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Paul Good Recordings : Tape 3 : Transcript

Collection:: Civil Rights Library of St. Augustine
Title:: Paul Good Recordings : Tape 3 : Transcript
Date of Original:: 1964
Subject:: Civil rights--United States--Florida
People:: Robinson, Jackie, 1919-1972
Vivian, C. T.
Thurmond, Strom, 1902-2003
Wallace, George
Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-1998
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979
Young, Andrew, 1932-
Parks, Rosa, 1913-2005
Bates, Daisy
Randolph, A. Philip (Asa Philip), 1889-1979
Young, Whitney M.
Location:: United States, Florida, 28.75054, -82.5001
Medium:: transcripts
Type:: Text
Format:: application/pdf
Description:: This is the third in the series of journalist Paul Good's tape recordings in St. Augustine during the summer of 1964. This tape consists of 5 parts: 1. Jackie Robinson addresses a mass audience at St. Paul AME Church (00:00:00). 2. Singing of a freedom song (00:20:09). 3. Reverend C.T. Vivian addressing a crowd at a rally (00:21:47). 4. Singing of a freedom song (00:28:10). 5. Jackie Robinson addressing an audience (00:28:43).
Paul Good Recordings : Transcript for Tape 3 Part 1: Jackie Robinson Addressing a Mass Meeting at St. Paul AME Church (00:00:00) Jackie Robinson: Because as we looked from one side to the other, and we looked in back of us and in front of us and we noticed that there were some two-hundred and fifty odd thousand people marching down Constitution Avenue, singing songs of freedom, not as well as these youngsters were doing here but, all of us singing with a kind of pride that didn't exist before in my opinion. And as you looked around you couldn't help with the attitude and the way that they were marching, letting people know that we believe in our democracy and are marching towards freedom, you couldn't help but have a tremendous pride in being a Negro. And as you marched on further down Constitution Avenue, you kind of looked around and you heard songs and you knew that in this audience, that there are more than just Negroes marching down and you had a wonderful feeling of pride knowing that there thousands of white Americans who were participating and who were marching, letting the world know, because the world was represented by their press and by television and radio, that they too believed enough in freedom that they would take time out to go to Washington to march with us, sing songs of freedom, knowing full well that until all receive equality, that none really have equality. And as we marched on I took my young eleven year son by the hand and I said, “David, the lady next to me is Daisy Bates, a lady from Little Rock, Arkansas who did so much to inspire the youngsters to go to that school in Little Rock and integrate it, encouraged them, guided them, and let them know that there were many people behind them, so much so that they have made a wonderful contribution not only to themselves but to their community, to their race and to their nation.” And then I pointed out that the lady next to Daisy Bates was Rosa Parks and I said, "I'm sure David you don't know who Rosa Parks is but, in my view, had it not been for Rosa Parks, perhaps we would not have a Martin Luther King today, because had it not been for Rosa who finished her day's work, got on the bus and sat down, and refused to move, out of this incident came the Montgomery movement and the Martin Luther Kings and the Reverend Abernathys and men like Andy Young who have done so very much to make America a much better place in which to live.” And we marched on and we talked about the other people involved in this march. Among them was a young man who taught me something about the NAACP and I explained to David about him. And then we marched on over to the lake in the morrow, we started listening to songs from movie stars, from entertainers who have been before our television screens and who have made contributions to this nation in the field of entertainment, but who are so dedicated that they came to Washington to sing and to let people know exactly how they felt. And then after all of the speakers, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young, A. Phillip Randolph, all of the leaders of the movement finished, Dr. Martin Luther King took the stand and the thing that I remember most about his speech was when he said to the audience, that he has a dream, "I have a dream that one day my children are going to be judged on the contents of their character not on the coloring of their skin. And when that day comes I am going to be tremendously proud of my country." And you know ladies and gentlemen, this is why I am so proud of the work that a man like Martin Luther King does. We all ought to take tremendous pride in someone who has given up so much for so little and yet has done so much for so many people. [Applause from the crowd] I feel proud really to have had the kind of association I have with Dr. King, and I am just sorry that the personal pleas that he has made to Washington have fallen on deaf ears. It appears to me that the man in the White House who has made so many wonderful pronouncements about civil rights, who has in the last six months attempted to overcome thirty years of anti-Negro feeling, today refuses as far as I know to even answer the plea for help in this city down here in St. Augustine. It’s good to hear these words