And good evening and welcome. Thank you so much for coming. It is an amazing house we have here this evening. I have to say, im thrilled and honored to take part in this Amazing Group of people we have here. I am a media studies and film professor here at the new school and i do teach about things like this black power mix tape thing. Alley. Ight up my so of course, i would love to moderate this. But we are really thrilled to have such an amazing set of powerhouse folks here this evening. Dont you think . [applause] so, in addition to thinking our panelists, i would also like to thank you as our audience, because what it means is that you recognize and support this ongoing work and commitment of these cultural warriors that we have here in our midst. And that we are continuing in the struggle for human rights, economic and educational equality and freedom of speech. The struggle continues. Tonight, i would like to frame the conversation that we have around this sort of issue of education. We have a lot of young people here in audience. How do we relate these issues that are represented in the in the filmmix tape and in the book . If you have not seen the film, it is available on the netflix. In mind, to emphasize the impact of the book and the companion book, and their ability to influence our younger generation. ,ere we are at the new school an institute of higher education, and we are all educators in one way or another. There are maybe three or four generations since this film was documented, so there is a lot of people do not know about. So, i really excited and overwhelmed that this is available and possible to have here today. We are going to watch some scenes from the film too that you will see some parts of the film. My first question to all of our panelists is what pushed you to put yourself on the frontlines of the struggle . Brian, i know that you are younger, so you can tell us last. But kathleen and danny, i would like to hear what was your initial impetus . Kathleen in reality, the i have beeny case, wanting to join the organization in for a while. It was two weeks after stokely had made the call for black power. I met people involved with the black Panther Party commandos involved in the black Power Movement. I ended up moving to california in november of 1967, which is approximately four weeks or five weeks after he would noon was in an altercation and ended up wounded in prison charged with murder, and a policeman dead. And he was facing the gas chamber. The leader of the black Panther Party said it is more important to save hueys life. Then to keep myself on parole. So, he was risking his parole, which meant going back to prison. Healy had already risked his life, bobby field and others were already in jail, so there were about five of us. And we said, we have to get get huey out. It. E said, ok, let us do lets free huey. Glover welcome i did not have to go anywhere. [laughter] and raised in San Francisco, and i remember specifically, the summer of panther was the black party of america, a group that county,ed out of this where i had been attending meetings that summer. It was at a storefront right in the black community in the fillmore area of San Francisco. At the same time, i was about to go back to school and come to San Francisco state, so i was attending San Francisco state as well. There was this large influx of men and women involved in other groups who matriculated out to San Francisco. People like sonia sanchez. Those in the summer of 1966, and those were the kind of things that happened. Fortunately, there was a connection there because they members of the organization. The black Student Union had gained control of the associated to it in budget by spring of 1967, so we started a communications project. Panthertime, the black party took this action in sacramento, and when he was did arrested, everything was drawn to us. So, as a member of the black Student Union, we decided to develop and we began to develop relationship with the black Panther Party. If it was not for that, we would not have gone on strike in a 1968. Theet and decided to form Ethnic Studies Program and the black study . Program. It brought in other people like sissel williams into the party. The two of us did not have classes together, so the party was going through an intense. Cointel and other people getting attacked. We decided to do a mass strike . Also had atually, we few students who were panthers in the black Student Union . Glover thats right come up quite a few students were panthers in the bse of. The blacks that in the black Student Union some of us were pretty committed. Jones as a toddler, i was pretty committed to black power. It was inborn. [laughter] talk,istening to you all im am struck by the enthusiasm have fornergy that you these moments now, still. And i think that theres something about this film and this book that raises for a new generation that has not yet tasted what it feels like to feel like you have collective power. There are five of us, that is just get them out of jail. We do not walk around thinking like that. [applause] we are clapping because should walk around like that, but we dont. But come miami etc. To do anything that i can for myself and for others, to teach about. His movement these questions that were raised about power, can we do things and change things . I watched this film with my father, who was not involved in the movement, but he had no personal connection to any of the people that you are describing. But, the way in which from his experience, he came from the north and went to school in the , brian cometold me at these people kicked in the doors that i walked through. The film humanized people and he was over and over again struck by their intelligence, charisma, the fact that they were saying things that just made so much sense. That is part of why they want to bury the black power tradition and are still after the black power militants and