I Am A Man (1970)

Black Americans awake to a new time, searching for a new identity, often restless and impatient to achieve new goals. And shared by millions of black Americans is a growing confidence, a feeling of self-esteem. I may be poor. I may be poor. But I am I am somebody. I may be on welfare. I may be on welfare. But I am I am somebody. I may be in jail. I may be in jail. But I am But I am somebody. I may be uneducated. I may be uneducated. But I am I am somebody. I am I am black. Beautiful. Beautiful. crown. I must be respected. I must be respected. I must be protected. I must be protected. I am I am somebody. Hello. Pride in being black, being proud of this as never before is at the heart of a continuing struggle for full participation in American society. The struggle has often been militant. [Applause] The struggle has sometimes been violent, but rioting and destruction have not brought solutions. More thoughtful and practical responses, most negroes feel, are the only answer of $1,000. You know, it doesn't hurt. The traditional way of improving life in the United States has been through participation in the political process. More than ever before, Negroes have begun to vote. The result, confirming the power of the vote, has been an unprecedented rise in the number of Negroes elected to high office. This is a film about three black leaders who reflect different aspects of the current mood. Carl Stokes, mayor of a large American city. Reverend Jesse Jackson, preacher, Ernest Green, youth organizer and executive. They were going to utilize fully. These three are among many leaders who've emerged during an historic period of protest against inequality and segregation of black Americans, a heritage of centuries of prejudice. Ever since its founding, the nation has been grappling with the dilemma of race. A revolutionary breakthrough came in 1954, the year of the Supreme Court decision to outlaw racial segregation in the schools. The decision opened the way toward eliminating racial discrimination from American life. But it did not bring into reality immediate integration more than laws are required to change long-established attitudes and institutions. The problem of changing the racial composition of schools is complex and difficult. But the nation is committed to the course prescribed by law. The new Supreme Court ruling raised hopes for full equality wherever it was being denied. Negroes and white sympathizers used a number of nonviolent techniques to gain their objectives. In a long painful battle through sitdowns, boycots, picketing, and other measures, they were able to pressure employers into obeying laws against discrimination and one integration in restaurants, hotels, and in every type of public accommodation. There was resistance. In some areas, local authorities shut down a facility rather than open it to everyone. There is far to go in breaking down the barriers of color, but progress has been made. New laws against discrimination have had their effect upon the economic status of the Negro. His traditional job was a menial one, lowpaying, requiring little skill. Today, more negroes can be seen in skilled jobs and in supervisory positions. Progress in civil rights has led to an opening up of economic opportunities. We going to have a problem. Still, some young blacks are frustrated. Their hopes have been raised but not fulfilled. Sometimes their anger explodes in violent acts, more often in violent talk. They rage at what has not been done. But for the American Negro to have reached this level of aspiration at this point in history, he has had to travel a long and tragic road. 300 years ago, the original injustice. The African slave was torn from his homeland and treated as property to be obtained at the lowest possible price to be sold later at a profit. On slave ships, he was treated with less concern than cattle as a physical body to fit in a space. Nobody. Even when the importation of slaves was prohibited in 1808, slaves continued to be bought and sold with mothers sometimes having to give up their children. The pattern of broken family life caused damage that has persisted even to the present day. In the great civil war that broke out between the states, slavery was the major issue that widened the breach between North and South. Eventually, the Union was preserved and freedom for the Negro was written into the Constitution. For a short time, the Negro became a free man with rights and privileges backed up by federal troops. He was elected to political office, but the gain was short-lived. When federal troops were withdrawn, voting and other rights were taken away from Negroes in the South. Slavery was gone, but a society adhered to a rigid doctrine of black inferiority. For decades, the Negro remained lost in the landscape of the South. [Music] forgotten. Then farm machinery began to displace the worker in the southern economy. Technology and two world wars took the negro away from the land into the cities. He was no longer invisible. It was a beginning. In World War II, an executive order of the president abolished discrimination and defense plants, though troops still fought in segregated units. Integration became the official policy of the armed forces in 1947, 7 years before the Supreme Court outlawed segregation in the public schools. Little