1
00:00:00,796 --> 00:00:02,598
Leah Chase: Oh, this is beautiful.

2
00:00:03,305 --> 00:00:05,321
Oh, gosh, I never saw such a room

3
00:00:05,345 --> 00:00:08,417
and beauty and strength
like I'm looking at.

4
00:00:08,441 --> 00:00:10,575
That's gorgeous. It is.

5
00:00:10,599 --> 00:00:12,902
It is a beautiful room.

6
00:00:12,926 --> 00:00:17,210
Pat Mitchell: I almost said your age,
because you gave me permission,

7
00:00:17,234 --> 00:00:19,909
but I realized that I was
about to make you a year older.

8
00:00:19,933 --> 00:00:21,448
You're only 94.

9
00:00:21,750 --> 00:00:23,099
(Laughter)

10
00:00:23,123 --> 00:00:24,727
(Applause)

11
00:00:24,751 --> 00:00:26,534
LC: Yeah, I'm only 94.

12
00:00:26,558 --> 00:00:27,958
(Applause)

13
00:00:27,982 --> 00:00:32,068
I mean, you get this old
and parts start wearing out.

14
00:00:32,092 --> 00:00:33,838
Your legs start wearing out.

15
00:00:34,206 --> 00:00:36,719
The one thing that my children always say:

16
00:00:36,743 --> 00:00:38,545
"But nothing happened to your mouth."

17
00:00:38,569 --> 00:00:41,006
(Laughter)

18
00:00:41,030 --> 00:00:44,126
So you've got to have something going,
so I've got my mouth going.

19
00:00:44,150 --> 00:00:45,896
(Laughter)

20
00:00:46,664 --> 00:00:48,917
PM: So Mrs. Chase,
the first time we were there,

21
00:00:48,941 --> 00:00:53,087
I brought a group of young women,
who work with us at TED,

22
00:00:53,111 --> 00:00:54,271
into the kitchen,

23
00:00:54,295 --> 00:00:57,295
and we were all standing around
and you had already cooked lunch

24
00:00:57,319 --> 00:00:59,389
for hundreds of people,
as you do every day,

25
00:00:59,413 --> 00:01:01,326
and you looked up at them.

26
00:01:01,350 --> 00:01:05,421
You have to share with this audience
what you said to those young women.

27
00:01:06,015 --> 00:01:09,188
LC: Well, you know,
I talk to young women all the time,

28
00:01:09,212 --> 00:01:12,222
and it's beginning to bother me,

29
00:01:12,246 --> 00:01:14,433
because look how far I came.

30
00:01:14,457 --> 00:01:20,767
I'd come with women
that had to really hustle and work hard,

31
00:01:20,791 --> 00:01:24,021
and they knew how to be women.

32
00:01:24,706 --> 00:01:28,523
They didn't play that man down.

33
00:01:28,547 --> 00:01:32,075
And, well, we didn't have
the education you have today,

34
00:01:32,099 --> 00:01:33,725
and God, I'm so proud

35
00:01:33,749 --> 00:01:38,138
when I see those women
with all that education under their belt.

36
00:01:38,162 --> 00:01:39,475
That's why I worked hard,

37
00:01:39,499 --> 00:01:43,451
tried to get everybody
to use those resources.

38
00:01:43,793 --> 00:01:47,328
So they just don't know their power,

39
00:01:47,352 --> 00:01:51,002
and I always tell them,
just look at my mother,

40
00:01:51,026 --> 00:01:53,471
had 12 girls before she had a boy.

41
00:01:53,495 --> 00:01:54,669
(Laughter)

42
00:01:54,693 --> 00:01:56,161
So you know how I came out.

43
00:01:56,185 --> 00:01:57,407
(Laughter)

44
00:01:57,431 --> 00:01:58,986
Now, she had 14 children.

45
00:01:59,010 --> 00:02:03,058
She raised 11 of us out of that 14,

46
00:02:03,082 --> 00:02:06,021
and up until last year,
we were all still living,

47
00:02:06,045 --> 00:02:08,294
a bunch of old biddies,
but we're still here.

48
00:02:08,318 --> 00:02:09,644
(Laughter)

49
00:02:09,668 --> 00:02:13,899
And sometimes we can be just cantankerous
and blah blah blah blah blah,

50
00:02:13,923 --> 00:02:15,390
but we still go.

51
00:02:15,948 --> 00:02:18,820
And I love to see women.

52
00:02:18,844 --> 00:02:20,956
You don't know what it does for me

53
00:02:20,980 --> 00:02:24,448
to see women in the position
that you're in today.

54
00:02:24,999 --> 00:02:26,913
I never thought I'd see that.

55
00:02:26,937 --> 00:02:29,278
I never thought I'd see women

56
00:02:29,302 --> 00:02:34,596
be able to take places
and positions that we have today.

57
00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:36,500
It is just a powerful thing.

58
00:02:36,901 --> 00:02:38,877
I had a young woman come to me.

59
00:02:39,328 --> 00:02:41,179
She was an African-American woman.

60
00:02:41,998 --> 00:02:44,085
And I said, "Well, what do you do, honey?"

61
00:02:44,824 --> 00:02:49,069
She said, "I am a retired Navy pilot."

62
00:02:49,927 --> 00:02:52,571
Oh God, that just melted me,

63
00:02:52,595 --> 00:02:58,140
because I knew how hard it was
to integrate that Navy.

