Those guys were incredible when they started moving people out, you know, their homes.
They moved them into some other place and they were saying like where they move into.
They probably moved them out of Chicago or in some other community.
I'm from Missouri.
This is poor people's power.
That's what this little hand -painted button is all about, that we've been passing around to people.
People that want to take over and have a government for their self, that they'll be treated right.
That's what it's all about.
I want to introduce a man to come over tonight from another part of town, but he's fighting for some of the same causes we're fighting for and start to meet and all.
So I'm going to introduce you to Bob Lee here and let him rep a little while.
Bob.
I'm a black panther.
I'm a sexual leader of a black panther.
This is Pazza.
He's a security man.
This is Sister Ruby.
We met with Junebug and his brothers last Wednesday night, last week, at the Church of Three Crosses where we both had a chance to route, get together.
Panthers are here, are here.
Panthers are here.
What's an uptown? An uptown.
Okay.
For anyone who lives in an uptown, a brown, green, yellow, purple, or pink.
But I'm saying panthers are here and you have to tell us what we can do and what we can do together.
We come here with our hearts open.
You can't supervise us.
Where we can be of help to you.
One thing we're going to have to do is put our heads together and figure out where we can help uptown, help the people in uptown.
Right.
The thing is that I want everybody who's got any questions at all to speak them up and say them now.
Who here is concerned people? Who's here that want to see this thing move? Yeah, man.
Right on.
The first thing we talk about now is how we're going to organize.
You know, where are we going to organize? We all must right now, man, figure out like what we want.
You know, what do we want? What do you want? What do you want, man? What do you want? In your community.
What do you want here? Look here, man.
Don't lay back on the cuts, man.
You know, like, we're not moving, man.
Are you afraid of the panthers? You want to take the berets off, man? Or what? You propose that you do a lot of marching and things like that? No, sir.
No, sir.
It seems like marching seems to do more harm than do good.
No, sir.
No marching.
No, sir.
The thing that we're about to do is this is your community.
This is your community.
Let's move.
Come on.
You know, and we can't move without you.
We can't move.
We can't move without you.
Like on the west side, this outside, you have a basic unity to start with.
You got to pull the skin off.
Right.
Okay.
But damn, see, the thing we got to deal with is concept of poverty, man.
We got to get rich to color things, see? I mean, concept of the same thing as welfare up here, people on welfare up here, the people that receive ADC, you know, that's police brutality up here, that's rats and roaches.
There's poverty up here.
That's the first thing that we can unite on.
That's the common thing we have, man.
We can unite on poverty and unite on the concept of poverty.
You know, everything becomes colorless, man.
Right on.
The building's not fit for dogs to live in, but humans having to pay $140 a month for a thing.
They sold the building, you know, to New Yorkship.
What we need is understanding among the people.
Right on.
Collision between the people who stick together.
Right on.
And take them owners and put them over here in the lake somewhere.
Right on.
Right on.
This man, this man right here, you know, the things he said, these are things we can start working on.
We can start working on those very things.
Getting rid of the urban progress center.
Get the castles and get themselves together.
Getting rid of these little junkie employment agencies, the castles.
I mean, these are things we can start working from, man.
These are things you can start working from.
Let's just stand up and tell them some of the hell you've been going through.
I did something.
Show them what my granddaughter's doing.
She wants to be free.
Tell them what they're doing to Eddie out there.
When we come out and how they talk to your mother and how they jumped on them.
Come on, don't be bashful.
I talk too much.
You all gotta talk.
Now's the time to talk.
You don't want your kid to be raised up the jag you're coming through now.
You don't want to be.
I can't tell.
People gotta do something.
You can't have only one or two leaders.
Please, stand up.
Can you do it? My sister -in -law, she came up and said that the cops were out there for instance.
My brother and we went out there and there was one of them cops were sick at night.
And my mother's behind just stikening.
I went up and I asked him what he was doing.
He said it's none of your business.
He told me to get out of there.
He asked me who I was and I said I was his sister.
He told me to get the hell out of there.
She's cousin of the cops at Lake Pansy.
Call up the police when nothing's going on and the police are going to come and make it happen.
They're trying to put your words in your mouth to make you put yourself in jail.
But I want you people to stick together and I'll stick with Black Panther and they'll stick with me and I know they will.
We're going to do it our own way and that's all there is to it.
Right on, right on.
Your own way.
I saw a Black Panthers movie last week.
The points are real good, man.
You got to pick up the gun, that's all.
Oh, I'm tired of it.
