"this is a special presentation of american experience." "major funding for american experience with captioning is provided by the alfred p. sloan foundation." "national corporate funding is provided by liberty mutual and the scotts company." "american experience is also made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by:" "funding for the re-release of eyes on the prize made possible by:" "and:" "♪ i know the one thing we did right ♪" "♪ was the day we started to fight ♪" "♪ keep your eyes on the prize ♪" "♪ hold on, hold on ♪" "♪ keep your eyes on the prize ♪" "♪ hold on. ♪ this country knows what power is." "it knows it very well." "and it knows what black power is because it's deprived black people of it for 400 years." "we are on the move for our liberation." "we have been tired of trying to prove things to white people." "we are tired of trying to explain to white people that we're not going to hurt them." "we are concerned with getting the things we want, the things that we have to have to be able to function." "narrator:" "by 1967, the freedom movement was changing course." "black people seek power, and they must have power to change the conditions under which they live." "narrator:" "across the nation, black men and women struggled for control of their lives... through the ballot box... on the street... in the schools." "the call for power challenged the established relationship between blacks and whites in america." "are the people of cleveland willing to vote for a candidate for mayor who has the best qualifications, who has the best program, who has the philosophy of government and its relationship with people, but whose skin does happen to be black?" "narrator:" "15 million black americans lived in the cities, yet in 1967, no major city had ever elected a black mayor." "determined to break with that past, the black community in cleveland, ohio, launched a voter registration campaign to support carl stokes." "well, we thought a black mayor could do it as well as some of the white mayors had done." "and we certainly thought it would be an improvement in police/citizen relations, because, at that time, they weren't too good." "and we thought maybe he could do something about housing." "we thought he would have the interests of the blacks more at heart, which the white mayors didn't seem to have, particularly." "narrator:" "two years earlier, carl stokes, an ohio state legislator, had run for mayor and lost by a narrow margin." "white voters had not supported a black candidate." "now, some were saying he might save the city from the unrest erupting in other urban areas." "cleveland had seen the fires." "a violent uprising in the black neighborhood of hough had claimed four lives and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses." "in the democratic primary, ralph locher, the incumbent mayor, was stokes' major opponent." "we can't solve our problems so long as we have disrespect for law, so long as we have anarchy and so long as we thumb our nose at law and order." "with that in mind, this council and this administration has added 234 additional police to our force and we've said to the hoodlum we're going to run you out of town and we're going to have law and order in this city." "narrator:" "mayor locher sought to reassure the city there would be no repeat of the disturbances in hough." "locher's administration was also marked by industrial decline and rising unemployment." "housing for one-third of cleveland's residents was considered sub-standard." "but for some, these were not the major issues of the campaign." "reporter:" "this election seems to have a lot more interest than a lot of elections in recent years." "why do you think so?" "well, i guess it's the racial, the racial point." "what is there about locher that, you know?" "well, i like what he's done, and just like he said, i think he'll find the mistakes he's made and won't make them again." "well, why wouldn't you give stokes a chance?" "well, i guess it's the idea of having a colored guy in." "the realities of being elected mayor of the city of cleveland, which was 35% black at that time, and 65% white, and white eastern european ethnics, was that you couldn't run a civil rights campaign here." "you had to run a straight political campaign, in which you blurred or eliminated the racial distinctions as much as you could." "do you feel that you're making any progress with them?" "i wouldn't be out here tonight if i didn't believe that." "i hope i made it with you, for instance." "good luck." "i wanted to tell the gentleman the fact that all of us ladies, we pick our lipsticks by color, sometimes our dresses, but we don't vote that way-- we study the candidates." "i believe that." "civil rights was a movement where people believed that they could change the way people were treated." "and, in the stokes campaign, while it was a political campaign it had a candidate and became a campaign that stood for that kind of change." "narrator:" "cleveland was just over 1/3 black." "stokes needed to win white support and increase voter turnout in the black wards." "we knew we had the votes but we had to get them out." "it's one thing to have them, but to have them just sit there... so we organized block by block." "narrator:" "by late summer, the registration drive had added 30,000 black voters to the rolls." "but with the primary only weeks away, campaign workers in the black neighborhoods found they had another battle to win." "man:" "there was a certain segment of people who had this negative attitude." "they felt, well, this just can't be." "the people just won't elect a black man." "we were in a motorcade coming down east 55th street, and my wife shirley and i were sitting on the back seat of the convertible and a little black kid that was maybe eight years old, probably, came up to us as we were stopped at a traffic signal" "and he said, "are you carl stokes?"" "and i said, "yes."" "and he just gave a little leap in the air and ran down the street, clapping his