64
00:02:58,643 --> 00:03:04,291
You know, the Navy was the last thing
to really be integrated,

65
00:03:04,315 --> 00:03:08,542
and that was done by Franklin Roosevelt

66
00:03:08,566 --> 00:03:13,090
as a favor to an African-American man,

67
00:03:13,114 --> 00:03:15,489
Lester Granger, that I knew very well.

68
00:03:15,513 --> 00:03:19,504
He was the head of the National
Urban League back there,

69
00:03:19,528 --> 00:03:21,807
and when Roosevelt asked him,

70
00:03:21,831 --> 00:03:27,086
he wanted to appoint Lester
as maybe one of his cabinet members.

71
00:03:27,110 --> 00:03:29,445
Lester said, "No, I don't want that.

72
00:03:29,469 --> 00:03:32,794
All I want you to do
is integrate that Navy."

73
00:03:33,675 --> 00:03:36,112
And that was what Franklin did.

74
00:03:36,136 --> 00:03:38,136
Well, Franklin didn't live to do it,

75
00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:39,816
but Truman did it.

76
00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,438
But when this woman told me,

77
00:03:42,462 --> 00:03:45,621
"I have flown everything there is to fly,"

78
00:03:45,645 --> 00:03:49,238
bombers, just all kinds of planes,

79
00:03:49,262 --> 00:03:52,603
it just melted me, you know,

80
00:03:52,627 --> 00:03:55,647
just to see how far women have come.

81
00:03:55,671 --> 00:03:56,913
And I told her, I said,

82
00:03:56,937 --> 00:04:00,105
"Well, you could get
into the space program."

83
00:04:00,129 --> 00:04:02,304
She said, "But Ms. Chase, I'm too old."

84
00:04:02,328 --> 00:04:04,804
She was already 60-some years old,

85
00:04:04,828 --> 00:04:07,828
and, you know, you're over the hill then.

86
00:04:07,852 --> 00:04:10,201
(Laughter)

87
00:04:10,225 --> 00:04:13,686
They don't want you flying
up in the sky at 60-something years old.

88
00:04:13,710 --> 00:04:14,962
Stay on the ground.

89
00:04:14,986 --> 00:04:18,312
When I meet women,

90
00:04:18,336 --> 00:04:20,757
and today everybody comes to my kitchen,

91
00:04:20,781 --> 00:04:22,280
and you know that,

92
00:04:22,304 --> 00:04:24,511
and it upsets Stella, my daughter.

93
00:04:24,535 --> 00:04:26,811
She doesn't like people
coming in the kitchen.

94
00:04:26,835 --> 00:04:28,297
But that's where I am,

95
00:04:28,321 --> 00:04:31,162
and that's where you're going
to see me, in the kitchen.

96
00:04:31,186 --> 00:04:34,185
So when they come there,
I meet all kinds of people.

97
00:04:34,209 --> 00:04:37,321
And that is the thing
that really uplifts me,

98
00:04:37,345 --> 00:04:39,694
is when I meet women on the move.

99
00:04:40,463 --> 00:04:44,741
When I meet women on the move,
it is good for me.

100
00:04:44,765 --> 00:04:47,459
Now, I'm not one of these
flag-waving women.

101
00:04:47,483 --> 00:04:49,877
You're not going to see me
out there waving.

102
00:04:49,901 --> 00:04:51,924
No, I don't do that.

103
00:04:51,948 --> 00:04:52,956
(Laughter)

104
00:04:52,980 --> 00:04:56,003
No, I don't do that, and I don't want
any of you to do that.

105
00:04:56,027 --> 00:04:57,758
Just be good women.

106
00:04:58,284 --> 00:05:00,721
And you know, my mother taught us ...

107
00:05:00,745 --> 00:05:03,173
she was tough on us,

108
00:05:03,197 --> 00:05:04,880
and she said, "You know, Leah,"

109
00:05:04,904 --> 00:05:07,309
she gave us all this plaque,

110
00:05:07,333 --> 00:05:11,381
"to be a good woman,
you have to first look like a girl."

111
00:05:11,405 --> 00:05:14,032
Well, I thought I looked like a girl.

112
00:05:14,056 --> 00:05:15,577
"Act like a lady."

113
00:05:15,601 --> 00:05:17,168
That, I never learned to do.

114
00:05:17,192 --> 00:05:19,066
(Laughter)

115
00:05:19,090 --> 00:05:21,051
"Think like a man."

116
00:05:21,075 --> 00:05:23,648
Now don't act like that man;
think like a man.

117
00:05:23,678 --> 00:05:25,128
And "work like a dog."

118
00:05:25,128 --> 00:05:27,318
(Laughter)

119
00:05:27,342 --> 00:05:30,075
So we learned that the hard way.

120
00:05:30,099 --> 00:05:31,986
And they taught you that.

121
00:05:32,010 --> 00:05:35,132
They taught you what women had to do.

122
00:05:35,156 --> 00:05:39,517
We were taught that women
controlled the behavior of men.

123
00:05:39,914 --> 00:05:42,421
How you act, they will act.

124
00:05:43,064 --> 00:05:46,255
So you've got to do that,
and I tell you all the time.

125
00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:49,264
You know, don't play this man down.

126
00:05:49,288 --> 00:05:53,079
It upsets me when you may have a husband

127
00:05:53,103 --> 00:05:59,411
that maybe he doesn't have as much
education under his belt as you have,

128
00:05:59,435 --> 00:06:02,514
but still you can't play him down.

