WEBVTT

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>> [MUSIC] The
following program

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is from NET,

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the National Educational
Television Network.

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>> Debate, James Baldwin,

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versus William Buckley.

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Subject, has the
American dream

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been achieved
at the expense

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of the American negro?

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This debate was
held recently at

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the Cambridge Union,
Cambridge University,

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England, and was
recorded for use by NET.

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>> Well, here we are in

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the debating hall of
the Cambridge Union,

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hundreds of
undergraduates and

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myself waiting for
what could prove one

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of the most
exciting debates in

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the whole 150 years
of the Union history.

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It really, I don't
think I've ever

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seen the Union so
well attended.

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They're undergraduates
everywhere.

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They're on the benches,

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and on the floor, but
in the galleries,

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and there are a
lot more outside

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clamoring to get in.

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Well, the motion
that has drawn

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this huge crowd
tonight is this that

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the American
dream has been

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achieved at the expense

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of the American negro.

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The debate will open with

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two undergraduate
speakers,

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one from each side.

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And then we shall have

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the first
distinguished guest,

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Mr. James Baldwin,

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the well known American

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novelist who has achieved

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a worldwide fame with

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his novel,
Another Country.

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Then opposing the
motion will be Mr.

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William Buckley,
also an American,

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very well known as
a conservative in

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the United States
under stress

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a conservative in
the American sense,

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author of a book called
Up From Liberalism,

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and editor of the
national review,

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one of the earliest
supporters

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of Senator Goldwater.

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Well, this is the
setting of the debate,

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and at any moment now,

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the president
will be leading

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in his officers and his
distinguished guests.

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He'll take his chair, and

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the debate will begin.

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[APPLAUSE]

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The motion before

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the House tonight is

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the American dream is at

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the expense of the
American negro.

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I propose of Mr. David

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Haycock of
Pembroke College

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and opposed Mr. Jeremy

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Befort of
Emmanuel College.

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Mr. James Baldwin
will speak first,

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Mr. William Buckley
junior will speak forth.

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Mr. Haycock is the heir

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of the house.

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[APPLAUSE]

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>> Mr. President, sir, it

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is the custom of
the House for

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the first speaker
in any debate to

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extend a formal welcome

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to any visitors
to the house.

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I can honestly
say, however,

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that it is a very
great honor to be

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able to welcome to the
house this evening,

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Mr. William Buckley
and Mr. James Baldwin.

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Mr. William Buckley has

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the reputation of possibly

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being the most
articulate conservative

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in the United
States of America.

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He was a graduate of Yale,

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and he first gained

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a reputation
for himself by

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publishing a book entitled

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God and Man and Yale.

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[LAUGHTER] Since
then, he has

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devoted himself
to the secular.

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And this has included
Norman Mailer,

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Kenneth Tyler and
Mary McCarthy,

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and Fidel Castro,
none of whom

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have come out of

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their confrontations
unscathed.

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[LAUGHTER] At present,

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his principal
occupation is editing

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a right wing newspaper in

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the United States

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entitle the
National Review.

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Mr. James Baldwin is

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hardly in need
of introduction.

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His reputation,
both as a novelist,

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and as an advocate of

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civil rights is
international.

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His third novel,
Another Country has

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been published as

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a paperback in
England today.

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Mr. Baldwin and Mr.
Buckley are both

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very welcome to the
house this evening.

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[APPLAUSE]

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Imagine, Mr. President,

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a society which above

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all values, freedom
and equality.

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A society in which
artificial barriers to

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fulfillment and achievement
are unheard of.

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A society in which
a man may begin

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his life as a
rail splitter

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and end it as president,

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a society in which all men

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are free in every
sense of the word.

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Free to live where
they choose,

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free to work where
they choose,

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equal in the
eyes of the law

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and every public
authority,

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and equal in the eyes of

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their fellows, a society,

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in fact, in which
intolerance and

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prejudice are
meaningless terms.

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Imagine, however,
Mr. President,

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that a condition of
this utopia has been

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the persistent and

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quite deliberate
exploitation

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of one ninth of
its inhabitants.

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That one man in nine has

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been denied those rights,

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which the rest of

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that society takes
for granted.

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That one man in

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nine does not have
the chance for

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fulfillment or realization

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of his innate
potentiality.

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[NOISE] That one man
in nine cannot promise

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his children a
secure future

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and unlimited
opportunities.

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Imagine this,
Mr. President,

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and you have what
is in my opinion,

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the bitter reality of
the American dream.

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A few weeks ago,

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Martin Luther
King had to hold

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a non violent
demonstration in

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Selma Alabama in his drive

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to register negro voters.

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By the end of the week
of his demonstrations,

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he was able to write
quite accurately in

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a national fund
raising letter

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from Selma Alabama jail.

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There are more
negroes in prison

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with me than there are
on the voting rolls.

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When King wrote
that letter,

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335 out of 32,700

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negroes in Dallas
had the vote,

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1% of the Dallas
population.

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After a mass march
to the courthouse,

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237 negroes, King among
them were arrested.

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The following day, 470

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children who had deserted

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their classrooms
to protest against

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King's arrest were

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charged with juvenile
delinquency.

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[LAUGHTER] Thirty
six adults

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on the same day
were charged with

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contempt of court
for picketing

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the courthouse while

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state circuit court
was in session.

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On the following
day, 111 people

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were arrested on
the same charge,

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despite their
claim that they

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merely wanted to see
the voting registrar.

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Four hundred students were

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arrested and taken
to the armory,

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where many of them
spent the night

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on a cold cement floor.

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The following day,
the demonstration

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spread to Marion, Alabama.

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In Marion, negroes
outnumber whites,

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by 11 and a half thousands
to 6,000 people,

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and yet only 300 are
registered to vote.

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Negroes and Marion
were anxious to test

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the public
accommodation section

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of the civil rights law.

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They entered a drug store,

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and there they
were served with

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coca cola laced with salt

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and were told
that hamburgers

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had risen to $5 each.

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After the arrest
of 15 negroes

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for protesting against
this treatment,

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700 negroes boycotted
their classes

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next day and marched

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in orderly fashion
to the jail.

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There, they sang
civil rights songs,

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until they were warned by

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a state trooper
that they would

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be arrested if they
sang one more song.

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Of course, they
sang another song,

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and of course, all
700 were arrested.

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American Society has felt

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fit to use negro labor.

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It has felt fit to use

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the blood of the negro
in two world wars.

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It felt fit to
listen to his music.

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It has felt fit to
laugh at his jokes.

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And yet, as far
as I'm concerned,

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it has never felt fit to

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give the American
negro a fair deal.

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And for this reason,
Mr. President,

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I would beg leave to
propose the motion that

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the American dream is at

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the expense of the
American negro. [APPLAUSE]

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>> I now call Mr.
Jeremy Burford of

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Emmanuel College to
oppose the motion.

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[APPLAUSE]

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>> Now I have Mr. Jeremy
Burford of Emmanuel College,

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who is

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the first undergraduate
opposing the motion.

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>> James Baldwin is
well known as one of

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the most vivid and
articulate writers

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about the negro
problem in America.

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Mr. Baldwin had a
difficult childhood,

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and he has personally
himself suffered

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discrimination
and ill treatment

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in the South of America.

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And I would like to
say at this time,

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that it is not the
purpose of this side of

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the House to condone
that in any way at all.

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It is not our purpose
to oppose civil rights.

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It is our purpose to
oppose this motion.

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[LAUGHTER] Thank you, sir.

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Come and collect
your fee afterwards.

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[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE] This side

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of the House denies that

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the American dream
has in any way been

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helped by this
undoubted inequality

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and suffering
of the negro.

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We maintain that, in fact,

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it has hindered the
American dream.

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And if there had
been equity,

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if there had been

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true freedom of
opportunity,

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the American dream
would be very

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much more advanced
than it is now.

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If the American dream has

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made any progress,
and I think it has,

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it has been made in
spite of the suffering

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and inequality
of the American

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negro and not
because of it.

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Now, it is also implied
from this motion that

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the American dream
is encouraging

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and worsening
the suffering

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of the American negro.

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This is emphatically
not the case.

00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.270
The American dream,

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the American
economic prosperity

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and respect for
civil liberties

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has been the main factor
in bringing about

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the undoubted
improvement in

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race relations in America

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in the last 20 years.

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And Professor Arnold Rose,

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who is the author of
the Negro in America,

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which is perhaps

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the definitive work
on the subject,

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who is also a
contributor to

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what was called a
freedom pamphlet.

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So I should imagine that

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if he has any bias at all,

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it is in favor
of the negro.

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He said that this
improvement in

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race relations
will be seen

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in years to come as
remarkably quick,

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and he has put it down
to three main causes,

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increased
industrialization

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and technical advance,

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the increased
social mobility

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of the American people,

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and the economic
prosperity.

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And I would put
it to this house

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that that
industrialization and

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economic prosperity
are two of

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the main ingredients
of the American dream.

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And at the same
time, again,

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I do not want to say that

00:11:12.790 --> 00:11:14.780
the negro in America

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is treated fairly,
but at the same time,

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the average per capita

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income of negroes
in America is

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exactly the same
as the average

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per capita income of
people in Great Britain.

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Now,

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[LAUGHTER] I found that
absolutely amazing,

00:11:30.780 --> 00:11:32.830
and [LAUGHTER]
I understand

00:11:33.870 --> 00:11:36.230
that some of
you do as well,

00:11:36.230 --> 00:11:38.190
so I have got the
reference here from

00:11:38.190 --> 00:11:39.730
the United States News and

00:11:39.730 --> 00:11:41.870
World Report of
July the 22nd,

00:11:41.870 --> 00:11:44.350
1963, in which
it points out,

00:11:44.350 --> 00:11:46.130
this will have to be
the last interruption

00:11:46.130 --> 00:11:47.625
I take as time is running.

00:11:47.625 --> 00:11:49.770
>> Mr. President, on a
point of information,

00:11:49.770 --> 00:11:50.930
is the speaker talking of

00:11:50.930 --> 00:11:53.030
real income or money
income? [APPLAUSE]

00:11:53.030 --> 00:11:59.750
>> I'm talking
of money income.

00:11:59.750 --> 00:12:01.590
I would not wish
to disguise that.

00:12:01.590 --> 00:12:04.510
I would also say that
in terms of this,

00:12:04.510 --> 00:12:06.470
there are only
five countries

00:12:06.470 --> 00:12:07.210
in the world where

00:12:07.210 --> 00:12:08.690
the income is higher than

00:12:08.690 --> 00:12:10.170
that of the
American negro,

00:12:10.170 --> 00:12:11.830
and they do not
include countries like

00:12:11.830 --> 00:12:14.730
West Germany and
France and Japan.

00:12:14.730 --> 00:12:17.160
Now, there are in America

00:12:17.160 --> 00:12:19.965
35 negro millionaires.

00:12:19.965 --> 00:12:21.840
There are negro $6,000

00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:23.030
[inaudible]
[LAUGHTER] Now,

00:12:23.030 --> 00:12:24.870
I do not by saying this,

00:12:24.870 --> 00:12:26.190
wish to emphasize but

00:12:26.190 --> 00:12:27.835
the negros fairly treated,

00:12:27.835 --> 00:12:29.750
I merely wish to
try and convey

00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:32.710
a more realistic and
objective account

00:12:32.710 --> 00:12:35.585
of the situation
of the negro.

