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Good evening. This is Washington Forum presenting the voices of the political and social leaders of the United States. Tonight, former comedian Dick Gregory, who addressed the Kennedy Political Union of American University here in Washington

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Sunday afternoon, February 16th, 1969. Mr. Gregory ran for president of the United States in the 1968 campaign. He represented the Peace and

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Freedom Party ticket and his running mate was Mark Lane, one of the many authors questioning the results of the Warren Commission's investigation of President Kennedy's assassination. Mr. Gregory is the author of two books, Nigger and Write Me in the

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latter, published in 1968, setting forth his campaign program in the election, the ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party accumulated approximately one and one half million votes on Tuesday of this week, Mr. Gregory assumed the position of president in Exile of

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the United States here in Washington. He will establish his headquarters in what he will call the black House, where he will hear grievances from anyone who wishes to speak with him.

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In his American University speech, he spoke on the subject of the situation of blacks in America and told the assembled students, a predominantly white audience, what position they held.

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Mr. Dick Gregory. I was flying in from Cincinnati, Ohio. And I'd been up all night, so I decided I would get me some sleep on the plane.

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And when I get on the plane, it's a white cat sitting next to me. So I check him out, you know? And he seemed pretty, you know, groovy.

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So I dozed on off and go to sleep. About 15 minutes after I get to sleep, he decides he wants to strike up a conversation with me. So he did it the usual way, you know.

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Wake up boy. I woke up, you know. Only to find out he didn't have nothing to talk about. No. He wanted to discuss Negro progress in America.

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I kept trying to inform him, you know, that I didn't want to talk about black progress in America, because there's too few people in America that really know what areas we made a tremendous amount of breakthroughs in.

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Some people think we made tremendous progress in jobs and housing and education. Nah. You know, the biggest break for

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black folks in the history of America happened two years ago in the state of Texas. We got our first colored hurricane, Beulah.

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So I guess little by little you can you can say things as things are looking pretty good if you know where to look. Television.

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Now we raising hell on television and ain't got so many black folks on television. That scares me. And it's about time.

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You know, I was so damn sick and tired of seeing that white dove fly through that white woman's kitchen. Oh, Marge, there's a white dove in

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your kitchen. So just one time, I could see my sister run through Beulah. Baby, there's a crow on the

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biscuits. So. It's a little by little. Things is looking up. We got our first black cowboy this

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season. You've been catching him on television. The show?

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What's that show? The outcast. You can tell by the name. It's us. And we're going to get another black cowboy next season.

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So this black cowboy has someone to kill? No, I don't mean no. They let him kill a white cowboy every now and then. But you see, when it's his turn to

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kill a white cowboy, the scriptwriters really got to go through some drastic changes because they have to dirty up this white cat so bad that when the black cat guns him down, everybody will accept it.

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Black cowboy killed the white cowboy. This white cat had just finished raping a blind paraplegic.

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Salvation Army worker. Right now dig the black cat. Didn't know he just finished doing that.

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No, he gunned him down because he had stole $2,000 worth of Christmas seals. So I guess things just, you know, look a little bit better. Hell, at the rate we're going next season, they might replace the

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Flying Nuns with the skipping Black Muslims, you know, So I dozed off to go to sleep again. Kat nudged me again and said, would you explain to me what is Black Power?

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I said, no, I will not explain to you what Black Power is. And oh, that really, really upset him. And I went on to explain to him that for 12 months I'd gone out of my way to explain to white folks what black Power was.

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Even when I couldn't find white folks, I'd call them up on the telephone. Hello? Are you white? Can I explain to you what black?

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You know, the whole scene, you know. And, you know, I just felt that after last year, you know, everybody knew what Black Power was, you know, after the, you know, the tremendous heart transplant operation in South

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Africa where the black cat gave up his heart to the white cat. The only heart that's working. Right. That's black power, baby.

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And it's working, too. It's pumping. Yeah. That white cat somewhere in Johannesburg right now singing the

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blues. You know, let me say to you, those of you that's not aware, do you know, black folks all over the world was tickled to death when we found out that the black cat was

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going to give up his heart to the white cat. It really thrilled us, because basically, we've been known for years that there's really nothing wrong with white folks that are change.

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Your heart wouldn't straighten out. But in all honesty, we must admit we didn't want that heart to work that good.

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Now that heart worked so good, it really frightens us. You know, just the thought. As good as that heart's working. One day, you white folks might start assuming that we're going to

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be your spare parts. You know, there's a lot of controversial about heart transplants. Some people's farm, some people's against them.

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Let me go on record as saying that I am against all heart Transplants. But I'm for transplants. Well, not only heart transplants.

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I'm against all the type of transplants you can hide. I would love to see a white cat get a colored foot.

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Yeah, let him take that to the beach with him. Let me say to you youngsters that it is a pleasure to be with you.

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You young folks in America today is probably the most morally dedicated, committed group of young people that's ever lived in the history of this country, bar none.

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And don't read all these old right wing newspapers to try to find out who you are, because the average establishment newspaper, morally, is not even sound enough to even discuss your youth with your youth.

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What did they? What did they call you? They say, you hippie, hippie, irresponsible, bearded, smelly kids. And the question that you know,

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that comes to mind is because you have a beard. What does that mean? You have to stink. They don't say nothing about Abraham Lincoln. He didn't only have a beard.

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He was ugly, too. They've never told you the truth about yourself. Where's the newspaper? You know, they have yet to tell you youngsters that.

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Had it not been for you, LBJ would still be the president today. Is that power? LBJ is probably the most number one tyrant that's walked the face

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of this earth since Julius Caesar. And LBJ was not able to run for re-election because you young kids got out here not with a missile or firebomb or army.

