toc300020010.mp4 / Sam Reed Speech, Durham Technical Community College / Duke Digital Repository

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Today's guest speaker has been an activist

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for most of his life.

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He was born in Ukraine, raised in Duluth, Minnesota,

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and moved to Durham over 20 years ago.

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He has been described as being on the cutting edge

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of social issues here in Durham.

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So much so that he has even started his own newspaper

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called The Trumpet of Conscience.

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His roots in activism have ranged from civil rights

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to workers' rights to senior citizens' rights.

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In light of the celebration of Dr. King's birthday

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it is fitting to note that he has even marched

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with Dr. King from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

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He described Dr. King as a man who has tried

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to save the soul of America.

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Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Sam Reed.

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(audience cheers and applauds)

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Thank you, Ms. (mumbles)

1:08

I really appreciate your remarks.

1:11

Brothers and sisters.

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(audience laughs)

1:21

(object clatters)

1:27

I an fully aware

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that many of you present at this celebration

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of Martin Luther King's birthday

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are schoolteachers.

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And people who make this beautiful institution

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worthwhile.

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And that teaches thousands and thousands of young people,

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young and old for that matter,

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about not only technique

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but also teaching them the meaning of life.

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It is appropriate therefore

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for me to say something first of all to the teachers.

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And I quote here from Ronald Misinari.

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Who said, "Being a teacher

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"refers less to one who gives answers

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"and expect conformity,

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"and more to one who's capable of providing context

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"and stimulus

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"to each learner so that each learner can discover

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"for him or herself.

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"Such teachers are skillful intermediaries.

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"and guide in the search for meaning

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"and self understanding.

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"Rather than creating followers or imitators,

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"their objective is to cultivate discoverers

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"and thinkers.

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"One of the qualifications,

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"one of the qualities

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"that seem to characterize great teachers

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"is their willingness and capacity

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"to go beyond given and inherited

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"or conditional boundaries.

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"Part of their genius is to be able

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"to see things differently

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and act accordingly."

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I didn't come here to make a speech.

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I came here mostly to share with you

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some of the epochal events

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of the Freedom Movement of the 1960s.

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And they were revolutionary in content.

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I want to share with this and (mumbles)

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his feelings and his characterization

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of that Freedom Movement of the '60s.

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He says, "Although we often forget

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"the work of the artist reminds us

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"that the transformation of human societies

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"go with their best possibilities,

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"it's not primarily a job for political technicians.

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"Such creativity was one of the hallmarks

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"of the black-led Freedom Movement

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"in our land.

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"In the search for non-violent approaches

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"to the systemic problems of America,

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"democracy was one of its best manifestations.

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"Those of us who mined the post World War II movement

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"for its human reaped treasures

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"must certainly move beyond historical cliches

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"and stereotypes.

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"But one of the stirring results

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"of the spinning globe

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"and the welcome creates cessation

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"of the Cold War is the growing recognition

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"of our need for new visions

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"of human unity.

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"New understanding of the path

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"towards reaching human conflicts.

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"New peace brigades to help us

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"solve the great problems and meet the great challenges

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"common to humankind.

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"So even though a commitment to non-violent struggle

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"was not uniformly accepted

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"in the African-American Freedom Movement,

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"it is certainly one of the elements

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"most urgently needed in our time.

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"And the right of these needs and opportunities

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"for a contemporary moment,

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"it becomes apparent

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"that our teaching...

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"is granted a great gift

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"when we are able to explore and reflect

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"on a Freedom Movement in which many leaders

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"and thousands of other participants

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"committed themselves to the ways

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"of non-violence.

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"A non-violent life and struggle.

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"Indeed, a movement overflowing

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"with the life and testimonials of women and men

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"who had broken through their fears,

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"who transcended their weaknesses.

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"We're saying, we are not afraid.

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"Even as their knees were quivering.

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"Who were willing to live and die

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"for more than a private agenda.

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"Such a movement and such persons

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"are perhaps the greatest...

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"gift to all those of us

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"who teach about life of the human community.

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"For here was a greatness of heart and spirit

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"that had nothing to do with celebrity,

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"status and bank accounts.

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"Here are countless models for authentic life

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"and works,

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"which may help us to reclaim and restate

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"the old saying, into words like gold.

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"The lives of great women and men,

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"teaches that all of us

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"may tap the magnificent powers

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"of divine creativity,

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"which now lie dormant within us.

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"And use those powers for the development

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"of our own life

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"and the most humane life of our society.

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"Indeed, these are models

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"of women and men

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"who were not satisfied with the transformation

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"of their own lives.

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"The breaking of their own tears,

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"but sowed their own renewal as a call

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"to participate in the rebuilding of other people

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"and the nation.

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"And in the process they found even more

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"powerful sources...

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"of personal renewal than they dreamed.

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"If nothing else comes forth

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"from the exploration and sharing

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"of the epic story of our own struggle

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"for democracy in the United States of America,

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"such an insight will be reward enough.