00:12:35.585 --> 00:12:38.015
I agree that there are

00:12:38.015 --> 00:12:40.100
negroes who are very poor,

00:12:40.100 --> 00:12:41.150
indeed [LAUGHTER] such as

00:12:41.150 --> 00:12:45.330
the old gentleman
in the south,

00:12:45.330 --> 00:12:48.870
who was talking about

00:12:48.870 --> 00:12:50.450
some of his
wealthier brethren,

00:12:50.450 --> 00:12:51.810
and he was saying, yes,

00:12:51.810 --> 00:12:54.010
some of these
rich negroes,

00:12:54.010 --> 00:12:55.270
they put on airs day like

00:12:55.270 --> 00:12:56.630
the bottom figure
of a fraction.

00:12:56.630 --> 00:12:57.690
The bigger they try to be,

00:12:57.690 --> 00:12:59.450
the smaller they
really are.

00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:01.530
I would repeat,
Mr. President,

00:13:01.530 --> 00:13:03.670
sir, in the last
minute I have,

00:13:03.670 --> 00:13:05.510
that this debate
is not whether

00:13:05.510 --> 00:13:06.910
civil rights
should be extended

00:13:06.910 --> 00:13:08.370
to American
negroes or not.

00:13:08.370 --> 00:13:10.710
If it were, it would
be a very easy motion

00:13:10.710 --> 00:13:12.130
to argue for
and a very easy

00:13:12.130 --> 00:13:13.640
motion to vote for.

00:13:13.640 --> 00:13:17.290
The debate tonight
concerns whether

00:13:17.290 --> 00:13:18.670
the American dream is at

00:13:18.670 --> 00:13:20.830
the expense of the
American negro.

00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:22.450
That is whether
the American negro

00:13:22.450 --> 00:13:24.350
has paid for the
American dream with

00:13:24.350 --> 00:13:25.870
his suffering or whether

00:13:25.870 --> 00:13:27.230
the American dream has

00:13:27.230 --> 00:13:28.950
furthered negro
inequality.

00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:31.630
And I would deny both
those two precepts.

00:13:31.630 --> 00:13:33.910
I would say that
negro inequality

00:13:33.910 --> 00:13:35.870
has hindered the
American dream.

00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:37.070
And I would say that the

00:13:37.070 --> 00:13:38.910
American dream has
been very important

00:13:38.910 --> 00:13:40.890
indeed in furthering
civil rights

00:13:40.890 --> 00:13:42.090
and in furthering freedom

00:13:42.090 --> 00:13:43.280
for the American negro.

00:13:43.280 --> 00:13:44.610
Mr. President, sir, I

00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:46.910
beg to oppose the
motion. [APPLAUSE]

00:13:57.350 --> 00:13:59.820
>> It is now with
very great pleasure

00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:01.060
and a very great
sense of honor

00:14:01.060 --> 00:14:02.520
that I called Mr.
James Baldwin

00:14:02.520 --> 00:14:04.940
to speak third to this
motion. [APPLAUSE]

00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:14.380
>> Now we have Mr.
James Baldwin,

00:14:14.380 --> 00:14:16.920
the star of the evening,

00:14:16.920 --> 00:14:21.760
who has been sitting
listening attentively,

00:14:21.760 --> 00:14:23.380
getting a wonderful
reception

00:14:23.380 --> 00:14:25.440
here in the
Cambridge Union.

00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:28.940
Tremendous enthusiasm
from all sides

00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:30.720
of the house to
Mr. Baldwin,

00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.120
who has been listening
to the arguments.

00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:34.740
Now we'll bring the
voice of actual

00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:35.850
experience to the debate.

00:14:35.850 --> 00:14:37.670
>> Good evening.
[LAUGHTER]

00:14:42.040 --> 00:14:45.875
I find myself, not
for the first time

00:14:45.875 --> 00:14:51.660
and the position
of a Jeremiah.

00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.340
For example, I
don't disagree

00:14:55.340 --> 00:14:56.390
with Mr. Burford that

00:14:56.390 --> 00:15:01.160
the inequality suffered by

00:15:01.160 --> 00:15:02.570
the American Negro
population of

00:15:02.570 --> 00:15:03.650
the United States has

00:15:03.650 --> 00:15:06.035
hindered the
American dream.

00:15:06.035 --> 00:15:08.630
Indeed, it has. I quarrel

00:15:08.630 --> 00:15:10.760
with some other
things he has to say.

00:15:10.760 --> 00:15:14.900
The other deeper
element of

00:15:14.900 --> 00:15:20.820
a certain awkwardness
I feel has to do with,

00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:25.220
it has to do
with one's point

00:15:25.220 --> 00:15:26.870
of view, I had to
put it that way.

00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:30.170
One sense, one
system of reality,

00:15:30.170 --> 00:15:31.610
it would seem to me

00:15:31.610 --> 00:15:33.110
the proposition
before the house,

00:15:33.110 --> 00:15:34.400
if I put it that way, is

00:15:34.400 --> 00:15:36.050
the American dream at

00:15:36.050 --> 00:15:37.250
the expense of the
American Negro,

00:15:37.250 --> 00:15:38.645
or the American dream is

00:15:38.645 --> 00:15:40.760
at the expense of
the American Negro?

00:15:40.760 --> 00:15:44.615
Is a question
hideously loaded,

00:15:44.615 --> 00:15:47.150
and that one's response
to that question,

00:15:47.150 --> 00:15:49.145
or one's reaction
to that question,

00:15:49.145 --> 00:15:51.020
has it depend on

00:15:51.020 --> 00:15:52.940
effect on where you

00:15:52.940 --> 00:15:54.680
find yourself
in the world,

00:15:54.680 --> 00:15:57.380
what your sense
of reality is,

00:15:57.380 --> 00:15:59.825
what your system
of reality is.

00:15:59.825 --> 00:16:04.160
That is, it depends on
assumptions which we

00:16:04.160 --> 00:16:06.770
hold so deeply as

00:16:06.770 --> 00:16:08.915
to be scarcely
aware of them.

00:16:08.915 --> 00:16:11.090
White South African or

00:16:11.090 --> 00:16:12.380
Mississippi Share crop

00:16:12.380 --> 00:16:13.775
or Mississippi Sheriff,

00:16:13.775 --> 00:16:15.290
or a Frenchman
driven out of

00:16:15.290 --> 00:16:19.145
Algeria all
have at bottom,

00:16:19.145 --> 00:16:21.050
a system of reality

00:16:21.050 --> 00:16:24.050
which compels them
to, for example,

00:16:24.050 --> 00:16:26.435
in the case of the French
exile from Algeria,

00:16:26.435 --> 00:16:27.860
to defend French reasons

00:16:27.860 --> 00:16:29.570
for having ruled Algeria.

00:16:29.570 --> 00:16:32.405
The Mississippi or
Alabama Sheriff,

00:16:32.405 --> 00:16:34.400
who really does believe
when he's facing

00:16:34.400 --> 00:16:36.500
a Negro boy or girl,
that this woman,

00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:38.180
this man, this child,

00:16:38.180 --> 00:16:40.520
must be insane to

00:16:40.520 --> 00:16:41.900
attack the system to which

00:16:41.900 --> 00:16:43.925
he owes his
entire identity.

00:16:43.925 --> 00:16:46.115
Of course, for
such a person,

00:16:46.115 --> 00:16:47.420
the proposition of which

00:16:47.420 --> 00:16:48.080
which we're trying to

00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:50.435
discuss here tonight
does not exist.

00:16:50.435 --> 00:16:52.980
And on the other hand,

00:16:56.290 --> 00:16:59.300
I have to speak as

00:16:59.300 --> 00:17:03.200
one other people who've
been most attacked

00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:06.460
by what they must
now here call the

00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:10.255
Western or the European
system of reality.

00:17:10.255 --> 00:17:13.960
What white people
in the world,

00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:15.580
the of white supremacy,

00:17:15.580 --> 00:17:18.315
I hate to say it here
comes from Europe.

00:17:18.315 --> 00:17:20.525
That's how it
got to America.

00:17:20.525 --> 00:17:24.290
Beneath then, whatever
one's reaction

00:17:24.290 --> 00:17:26.270
to this proposition
is has to

00:17:26.270 --> 00:17:28.730
be the question
or whether or

00:17:28.730 --> 00:17:32.000
not civilizations can
be considered as such,

00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.050
equal or whether one
civilization has

00:17:36.050 --> 00:17:38.540
the right to overtake and

00:17:38.540 --> 00:17:41.960
subjugate and in fact
to destroy another.

00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:45.170
Now, what happens
when that happens,

00:17:45.170 --> 00:17:48.740
leaving aside all
the physical facts

00:17:48.740 --> 00:17:50.060
which one can quote,

00:17:50.060 --> 00:17:53.330
leaving aside
rape or murder,

00:17:53.330 --> 00:17:54.470
leaving aside the bloody

00:17:54.470 --> 00:17:56.975
catalog of oppression,

00:17:56.975 --> 00:17:58.520
which we are in one way

00:17:58.520 --> 00:18:00.335
too familiar with already.

00:18:00.335 --> 00:18:01.970
What this does to the

00:18:01.970 --> 00:18:04.160
subjugated, the
most private,

00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:05.420
the most serious thing

00:18:05.420 --> 00:18:07.100
this does to
the subjugated,

00:18:07.100 --> 00:18:09.755
is to destroy his
sense of reality.

00:18:09.755 --> 00:18:12.050
It destroys, for example,

00:18:12.050 --> 00:18:14.855
his father's
authority over him.

00:18:14.855 --> 00:18:16.490
His father can
no longer tell

00:18:16.490 --> 00:18:17.945
him anything because
the past has

00:18:17.945 --> 00:18:20.030
disappeared and his father

00:18:20.030 --> 00:18:22.280
has no power in the world.

00:18:22.280 --> 00:18:25.355
This means in the case
of an American Negro,

00:18:25.355 --> 00:18:28.250
born in that
glittering republic,

00:18:28.250 --> 00:18:30.560
at the moment
you are born,

00:18:30.560 --> 00:18:32.495
since you don't
know any better.

00:18:32.495 --> 00:18:36.650
Every stick in stone and
every face is white,

00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:38.930
and since you have not
yet seen a mirror,

00:18:38.930 --> 00:18:41.150
you suppose that
you are too.

00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:43.730
It comes as a great shock

00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:45.860
around the age
of five or six

00:18:45.860 --> 00:18:48.020
or seven to discover

00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:49.100
the flag to which you have

00:18:49.100 --> 00:18:50.435
pledged allegiance,

00:18:50.435 --> 00:18:52.295
along with everybody else,

00:18:52.295 --> 00:18:54.950
as not pledge
allegiance to you.

