Evening Exchange; Special: Martin Luther King, Jr.

It's. All going to. Turn. You. To. To. For 12 years. American flags have been urging the Congress to grant a national holiday in honor of the man who has had the greatest impact on their lives and the lives of people around the world. The birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.. January 15th is celebrated in many European African and Middle Eastern countries. Those in America who would honor Dr. King cannot understand the failure of Congress to grant such a tribute to their leader. The Pied

Piper of black music brought that message to the Congress today. Stevie Wonder's March for a national holiday for Dr. King will be highlighted on this special edition of even exchange. Hello I'm and Sawyer. Without further ado here is a report on the activity activities in support of this effort nationwide by W.H. EMEM reporter Stella home. Today is a 50 second birthday of one of the greatest leaders in America's history. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. an assassin's bullet struck Dr. King down in Memphis Tennessee April 4th 1968. From the East Coast to the west coast from the north to the south marches rallies candlelight masses memorial services proposed legislation to make Dr. King's birthday a national holiday highlighted commemorations today led by songwriter Stevie Wonder and national rally in March from the capital to the monument along with a petition drive to make January 15th a national holiday dominated activities in the district. Scores of events throughout the United States emphasize the life of the slain civil

rights leader Dr. King. Dr. King proposed led by. On the west coast the Southern Christian Leadership Conference hosted an awards dinner tonight at the L.A. Hilton. Recipients included entertainer Stevie Wonder and Rita Walters long black member of the L.A. Board of Education children in the Los Angeles public schools like many schools around the country had the day off in honor of Dr. King and the NAACP their planned unity rally and march to the city capital. In the southern city of Little Rock Arkansas. January 15th is a holiday with the city hall and city government offices close in Chicago radio station W.J. P.S. worked out a deal with the Greyhound bus station resulting in 20 bus loads of people coming to the Washington march with tickets priced at only $25 round trip. While looking at citizens in South the birthplace of Dr. King Atlanta Georgia and numerous other activities

since Sunday hosted by the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change headed by King's widow Coretta Scott King highlighted their activities there today including in the activities was a tribute rally at a local high school and a march from there to the gravesite of Dr. King a prayer service was held in the afternoon at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. Daily tributes to Dr. King in Atlanta included special guests like United States Majority Leader Howard Baker former United States Ambassador Andrew Young and Alperin concert Starlee team Price joining in the birthday anniversary celebrations in the sunbelt city of Houston Texas. They had a special to me plan today at the local black radio station. Every hour on the hour they played music and speeches in King's honor. The station management there said it's important that the words of King's life live on. The station manager says like King people have to realize that we must live here like brothers or perish on earth

together like fools. Dr. Joseph Lowery president VSC Elsie spoke at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Mobile Alabama last night of events in Mobile included a prayer breakfast at the Civic Center this morning and mass meetings around town. WBL likes radio station immobile started its drive to get King's birthday declared a national holiday last November with other with about 10000 birthday cards sent to the stations and thousands of petitions circulating throughout the city. Their commitment says Program Director Michael Alexander will remain strong through black history month. Ninety eight businesses in Pensacola black businesses I should say in Pensacola Florida are closed today in numerous vigils mark their salute to the memory of Dr. King. However positive thoughts of Dr. King were briefly interrupted this afternoon with neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan groups conducting counter marches today in Buffalo. Black groups are asking for the cooperation from the community and their participation in the downtown

march honoring Dr. King. With tensions brewing in Buffalo with the recent killings of black men there police said that they are ready for anything efforts to make Dr. King's birthday a national holiday we'll continue though through the legislative bill introduced by Congressman John Conyers from Detroit after the failure of the bill that passed in 96 Congress Conyers will introduce it again in the 1970s Congress through song artist Stevie Wonder and dedicated others around the world. Dr. King's life will continue in song and book the national tributes to Dr. King today from around the country. Made January 15th 1981 a national holiday for many people. Reporting for the evening exchange on Stella Hohmann thank you very much Stella. Good report. Now we have a visual tribute to Stevie Wonder's song Happy birthday by Studio supervisors Fletcher Johnson and Frederick Douglas Perry.

All. Right. You're.

Just. Like.

