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richardmurray

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  1. Sammy Davis Interview

     

     

    TRANSCRIPT

    0:00
    4 scene 22 take 33 psalm 22.
    0:13
    damn
    0:16
    [Music]
    0:28
    went into the army
    0:31
    you know that that horrible
    0:34
    that was my first taste really of racism
    0:37
    you know ever because I never been
    0:40
    exposed to it being in Show Business you
    0:41
    know
    0:42
    you know you'd run into the average bit
    0:44
    of it but not them not enough to to
    0:45
    upset you or anything you know or not
    0:48
    even to be aware because I'm in show
    0:49
    business so I wasn't aware of it and as
    0:51
    a kid being in Show Business you I
    0:53
    didn't learn until later the about why
    0:55
    we slept in bus stations and why we had
    0:57
    to go to the police and say where's
    0:58
    there
    0:59
    a colored family that you can stay with
    1:01
    because you couldn't get in the hotels
    1:02
    and things like that you couldn't eat in
    1:04
    this restaurant
    1:05
    but there was a very close fraternity
    1:08
    between most of the black and white
    1:11
    performers at that time
    1:13
    uh that doesn't exist today what were
    1:17
    some specific examples when you started
    1:20
    first getting the message
    1:21
    well I think the the first real thing
    1:23
    that I got was in the Army when I you
    1:25
    know and I was in basic training and I
    1:28
    hadn't even gone to basic training I
    1:29
    went in San Francisco we went to the
    1:31
    Presidio Monterey and the third day I
    1:33
    was standing in line and this is before
    1:36
    um desegregation came in the Army you
    1:38
    know uh and I'm standing in line and at
    1:42
    the at this place where there was black
    1:43
    and white soldiers and the cat said you
    1:46
    know
    1:47
    where I come from [ __ ] you know
    1:48
    staring in the back or they they ain't
    1:50
    here I forget the exact line now and I
    1:53
    had my my duffel bag and I'm a duffel
    1:56
    bag but you know the thing like use the
    1:57
    carry of Shaving equipment in and I just
    1:59
    sundied him you know
    2:01
    and knocked him down and had cut his lip
    2:04
    and he's bleeding from the lid and he
    2:06
    said
    2:08
    okay you knock me down but you still a
    2:09
    [ __ ]
    2:12
    and that laid with me you know because
    2:14
    that that's that's so
    2:17
    so venomous it really is you know that
    2:20
    that's the kind of cat that you ain't
    2:22
    gonna never reach
    2:23
    were there some points at which you
    2:26
    during that time when you had a lot of
    2:29
    pressures on you almost lost confidence
    2:31
    in yourself
    2:33
    oh well I that happened to me but not
    2:35
    until I made it really because you know
    2:37
    when you when you're hungry and you're
    2:39
    trying to get there that's one thing
    2:41
    because you've got that ambition that
    2:43
    feeds on and you keep crawling on your
    2:46
    ambition to get there I got there until
    2:48
    I lost control of everything
    2:51
    sense of values uh
    2:53
    now I've got the doll so wound up
    2:56
    there was no relaxing there was there
    2:58
    was no being aware of anything first of
    3:00
    all there was not much to be aware of
    3:01
    anyway in those days
    3:04
    but I mean the nominal awareness that
    3:06
    wasn't there I was just wrapped up in me
    3:09
    then then I got scared because I started
    3:12
    to lose what I thought was the basic
    3:14
    human instinct that I had had
    3:17
    and I got too phony I did oh I did it
    3:19
    all man I invented some
    3:21
    the ones that in the book I invented
    3:23
    some other problems you know but
    3:26
    I you know again to relate to what you
    3:29
    are I said today and I look back 25
    3:32
    years ago and I say wow I don't think I
    3:35
    my head would be where it is now if I
    3:38
    had not gone through that
    3:40
    25 years ago all the mistakes being on
    3:43
    all the time
    3:45
    emulating in truth emulating the white
    3:48
    stars not trying to get my own identity
    3:52
    but because that that was the kick then
    3:54
    you know that's what you had to do so I
    3:58
    decided if you got to do it then I'd do
    3:59
    it better than anybody else had ever
    4:00
    done it
    4:01
    you know in other words when I started
    4:03
    to do Impressions and all of that kind
    4:04
    of stuff relating to a theatrical thing