00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:56.510
It comes as a
great shock to

00:18:56.510 --> 00:18:57.890
discover that Gary
Cooper killing

00:18:57.890 --> 00:18:59.210
off the Indians
when you were

00:18:59.210 --> 00:19:01.400
rooting for Gary Cooper,

00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:05.530
that the Indians
were you. [LAUGHTER]

00:19:05.530 --> 00:19:07.180
It comes as a great shock

00:19:07.180 --> 00:19:08.800
to discover that
the country,

00:19:08.800 --> 00:19:10.705
which is your birthplace

00:19:10.705 --> 00:19:12.890
and to which you
owe your life and

00:19:12.890 --> 00:19:15.125
your identity has not

00:19:15.125 --> 00:19:17.240
in its whole
system of reality,

00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.150
evolved any place for you.

00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:23.840
The disaffection,
the demoralization,

00:19:23.840 --> 00:19:26.870
and the gap between
one person and

00:19:26.870 --> 00:19:29.120
another only on the basis

00:19:29.120 --> 00:19:30.170
of the color of
their skins,

00:19:30.170 --> 00:19:34.080
begins there
and accelerates

00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:36.280
throughout a
whole lifetime.

00:19:36.280 --> 00:19:38.635
So the presently you
realize you're 30,

00:19:38.635 --> 00:19:42.550
and are having a terrible
time managing to

00:19:42.550 --> 00:19:49.400
trust your countrymen
By the time you are 30,

00:19:49.400 --> 00:19:53.930
you have been through
a certain mill,

00:19:53.930 --> 00:19:55.850
and the most
serious effect

00:19:55.850 --> 00:19:56.450
of the mill you've

00:19:56.450 --> 00:19:58.490
been through is again,

00:19:58.490 --> 00:20:00.395
not the catalogue
of disaster.

00:20:00.395 --> 00:20:03.335
The policemen,
the taxi drivers,

00:20:03.335 --> 00:20:05.690
the waiters, the landlady,

00:20:05.690 --> 00:20:08.165
the landlord, the banks,

00:20:08.165 --> 00:20:09.560
the insurance companies,

00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:11.585
the millions of details,

00:20:11.585 --> 00:20:14.210
24 hours of every day,

00:20:14.210 --> 00:20:15.680
which spell out to

00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:18.890
you that you are a
worthless human being.

00:20:18.890 --> 00:20:22.010
It is not that. Is by

00:20:22.010 --> 00:20:23.420
that time you've
begun to see it

00:20:23.420 --> 00:20:25.340
happening in
your daughter or

00:20:25.340 --> 00:20:28.850
your son or your
niece or your nephew.

00:20:28.850 --> 00:20:30.590
You are 30 by now,

00:20:30.590 --> 00:20:32.225
and nothing you have done

00:20:32.225 --> 00:20:35.150
has helped to
escape the trap.

00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:37.280
But what is
worse than that

00:20:37.280 --> 00:20:39.050
is that nothing
you have done,

00:20:39.050 --> 00:20:41.510
and as far as you can
tell nothing you can

00:20:41.510 --> 00:20:45.710
do will save your son or

00:20:45.710 --> 00:20:49.175
your daughter from
meeting the same disaster

00:20:49.175 --> 00:20:54.110
and not impossibly
coming to the same end.

00:20:54.110 --> 00:20:59.495
Now, we're speaking about

00:20:59.495 --> 00:21:04.310
expense and I suppose

00:21:04.310 --> 00:21:05.120
there are several ways

00:21:05.120 --> 00:21:07.430
to address oneself, too.

00:21:07.430 --> 00:21:10.190
Some attempt to define

00:21:10.190 --> 00:21:12.900
what that word means here.

00:21:14.050 --> 00:21:17.090
Let me put it this way,

00:21:17.090 --> 00:21:21.125
that from a very
literal point of view,

00:21:21.125 --> 00:21:24.350
the harbors and
the ports and

00:21:24.350 --> 00:21:28.350
the railroads
of the country.

00:21:29.170 --> 00:21:31.655
The economy,

00:21:31.655 --> 00:21:36.845
especially of the
southern states

00:21:36.845 --> 00:21:40.310
could not conceivably
be what it has

00:21:40.310 --> 00:21:43.400
become if they had

00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:45.590
not had and do
not still have,

00:21:45.590 --> 00:21:47.015
indeed, and for so long,

00:21:47.015 --> 00:21:52.460
so many generations
cheap labor.

00:21:52.460 --> 00:21:56.075
I am stating
very seriously,

00:21:56.075 --> 00:21:59.250
and this is not
an overstatement.

00:21:59.740 --> 00:22:03.150
That I picked the coffee,

00:22:03.430 --> 00:22:09.590
and I carried it to
market and I built

00:22:09.590 --> 00:22:13.190
the railroad under

00:22:13.190 --> 00:22:20.510
someone else's
whip for nothing.

00:22:20.510 --> 00:22:25.460
The southern Alagachi
which has until today,

00:22:25.460 --> 00:22:28.490
so much power in
Washington, and therefore,

00:22:28.490 --> 00:22:30.305
some power in the world

00:22:30.305 --> 00:22:32.150
was created by
my labor and

00:22:32.150 --> 00:22:35.540
my sweat and the violation

00:22:35.540 --> 00:22:39.065
of my women and the
murder of my children.

00:22:39.065 --> 00:22:44.300
This in the land of
the free and the home

00:22:44.300 --> 00:22:46.910
of the brave and

00:22:46.910 --> 00:22:48.770
no one can challenge
that statement,

00:22:48.770 --> 00:22:51.360
it is a matter of
historical record.

00:22:52.030 --> 00:22:57.215
In another way this dream,

00:22:57.215 --> 00:22:58.940
and we'll get
to the dream in

00:22:58.940 --> 00:23:01.910
a moment is at

00:23:01.910 --> 00:23:04.700
the expense of the
American Negro.

00:23:04.700 --> 00:23:05.990
You watch this in

00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:08.400
the Deep South
in great relief,

00:23:08.440 --> 00:23:11.760
but not only in
the Deep South.

00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:14.825
In the Deep South,

00:23:14.825 --> 00:23:17.210
you are dealing with a
sheriff or landlord or

00:23:17.210 --> 00:23:18.260
landlady or the girl of

00:23:18.260 --> 00:23:20.430
the Western Union desk.

00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:24.900
And she doesn't know

00:23:25.270 --> 00:23:28.955
quite who she's
dealing with,

00:23:28.955 --> 00:23:30.440
by which I mean that

00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:32.300
if you're not
part of the town,

00:23:32.300 --> 00:23:36.080
and if you are a
northern nigger,

00:23:36.080 --> 00:23:38.945
it shows in
millions of ways.

00:23:38.945 --> 00:23:41.030
So she simply knows

00:23:41.030 --> 00:23:42.950
that it's an
unknown quantity,

00:23:42.950 --> 00:23:44.990
and she wants to have
nothing to do with it.

00:23:44.990 --> 00:23:46.400
So she won't talk to you,

00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:47.030
you have to wait for

00:23:47.030 --> 00:23:48.365
a while to get
your telegram.

00:23:48.365 --> 00:23:50.060
We all know this,
we've been through it,

00:23:50.060 --> 00:23:52.175
and by the time you
get to be a man,

00:23:52.175 --> 00:23:54.570
it's very easy
to deal with.

00:23:54.570 --> 00:23:56.620
But what is happening
in the poor woman,

00:23:56.620 --> 00:24:01.525
the poor man's
mind is this.

00:24:01.525 --> 00:24:04.405
They have been
raised to believe,

00:24:04.405 --> 00:24:07.230
and by now they
helplessly believe,

00:24:07.230 --> 00:24:10.595
no matter how terrible
their lives may be,

00:24:10.595 --> 00:24:13.100
and their lives have
been quite terrible.

00:24:13.100 --> 00:24:15.605
No matter how
far they fall,

00:24:15.605 --> 00:24:17.930
no matter what disaster
overtakes them,

00:24:17.930 --> 00:24:19.190
they have one enormous

00:24:19.190 --> 00:24:20.570
knowledge and consolation,

00:24:20.570 --> 00:24:22.895
which is like a
heavenly revelation,

00:24:22.895 --> 00:24:25.835
at least they
are not black.

00:24:25.835 --> 00:24:29.750
Now, I suggest that of

00:24:29.750 --> 00:24:32.780
all the terrible
things that

00:24:32.780 --> 00:24:34.490
can happen to
a human being

00:24:34.490 --> 00:24:36.200
that is one of the worst.

00:24:36.200 --> 00:24:37.910
I suggest that what
has happened to

00:24:37.910 --> 00:24:40.940
white southerners
is in some ways,

00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:42.695
after all, much worse

00:24:42.695 --> 00:24:46.110
than what has happened
to Negroes there.

00:24:46.390 --> 00:24:51.845
Because Sheriff
Clark in Selma,

00:24:51.845 --> 00:24:56.795
Alabama, cannot
be considered,

00:24:56.795 --> 00:25:00.845
no one can be dismissed
as a total monster.

00:25:00.845 --> 00:25:02.840
I'm sure he loves his
wife, his children.

00:25:02.840 --> 00:25:04.115
I'm sure that
[LAUGHTER] he

00:25:04.115 --> 00:25:06.720
likes to get drunk.

00:25:07.570 --> 00:25:10.070
After all, one's
got to assume and

00:25:10.070 --> 00:25:12.630
he is visibly
a man like me.

00:25:13.320 --> 00:25:16.960
He doesn't know
what drives

00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.390
him to use the club,

00:25:20.390 --> 00:25:21.935
to menace with the gun,

00:25:21.935 --> 00:25:23.690
and to use the
cattle prod.

00:25:23.690 --> 00:25:25.040
Something awful must have

00:25:25.040 --> 00:25:26.690
happened to a human being,

00:25:26.690 --> 00:25:28.580
to be able to put
a cattle prod

00:25:28.580 --> 00:25:30.740
against a woman's
breast, for example.

00:25:30.740 --> 00:25:33.095
What happens to the
woman is ghastly.

00:25:33.095 --> 00:25:35.300
What happens to the
man who does it

00:25:35.300 --> 00:25:38.885
is in some ways
much much worse.

00:25:38.885 --> 00:25:41.645
This is being
done after all.

00:25:41.645 --> 00:25:46.190
Not 100 years
ago, but in 1965,

00:25:46.190 --> 00:25:48.140
in a country which
is blessed with

00:25:48.140 --> 00:25:50.750
what we call prosperity,

00:25:50.750 --> 00:25:53.750
where do you want to
examine too closely?

00:25:53.750 --> 00:25:57.815
With a certain
social coherence,

00:25:57.815 --> 00:25:59.330
which calls itself a

00:25:59.330 --> 00:26:00.440
civilized nation and which

00:26:00.440 --> 00:26:04.595
espouses the notion
of the freedom

00:26:04.595 --> 00:26:08.600
of the world and

00:26:08.600 --> 00:26:10.160
it is perfectly true
from the point of view

00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:12.635
now simply of an
American Negro.

00:26:12.635 --> 00:26:15.755
Any American Negro
watching this,

00:26:15.755 --> 00:26:17.405
no matter where he is,

00:26:17.405 --> 00:26:18.860
from the vantage
point of Holland,

00:26:18.860 --> 00:26:20.660
which is another
terrible place,

00:26:20.660 --> 00:26:22.775
has to say to himself,

00:26:22.775 --> 00:26:24.530
in spite of what the
government says,

00:26:24.530 --> 00:26:25.490
the government
says, we can't

00:26:25.490 --> 00:26:27.510
do anything about it.