why the question of ringing this history back to life is important, still matters, and is dangerous. So made things happened in oakland and San Francisco at the glover so many things happen in oakland and San Francisco at the time. Met hank johnson in a 1966 when we were going to meetings in the fillmore and they were trying to put some sort of stopgap on redevelopment,orcible removal of their homes and i met hank there. Other people who are part of the black Panther Party were there as well, and of the way in which this was so amazing, and this comes from all the other groups, their organizing capacity. I think what happened to the bsu was that one of the things that we learned and began to cultivate there, it was our organizing ability. Came to thets that black Panther Party, they were part of what was happening at an to state, moment, and was a teacher college. It had ten Tutorial Centers around the city. We would begin to infiltrate those centers. We would always talk about, how do we use that as a platform for mobilizing the Community Around education . So now, we were working with them around the issue of housing, removal, etc. Michelle well, you all already answered my next question. But i have more. I wanted to touch on something that brian said, which is how we on it got to see one side of the movement, in terms of what the media allowed us to see, right . Does a totally different thing, it takes us inside to humanize the people who were part of it. That was something we were talking about behind, in the green room. That is something that we dont get to see too often, and i think that the film does that extremely well. With that in mind, i would like to show clip number one, if we could roll clip one, please . [video clip] and so he is singing about this for the fbi, but it is just song and words. A few years ago i was listening to Stokley Carmichaels speeches while i was prepared for a new record that i was working on. It was shortly after 9 11 in america, and i was making a reservation with Jetblue Airlines to fly to california. When i got to the airport, the fbi, cia, and tsa intercepted me , all of these guys in black suits, and they took me in the back room and started questioning me about this Stokely Carmichael speech that i was listening to. You probably had some kind of. Ug or tap but they were concerned about me listening to a Stokely Carmichael speech from 1967, 40 years ago. Who talk about shooting other people all the time, but the fbis not looking at them. They are looking at me, because im listening to this speech from 40 years ago. The fbi is still scared of this man. He does not have nearly the same influence in our community that he did then. [end clip] so, i was saving that for later. That was not the clip i wanted to show [laughter] because i knew that you are going to respond like you did, but i think it is still pertinent to the point that you are making and why this is so dangerous, why the movement is still considered so dangerous. Rapper todayappe talking about being stopped at the airport because he is listening to a Stokely Carmichael speech from what is 1967. That saying about where we are today . Here . Here can we go from it is like we have gone backwards another 40 years. Jones i think they went to ieeat lengths to put that geno back in the bottle. Whenever theyhem could into the party, and for the rest, it was punishment and incarceration, and that has continued. I was really surprised when i kurss over the highway. I think that they had to put down the black radical movement in part because it inspired so many other movements and parts of what was happening in america trying to model themselves on the panthers and people like Stokley Carmichael. They went to all that x ends and length and involvement to make it happen, and now i feel like ,hey just cant roll that back they cant say sorry, we messed up, we cannot have all those people in prison. Coverage ate media the time of Stokley Carmichaels activity in the black power era was extraordinarily twisted and they tried to make him seem all sorts of things, expose arrests, they wanted to talk about him and even one congressman said, he should be the subject of the rhetoric is retroactivel birth control. The way they try to demonize and tried to isolate the information you could get from stokely or any of us was horrendous. But in sweden come i was quite different. In fact, they were quite curious and they would let cameramen go anywhere and talk to anyone they wanted. Sweden also had a different policy about covering america. They did not follow the u. S. Views of itself or the vietnam war. Media,ld read in their stories of what they called the other america. This is about the Civil Rights Movement, the black Power Movement and this is not about fear, i was about news. That is footage of stokely in sweden. People were going around the world and making it clear what the black movement was about, and it was very exciting and stokely was charming, sexy, and exciting, handsome, and people were attracted to him. That was not allowed here. People who were attracted were cordoned off in one room, and a lot of times they would be all black. So there were perceptions formed in the media which were entirely different. That is what they wanted to perpetuate, hate white people, code that was what it was all about. , this ise people what the fbi wanted to think of these movements were about, so they could justify their abuse. Caner we know this and we see this throughout American History, the controlling of ideas the idea of controlling , our imagination. Imagine this process, a very democratic process. It was in hierarchal process with the black Panther Party and the black Power Movement as well. You had these charismatic figures like this young woman when here, and i remember she came on, she became an iconic figure in that sense in really married to a major xmen for the black Power Movement and was also connected