that he is preaching, but I say to you that it’s time for action. And just because of the fact that it appears that a man from Arizona may be his opponent, there's no reason in my opinion for him to pull in his horns when there is such a terrible situation and a struggle going on here in our country. [Applause from the crowd] We are, ladies and gentlemen at the crossroads. We can either move forward or we can go back depending on what our leaders do. If we got the kind of leadership that was exhibited by Dr. King, and A. Phillip Randolph, and Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins and all the others in Washington, if President Johnson would exhibit this kind of leadership, would let the people know exactly how he feels by action and not by words, I don't think people in this particular area will have to be afraid of anything that’s going to happen. [Applause from the crowd] As we were, as we were coming down from Jacksonville, we were stopped on the roadside by the state troopers and I must admit, that they were quite cordial. I must admit that they were friendly and that they had a real sense of humor, but for the life of me I couldn't understand why we were being stopped. The driver was going sixty in a sixty-five mile zone, and the other people were zooming on by us, and it just appears to me that maybe we were stopped because of the fact that there were strangers in the audience. But I say that from what I hear, at least the governor recognizes that we are in a real critical period. I think the governor is taking into consideration that up in New York at the United Nations building, the United Nations is made up of a body that constitutes twenty-five percent of African nations or more. People with same coloring just like yours and mine who sit before that big body and have to decide whether or not they’re going to align themselves with the forces of democracy or whether they’re going to align themselves with communism. People who will leave the halls of that beautiful building and go cross the street to a restaurant and are subjected to the kinds of treatment that you and I have faced over the years, not knowing whether they’re going to be served or they will perhaps go up to a building where there is a vacancy sign and when they apply all of a sudden there are no vacancies, or they are subjected to other kinds of treatment and then have to go back in and cast their ballot for democracy or communism. And they often wonder why people do not know exactly where to go. Thank goodness that we Negroes have chosen democracy over communism and we have said to the world that we are not interested in communism, but what we want here in America is a bit more democracy. [Applause from the crowd] I am sick and tired of hearing people up north constantly talking about morality. They say to us, look at all the illegitimate children that they have among the Negro, that there are three-hundred and fifty-thousand illegitimate children in America last year. And look at the number that came from the Negro, but they don't say the number of abortions that we had here in this country last year.[Applause from the crowd] There were over, there were over one million abortions in this country last year and of that number about ninety-five percent were committed by whites. [Applause from the crowd] And I wonder, I wonder ladies and gentlemen whether God meant for us to have our children or whether to take our diners club and go to a doctor and get rid of our babies. And when they start talking about morality, mind you they ought to look at the whole picture. And they ought to look at the kind of problems that they are subjecting our people to. And if they would look at the overall picture I think they would take a tremendous pride in the contributions that the Negro has made to our country. If they would ever get it out of their minds that we are interested in becoming their brother-in-law, I think they would be a little bit better off. [Applause from the crowd] We have been trying to say that the Negro is more interested in being their brother than their brother-in-law, and that if we would just take a look around us when we get Negroes together and look at the beauty that is exhibited among us and we don't have to go down and buy some of these lotions that we see advertised all over this land to get this skin color [unintelligible]. [Applause from the crowd] I think you can be awfully proud of yourselves for what you’re doing. I listened to Andy talk about Jackie Robinson being nonviolent or not being nonviolent. I want to say to Andy that I have learned a great deal from what you have done. You have taught me and I'm sure many people up north the kinds of accomplishments that can be made with the determination such as you have exhibited. I think the fact that people like this are willing to give up their freedom to go to jail is an indication exactly what they believe about America. Going to jail I feel is something like what Herb was saying, that I am not doing it for myself but I am doing it for America. I am not thinking about the Negro, I am thinking about all of us here in this country. 