00:26:27.910 --> 00:26:30.665
But those are white
people being murdered

00:26:30.665 --> 00:26:33.290
in Mississippi work farms,

00:26:33.290 --> 00:26:35.015
being carried off to jail,

00:26:35.015 --> 00:26:36.440
those are white children,

00:26:36.440 --> 00:26:38.300
running up and
down the streets,

00:26:38.300 --> 00:26:40.100
the government
would find some way

00:26:40.100 --> 00:26:41.705
of doing something
about it.

00:26:41.705 --> 00:26:44.030
We have a Civil
Rights Bill now.

00:26:44.030 --> 00:26:46.400
We had an amendment,
the 15th Amendment

00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.230
nearly 100 years ago.

00:26:48.230 --> 00:26:49.850
I hate to sound again like

00:26:49.850 --> 00:26:51.260
an old Testament prophet

00:26:51.260 --> 00:26:53.585
but if the amendment
was not honored then,

00:26:53.585 --> 00:26:55.160
I don't have any
reason for believing

00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:57.815
the Civil Rights Bill
will be honored now.

00:26:57.815 --> 00:27:00.305
And after all,
one's been there,

00:27:00.305 --> 00:27:01.715
since before,

00:27:01.715 --> 00:27:03.560
a lot of other
people got there.

00:27:03.560 --> 00:27:05.000
If one has got

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.140
to prove one's
title to the land,

00:27:09.140 --> 00:27:11.975
isn't 400 years enough?

00:27:11.975 --> 00:27:15.600
400 years, at
least three wars.

00:27:15.910 --> 00:27:18.290
The American
soil is full of

00:27:18.290 --> 00:27:20.705
the corpses of
my ancestors.

00:27:20.705 --> 00:27:23.840
Why is my freedom
or my citizenship,

00:27:23.840 --> 00:27:25.490
or my right to live there,

00:27:25.490 --> 00:27:28.820
how is it conceivably
a question now?

00:27:28.820 --> 00:27:32.180
And I suggest further
that in the same way,

00:27:32.180 --> 00:27:34.250
the moral life of

00:27:34.250 --> 00:27:35.960
Alabama Sheriffs and

00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:38.960
poor Alabama white ladies,

00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:40.610
their moral
lives have been

00:27:40.610 --> 00:27:43.310
destroyed by the
plague called color.

00:27:43.310 --> 00:27:45.200
That the American sense

00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:48.020
of reality has been
corrupted by it.

00:27:48.020 --> 00:27:51.050
At the risk of
sounding excesses.

00:27:51.050 --> 00:27:53.000
What I always felt when

00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:54.425
I finally left
the country.

00:27:54.425 --> 00:27:57.350
Found myself abroad
in other places,

00:27:57.350 --> 00:28:01.010
and watched Americans
abroad and these

00:28:01.010 --> 00:28:04.490
are my countrymen and
I do care about them.

00:28:04.490 --> 00:28:06.680
And even if I didn't,

00:28:06.680 --> 00:28:09.170
there is something
between us,

00:28:09.170 --> 00:28:10.925
we have the
same shorthand.

00:28:10.925 --> 00:28:13.100
I know, when

00:28:13.100 --> 00:28:14.840
I look at a girl or a
boy from Tennessee,

00:28:14.840 --> 00:28:16.850
where they came
from in Tennessee,

00:28:16.850 --> 00:28:18.500
and what that means.

00:28:18.500 --> 00:28:20.450
No Englishman knows
that, no Frenchman,

00:28:20.450 --> 00:28:21.860
no one in the world
knows that except

00:28:21.860 --> 00:28:22.700
another black man who

00:28:22.700 --> 00:28:24.545
comes from the same place.

00:28:24.545 --> 00:28:28.730
The one watches
these lonely people

00:28:28.730 --> 00:28:32.360
denying the only
kin they have.

00:28:32.360 --> 00:28:34.340
We talk about integration

00:28:34.340 --> 00:28:35.180
in America as though it

00:28:35.180 --> 00:28:37.985
was some great
new conundrum.

00:28:37.985 --> 00:28:39.860
The Parliament in America,
though we've been

00:28:39.860 --> 00:28:42.110
integrated for
very long time.

00:28:42.110 --> 00:28:43.520
Put me next to any

00:28:43.520 --> 00:28:45.530
African and you
will see what I

00:28:45.530 --> 00:28:49.740
mean and my grandmother
was not a rapist.

00:28:49.750 --> 00:28:53.220
What we are not facing

00:28:54.010 --> 00:28:58.025
is the results of
what we've done.

00:28:58.025 --> 00:29:01.580
What one brags the
American people to do for

00:29:01.580 --> 00:29:04.250
all our sakes is

00:29:04.250 --> 00:29:07.205
simply to accept
our history.

00:29:07.205 --> 00:29:09.950
I was there not
only as a slave,

00:29:09.950 --> 00:29:11.945
but also as a concubine.

00:29:11.945 --> 00:29:14.255
One knows the
power after all,

00:29:14.255 --> 00:29:16.580
which can be used
against another person

00:29:16.580 --> 00:29:19.740
who've got absolute
power over that person.

00:29:20.650 --> 00:29:23.240
It seemed to me when I
watched Americans in

00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:26.850
Europe but they didn't
know about Europeans.

00:29:28.260 --> 00:29:31.255
Was what they didn't
know about me.

00:29:31.255 --> 00:29:32.980
They weren't trying,
for example,

00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:34.300
to be nasty to
the French girl

00:29:34.300 --> 00:29:36.310
or rude to the
French waiter.

00:29:36.310 --> 00:29:39.760
They didn't know, they
hurt their feelings.

00:29:39.760 --> 00:29:41.905
They didn't have any sense

00:29:41.905 --> 00:29:43.780
this particular woman,
this particular man,

00:29:43.780 --> 00:29:45.040
though they spoke
another language

00:29:45.040 --> 00:29:46.000
and had different
manners and

00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:48.940
ways was a human being.

00:29:48.940 --> 00:29:50.785
And they walked over them

00:29:50.785 --> 00:29:55.525
the same bland ignorance,
condescension,

00:29:55.525 --> 00:29:58.010
charming and cheerful,

00:29:58.140 --> 00:30:00.310
with which they
had always patted

00:30:00.310 --> 00:30:01.360
me on the head
and called me

00:30:01.360 --> 00:30:05.960
shine and were upset
when I was upset.

00:30:06.650 --> 00:30:13.225
What is relevant
about this is that,

00:30:13.225 --> 00:30:16.520
whereas 40 years ago
when I was born,

00:30:16.830 --> 00:30:19.390
the question of
having to deal

00:30:19.390 --> 00:30:24.430
with what is unspoken
by the subjugated,

00:30:24.430 --> 00:30:27.025
what is never said
to the master.

00:30:27.025 --> 00:30:29.290
Having to deal with
this reality was

00:30:29.290 --> 00:30:31.150
a very remote possibility,

00:30:31.150 --> 00:30:32.680
I was in no one's mind.

00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:34.930
When I was growing up, I

00:30:34.930 --> 00:30:37.045
was taught in American
history books,

00:30:37.045 --> 00:30:38.770
that Africa had
no history,

00:30:38.770 --> 00:30:40.700
and neither did I,

00:30:40.700 --> 00:30:43.790
that I was a savage

00:30:43.790 --> 00:30:46.825
about who the less
said the better,

00:30:46.825 --> 00:30:50.050
who had been
saved by Europe

00:30:50.050 --> 00:30:52.970
and brought to America.

00:30:53.550 --> 00:30:56.785
And of course,
I believed it,

00:30:56.785 --> 00:30:59.320
I didn't have much choice

00:30:59.320 --> 00:31:02.200
those are the only
books there were.

00:31:02.200 --> 00:31:04.990
Everyone else
seem to agree

00:31:04.990 --> 00:31:06.550
if you walk out of Harlem,

00:31:06.550 --> 00:31:08.950
ride out of
Harlem, downtown,

00:31:08.950 --> 00:31:11.350
the world agrees, what you

00:31:11.350 --> 00:31:13.765
see is much
bigger, cleaner,

00:31:13.765 --> 00:31:18.925
wider, richer, safer,
than where you are.

00:31:18.925 --> 00:31:20.755
They collect the garbage,

00:31:20.755 --> 00:31:21.490
people obviously can

00:31:21.490 --> 00:31:22.600
pay their life insurance.

00:31:22.600 --> 00:31:24.535
The children look
happy, safe,

00:31:24.535 --> 00:31:27.760
you're not, and
you go back home.

00:31:27.760 --> 00:31:30.475
And it would seem
then, of course,

00:31:30.475 --> 00:31:33.730
that it's an act of
God that this is true,

00:31:33.730 --> 00:31:36.160
that you belong,

00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:39.560
where white people
have put you.

00:31:39.840 --> 00:31:43.825
It is only since the
Second World War,

00:31:43.825 --> 00:31:45.760
that there has
been a counter

00:31:45.760 --> 00:31:47.305
image in the world.

00:31:47.305 --> 00:31:48.610
And that image not come

00:31:48.610 --> 00:31:50.320
about through any
legislation on

00:31:50.320 --> 00:31:53.215
the part of any
American government,

00:31:53.215 --> 00:31:55.940
but through the
fact that Africa

00:31:55.940 --> 00:32:00.835
was suddenly on the
stage of the world,

00:32:00.835 --> 00:32:02.260
and Africans
had to be dealt

00:32:02.260 --> 00:32:03.610
with in a way

00:32:03.610 --> 00:32:05.875
that never been
dealt with before.

00:32:05.875 --> 00:32:07.660
This gave an American

00:32:07.660 --> 00:32:08.830
Negro for the first time

00:32:08.830 --> 00:32:10.120
a sense of himself beyond

00:32:10.120 --> 00:32:12.410
a savage or a clown.

00:32:13.980 --> 00:32:17.140
It is created and will

00:32:17.140 --> 00:32:21.400
create a great
many conundrums.

00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:23.620
One of the great things

00:32:23.620 --> 00:32:24.730
that the white world does

00:32:24.730 --> 00:32:28.075
not know but I
think I do know,

00:32:28.075 --> 00:32:29.650
is that black
people are just

00:32:29.650 --> 00:32:31.360
like everybody else.

00:32:31.360 --> 00:32:33.790
One has used the
myths of Negro and

00:32:33.790 --> 00:32:35.740
the myth of color to

00:32:35.740 --> 00:32:37.720
pretend and to
assume that you are

00:32:37.720 --> 00:32:40.450
dealing essentially
with something exotic,

00:32:40.450 --> 00:32:43.060
bizarre, and
practically according

00:32:43.060 --> 00:32:44.830
to human laws unknown.

00:32:44.830 --> 00:32:47.125
Alas, that is not true.

00:32:47.125 --> 00:32:50.575
We are also
mercenaries, dictators,

00:32:50.575 --> 00:32:55.615
murderers, fliers.
We are human too.

