WEBVTT 00:00:00.796 --> 00:00:02.598 Leah Chase: Oh, this is beautiful. 00:00:03.305 --> 00:00:05.321 Oh, gosh, I never saw such a room 00:00:05.345 --> 00:00:08.417 and beauty and strength like I'm looking at. 00:00:08.441 --> 00:00:10.575 That's gorgeous. It is. 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:12.902 It is a beautiful room. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:12.926 --> 00:00:17.210 Pat Mitchell: I almost said your age, because you gave me permission, 00:00:17.234 --> 00:00:19.909 but I realized that I was about to make you a year older. 00:00:19.933 --> 00:00:21.448 You're only 94. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:23.099 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:23.123 --> 00:00:24.727 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:24.751 --> 00:00:26.534 LC: Yeah, I'm only 94. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:26.558 --> 00:00:27.958 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:27.982 --> 00:00:32.068 I mean, you get this old and parts start wearing out. 00:00:32.092 --> 00:00:33.838 Your legs start wearing out. 00:00:34.206 --> 00:00:36.719 The one thing that my children always say: 00:00:36.743 --> 00:00:38.545 "But nothing happened to your mouth." NOTE Paragraph 00:00:38.569 --> 00:00:41.006 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:41.030 --> 00:00:44.126 So you've got to have something going, so I've got my mouth going. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:44.150 --> 00:00:45.896 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:46.664 --> 00:00:48.917 PM: So Mrs. Chase, the first time we were there, 00:00:48.941 --> 00:00:53.087 I brought a group of young women, who work with us at TED, 00:00:53.111 --> 00:00:54.271 into the kitchen, 00:00:54.295 --> 00:00:57.295 and we were all standing around and you had already cooked lunch 00:00:57.319 --> 00:00:59.389 for hundreds of people, as you do every day, 00:00:59.413 --> 00:01:01.326 and you looked up at them. 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:05.421 You have to share with this audience what you said to those young women. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:06.015 --> 00:01:09.188 LC: Well, you know, I talk to young women all the time, 00:01:09.212 --> 00:01:12.222 and it's beginning to bother me, 00:01:12.246 --> 00:01:14.433 because look how far I came. 00:01:14.457 --> 00:01:20.767 I'd come with women that had to really hustle and work hard, 00:01:20.791 --> 00:01:24.021 and they knew how to be women. 00:01:24.706 --> 00:01:28.523 They didn't play that man down. 00:01:28.547 --> 00:01:32.075 And, well, we didn't have the education you have today, 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:33.725 and God, I'm so proud 00:01:33.749 --> 00:01:38.138 when I see those women with all that education under their belt. 00:01:38.162 --> 00:01:39.475 That's why I worked hard, 00:01:39.499 --> 00:01:43.451 tried to get everybody to use those resources. 00:01:43.793 --> 00:01:47.328 So they just don't know their power, 00:01:47.352 --> 00:01:51.002 and I always tell them, just look at my mother, 00:01:51.026 --> 00:01:53.471 had 12 girls before she had a boy. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:53.495 --> 00:01:54.669 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:54.693 --> 00:01:56.161 So you know how I came out. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:56.185 --> 00:01:57.407 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:57.431 --> 00:01:58.986 Now, she had 14 children. 00:01:59.010 --> 00:02:03.058 She raised 11 of us out of that 14, 00:02:03.082 --> 00:02:06.021 and up until last year, we were all still living, 00:02:06.045 --> 00:02:08.294 a bunch of old biddies, but we're still here. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:08.318 --> 00:02:09.644 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:09.668 --> 00:02:13.899 And sometimes we can be just cantankerous and blah blah blah blah blah, 00:02:13.923 --> 00:02:15.390 but we still go. 00:02:15.948 --> 00:02:18.820 And I love to see women. 00:02:18.844 --> 00:02:20.956 You don't know what it does for me 00:02:20.980 --> 00:02:24.448 to see women in the position that you're in today. 00:02:24.999 --> 00:02:26.913 I never thought I'd see that. 00:02:26.937 --> 00:02:29.278 I never thought I'd see women 00:02:29.302 --> 00:02:34.596 be able to take places and positions that we have today. 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:36.500 It is just a powerful thing. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:36.901 --> 00:02:38.877 I had a young woman come to me. 00:02:39.328 --> 00:02:41.179 She was an African-American woman. 00:02:41.998 --> 00:02:44.085 And I said, "Well, what do you do, honey?" 