to the black Panther Party. Those are the kind of ideas which are incredible which came from visual ideas. They wanted to control that certainly. They wanted to cut this and sever that. Host a little too visionary . Danny glover yeah, and because they are charismatic, as kathleen was, stokely, or many of the others, or huey himself. The moment you saw huey sitting in that chair, the question as always, as young people even when i was young, when i saw those Young Students from that organization working down there, i wanted to be like them. I was like 14 years old, 15 years old. I wanted to be like then. M. Imagine that you will had he newton, this gorgeous man, people wanted to be like him. You had to suffer that idea. Severhe had testo that idea. Michelle now i would like to try to get to the clip i was looking for before, which on my pages Stokley Carmichael. Can we try that one again . Yeah . Hm, it got out of order somehow. That is the one you just played. Maybe you didnt play the whole thing . Perhaps . Where is anthony . This is it. Call president johnson on the telephone trying to get hold of dr. Martin luther king but they said he was in there oil from theo rockefeller, couldnt get no diamonds from his mind. If i would enjoy the american no, so i said, burn, baby, burn this is for the fbi. That is the hotline. [laughter] this is like, man, nothing is wasted. Everything takes a different form. What form will you take when you die . The next thing was when he was burning the flame, and he said, this is for the fbi. Andas maybe a fiery speaker he had passion and ideas, but he was a calm, cool, collected person. These were just words, it was just song and words. A few years ago, i was listening to the Stokely Carmichael speeches while i was prepared for any record that i was working on. It was shortly after 9 11 and i was making a reservation on Jetblue Airlines to fly to california. When i got to the airport, the fbi, cia, and tsa intercepted me and took me in a back room and started questioning me about this Stokely Carmichaels speech that i was listening to. They probably had some sort of bug or tap or something, but they were very concerned with me listening to this Stokley Carmichael from 1967, 40 years ago. Rappers,angster rappers who talk about shooting people and killing. But the fbi is not looking for them. They are looking at me because im listening to the speech from 40 years ago, and it shows you the power of those words. It is that they resonate even until now. The fbi is still scared of this man. He doesnt have the same influence over our community he did then. [end clip] michelle so you got to see it twice, it was so good. [laughter] talk about int to reference to that clip is this sort of behind the scenes look at the leaders of the movement. I never saw this kind of footage before. What was it about these the young swedish filmmakers, journalists, which allowed them this kind of access, and why would they look for that . Because they could do what they wanted. They were not told by their editors do this, do that. I saw footage in the film that completely blew my mind. I do not even remember swedish tv particularly, but in all to area, algeria first they showed images of the building where we were. No one in america has ever seen the building of the International BlackPanther Party, other than one picture in york times magazine. One magazine in 19 17, december 1. That is the only picture i have ever seen. You cannot turn on the tv and hear some of what our leaders are saying, but in this film you hear one of them saying, yes, we want to reach the level of the vietnamese and make our provisional revolutionary government, but we have not gotten to it. Can you imagine . Fbi would not allow because the United States is at war. That is part of it, the politics of war, anticommunism, and the insanely psychotic level of white supremacist madness we were being subjected to. And apparently they thought that it did not affect us. That we were not responsive. With whitego along supremacy, and facts, which challenged it very openly and condemned it and made fun of it. We had a whole movement around the country and around the world repudiating it. So this is probably in the context of the vietnam war, of being disrespected, the name cigar called, etc. It might have had something to do with how they responded to this, but it also intimidates the press and the people. They are afraid. They are afraid to know this information. Glover and another part of the black Power Movement was that it internationalized, the struggle here of africanamericans, the collaborations with the in vietnam, algeria. This is right after the algerian liberation, and also connected with the african liberation to support groups within the, on on the continent whether it was anc, it in some sense had an enormous power and resonated with people. So now the Civil Rights Movement for all intents and purpose was an internal struggle in the United States, dealing with racism, White Supremacy. Now we begin to ponder the question of a system of capitalism. All those began to frame the discourse. So you are making alliances in algeria, connecting to vietnam and other movements around the world. Malcolm did it when he went to mecca. He came back and began to talk about the international relationship, talking about taking the struggle of africanamericans to the u. N. In real terms. And now, you have a local Grassroots Organization doing that work, it talking about building through communityprotection from police. Free schools, free health care. Breakfast for children. Breakfast for children was the governmentso the records for children. The governments breakfast for children program. That was started by the black Panther Party. [applause] glover thank you. We do not remember that we forget that. You have all these things happening on a local level, taking on a local level and Building National and international