00:32:55.615 --> 00:32:58.345
What is crucial here,

00:32:58.345 --> 00:33:01.180
is unless we can
manage to establish

00:33:01.180 --> 00:33:05.890
some dialogue
between those people

00:33:05.890 --> 00:33:08.680
whom I pretend has paid

00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:12.145
for the American dream

00:33:12.145 --> 00:33:13.660
and those other
people who have

00:33:13.660 --> 00:33:15.800
not achieved it,

00:33:16.320 --> 00:33:19.195
we will be in
terrible trouble.

00:33:19.195 --> 00:33:21.385
I want to say at the end,

00:33:21.385 --> 00:33:23.050
the last, is that

00:33:23.050 --> 00:33:25.615
that is what
concerns me most.

00:33:25.615 --> 00:33:27.760
We are sitting in
this room and we are

00:33:27.760 --> 00:33:29.470
all we like to
think we are,

00:33:29.470 --> 00:33:32.080
relatively civilized,
and we can

00:33:32.080 --> 00:33:32.770
talk to each other at

00:33:32.770 --> 00:33:34.850
least on certain levels.

00:33:35.310 --> 00:33:39.820
So that we could walk
out of here assuming

00:33:39.820 --> 00:33:42.670
that the measure of
our enlightenment or

00:33:42.670 --> 00:33:44.080
at least our politeness

00:33:44.080 --> 00:33:45.895
has some effect
on the world.

00:33:45.895 --> 00:33:48.880
It may not. I remember,

00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:52.495
for example, when the
ex Attorney General,

00:33:52.495 --> 00:33:56.185
Mr. Robert Kennedy, said

00:33:56.185 --> 00:33:58.900
that it was conceivable

00:33:58.900 --> 00:34:00.910
that in 40 years
in America,

00:34:00.910 --> 00:34:03.295
we might have a
Negro president.

00:34:03.295 --> 00:34:05.200
And that sounded like

00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:07.990
a very emancipated
statement,

00:34:07.990 --> 00:34:10.060
I suppose, to
white people.

00:34:10.060 --> 00:34:12.640
They were not in Harlem

00:34:12.640 --> 00:34:15.730
when this statement
was first heard,

00:34:15.730 --> 00:34:18.190
and did not hear and
possibly will never

00:34:18.190 --> 00:34:19.930
hear the laughter and

00:34:19.930 --> 00:34:21.070
the bitterness
and the scorn,

00:34:21.070 --> 00:34:22.810
which the statement
was greeted.

00:34:22.810 --> 00:34:24.400
From the point of
view of the man in

00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:25.450
the N Harlem barbershop,

00:34:25.450 --> 00:34:26.500
Bobby Kennedy
only got here

00:34:26.500 --> 00:34:30.220
yesterday and now he's

00:34:30.220 --> 00:34:32.680
already on his way
to the presidency.

00:34:32.680 --> 00:34:34.810
We've been here
for 400 years,

00:34:34.810 --> 00:34:38.515
and now he tells us
that maybe in 40 years,

00:34:38.515 --> 00:34:40.960
if you're good, we

00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:43.640
may let you
become president.

00:34:43.950 --> 00:34:48.780
What is dangerous here
is the turning away

00:34:48.780 --> 00:34:57.200
from anything any
white American says.

00:34:57.200 --> 00:34:58.720
The reason for
the political

00:34:58.720 --> 00:35:00.160
hesitation in spite of

00:35:00.160 --> 00:35:02.710
the Johnson landslide
is the one who's been

00:35:02.710 --> 00:35:06.130
betrayed by American
politicians for so long.

00:35:06.130 --> 00:35:08.290
I'm a grown man,
and perhaps

00:35:08.290 --> 00:35:10.135
I can be reasoned with,

00:35:10.135 --> 00:35:12.895
I certainly hope I can be.

00:35:12.895 --> 00:35:16.450
But I don't know and

00:35:16.450 --> 00:35:17.590
neither does Martin
Luther King,

00:35:17.590 --> 00:35:20.110
none of us know how to

00:35:20.110 --> 00:35:21.550
deal with those
other people whom

00:35:21.550 --> 00:35:23.260
the white world has
so long ignored,

00:35:23.260 --> 00:35:24.910
who don't believe
anything the white world

00:35:24.910 --> 00:35:29.395
says and don't entirely
believe anything

00:35:29.395 --> 00:35:31.705
I or Martin say.

00:35:31.705 --> 00:35:34.000
And one can't blame them,

00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:35.110
you watch what
has happened to

00:35:35.110 --> 00:35:37.280
them in less
than 20 years.

00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:42.340
It seems to me that
the City of New York,

00:35:42.340 --> 00:35:44.870
for example, this
is my last point.

00:35:46.770 --> 00:35:48.730
We said Negroes
lived in it for

00:35:48.730 --> 00:35:49.885
a very long time.

00:35:49.885 --> 00:35:52.450
If the City of New York

00:35:52.450 --> 00:35:54.625
were able as it has
indeed been able,

00:35:54.625 --> 00:35:57.970
in the last 15 years
to reconstruct itself,

00:35:57.970 --> 00:35:59.830
teared down buildings and

00:35:59.830 --> 00:36:01.960
raise great new ones,

00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:05.050
downtown and for money.

00:36:05.050 --> 00:36:07.300
And it has done
nothing whatever

00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:09.130
except build
housing projects in

00:36:09.130 --> 00:36:13.540
the ghetto for the Negroes

00:36:13.540 --> 00:36:15.850
and of course,
Negroes hate it.

00:36:15.850 --> 00:36:16.960
Presently, the property

00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:18.280
doesn't deteriorate
because

00:36:18.280 --> 00:36:19.810
the children
cannot bear it.

00:36:19.810 --> 00:36:22.550
They want to get
out of the ghetto.

00:36:23.370 --> 00:36:26.830
If the American
pretensions

00:36:26.830 --> 00:36:29.030
were based on more solid,

00:36:29.190 --> 00:36:32.320
a more honest assessment

00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:34.960
of life and of themselves,

00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.345
it would not
mean for Negroes

00:36:37.345 --> 00:36:38.455
when someone says

00:36:38.455 --> 00:36:40.330
urban renewal that Negroes

00:36:40.330 --> 00:36:40.780
simply going to be

00:36:40.780 --> 00:36:41.710
thrown out into
the streets.

00:36:41.710 --> 00:36:43.330
This is what it
does mean now.

00:36:43.330 --> 00:36:44.770
This is not an act of God,

00:36:44.770 --> 00:36:46.165
we're dealing with
a society made

00:36:46.165 --> 00:36:48.550
and ruled by men.

00:36:48.550 --> 00:36:50.725
If the American Negro

00:36:50.725 --> 00:36:53.380
had not been
present in America,

00:36:53.380 --> 00:36:55.570
I'm convinced that
the history of

00:36:55.570 --> 00:36:57.040
the American labor
movement would

00:36:57.040 --> 00:36:59.635
be much more
edifying than it is.

00:36:59.635 --> 00:37:02.230
It is a terrible thing

00:37:02.230 --> 00:37:05.050
for an entire people to

00:37:05.050 --> 00:37:07.030
surrender to
the notion that

00:37:07.030 --> 00:37:10.555
one ninth of its population
is beneath them.

00:37:10.555 --> 00:37:12.415
And until that moment,

00:37:12.415 --> 00:37:15.940
until the moment
comes, when we,

00:37:15.940 --> 00:37:19.360
the American people are

00:37:19.360 --> 00:37:21.040
able to accept the fact

00:37:21.040 --> 00:37:22.300
that I have to accept,

00:37:22.300 --> 00:37:23.440
for example, that
my ancestors are

00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:25.405
both white and black.

00:37:25.405 --> 00:37:27.205
That on that continent,

00:37:27.205 --> 00:37:28.390
we are trying to forge

00:37:28.390 --> 00:37:31.315
a new identity for which
we need each other,

00:37:31.315 --> 00:37:34.945
and that I am not
a ward of America.

00:37:34.945 --> 00:37:38.065
I'm not an object of
missionary charity.

00:37:38.065 --> 00:37:41.845
I am one of the people
who built the country.

00:37:41.845 --> 00:37:44.500
Until this
moment, there are

00:37:44.500 --> 00:37:47.215
scarcely any hope for
the American dream

00:37:47.215 --> 00:37:48.880
because the people who are

00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:50.380
denied participation in

00:37:50.380 --> 00:37:56.860
it by their very
presence will wreck it,

00:37:56.860 --> 00:37:58.120
and if that happens,

00:37:58.120 --> 00:37:59.965
it's a very grave
moment for the West.

00:37:59.965 --> 00:38:22.660
Thank you. [APPLAUSE].

00:38:22.660 --> 00:38:25.750
>> Tremendously
moving moment now.

00:38:25.750 --> 00:38:28.570
The whole of the
Union standing and

00:38:28.570 --> 00:38:30.970
applauding this
magnificent speech

00:38:30.970 --> 00:38:32.920
of James Baldwin.

00:38:32.920 --> 00:38:35.860
Never seen this
happen before in

00:38:35.860 --> 00:38:37.510
the Union in all the years

00:38:37.510 --> 00:38:39.505
that I have known it.

00:38:39.505 --> 00:38:42.970
Baldwin smiling,
obviously,

00:38:42.970 --> 00:38:44.995
delighted by
his reception,

00:38:44.995 --> 00:38:47.510
tremendously moved by it.

00:39:04.230 --> 00:39:06.490
>> I am now very
grateful and

00:39:06.490 --> 00:39:07.780
very pleased to
be able to call

00:39:07.780 --> 00:39:09.970
Mr. William F Buckley
junior to speak

00:39:09.970 --> 00:39:19.960
forth to this
motion.[APPLAUSE]

00:39:19.960 --> 00:39:21.670
>> Now, we have Mr.
William Buckley,

00:39:21.670 --> 00:39:23.530
who will need
all his skill to

00:39:23.530 --> 00:39:25.780
establish ascendency
over his audience,

00:39:25.780 --> 00:39:28.510
which has clearly been
so deeply moved by the

00:39:28.510 --> 00:39:30.670
eloquent and
personal experience,

00:39:30.670 --> 00:39:31.825
the preceding speaker.

00:39:31.825 --> 00:39:35.180
>> Take, Mr.
President, gentlemen.

00:39:38.850 --> 00:39:42.280
It seems to me that of

00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:45.970
all the indictments
Mr. Baldwin,

00:39:45.970 --> 00:39:49.680
has made of America are

00:39:49.680 --> 00:39:50.850
here tonight and in

00:39:50.850 --> 00:39:54.880
his copious literature
of protest.

00:39:55.400 --> 00:40:03.720
The one that is most
striking involves in

00:40:03.720 --> 00:40:08.050
effect the refusal of

00:40:08.050 --> 00:40:11.320
the American community to

00:40:11.320 --> 00:40:15.170
treat him other
than as a Negro.

00:40:17.220 --> 00:40:19.330
The American community has

00:40:19.330 --> 00:40:21.380
refused to do this.

00:40:22.260 --> 00:40:24.460
The American
community almost

00:40:24.460 --> 00:40:26.470
everywhere he goes,

00:40:26.470 --> 00:40:31.090
treats him with the
kind of unction.

