Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory
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0:06 - 0:10Well, can you hear me?
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0:10 - 0:11(Audience) Yes.
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0:11 - 0:15Why do they ask me to come
and speak behind this guy? -
0:15 - 0:16(Laughter)
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0:17 - 0:20This is absolutely incredible, absolutely.
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0:21 - 0:27But I'm happy to be here
and to join you and to share with you -
0:29 - 0:31some of my experiences.
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0:32 - 0:38I first want to say
that my wife has joined me here, -
0:39 - 0:42Kate LaFayette, okay?
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0:42 - 0:43(Applause)
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0:46 - 0:47She's part of history;
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0:47 - 0:54she was one of those who were
from Tuskegee, Alabama, Macon County, -
0:54 - 0:59and she was part of the first group
of college students there -
0:59 - 1:04who was the test case
for voter registration, -
1:04 - 1:06back in the early days there.
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1:07 - 1:10So she's done some very incredible things.
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1:10 - 1:12She knew George Washington Carver -
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1:12 - 1:13okay? -
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1:13 - 1:16when she was a little girl, growing up.
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1:17 - 1:22He taught her mother
how to take care of the plants -
1:22 - 1:23and that sort of thing.
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1:23 - 1:30So she's a part of a very, you know,
unique history in our country, there, -
1:30 - 1:32from Tuskegee.
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1:32 - 1:38But more importantly, for me,
that's why I know that God loves me. -
1:40 - 1:42I've been reassured
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1:42 - 1:46because he gave me an angel
to guide me through -
1:46 - 1:50so I'd know what heaven was like
before I get there. -
1:51 - 1:53That's my wife, Kate LaFayette.
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1:53 - 1:54(Applause)
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1:57 - 1:59And she lets me
have ice cream every night. -
1:59 - 2:01(Laughter)
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2:07 - 2:10Well, I want to share with you
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2:10 - 2:16some of the concepts and the philosophy
related to nonviolence, -
2:17 - 2:21and I just thought that what we've done
so far here that I've experienced -
2:21 - 2:27is so apropos to what I'm going
to share with you this evening -
2:29 - 2:31because you're right on it.
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2:31 - 2:33There's no question about it.
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2:33 - 2:39You're right on it, and I'm so proud
to be associated with Emory University -
2:39 - 2:43when I see what you're doing
as young people and students here. -
2:43 - 2:46Makes me very proud. I can tell you that.
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2:47 - 2:49Nonviolence
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2:50 - 2:55is old as the history of mankind,
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2:57 - 3:03and yet it's a foreign term
to many people. -
3:06 - 3:11My first exposure to this concept
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3:11 - 3:14did not bear the name "nonviolence."
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3:16 - 3:22It basically described
what love was all about. -
3:23 - 3:27And we've heard this
many times in growing up, -
3:27 - 3:29you know, how important it is to love,
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3:29 - 3:34and there are many different loves,
of course, and the Greeks have five. -
3:34 - 3:38We talk about love -
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3:39 - 3:43in the nonviolent context, we separate it.
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3:43 - 3:45The eros,
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3:45 - 3:49which is mainly the love
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3:49 - 3:53for the, you know, spiritual realm of life
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3:53 - 3:56but that has come to be
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3:56 - 4:03the love between those
who have affectionate relationships, -
4:04 - 4:05more intimate.
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4:07 - 4:08And then, of course,
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4:08 - 4:14there's philos or philia,
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4:14 - 4:16which has to do with relationship
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4:16 - 4:19between brothers and brothers
and sisters and sisters -
4:19 - 4:23and more fraternal -
that's the basis of our fraternities, -
4:24 - 4:28the philos, philia.
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4:29 - 4:33But nonviolence is based on agape,
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4:35 - 4:37the Greek definition of love
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4:37 - 4:43which means that you love,
expecting nothing in return. -
4:46 - 4:48It's a love that's not reciprocal;
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4:48 - 4:53it's not the basis
of an exchange, equal exchange, -
4:53 - 4:56but it's a love that goes beyond
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4:59 - 5:04the particular kind of rewards
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5:04 - 5:08that one would get from each other.
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5:08 - 5:10You love me, I love you.
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5:10 - 5:12You don't love me,
then I don't love you. -
5:12 - 5:13No.