Rock, Arkansas, 1957. Here, the high court's ruling on integration was put to the test. Among the first nine Negroes to enter an all-white high school in the South was a youngster by the name of Ernest Green. He recalls those turbulent days. When we went to school that morning, uh we rode to school in a station wagon. There was a convoy of trucks and jeeps. And there was a jeep in front of us with a machine gun mount and one behind us. I think psychologically for anybody who was black in the country at that time. You know, it was an overwhelming kind of feeling that for the first time uh the federal government on a massive basis had used its power to protect uh black people, black children. We went up the steps, each had an armed guard and surrounded by a group of soldiers with bayonets. I did feel and I think all of us felt that if we were able to do that year that we would have broken a series of psychological barriers for other folks. Green and the others did finish their year at Central High which became successfully integrated. He went to college and like many other students in the 60s began to take an active interest in civil rights at Michigan State. When I first went there, I was considering engineering and then I felt that was too narrow an area and I switched over into something I thought was going to be people related. I really wanted to get involved with something that was going to give me some ability to relate to people and to be able to help my young brothers who I saw out in the community right there. Today, Green is national director of an organization helping black youngsters break into the building trades where skilled jobs are highly paid. Eddie was telling me that he thinks you're going to move up pretty fast. Well, I hope to not fast, you know, Green's life symbolizes the vast change that has taken place since 1954 and the effect one man can have upon the lives of many others. What I'm doing is helping young blacks and Puerto Ricans gain entrance into the building trades. Apprenticeship opportunity, jobs in construction, and uh if you're not doing anything right now, maybe we can get you to drop over across the street, 1650 F Street, right down there, another side of that building that's going down. The typical youngster that we are working with probably dropped out of high school or just barely completed high school. He's going to have a history of menial lowpaying types of jobs. Green gives some of the reasons why minority youth haven't been able to get good jobs. One is that the industry and that means the unions and contractors have excluded him or kept them out. The other is that there's a reinforcement affair going on that if the industry makes attempts to keep you out, then the message gets around the community with other young men that this is not a job situation to try. A kid goes to school uh he's told by his parents, told by everybody that he can't be an electrician. So consequently, he has no aspirations, no desire to be an electrician. This period of black frustration had to come about because most blacks had to break through their own psychological barriers. Had to begin to feel important. Begin to feel that they were worthy of being human beings. That that it's possible to compete with whites, to view yourself as an equal, not to feel inferior about the texture of your hair or the color of your skin. All of that is changing. and obviously should change change for the better. [Music] First off, to give you an idea of what the trades are about, I got some pictures here, particularly for those who are going into the sheet metal. Before a young man can get the kind of job Green is talking about, he must join a craft union. This has not been easy for blacks because union members, mostly white, have traditionally favored relatives as new applicants. Today, all applicants must take an objective test for which Green's organization helps young men prepare. So far, the coaching program has been highly successful. And you're going to have five minutes for this test. Everybody's ready. You have your pencils? Okay, start. Over the last two years, we've helped some 15-600 young guys gain entrance into apprenticeship. But there are hundreds of thousands of other youngsters who because either the limitation of our program, limitation of the job opportunities, we weren't able to touch and that what has to be done is the opportunity has to be expanded and we have to be able to reach all those youngsters. The whole middle section. This is what civil rights broadly is about now is to create opportunities to create mobility to be able to get black people out of the shackles of of poverty. Construction does great things for the male ego. You're in an all man's field. Uh, you know, it's a feral kind of job. Uh, it exudes strength. Most of these young guys, you know, like that kind of image. In most American cities, construction is such a visible industry. You know, it does something again for your psychic to be able to go out and point out that you just put up the Empire State Building. The federal government is sending people to our institute because one, we feel that the program has been successful. and that two it can increase its success of the problem it's trying to solve by duplicating it in other cities throughout the country. Somehow we want to get additional people