1
00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:15,344
Maya Angelou: 
The one thing that con men will tell you

2
00:00:15,344 --> 00:00:18,280
the only way you can be a mark is
if you want something for nothing.

3
00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:22,157
If you're greedy, you're set up. Perfect.

4
00:00:30,350 --> 00:00:32,220
Studs Terkel: Daddy Clidell was your stepfather.
Maya Angelou: Yes.

5
00:00:32,239 --> 00:00:34,359
Studs Terkel: And Daddy Clidell lived by his
wits.

6
00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:38,580
Maya Angelou: Daddy Clidell owned pool halls and gambling houses.

7
00:00:38,580 --> 00:00:41,760
Daddy Clidell knew the racket.

8
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,720
So he taught me how to look at cards
and see if they were marked,

9
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,820
how to weigh dice and know if they're loaded.

10
00:00:47,820 --> 00:00:50,200
Then he brought in alot of con men.

11
00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,880
Professional con men who maybe take two marks a year.

12
00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,560
Studs Terkel: We should point out a mark is someone who is taken.

13
00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,500
Maya Angelou: My dad, daddy... He'd call the guys in,

14
00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:05,000
"y'all, come on in here, fellows. I want you to tell my baby here

15
00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,420
how you sold that supermarket in Dallas." [laughs]

16
00:01:09,420 --> 00:01:13,840
"I'm raising this girl, I got to educate her."

17
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:19,000
So they told me not only the supermarket,
but they sold a bridge in Oklahoma.

18
00:01:19,060 --> 00:01:26,360
Yes. One man said that, "you see, you use the white man's bigotry against him."

19
00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,080
Maya Angelou: There was a white man in the town...

20
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:30,940
Studs Terkel: It was Tulsa.

21
00:01:30,940 --> 00:01:36,700
Maya Angelou: In Tulsa. Who had just exploited all the Indians and the blacks

22
00:01:37,700 --> 00:01:40,100
and if he hated anybody more than Indians, it was blacks.

23
00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:43,600
These two con men went down. They checked him out

24
00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,020
and decided to play him against the
store.

25
00:01:46,020 --> 00:01:51,880
In long con that's when you set it up for two months, maybe, and spend a few thousand dollars.

26
00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:57,860
You have cards made, a telephone taken in, a secretary, everything, the whole front.

27
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:04,000
One of the guys played very, very ignorant and very shuffling

28
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,940
and went up to the man
and said, "look here."

29
00:02:07,950 --> 00:02:10,720
"I got a friend who own a piece of land, you know."

30
00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,560
See he got it because
he's part Indian.” [laughs]

31
00:02:16,580 --> 00:02:24,500
"Some white man, some Yankee, want to buy that land because it's got a toll bridge on it."

32
00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:29,600
My father's two friends, they sent for a white con man from New York

33
00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:35,280
who came down as the big real estate agent from the north, who was interested in buying this land.

34
00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:42,960
The white southerner, the Oklahoman, went to the office to talk to this northern real estate man, realtor.

35
00:02:42,970 --> 00:02:50,030
The northerner said, "now, listen: I'm going
to get this land for maybe $70,000 or something like that"

36
00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:55,680
"because the guy is ignorant. I've
checked it out. My office has checked it out.

37
00:02:55,680 --> 00:03:01,380
He's got the title of clear. When he signs,
it's mine. But if you check it out or

38
00:03:01,380 --> 00:03:06,900
you raise any kind of dust, the state will become aware of that land and that he really owns the property

39
00:03:06,910 --> 00:03:10,890
and they'll move in and confiscate
it. So just leave it alone.

40
00:03:10,890 --> 00:03:13,350
You and I can work together."

41
00:03:15,300 --> 00:03:20,120
Maya Angelou: Well, this white cracker, the
southerner, the Oklahoman said,

42
00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:26,340
"he knows niggers.” That’s his attitude. "So if this northerner is going to buy it for $70,000,"

43
00:03:26,350 --> 00:03:31,870
"he can buy it for less than that. Get the
whole thing.” [laughs].

44
00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:41,780
At first the white southerner, the Oklahoman, he was brought to this Indian black American.

45
00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,100
He went to him and he explained that he'd better have that land

46
00:03:46,100 --> 00:03:51,220
and how bad the northern whites were. He talked about the damn Yankees.

47
00:03:51,220 --> 00:03:57,840
So the shuffling Indian Negro said, "well, you know boss, I'd rather you have this land"

48
00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:04,420
than that white man, that Yankee." So it took some time and he bought it.

49
00:04:04,420 --> 00:04:05,600
Studs Terkel: For about 50,000.

50
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,880
Maya Angelou: That's right. Cash.
Studs Terkel: Cash.

51
00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:14,340
Maya Angelou: And that is not a rare… that
is not rare. I mean, when I was growing up,

52
00:04:14,350 --> 00:04:20,410
I used to know men, very intelligent men,
who lived on maybe 2 marks a year.

53
00:04:20,410 --> 00:04:23,820
Studs Terkel: Basically you're talking about
the stupidity of racism.

54
00:04:23,820 --> 00:04:25,340
Maya Angelou: That's right.
Studs Terkel: In a way, it's almost a metaphor.

55
00:04:25,340 --> 00:04:30,040
Maya Angelou: Of course because these men
were born before the turn of the century.

56
00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:36,620
What a black man could be by 1915, his inability to function was crystallized.

57
00:04:36,620 --> 00:04:42,240
He simply had no way to move. Yet, here are men who lived by that intelligence.

58
00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:49,980
Suppose... imagine if that intelligence had been able to be used constructively.

59
00:04:49,980 --> 00:04:54,420
That is more constructively for the common good.

60
00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,440
Studs Terkel: Maya Angelou, our guest. Thank
you very much.

61
00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:10,720
Maya Angelou: Thank you Studs. It's wonderful to see you again, to see you keep on keeping on.

62
00:05:10,740 --> 00:05:12,200
Studs Terkel: I'll stay on the case.

63
00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:13,600
Maya Angelou: That's it.

64
00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:30,520
[Music: JAHZZAR “Airship Fury”]