WEBVTT

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♪ Power to the people, power

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♪ Power to the people, power

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♪ Power to the Black people

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♪ Puerto Rican power for
Puerto Rican people ♪

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♪ Power to the people

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[crowd applauds]

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You have to realize that the
Black and the Puerto Ricans

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we are not the enemy!

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We are not the enemy!

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What we\'ve gotta do
is stay together.

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♪ Power to the people

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[upbeat percussion music]

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[regal full orchestra music]

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The City College of New York

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was founded more
than 100 years ago,

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as the first free public
university in the country.

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None of the 20,000 students
lives at the school.

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Traditionally, the college

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has served highly motivated
children of immigrants.

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The school in Harlem has

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a high level of
academic excellence.

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[bus engine rumbles]

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[gates creak]

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[footsteps clicking]

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So I came in September of
1966 into a city college.

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And well, the first thing
that struck me was coming

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through Harlem on the 101 bus,

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and getting off and
being surrounded

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by Harlem-ites, my folks.

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And then entering the
college and finding

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there weren\'t any
[chuckles] my folks.

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[children yelling]

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This campus is
located in Harlem,

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and so few people from
Harlem actually come here.

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It didn\'t seem to make sense,

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because it was a free
university, it was
a great education.

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Why aren\'t we adequately
represented in number?

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One summer, my mother
hosted two young women who

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were students at a
traditionally Black college.

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And she would introduce
them to her friends.

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And she\'d say, \"They\'re
college girls.\"

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And everybody would go,
[gasps] \"College girls.\"

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And I said, \"I want
to be one of those.\"

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I actually grew up not
too far away from here.

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I grew up in Harlem in what
we used to call the Valley.

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So when we wanted to dream,
we would walk up on the hill.

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We knew that we could make it

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into one of the best colleges
in the entire country.

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We were gonna be able
to make it individually.

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So coming to City,
it was like a dream.

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[birds chirping]

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CCNY was an elite
school, academically.

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These students were
outstanding students.

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It was a privilege for
the students to be there,

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and it was a privilege for
us to be teaching there.

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And I was happy, except
for this one problem,

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which was we were in the
center of Harlem

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and looking down on Harlem.

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And it was something
kind of incongruous

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about the location

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of CCNY being where it was.

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and the lack of African-American
students all together.

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[loud percussion drum music]

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[metal banging]
[children yelling]

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No, not many blacks
were on campus.

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And those that were, a
majority of them were

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in the SEEK program.

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What\'s that means was search

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for education,
elevation and knowledge.

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It\'s a corny name as far as
[laughing] I\'m concerned.

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But the idea was that
there were a lot of

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poor Black people and
Latino people who were

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not getting a chance to get an
education, which they wanted.

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SEEK was a revolutionary idea

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for democratization
of the college.

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And I think a lot of credit
goes to Allen Ballard.

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One day I put things together,

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and I went and set
up an appointment.

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[phone rings]

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And the president
invited me to his house.

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I was a young professor.

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You’re not supposed to be going
to the president with things,

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but he was gracious.

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I gave him my little written
proposal. He read it.

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And he said, \"Good.\"

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He said, \"I want you
to go ahead with this.\"

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The moment of truth has
finally arrived in America.

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Then the African American
and Hispanic legislators

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got behind the program.

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We went in to see
the assembly speaker.

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We explained to him
that there would be

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the inability for him
to be reelected speaker

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if our votes were not available.

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So that night, the
SEEK program was born.

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Well, my first day at City
College, I was amazed.

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I had never been on the
City College campus before.

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And the architecture,
the size of the campus,

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I really felt that it was

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the vision I had in mind of
an Ivy League University.

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And I felt so fortunate

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to be among the chosen
few for this new program

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to come and be at City College.

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[upbeat, joyful
brass band music]

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SEEK was the way in which

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the city of New York
attempted to make up

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for its racist doctrines
prior to the arrival of SEEK.

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Again, the free
school was mostly

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for Irish, Italian, and
Jewish immigrants from Europe.

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The earliest City
College was never

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for the non-white population.

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People were not pleased

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with this influx of
Brown and Black people

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to their hollowed halls.

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The faculty, even after
they saw how smart

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so many of them were, didn\'t
want them in their classes.

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In one class, one
instructor asked all

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of the SEEK students to stand.

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And she proceeded to tell the
other members of the class

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That we had not
done the hard work

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and gotten the high SAT
scores and here we were now.

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I was amazed.

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I had never been singled
out in that way before

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just to satisfy someone else\'s

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idea of what lesser
people look like.

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You walk through
their hallowed halls,

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and you\'ll see, you
know, all these portraits

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of white men all
around the walls.

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It was an uninviting environment
for African Americans.

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When it was conceived,
they knew they had

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to have support
structures in place,

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they had to have remediation
to get the students ready.

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I come from Harlem, I was
born in Harlem Hospital,

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educated in the
public school system.

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I remember taking the
test when I was gonna go

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to high school for
Stuyvesant High School.

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My mother insisted
that I take this test.

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And when I took the
test, I was astounded

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by the many things
that were never covered

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in my education.

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I said, \"What? How
could this be?\"

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I grew up very poor
and very working class.

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And the schools, they didn\'t
know what to do with us.

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I wasn\'t really taught
how to read, how to write.

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And they had specific programs
where they tracked us into.

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So the program I was into
was to be a nurses aid,

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you know, learn how to
take care of people.

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So I didn\'t even think
about going to college.

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You weren\'t left out of college,

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because you were dumb, or
because you couldn\'t learn.

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You were left out because

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the way society is
structured, okay?

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And you weren\'t structured
into that process.

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♪ Yeah yeah yeah, do
the Harlem shuffle ♪

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♪ Oh, do the monkey

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It\'s actually quite un-American.

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You have people who have
been here for 400 years.

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They are paying the same taxes.

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They\'re riding the same subway,

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and they have the same
dreams for their children.

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Which is to be well
educated, to be well spoken,

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to be in a career
of their choice.

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And not forced to do menial
tasks for everyone else.

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Now, sit down, Sarah
and try to [indistinct].

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Okay, now what do we do?

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In the \'50s and
even in the \'60s,

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in predominantly black
and Puerto Rican schools,

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the curriculum was very soft,

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and the books were very old.

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The teachers were newly
minted coming out of college,

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who had the most inexperienced
teachers teaching

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in the ghetto schools.

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[teacher yells]

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Dropping that hat.

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Get over here!

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Get over here and sit down.

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[child laughing]

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Sit down!

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[child speaks indistinctly]

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[crosstalk]
[children yelling]

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Everybody sit down.

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[crosstalk]
[children yelling]

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[children and teacher yelling]

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Sit down.
[children laughing]

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So for someone to say that

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Black and Brown people

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are arriving at CCNY
without a proper foundation,

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who caused that to be?

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Who kept that in place?

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So Dr. Gallagher put the weight

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of the presidency
behind the SEEK program.

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And what he did
was, no, he said,

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\"All right, you need
teachers of English.

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I\'m gonna give you some folks.\"

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And who did he give us?

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♪ Respect yourself.

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♪ Da-da-da-da

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ De-De-De-De

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ Da-da-da-da

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ De-De-De-De-De

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♪ If you don\'t
respect yourself ♪

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♪ Aint nobody gonna
give a good cahoot ♪

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♪ Nah-Nah-Nah oh oh

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ Na-Na-Na-Na-Na

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ De-De-De-De-De

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ Da-Da-Da-Da-Da

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♪ Respect yourself

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♪ De-De-De-De-De

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♪ Da-da-da-da, da-da

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♪ If you don\'t
respect yourself ♪

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♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
give a good cahoot ♪

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♪ Nah-Nah-Nah oh oh

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♪ Respect yourself

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Audre Lorde and Adrienne
Rich actually met

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at City College in 1968,

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and became the very
best of friends.

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Their incredibly powerful
visions for the future,

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for a non-racist, non-sexist,
non-hierarchical future,

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really changed the
role of literature.

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And we were nappy girls,
quick as cuttlefish,

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scurrying for cover,

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trying to speak.

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If the people who
are teaching us

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are totally brilliant
and they\'re listening

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to what we have to say,
then our opinions matter.

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I feel that Africa is,
at this present time,

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is not our home.

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I think my forefathers
have died in this country,

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and I claim this
country as mine.

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And I think that this is
what our fight is for.

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To be able to function
in the mainstream,

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in all of American life,

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because we are Americans and
we did build this country.

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And that\'s what they gave us.

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They let us know that
our opinions mattered.

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These people already
on the faculty here,

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just major people who were,

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in a sense, leading a sort
of cultural revolution,

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a literary revolution.

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We would participate
with The Last Poets.

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You know, The Last Poets?

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[upbeat percussion music]
Poetry is Black.

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Poetry is Black people.

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The Last Poets performed
at CCNY numerous times.

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These students, they
could recite our poetry

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better than we could.

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Poetry was becoming
a revolutionary tool.

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And we were offering
concrete solutions

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to sociological, political,

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and cultural
problems, and racism.

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We were hitting it hard.

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Everything that
was going on during

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this particular period of time
had political implications.

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♪ People are running
people moving in now ♪

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♪ Because of the
color of their skin ♪

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♪ Run, run, run

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We\'re talking \'60s,

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mid to late \'60s.

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Well, you have a lot of
major things happening

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in American society.

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[mean chanting in
foreign language]

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It was the height of
the war in Vietnam.

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It was the height of the
Civil Rights Movement.

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I mean, what we did in
Vietnam was so despicable,

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and there was
tremendous opposition.

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[dramatic bass music]

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It should be our first priority

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to stop the genocide
in Southeast Asia.

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This campus is a hotbed.

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You had SDS over there.

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You had Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee there.

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You had the Onyx Society.

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I was a member of what was
called the Onyx Society,

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you know, Onyx being
the black stone.

