thumbnail of Say Brother; 45
Transcript
Hide -
If this transcript has significant errors that should be corrected, let us know, so we can add it to FIX IT+
Hello. Good evening. This is Jim. Welcome to say brother. Tonight we'll be looking at Roxbury as little city hall. New Release from singer Riley playing. An old standard portrait. And we will present a speech by myside minister of education of the black and the recent attacks on the party as well as the country. Ralph great. OK well you better wake up. Before we get
your wallet. And. She. Said. Oh let's. Just focus. On just a minute. Now all. Summer. Can. Be the best story. Than just the. Good. Hours. Without the sunshine. No. Girl. With. A BRAIN. Just. To.
Make it. To. Your daughter playing some. Good. You know. What. Would be the best way I. Can. Just. Here I got to call this my traveling song
because that's simply what it is it tells about someone running away and everybody runs away from something one time or other. It simply goes like this. She never tells me that she loves me and I mean damn many times I believe. But each time I continue to say. They. Don't want to be my guest the ranking member may have something I can say. But this time I'm really going with. It. She. Bout that.
I've seen a. Few people rise. She will read the note that I left hanging on her door. She'll run. When she reads the call and says I'm leaving me. Cause I'm not that good or maybe six seven eight nine times before about I keep around all travelling by the time I reach Albuquerque she'll be working a girl bet I'll be working.
Should a property stop at once and give me a call home. I'm just. Saying. The Wall. That's. Not. My Town. The whole. Thing. About. Turning. The morning on me. Lol.
Lol. Time and time and time again. I've tried to tell her so she just didn't know. Then I.
Think. They. Say. See. Just don't think. That anything. But time and time and time again I've tried to tell her so. The poor girl didn't know. I would really go for. A.
Night. And she didn't do. That and. How could she know. I've never told a soul. To save. Your mother. I guess Matt made it. Seem. Yes. At a time when the needs of the people in our community and in other communities have become more complex city government has become complicated and distant from the average citizen. In June of 1968 Mayor White established the first of 11 neighborhood service
centers better known as Little city halls. Their purpose according to Mayor White is to bring city services to a neighborhood level and provide stronger ties between people and government. What are some of the services available at the little city halls. Can they really help community residents. What role do they play in city politics. I say brother producer Ray Richardson went to Roxbury little city hall at 29 Roxbury street and talked with its new manager John Themis and the former manager Marvin Harrell. Birth of the little city our program. Quest to bring city services closer to the people make government more responsive. To the community. The neighborhood out in this case it's a neighborhood itself and what we're actually trying to do it didn't improve city services with what they're lacking. And to bring city services within right. And to
make people bring government closer to the people. MARTIN You were the first manager little sitting on the rocks for the city hall you know. What was it like getting it started. Well I. Think the job that I had. Was To must convince the. Citizens of this area that we're here to provide services that what they were not just another. Political import to explore the community. The jocks are willing to drop the ball because I would say 60 percent of people are going to do. Their work. My work bar within the structure. That. They. Saw. Me being here. Trying to. Put it to the community. At first it was so real good like. Custody. I do it so often I've been accepted across the city. By
hate once we get into operation started moving in that direction. We start introducing little things at first in the run to a somewhat larger range reason to do soon. We. Were. Exactly who said. They could do it. By reducing I mean we started our first thing the white. Clear out in the street shot. Getting rid of the excess got most of the good here. Weeks picked up the garbage collection services in the area which. People would call saying that having problems with the landlord would become very much involved in some cases with. The lot of fight wasn't part. We put on the court with these type of things not being willing. To do all our duties and with. All. The time on these cases or. Resources to.