00:40:31.090 --> 00:40:34.060
The kind of satisfaction

00:40:34.060 --> 00:40:38.035
at posturing carefully for

00:40:38.035 --> 00:40:42.040
his flagellations of
our civilization,

00:40:42.040 --> 00:40:46.240
that indeed, are
quite properly of

00:40:46.240 --> 00:40:48.310
commands the
contempt which

00:40:48.310 --> 00:40:51.080
he so eloquently
showers upon it.

00:40:51.510 --> 00:40:53.620
It is impossible in

00:40:53.620 --> 00:40:56.020
my judgment to deal

00:40:56.020 --> 00:40:57.820
with the indictment
of Mr. Baldwin,

00:40:57.820 --> 00:40:58.900
unless one is prepared to

00:40:58.900 --> 00:41:01.330
deal with him
as a white man.

00:41:01.330 --> 00:41:03.940
Unless one is prepared
to say to him,

00:41:03.940 --> 00:41:06.280
the fact that your
skin is black

00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:08.170
is utterly irrelevant to

00:41:08.170 --> 00:41:10.300
the arguments
that you raise.

00:41:10.300 --> 00:41:14.320
The fact that you
sit here as is

00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:17.500
your rhetorical
device and lay

00:41:17.500 --> 00:41:20.260
the entire weight of
the Negro ordeal on

00:41:20.260 --> 00:41:23.170
your own shoulders
is irrelevant

00:41:23.170 --> 00:41:27.140
to the argument that we
are here to discuss.

00:41:27.810 --> 00:41:31.630
The gravamen of
Mr. Baldwin's

00:41:31.630 --> 00:41:35.050
charges against
America are

00:41:35.050 --> 00:41:37.870
not so much that our
civilization has failed

00:41:37.870 --> 00:41:40.540
him and his people

00:41:40.540 --> 00:41:43.135
that our ideals
are insufficient,

00:41:43.135 --> 00:41:45.940
but that we
have no ideals.

00:41:45.940 --> 00:41:48.265
That our ideals,

00:41:48.265 --> 00:41:52.405
rather or some sort of
a superficial coating,

00:41:52.405 --> 00:41:54.280
which we come up with at

00:41:54.280 --> 00:41:57.910
any given moment in order
to justify whatever

00:41:57.910 --> 00:42:00.340
commercial and
anoxious experiment

00:42:00.340 --> 00:42:02.050
we are engaged in.

00:42:02.050 --> 00:42:04.885
Thus, Mr. Baldwin
can write his book,

00:42:04.885 --> 00:42:06.910
the fire next time,

00:42:06.910 --> 00:42:09.820
in which he
threatens America.

00:42:09.820 --> 00:42:12.190
He didn't in writing
that book speak with

00:42:12.190 --> 00:42:13.570
the British accents that

00:42:13.570 --> 00:42:15.670
he used exclusively
tonight.

00:42:15.670 --> 00:42:17.710
In which he threatened
America with

00:42:17.710 --> 00:42:21.340
necessity for us to

00:42:21.340 --> 00:42:28.840
jettison our entire
civilization.

00:42:28.840 --> 00:42:30.430
The only thing that

00:42:30.430 --> 00:42:33.520
the white man has that
the Negro should want,

00:42:33.520 --> 00:42:35.680
he said is power.

00:42:35.680 --> 00:42:37.930
And he is treated from

00:42:37.930 --> 00:42:40.300
coast to coast
United states

00:42:40.300 --> 00:42:46.510
with anguish
[BACKGROUND] goes

00:42:46.510 --> 00:42:48.910
beyond anything that
was ever expected from

00:42:48.910 --> 00:42:51.160
the most servile
Negro creature

00:42:51.160 --> 00:42:52.570
by a southern family.

00:42:52.570 --> 00:42:54.415
I propose to pay
him the honor

00:42:54.415 --> 00:42:58.255
this night saying to
him, Mr. Baldwin,

00:42:58.255 --> 00:43:00.700
I am going to speak
to you without

00:43:00.700 --> 00:43:03.820
any reference whatever to

00:43:03.820 --> 00:43:07.060
those surrounding
protections which you

00:43:07.060 --> 00:43:08.650
are used to in virtue of

00:43:08.650 --> 00:43:10.525
the fact that
you are a Negro.

00:43:10.525 --> 00:43:12.685
And here we need to
ask the question.

00:43:12.685 --> 00:43:14.830
What, in fact, shall
we do about it, Mr.

00:43:14.830 --> 00:43:16.990
Present? What shall we in

00:43:16.990 --> 00:43:20.260
America try to
do, for instance,

00:43:20.260 --> 00:43:24.025
to eliminate those
psychic humiliation,

00:43:24.025 --> 00:43:27.130
which I join Mr.
Baldwin in believing,

00:43:27.130 --> 00:43:28.780
are the very worst aspects

00:43:28.780 --> 00:43:30.220
of this discrimination?

00:43:30.220 --> 00:43:32.590
Are you found
that a source of

00:43:32.590 --> 00:43:34.750
considerable birth
to laugh away

00:43:34.750 --> 00:43:37.360
the statistics of my
colleague, Mr. Burford.

00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:39.835
I don't think they
are insignificant.

00:43:39.835 --> 00:43:41.890
They are certainly
not insignificant,

00:43:41.890 --> 00:43:43.945
or in a world
which attaches

00:43:43.945 --> 00:43:45.535
a considerable importance

00:43:45.535 --> 00:43:47.335
to material progress.

00:43:47.335 --> 00:43:50.270
It is, in fact, the case,

00:43:50.520 --> 00:43:53.110
that seven tenths
of the white income

00:43:53.110 --> 00:43:54.445
of the United States

00:43:54.445 --> 00:43:56.410
is equal to the
income that is

00:43:56.410 --> 00:43:58.390
made by the average Negro.

00:43:58.390 --> 00:43:59.950
I don't think this
is an irrelevant

00:43:59.950 --> 00:44:02.215
statistic ladies
and gentlemen.

00:44:02.215 --> 00:44:05.290
It takes a
capitalization of 15,16,

00:44:05.290 --> 00:44:07.240
$17,000 per job in

00:44:07.240 --> 00:44:09.145
the United States. This
is a capitalization.

00:44:09.145 --> 00:44:10.855
That it was not created

00:44:10.855 --> 00:44:13.885
exclusively as a result
of negro travail.

00:44:13.885 --> 00:44:16.240
My great grandparents
worked too,

00:44:16.240 --> 00:44:18.040
presumably yours
worked also.

00:44:18.040 --> 00:44:19.720
I don't know if anything
that has ever been

00:44:19.720 --> 00:44:22.270
created without the
expense of something,

00:44:22.270 --> 00:44:23.860
all of you who hope for

00:44:23.860 --> 00:44:25.240
a diploma here
are going to do

00:44:25.240 --> 00:44:26.500
that at the expense

00:44:26.500 --> 00:44:28.375
of a considerable
amount of effort.

00:44:28.375 --> 00:44:29.710
And I would thank you.

00:44:29.710 --> 00:44:32.260
Please [LAUGHTER] not
to belie the fact that

00:44:32.260 --> 00:44:34.750
a considerable amount
of effort went into

00:44:34.750 --> 00:44:36.460
the production of
a system which

00:44:36.460 --> 00:44:38.830
grants a greater degree
of material well

00:44:38.830 --> 00:44:40.345
being to the
American negro

00:44:40.345 --> 00:44:41.290
other than that that is

00:44:41.290 --> 00:44:42.640
enjoyed by 95% of

00:44:42.640 --> 00:44:44.155
the other peoples
of the human race.

00:44:44.155 --> 00:44:46.390
But even so, to

00:44:46.390 --> 00:44:48.880
the extent that your
withering laughter

00:44:48.880 --> 00:44:51.250
suggested here
that you found

00:44:51.250 --> 00:44:54.925
this a contemptible
observation, I agree.

00:44:54.925 --> 00:44:56.950
I don't think it
matters that there are

00:44:56.950 --> 00:45:00.280
35 millionaires among
the negro community.

00:45:00.280 --> 00:45:04.000
If there were 20
million millionaires

00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:05.380
among the negro community

00:45:05.380 --> 00:45:06.340
of the United States,

00:45:06.340 --> 00:45:07.795
I would still
agree with you.

00:45:07.795 --> 00:45:10.600
That we have a
dastardly situation.

00:45:10.600 --> 00:45:14.770
But I'm asking you not
to make politics as

00:45:14.770 --> 00:45:16.510
the pro flies to use

00:45:16.510 --> 00:45:18.925
the fleeted phrase of
Professor Oakeshott,

00:45:18.925 --> 00:45:20.890
but rather to
consider, what in

00:45:20.890 --> 00:45:23.365
fact is it that we
Americans ought to do?

00:45:23.365 --> 00:45:25.090
What are your
instructions that

00:45:25.090 --> 00:45:26.980
I'm to take back to
the United States,

00:45:26.980 --> 00:45:28.660
my friend [LAUGHTER] I

00:45:28.660 --> 00:45:30.520
want to know what it
is that we should do,

00:45:30.520 --> 00:45:32.365
and especially
I want to know

00:45:32.365 --> 00:45:34.540
whether it is
time, in fact,

00:45:34.540 --> 00:45:36.655
to abandon the
American dream,

00:45:36.655 --> 00:45:38.260
as it has been defined

00:45:38.260 --> 00:45:39.895
by Mr. Haycock,
Mr. Burford.

00:45:39.895 --> 00:45:41.230
What in fact is it that

00:45:41.230 --> 00:45:43.040
we ought to do
for instance?

00:45:43.040 --> 00:45:47.890
To avoid do humiliations
mentioned by Mr.

00:45:47.890 --> 00:45:50.620
Baldwin as being a part of

00:45:50.620 --> 00:45:53.980
his own experience
during his lifetime.

00:45:53.980 --> 00:45:56.050
At the age of 12, you

00:45:56.050 --> 00:45:57.955
will find on
reading his book,

00:45:57.955 --> 00:46:00.910
he trespassed
outside the ghetto

00:46:00.910 --> 00:46:02.860
of Harlem and was

00:46:02.860 --> 00:46:04.960
taken by the scruff
of the neck by

00:46:04.960 --> 00:46:07.480
a policeman on 42nd Street

00:46:07.480 --> 00:46:08.530
in Madison
Avenue and said,

00:46:08.530 --> 00:46:09.925
here you nigger, go back

00:46:09.925 --> 00:46:11.800
to where you belong.

00:46:11.800 --> 00:46:14.020
Fifteen, 20 years later,

00:46:14.020 --> 00:46:16.735
he goes in and asks
for a scotch whiskey

00:46:16.735 --> 00:46:19.720
at the airport
at Chicago and

00:46:19.720 --> 00:46:22.810
is told by the white
barman that he is

00:46:22.810 --> 00:46:24.400
obviously underage
and under

00:46:24.400 --> 00:46:27.110
the circumstances
cannot be served.

00:46:27.810 --> 00:46:30.430
I know from your
faces that you

00:46:30.430 --> 00:46:32.820
share with me
the feeling of

00:46:32.820 --> 00:46:35.220
compassion and
the feeling of

00:46:35.220 --> 00:46:37.650
outrage that this kind

00:46:37.650 --> 00:46:39.060
of thing should
have happened.

00:46:39.060 --> 00:46:40.440
What, in fact, are we

00:46:40.440 --> 00:46:42.360
going to do to
this policeman?