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The Black students came
together to socialize,

00:15:27.693 --> 00:15:31.263
to foment change and
things of that nature.

00:15:32.898 --> 00:15:33.732
We just had initial meetings,

00:15:33.732 --> 00:15:35.367
just getting together.

00:15:35.367 --> 00:15:37.970
We didn\'t even
have the name yet.

00:15:37.970 --> 00:15:39.471
Ultimately, we
agreed that it would

00:15:39.471 --> 00:15:42.975
be Puerto Rican students
involved in student action.

00:15:42.975 --> 00:15:45.811
♪ Revolution is
the only solution ♪

00:15:45.811 --> 00:15:47.179
♪ If you want

00:15:47.179 --> 00:15:49.348
♪ If you want
♪ To be free

00:15:49.348 --> 00:15:52.484
♪ Revolution is
the only solution ♪

00:15:52.518 --> 00:15:53.352
♪ Sing the song

00:15:53.352 --> 00:15:54.787
♪ Revolution

00:15:54.787 --> 00:15:57.456
We were striving to do
acts of civil disobedience.

00:15:57.456 --> 00:15:59.591
Many of us were also
impacted by the works

00:15:59.591 --> 00:16:01.226
of Martin Luther King,

00:16:01.226 --> 00:16:03.896
who was always a non-violent.

00:16:03.896 --> 00:16:05.731
Civil disobedience in a
non-violent manner was

00:16:05.731 --> 00:16:07.533
the best way to
bring about change,

00:16:07.533 --> 00:16:09.601
ongoing and lasting change.

00:16:09.601 --> 00:16:12.137
And many of us believed that.

00:16:12.137 --> 00:16:14.340
Some of us did not, to be
perfectly honest with you,

00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:15.741
but many of us did.

00:16:15.741 --> 00:16:18.978
And certainly that was something
that I was striving for.

00:16:18.978 --> 00:16:23.282
The Young Lords was the most
exciting, the most vibrant,

00:16:23.282 --> 00:16:26.986
the most revolutionary group
that existed at that time.

00:16:26.986 --> 00:16:28.253
We were for the independence

00:16:28.253 --> 00:16:29.188
of Puerto Rico.

00:16:29.321 --> 00:16:31.857
We were for the
independence and liberation

00:16:31.857 --> 00:16:33.625
of all communities of color.

00:16:33.625 --> 00:16:36.962
[singer singing in
foreign language]

00:16:36.962 --> 00:16:41.400
[singer singing in
foreign language]

00:16:46.105 --> 00:16:48.040
The most prominent
of the organizations,

00:16:48.040 --> 00:16:50.709
in my opinion, were
the Black Panthers.

00:16:50.709 --> 00:16:53.212
They influenced us profoundly.

00:16:53.445 --> 00:16:55.748
As a teen, I ended
up meeting many

00:16:55.748 --> 00:16:59.752
of the people who were
the initial organizers

00:16:59.752 --> 00:17:02.121
of the Harlem branch of
the Black Panther Party.

00:17:02.121 --> 00:17:03.655
So I joined.

00:17:03.655 --> 00:17:06.258
There was the
government perception

00:17:06.258 --> 00:17:10.029
of the Black Panther
Party versus the reality.

00:17:10.029 --> 00:17:11.330
Open the bag.

00:17:11.330 --> 00:17:13.365
The number one thing we had

00:17:13.365 --> 00:17:15.100
was a free breakfast program,

00:17:15.100 --> 00:17:18.837
and it was responsive to
the needs of the community.

00:17:18.837 --> 00:17:22.541
There was a shift in the
Civil Rights Movement.

00:17:22.541 --> 00:17:26.145
A number of things took
place that required

00:17:28.947 --> 00:17:33.952
younger people to think of
how they were going to respond

00:17:35.154 --> 00:17:38.357
to the terrorism that
Black people faced.

00:17:38.357 --> 00:17:41.026
I may not get there with you,

00:17:41.026 --> 00:17:43.929
but I want you to know the night

00:17:43.929 --> 00:17:47.633
that we, as people, will
get to the promised land!

00:17:47.633 --> 00:17:49.368
Dr. Martin Luther King,

00:17:49.368 --> 00:17:51.070
the apostle of non-violence

00:17:51.070 --> 00:17:52.604
in the Civil Rights Movement,

00:17:52.604 --> 00:17:53.872
has been shot to death
in Memphis, Tennessee.

00:17:53.872 --> 00:17:55.874
Snipers\' bullets
cut down Dr. King

00:17:55.874 --> 00:17:58.477
as he stood in a hotel
balcony in Memphis.

00:17:58.477 --> 00:17:59.745
Within an hour, Doctor-

00:17:59.745 --> 00:18:02.014
After the murder of
Martin Luther King,

00:18:02.014 --> 00:18:04.383
in more than 100 cities,
violence broke out.

00:18:04.383 --> 00:18:06.919
[sirens blaring]
[fire whooshing]

00:18:06.919 --> 00:18:08.554
[fires whooshing]

00:18:08.554 --> 00:18:11.390
When I heard that he was shot...

00:18:19.465 --> 00:18:23.435
I just couldn\'t believe that
they would kill this man.

00:18:23.435 --> 00:18:25.938
When I heard that this guy,

00:18:25.938 --> 00:18:29.274
it\'s like our daddy
was shot and killed.

00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:35.481
For me, it was the
end of the romance.

00:18:35.481 --> 00:18:37.416
It was the end of
it for America.

00:18:37.416 --> 00:18:41.120
All I could say was,
\"Martin Luther King,

00:18:41.120 --> 00:18:44.389
Martin Luther King,
Martin Luther King.\"

00:18:44.389 --> 00:18:47.659
And everybody started
chanting Martin Luther King.

00:18:47.659 --> 00:18:50.195
And we realized, oh my God.

00:18:50.195 --> 00:18:53.198
♪ Through the storm

00:19:02.007 --> 00:19:03.275
And we marched down
the street chanting,

00:19:03.275 --> 00:19:04.877
\"Martin Luther King,
Martin Luther King.\"

00:19:04.877 --> 00:19:08.080
We got down to 126th Street,
and there was a barricade

00:19:08.080 --> 00:19:10.149
of policemen standing
there saying,

00:19:10.149 --> 00:19:11.583
\"You can\'t go to 125th Street,

00:19:11.583 --> 00:19:13.552
because there\'s a
riot going on there.\"

00:19:13.552 --> 00:19:14.887
[glass crashes]

00:19:14.887 --> 00:19:16.421
And we went through,

00:19:16.421 --> 00:19:20.425
and the sound of breaking
plate glass was horrific.

00:19:20.425 --> 00:19:21.860
[glass smashing]

00:19:21.860 --> 00:19:24.329
As we got to 125th street,

00:19:24.329 --> 00:19:28.133
this white, blonde god
rose from the subway,

00:19:28.133 --> 00:19:30.068
it was Mayor Lindsay.

00:19:30.068 --> 00:19:35.073
And he came in the middle
of the riot to talk to us.

00:19:35.841 --> 00:19:38.477
♪ Brother show us Lord

00:19:39.344 --> 00:19:41.547
We took our rage with us.

00:19:41.547 --> 00:19:44.683
We decided, okay, we went home.

00:19:44.683 --> 00:19:47.019
That weekend people changed.

00:19:48.887 --> 00:19:52.391
And people came back
to school that Monday

00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:55.627
with a different attitude.

00:19:55.627 --> 00:19:58.330
[birds chirping]
[students chattering]

00:19:58.330 --> 00:20:01.233
These students, they
would come into my office,

00:20:01.233 --> 00:20:04.670
and they\'d talk about
all their concerns

00:20:04.670 --> 00:20:07.172
about things going on outside.

00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:13.178
The assassination of Martin
Luther King, in particular,

00:20:13.178 --> 00:20:17.749
stimulated a lot of anguish,
and protest in these kids.

00:20:18.884 --> 00:20:20.285
And they were looking

00:20:20.285 --> 00:20:23.222
for something,
something, anything.

00:20:24.323 --> 00:20:26.959
At American University
in Washington,

00:20:26.959 --> 00:20:28.493
a group of students stormed

00:20:28.493 --> 00:20:30.262
the administration
building today,

00:20:30.262 --> 00:20:33.632
protesting a campus
program they didn\'t like.

00:20:33.632 --> 00:20:37.002
At Dartmouth, the SDS demanded
that military training

00:20:37.002 --> 00:20:38.470
be removed from the campus,

00:20:38.470 --> 00:20:40.205
and threatened
trouble if it wasn\'t.

00:20:40.973 --> 00:20:42.741
At MIT, they were
picketing a lab.

00:20:43.075 --> 00:20:46.111
♪ Freedom, freedom

00:20:46.111 --> 00:20:49.314
♪ Each and every
man wants freedom ♪

00:20:49.314 --> 00:20:53.151
♪ Freedom
By 1968 into \'69, we

00:20:53.151 --> 00:20:56.255
are attempting to
be an integral part

00:20:56.255 --> 00:20:58.890
of a national student movement.

00:20:58.890 --> 00:21:00.292
♪ Free at last, free last

00:21:00.292 --> 00:21:02.094
♪ Good God Almighty,
I\'m free at last ♪

00:21:02.094 --> 00:21:03.829
♪ Oo, uh-huh

00:21:03.829 --> 00:21:06.765
We decided we had
to have a plan.

00:21:06.765 --> 00:21:11.370
That we had to have a strategy
on how to open the doors

00:21:12.571 --> 00:21:15.274
of City College for
more people like us.

00:21:15.274 --> 00:21:18.310
We created a committee of 10.

00:21:18.310 --> 00:21:21.546
I was one of those that was
elected to be on that committee.

00:21:21.546 --> 00:21:24.516
It was known to be
the negotiating body

00:21:24.516 --> 00:21:28.453
for the Black and Puerto Rican
student, you know, community.