    4:06
    being on Broadway and Mr Wonderful you
    4:09
    know I wanted to do all that because I
    4:11
    figured if Donald O'Connor can do it man
    4:13
    I'm gonna do it
    4:14
    so in other words I was becoming a black
    4:17
    Donald O'Connor a black Mickey Rooney
    4:19
    instead of becoming a black Sammy Davis
    4:21
    what about the Rat Pack era you and
    4:25
    Sinatra and let me light a cigarette and
    4:27
    I'll tell you okay
    4:32
    I keep thinking uh just a few days
    4:36
    [Music]
    4:38
    no longer will it be anything happening
    4:40
    like it should be the one traffic ticket
    4:42
    that's the first step to maybe in 20
    4:44
    years is not to legalize it right now
    4:46
    when they legalized marijuana
    4:50
    but I'm just comedically I'm thinking
    4:52
    when they legalize it they will be back
    4:55
    to commercials again
    4:59
    [Music]
    5:13
    [Music]
    5:18
    [Music]
    5:30
    and plus but the most important thing is
    5:32
    you'd never be able to run through the
    5:34
    forest
    5:41
    thank you
    5:43
    what about the Rat Pack era
    5:49
    was that a part of your mistakes
    5:51
    well let me tell you about let me tell
    5:53
    you about the Sinatra thing
    5:56
    uh
    5:57
    if it hadn't been for Frank Sinatra
    6:00
    I don't I would have never been in films
    6:02
    really
    6:03
    because he gave me uh
    6:07
    he gave me a an opportunity
    6:09
    in three pictures
    6:13
    based upon the fact that there was
    6:14
    nothing to do really except the fact
    6:16
    that it we got the job because we were
    6:17
    all friends and buddies and it was based
    6:19
    upon a camaraderie that we had as a
    6:22
    bunch of guys as performers that Frank
    6:24
    said why don't we do all do a picture
    6:26
    together
    6:27
    but he so he helped my career
    6:29
    tremendously again my own personal
    6:32
    involvement being such that I became so
    6:35
    involved with that lifestyle
    6:38
    that again I found myself submerging
    6:41
    into a lifestyle that I could not equate
    6:43
    with after you'd leave the party you
    6:45
    come home and you're going to
    6:47
    and you say wow man it sure was nice to
    6:49
    be in the company of all them big names
    6:50
    and the movie star
    6:52
    but there was no
    6:54
    on one hand I I loved being with my
    6:57
    friends
    6:58
    but it was submerging me as a human
    7:00
    being I think as I analyze it now
    7:03
    and there were Beautiful Moments during
    7:05
    that period of the 60s the early 60s and
    7:08
    there was some frightening moments I
    7:09
    remember walking on the stage at the
    7:11
    Democratic Convention and being booed by
    7:13
    the southern contingent you know
    7:16
    because they had no business the only
    7:17
    reason they booed me was because I was
    7:19
    married to a white woman you know to put
    7:21
    it right where it's at that's why they
    7:22
    boom boom hits how dare you be married
    7:25
    to a white woman you know
    7:27
    but it was
    7:28
    a part of conversation privately and
    7:31
    publicly is that uh you were married to
    7:33
    a white woman how do you feel about that
    7:36
    how would you advise a young black
    7:38
    person your son about marrying a white
    7:41
    woman
    7:42
    I think a person should marry who they
    7:43
    want to marry man
    7:45
    I think that you can be committed to
    7:47
    your people to the cause whatever you
    7:49
    whatever the terminology you want to use
    7:51
    doesn't matter matter who you're married
    7:53
    to if you fall in love you fall in love
    7:55
    if you're if you're getting I don't
    7:57
    think anyone gets married has children
    7:59
    and the rest
    8:00
    to do a three cheating job you know
    8:03
    and uh
    8:05
    to me
    8:07
    I feel no thing about it I really don't
    8:11
    I really don't feel anything about that
    8:13
    because I think that's so damn private
    8:16
    man
    8:16
    that has to do with what I want a cat to
    8:19
    do if it's a brother on the corner
    8:20
    whatever it is look at me and say what
    8:23
    did you do today to help
    8:24
    don't talk about my private life
    8:27
    that's mine that if you know if I want
    8:30
    to marry a dog that's my life
    8:33
    this is the point whatever I had I paid
    8:35
    my dues to get it
    8:38
    and I mean pay them
    8:40
    in every way you want to talk about but
    8:43
    what I'm but that's professionally