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You got out here with a moral dedication. And the folks that run the country know that with that alone, you would have told this country up

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had he stayed in four more years. You know, that's power. There's a whole lots of power. And it's a beautiful thing because

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you don't have to worry about tricky Dick Nixon, because with all the things you can say about Richard, he's hip enough to know he's not as clever as LBJ was. He's not as slick as LBJ was, and

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he will never be as powerful. And he got enough sense to know if you youngsters ran LBJ back to the ranch, he'll damn sure run him back to New York City.

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So you. These newspapers have yet to tell you that had 15,000 of you youngsters not showed up at Chicago at the Democratic convention, Hubert Humphrey would have been the president today

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because enough people got a little sickness in their stomach after looking at that Democratic convention that they decided that, you know, before they would vote for Humphrey. And it wasn't they weren't going to vote for Nixon for nothing,

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that they'd just sit home. And you had about 3 million people that would have come out had the hippies and Yippies not showed up in Chicago.

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And so I say that when 15,000 of you can change the fate and destiny, probably of the world, that's power. And I hope you understand how much

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power you youngsters have. Tremendous power. Oh, I mean, a lot of fools that's upset because you youngsters showed up in Chicago and they realized had you not showed, Old

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Nixon wouldn't have been the president today. But the groovy thing about young folks that's thinking is you got enough sense to know that it really didn't make too much difference which one of them fools went in.

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When you're dealing with one of them dirty, stinking, nasty politicians, all of them at the same. And so I say that one thing you youngsters must do as you work to change the system and rid it of this cancer.

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If you're going to play that political game, you must replace politicians with statesmen. That's mighty God for you. You know, as I traveled around the country and talk with young folks,

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the the only embarrassment or sadness or insult, I guess I should say that I, I feel is not only do I have to tell you youngsters that the problems confronting America today, you have to solve.

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But I have to say to you youngsters that you have to solve problems that you had nothing to do with creating these problems was here when you got here. But thanks to us old fools, they will not be here when you leave.

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And I say thanks to us old fools because we made one mistake. This last generation that crossed over ahead of you, that really put you youngsters uptight. And whether you know it or not,

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it's the cause of you reacting the way you react. You see, not only did we not solve the problems confronting America, but for the first time in the history of America, we used up all the tricks.

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So you youngsters are confronted with the problems, but you haven't got no tricks to use. And so you have to deal with them. I remember when I was a kid, my

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mother and father and my neighbors taught me. And one day you're going to grow up, boy. And a white man going to call you a nigger. And when he call you a nigger, don't get mad because God don't

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like no ugly. And sure enough, I grew up one day in a cracker called me a nigger. And sure enough, I didn't get mad

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because God don't like no ugly, huh? I got seven little black kids at home right now, and me and my old lady ain't teaching them nothing. And if a cracker ever make the

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mistake to call one of my nigger, I know it's going to surprise him. And I'm sure they're going to act accordingly. So I say that we've left you youngsters a corrupt system with no tricks, and you have no other way to react but the way you are

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reacting today. Let me say to you, I did not come here to impress you, but only to inform you when I leave here today.

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I couldn't care less about what you think about Dick Gregory, because I'll always have the one consolation of knowing that whenever we wake up this year, next year, 20 years from now, you'll always be able to say, at

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least Brother Greg didn't lie to us. And that's that's really the big issue today is when will this old fool stop lying to you young kids? And it's nothing new. We started lying to you in the crib with that Santa Claus boy.

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You know, the first letter I ever wrote in my life was to a cat. Didn't even exist. Dear Santa, you know when your mama lied to you, damn near anybody qualifies a lie to you

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because that Santa Claus boy, he goes over better in the white community than in the black community. Not that we don't dig him. We just know damn good and well.

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Ain't no white cat coming in our neighborhood after midnight so we can go. What's the number one lie we tell you youngsters today? The number one problem confronting

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America today is the problem of air pollution. Yeah, the number one problem confronting America today is the problem of moral pollution. This is the most morally polluted,

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degenerate, insane nation on the face of this earth. Born. None. And I hope you youngsters won't make the mistake of all these old

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right wing crackers been making. They've been so damn busy eulogizing the country, you know, save eulogies till after she died. Thanks to you youngsters, she's not dead yet.

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And your job is to do what you do and don't eulogize America. Examine this broad and find out where the cancer is and cut it out. That's the job.

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America the beautiful. Let me tell you something. Anyone that believes America is a beautiful country with that Indian brother, you are still locked up on that reservation.

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You got to be sick, sad and out of your damn mind. And one of the first things we have to do when we decide to make this country a beautiful country is get our Indian brother off that reservation.

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So you got a job to do. Big job. And then once you make America the truly beautiful nation that all these fools want her to be.

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Then that'd be the first time we won't have to run around talking about how pretty she is. Anytime you run across a cat to tell you about how pretty his old lady is, you can damn sure bet you

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he married to Lena the hyena. And you know the thing that upsets me the most about this country? Is, you know, America is the only country on the face of this earth that lies about what she is.

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You know, my Satan, do not pretend to be anything else but a communist and a revolutionist. And them cats in Moscow, Russia. Don't pretend to be anything else but a bunch of a bunch of stupid

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communists. Now, after Czechoslovakia, you couldn't say anything else but stupid. But I don't know why everybody tells the truth.

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It's dirty as Hitler was. He was honest about. He really believed them. Nazis was superior to everybody

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else. The ambassadors in South Africa today, as dirty as they are, they honest. They don't pretend that they like them niggers.

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But in America, we preach one thing, but we all together about something else, and it kind of hurts me. Out of all the countries on the face of this earth, we the only one that lies about what we are.

