April 10, 1968

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-	To the funeral on Martin Luther King yesterday	0:06
	and the official representative of the university	0:11
	and I was asked to say a word or two on my experiences	0:14
	or my observations.	0:19
	That I am delighted to do.	0:22
	Just that it is, it is hard to believe	0:26
	that Martin Luther King is dead.	0:29
	It is just so difficult to believe that a movement	0:34
	for our social justice and equality,	0:39
	a movement to create the beloved community	0:43
	is alive here at Duke.	0:48
	The light from your candle, I can assure you,	0:52
	is reducing the darkness in this world.	0:58
	This is a great moment.	1:03
	Like Martin Luther King, my eyes physically now	1:06
	have some vision of the glory	1:13
	of the coming of social justice to this country	1:17
	because of you.	1:22
	Martin Luther King would call you drum majors	1:24
	and majorettes for justice and humanity	1:28
	and great witnesses for the beloved community.	1:32
	I do not know if you realize the ultimate significance	1:37
	of what you're doing.	1:42
	I haven't seen anything like it.	1:44
	I've been involved in quite a few civil rights	1:48
	activities in my life, but I haven't seen anything	1:50
	anywhere comparable to this.	1:55
	You would expect, of course, the victims	2:00
	of oppression to sacrifice,	2:03
	to take the hearts on,	2:07
	to take the rein, to expose their health,	2:10
	to do everything possible to remove the yolk	2:16
	of injustice and prejudice,	2:18
	but you do not expect people born of privilege	2:22
	to undergo this kind of harsh treatment.	2:27
	This is one of the things, I think,	2:33
	that will help to redeem this country	2:36
	and help create people of community.	2:40
	This is magnificent.	2:44
	You are making profound history.	2:46
	Congratulations on your intelligence,	2:51
	your determination, your dignity, and your good faith.	2:53
	Your methods are as noble as your goals.	2:57
	When 15, 20,	3:02
	25 years from now,	3:06
	you see your life pass in review,	3:10
	you see a play by of your existence,	3:13
	you might be proud of what you are doing now	3:16
	because you are going to know in your heart	3:22
	that you made a profound contribution	3:25
	to the transformation of the institution and equality	3:29
	of American culture.	3:33
	Our course here is right.	3:38
	Make no mistake about it.	3:42
	The university administration has taken the wrong side	3:45
	of a great moral issue.	3:51
	You are standing for the highest good	3:54
	and the public interests, including Duke's interest.	3:58
	Duke's interest cannot be different	4:04
	from that of justice and equality,	4:06
	the best in the American tradition.	4:11
	The intransigent of whoever ran this university	4:14
	is typical of the insensitivity and the arrogance	4:18
	of male power.	4:24
	Somehow, they are insensitive to the deeper	4:27
	dimensions of the problem.	4:32
	But this is an old story of the struggle of men to be free	4:36
	and to challenge the existing structure.	4:42
	I have just one comment to make about Dr. King's funeral.	4:48
	The only thing I have to say about my experiences there	4:53
	is that your commitment and behavior here	4:59
	made the experience more bearable,	5:04
	ethical and meaningful and less tragic.	5:08
	As I saw from afar, the casket carried his lifeless body,	5:14
	I was sustained by the knowledge of the 1,000	5:20
	and more bodies full of life, integrity, and vision	5:23
	were carried on his legacy on the spirit	5:27
	and in conformity with his ideals and his methods.	5:31
	I was uplifted by the fact that you had made	5:37
	his mission your very own	5:41
	and I'm sure that Martin Luther King would be proud,	5:44
	mighty proud of you.	5:50
	Your vigil here wiped my tears	5:53
	and helped to sustain me and provided even at a tragic	5:59
	moment (mumbles) for myself.	6:04
	What is involved in this movement?	6:09
	Is the character of America's future.	6:13
	What kind of society are we going to have?	6:16
	Are we to have a free and open society or are we to have	6:20
	chaos and confusion, and a society using,	6:25
	really, police methods.	6:29
	What we are witnessing here with reference	6:33
	to the curfew is something of the police state methods	6:36
	and they're going to increase unless America	6:41
	solve this problem.	6:45
	The other night, a few minutes after the announcement	6:49
	of the assassination of Martin Luther King,	6:52
	a great soul, John Strange, came in our house.	6:56
	John said to me, "Sam, how much more can you take?	7:03
	"Can you take anymore?	7:09
	"Haven't you taken enough?"	7:12
	I reflected.	7:15
	My mind roamed over in a split second	7:19
	the pilgrimage of my people since 1619.	7:21
	I wanted to give a religious answer.	7:27
	I couldn't.	7:30
	How could I say anything in the name of God	7:31
	when Martin Luther King, a good man,	7:35
	a great soul, had been assassinated?	7:38
	I struggle over alternatives,	7:41
	but that didn't satisfy me.	7:47
	I've been haunted by that question.	7:50
	John Strange, I think I have the answer now.	7:53
	I can go on affirming life,	7:57
	Negroes can go on affirming life	8:00
	because of people like you	8:04
	and because of people like you.	8:08
	This provides hope and succor to my spirit.	8:12
	You are creating that kind of community	8:19
	where in the days ahead	8:24
	after this long night of separation and misunderstanding,	8:28
	you and I,	8:36
	white and black together,	8:39
	can shout from the mountaintops and the valleys	8:42
	of our inner being and say	8:48
	what is inscribed	8:53