networks. That is dangerous. Jones i think also, just about your question, america has a tendency to apologize black people. Pathologize black people. They think that there were something wrong with black people are genetically, culturally, psychologically. It is hard for them to step out of White Supremacy and ask a question like, why are you in jail . What are you doing here . Even to this day radicals are portrayed as irrational people whose radicalness flows from their irrational psychological problems, is said flowing from their conditions of life instead of flowing from their conditions of life. They might as well ask angela davis, why are you here . Ok, lets talk about why i am here. Thank you for asking me a question. Lets talk. I am talking and the cameras are rolling and i am telling you unedited what i think . When people see that, they are so struck and taken in by it, that you know, you start to , maybehat wow these people grew up in horrible conditions and got the idea that he could do something to change it. That is what the whole thing is about, not some pathological problem about black people that makes us run around in the streets. [applause] michelle with that reference to angela davis, thank you for that , brian. Can be rolled clip number three please . [video clip] the trial, i think, will be historic in its unfairness. There is no evidence at all to involve ms. Davis, none whatsoever. Up onk they seized u that opportunity to arrest her and put her to death. I think governor reagan seized on that, originally fired her from her teaching job at the university of california and this is an extension of that as far as im concerned. The evidence presented to the grand jury shows that the guns that week used in the shootout that were used in the shootout were registered in her name. Assuming that is true, that is all it shows, that she owns some guns. There is nothing illegal in the state of california about owning guns. They were registered, and it is not a crime. But because of the inflammatory built up around this incident, and because of the need that the government felt to put her in jail, and to hopefully from their point of view, kill her, they could put enough pressure in that grand jury room to get an indictment. Ends] clip michelle the actual video clip with angela in this film is priceless. It is angela in jail and you have never seen this footage anywhere else if you have not seen this film. Kathleen, i would love for you to talk a little bit about the women of the movement. We know about angela, we know you were the first female leader within the party. Prof. Cleaver that is not true. The first one was Joanne Mitchell who was actually a student at San Francisco state and the bsu. She was the womens captain. I was on the central committee, but she was the womens captain before the central committee. This idea of leaders, the movement, the Civil Rights Movement in the south was mobilized and organized, dominated by the activities of women. The men who are spokesman are designated leaders and they are written about in the press and they go to meetings, but they do not actually reveal, that does not actually reveal the way that the movement evolved. ,en you put the term leaders than people unconsciously want to see a male. Not mean that all the work and all the leadership, all the education and all the programming was not done by quite a few women. In the black Panther Party, the initial the people who started it, true, guys started hueyobby hill, h , but as time went on and more more men got arrested, and got to the point where the majority of actual panthers on the ground were women. I think there is no major effort in the Larger Society to understand what radical movements are about and no Larger Movement to understand what the leadership of black women is about. That does not mean it is not there, but it is discounted. Prof. Materre danny, do you want to add anything . Danny glover i cannot add to that. [laughter] too often, and you mentioned, understanding what black radicalism is. This is a black there is a black radical tradition throughout the 20th century we do not call on. We think of the moment, specific moments in time when we look at. He Civil Rights Movement but when you look at the beginning of the 20th century, w bois and others, the leaders who came through the commonest party. When you look at who was at the manchester conference on pan africanism. Again, the 20th century, then again, the 20thpanafricanism we you have the future leaders of the caribbean, the leaders of africa, all of these great people who would come and were a part of this radical tradition, and we always never embrace that part of it. Even today, in terms of understanding that whatever changes happen, you have to step outside of the context that you are functioning in, and find another voice and another narrative for liberation. That comes through the black radical tradition. The Panther Party, the black Power Movement, is part of a much larger, much larger historical context. I said before, it is a reimagining of democracy. Youre bringing people to the table and reimagining democracy, having them participate in their own liberation. It is a reimagining. They are not looking for democracy to play out its game in other ways. They themselves took the reins of it and used the process itself. [applause] Kathleen Cleaver the movement that i joined, the black Power Movement evolved out of the Civil Rights Movement in the deep south. In the deep south, many of the leaders were actually women. They were not given that title but the sncc organization was started by ella baker who was on the staff of the sclc and she essentially the inspiration and the mentor. She allowed the leadership within the that Youth Organization called student nonviolent for donating coordinating committee to mature and develop. By the time i moved to california in the fall of 1967, there was a woman who had been elected