00:21:28.453 --> 00:21:32.190
I do recall that there
was only one woman.

00:21:32.190 --> 00:21:35.160
Most of the men had
already been selected.

00:21:35.160 --> 00:21:37.162
I think there were nine.

00:21:38.330 --> 00:21:40.799
The entire nine had
already been selected,

00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.401
when somebody said, \"What?

00:21:42.401 --> 00:21:44.670
We don\'t have any women so far.\"

00:21:44.670 --> 00:21:49.641
And so I was pushed forward,
\"Francee, you do it.\" [laughs]

00:21:49.641 --> 00:21:51.543
And that\'s how I
became the only woman

00:21:51.543 --> 00:21:53.412
on the committee of 10.

00:21:53.412 --> 00:21:56.481
There\'s sexism within
our own communities,

00:21:56.481 --> 00:21:57.849
as well as without.

00:21:57.849 --> 00:22:00.752
In the 1960s, there was
a tremendous emphasis

00:22:00.752 --> 00:22:03.655
on manhood in Black movements.

00:22:03.655 --> 00:22:06.658
Very often, when we were
talking about the term race,

00:22:06.658 --> 00:22:09.995
in the 1960s, we all thought
it meant women and men.

00:22:09.995 --> 00:22:12.864
And what we discovered
to a large extent

00:22:12.864 --> 00:22:15.567
within the movements was
that it meant maleness.

00:22:15.567 --> 00:22:17.836
We saw that, the way that

00:22:20.505 --> 00:22:23.241
Black American
women were treated

00:22:24.409 --> 00:22:27.846
by the Black American
men in the struggle.

00:22:31.216 --> 00:22:36.088
And it was something that
was totally unacceptable.

00:22:36.088 --> 00:22:38.190
It was an affront.

00:22:38.190 --> 00:22:39.257
Some of the

00:22:42.561 --> 00:22:45.063
men, the brothers were sexist.

00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.736
And there was struggle
within the leadership,

00:22:50.736 --> 00:22:54.806
and the organizers around
the equality of women,

00:22:54.806 --> 00:22:56.942
because women pushed back.

00:22:59.211 --> 00:23:01.480
There were a number of meetings.

00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:03.348
And people talked.

00:23:03.415 --> 00:23:08.887
What finally happened was,
we came up with five demands.

00:23:09.254 --> 00:23:14.192
[upbeat, funky brass
and synthesizer music]

00:23:14.693 --> 00:23:16.728
Demand number one,
a separate school

00:23:16.728 --> 00:23:20.265
of Black and Puerto
Rican studies.

00:23:20.265 --> 00:23:24.936
I think you can say that
just about any human endeavor

00:23:26.204 --> 00:23:28.407
in America, the
concentration has been

00:23:28.407 --> 00:23:31.610
on those people of
European descent.

00:23:31.743 --> 00:23:35.680
So where is our history?
And there was none there.

00:23:35.747 --> 00:23:37.249
[upbeat funky music]

00:23:37.249 --> 00:23:38.216
[typewriter dings]

00:23:38.216 --> 00:23:39.751
A separate orientation program

00:23:39.751 --> 00:23:42.320
for Black and Puerto
Rican students.

00:23:42.320 --> 00:23:45.590
I\'m sure they still do
your freshman orientations

00:23:45.590 --> 00:23:48.260
and orientations for folks.

00:23:48.260 --> 00:23:50.929
We didn\'t feel like
it spoke to us.

00:23:50.929 --> 00:23:52.364
[upbeat, funky music]

00:23:52.364 --> 00:23:55.000
A voice for SEEK
students in the setting

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:58.003
of all guidelines
for the SEEK program,

00:23:58.003 --> 00:24:02.073
including the hiring and
firing of all personnel.

00:24:02.874 --> 00:24:04.676
Of course, these are all
sensible, aren\'t they?

00:24:04.676 --> 00:24:06.211
We were college students.

00:24:06.211 --> 00:24:07.946
[upbeat funky music]
[typewriter dings]

00:24:07.946 --> 00:24:09.648
That the racial composition

00:24:09.648 --> 00:24:11.983
of all entering classes
reflect the Black

00:24:11.983 --> 00:24:14.052
and Puerto Rican
population of all

00:24:14.052 --> 00:24:16.755
of New York City\'s high schools.

00:24:16.788 --> 00:24:19.558
How does the city
university, starting

00:24:19.558 --> 00:24:23.195
with this flagship City
College, the senior college,

00:24:23.195 --> 00:24:27.432
reflect the graduating
population ethnically

00:24:27.432 --> 00:24:28.867
of the city of New York?

00:24:28.867 --> 00:24:30.802
That\'s what we
were talking about.

00:24:30.802 --> 00:24:34.339
[upbeat funky music]

00:24:34.339 --> 00:24:35.474
[typewriter dings]

00:24:35.474 --> 00:24:37.442
That Black and
Puerto Rican history,

00:24:37.442 --> 00:24:40.212
and Spanish language
be a requirement

00:24:40.212 --> 00:24:42.314
for all education majors.

00:24:43.248 --> 00:24:45.517
Yes, if you are going to
be part of this community,

00:24:45.517 --> 00:24:48.453
and instruct this community,
and teach this community,

00:24:48.453 --> 00:24:50.555
you must try, you
must at least have

00:24:50.555 --> 00:24:54.259
some understanding of that
language, where it came from,

00:24:54.259 --> 00:24:57.996
and not view it in
a pejorative way.

00:25:00.432 --> 00:25:03.635
We presented Buell
Gallagher with the demands.

00:25:03.635 --> 00:25:06.271
He did not respond.

00:25:07.005 --> 00:25:09.674
When we first put
these things together,

00:25:09.674 --> 00:25:11.109
we felt that all you needed

00:25:11.109 --> 00:25:13.111
was well-intentioned
people sitting down

00:25:13.111 --> 00:25:15.280
and having conversation.

00:25:15.280 --> 00:25:17.349
There was no budging
on any of it.

00:25:17.349 --> 00:25:20.151
None of the demands
were even considered

00:25:20.151 --> 00:25:24.155
as being valid enough to
sit down and negotiate.

00:25:25.557 --> 00:25:29.060
You take action if your words
are falling on deaf ears,

00:25:29.060 --> 00:25:33.031
if nothing is happening,
if you see no movement

00:25:33.031 --> 00:25:35.200
in something that you\'ve
been talking about.

00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:38.603
And so I was not in
the upper echelons

00:25:38.603 --> 00:25:41.306
of planning, or
anything like that.

00:25:41.306 --> 00:25:44.342
I was a foot
soldier, essentially.

00:25:44.342 --> 00:25:47.379
Well, I knew it came down
to we gotta plan this thing,

00:25:47.379 --> 00:25:49.381
and we planned it.

00:25:49.381 --> 00:25:52.517
So we decided that
we\'d get there

00:25:52.517 --> 00:25:55.220
around 6:00 in the morning.

00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:57.822
We had purchased chains
and locks and whatnot.

00:25:57.822 --> 00:25:59.824
There was a feeling
of excitement,

00:25:59.824 --> 00:26:02.627
tension and empowerment.

00:26:02.627 --> 00:26:06.698
We took the chains and we
decided to lock those gates.

00:26:06.698 --> 00:26:09.000
Black and Puerto
Rican students chained

00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:12.604
the gates to City College
of New York, closing it.

00:26:12.604 --> 00:26:16.241
They wanted minority groups
to have 50% of the enrollment.

00:26:16.241 --> 00:26:19.511
At that moment in
history, the city college,

00:26:19.511 --> 00:26:21.546
the mayor and the
police was faced

00:26:21.546 --> 00:26:25.050
with the largest student
takeover in history.

00:26:25.050 --> 00:26:27.419
Yet it rarely ever
gets discussed.

00:26:27.419 --> 00:26:30.722
You got 17 buildings
[chuckles] in your hands.

00:26:30.722 --> 00:26:32.457
All the entrances
were closed down.

00:26:32.457 --> 00:26:34.759
We went into each
building, emptied out,

00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:36.194
advised the students.

00:26:36.194 --> 00:26:37.729
Took some time to get
everything rolling,

00:26:37.729 --> 00:26:40.098
but say by about
10:00 in the morning,

00:26:40.098 --> 00:26:43.435
the campus was officially
under our control.

00:26:43.435 --> 00:26:47.105
♪ So power to the
people, power ♪

00:26:47.105 --> 00:26:49.975
♪ Power to the people, power

00:26:49.975 --> 00:26:52.844
♪ Black power to Black people

00:26:52.844 --> 00:26:55.680
♪ Puerto Rican power to
Puerto Rican people ♪

00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.184
♪ Power to the people, power.

00:26:59.184 --> 00:27:00.118
So, yeah.

00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:03.054
♪ Day new day

00:27:03.054 --> 00:27:04.389
♪ A brand new way

00:27:04.389 --> 00:27:05.857
♪ Brand new way

00:27:05.857 --> 00:27:06.992
♪ For yeah

00:27:06.992 --> 00:27:09.361
♪ Brand new day

00:27:09.361 --> 00:27:11.696
♪ Brand new way

00:27:11.696 --> 00:27:14.666
♪ We gotta put our
heads together ♪

00:27:14.666 --> 00:27:17.702
♪ And see where
we go from there ♪

00:27:17.702 --> 00:27:21.172
♪ We\'ve gotta fight for
what we believe in ♪

00:27:21.172 --> 00:27:22.807
♪ Something\'s in the air

00:27:22.807 --> 00:27:25.010
♪ It\'s a brand new day

00:27:25.010 --> 00:27:26.878
♪ Today ♪ It\'s
a brand new way ♪

00:27:26.878 --> 00:27:28.546
My brother and I
pulled up in our car

00:27:28.546 --> 00:27:31.516
and parked on St.
Nicholas Terrace waiting

00:27:31.516 --> 00:27:33.885
for the alternate side of the
street parking regulations

00:27:33.885 --> 00:27:35.487
to go off at 11:00.

