0:00:11.040,0:00:15.344
Maya Angelou: [br]The one thing that con men will tell you

0:00:15.344,0:00:18.280
the only way you can be a mark is[br]if you want something for nothing.

0:00:18.280,0:00:22.157
If you're greedy, you're set up. Perfect.

0:00:30.350,0:00:32.220
Studs Terkel: Daddy Clidell was your stepfather.[br]Maya Angelou: Yes.

0:00:32.239,0:00:34.359
Studs Terkel: And Daddy Clidell lived by his[br]wits.

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Maya Angelou: Daddy Clidell owned pool halls and gambling houses.

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Daddy Clidell knew the racket.

0:00:41.760,0:00:44.720
So he taught me how to look at cards[br]and see if they were marked,

0:00:44.720,0:00:47.820
how to weigh dice and know if they're loaded.

0:00:47.820,0:00:50.200
Then he brought in alot of con men.

0:00:50.200,0:00:53.880
Professional con men who maybe take two marks a year.

0:00:53.880,0:00:57.560
Studs Terkel: We should point out a mark is someone who is taken.

0:00:57.560,0:01:00.500
Maya Angelou: My dad, daddy... He'd call the guys in,

0:01:00.520,0:01:05.000
"y'all, come on in here, fellows. I want you to tell my baby here

0:01:05.000,0:01:09.420
how you sold that supermarket in Dallas." [laughs]

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"I'm raising this girl, I got to educate her."

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So they told me not only the supermarket,[br]but they sold a bridge in Oklahoma.

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Yes. One man said that, "you see, you use the white man's bigotry against him."

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Maya Angelou: There was a white man in the town...

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Studs Terkel: It was Tulsa.

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Maya Angelou: In Tulsa. Who had just exploited all the Indians and the blacks

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and if he hated anybody more than Indians, it was blacks.

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These two con men went down. They checked him out

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and decided to play him against the[br]store.

0:01:46.020,0:01:51.880
In long con that's when you set it up for two months, maybe, and spend a few thousand dollars.

0:01:51.880,0:01:57.860
You have cards made, a telephone taken in, a secretary, everything, the whole front.

0:02:00.000,0:02:04.000
One of the guys played very, very ignorant and very shuffling

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and went up to the man[br]and said, "look here."

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"I got a friend who own a piece of land, you know."

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See he got it because[br]he's part Indian.” [laughs]

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"Some white man, some Yankee, want to buy that land because it's got a toll bridge on it."

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My father's two friends, they sent for a white con man from New York

0:02:29.600,0:02:35.280
who came down as the big real estate agent from the north, who was interested in buying this land.

0:02:35.280,0:02:42.960
The white southerner, the Oklahoman, went to the office to talk to this northern real estate man, realtor.

0:02:42.970,0:02:50.030
The northerner said, "now, listen: I'm going[br]to get this land for maybe $70,000 or something like that"

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"because the guy is ignorant. I've[br]checked it out. My office has checked it out.

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He's got the title of clear. When he signs,[br]it's mine. But if you check it out or

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you raise any kind of dust, the state will become aware of that land and that he really owns the property

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and they'll move in and confiscate[br]it. So just leave it alone.

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You and I can work together."

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Maya Angelou: Well, this white cracker, the[br]southerner, the Oklahoman said,

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"he knows niggers.” That’s his attitude. "So if this northerner is going to buy it for $70,000,"

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"he can buy it for less than that. Get the[br]whole thing.” [laughs].

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At first the white southerner, the Oklahoman, he was brought to this Indian black American.

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He went to him and he explained that he'd better have that land

0:03:46.100,0:03:51.220
and how bad the northern whites were. He talked about the damn Yankees.

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So the shuffling Indian Negro said, "well, you know boss, I'd rather you have this land"

0:03:57.840,0:04:04.420
than that white man, that Yankee." So it took some time and he bought it.

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Studs Terkel: For about 50,000.

0:04:05.600,0:04:08.880
Maya Angelou: That's right. Cash.[br]Studs Terkel: Cash.

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Maya Angelou: And that is not a rare… that[br]is not rare. I mean, when I was growing up,

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I used to know men, very intelligent men,[br]who lived on maybe 2 marks a year.

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Studs Terkel: Basically you're talking about[br]the stupidity of racism.

0:04:23.820,0:04:25.340
Maya Angelou: That's right.[br]Studs Terkel: In a way, it's almost a metaphor.

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Maya Angelou: Of course because these men[br]were born before the turn of the century.

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What a black man could be by 1915, his inability to function was crystallized.

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He simply had no way to move. Yet, here are men who lived by that intelligence.

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Suppose... imagine if that intelligence had been able to be used constructively.

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That is more constructively for the common good.

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Studs Terkel: Maya Angelou, our guest. Thank[br]you very much.

0:05:05.440,0:05:10.720
Maya Angelou: Thank you Studs. It's wonderful to see you again, to see you keep on keeping on.

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Studs Terkel: I'll stay on the case.

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Maya Angelou: That's it.

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[Music: JAHZZAR “Airship Fury”]