The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 Quotes
Stokely Carmichael: Mrs. Carmichael, when you came to the United States with your children, where did you live?
Mable Carmichael: We lived at Stebbins Avenue for a while.
Stokely Carmichael: What kind of neighborhood was it?
Mable Carmichael: It was kind of a mixed neighborhood, but a little on the rundown side.
Stokely Carmichael: What do you mean by 'the rundown side'?
Mable Carmichael: Streets were dirty, garbage pails all thrown around and not covered; and things like that.
Stokely Carmichael: How big was the place you lived in?
Mable Carmichael: We had a three room apartment there.
Stokely Carmichael: And how many people lived there?
Mable Carmichael: When my kids moved to the United States, we were still living there, my husband and I; so that made five children, because I had to there.The five that came with their aunt, my husband and I.
Stokely Carmichael: How many is that all together?
Mable Carmichael: Five and three. Eight.
Stokely Carmichael: How was life in general for you children? I mean, could they do other things most children in the United States could do? I mean, did they have enough money to do those things?
Mable Carmichael: No, we didn't.
Stokely Carmichael: Why didn't they?
Mable Carmichael: Because my husband didn't make enough money.
Stokely Carmichael: Why didn't he make enough money?
Mable Carmichael: He was a carpenter and he worked two weeks in, four weeks off. He drove a taxi cab part of the time...
Stokely Carmichael: But there were other carpenters who lived better than your husband.
Mable Carmichael: Of course.
Stokely Carmichael: Why didn't your husband?
Mable Carmichael: Because he was laid off. He was always the first to be laid off.
Stokely Carmichael: Why was he
Mable Carmichael: We lived at Stebbins Avenue for a while.
Stokely Carmichael: What kind of neighborhood was it?
Mable Carmichael: It was kind of a mixed neighborhood, but a little on the rundown side.
Stokely Carmichael: What do you mean by 'the rundown side'?
Mable Carmichael: Streets were dirty, garbage pails all thrown around and not covered; and things like that.
Stokely Carmichael: How big was the place you lived in?
Mable Carmichael: We had a three room apartment there.
Stokely Carmichael: And how many people lived there?
Mable Carmichael: When my kids moved to the United States, we were still living there, my husband and I; so that made five children, because I had to there.The five that came with their aunt, my husband and I.
Stokely Carmichael: How many is that all together?
Mable Carmichael: Five and three. Eight.
Stokely Carmichael: How was life in general for you children? I mean, could they do other things most children in the United States could do? I mean, did they have enough money to do those things?
Mable Carmichael: No, we didn't.
Stokely Carmichael: Why didn't they?
Mable Carmichael: Because my husband didn't make enough money.
Stokely Carmichael: Why didn't he make enough money?
Mable Carmichael: He was a carpenter and he worked two weeks in, four weeks off. He drove a taxi cab part of the time...
Stokely Carmichael: But there were other carpenters who lived better than your husband.
Mable Carmichael: Of course.
Stokely Carmichael: Why didn't your husband?
Mable Carmichael: Because he was laid off. He was always the first to be laid off.
Stokely Carmichael: Why was he
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Mable Carmichael: Let's see, I think Stokley was a sophomore in college when he went down to Mississippi. I stuck by the phone and by the radio, all day trying to hear what happened. And... when I heard they picked up four of them, I knew one was Stokley. I think I died a thousand times. [laughs]
Mable Carmichael: It was the first time he had been to jail. Every time he goes, I die a thousand times.
Mable Carmichael: It was the first time he had been to jail. Every time he goes, I die a thousand times.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Bobby Seale: We look at this program as a very international program. It's huh... for any human beings who want to survive.
Herself (female Swedish reporter): It's a plain Socialist program?
Bobby Seale: Definitely. Socialism is the order of the day and not Nixon's black capitalism. That's out.
Herself (female Swedish reporter): Black Panther is an armed organization. What does that mean?
Bobby Seale: It means that if any racist dog policemen, or pigs, come up and attack us at any point- or whatever point - we will defend ourselves. We will shoot them. We will kill them, because we are bent on surviving.
Herself (female Swedish reporter): And you have arms to do this?