10:45 And you know ladies and gentlemen as we left Washington, I'm sure that those of you who had the opportunity of being there, wanted to rush home just like I did to take a look at television to get that tremendous pride and thrill that I’d gotten as I participated in that march. And as I sat before my television screen and I listened to all of the things that had happened that day, getting that tremendous pride, I felt that this day has really been a tremendously successful one because they had a big television up over the world showing what had been happening to every country around. And that they were pointing out the kinds of attitudes that Negroes here in this country were expressing and the kind of contributions that we were making to this country. And then all of a sudden as Dr. Martin Luther King finished, the announcer he felt that perhaps we ought to bring on the opposition. And he called on I think it was Senator Russell from Georgia. He called on Thurmond, I don’t know whether he’s from South Carolina or North Carolina, it’s just bad wherever he's from. They called them on them to make a speech and I think it was Senator Thurmond who got up and said, "You know ladies and gentlemen, I can't understand for the life of me what the Negros’s complaining about here in this country." He said, "Why, they have more washing-machines and dish-washers and television sets than any other colored people all over this world. They shouldn't be complaining.” And I got sick all over again because this is the kind of leadership whose voice goes out and speaks for America. And I think it’s a tragedy that this kind of a man is allowed to express his opinions, or a man like Wallace is allowed to leave Alabama and go up north and get the kind of vote that he gets in a northern city. So you can see, you can see that you not only have a bunch of sick people in this part of the country, but you have a bunch of sick people in that part of the country as well. [Applause from the crowd] Can you imagine, can you imagine a man who, whose doctors say has something wrong upstairs being able to get two hundred and fifty thousand votes or more in Wisconsin? Not in Alabama, but in Wisconsin. A man who is able to go into Indiana and rack up a tremendous vote. A man going into Maryland and receiving about forty-three percent of the votes. I wonder what the people in the United Nations thinks about us when this kind of thing happens. And I’m very much concerned ladies and gentlemen and I'm about I’m sure that each one of you ought to be very much concerned about what's going to happen come November. Now I want to say to all of you that I have been supporting Governor Rockefeller because I want very much, I want very much to become a Republican. I want to become a Republican because I believe it’s essential that we have a two party system, that we not allow the Democrats or the Republicans to take us for granted, that we keep them guessing about our vote. That we let them know that we represent a tremendous amount as far as this vote is concerned and every election that we’ve had practically in the last few years, we have been the balance of power. And I plead with each of you today that in my humble opinion we are truly at the crossroads. If the Republican Party nominates a man from Arizona as their standard bearer, I don't know exactly what's going to happen to us and I urge you if you possibly can to go down and register and vote. And so that we can cast for the Democrats this year the largest number of votes that we have ever given because the Republicans in nominating a Barry Goldwater is saying to you and to me and to every Negro in this country, “We don't want your vote.” [Applause from the crowd] And if they don't want our vote ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason in God's world why should they get it. [Applause from the crowd] And I urge you tonight, I urge you with every bit of breath that I have and every bit of sincerity that I have not to think that your vote is not important. You have a great contribution that you can make in this year 1964. If we can get every eligible Negro registered to vote, I don't believe that this backlash that Goldwater thinks he’s gonna get from the anti-Negro feeling will come to him, because the Russells and the Thurmonds and all of these people who are democrats and who are working and will be working for Johnson during this next election are not going to lose their position in the Senate and in the House. Simply because Johnson may speak out for civil rights. And unless you sit down and think about the position that you hold, we're going to be missing a wonderful opportunity. Now I spoke about the great leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King and Roy Wilkins and A. Phillip Randolph and Whitney Young. And I have spoken of the contributions that they have made to our society here. Well I want each one of you to know that they can only be as strong as you are. [Applause from the crowd] And I urge you ladies and gentlemen to take a part. It will be a shame if these young people, who are struggling so hard, who are giving up so much, will have to go through the same kinds of things that you and I went through as we grew up. It may be a little bit too late for us because of the kinds of situations that we have faced, but I challenge any of you in this audience who happen to have the same kind of skin color that I have,whether or not you have an education or not, what you would be doing today if you had had the same kinds of treatment that every other American had had. If you had been allowed to go further as far as your individual