    8:45
    that's as a human being on a
    8:47
    professional level but as a human being
    8:48
    period I tell my kids Harry who you want
    8:52
    to marry
    8:53
    now I know this sure as I'm sitting on
    8:55
    this floor man whole bunch of brothers
    8:58
    and sisters don't like me there's a
    9:00
    whole bunch of white people that don't
    9:01
    like me why do you feel there's a group
    9:03
    of brothers and sisters who don't like
    9:05
    you because there was a whole bunch of
    9:07
    brothers and sisters that didn't like
    9:08
    Jesus Christ that's why
    9:11
    and ain't nobody ever been put on this
    9:12
    Earth that everybody liked
    9:14
    they don't kill Martin Luther King the
    9:16
    only thing he kept singing was we shall
    9:17
    overcome and love and peace killed him
    9:19
    wiped him out killed Malcolm
    9:23
    wiped out everybody man don't you
    9:25
    understand and some cat hired three
    9:29
    black cats to wipe out the man who was
    9:31
    the mother of our time and when they
    9:33
    killed him he had a half a church full
    9:35
    of people it wasn't like it was packed
    9:37
    and jammed because already he was losing
    9:42
    and he says it himself if you read his
    9:44
    works that there's a whole bunch of
    9:46
    [ __ ] that don't like me black folks
    9:48
    like me but not the [ __ ]
    9:51
    which is true and three black cat three
    9:55
    [ __ ] knocked him off
    9:57
    paid by white establishment that's my
    9:59
    feeling and I will feel this as long as
    10:01
    I live
    10:02
    and it was afterwards at the the
    10:04
    Resurgence of this man and suddenly we
    10:07
    became aware of all the things that he
    10:08
    was saying because as long as doesn't it
    10:12
    strike you funny that as long as
    10:16
    Malcolm was preaching separatism
    10:20
    as long as he was preaching such
    10:23
    vehemence he never got hurt at all it
    10:26
    was when he came back from Mecca and he
    10:28
    said we must all live together we must
    10:29
    we must ask black people do our thing
    10:31
    but we must all live on this Earth as
    10:34
    one blah blah that's when he started
    10:36
    getting his house bombed
    10:38
    he got wiped out months later
    10:40
    same thing with King as long as King was
    10:42
    hitting the March as they put him in
    10:44
    jail that was it as soon as he started
    10:45
    talking about Vietnam
    10:47
    and the workers and this that and the
    10:49
    other getting out of his field of
    10:52
    reference
    10:53
    really
    10:55
    heavy too heavy for somebody wipe him
    10:57
    out
    10:59
    you know and it's frightening to me so
    11:01
    that's why I say a lot of people will
    11:03
    not like any performer and you try to
    11:06
    relate
    11:07
    as far I'm not talking about relating in
    11:09
    terms of oh hi bra and do the Fist and
    11:12
    whatever it is and hey man right on I'm
    11:14
    not talking about the words I'm talking
    11:15
    about in your heart relating to what the
    11:17
    problems are
    11:18
    but the society in which we live in
    11:19
    today it has gotten to a point where you
    11:21
    cannot do that anymore based upon the
    11:24
    fact that I must do what I feel
    11:26
    if I feel that I I want to help in this
    11:29
    area I try to do it and I try to do it
    11:31
    Sans publicity not based upon the fear
    11:34
    that I have for my job
    11:36
    but I think that sometimes if I want to
    11:38
    help some brothers who are in trouble my
    11:40
    lending my name to it defeats the very
    11:44
    purpose that they're trying to achieve
    11:48
    but money is money
    11:50
    heart is heart you should lend your
    11:52
    heart and your money you ain't got the
    11:54
    money
    11:56
    then lend this lend your body man to it
    11:59
    you know but I'm talking about I think
    12:01
    that if the performer can be used
    12:05
    than he should be used
    12:08
    to put my obligation into black positive
    12:11
    things I'm not talking about National
    12:12
    organizations it can be something that's
    12:14
    happening on the corner a project that
    12:16
    because I found out and Walter Mason can
    12:19
    tell you we found out that you go into a
    12:22
    town
    12:23
    and sometimes it's as little as a
    12:25
    hundred dollars because you go to an
    12:28
    area where this where where some
    12:30
    projects are and they got a recreation
    12:31
    center ain't got no pool table ain't got