00:27:36.655 --> 00:27:39.324
And I\'m gonna rush to
my class in Wagner Hall.

00:27:39.324 --> 00:27:41.926
We get out of the car
and we get to the gate,

00:27:41.926 --> 00:27:44.763
and we are stopped by a handful

00:27:44.763 --> 00:27:47.432
of African American students.

00:27:47.432 --> 00:27:51.102
They handed us a flyer
telling us why we were

00:27:51.102 --> 00:27:53.738
not allowed to be on campus.

00:27:53.738 --> 00:27:57.642
We didn\'t know what was gonna
happen, but we were stopped.

00:27:57.642 --> 00:28:01.246
We were stopped from
coming into our campus.

00:28:01.246 --> 00:28:04.816
Our campus, I didn\'t
think in those terms,

00:28:04.816 --> 00:28:07.052
was a white campus.

00:28:07.052 --> 00:28:11.456
And now we\'re being turned
away because we\'re white.

00:28:11.456 --> 00:28:14.759
We never said this is
just about Black people.

00:28:14.759 --> 00:28:17.062
We was just saying we\'re
left at the bus stop

00:28:17.062 --> 00:28:19.464
and the bus just took off, okay?

00:28:19.464 --> 00:28:22.233
Either bring the bus
back or send another bus.

00:28:22.233 --> 00:28:23.468
But we didn\'t say don\'t pick up

00:28:23.468 --> 00:28:26.471
the other students
at the bus stop.

00:28:26.471 --> 00:28:28.840
It was quite a shocking moment

00:28:28.840 --> 00:28:33.311
for the first time being
told you can\'t go here.

00:28:33.311 --> 00:28:36.414
Now, you think back in time
there were times where Jews

00:28:36.414 --> 00:28:39.350
were told in this country,
you can\'t go here.

00:28:39.350 --> 00:28:42.987
Whether it\'s a hotel, or
a resort, or a school.

00:28:42.987 --> 00:28:45.657
Now City College with
its great reputation

00:28:45.657 --> 00:28:47.926
for openness to all groups,

00:28:49.327 --> 00:28:54.165
but I have to define as all
white groups for the most part.

00:28:55.567 --> 00:28:57.936
Now it\'s off limits to
us as part of the strike.

00:28:57.936 --> 00:29:01.639
So it\'s very unsettling,
and made me start to think

00:29:01.639 --> 00:29:05.577
about where do we fit
into this moment in time?

00:29:06.544 --> 00:29:08.279
[birds chirping]

00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:10.115
At City College,
the faculty called

00:29:10.115 --> 00:29:12.117
an urgent morning meeting
in an effort to resolve

00:29:12.117 --> 00:29:13.384
the problem that caused

00:29:13.384 --> 00:29:15.754
the first shutdown in
the college\'s history.

00:29:15.754 --> 00:29:17.722
Here, Black and
Puerto Rican students

00:29:17.722 --> 00:29:19.257
would air their grievances.

00:29:19.257 --> 00:29:22.227
A large delegation
marched into the meeting.

00:29:22.227 --> 00:29:24.963
I myself was a little
bit ambivalent.

00:29:24.963 --> 00:29:26.498
If you\'re gonna shut
down the campus,

00:29:26.498 --> 00:29:29.467
and these are students who
are struggling to make it,

00:29:29.467 --> 00:29:31.903
I didn\'t think it was
such a great idea.

00:29:31.903 --> 00:29:34.005
But I went to this meeting,

00:29:34.005 --> 00:29:36.908
and the students
were so brilliant

00:29:36.908 --> 00:29:41.146
in the way they presented their
arguments about everything,

00:29:41.146 --> 00:29:43.748
that I was totally won over.

00:29:43.748 --> 00:29:45.150
[student observers clapping]

00:29:45.150 --> 00:29:47.452
The first Black student
speaker took the floor.

00:29:47.452 --> 00:29:49.320
But his shouts for
power caused dozens

00:29:49.320 --> 00:29:52.524
of faculty members to walk out.

00:29:52.524 --> 00:29:54.225
Well, Mr. Gardner, would
you tell us your reasons

00:29:54.225 --> 00:29:55.460
for leaving this meeting?

00:29:55.460 --> 00:29:56.995
Well, the meeting
has just begun.

00:29:56.995 --> 00:30:01.166
But when this kind of tone
and language are employed,

00:30:02.367 --> 00:30:04.969
I feel that the meeting
as a civilized dialogue

00:30:04.969 --> 00:30:07.038
hasn\'t really
begun, it has ended.

00:30:07.038 --> 00:30:09.908
And there just wasn\'t
any point in remaining,

00:30:09.908 --> 00:30:14.112
For the most part, the
faculty was very hostile.

00:30:14.112 --> 00:30:17.081
They had such stereotypes
of who the students were

00:30:17.081 --> 00:30:19.818
that would be coming in.

00:30:19.818 --> 00:30:23.721
And so I got up and
talked about my experience

00:30:23.721 --> 00:30:26.758
with SEEK students and how
much they wanted to learn,

00:30:26.758 --> 00:30:30.495
and you know, I was very
scared when I got up to talk.

00:30:30.495 --> 00:30:32.263
But anyway, I did it.

00:30:33.832 --> 00:30:36.701
We thought we
probably could stay

00:30:36.701 --> 00:30:40.405
maybe two hours, three max.

00:30:41.005 --> 00:30:43.508
If we can get through
the morning, you know,

00:30:43.508 --> 00:30:44.742
it would\'ve been a victory.

00:30:44.742 --> 00:30:47.245
Because the takeover
really started as,

00:30:47.245 --> 00:30:50.582
it was more symbolic
than anything else.

00:30:52.283 --> 00:30:55.787
So here\'s what happened.
We had security.

00:30:55.787 --> 00:30:59.691
They were ordered to
remove us and they refused.

00:30:59.691 --> 00:31:02.994
All of the guards on
campus were Black.

00:31:02.994 --> 00:31:06.764
They were instructed
to clear us out.

00:31:06.764 --> 00:31:10.101
And the word went back
to the administration

00:31:10.101 --> 00:31:13.037
that the guards have
decided as a whole

00:31:13.037 --> 00:31:16.007
that they will not
touch the students.

00:31:16.007 --> 00:31:19.410
And so they fired all
of the security officers

00:31:19.410 --> 00:31:20.879
that were on duty.

00:31:20.879 --> 00:31:24.215
So the sixth demand
became the first demand,

00:31:24.215 --> 00:31:26.918
and that was, we would
not negotiate on anything

00:31:26.918 --> 00:31:31.122
until all of those security
guards were reinstated,

00:31:31.122 --> 00:31:33.258
and rehired in their jobs.

00:31:33.258 --> 00:31:35.827
So Gallagher took care of that.

00:31:37.262 --> 00:31:40.832
On the south campus, there is
the house of the president,

00:31:40.832 --> 00:31:42.267
and we basically kidnapped him.

00:31:42.267 --> 00:31:45.036
So Buell Gallagher was
held captive on the campus.

00:31:45.036 --> 00:31:47.272
Gallagher lived on
the south campus,

00:31:47.272 --> 00:31:49.173
so we were locking him out.

00:31:49.173 --> 00:31:51.542
So he came out and you know,

00:31:51.542 --> 00:31:54.112
and he says, \"Okay,
we just need calm.

00:31:54.112 --> 00:31:56.247
I\'m not calling the police.\"

00:31:56.247 --> 00:31:59.784
President. Gallagher
was a very nice man.

00:31:59.784 --> 00:32:02.186
And I know cause I was
the one guarding him

00:32:02.186 --> 00:32:04.689
in his house during
the takeover.

00:32:04.689 --> 00:32:06.591
And we would talk all the time.

00:32:06.591 --> 00:32:08.293
But he was not going to condone

00:32:08.293 --> 00:32:10.361
the takeover of the college.

00:32:10.361 --> 00:32:12.764
He refused to meet with us.

00:32:12.764 --> 00:32:15.233
He refused to even
consider the demands.

00:32:15.233 --> 00:32:18.536
The five demands did not
miraculously appear a month ago.

00:32:18.536 --> 00:32:20.438
They were first
formally presented

00:32:20.438 --> 00:32:23.107
to President
Gallagher in October,

00:32:23.107 --> 00:32:27.145
at which time there
was no response from
the administration.

00:32:27.145 --> 00:32:28.579
Again, in January,

00:32:28.579 --> 00:32:30.515
the Black and Puerto
Rican community

00:32:30.515 --> 00:32:33.451
presented President
Gallagher with the demands.

00:32:33.451 --> 00:32:36.287
He was asked to
agree in principle

00:32:37.288 --> 00:32:39.123
to the validity of the demands,

00:32:39.123 --> 00:32:41.025
and to set up the means by

00:32:41.025 --> 00:32:44.228
which negotiations
could take place.

00:32:44.228 --> 00:32:45.997
Again, there was no response.

00:32:45.997 --> 00:32:48.533
No structure was set up
for negotiation until

00:32:48.533 --> 00:32:51.803
the Black and Puerto Rican
student closed down south campus

00:32:51.803 --> 00:32:54.639
and declared
themselves on strike.

00:32:54.639 --> 00:32:57.375
The basic purposes of
all five of the demands

00:32:57.375 --> 00:33:00.979
were accepted by me more
than three months ago.

00:33:00.979 --> 00:33:05.183
I was at work on two of them
more than six months ago.

00:33:05.183 --> 00:33:08.219
And what has happened now
is that the public demands

00:33:08.219 --> 00:33:10.288
and agitation have interfered

00:33:10.288 --> 00:33:11.990
with the processes of achieving

00:33:11.990 --> 00:33:13.891
the goals we all
want to achieve.