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5:13 - 5:18This agape has to do with something
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5:18 - 5:21that's much more powerful;
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5:22 - 5:26and in fact, it's regenerated
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5:26 - 5:32based on the ability to give,
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5:33 - 5:40that you give only to gain,
but you gain more to give, -
5:40 - 5:45but it's not reciprocal in the sense
that you gain from those that you give to -
5:46 - 5:50but rather within itself
becomes self-generative. -
5:51 - 5:58So the concept, then, of nonviolence
is based on this type of love. -
6:00 - 6:02And I came to experiment with this
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6:02 - 6:05in the context of the movement
for social change -
6:05 - 6:08when I was in Nashville,
Tennessee, as a student. -
6:09 - 6:12I got involved in
the student sit-in movement, -
6:13 - 6:18and I started to learn
about this concept of nonviolence -
6:18 - 6:21from James Lawson Jr.,
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6:21 - 6:26who was a Methodist
seminary student at Vanderbilt, -
6:26 - 6:28worked for the Fellowship
of Reconciliation, -
6:28 - 6:32and he started these trainings
there in Nashville, among us. -
6:32 - 6:36There were people
like our congressman here. -
6:36 - 6:39John Lewis was involved
in those workshops, -
6:39 - 6:41and Diane Nash,
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6:41 - 6:43who some of you have been exposed to
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6:43 - 6:47since she's been involved in
the Freedom Rides and that sort of thing, -
6:47 - 6:49and many others -
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6:49 - 6:51Reverend C.T. Vivian,
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6:51 - 6:54who was an icon in the movement as well.
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6:55 - 6:59There are a number of Freedom Riders
who live here in Atlanta. -
6:59 - 7:03We were involved in
this real important experiment: -
7:03 - 7:08How do we change
these segregated conditions? -
7:10 - 7:16And is it possible to change
these conditions -
7:16 - 7:19without using revolutionary methods,
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7:19 - 7:22without using force and arms?
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7:24 - 7:30Is there another power
that's not destructive, -
7:31 - 7:37but a power that's constructive,
reconciliatiory, transformative? -
7:39 - 7:42We became really fascinated by this idea.
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7:42 - 7:44Mahatma Gandhi -
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7:44 - 7:47we were exposed to Mahatma Gandhi.
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7:47 - 7:48This little man -
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7:48 - 7:51dressed in this little, skimpy outfit -
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7:53 - 7:57had the power to change England.
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7:58 - 7:59My goodness.
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7:59 - 8:03But first he had to change
the people in India. -
8:03 - 8:08But as an experiment,
actually started in South Africa. -
8:08 - 8:12That's where he was,
in South Africa, in Durban. -
8:13 - 8:19And this little Indian fellow -
okay? - Mahatma Gandhi, -
8:19 - 8:25decided to experiment
with this notion, satyagraha, -
8:26 - 8:28and he started that experiment.
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8:28 - 8:34We call it an African roots with,
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8:37 - 8:40you might say, Indian and American fruit,
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8:41 - 8:44but it's really global, around the world.
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8:45 - 8:50So here we find
this concept of nonviolence, -
8:51 - 8:54the one that's the noun
rather than the adjective. -
8:54 - 8:57Not the one with the hyphen.
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8:58 - 9:02The one with the hyphen
could be "without violence," -
9:02 - 9:07but the concept of nonviolence as a noun
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9:07 - 9:09is a name of a philosophy,
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9:09 - 9:11a name of a way of life,
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9:12 - 9:15a name of a system of thought.
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9:16 - 9:22And here, we find this Indian man
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9:22 - 9:25was able to embrace this concept
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9:25 - 9:27and be able to demonstrate it
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9:27 - 9:31in such a way that people
began to find new ways and new tools -
9:32 - 9:34to struggle for social change.
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9:35 - 9:38But it had to start from within.
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9:38 - 9:39Yes.
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9:40 - 9:42It had to start from within.
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9:42 - 9:45The overcoming that we sang
in the movement -
9:45 - 9:51starts with overcoming
our own inability to control our emotions. -
9:53 - 9:54Yes.
