Black Journal; 25

[music] [Narrator] This edition of Black Journal presents the Black Warrior which explains how karate is being used as a means of combating social ills, The black filmmaker a look at racism in moviemaking, exclusive reports from Attis Ababa Ethiopia by our African bureau, the first Congress of African people since 1895 held in Atlanta, astrological predictions from this black journal until the next, and a brother in Mississippi claims foul play in Jackson State shootings. [music] [Brown] Brothers and sisters this is a new season and Black Journal has a new look. I'm

Tony Brown the new executive producer and the format you will see has been changed from last year. But our commitment to projecting a realistic picture of the black experience is the same. Last year with Bill Griese at the helm Black Journal won an Emmy and the Rushmore award. Not a bad season. We don't know if we'll win anything this year but we do know that we will continue to provide our audience with an honest program about ourselves. Black Journal will continue following these black commercials. [Narrator] The next time someone says the black woman is domineering, remind them how gentle her strength.

[Narrator] how gentle her strength. [Man] The future of black people depends on their unity. For too long now black people have been expanding with rhetoric but doesn’t [Woman] The black woman’s role should be later a man and family. But first she must learn to relate with her community. [Narrator] Right brother. Right sister. Right on! [Hamilton] Anybody who will take a stand against oppression has to be considered a warrior. The idea of black men being warriors or distinguished soldiers or fighting men is always played down.

the ?inaubilbe? These blacks must have ?inaudible? If these blacks ?inaudible? you will get raped. One more time I'm taking a sweep [grunts] The names mentioned to blacks are inevitably so-called men of peace. But you don't hear of Nat Turner or Denmark Vesey or Shaka Zulu or Malcolm X, because these people say black man, Win back the esteem of your black woman and be a man, stand up, win back not only esteem of your women but let the people throughout the world know that you’re a man, [grunts] and that you have some power and some majesty personally. A man in the true sense of the word, m. a. n., m. a. n., defends himself. [grunts] I feel that every person who comes to karate brings

a specific part of himself to the art. I'd been very seriously injured in 1957. I was almost burned to death. Sustained approximately 40 percent 3rd degree burns over my body. I had approximately 12 operations, and I was given up for dead four times. I was saved from death for a specific purpose. I came to karate because I believe that my major contribution can be the uplift, the helping of black people, to find confidence in themselves. [Narrator] Since slavery, this society has tried to destroy the black family. One of our priorities is to solidify the father-child relationship. We must fully reclaim our manhood.

Karate, one of more than 15 martial arts, develops along with physical abilities the qualities of manhood. [Hamilton] The martial arts in the sense that it restores a psychological balance to an emasculated black male. It gives him a feeling of intrinsic personal power. It gives him a feeling that he knows now that he's a man, that he’s not insecure, that he’s not frustrated, and he can direct his energy then since he doesn't have to make the fight for masculinity everyday. He can direct his energy to more useful pursuits. Alright we’re very fortunate tonight to have here with us Mr. Toyotaro Miyazaki. Mr. Miyazaki is probably the finest karate in... without a doubt is the finest karate exponent in the United States. States. First I’d like to give you how Mr. ?O'Connel? wants kata done. [grunts][sounds of movement]

[sounds of people sparring] Karate can be anything to you you want it to be. It can be the total experience of your whole life. The people in my dojo are going to be different from any other dojo anywhere except in the black community. Because in the first place they have come through a

youth whereby from the age of maybe 6 or 7 years old up they are the most sophisticated children on earth. They’ve learned to survive in a savage and almost unbelievable world. Karate per say when I say survival is a black woman coming home late at night and some idiot happens to grab her or jump her or molest her [grunts] We can see that she reduces him to jelly. Or some kid who two or three toughs in the schoolyard want to beat up because he may be small in size or stature or apparently weak. This in a sense is also survival. [child yells] [male voice] Which is on the ?force? to let me have here, all you need is a ?inaudible? pull your knees up, look straight ahead. [child shouts] [Narrator] Sensei Hamilton, sensei a Japanese word for teacher, maintains his ties visually with Japan and with African-American by displaying the Shotokan patch which indicates his style of karate on the right arm and the