Before we get into coverage of today's march we would like to provide for the benefit of our youth a clear picture of the impact of Martin Luther King's teachings and

dreams for that purpose. We're happy to have with us one of Dr. claims King's Close associates. The executive director of the New York bureau of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Dr. Wyatt Walker also senior pastor at Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in New York. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us tonight. My pleasure. First of all Dr. Walker is Dr. King's dream still one def.. Well yes it's still deferred but. We are where most of us have been asking both friend and foe the wrong question and we should be asking rather what what has happened is Drene we should be asking what has happened to us. Because the his congenital enemies were racism poverty and war. And the present state of affairs not only in this nation but in the. Geopolitics of the world community are such that the dream still has validity. We need a world where people are judged not by the specificity of their identity but on the basis of their fundamental. And

people ought not to go to bed hungry. And we need to get rid of the specter of nuclear holocaust first in addition to that you know we're pushing for a national holiday for Dr. King. This all that we have to do something some leaders are now saying that we need to get back into the streets and do all the ends the sit ins. Not I think we made a mistake. Somebody sold us a bad bill of goods suggesting that the day of mass marches were over. Somebody should have told the Ayatollah Khomeini he didn't he would get the news. And he's they are they're under from under the heel of the Shah. I think that's a mistake that we made the first time that the black community and its leadership came together in 13 or 14 years since the poor people's march was when Andy Young was fired from the U.N.. That's ridiculous when you consider the plight of black people in America. We're worse off now than we were 30 years ago. What are some of the tactics you feel that we should we should begin to engage in in order to further this struggle.

Well I do not want to besmirch the memory and life of Martin Luther King Jr. I served him as chief of staff from 1960 to 64 and I was at that time completely committed to the nonviolent strategem. Since his assassination and as I've observed what is going on in South Africa and recently Zimbabwe and Namibia I think the black community in America and those similarly situated are fast coming to the moment where we've got to decide that we must have our political freedom by any means necessary. It does not mean to say that non-violence as a tactic needs to be abandoned but I'm not sure that everybody needs to be nonviolent when you consider the inflexible posture of our enemies. During the 60s to speak of enemies declared enemies of blacks during the 60s Klan activity was confined primarily to the south or non Klan activity that is today we see not only a resurgence of the Klan but we also see it surfacing in California and Buffalo and Michigan.

Do you think that this is because these elements have been there all the time or has the Klan changed its face so much that it is now if not attractive to some people at least palatable. Well systemic racism in America is like apple pie and motherhood. It's a part of what goes on in America and as you rightly perceived it's been beneath the surface. And we are in a reflex moment now as we were just prior to the Nixon years when white America feels that black people have gone too far and they're getting too much. And so the reaction these are just symptoms of the reaction of that kind of reaction to black people's hopes and aspirations. I'd like to ask you a question about Arab Black relations. Following that one on the clan Jose Williams who came out and visited Libya and wanted Libyan Arab Black relations.

After that he retrenched his feelings. Do you still feel that that we need to have dialogue with the PLO and support Palestinians. It was last January. No I have no regrets. Last January I went on a fact finding mission to Beirut and visited as I had previously some of the refugee camps. And in addition to which I had an opportunity to visit the installations of the PLO the factories the orphanages the mental health centers the hospitals etc. and it is not the PLO that we particularly need to have dialogue with it is that they are the niggers of the Mideast and they have not had any semblance of justice and America and its foreign policy needs to have an even hand. And we have given inordinate support to Israeli concerns to the victimization of the interests of the Palestinian people. It's not an Arab interest so much as it is a human rights interest and black people if we have any morality at

all we ought to always be identified with people who are suffering from an abridgement of the human rights. Why do you call them the niggers of the Middle East. Because what's happening to them is principally what's happening to us here in America. How can you be specific. Well. Before the British mandate the geography which now represents the state of Israel 94 percent of it was deeded land in the names of Palestinians with calculated design Arab cities which once existed have been obliterated from the face of the earth. And no matter what the Zionist lobby and is the is the Israeli lobby in this country says if you look at the bare record of how Israel came to be it was not even handed the mandate said that there should be a partition and there should be a state of Israel and a Palestinian state somewhere along the line with the collusion of Britain and France and the United States. The Palestinians they've got lost and there are 2 million refugees out in the desert now who have been