00:33:13.891 --> 00:33:15.093
There\'s just a question

00:33:15.093 --> 00:33:16.828
of bad timing,
you\'re suggesting?

00:33:16.828 --> 00:33:19.530
Well, I\'m not talking about
putting any blame anywhere,

00:33:19.530 --> 00:33:20.999
but I\'m answering your question

00:33:20.999 --> 00:33:23.468
as to whether or
not progress is made

00:33:23.468 --> 00:33:25.470
without disruptive activity.

00:33:25.470 --> 00:33:28.573
And I\'m indicating that
disruptive activity
only slows down

00:33:28.573 --> 00:33:30.641
the process we
already had underway.

00:33:30.641 --> 00:33:32.176
The strangest thing.

00:33:32.176 --> 00:33:34.779
I was one of those who was
asked to come mediate it.

00:33:34.779 --> 00:33:37.515
They sent and they all knew me.

00:33:37.515 --> 00:33:42.520
The students were
more sophisticated
than the professors.

00:33:43.654 --> 00:33:44.589
I always thought Buell
Gallagher was one

00:33:44.589 --> 00:33:46.858
of the great men of our time.

00:33:46.858 --> 00:33:49.560
They ran rings around him.

00:33:49.560 --> 00:33:51.596
He was a progressive guy,

00:33:51.596 --> 00:33:54.932
but he didn\'t understand
what they were pushing for.

00:33:54.932 --> 00:33:56.401
Didn\'t understand it.

00:33:56.401 --> 00:33:59.704
It as president of a college
that had been taken over

00:33:59.704 --> 00:34:02.173
by a bunch of Black
and Latino students,

00:34:02.173 --> 00:34:05.009
he could have had the
cops come in immediately,

00:34:05.009 --> 00:34:07.245
call out a SWAT team and
had everybody kicked off.

00:34:07.245 --> 00:34:08.713
That\'s not what he did.

00:34:08.713 --> 00:34:10.681
And then it turned from one day

00:34:10.681 --> 00:34:12.383
into the next, into the next.

00:34:12.383 --> 00:34:17.288
♪ I wish I knew how it
would feel to be free ♪

00:34:18.790 --> 00:34:23.261
♪ Just to break all
of the chains that
kinda keep finding me ♪

00:34:24.429 --> 00:34:26.364
♪ And I wish that
I had to take ♪

00:34:26.364 --> 00:34:28.433
My mother did not know anything

00:34:28.433 --> 00:34:31.602
about what I was doing and
I knew that if she knew,

00:34:31.602 --> 00:34:36.607
she\'d say, \"You didn\'t go to
college for that.\" [laughs]

00:34:37.775 --> 00:34:40.111
And actually, I did go
to college for that.

00:34:40.111 --> 00:34:42.013
I went to college
to get an education,

00:34:42.013 --> 00:34:44.882
[chuckles] to help
change the world.

00:34:44.882 --> 00:34:47.952
My parents were
furious, of course.

00:34:49.153 --> 00:34:52.123
This is not what we
came to America for.

00:34:52.123 --> 00:34:53.357
But my parents,

00:34:54.792 --> 00:35:00.298
my mother, after screaming
at us showed up at the gate

00:35:00.298 --> 00:35:02.700
with her sister, my
aunt, with food for us.

00:35:03.334 --> 00:35:04.869
Local community people came.

00:35:04.869 --> 00:35:06.370
They brought us blankets.

00:35:06.370 --> 00:35:09.340
They brought us food,
they brought us funds.

00:35:09.340 --> 00:35:11.709
And the people in the community

00:35:11.709 --> 00:35:13.711
started connecting with us.

00:35:13.711 --> 00:35:15.246
Because this was
like a little island,

00:35:15.246 --> 00:35:16.547
a little ivy league island

00:35:16.547 --> 00:35:17.548
in the middle of
this Black community.

00:35:17.715 --> 00:35:18.850
♪ Oo

00:35:18.850 --> 00:35:20.251
And folks from the
community had never

00:35:20.251 --> 00:35:22.253
been on the campus before.

00:35:23.087 --> 00:35:25.423
It was there, but
not there for them.

00:35:25.423 --> 00:35:28.526
♪ I\'m talking about freedom

00:35:28.526 --> 00:35:31.596
♪ I\'m talking about freedom

00:35:31.596 --> 00:35:36.601
♪ Oh what a wonderful
world this would be ♪

00:35:37.502 --> 00:35:40.004
♪ If everybody could feel free

00:35:40.004 --> 00:35:42.106
[upbeat percussion and
bluesy piano music]

00:35:42.106 --> 00:35:43.841
On strike, shut it down.

00:35:43.841 --> 00:35:48.346
On strike, shut it down.
On strike, shut it down.

00:35:48.346 --> 00:35:50.815
On strike, shut it down.
On strike, shut it down.

00:35:50.815 --> 00:35:53.751
That was a radical time
for white students too.

00:35:53.751 --> 00:35:54.919
Shut it down!

00:35:54.919 --> 00:35:56.888
On strike, shut it down.

00:35:56.888 --> 00:35:59.624
A lot of the white
students stood in front

00:35:59.624 --> 00:36:02.660
to protect us and enable
us to continue to be there.

00:36:02.660 --> 00:36:05.329
So they were our
comrades, our allies,

00:36:05.329 --> 00:36:06.497
and they had our back.

00:36:06.497 --> 00:36:08.833
Shut it down, on
strike, shut it down.

00:36:08.833 --> 00:36:11.636
During the strike my concern was

00:36:11.636 --> 00:36:15.773
what in the world\'s gonna
happen to our semester?

00:36:15.773 --> 00:36:17.341
We were careerists.

00:36:17.341 --> 00:36:22.346
We want to make sure the the
semester continued as it was

00:36:23.548 --> 00:36:26.284
because we have our
mundane aspirations

00:36:26.284 --> 00:36:29.453
just to advance ourselves
another step further,

00:36:29.453 --> 00:36:33.624
and hopefully someday to
be a college professor.

00:36:33.624 --> 00:36:34.926
We don\'t want a small group

00:36:34.926 --> 00:36:37.228
of troublemakers to
take over the campus.

00:36:37.228 --> 00:36:38.729
We want the school,

00:36:38.729 --> 00:36:41.098
the racial composition of
the City College of New York

00:36:41.098 --> 00:36:44.802
to be representative
of the high schools,

00:36:44.802 --> 00:36:47.305
of the city of New
York, which is 57%.

00:36:47.305 --> 00:36:48.940
You can check this
with the Board of Ed.

00:36:48.940 --> 00:36:50.708
57% of the public
Shut up!

00:36:50.708 --> 00:36:51.876
school students
Aw, shut up!

00:36:51.876 --> 00:36:54.245
are Black and Puerto Rican!

00:36:54.245 --> 00:36:58.516
The thing is that racism
is hurting everybody here,

00:37:00.985 --> 00:37:03.921
and discrimination is
hurting all people.

00:37:03.921 --> 00:37:05.089
Why don\'t you join the majority?

00:37:05.089 --> 00:37:06.857
I am joining the
majority of Americans

00:37:06.857 --> 00:37:08.459
who want a better
life in this country.

00:37:08.459 --> 00:37:09.694
Well, the majority around you

00:37:09.694 --> 00:37:11.295
doesn\'t seem to support that.

00:37:11.295 --> 00:37:13.097
What does the majority say?!

00:37:13.097 --> 00:37:15.833
We want in! We want in!

00:37:15.833 --> 00:37:17.668
That\'s what the majority says.

00:37:17.668 --> 00:37:20.271
The people standing around
here are not the majority.

00:37:20.271 --> 00:37:23.007
Well, the people in
there certainly are not!

00:37:23.007 --> 00:37:25.042
Wow. I think I
held my own there.

00:37:25.042 --> 00:37:28.446
It\'s funny, you know,
I don\'t remember that.

00:37:28.446 --> 00:37:31.015
But now seeing it, I feel like,

00:37:32.483 --> 00:37:35.253
you know, I knew what was
important and I stood up.

00:37:35.253 --> 00:37:39.223
And you notice I don\'t see
any women yelling at me.

00:37:39.223 --> 00:37:42.159
It all seems to be like
it\'s just all these big men,

00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:44.729
like converging on me.

00:37:44.862 --> 00:37:47.331
So they were not the majority,

00:37:50.201 --> 00:37:54.238
even though they said they
were, but don\'t, that\'s...

00:37:54.238 --> 00:37:58.276
It\'s part of history that
that white men often feel

00:37:58.276 --> 00:38:02.813
like they are the majority,
like what they say is truth.

00:38:02.813 --> 00:38:07.051
And they try to erase
everything else that is said.

00:38:08.919 --> 00:38:11.455
Gallagher was having
a lot of difficulty

00:38:11.455 --> 00:38:13.090
with the student protestors.

00:38:13.090 --> 00:38:16.794
This must have been a very
frustrating situation for him.

00:38:18.095 --> 00:38:21.299
By that time we had
renamed all the buildings.

00:38:21.299 --> 00:38:24.201
That was a way of making
the college buildings

00:38:24.201 --> 00:38:26.671
more relevant to the Black

00:38:26.671 --> 00:38:28.372
and Latino population
that was here.

00:38:28.372 --> 00:38:30.574
Having all these buildings
named was another way

00:38:30.574 --> 00:38:32.176
of empowering the students.

00:38:32.176 --> 00:38:34.445
We declared it
Harlem University.

00:38:34.445 --> 00:38:37.882
We were in south campus, there
was a pool that had showers,

00:38:37.882 --> 00:38:39.650
so we were able to shower.

00:38:39.650 --> 00:38:43.054
We had already collected
sleeping bags, blankets.

00:38:43.054 --> 00:38:47.658
We were sleeping on
[laughs] the cold floor.