Black Liberation flag on the left arm. [adults and children shout] Sensei Hamilton views ferocity as a positive force, and uses this to underscore the basic purpose of karate: that of self-defense. [Hamilton] I find that ferocity is an innate trait of almost every individual under pressure and I... If you don't think there's any ferocity in a black communities. The only reason for the ferocity among blacks is because black men are so frustrated that you find that the most murders among blacks are against other blacks because the law enforcement agencies in this country don't attach any particular penalty to one black killing another. But the whole massive retaliatory mechanisms of the white establishment comes down on you if you kill one of them. Now, isn't it a fact that despite all this ferocity among blacks no white man in this country, in the history of this country, has ever been executed for killing a black man or woman. But thousands upon thousands upon thousands of blacks have either been lynched

or murdered, either legal or illegal, according to which way you figure the law out for killing whites. So consequently you see that the ferocity that whites ha- that blacks have has been carefully and chronologically challenged into a mainstream way of blacks ferocity is directed against other blacks, because the penalties attached by white society to attacking them are so massive and overpowering. was [male voice] must be delivered from here. Here, this is the power shot. This is where you kill'em, right here. You kill 'em with this, you understand? You understand me? [children shout] Yes! You got to knock him down. Seriously. You understand? [Karate instructor and student call and response] [Sensei and students call and response]

[Narrator] Kumite, or free fighting, is the epitome of the physical training of karate. The courage, character and personal commitment that have been achieved are put to the ultimate test during this physical act of self-defensive maneuvering. [fighting grunts] Sensei Hamilton's feelings about black womanhood are very strong. He insists they wear a shield to protect their vital organs and thus, their womanhood. [fighting grunts] [grunts] ?inaudible? [grunts] Right there, Kick him. [hitting sounds] [grunts] Sensei Hamilton is committed to curing

the pathologies of the black community. We asked him to describe some of the social ills he must help his students to control. [Hamilton] Don't put diction in this country. 50 percent of, it 50 percent of it, is centered in the city of New York. Police forces. The police of the city of New York, approximately thirty to thirty four thousand. The next largest police force in the country is Chicago, ten thousand. So New York's police force is almost triple that of any other city in the country, number one. Number two, despite that fact junkies, dope addicts and related crimes approximate approximately 70 percent of the crime in this country. Four hundred police are on narcotics. Now if 70 percent of the crime is committed in this country by dope addicts and dope related crimes, including pushers, then why in the name

of Heaven aren't 70- at least 50 or 60 percent of the police force committed to the eradication of this crime. Now luckily enough the martial arts is one area where kids who have been under the aegis of a good instructor, for some reason or other do not gravitate toward dope. Thank God. [loud shouts] I'm a disabled American veteran. I have five battle stars. I have an honorable discharge. I am not or ever have been a member of the Communist Party or any listed American organization or any foreign organization that advocates the overthrow of this government.

The only thing that I can say is that my commitment to this country and to my people is total in the extreme, to the point where I believe that we must extirpate the pathologies, the sickness, the polarization that governs this country. And I'm not prepared to do it in Africa. I'm not going to let anybody send me back to Africa because before I go back to Africa, my point of origin, you must take the Lithuanians back to Lithuania, the Germans back to Germany, the Chinese back to China, the Japs back to Japan, the Italians back to Italy, and give this country back to the Indians and then you tell me where I have to go. I'm a first generation American. My folks have been here for almost three to four hundred years. They were brought here on the fourth draft against their will. And somebody whose parents are immigrants and just came here fifteen to twenty years ago is going to tell me where I can go. No indeed. Time to time people who can answer a lot of questions

Now these are questions I want you to remember. That karate to you means only one thing; you have to survive. Now to survive in this dojo people means to stay alive. So, if it comes to saving your life, you must be the winner. I have to take this home with me. If I don't work you hard. If I don't train you properly then I have the obligation. I cannot sleep at night knowing I might be the person who contributed- contributed to getting you killed. This is a jungle right outside this door. There are dope pushers, prostitutes, murderers, bullies, rapists, bullies, rapists, everything you can think of right outside that door that you go out of every night every day of your life. If you're not tougher and stronger than the person

you meet out there, you will wind up dead. I want to know that if you went down you went down fighting. If I ever come up on you and I hear that you're a coward, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. If I come up on any of you, and I find a needle in your arm or dope or I find you selling dope to get rich, I’m going to be disappointed. I want to know that from you to you and everyone in my dojo that you had every chance in life and you worked very hard to get everything that you got. So that you understand me. I am not your friend or anybody's friend in here. This is a hard, lonesome, miserable job. But psychologically I’m prepared for it. I’m a miserable, mean, ornery, cantankerous, miserable old man. That's exactly what I am. I don't ever intend to change. None of you can change me. You can go out someday and you'll wonder why I've been this way, but I know what it takes to survive. You must survive. You simply must. You're the only hope we have left in this country.