I'm tired of them coming down the street and kicking my damn head in for nothing I ain't done.
By the Hudson gave his life, man.
The cat was 18 years old.
He gave his life.
And from that day on, Panthers moved up.
Moved up.
Both the Black communities are concerned from that day on.
Panthers moved up because Black communities knew, knew and felt what Huey was saying.
But Huey went out and did for the people what the people wanted to do for the last 15, 20 years.
He did to the pig what Roger would like to do.
Nobody's saying that, we're not saying go out and off the pig, go out and start shooting the pigs.
You know, but this is the way Huey did it.
If it comes to that, I'm sure that one of these brothers are capable of doing it.
We're going to stop this shit one way or the other if we have to fight with guns.
Before you can do that, you got to be some discipline.
I'm going to ask him what you want to do.
Okay, the first thing is discipline, man, before you can even control the pig, before you off you, you off you, man.
From here, you start out going into the community so the community know, man, what you're doing.
Because see, if the pig off you, if you off you, Roger, and you just, you be going to funeral, man, you be in the casket, and the people in the community don't even know you're dead.
You got to have a community back.
The pigs, the police are protecting the landlords.
If Roger run out with a Montauk cocktail to throw in one of these rat -infested buildings, they kill him.
They kill him.
They kill him.
Somebody answer why, why did, why did a man come down on us like that? Why? What you're saying is the first thing about protecting people is about protecting property.
Right, right.
You been to jail, poor baby? You been to jail? Right on.
So I can tell you nothing about the pig.
I've been there myself, man.
Once you realize, man, that your house is full of rats and roaches, you know, same way a black dude's house is, you know, once you realize that your brother's been brutalized by the cops the same way the west side and south side is, you know, once you realize, man, that you're getting inadequate, man, education in these high schools, the junior high schools over here, the same way the south side and the west side, you know, once you realize that you are paying taxes, taxes for the cops to whoop your ass.
You're paying them.
You're paying them, man, for the whoop your ass.
You're paying them to come in to beat your children.
You're paying them to run you off the corners.
And you're paying them to kill you and deal with them.
The same thing is happening on the south side and the west side.
And if you can realize that concept of poverty, the concept of poverty, a revolution can begin.
Now, Wednesday, model cities is meeting, and they're going to put through some kind of program, and, you know, we're all going to get run out of here eventually.
Now, I put a proposal together that people would want to be together, people listening to this stuff and digging it, and people that's got it in their hearts that want to be together.
Be up here Wednesday.
We go down and we stop that meeting.
All through the city there's $38 million supposed to be split up to bring poor people out of poverty.
What the hell have they bought? What have they done? How the damn thing? These goddamn people that own businesses here in uptown are sitting down and we can't sit on those consoles.
We can't tell where the money ought to go.
Damn it, we ought to go down there and stop them and piss on the money and do the neighborhood right.
If we can't do it, they ought to do it.
Wednesday will be for confronting the model cities.
And you better be together because the pigs are in here right now and they know what we're going to do.
When you do it, do it right, but don't do it at all.
We've done something with the children.
Yeah, but now we're going to get on the floor if we get over that.
Bob, Bob.
I'll see you Monday night.
I'll see you Monday night.
It takes time, and if you expect uptown to change overnight, you've got a guest coming.
It's time to change the council.
Change them for the rich.
The motion now says that we will present the program that they have accepted.
We'll have our day.
You're not using it for the poor.
The people in the audience will be heard when there's not a council member speaking.
I reserve my time.
You know, for a long time we've been coming here and we've been quite little children.
Community people, they ask for citizen participation.
I want to show you where citizen participation goes and how it's voted up on.
Except those parents are presented tonight, they're voted on, and not only voted on, we was going to just ask to vote it up or down, but passed.
I'll guarantee you that this council will not be met with no more, and this council will not meet again, and there's 200 more citizens that's meeting at threshold of Marni to see that it's ended.
Your remarks, number one, number one, your remarks are very much out of order.
It has to do with citizen participation within the council tonight, which is not being considered tonight.
Stand up! Stand up! Stand up! Stand up! This vote, this vote, this vote for now! Vote for the people! Vote for the people! If there are any final discussions concerning this motion, all members of your entourage are broken.
Please raise your hands.
If you wish to vote at this time, raise your hands.
We wish to vote at this time.
We used to be a poor man.
Come on, vote now.
Let's hear it now.
Let's hear it now.
Let's hear it now.
What have you got to get for vote? We used to be one.
Now we're setting fire to you.
