00:00:00.230 - 00:00:09.530

Good morning. My name is Gerald Bruce Lee. I'm an American University board of trustee, and I'm also a United States District Court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia

00:00:10.190 - 00:00:20.210

and a graduate, a double Eagle graduate of American University School of Communications and the Washington College of Law at American University. Judge Lee, why don't we start off

00:00:20.240 - 00:00:36.230

at the beginning? Why did you decide to come to AU in the first place? I had an opportunity to come to American University because I was street sweeping the streets in the public housing projects in Barry Farms in southeast Washington,

00:00:36.230 - 00:00:48.770

D.C., worked for a program called Youth Black Pride Incorporated, a program started by Marion Barry and Mary Treadwell. And this program was for inner city youth and ex-offenders. And they started a program in a partnership with the American

00:00:48.770 - 00:00:56.390

University. And I was in high school at the time, and I was a supervisor of about 36 young black men in southeast who were sweeping the streets.

00:00:56.420 - 00:01:06.920

And we heard about this program at American University. Now, my a mother, worked at the National Archives and told me she worked with people who attended college. I thought that college was for people who were eggheads and

00:01:06.920 - 00:01:11.180

really smart. I don't know if I was smart enough. And so we talked our staff into

00:01:11.210 - 00:01:16.250

letting us take the test while we were in high school to come to American University. And they kept saying, no, you're not.

00:01:16.280 - 00:01:22.790

It's only for people out of high school. So we can take the test and pass it to let ten of us take the test to attend American University.

00:01:22.820 - 00:01:32.990

We passed. And so on that basis, I was admitted to American University. Now the story is I was at the 16th

00:01:33.020 - 00:01:43.070

U. At that time was part of the heart of Washington, DC's black community. It was the hood. And they picked up the ten of us, along with some others, to go to

00:01:43.100 - 00:01:49.670

American University. They put us in the back of a truck and drove us up Massachusetts Avenue as we were riding up Massachusetts Avenue.

00:01:49.700 - 00:01:59.110

I saw these big buildings that looked like homes with circular driveways. And I said, is this Washington? Does somebody live there? They said, that's somebody's house.

00:02:00.100 - 00:02:09.730

And so I attended my first class at American University, and there were three of us who had a class, and we walked in. We said, we're not going to sit in the back. We'll sit right up front.

00:02:09.760 - 00:02:19.330

And we're the only ones in that classroom that had this deep suntan. And so we sat down and we listened. And professor was talking and we listened.

00:02:19.360 - 00:02:29.950

We got our books, and we rode the bus from Barry Farms to American University, which was about an hour and a half bus ride. So instead of hanging out and we were reading our books. I guess that was unusual for people on the bus who were black

00:02:29.980 - 00:02:38.890

kids in the back reading books. Right. And so, um, in my first class, we studied and we had to write a paper.

00:02:38.920 - 00:02:54.010

My first paper in college. I'm still in high school at the time. And, um, I wrote my first draft, wrote my second draft. I handed him my fourth draft, and I got my paper back and got an A.

00:02:54.520 - 00:03:01.930

I can do this. I can go to college. And then I learned if you want to go to college full time, you have to take a test called the S.A.T..

00:03:02.590 - 00:03:09.460

And you have to have your high school counselor write a letter of recommendation. Now, at the time, Prince George's County was just integrated schools.

00:03:09.460 - 00:03:16.540

This was 1969. They were just integrating the schools. And I was attending a school called Central High School in Seat Pleasant, Maryland.

00:03:16.750 - 00:03:24.220

And now you've got to understand, I didn't wear a suit and tie those days. My baseball cap might have been caught to the side, and I walked with a swagger.

00:03:24.250 - 00:03:33.040

I still have the swagger. And I know what happened because I walked into the counselor's office and I said, Miss Avery, I decided I want to go to college. As a matter of fact, I went to American University.

00:03:33.310 - 00:03:46.360

And she looked at me. Gerald, you're not college material. But, Miss Avery, I go to college

00:03:46.360 - 00:03:57.820

now. I have a B average. She said oh, oh, and when I talked to young people about that experience, I say to them, I said, you know, had I not had experience

00:03:57.820 - 00:04:03.430

of going to college, Mr. Avery might have stolen my dreams, I said. But, you know, Mr. Avery was right.