executive secretary, very wellacknowledged leader. I remember seeing pictures of her in ebony magazine. I was so impressed. It was so inspiring to see young people, young women, young man working together. Challenging these sheriffs, going to jail, singing in the paddy wagons. Going on freedom rides. Woman. Ader was a this notion of being a radical, being a woman, they were not inconsistent. I will say a large part of the American Population had not been educated to the fact that there was this leadership within women. So, when they see the organizations, they dont see the leadership, because it is coming out of a tradition that they are not familiar with. Danny glover absolutely. A doctor who others from Howard University down to snake to sncc. It was ella baker who brought bob moses. That is what kathleen is talking about. Brian jones i think america also tells itself to is about these movements that undercuts the kind of work that people were doing. That is all behind the scenes and as far as we understand, these were overnight success stories. This was americas next great civil rights leaders contest and whoever gets on stage wins. [laughter] not that this was something that was built over decades of work. I would like to mention a few books that are out there. Ranceys book about ella baker is amazing. And also the book about rosa parks. The mythology has reached an incredible proportion. The degree to which we cut off rosa parks from who she was as an organizer is astounding and does a disservice to all those who are laboring in top conditions, trying to keep at it, seeing no fruit of their labor for years and years and years, and feeling like nothing was going to give. So, to celebrate her accomplishment, when she moves into the time might come up but to forget the decades that aoceeded it also does disservice to those of us are trying to follow in her footsteps. Michelle i am glad you said that, because i want to talk to you about as an educator youve been in the new york city , Public Schools for over nine years. How do we get this information, this film, this talk into the this book into the core curriculum of the new york Public Schools . [laughter] i am not talking about once a year during negro hysteria month. [laughter] kathleen, i have to give credit to a friend of mine, irene davis , she coined that phrase, not mine. Shes listening, im sure. But really, we do not want this to be a once a year thing, we want this embedded as American History, not as black history. Ryan jones thats right, it is American History. There is no america without the africans that were kidnapped and brought here and built the country. There is no country. [applause] americanery stage in history, the black struggle is essential to understanding the whole history of the country. I was in Elementary School, i was teaching little ones eight years in harlem. That is what students want to learn about. It is not hard. The hard part is trying to deal with the demands of highstakes standardized testing and all of the demands that they are putting on our schools. The budget cuts and the school closings, the privatization, that is the problem. Kids want to learn real history, history about people fighting back. You have them right here in the palm of your hand, like wait a minute, wow, they want to learn. That is what has them the most riveted and the most interested. You do not have to sermon eyes you dont have to sermon ize to young people. When theyre exposed to real history, they make their own meaning out of it. That is what every generation has to do, it is not that hard to see the struggle of yourself, your errands, your presence, your uncles, in the struggles of yesteryear. What people do not know is we have a legacy of standing up and winning. E power and of that is what we have to let them be asked those two. [applause] michelle i know that we have some questions from the audience but i have to mention two things. I know amy goodman was here, did she just leave . She is waving. There she is. Thank you for coming, amy. [applause] awesome. Danny, i know you are just on now about a week ago danny, i know that you were just on democracy now a week ago. Oh, you will be on tomorrow . When was that interview with you . That was some months ago . That was awesome. I just saw that recently. Glover it was right after them dropping the death penalty. We knew that we had reached one stage, but we still have to free momia. We still have to free her. [applause] and on that show, amy surprised you by getting momia on the phone, right . Glover yes, it was amazing. It was emotional. Everybody should go watch that. Michelle you had been fighting for his freedom for over 20 years. Danny ozzie davis and i were part of the Defense Committee. Way back. Prof. Materre and here we are still trying to get him out of jail. He is off death row but he is still in prison. Danny i was on the Defense Committee of Geronimo Pratt as well. Way back. I would be remiss if i did not acknowledge my producing partner, Jocelyn Barnes. Brian jones it is true. All the work that your end date, she found various ways that we could involve the community, have it seen and have the kinds of discussions and discourse. I also have a great friend who was my little brother, one of the great filmmakers in the world. Ilya suleiman. [applause] host we have some questions from the audience not. I will start with one that we had from our student, alexander salazar. She asks, that it is clear that the activism has changed over the years and it i seems it has become more individuallybased. How can we make it collective once again . Prof. Cleaver the problems that any activist is attempting to adjust, they are allowed to have problems. Individualbased solutions, they are not going to work. So first of all, be realistic and secondly, regroup and learn organizing, not posturing, not rattling off things out of your head. Organizing, wedding together a Movement