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9:54 - 9:58Because if we can control
our own emotions, -
9:58 - 10:01then it means that we
can control situations. -
10:03 - 10:09Most of the violence that occur,
we think of physical violence, -
10:09 - 10:12but I would say
if there was a survey done, -
10:13 - 10:16the massive amount of violence
is not physical, -
10:16 - 10:19but it's how people treat each other.
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10:20 - 10:23Unfortunately, there are some people
who did have a family reunion, -
10:23 - 10:25one time,
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10:25 - 10:29and then they decided that
"We can't have any more family reunions. -
10:29 - 10:33Let's just text each other."
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10:33 - 10:35(Laughter)
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10:35 - 10:39"You know, call each other up
on the phone or something like that." -
10:39 - 10:41But they won't come together
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10:41 - 10:46because of the relationships
and perceptions that people have. -
10:48 - 10:50So this is an important kind of experiment
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10:50 - 10:53because not only does it deal
with countries -
10:54 - 10:57or either factions or groups
within countries, -
10:58 - 10:59yes,
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11:01 - 11:05because of ethnic reasons
and because of so-called racial, -
11:05 - 11:07and I want to clarify this right now.
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11:08 - 11:14The basic problem that we have
in relationship to people many times, -
11:14 - 11:18we call it racism
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11:18 - 11:21and we call it racial conflict,
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11:22 - 11:24racial oppression.
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11:26 - 11:27Well, you see, actually,
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11:27 - 11:34the racial part is just a symptom
of a deeper problem. -
11:37 - 11:43The racism is really based
on what Dr. Chester Pierce, -
11:43 - 11:46a former professor at
Harvard University's School of Education, -
11:46 - 11:48called "childism."
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11:50 - 11:55Childism is much more
pervasive and universal -
11:55 - 11:59than any other kind of ism.
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12:01 - 12:04So that is a basis of all the other:
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12:04 - 12:10ageism, sexism, okay, we call it racism
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12:10 - 12:13or all kind of other isms like that.
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12:16 - 12:18It's like, for example,
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12:19 - 12:24you would not give a child
a $20 bill, a four-year-old, -
12:24 - 12:27even though you want to make
a contribution, make him happy, -
12:27 - 12:29and then take the $20 bill,
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12:29 - 12:32what do they do
with that bill, that money? -
12:32 - 12:35They turn around
and give it to their parents -
12:35 - 12:37because, after all, they're children
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12:38 - 12:41and you would expect them
to be responsible -
12:41 - 12:43and to use it responsibly.
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12:43 - 12:45So childism.
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12:46 - 12:52Nigeria produces about one-fourth
of the oil for the United States, -
12:53 - 12:59but you wouldn't expect them
to be able to have a refinery -
13:00 - 13:02over there, in Africa.
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13:03 - 13:06No, we'd have to bring the oil here,
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13:06 - 13:10we'll refine it, and then
we'll sell it back to them. -
13:11 - 13:13Childism.
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13:13 - 13:17That has nothing to do with race. No.
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13:17 - 13:22Race becomes a convenient
line of demarcation -
13:22 - 13:27so we can decide
who we're going to exploit. -
13:30 - 13:35Yes, there's some women who are hired,
and people don't even know they're women. -
13:36 - 13:38Thought they hired a man.
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13:39 - 13:42Uh huh. Yeah.
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13:42 - 13:43That's what I'm talking about.
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13:43 - 13:44And by the way,
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13:44 - 13:48there's some blacks who are hired,
and they think they're black, -
13:48 - 13:53but we know them,
we can look at them and tell, okay? -
13:53 - 13:55Yeah.
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13:55 - 13:56In Louisiana, one time,
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13:56 - 14:02they had about 2,000 black people
move North and became white. -
14:03 - 14:05It had nothing to do with race;
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14:05 - 14:08it's trying to identify a color.
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14:09 - 14:12And see, if you put race
on the base of color, -
14:12 - 14:14you'll mess up every time.
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14:15 - 14:18Yeah. It happened in Nashville.
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14:18 - 14:21We were demonstrating
at the movie theater, -
14:21 - 14:25and we had this situation
where 20 of us would go to a theater, -
14:25 - 14:26and we would stand outside -
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14:26 - 14:29you couldn't go inside
and buy a ticket, had to stand outside - -
14:29 - 14:31and we would go round and round,
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14:31 - 14:35and then we would try to get a ticket.
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14:36 - 14:38And we were refused.