00:02:44.824 --> 00:02:49.069 She said, "I am a retired Navy pilot." 00:02:49.927 --> 00:02:52.571 Oh God, that just melted me, 00:02:52.595 --> 00:02:58.140 because I knew how hard it was to integrate that Navy. 00:02:58.643 --> 00:03:04.291 You know, the Navy was the last thing to really be integrated, 00:03:04.315 --> 00:03:08.542 and that was done by Franklin Roosevelt 00:03:08.566 --> 00:03:13.090 as a favor to an African-American man, 00:03:13.114 --> 00:03:15.489 Lester Granger, that I knew very well. 00:03:15.513 --> 00:03:19.504 He was the head of the National Urban League back there, 00:03:19.528 --> 00:03:21.807 and when Roosevelt asked him, 00:03:21.831 --> 00:03:27.086 he wanted to appoint Lester as maybe one of his cabinet members. 00:03:27.110 --> 00:03:29.445 Lester said, "No, I don't want that. 00:03:29.469 --> 00:03:32.794 All I want you to do is integrate that Navy." 00:03:33.675 --> 00:03:36.112 And that was what Franklin did. 00:03:36.136 --> 00:03:38.136 Well, Franklin didn't live to do it, 00:03:38.160 --> 00:03:39.816 but Truman did it. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.438 But when this woman told me, 00:03:42.462 --> 00:03:45.621 "I have flown everything there is to fly," 00:03:45.645 --> 00:03:49.238 bombers, just all kinds of planes, 00:03:49.262 --> 00:03:52.603 it just melted me, you know, 00:03:52.627 --> 00:03:55.647 just to see how far women have come. 00:03:55.671 --> 00:03:56.913 And I told her, I said, 00:03:56.937 --> 00:04:00.105 "Well, you could get into the space program." 00:04:00.129 --> 00:04:02.304 She said, "But Ms. Chase, I'm too old." 00:04:02.328 --> 00:04:04.804 She was already 60-some years old, 00:04:04.828 --> 00:04:07.828 and, you know, you're over the hill then. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:07.852 --> 00:04:10.201 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:04:10.225 --> 00:04:13.686 They don't want you flying up in the sky at 60-something years old. 00:04:13.710 --> 00:04:14.962 Stay on the ground. 00:04:14.986 --> 00:04:18.312 When I meet women, 00:04:18.336 --> 00:04:20.757 and today everybody comes to my kitchen, 00:04:20.781 --> 00:04:22.280 and you know that, 00:04:22.304 --> 00:04:24.511 and it upsets Stella, my daughter. 00:04:24.535 --> 00:04:26.811 She doesn't like people coming in the kitchen. 00:04:26.835 --> 00:04:28.297 But that's where I am, 00:04:28.321 --> 00:04:31.162 and that's where you're going to see me, in the kitchen. 00:04:31.186 --> 00:04:34.185 So when they come there, I meet all kinds of people. 00:04:34.209 --> 00:04:37.321 And that is the thing that really uplifts me, 00:04:37.345 --> 00:04:39.694 is when I meet women on the move. 00:04:40.463 --> 00:04:44.741 When I meet women on the move, it is good for me. 00:04:44.765 --> 00:04:47.459 Now, I'm not one of these flag-waving women. 00:04:47.483 --> 00:04:49.877 You're not going to see me out there waving. 00:04:49.901 --> 00:04:51.924 No, I don't do that. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:51.948 --> 00:04:52.956 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 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. 00:04:56.027 --> 00:04:57.758 Just be good women. 00:04:58.284 --> 00:05:00.721 And you know, my mother taught us ... 00:05:00.745 --> 00:05:03.173 she was tough on us, 00:05:03.197 --> 00:05:04.880 and she said, "You know, Leah," 00:05:04.904 --> 00:05:07.309 she gave us all this plaque, 00:05:07.333 --> 00:05:11.381 "to be a good woman, you have to first look like a girl." 00:05:11.405 --> 00:05:14.032 Well, I thought I looked like a girl. 00:05:14.056 --> 00:05:15.577 "Act like a lady." 00:05:15.601 --> 00:05:17.168 That, I never learned to do. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:17.192 --> 00:05:19.066 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:19.090 --> 00:05:21.051 "Think like a man." 00:05:21.075 --> 00:05:23.648 Now don't act like that man; think like a man. 00:05:23.678 --> 00:05:25.128 And "work like a dog." NOTE Paragraph 00:05:25.128 --> 00:05:27.318 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:27.342 --> 00:05:30.075 So we learned that the hard way. 00:05:30.099 --> 00:05:31.986 And they taught you that. 00:05:32.010 --> 00:05:35.132 They taught you what women had to do. 00:05:35.156 --> 00:05:39.517 We were taught that women controlled the behavior of men. 00:05:39.914 --> 00:05:42.421 How you act, they will act. 00:05:43.064 --> 00:05:46.255 So you've got to do that, and I tell you all the time. 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:49.264 You know, don't play this man down. 00:05:49.288 --> 00:05:53.079 It upsets me when you may have a husband 00:05:53.103 --> 00:05:59.411 that maybe he doesn't have as much education under his belt as you have, 00:05:59.435 --> 00:06:02.514 but still you can't play him down. 00:06:03.149 --> 00:06:05.237 You've got to keep lifting him up, 00:06:05.261 --> 00:06:07.561 because you don't want to live with a mouse. 