129
00:06:03,149 --> 00:06:05,237
You've got to keep lifting him up,

130
00:06:05,261 --> 00:06:07,561
because you don't want
to live with a mouse.

131
00:06:07,585 --> 00:06:11,787
So you want that man to be a man,
and do what he has to do.

132
00:06:12,478 --> 00:06:14,741
And anyway, always remember,

133
00:06:14,765 --> 00:06:16,789
he runs on cheap gas.

134
00:06:16,813 --> 00:06:19,119
(Laughter)

135
00:06:19,143 --> 00:06:21,558
So fill him up with cheap gas --

136
00:06:21,582 --> 00:06:23,454
(Laughter)

137
00:06:23,478 --> 00:06:25,010
and then, you got him.

138
00:06:25,034 --> 00:06:26,371
It's just so --

139
00:06:26,395 --> 00:06:29,034
(Laughter)

140
00:06:29,058 --> 00:06:30,414
It's just --

141
00:06:30,438 --> 00:06:32,812
PM: You have to give us
a minute to take that in.

142
00:06:32,836 --> 00:06:35,392
(Laughter)

143
00:06:35,416 --> 00:06:39,409
LC: When I heard this young lady
speak before I came out --

144
00:06:39,433 --> 00:06:41,964
she was so beautiful,

145
00:06:41,988 --> 00:06:44,186
and I wished I could be like that,

146
00:06:44,210 --> 00:06:45,687
and my husband, poor darling --

147
00:06:45,711 --> 00:06:48,735
I lost him after
we were married 70 years --

148
00:06:48,759 --> 00:06:50,636
didn't agree on one thing,

149
00:06:50,660 --> 00:06:53,227
never did, nothing,

150
00:06:53,251 --> 00:06:54,672
but we got along together

151
00:06:54,696 --> 00:06:57,228
because he learned to understand me,

152
00:06:57,252 --> 00:06:59,363
and that was just hard,

153
00:06:59,387 --> 00:07:01,411
because he was so different.

154
00:07:01,435 --> 00:07:03,166
And that lady reminded me.

155
00:07:03,190 --> 00:07:05,948
I said, "If I would have
just been like her,

156
00:07:05,972 --> 00:07:08,265
Dooky would have really loved it."

157
00:07:08,289 --> 00:07:10,731
(Laughter)

158
00:07:10,755 --> 00:07:11,916
But I wasn't.

159
00:07:11,940 --> 00:07:13,813
I was always pushy, always moving,

160
00:07:13,837 --> 00:07:15,272
always doing this,

161
00:07:15,296 --> 00:07:18,502
and he used to come to me
all the time, and he said,

162
00:07:18,526 --> 00:07:20,193
"Honey, God's going to punish you."

163
00:07:20,217 --> 00:07:21,766
(Laughter)

164
00:07:21,790 --> 00:07:23,894
"You -- you're just not grateful."

165
00:07:23,918 --> 00:07:26,131
But it isn't that I'm not grateful,

166
00:07:26,155 --> 00:07:29,552
but I think, as long as you're living,
you've got to keep moving,

167
00:07:29,576 --> 00:07:31,420
you've got to keep trying to get up

168
00:07:31,444 --> 00:07:32,901
and do what you've got to do.

169
00:07:32,925 --> 00:07:33,926
(Applause)

170
00:07:33,950 --> 00:07:35,124
You cannot sit down.

171
00:07:35,148 --> 00:07:37,052
You have to keep going,

172
00:07:37,076 --> 00:07:39,894
keep trying to do a little bit every day.

173
00:07:39,918 --> 00:07:41,620
Every day, you do a little bit,

174
00:07:41,644 --> 00:07:43,069
try to make it better.

175
00:07:43,093 --> 00:07:44,866
And that's been my whole life.

176
00:07:44,890 --> 00:07:48,354
Well, I came up
in the country, small town,

177
00:07:48,378 --> 00:07:50,744
had to do everything,
had to haul the water,

178
00:07:50,768 --> 00:07:53,306
had to wash the clothes, do this, do that,

179
00:07:53,330 --> 00:07:55,996
pick the dumb strawberries,
all that kind of stuff.

180
00:07:56,020 --> 00:07:57,021
(Laughter)

181
00:07:57,045 --> 00:08:02,322
But still, my daddy insisted
that we act nice,

182
00:08:02,346 --> 00:08:03,762
we be kind.

183
00:08:03,786 --> 00:08:05,024
And that's all.

184
00:08:05,048 --> 00:08:06,614
When I heard this young woman --

185
00:08:06,638 --> 00:08:09,099
oh, she sounds so beautiful --

186
00:08:09,123 --> 00:08:11,901
I said, "I wish I could be like that."

187
00:08:11,925 --> 00:08:15,134
PM: Mrs. Chase, we don't want you
to be any different than you are.

188
00:08:15,158 --> 00:08:16,689
There is no question about that.

189
00:08:16,713 --> 00:08:18,337
Let me ask you.

190
00:08:18,361 --> 00:08:20,837
This is why it's so wonderful
to have a conversation

191
00:08:20,861 --> 00:08:22,941
with someone who has such a long view --

192
00:08:22,965 --> 00:08:24,116
LC: A long time.

193
00:08:24,140 --> 00:08:25,490
PM: to remembering Roosevelt

194
00:08:25,514 --> 00:08:27,318
and the person he did that favor for.

