Arizona Western College - El Matador Yearbook (Yuma, AZ)

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....:g-g,,g- L :'sQtz'4sLffsQf3S5z5ggb,f' 55.133-F' Ufrv?f'?EfH+Tif? if' ? 555 . -v Q, v . 4 Q. if-4.i'. I' -. ua Lf: .Linn 1 , L P ' ' 'Lil 334' ,L ' 1 .. ' noun 4 ' 4 Y I 'I? 'f. 0 Jfuia ' ' ' ' L' ' It's like black folks in the south. One day we looked around and say man, 10,000 black folks turn the corner and the cats cut two dogs loose on us and we run. Come tomorrow we not going to run. That dog ain't gonna eat but about two folks after 10 people, his jaws get tired. Sheriff cut them two dogs loose, man, when we didn't run, you should have seen them dogs run back and jump on the sheriff's lap. But the fear of getting bitten is in your head. And the fear of jails, there's not each jails to put people in, once we start getting not scared of jail. They show you a jail, they show you jail movies all your life. See cats in dungeons, cats getting beat. You know that's to plant their thing, and once that thing don't work, there is trouble. They don't know how to act. Washington, D.C. white kids really lay something over the police. There ain't never hit nobody with a billy club. And when they get ready to draw the billy club back, there's a white kid stick his head under so he can get his lick. Ain't never had that happen to him. He canlt get that billy club back fast enough before the cat stuck his head under there. Cause when they pull his billy club up and shoot tear gas man, they use to running. The Democratic Convention, they got through shooting this tear gas and when they ran out of tear gas, there was still a wave of kids coming at lem. Tell 'em about the whole world looking. They couldn't comprehend that, at all. And so I would say definitely there is a tremendous change in attitude that you can see. El Matador: All this you talk about is for the better? Gregory: Yes. Definitely. El Matador:You say there will be a problem when all these kids get their heads together. The problem will be. . . Gregory: Throughout the system. El Matador: How do you define the black revolution? Gregory: First let me tell you what revolution is. Revo- lution is controlled by Nature, not by man. Revolution is nothing but an extension of evolution. Evolution which is the gradual naturalistic change after long periods of time, leading to revolution, which is quick change. That's what is happening in the black community today. The evolution leading to revolution. It's like the woman who gets pregnant, the first nine months is evolution, and when the water bag breaks, it's revolution. And when that happens ain't nobody holding it. You find a woman nine months pregnant and get all the National Guards- men on the face of this earth and keep her legs crossed and keep the baby in her. It's the forces of Nature that man can't deal with that at all. El Matador: Is the black revolution going to be a vio- lent one, or is it going to be a vocal one? Gregory:Well, that depends. Like the woman having the baby. If she can have it right, it'll be a peaceful one, but if the National Guard crosses her legs, it'll be a vio- lent one. But Nature don't deal in terms of that. She deals in terms of situations and whichever one you deal with, she comes out. It's quite natural to be violent white lfolks, but put a nigger in the Army and they teach them how to throw hand grenades and go all over the world shooting folks. And then they ask if Ilm gonna misuse you, I ain't gonna teach you to use the bazooka. And if I do, I got to be out of my mind. All them niggers gonna go over there to Vietnam, throwing dynamite that's why they are shooting up all them white lieutenants over there. There ain't a man that stupid, cat go all the way to Vietnam and guaranteed a better form of life than his own mama got in America. You don't think he ainlt gonna come back into the same thing? All black leaders that's been sitting around talking about non-violence, we couldn't tell them black folks not to go to war cause if they didn't go, they we was communists and put them niggers in jail. So they went and learned how to kill good. Now, how can you turn it on and it off? Very Hard, very difficult to do. Very difficult for me to take you hunting and teach you how to shoot a bear and a deer and when I come home and attack you mommie, your wife, your loved ones, tell me you ain't gonna shoot me? I'm the one who taught you how to shoot. And if I'm stupid enough to know I,m gonna misue you, your wife, your family and your momma, and don't have enough wisdom not to teach you how to shoot, then there's something wrong with me. I El Matador: Do you think Shirley Chisholmfwill become the first black President? Gregory: Shirley ain't running for President. Have you heard her before the press? Shels running across the country to take a coalition into the Democratic Con- vention and be able to manipulate them votes. That's what she's running for. She says it 24 hours a day. She wants to get in the position to be able to say we want a black vice president, we want to put an Indian head of the public of interior. You see what happens in this country is black folks vote 98 per cent Democrat. Now we ainlt never voted no other way but that since the Depression. So when the Democrats get their little bag of tricks together they don't even have to come to us. And what she is saying is she wants to go into that con- vention saying you ain't got them Qvotesj this time. Now you gotta pass me to get to them if you want them. What's your defense budget? 55 million dollars. We want 20 per cent of that for the black community. That's what she talking about. Which means more than talking about the Presidency. Cause what she's saying is that shels going to that convention and negotiate for the oppressed people of this country. Which is very very here. Cause she donlt have no influence on the Republi- can Party because she's a Democrat. She not gonna be at the Republican Convention, she gonna be at the Democratic Convention. And she'll walk up and sayl got X amount of delegates that I will deliver to you. Now you tell me what you gonna give me? And with that, that's very important. El Matador: Thank you, Mr. Gregory. Gregory: Thank you. more fears. fears ing ir? see St go to- he ill tator. that. that J El the lJ Gr El your wast Gr that': El of yo Gr want UY Y trial had on ii 'tappl causl you knov the I can'1 ferer not 1 know ftele And El lectt G E. you G E attit pret G E you G It's lool talk ting Whc The