    12:33
    no records to play so the kids don't go
    12:35
    there they hang on the car right
    12:37
    Jesus you walk in and you look around
    12:40
    and you say hey well I know I get a pool
    12:42
    table and I know I can get the record
    12:44
    player and I'll get reprise at that time
    12:47
    or my own company to send records you're
    12:50
    in a privileged situation first of all
    12:52
    uh I can't help but make an analogy
    12:54
    between yourself and lean a horn
    12:55
    I mean the two of you are for lack of a
    12:58
    better phrase are superstars are using
    13:00
    to some extent your sense of commitment
    13:04
    you uh you're evolving a new sense of
    13:06
    self and most importantly like you're
    13:09
    going in front of the nation and you're
    13:11
    saying I'm Black and I'm Proud and I'm
    13:13
    relating to my people
    13:15
    I'm not going to use anybody's name but
    13:17
    I'm sure you won't but where are the
    13:19
    heads of a lot of the black Superstars
    13:21
    we don't see them like we see you in
    13:23
    Philadelphia with the street gangs we
    13:25
    don't see them saying what Lena said in
    13:28
    terms of what's happened to her well I I
    13:30
    think
    13:32
    I think the phonies
    13:34
    that's what I think and the bitter irony
    13:37
    of it all is
    13:39
    that
    13:40
    again I have to sit by man and watch
    13:44
    these people be lauded by our brothers
    13:46
    and sisters in the streets
    13:49
    and they and the brothers and sisters
    13:50
    must be aware
    13:52
    that they ain't doing nothing
    13:54
    but it took me a long time to get there
    13:55
    maybe they maybe my brother brothers and
    13:57
    sisters who are superstars need that
    13:58
    kind of time and there are many who say
    14:00
    I don't want to get involved in it
    14:02
    but I don't know how you cannot get
    14:04
    involved in it because they are first of
    14:06
    all black and they are committed
    14:08
    whether they want to be committed or not
    14:10
    the very nature of the skin commits you
    14:12
    I don't read a script that I don't weigh
    14:15
    and say I wonder what the brother and
    14:17
    the con is going to think about this
    14:20
    how can I change it if it's wrong
    14:23
    because the black performer again has
    14:25
    that obligation
    14:27
    that we are black performers
    14:30
    and so therefore I'm not talking about
    14:32
    you gonna come out every time man and do
    14:35
    a number because like on Laugh-In
    14:38
    you know I do jokes but somewhere along
    14:41
    the line I've got to relate to what's
    14:43
    really happening
    14:44
    somewhere so that the brother who's
    14:47
    watching me who may not necessarily buy
    14:49
    my records
    14:50
    may not go to my movies may not come to
    14:53
    the Copa the Sands Hotel lassimi will
    14:56
    say yeah
    14:58
    in a bar or in his house yeah
    15:01
    that's all that's my thanks but the
    15:04
    black audience
    15:06
    owes that black performer an obligation
    15:08
    of watching and supporting him unless he
    15:10
    turns out to be really the rat of all
    15:13
    time
    15:15
    but I mean when I say rap I mean he's
    15:17
    not doing anything he's doing things
    15:19
    that embarrass the the black population
    15:23
    now I know a lot of people don't like
    15:24
    flips doing the the Deacon I've heard a
    15:27
    lot of talk about it Geraldine Geraldine
    15:29
    they don't like uh I now my personal
    15:32
    things I think geraldine's funny I feel
    15:34
    a little funny about the deacon
    15:36
    because I think that's going back to
    15:37
    something that's so deeply rooted in
    15:39
    black people
    15:40
    religiously you know that I think that
    15:43
    that does this to me but I think it's
    15:45
    still funny because I'm looking at it
    15:46
    again through one eye that looks
    15:49
    in two directions first as a performer
    15:52
    is it funny is it clever secondly as a
    15:55
    man we're trying to relate to the cat on
    15:57
    the corner again you understand what I
    15:58
    mean because first and foremost I'm a
    16:01
    performer that's all I've ever done all
    16:02
    my life
    16:03
    so I know he's got to weigh it but what
    16:06
    do you do
    16:07
    you've got to have the support of your
    16:09
    people
    16:10
    but geez I just love saying that number
    16:13
    one variety show in the country now and
    16:16
    start in by a black man who is very very