[music] [sung] And I am haunted by my youth, but my joy of today is that we can all be proud to say, to be young, gifted and black is where it's at. Is where it's at. Is where it's at.

[music] [applause] [narrator] In your heart you know she's right. [applause] [music] [music and applause] [sung] Young, gifted and black is where it's at, is where it's at, is where it's at. Hold on, hold on, hold on. [narrator] This

was the scene at the Overseas Press Club in New York. Ossie Davis and Dick Gregory were the principals on a press conference to protest the treatment of minorities in America. Black Journal sent a camera crew to cover the event. All of the major networks were present, but when the conference began the other camera crews, all union members, refused to film if Black Journal's nonunion crew was permitted to remain. At that point, we became a part of the story we had decided to tell about the obstacles that discourage the black filmmaker. Dick Gregory gets briefed.

You know why they aint no black cats in the union, they only 3 black cats in the union, so what we doin,' we doin' a story on black filmmakers, and using this as an example about protesting, you know. [narrator] A separate press conference was held for Black Journal. Then we were told to leave, when the all white union crews returned. [male speaker] And actually in 1951- [narrator] We were forced to watch from outside. [male speaker] the world a petition. We charged genocide, the crime of government against the negro people. We are hoping by the fall of this year we hope to get 1 million signatures- [narrator] After the press conference, we asked Ossie Davis to comment. [Ossie Davis] Well, the Black Jounal crew is here to film the press conference at our invitation, and when I got here to my surprise, although I shouldn't have been surprised, I found that the other uh, camera crews representing the major media in our city refused to, uh, set up their cameras, uh, to cover our press conference as long as uh, Black Journal was here, and the reason they gave was that, uh, the Black Journal crew was not, uh, union members. Now it so happened that the Black Journal crew is black, and the reason they're not union members, I know very

well, is because they are black. [male voice] Are you filming yet? [narrator] The motion picture unions have a long history of discrimination in virtually maintaining a lily white industry. Now there is some token representation, but blacks are hardly present in the major film unions. [Ossie Davis] Last year when I was in Harlem filming Cotton Comes to Harlem, here I was in my own neighborhood shooting a story about the black people of the black lifestyle, and what- what did I have as a crew. Very few black people in my crew. It was one hell of an embarrassment for me. Working every day in a black community to show up with only white faces behind me. Finally of course, some of the young black filmmakers in Harlem and Black Puerto Rico filmmakers, shut our production down, and I don't blame them, I was on their side, you know, because unless we fight to get black representation behind the camera as directors, as cameraman, a soundman, as producers, we're not getting anywhere. [screaming crowd] [male voice] Don't you step on my ?rib? [screaming crowd] [music] [music]

[music] [music] [tires screeching] [music] [tires screeching] [music] [music] [music] [tires screeching periodically] [Ossie Davis] There's another thing about Cotton that makes it a different film; usually to ensure success, uh, You have to have a white star and a black star relating meaningfully to each other

so that the white community who sees the picture will feel comfortable that the white folks don't all hate them, you know, that there's somebody in the black community who loves them. In "Cotton," nobody gives a damn about the whites, they don't hate them, they don't love them, they just- they take care of their own business. You understand what I'm saying? And, uh, it was this attitude about the whole thing that I think I liked most of all. The second thing was that working with the actual people themselves, uh, uh, which I think is my skill, gave me an opportunity to, uh, to communicate as a part of the community. I wasn't a director coming in, you know, and shouting orders at a bunch of strangers, you know, at 26 dollars a day, these were friends of mine and we got together, we'd talk about what the scene meant, who the guy was, how we should relate to him in our own lives. So I got some fantastic performances. ?inaudible? [female voice] And what kind of trick are you trying to play on me, you ol' uncle Tom? [male voice] Aint no trick ma'am. I'm just trying to get this bale o' cotton onto my cart. [female voice] Cotton? [male voice] Yes ma'am, and I was just wonderin' if some good, nice looking