uprooted from their land. And with this new wave of settlement settlements on the West Bank it is a further encroachment in abridgement of these people's rights. At the same time though the PLO has used some tactics and harmed a lot of innocent people who have really have nothing to do with that problem. Do you also endorse that if you could get Mugabe here as you had him here not long ago they would be and his record of their struggle for liberation that some innocent people got killed. It depends on your political perspective and your narrow interests as to whether somebody is a terrorist or whether they are freedom fighters. Let's get back to our own problems and particularly the days when you were with Martin Luther King. Did the FBI Cointelpro program COINTELPRO operation rather have a psychological impact on the SDLC to the extent that it began to decline. Not in any wise. In fact their operations only helped send it to to us. They were a joke because the nature of a nonviolent struggle is it was

completely transparent. I mean in Birmingham we gave our press releases to Bull Connor's agents and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation they had another name but I don't know. I can't remember what it was and we did for the sake of our own operations develop a kind of a code by which we talked about how many candidates for baptism we talk by having people who were scheduled to go to jail and so forth. But it didn't have any any morale effect on us. We always knew they were there. And like Malcolm X said our reflex was that we always knew the white man was our enemies was no problem. Do you believe that there was a conspiracy surrounding Dr.. Oh absolutely there's a connection. There's a conspiracy in his assassination and I believe that there's a connection between the assassination of Malcolm X and Martin King. Do you have any any kind of evidence to support your. I'm a man of the Spirit. The Lord revealed it to me. What can I say to that. What do you feel. I'd like to get back.

Seriously I don't mean to be jocular but. When you consider that a plane can blow up. And it's debris covers seven states and the FBI can find out who did it. And by the same token it's only been one bombing solved in Birmingham out of nearly 30 and that with the kind of intelligence system that this nation boasts about it we can't find out really who killed Dr. King and what would force a man. It just kind of these little dry taste in your mouth. And so I think everybody who was close to our movement and people who think it through understand Dr. King was a threat. To the now interests of America because of his position against the war in Viet Nam. He had none. Then begin to influence the ebb and flow of commerce and industry and in this nation if you want him to go crazy and you stop messing with the dollar. What should blacks do on a holiday. Say that a holiday has passed. If it is passed how do you feel. Black people should observe that particular

holiday. Well you know I'm beginning to consider that maybe it's a good thing that it has not passed as a national federal holiday at this point because in fact we have made it a people's holiday. It is even more than a holiday it does now. Martin Luther King week I've been involved in celebrations of Mark Martin Luther King's life since last Friday and I'll be running through next Monday. And I think that's true of many communities. If we get to make it like a Lincoln's birthday or George was his birthday then all you think about is looking for the sales at the department stores and I would hate to see it. Reduced to that. I think it is a time for reflection and for us to make a new commitment. It isn't sufficient for us to just celebrate this holiday and have a day off if we are not willing to join the struggle against racism poverty and militarism. A lot of people would like to join that struggle but they're not getting any specific ideas about how they might join that struggle. So how is it likely to be specific. Well you know I'm not going you tell your church members. Well we as you know we're

right in Harlem. Probably the worst ghetto if not the worst or second worst. If I give that dubious honor to the South the South Bronx were ghetto in America. And in the biblical pattern we're trying to rebuild black hopes and aspirations right in Harlem. We're trying to build housing we're trying to do something about cutting down on black on black crime. Are trying to keep our hospitals open. We're trying to keep people to be politically active. That's what Martin Luther King would do would be doing if he were in a local situation. And I think it's an error to think that there is no more move but there is plenty of movement but it's at a localized level and it has to be you can't have a national movement and do you have some local movement. It's just that we do not enjoy now the attention of the media black people and black concerns are not a priority issue in America and it's because we left the streets.

We need to mobilize in such a fashion that this nation can operate when it wants to wake up Monday morning and that's the only way they listen to us. The squeaking wheel gets the grease. You worked for a while with then Governor Rockefeller in New York and there has been quite a bit of opposition to him within his own Republican Party. Why do you feel. Why do you think that the moral majority types and hate hate Rockefeller so disliked him so. Well I think and they not only Rockefeller but the eastern establishment I think Rockefeller was the focus of a lot of their ire because Rockefeller was not a Republican in the traditional sense. We've always said he was probably in the wrong party. He had a great compassion for people which the Republican Party generally has not had. And he was innovative and willing to try things that had not been tried before. His enormous wealth. I'm sure that bothered some of them. There were not many people in the Republican Party who are as wealthy as the Rockefeller

