Fuller and Afros at Baldwin [Howard Fuller and African-American Students at Baldwin Auditorium], part 1
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
- | Brothers over here with Black Journal Group | 0:03 |
of New York. | 0:08 | |
What they're doin' is focusing in on student activities | 0:09 | |
on campus in the South. | 0:14 | |
Quick, what they're gonna film tonight will be | 0:17 | |
on national TV some time the latter part of March. | 0:22 | |
- | Turn up the sound, please. | 0:30 |
- | This is an effort to educate the Duke community. | 0:34 |
This rally was not meant to be held as a debate. | 0:39 | |
Nevertheless, in the interest of participatory democracy | 0:44 | |
well, in the interest of participatory democracy | 0:52 | |
if there's a representative of the administration | 0:58 | |
present tonight we'd like to give him the opportunity | 1:02 | |
to speak first. | 1:07 | |
(laughing) | 1:10 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 1:14 | |
So is there one? | 1:16 | |
Oh, Mr. Griffith? | 1:18 | |
Come on if you'd like to. | 1:20 | |
(voice is muffled) | 1:23 | |
No, we'd like for you to speak now. | 1:26 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 1:32 | |
Well in that case I guess we can move on | 1:40 | |
to the real program. | 1:45 | |
(laughing) | 1:47 | |
We will first have a wrap up of the sequence of events | 1:52 | |
since the joint statement presented by the Afro-American | 2:00 | |
Society and the Duke University Administration | 2:03 | |
by Brother B.J. Stokes. | 2:07 | |
- | First of all I'm-a go a little further back | 2:13 |
than just the joint statement. | 2:15 | |
Approximately three weeks ago negotiations took place | 2:20 | |
in the home of our beloved president, Dr. Knight. | 2:24 | |
The members of the Kerckhoff Committee and two trustees | 2:28 | |
were also present. | 2:30 | |
At this time meaningful discussions were undertaken | 2:31 | |
on the part of the Black students in good faith | 2:35 | |
with respect to the university's representatives. | 2:38 | |
Out of this meeting came several mutually acceptable | 2:41 | |
and at the time, seemingly concrete provisions | 2:43 | |
for future "implification" of 13 demands, | 2:46 | |
the most important being a Black Studies program. | 2:50 | |
A retreat was decided upon as a means of mutually | 2:54 | |
implicating and formulating as well as discussing | 2:56 | |
the structure and curriculum of the program. | 3:00 | |
In addition to this, the further emphasize the mutual | 3:03 | |
progress made as a result of the negotiations, | 3:06 | |
an agreement was made not to proclaim a decisive victory | 3:09 | |
for either side but instead a mutual victory. | 3:12 | |
It was agreed upon that Dr. Knight would deliver | 3:16 | |
a joint statement the following day in Page Auditorium. | 3:18 | |
Sunday, February 16th, the last to come was the first to go. | 3:22 | |
Dr. Knight failed to deliver his joint statement | 3:27 | |
and instead, Dr. Kerckhoff did so. | 3:29 | |
In that time, that is between February 16th | 3:33 | |
and February 28th negotiations proceeded between | 3:36 | |
Black student representatives and various members | 3:40 | |
of the Kerckhoff Committee as well as members | 3:42 | |
of the administration. | 3:46 | |
However, nothing concrete was decided upon. | 3:47 | |
In addition to the negotiations between the Black students | 3:53 | |
and university representatives notable progress was made | 3:55 | |
on the part of President Knight in attempting to save face | 3:59 | |
with such statements as "The Black students were used | 4:03 | |
"by three other factions of the university." | 4:07 | |
And at the same time condoning the actions of the policemen | 4:10 | |
which he invited to the campus. | 4:12 | |
On March first and second the retreat came into being | 4:15 | |
and so did the White Studies program. | 4:18 | |
Those immediate trials, on March fifth those | 4:22 | |
immediate trials have yet to materialize. | 4:25 | |
To Dr. Knight, get it together, give it up, | 4:28 | |
or please turn it loose. | 4:31 | |
(clapping) | 4:34 | |
- | Next we'll have a summary of the retreat | 4:37 |
that was held last weekend by Brother Vaughn C. Glapion. | 4:41 | |