strong Christian lady like you wouldn't give me a hand. [female voice] I am a Christian. That's why I don't take a stick and knock yo' teeth out, all of ya. Trying to steal my money. [male voice] Trying to steal your money? [female voice] Yes, pickers, that's what you are, every one of you. Why you ol' fool. Don't you think I got sense enough to know there aint no such thing as a bale of cotton in Harlem. Humph! [music] [Ossie Davis] As far as my getting to be a director, it wasn't very difficult because black was the in thing they needed black directors then because they weren't doing so well with the pictures they needed, that and black was beautiful, and it was a market. So why not let some blacks in and help the whole image, you know. It wasn't difficult for me to become a director. Now, what will be difficult for me is to remain a director, you know, when black is no longer commercial or beautiful, on my merits. [narrator] Right now, blackness is beautiful for the white controlled film industry, and it's the same story everywhere. "Love of Ivy," 86,000

dollars "Tick, Tick, Tick," 169,000 dollars in three weeks. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" broke an all time theatre record in Chicago, earning 85,000 dollars its first week. Although Hollywood has recognized blacks as a profitable market, only a very few talented directors have been given a chance. "Story of a Three Day Pass" was one of the first films made by a black man. It was shot in France and directed by Melvin Van Peebles. Van Peebles has just finished his first American made feature called "Watermelon Man." [Melvin Van Peebles] What do you do when you go into a new school? You find the biggest kid in class and you whip his johnson, right? Well, the biggest cat around in the film industry is Hollywood, so that's why I went to Hollywood. "Watermelon Man" is about a white guy who turns into a brother. [music] [woman yelling] [male voice] I am not a Negro I'm me. [Van Peebles] The film, um was a success for me long before it came out

because essentially the most important thing that happened is not maybe the bread or the honor or what the critics say, but the fact that that six black filmmakers were brought on the film at my insistence to learn the making of film techniques, And that's where it's at that's the future, man. [narrator] An early film produced by William Greaves, an outstanding filmmaker, was made in Dakar, Sengal, West Africa. Like Van Peebles he had to leave this country to get started in film production. We asked him what holds the aspiring black filmmaker back. [William Greaves] Well, uh, you know, I think what's holding it back basically is- has been a tradition of discrimination, of- of racism operating within the media on the part of producers, management, uh, top uh, uh executive personnel of the various networks and the motion picture studios. Actually it was pretty clear to me, uh, uh, back in 19

52, uh, when I was, uh, trying to crack into the industry that there was just a wall of racism and, uh, discrimination that I could not possibly penetrate. And uh, I thought of going to Ethiopia, I thought of going to Italy, and I also thought of going to Canada. I made inquiries in these three countries and, uh, um, it developed that Canada was the best solution for my purposes. [narrator] Eventually, Greaves returned to the States and was the executive producer for Black Journal's first two years. The show was given an Emmy for its second season. [Greaves] Out of the eighteen hundred hours of television programming, network programming a month, there's only one, uh, show on the air that, uh, provides this kind of ongoing opportunity. And, uh, the coming into being of black producers and black directors and writers and technicians means that there will be a surfacing of

subject matter which has more relevance and utility for the black community, and I think this is very, very important. [music] [laughter] [music] [lauhgter] [chatter] [male voice] I'm

glad I came back. [Narrator] Many black Americans are unhappy about the news reporting on our brothers and sisters in Africa. To combat this distortion Black Journal decided on an African bureau. It made Black Journal the only program with a permanent roving film crew on the continent of Africa. At a reception in Washington, attended by government officials and African ambassadors an announcement was made. [male voice] I would like you to meet,uh, Black Journal's executive producer, Mister Tony Brown. [Brown] I do not want to make any type of speech, I'd simply like to say we're very happy that you came, and we certainly hope that in ensuing months we're able to report to you, the most important people of our audiences. If you're

all that we're going to establish in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, uh, will be headed by a person who has been the- very concerned about Africa, at a time when many of us during the era of the negro were not involved in blackism at all. And I would like to, at this point, introduce to you Brother Horace Jenkins. [applause] Horace. [Jenkins] [inaudible?], brothers and sisters. This is Horace Jenkins speaking to you for Black Journal from the capital of the Pan African world Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. [fanfare] [narrator] His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie arrived from the southern provinces of Ethiopia in order to address the Council of Ministers of The Organization of African Unity. Haile Selassie and the people of Ethiopia are very much the symbol of African strength.