00:38:47.658 --> 00:38:48.993
And there was a lot of babies

00:38:48.993 --> 00:38:51.095
that was born nine months later,

00:38:51.095 --> 00:38:52.630
and we all joked about it.

00:38:52.630 --> 00:38:55.499
I said, \"So that\'s what y\'all
were doing, while we were up.\"

00:38:55.499 --> 00:38:58.769
We weren\'t sleeping, you
know, we were patrolling.

00:38:58.769 --> 00:39:02.306
And all the time
we are thinking,

00:39:02.306 --> 00:39:05.509
when are the police
going to storm?

00:39:05.509 --> 00:39:07.645
When are we going
to be billy clubbed?

00:39:07.645 --> 00:39:10.848
That was always in
the back of our mind.

00:39:10.848 --> 00:39:13.017
We were holding our
own classes by the way.

00:39:13.017 --> 00:39:14.618
We had political
education classes.

00:39:14.618 --> 00:39:16.821
We had English as a
second language classes,

00:39:16.821 --> 00:39:18.389
we had childcare.

00:39:18.389 --> 00:39:21.092
And everyone who was
not part of the takeover

00:39:21.092 --> 00:39:22.927
had to leave by 9:00 p.m.

00:39:22.927 --> 00:39:26.664
We invited local as
well as national leaders

00:39:26.664 --> 00:39:27.998
to come and speak with us.

00:39:27.998 --> 00:39:29.867
Stokley Carmichael
came and he talked.

00:39:29.867 --> 00:39:31.936
He was a very powerful speaker.

00:39:31.936 --> 00:39:33.871
We have to move as a people

00:39:33.871 --> 00:39:36.073
in our neighborhood for control.

00:39:36.073 --> 00:39:40.344
We have to stop reactions and
we have to become aggressive.

00:39:40.344 --> 00:39:43.013
We can no longer
stand up beg anybody

00:39:43.013 --> 00:39:45.349
for victory or concessions.

00:39:45.349 --> 00:39:46.851
Because I\'m here to tell you

00:39:46.851 --> 00:39:48.586
that if beg a man for a victory,

00:39:48.586 --> 00:39:50.921
he\'ll give it to you, it\'s
his victory, not yours.

00:39:50.921 --> 00:39:52.890
[audience laughs]

00:39:52.890 --> 00:39:55.226
Confrontation has been
the order of the day today

00:39:55.226 --> 00:39:56.961
at the City College of New York,

00:39:56.961 --> 00:39:58.963
where education limps
along on a campus,

00:39:58.963 --> 00:40:00.965
half open and half closed.

00:40:00.965 --> 00:40:03.801
ABC\'s Peter Jennings
reports from New York City.

00:40:03.801 --> 00:40:05.436
City College is
physically divided

00:40:05.436 --> 00:40:07.938
into what they call the
north and south campus.

00:40:07.938 --> 00:40:11.609
The north campus opened today
for the first time in 12 days.

00:40:11.609 --> 00:40:13.043
The south side remains occupied

00:40:13.043 --> 00:40:15.346
by Black and Puerto
Rican students.

00:40:15.346 --> 00:40:17.248
Knowing a rally called
by a student supporting

00:40:17.248 --> 00:40:19.583
the Black occupation turned
into a shouting match

00:40:19.583 --> 00:40:21.585
on who was right
and who was wrong.

00:40:21.585 --> 00:40:23.754
Those in favor of seeing
the Black students leave

00:40:23.754 --> 00:40:26.090
their sanctuary weren\'t
always well received

00:40:26.090 --> 00:40:27.825
by some of the more militant.

00:40:27.825 --> 00:40:30.161
The rally became quieter
and more reasonable

00:40:30.161 --> 00:40:34.932
when radical students took
their PA system and left.

00:40:34.932 --> 00:40:36.400
The man in the middle is still

00:40:36.400 --> 00:40:38.135
the president of City
College, Buell Gallagher.

00:40:38.135 --> 00:40:40.938
Yesterday, he agreed to three
of the students filed demands,

00:40:40.938 --> 00:40:43.741
and immediately ran into
resistance from his faculty.

00:40:43.741 --> 00:40:45.609
Today he was ordered
to open the campus,

00:40:45.609 --> 00:40:47.411
and was commended
by most students

00:40:47.411 --> 00:40:49.880
for refusing to bring
police on campus,

00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:52.183
saying he would rather
go to jail himself.

00:40:52.183 --> 00:40:53.651
But as optimistic as he is about

00:40:53.651 --> 00:40:55.920
the Black students
leaving voluntarily,

00:40:55.920 --> 00:40:57.888
they show no signs of doing so.

00:40:57.888 --> 00:41:01.759
If they don\'t, they will soon
face a court order themselves.

00:41:01.759 --> 00:41:05.029
This is Peter Jennings, ABC
News, City College, New York.

00:41:05.029 --> 00:41:06.764
I have this morning requested

00:41:06.764 --> 00:41:09.633
the Board of Higher
Education to relieve me

00:41:09.633 --> 00:41:11.569
of my duties and
responsibilities

00:41:11.569 --> 00:41:14.538
as president of
the City College.

00:41:14.538 --> 00:41:18.876
My own functions as a
reconciler of differences,

00:41:18.876 --> 00:41:21.679
and a catalyst for
constructive change have

00:41:21.679 --> 00:41:24.949
become increasingly
difficult to carry out.

00:41:24.949 --> 00:41:28.752
A man of compassion must
stand aside for a time

00:41:31.055 --> 00:41:33.691
and await the moment
when sanity returns,

00:41:33.691 --> 00:41:37.428
and brotherhood based on
justice becomes a possibility.

00:41:37.428 --> 00:41:41.398
President Gallagher
resigned because Rockefeller

00:41:41.398 --> 00:41:43.133
was the governor at the time.

00:41:43.133 --> 00:41:47.638
And instead of trying to bring
the college along towards

00:41:47.638 --> 00:41:50.007
the dreams of the students,

00:41:50.007 --> 00:41:53.644
he was doing everything
he could to oppose it.

00:41:53.644 --> 00:41:56.380
President Gallagher is
moving out of City College

00:41:56.380 --> 00:41:59.416
after his resignation,
effective yesterday.

00:41:59.416 --> 00:42:01.418
This is Marlene
Sanders, ABC News,

00:42:01.418 --> 00:42:03.754
at City College in New York.

00:42:05.122 --> 00:42:09.226
It was sad to see his
departure from the college.

00:42:09.226 --> 00:42:12.596
One of the casualties
of the the whole event.

00:42:12.596 --> 00:42:15.900
[protestors yelling]

00:42:15.900 --> 00:42:18.102
What Dr. Gallagher
did not say was that

00:42:18.102 --> 00:42:20.437
the Board of Higher
Education removed him

00:42:20.437 --> 00:42:21.872
from the negotiations

00:42:21.872 --> 00:42:24.708
on Black and Puerto
Rican student demands.

00:42:24.708 --> 00:42:27.111
Just as a partial
settlement appeared near.

00:42:27.111 --> 00:42:29.113
There is bitterness
here about that.

00:42:29.213 --> 00:42:30.681
When Gallagher was here,

00:42:30.681 --> 00:42:32.983
you know, he was so
sensitive to our needs,

00:42:32.983 --> 00:42:35.486
and you know, and really,
really took an approach,

00:42:35.486 --> 00:42:38.822
which is why the
takeover lasted as long.

00:42:38.822 --> 00:42:40.858
That college is a
sanctuary place.

00:42:40.858 --> 00:42:42.293
He refused to allow the police

00:42:42.293 --> 00:42:45.029
to come on the
campus and so forth.

00:42:45.029 --> 00:42:48.732
So when he was
replaced by Copeland,

00:42:48.732 --> 00:42:50.701
the first thing Copeland
did was to look up

00:42:50.701 --> 00:42:55.706
all of our academic records and
see who he could get rid of.

00:42:56.206 --> 00:42:57.675
Soon we heard that
there was going

00:42:57.675 --> 00:42:59.443
to be a police presence.

00:42:59.443 --> 00:43:02.146
And they\'re gonna take
anybody and everybody out

00:43:02.146 --> 00:43:05.916
off of this campus by
whatever means of force.

00:43:07.084 --> 00:43:09.954
They were coming in
to declare officially

00:43:09.954 --> 00:43:11.889
the end of this occupation.

00:43:11.889 --> 00:43:13.357
[papers rustling]

00:43:13.357 --> 00:43:15.960
So we left that Sunday night,

00:43:17.394 --> 00:43:20.164
about two weeks and three
days into the takeover.

00:43:20.164 --> 00:43:24.034
[upbeat rock piano
and guitar music]

00:43:24.034 --> 00:43:26.704
♪ We shall be free yeah

00:43:26.704 --> 00:43:30.341
♪ We shall be free

00:43:30.341 --> 00:43:33.043
♪ Everybody want
to get together ♪

00:43:33.043 --> 00:43:36.880
♪ And walk like you and me

00:43:36.880 --> 00:43:39.917
♪ We shall be free

00:43:39.917 --> 00:43:43.220
♪ We shall be free

00:43:43.220 --> 00:43:46.190
♪ Everybody gonna get together

00:43:46.190 --> 00:43:49.793
♪ And walk like you and me

00:43:51.662 --> 00:43:54.632
While there was no violence
during the takeover,

00:43:54.632 --> 00:43:56.266
the aftermath of the takeover

00:43:56.266 --> 00:43:57.868
is where the violence occurred.

00:43:57.868 --> 00:44:00.504
Classes were resumed today
at City College of New York,

00:44:00.504 --> 00:44:01.972
but the troubles
which have assailed

00:44:01.972 --> 00:44:03.974
the institution
reached a new peak.

00:44:03.974 --> 00:44:05.709
What happened here this morning?