on this job to to go through an on the job training cycle with union membership as a final result. We've tried to deal with union officials in an honest and what I call a creative confrontation kind of manner. We confront them with honest kinds of questions and expect the same kind of reply from them. What we have is a series of laws that bar a union from discriminating against blacks, bar an employer from from keeping a black person out of a particular job situation. But without somebody to show black youngsters where those opportunities are, it would be just a paper law. Guys that we've helped, this doesn't exclude white youngsters as as well. We're interested in working with anybody to help them get into the construction trades. There were other people helping me in the Little Rock crisis as we as a project are trying to help young fellows we deal with now. But I think that where our effort had been an individual effort, what we are trying to do in the project is to multiply this into a mass effort. And that no longer to be concerned about the one or two or three four breakthroughs, but to be able to achieve some massive kinds of institutional change. Green's life has changed dramatically. Many other lives are being more gradually affected by legislative changes. New laws now guarantee political rights, above all, the right to vote. The drive to involve southern Negroes in elections has doubled their number of voters in 10 years. Over 3 million now vote, and the number of Negroes elected to office in the South has risen from just a handful in 1960 to over 400 in 1969. In every section of the country, Negroes are now exerting the power of their ballot. Carl B. Stokes, the most impressive example of the Negro's emergence as a new force in politics. Great grandson of a slave, Stokes ran for mayor of Cleveland. In his campaign, he sought votes on the basis of a program that promised advantages not to any group, but to the city as a whole. The voters liked his program and they liked Carl Stokes. He became the first negro to be elected chief executive of a major American city. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a wonderful moment. It was a triumph over disbelief. You remember how many people told us that it could not be done. They told us white people were not going to vote for us. They told us Polish people would not vote for us. They even told us that some Negroes would not vote for us because they would not believe. But they did vote. They came out and voted and their votes resulted in a victory. Two years later, he was elected to a second term and doubled his previous margin of victory. Significantly, Stokes has won in a city that is 2/3 white. Take this opportunity to the racial composition of the city is reflected in its city council. Approximately one-third of the legislators are negroes on this floor. And I'd like to also take this opportunity to recognize Mr. Lenir. questions before the council such as the enforcement of law and order are of mutual concern to black and white and his supporters and Mr. Lenir in moving forward to get this job done. Thank you. Mayor Stokes has been deeply concerned about the urban crisis and was the organizer of a conference of big city mayors for whom he was a spokesman in a meeting with President Nixon. A welcome for a newly appointed city official who will take charge of the police and fire departments. Mayor Stokes chose retired General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. who grew up in Cleveland and rose to become the highest ranking negro officer in the armed forces. Sir, if you raise your right hand and repeat after me, I and your full name I. Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. This is the city of Cleveland and obey the rules. New members of the police force regulations. More negroes have been encouraged to apply of the Cleveland Police Department of the Cleveland Police Department and will discharge and will discharge the duties of my office the duties of my office according to the best of my knowledge according to the best of my knowledge and belief and belief. So help me God. So help me God. But when on that side you balanced. Dealing with innumerable pressures, balancing conflicting interests, Stokes has met the challenge of one of the nation's hardest jobs. And also with the recognition that if this hospital is going to continue to serve the community, continue to be a vital institution in this city, that then it has to be helped when it can be helped. [Music] He has a reason for dropping in to see school children. In the past, most negro children have not seen enough examples of success among their elders. Children need models of what they can become. They need to feel that they too can be somebody. And I came over here today so that I could talk with you about what you're interested in. So, anything you want to talk about, we'll talk about. What do you say? The mayor's successes in getting people to talk about common goals. Yeah. All right. Well, now, how are we going to get the recreation centers? Build them. I'm with you, but you got to It costs money. You know what? Now you see when we talk like this, it gives you a chance to to show some other problems. Now, when she said build them, you know, that's not such a far out idea from a standpoint of how a community can get