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And so you youngsters really got a big job to do, and that's really the problem. Us old fools is facing with you young kids today. We keep talking about it's a generation gap.

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Ain't no generation gap. Well, if we quit lying to you, you relate with us. The hell I stand up here and tell

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you two and two is five. And when you react to it, I say, well, it's just a generation gap. Hell, Bertrand Russell, who's 98

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years old, could leave London, England, and fly to America in the morning and be the youngest among us because he's going to relate to you from a moral standpoint. And so I say, you youngsters got a

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got a big job today. And thanks to us old fools. Good job is not going to be too hard. That's why I was tickled to death over you youngsters that showed up

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at the Democratic convention. Because what went on at that convention really woke up a lot of young fools. And nothing I hate any worse than a young fool because you got so

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long to be one. But the system really pulled your coat at that Democratic convention, three days after the Democratic convention was over, the whole establishment tried to

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convince you that you did not see what you saw on television. Yeah. They said it didn't happen. They say they said it was.

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The press created it. You know, if Kosygin and the rest of them damn fool Russians in Moscow was dealing with the world as insane as America, you know, they could beat that Czechoslovakian rap.

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All they ever do is get on worldwide television and say it didn't happen. You didn't see it. Or we admit that we sent little miniature tanks to the Czech

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border, and the damn cameras made them look like real live tanks. You know, communism is in trouble today like it's never been in in the history of the world. And it didn't have a damn thing to

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do with these old right wing, communist hating crackers in America. Them damn fool Russians made the same mistake in Czechoslovakia.

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These fools made here, they forgot to take into consideration the young people's reaction. Oh, I'm sure the old Russians realized when they moved them tanks into Czechoslovakia, them old folks would do the same thing

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your mom and daddy would do if they had tanks coming down the street today, but they never realized those young kids would run up to them tanks and put Swat stickers on them. They never realized there would be a young man that lay down in the

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street and put gasoline on himself, and before he would live under the type of system he didn't want to live under, he'd burn himself to death and would stir up young people all over the world if they found out the hard way.

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And if you if you crazy enough to believe that somebody shot at some astronauts in Moscow, Russia. You know, astronauts are sweet all over the world. There ain't nobody going to shoot at them.

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Not no Earth people anyway. They might get shot at, but there won't be nobody down here. I really would like to know who

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that cat really shot at. I think they know. And I think they know why they moved into Czechoslovakia and they knew how America was going to act.

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I'll just move in. She ain't going to make some noise and forget about it. And the same thing they did at the Democratic convention, 15,000 hippies and hippies showed up at the Democratic convention and the

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whole establishment went crazy. And you know why? It didn't have a damn thing to do with what the kids was doing. It was the reason they was doing it, trying to change the system

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all that. Hell. They was raised in the street. Nah, that don't bug America.

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Hell, white kids, for the last ten years, every spring break been going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, taking up the whole damn town. And nobody's ever got upset. Yesterday, this drunk boys will be

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boys. Don't call the guard out, you know. But the reason everybody was upset

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in Chicago was because you young folks was trying to change the system. You just wasn't getting drunk playing the game that boys will be boys.

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And so I say, I was glad for the Democratic convention because it woke up a whole lot of people. And so the interesting thing is 15,000 hippies and Yippies showed up in Chicago to change the

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system. And that's why everybody got uptight. Let me ask you something.

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Who do you think was the most immoral in Chicago last year? The hippies and the hippies or the Shriners when they came to town for their convention. Who do you think committed the

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most adultery and spent the most money on whores and prostitutes? The hippies and the hippies of the Shriners when they was in town for their convention? But nobody got upset over the Shriners because they didn't come to change nothing, just to buy

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something. Young folks have always reacted in this country. The only difference is this is the

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first time young people are reacting to change the system. Let me ask you something. What do you think is the mark of pure degeneracy? A pure insanity, a pure filth?

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What we used to do when we was in college, going to the girls dormitory, which is the most degenerate to you, to go in the girls dormitory and steal all the drawers or take over the administration building.

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Which one has the mark of sickness? Nobody got uptight over what we was doing because we weren't trying to change the system. Just run all through the girls dormitory and steal all the

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drawers. And everybody said, well, boys will be boys. Ha ha ha ha.

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And then all at once, young folks got tired of stealing drawers. Or they start seeing how many goldfish they could swallow. They didn't care. They'd let you swallow.

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Well, if you want to. And then young people got tired of swallowing goldfish. And they start seeing how many

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they could stuff into a telephone booth, or you'd pick up the front page of the paper. University of Arizona, six new record 500 kids stuffed into one booth.

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And they got a picture on the front page of some old freakish looking cat from AT&T bringing another phone booth saying, boys will be boys. Ha ha.

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If you think boys will be boys, I say to you today, don't take 500 kids. Take five kids to downtown Washington, D.C. with five picket signs, and march around an empty

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telephone booth asking AT&T about those antitrust violations and them high absorbing long distance phone calls and see how long it will take the cops before they bust you and see if anybody will say, ha ha.

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Boys will be. Boys. So I hope you youngsters understand this vicious, insane system that you buck in and that

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you're going to have to straighten out because you have no choice. You know, the beautiful thing about watching television is as bad as television is, if you look at it long enough, that thing will slip through.

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To that same television set that brought you the hippies and Yippies in Chicago, nine weeks after the Democratic convention was over. That same set brought you another crowd in the street.

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Remember, nobody got upset over him, though, because they weren't hippies and Yippies. And it wasn't in Chicago. It was in New York City one morning.

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20,000 sick degenerates from Wall Street came out to look at a broad's titties. And nobody in America got upset over the titty watchers.