00:46:42.360 --> 00:46:43.860
And what in fact
are we going to

00:46:43.860 --> 00:46:46.560
do to this barman?

00:46:46.560 --> 00:46:49.790
How are we going to avoid?

00:46:49.790 --> 00:46:52.320
The kind of
humiliations that are

00:46:52.320 --> 00:46:55.255
perpetually
visited on members

00:46:55.255 --> 00:46:57.095
of the minority race.

00:46:57.095 --> 00:47:00.640
Obviously, the first
element is concern.

00:47:00.640 --> 00:47:03.175
We've got the care
that it happens.

00:47:03.175 --> 00:47:05.200
We have got to do what we

00:47:05.200 --> 00:47:07.780
can to change the
warp and woof of

00:47:07.780 --> 00:47:09.790
moral thought
in society in

00:47:09.790 --> 00:47:11.290
such fashion as to try

00:47:11.290 --> 00:47:13.570
to make it happen
less and less.

00:47:13.570 --> 00:47:16.045
Let me urge this
point to you,

00:47:16.045 --> 00:47:18.340
which I can do with
authority, my friends.

00:47:18.340 --> 00:47:19.360
The only thing that I can

00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:20.830
tonight and that is to

00:47:20.830 --> 00:47:23.785
tell you that in
the United States,

00:47:23.785 --> 00:47:27.025
there is a concern for
the negro problem.

00:47:27.025 --> 00:47:27.910
Now [LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE] if you get

00:47:27.910 --> 00:47:29.690
up to me and say,

00:47:34.110 --> 00:47:37.255
well, now, is there
the kind of concern

00:47:37.255 --> 00:47:40.120
that we students of
Cambridge would show,

00:47:40.120 --> 00:47:41.605
if the problem
were our own?

00:47:41.605 --> 00:47:43.780
All I can say is
I don't know.

00:47:43.780 --> 00:47:45.880
It may very well be

00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:47.770
that there has
been some sort of

00:47:47.770 --> 00:47:51.100
a sunburst of moral
enlightenment

00:47:51.100 --> 00:47:52.780
that has hit
this community.

00:47:52.780 --> 00:47:54.730
[LAUGHTER] So
as to make it

00:47:54.730 --> 00:47:55.930
predictable that
if you were

00:47:55.930 --> 00:47:57.700
the governors of
the United States,

00:47:57.700 --> 00:47:59.770
the situation would
change overnight.

00:47:59.770 --> 00:48:01.255
I'm prepared to
grant this as

00:48:01.255 --> 00:48:03.340
a form of courtesy,
Mr. President.

00:48:03.340 --> 00:48:07.210
[LAUGHTER] But meanwhile,
I'm saying to you

00:48:07.210 --> 00:48:09.580
that the engines
of concern

00:48:09.580 --> 00:48:11.960
in the United
States are working.

00:48:11.960 --> 00:48:14.935
The presence of Mr.
Baldwin here tonight is

00:48:14.935 --> 00:48:17.920
in part a reflection
of that concern.

00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:20.050
[LAUGHTER] You cannot go

00:48:20.050 --> 00:48:23.500
to a university in
the United States.

00:48:23.500 --> 00:48:24.760
A university in
the United States

00:48:24.760 --> 00:48:25.985
presumably also

00:48:25.985 --> 00:48:28.780
governed by the Lord
spiritual as you are,

00:48:28.780 --> 00:48:30.730
in which Mr.
Baldwin is not

00:48:30.730 --> 00:48:32.950
the toast of the town.

00:48:32.950 --> 00:48:34.090
You cannot go to

00:48:34.090 --> 00:48:35.645
a university of
the United States,

00:48:35.645 --> 00:48:38.680
in which practically
all other problems

00:48:38.680 --> 00:48:40.000
of public policy are

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:42.580
preempted by the
primary policy

00:48:42.580 --> 00:48:45.085
of concern for the negro.

00:48:45.085 --> 00:48:46.570
I challenge you to name

00:48:46.570 --> 00:48:48.970
me another
civilization anytime,

00:48:48.970 --> 00:48:51.085
anywhere in the
history of the world,

00:48:51.085 --> 00:48:52.645
in which the problems of

00:48:52.645 --> 00:48:55.000
a minority which
have been showing

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:56.410
considerable material

00:48:56.410 --> 00:48:57.910
and political
advancement is

00:48:57.910 --> 00:48:59.350
as much a subject of

00:48:59.350 --> 00:49:00.670
dramatic concern as it

00:49:00.670 --> 00:49:02.320
is in the United States.

00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:04.120
Let me just say,

00:49:04.120 --> 00:49:06.070
finally, ladies
and gentlemen,

00:49:06.070 --> 00:49:09.700
this, there is

00:49:09.700 --> 00:49:11.740
no instant cure for

00:49:11.740 --> 00:49:14.635
the race problem
in America.

00:49:14.635 --> 00:49:16.930
And anybody who tells
you that there is is

00:49:16.930 --> 00:49:21.205
a charlatan and
ultimately a boring man,

00:49:21.205 --> 00:49:23.800
a boring precisely because

00:49:23.800 --> 00:49:25.600
he is then speaking in

00:49:25.600 --> 00:49:27.700
the kind of
abstractions that do

00:49:27.700 --> 00:49:30.635
not relate to the
human experience.

00:49:30.635 --> 00:49:32.920
The trouble in America,

00:49:32.920 --> 00:49:34.885
where the negro community
is concerned is

00:49:34.885 --> 00:49:37.180
a very complicated one.

00:49:37.180 --> 00:49:39.040
I urge those of you who

00:49:39.040 --> 00:49:42.340
have an actual rather than

00:49:42.340 --> 00:49:44.290
a purely ideologized
interest

00:49:44.290 --> 00:49:46.180
in the problem to read

00:49:46.180 --> 00:49:48.670
the book beyond
the melting part

00:49:48.670 --> 00:49:50.575
by Professor Glazer,

00:49:50.575 --> 00:49:52.915
also co author of
the Lonely Crowd,

00:49:52.915 --> 00:49:56.215
a prominent Jewish
intellectual,

00:49:56.215 --> 00:49:58.420
who points to
the fact that

00:49:58.420 --> 00:50:01.400
the situation in America
where the negroes

00:50:01.400 --> 00:50:04.630
are concerned is
extremely complex as

00:50:04.630 --> 00:50:06.185
a result of

00:50:06.185 --> 00:50:08.620
an unfortunate conjunction
of two factors.

00:50:08.620 --> 00:50:12.040
One is the
dreadful efforts

00:50:12.040 --> 00:50:14.320
to perpetuate
discrimination by

00:50:14.320 --> 00:50:17.110
many individual
American citizens as

00:50:17.110 --> 00:50:19.150
a result of their lack of

00:50:19.150 --> 00:50:21.760
that final and
ultimate concern which

00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:23.620
some people are truly
trying to agitate

00:50:23.620 --> 00:50:25.780
the other is as

00:50:25.780 --> 00:50:27.010
a result of the failure of

00:50:27.010 --> 00:50:30.425
the negro community
itself to make

00:50:30.425 --> 00:50:33.460
certain exertions
which were

00:50:33.460 --> 00:50:35.110
made by other
minority groups

00:50:35.110 --> 00:50:37.040
during the American
experience.

00:50:37.040 --> 00:50:38.950
If you can stand
a statistic

00:50:38.950 --> 00:50:40.435
not of my own making,

00:50:40.435 --> 00:50:41.830
let me give you one which

00:50:41.830 --> 00:50:44.815
Professor Glazer
considers as relevant.

00:50:44.815 --> 00:50:47.660
He says, for
instance, in 1900,

00:50:47.660 --> 00:50:50.890
there were 3,500 negro
doctors in America.

00:50:50.890 --> 00:50:54.220
In 1960, there were 3,900,

00:50:54.220 --> 00:50:56.015
an increase in 400.

00:50:56.015 --> 00:50:58.585
Is this because there
were no opportunities,

00:50:58.585 --> 00:51:00.220
as has been
suggested by Mr.

00:51:00.220 --> 00:51:02.830
Haycock and also by Mr.
Baldwin implicitly?

00:51:02.830 --> 00:51:04.930
No, says Professor Glazer.

00:51:04.930 --> 00:51:07.285
There are a great
many medical schools

00:51:07.285 --> 00:51:10.240
who are by no means
practice discrimination,

00:51:10.240 --> 00:51:11.860
who are anxious
to receive,

00:51:11.860 --> 00:51:13.900
to train negro doctors.

00:51:13.900 --> 00:51:15.220
There are scholarships
available

00:51:15.220 --> 00:51:16.220
to put them through.

00:51:16.220 --> 00:51:18.875
But in fact, that
particular energy,

00:51:18.875 --> 00:51:20.350
which he remarks was so

00:51:20.350 --> 00:51:22.300
noticeable in the
Jewish community and to

00:51:22.300 --> 00:51:23.830
a certain and
lesser extent in

00:51:23.830 --> 00:51:25.210
the Italian
Irish community

00:51:25.210 --> 00:51:27.310
for some reason
is not there.

00:51:27.310 --> 00:51:29.110
We should focus on

00:51:29.110 --> 00:51:30.340
the necessity to

00:51:30.340 --> 00:51:32.710
animate this
particular energy,

00:51:32.710 --> 00:51:34.390
but he comes to
the conclusion

00:51:34.390 --> 00:51:35.830
which strikes me
as plausible.

00:51:35.830 --> 00:51:37.330
That the people who
can best do it,

00:51:37.330 --> 00:51:38.530
who can do it
most effectively

00:51:38.530 --> 00:51:39.670
are negroes themselves.

00:51:39.670 --> 00:51:42.760
Let me conclude
by reminding you,

00:51:42.760 --> 00:51:45.580
ladies and gentlemen, that

00:51:45.580 --> 00:51:47.800
where the negro
is concerned,

00:51:47.800 --> 00:51:49.990
the dangers as far
as I can see at

00:51:49.990 --> 00:51:52.810
this moment is
that they will

00:51:52.810 --> 00:51:55.300
seek to reach out
for some sort of

00:51:55.300 --> 00:51:57.850
radical solutions
on the basis of

00:51:57.850 --> 00:52:00.880
which the true
problem is obscured.

00:52:00.880 --> 00:52:04.360
They have done a great
deal to focus on

00:52:04.360 --> 00:52:05.740
the fact of

00:52:05.740 --> 00:52:08.320
white discrimination
against the negroes.

00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:09.910
They have done
a great deal to

00:52:09.910 --> 00:52:11.740
agitate a moral concern,

00:52:11.740 --> 00:52:14.450
but where in fact,
do they go now?

00:52:14.450 --> 00:52:15.940
They seem to be slipping.

00:52:15.940 --> 00:52:17.920
If you will read
carefully, for instance,

00:52:17.920 --> 00:52:20.740
the words of Mr.
Bayard Rustin towards

00:52:20.740 --> 00:52:23.945
some sort of a
procrustan formulation

00:52:23.945 --> 00:52:26.740
which ends up less urging

00:52:26.740 --> 00:52:28.330
the advancement
of the negro

00:52:28.330 --> 00:52:30.580
than the regression
of the white people.