195
00:08:27,342 --> 00:08:30,272
What is in your head and your mind

196
00:08:30,296 --> 00:08:32,222
and what you have seen and witnessed ...

197
00:08:32,246 --> 00:08:37,629
One of the things that it's good
to remember, always,

198
00:08:37,653 --> 00:08:40,432
is that when you opened that restaurant,

199
00:08:40,456 --> 00:08:44,638
whites and blacks could not
eat together in this city.

200
00:08:45,041 --> 00:08:46,664
It was against the law.

201
00:08:46,688 --> 00:08:50,839
And yet they did, at Dooky Chase.
Tell me about that.

202
00:08:50,863 --> 00:08:52,277
LC: They did, there.

203
00:08:52,301 --> 00:08:54,336
Well, my mother-in-law first started this,

204
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:56,205
and the reason she started is,

205
00:08:56,229 --> 00:09:03,226
because her husband was sickly,
and he would go out --

206
00:09:03,250 --> 00:09:07,313
and people from Chicago
and all the places,

207
00:09:07,337 --> 00:09:11,051
you would call his job a numbers runner.

208
00:09:11,931 --> 00:09:15,097
But in New Orleans,
we are very sophisticated --

209
00:09:15,121 --> 00:09:16,121
(Laughter)

210
00:09:16,145 --> 00:09:17,852
so it wasn't a numbers runner,

211
00:09:17,876 --> 00:09:19,932
it was a lottery vendor.

212
00:09:19,956 --> 00:09:21,630
(Laughter)

213
00:09:21,654 --> 00:09:23,663
So you see, we put class to that.

214
00:09:23,687 --> 00:09:24,933
But that's how he did it.

215
00:09:24,957 --> 00:09:29,999
And he couldn't go from house to house
to get his clients and all that,

216
00:09:30,023 --> 00:09:31,461
because he was sick,

217
00:09:31,485 --> 00:09:34,955
so she opened up
this little sandwich shop,

218
00:09:34,979 --> 00:09:37,875
so she was going to take down the numbers,

219
00:09:37,899 --> 00:09:40,486
because he was sick a lot.

220
00:09:40,510 --> 00:09:44,371
He had ulcers. He was really bad
for a long a time.

221
00:09:44,395 --> 00:09:45,731
So she did that --

222
00:09:45,755 --> 00:09:48,549
and not knowing anything,

223
00:09:48,573 --> 00:09:50,477
but she knew she could make a sandwich.

224
00:09:50,501 --> 00:09:51,946
She knew she could cook,

225
00:09:51,970 --> 00:09:55,779
and she borrowed 600 dollars
from a brewery.

226
00:09:56,274 --> 00:10:00,749
Can you imagine starting
a business today with 600 dollars

227
00:10:00,773 --> 00:10:03,241
and no knowledge of what you're doing?

228
00:10:03,789 --> 00:10:07,975
And it always just amazed me
what she could do.

229
00:10:07,999 --> 00:10:09,790
She was a good money manager.

230
00:10:09,814 --> 00:10:11,281
That, I am not.

231
00:10:11,751 --> 00:10:14,402
My husband used to call me
a bankrupt sister.

232
00:10:14,426 --> 00:10:15,863
(Laughter)

233
00:10:15,887 --> 00:10:17,523
"She'll spend everything you got."

234
00:10:17,547 --> 00:10:18,925
And I would, you know.

235
00:10:18,949 --> 00:10:21,059
PM: But you kept
the restaurant open, though,

236
00:10:21,083 --> 00:10:25,569
even in those times of controversy,
when people were protesting

237
00:10:25,593 --> 00:10:27,307
and almost boycotting.

238
00:10:27,331 --> 00:10:30,902
I mean, it was a controversial move
that you and your husband made.

239
00:10:30,926 --> 00:10:33,007
LC: It was, and I don't
know how we did it,

240
00:10:33,031 --> 00:10:36,911
but as I said, my mother-in-law
was a kind, kind person,

241
00:10:36,935 --> 00:10:41,748
and you didn't have any African-Americans
on the police force at that time.

242
00:10:41,772 --> 00:10:43,361
They were all white.

243
00:10:43,385 --> 00:10:45,235
But they would come around,

244
00:10:45,259 --> 00:10:46,828
and she would say,

245
00:10:46,852 --> 00:10:49,051
"Bebe, I'm gonna fix you
a little sandwich."

246
00:10:49,075 --> 00:10:51,812
So she would fix them a sandwich.

247
00:10:51,836 --> 00:10:53,831
Today they would call that bribery.

248
00:10:53,855 --> 00:10:55,935
(Laughter)

249
00:10:55,959 --> 00:10:58,623
But she was just that kind of person.

250
00:10:58,647 --> 00:11:00,246
She liked to do things for you.

251
00:11:00,270 --> 00:11:01,929
She liked to give.

252
00:11:01,953 --> 00:11:04,044
So she would do that,

253
00:11:04,068 --> 00:11:05,453
and maybe that helped us out,

254
00:11:05,477 --> 00:11:07,793
because nobody ever bothered us.

255
00:11:08,421 --> 00:11:12,311
We had Jim Dombrowski, Albert Ben Smith,

256
00:11:12,335 --> 00:11:17,292
who started all kinds of things
right in that restaurant,

257
00:11:17,316 --> 00:11:18,922
and nobody ever bothered us.

258
00:11:19,322 --> 00:11:20,956
So we just did it.