Bobby Seale: Oh, definitely. And we're trying to get as many arms as we can. And we're teaching the people themselves, in the community, to arm themselves.
Herself (female Swedish reporter): It's a plain Socialist program?
Bobby Seale: Definitely. Socialism is the order of the day and not Nixon's black capitalism. That's out.
Herself (female Swedish reporter): Black Panther is an armed organization. What does that mean?
Bobby Seale: It means that if any racist dog policemen, or pigs, come up and attack us at any point- or whatever point - we will defend ourselves. We will shoot them. We will kill them, because we are bent on surviving.
Herself (female Swedish reporter): And you have arms to do this?
Bobby Seale: Oh, definitely. And we're trying to get as many arms as we can. And we're teaching the people themselves, in the community, to arm themselves.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Knut StÕhlberg: On the highest point in El Biar in Algiers, and among the finest villas, we find Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panther Headquarters. The villa is put at their disposal by the Algerian government. Cleaver, his wife Kathleen, and maybe twenty other Panthers, including nannies; are in the care of the Algerian government. But Cleaver is in exile. The goal seems so remote, and you get the feeling that the spring within him is a bit broken.
Eldridge Cleaver: According to my observations, and depending on how the struggle develops, the next stage is to achieve what the South Vietnamese have achieved. That is, a provisional government, a government that's not in full control of it's territory. That does not enjoy it's full sovereignty but which is recognized on a full diplomatic level by sympathetic governments and people around the world. Of course, we realize we are a far stage away from that, but the status we have achieved enables us to function.
Eldridge Cleaver: According to my observations, and depending on how the struggle develops, the next stage is to achieve what the South Vietnamese have achieved. That is, a provisional government, a government that's not in full control of it's territory. That does not enjoy it's full sovereignty but which is recognized on a full diplomatic level by sympathetic governments and people around the world. Of course, we realize we are a far stage away from that, but the status we have achieved enables us to function.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Oerjan Oeberg: This is Huey Newton, the founder and leader of the Black Panthers, on his way out of the trial in Oakland, California. This is the fourth time is trial has been postponed. Huey Newton has been bailed out for a sum of $50,000.
Huey P. Newton: So, we're gonna have to go now. Power to the people.
Oerjan Oeberg: A number of trials against radicals are being carried out across the country: the trial against Bobby Seale, the trial against the black intellectual Angela Davis, and the trial against 13 prominent Panthers in New York. The information Minister of the Panthers, Eldridge Cleaver, is in exile in Algeria. The only free leader of the Panthers is Huey P. Newton. The verdict of manslaughter against him was unjust. He was unconscious at the time of the murder.
Huey P. Newton: Ummm... my treatment was generally abusive and oppressive, and primarily because of the fact that I was a prisoner of war and a political prisoner.
Oerjan Oeberg: What do you think is going to happen with the Black Panthers now? You're losing your leaders, et cetera.
Huey P. Newton: Uhhh... it is true that many of our leaders have been confined in the concentration camps here in America. I know that the Black Panther Party will prevail - it's the vanguard of the people's struggle; and that while leaders are put into prison, new leaders are born, new leaders are made.
Huey P. Newton: So, we're gonna have to go now. Power to the people.
Oerjan Oeberg: A number of trials against radicals are being carried out across the country: the trial against Bobby Seale, the trial against the black intellectual Angela Davis, and the trial against 13 prominent Panthers in New York. The information Minister of the Panthers, Eldridge Cleaver, is in exile in Algeria. The only free leader of the Panthers is Huey P. Newton. The verdict of manslaughter against him was unjust. He was unconscious at the time of the murder.
Huey P. Newton: Ummm... my treatment was generally abusive and oppressive, and primarily because of the fact that I was a prisoner of war and a political prisoner.
Oerjan Oeberg: What do you think is going to happen with the Black Panthers now? You're losing your leaders, et cetera.
Huey P. Newton: Uhhh... it is true that many of our leaders have been confined in the concentration camps here in America. I know that the Black Panther Party will prevail - it's the vanguard of the people's struggle; and that while leaders are put into prison, new leaders are born, new leaders are made.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Lars Helander: The US is the country getting the most attention on Swedish TV at the moment, but is Swedish TV portraying a distorted image of America? Is Swedish TV anti-American? The USA's biggest magazine, TV Guide, claims this in a recent article. The editor, Merrill Pannitt, wrote the article after a visit to Europe. The criticism was mostly against Holland and Sweden. Apparently Sweden was the worst.