    16:20
    funny but Amos and Andy was funny don't
    16:24
    do that to me don't do that
    16:27
    and Geraldine is funny and uh the Deacon
    16:31
    is funny but can you move forward you
    16:33
    know at at the level of the struggle we
    16:36
    are for Liberation yeah you know came
    16:38
    before to continually uh entertain white
    16:41
    people with shows produced by white men
    16:44
    with a frame of reference of what we are
    16:46
    I mean that's not defining ourselves and
    16:49
    the role of the Entertainer
    16:51
    to some extent has to accommodate that
    16:54
    relevant I think that the Amos Amanda
    16:56
    was funny I was embarrassed by it I
    16:58
    signed the letters too you know but I I
    17:00
    say that I think at this point now we've
    17:02
    got more stars than we've ever had
    17:04
    before that I can afford the luxury
    17:07
    because in place of Geraldine and then
    17:10
    place a Flip Wilson I have Don Knotts
    17:14
    since you both guess no baby I was out
    17:17
    of town you know I haven't had a chance
    17:19
    to live a boat here okay so what you
    17:21
    think of the terrible cat dead man
    17:27
    we are like
    17:29
    in one sense limited because we will
    17:33
    never have the audience of a commercial
    17:36
    Channel but do you want that audience
    17:38
    I'd like to have that audience on the
    17:40
    other hand if getting that audience
    17:43
    necessitated compromising our principles
    17:46
    I know they have ten Brothers
    17:48
    out of the 200 million people in this
    17:51
    country watch this show yeah then they
    17:53
    have the 200 million people in this
    17:55
    country watch the show even because I
    17:57
    think being irrelevant is
    17:58
    counterproductive you know and and that
    18:00
    brings me to the next point
    18:02
    uh you have a show
    18:05
    that
    18:06
    folded
    18:09
    and that's when I think like what you
    18:13
    said you were in another era
    18:15
    you're being very kind yeah
    18:18
    I was a stone rock and you could be for
    18:21
    free yeah what would you do I mean I
    18:24
    don't know but I would I tell you what I
    18:26
    wouldn't do or maybe by that you can get
    18:28
    a clue I certainly wouldn't do nothing
    18:29
    more than I'm doing as an entertainer
    18:31
    today in other words I ain't gonna let
    18:33
    them change me last time out I let him
    18:35
    put me in suits I couldn't smoke I
    18:37
    couldn't say what I wanted to say and
    18:39
    though I put a lot of people to work and
    18:40
    I did a lot of things and all of that
    18:42
    and I changed a lot of policies at NBC
    18:44
    you know when they catch and went yeah
    18:47
    because you know I walked into the
    18:48
    publicity office one day I didn't see no
    18:49
    black people I said I don't understand
    18:50
    this it looks like the Lilies of the
    18:52
    white Fields you know and that was it
    18:54
    and the guy went oh he's very bitter and
    18:56
    I went well the hell with it I am very
    18:58
    bitter if I got it I gotta surround
    18:59
    myself with people that I know of and
    19:01
    we've got capable brothers and sisters
    19:02
    to do it now you go up there and be
    19:04
    seeing it's packed and jammed and the
    19:05
    executives are there you know but the
    19:07
    only thing that they are
    19:11
    you know
    19:15
    the most relevant thing I think I was
    19:18
    able to do was near the end of the
    19:20
    series I did a sketch
    19:21
    with nipsy Russell
    19:24
    about how brothers treat Brothers
    19:27
    and I did a very Bourgeois cat going in
    19:29
    to apply for a job right
    19:31
    and very Bourgeois with the three button
    19:33
    code as soon as he found out it was a
    19:35
    brother
    19:36
    he took his head on each other
    19:39
    right and the cat's baggies to send him
    19:41
    in and the cat walked in he said damn
    19:43
    hey babe that ain't the way he walked in
    19:46
    the White Secretary was there seeing he
    19:47
    said I'm I'm here for the job and I like
    19:50
    to apply I've been okayed and I went
    19:51
    through the IBM machines blah blah blah
    19:54
    talked very problem as soon as he went
    19:55
    in there instead of identifying and
    19:57
    saying Hey I want a groove it is to see
    19:59
    you in this position he didn't do that
    20:00
    he just put his feet up on the desert
    20:02
    dead go ahead and sign that
    20:05
    you know I'm straight