Group or of some sort, where they participate collectively in making choices and implementing their decisions. Michelle lets excellent, thank you very much. E is another question there was a comment in the beginning that we are several generations removed from the movement, we hope that it continues. My question is what advice, direction, or request do you have of young people today in terms of continuing and honoring their struggle . Danny i missed part of that. Prof. Materre what advice, direction, or request you have of young people today in terms of honoring the struggle . To continue and honor the struggle . It all ther i see time. I was just in chicago where there is a young man named Emmanuel Pratt on the south side of chicago. He has a fishery and is teaching young kids, not only sustainability in terms of food production, growing food and fish and Everything Else, he has also made a business out of it. That is a kind of activism that we need, the kind of examples that we need. Ive been spending the last year with a group of students in mississippi. The mississippi students working the mississippi students for justice. The students working and supporting nissan workers in canton, mississippi. Seven of those workers sat in at seven of those students set at nissan a couple of weeks ago in protest of one of the organizers who was advocating for union, sitting in the office singing freedom songs, and they gave him his job back. That is the kind of activism i see on those levels. Host and we do not hear about that. [applause] glover the activism though we have come out of has been transformative. We have to understand that activism when it becomes individualized is not transformative. You only have activism that is transformative when it is collective. The transformation, when you saw a young brother that jacket on, it was extraordinary. All those things were extraordinary. So, it has to be to affirmative. What is in existence now in the systems and alliance is, Building Alliance is to service whitneys to be done at the moment. That does not take away from the fact that we have to change this. As she said, we have to change this. Said, we haverty to change this, no matter what is going on in the white house. That is transformative. Where do we find that . We connect to that . And understand that . Evolution, revolution. Prof. Cleaver what i think is problematic is that the activism level that is underway at and has been over the last 1520 years, is not well understood and not well known. If you live in an area where there is a big Environmental Justice movement, you hear about it because you live there. But if you live six states away, you do not even know that it exists. There is a hostility and the larger media to show anything that involves collective action in the larger media to show anything that involves collective action, or involving young people, young black people. Sometimes they have to show it. Let the protest in the louisiana, they couldnt not show it. [applause] prof. Materre and we are finally hearing three weeks later about the nigerian girls they kidnapped, three weeks later. Brian jones one Trayvon Martin was murdered in florida, 22 high schools in florida had walk outs. How many of you heard that . How many of you had walltowall coverage and interviews with the organizers . Somebody organized 22 schools to doesnt, that just happen. I was just thinking about that when you are speaking. There is a way in which there is a blackout that makes it difficult to connect to strands of organizing that are going on. I think we benefit from solidarity, connecting the dots, from assuming that our struggles are connected to each other. Dependent on each other, and on that basis expecting and trying to build solidarity between different struggles and different issues. Prof. Cleaver and using this technology youre using now, tweeting and texting to instill this connection and getting the word out more that we do not get through the mainstream press. We have the technology, lets use it. [applause] prof. Materre danny, i heard that you wanted to make a film about the haitian revolution. [applause] [cheers and applause] prof. Materre what is the status . I think this person would launch a Kickstarter Campaign for you, if you wanted to. Danny i met Jocelyn Barnes 15 years ago on a set in senegal, a movie we were doing that she had translated the script and gotten the rights from the novel, found the director and found the money to do the film. We were sitting one night as you said, trying to find something to do when youre doing an all night shoot. She mentioned the things we want to do, it was like the whole sky lit up when we said the haitian revolution. That discussion, itself, led to the relationship that formed louveture films. It is named after th touissant. That is the centerpiece of our company. We still have a vision of doing that. But all the other relationships we have had, the time that ,emains, the film with suleman trouble the water, all you can have, a film that we coming out now, and what we have done in the past, Everything Else we are trying to get to that point and we will get to that point of doing this movie. But there are so many other things that have evolved out of that, that relationship. The light came on, and we knew that we wanted to form a company that would bring the kind of work that we saw here. Else, to support african filmmakers. Those are the kind of things that have evolved out of that. That is where we will go until further notice with the haitian revolution. As soon as you need our support, please let us know. Host i think it is a really important issue. This question is from a documentary filmmaker doing a documentary on a black homeless veteran who says that slavery is alive and well in america today. He believes that black folks need to look inside themselves and not white folks to tell them who they are. Your thoughts . Professor cleaver i would