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14:38 - 14:42This woman got out of the car,
her husband went to park the car, -
14:42 - 14:44she got up there,
she was trying to get a ticket, -
14:44 - 14:46and they wouldn't sell her a ticket.
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14:46 - 14:49We knew she was white,
but she had a deep suntan. -
14:54 - 14:55And she could not buy a ticket.
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14:55 - 14:57That had nothing to do with race,
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14:58 - 15:01that had to do with the color line
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15:01 - 15:05in trying to figure out, okay,
who they're going to exploit. -
15:06 - 15:08Moving on very quickly,
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15:08 - 15:11I want to share with you
an example of nonviolence. -
15:12 - 15:15I was parking my car one night
in Selma, Alabama, -
15:16 - 15:19the same night
that Medgar Evers was killed. -
15:19 - 15:22Medgar Evers was
state president of the NAACP, -
15:23 - 15:28and when these people came on to me,
who had a car parked across the street, -
15:28 - 15:32the hood was up, so I assumed
they had car trouble, two white men. -
15:32 - 15:34They came in; one of them
walked up to where I was, -
15:34 - 15:37and I knew that that was it for me.
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15:37 - 15:41So I turn around because we're trained
to face our opponents -
15:41 - 15:43or potential assailants.
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15:44 - 15:46And he said, "Buddy,
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15:46 - 15:49how much you charge me to give me a push?"
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15:49 - 15:50I was glad that's all he wanted.
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15:50 - 15:53I said a push, no problem -
I'll give you a push. -
15:53 - 15:55I jumped in my car - had a '48 Chevrolet -
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15:55 - 15:57and I drove it behind him
to match the bumpers. -
15:57 - 15:59He stood down, out there,
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15:59 - 16:03and then he finally got down on his knees,
looking to see if the bumpers matched. -
16:03 - 16:05Then he finally told me, said,
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16:05 - 16:09"You know, you better
come out and take a look." -
16:09 - 16:11And when I got out there and bent down -
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16:11 - 16:15because it was late at night, I was trying
to hurry up and get this push over -
16:15 - 16:17so I can get back to bed -
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16:17 - 16:19and he boom!
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16:19 - 16:22I went straight down to the ground.
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16:23 - 16:26I got up; I knew it was a trick then.
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16:26 - 16:28I stood up and faced him.
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16:28 - 16:29He was huge,
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16:29 - 16:34had a crew cut haircut, sleeves rolled up.
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16:35 - 16:39And then he hit me again,
right on the top of my head. -
16:40 - 16:42I fell to the ground,
rolled over in the streets, -
16:42 - 16:43got back up again.
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16:43 - 16:46I was only weighing 136 pounds.
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16:47 - 16:48I looked at him again.
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16:48 - 16:51I could hardly see him
because the blood was all over my face. -
16:51 - 16:54I could look through my eyelashes
and I could see him. -
16:55 - 16:57Then he hit me again.
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16:57 - 16:59Rolled over, got back up.
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16:59 - 17:01Struggle.
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17:03 - 17:04Looked at him.
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17:04 - 17:05The theory is
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17:05 - 17:07unusual but genuine behavior
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17:07 - 17:12has the potential to arrest
the conscience of your assailant. -
17:12 - 17:14Unusual but genuine behavior.
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17:16 - 17:20What was I thinking about
when I stood up and looked at him -
17:20 - 17:22and maintained self-discipline?
-
17:22 - 17:25I was thinking about the fact
that here he was - -
17:25 - 17:27I don't know what his profession was,
-
17:27 - 17:31but probably he didn't have
a lot of things in life, all right? -
17:32 - 17:33So I thought about the fact -
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17:33 - 17:35and you have to be preoccupied;
-
17:35 - 17:38you can't be black-minded
when you practice nonviolence. -
17:38 - 17:40You've got to be active-minded;
you've got to fight, -
17:40 - 17:43and what you're fighting -
okay? - on the inside. -
17:43 - 17:44You see my point?
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17:44 - 17:47Yeah, maintaining your own discipline.
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17:49 - 17:50Fighting fear.
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17:50 - 17:52Yeah, that's one thing you had to fight.