- | In a statement that opened the retreat this past weekend, | 4:55 |
Brother Chuck Hopkins clearly indicated that the purpose | 4:58 | |
of the retreat was to establish a skeleton structure | 5:01 | |
of the Black Studies department and to set up a timetable | 5:05 | |
of work on the program so as to ensure implementation | 5:08 | |
in the fall. | 5:11 | |
This purpose was lost in the rhetoric which resulted | 5:13 | |
from discussion by faculty members defining | 5:16 | |
for the consultants, experts in the Black Studies area, | 5:18 | |
what an African, Afro-American Studies program | 5:22 | |
should be and do. | 5:24 | |
They even tried that old trick of setting Blacks | 5:27 | |
against Blacks. | 5:29 | |
The brothers knew their purpose at that conference | 5:31 | |
and realized it would be a waste of time arguing | 5:34 | |
who's program was best, ours or Federal City. | 5:36 | |
(mumbling) Federal City's. | 5:39 | |
The brothers continued to struggle to initiate | 5:41 | |
a Black Studies program relevant to Black students | 5:43 | |
at Duke though. | 5:45 | |
The two consultants from Washington, Doctors | 5:47 | |
Andrew Taylor and William Count presented a model | 5:49 | |
based on the Black Studies program at Federal City College. | 5:53 | |
Martin Kilson, Dr. Martin Kilson gave a presentation | 5:56 | |
on the program at Harvard. | 5:59 | |
Another pattern was suggested and this program, | 6:02 | |
which is being planned at Hunter College in New York | 6:05 | |
has a student-faculty committee with equal representation | 6:08 | |
of students and faculty. | 6:11 | |
While neither of these proposals were suitable | 6:14 | |
in their entirety at Duke, most of the faculty participants | 6:16 | |
completely ignored the models suggested. | 6:19 | |
It was evident that the Duke model had already | 6:23 | |
been decided on. | 6:25 | |
The men with the expertise in this field | 6:27 | |
and those persons most involved, the Black students, | 6:30 | |
for the most part were overlooked. | 6:32 | |
There was more interest in the shifting of courses | 6:36 | |
at Duke, NCC, and UNC than in the creation | 6:38 | |
of a relevant Black Studies program here at Duke. | 6:41 | |
The big hang-up in discussions arose from the issue | 6:45 | |
of student participation. | 6:47 | |
It is imperative in an area such as Black Studies | 6:51 | |
that Black students be involved in all aspects of planning | 6:54 | |
and operation. | 6:57 | |
By their very nature of being Black, | 6:59 | |
Black students are better equipped to deal with | 7:01 | |
the Black experience than old white professors. | 7:03 | |
To make sure that Blacks are heard it is essential | 7:06 | |
that the students speak with some authority, | 7:09 | |
not from a lowly subcommittee. | 7:12 | |
The role of the supervisory committee as it has evolved | 7:15 | |
has been that of a figurehead with subcommittees | 7:17 | |
performing the groundwork duties. | 7:20 | |
There were no objections to student participation | 7:23 | |
on the sub-level. | 7:25 | |
Yet there was little explanation of the rationale | 7:27 | |
behind the idea not to give the students any voice | 7:30 | |
in this decision-making body except that they were older, | 7:33 | |
the white professors that is, were older, wiser, | 7:37 | |
and more mature than we are. | 7:41 | |
The proctor committee, though there were some dissensions, | 7:44 | |
definitely stated they would not recommend student | 7:47 | |
inclusion on the supervisory committee. | 7:49 | |
Obviously the members of the Afro-American Society | 7:53 | |
have no choice but to reject the weekend retreat | 7:55 | |
as any sort of progress and to rate it a failure. | 7:57 | |
If the best that can be accomplished | 8:02 | |
by the proctor committee is a collection of library material | 8:03 | |
on the plantation system, | 8:06 | |
a supposition with no real power base, | 8:09 | |
and courses at other schools which we find is completely | 8:12 | |
unacceptable while providing no transportation, | 8:14 | |
if they cannot see fit to include students in all facets | 8:18 | |
and planning and implementation to set up new, contemporary, | 8:21 | |