just like to comment, i passed a man on the street this afternoon. Saidd a sign that homeless veteran, please give me whatever you can for food. I walked past him and i thought this is insane. I found some dollars and i said this is all i have. He told me that 75 of the homeless in new york are veterans. That tells you something about the lack of coherence, lack of compassion and lack of reality in the government that we have. If 75 of the homeless in new york city are veterans. And they are begging for money. This is crazy. Of course, we know it is a disaster. What i wanted to get at is the accessin which we information and participate in community has been radically altered by the politics of this country. Back in the time of the black panthers and the radicals, all of these different groups were percolating up, the u. S. Was not the number one total leader of the world. The United States was in competition. There was a war undergoing between people who were on the capitalist side and people against the capitalist side. It was called the vietnam war, and it went on for quite some time. It ended in vietnam becoming an independent country as it should have been. But that was many, many years ago. At this point, there is no opposition to the World Domination of the Economic System of the United States. That alters entirely how people can function within this country, how they think, how they respond to each other. We have to get out of this one world what was bushs thing, new world order. We have to get out of and behind this new ugly order to get to a better order, where we can communicate and do something to solve the problems that we actually have. Aterre with that in mind, i have a question have been dying to ask brian, having to do with the model in the educational system today, the notion of the pipeline to prison in our schools. I want to know if you have any ideas about how we should be mobilizing around that issue to break up that model. Are there any instances you can tell us about that are doing that . Brian jones first of all, we need to stop stopping and frisking students in the hallways of schools. Stop giving them repeated summons for petty offenses, stop policing them in the hallways of their own building. [applause] i think that is just an obvious place to start. But to add to that, we have to add the things that are studentsg increasingly, that are pushing them in those directions. If we have a highly standardized curriculum and a High Pressure testing, all of that is just a giant sorting mechanism that has nothing to do with genuine , nothing to do with intellectual development, nothing to do with teaching and learning. [applause] and for students who are already pissed off, maybe with good this curriculum and these mandates, and those standardized this, that and the other, or just another chance to check out from the school experience. Boringtultifying, it is now turn to page 35. [laughter] it is ridiculous. If you go on the common core website, they want to take things that are explosive in our history and they want to take away the danger from it. They want you to teach the letter from a birmingham jail without ever talking to students about why Martin Luther king is in a jail. They want you to teach the gettysburg address without talking about the field littered with the bodies that lincoln is standing in ny the field is littered with bodies. They want you to teach a decontextualized skill set that has nothing to do with why you need skills in the first place. Close reading. Why does anybody read i am sorry, i could go on and on. It is not just the metal detectors, it is not just the police in the hallway, there is Something Else going on that is making school culturally irrelevant to people. And insensitive to them, and who they are, in a way that feeds into the other thing as well. It is not just locking up sixyearolds, although they are looking up sixyearolds, it is also what is happening to the process of school itself. Prof. Materre how do we correct that . What is it going to take to move beyond that . Brian jones first of all, we have to overcome the iron bar that has been set over and over again by the Supreme Court that says a pattern of racism does not count as racism. You have to catch somebody saying the n word. [laughter] so if you are not donald sterling, you are not dumb enough to get caught on camera saying oafish, ridiculous things, you can do anything you want to black people. You can shoot them down. They are obsessing on did zimmerman say the n word . Who cares what came out of his mouth . It is what came out of his gun. You can do anything to people as long as you do not say the oldfashioned words that say you are racist if you keep that off the table, you can do anything to people. We have to say that is racist if most of the schools getting shut down or black, that is racist. Every institution has a plaque on the wall saying they are color and will treat everyone equal. We have to say this kind of color blindness is the new racism. [applause] prof. Materre does either one of you want to respond to that . Prof. Cleaver i wish there were 100 more Elementary School teachers who had the same thought. Can we have an institute for Elementary School teachers . Brian i am working on that. Prof. Materre i will take one more for questions from the audience because this is a good one. It is about Coalition Building. It says that many of us are of us are trying to work between coalitions like students for justice in palestine [applause] students of the African Diaspora and the feminist collective. [applause] however, we are having trouble getting folks to believe that these struggles constitute each other. How can we get people to see that and believe that . Prof. Cleaver there is a challenge of organizing but it is also a form of community building. You will organize and talk to people you know because you sat down and you ate lunch and you went for a walk