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J Edgar Hoover have yet to say titty. Watching his communist inspired. What do you call 20,000 sick, degenerate titty watchers?

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Extremists left to right. Of course, if Sister Francine was really sincere about not wanting to be watched by them fools is simple.

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All she have to do is hold a press conference tonight in New York City. Say tomorrow morning at 1133, I will emerge out of that same subway wearing one of the tightest sweaters ever been worn in the

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history of the world. And I guarantee you, tomorrow morning at 8:00, it'll be 300,000 of them sick, slimy degenerates waiting on her.

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And at 1133, when she emerged out that subway, if she sincerely don't ever want to be watched by them fools again when she walk out that subway with that tight sweater on right across her bosom have two signs, one reading Free

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Huey Newton Baby, and the other one bring the boys home from Vietnam. And I guarantee you, within three minutes time, them 300,000 cats will be gone back into their Wall

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Street offices participating in the antitrust violations. So you youngsters got a big job? We sure left you a stinking mess to clean up. They assassinated doctor Martin

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Luther King, and, oh, we all got uptight. Oh, they assassinate Doctor King. They gunned down Bobby Kennedy. Oh, they killed Bobby.

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They shot JFK, and, oh, they assassinate the president. But, you know, nobody in this country got upset when they assassinated Lincoln Rockwell and

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Malcolm X. You see, America is not against assassination. She just gets uptight when you kill somebody she likes. Now you got a job. 98% of all the people in America

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that got upset over Doctor Martin Luther King's assassination. If George Wallace was gunned down in the morning, nobody would care. Yeah, you got a big job. Mm. You got to change this

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country's course to either she's going to get upset over assassinations regardless of who they are or she's not. It's going to be just that open and shut. So you got big job and the biggest job you have.

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I do not advocate destroying the capitalistic system. But I say to you youngsters, you better work like hell to beat the capitalists in their rightful position. And that is behind the United States Constitution and not in

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front of it. So as you see, as long as the capitalists are in front of the Constitution instead of behind it, that means we'll always put our emphasis on property rights and

00:29:15.730 - 00:29:26.050

never on human rights. And when you change that, we'll have emphasis on human rights. This is why black folks is getting

00:29:26.050 - 00:29:33.290

so getting so far ahead today. It ain't got a damn thing to do with the goodness of America's heart. We got out and started burning down these cities and towns and

00:29:33.290 - 00:29:39.970

becoming a threat to the property. And then they start behaving themselves. You youngsters have to change

00:29:39.970 - 00:29:48.050

that. You must understand that this country is not controlled by the United States Constitution. It do not function under the democratic process.

00:29:48.050 - 00:30:08.150

This country is controlled and governed by the capitalists. And they don't give a damn about the United States Constitution. They proved that when Americans went out and peacefully assembled and peacefully protested for strong gun legislation, and the

00:30:08.150 - 00:30:22.750

capitalists that manufactured guns saw to it. You did not get strong gun legislation. In a nation so insane, we demand that you have a prescription to get your medicine.

00:30:22.750 - 00:30:31.230

But you don't need one to get your gun. I can't hit you in the head with my pills and kill you.

00:30:32.270 - 00:30:38.030

Nor can I injure you by throwing my cough syrup on you. Now, I'm not saying Americans shouldn't have guns.

00:30:38.030 - 00:30:47.590

The United States Constitution say all Americans have a right to bear arms. And so it's your constitutional right to be able to have guns. And I feel it's my right to be able to get well, if you're going

00:30:47.590 - 00:31:07.220

to make me go through these changes to get my medicine and damn it, make me go through some changes to get my gun. In a pure example of what a passionate Disrespect. The capitalists not only have for you, but for your unborn babies.

00:31:07.660 - 00:31:19.620

You see all this hell they're fixing to raise now about banning cigarette commercials. And if you smoke or sit by and let them keep advertising on cigarettes on television where

00:31:19.620 - 00:31:29.940

your unborn babies are going to be looking one day, then you're sad. I mean, I can see us old fools, you know it's going to give you cancer if you smoke enough of them. That's groovy.

00:31:30.380 - 00:31:39.940

But what about these little kids that they see nothing but the glamour. They see nothing but the cowboy on the horse. And stop and get him a pack of cigarettes and see the cat talking

00:31:39.980 - 00:31:46.700

to the beautiful woman. I'm at the age when he can realize cigarettes are dangerous. They've convinced him, and he's

00:31:46.700 - 00:31:55.500

already formed a habit for him. And I can't see anything wrong with asking them bastards or humane act. Or just taking the cigarette commercials off television and

00:31:55.500 - 00:32:11.080

radio. And they're going to fight. Were you? Cigarette smokers can stop that when you finish your next pack.

00:32:11.120 - 00:32:22.160

Male to empty pack into the company and let them know you're a smoker and let them know if they fight that ban on advertising, you're going to start boycotting cigarettes and see what the reaction is going to be.

00:32:25.400 - 00:32:31.080

You see the beautiful thing about the capitalist controlling this country. It means if you want to change it, you don't have to burn it down.

00:32:31.520 - 00:32:38.480

But you got to quit demonstrating on that Constitution. You got to quit getting out here with picket signs in this country telling you at 18 years old, you

00:32:38.480 - 00:32:49.480

are old enough to go to war and die, but you're not old enough to vote. Is that a joke? And these young kids I run across talking about if I got to go to

00:32:49.520 - 00:32:58.360

war and died 18, I want the right to vote at 18. Don't be no damn fool. If you got to go to war and die at 18, you better get the right to vote at 17.