abilities allow you to go, I doubt seriously that any of you would be doing what you’re doing today. Now some of us have been a bit more fortunate than others. Some of us have been given opportunities, some of us have taken advantage of it and most of us have forgotten from where we come. And I only hope as many of you did when an entertainer a few years ago, decided that he wouldn’t get involved in the fight for freedom. The threat of taking his music out of the music boxes all over this country brought him around and got him involved in the struggle. You have teachers and politicians, you have physicians, you have people who have made it and you have your Uncle Toms here who are trying to make it. [Applause from the crowd] [Unintelligible] ladies and gentlemen to come down here to get into this kind of a rally tonight. But I have been moved tonight. I have been moved by singing. I have been moved by the kind spirit that each one of you has exhibited. And I have been moved by the cause that brings so many of you out day in and day out, putting your lives on the line so that America can be free. But the Communists, the Chinese are calling for colored people the world over to unite, so that we can get back at what white people have done to us, saying that white people represent only twenty percent of the total population. What would happen if colored people the world over decided to align themselves with the Communist Chinese and then tried to retaliate for the kinds of abuse that we faced. I think it would be a real tragedy and I hope for the life of me that we don't ever have to get in that position. Communism is not the answer to our situation, but certainly more democracy is. Now people have been saying, “Yes, but Jackie Robinson, of all people here in this country, you have less right to protest against what’s going on than anybody that I know of. Had it not been for Branch Rickey, a white man, you would not have had the opportunity of going into baseball, had it not been for William Block, a white man, you would not have had the opportunity of going to work at Chock full o'Nuts, and had it not been for the other people that have given you the opportunities that few of your race have had, you wouldn't be where you are today. What right have you to participate in this struggle?” They want to talk about all of the advantages that I as an individual have. They talk about the home I have in Connecticut and I must admit I do have a beautiful home. They talk about the automobiles, they talk about the jobs, they talk about my bank account. Where they got that from I don’t know, because I put most of my money [unintelligible] talk about my bank account. They say, “Jackie Robinson, you have it made. And you ought not to be a part of this movement.” Now I thought about this for a few minutes and it came to me in the form of an article written by a Miami newspaper man. And I sat down and I wrote this fellow a letter. Part 2: Singing of “I Love Everybody in My Heart” and Night March Sounds (00:20:09) Part 3: Reverend C.T. Vivian Addresses a Rally (00:21:47) Reverend C.T. Vivian: [Beginning is muffled]. We have come here and we’ve seen this pavilion’s filled with persons who have guns and knives and clubs and we've seen a town that would not arrest them, because [unintelligible] for one reason or the other. And yet even in the midst of that when the police pulled back in those days, we stopped and had prayer in this place. Now today the police protect us and a new sense of peace has come to this community. As more and more persons all over this world have brought the moral weight of the universe to bear on St. Augustine and have said here that the evil system of segregation cannot really any longer exist, that the system itself must be changed. And what we're saying here in St. Augustine, Florida without saying for Negroes alone, but we're saying for this whole nation and for this city in particular. For what is bad for poor Negroes is bad for poor white people as well. It’s a tragic situation that those that came marching into the Negro neighborhood expecting a fight, found that there was no fight, so we didn’t come to fight with fists and clubs. But we want to raise great ideas up to the level of conscience where men will deal with them. We want to raise the issues, not guns and knives. These have no meaning in our society today, and we cannot live in a society that’s controlled by violence, no matter whose it is. But we want to live in a society where we can come to men and women and say to them, “These are the things for which we struggle, struggle not with guns, struggle not with fists and brutality, but struggle with the, with the thrust of the human spirit, with a heart that’s filled with understanding and who would have more understanding than we? For who has suffered more than we have suffered?” And so those that came into our neighborhood were largely the underprivileged too, and we could feel for them, for they were as poor as we are. They have been cheated out of education just like we have been. You could tell that most of them come had from the back woods, and so most of us have been in situations, that if we had been in better circumstances we could have bettered ourselves but had no opportunity, and what is good for us is good for them as well. And they came into our neighborhood and they found that we sang to them "We Love Everybody