hands, saying, "he's colored." "he's colored, he's colored, he's colored."" "i thought that sort of caught the sense of pride that i felt as i went through the black areas of the city of cleveland." "♪ if you had a choice of colors ♪" "♪ which one would you choose, my brothers?" "♪" "♪ if there was no day or night ♪" "♪ which would you prefer to be right?" "♪ don't vote for me because i'm a negro but god knows, don't vote against me because i'm a negro." "we ain't what we want to be and lord, we ain't what we're going to be but great god, we sure ain't what we was, lord." "thank you." "narrator:" "on primary election day, blacks voted in record numbers." "stokes' supporters knew that victory was within reach." "we went back to the campaign headquarters but it was a very difficult job even getting close to it." "the campaign headquarters that i had opened months before as an empty, barren place, was now just surrounded by people far out into the street, and there was dancing in the street on superior avenue." "( intro to "we're a winner" by the impressions )" "♪ we're a winner now ♪" "♪ and never let anybody say... ♪ hi, baby girl." "daddy won." "narrator:" "stokes' primary victory was clear-cut:" "96% support in the black community and 52% support citywide." "but the campaign was far from over." "we had stressed so much that you must vote for carl in the primary and you won't get a second chance." "now, if you don't put him on the ballot, you can forget the whole deal." "so they went out and voted for him, i think that was october the third." "okay, we said, "now, we got to get them back to the polls again november the seventh."" "so we had telephone banks going and we would call them and we would visit them." "we'd have the block captains go see them, the block supervisors, and they'd tell us, "already voted for him."" "we said, "oh, my god, we got to do a voter education campaign."" "we said, "yes, but you just put him on the ticket." "you've got to go back again and vote to be sure that he's the mayor."" "and that was a job." "we got to get out and knock on these doors!" "we got to bring the ones that never get out and never think about what is going to become of the city." "just a few of us have to get out and bring the-- make ourselves a committee of one-- and get the vote out for carl stokes." "and then we can sing, "we're gonna walk together, children." ""we're gonna talk together, children." ""and we're gonna have our mayor down there that will speak for everybody, children."" "let's go on and work for carl stokes." "narrator:" "in cleveland, 80% of the voters were democrats." "winning the democratic primary usually meant certain election." "but white voters were moving to the republican candidate, seth taft." "taft:" "so, right after the primary, we just had thousands of people marching into our headquarters saying, "we'll campaign for you, we think you're the great guy."" "they'd never heard of me before." "but, uh..." "so, we had a... it made a very uncomfortable situation, i can assure you, when a whole batch of people rush into your headquarters and want to work in your campaign, when you don't like their motive." "we fired a whole batch of them that went out and campaigned saying, "hey, you wouldn't want a black mayor of this city, would you?"" "and we got rid of everybody we could of that sort." "frankly, both of us ran a-- i think-- uh, very much an affirmative, uh... non-racially oriented campaign." "but the racial issue was like one postage stamp thickness below the surface." "narrator:" "stokes brought the issue into the open during a candidates' debate at a white west side school." "there were very few blacks over there to start out with-- i think just a handful of us from the campaign." "and, uh, blacks didn't go on the west side too much." "i mean..." "never did feel too welcome." "and stokes introduced the matter of race into the campaign." "stokes:" "i am going to be brutally frank with you." "and equally frank with seth taft." "the personal analysis of seth taft is that seth taft may win in the november 7 election, but only for one reason-- and that reason is that his skin happens to be white." "( crowd boos ) the whole place went kablooey." "you couldn't hear a thing for five minutes." "carl was trying to say, "hey, hey, hey, hey,"" "to get attention and so forth, but he lost the audience." "now, that audience was a west side audience and it was 90% white." "( crowd restless, talking ) stokes:" "seth himself has attempted to bypass this so-called black-white issue but in practically every public utterance he has made during this campaign, he not-so-subtly points out that "carl stokes has more experience than seth taft at being a negro"-- well, which is true." "and he goes on to say that seth taft has had more experience at being white." "well, now, if this is not some kind of subtle appeal, then why continually bring it up?" "( applause )" "well, well, well... i guess it took seth quite by surprise and he said, "well, well, well." ""i guess if you don't vote for carl stokes, you're a racist."" "and our hearts just sank because that was his very best remark of the whole night." "and i'm sure that by carl introducing this into the campaign, it caught him by surprise, but he certainly rose to the occasion, you can believe that, and it scared us to death." "taft:" "it seems that the race issue is with us." "now... now it appears that if i say something on this subject, it's racism." "if carl stokes says something about it, it's fair play." "narrator:" "the debate was a turning point." "opinion polls showed large numbers of undecided white voters moving to taft." "with 15 days left to campaign, taft reached out to the white west side." "hello there, sir, i'm seth taft. how are you?" "man:" "for whom do you intend to vote for?" "taft." "taft." "what do you feel the major political issue is:" "race, crime, urban renewal?" "i'd say crime." "crime?" "man:" "and i want you to know that all the slovak people are for seth taft for