Work. Out. It was to provide the same types of services that you would get to the big city hall one downtown. We have reached that peak yet. But what I said earlier is that we get. But they are at this point very much. In that role. Well on the way to doing just that. For example you can get applications for tax abatements fear. You can also get the. Application to the person to get this margin license you can pay you want to build. I think that's convenient. It saves a lot a. Lot of time. Problems for. People. But this is the total idea as John mentioned to to bring the government. To you. You don't have to come to us for. What women want to meet you both mention the fact that this little city hall is in fact an offspring of City Hall
itself. What exactly is a relationship. Well Christmas that we had. Because chronic presence now let's put it this way we can get 16000 complaints and we can break these complaints down but feed them into a computer center will do this. Now. It's been a passive many city elected officials answer these same types of complaint they say the events are the same types of complaint but there was no record compiled to put in to find out exactly when these emergencies are right. What can be done and how was it solved. You know PSA no city hall program all of these complaints I get are requests for service they get and they're fed into a computer and this and it's and we hope to come back with a solution that can be used throughout the city or else maybe this department needs to be needs more input into it more financial input need more manpower. They probably need more equipment. This department should be working closer with this department and this is where P.S. Does
it centralizes departments and decentralized the services and we compile our. That has to be sheets and things and it has to be compiled and put into a computer and then we some right we can break it down by what precincts What was the problem how long it took to be solved. What was the ultimate result. There are some traditional problems. In the community such as. Education. Housing concerns police attitudes. When you first came to the little city hall How did you deal with these problems and how do you think the city halls can help the community solve these situations. Well as far as the educational atmosphere community concern Rick we try to stay out of that because it's a difficult time we all go to. The school committee as I said there are issues. There's a lot to be desired as far as I'm concerned personally. The Course you understand that the school department is not on the auspices of the
church. So we're sort of dotting. The field on this. With has an interest to have some involvement not officially as far as the housing problem. I think the inflow program that the. Merits try to. Implement. But it's a start in the right direction. The previous administration has come. This coming with a program of this nature or any program to. Dissolve the housing problems of the city. It's a new it's a new concept. It's it's an innovation. Of course the problems with it. But by a larger file most of the dissenters are people forget so you can feel housing and I could not be poor or people who need to. Build a little. Seem to be are well housed. So-called middle class. They're saying what the what the poor people need. If you are in dire need of housing I'm sure
that will go along with the idea that this is again that this is a step in the right direction. What about a police problem which does exist in the community outings the city hall in our community. Yes. Or as far as the problems with police in the city all try to. Act as a legitimate sounding board for the problems that the community has with. The. Police department local. I have said before that. The majority of the police officers in the city. I think see here efforts and their efforts to enforce the law. And to combat trauma. But it starts small and charting. We have. A number. Of our. Equal representation of that number right young Oxford. Iraq squared off just area. These are individual policeman with
attitudes. The types of attitudes that we don't need here. They're not. Aware of the individual problems they're not. Aware of the desires ambitions of black folk. Who are in quizzes. So you're not into me going to the police to quell the woolly hat on for example if an individual. Contacts. This artist. Concerning a problem with the police department along with a police operation. And these are problems primarily where that individual feels that his rights. Has been abused as a citizen by a police action unwilling turn. Document this. Take it mightily head of the police department. And request their investigation on the activities of that police officer keeping the citizen and out. Of the quietness of this particular case out of medicine by. This is what we have done.