In 1963 31 leaders of independent African States signed the charter of the Organization of African Unity and began to wage their battle against racist colonialism. Today, seven years later, there are 41 member states of the OAU. In his opening address to the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity His Majesty said the oppressive regime in South Africa continued to violate the impunity and human rights in defiance of the decision of the United Nations and accepted international moral principles. In this context we deplore the recently announced intentions of the British government to sell arms to South Africa in flagrant violation of the Security Council resolutions of 1963, 1964 imposing an embargo on the sale of arms to South Africa. [applause]

The Organization of African Unity's Liberation Committee has been meeting here in Addis Ababa for the past few weeks. [male speaker] The work of the liberation committe more effective [male speaker] But then African's Congress as you probably know is the organization which launched the first positive action campaign in South Africain 1960 on March 21, against the pass laws. This campaign took great significance when a number of our compatriots were massacred by white fascist soldiers and police at Sharpeville and Langa. We had to demonstrate very effectively against the pass laws because the bus in South Africa is the cornerstone of apartheid oppression in the country. But this was a demonstration which was peaceful in a way. Seems the

people were demonstrating without guns or other weapons in their hands. From that time however we learned our lesson about fighting the Mahatma Gandhi way and we resolved to take up arms for the liberation of our fatherland. It was after that time that we formed the Poqo, which is known by whites as "we stand alone." But to the black people means simply the genuine thing, the authentic thing. That is when in fact after 1960 we started in a very active way to take up whatever weapons we could find at our disposal to wage violent struggle for the overthrow of apartheid oppression. We, uh, are recognized by the Organization of African Unity, and that's why we are in Addis Ababa for

this important 17th session of the African Liberation Committee. The African Liberation Committee being a subcommittee, which is concerned with coordinating the liberatory efforts of various movements that come from Southern Africa and other parts still under colonial domination. The initiative rather is with us. They are defending themselves against a more or less invisible enemy because they do not know whether the next thing from the liberatory force is going to come from their kitchen girl, their messenger boy or their gardner who has to serve the white oppressors. For the mere fact that ragtag armies in Mozambique, in Angola, in Zimbabwe, in Portuguese Guinea have been able to pin no less than a hundred thousand Portuguese foreign

troops in those countries to wage wars of aggression and oppression there. This is a tremendous achievement that the whole of [NATO?] has had to mobilize its forces to support Portugal. That South Africa which was spending at the time of Sharpeville, er, only 22 million pounds on her defenses is now spending 100 and 60 million pounds, multiply it by that by three to get your millions in dollars. Then entire Imperialist world, not least of all the United States of America itself, is greatly concerned over this new developing relationship between black people in the two continents. But there is very well little that they can do about it because this is a mutual and emotional feeling that transcends any barriers that have been set up between the black people over the centuries of slavery and colonialism. Just recently in Addis Ababa, when our liberation committee meeting started,

there was a visit by a number of students led by three professors. Uh, two of them originally from Southern Africa and one of them, the leader, uh, Professor Turner coming from Cornell University, who took a very intimate interest- interest in the struggle of the black people way down in Southern Africa as well as took a very acute interest in these, uh, programs of independent African States in trying to, uh, assert or consolidate their independence. [male voice] areas in the world but we are convinced about our just cause. [male speaker] But what has struck me even more greatly in recent years has been the cultural revolution amongst the black people, particularly in the United States. Gone are the Western concepts, the European concepts. I walk down Harlem and I

see my brothers in a dashiki, they wear their hair natural, and the speak Swahili. This is the beginning of the end of a long struggle from colonialism and, and slavery. [male voice] All power. [crowd] All power. [male voice] To African people. [crowd] To African people. [male voice] Now. [crowd] Now. [male voice] And forever more. [crowd] And forever more. [narrator] The first Congress of African People was held here in Atlanta in 1895 to unite all African people. The 1970 Congress of African People attracted to Atlanta some of the best minds and most liberation conscious blacks in the world. An ideological statement calling for the end of rhetoric and the beginning of what is necessary to achieve Black Power outlined four major areas. One: self-determination, control your destiny. Two: self-sufficiency. Support yourself. Three: self respect.