mayor in this town." "and this is the way they say it in slovak:" "( speaking slovak ) narrator:" "stokes struggled to hold on to his white support." "but as he continued to slip in the polls, he returned to the black community to make his appeal." "♪ ...forever in peace ♪" "♪ no water can swallow, no water can swallow ♪" "♪ oh, the ship of life ♪" "♪ the master of all time ♪" "♪ glory, glory, hallelujah ♪" "♪ glory, glory, hallelujah, his truth is marching on. ♪ the thing upon which i have depended has been that if you show people that you have the qualifications, then you're not going to be penalized" "just because you happen to be a negro." "mr. stokes, he knows more about what we need." "he can do more for us, and he's going to do it." "i think he's going to get it." "because we have worked awfully hard." "man:" "we never gave up hope because, i guess, we were very loose in this endeavor." "because carl b. stokes had brought more unity amongst the people of cleveland than i had ever witnessed, and losing really wasn't part of my thought at the time." "stokes." "stokes two." "stokes." "stokes three." "stokes." "stokes four." "taft, taft, taft." "taft:" "we were ahead in what had come in so far." "and so the guys were getting me practiced up on an acceptance speech or whatever we might call it." "and then somebody came in with a list of what precincts had not reported." "and as soon as we saw that, it was all over, because the precincts that hadn't been reported at that moment, were precincts in the black community." "narrator:" "at 5:00 a.m., the final tally was announced." "by a narrow margin, carl stokes had been elected mayor of america's 10th largest city." "reporter:" "carl, how's it feel?" "it's a wonderful moment." "( crowd applauds, cheers, whistles )" "never has one man owed so much to so many." "those of us who are polish, hungarian, croatian, romanians, negroes, germans, irish... jewish, yeah." "yes, jewish." "( crowd applauds ) and i can find no more fitting way to end this appeal by saying to all of you, in the most serious and in the most meaningful way that i can, that truly, never before, have i ever known" "the full meaning of the words" ""god bless america."" "thanks a lot." "williams:" "oh, yes, it was a first-- we had done something that hadn't been done anyplace in the country before." "and since folks laughed at us in '65 and we pulled it off in '67, i guess we felt pretty smug about it." "and, uh, yeah, we were very happy about it." "and we said, if it can be done here it can be done other places." "narrator:" "in cleveland, the power of the vote put a black man in charge of city government." "two months later, gary, indiana, inaugurated its first black mayor, richard hatcher." "in oakland, california, the search for power began on the streets." "blacks had little say in how their community was run." "in particular, many questioned the role of the police." "the police throughout the black communities in the country were really the government." "we had more contact with the police than we did the city council." "the police were universally disliked." "narrator:" "the size of the mostly white police force was increasing." "so were complaints of police brutality." "influenced by freedom struggles in the south and in third world nations, in 1966, huey newton and bobby seale formed the black panther party for self-defense, a symbol taken from a lowndes county, alabama, political organization." "armed with law books and with guns, the black panthers monitored the actions of the police in the black community." "i remember one of these first events." "when we got out of the car, we saw policemen, you know, making an arrest of some kind-- about 20 or 30 people in the community standing to the side, watching." "and the black folks, one of them says:" ""hey, who are these people?" "hey, man, this guy got a g..."" ""hey, man, i'm gonna move out of here." "these guys got guns and stuff like that."" "they were out looking at what the police were doing." "we had officers stopping a car and then we would have a carload full of these black panther people pull up behind them, and watch them and see what they were doing, you know?" "they were looking at what the police were doing." "we would follow the police around and when the police would arrest or detain someone, we would read their rights to them." "and it came down to some point where the policeman says," ""what are you doing with those guns?"" "and huey says, "well, we got ours to defend ourselves and to observe you."" "and the police: "you have no right to observe me."" "and huey was all this law study, 'cause he was in night law school at the time" ""california state supreme court ruling states that everyone" ""has a right to observe a police officer carrying out his duty," ""as long as they stand a reasonable distance away." ""and a reasonable distance was constituted" ""in that particular california supreme court ruling" ""as eight to ten feet." ""i'm standing approximately 22 feet from you." ""i will observe you carrying out your duties whether you like it or not."" "and the black community is saying," ""well, go ahead on and tell it!"" "narrator:" "the boldness of the panther actions attracted young blacks, many in their teens." "carrying loaded firearms in public was a well-protected legal right in california but, with the emergence of the black panthers, state officials introduced legislation to outlaw carrying loaded firearms within city limits." "may, 1967." "in protest, the panthers traveled to sacramento, the state capital." "we arrived there, all these black men and women, 24 males and six females, with guns, and ronald reagan, then the governor, was on the lawn with 200 future leaders of america-- you know, 12- and 13- and 14-year-old kids." "and these kids started leaving his session on the lawn and coming to see us." "and these young white kids thought we were a gun club." "narrator:" "knowing the media would be there, the group of men and women then entered the