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"And if the insight helps us to guide desperately

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"searching or desperately trapped

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"individuals to discover and claim

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"their own possibilities,

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"our teaching will have helped

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"beyond the sharing of information

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to the sharing of life itself."

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I think that basically expresses my feelings

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about the role that the Freedom Movement

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has for our country,

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and for that matter for the world.

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I feel very very proud and happy

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that I knew Dr. Martin Luther King personally.

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That I shared with him in the march from Selma

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to Montgomery.

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I also feel very very proud

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to be part of that multitude of thousands and thousands

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of women and men, and children too,

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who braved the insults, the injuries,

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and the terrible name calling

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that came from white racists.

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For those who did not really understand

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that Martin Luther King, and for that matter Malcolm X too,

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and many many thousands and thousands of others

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who shared with King and Malcolm X

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the love of freedom, the love for democracy,

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and were determined to give everything in their power,

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and for that matter, their life even,

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in order to achieve greater democracy for our nation.

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The celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday

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should not be looked upon merely as occasion

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to explain Martin Luther King,

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although there's no question of the role,

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the tremendous power and example

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of Martin Luther King himself.

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But this celebration is an occasion

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for us to ponder

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of the tremendous possibilities

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of the people of our country.

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The example of the Freedom Movement

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was an example of what the American people can and will do.

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And should be an example to us of what you and I

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can do for our communities,

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to do for our nation.

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Because as you've noticed from the children here today,

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there is creativity,

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there is imagination, there is hope.

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And there is talent in the American people.

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All we have to do is give it a chance to come forward.

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Give it a chance to rise to the surface.

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Not to treat people as numbers

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but as human beings with hearts, with hope,

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with dreams.

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That's the meaning of the Freedom Movement.

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And it's especially important because the fight

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for freedom...

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Is not limited to the '60s.

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The fight for freedom is today,

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to carry forward the dream,

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to accomplish the test that was initiated

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by many predecessors to make life today

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truly a happy life for the people.

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To make our country truly democratic.

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To be an example to our nation

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and to the world.

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That's what today's celebration is all about.

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And I hope you feel and agree with my sentiments.

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I want to conclude my remarks

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with one observation.

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Martin Luther King and Malcolm X

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were not the only ones that had a dream.

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The dream is universal.

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The dream is the expression and the hope

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of millions and millions of people.

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In the past and the present.

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And artists, teachers,

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people, creative people, have given expression

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to that dream.

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Have given expression to the test facing us.

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And one of those artists that I want to refer to

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is a famous, really truly powerful artist

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by the name of Langston Hughes.

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I hope that many of you are aware and acquainted

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with the writing of Langston Hughes

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during the '30s and '40s.

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I want to read to you one poem

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of Langston Hughes,

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who best expresses the hope, the dream

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that must go on.

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Langston Hughes writes,

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"Hold fast to the dream.

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"For if the dream dies, life is a broken-winged bird

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"that cannot fly.

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"Oh let America be America again.

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"A land that never has been yet,

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"and yet must be.

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"A land where every man is free.

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"The land that hasn't been yet,

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"and yet must be free.

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"The land that's mine,

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"the poor man, Indians, Negros, me,

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"who makes America.

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"With sweat and blood, with sweat and pain,

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"whose hand

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"at the foundry,

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"with plow in the rain,

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"must bring back our mighty dream again.

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"Sure, call me any ugly name you choose.

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"The steel of freedom does not sink

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"from those who live like leeches

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"on the people's lives.

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"We must take back our land again, America.

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"Oh yes, I say it plain.

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"America never was America to me.

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"And yet I swear the oath, America will be.

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"An ever-living seed,

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"its dream lies deep in the heart of me.

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"We the people must redeem our land.

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"The vine, the plant, the rivers.

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"All, all the stretch of the great (mumbles) state.

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"And make America again.

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"Hold fast to the dream,

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"for when the dream go, life is a barren field,

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frozen with snow."

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I fully agree with Langston Hughes.

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This land belongs to us.

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And dedicating our day today

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to Martin Luther King,

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and to others like Malcolm X.

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Let us pledge to carry on the dream.

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Because it's the only way to honor those great people,

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those great leaders of our nation.

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Thank you.

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(audience applauds)

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Sam says he's an ordinary Joe,

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but we don't think so.

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Thank you, an extraordinary man.

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This is something that Paul Lupes and Jessica Green

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provide to you,

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because you are a man that has everything.

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But it is a book, One World, Ready or Not.

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I think you and he made a trip to Washington

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to visit this man recently.

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And we just want to give this to you

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as our appreciation for (mumbles) today.

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(audience applauds)

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Thanks to all of you.

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And what Ms. Brokerd referred to,

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trip to Washington,

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that took place only a few days ago.

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I attended it.

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Faluki, our senior representative, attended it.

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We met with 600 other people

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from all over the United States.

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And the purpose of that meeting

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is to form a coalition, a unity

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of all progressive forces

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to carry forward the dream of Martin Luther King.

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Thank you again.

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(audience applauds)

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toc300020010.mp4

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John Hope Franklin Research Center