00:04:03.460 - 00:04:08.530

When I think about it, she was right. I was not college material. I was not college material.

00:04:08.560 - 00:04:14.230

She was right. I was law school material. I go way beyond college. I was going to graduate from college, go to law school, pass

00:04:14.230 - 00:04:20.950

the bar exam in Virginia and become a judge twice elected by the General Assembly to the Fairfax Circuit Court and become a federal judge. That's who I was going to be.

00:04:21.010 - 00:04:29.110

But if you saw me with that Southie swagger, that guy who was sweeping the streets in the public housing projects or washing cars in Sam's car wash, he never would have thought this would have happened.

00:04:31.780 - 00:04:46.780

What is your fondest memory? I mean, once you got here on campus, what was your fondest memory that you can recall now? What comes first to mind? Meeting wonderful black and brown people.

00:04:47.440 - 00:04:59.200

Meeting some of the students who I live with in my dorm who were not like me from different communities. Um, the richness of the community. I think one of my fondest memories

00:04:59.200 - 00:05:11.560

was of the Black Student Union and all the fun we had because we were hell raisers. And when I say it, and not just in quotes, I mean, we really did some remarkable things with the Black

00:05:11.560 - 00:05:23.140

Student Union. It was like a nurturing space, a safe space for for our black students and a place we could grow in leadership, creating programs.

00:05:23.290 - 00:05:33.110

Um, that's my thought. And the parties we had, of course, we had a lot of parties, but we did some good too. And the most challenging?

00:05:38.470 - 00:05:53.170

Going to class, having read the materials and feeling like you, you knew you could do the work, but having to prove yourself every single day. Uh, you know, raising your hand

00:05:53.230 - 00:06:04.170

and the professor looked at you and wondering, do you speak English and have to demonstrate? Yes, I speak English. Yes, I've read the materials. And there were professors who were

00:06:04.170 - 00:06:27.030

indifferent to black students, as it was, as if we weren't there. And the the soft spot was Professor Edward C Smith. I actually have a photograph of me in class with Professor Smith. And there was a black female from OSATAU who was in the room.

00:06:27.330 - 00:06:39.750

And Professor Smith was a tough professor, black male professor. He he challenged us. He said, if you master my class, you you can handle anything at this university.

00:06:39.780 - 00:06:49.440

And he was right. We took it as a challenge. Uh, Alvin Catlin, McArthur Wilder, and I, we worked really hard to demonstrate to Professor Smith we could do it.

00:06:49.440 - 00:06:58.680

And after that, they go on to other professors was not so much of a challenge because we knew we had some confidence instilled in us. And I think about going to

00:06:58.680 - 00:07:10.290

predominantly white university now and the difference between that and going to HBCU, and that is I think the HBCU professors probably were more nurturing, and professors here kind of tolerated us, is what I thought.

00:07:10.440 - 00:07:30.870

They tolerated us. How did that challenge and the role AU played? Um, how did that help create the change maker that you have become? Well, you said it, I didn't.

00:07:31.440 - 00:07:42.510

Um, what are two things? One is coming to a university like this, which had people from all over the nation and all over the world gave me a chance to meet and engage people.

00:07:42.810 - 00:07:50.190

And I was active in the black student Union. I became the minister of communications or chairman of communications, which meant I was

00:07:50.190 - 00:08:00.600

the first editor of Uhuru newspaper helped start a program at WAMU, and we also challenged the student government on a number of things. And what I saw was the people who

00:08:00.630 - 00:08:14.490

were in student government leadership, the people who were in student activities, were the people I could see in the world. And I realized that if I could compete here, the American University is a microcosm of America.

00:08:14.520 - 00:08:26.370

If you can compete here, you can compete anywhere. And so what I learned, particularly when the Black Student Union had some challenges with student government and getting a program at WAMU and other things like that.

00:08:26.400 - 00:08:32.820

I learned leadership skills. I learned to be to think creatively. And I learned to be brave.