capitol building." "reporter:" "they're heavily armed." "whether their weapons are loaded or not, nobody seems to know." "man:" "wait a minute, now, wait a minute." "wait a minute-- are you under arrest?" "am i under arrest?" "am i under arrest?" "!" "did you place him under arrest?" "go ahead, brother." "am i under arrest?" "am i?" "take your hands off me if i'm not under arrest!" "if i'm under arrest, i'll come." "if i'm not, don't put your hands on me!" "is this the way the racist government works?" "don't let a man exercise his constitutional rights?" "if my sweater's ripped, you will get... i'd like to make a statement now, with this respect:" "the statement of the black panther party for self-defense on the mulford act now pending before the california legislature." "the black panther party for self-defense calls upon the american people in general, and the black people in particular, to take full note of the racist california legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless," "at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder and repression of black people." "narrator:" "a nation that had grown used to the nonviolent civil rights movement was now confronted with new images of black protest." "later, at a sacramento service station, news cameras documented the continuing debate over law and guns." "man:" "that ain't no sawed-off, that's a riot shotgun, just like yours." "you don't know the constitution, right?" "uh-uh." "sure we do; we're well aware of the constitution." "you have no right to take my gun away from me." "you breaking the constitution law." "reporter:" "the pamphlet says that the black panther party for self-defense calls on the american people in general to take careful note of the racist california legislature." "why do you believe the legislature is racist?" "don't you know?" "you're a part of it." "isn't it obvious?" "this is a white system." "this is obviously where we at." "do you believe everything that's in that pamphlet?" "the pamphlet speaks for itself." "douglas:" "it was like being a part of a movement that you had seen on tv and now being able to participate and share in that movement." "when you heard talk about malcolm, seen malcolm on tv, at that time, you had heard and talked about stokely carmichael rap brown and s.n.c.c. and what have you, and all the different things that were happening." "and to become a part of a movement that had encompassed all these different concepts and ideals in its own creative way-- it brought a sense of pride." "but there was also, there was the doubts and the fear of whether you were going to survive or exist, which became a part of your make-up and you went on and took care of business the way you had to." "narrator:" "the panthers had not violated california gun law." "they were charged instead with disturbing the peace." "six panthers, including chairman bobby seale, were convicted." "well, as chief deputy attorney general, we'd had-- i'd had experience and the department of justice of the state of california had had experience in the 1960s, prior to this time, with a variety of nut groups," "both extreme left and extreme right, who were running around with guns, thinking that they could solve the problems of california and the world through direct militant action." "and we were and had been well informed, and in some cases had surveillance upon, extreme groups that carried weapons." "when these characters came along, we thought they were another irritating part of the bouillabaisse that was starting to bubble all over california." "we needed them like a severe case of a bad disease." "narrator:" "the black panther party's style and dramatic actions captured the attention of the media." "yet the panthers often disagreed with the way they were portrayed." "the examiner made a report back here, the last sunday's paper, that we were anti-white, that we hold no bones-- this is a quote-- pick no bones about being anti-white." "this is a bold-faced lie." "we don't hate nobody because of their color." "we hate oppression." "we hate murder of black people in our communities." "we hate the gross unemployment that exists in our communities." "we hate black men being taken off into the military service to be fighting for a racist, decadent america promising us freedom." "narrator:" "to present their story and their program for social change, the black panthers created a national newspaper." "language and art were important tools of the new party." "newton:" "i knew that images had to be changed." "i know, sociologically, that words, the power of the word, words stigmatize people and we felt that the police needed a label, a label other than that fear image that they carried in the community." "so we used the pig as a rather low-lifed animal, in order to identify the police and it worked." "narrator:" "some feared the reaction that the panthers' stance might provoke." "♪ we'll just have to get guns and be there... ♪ my parents or the neighbors were kind of reluctant, kind of standoffish in their attitudes towards the black panther party, because here you had a new, dynamic kind of organization" "coming out and doing things that never had been done in the history of this country before-- carrying guns, standing up to the police, standing up to the power structure." "narrator:" "eldridge cleaver, who had gained fame from his writings in prison, was the chief spokesman for the party." "and we feel that the police must be brought under control by any means necessary, including through force of arms." "we have never bit our tongue about that." "we say it now, loud and clear." "we will always say it;" "we're not afraid to say it-- that these racist, gestapo pigs have to stop brutalizing our community or we're gonna take up guns;" "we're gonna drive them out." "we were advised by our sergeants and lieutenants and captains that the panthers were armed and violent and were going to be aggressive in their behavior towards us." "we were advised to be aware of that." "narrator:" "as