00:06:07.585 --> 00:06:11.787 So you want that man to be a man, and do what he has to do. 00:06:12.478 --> 00:06:14.741 And anyway, always remember, 00:06:14.765 --> 00:06:16.789 he runs on cheap gas. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:16.813 --> 00:06:19.119 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:19.143 --> 00:06:21.558 So fill him up with cheap gas -- NOTE Paragraph 00:06:21.582 --> 00:06:23.454 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:23.478 --> 00:06:25.010 and then, you got him. 00:06:25.034 --> 00:06:26.371 It's just so -- NOTE Paragraph 00:06:26.395 --> 00:06:29.034 (Laughter) 00:06:29.058 --> 00:06:30.414 It's just -- NOTE Paragraph 00:06:30.438 --> 00:06:32.812 PM: You have to give us a minute to take that in. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:32.836 --> 00:06:35.392 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:35.416 --> 00:06:39.409 LC: When I heard this young lady speak before I came out -- 00:06:39.433 --> 00:06:41.964 she was so beautiful, 00:06:41.988 --> 00:06:44.186 and I wished I could be like that, 00:06:44.210 --> 00:06:45.687 and my husband, poor darling -- 00:06:45.711 --> 00:06:48.735 I lost him after we were married 70 years -- 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:50.636 didn't agree on one thing, 00:06:50.660 --> 00:06:53.227 never did, nothing, 00:06:53.251 --> 00:06:54.672 but we got along together 00:06:54.696 --> 00:06:57.228 because he learned to understand me, 00:06:57.252 --> 00:06:59.363 and that was just hard, 00:06:59.387 --> 00:07:01.411 because he was so different. 00:07:01.435 --> 00:07:03.166 And that lady reminded me. 00:07:03.190 --> 00:07:05.948 I said, "If I would have just been like her, 00:07:05.972 --> 00:07:08.265 Dooky would have really loved it." NOTE Paragraph 00:07:08.289 --> 00:07:10.731 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:10.755 --> 00:07:11.916 But I wasn't. 00:07:11.940 --> 00:07:13.813 I was always pushy, always moving, 00:07:13.837 --> 00:07:15.272 always doing this, 00:07:15.296 --> 00:07:18.502 and he used to come to me all the time, and he said, 00:07:18.526 --> 00:07:20.193 "Honey, God's going to punish you." NOTE Paragraph 00:07:20.217 --> 00:07:21.766 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:21.790 --> 00:07:23.894 "You -- you're just not grateful." 00:07:23.918 --> 00:07:26.131 But it isn't that I'm not grateful, 00:07:26.155 --> 00:07:29.552 but I think, as long as you're living, you've got to keep moving, 00:07:29.576 --> 00:07:31.420 you've got to keep trying to get up 00:07:31.444 --> 00:07:32.901 and do what you've got to do. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:32.925 --> 00:07:33.926 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:33.950 --> 00:07:35.124 You cannot sit down. 00:07:35.148 --> 00:07:37.052 You have to keep going, 00:07:37.076 --> 00:07:39.894 keep trying to do a little bit every day. 00:07:39.918 --> 00:07:41.620 Every day, you do a little bit, 00:07:41.644 --> 00:07:43.069 try to make it better. 00:07:43.093 --> 00:07:44.866 And that's been my whole life. 00:07:44.890 --> 00:07:48.354 Well, I came up in the country, small town, 00:07:48.378 --> 00:07:50.744 had to do everything, had to haul the water, 00:07:50.768 --> 00:07:53.306 had to wash the clothes, do this, do that, 00:07:53.330 --> 00:07:55.996 pick the dumb strawberries, all that kind of stuff. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:56.020 --> 00:07:57.021 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:57.045 --> 00:08:02.322 But still, my daddy insisted that we act nice, 00:08:02.346 --> 00:08:03.762 we be kind. 00:08:03.786 --> 00:08:05.024 And that's all. 00:08:05.048 --> 00:08:06.614 When I heard this young woman -- 00:08:06.638 --> 00:08:09.099 oh, she sounds so beautiful -- 00:08:09.123 --> 00:08:11.901 I said, "I wish I could be like that." NOTE Paragraph 00:08:11.925 --> 00:08:15.134 PM: Mrs. Chase, we don't want you to be any different than you are. 00:08:15.158 --> 00:08:16.689 There is no question about that. 00:08:16.713 --> 00:08:18.337 Let me ask you. 00:08:18.361 --> 00:08:20.837 This is why it's so wonderful to have a conversation 00:08:20.861 --> 00:08:22.941 with someone who has such a long view -- NOTE Paragraph 00:08:22.965 --> 00:08:24.116 LC: A long time. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:24.140 --> 00:08:25.490 PM: to remembering Roosevelt 00:08:25.514 --> 00:08:27.318 and the person he did that favor for. 00:08:27.342 --> 00:08:30.272 What is in your head and your mind 00:08:30.296 --> 00:08:32.222 and what you have seen and witnessed ... 