00:33:14.710 - 00:33:32.150

So as you see, if you get the right to vote at 17, by the time you get 18 might not be no war. So I say, you youngsters got a mighty big job, but you got to address your grievances to the

00:33:32.150 - 00:33:38.830

capitalists. Uh, you youngsters want the right to vote at 17 years old. The easiest thing in the world to

00:33:38.830 - 00:33:48.630

do to get it. Organized, though it takes a little work, you know, letting your hair grow long and not shaving and wearing any more funny looking clothes.

00:33:48.630 - 00:33:52.390

That's cool. It bugs your mom and daddy and upsets the system. But it takes a little bit more

00:33:52.430 - 00:33:59.210

than that. You want the right to vote at 17 years old. You organize young people all the

00:33:59.210 - 00:34:09.170

way across this country, and when you get through organizing them, you go to the record industry and you tell them fools if they don't get their ass to Washington, D.C. and lobby in the halls of Congress

00:34:09.170 - 00:34:29.170

and get a bill pushed through in two months saying 17 year olds have the right to vote, you're going to call for a nationwide boycott of buying phonograph records for two years. Before the record industry let you wipe out a multibillion dollar a

00:34:29.170 - 00:34:37.330

year industry. They'll let 13 year olds vote, if that's what you are. And so I say to you, you got a big

00:34:37.330 - 00:34:50.450

job of changing the order of the capitalists, because right now we in this country put emphasis on property rights and not on human rights. This was very evident in Chicago

00:34:50.450 - 00:34:57.800

when Mayor Richard J. Daley made that statement. Shoot all looters to kill. All. Never said she was a murderer to kill.

00:34:59.000 - 00:35:07.880

Never said shoot a dope pusher to kill. Because murderers and dope pushers deal with human rights. Looters deal with property rights. And to be honest with you, it's

00:35:07.880 - 00:35:17.320

the first time I ever agreed with that fool. Yeah, when Daley said shoot all looters to kill, I hurried up and sent him a telegram. I said, dear fool, your statement

00:35:17.320 - 00:35:27.600

pertaining to shooting all looters to kill. I agree with wholeheartedly. If you make one stipulation, let's first make it retroactive and let's first put the gun in the

00:35:27.600 - 00:35:47.120

Indian's hand. So you youngsters got a big job. And I say to you, you keep your eye on us old fools. Watch us 24 hours a day.

00:35:47.400 - 00:35:54.020

In particular, watch your mom and daddy and ask them a lot of questions because you got to sleep with them. Or, you know, if somebody came to

00:35:54.020 - 00:36:04.300

your house today and knocked on your door, your mother or father said, who is it? I say, uh, government inspector. So what do you want? So we come to get your dog or your cat? Say what?

00:36:04.340 - 00:36:12.380

Say, yeah. We got a new law pushed through. Say we're going to send pets to Vietnam. I don't have to tell you how much hell your mom and daddy would

00:36:12.380 - 00:36:26.300

raise over that dog going to Vietnam. Would it be a shoot out on the front lawn? That sounds funny to you, but tell you something. It's mighty, mighty frightening atmosphere you young kids is in

00:36:26.300 - 00:36:41.540

when you got to realize your mommy and daddy would raise more hell over the dog going to Vietnam than you going. You see all that hell they raised out there in Santa Barbara about that all coming up? You see them cleaning off them

00:36:41.540 - 00:36:52.200

ducks? We live in a country where we drop napalm on women and kids every morning. But don't oil up a duck, baby. Yeah.

00:36:52.240 - 00:37:06.280

You got a big job ahead of you. Mighty big job. And, you know, sometimes I think if your mom and daddy. Really stopped and listened to you youngsters and heard what you were

00:37:06.280 - 00:37:15.680

saying. If your mom and daddy knew how many senators and congressmen sons is old enough to get drafted and ain't never been drafted yet, they might get out here and raise a

00:37:15.680 - 00:37:24.200

little hell with you. Maybe your mom and daddy realized Dean Russell's boy five years ago became eligible for the draft, and he ain't never left Washington, D.C..

00:37:25.120 - 00:37:37.160

You know how many? You know how many kids Dean Ruston got killed? I wish I was young enough to get drafted the minute my induction notice hit my home in Chicago. I'd fly to Washington, D.C. and handcuff myself to Dean Russell's

00:37:37.160 - 00:37:56.430

boy. But then I get on worldwide television and tell all the fools whatever's wrong with Dean's boy is wrong with me.

00:38:01.190 - 00:38:16.630

So you youngsters got a big job to do, huh? You ever stop to ask yourself why us old fools get so upset when you young kids burn their draft cards? You ever ask yourself, which is the most important card in

00:38:16.630 - 00:38:26.110

America? The draft card or social security card? Sure it is. Social security card stays with you all your life. Women and men have Social Security cards.

00:38:26.110 - 00:38:35.590

Draft cards stays with you part of your life. Just men have draft cards. So beyond a shadow of a doubt, the Social Security card is the most important card in America today.

00:38:36.270 - 00:38:45.710

Why is it all of us in this audience right this minute, can burn our Social Security cards and nobody give a damn? And it's the most important one. But if you burn your draft card,

00:38:45.710 - 00:38:55.890

man, that run on me in here, you know why? When you young kids burn them draft cards you send to us old foods one day old fool. You going to get this country in a

00:38:55.890 - 00:39:03.250

war that we're not going and fight it for you, and you're going to have to fight it yourself. And that scares us, you know. Well, we got news for you youngsters.

00:39:03.250 - 00:39:12.450

Before we ever have to go fight one of our own wars, we'll quit having them understand that here. And so I say, you youngsters got a big job.