Merrill Panitt - Editor, TV Guide: The only thing I was interested in when I was there was the Swedish television's coverage of America; American News. And that I did criticize, because I felt that there was a general anti-American feeling.
Lars Helander: How would you define the concept of anti-Americanism?
Merrill Panitt - Editor, TV Guide: I would define it as emphasizing only negative aspects of America and none of the positive ones.
Lars Helander: The following are some of the quotes from the article in TV Guide: 'The most unrestrained anti-American television this side of the Iron Curtain comes from Sweden.'
Evening News Reporter (voice): During this weekend American B-52 bombers dropped a thousand tons of bombs...
Lars Helander: [still quoting]'Swedish TV is portraying America as an evil country run by evil men. Already negative news from America is edited to an even more negative viewpoint. Swedish media has the most hostile viewpoint against America.'
Merrill Panitt - Editor, TV Guide: But you see that we are seeing the bad news about America on our own television in the context of living here; of seeing about us everyday the positive aspects so that we have a more realistic perspective of what's going on in America. Whereas the people in Sweden, the people living abroad, are not living in America, do not see any of the positive aspects of it and are getting just the bad news. And this is the thing that I objected to.
Lars Helander: I think that one
Merrill Panitt - Editor, TV Guide: The only thing I was interested in when I was there was the Swedish television's coverage of America; American News. And that I did criticize, because I felt that there was a general anti-American feeling.
Lars Helander: How would you define the concept of anti-Americanism?
Merrill Panitt - Editor, TV Guide: I would define it as emphasizing only negative aspects of America and none of the positive ones.
Lars Helander: The following are some of the quotes from the article in TV Guide: 'The most unrestrained anti-American television this side of the Iron Curtain comes from Sweden.'
Evening News Reporter (voice): During this weekend American B-52 bombers dropped a thousand tons of bombs...
Lars Helander: [still quoting]'Swedish TV is portraying America as an evil country run by evil men. Already negative news from America is edited to an even more negative viewpoint. Swedish media has the most hostile viewpoint against America.'
Merrill Panitt - Editor, TV Guide: But you see that we are seeing the bad news about America on our own television in the context of living here; of seeing about us everyday the positive aspects so that we have a more realistic perspective of what's going on in America. Whereas the people in Sweden, the people living abroad, are not living in America, do not see any of the positive aspects of it and are getting just the bad news. And this is the thing that I objected to.
Lars Helander: I think that one
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Emile de Antonio: Well, TV Guide is an absolute nothing magazine. TV Guide is a special kind of magazine that panders to the lowest possible taste in American life. This is one of the reasons it has such a wide circulation. I found it very curious that TV Guide should suddenly attack Swedish and Dutch television - and meaningful. Deeply meaningful, but not in the sense that anybody would believe it. In that your average reader of TV Guide doesn't care about that kind of thing. But only when you consider who the publisher of TV Guide is - and that is Walter Annenberg, who is the United States ambassador to London and one of Mr. Nixon's closest advisors, as well as one of his closest financial supporters. What, I suppose, 'anti-American' really means by and large - at least the way I interpret it... I'm regarded as anti-American. I am not anti-American. I am simply against those institutions that rule America. I'm against those institutions which encourage racism, which have put us into the war and kept us in the war. The true picture of what goes on here can even be seen in American television, if you look at it long enough. The emptiness, the spiritual bleakness, the loss of meaning and the loss of purpose. The TV Guide article on Swedish television is simply a reflection of Mr. Nixon's paranoia.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Oerjan Oeberg: The prisoners in Attica revolted and barricaded themselves with 38 guards as hostages. The prisoners produced a list of 30 demands for better living conditions, in exchange for the hostages. The demands were predominantly for more humane treatment: an end to physical abuse, for basic necessities - like toothbrushes and showers every day, for professional training and access to newspapers and books. Also for transport out of the country to a non-Imperialistic nation. The riot lasted for 4 days until the police and National Guardsman stormed the prison. 40 people were shot dead: 31 prisoners and 9 of the guards that were held hostage. It was said immediately that the prisoners cut the guard's throats, but autopsy showed that all had been shot by the storming troops.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
William Kunstler - Lawyer: It's murder under any doctrine of civilized standards that any country ever had.