    20:08
    you know and suddenly here's the brother
    20:10
    sitting there trying to do something and
    20:12
    he is not protected and it was a funny
    20:13
    sketch and we loved doing it I got such
    20:16
    complaints from NBC you would not
    20:18
    believe and we never were to do another
    20:19
    one because I think we went through a
    20:21
    period where we were just pleased to see
    20:23
    a black guy there
    20:25
    yeah
    20:26
    there we are
    20:28
    there we are we in there because we
    20:30
    needed that at that period now we've got
    20:32
    to go on
    20:33
    further
    20:35
    you know what I mean and it's not just
    20:37
    seeing the black cat there anymore
    20:39
    you know it's like the guys I will
    20:42
    believe till I die that when the
    20:44
    pressure came on the Madison Avenue and
    20:46
    they said you got to put black people
    20:47
    into commercials they said we'll show
    20:50
    them black people in a commercial so
    20:51
    they put them in the commercials where
    20:53
    black people look ludicrous in
    20:56
    you know because everybody has a white
    20:58
    neighbor
    20:59
    you very rarely see two black women
    21:02
    talking
    21:03
    and if they're black women talking
    21:05
    they're not the sisters
    21:08
    it's Bourgeois middle class you know
    21:11
    straight hair no dues never a dude ever
    21:14
    never do you know can't look like Gloria
    21:16
    Foster no chance you know you must look
    21:19
    like you know the old days of of tan
    21:22
    confessions you know and that's it
    21:24
    and I look and I say it on the stage
    21:26
    sometimes I say it's ridiculous because
    21:29
    it doesn't relate to anything
    21:35
    you wearing a free Angela button have
    21:37
    you had any reaction from other people
    21:39
    as a result of wearing that button well
    21:41
    that was a fan of mine
    21:43
    in the restaurant and uh
    21:46
    was at the risk around the airport and
    21:48
    the guy walked up and asked my autograph
    21:50
    and he was white and he said Jay the
    21:53
    wife gets a big kick out of here when is
    21:55
    he on the laughing and all that sign us
    21:59
    for the kitties you know and I signed it
    22:01
    and he said I was wondering if and he
    22:03
    started staring at the button and I was
    22:04
    wearing you know this but and he was
    22:06
    going like this and he kept saying I was
    22:08
    I was and he was trying to focus on it
    22:10
    because I I was blowing his bubble
    22:13
    because they have
    22:15
    an image of me I guess of another kind
    22:18
    my involvement with Angela is again the
    22:22
    Injustice of it all
    22:24
    uh her political beliefs you know are
    22:26
    her own
    22:28
    I don't share her political beliefs I
    22:30
    share her blackness
    22:32
    and I share the Injustice to any black
    22:35
    person and there's no way that she's
    22:36
    going to get the right kind of trial we
    22:38
    know that
    22:39
    it's stacked against it
    22:41
    uh they made her the Most Wanted woman
    22:44
    since uh Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde and
    22:49
    I think that if a guy like myself wears
    22:51
    a button
    22:52
    that's letting somebody in that crowd
    22:54
    that I go around with know where my
    22:55
    head's at
    22:57
    you're now married to a sister
    22:59
    is she I didn't I didn't know that
    23:04
    [Music]
    23:09
    [Applause]
    23:13
    [Music]
    23:18
    and it's so groovy and so nice I've been
    23:21
    in the hospital five times
    23:22
    [Music]
    23:24
    [Applause]
    23:30
    I think he's trying to tell me so
    23:34
    I'm absolutely
    23:36
    you know flabbergasted by the by the
    23:39
    fact that we as a people almost without
    23:42
    the underground which they keep saying
    23:44
    we've got and everything else around the
    23:46
    ground as a soul underground you know
    23:48
    don't take no trains or nothing this
    23:51
    something happens it's it's the same
    23:53
    thing compared to
    23:54
    as soon as downtown gets the dance we've
    23:57
    gone on to another one and nobody ever
    24:00
    told us that they got it and we didn't
    24:03
    care about it but when they get funky
    24:04
    chicken we're into something else
    24:06
    uh there's something else you know it's
    24:08
    the thing that we have that ain't no
    24:09
    other people got in the world
    24:12
    it's that immediate eye to eye contact
    24:15