00:08:34.680 - 00:08:55.230

Can you talk a little bit about the a bunch of early 20 year olds coming into a radio station that was already an established radio station nationwide? And tell us more about. What you did.

00:08:57.810 - 00:09:04.920

As minister of Communications for OSATAU. We decided we would have a newspaper, and we knew the American University had a radio

00:09:04.920 - 00:09:10.560

station called Wamu-fm. And I had the opportunity to work with a guy named Bill Wright. And Bill Wright organization

00:09:10.560 - 00:09:21.990

called Black Soul and Television. He came up with the idea of challenging licenses of media companies to say that they needed to act in the public interest of the community in which they were

00:09:21.990 - 00:09:27.660

licensed. He challenged the license of Wmlw TV, and I worked for him as an intern. And I thought, wait a minute.

00:09:27.690 - 00:09:37.350

Wamu-fm is in Washington, D.C. at that time a predominantly black city, but I've never heard of any radio programs that were targeted to the black community. Never saw any news from the black community.

00:09:37.410 - 00:09:51.390

And so Russell Williams and I, as a part of OSATAU, came over here. We wrote a little proposal like, we want to have a black program, we want to teach others about how to run communications. And we wanted to target our community with music, news and

00:09:51.390 - 00:09:56.880

poetry. So Russell and I decided to. You'll be good cop. I'll be bad cop.

00:09:56.910 - 00:10:08.340

And so we set up a meeting with Sue Harman and Bill Brown, who were the station manager. Program manager? I'm 20 years old, and we walk in here and we tell them, listen, WMU

00:10:08.370 - 00:10:12.510

is in a black city. You ought to have some black programming. You don't have any black staff.

00:10:12.510 - 00:10:25.200

How could that possibly be your license in Washington, D.C.? We think we should be here and help produce some programming. And to our surprise, he said okay. And, Russell, what did you say?

00:10:25.230 - 00:10:32.010

We said, okay. And they said, what do you know about radio? Well, we know how to turn it on. She said, well, maybe it'll be good for you all to get some

00:10:32.010 - 00:10:39.420

training and get an FCC license. And then we'll talk to you about creating some kind of a program. And I can't remember the

00:10:39.420 - 00:10:52.610

engineer's name, but Russell and I were trained by the engineer at WAMU, and we learned to take the FCC third class license test, which we passed, and once we did that, then I can't remember, I think I won't say his name was Alex.

00:10:52.610 - 00:11:00.260

He taught us how to turn on the transmitter. So at that time, there was no programming between 10 a.m. and 12 noon. And they gave us that time block.

00:11:00.320 - 00:11:10.700

So we actually literally had a key to get into WMU to studios, turn on the transmitter. And then we went on the air. We decided to call the program Spirits Known and Unknown Urban

00:11:10.700 - 00:11:19.490

Communications Workshop. It's named after an album by Leon Thomas, and the idea was each one teach one. And so all the students here, black students who wanted to

00:11:19.490 - 00:11:31.190

participate, people from the community wanted to participate. Everything that we learned, we returned and taught them. And then we decided we need to have a news component. And so we went to Joi Thomas Moore, who was then a writer and a

00:11:31.190 - 00:11:37.880

communications student, and we said to her, Joy, we come over here and read the news. We had an AP wire at the time, an Associated Press wire.

00:11:37.880 - 00:11:48.260

We had the Washington Post, and I believe that Joi was our first news writer. And then we brought in Dave Nesbit and Dave Nesbit. They were sitting in the studio and take the Washington Post with

00:11:48.290 - 00:11:52.190

AP, and they will compose the news, and then they would read the news on the air. And that was a part of our program.

00:11:52.190 - 00:12:06.680

We played jazz, R&B, we had poetry, we had arts and spirits known and unknown. Workshop went on from 1971 to 1987. We trained so many people who went on to become very successful in

00:12:06.680 - 00:12:14.360

the communications area. That experience, um. Well, I left out something. Oh, please.

00:12:16.250 - 00:12:25.460

Good morning. My name is Gerald Lee, and this is WAMU 88.5 FM, your NPR radio broadcasting to you from the campus of the American University in Washington, DC.

00:12:27.320 - 00:12:34.490

Five. Four. Every Saturday? Absolutely. Every Saturday.