family. And so it was a combination of many things and of course Rockefeller took some unpopular stands as it related to the poor as it related to the civil rights struggle. I remember in Albany Georgia picking up the phone one night and at the end somebody said this is Nelson Rockefeller what can I do to help. I needed two or three or four or maybe 10 $12000 to bail some people out of jail and he supplied him with that. King was killed. We needed a plane to fly the contingent up for the march in Memphis that Dr. King had planned. And he provided it and they are all kinds of things that he did very quietly to help support our move and we had a poor people's campaign here in America. We needed a. I mean in Washington we had needed a irrigation not an irrigation a water system. It cost $35000. Nelson Rockefeller supplied it. And there was no you know he was not the kind of person who required you know bowing and scraping and when he did things which he thought were proper I have a lot of friends who say that of course they're all white

people in this country and not bad if they were we'd all be dead. But do you see any other Rockefellers I mean as far as man of the heart are concerned operating actively and in the interest of blacks today I don't know of any. If you hear of any I'd like for you to let me know. Briefly I'd like to end this with a summary of some of the people who have come out of the sea or seen to become leaders because quite a few of you and Ben Hooks from my home town comes to mind who are some of the people that we know nationwide who started with the US SDLC. Present company excepted. Ralph Abernathy who was sort of an elder statesman now. Andrew Young my successor at ACLC has been U.S.. U.N. ambassador. You've got Walter Fauntroy for me in D.C. who ran our Washington bureau. You have C.T. Vivian who is running a shop in Atlanta. You have Dorothy Cotton who works in city government. Septimus Clark is now retired.

Jim Bevil is doing some freelancing around New York City and other places in the East. Richard battles who was our Connecticut man unfortunately passed a couple of months ago. From terminal cancer. Birju Wood who is one of our Virginia men is in Boston. It is the blacks as opposed to using quite a few who cut your teeth on their own or as they were a great talent that surrounded Dr. King and doing things of considerable significance at this moment. Thank you very much Mr. Wong Rev. Walker for lending us your your time. I know that you pushed for time too. You're going over to Crampton auditorium. We'll be back with today's march after this brief break. Get it in commemoration of the

birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. W.H. presents an evening of special programs this Thursday January 15th in honor of the great leader for peace beginning at 7:00 p.m. with a special edition of human history channel 32 examines the life and the legacy of the great Dr. King through the eyes of those who make money. At age 30 w H&M presents a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a one hour concert program featuring readings by Cicely Tyson and musical selections by George Shirley at 9:30. Following this tribute concert is the film legacy of a dream narrated by James Earl Jones. With appearances by Coretta Scott King and Andrew Young. Be sure to join us Thursday evening January 15th beginning at 7 p.m. for a special commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here on W H M channel 32. Washington D.C..

This might despite the snow and slush. Our crew was out in force with whl memory to Nikita to bang. And here is what they saw. January 15th came with snowflakes on the movement of black people coming from across the United States to march on the streets of Washington in support of a national holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.. W H m m camera crew was on the scene and talked with some of the participants at today's march and rally. Today I came out to help make this a national holiday for one great. Black leaders in America. We have had a chance to come out to come

out to support some of the things that he died to help us. We feel that this day is a day that we can come together and prove not only to ourselves but to the rest of the world that we are about unity. We are about this dark King we're about. And I just want to say that all those who could make it we feel your support. Keep praying for us. We'll show Congress that Mr. King means that much to us to be here. Right now we have a portrait that we were going to dedicate to Dr. King's family in support of tangible support from the Los Angeles community that this day should be a holiday. As my husband said This is a day of peace and unity a love that transcends all color bounds. And that's one thing that this country really needs to know that it transcends all color bounds not only black white but Mexican and Chinese and whatever. So pray for us have peace and love in your heart on this day and whether or not Congress decides to make it a holiday or not. We can just by just by peace and love and harmony in our hearts and thank you and God bless you.