00:08:32.246 --> 00:08:37.629 One of the things that it's good to remember, always, 00:08:37.653 --> 00:08:40.432 is that when you opened that restaurant, 00:08:40.456 --> 00:08:44.638 whites and blacks could not eat together in this city. 00:08:45.041 --> 00:08:46.664 It was against the law. 00:08:46.688 --> 00:08:50.839 And yet they did, at Dooky Chase. Tell me about that. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:50.863 --> 00:08:52.277 LC: They did, there. 00:08:52.301 --> 00:08:54.336 Well, my mother-in-law first started this, 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:56.205 and the reason she started is, 00:08:56.229 --> 00:09:03.226 because her husband was sickly, and he would go out -- 00:09:03.250 --> 00:09:07.313 and people from Chicago and all the places, 00:09:07.337 --> 00:09:11.051 you would call his job a numbers runner. 00:09:11.931 --> 00:09:15.097 But in New Orleans, we are very sophisticated -- NOTE Paragraph 00:09:15.121 --> 00:09:16.121 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:16.145 --> 00:09:17.852 so it wasn't a numbers runner, 00:09:17.876 --> 00:09:19.932 it was a lottery vendor. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:19.956 --> 00:09:21.630 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:09:21.654 --> 00:09:23.663 So you see, we put class to that. 00:09:23.687 --> 00:09:24.933 But that's how he did it. 00:09:24.957 --> 00:09:29.999 And he couldn't go from house to house to get his clients and all that, 00:09:30.023 --> 00:09:31.461 because he was sick, 00:09:31.485 --> 00:09:34.955 so she opened up this little sandwich shop, 00:09:34.979 --> 00:09:37.875 so she was going to take down the numbers, 00:09:37.899 --> 00:09:40.486 because he was sick a lot. 00:09:40.510 --> 00:09:44.371 He had ulcers. He was really bad for a long a time. 00:09:44.395 --> 00:09:45.731 So she did that -- 00:09:45.755 --> 00:09:48.549 and not knowing anything, 00:09:48.573 --> 00:09:50.477 but she knew she could make a sandwich. 00:09:50.501 --> 00:09:51.946 She knew she could cook, 00:09:51.970 --> 00:09:55.779 and she borrowed 600 dollars from a brewery. 00:09:56.274 --> 00:10:00.749 Can you imagine starting a business today with 600 dollars 00:10:00.773 --> 00:10:03.241 and no knowledge of what you're doing? 00:10:03.789 --> 00:10:07.975 And it always just amazed me what she could do. 00:10:07.999 --> 00:10:09.790 She was a good money manager. 00:10:09.814 --> 00:10:11.281 That, I am not. 00:10:11.751 --> 00:10:14.402 My husband used to call me a bankrupt sister. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:14.426 --> 00:10:15.863 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:15.887 --> 00:10:17.523 "She'll spend everything you got." 00:10:17.547 --> 00:10:18.925 And I would, you know. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:18.949 --> 00:10:21.059 PM: But you kept the restaurant open, though, 00:10:21.083 --> 00:10:25.569 even in those times of controversy, when people were protesting 00:10:25.593 --> 00:10:27.307 and almost boycotting. 00:10:27.331 --> 00:10:30.902 I mean, it was a controversial move that you and your husband made. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:30.926 --> 00:10:33.007 LC: It was, and I don't know how we did it, 00:10:33.031 --> 00:10:36.911 but as I said, my mother-in-law was a kind, kind person, 00:10:36.935 --> 00:10:41.748 and you didn't have any African-Americans on the police force at that time. 00:10:41.772 --> 00:10:43.361 They were all white. 00:10:43.385 --> 00:10:45.235 But they would come around, 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:46.828 and she would say, 00:10:46.852 --> 00:10:49.051 "Bebe, I'm gonna fix you a little sandwich." 00:10:49.075 --> 00:10:51.812 So she would fix them a sandwich. 00:10:51.836 --> 00:10:53.831 Today they would call that bribery. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:53.855 --> 00:10:55.935 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:55.959 --> 00:10:58.623 But she was just that kind of person. 00:10:58.647 --> 00:11:00.246 She liked to do things for you. 00:11:00.270 --> 00:11:01.929 She liked to give. 00:11:01.953 --> 00:11:04.044 So she would do that, 00:11:04.068 --> 00:11:05.453 and maybe that helped us out, 00:11:05.477 --> 00:11:07.793 because nobody ever bothered us. 00:11:08.421 --> 00:11:12.311 We had Jim Dombrowski, Albert Ben Smith, 00:11:12.335 --> 00:11:17.292 who started all kinds of things right in that restaurant, 00:11:17.316 --> 00:11:18.922 and nobody ever bothered us. 00:11:19.322 --> 00:11:20.956 So we just did it. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:22.131 PM: Excuse me. 00:11:22.155 --> 00:11:24.238 You talked to me that day 00:11:24.262 --> 00:11:28.507 about the fact that people considered the restaurant a safe haven 00:11:28.531 --> 00:11:30.238 where they could come together, 00:11:30.262 --> 00:11:33.570 particularly if they were working on civil rights, 00:11:33.594 --> 00:11:34.864 human rights, 00:11:34.888 --> 00:11:37.054 working to change the laws. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:37.078 --> 00:11:40.833 LC: Well, because once you got inside those doors, 00:11:40.857 --> 00:11:43.929 nobody ever, ever bothered you. 00:11:43.953 --> 00:11:46.221 The police would never come in 00:11:46.245 --> 00:11:48.761 and bother our customers, never. 00:11:49.083 --> 00:11:51.496 So they felt safe to come there. 00:11:51.520 --> 00:11:53.687 They could eat, they could plan. 00:11:53.711 --> 00:11:55.417 All the Freedom Riders, 00:11:55.441 --> 00:11:58.806 that's where they planned all their meetings. 00:11:59.148 --> 00:12:02.336 They would come and we would serve them a bowl of gumbo 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:03.519 and fried chicken. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:03.543 --> 00:12:04.558 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:04.582 --> 00:12:07.689 So I said, we'd changed the course of America 00:12:07.713 --> 00:12:10.260 over a bowl of gumbo and some fried chicken. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:10.284 --> 00:12:14.998 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:15.022 --> 00:12:18.029 I would like to invite the leaders, now, 00:12:18.053 --> 00:12:20.908 just come have a bowl of gumbo and some fried chicken, 00:12:20.932 --> 00:12:23.726 talk it over and we'd go and we'd do what we have to do. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:25.853 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:25.877 --> 00:12:27.287 And that's all we did. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:27.311 --> 00:12:30.540 PM: Could we send you a list to invite to lunch? NOTE Paragraph 00:12:30.564 --> 00:12:31.657 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:12:31.681 --> 00:12:32.897 LC: Yeah, invite. 00:12:32.921 --> 00:12:35.070 Because that's what we're not doing. 00:12:35.094 --> 00:12:36.946 We're not talking. 00:12:36.970 --> 00:12:38.186 Come together. 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:41.567 I don't care if you're a Republican or what you are -- come together. 00:12:41.591 --> 00:12:42.781 Talk. 00:12:42.805 --> 00:12:44.060 And I know those old guys. 00:12:44.084 --> 00:12:45.704 I was friends with those old guys, 00:12:45.728 --> 00:12:48.162 like Tip O'Neill and all of those people. 00:12:48.186 --> 00:12:51.233 They knew how to come together and talk, 00:12:51.257 --> 00:12:54.833 and you would disagree maybe. 00:12:54.857 --> 00:12:56.134 That's OK. 00:12:56.158 --> 00:12:59.138 But you would talk, and we would come to a good thing and meet. 00:12:59.162 --> 00:13:02.017 And so that's what we did in that restaurant. 00:13:02.041 --> 00:13:05.151 They would plan the meeting, 00:13:05.175 --> 00:13:08.254 Oretha's mother, Oretha Haley's mother. 00:13:08.278 --> 00:13:09.920 She was big in CORE. 00:13:09.944 --> 00:13:12.491 Her mother worked for me for 42 years. 00:13:13.306 --> 00:13:15.306 And she was like me. 00:13:15.330 --> 00:13:17.915 We didn't understand the program. 00:13:17.939 --> 00:13:21.597 Nobody our age understood this program, 00:13:21.621 --> 00:13:25.865 and we sure didn't want our children to go to jail. 00:13:25.889 --> 00:13:27.683 Oh, that was ... oh God. 00:13:27.707 --> 00:13:30.496 But these young people were willing to go to jail 00:13:30.520 --> 00:13:31.762 for what they believed. 00:13:31.786 --> 00:13:36.295 We were working with Thurgood and A.P. Tureaud and all those people 00:13:36.319 --> 00:13:38.169 with the NAACP. 00:13:38.193 --> 00:13:40.172 But that was a slow move. 00:13:40.196 --> 00:13:43.759 We would still be out here trying to get in the door, waiting for them. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:43.783 --> 00:13:45.813 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:13:45.837 --> 00:13:48.252 PM: Is that Thurgood Marshall you're talking about? NOTE Paragraph 00:13:48.276 --> 00:13:50.382 LC: Thurgood Marshall. But I loved Thurgood. 00:13:50.406 --> 00:13:51.892 He was a good movement. 00:13:51.916 --> 00:13:56.432 They wanted to do this without offending anybody. 00:13:56.456 --> 00:13:58.209 I'll never forget A.P. Tureaud: 00:13:58.233 --> 00:14:00.128 "But you can't offend the white people. 00:14:00.152 --> 00:14:02.272 Don't offend them." 00:14:02.813 --> 00:14:04.678 But these young people didn't care. 00:14:04.702 --> 00:14:09.043 They said, "We're going. Ready or not, we're going to do this." 00:14:09.455 --> 00:14:11.566 And so we had to support them. 00:14:11.590 --> 00:14:14.904 These were the children we knew, righteous children. 