the black panther party grew, so did tensions with police." "newton:" "gestapo tactics." "narrator:" "in october of 1967, a year after the party's formation, huey newton was shot in the stomach in a confrontation with police." "police officer herbert heanes was also seriously wounded." "officer john frey died from gunshots, believed to be from a police revolver." "with the death of a policeman, government pressures on the young organization intensified." "newton was charged with first degree murder." "he maintained he had been framed." "in america, black people are treated very much as the vietnamese people or any other colonized people because we're used, we're brutalized;" "the police in our community occupy our area, our community, as a foreign troop occupies territory." "the panthers seemed to be in deliberate, open, provocative confrontation with the police departments, in their early periods." "they used revolutionary language, provocative language, and seemed to be deliberately seeking to confront established authority-- particularly police authority." "but then we observed that they seemed to have a social side-- a concept of doing something beyond these angry confrontations." "narrator:" "the panthers called themselves a revolutionary organization the ten point program was their blueprint for change." "seale:" "and we wrote out this program:" "we want power to determine our own destiny in our own black community." "immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people was point number seven." "the right to have juries of our peers in the courts, what have you;" "we summed it up:" "we wanted land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace." "narrator:" "the black panthers distributed free food and later developed a free breakfast program for children." "teacher:" "good morning!" "class:" "good morning." "teacher:" "i can't hear you. good morning!" "class:" "good morning!" "♪ black is beautiful ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪" "♪ set our warrior free ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪" "♪ black is beautiful ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪" "♪ set our warrior free ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪" "♪ black is beautiful ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪ the idea was, obviously, two-fold for the specific purpose of serving those people who were directly benefited by our programs but also, secondarily, to influence the minds of people to understand not only that the black panther party" "was providing them this but, more importantly, that if they could get food, that maybe they would want clothing, and maybe they'd want housing, maybe they'd want land and maybe they would ultimately want" "some abstract thing called "freedom."" "narrator:" "around the country, particularly in urban areas, young black men and women formed local chapters." "the party grew much too rapidly because many of the young people were very enthusiastic about the guns and about the berets, but they knew little about the community programs that really are our reason for existing." "narrator:" "the growing party still faced the dilemma of having its leader, huey newton, in prison." "court proceedings attracted national attention, bringing support to the panthers from an alliance of white and black political organizations." "reporter:" "you're obviously in good spirits, huey. why?" "because i have the people behind me and the people are my strength." "cleaver:" "huey's mother is here-- mrs. newton." "( crowd cheering )" "this is the black mother." "narrator:" "february 17, 1968-- stokely carmichael, james forman, h. rap brown-- leaders of the student nonviolent coordinating committee, now joined forces with the black panther party in their call for revolution." "and so, in talking about brother huey newton tonight, we have to talk about the struggle of black people not only in the united states, but in the world today, and how he becomes part and parcel of that struggle;" "how we move on so that our people will survive america." "( cheers and applause ) see, it's no in between." "you're either free or you're a slave." "there's no such thing as second-class citizenship." "the only politics in this country that's relevant to black people today is the politics of revolution-- none other." "narrator:" "april 6, 1968-- a gun battle on the streets of west oakland." "five men were wounded-- three police officers and two panthers." "a third panther, bobby hutton, age 17, was shot to death." "black people are now to organize in a fashion where we have maximum retaliation against all forms of racist police brutality and attacks." "reporter:" "what changes have there been in the black panther party since the gunfight last weekend?" "what you mean, "what changes?"" "we have a black man that's dead, murdered by pigs." "that's a change." "brown:" "here were men who were saying," ""listen, we are willing to take charge of our lives." "we are willing to stand up."" "there was the appeal that malcolm had in many ways." "it had a certain subjective appeal to my psyche and to my emotional need to say yes, there were men in this world who cared-- black men-- who cared about the community and wanted to do something and were willing to take it to the last degree." "narrator:" "in the fall of 1968, two years after the party's founding, huey newton was convicted of manslaughter in the death of police officer frey-- a conviction which was later overturned." "with chapters in 25 cities, government surveillance was increasing." "the membership of the black panther party had reached several thousand, and was growing." "♪ free huey!" "♪" "♪ black is beautiful ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪" "♪ set our warrior free ♪" "♪ free huey!" "♪ it was a battle, it was a struggle, and i think we rooted ourselves in, in the sense that we began to get millions of black folks to really look at where we were coming from in our stand against the power