I want to make this day and I want to come down to the cabins and make the day a legal holiday because feel so George Washington and all them has a legal holiday. Why can't he have a legal holiday. And I'm thinking you know they say it's cost too much money. You know it didn't cost too much money for them to have legal holiday. Yet it cost too much money for us to have a holiday. Man I just had to be eight years old when he died. And he stood through a lot. Not only for the black Grays for. Also think Stevie Wonder a whole hell of a lot for trying to get it together and I hope some day Reagan get off this bird and. Hopefully make this a national holiday for everybody. Today's events were initiated by the spiritual creative genius Stevie Wonder who with the co-sponsorship of the office of the mayor of the District of Columbia and the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta called for a national

march to support congressional legislation to make King's birthday a national holiday. As Martin Luther King himself asked America how long today's response for passage of that congressional measure was not long. It is long overdue said Dick Gregory as he renewed his dedication to the betterment of black people in America saying that it's been 12 years since the bill was first introduced to Congress by Michigan Democrat Representative John Conyers in 1969. The closest the bill came to passage was in November of 1979 when it lost by only five votes. Conservative forces in the House citing the so-called inflationary nature of the measure offered an amendment in December of 1979 to observe King's birthday on the third Sunday in January. The bill's floor leader New York Democrat Robert Farseer decided to withdraw the bill rather than see its original intent diminished by a Sunday observance during the 1970s session of Congress. It's expected that Representative Conyers will

introduce the bill on the House side and Senator Charles MacIntyre's introduced the bill today on the Senate side. Convened on the grounds of the Washington Monument ending their walk with song and prayer they were greeted by several dignitaries. The following are excerpts of speeches made by. Martin Luther King the third. Jesse Jackson John Conyers Walter Fauntroy and Stevie Wonder who's here. We get. Used to say. We get. To live

together. As. We get to. This country. We need to get this day. You know we do. Not need. A speech.

And yes the question will be. To. Get. My

family. And. The Congressional Black Caucus which is the chair. Which. John Conyers. I want to say three things to you. First of all. We need. To get this bill passed. Second you leave. We want you. To get your name and address. Your name and address. Congress. Should network. Because we are going to need to reach you. You need to reach for us.

Your representative and you have to say yes. It will do no good to me today. And to those representatives and senators. In. This. Day to day going to call me 1 million people so you can use. You have. Made me so very happy today.

You've made all of us believe. So very deeply. And the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. you. Know that you really. I. Would. Like to. Share with you. This is probably one of the first times of these systems a. Very good friend of mine. Who has just assisted me was to tell myself. That my friends would try to come up with some words. That I hope. Simplify the essence. Also how you feel. About this holiday. It's beautiful to be here today. It's just a

noble purpose. I do want to thank you for telling you today. Even though it's freezing cold and snowy there are jobs to be done. Money to be made. From the time the energy the necessary resources. And the courage to step forward as Americans and as human beings. On this day to seek the mission and the great principles he lived fought and died for. And of course. Speaking of effort. To have. The king genius birthday declare a national holiday. That. We should get here for this purpose to see the nation's capital is here almost two decades ago that some of us and many of our parents

friends and family gathered for that now historic occasion. The March on Washington. D.C. we should gather here it is here that Martin Luther King inspired the entire nation and the world with his words his great vision but challenging us and standing with this great dream. Even though he has since passed away and he's still as father and the truth is the day he spent with the words he still can never die and wither away. They speak from the vast eternal ocean. Great and true principles that have been the teachings of the former all the messengers turned down

the message of peace and know basic human dignity free no assassination no person no call for Kill can kill these great heroes. They live forever in the hearts of free people everywhere and for all. This because it is best that Dr. King is a heroic figure a man for all time and a man for all seasons and surely a man in America can be a major part of today's mobilization effort was a 30 day petition campaign. According to the national mobilization office to support legislation for King's birthday over 1 million signatures have already been received. The march and rally was endorsed by several organizations around them were the National Urban League the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and

giving new hope for a national King holiday to black America. Stevie Wonder said that the goal of unity peace and brotherhood is something most to say can never happen. But he says the response today's march will exert positive energy to tell those who think it cannot happen. That will thank you Nikita as you can see Nikita in the ring to bang is now in the studio with us. And first of all let's talk about the mood of the people. Yes I came up first of all do you know how many came up can you estimate. Well from my estimation I saw tons and tons of people and I believe with the estimation that was given that there were over 200000 people out there and on the monument grounds today. And I think the thing that I observed the most was the spirit of the people. I mean it was cold but it was warm. I mean the weather had nothing to do with

this. This march today I think the people the people were saying we are ready. This is what we want we want. We want to take part. We want to participate we want to do something to better America for us but just show us how do you feel that they're going to disperse and go home it will be the same old thing same old problems after the birthday or after today's march or do you feel that possibly with some leadership that these people could be really be mobilized again to go in back into the streets as Reverend Walker said earlier today. Oh yes. I think I think that we are going to see a resurgence of the 60s here in the 80s because I think not only not only are the people going to go back and try to do something like they were school today that they should go back and write to their senators and congress people in their different cities to to make that move and drive to see that King's birthday become a national holiday. But I think that people are really ready for the other problems that black