Knut StÕhlberg: William Kunstler is a radical lawyer. He was in the prison during the revolt as a member of the observer committee and tried to negotiate between the prisoners and the authorities. He says now that the Governor is guilty of the murders.
William Kunstler - Lawyer: The prisoners had two nonnegotiable demands: the removal of the warden and general amnesty, and they had already given up on the removal of the warden. And on the general amnesty we had worked out several formulas that we were discussing with the commissioner hours before the attack; and if we had been allowed to continue everyone would be alive and the matter would be settled today.
Knut StÕhlberg: But you yourself said at one point that you feared for your life in there.
William Kunstler - Lawyer: Well, I guess I'm a white middle-class citizen of this country and I had all the stereotypes about prisoners that any person in my capacity has. I had to learn the hard way that they were decent, honorable men; much more decent and much more honorable than the people who went in there to shoot them.
John Forte: I can't look at the Attica uprising without imagining myself there, or without taking into account my own experience with prison. And I know that, from the inside out - I never lost my humanity, my decency, no matter how many times I felt encaged and felt like I was treated as an animal over the course of my own incarceration. So, I can't look at Attica and not sympathize with those prisoners and those inmates who wanted to be treated more decently; for whatever reason. It's a question of dignity and decency. If we look at it from a purely historical standpoint, leading up to the civil rights movement in... in Attica; there was nothing that ever happened up until that point where there was such a pivotal change
Knut StÕhlberg: William Kunstler is a radical lawyer. He was in the prison during the revolt as a member of the observer committee and tried to negotiate between the prisoners and the authorities. He says now that the Governor is guilty of the murders.
William Kunstler - Lawyer: The prisoners had two nonnegotiable demands: the removal of the warden and general amnesty, and they had already given up on the removal of the warden. And on the general amnesty we had worked out several formulas that we were discussing with the commissioner hours before the attack; and if we had been allowed to continue everyone would be alive and the matter would be settled today.
Knut StÕhlberg: But you yourself said at one point that you feared for your life in there.
William Kunstler - Lawyer: Well, I guess I'm a white middle-class citizen of this country and I had all the stereotypes about prisoners that any person in my capacity has. I had to learn the hard way that they were decent, honorable men; much more decent and much more honorable than the people who went in there to shoot them.
John Forte: I can't look at the Attica uprising without imagining myself there, or without taking into account my own experience with prison. And I know that, from the inside out - I never lost my humanity, my decency, no matter how many times I felt encaged and felt like I was treated as an animal over the course of my own incarceration. So, I can't look at Attica and not sympathize with those prisoners and those inmates who wanted to be treated more decently; for whatever reason. It's a question of dignity and decency. If we look at it from a purely historical standpoint, leading up to the civil rights movement in... in Attica; there was nothing that ever happened up until that point where there was such a pivotal change
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Ahmir-Khalib Thompson: To me the worst crime that could ever be committed on mankind, is really... ignorance. You know? People that don't do anything... are perceived just as guilty as those who did something. Americans, especially privileged Americans, are really in denial about what has gone on for black people, for underprivileged people, period - but mainly for black people. You know, just because I'm allowed to drink out of the same water fountain or, you know, have a turkey dinner at Woolworth's lunch counter; doesn't necessarily equal progress. It doesn't mean that the wrongs of 400 years... is justified.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Bo Holmstr÷m: What is the new policy of the Black Panthers now, in 1972?
Elaine Brown: The policy isn't new. We like to say that we are returning to what we call our 'Original Vision'; which was to serve the people and to move the masses of our people - black and other oppressed people inside of this country - to the point of total liberation. What is new is that we have stopped becoming what we would call a 'Revolutionary Cultist Group'. We're not here to build heroic images that people can make posters out of, and that they can glorify. The point is for the struggle to be waged between the oppressed people and the oppressor - not between the Black Panther Party and the police.
Bo Holmstr÷m: What do you think about Angela Davis? She's not from the Black Panther's Party.