00:39:13.810 - 00:39:25.970

Not too long ago, I was at the University of Wisconsin when I finished speaking. When I finished speaking, a young kid came up to me, said, Mr. Gregory, can I talk to you for a few minutes?

00:39:25.970 - 00:39:34.130

I got a problem. I said, yeah, what's your problem? You see, I think I'm having a nervous breakdown. I said, why? He said, well, I'm a draft

00:39:34.170 - 00:39:43.730

resister. I said, did you honestly do what your conscience told you to do? He says, yes. It says something's wrong because anytime you make a moral,

00:39:43.730 - 00:39:52.400

dedicated stand, you might end up getting killed. you might end up in jail, but you damn sure ain't going to end up going crazy. He says, no, it's not that.

00:39:52.440 - 00:40:01.600

It's it's it's it's I'm upset over my parents reaction after I decided to be a draft resistant. My parents don't write me no more. And they don't want me to come home and they send my letters

00:40:01.600 - 00:40:09.360

back. I say, then the only problem you got is you haven't got enough sense not to react to parents who think with the wisdom of fools.

00:40:10.000 - 00:40:16.080

He said, but it's my mother and father. I say, I know that. Let me ask you something, youngster.

00:40:16.800 - 00:40:25.520

Suppose you hadn't been a draft resistance. Suppose, instead of being a draft resister, that same night, you took 40 sticks of dynamite right here at the University of Wisconsin.

00:40:25.520 - 00:40:34.880

At 3:00 in the morning, you threw it into the girls dormitory and leveled the whole building to the ground and killed every girl in it. The minute your mom and daddy found out about it, they'd flew in

00:40:34.880 - 00:40:50.140

on the next plane trying to get bail money, get the best lawyer money can buy, hug you and say, we don't know what got into our boy. Mighty scary when you young kids got to admit that your mom and daddy can rally behind a murderer quicker than they can a draft

00:40:50.140 - 00:40:59.740

resistance, it's scary. So you got a big job. You got to ask a lot of questions. And one of the loudest questions

00:40:59.740 - 00:41:10.100

you should be asking. If democracy is as good as we tell you it is, then why in the hell are we running all over the world trying to ram it down people's throats with a gun?

00:41:29.380 - 00:41:41.660

And the day you young kids make this democracy work, right? That's the day you can bring the guns home. Because you see anything good? You don't have to force on people. They will steal it.

00:41:42.540 - 00:41:52.530

So you got a big job, and I hope you young folks do not make the same mistake at this or any other institution that us old fools made when it was our turn to go to these colleges and universities.

00:41:53.730 - 00:42:01.690

You see, we were so busy trying to learn how to make a living. We forgot to learn how to live. And I hope you don't make that mistake.

00:42:08.370 - 00:42:20.290

Because if you waste your four years at this or any other institution just learning how to make a living, you haven't got a guarantee you can get a job and keep one when you get out. But if you spend these four beautiful years learning how to

00:42:20.330 - 00:42:33.050

live, I guarantee you making a living will be the easiest thing for you to do on the face of this earth. Born none. Oh, I meet so many people.

00:42:33.090 - 00:42:40.930

Say I'm going away to school. Learn how to be somebody. Hell, you was born somebody. If you going to let somebody teach

00:42:40.930 - 00:42:55.710

you how to be somebody else that makes you two people. Read what Sigmund Freud says happened to you when you become two folks. Why you got to go away to college

00:42:55.710 - 00:43:03.550

for four years and pay top dollar for somebody to teach you how to be crazy. And I meet so many people say, well, you know, I got to go to school and get education because

00:43:03.550 - 00:43:12.750

you got to eat. Well, if you learn how to live instead of making a living eating, ain't no hang up. Damn gorilla.

00:43:12.750 - 00:43:17.830

Eat more food. One meal and you eating six weeks. You ever known one of them to go to college so he can get him a job?

00:43:19.390 - 00:43:31.310

You ever seen a gorilla in the supermarket shopping with you? And when the last time you read gorilla starved to death, easiest thing in the world to do is eat. Once you learn how to live and the

00:43:31.310 - 00:43:41.180

dead gorilla learn how to make a living and don't know how to live, you be reading about them starving to death. Now, if you know how strong nature is, you know what you're born with.

00:43:41.220 - 00:43:48.860

And these educational institutions, if they just brought out what nature put in you, instead of trying to put something else there, we'd solve all the problems.

00:43:54.420 - 00:44:01.660

You are aware that dogs in China right this moment do understand Chinese, don't you? Never been to college. Neither.

00:44:02.980 - 00:44:10.100

Dogs in Moscow, Russia understand Russian and dogs in Germany understand German. Do you? Mm, yeah.

00:44:10.100 - 00:44:17.100

I say that to say that through nature you're born with all the wisdom you need to get to your grits, get some human dignity. So you got a job.

00:44:18.180 - 00:44:32.660

Mighty, mighty big job. And one of the biggest jobs you youngsters got to do as you work to change the system is to really work on these so-called educational institutions that for

00:44:32.660 - 00:44:41.200

the last 100 years, they've been so damn busy in America indoctrinating. They forgot how to educate. And there's a difference between education and an indoctrination,

00:44:41.200 - 00:44:58.600

believe me. Are we interested in doing this? Programming? You youngsters, you come to class and we give you a book.

00:44:58.640 - 00:45:02.880

This is the class assignment and you read it. Now, that's not what we wouldn't program.

00:45:02.920 - 00:45:08.080

And we're hipper than that. We don't program you with. The book is after you finish reading the book, we give you the test.