America faced. Did anyone really state those problems to you as you went around and ask why are you here. Why are you here. Did you hear any of this any distress or of any mood of this. Oh yes oh yes oh yes. People were crying out saying that. Why can't we be treated the same in terms of. And I guess it's because of the theme for today that it was the national holiday saying that while we are Americans too and we are entitled to have somebody represent us. And this man did represent us and it is time to have some kind of movement and not only the movement for the national holiday but in terms of bettering life here in America. Were they distressed optimistic or pessimistic. Well some of most of the people that I talked to it was like today was a day when.

I hate to term it like this that the world stopped but they were they were just so vibrant. I feel fine. I feel wonderful. This is happening and I think a lot of it was the the disbelief in a lot of us that went out there and looking at the weather and not really feeling well are they really going to come out. And then when you saw droves and droves of people you couldn't do anything but beat up and forget what was happening but just deal with hey we do have unity we talk about black apathy but it's not really there. You know it for me in terms I've listened to the rhetoric of Black people are not really ready. But we are. I swear we are. I really today prove that to me. And I think you have to be there to really feel it and see it. I've never covered it as a reporter an occasion like that when you don't get really emotionally involved even though you go ahead and do an objective job. Of course you have to feel something. Were you able to detect

what the socio economic strata of the general population you came were the all poor or upper middle class or. No we had a lot of everything. We had a lot of everything. We had the upper middle class the middle middle class the lower middle class and the poor. They were all there. Today we had children old people young people. There were white people there were Hispanic people. They were there. And I think that this whole movement is so great because of what Martin stood for that all cultures could have unity. And I think this is what people are really hoping will happen because like one of the you noted noted in the report one of the sisters from Los Angeles was saying that it's we have to move beyond the color line that it's not just a matter of color it's a matter of what is happening to us as people. Then there is no reverse. And experts say there can be no

racism on the part of blacks anyway because that means if one race is subordinate to the other but they are not looking for total black nationalism that sort of thing. Still integration is is a part of the feelings of most of the people you get that we should live as an integrated society. I I I couldn't get that from the people OK. But it couldn't. We got to go. I can really appreciate it and enjoy your report. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nikita Tabak as reported earlier on. Evening exchange. There are many activities in support of a national holiday honoring Dr. King one of them was the call for a national boycott by the local and national Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The Rev. Goodwin Douglas spearheaded that movement here in D.C. He is pastor of turn on Memorial AME Church and president of the black Methodist clergy. Welcome. And I've said Welcome already because you've been with us all evening. I really appreciate it. First of all why did you feel that it was necessary to have a boycott

on his birthday. Well first of all and I've been involved in the movement since 1960 having been jailed and beaten up and just totally involved in the movement. And to let the. Birth they all let the dream more than the birth. They just died. Seems to me a waste of time and Dr. King's life would have been given in vain. And I think as as black people we need to again raise the level of political and social consciousness among our people. Because we seem to have forgotten. Many of us are in jobs or have jobs and have made great gains as a result of the struggle. That was made by and led by Dr. Martin Luther King. And during that great civil rights revolution of the 60s the people who really worked hard are not the people who made the gains because in any revolution the middle class always are the ones that make the gains. And we

still have black brothers and sisters down in Alabama and Mississippi and right here in Washington. We need to get up off or nothingness or our apathy and begin to do something again. As Reverend Walker said earlier one of the worst ghettos in the world exist in New York City perhaps to Harlem and the South Bronx. So I think we have to mention those two areas also right as deprivation and still without to a great extent hopeless. There are several areas as you've stated you know that we could we need to be working on. That shit a holiday a federal holiday being granted by the Congress. Would you feel a subsequent need for a boycott in any situation. No. If a holiday was granted by the federal government then I would like to see us as a people use that day for constructive dialogue such as today to raise the level of consciousness to

make people aware of their political duty to make them aware that racism has not died. That there are still people who are unemployed and underemployed that there is still sexism where black women or women period. I find it hard in the job market. People are still hungry. People can't get health care. Hospitals are turning people away. I like to see that they use as a day to make people aware. They should make it a holiday because each agency and the federal government allows its employees to attend a pseudo celebration right in their department from 10 to two. So they should give us a holiday. And I was happy today to hear that Sen. Mac Mathias is going to be introduced into this Senate that this might become a holiday.