259
00:11:20,980 --> 00:11:22,131
PM: Excuse me.

260
00:11:22,155 --> 00:11:24,238
You talked to me that day

261
00:11:24,262 --> 00:11:28,507
about the fact that people considered
the restaurant a safe haven

262
00:11:28,531 --> 00:11:30,238
where they could come together,

263
00:11:30,262 --> 00:11:33,570
particularly if they were working
on civil rights,

264
00:11:33,594 --> 00:11:34,864
human rights,

265
00:11:34,888 --> 00:11:37,054
working to change the laws.

266
00:11:37,078 --> 00:11:40,833
LC: Well, because once
you got inside those doors,

267
00:11:40,857 --> 00:11:43,929
nobody ever, ever bothered you.

268
00:11:43,953 --> 00:11:46,221
The police would never come in

269
00:11:46,245 --> 00:11:48,761
and bother our customers, never.

270
00:11:49,083 --> 00:11:51,496
So they felt safe to come there.

271
00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,687
They could eat, they could plan.

272
00:11:53,711 --> 00:11:55,417
All the Freedom Riders,

273
00:11:55,441 --> 00:11:58,806
that's where they planned
all their meetings.

274
00:11:59,148 --> 00:12:02,336
They would come and we would
serve them a bowl of gumbo

275
00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:03,519
and fried chicken.

276
00:12:03,543 --> 00:12:04,558
(Laughter)

277
00:12:04,582 --> 00:12:07,689
So I said, we'd changed
the course of America

278
00:12:07,713 --> 00:12:10,260
over a bowl of gumbo
and some fried chicken.

279
00:12:10,284 --> 00:12:14,998
(Applause)

280
00:12:15,022 --> 00:12:18,029
I would like to invite the leaders, now,

281
00:12:18,053 --> 00:12:20,908
just come have a bowl of gumbo
and some fried chicken,

282
00:12:20,932 --> 00:12:23,726
talk it over and we'd go
and we'd do what we have to do.

283
00:12:23,750 --> 00:12:25,853
(Applause)

284
00:12:25,877 --> 00:12:27,287
And that's all we did.

285
00:12:27,311 --> 00:12:30,540
PM: Could we send you a list
to invite to lunch?

286
00:12:30,564 --> 00:12:31,657
(Laughter)

287
00:12:31,681 --> 00:12:32,897
LC: Yeah, invite.

288
00:12:32,921 --> 00:12:35,070
Because that's what we're not doing.

289
00:12:35,094 --> 00:12:36,946
We're not talking.

290
00:12:36,970 --> 00:12:38,186
Come together.

291
00:12:38,210 --> 00:12:41,567
I don't care if you're a Republican
or what you are -- come together.

292
00:12:41,591 --> 00:12:42,781
Talk.

293
00:12:42,805 --> 00:12:44,060
And I know those old guys.

294
00:12:44,084 --> 00:12:45,704
I was friends with those old guys,

295
00:12:45,728 --> 00:12:48,162
like Tip O'Neill and all of those people.

296
00:12:48,186 --> 00:12:51,233
They knew how to come together and talk,

297
00:12:51,257 --> 00:12:54,833
and you would disagree maybe.

298
00:12:54,857 --> 00:12:56,134
That's OK.

299
00:12:56,158 --> 00:12:59,138
But you would talk, and we would come
to a good thing and meet.

300
00:12:59,162 --> 00:13:02,017
And so that's what we did
in that restaurant.

301
00:13:02,041 --> 00:13:05,151
They would plan the meeting,

302
00:13:05,175 --> 00:13:08,254
Oretha's mother, Oretha Haley's mother.

303
00:13:08,278 --> 00:13:09,920
She was big in CORE.

304
00:13:09,944 --> 00:13:12,491
Her mother worked for me for 42 years.

305
00:13:13,306 --> 00:13:15,306
And she was like me.

306
00:13:15,330 --> 00:13:17,915
We didn't understand the program.

307
00:13:17,939 --> 00:13:21,597
Nobody our age understood this program,

308
00:13:21,621 --> 00:13:25,865
and we sure didn't want
our children to go to jail.

309
00:13:25,889 --> 00:13:27,683
Oh, that was ... oh God.

310
00:13:27,707 --> 00:13:30,496
But these young people
were willing to go to jail

311
00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:31,762
for what they believed.

312
00:13:31,786 --> 00:13:36,295
We were working with Thurgood
and A.P. Tureaud and all those people

313
00:13:36,319 --> 00:13:38,169
with the NAACP.

314
00:13:38,193 --> 00:13:40,172
But that was a slow move.

315
00:13:40,196 --> 00:13:43,759
We would still be out here trying
to get in the door, waiting for them.

316
00:13:43,783 --> 00:13:45,813
(Laughter)

317
00:13:45,837 --> 00:13:48,252
PM: Is that Thurgood Marshall
you're talking about?

318
00:13:48,276 --> 00:13:50,382
LC: Thurgood Marshall.
But I loved Thurgood.

319
00:13:50,406 --> 00:13:51,892
He was a good movement.

320
00:13:51,916 --> 00:13:56,432
They wanted to do this
without offending anybody.

321
00:13:56,456 --> 00:13:58,209
I'll never forget A.P. Tureaud:

322
00:13:58,233 --> 00:14:00,128
"But you can't offend the white people.

323
00:14:00,152 --> 00:14:02,272
Don't offend them."