in Our Hearts" and out of this sense of love, we want to create a new kind of Augustine where everybody can be safe. One of the reporters said that the only place he felt safe in this city was in the Negro neighborhood and I think that a lot of other people are finding this true, that it’s here that we talk about brotherhood and we want to practice it. What are Negroes really marching about in the city? We’re marching for some very basic things. This is not child's play. This is not a sort of a game for us. This is the very matter of life and death and we march up here in great numbers to try to say to the white population of this city that this is not something on the outside, but it’s something that’s been created by segregation on the inside. If there wasn't any segregation here we wouldn't be marching now would we? There would be no reason to march. All we ask is for an equal opportunity. If we don't take care of ourselves, then we’ll blame ourselves, but if we don't have an equal opportunity, how then can we expect anything better? We come here because there are basic things. There are some basic things like jobs that are at stake. We live in a kind of society where there is a man who led a march the other night that said, “Let’s chase all the Negroes out of their jobs.” What kind of heart, what kind of mind is that? That says, “Take jobs away from people so they can't feed their children, so they can't hope, so they can't inspire, so they can’t become a positive American dream.” We don't say, “Take jobs away from anybody.” We say, “Let everybody have better jobs, Negroes included, poor white people included. All of us.” For God sakes we all need more in this Southland. So we march not only for Negroes but we march for [unintelligible] Southland. If it wasn't for the matter of Negroes, Negros, ah, what bothers me is they say, “Negroes steal.” And yet this segregation takes thirty billion dollars a year from Negroes and other minorities in our nation. With that thirty billion dollars, there wouldn't have to be a poverty program in the Southland, but that thirty billion dollars we could see that the Southland could flower as it is supposed to be. The thievery has not come, it’s come from higher up and come from a system of segregation itself. And what we're asking for is the opportunity to make the money that others make in this society, to have the chance at a job. If we fail to given an equal chance, then we fail. If we were really inferior there wouldn't have to be a system of segregation to kick us down, because we wouldn't be able to aspire, but the fact is that all people are really alike and the color of their skin hasn't anything to do with it. We want the opportunity to prove this. What kind of people can there be that break a man's leg and then blame him because he lives? What kind of system can there be that doesn’t give a man a chance at a job, a chance for equal housing, an equal education and then blames him because he limps? If any of us are ignorant, it’s not because we haven’t [unintelligible] something better, it is because the school system all over the Southland has denied us an opportunity at a decent education. Go everywhere you want if you will, and you’ll find that nobody wants to work at education and work at a job any harder than we really do. Listen, I heard a person here last week, two weeks ago when we were marching, say, “You’re all on, you’re all on charity anyway.” Well, my wife is a social worker. And the thing that… Part 4: Marchers Singing "You Can't Make Me Doubt You." (00:28:10) Part 5: Jackie Robinson Addresses a Mass Meeting (00:28:43) Jackie Robinson: I want to take issue with Andy Young here to say that you are not in my view ordinary people. I am proud of the fact that you are doing what you are doing today, because you are making it easy for all of us up in New York and the problem is, we up there take you for granted and forget that we are just a few years removed from this very same thing. And we don't take it upon ourselves to even dig down into our pocketbooks to make contributions, so that you can carry on this tremendous struggle that you are involved in today. And that's why my being here tonight is an honor to me. I am thrilled to be a part of this, but above all I’m more than proud of all of you. And as I listen to the kinds of singing that I’ve been hearing here today, and as I listen to Andy talk about these young people from Wilmington, North Carolina, how long they’ve been in jail and what they've done, it makes me proud. It sort of reminds me of the March on Washington and we were trying to interest our three youngsters in participating more. And thank goodness even though they don't have the same kinds of problems that many of you may face, they have a deep conviction, that unless what happens to you down here… End of recording
St. Paul AME Church -- Civil Rights Rally -- Civil Rights March -- Visit of Jackie Robinson
Metadata URL:: http://civilrights.flagler.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16000coll5/id/108
Additional Rights Information:: Flagler College is not the copyright owner for this item, nor can the College provide a copy of this item. Please contact the contributing organization to obtain a copy and permission to reproduce this item.
Extent:: 11 pages
Contributing Institution:: Proctor Library
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