I won't get into prospects of it passing in the Senate. A new Republican right Senate. Do you feel that we need to get back to the streets marching again. Yes I think we need to get back to the streets to begin registering our protest to those who oppresses and that's Dr. Martin Luther King used to say so many times. Freedom is not given by the oppressor but must be demanded by the oppressed. And until we demand. Our rights until we stand up and be men and women our brothers I'm not going to recognize it as a clergyman. I'm appalled that the white churches have somewhat sat down. And during the early civil rights movement I guess because they were afraid they joined in with us. But now they have also gone back and you can see this reflected in the moral majority that live that minister led by

ministers that you know they fail to see what's happening in this country. And I think the black church has to take a lead has to take a stand in this area. How do you answer those opponents who say that a national holiday would cost too much cost the federal government too much money. I answer that by saying well they just gave the federal workers the 26 December off and nobody squabbled about it. I don't think it would cost any more money. And since we're in an energy crunch I'm sure that they could save some money by saving energy and letting us use it as a constructive day. When we think of the money that they're talking about using to rage nuclear war and to do this spending eight million dollars on Reagan's inauguration I don't think that it's too much to ask the federal government to give one day where human beings can become involved in reconciliation to become involved in talking

about peace and learning how to live. In this harsh world. You mentioned just the fact that you would call for people spending a constructive day and you've just mentioned some of the things that they might do on a national holiday should it be granted an official holiday that is. What are some of the other ways that you feel people not just blacks because Martin embraced everyone here brace to. What else do you feel that we should do on that day before we get into what we need to do period. I think what we need to do on that day. We need for a moment to reflect on the fly to understand the I'd I'd like to see our young people and how whether they be black white Hispanic or what. Reflect on what happened in the 60s. And maybe have workshops for them because they don't know nothing about Martin Luther King

Other than the name. You know my children's A dad who was Martin Luther King and other than seeing his picture on a plate or on a souvenir we've not really sat down with our children and told them that it wasn't always like this. It was much harder. And the road is still rough and we still have to become involved in and work toward our freedom. What kind of psychological impact do you feel it has on the children when they don't understand these things and yet they learn eventually that. Because they are black they are not going to be liked by some and that they're going to run into barriers everywhere they go. You know most people are their children until the world is yours. And by the time our children get to be 17 or 18 years old if that late they have to learn that the world is not there is not here anyway but there are barriers

there. I think we have to allow our children to become involved into. Positive areas of education to let them know that. All of the good guys are not like John Wayne and Ronald Reagan. But that there are black people such as Crispus Attucks and Benjamin Banneker. Martin Luther King. All of the Fannie Lou Hamer in all of these people who who who struggled to make life better for us not to be ashamed of their blackness. I think Stevie Wonder and I think Jesse Jackson put it well today. You know you are somebody there's a long list you think he is somebody you want that. And to be black and proud is to to stand up and to know those people who have made you.

It's been wonderful talking to you. Enjoyed being here and Reverend Douglas and thank you very much for joining us on the Exchange. Thank you for being a part of this special hour on evening exchange. Howard University endorses the movement to make Dr. King's birthday January 15th a national holiday. And we urge the passage of the bill now pending in Congress sponsored by Representative John Conyers of Detroit to make this an official holiday. Howard University feels that the best way to commemorate Dr. King's birthday and memory is to join in with organizations which carry on his work and believe in his ideals. The struggle goes beyond just the birthday celebration as Dr. Martin Luther King would so affirm. Now we would like for you to continue to send in your comments and we hope that we have your support. Also send news of any upcoming events of your churches and clubs to chimène TV channel 32 at 26 standard 4th Street Northwest Washington D.C. 2 0 0 5 9. I'm in Soyer have a good evening.

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