00:14:14.928 --> 00:14:16.554 We had to help them. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:16.578 --> 00:14:19.654 PM: And they brought the change. LC: And they brought the change. 00:14:19.678 --> 00:14:21.574 You know, it was hard, 00:14:21.598 --> 00:14:24.757 but sometimes you do hard things to make changes. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:24.781 --> 00:14:27.312 PM: And you've seen so many of those changes. 00:14:27.336 --> 00:14:29.145 The restaurant has been a bridge. 00:14:29.169 --> 00:14:33.623 You have been a bridge between the past and now, 00:14:33.647 --> 00:14:36.131 but you don't live in the past, do you? 00:14:36.155 --> 00:14:39.164 You live very much in the present. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:39.188 --> 00:14:42.389 LC: And that's what you have to tell young people today. 00:14:42.413 --> 00:14:44.398 OK, you can protest, 00:14:44.422 --> 00:14:46.206 but put the past behind you. 00:14:46.601 --> 00:14:51.244 I can't make you responsible for what your grandfather did. 00:14:51.268 --> 00:14:52.815 That's your grandfather. 00:14:52.839 --> 00:14:54.784 I have to build on that. 00:14:54.808 --> 00:14:56.062 I have to make changes. 00:14:56.086 --> 00:14:58.514 I can't stay there and say, 00:14:58.538 --> 00:15:00.537 "Oh, well, look what they did to us then. 00:15:00.561 --> 00:15:01.944 Look what they do to us now." 00:15:01.968 --> 00:15:03.655 No, you remember that, 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.964 but that makes you keep going on, 00:15:05.988 --> 00:15:08.436 but you don't harp on it every day. 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:09.624 You move, 00:15:09.648 --> 00:15:11.512 and you move to make a difference, 00:15:11.536 --> 00:15:15.334 and everybody should be involved. 00:15:15.358 --> 00:15:16.573 My children said, 00:15:16.597 --> 00:15:18.703 "Mother, don't get political," you know. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:18.727 --> 00:15:20.718 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:15:20.742 --> 00:15:23.798 "Don't get political, because you know we don't like that." 00:15:23.822 --> 00:15:26.521 But you have to be political today. 00:15:26.545 --> 00:15:28.909 You have to be involved. 00:15:28.933 --> 00:15:30.713 Be a part of the system. 00:15:30.737 --> 00:15:34.031 Look how it was when we couldn't be a part of the system. 00:15:34.055 --> 00:15:37.721 When Dutch Morial became the mayor, 00:15:37.745 --> 00:15:41.625 it was a different feeling in the African-American community. 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:44.864 We felt a part of things. 00:15:44.888 --> 00:15:46.398 Now we've got a mayor. 00:15:46.752 --> 00:15:48.982 We feel like we belong. 00:15:49.006 --> 00:15:52.287 Moon tried before Dutch came. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:52.311 --> 00:15:54.326 PM: Mayor Landrieu's father, Moon Landrieu. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:54.350 --> 00:15:57.233 LC: Mayor Landrieu's father, he took great, great risks 00:15:57.257 --> 00:16:01.461 by putting African-Americans in city hall. 00:16:01.485 --> 00:16:04.969 He took a whipping for that for a long time, 00:16:04.993 --> 00:16:07.248 but he was a visionary, 00:16:07.272 --> 00:16:12.343 and he did those things that he knew was going to help the city. 00:16:12.367 --> 00:16:14.652 He knew we had to get involved. 00:16:14.676 --> 00:16:16.659 So that's what we have to do. 00:16:16.683 --> 00:16:17.965 We don't harp on that. 00:16:17.989 --> 00:16:19.573 We just keep moving, 00:16:19.597 --> 00:16:22.953 and Mitch, you know, I tell Moon all the time, 00:16:22.977 --> 00:16:24.664 "You did a good thing," 00:16:24.688 --> 00:16:28.505 but Mitch did one bigger than you and better than you. 00:16:28.529 --> 00:16:30.257 When he pulled those statues down, 00:16:30.281 --> 00:16:31.704 I said, "Boy, you're crazy!" NOTE Paragraph 00:16:31.728 --> 00:16:34.419 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:16:34.443 --> 00:16:35.964 You're crazy. 00:16:35.988 --> 00:16:39.982 But it was a good political move. 00:16:40.006 --> 00:16:42.978 You know, when I saw P.T. Beauregard come down, 00:16:43.002 --> 00:16:46.026 I was sitting looking at the news, 00:16:46.050 --> 00:16:49.617 and it just hit me what this was all about. 00:16:50.527 --> 00:16:54.732 To me, it wasn't about race; it was a political move. 00:16:55.639 --> 00:16:56.947 And I got so furious, 00:16:56.971 --> 00:16:59.027 I got back on that kitchen the next morning, 00:16:59.051 --> 00:17:02.139 and I said, come on, pick up your pants, and let's go to work, 00:17:02.163 --> 00:17:04.219 because you're going to get left behind. 