    that says
    24:17
    jamf
    24:19
    horse that says
    24:21
    yeah
    24:23
    that's that same thing again that one
    24:25
    word yeah
    24:27
    and you know and it's not followed by
    24:29
    he's down right on but really just yeah
    24:33
    you feel that we can solve our problem
    24:34
    by having some type of army or some type
    24:38
    of violent confrontation with whites
    24:41
    no
    24:43
    you know ain't no way you can put poor
    24:45
    Cadillacs against the tank
    24:48
    two Rusty raises
    24:50
    you know against an M1
    24:52
    and the flame throw against a bottle of
    24:55
    Coca-Cola with a rag in it ain't no way
    24:57
    you can do that
    25:01
    how is it that you're free enough uh to
    25:04
    talk the way you're talking and be an
    25:06
    Entertainer
    25:07
    because you know
    25:09
    the rationale is that if I'm black and
    25:11
    an Entertainer I can't be too involved
    25:13
    with black causes and survive in an
    25:16
    industry controlled basically by white
    25:18
    people how are you free enough let's say
    25:20
    to come on black journal and relate to
    25:22
    the brothers and sisters the Way You Are
    25:24
    but I I think
    25:27
    that it's called
    25:29
    a respect for one's opinion
    25:31
    because I've had too many white people
    25:33
    talk to me and say I
    25:35
    I don't like what you said on the David
    25:36
    Frost show about something such a thing
    25:39
    well you but you shared a lot of guts to
    25:41
    say it
    25:44
    and the other point is which is very
    25:46
    very good man
    25:48
    I really don't care I don't give it
    25:52
    when I say this is a racist society in
    25:55
    which we live in everybody knows it is
    25:58
    that ain't no that ain't no big big
    26:00
    statement to make it maybe it's shocking
    26:03
    to hear it from someone that you just
    26:04
    watched the night before on laughing uh
    26:07
    but it is man I can't say well how can
    26:10
    you say that white and black say this to
    26:11
    me how can you say that man you got it
    26:13
    made I said I Got It Made because I had
    26:15
    to fight all of that but I then owe an
    26:17
    obligation to my brothers and my sisters
    26:19
    to let them know
    26:21
    that it existed then it still exists now
    26:24
    and I've been here for 40 years you know
    26:27
    I've got the house I've got a wife I've
    26:29
    got children I've got success
    26:32
    and now it is time for me to try in
    26:36
    every way feasible
    26:38
    to help
    26:39
    the plight of my people
    26:41
    and to gain our freedom because I'm see
    26:45
    the fallacy is man and let's let me say
    26:47
    this and and I really mean it from the
    26:49
    bottom of my heart
    26:50
    money don't make you free
    26:52
    popularity don't make you free
    26:55
    don't you know that
    26:58
    you know sure I live in Beverly Hills
    27:00
    but I'm Shackled by the same things that
    27:01
    happen to the brother and Watts
    27:06
    I've had my bosses say to me
    27:09
    cats that I work for
    27:11
    who you know really basically give me a
    27:15
    Jack Entrada will say to me Sam geez
    27:17
    that was a little heavy statement you
    27:19
    said on that I said but it's true ain't
    27:20
    it Jack he said yeah I know it's true
    27:22
    but I said Butcher and that's the end of
    27:24
    that
    27:25
    I mean that man and my cousin did I say
    27:29
    it like it is man I've been the last
    27:31
    five years
    27:33
    go away
    27:39
    thank you
    27:40
    because he's got to respect me it's like
    27:42
    when a brother comes to me and says but
    27:43
    man you're a Jew
    27:45
    you know I look at him and say what's
    27:46
    your religion and he says I'm a Baptist
    27:49
    or I don't have one or I'm a Muslim I
    27:51
    said well our religion is blackness
    27:55
    because if we ever get to the point
    27:57
    where we started talking about he's a
    27:58
    black Jew he's a black Catholic he's a
    28:00
    black Baptist he's a black Muslim really
    28:03
    saved for the titles that the papers put
    28:04
    on people then we're in trouble our real
    28:07
    religion and the thing that connects us
    28:08
    all is our blackness
    28:10
    the religion of Blackness that's it
    28:13
    God
    28:15
    [Music]
    28:17
    [Applause]
    28:18
    [Music]
    28:19
    [Applause]
    28:22
    [Music]
    28:23
    [Applause]
     

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