00:45:08.480 - 00:45:25.200

And if you didn't read the book the way we want you to read the book, you can't pass the test program. That's why young people in America will stoop to some of the lowest depths in their life to steal the test, because you know damn good

00:45:25.200 - 00:45:32.040

and well if you get the test, you don't need the book because they just grade the test. And if they get through grade and if they put down that old transcript, which ain't nothing

00:45:32.040 - 00:45:39.140

but a threat. That's right. That transcript ain't nothing but the system's way of hanging a rope over your head.

00:45:39.700 - 00:45:47.220

You think this transcript is important? You graduate from college, and ten years from now, meet somebody you want to marry and see if they ever want to see your transcript.

00:45:53.300 - 00:46:03.220

Do you think. This transcript is important? You get ready to raise a family and see if you got to take that transcript to bed with you. You think that transcript is important?

00:46:03.260 - 00:46:16.180

You let a university in America burn down to the ground and burn up all the records and see if you got to go back to college for that transcript don't mean a damn thing. So you got a lot, a lot of changes you youngsters have to do.

00:46:17.460 - 00:46:34.250

Change this corrupt, degenerate system and all that rumbles is going on on the college campuses today. Everybody seem to be getting upset. And the biggest problem for you youngsters on the college campuses

00:46:34.290 - 00:46:48.530

do not mainly come from the administration. In some small, isolated incidents, it's the administration. But 99% of the times your problem lies with the board of directors and the board of directors.

00:46:49.410 - 00:46:57.970

The only reason they qualified to be on the board of directors is because they made some money. They don't know a damn thing about education, and Lord knows they don't know nothing about you kids.

00:46:58.890 - 00:47:12.130

And so you got to work to really overhaul the system and see to it that you got to change that board of directors system, because 99% of everybody on college board of directors in America, them are the foods that have created 90% of the

00:47:12.130 - 00:47:26.130

problems all over the world. You imagine how many college boards the Rockefellers are on. Is that is that for real, Rocky?

00:47:26.170 - 00:47:35.750

Going to tell you young folks how to pattern your and and if it wasn't for that damn Chase Manhattan bank in South Africa, and black brothers could breathe a little bit of fresh air if it wasn't for his stand at all.

00:47:35.790 - 00:47:44.190

A whole continent in South America could get free, and These Foods is on the board of directors of these institutions today. There should be federal laws

00:47:44.190 - 00:47:55.590

passed. If they got caught within a 500 mile radius of a college, they should get life in jail. And this is what black kids is talking about across this country,

00:47:55.590 - 00:48:04.830

on college campuses and in high schools. It ain't got a damn thing to do with white folks. A lot of white folks think we hate you. You're so insignificant we can't even waste time hating you.

00:48:04.870 - 00:48:19.870

We hate this stinking system. That's what's killing us. You ain't got a damn thing to do with it. We talking about this racist structure.

00:48:20.710 - 00:48:31.300

And as long as you don't understand that, then you're all in trouble. Hell, all white folks could leave America tonight and leave nothing down here but Indians, Puerto

00:48:31.300 - 00:48:38.140

Ricans, Mexicans and us. And if we still had to take this old trick ass exam you make us take. Now, we still couldn't get into university.

00:48:40.100 - 00:48:52.860

And so we're talking about the racist institution that we're going to change. This institution is so racist. You know, if we leave here today and get five black kids and say,

00:48:53.020 - 00:49:05.580

we're going to organize all the Pullman porters in America, and we don't want nobody but black folks to be Pullman porters, we don't want to be driving you white folks train. We don't want to be taking up your ticket as conductors.

00:49:05.620 - 00:49:13.540

You know, all these crackers in this country would say that was racism. But today, black Cat can't do nothing on a train but be a Pullman porter.

00:49:13.540 - 00:49:23.980

He can't drive one. He can't take up no ticket. But nobody sees that as racism because that's part of the system. Two years ago, if I'd have gone around the country advocating to

00:49:24.020 - 00:49:30.120

solve the problem in the black ghetto, we need black capitalism and all the foods. We were said, well, that's that's racism.

00:49:30.120 - 00:49:35.160

Oh, white boy Richard Nixon talk about it. And nobody said that's racism because he's white.

00:49:35.880 - 00:49:41.600

And we're so tired of these insults. You ever look at that television show called The Dating Game? You ever seen it?

00:49:41.800 - 00:49:54.120

Anytime they bring a nigger on there, they got three black women and nobody associates that with being racism. But if I was going on the show next week and requested, I don't want no white women on there, I want three black sisters.

00:49:54.120 - 00:50:05.760

The whole system would talk about what a racist I am now all at once you're running around talking about separatism. God damn it, if you don't like separatism, what the hell? You get that Indian off that reservation?

00:50:05.760 - 00:50:26.440

What is that? Are we tired of this system? So we said we're tired and we're trying to change it. You know, I'd like for you youngsters to do me a favor. Go by the library and copy down the the Declaration of

00:50:26.550 - 00:50:31.110

Independence. Now, don't read it, just copy it. You know how to copy without reading, don't you? Right.

00:50:31.150 - 00:50:43.430

Sure you. Do. After you copy down the Declaration of Independence, the favor I want you to do me is carry it with you 24 hours a day. Never be caught without the Declaration of Independence.

00:50:44.670 - 00:50:54.950

Now, here's what I want you to do. When the riot season opened up this year, there is no stupid system that even even try to convince black folks that we got a certain season to ride July

00:50:54.990 - 00:50:59.510

through August. And when we didn't show last year, the whole country went crazy. Where were they?