relevant courses and to hire good teachers | 8:26 | |
and not necessarily those with Ph.D.s | 8:29 | |
and a long list of publications, | 8:31 | |
then they are not willing to serve our best interests. | 8:34 | |
(clapping) | 8:37 | |
- | Next we'll have a response to the report | 8:49 |
of the Kerckhoff Committee by Brother Chuck Hopkins. | 8:53 | |
- | Points that I'm gonna respond to have been published | 9:07 |
in The Chronicle. | 9:09 | |
As J.R. said, they represent a summation of the report | 9:11 | |
Dr. Kerckhoff issued. | 9:23 | |
It might be coincidental though, but this also, | 9:26 | |
these points also represent identical points that are | 9:29 | |
going to come out in the proctor committee's recommendation. | 9:36 | |
One of the problems among those I've mentioned, | 9:41 | |
that were mentioned by Brian that we all had at this retreat | 9:44 | |
was the fact that we did not participate or were not | 9:50 | |
allowed to participate in discussions on an equal basis | 9:52 | |
as other, as professors, especially those | 9:57 | |
on proctor and Kerckhoff committees. | 10:01 | |
As has been stated before one of the agreements we made | 10:05 | |
at Dr. Knight's house that Saturday after we had left | 10:08 | |
Allen Building was that we would get together as a group | 10:14 | |
at our program for, well at a program | 10:18 | |
for implementation next fall. | 10:26 | |
What happened was at the retreat Black students were forced | 10:31 | |
into the position where they were simply advising, | 10:33 | |
so called, the proctor committee. | 10:38 | |
That is we did not participate in a give-and-take discussion | 10:40 | |
with these people. | 10:43 | |
We made statements. | 10:45 | |
The experts on the Black Studies program such as | 10:47 | |
the consultants, made statements and these were | 10:51 | |
totally overlooked by the members of the proctor committee. | 10:55 | |
These people, what they would do is go off | 11:01 | |
into another room and decide among themselves | 11:03 | |
what was to be recommended in the report that was | 11:06 | |
to issue from the conference this weekend. | 11:11 | |
The statement by the Concerned Faculty Committee | 11:20 | |
is following what has become the normal operating procedure | 11:22 | |
for statements from the faculty administration at Duke. | 11:26 | |
That is to say the statement gives the illusion | 11:30 | |
of being worthwhile. | 11:32 | |
Close scrutiny of this statement however, | 11:34 | |
as with the others will reveal deliberate evasions, | 11:36 | |
double talk, and half truths. | 11:40 | |
Therefore we will address ourselves to each point | 11:43 | |
indicated in this report to point out these illusions. | 11:45 | |
We're gonna do this point by point. | 11:50 | |
The first point that comes out in Kerckhoff's report | 11:53 | |
is that there should be instituted as soon as possible | 11:58 | |
a program of African and Afro-American Studies at Duke. | 12:02 | |
This is their first conclusion. | 12:07 | |
Our response to this is that we wholeheartedly endorse | 12:11 | |
the idea of the immediate establishment of | 12:14 | |
an Afro-Studies program. | 12:16 | |
We would hasten to say, however that this Afro-American | 12:19 | |
Studies program must in fact be an Afro-American | 12:22 | |
Studies program. | 12:26 | |
In our opinion the university is attempting | 12:27 | |
to throw together a conglomeration of unrelated courses | 12:29 | |
and call it an Afro-American Studies program. | 12:33 | |
We completely reject this notion. | 12:37 | |
It's apparent to us that an Afro-American Studies program | 12:40 | |
must be a well coordinated, systematic, and comprehensive | 12:42 | |
series of courses developed out of a Black political | 12:46 | |
and cultural perspective. | 12:50 | |
It's obvious to us that a series of courses | 12:53 | |
developed out of a white conceptual base in no way | 12:55 | |
meets our criteria. | 12:59 | |
So in summary we accept the notion of instituting a program | 13:01 | |
as soon as possible, but we reject the program | 13:04 | |
that the proctor committee is attempting | 13:07 | |
to legitimatize. | 13:09 | |
Two, second point that comes out of the Kerckhoff report | 13:11 | |