structure." "now, a lot of people call revolution a confrontation." "really, what huey and i meant by "revolution" was a need to revolve more political power and economic power back into the hands of the people." "that's really what a revolution is." "narrator:" "the black panthers continued their struggle, working outside the system." "in brooklyn, new york, black and latino parents challenged the established order, working within the system." "they demanded the power to run their neighborhood schools, to improve their children's future." "the children are ready to work." "they come to school to work." "and when they get to school, the teachers, they don't know what to do." "they first thing they say," ""we don't understand the children."" "well, if they would try to understand the children, these problems wouldn't exist." "the children aren't stupid." "they know when the teachers are there to help them." "well, when my family moved here from birmingham in 1965, they came from totally segregated schools." "the children were all black, the teachers were all black, the principals were all black." "one of my sons was above the national average in mathematics, but when he came to the schools here in brooklyn, within one year, he was flunking math." "and i went to the school to find out why." "the teacher said my son was doing fine." "i said, "he's not bringing home assignments" ""and he's flunking math." ""and he came here from alabama," ""and he was ahead of the national average." ""and you're telling me he's doing fine." "something is wrong."" "narrator:" "in new york city, only half of the children in black and latino neighborhoods finished high school." "to make the schools work for their children, parents in the ocean hill-brownsville section of brooklyn planned to take charge." "in the beginning, city officials were hopeful." "this decentralization plan does for our city schools in new york exactly what any stable, good school in any suburb has-- which is to involve the parents sufficiently, so they have a stake in the whole process of schools" "and that's all we seek to do." "narrator:" "in 1967, with support from the ford foundation, the city made ocean hill-brownsville an experimental district." "an interracial governing board, elected by the community, chose educator rhody mccoy to lead the experiment." "he became the first black superintendent in new york city." "the black people in this community have assumed the responsibility for their schools, to try to improve and set the stage for quality education in an urban setting." "and this is what the experiment was designed to do, and this is the reason that the parents became involved." "it was a joy to go to a board meeting." "not only were the board members present but the community folk were sitting around, and they had as much input as the board members." "and it was always on a positive note" ""how do we help the youngsters?"" "narrator:" "before the experiment, four out of five teachers in the district were white." "now, younger teachers, a number of them black, transferred to ocean hill-brownsville." "the students, 95% black and latino, responded." "you felt more accepted." "you weren't the outsider in your own school." "they were part of your environment-- i mean, they were black." "you can identify with them and they can identify with you." "it's as simple as that." "there's no big mystery." "narrator:" "at first, the newly formed teachers' union, the united federation of teachers, supported the experiment." "but with administrative decisions now being made by the community, the teachers were worried." "it was supposed to be an experiment and an involvement of teachers and parents." "and, suddenly, decisions started to get made and no one knew how they were made or where they were made, so there was a lot of wariness on the part of teachers." "narrator:" "albert shanker, the u.f.t. president, questioned where decentralization of the schools might lead." "under the new proposal, teachers and supervisors would be hired on the basis of interview by local people." "and this would mean that new york city would be faced with the same problem other areas are-- namely, where local people don't want whites, there won't be any whites teaching;" "where they don't want any blacks, there won't be any blacks;" "and where they don't want jews, or italians or irish or anybody else, we will essentially develop, within new york city, a series of school systems that are more segregated than the school system is at the present time." "and i say that is the beginning of destruction of our school system." "narrator:" "through the 1967-1968 school year, the community board worked to assemble an integrated teaching staff." "some tenured teachers resisted neighborhood control of schools." "the community board faced a dilemma." "in may, the local board had its regular meeting." "i guess we were having meetings, at that point, about every two weeks." "and on the agenda that night, mccoy had put an item:" "the transfer of 13 teachers and also some assistant principals-- i guess there was five or six of them." "and we sat down and talked to the governing board members of the school, and the principal of the school, and we came to the conclusion that these people were not going to work well in the system." "and they had also demonstrated that they were opposed to the experiment." "we were asking teachers to make an extra effort to get along with our kids, to teach our kids." "if there was any problem, to possibly visit in the homes." "well, the union didn't-- this wasn't in their contract." "they didn't have to do any of these things." "there was discussion." "there was disagreement." "there was a vote." "and we finally came to a conclusion that, so that we could have a demonstration district-- this is like eight months after it had begun-- that some of these people would have to be traferred;" "would have to go." "but, again... transferring teachers from one district to another, with the board of education, was