Yes. We have set up and just stuck to. The. Situation. Intercepted the call the problem that the citizen action would happen from the air. Tell the complainant. To c'est Del We'll hello we'll get back to. John in the in this community you come from. South Bend and so you all know how to run for the city hall. And people communities are a tremendous number of community organizations community active community groups exactly what is the relationship between the little city halls and. Groups citizens who live in the community. Well I see. As well sitting office to work closely with established community organizations for answers many of these organizations were in existence long before the concept of little city car even arrived. So therefore I feel as though City Hall should come into the community and work very closely with these long
established I would say shows and to work with other organizations that are established. Although this works well for instance. We don't want a particular thing that we want to do in a community the community has a very good idea what they want to do and they've been doing it for a long time and we're trying to do it so we will come in and there will be an organization to store and start and request that our the city hall and I do it we help that community organization doing what they are attempting to do. And in that way we strengthen the community and the community garden as a kid in the event that the city hard to disappear from the scene one day we will leave that community stronger than when we found it and we will not create a vacuum. Absence I mean we create a vacuum. If we did if we came in and did everything ourselves. I think a proper way and the attitude that I have to go city card is that we're going to help the community to become stronger and able to function properly. And that many of the darkness agents are very sophisticated and they can already do that and
that's what we're here for to help them. While as part of the New America office a little city halls around the city tend to function as the eyes and ears of them there. We talk about the function as a Linux community. Now what about the function going to Ode To reaction. Are there things that happen in the community or those things that happen within the mayor's office or within the city council that polluted little city hall on the part of. Our Christmas. We're quite close to the situation and community and we can probably see that we get all the complaints. And as I asked the services and different things like that into our community as I said before all these things are put on farms and they're fed into a computer and it they can't get in or out so that we understand exactly what's going on in the community as expressed by the citizens and and neighborhood organizations in the community. And plus what we see and we initiate our own now should be able to give the administration a very good firsthand look at the community itself and should give the city
council a very close look at the community itself. And. Having these facts they can better deal with that particular community since they have firsthand information. And since we're so close to this and we deal so very close to the citizens in the entire community if it's housing if it's street cleaning we got stationed around a community one time or another they are. Ask the bright spectum of city services and we work by working with them we can. That's the end we can relate back to City Hall exactly what needs to be done when it needs to be done and how it should be done as expressed by the community. Ari do you see these small city halls playing an important role in policy making the city originated or. Dealt with in the city council. I was certain you know the right thing about it is that. We first started it two or three months after an operation. We have some of the elected officials
to turn their phones down and so say I never made it. Its a waste of the taxpayers money. Too early months later. Some of the same elected officials. When trying to get a probe into their program so they can start grooming themselves to run again. The last election. They came to watch. They want to know what. Problems were how they could best service a community. What types of things that they could use on the clock or that would influence the community. I never said I was definitely think there that this is very intricate and a very important. Part that this operation can pull and will plan a house plate. Seeing the little city halls will play an important role. In the future in terms of inputs into. The higher levels of government city
government. What will keep the little city halls from becoming a political football. That's a that's a very good question and I think or if I recall my response to that the fact that. The fighter force but in the city halls of doing. It reflects the needs the attitudes are no boss and the desires of the citizens. In other words if we were doing our job we would not have such a quick bar. How get any income in there or any other United official saying that we're going to discontinue the service without ever showing to the people of the city. Well now what are affection. Will city on operation this as it has reached a profession. Are pretty much we cast our vote. No illustration can solve all problems
but at least. We're making. I died out. And I think the progress that has been made in this particular area. Is one that we can look back on and say. OK we didn't fix that protect the pothole but we did get a state lighting are extreme or we did. Remove the snow on city streets. So I'm saying that. Any other administration coming in. Now to deal of it and politically they decide that it's not about ration it's not good for the people. And they don't have to answer to people. So you see this coming to show. Us this country. Russia says it cost the United States only have one question. Want to know how this thing worked. But it was a good idea. This is a China PAC. And all that.
There's offices right now as deputy minister. I depend on these guys whether that fealty to. Kissing up to the area and not only my office but there are houses and other partners across the city. What questions arise shall the last dollars see just what it. It will be some time before community residents will be able to know just how useful and city hall is. The success or failure of the city hall project be determined by those of us who attempt to use it. So check it out. It's located at 29 Roxbury street. A deadly station. No no.