324
00:14:02,813 --> 00:14:04,678
But these young people didn't care.

325
00:14:04,702 --> 00:14:09,043
They said, "We're going.
Ready or not, we're going to do this."

326
00:14:09,455 --> 00:14:11,566
And so we had to support them.

327
00:14:11,590 --> 00:14:14,904
These were the children we knew,
righteous children.

328
00:14:14,928 --> 00:14:16,554
We had to help them.

329
00:14:16,578 --> 00:14:19,654
PM: And they brought the change.
LC: And they brought the change.

330
00:14:19,678 --> 00:14:21,574
You know, it was hard,

331
00:14:21,598 --> 00:14:24,757
but sometimes you do
hard things to make changes.

332
00:14:24,781 --> 00:14:27,312
PM: And you've seen
so many of those changes.

333
00:14:27,336 --> 00:14:29,145
The restaurant has been a bridge.

334
00:14:29,169 --> 00:14:33,623
You have been a bridge
between the past and now,

335
00:14:33,647 --> 00:14:36,131
but you don't live in the past, do you?

336
00:14:36,155 --> 00:14:39,164
You live very much in the present.

337
00:14:39,188 --> 00:14:42,389
LC: And that's what you have to tell
young people today.

338
00:14:42,413 --> 00:14:44,398
OK, you can protest,

339
00:14:44,422 --> 00:14:46,206
but put the past behind you.

340
00:14:46,601 --> 00:14:51,244
I can't make you responsible
for what your grandfather did.

341
00:14:51,268 --> 00:14:52,815
That's your grandfather.

342
00:14:52,839 --> 00:14:54,784
I have to build on that.

343
00:14:54,808 --> 00:14:56,062
I have to make changes.

344
00:14:56,086 --> 00:14:58,514
I can't stay there and say,

345
00:14:58,538 --> 00:15:00,537
"Oh, well, look what they did to us then.

346
00:15:00,561 --> 00:15:01,944
Look what they do to us now."

347
00:15:01,968 --> 00:15:03,655
No, you remember that,

348
00:15:03,679 --> 00:15:05,964
but that makes you keep going on,

349
00:15:05,988 --> 00:15:08,436
but you don't harp on it every day.

350
00:15:08,460 --> 00:15:09,624
You move,

351
00:15:09,648 --> 00:15:11,512
and you move to make a difference,

352
00:15:11,536 --> 00:15:15,334
and everybody should be involved.

353
00:15:15,358 --> 00:15:16,573
My children said,

354
00:15:16,597 --> 00:15:18,703
"Mother, don't get political," you know.

355
00:15:18,727 --> 00:15:20,718
(Laughter)

356
00:15:20,742 --> 00:15:23,798
"Don't get political, because you know
we don't like that."

357
00:15:23,822 --> 00:15:26,521
But you have to be political today.

358
00:15:26,545 --> 00:15:28,909
You have to be involved.

359
00:15:28,933 --> 00:15:30,713
Be a part of the system.

360
00:15:30,737 --> 00:15:34,031
Look how it was when we couldn't be
a part of the system.

361
00:15:34,055 --> 00:15:37,721
When Dutch Morial became the mayor,

362
00:15:37,745 --> 00:15:41,625
it was a different feeling
in the African-American community.

363
00:15:42,340 --> 00:15:44,864
We felt a part of things.

364
00:15:44,888 --> 00:15:46,398
Now we've got a mayor.

365
00:15:46,752 --> 00:15:48,982
We feel like we belong.

366
00:15:49,006 --> 00:15:52,287
Moon tried before Dutch came.

367
00:15:52,311 --> 00:15:54,326
PM: Mayor Landrieu's father,
Moon Landrieu.

368
00:15:54,350 --> 00:15:57,233
LC: Mayor Landrieu's father,
he took great, great risks

369
00:15:57,257 --> 00:16:01,461
by putting African-Americans in city hall.

370
00:16:01,485 --> 00:16:04,969
He took a whipping for that
for a long time,

371
00:16:04,993 --> 00:16:07,248
but he was a visionary,

372
00:16:07,272 --> 00:16:12,343
and he did those things that he knew
was going to help the city.

373
00:16:12,367 --> 00:16:14,652
He knew we had to get involved.

374
00:16:14,676 --> 00:16:16,659
So that's what we have to do.

375
00:16:16,683 --> 00:16:17,965
We don't harp on that.

376
00:16:17,989 --> 00:16:19,573
We just keep moving,

377
00:16:19,597 --> 00:16:22,953
and Mitch, you know,
I tell Moon all the time,

378
00:16:22,977 --> 00:16:24,664
"You did a good thing,"

379
00:16:24,688 --> 00:16:28,505
but Mitch did one bigger than you
and better than you.

380
00:16:28,529 --> 00:16:30,257
When he pulled those statues down,

381
00:16:30,281 --> 00:16:31,704
I said, "Boy, you're crazy!"

382
00:16:31,728 --> 00:16:34,419
(Applause)

383
00:16:34,443 --> 00:16:35,964
You're crazy.

384
00:16:35,988 --> 00:16:39,982
But it was a good political move.

385
00:16:40,006 --> 00:16:42,978
You know, when I saw
P.T. Beauregard come down,

386
00:16:43,002 --> 00:16:46,026
I was sitting looking at the news,

387
00:16:46,050 --> 00:16:49,617
and it just hit me
what this was all about.