00:51:12.470 - 00:51:20.230

People all over the country running around saying, yeah, 68 was a cool year. Cool year. And Martin Luther King got killed last April, and we tore this

00:51:20.230 - 00:51:27.490

country up like it had never been told before. But that wasn't in the prescribed riot season, so that didn't count. Yeah. People at the Pentagon, they

00:51:27.490 - 00:51:31.010

upset. Where were they? They asked George Wallace. Why do you think they didn't ride

00:51:31.010 - 00:51:45.010

last year? He said, oh, you know, them niggas is lazy and shiftless. They was just tired. I'll tell you where we was last ride season.

00:51:45.970 - 00:52:10.130

Yeah, we got tired of stealing all them old, bad, no good products. So last July through August, we decided to go underground and study the Consumer Reports. So when the ride season opened up

00:52:10.250 - 00:52:26.390

this year, we ain't stealing no more motorolas, baby. Now, here's the favor I'd like for you to do for me when the ride season open up, I'd like for you to run home and get with your parents and you black kids too, because, you know, you got some

00:52:26.390 - 00:52:36.790

black folks living in them houses with you that think more degenerate and more corrupt than the Ku Klux Klan could ever think. And you do know what I'm talking about. Get home and get your television and put it in the middle of the

00:52:36.790 - 00:52:49.990

room and turn on the evening news, because they're going to show them niggers looting and burning it and socking it to the town. But turn on Huntley and Brinkley because they get close ups. All them other two networks, they try to cover the riding

00:52:50.030 - 00:52:56.510

helicopters. But NBC gets such close ups, you can recognize your kinfolks. Look at that.

00:52:56.550 - 00:52:59.350

They. Uncle Dudley, I didn't know he was in Detroit. Look at him.

00:53:06.510 - 00:53:17.110

And after you get your set, set on NBC, then run upstairs and get your parents and bring them down and put them right in front of the television set and just listen to em. I don't know what's wrong with our people.

00:53:17.110 - 00:53:20.190

Just. You've heard them before. All them niggers need to be. Just listen to them.

00:53:20.350 - 00:53:25.500

Then after you get tired and you've heard enough, then I want you to do me a favor. I want you to go up and turn the sound off.

00:53:25.500 - 00:53:36.300

Television. Just so damn old fools can't see nothing but the picture. And then at that point, I want you to take out your Declaration of Independence and move way back in the back of them.

00:53:36.300 - 00:53:45.820

And while they, looking at them, burn and sock it to the town. I want you to read that declaration as loud as you can, and maybe for the first time, they'll understand what they're looking at.

00:53:47.260 - 00:54:05.700

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. And endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That when these rights are destroyed over long periods of

00:54:05.700 - 00:54:40.920

time, it is your duty to destroy or abolish that government. I knew at first them old fools is going to assume that that was some message Malcolm X left for Rap Brown. But I'm sure with a minimum amount of persuasion, you'll be able to

00:54:40.920 - 00:54:49.720

teach them old fools. That was their beloved Declaration of Independence. Yeah, that one with the mistake on

00:54:49.720 - 00:54:57.120

it. That one where they forgot to put for white only. You know, if you don't put white

00:54:57.120 - 00:55:07.960

only on this declaration, when we get it down in our black ghetto, it sure reads like them founding fathers meant for anybody that wasn't American. After long periods of injustices

00:55:07.960 - 00:55:13.680

to destroy or abolish. We didn't know it was just for white folks. And then after you read that and

00:55:13.680 - 00:55:22.990

then do what it say do, then everybody wants to call us a looter or a Hoodlum. And so we say to you, either change that declaration to read for white only or get it out of

00:55:22.990 - 00:55:30.510

our black community. And after you get that out, run and get this little old white boy history book, this American history book about white folk.

00:55:30.510 - 00:55:44.150

Please get that out of my ghetto. Because as long as you leave that there, it's very difficult for me to be the type of nigga y'all want me to be. But, you know, you got a lot of white folks in America just

00:55:44.150 - 00:55:54.750

believe that. That it's an inherent trait, being born black to have criminal tendencies. That a damn shame all the money niggers steal in America, put

00:55:54.750 - 00:56:14.710

together for one year, wouldn't pay the Italian controlled crime syndicate recreation fees for one month. And Nixon and all these damn politicians worrying about crime in the street.

00:56:14.910 - 00:56:24.010

How in the hell can they be worried about it? And they never mention the crime syndicate. That damn racist sheet y'all got

00:56:24.050 - 00:56:38.130

here, the Daily News. Why don't they get together and and trace the reefer route from six in the morning till 12 midnight? Dig this, this out.

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The New York Times. The estimate follows a report Monday that theft from the garment industry alone in New York City, from the garment industry alone, running up to from the garment

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industry alone, was running up to $50 million a year, $300,000 a day. But ain't nobody upset over $50 million being stole from the garment industry cause those white

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folks doing it, you imagine $50 million, $300,000 a day and ain't nobody hit the panic button. So we said we tired of all these insults and all we doing is reacting to them.

00:57:18.320 - 00:57:27.840

You've been listening to Mr. Dick Gregory as he spoke before the Kennedy Political Union of American University, February 16th, 1969. He addressed a predominantly white

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audience at the college here in Washington on the situation of blacks in America today and the role of the student in society's problems. Mr. Gregory is a former comedian,

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and in 1968 he ran for the presidency of the United States on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. Along with his running mate Mark Lane, Dick Gregory polled about a million and a half votes.

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The self-proclaimed President in Exile of the United States is the author of two books, Nigger and Write Me In. You're invited to listen to

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Washington Forum next Wednesday evening at 8:30 p.m., when we shall present more of the voices of the political and social leaders of the United States. This is Washington Forum.

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Tonight's program, featuring Dick Gregory, will be rebroadcast this coming Saturday evening at 9 p.m..