something that was very ordinary." "if a teacher was having problems, you would simply call up the superintendent of schools down at livingston street and the person would be transferred." "no questions were asked." "but when mccoy tried to do it, of course, that created the scene of the century." "narrator:" "the teachers argued that the transfers were illegal." "the city agreed." "the dismissed teachers attempted to return to junior high school 271, but community members refused to let them in." "woman:" "get out of here, mr. goldberg." "now what you want here?" "you received a letter from the governing board, right?" "this is the parents and the community, so you let your albert shanker continue running your life, and keep on making it!" "you're not coming in this school!" "well, there's 19, there are many more, but we figured we'd start slowly." "these 19 have been knocking the program have been causing trouble in the schools." "we have people that are telling the black children that the puerto ricans are against them, and the puerto ricans are against the blacks." "we have to take steps to keep these people out;" "to make sure these people are not allowed in to miseducate our kids." "because if we allow this, then we're condoning it because we're paying their salaries." "you're sabotaging the classes." "now i tried to find out what she meant by that, sir." "do you know?" "those charges that was made previously, or the statement that's been made previously, is that we're sabotaging the project." "now, if that means questioning some of the actions of the governing board, then we must plead guilty for this." "we have not been in complete agreement with everything they've done." "obviously, we're not in agreement with what they've done now." "at no time had anybody mentioned that there was a problem with my service or, for that matter, with any of the people who were named or certainly the majority of them." "i didn't know them all." "but here was this letter that ordered me out." "so all i can say is i was dumbfounded." "narrator:" "350 union teachers walked out of ocean hill-brownsville schools to support the dismissed teachers." "the community vowed to keep the schools open and maintain control." "so, at one point, the issue was just removing those teachers from our complex." "and now, the basic issue has to do with total community control over the schools." "reporter:" "what does that mean, mr. mccoy?" "it means control over the schools:" "personnel, finance, everything." "reporter:" "hiring, firing?" "absolutely." "narrator:" "september, 1968: a new school year." "the local board refused to take back the dismissed teachers." "the teachers union called a city-wide strike." "in the city of new york, education stopped for one million children." "you hypocrite!" "( all yelling ) narrator:" "but in ocean hill-brownsville, many teachers, black and white, crossed the picket lines in defiance of the union." "( yelling ) i came into the district because i want to be accountable to the community." "if i'm not doing a job, then i want them to kick me out." "see, this is the only way that we're gonna bring about any change." "we have to be accountable to someone." "in the new york city school system, there's no problem-- nobody gets fired." "man:" "well, the strike was a unifying factor in the black community." "groups that had previously been at each others' throat, found themselves together at rallies and meetings surrounding ocean hill." "it was an issue that, whether you were core or the n.a.a.c.p., or the urban league or the black panther party or the republic of new africa, you could rally around this community issue." "everybody understood the importance of black children receiving a quality education." "during the strike of 1968, during the fall, probably the place that i spent most of my time was in front of 271, and the scene that i remember there most-- and i've often thought of it" "is a scene of children coming to school with their books, very intent." "and i think they also understood the politics-- just what was all going on here." "jordan:" "we came in from the howard avenue side." "and we had to go through barricades to get to the school and you'd look up on the rooftops-- across the street from the school-- the cops were with the helmet gear and the playground was converted into a precinct" "and walking up to the school, you have just mass confusion." "you have the community people out there." "you have the u.f.t." "you were just amazed." "you couldn't believe this was happening, you know?" "and you just went to school." "narrator:" "the teachers who remained in the classroom looked for new ways to teach the basic skills." "some also brought a new cultural awareness." "teacher:" "today we're gonna talk about the yoruba culture of west africa." "we can trace-- if we could trace our ancestral line back, most of us would go back to the yoruba tribe." "( conga drum playing lively rhythm )" "jordan:" "what the black teachers did do was to broaden us, our perspective of looking at things." "we were no longer members of a small community called ocean hill-brownsville." "we were broadened to w.e.b. dubois, his readings;" "langston hughes, malcolm x, marcus garvey, h. rap brown, mao tse-tung, the red book." "i mean, we became international, and it was a good thing because black people are the third world." "the third world is much larger than european history." "narrator:" "outside of new york city schools, the battle was escalating." "community members questioned the union's commitment to the children." "union leaders charged extremists had taken over the experiment." "i think the public sees what's going on." "every single parent in the city of new york understands that if mr. mccoy and the ocean hill-brownsville governing board succeed, that they will be next, that there will be people in their own communities who will see this as a model of success," "and move in and take over these institutions." "narrator:" "the city ordered the community