00:12:35.030 - 00:12:45.530

Um, that kind of boldness, that kind of. We can do It. Um, is that something that how would.

00:12:45.800 - 00:13:07.250

How would you advise other students here and who will be coming in the future? How would you encourage them? What would you say to encourage them to adopt that kind of spirit? Well, I would say that education is a gateway to transform your

00:13:07.250 - 00:13:22.550

life and that take full advantage of American University. If you're admitted here, then you you belong. Meet your professors, read the materials, and compete with your classmates because you're going to see them in the real world.

00:13:22.700 - 00:13:31.010

And my my goal was always to be, I want to be the boss. I don't want to be a staff. I want to be the boss. And so in order to do that, you have to be willing to compete.

00:13:31.010 - 00:13:37.400

And some people, particularly our people, will select themselves out. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough.

00:13:37.430 - 00:13:42.500

But you listen to what goes on in the classroom. You're like, I knew that. I was thinking that, too.

00:13:43.280 - 00:13:46.600

I do belong here. Yeah. Yeah. I can do this.

00:13:46.600 - 00:13:53.320

And it's called the American University. Which means that we have people from all over this country and around the world.

00:13:53.350 - 00:13:58.870

Think about taking advantage of that and meeting people from around the world, from different cultures and different backgrounds. That's something I didn't do as

00:13:58.870 - 00:14:08.590

much as I should have, and that can be very enlightening. And also opening up, widening in terms of your careers and your life. This is not high school.

00:14:08.590 - 00:14:22.000

This is the real deal. Now tell us about your your journey from the campus of AU to one of the highest positions in the American judiciary.

00:14:22.150 - 00:14:35.050

How much how much time do you have? Uh, it was it was it was, uh, the remarkable thing about, uh, American University's Washington College of Law is it taught us how to practice law, and it encouraged

00:14:35.050 - 00:14:47.380

us to engage with law firms and lawyers. And one of my friends, Bill Moffitt, who was ahead of me and Tyrone Harris was ahead of me as second and third year students, helped me as a first year student, understand what law school is

00:14:47.380 - 00:15:00.940

about and open doors to opportunities for me. And so I had a chance to work at EOC because a guy named Steve Hamilton and then Bill Moffitt got me a job in Alexandria with a woman lawyer from American University named Gwendolyn Joe

00:15:00.940 - 00:15:10.060

Carbrook, an American history graduate. There were very few women practicing law at the time. She hired me as this black male law clerk. And I went to her office and we did legal research and writing.

00:15:10.090 - 00:15:14.830

She took me to court. She took me around to various law firms. And I said, I like Virginia.

00:15:14.860 - 00:15:23.230

This is pretty cool. So I decided to take the bar exam in Virginia because Bill Moffitt and Tyron Harris had done it before they graduate from law school.

00:15:23.260 - 00:15:30.100

So I took it before I graduated from law school. So that means the second semester, the third year, I didn't go to class. I studied for the bar exam.

00:15:30.310 - 00:15:39.040

And when I came back, I went to one class. You're in this class? Yes, sir. And I got the good news right before graduation. I passed the bar exam before graduating from law school.

00:15:39.070 - 00:15:44.200

And the olden days, you could practice law. Would call a general practitioner. That means you represent whoever hired you first.

00:15:44.320 - 00:15:53.950

And so I set up my office in Alexandria, worked with a small black law firm who took me in, and I went to court on the very first day. And I love being in court.

00:15:53.980 - 00:16:00.670

I was a very competitive lawyer, and I got involved in professional activities to become a judge in Virginia. You're elected by a general

00:16:00.670 - 00:16:10.000

assembly with the legislature with the recommendation of local bar associations. So it's a self nominating process. And so after being involved in a judicial contest once where I

00:16:10.000 - 00:16:20.890

worked on a candidate's campaign, I said, this is not too bad. And so I became chairman of the judicial selection committee of the Alexandria Bar Association, which meant I review candidates credentials who wanted to become a judge, along with 8 or 10 other

00:16:20.890 - 00:16:27.160

lawyers. So after presiding over two appointments to the circuit court, it was one day were considered as candidate for circuit court.