is that an undergraduate major in African | 13:16 | |
and Afro-American Studies be established in the fall. | 13:21 | |
Our response to this is that we wholeheartedly agree | 13:27 | |
with this point but only with the qualifications | 13:30 | |
mentioned before concerning the manner in which | 13:34 | |
the program will be structured. | 13:37 | |
The third point that a faculty supervisory committee | 13:40 | |
be appointed immediately by the Provost in consultation | 13:44 | |
with a committee of the Afro-American Society. | 13:48 | |
This is one of the most evasive points as far as creating | 13:53 | |
the illusion of student participation in the program. | 13:57 | |
On this particular point one must first understand | 14:02 | |
that the supervisory committee will in effect be | 14:05 | |
the controlling committee over the Afro-Studies program. | 14:08 | |
Since this is the case merely a consulting role | 14:12 | |
for Black students is totally unacceptable. | 14:15 | |
We, with our qualifications, believe that any program | 14:18 | |
that concerns Black students must reflect the goals | 14:22 | |
and aspirations of Black students. | 14:25 | |
It is obvious that unless one is actively involved | 14:27 | |
in the control of the program it will be impossible | 14:30 | |
to ensure this objective. | 14:32 | |
The fourth point that is mentioned in the Kerckhoff report | 14:36 | |
is that there should be meaningful student participation | 14:40 | |
in the subcommittee structure of the program | 14:44 | |
focusing on such matters as curriculum, | 14:46 | |
visiting speakers, etc. | 14:48 | |
We agree totally with this point but we hasten to add | 14:51 | |
this involvement must be in conjunction rather than | 14:55 | |
in lieu of involvement from the beginning | 14:59 | |
on the supervisory committee. | 15:01 | |
The fifth point states that the first order of business | 15:05 | |
of the newly-appointed supervisory committee should be | 15:07 | |
to consider the role and function of Black students | 15:10 | |
in decision making concern with the program. | 15:12 | |
This point become totally irrelevant in lieu | 15:18 | |
of the fact that we demand to be involved | 15:20 | |
on the supervisory committee from the beginning. | 15:21 | |
The sixth point, that the implementation of the program | 15:25 | |
begin next fall. | 15:28 | |
This is repetitious, we've already created what needs | 15:30 | |
to be done and it has already been said before. | 15:32 | |
Final point is that immediate efforts be made | 15:37 | |
by the supervisory committee to obtain external funding | 15:40 | |
for the further growth of the program. | 15:44 | |
We agree that the supervisory committee should | 15:47 | |
immediately seek funding. | 15:49 | |
We are of course referring to the legitimate | 15:50 | |
supervisory committee composed of Black students | 15:52 | |
as well as faculty members. | 15:55 | |
(clapping) | 16:00 | |
- | We'll now have a rap by Chairman Michael McBride | 16:11 |
on our stand at this point in time. | 16:16 | |
- | Well it won't take much to tell where we stand | 16:28 |
so I won't talk very long. | 16:31 | |
First I want to acknowledge receipt of a letter | 16:35 | |
from the Provost who wishes us to accept the report | 16:38 | |
coming from the retreat and immediately start | 16:43 | |
to work with him to implement the program that they | 16:47 | |
are suggesting. | 16:50 | |
We cannot accept their report, therefore we will not | 16:51 | |
work with him to implement the program that they | 16:56 | |
have suggested. | 16:59 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 17:01 | |
I'll be very brief and to the point. | 17:09 | |
Here I have two statements that will tell | 17:14 | |
where we stand now. | 17:20 | |
Number one, we demand that the proctor committee | 17:24 | |
be abolished because they have demonstrated | 17:27 | |
their ineffectiveness and unwillingness to develop | 17:29 | |
a meaningful program and in the process have indicated | 17:32 | |
an unwillingness to have Black students involved | 17:36 | |
in the decision-making process. | 17:39 | |
It can therefore serve no practical purposes. | 17:42 | |