Following the militant spirit of Gabriel prose in Denmark Vesey Turner and countless
unknown black people in American history the Black Panther Party founded in 1966 by he Newton and Bobby Seale represents the same overt struggle of black people to win their liberation. Unlike its immediate predecessor the civil rights movement with its middle class leadership and orientation the Black Panther Party has oriented itself to the masses of poor black people. Its position has been to eliminate the special oppression of poor black people through militancy and armed self-defense. This revolutionary stance and their success in extending their philosophy across the country has not gone unnoticed by the power structure which has reacted with such changes as basic police harassment of panthers on the block blatant racist court decisions and political imprisonment and recently out and out suppression of local Panther chapters in Chicago and Los Angeles. But it should be come also profoundly obvious to us that this system's reaction to the Panthers is not just unique to them but to all oppressed people who struggle in a militant way. Nor is their reaction
unique for this particular time. But is this system's basic orientation to us every day. And historically since we were brought here as slaves and hence if what we are really about is obtaining our liberation then we should begin to dispel the illusion that the American system will reward us with our lives. On December 8 at Boston College along with three other nationally known black leaders the minister of education of the Central Committee of the Black Panther Party Ray Hewitt spoke about the philosophy of the Black Panther Party and the party's relationship to what is going down presently in America. The reason that we're here is because of the problems of black people. I think that revenue Abernathy was correct when he said we're headed in the same direction as we want. Same thing for all people. That's the essence of the 10 point lead woman program of the Black Panther Party. Len Britt housing
education clothing justice and peace and self-determination for press people. But the reason that you have the speakers here before you tonight with experiences ranging from well I don't want to say anything about the brothers ages but probably in 40 years 10 years. Is because we've got a problem and that problem is called survival. And some of us say that. We've got different ways again. There's no beating around the bush that some of us wait on the mothership some wait on a lark some await now. Some of us think that political power grows out the barrel of a gun. Some of the some of us think that it's very necessary that everybody respect a human right. That everyone has to defend himself. But in America if you defend yourself when you're not part
of the system then you become the criminal and the real criminal makes yourself look like the victim of an unprovoked attack. So we try we try pray and we pray in English so the negro EAS Arabic Swahili. We saying we do it in rock music we say in the blue we cry ballads. It is the voice of a people crying out to a country that has never yet heard that voice. It's been going on for 400 years. The fight the struggle for survival is a struggle against genocide. I always have misgivings about coming on college campuses cause you deal with intellectuals or students and usually the vocabulary is a lot larger than experience. And.
For it. It creates problems communicating because you is always taught us the reason that we struggle to see that to educate or to be educated. When I say struggled I mean it is a logical struggle struggle of ideas and argument. And I know a lot of students understand what I say when I mean genocide and we communicate. But if you think that. Webster defines genocide and you're wrong Webster says it is when you wipe out a whole people because Webster has a good housekeeping seal of approval from the White House on down United Nations says A. Special convention on genocide convened after details were known and well into what went on in Germany. You say the genocide. So when you attempt to wipe out a people or present culturally
physically economically because of their race in part or in. So I don't want to get into semantics with intellectuals black or white but I want to make it clear that black people understand what's happening to the the statement of position of black people most eloquently put forward. To this date has been five days and five nights in Detroit whether you like gun violence and. It's been five days and five nights in Watts Harlem from Florida to Seattle. And in Boston when black people say burn it down and put it into practice. Then you don't have to look for anybody will be a black panther or Baptist preacher to speak to the emotions and the basic needs and desires of black people because they've been shown you were set. I think the one thing that you have to honor the speakers all of us on a standard night for
is the fact that America has not had an outright race war and it hasn't been because of the goodness of any horse in the Mother Country. It's been because Baptist preachers and like dances so well we can talk to or see the pair of black panther parties not against nonviolence. We just believe it has a place. I'm nonviolent now but if you start throwing things. You know. We understand the only thing that has held this country together this long and help black people down as long as the rampant racism and racism as a tenant since the days of reconstruction was born with the Klan who were the first fascists in the history of the world. I know some of you think that it was many invent something they didn't do