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2,4 .. ' ,val-'-1-rrn.7r --'., TiWW . I A 1 , . , ,, mfy in ' of the Nixon, ling in 3 hun- 5 to do lllilllde l from lI'l play fin get lIl the that if IO, he 2. How tn has? : price is the n love :ll you talian. Look Lramp. len he :came so he le had ,d now tlly in uently 5 fears zars. I did to gfy for ut his artha? ? And f do it t work ith us, mt tO, worry ng six gOt to rllfltfyfa ts it 15 ,Y that lt die. s. The Ountry :ide at White create jrhivk 1.1 ., 1 s L v I 0 I J I 5 1. J.- Diek Gregory lecture February 23, 1972

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hite lem Jrld suse .d if nna why wer way han .in't lers ice, tuse rem kill 'ery ake d a nie, loot d if our .ave hen will you the fon- at's She nt a I of this slow the bag I US- con- Slow lem. We nat's killg that thC ver ubll- a be the I got Now that, Y more and more he,s beginning to rid himself of these fears. I think the only way for him to rid himself ofthese fears now is for me to move into the society like we mov- ing into it now: to where can he turn on the television and see something other than the Amos and Andy show or go to the stores and see Buela and Aunt Jamima. Now he turns on television set and see a black news commen- tator, a black cat doing this, the black woman doing that. It kinda relieves those fears of them, but you know that young kid coming up ain't got those fears anyway. El Matador: What you are saying is once I understand the black man then my fears are automatically gone? Gregory: Automatically gone. El Matador: You have charged the FBI with taping your telephone. How did you know that your telephone was tapped? Gregory: How do I know? I bought the tapes back, thatis how I knew. El Matador: You mean the FBI actually sold the tapes of your telephone recording back to you? Gregory: You can buy anything in this country you want to buy. You can get any information in this coun- try you want to buy. Didn't you see in the Chicago Seven trial they came in court and proved that they CFBIJ had tapped their phone? Did you see in the trial going on in Harrisburg, Pa., they got proof that they CFBIH tapped the phone? You can get anything you want be- cause we keep all our records. If you got enough money, you can buy it back. That ainlt no problem, but you know when your phonels tapped, if you have been using the phones. I can pick up this phone and talk on it. You can't tell when your phonels tapped. There is no dif- ference between a phone that's tapped and when itls not tapped. And when itls your phone, you be sure you know. There are a million ways. I know. I owed them ftelephone companyj 536,000 and didnlt pay the bill. And they wouldn't cut my phone off. El Matador: How long have you been on the concert- lecture series circuit? Gregory: Five years. El Matador: When you started out five years ago were you more militant then than you are now? Gregory: About the same. El Matador: Then you really haven't changed your attitude to much over the past five years? You have kept pretty much the same? Gregory: No. I was honest then and I'm honest now. El Matador: Have you seen any changes in attitudes of your audiences over the past five years? Gregory: Every six months you see a drastic change. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. Every six months. I look at a kid this year that's getting it to himself. You talk about how quiet it is on the coast, every kid is get- ting it to himself to try andfind out who he is. Baby, when he finds that out, boy, this country is in trouble. That is where he is going within himself. There is more people talking about eating better today. The one thing you can go to the bank and get is a million dollar loan to open a chain of health food stores cause they know that's gonna make it when everything else has failed. And the awareness, you look at the books that young people are reading today. They're very interesting. If you go to a library and check the books that young kids reading on college campuses 20 years ago, compared to the books that were read 15 years ago: compared to the books that they are reading now. You see where the changes are coming. The literature thing is altogether different. There's more social books now. At one time, man, the hottest books kids read on college campuses was the Three Musketeers and all that kinda stuff. These days are over. All of it is social stuff: look at all the so- cial books that comes off the press everyday in this coun- try. They're selling. It's totally unbelievable. I would see a tremendous difference but you can see that difference every six months. It shifted after what happened at Kent University. Tremendous shift. After Kent University, it became very interesting. Before Kent there was about twenty-nine 525,000 or better acts for college campuses, and after Kent, there's only three 525,000 acts. I mean the social thing shifted that bad that that trick just don't gomno more, So I defenitely see a tremendous change. ROTC enrollment is down across this country 53 per cent. There comes a time when a young kid wouldn't dare come to college without joining ROTC. That was his guarantee to get through four years. He don't care now. What do I need to join ROTC for, he asks. I ainlt going anyway. So what you gonna do? Put me in jail? You know what is happening in this country? So many people went to jail they stopped drafting folks. You now they haven't been drafting nobody, don't you know? You know why? Five out of every six people in the last 12 years has gone to the federal penitentiary because of draft resistance. Five out of every six. So they stopped drafting. That's what the games all about. When that thing gets to shifting, man, it gets to shifting where it can't be dealt with, they jump up and wanta make you believe that, ah, we not gonna draft nobody for six months. That ain't what it is man. They know that half the people they run through ain't going. It wasnlt bad when a lot of them was splitting to Canada, but you got a lot of them that ain't even splitting to Canada no more. They say, man,I'm not going. Period. You know, here's wherellive and anytime you want me, I know a lot of cats, man, go down to the draft they no sooner get their induction notice. Cat says, go down to the draft board man, they number so high, they wouldnlt get drafted anyway. They go down say, man, look Ijust want you to know I ain't going. They going out of their way to go on record, man. Say I'm not going. We've never been able to deal with this cause we've always had a penal sys- tem stood up where yould be scared ofjail. You stop getting scared of jail, then they can't use it no more. l