It doesn't need it.
What you calling? It does not care.
This is not everybody's council anymore.
It doesn't care because this figure, the vote means it doesn't cast.
It's voted by the message.
But that means it's not needed.
It's not needed to cast, but it's not needed to have it failed.
If it doesn't vote, it fails, and therefore, it's not necessary to pass it forward.
As a matter of procedure, you're incorrect.
Let's go in the room and talk about it.
This is Mr.
A.
Kevin Pumph.
It's worse than any other town ever was.
It's worse.
Let me tell you, it's worse, Nathan.
We've reported to God, God, both of us have been upheld.
All those in favor of adjournment, please raise your hands.
Thank you.
This motion, this meeting stands adjourned.
It's our meeting that directors said we could meet all the people in sympathy with the people here.
Please set out.
If you wish to attend this meeting, please send in.
Will somebody close the back doors? I feel a draft coming in.
Before the cop comes in, there's a cop coming in here.
Don't say nothing.
Let Bob set it up with him, and then we're going to ask him to go back out again.
This is a community relations sergeant.
I want them to talk and get it over with real quick to set up a meeting.
How are you? He's coming in.
Take it easy.
How are you? My name is Bob East.
Sergeant Kramer.
I'm working with the Committee on Police Brutality.
We the United People would like to arrange a meeting with the police department.
We already discussed that.
We want to really meet and discuss the things that happen in the community that you know are real and that people here can vouch for that has been happening.
We're trying to build some rapport with the police district here.
Right.
Build some rapport with the people, if not with the officers on the street, at least with the officials inside the department.
Whereas maybe they can pass some sort of rules or policies to stop this wanton harassment, sir.
So like I think that I'll ask Mr.
Geary here to announce our next meeting.
Whatever night that would be, sir.
And you can have one.
Well, we found out when we're going to have this meeting.
Monday night? Right here.
Right on.
We're going to show them how to have a real council meeting here.
The first hour is with the pigs.
The next hour is with the people.
And the streets belong to the people, not the pigs.
Remember that.
I know different.
And I know your reasons of why that you've been hollering and the things that you've been saying.
And I talked to Sergeant Kramer the other day and I talked to Commander Conley.
And they both told me they wasn't aware of what was happening on Wilson Avenue.
And so here tonight, we're here to make them aware of it.
We want to have a good community, a good neighborhood.
And furthermore, we intend to have a good neighborhood and a good community.
Now, I want to turn the meeting over at this time to the chairman of the Police Brutality Committee, is what we call it.
I would like to be able to drop the part, Brutality, and let it become just the Police Committee.
And hopefully something can be worked out here tonight.
I give you the chairman of that committee, Mr.
Bob Lee.
Personally, one thing happened to me Monday night as I walked in the street for that was the past.
So I think June boy right now can release something.
Okay, would all the young patrons get up and stand in front? This is about half of the group of guys that I'm working with in uptown.
And we like to say that we're not a gang, and we've got a four -point thing going.
One thing we're for is better housing for people in the neighborhood.
Another is to stop police harassment.
Another is trying to end urban renewal from kicking people out of the neighborhood.
And the fourth thing is to have better relations between people in the neighborhood who doesn't know each other.
We're out there to help the community, and it's the best way we know how.
And it's that if our guys get arrested, we're going to try any way possible to stop them.
Roxy, I hear your comments.
Well, first of all, I just wanted to congratulate you on taking the title of Young Patriots.
To me, that has a connotation of meaning patriotic.
And I like those words.
They're kind of unique these days.
Now, there's nobody in this room that knows anything about being poor any more than I do, or anything more about your plight than I do.
I ask you to keep your questions constructive.
I ask you to keep the meeting orderly.
And I assure you that something will come out of it.
A week ago today, six young men, along with myself, were walking down Broadway Street.
We just left a meeting at Junebug's house.
We were detained for two hours, I would say, six or seven fellows walking down the street.
So I'd like you to maybe define, like, is six guys on the street considered gang, or at this time of night? First of all, I will concede that police officers generally are a little prejudicial in regard to any citizen who perhaps doesn't dress or look like the way they should think, they think people should look.
Now, I certainly appreciate your plight being a Negro, but it would be silly for me to stand here tonight and make excuses for my men or try to make you feel a little better by saying my men were wrong.
It would be wrong both ways.
We have to know some of the background.
There may have been a robbery there an hour before, 15 minutes before.
There may have been a crime wave before.
There may have been burglaries.
There may have been jack -rolling, so many things.