00:44:05.709 --> 00:44:07.678
Well, about 10:30 we
saw demonstrations,

00:44:07.678 --> 00:44:09.913
which had taken over the
campus last two weeks

00:44:09.913 --> 00:44:12.383
arrived again, and people
started being beat up,

00:44:12.383 --> 00:44:14.818
and this is the
result of it, now.

00:44:14.818 --> 00:44:16.487
Well now, who beat who?

00:44:16.487 --> 00:44:18.622
Well, the Black and
Puerto Rican students

00:44:18.622 --> 00:44:20.290
were beating up
various white students

00:44:20.290 --> 00:44:22.026
and throwing them off campus.

00:44:22.126 --> 00:44:23.761
There were some white students

00:44:23.761 --> 00:44:27.264
that trapped Black women
students at the gate.

00:44:27.264 --> 00:44:29.366
And the word got
out and we came,

00:44:29.366 --> 00:44:32.236
and there was this
major, major altercation.

00:44:32.236 --> 00:44:33.437
[crowds yelling]

00:44:33.437 --> 00:44:35.239
Fine black women
were being assaulted

00:44:35.239 --> 00:44:37.908
by about 200 white
male students.

00:44:37.908 --> 00:44:41.111
We just leaped into the
crowd of all these men,

00:44:41.111 --> 00:44:43.514
and started swinging.

00:44:43.514 --> 00:44:44.915
By the next day they\'re talking

00:44:44.915 --> 00:44:47.184
about Blacks chasing
down white students,

00:44:47.184 --> 00:44:50.854
which is just the
opposite of what occurred.

00:44:52.222 --> 00:44:56.593
The City College, while
shaken by the present events,

00:44:56.593 --> 00:44:59.096
is not going to be overturned.

00:45:00.531 --> 00:45:04.902
We will have a restoration of
law and order on the campus.

00:45:06.370 --> 00:45:08.772
Black is so terrible,
it\'s terrifying.

00:45:08.772 --> 00:45:11.041
Black is 1,000
Black faces hiding

00:45:11.041 --> 00:45:13.444
and a million white
faces hasn\'t even seen.

00:45:13.444 --> 00:45:15.746
Oh my god, what do they want?

00:45:15.746 --> 00:45:18.949
Black is such a shock
it\'s electrifying.

00:45:18.949 --> 00:45:20.484
[crowds chattering]

00:45:20.484 --> 00:45:22.352
There are those students
at City College who said

00:45:22.352 --> 00:45:24.588
that violence was
inevitable here.

00:45:24.588 --> 00:45:26.690
Black students would want to
fight against white students.

00:45:26.690 --> 00:45:27.991
Fights between Black

00:45:27.991 --> 00:45:29.259
and the Puerto Rican students,

00:45:29.259 --> 00:45:30.627
and those who wanted to
return to their studies.

00:45:30.627 --> 00:45:32.696
Days of violence
among it\'s Black-

00:45:32.696 --> 00:45:34.932
The City College of New
York ringed by police

00:45:34.932 --> 00:45:36.934
in a frenzy of
fear and violence.

00:45:36.934 --> 00:45:39.570
The press has been
ugly and dirty to us.

00:45:40.637 --> 00:45:42.873
I will say it though,
quite candidly.

00:45:42.873 --> 00:45:45.375
We hoped that they
would be sympathetic,

00:45:45.375 --> 00:45:48.912
but they had not been,
they had not been.

00:45:48.912 --> 00:45:51.215
There was no attack by Black

00:45:51.215 --> 00:45:53.717
and Puerto Rican
students, no onslaught.

00:45:53.717 --> 00:45:56.220
There are perhaps 20
to 30 students who

00:45:56.220 --> 00:45:58.622
were Black and Puerto Rican
who went over that gate.

00:45:58.622 --> 00:46:00.257
There were about
100 white students

00:46:00.257 --> 00:46:02.359
on the other side, to 200,

00:46:03.627 --> 00:46:05.763
with hammers and chains.

00:46:05.763 --> 00:46:08.265
[audience applauds]

00:46:08.265 --> 00:46:09.666
How do you feel about the Black

00:46:09.666 --> 00:46:13.604
and Puerto Rican students
position at CCNY?

00:46:13.604 --> 00:46:14.805
They\'re not doing
anything any different

00:46:14.805 --> 00:46:16.340
than many of the white
students are doing

00:46:16.340 --> 00:46:18.475
at Princeton, Harvard, and
some of the other places.

00:46:18.475 --> 00:46:20.644
It\'s only that he\'s been
advertised much more,

00:46:20.644 --> 00:46:22.746
and it\'s been played up
much more in the media.

00:46:22.746 --> 00:46:23.981
But they\'re not doing
anything different

00:46:23.981 --> 00:46:25.315
than many of the other
students are doing.

00:46:25.315 --> 00:46:26.750
You\'re suggesting then

00:46:26.750 --> 00:46:28.085
that they\'re getting more
attention because they\'re Black?

00:46:28.085 --> 00:46:29.820
That\'s part of the reason.

00:46:29.820 --> 00:46:32.523
It evokes a feeling of
hostility, resentment.

00:46:32.523 --> 00:46:33.957
These are kinds of
students you have going

00:46:33.957 --> 00:46:36.660
to campuses,
disrupting campuses.

00:46:36.660 --> 00:46:40.130
But nobody spoke about what
happened before those students

00:46:40.130 --> 00:46:41.732
got to that particular point.

00:46:41.732 --> 00:46:44.768
This is what I say, we do
not do things in perspective.

00:46:44.768 --> 00:46:46.370
You give the public what
you wanna give them.

00:46:46.370 --> 00:46:48.906
[upbeat, funky bass music]

00:46:48.906 --> 00:46:53.877
♪ Say that you
better let my hand ♪

00:46:53.877 --> 00:46:56.079
♪ You let my people go

00:46:56.079 --> 00:46:59.716
[upbeat, funky bass music]

00:46:59.716 --> 00:47:04.655
♪ Said you better let my hand

00:47:05.422 --> 00:47:06.723
♪ Let my people go

00:47:06.723 --> 00:47:10.294
[upbeat, funky bass music]

00:47:11.461 --> 00:47:14.364
We were considered to be
criminals, by the way.

00:47:14.364 --> 00:47:16.466
I myself was arrested.

00:47:16.466 --> 00:47:18.802
The number of other
kids were arrested.

00:47:18.802 --> 00:47:22.806
We were all brought down
and held by the Red Squad,

00:47:22.806 --> 00:47:25.042
and interrogated and
things of that sort.

00:47:25.042 --> 00:47:27.778
[sirens wailing]

00:47:34.685 --> 00:47:36.086
On the south campus

00:47:36.086 --> 00:47:37.487
a serious fire started.

00:47:37.487 --> 00:47:39.389
A two alarm blaze in the chapel

00:47:39.389 --> 00:47:41.458
of the Student
Center Friendly Hall.

00:47:41.458 --> 00:47:44.061
Fire officials said it
was definitely suspicious,

00:47:44.061 --> 00:47:46.830
meaning they\'re sure it
was set deliberately.

00:47:46.830 --> 00:47:49.433
[siren wails]

00:47:57.040 --> 00:47:59.309
Our position was that you

00:48:00.477 --> 00:48:04.047
don\'t burn down what
you have come to use.

00:48:04.047 --> 00:48:07.284
We came to inherit this. We
didn\'t come to destroy it.

00:48:07.284 --> 00:48:10.420
But we never found
out who set that fire.

00:48:10.420 --> 00:48:13.891
City College sits in the
middle of Black Harlem.

00:48:13.891 --> 00:48:16.426
And there is worry that
violence on the campus

00:48:16.426 --> 00:48:19.029
will spread to the
nearby community.

00:48:19.029 --> 00:48:21.565
That is why it is
vitally important

00:48:21.565 --> 00:48:24.534
for City College to
solve its latest problem

00:48:24.534 --> 00:48:26.770
as quickly as possible.

00:48:26.770 --> 00:48:30.674
Lem Tucker, NBC News
City, College of New York.

00:48:31.942 --> 00:48:35.178
At the core of
all these problems

00:48:35.178 --> 00:48:38.682
is access to the
university by minorities.

00:48:39.249 --> 00:48:40.951
Professor Oscar Lumpkin feels

00:48:40.951 --> 00:48:42.953
that opening city
college\'s doors

00:48:42.953 --> 00:48:45.088
to ghetto children is necessary.

00:48:45.088 --> 00:48:47.758
It is not our intent to
lower the curriculum.

00:48:47.758 --> 00:48:52.229
It is our intent to raise
the academic qualifications

00:48:52.229 --> 00:48:54.598
of these students to
a level commensurate

00:48:54.598 --> 00:48:57.734
with their ambitions, their
desires, and their motivations.

00:48:57.734 --> 00:49:00.837
All we wanted was
that opportunity,

00:49:00.837 --> 00:49:02.739
you know, to pick ourselves up,

00:49:02.739 --> 00:49:06.176
dust ourselves off,
compete with the best.

00:49:06.176 --> 00:49:08.145
None of us wanted a handout.

00:49:08.178 --> 00:49:11.782
There were meetings
at which I sat down

00:49:11.782 --> 00:49:14.017
with the chancellor and
the vice chancellor,

00:49:14.017 --> 00:49:19.323
where... hammered out
what are we gonna do about this?

00:49:19.323 --> 00:49:21.858
How are we gonna
solve the problem?

00:49:21.858 --> 00:49:26.096
And the final way of
solving the problem, right,

00:49:26.096 --> 00:49:30.233
which I did not agree
with, was open admissions.

00:49:30.233 --> 00:49:33.136
We had gone through all of
the negotiations with CUNY,

00:49:33.136 --> 00:49:36.440
and with City College
and the mayor\'s office.

00:49:36.440 --> 00:49:38.075
We felt that these demands would

00:49:38.075 --> 00:49:41.678
be implemented one at a time.

