Draft Registration at Federal Plaza

Transcript (Download)

The statement they hoped to make with this demonstration was flawed by the protesters themselves.

Most of the protesters were too old or too young to register, or women who at the moment don't have to sign up, or they were familiar faces flying familiar banners or offering familiar literature from such groups as the Communist Party or Socialist Workers Party or Youth Against War and Fascists, groups that have been trying to find a cause since the Vietnam War.

Missing from the line of march were the people whose lives could be most affected, the 19 and 20 year olds.

Chances are if there is an effective protest against registration, it will be a silent one based on individual conscience, not one prompted by such street demonstrations as this.

In fact, we found people with deep...

No draft! No war! No draft! No war! No draft! We won't go! We won't die for Mexico! Hell no! The protesters were chanting, hell no, we won't go.

One bystander asked, go where? Walter, it is not 1968.

Five year prison sentence.

How would you get caught? No draft! No war! No draft! No war! They didn't do anything to you? No! Did you write in the do not write in the space? No! It's been...

You're going to have to sign for this buddy.

Oh no! Come on, I know you're in there.

Oh no! I don't want to get drafted.

I don't want to go.

I don't want to get drafted.

I don't want to get drafted.

I don't want to go.

I don't want to get drafted.

No, no, no! Rollerskating, disco, it's a lot of fun.

I'm too young and stupid to operate a gun.

I don't want to get drafted.

I don't want to get drafted.

I don't want to get drafted.

I don't want to get drafted.

My sister don't want to get drafted.

She don't want to go.

My sister don't want to get drafted.

My sister don't want to get drafted.

She don't want to go.

My sister don't want to get drafted.

Oh oh, real ugly warden came around.

They're dirty and they're cold I don't want nobody to shoot her in the FIREBALL! FIREBALL! I don't want to get drafted I don't want to get drafted I don't want to get drafted No, no, no You're giving permission to pass these out No, we weren't giving permission but we're exercising our constitutional rights and passing them out Under the Constitution, are you allowed to sing in the Post Office? I don't know, and the regulations doesn't seem to have a citizen You're breaking those rules and regulations Well, we're singing here to try to get our message across against the government You can stay right here Well, it's a part of the exercise of freedom of speech, officer Freedom of speech and singing is good Have you had any complaints from anyone? The public? Yes Why, did we disturb anybody? I mean, if you've got a complaint from the public if we were passing out a FIRE Now you know that passing out a FIRE is not a...

...all my friends Now that I'm in prison, death Study war no more We ain't gonna study war no more We ain't gonna study war no more We ain't gonna study war no more Is this all the attention we're going to get from the police authority? What? Is this a downright? Really good Get the gun Shut it down Shut it down You guys had that one more.

Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down! I don't know what the hell that is.

Shut it down! Shut it down! He he he! Shut up in here! Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down! Uncle, I feel so sad.

Shut it down! Linda is the co -chairman.

Linda has bike -athons with Linda Yu from WMAQ TV.

She is the co -chairman.

We are Jukebox Saturday Night with the American...

My legs are shaking.

Here, you can go up.

Okay, you start up on the left.

That's the door.

This guy over here is the co -chairman.

He's the three -year -old.

We can't do that.

We can't do that.

We can't do that.

We can't do that.

No one ever wants to talk.

At last! Attention Sir! Vamos! We're close to the lines.

Oh Mohammed Mohammed Mohammed is a Yaris, you know, I'm next to mom Oh Oh You Oh Oh Oh Not as Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Exercises they had to do Oh Into your advantage to vote with the 29 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh In the context of the Negro problem neither whites nor blacks for excellent reasons of their own have the faintest desire to look back But I think that the past is all that makes the present coherent and further that the past will remain horrible For exactly as long as we refuse to assess it honestly now the past Was bad and what I'm saying is that the book of the very thin helps to perpetuate the past it helps to perpetuate degradation and slavery All I can say is races I think we're all human beings.

Yeah, I think we all have the same aspirate Columbus make me proud to be a European He said Columbus made America safe for the European and I felt all through my body the statement that he made Because I could tell by his expression that he meant specifically what he said America was made safe for the European Being non -European it hit me almost like a divine provocation that there needed to be some overt response to this If at least for no more than our babies Probably I can say that this Columbus day we have at least started a small beginning Not only with I but with you who have chosen this time to respond Let the record reflect that today We assembled a team of scholars trained at the best universities within our community and by our Communities best teachers and that they are brothers and sisters and they are with us in the struggle Most of this stuff came from right down near there all that numbered Stone came from kind of French houses Down along I guess come both parts I Think that's a good point Oh You

Identifier

F.2005-08-0195

Date Of Production

circa 1978 – 1985

Abstract

Loosely assembled footage includes the following: Protestors rally against registration and the draft in Federal Plaza while synced with Frank Zappa’s “I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted”; Chris Millon’s sculpture, “Swimming in the City,” sits in Federal Plaza; American Legion Veterans burn the American Flag on a sidewalk; WMAQ-TV reporter Linda Yu serves as cochairman for the American Cancer Society Bike-A-Thon; the St. Patrick’s Day Parade queen contest finals take place in the international ballroom of the Conrad Hilton Hotel held on February 25, 1977; Bill Stamets interviews pigs in a pen; Sidman, PA resident Andrew Brunnet dresses like Abraham Lincoln, and members of the Sons of Veterans Reserve and Troops of the Confederate Forces convene in Seneca Lake State Park in 1978; excerpts of Stuart Gordon’s stage adaptation of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are intercut with excerpts of a panel discussion, “Racism, Censorship, and Huckleberry Finn,” held at the Goodman Theatre on January 28, 1985. Footage also includes shots of Circus Vargas elephants, ice skating performances, aquarium exhibits, Lake Michigan, Hare Krishnas singing, the Chicago River, a mural of Prince located at the the 5th Annual Bucktown Summer Fest held August 26, 1984, and various unspecified marching bands and parades.

Format

Super 8

Extent

400 feet

Color

color and B&W

Sound

Mag Stripe

Reel/Tape Number

1/1

Has Been Digitized?

Yes

Language Of Materials

English

Element

Reversal Positives

Subject

Beaches
Bicycles
Bodies of water
Chicago (Ill.) Police Dept.
Circus
Demonstrations
Historical reenactments
Ice Skating
Lake Michigan
Literature
Marching bands
Parades and processions
Political Activists
Popular culture
Racism

Preservation Sponsor

Related Collections

Subseries II: Footage

Related Places

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago ➜ Loop

North America ➜ United States ➜ Illinois ➜ Chicago ➜ Logan Square

North America ➜ United States ➜ New York ➜ Geneva

Main Credits

Stamets, Bill (is filmmaker)

Participants And Performers

Rossen, John (is participant)

Yu, Linda (is participant)

Wallace, John (is participant)

Krug, Judith (is participant)

Kleinfeld, Lenny (is participant)

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