We're trying to better things.
We're trying to bring out into police officer.
We're trying to teach him that everybody isn't like him.
Sometimes things happen that I don't know about, but I will make it my business to know about them, if you will bring it to my attention.
The question about the Red Squad.
Every meeting that's been held in Threshold's Hall has been observed by the Red Squad and photographed because I've watched it.
I want to know what the purpose of this is.
The Red Squad.
They take your pictures just as these people are taking my picture here.
No, it's not quite that.
Well, apparently it was.
You saw it and other people have seen it.
There are those units within the police department or any law enforcement unit that have as their function the investigating and looking into organizations that perhaps are a little on the suspect's side or have revealed themselves in such a way as to be a little bit questionable.
Who do you find, Bob? Perhaps we do.
Is this the one, Bob? Is this the one the police officers took off of you? Now, this was a Nixon Agnew button that we didn't have money to buy a button, so we painted over it.
The Oriental people, the Spanish people, the white people, the black people, and the red people.
Policemen have taken these buttons off somebody in this room.
Yeah.
Who? This one, please.
This young man? Well, I can't see where that's right.
That's completely wrong as far as I can see.
Somebody that can come up and take a button off you for no reason whatsoever.
Well, what's the purpose of something like this be? Well.
Can I say something? I'm only 16 years old and they filled me up against the wall and slapped me a couple times even in the cop station.
For what, son? For what? I don't know.
They come into my friend's house, they drag me to the police station.
Two detectives take me out the hall and try to make me say things that I ain't and slap me because I won't say that I ain't something.
And then you expect me to come and tell y 'all you're going to have a squad car watching me 24 hours a day because when they say I say something to y 'all about them knocking the hell out of me, then they say they're going to kill me.
Can you have a squad car watching me 24 hours a day to make sure that they don't hire me? I've had them in the police station.
In the police station, take me in the back room and bang my damn head against the wall.
Say, let me see how tall you are and then crack my head like that.
What did you do, son? Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Just being in a friend's house and they come in and take me to the station.
It don't mean no matter what you do, an officer is not supposed to hit.
They say they're going to kill me if I tell anything.
They say they're going to kill me.
They even tell me in the police station, if I catch you outside, I'm going to kill you, boy.
And I can't walk down the street.
For what reason did they bring you in? There's no reason.
I'm sitting in a friend's house.
Well, I just want the complete story.
What was done, if it was done, was wrong.
Nothing was done, but I want the complete story from you.
Yes, sir.
I'll tell you.
Not just what happened, not just what we did wrong.
I want to know what you did wrong that precipitated this.
That's all.
All right.
It doesn't matter what he did wrong.
I'll tell you what I did.
It's a complete story.
He's not telling the complete story.
I'll tell the complete story.
It's wrong and I concede it's wrong.
But why doesn't he tell the complete story? Let me talk, will you? The complete story.
I was in a homosexual's house, watching his TV set, waiting for his cousin to come back.
His cousin's 17 years old.
That was to be a friend of mine.
He's a homosexual.
They come in and they try to make me say that I'm a faggot, you know.
All right, if you'll stay after, I will register your complaint and you'll find out that it'll be investigated and you'll be treated properly.
If anyone here is harassed by any police officer, we will be sure to take his badge number down, his car number, and we will see this man.
We will see this man.
And then I like to know, if we come to you with a badge number, a car number, and you find this officer to have really harassed one of the people here, what would happen to him? Now let's wait and see.
We'll send you complaints that we get from the neighborhood weekly.
Any harassment of young patriots through our political organization, you are taking on personal responsibility to see that doesn't happen.
I have to.
I have to.
This is my responsibility.
In the past, the poor neighborhoods have been exploited by persons or person or persons who have been less than American.
There are so many of these anti or anti -American, pink, even red organizations.
You know, I really resent the statement that you said that there might be some red or this kind of thing because I personally think that I'm as better or at least as good as an American as you are.
And I think that if there is anyone here in this audience who is not an American, I think you should point this out.
I think the purpose of this meeting was to in fact accentuate that positive part that here we are, American, red, black, yellow, white, with one goal in mind to build a society.
And this is why I regret you bringing up that fact that we that there might be some red paint here.
I said the potential in a poor neighborhood is disproportionate than any other neighborhood for people being exploited by these types of people.
How could I possibly say anybody in this room has any other feature than complete pure -blooded American? How could I say it? I don't know a person in this room.
I'm a member of the Young Patriots and I'm not going to run out a long line of particular harassments that have been thrown up against people.