and you are in a class, it is kind of hard to organize with strangers. You have to form connections and build alliances and build relationships in the process of developing political challenges. That is key. If you do not do that, your political challenges do not go anywhere. I am sure some of you have had that experience. Brian it is also political education. If you do not know that the nypd learned to occupy the bronx by going to the Training Center in ramallah, you do not know the connections between occupation and occupation. We have a lot of political educating to do to realize the connections between our struggles. Danny ive spent some time in detroit, michigan, and what was so amazing, i remember one evening meeting with about 30 different organizations, small groups, one around rethinking education, one about urban gardening and food production, another run by an expanther who has an organization for peace zones. I watched all these organizations support each other and they were able to develop a common narrative. That should be the driving force for their Coalition Building and as kathleen said, organizing. All of those particular things allow us to find ways in which we can build these coalitions. Coalitions are essential. The San Francisco state strike would not have been successful had it not been for africanamerican students, native american students, hispanic american students, asian students, and progressive white students. It would not have been successful. It is finding those ways of mobilizing and organizing and creating the language and the narrative, the language and narrative of transforming. Prof. Materre for those students in the audience are looking for a class to take in the fall that will emphasize that, just a little blatant selfpromotion, i am teaching race, ethnicity, and class in the fall so be sure to join us. I would like to close with a couple quotes. Kathleen, you say there is a systematic system to prevent the leaders from having their natural effect. It is always difficult to mobilize people, but when you illuminate Martin Luther king, robert kennedy, not to mention all the others who are being killed, you diminish the strength of that movement. Had king chosen to be more cowardly, maybe he would have lived longer but that is not the choice you made. Thank you for that. [applause] danny, you used a reference to paul robison and we just lost paul. You said each generation as paul said makes its own history. A new generation must now make its history but it faces huge challenges, whether it is the climate crisis, the Global Financial crisis, the prices of poverty, or the crisis of inequity in the world. We do not have to start anew. All of us can draw on the resources of those who have struggled before us and the people in black power mix tapes, 1967 to 1975 gave a strong shoulders to stand on. [applause] and if you have any Closing Remarks you would like to make, we can do that now and we would like to invite people to stay for the book signing and regular roundtable talking. Prof. Cleaver i would like to say people have to believe they can do this. Jim foreman used to always say he was my first mentor i have never worked so hard in my life. The first weekend i got to atlanta, i do not think i slept three hours in the weekend, taking notes. There was chaos. What i was going to say is you have to be able to believe in yourself, believe what you want to do and no foreman used always say we will win without a doubt. But you do not know when. We have to put when off the table and believe that we can win. If we do not win, this is a country going down the tubes, a little fascist hole, in the future. Danny i think one of the things we have come away from just this evening is the enormous contributions that have been made in the past and as we have all said, we can build on that. Even though we feel as if we are at some sort of impasse in our capacity to build, to struggle, we are still here. There are so many, this audience, the young people in this audience are the testimony to the necessity of the work we have to do. We are here, we are available, we want them to develop their tools. Analysis, truth telling, to listen to the entire story and building create new stories. [applause] brian everywhere i go i feel like i see young people trying to absorb something from the black Power Movement. I see them reading malcolm x on the train or if i wear my angela davis tshirt, inevitably i am stopped 27 times trying to go somewhere. I feel that there is a new generation that is tried to figure out how to break out of that impasse and what we should understand here and i think we do understand in this room is that there is an important legacy here that is essential to what it is we have to do from here for that breakthrough. That is why they want to bury it and that is why we want to present it in a film, and a book, in whatever form we can, we need to get it out there. Lastly, i want to say that i am so proud to be sitting up here with two of the heroic figures from the black Power Movement. Thank you universe for putting me up here. Prof. Materre thank you so much anthony from haymarket books for putting this together. Please stay and get your book signed i our two powerhouses on the stage. Thank you so much. Youre watching American History tv. All weekend every weekend on cspan tv. Up next on American History tv, Amy Shively Hawk talks about her stepfather James Shively and his imprisonment after his plane was shot down and he was captured by the north vietnamese in 1967. Miss shively is the author of six years in the hanoi hilton. An extraordinary story of courage and survival in vietnam. The National Archives hosted this 45 minute event in conjunction with the opening of their remembering vietnam exhibit. David i ask all Vietnam Veterans or United States veterans that served during the vietnam era from 1955 to may 15 of 1975 to stand and be recognized. [applause]