other problems have risen,
868
00:37:51.577 --> 00:37:53.576
and that's the problems I come in contact with
869
00:37:53.576 --> 00:37:54.647
on a daily basis,
870
00:37:54.647 --> 00:37:56.993
where I don't believe this gentleman right here,
871
00:37:56.993 --> 00:37:58.495
had to face.
872
00:37:58.495 --> 00:38:02.479
Or to the extant (crowd discussion drowns out speech)
873
00:38:02.479 --> 00:38:04.261
If I tell him we still have the same problems,
874
00:38:04.261 --> 00:38:05.168
just a little different,
875
00:38:05.168 --> 00:38:06.364
he won't believe me.
876
00:38:06.364 --> 00:38:07.689
But there still here.
877
00:38:07.689 --> 00:38:09.011
They're just different.
878
00:38:09.011 --> 00:38:10.725
When you go into these small towns and area
879
00:38:10.725 --> 00:38:11.921
they still that.
880
00:38:11.921 --> 00:38:13.429
It doesn't change.
881
00:38:13.429 --> 00:38:15.931
It's just the face of change.
882
00:38:15.931 --> 00:38:18.038
Community change.
883
00:38:18.038 --> 00:38:19.141
We didn't have them change,
884
00:38:19.141 --> 00:38:20.693
we still have the same problems.
885
00:38:20.693 --> 00:38:22.783
And those problems are what?
886
00:38:22.783 --> 00:38:25.384
What are the problems?
887
00:38:25.384 --> 00:38:29.749
Well, they have basic problem in education,
888
00:38:29.749 --> 00:38:32.717
school lover, or how they treat kids in school,
889
00:38:32.717 --> 00:38:34.800
they make them line up for this, and line up for that,
890
00:38:34.800 --> 00:38:35.937
line up for that,
891
00:38:35.937 --> 00:38:37.744
when we went to cafeteria,
892
00:38:37.744 --> 00:38:38.949
when I was in high school,
893
00:38:38.949 --> 00:38:42.319
we could share, eat lunch with the next class,
894
00:38:42.319 --> 00:38:44.665
the senior class or the junior class,
895
00:38:44.665 --> 00:38:45.769
if I'm a sophomore.
896
00:38:45.769 --> 00:38:46.668
They can't do that.
897
00:38:46.668 --> 00:38:48.161
They have to eat with their class,
898
00:38:48.161 --> 00:38:49.842
set in a certain position,
899
00:38:49.842 --> 00:38:51.013
you can't talk, you can't do--
900
00:38:51.013 --> 00:38:51.991
we could do--
901
00:38:51.991 --> 00:38:55.211
we had the freedom of the school.
902
00:38:55.211 --> 00:38:57.110
We didn't have strenuous rules, or regulation,
903
00:38:57.110 --> 00:38:58.983
cause our parents, we knew what we were supposed
904
00:38:58.983 --> 00:39:00.742
to do when we went to school.
905
00:39:00.742 --> 00:39:01.881
They have a lot of pressure.
906
00:39:01.881 --> 00:39:03.274
Yeah, I believe a lot of that is--
907
00:39:03.274 --> 00:39:05.411
a lot of the people in the movement
908
00:39:05.411 --> 00:39:09.411
and during the 60's had the parental foundation,
909
00:39:11.943 --> 00:39:14.726
whereas, a lot of them, some of them,
910
00:39:14.726 --> 00:39:15.933
I'm not gonna say all of them did,
911
00:39:15.933 --> 00:39:17.889
but some of them had both a mother and a father,
912
00:39:17.889 --> 00:39:21.793
whereas we live in the age where divorce is popular,
913
00:39:21.793 --> 00:39:23.666
and where you have a lot of single mothers,
914
00:39:23.666 --> 00:39:25.249
and teen pregnancy,
915
00:39:29.853 --> 00:39:30.856
and the youth,
916
00:39:30.856 --> 00:39:32.567
I'm not gonna say the youth 'cause I'm one of them,
917
00:39:32.567 --> 00:39:37.170
my generation, of some of the opportunities and advantages,
918
00:39:37.170 --> 00:39:38.337
that they had.
919
00:39:39.746 --> 00:39:41.829
You have anything to say?
920
00:39:43.334 --> 00:39:46.220
The problems today, I think are educational,
921
00:39:46.220 --> 00:39:48.946
and not just educational like our school systems,
922
00:39:48.946 --> 00:39:50.672
it's education, you know,
923
00:39:50.672 --> 00:39:53.616
parents aren't teaching their children,
924
00:39:53.616 --> 00:39:55.754
and we're not teaching our brothers and sisters,
925
00:39:55.754 --> 00:39:58.587
I feel that everybody is different
926
00:40:00.112 --> 00:40:01.483
and it should be appreciated that way.
927
00:40:01.483 --> 00:40:04.242
We don't have kids walking up to other kids,
928
00:40:04.242 --> 00:40:05.478
or the older generation,
929
00:40:05.478 --> 00:40:07.082
just walking up to somebody that
930
00:40:07.082 --> 00:40:08.390
they might be different from,
931
00:40:08.390 --> 00:40:12.557
and that's the first thing that I think needs to be tackled.
932
00:40:16.120 --> 00:40:18.478
People have to just accept other peoples.
933
00:40:18.478 --> 00:40:21.615
Make a friend that's not, that doesn't look like you,
934
00:40:21.615 --> 00:40:24.111
or doesn't come from the same economical background,
935
00:40:24.111 --> 00:40:25.663
and you will learn,
936
00:40:25.663 --> 00:40:28.674
and that's where the education needs to happen.
937
00:40:28.674 --> 00:40:29.507
I think.
938
00:40:29.507 --> 00:40:31.585
If that happens, we won't have issues
939
00:40:31.585 --> 00:40:33.711
like the flag coming down in South Carolina,
940
00:40:33.711 --> 00:40:35.544
or anything like that.
941
00:40:38.117 --> 00:40:39.784
Any other questions?