Respect yourself. Four: self defense. Defend yourself. [male voice] What time is it? [crowd] [inaudible] time! [male voice] What time is it? [crowd] [inaudible] time! [male voice] What time is it. [different male voice] Just a word of background for those of you who are not aware, several months ago a meeting was called in the city of Washington D.C. in which better than 250 black organizations were invited to plan the next steps which we as a people should take for our empowerment. And it was at that meeting in Washington D.C. that several kinds of decisions were made. We decided to poll what was the National Conference on Black Power and the International Conference on Black Power together as a reflection of our awareness of the universal and international nature

of our struggle. We decided that we wanted to come to Atlanta, Georgia. Nationalism and Pan-Africanism would be our theme. Nation time and laboring for a nation would be our specific focus, and building institutions would be our direct mission. [different male voice] Nationalism among black people and Pan-Africanism among black people has been largely an urban northern phenomenon. Uh, and what this gathering means, and the diversity of people who come to it from cities, from the country, from other countries outside of this one, means that, uh, this philosophy and this ideology is spreading to, uh, to- to to the mass of black people in this country. And I think this gathering is significant because it is the beginning of furthering that process of spreading the philosophy of Pan-Africanism and

nationalism among the millions and millions and millions of black people all over the world. And, uh, just looking at the people who are here, who are young people, who're older people. Who, uh, some come from positions of affluence and some come from humble circumstances. Uh, some come from places like New York City, and some come from small towns like Four Corners, Alabama means, I think, that the notion of black unity, uh, is spreading throughout the masses of black people wherever we are found. [narrator] There are several things that the Congress was not. It was not a race hating, anti-white trip, as some of the white press reported. It was not a perfect atmosphere either, but fraught with the frustrations of dealing with some very real and difficult problems. [male speaker] We have not met at this great Congress of African people to discuss unity with white people. [applause]

That is not our problem today. Our problem and the gravest problem facing black people today is the unity of all black men the world over. [applause] [male voice] Today the freedom struggler in Africa is directed to our achieving political freedom. But it's main trust is the complete liquidation of all this form of exploitation. In Angola we will close the door, as surely as I stand here, to the Imperialist exploitation of Portugal and their allies on Angolan soil. [male speaker] As for America, black people have been here for

more than 400 years. We have contributed dearly in all of the gains this land has made, and we have suffered disproportionately in all of its failures. [Male voice] One of the, uh, premises of Pan-Africanism is that the African people and the people of African descent organized into independent units wherever they are to be able to pull their share of the burden, in other words, organizing the power precedes organizing the program. Therefore if everybody just leaves this Congress with an appreciation of our economic power and some ability to organize around it, then we'll be in a position to interconnect that power and then to began to deal with specific programs. [female speaker] The nationalists must be the spine to the black mission, not some kind of weird projection off the side of his head, goin' off at a right angle. The Nationalists must be the spine of the body of the black nation. What the nation does the nationalists

must make him do it a little better, a little faster. If its slow, it's because we slow. You understand that? But the minute you put yourself away from the people, no matter how backward and corny you might think they are, then you are isolated, standing there by yourself, and you will get killed. You will get killed. And it's not about being killed. Liberation is not about being killed. We are not interested in no suicides. We want to live. We want a new life. We want a life that we remember vaguely sometimes in the back of our heads as a liberated African people. [music] [narrator] According to the Coordinating Committee of the Congress, the creation of a nation would best come about through the building of alternative political, social and economic institutions styled to serve the needs of African people. In