00:52:30.580 --> 00:52:32.950
Fourteen times as
many people in

00:52:32.950 --> 00:52:34.775
New York City born of

00:52:34.775 --> 00:52:37.360
negroes are illegitimate
as of whites.

00:52:37.360 --> 00:52:39.430
This is a problem. How
shall we address it?

00:52:39.430 --> 00:52:41.110
By seeking out laws that

00:52:41.110 --> 00:52:43.435
encourage illegitimacy
in white people?

00:52:43.435 --> 00:52:45.580
This unfortunately
tends to be

00:52:45.580 --> 00:52:47.080
the rhetorical
momentum that

00:52:47.080 --> 00:52:48.850
some of their
arguments are taken.

00:52:48.850 --> 00:52:50.230
>> One thing you might do,

00:52:50.230 --> 00:52:51.550
Mr. Buckley is let them

00:52:51.550 --> 00:52:59.710
vote in Mississippi
[APPLAUSE]

00:52:59.710 --> 00:53:01.090
>> I couldn't agree
with you more

00:53:01.090 --> 00:53:05.350
[LAUGHTER]

00:53:05.350 --> 00:53:08.050
except unless I appear
too ingratiating,

00:53:08.050 --> 00:53:09.955
which is hardly my
objective here tonight.

00:53:09.955 --> 00:53:12.095
I think actually what

00:53:12.095 --> 00:53:14.155
is wrong in
Mississippi, sir,

00:53:14.155 --> 00:53:16.120
is not that not enough
negroes are voting,

00:53:16.120 --> 00:53:17.545
but that too many
white people

00:53:17.545 --> 00:53:30.660
are voting [LAUGHTER]

00:53:30.660 --> 00:53:31.900
Booker T. Washington said

00:53:31.900 --> 00:53:33.250
that the important
thing where negroes are

00:53:33.250 --> 00:53:36.130
concerned is not that

00:53:36.130 --> 00:53:37.300
they hold public office,

00:53:37.300 --> 00:53:37.870
but that they be

00:53:37.870 --> 00:53:39.400
prepared to hold
public office.

00:53:39.400 --> 00:53:40.870
Not that they vote,

00:53:40.870 --> 00:53:42.355
but that they be
prepared to vote.

00:53:42.355 --> 00:53:43.180
What are we
going to do with

00:53:43.180 --> 00:53:44.545
the negroes having taught

00:53:44.545 --> 00:53:46.000
the negroes in Mississippi

00:53:46.000 --> 00:53:48.040
to despise Rose Barnett?

00:53:48.040 --> 00:53:51.010
Shall we then teach
them to emulate

00:53:51.010 --> 00:53:52.895
their cousins in Harlem

00:53:52.895 --> 00:53:55.120
and adore Adam Clayton
Powell Junior?

00:53:55.120 --> 00:53:57.340
Well, it is much
more complicated,

00:53:57.340 --> 00:53:58.870
sir, than simply
the question

00:53:58.870 --> 00:54:00.515
of giving them the vote.

00:54:00.515 --> 00:54:02.620
If I were myself
a constituent

00:54:02.620 --> 00:54:03.340
of the community of

00:54:03.340 --> 00:54:04.400
Mississippi at
this moment,

00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:06.220
what I would do
is vote to lift

00:54:06.220 --> 00:54:08.800
the standards of
the vote so as to

00:54:08.800 --> 00:54:10.900
disqualify 65%

00:54:10.900 --> 00:54:12.990
of the white people who
are presently voting

00:54:12.990 --> 00:54:20.920
[LAUGHTER]
[APPLAUSE] I say

00:54:20.920 --> 00:54:22.280
then that what we need

00:54:22.280 --> 00:54:23.800
is a considerable
amount of

00:54:23.800 --> 00:54:27.010
frankness that
acknowledges that

00:54:27.010 --> 00:54:29.095
there are two sets
of difficulties.

00:54:29.095 --> 00:54:31.780
The difficulties of
the white person

00:54:31.780 --> 00:54:34.630
who acts as white
people and brown people

00:54:34.630 --> 00:54:36.845
and black people
do all over

00:54:36.845 --> 00:54:38.620
the world to protect

00:54:38.620 --> 00:54:40.105
their own vested
interests,

00:54:40.105 --> 00:54:41.320
who have, as all of

00:54:41.320 --> 00:54:43.675
the races in the
entire world have,

00:54:43.675 --> 00:54:46.000
and suffer from a kind of

00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:48.350
a racial narcissism,

00:54:48.350 --> 00:54:51.310
which tends
always to convert

00:54:51.310 --> 00:54:53.110
every contingency
into such a way

00:54:53.110 --> 00:54:54.650
as to maximize
their own power.

00:54:54.650 --> 00:54:56.260
That, yes, we must do.

00:54:56.260 --> 00:54:58.510
But we must also reach

00:54:58.510 --> 00:55:00.985
through to the negro
people and tell them

00:55:00.985 --> 00:55:02.500
that their best
chances are in

00:55:02.500 --> 00:55:04.595
a mobile society and

00:55:04.595 --> 00:55:07.120
the most mobile society
in the world today,

00:55:07.120 --> 00:55:10.400
my friends, is the United
States of America.

00:55:10.400 --> 00:55:11.950
The most mobile society of

00:55:11.950 --> 00:55:13.270
the United States
in the world

00:55:13.270 --> 00:55:14.290
is the United
States of America,

00:55:14.290 --> 00:55:17.785
and it is precisely
that mobility,

00:55:17.785 --> 00:55:19.270
which will give
opportunities

00:55:19.270 --> 00:55:19.895
to the negroes,

00:55:19.895 --> 00:55:21.550
which they must
be encouraged to

00:55:21.550 --> 00:55:23.395
take, but they must not.

00:55:23.395 --> 00:55:26.275
In the course of
their ordeal,

00:55:26.275 --> 00:55:29.965
be encouraged to adopt
the kind of cynicism,

00:55:29.965 --> 00:55:31.900
the kind of despair,

00:55:31.900 --> 00:55:33.880
the kind of iconoclasm

00:55:33.880 --> 00:55:35.140
that is urged upon them

00:55:35.140 --> 00:55:38.455
by Mr. Baldwin in
his recent works,

00:55:38.455 --> 00:55:41.080
because of one thing,
I can tell you,

00:55:41.080 --> 00:55:43.690
I believe with
absolute authority,

00:55:43.690 --> 00:55:46.345
that where the United
States is concerned,

00:55:46.345 --> 00:55:49.900
if it ever becomes
a confrontation,

00:55:49.900 --> 00:55:52.780
between a continuation of

00:55:52.780 --> 00:55:56.560
our own sort of idealism.

00:55:56.560 --> 00:55:58.630
The private stock
of which granted,

00:55:58.630 --> 00:55:59.890
like most people
in the world,

00:55:59.890 --> 00:56:02.375
we tend to lavish only
every now and then on

00:56:02.375 --> 00:56:04.300
public enterprises
reserving it so

00:56:04.300 --> 00:56:07.120
often for our own
irritations and pleasures.

00:56:07.120 --> 00:56:10.030
But the fundamental
trend of

00:56:10.030 --> 00:56:12.100
the negro people in

00:56:12.100 --> 00:56:15.580
the United States is
the good nature and is

00:56:15.580 --> 00:56:18.730
the generosity and is
the good wishes is

00:56:18.730 --> 00:56:21.970
the fundamental
decency that do

00:56:21.970 --> 00:56:23.950
lie at the reserves of

00:56:23.950 --> 00:56:26.380
the spirit of the
American people.

00:56:26.380 --> 00:56:28.970
These must not
be laughed at.

00:56:28.970 --> 00:56:31.030
And under no circumstances

00:56:31.030 --> 00:56:32.245
must they be laughed at,

00:56:32.245 --> 00:56:34.930
and under no circumstances
must America be

00:56:34.930 --> 00:56:37.000
addressed and hold that

00:56:37.000 --> 00:56:39.865
the only alternative
to the status quo,

00:56:39.865 --> 00:56:42.595
is to overthrow
that civilization,

00:56:42.595 --> 00:56:43.840
which we consider to

00:56:43.840 --> 00:56:46.120
be the faith of
our fathers,

00:56:46.120 --> 00:56:48.730
the faith indeed
of your fathers.

00:56:48.730 --> 00:56:50.515
This is what must animate

00:56:50.515 --> 00:56:52.810
whatever meliorism
must come

00:56:52.810 --> 00:56:55.805
because if it does
finally come to

00:56:55.805 --> 00:56:58.660
a radical confrontation

00:56:58.660 --> 00:56:59.800
between giving up what

00:56:59.800 --> 00:57:01.030
we understand to be

00:57:01.030 --> 00:57:02.710
the best features of

00:57:02.710 --> 00:57:04.055
the American way of life,

00:57:04.055 --> 00:57:05.315
which at that level is

00:57:05.315 --> 00:57:06.820
indistinguishable
so far as

00:57:06.820 --> 00:57:08.650
I can see from the
European way of life.

00:57:08.650 --> 00:57:10.840
Then we will
fight the issue.

00:57:10.840 --> 00:57:12.340
And we will fight
the issue, not

00:57:12.340 --> 00:57:14.245
only in the
Cambridge Union,

00:57:14.245 --> 00:57:15.490
but we will fight it as

00:57:15.490 --> 00:57:16.970
you were once recently

00:57:16.970 --> 00:57:18.280
called to do on beaches

00:57:18.280 --> 00:57:19.690
and on hills and
on mountains,

00:57:19.690 --> 00:57:21.520
and on landing grounds,

00:57:21.520 --> 00:57:25.660
and we will be convinced
that just as you won

00:57:25.660 --> 00:57:27.265
the war against

00:57:27.265 --> 00:57:30.295
a particular threat
to civilization,

00:57:30.295 --> 00:57:31.810
you were
nevertheless waging

00:57:31.810 --> 00:57:33.670
a war in favor of than

00:57:33.670 --> 00:57:37.180
for the benefit of
Germans, your own enemies,

00:57:37.180 --> 00:57:39.520
just as we are convinced
that if it should

00:57:39.520 --> 00:57:41.960
ever come to that kind
of a confrontation,

00:57:41.960 --> 00:57:43.420
our own determination to

00:57:43.420 --> 00:57:44.860
win the struggle will be

00:57:44.860 --> 00:57:46.210
a determination to wage

00:57:46.210 --> 00:57:48.010
a war not only for whites,

00:57:48.010 --> 00:58:21.760
but also for
negroes [APPLAUSE]

00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:22.390
>> Will the tellers

00:58:22.390 --> 00:58:24.355
take their places, please?

00:58:24.355 --> 00:58:26.890
They voted in favor
of the motion,

00:58:26.890 --> 00:58:28.660
the motion being at
the American dreams

00:58:28.660 --> 00:58:30.010
at the expense
of the negro.

00:58:30.010 --> 00:58:31.450
They voted in favor
of that motion,

00:58:31.450 --> 00:58:35.890
544 persons and
against 164 persons.

00:58:35.890 --> 00:58:38.665
The motion is therefore
carried by 380 votes.

00:58:38.665 --> 00:58:40.030
I declare the
House to stand

00:58:40.030 --> 00:58:58.675
adjourned. [APPLAUSE]