388
00:16:50,527 --> 00:16:54,732
To me, it wasn't about race;
it was a political move.

389
00:16:55,639 --> 00:16:56,947
And I got so furious,

390
00:16:56,971 --> 00:16:59,027
I got back on that kitchen
the next morning,

391
00:16:59,051 --> 00:17:02,139
and I said, come on, pick up
your pants, and let's go to work,

392
00:17:02,163 --> 00:17:04,219
because you're going to get left behind.

393
00:17:04,243 --> 00:17:05,752
And that's what you have to do.

394
00:17:05,776 --> 00:17:07,506
You have to move on people,

395
00:17:07,530 --> 00:17:09,268
move on what they do.

396
00:17:09,292 --> 00:17:12,707
It was going to bring
visibility to the city.

397
00:17:12,731 --> 00:17:16,648
So you got that visibility --
move on it, uplift yourself,

398
00:17:16,672 --> 00:17:18,306
do what you have to do,

399
00:17:18,330 --> 00:17:20,171
and do it well.

400
00:17:20,195 --> 00:17:21,437
And that's all we do.

401
00:17:21,461 --> 00:17:22,764
That's all I try to do.

402
00:17:22,788 --> 00:17:26,950
PM: But you just gave
the formula for resilience. Right?

403
00:17:26,974 --> 00:17:32,352
So you are clearly the best example
we could find anywhere of resilience,

404
00:17:32,376 --> 00:17:34,615
so there must be something you think --

405
00:17:34,639 --> 00:17:36,234
LC: I like emotional strength.

406
00:17:36,258 --> 00:17:40,057
I like people with emotional
and physical strength,

407
00:17:40,081 --> 00:17:42,723
and maybe that's bad for me.

408
00:17:43,910 --> 00:17:48,102
My favorite all-time general
was George Patton.

409
00:17:48,752 --> 00:17:50,936
You know, that wasn't too cool.

410
00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,204
(Laughter)

411
00:17:53,228 --> 00:17:54,420
PM: It's surprising.

412
00:17:54,444 --> 00:17:57,973
LC: I've got George Patton
hanging in my dining room

413
00:17:57,997 --> 00:18:00,459
because I want to remember.

414
00:18:00,483 --> 00:18:02,358
He set goals for himself,

415
00:18:02,382 --> 00:18:06,043
and he was going to set out
to reach those goals.

416
00:18:06,067 --> 00:18:07,730
He never stopped.

417
00:18:07,754 --> 00:18:10,051
And I always remember his words:

418
00:18:10,075 --> 00:18:12,670
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

419
00:18:13,203 --> 00:18:14,709
Now, I can't lead --

420
00:18:14,733 --> 00:18:15,875
(Applause)

421
00:18:15,899 --> 00:18:17,681
I can't be a leader,

422
00:18:17,705 --> 00:18:19,760
but I can follow a good leader,

423
00:18:19,784 --> 00:18:22,102
but I am not getting out of the way.

424
00:18:22,126 --> 00:18:23,585
(Applause)

425
00:18:23,609 --> 00:18:26,022
But that's just what you have to do.

426
00:18:26,046 --> 00:18:28,462
(Applause)

427
00:18:28,486 --> 00:18:30,563
If you can't lead --

428
00:18:30,587 --> 00:18:32,834
leaders need followers,

429
00:18:32,858 --> 00:18:37,868
so if I help you up there,
I'm going to ride on your coattails,

430
00:18:37,892 --> 00:18:40,742
and I can't count
the coattails I've ridden upon.

431
00:18:40,766 --> 00:18:42,344
(Laughter)

432
00:18:42,368 --> 00:18:44,018
Feed you good. You'll help me out.

433
00:18:44,042 --> 00:18:45,132
(Laughter)

434
00:18:45,156 --> 00:18:47,616
And that's what life is all about.

435
00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,679
Everybody can do something,

436
00:18:50,703 --> 00:18:53,000
but please get involved.

437
00:18:53,024 --> 00:18:54,206
Do something.

438
00:18:54,230 --> 00:18:58,745
The thing we have to do
in this city, in all cities --

439
00:18:58,769 --> 00:19:02,420
mommas have to start being mommas today.

440
00:19:02,988 --> 00:19:04,139
You know?

441
00:19:04,163 --> 00:19:06,167
They have to start understanding --

442
00:19:06,191 --> 00:19:08,692
when you bring this child in the world,

443
00:19:08,716 --> 00:19:10,492
you have to make a man out of it,

444
00:19:10,516 --> 00:19:12,566
you have to make a woman out of it,

445
00:19:12,590 --> 00:19:14,003
and it takes some doing.

446
00:19:14,027 --> 00:19:15,965
It takes sacrifice.

447
00:19:15,989 --> 00:19:19,949
Maybe you won't have the long fingernails,
maybe you won't have the pretty hair.

448
00:19:20,419 --> 00:19:23,396
But that child will be on the move,

449
00:19:23,420 --> 00:19:24,944
and that's what you have to do.

450
00:19:24,968 --> 00:19:27,130
We have to concentrate on educating

451
00:19:27,154 --> 00:19:32,143
and making these children understand
what it's all about.

452
00:19:32,167 --> 00:19:34,263
And I hate to tell you, gentlemen,

453
00:19:34,287 --> 00:19:36,881
it's going to take
a good woman to do that.

454
00:19:37,809 --> 00:19:40,988
It's going to take
a good woman to do that.