Number two, that a supervisory committee be selected | 17:45 | |
immediately to be composed of five Black students | 17:51 | |
and five faculty members which will work out | 17:53 | |
the specific details relating to the departmental structure | 17:56 | |
of the African Afro-American Studies program. | 18:00 | |
The supervisory committee should be charged with developing | 18:04 | |
an independent budget and should determine | 18:07 | |
the relevancy of curriculum and professors to the African | 18:09 | |
Afro-American Studies program. | 18:13 | |
If positive action is not taken on these requests | 18:18 | |
by Monday we have no choice but to seek additional means | 18:21 | |
of effecting the changes we seek and do. | 18:25 | |
If on Monday we deem it necessary, a rally will be held | 18:28 | |
Monday night to help further our cause. | 18:31 | |
Time and place to be announced. | 18:34 | |
This puts it where it is, this is where we stand. | 18:36 | |
There's no need to say anything else. | 18:39 | |
- | We will now hear from Wade Norris, | 18:42 |
who's president (mumbles). | 18:46 | |
He will share with us some interesting insights | 18:50 | |
as to his experience in working with the administration. | 18:55 | |
(laughing) | 19:01 | |
- | Well that's not exactly what I hoped I could do tonight. | 19:07 |
But what I would like to do is try to relate | 19:10 | |
what you've seen here in the announcement in the set up | 19:13 | |
that was agreed upon out at Dr. Knight's house | 19:19 | |
several weeks ago to try to resolve this issue | 19:22 | |
to what I think might be some general criticisms | 19:25 | |
of the entire decision-making process here. | 19:29 | |
The president of Brandeis University who I happen to think | 19:35 | |
is a fairly wise man because of some of his sensitivity | 19:38 | |
to things going on inside of the university | 19:44 | |
as well as the rest of the world said that he didn't see | 19:47 | |
how, he thought one of the hardest things in the world | 19:51 | |
was for Black students to relate to white administrators. | 19:55 | |
Not only do you have the generational gap there, | 20:01 | |
but you also have the racial gap, this sort of thing. | 20:03 | |
He said he felt like that tripled or quadrupled it. | 20:06 | |
Now obviously what we've had here | 20:09 | |
in the past couple of weeks is a disagreement basically, | 20:11 | |
between these two groups of people in the university. | 20:14 | |
You can throw in some older white | 20:18 | |
faculty members there, too. | 20:20 | |
Now to resolve that far-sighted Duke University | 20:23 | |
decided that we would get a group of people | 20:26 | |
from the trustees and then finally we got a group | 20:29 | |
of people from the faculty to sit down with the Black | 20:33 | |
students and for those people to have a friendly chit-chat | 20:35 | |
and come up with some very easy solutions | 20:38 | |
to some terribly complicated problems. | 20:41 | |
I think it's time that this university began to realize | 20:45 | |
not only on this issue, although this is probably | 20:48 | |
the most dramatic one and the one where this applies | 20:52 | |
the most, but in other decisions that are made | 20:55 | |
within the university that this sort of family chat | 20:59 | |
and friendly consultation where differences and interests | 21:03 | |
do exist and are legitimate is extremely old-fashioned | 21:08 | |
and will not work in a modern university | 21:13 | |
and a modern world. | 21:14 | |
I think it's time that Duke University | 21:17 | |
and the people who hold the systemized power | 21:18 | |
in the university began to realize that. | 21:22 | |
I think that's exactly what's happened tonight. | 21:25 | |
No one understands, you know, saying next week | 21:29 | |
or two or three weeks from now, a group of Black students | 21:33 | |
seize the building again no one, you know, | 21:38 | |
why these Black students seize the building? | 21:39 | |
That certainly is a ridiculous thing to do. | 21:41 | |
How much more clearly can you have something demonstrated | 21:46 | |
than the way it's been right here? | 21:48 | |
I don't happen to think like I think some people do, | 21:52 | |