00:16:27.190 - 00:16:34.570

He told us he had tried major cases, jury and non-jury complex cases, state and federal court. He told us he'd been involved in teaching lawyers how present cases in court.

00:16:34.600 - 00:16:39.250

He told us he was elected officer of the bar association. And I started thinking about it. I said, wait a minute.

00:16:39.640 - 00:16:43.630

Try major a jury and not a jury. Check. I've done that. Teach lawyers.

00:16:43.630 - 00:16:48.400

How many cases in court? Check. I've done that. Let the officer know I'm on the wrong side of the table.

00:16:48.580 - 00:16:57.340

So I decided to run for judge in Fairfax, Virginia, the biggest court in the Commonwealth. And I was 36 years old, and I went up before the bar association, about 20 lawyers in a room.

00:16:57.340 - 00:17:03.250

And they prepped me with questions along with other candidates as well. And then I had to meet with the 26 delegates from the General Assembly.

00:17:03.280 - 00:17:08.830

And I met with them and they said, you know, you're qualified, but you're too young. 36 years old, is too young to become a judge.

00:17:09.040 - 00:17:14.710

So I stayed involved in the bar association. I elected to office. I was one of the first blacks elected to the board of directors

00:17:14.710 - 00:17:24.340

of Virginia State Bar, called the Bar Council, and I was the first chairman of the general practice of law, Virginia State Bar. I continued to teach and continue to try cases, and I got involved in politics.

00:17:24.820 - 00:17:29.350

Good, bad, I don't know. So I got involved in politics. I worked on a candidate campaign for lieutenant governor and governor.

00:17:29.380 - 00:17:38.050

He got elected lieutenant governor and governor. And so the second time I ran the circuit court, I'm 38 years old, and the governor's going to make the appointment. The governor, whose campaign I worked on.

00:17:38.530 - 00:17:46.570

So I contacted his office and let them know. And they said, well, Jerry, you got to go to the bar association. You gotta send your name here. And so I did that and went before

00:17:46.570 - 00:17:51.850

the bar association. Things turned out really well, and they sent my name. The General Assembly sent my name

00:17:51.850 - 00:17:58.270

to the governor. Six weeks went by and I didn't hear a word from the governor. Then I heard the governor picked

00:17:58.270 - 00:18:02.530

somebody else. He was not meant to be the governor. The governor's campaign I worked

00:18:02.530 - 00:18:11.260

or worked hard to pick. Somebody didn't pick me. So six weeks later, Governor Douglas Wilder called me on the phone and said, Gerald, you're getting ready to build rebuild

00:18:11.290 - 00:18:18.100

National Dulles Airport and spend over $1 billion to do those airports. Would you serve the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority? So, governor, that's certainly a

00:18:18.100 - 00:18:22.990

prestige appointment. I want to be a judge. He said, do this first. Now the airport authority

00:18:23.020 - 00:18:34.240

completely rebuilt national airport. And we did some major things at Dulles Airport. And there were people from DC, Maryland, Virginia appointed by the mayors and governors and a member of Congress.

00:18:34.240 - 00:18:42.780

And I served on that board, and I learned a lot about economic development. And at national airport, we completely rebuilt national and connect it to Metro.

00:18:42.780 - 00:18:51.060

And Dulles Airport seemed so far away nobody wanted to fly out of Dulles. So the partnership was entered into between the Toll Road Corporation and the airport to

00:18:51.060 - 00:19:02.640

build a road between the Beltway and Dulles Airport. And we left a big, wide meeting and people wondered, why do we leave that big, wide median? We thought someday, one day, maybe Metro will come to the Dulles airport.

00:19:02.850 - 00:19:15.930

And in October of 2022, Metro came to Dulles Airport. That happened on our watch. We planned that 30 years ago. So next time we're running for judge speeding this up, I'm 40

00:19:15.930 - 00:19:19.590

years old. The stars lined up. The stars lined up. I went before the bar association.

00:19:19.590 - 00:19:27.360

I got high marks. I went for the delegates. And they elected me to become a circuit court judge in Fairfax, Virginia, the biggest court in the Commonwealth. 15 judges.