But just use one to clear up a point you made, which is probably the strongest point we've been talking about tonight.
And that is I've been in the house of southern white people and I've heard policemen, pardon me ladies, say throw them up against the wall and say you fucking hillbillies, what you got on you, and this kind of thing.
And all I want to say is when you talk about tolerance, we're not tolerating this, we're angry.
A hundred years ago, this flag which I wear on my cap represents the Confederate States of America.
We was beat down and we beat down people for a hundred years and we know what it's like to beat down people.
We beat down people hard.
We are getting ourselves together.
We're angry about it because we're all beaten down today.
We're going to be out on the streets and we'll be helping you if you want our help.
And it's not a matter of we communists, we this or that or the other.
We're just folks who are trying to get things straight in our community.
Is that clear? Does anybody here believe what they had to say? They asked me what I think of the police officers now.
I think they were just feeding us a bunch of shit tonight to keep many things getting started.
You tried your best man.
You're about the community and you're not going to let them stop you.
We can't let this happen because they're going to let us just go down like we was a long time ago.
Where they can start this shit up again but we have to go through it again.
We keep on going through it, through it, through it.
We ain't never going to get nothing done.
There's one thing we got to do.
We got to get out.
We got to reach a lot of people man because if we don't, we're going to get picked off easy.
We're going to get picked off quick.
And we got to get people to back us up and show them that they're backing us up so they get off our backs.
That's right.
They don't want us to build ourselves up like the Panthers did.
Because they're afraid that if people are going to keep building themselves up, that we're all going to get together and we're going to get done with what we want done.
These 200 buttons here were Panthers were going to start wearing them now.
See.
They're going to try to prevent this every way they can by acting like our friends.
That pig almost had me convinced tonight man.
He did.
I started even believing this shit.
See that's his job.
That was his job.
One of the most important things that we worry about him now, because that was one stage we went through tonight.
Talk with him.
Now the whole thing now is community.
Get in touch with everybody in this community.
Put pamphlets in the stores.
Even hand one to a police officer on the corner.
Anything to get them in.
But what if it don't happen? What are we going to do? We're going to fight them or what? We're jerking the community in man.
The community is going to fight.
We're going to be part of the community.
How are we going to fight them? Guns? Don't get hung up on that now.
They ain't going to stop tracking our heads man.
It's a thousand people up here Jack.
We'll get that shit on later man.
Later? Later I'm going to be dead.
You laying in your grave and other people still be fighting.
You ain't got shit man.
I might land in my grave but I feel good to know that I fought for my fucking land.
It ain't going to be you know why? Because I'm going to say motherfucker I'm going to fight for that shit.
And pretty soon motherfucker if they ain't going to give it to me, if they ain't going to give it to me we going to fight the motherfucker.
I'm going to walk down the motherfucking street and them fucking cats messing with me.
I'll just go BAM motherfucker.
This is live.
That shit is live.
If I got 15 ,000 guys behind me motherfucker it's going to be a different scene.
You can think the best things you want are when you die saying I'm a hard motherfucker but I'm dead.
I'm a hard motherfucker.
That's it man.
That's it motherfucker man.
I met this cat from now man when I got out of high school.
He had joined up man.
Went to now for four years man.
He'd come back he said man I don't care how big you are.
Big hard ass motherfucker.
He said you watch some cats go over there man.
He said I'm a hard motherfucker.
He said them old cats are dead man.
Them cats are dead man.
Some little cat go BAM you a dead motherfucker man.
You could be the hardest cat in the world man.
Some cats are shooting you a dead motherfucker right there.
At night you ain't crying.
You ain't begging to get the fuck out of your place.
Hey if I know I'm dying I know I got the satisfaction at least I fought.
Ain't no satisfaction in dying man.
Fuck it man.
Ain't no satisfaction in dying.
Ain't no satisfaction in dying a hero man.
You're fucking dead and that's it.
You can die a hero you're still a fucking.
Fuck it man you're dead and there's no difference man.
You're fucking hunting shit.
We gotta plan it so we win not so we die man.
Fuck them.
I don't dig dying man.
Fuck yes I'm gonna die sometime and that's why I say there ain't no sense of working all my fucking life for bullshit cause I know I'm gonna die.
Ain't no sense of putting up with the horse shit they put on you all the time cause I know I'm gonna die.
That's what it's about man.
Ain't no sense of waiting so I'm gonna be 95 years old driving my XKE.
Fuck them man I want it now cause it's mine.
Thanks for watching.