that democracy can be applied across the board | 21:56 | |
in the university. | 21:59 | |
I do think that on matters of governance where someone | 22:02 | |
is attempting to limit human conduct in some fashion | 22:05 | |
that democracy is highly applicable | 22:09 | |
and that when the decision is made, for instance, | 22:12 | |
to call in police force on the campus that more people | 22:16 | |
than the President and the Chairman of the Board of Trustees | 22:19 | |
should be involved. | 22:22 | |
That isn't democracy to me on a very democratic issue. | 22:24 | |
I think it's time the university really tried to apply | 22:28 | |
it there. | 22:30 | |
On curricular matters this is where we have | 22:32 | |
the disagreement here. | 22:34 | |
I don't see why students cannot have voting participation | 22:36 | |
on the determination of what their curriculum will be. | 22:41 | |
The idea of expertise is very often thrown out. | 22:45 | |
You know, a student isn't able to make judgments | 22:48 | |
on these matters. | 22:50 | |
I really don't see how someone else can judge for you alone | 22:53 | |
on what you should take while you are here | 22:57 | |
in the university. | 23:01 | |
I do accept a little more fully the idea of expertise | 23:03 | |
on how you should be taught this stuff, | 23:06 | |
how you should learn it. | 23:08 | |
But I again, I don't think this is necessarily achieved | 23:10 | |
by advisory committees and friendly consultation. | 23:16 | |
There are a number of things which I think could be done | 23:21 | |
to solve well, some of these problems. | 23:26 | |
I don't think we're ever going to get real resolution | 23:30 | |
of issues in policies and conditions | 23:33 | |
in this university until we go through some major | 23:37 | |
restructuring in governance. | 23:39 | |
Our call on the president of this university | 23:42 | |
not only to recognize the fact that friendly consultation | 23:44 | |
is not going to solve the problem of the Black students, | 23:49 | |
that if the university wants to solved these problems | 23:53 | |
in a realistic fashion it's going to have to give | 23:57 | |
the Black students some veto powers over what sort | 23:59 | |
of curriculum is set up under this program. | 24:03 | |
I think it's gonna have to give them some voting power | 24:06 | |
on what type of professors are selected to teach this, | 24:08 | |
at least at first to set the program up. | 24:11 | |
I think we've got to realize that. | 24:14 | |
If we don't start out with some sort of realization | 24:16 | |
of that type I think we're really gonna be fighting | 24:18 | |
this sort of thing for a long time. | 24:20 | |
Furthermore I think it's time that the president | 24:24 | |
of this university and some of the people who do | 24:25 | |
have the ultimate power within the system | 24:27 | |
put together a group of faculty members, of students | 24:30 | |
white and Black, of trustees, of non-academic employees | 24:34 | |
and that this group be given the authority | 24:39 | |
from each of the constituencies to come up with | 24:41 | |
a more realistic plan of governing this university. | 24:45 | |
(clapping) | 24:50 | |
I do believe the alternative to that is continued | 24:59 | |
extra system political activity where legitimate | 25:01 | |
differences of interests do lie. | 25:04 | |
I don't think there's any escape from that sort of thing | 25:08 | |
and I think it's time that Duke University took | 25:10 | |
a hard look at a real problem instead of looking back | 25:13 | |
50 years and hoping that sort of mechanisms | 25:17 | |
and those sort of attitudes will solve them. | 25:20 | |
Thank you. | 25:22 | |
(clapping) | 25:23 | |
- | Since we are a part of a larger community we will now | 25:28 |
hear expressions of support from the Durham community. | 25:33 | |
First of all we will hear from Brother Howard Clement, | 25:39 | |
Chairman of the Black Solidary Committee | 25:44 | |
for Community Improvement. | 25:46 | |
After that we will heard from Brother James Potter, | 25:49 | |
President of United Organizations for Community Improvement. | 25:53 | |
- | Thank you, Brother Hyde. | 26:04 |
Brothers and sisters and others. | 26:08 | |