board to allow the union teachers to return." "neighborhood leaders declared the community would decide." "the community has said it already:" "they don't want them there so that means they're not coming in." "reporter:" "is that because they're white?" "i don't know; you'd have to ask the government board." "if it was left up to me, they wouldn't be let in simply because they were white; right." "you would keep them out. right." "i certainly would." "why?" "because i don't think that any white person is interested in giving black children an education." "that's my particular feeling." "what if they persist in trying to get in here?" "well, uh, by whatever means necessary, they're gonna be kept out." "narrator:" "the teachers union accused the community of anti-semitism." "in a city with a jewish population of over one million, the charge carried enormous political weight." "although many jewish teachers crossed picket lines and continued to teach, the accusation threatened city support of the experiment." "man:" "it is a well-known fact that the overwhelming majority of the teachers in new york city are of the jewish faith." "we have become the butt of their resentment." "and it is, i think, but one simple step from resenting white people to resenting jewish people, since most of the teachers are jewish." "i didn't feel then and i don't feel now that anti-semitism was a major part of that situation." "it was a black-white confrontation." "a lot of the teachers involved were jewish, so some people drew that conclusion from the start." "reporter:" "reverend oliver, what about the business of anti-semitism?" "what kind of scars do you think this is going to leave?" "yes, there will be scars left, it seems, because there have been so many untruths floating around." "but, uh, people must-- the teachers must realize that the communities must be heard." "the people of the community must be heard, and it apparently does not sit well with them to have to reckon with the local communities, but they will have to." "and it's unfortunate that scars must come, but we have had 300 years of scars, and it's about time those scars were healing." "narrator:" "the community board refused to give up control of the classrooms." "all of the people who care about you are here." "the teachers are here-- white and black teachers are here." "there are some white teachers who are supporting us." "we are grateful to all of our friends and all people who believe in fairness to black and white people." "come in, children." "come in, children." "narrator:" "october, 1968-- fearing a continuation of the city-wide strikes, the new york city board of education suspended the ocean hill-brownsville community board." "mr. mccoy has indicated to me clearly that he intends to obey the directions of the suspended ocean hill-brownsville school board, and not those of the board of education or the superintendent of schools." "it is necessary, therefore, for me to relieve mr. mccoy of his duties." "narrator:" "confrontations broke out in other new york neighborhoods as blacks and latinos protested the city's withdrawal of support for community control of schools." "why can't you protect me?" "!" "your mother was black." "your wife is black, if you've got one." "why can't you protect me?" "this is a struggle against educational colonialism." "they took over the school again." "we were here!" "here with our people, trying to run our schools." "now, in defiance of that, the white community has said" ""you gotta cool it, man..." "until we can give it to you."" "they're not going to give us a darn thing." "we're going to take what belongs to us!" "we're going to take what belongs to us!" "narrator:" "the city and the teachers union agreed-- the experiment must end." "the community board's power was taken away." "but in the neighborhoods, many were moved by the struggle of the ocean hill-brownsville community." "from new york's five boroughs, thousands marched to city hall in support of community control of schools." "there was a lot of disappointment on the parts of all us and i think we felt extremely bad." "we had put an awful lot of effort into this." "but i think this was a period-- the '60s was such an incredibly interesting period that i think we realized, also, that something really good had happened." "( crowd cheering enthusiastically )" "crowd:" "we want rhody!" "we want rhody!" "we want rhody!" "we want rhody!" "you've got to understand that these were community people who were disenfranchised with the system, who were nameless and faceless, who had never been incorporated and included, even though their children were mandated to go to school." "for them to take on that responsibility was tremendous." "( crowd chanting ) narrator:" "the demonstrators then headed across the brooklyn bridge to march to board of education headquarters in support of the community of ocean hill-brownsville." "torres:" "there was a lot of people yelling" ""black power, black power, power to the people."" ""power to the people" i liked because i think that what we were going through-- any poor neighborhood, regardless of the ethnic makeup, was going through the same thing." "so i liked "power to the people."" "people really needed to have some power and we really needed, as a school board, to have power." "narrator:" "it was 1968." "communities across america, each choosing different paths, organized in the struggle for power." ""power to the people" was a promise as old as the nation." "now, new voices demanded that the promise be fulfilled." "captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org" "this is a special presentation of american experience." "major funding for american experience with captioning is provided by the alfred p. sloan foundation." "national corporate funding is provided by liberty mutual and the scotts company." "american experience is also made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by:" "funding for the re-release of eyes on the prize made possible by:" "and:"