11 workshops, delegates labored toward the development of strategies for liberation, as well as laying actual foundations for institution building in various areas. At the end of four days, each of the workshops created a council of 25 Representatives, which will continue the work of the parent body throughout this next year. The result should be a permanent structure that will effectively work to develop and secure the goals of the Congress. [male speaker] What time is it? [crowd] [inaudible] time! [male speaker] What time is it? [narrator] Black Journal will take a further look at the first Congress of African people in a later edition. Until then [young people chanting] [young people chanting] [young people chanting] [Narrator] The Mississippi system of justice has yet to bring restitution for the murder of two

young men at Jackson State University last May. The incident occurred during a confrontation between students and Mississippi state patrolmen outside the JSC women's dormitory. Following in the wake of the killings at Kent State, the Jackson murders caused a national crisis, which resulted in President Nixon setting up this special commission to investigate campus unrest. Mississippi police officials have stated that they opened fire on the dormitory in response to sniper fire from the building. Lawrence Spivey, a white Mississippi lawyer and a member of the Hinds County grand jury which investigated the shooting, has challenged the credibility of the police. The local jury exonerated Mississippi patrolmen on the basis of the sniper theory, but Spivey says the jury acted without any evidence that there was sniper fire during the killings. I talked to Larry [Rand?] a staff worker for a black filming operation in Jackson

Larry, you took these pictures the day following the Jackson State killings. Could you explain them for us please. [Rand?] Ok, this photograph here shows three very vital points about the shooting. Number one you have th- the shot from the inside of the dormitory. You can see the bullet holes coming in to the dorm. You can also see down below the street where the cops were lined up and shooting in this direction. Now James Green was killed in back of where the cops were lined up, in this area here by the dining hall. Whereas Phillip Gibbs was shot on this side to the left of the dormitory on the grass. And th-, you're standing right here in this area, shooting in this direction, so it's been unexplained why Gibbs who wa-- uh, Green, who was standing in back of the line was shot. [interviewer] What was the climate around Jackson during the time right prior to the killings? [Rand?] The climate around there at the time was really just one of summer tension; it was close to the end of the school year and

generally around this time every year there's a- a little conflict that resolves between what we call corner boys and campus boys. And it generally happens for one evening every year around the same time, and there's never any injuries, no big thing, no one ever gets hurt. But this year, for some reason [?] chose to make a big thing out of it immediately occupied the campus; quarantined it off, so that you couldn't get on or off. And, uh, during the second night of this quarantine is when they marched up the street here and fired into the dormitory and killed brothers, uh, Gibbs and Green. I dunno, the only possible logic I can see why they would pull something like this off, knowing the [low?] political awareness of the campus is, uh, maybe as a warning not to become politically involved. Maybe they are getting overexcited about the things that are happening on other campuses around the nation. I don't know, but I'm sure that it has nothing to do with what was goin' on at Jackson State [interviewer] You're sayin' that they- they would kill two brothers in order to make this situation, uh, one that people would be afraid to react in. [Rand?] I'm sayin' they would probably kill as many brothers as is necessary in order to keep them, uh, from

messing with the power structure. [interviewer] Repression and murder are not new to Mississippi. How long they will be tolerated may depend on what happens here this next school year. [music] [music] [narrator]Because we want to know what you think, regularly at this time on the program we will read your letters. You should write Black Journal. 10 Columbus Circle, New York. Since this is your program and you might want to

promote it, bumper stickers and buttons with the new logo are available free, if you send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the same address. 10 Columbus Circle, New York. Brother Lionel Monagas has been named director of the Minority Affairs Office of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. He will represent the interests of minority people in public television. Speaking of black TV shows, be sure to watch Soul, another national show, and the local black shows in your area. Because we try to have something for everybody, here are a few astrology tips until the next Black Journal. The primary effect on all of us during this period is Venus turning retrograde on the 20th. Venus affects our money and emotional affairs. Aries, fast month, but be careful in dealings with older people. Taurus, interesting period; be careful with new associates. Gemini, some fame is yours, but be cool romantically. Cancer, you may be too rebellious against authority after the tenth. Leo,

good time for finances; let personal desires wait. Virgo, finances could continue to be a source of concern; think of yourself first for a change. Libra, take advantage of new opportunities in your career; romantic adventure could be disappointing later. Scorpio, be careful not to alienate a possible friend. Sagittarius, avoid risks and sudden changes. Capricorn, work steady; think about new people in your life. Aquarius, careful of new romance. Consult experts on money matters. Pisces, delays may come. Social life can become boring. Tune in next month for more astrological tips. And now the Black National Anthem. [singing] Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring, ring with the harmonies of Liberty; let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun let us march on till victory is won. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, felt in the days when hope unborn had died Yet with a steady

yeah. Oh.