00:49:41.678 --> 00:49:43.981
And indeed, most of them
I think was implemented

00:49:43.981 --> 00:49:45.849
in some form or another.

00:49:45.849 --> 00:49:47.484
But a new concept arose,

00:49:47.484 --> 00:49:50.487
which was not a concept
we were pushing.

00:49:50.487 --> 00:49:53.490
And that concept was
called open admissions.

00:49:53.490 --> 00:49:56.593
Could you define open
admissions for us please?

00:49:56.593 --> 00:49:59.529
Open admissions means
that the only requirement

00:49:59.529 --> 00:50:02.899
for entrance to college
to one of the colleges

00:50:02.899 --> 00:50:07.371
of the city university of New
York is a high school diploma.

00:50:07.371 --> 00:50:10.574
And every student who
graduated this June

00:50:10.574 --> 00:50:12.709
from any high school
in New York City

00:50:12.709 --> 00:50:15.912
was offered a place in
one of our colleges.

00:50:15.912 --> 00:50:17.614
How many took up the offer?

00:50:17.614 --> 00:50:20.250
Well, an alarmingly
large number.

00:50:20.250 --> 00:50:23.820
They were totally unprepared
for what happened,

00:50:23.820 --> 00:50:26.556
because they were just flooded.

00:50:26.556 --> 00:50:28.925
This was against my advice,

00:50:28.925 --> 00:50:33.930
which was that they
should simply increase
the SEEK program.

00:50:35.365 --> 00:50:39.269
Because what the university
did when it took in everybody,

00:50:40.437 --> 00:50:43.040
is that it took on a situation

00:50:43.040 --> 00:50:45.876
It was not financially
able to handle.

00:50:45.876 --> 00:50:48.178
What people, I
think don\'t realize,

00:50:48.178 --> 00:50:52.249
that there was already a campaign
to slash the budgets.

00:50:52.249 --> 00:50:56.386
So some people think that
it was the open admissions

00:50:56.386 --> 00:50:59.389
that changed the
nature of the college,

00:50:59.389 --> 00:51:03.693
but actually it was
Rockefeller\'s proposed budget,

00:51:03.760 --> 00:51:07.631
it was really destroying the
university by defunding it.

00:51:07.631 --> 00:51:10.067
They were defunding it.

00:51:10.067 --> 00:51:14.638
But the students won a
large battle in the sense

00:51:14.638 --> 00:51:19.509
that the campuses did reflect
the population of the city.

00:51:19.509 --> 00:51:22.913
So that is a very major legacy.

00:51:22.913 --> 00:51:27.918
♪ We need knowledge
and education ♪

00:51:29.119 --> 00:51:32.556
♪ We need new books
with Black history ♪

00:51:32.589 --> 00:51:36.393
Probably the biggest
education leap

00:51:36.393 --> 00:51:40.197
for Black Americans
happened at City University,

00:51:40.197 --> 00:51:43.333
especially after and
immediately after the takeover.

00:51:43.333 --> 00:51:45.268
And I mean that nationally.

00:51:45.268 --> 00:51:49.106
The really great result
of open admissions,

00:51:49.106 --> 00:51:52.275
not only at the city university,
but across the country,

00:51:52.275 --> 00:51:55.178
is that we\'ve changed the story.

00:51:55.178 --> 00:52:00.250
And the expectation is if
you wanna go to school,

00:52:00.417 --> 00:52:03.653
you can go to school,
and you can succeed.

00:52:03.653 --> 00:52:04.955
[students cheering]

00:52:04.955 --> 00:52:09.793
[triumphant, regal
full orchestral music]

00:52:10.260 --> 00:52:11.862
It is an honor for me to stand

00:52:11.862 --> 00:52:14.998
in front of you today
representing the graduating class.

00:52:14.998 --> 00:52:17.167
[students applaud and cheer]

00:52:17.167 --> 00:52:19.102
I was born and raised in Yemen.

00:52:19.102 --> 00:52:22.205
And before migrating with my
family to the United States,

00:52:22.205 --> 00:52:25.542
I couldn\'t have imagined
attending college simply,

00:52:25.542 --> 00:52:27.444
because we weren\'t allowed to.

00:52:27.444 --> 00:52:28.945
My sisters weren\'t allowed to.

00:52:28.945 --> 00:52:31.515
Girls before me
weren\'t allowed to.

00:52:31.515 --> 00:52:34.684
I fought to be allowed
to pursue an education,

00:52:34.684 --> 00:52:36.653
for the right to be here.

00:52:36.653 --> 00:52:39.523
[students applaud and cheer]

00:52:39.523 --> 00:52:41.525
As I am sure all of you standing

00:52:41.525 --> 00:52:44.761
in front of me today
fought for the same thing.

00:52:44.761 --> 00:52:46.463
We earned the right to be here.

00:52:46.463 --> 00:52:48.198
[audience applauds]

00:52:48.198 --> 00:52:49.733
And I was a freshman
at this school, right.

00:52:49.733 --> 00:52:51.801
I remember hearing people talk
about diversity all the time,

00:52:51.801 --> 00:52:53.737
but I didn\'t really
understand what it meant.

00:52:53.737 --> 00:52:56.006
And I absolutely did
not under understand

00:52:56.006 --> 00:52:58.041
or appreciate what it\'s worth.

00:52:58.041 --> 00:52:59.276
So what I\'m telling
you is that diversity

00:52:59.276 --> 00:53:02.179
of people gives rise to
diversity of thought.

00:53:02.179 --> 00:53:05.448
Diversity of people allows us
to be a stronger student body.

00:53:05.448 --> 00:53:07.717
Go on to be a stronger
workforce, economy,

00:53:07.717 --> 00:53:09.219
and a stronger nation.

00:53:09.219 --> 00:53:11.855
And I say to you,
esteemed first lady,

00:53:11.855 --> 00:53:13.723
you can tell the
president that his dreams

00:53:13.723 --> 00:53:16.293
for our nation have
been alive and well

00:53:16.293 --> 00:53:17.994
at City College for decades

00:53:17.994 --> 00:53:20.363
and will be for decades to come!

00:53:20.363 --> 00:53:24.301
[everyone applauds and cheers]

00:53:26.670 --> 00:53:29.372
There is a reason why
of all of the colleges

00:53:29.372 --> 00:53:31.942
and universities
in this country,

00:53:31.942 --> 00:53:36.713
I chose this particular school,
in this particular city.

00:53:36.713 --> 00:53:38.648
[students cheer]

00:53:38.648 --> 00:53:42.252
You represent more
than 150 nationalities,

00:53:42.252 --> 00:53:45.021
just about every
possible background,

00:53:45.021 --> 00:53:49.593
every color and culture,
every faith and walk of life.

00:53:49.593 --> 00:53:52.562
So graduates, with your
glorious diversity,

00:53:52.562 --> 00:53:57.167
you all embody the very purpose
of this school\'s founding.

00:53:57.167 --> 00:53:58.768
[everyone applauds]

00:53:58.768 --> 00:54:02.839
[upbeat Djembe percussion music]

00:54:17.153 --> 00:54:21.524
♪ So power to the
people, power. ♪

00:54:21.524 --> 00:54:25.562
♪ Power to the people, power.

00:54:25.562 --> 00:54:29.566
♪ Black power for Black people

00:54:29.566 --> 00:54:33.403
♪ Puerto Rican power for
Puerto Rican people ♪

00:54:33.403 --> 00:54:35.972
♪ Power to the people

00:54:35.972 --> 00:54:37.240
[audience applauds]

00:54:37.240 --> 00:54:41.578
And it states therefore be
resolved, April 22nd, 2019,

00:54:41.578 --> 00:54:43.713
be commemorate it as
the 50th anniversary

00:54:43.713 --> 00:54:46.149
of the 1969 takeover to honor

00:54:46.149 --> 00:54:48.084
the Black and Puerto
Rican student community.

00:54:48.084 --> 00:54:51.121
And supporting faculty
who courageously defended

00:54:51.121 --> 00:54:53.556
and fought social and
educational justice.

00:54:53.556 --> 00:54:55.225
And for the sacrifices they made

00:54:55.225 --> 00:54:57.994
to create higher
educational opportunities

00:54:57.994 --> 00:55:01.097
for all deserving students
in the city of New York.

00:55:01.097 --> 00:55:06.102
[Djembe percussion music]
[crosstalk]

00:55:21.151 --> 00:55:23.253
[audience applauds]

00:55:23.253 --> 00:55:26.189
♪ We shall be free yeah

00:55:26.189 --> 00:55:29.492
♪ We shall be free

00:55:29.492 --> 00:55:32.462
♪ Everybody want
to get together ♪

00:55:32.462 --> 00:55:36.132
♪ And walk like you and me

00:55:36.132 --> 00:55:39.202
♪ We shall be free yeah

00:55:39.202 --> 00:55:42.472
♪ We shall be free

00:55:42.472 --> 00:55:45.408
♪ Everybody gonna get together

00:55:45.408 --> 00:55:47.877
♪ And walk like you and me

00:55:55.819 --> 00:55:58.588
♪ People got to understand

00:55:58.588 --> 00:56:02.058
♪ That a man ain\'t
nothing but a man ♪

00:56:02.058 --> 00:56:05.061
♪ He may be Black
and he may be white ♪

00:56:05.061 --> 00:56:08.298
♪ But he\'s still
a man all right ♪

00:56:08.298 --> 00:56:11.167
♪ Well, brother [indistinct]

00:56:11.167 --> 00:56:13.336
♪ Coming in the morning

00:56:13.336 --> 00:56:15.205
♪ In the morning

00:56:15.205 --> 00:56:17.340
♪ You ever get
ready, get ready ♪

00:56:17.340 --> 00:56:21.745
♪ \'Cause I\'m giving
you the morning ♪