(laughing) | 26:11 | |
Two weeks ago when we had the grand confrontation | 26:18 | |
at the Allen Building on the seven o'clock news | 26:22 | |
the national news reporter said one of the biggest | 26:28 | |
fears in Durham is that the tension out at Duke | 26:31 | |
will spill over into the well-organized Black community | 26:39 | |
in Durham. | 26:42 | |
Well brothers, it has. | 26:45 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 26:47 | |
We come here tonight as a privilege representing | 26:59 | |
the Black Solidarity Committee for Community Improvement | 27:05 | |
to pledge our full and unqualified support | 27:08 | |
for the Black students here at Duke University. | 27:14 | |
(clapping) | 27:16 | |
Not only have we come here with words | 27:25 | |
but we have come here in bodies. | 27:27 | |
Before me are beautiful Black people | 27:30 | |
from the Durham community who want to let you know | 27:32 | |
in terms of word as well as body that we are with you | 27:35 | |
tonight and every night. | 27:39 | |
(clapping) | 27:41 | |
We see the need for an Afro Studies program not only here | 27:47 | |
at Duke University but at the University at Chapel Hill | 27:52 | |
and (voice is muffled) School in Durham, | 27:57 | |
at Durham High School, at Hillside High, and you can -- | 28:00 | |
(clapping). | 28:04 | |
If you can plant the seed here it will grow | 28:13 | |
and be cultivated in Durham. | 28:17 | |
You know, your chaplain said this past Sunday-- | 28:21 | |
(laughing) | 28:25 | |
that he regrets that these Black students have to think | 28:30 | |
in terms of color. | 28:34 | |
I think that was the most ridiculous thing | 28:36 | |
he could have said because that's all those white folks | 28:38 | |
have been thinking about for over 300 years. | 28:40 | |
(clapping) | 28:43 | |
And you know there's an old Indian saying | 28:49 | |
(laughing) | 28:52 | |
that before you criticize a brother you walk | 28:55 | |
in his moccasins for one mile. | 28:58 | |
I challenge Brother Wilkinson to walk in my shoes | 29:01 | |
for 24 hours and see what he thinks about a Black | 29:04 | |
Studies program. | 29:08 | |
He'll be up here too, telling Duke. | 29:09 | |
Months ago offering his services to help us | 29:13 | |
alleviate the problems in Durham community. | 29:16 | |
The Black Solidarity Committee has come out here tonight | 29:19 | |
to help you solve your problems with the university. | 29:21 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 29:26 | |
But I wanna make it clear however, that when we solve | 29:37 | |
these problem they're gonna be solved from | 29:40 | |
the Black point of view. | 29:42 | |
That ain't bad, it's beautiful brothers, it's beautiful. | 29:46 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 29:49 | |
Again we pledge you our support and let you know | 29:51 | |
that we are not behind you we are with you, | 29:54 | |
brothers and sisters, all the way. | 29:58 | |
Thank you. | 30:00 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 30:02 | |
- | I'm not gonna be quite as long-winded as my colleague. | 30:18 |
He's an attorney, I'm not. | 30:23 | |
(laughing) | 30:24 | |
I, as President of the Board of Directors of UOCI | 30:29 | |
do hereby endorse the Afro Studies program in total. | 30:34 | |
I further would like to say that it's about time | 30:45 | |
that this community understand that Black people must | 30:50 | |
participate in those things that is affecting Black people. | 30:55 | |
(clapping and cheering) | 30:58 | |
It must be understood that the UOCI will support | 31:05 | |
the Afro-American Society to gain an education | 31:11 | |
rather than a brainwashing. | 31:15 | |
(clapping) | 31:19 | |
An education that teaches young minds to believe | 31:24 | |
in those things about themselves and not one that | 31:28 | |
teaches them to be robots. | 31:32 | |
You're supposed to spend four years being programmed | 31:35 | |
and thereafter to think of job, think of a house | 31:40 | |
in the suburbs, think of two cars in a carport, | 31:44 | |
but never think of the truth of what you are. | 31:47 | |
(clapping) | 31:50 |
Item Info
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