	on Martin Luther King's grave.	8:56
	We are free at last,	8:59
	free at last,	9:02
	thank God almighty, we are free at last.	9:04
-	As you know, I am here because Doug Knight's health	9:15
	is such that it makes it inadvisable for him	9:19
	to be present himself.	9:22
	He's, as you may recall, suffered a severe case	9:25
	of hepatitis last fall,	9:29
	has scheduled in recent weeks, has exceeded any reasonable	9:30
	limit for someone recovering from that illness.	9:35
	I understand that the normal recovery period	9:39
	continues for at least a year	9:42
	and sometimes a great deal longer.	9:44
	During that period, both fatigue and stress	9:48
	must be avoided.	9:51
	Failure to do this involves serious risk.	9:53
	Dr. Knight is crucially important to this university.	9:56
	He is now in the Duke Hospital, having been	10:00
	brought there today.	10:02
	His condition is a matter of deep concern	10:04
	to his doctors as well as to ourselves.	10:07
	I am sure that you too must share this feeling.	10:11
	This is a time of great national concern over many	10:15
	long existing problems in our society,	10:18
	a time of real national turmoil.	10:23
	I realize your deep concern	10:27
	with respect to the human issues which have now	10:30
	so intensely been brought into focus	10:33
	both here and elsewhere.	10:36
	I personally share this concern with you.	10:40
	Our nation is in the throes of great trouble	10:44
	and we who care must work,	10:47
	must work much harder than we have in the past	10:50
	to solve the problems that face us.	10:53
	Duke University has its own responsibilities in this effort.	10:57
	Now let me comment on the request	11:03
	you have made of President Knight.	11:05
	I think the crucial,	11:09
	the central, most important issue with which	11:11
	we are faced and one to which we must respond	11:13
	is the financial situation of our non-academic employees.	11:15
	We recognized this in 1965 and felt that we then	11:24
	should start to move forward with those employees.	11:28
	Since 1966, we have increased wages	11:32
	an average of nearly 20%, shortened work weeks,	11:36
	improved fringe benefits, liberalized overtime provisions,	11:39
	and implemented training programs to upgrade	11:44
	employee skills, thereby increasing	11:47
	their individual opportunities.	11:50
	I cite these as evidence as our own desire to improve	11:53
	the wellbeing and financial states	11:57
	of our non-academic employees.	11:59
	One of you request that Dr. Knight was that he pressed	12:04
	for the $1.60 minimum wage for Duke employees.	12:07
	I know that he is just as interested in such a wage	12:09
	as you are, and so am I.	12:13
	The present federal minimum wage for most business	12:17
	and commercial organizations is $1.60.	12:20
	For universities and colleges, however,	12:23
	it is $1.15 and will not go	12:26
	to the $1.60 figure until 1971,	12:29
	about three years from now.	12:34
	We will be at the $1.60 minimum rate by July 1, 1969	12:37
	and we shall make a significant step toward this	12:43
	by July 1 of this year.	12:46
	This is going to cost a great deal of money.	12:50
	As a practical matter, it will require increased income	12:52
	and a reexamination of many of the operations	12:56
	and activities of this university.	13:00
	Now President Knight, in his chapel,	13:04
	addressed last Saturday,	13:06
	spoke of the appointment of a committee to consider	13:08
	and I quote, "those developments which will serve us best	13:12
	"in this great university."	13:17
	The membership and scope of that committee	13:20
	will be determined by President Knight	13:24
	upon his return to his office.	13:26
	The other request you presented to Dr. Knight	13:30
	are, as I'm sure you recognize, of a personal nature	13:33
	and can be answered only by him.	13:38
	And now let me return briefly to my earlier comments.	13:46
	I am sure that at this time of personal anguish	13:48
	and national turmoil, Duke University	13:53
	has a special role to play.	13:56
	I want it to fulfill this role and to realize	13:59
	its capacities for leadership.	14:04
	This, I am sure, is also your hope.	14:07
	We cannot achieve this premise divided among ourselves,	14:10
	but we can together.	14:15
	I am confident that we, together, can find ways	14:18
	of working with mutual confidence and respect	14:22
	and thereby, arrive at the goals that we all seek.	14:26
	Thank you very, very much for letting me be here with you.	14:32

Item Info

Title:

April 10, 1968

Date:

April 10, 1968

Description:

Address by Samuel DuBois Cook to the assembled Vigil (10 min.), Statement to the students of Duke University, read by Board of Trustees Chairman Wright Tisdale (5 min.)

Subject:

Format:

Extent:

0:14:38

Digital Collection:

Silent Vigil (1968) and Allen Building Takeover (1969) Audio Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke Vigil collection, 1968 - 1988

Series:

WDBS Tapes of the Duke Vigil

Rights:

Rights Note:

Duke has not determined the copyright status of this item. Regardless of its status, we have made a good faith determination that online access through the Duke Digital Repository is an acceptable fair use and otherwise permitted under U.S. copyright law. For more information, see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

Identifier:

UA01100001-RR-0014
ref90_pn2
uavigil
duke:372808
silau001014
ark:/87924/r49k46x76
38890e39-616c-492c-b22a-bcc60d93991e

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r49k46x76

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April 10, 1968

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