Elaine Brown: No, Angela, umm... Angela Davis is a very close friend of the Black Panther Party. She was a very good friend of mine, even prior to her being in the organization, the Communist Party - as she is now; and prior to my being in the Black Panther Party. She's always been very close and a very firm fighter, a very strong fighter for the people's liberation.
Elaine Brown: The policy isn't new. We like to say that we are returning to what we call our 'Original Vision'; which was to serve the people and to move the masses of our people - black and other oppressed people inside of this country - to the point of total liberation. What is new is that we have stopped becoming what we would call a 'Revolutionary Cultist Group'. We're not here to build heroic images that people can make posters out of, and that they can glorify. The point is for the struggle to be waged between the oppressed people and the oppressor - not between the Black Panther Party and the police.
Bo Holmstr÷m: What do you think about Angela Davis? She's not from the Black Panther's Party.
Elaine Brown: No, Angela, umm... Angela Davis is a very close friend of the Black Panther Party. She was a very good friend of mine, even prior to her being in the organization, the Communist Party - as she is now; and prior to my being in the Black Panther Party. She's always been very close and a very firm fighter, a very strong fighter for the people's liberation.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Bo Holmstr÷m: Angela Davis. Her name and face is recognized from hundreds and thousands of protests around the world. She's a symbol for the Black struggle against oppression; not only in America, but in the whole world. Protests have been arranged for her sake in Africa, South America, Europe and the Soviet Union. It was here that it all started: Marin County Courthouse in California. On August 7, 1970 James McClain was on trial for allegedly attempting to stab a guard in San Quentin prison. Two other black prisoners were witnesses at the trial. It had nothing to do with Angela Davis. It's not known if they even knew each other. Also in the courtroom sat 17-year old Jonathan Jackson, the younger brother of the Soledad Brother George Jackson, whom Angela Davis did know. Jonathan Jackson stood up and yelled, 'Everyone freeze,' and pulled out a gun. He handed weapons to the two black witnesses and attempted to take a hostage. They never got further than the parking lot, where a shoot out with the police took place. The judge, two black witnesses and Jonathan Jackson were killed. The police claimed that Angela Davis was the owner of the gun Jonathan Jackson had used. Angela Davis went into hiding. Much later the police found her at a New York hotel. She stands accused as an accomplice to murder, as she was the owner of the gun - a crime punishable by death under California law.
Dennis Roberts - Lawyer: This trial, I think will be historic in it's unfairness. There is no evidence at all to involve Miss Davis in the charges; none whatsoever. And I think that they seized upon this opportunity to try and put her to death. Governor Reagan originally fired her from her teaching job at the University of California, and this is simply an extension of that, as far as I'm concerned. The evidence presented to the grand jury, shows that the guns that were used in the shootout in San Rafael were registered in her name. Now, assuming for the sake of argument
Dennis Roberts - Lawyer: This trial, I think will be historic in it's unfairness. There is no evidence at all to involve Miss Davis in the charges; none whatsoever. And I think that they seized upon this opportunity to try and put her to death. Governor Reagan originally fired her from her teaching job at the University of California, and this is simply an extension of that, as far as I'm concerned. The evidence presented to the grand jury, shows that the guns that were used in the shootout in San Rafael were registered in her name. Now, assuming for the sake of argument
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
Bo Holmstr÷m: Political trials are getting more common in the USA. In Chicago, we have been able to follow the trials of seven leaders of radical parties. They are accused of trying to start riots at the Democratic National Convention. It's a trial that is less about a crime, and more about the political views of the society of the accused.
Gerald Lefcourt - Lawyer: Yes, it's a political trial. We told the judge that when you take militant Black Panthers that have been created by a system of oppression and you bring them into a courtroom, you are creating a political trial. Added to it of course, is the severe punishment that they've already suffered - waiting almost one year for trial in jail conditions that are certainly from the Middle Ages.
Gerald Lefcourt - Lawyer: Yes, it's a political trial. We told the judge that when you take militant Black Panthers that have been created by a system of oppression and you bring them into a courtroom, you are creating a political trial. Added to it of course, is the severe punishment that they've already suffered - waiting almost one year for trial in jail conditions that are certainly from the Middle Ages.
Movie: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975