invent anything. They just updated plans techniques. The Klan was a first. Night Ride in murderous barbarous organization. Their supreme purpose was to keep capitalism capitalism intact and a group of people oppressed. The Klan were the forerunners of the brown shirts. The black share is the SS to Gestapo and they're still here. Fascism started in America. America is a capitalist. Well I know that some of you think that's good because it gives you free enterprise. Look down this into the stick we call it something else. You say where we got opportunities and we may have a black man on the moon but we've got too many of you. So if you send one to the moon and you send two hundred thousand Vietnam we're not going to call it progress refused as you define progress for us. If you get up tight about us curse and we're not going to define our language either because if we
stop talking in a language of black people don't we might as well shut up. We could go into a long social economic dissertations about the evils and ills but nobody on this stage is a stranger to it. Most black people in this room are very familiar with unemployment low paying jobs had taxes high cost of living. All the evils of this. One thing about America is it has become so day to day so much the norm in America. You so used to send us to down a curtain up we sit down and we talk about take you foot off on a plea. And my thing is you come in here and you clap for us give us some donations. So all right are we doing. We're struggling against racism. Let's stop abortion U.S. racism this is genocide what's happening to the Black Panther Party is not new. We want to first was Bond brothers on stage can tell you. Maybe they've tempered but I'm not I like my
language. It's bullshit. America is. America. Part of the problem or you're part of solution. We know that everybody blacking on the same side we see that all Chinese on ascent on the same side we've got a term we call it. We know. That we would we would like to give the ticket money one way back to Cuba. We would like to pay Chiang Kai-Shek way back to mainland China so we can spread freedom and democracy under Nixon's guidance. We had 400 years of it so we wanted to go. In any anybody else. Everybody in this world is part of the problem or part of the solution. The repression has been meted out to black people in this country is the basis for song NI was the basis for Sand Creek was a basis for a massacre. And mass slaughter mass
murder throughout the history of this country. If we can do it in niggers right here born in chains don't stand a chance. That's the attitude. If you think this country is not racist you go a long ways to go. I notice some of the best friends of Colorado some of your best friends are Black Panthers a Baptist preachers. But the reason that we're here is very very serious and it has to do with survival and liberation which is not separate from each other. Black people in this country and at survival and their liberation and not separate from true happiness and true liberation of whites browns rares and yellows all over this country and all around the world because America US imperialism is number one perpetrator of fascism racism and imperialism all over the world. Was. I. Do me a favor don't laugh at
me and I should clap. Fred Houghton Hugh Newton Bobby Seale David here hundreds of others that were on NWC Peace Corps Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Don't clap for me cause one again shit America sort of said for 40 years and it don't do me a whole lot of good I say is a situation to be trying to talk rational to people who are part of the problem through complicity with indorsed bareness through silence. So don't laugh at me. I should laugh at them if you can do that. I say right on because I clap for John Brown. I don't argue hip this white man ever clap for the Weathermen weathermen shoot pigs pay shoot niggers dancers and Baptists alike. I hope that if you love to hate. Do you understand the knack in the rhetoric that I use the vernacular in the
rhetoric of people who are going up against a wall for 400 years and we find no solace in nonviolence. We find no peace in turning the other cheek continuously. Some people get stronger chicks and I will ride on more power to him. It's not our stick. We have too many pairs of funerals. We got a ransom we got bail two million dollars in New York has been stand in eight months. No trial no charges no nothing. What happened to Bobby Seale have an address guy. Niggas have no rights to white folks about respect I was a Supreme Court 1857 and it still holds true today. The courts give us no justice then WCP has bought one out because they fought a valiant struggle. Only quarter we can have any recourse in the world court is a Black Panther Party's intention to do what a lot of brothers Southern Christian Leadership Conference to a WCP Now community organization of
Afro-American Unity that used to exist talked about and has to take this government your government of which you are part charge of before the United Nations with genocide against the people. We don't think that we have to wait until a genocide is defined by 99 percent of us being extinct like the Indians or the buffalo. Ah. Thank you if you can clap that you can understand it we need everybody to support this and encourage this cause because most white people especially older generations can act as a material witness they can they can go to United Nations and turn state's evidence on America because they've been part of it. That's what we want. And there's no other goal to define it because like America has a different definition for genocide America has a different definition for what they call the civil rights problem.