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17:52 - 17:55When someone attacks you,
you've got to fight fear. -
17:58 - 18:00I was thinking about this:
-
18:01 - 18:04if I had grown up white in his community,
-
18:04 - 18:08had his parents, had his minister,
had his relatives, -
18:08 - 18:11had his, had his, had his,
-
18:11 - 18:16why, I would have behaved
probably the same way as he did. -
18:16 - 18:17It's an accident.
-
18:17 - 18:20You didn't choose what race
you were going to be born in - -
18:20 - 18:21so-called race.
-
18:21 - 18:23You didn't choose
what ethnicity you all had. -
18:23 - 18:25You didn't make those choices.
-
18:25 - 18:27Here you showed up on earth,
-
18:27 - 18:30and by the way, we're not born
in cities and countries, -
18:30 - 18:32we're born on a planet,
-
18:32 - 18:35and we share it with the folks
right now that we are with, -
18:35 - 18:37but it won't be long.
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18:37 - 18:39We're just here for a season.
-
18:40 - 18:44But what I was thinking about -
as I close, end is now, close time - -
18:47 - 18:49a song that I heard in Nashville
-
18:50 - 18:54when I couldn't find
a good station on the radio. -
18:55 - 18:59I decided - I just kept hearing
those hillbilly songs - -
18:59 - 19:02yow, yow, ang, yang, yang, yang, yaw.
-
19:04 - 19:07In Nashville, now, 96 stations -
-
19:07 - 19:10and I say, "Well, I don't know;
I'm just going to turn that thing off." -
19:10 - 19:12Then I thought about it,
"No, no. I need to -" -
19:12 - 19:16I was hearing the music,
but I was not listening. -
19:17 - 19:20That's the key to nonviolence: listening.
-
19:20 - 19:22So I turned the station on,
-
19:22 - 19:26and the first one I got,
so I close, -
19:26 - 19:27here's what I heard,
-
19:27 - 19:29here's what I think about all of the time
-
19:29 - 19:34when I look at how, sometimes,
some white folks behaved towards blacks, -
19:34 - 19:37and you know what I discovered?
-
19:37 - 19:39You ought to see
how they behave to each other. -
19:40 - 19:44People accuse folks of behaving
a certain way because they're black. -
19:44 - 19:47Uh uh. Not all the time.
-
19:47 - 19:49You ought to see
how they treat each other. -
19:49 - 19:51And I heard this song:
-
19:51 - 19:55(Singing with a twang)
"She was poor, but she was honest. -
19:55 - 19:59Victim of a rich man's pride.
-
19:59 - 20:02When she met that Christian gentleman,
-
20:02 - 20:03Big Jim Folsom,
-
20:03 - 20:07and she had a child by him.
-
20:07 - 20:11It's the rich who gets the glory.
-
20:11 - 20:15It's the poor who gets the blame.
-
20:15 - 20:19It's the same the whole world over.
-
20:19 - 20:23Now ain't that a dirty, cryin' shame?
-
20:23 - 20:26Now he sits in the legislature,
-
20:27 - 20:31making laws for all mankind
-
20:31 - 20:35while she roams the streets
of Carmen, Alabama, -
20:35 - 20:39selling grapes from her grape vine.
-
20:39 - 20:43It's the rich who gets the glory.
-
20:43 - 20:48It's the poor who gets the blame.
-
20:48 - 20:53It's the same the whole world over.
-
20:53 - 20:58Now ain't that a dirty, cryin' shame?"
-
20:58 - 21:00(Applause)
-
21:14 - 21:16Thank you.
- Title:
- Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory
- Description:
-
Bernard LaFayette Jr. talks about nonviolence - the noun, not the hyphenated adjective - as a system of thought that offers tools and strategies for movements of social change.
Bernard LaFayette Jr. has been a Civil Rights Movement activist, minister, educator and lecturer and is an authority on the strategies of nonviolent social change. An ordained minister, Dr. LaFayette earned his B.A. from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tennessee, and his Ed.M. and Ed.D from Harvard University. He has served on the faculties of Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta and Alabama State University in Montgomery, where he was Dean of the Graduate School. Dr. LaFayette is currently a distinguished senior scholar-in-residence at Emory University.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 21:17
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Retired user edited English subtitles for Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory | ||
Retired user edited English subtitles for Relationships and nonviolence | Bernard LaFayette Jr. | TEDxEmory |