455
00:19:41,012 --> 00:19:42,019
(Applause)

456
00:19:42,043 --> 00:19:43,853
Men can do their part.

457
00:19:43,877 --> 00:19:46,155
The other part is to just do
what you have to do

458
00:19:46,179 --> 00:19:47,352
and bring it home,

459
00:19:47,376 --> 00:19:49,067
but we can handle the rest,

460
00:19:49,091 --> 00:19:50,900
and we will handle the rest.

461
00:19:51,229 --> 00:19:53,357
If you're a good woman, you can do that.

462
00:19:53,381 --> 00:19:54,895
PM: You heard that first here.

463
00:19:54,919 --> 00:19:56,287
We can handle the rest.

464
00:19:56,311 --> 00:19:58,046
LC: We can handle the rest.

465
00:19:58,070 --> 00:20:00,054
Mrs. Chase, thank you so much --

466
00:20:00,078 --> 00:20:01,236
LC: Thank you.

467
00:20:01,260 --> 00:20:05,419
PM: for taking time out from the work
you do every day in this community.

468
00:20:05,443 --> 00:20:07,601
LC: But you don't know
what this does for me.

469
00:20:07,625 --> 00:20:10,307
When I see all of these people,
and come together --

470
00:20:10,331 --> 00:20:13,189
people come to my kitchen
from all over the world.

471
00:20:13,751 --> 00:20:16,282
I had people come from London,

472
00:20:16,306 --> 00:20:18,613
now twice this happened to me.

473
00:20:18,637 --> 00:20:22,653
First a man came, and I don't know
why he came to this --

474
00:20:22,677 --> 00:20:27,359
Every year, the chefs do something
called "Chef's Charity."

475
00:20:28,041 --> 00:20:32,732
Well, it so happened
I was the only woman there,

476
00:20:32,756 --> 00:20:35,276
and the only African-American there

477
00:20:35,300 --> 00:20:38,195
on that stage doing these demonstrations,

478
00:20:38,219 --> 00:20:41,813
and I would not leave until I saw
another woman come up there, too.

479
00:20:41,837 --> 00:20:44,440
I'm not going up -- they're going
to carry me up there

480
00:20:44,464 --> 00:20:46,312
until you bring another woman up here.

481
00:20:46,336 --> 00:20:48,066
(Laughter)

482
00:20:48,090 --> 00:20:51,137
So they have another one now,
so I could step down.

483
00:20:51,161 --> 00:20:53,994
But this man was from London.

484
00:20:54,018 --> 00:20:56,939
So after that, I found the man
in my kitchen.

485
00:20:56,963 --> 00:20:58,838
He came to my kitchen,

486
00:20:58,862 --> 00:21:01,148
and he said, "I want
to ask you one question."

487
00:21:01,172 --> 00:21:04,274
OK, I thought I was going to ask
something about food.

488
00:21:04,298 --> 00:21:08,314
"Why do all these white men
hang around you?"

489
00:21:08,338 --> 00:21:10,457
(Laughter)

490
00:21:10,481 --> 00:21:11,632
What?

491
00:21:11,656 --> 00:21:13,457
(Laughter)

492
00:21:13,481 --> 00:21:15,084
I couldn't understand.

493
00:21:15,108 --> 00:21:17,132
He couldn't understand that.

494
00:21:17,156 --> 00:21:18,942
I said, "We work together.

495
00:21:18,966 --> 00:21:21,545
This is the way we live in this city.

496
00:21:21,569 --> 00:21:24,616
I may never go to your house,
you may never come to my house.

497
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,274
But when it comes to working,

498
00:21:26,298 --> 00:21:29,059
like raising money
for this special school,

499
00:21:29,083 --> 00:21:30,893
we come together.

500
00:21:30,917 --> 00:21:32,195
That's what we do.

501
00:21:32,219 --> 00:21:35,187
And still here comes another, a woman,

502
00:21:35,211 --> 00:21:36,790
elegantly dressed,

503
00:21:36,814 --> 00:21:39,181
about a month ago in my kitchen.

504
00:21:39,829 --> 00:21:43,718
She said, "I don't understand
what I see in your dining room."

505
00:21:44,269 --> 00:21:45,936
I said, "What do you see?"

506
00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,711
She saw whites and blacks together.

507
00:21:48,735 --> 00:21:50,300
That's what we do.

508
00:21:50,324 --> 00:21:52,046
We meet. We talk.

509
00:21:52,571 --> 00:21:54,277
And we work together,

510
00:21:54,301 --> 00:21:56,195
and that's what we have to do.

511
00:21:56,219 --> 00:21:59,933
You don't have to be my best friend
to work to better your city,

512
00:21:59,957 --> 00:22:01,638
to better your country.

513
00:22:01,662 --> 00:22:05,630
We just have to come together and work,
and that's what we do in this city.

514
00:22:05,654 --> 00:22:07,852
We're a weird bunch down here.

515
00:22:07,876 --> 00:22:09,098
(Laughter)

516
00:22:09,122 --> 00:22:11,479
Nobody understands us,

517
00:22:11,503 --> 00:22:13,090
but we feed you well.

518
00:22:13,114 --> 00:22:15,361
(Laughter)

519
00:22:15,385 --> 00:22:19,757
(Applause)

520
00:22:19,781 --> 00:22:20,793
(Cheering)

521
00:22:20,817 --> 00:22:21,980
Thank you.

522
00:22:22,004 --> 00:22:27,404
(Applause)