00:19:27.510 - 00:19:34.080

I took to that like a duck to water. I was in court every single day. I did that for six and a half years.

00:19:34.080 - 00:19:38.040

And then it was a vacancy on the federal court. Now, again, self nominating process.

00:19:38.070 - 00:19:45.240

Now think about that. Some black guy from southeast Washington decided he's going to run for judge to become a federal judge. What are the chances of that? Right?

00:19:45.600 - 00:19:51.030

Well, I went to American University and I thought, well, why not? There's a judge of American diversity on the court. I'm going to run for it, and I

00:19:51.030 - 00:19:56.130

did. And there were about 15 candidates. We went through 12 interviews by

00:19:56.130 - 00:20:04.170

various statewide bar associations. And because the new lawyers around the state and a lot of teaching, I was very well known. But does anyone want to tell you

00:20:04.170 - 00:20:12.150

that's not the end of the story? You have two United States senators. So I met with Senator John Warner, Republican, and at that time he was chairman of the Armed Services

00:20:12.150 - 00:20:28.200

Committee, a very powerful committee of the Senate. Then Senator Chuck Robb, a Democrat, former Virginia governor, wrote a one on one their offices, no staff present. After my interview with Senator Robb, he told me, I'm going to

00:20:28.200 - 00:20:43.860

send your name and all your names to President Clinton. And I drove to southwest Washington to see my dad, and I told him, dad, I will become A federal Judge. My dad died before I was confirmed, and I was waiting for a

00:20:43.860 - 00:20:47.880

Senate confirmation. I left out, they did the FBI investigation. All that went fine.

00:20:48.030 - 00:20:59.310

And the Senate confirmation hearing was delayed. And on the day of my father's funeral, I got a call from the Senate telling me that they scheduled my hearing for Senate confirmation the very day that my dad's funeral.

00:21:00.090 - 00:21:07.110

And I think he was up there, intercessor. That's what I think. And my confirmation hearing was like a wedding.

00:21:07.110 - 00:21:13.980

We saw 3 or 4 justice confirmation Hearing last summer was quite contentious. My hearing was nothing like that. I had Democrat on one side, a

00:21:14.190 - 00:21:18.870

Republican on the other. Republican controlled the Senate. And think about that. Republican and Democrat agreed on

00:21:18.870 - 00:21:26.040

something, and all 100 of them voted for me. I had unanimous consent to become a U.S. District Court judge. So on that court for nearly 20

00:21:26.040 - 00:21:33.810

years. So if you're doing the math as a lawyer for 15 years, and the judge is 25 years, and I taught at American University before I left, that I left, I taught him for four

00:21:33.810 - 00:21:42.450

years in the only graduate school too. [inaudible] God's grace. God's grace. God's grace.

00:21:42.690 - 00:21:55.680

That's what it was. I am so off script with with you because there's so much more we could talk about the you being a trustee of American University. I don't know how many people former, you know, students of you

00:21:55.680 - 00:22:14.310

are now trustees, but, um, but yeah, briefly tell me about that. Well, I have been very involved in law school, always came back, and my goal was to empower other students to practice law. So I always hired American university students, as many black

00:22:14.310 - 00:22:24.720

students and Brown students as I could, because I thought that's a gateway opportunity for them. And I also sat on the moot court and things like that, so the students could see success

00:22:24.720 - 00:22:29.700

stories. And I wanted to meet the students and engage them. So I did that, and I was asked by

00:22:29.700 - 00:22:38.990

the dean to be on the Dean's Advisory Council, and I served on the Dean's Advisory Council for many years, and I always hired students. And when I became a judge, I had a

00:22:38.990 - 00:22:48.170

rule I must always have two Washington College of Law American University students as interns every every semester. I always have two. And over the course of my career,

00:22:48.200 - 00:22:57.470

about 150. So there was a vacancy on the board of trustees and Dean Claudio Grossman, dean of law, who came to see me and said, judge, I want you to do this.

00:22:57.500 - 00:23:05.570

Then I made Gary Abelson the chair of the board. I said, look, I'm not a millionaire. They said, well, you know, you add value. There are things you can bring.