Well we don't relate to the label civil rights problem militants radicals conservatives. We know that we are black and I don't think any black person in this room on the stage or who did not have to struggle to survive. I gather now they say we've got a disagreement sometimes on tactics but we understand that our struggle has got to go on a level to a world court because we're not going to let the people who perpetrated the oppression upon us stand Gerges themselves. We don't think America can do it. We're going to tell it to the world. And while America is trying to sell freedom and markets in South Vietnam by force. South Korea by force. While America plots to take back Cuba by force it will make it very difficult because we want to tell them that right here at home America has a problem. America's problem is black people cause they don't want to hear is solving a problem through genocide Red Devils speak racist
fascism. It's. Good stuff. This is going to be bombs against Betis machine guns against Panthers. That's how America solve the problem. We're on the receiving end define it is genocide genocide. We ask your support. I don't want you to have added to this sounds. This is Jim and sometimes it sounds like a football game or basketball game go on in here. I want you to have an attitude. But every good show has a commercial. We got ours about 4 million dollars in bail across this country. Two million dollars down over the last eight months. We figured two million dollars within the next two weeks if we were around to use it. The Black Panther Party is not going to change. We're not going underground. If you see us in church it'll be because we're serving breakfast to hungry children now because we believe that we're going to Sollers from the heavens.
It will be because we don't see eye to eye with a Baptist preacher Methodist preacher or a Catholic priest and deal with the hunger that's real and concrete and relevant in the black community. We don't expect to have any gun sales. We know that America has two choices. Genocide which is based on race war and which can only be averted by communicating with people like the people we have on stage here. The raise was only thing that can save your country. I heard Robin Abernathy refer to it as our country when he talked about the Spaceman but I hadn't had a chance. Race was ONLY thing can save your country so you got a choice. You become part of the problem or part of solution. Communicate meaningfully and work together. I'll just say later for I don't like niggers anyway. It's not that much else to talk about. I must admit I'd rather be in Los Angeles or Chicago or
any place that answers a question here right now because Panthers talking to black people they're dressed ourselves to what's meaningful to the black man who may not have a college degree doesn't know the U.N. from a frog. But you know as a racist fascist pig when he sees one he knows hunger. He knows unemployment. That's what we addressed ourselves to and that's why we just catch him. It's not a surprise because we knew what America was when we started the party. That's why we started it. Remember it's either part of the problem. Or part of the solution or part of the people. Thank you I thank thank you very. Much. It's.
On these trucks. Yeah. You. Know. Oh. It's not it's. Barely struggle guest.
Series
Say Brother
Episode Number
45
Contributing Organization
WGBH (Boston, Massachusetts)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/15-96d5pb05
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/15-96d5pb05).
Description
Description
Hosted by Jim Spruill, this edition of Say Brother looks at Roxbury's Little City Hall, with performances by Ralph Graham and the Modern Jazz Quartet, and a speech by Raymond Masai Hewit, Minister of Education for the Black Panther Party.
Date
1969-12-01
Asset type
Program
Topics
Race and Ethnicity
Public Affairs
Subjects
Roxbury (Boston, Mass.); Black Panther Party; Graham, Ralph, vocalist; Modern Jazz Quartet; City halls Massachusetts
Rights
Rights Note:Not to be released to Open Vault.,Rights Type:Web,Rights Credit:,Rights Holder:
Rights Note:It is the responsibility of a production to investigate and re-clear all rights before re-use in any project.,Rights Type:,Rights Credit:,Rights Holder:WGBH Educational Foundation
Media type
Sound
Duration
00:58:53
Embed Code
Copy and paste this HTML to include AAPB content on your blog or webpage.
Credits
Publisher: WGBH Educational Foundation
AAPB Contributor Holdings
WGBH
Identifier: 2d1a51cb2582bfdb8ace35203c686e0672f562dd (ArtesiaDAM UOI_ID)
Format: audio/vnd.wave
Duration: 00:58:53
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
Citations
Chicago: “Say Brother; 45,” 1969-12-01, WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed May 2, 2024, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-96d5pb05.
MLA: “Say Brother; 45.” 1969-12-01. WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. May 2, 2024. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-96d5pb05>.
APA: Say Brother; 45. Boston, MA: WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-15-96d5pb05