together, get the adults and the young people who would be willing to work to maybe you couldn't build a building, but maybe you could take a building and repair it. The personality of Mayor Stokes, which has helped him move forward in politics, is in sharp contrast to that of Reverend Jesse Jackson. I am I am somebody. I may be poor. I may be poor, but I am But I am somebody. Somebody I may be on welfare. I may be on welfare. But I am But I am somebody. I may be uneducated. But I am But I am somebody. A simple powerful theme serves to unite those who come to hear Reverend Jesse Jackson. The same thing will happen. He asks the Negro to throw off all sense of inferiority. Many of you really believe that you're inferior. You really believe that black is supposed to stay back and white is right. Many of you have given up on being first class citizens. You've given up on three meals a day. And you've given up because somebody has defined you as a white man's slave rather than God's child. You're not put here to be a white man's foottool. You are put here to represent the very best in God's word. [Music] Reverend Jackson has created a new social reality, a community bound together by common feelings and needs, one that is highly organized to use its power. He has involved all kinds of groups and organizations. In Chicago, Jackson heads a nationwide program called Operation Bread Basket, which seeks economic involvement for the black man. The program was originally established by Reverend Martin Luther King. The movement still has its religious [Music] base. The harmony of spirit evoked at meetings of Operation Bread Basket is a force that can be used in seeking political and economic goals. Through collective strength, every other ethnic group, Irishameans, Italian-Americans, and others have gained ground. Now Jackson feels it's the black man's turn. Reverend Jackson represents a new, younger point of view than that of Martin Luther King. But he too preaches nonviolence. Black can be beautiful if it will be. Yes, that's right. Black is beautiful if it's honest. That's right. Black is beautiful if it is striving and developing integrity and developing its mind. Black is beauty if it's cooperating. Right. Black is beautiful if it's engaging in cancer research. It's beautiful if it's breaking up racism. Yes. It's beautiful if it's feeding people. if it's liberating the captive. Yes. He calls for a proportionate share for blacks in Chicago's economy is that there must be a racial balance, right? And a power balance. That's right. Of decision making within the department. That's right. In other words, we are 42% of the population. We must have 42% not only of the police but 42% of the decision making power. Let's go a step further. All right. Cuz that ain't all the answer. You need more than power. All right. You also need compassion. Yes. And sensitivity. Compassion, sensitivity, and power. Jackson has demonstrated political power in a march on the Illinois state capital to protest cuts in welfare payments. Here, where Abraham Lincoln was once a young legislator, Jackson's wide popular support helped him win a restoration of the budget cut by the state legislature before whom he delivered a sermon. Come to this land. He is frequently at odds with the city administration, but he's continually gained hearings in behalf of those he represents. Throughout Chicago, Operation Bread Basket has helped Negro people gain more economic power. Power to win employment for large numbers of Negroes through negotiation with large corporations. Power to enter skilled trades, to secure jobs paying high wages, power to own companies, to be independent businessmen. The federal government is encouraging the development of black ownership to give the negro a bigger stake in society. [Applause] a small factory operation turning out a common household product to be sold in local stores. Already the owner has been successful in selling his product in a wider [Music] market. Operation Bread Basket is helping people move up to a higher rung of the economic ladder. More black people are holding good jobs and are able to invest in banks they manage themselves. Protected by laws against discrimination, a new generation can insist upon its right to share in the nation's wealth and [Music] progress. Since the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, the civil rights movement has traveled a long road. There have been marches and demonstrations and undramatic activities ongoing and essential to lay the groundwork for lasting change. Conflict resolved by negotiation, a first step toward greater understanding. The march goes on a long and difficult struggle to overcome centuries of prejudice. [Music] A struggle in which militancy has been part of the pattern of change. Now that you might have education plays a vital role. Might be uncertain what with common interests better understood. The forward movement can be more certain, more permanent. [Music] [Applause] For hundreds of years there had been little progress. But at the close of the 60s, important steps had been taken over a difficult road. There is still far to go. Barriers to full equality still exist. But how long the road, how strenuous the effort, the nation is now rededicated to its first principles, the American dream of full equality for all. Amen. [Music]