00:23:05.750 - 00:23:17.090

So I went on the board and I've been on the board since 2009. My first meeting, I'm standing there next to Gary Cohen, who was CEO of Goldman Sachs, and he

00:23:17.090 - 00:23:26.420

announced, well, Gary just donated $1 million of Kogod School of Business. I'm like, what am I doing here? What am I doing? You know, I'm not you know, they

00:23:26.420 - 00:23:33.890

said, no, no, you add value. So I make my contributions and I always have my wife, Edna Ruth Benson, who's also in university law school graduate.

00:23:34.160 - 00:23:45.530

We've always make our contributions and we do so much to empower our students. 150 of them were interns for me, and many of them were my law clerks who now go on to great careers.

00:23:46.400 - 00:23:55.070

Continuing that each one teach, one. Ingrained in my body. And I have to tell you that prior to Incorporated Youth, Black Pride Incorporated, run by Marion Barry

00:23:55.070 - 00:24:10.250

and Mary Treadwell, was a very powerful experience. They taught us self-help, self-respect, self-sufficiency. They sort of take pride in ourselves as black men and black women, and that was kind of a grounding that helped with

00:24:10.250 - 00:24:25.280

self-confidence and self-confidence. Is that one of the reasons why you think there's so many AU graduates who have in turn become the change makers in their own respective fields? I think American University has

00:24:25.280 - 00:24:43.790

empowered us in a way that, um, it's hard to quantify. I think being able to compete in this microcosm at this university to excel here, get good grades, to compete in various things, won a Peabody Award like Joy Thomas Moore did, or do things like

00:24:43.790 - 00:24:54.770

become a successful professor, like an Oscar winner, like Russell Williams. Um, and so many others. Tyron Harris, a lawyer, Pam Harris, an educator, so many

00:24:54.770 - 00:25:03.080

others who attended here were empowered. And our goal was always to make a difference. I never just had a job. I had a calling.

00:25:03.950 - 00:25:13.130

I never had a job. It was a calling. Um, is there anything that. I've not asked that you'd like to

00:25:13.160 - 00:25:23.180

add? That's dangerous. Ask a lawyer to judge. Um, I would say this. We have a ways to go.

00:25:23.990 - 00:25:31.540

The victory is not one. We've had a black president. And that's certainly a very powerful milestone in our history, but the struggle for equality

00:25:31.540 - 00:25:39.520

continues. The courts are not fair. It is still based on wealth and race. And don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

00:25:39.730 - 00:25:46.150

Uh. Justice for all. In other words, it's just not specific enough. Just not specific enough.

00:25:47.110 - 00:25:58.060

And so the the baton is being passed to the next generation. And I believe the next generation has the power to continue our journey. As Coretta Scott King said, we've

00:25:58.060 - 00:26:05.140

got to continue to fight for our rights. Every generation has to because they always want to roll them back. And so we have to be a powerful

00:26:05.140 - 00:26:10.300

force to counteract that. And I'll end with Frederick Douglass. A young man approached Frederick

00:26:10.300 - 00:26:25.480

Douglass and said, sir, what advice do you have for me? He said, agitate, agitate, agitate. Wow. And with that, let's go.

00:26:25.480 - 00:26:29.230

Agitate. Exactly. Absolutely. I want to change the world.

00:26:29.860 - 00:26:34.150

I mean, it's transformed my life. It's transformed my son's life, my grandson's life. Three generations have been

00:26:34.150 - 00:26:37.960

impacted by my degree. And I think that's something I should have said. And I want to say.

00:26:37.990 - 00:26:44.980

And that earning a college degree for someone first generation changes everything. It changed my life. It changed my son's life.

00:26:45.220 - 00:26:52.090

It changed my grandson's opportunities, my granddaughters opportunities. And they know the power of education. It changes everything.

00:26:52.180 - 00:27:02.230

You know, my grandmother told me, she said, Jerry, get that education because something can't nobody take from you. So and like a good grandson.

00:27:02.500 - 00:27:09.010

He did it. That's it. Thanks so much. Thank you.

00:27:09.490 - 00:27:13.510

So great. Is there anything. Yeah. Can you talk about the campus

00:27:13.510 - 00:27:21.430

climate during, um, the DC riots when you when you. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Well I, I can't yes I can.