00:17:04.243 --> 00:17:05.752 And that's what you have to do. 00:17:05.776 --> 00:17:07.506 You have to move on people, 00:17:07.530 --> 00:17:09.268 move on what they do. 00:17:09.292 --> 00:17:12.707 It was going to bring visibility to the city. 00:17:12.731 --> 00:17:16.648 So you got that visibility -- move on it, uplift yourself, 00:17:16.672 --> 00:17:18.306 do what you have to do, 00:17:18.330 --> 00:17:20.171 and do it well. 00:17:20.195 --> 00:17:21.437 And that's all we do. 00:17:21.461 --> 00:17:22.764 That's all I try to do. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:22.788 --> 00:17:26.950 PM: But you just gave the formula for resilience. Right? 00:17:26.974 --> 00:17:32.352 So you are clearly the best example we could find anywhere of resilience, 00:17:32.376 --> 00:17:34.615 so there must be something you think -- NOTE Paragraph 00:17:34.639 --> 00:17:36.234 LC: I like emotional strength. 00:17:36.258 --> 00:17:40.057 I like people with emotional and physical strength, 00:17:40.081 --> 00:17:42.723 and maybe that's bad for me. 00:17:43.910 --> 00:17:48.102 My favorite all-time general was George Patton. 00:17:48.752 --> 00:17:50.936 You know, that wasn't too cool. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:50.960 --> 00:17:53.204 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:17:53.228 --> 00:17:54.420 PM: It's surprising. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:54.444 --> 00:17:57.973 LC: I've got George Patton hanging in my dining room 00:17:57.997 --> 00:18:00.459 because I want to remember. 00:18:00.483 --> 00:18:02.358 He set goals for himself, 00:18:02.382 --> 00:18:06.043 and he was going to set out to reach those goals. 00:18:06.067 --> 00:18:07.730 He never stopped. 00:18:07.754 --> 00:18:10.051 And I always remember his words: 00:18:10.075 --> 00:18:12.670 "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." 00:18:13.203 --> 00:18:14.709 Now, I can't lead -- NOTE Paragraph 00:18:14.733 --> 00:18:15.875 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:18:15.899 --> 00:18:17.681 I can't be a leader, 00:18:17.705 --> 00:18:19.760 but I can follow a good leader, 00:18:19.784 --> 00:18:22.102 but I am not getting out of the way. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:22.126 --> 00:18:23.585 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:18:23.609 --> 00:18:26.022 But that's just what you have to do. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:26.046 --> 00:18:28.462 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:18:28.486 --> 00:18:30.563 If you can't lead -- 00:18:30.587 --> 00:18:32.834 leaders need followers, 00:18:32.858 --> 00:18:37.868 so if I help you up there, I'm going to ride on your coattails, 00:18:37.892 --> 00:18:40.742 and I can't count the coattails I've ridden upon. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:40.766 --> 00:18:42.344 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:18:42.368 --> 00:18:44.018 Feed you good. You'll help me out. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:44.042 --> 00:18:45.132 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:18:45.156 --> 00:18:47.616 And that's what life is all about. 00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:50.679 Everybody can do something, 00:18:50.703 --> 00:18:53.000 but please get involved. 00:18:53.024 --> 00:18:54.206 Do something. 00:18:54.230 --> 00:18:58.745 The thing we have to do in this city, in all cities -- 00:18:58.769 --> 00:19:02.420 mommas have to start being mommas today. 00:19:02.988 --> 00:19:04.139 You know? 00:19:04.163 --> 00:19:06.167 They have to start understanding -- 00:19:06.191 --> 00:19:08.692 when you bring this child in the world, 00:19:08.716 --> 00:19:10.492 you have to make a man out of it, 00:19:10.516 --> 00:19:12.566 you have to make a woman out of it, 00:19:12.590 --> 00:19:14.003 and it takes some doing. 00:19:14.027 --> 00:19:15.965 It takes sacrifice. 00:19:15.989 --> 00:19:19.949 Maybe you won't have the long fingernails, maybe you won't have the pretty hair. 00:19:20.419 --> 00:19:23.396 But that child will be on the move, 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:24.944 and that's what you have to do. 00:19:24.968 --> 00:19:27.130 We have to concentrate on educating 00:19:27.154 --> 00:19:32.143 and making these children understand what it's all about. 00:19:32.167 --> 00:19:34.263 And I hate to tell you, gentlemen, 00:19:34.287 --> 00:19:36.881 it's going to take a good woman to do that. 00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:40.988 It's going to take a good woman to do that. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:41.012 --> 00:19:42.019 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:19:42.043 --> 00:19:43.853 Men can do their part. 00:19:43.877 --> 00:19:46.155 The other part is to just do what you have to do 00:19:46.179 --> 00:19:47.352 and bring it home, 00:19:47.376 --> 00:19:49.067 but we can handle the rest, 00:19:49.091 --> 00:19:50.900 and we will handle the rest. 00:19:51.229 --> 00:19:53.357 If you're a good woman, you can do that. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:53.381 --> 00:19:54.895 PM: You heard that first here. 00:19:54.919 --> 00:19:56.287 We can handle the rest. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:56.311 --> 00:19:58.046 LC: We can handle the rest. NOTE Paragraph 00:19:58.070 --> 00:20:00.054 Mrs. Chase, thank you so much -- NOTE Paragraph 00:20:00.078 --> 00:20:01.236 LC: Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:01.260 --> 00:20:05.419 PM: for taking time out from the work you do every day in this community. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:05.443 --> 00:20:07.601 LC: But you don't know what this does for me. 00:20:07.625 --> 00:20:10.307 When I see all of these people, and come together -- 00:20:10.331 --> 00:20:13.189 people come to my kitchen from all over the world. 00:20:13.751 --> 00:20:16.282 I had people come from London, 00:20:16.306 --> 00:20:18.613 now twice this happened to me. 00:20:18.637 --> 00:20:22.653 First a man came, and I don't know why he came to this -- 00:20:22.677 --> 00:20:27.359 Every year, the chefs do something called "Chef's Charity." 00:20:28.041 --> 00:20:32.732 Well, it so happened I was the only woman there, 00:20:32.756 --> 00:20:35.276 and the only African-American there 00:20:35.300 --> 00:20:38.195 on that stage doing these demonstrations, 00:20:38.219 --> 00:20:41.813 and I would not leave until I saw another woman come up there, too. 00:20:41.837 --> 00:20:44.440 I'm not going up -- they're going to carry me up there 00:20:44.464 --> 00:20:46.312 until you bring another woman up here. NOTE Paragraph 00:20:46.336 --> 00:20:48.066 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:20:48.090 --> 00:20:51.137 So they have another one now, so I could step down. 00:20:51.161 --> 00:20:53.994 But this man was from London. 00:20:54.018 --> 00:20:56.939 So after that, I found the man in my kitchen. 00:20:56.963 --> 00:20:58.838 He came to my kitchen, 00:20:58.862 --> 00:21:01.148 and he said, "I want to ask you one question." 00:21:01.172 --> 00:21:04.274 OK, I thought I was going to ask something about food. 00:21:04.298 --> 00:21:08.314 "Why does all these white men hang around you?" NOTE Paragraph 00:21:08.338 --> 00:21:10.457 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:21:10.481 --> 00:21:11.632 What? NOTE Paragraph 00:21:11.656 --> 00:21:13.457 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:21:13.481 --> 00:21:15.084 I couldn't understand. 00:21:15.108 --> 00:21:17.132 He couldn't understand that. 00:21:17.156 --> 00:21:18.942 I said, "We work together. 00:21:18.966 --> 00:21:21.545 This is the way we live in this city. 00:21:21.569 --> 00:21:24.616 I may never go to your house, you may never come to my house. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.274 But when it comes to working, 00:21:26.298 --> 00:21:29.059 like raising money for this special school, 00:21:29.083 --> 00:21:30.893 we come together. 00:21:30.917 --> 00:21:32.195 That's what we do. 00:21:32.219 --> 00:21:35.187 And still here comes another, a woman, 00:21:35.211 --> 00:21:36.790 elegantly dressed, 00:21:36.814 --> 00:21:39.181 about a month ago in my kitchen. 00:21:39.829 --> 00:21:43.718 She said, "I don't understand what I see in your dining room." 00:21:44.269 --> 00:21:45.936 I said, "What do you see?" 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:48.711 She saw whites and blacks together. NOTE Paragraph 00:21:48.735 --> 00:21:50.300 That's what we do. 00:21:50.324 --> 00:21:52.046 We meet. We talk. 00:21:52.571 --> 00:21:54.277 And we work together, 00:21:54.301 --> 00:21:56.195 and that's what we have to do. 00:21:56.219 --> 00:21:59.933 You don't have to be my best friend to work to better your city, 00:21:59.957 --> 00:22:01.638 to better your country. 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. 00:22:05.654 --> 00:22:07.852 We're a weird bunch down here. NOTE Paragraph 00:22:07.876 --> 00:22:09.098 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:22:09.122 --> 00:22:11.479 Nobody understands us, 00:22:11.503 --> 00:22:13.090 but we feed you well. NOTE Paragraph 00:22:13.114 --> 00:22:15.361 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:22:15.385 --> 00:22:19.757 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:22:19.781 --> 00:22:20.793 (Cheering) NOTE Paragraph 00:22:20.817 --> 00:22:21.980 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:22:22.004 --> 00:22:27.404 (Applause)