00:27:21.970 - 00:27:31.840

So for context understand that Our generation. Baby boomers were very active in the civil rights struggle.

00:27:31.840 - 00:27:41.410

Whether you were in Alabama, whether you were in Mississippi or Georgia and in Washington, D.C., we had to fight for Home Rule, and Marion Barry was at the at the head of that fight for Home Rule.

00:27:41.410 - 00:27:58.690

And ultimately the city changed. But Doctor King was on television every day marching. I remember very vividly getting ready for Sunday school one day. And he was and there was a church bombing and four little girls were

00:27:58.690 - 00:28:05.740

killed in Alabama. Birmingham, Alabama. They started calling it Bombingham. That impacted me as a little boy getting ready to go to Sunday

00:28:05.740 - 00:28:10.960

school. And I didn't go to Sunday school that day. And then seeing them turn the fire

00:28:10.990 - 00:28:31.090

hoses and dogs on our people children, it impacted me. And so I remember watching Doctor King speak at this church. I think his Church of God in Memphis, because he was there for the Memphis sanitation workers strike, and they were carrying

00:28:31.090 - 00:28:36.940

signs that said, I am a man. And doctor. King gave a speech about going to the mountaintop, and he said he may not get there with us.

00:28:36.970 - 00:28:43.420

At that moment, I had intuition. I no longer had intuition. What does he mean? And the next day, he was murdered.

00:28:44.530 - 00:28:54.490

A nonviolent preacher was murdered, and DC raised hell. If America doesn't come around, we're going to burn America down.

00:28:54.940 - 00:29:03.040

That's what I heard. And people went into the streets and they burned down H Street. They burned down downtown. And this happened not only in

00:29:03.070 - 00:29:13.150

Washington, DC, but in California, in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Atlanta, everywhere. Because we're just not we're not taking it anymore.

00:29:13.720 - 00:29:25.380

And at American University, there's always been a spirit of activism. OSATAU was born out of that struggle, and when I came to campus in 1969, there was a great deal of unrest about the war in

00:29:25.380 - 00:29:32.550

Vietnam and the draft. Everybody was against the draft. And those who don't know what the draft is. If you're 18 years old, you had to register for the draft.

00:29:32.580 - 00:29:44.760

You could be conscripted into the military whether you liked it or not, or go to jail. And I had a student deferment. And so we had a big demonstration, and we shut down the camp.

00:29:44.760 - 00:29:50.100

We shut down Ward circle. The police were trying to get traffic through. They tear gassed us.

00:29:50.100 - 00:29:55.650

I was on campus that day. We got tear gassed. I think al-Sadr took over the war. The Ward circle building with the

00:29:55.680 - 00:30:09.450

SDS students for a Democratic Society. The campus was shut down for several days. And what came out of that were change demands to hire black professors to have a black studies class in Afro-American history,

00:30:09.990 - 00:30:17.640

um, change the major structure of the university. And it was very powerful. And American University has always been an activist campus.

00:30:17.640 - 00:30:25.320

And it wasn't just black or white, it was the whole campus. We were together raising hell about things we thought were important, and Dick Gregory would

00:30:25.320 - 00:30:34.080

come to campus during that time frame. And he would always say to us, you know, you young people got a big job. You know, you got to make a

00:30:34.080 - 00:30:40.260

difference. You go get that education. You got to give back. And he would he made us feel like

00:30:40.320 - 00:30:48.720

it's important that we do something. And we did. And I want you to know that, um, students of this campus are well known for being activists.

00:30:48.840 - 00:31:01.500

And that means we don't take we don't take it. We give it, we dish it out. Powerful message for today. We've got a gotta.

00:31:01.500 - 00:31:05.790

Rely on young people. Yeah. The struggle continues. Yeah.

00:31:06.000 - 00:31:16.320

You didn't make it alone. The other thing. I know we took too long, but anyway, thank you so much.

00:31:16.350 - 00:31:19.680

It was great to do it with you. Joy. So great to do it with you. So great.

00:31:19.710 - 00:31:22.290

So great. Thank you.