WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:03.600 Good morning, everybody. 00:03.600 --> 00:08.700 Last week we covered the cultural politics of the 00:08.700 --> 00:14.500 early 1970s and also the rise of different types of 00:14.500 --> 00:16.800 politics in the, in the, sort of the, 00:20.400 --> 00:23.400 this--think of a word that actually--in a bowl, 00:23.400 --> 00:25.600 a cauldron of politics in the early 1970s, 00:25.600 --> 00:27.470 whether it's grassroots affairs, 00:27.467 --> 00:33.167 high politics with the Congressional Black Caucus, 00:33.167 --> 00:35.997 and running throughout all of, 00:36.000 --> 00:37.570 all of that, the complications imposed by, 00:37.567 --> 00:41.167 by a commitment to formal modes of political 00:41.167 --> 00:43.397 engagement, while you have someone like Shirley 00:43.400 --> 00:45.800 Chisholm coming along. 00:45.800 --> 00:50.300 So you see the way in which gender is this fault line 00:50.300 --> 00:52.870 when it comes to race politics in the nation in 00:52.867 --> 00:53.867 the early 1970s. 00:53.867 --> 00:55.997 And it's been a fault line for the longest time, 00:56.000 --> 00:57.870 of course. 00:57.867 --> 01:02.067 What I want to do today is cover chronologically a lot 01:02.067 --> 01:06.767 of the same time period, but through, 01:06.767 --> 01:07.767 through a biography. 01:07.767 --> 01:11.767 One person I've not really mentioned much at all in the 01:11.767 --> 01:13.997 course in the last few weeks, 01:14.000 --> 01:16.600 but who's becoming incredibly important as we 01:16.600 --> 01:19.600 go through the 1970s and into the 1980s, 01:19.600 --> 01:20.870 is Jesse Jackson. 01:20.867 --> 01:25.297 So I want to focus on this sort of political biography 01:25.300 --> 01:29.570 of this person as a way to help us understand, 01:29.567 --> 01:32.997 maybe even summarize really, the shifting cultural 01:33.000 --> 01:36.900 politics of the 1960s, of the rise of a different 01:36.900 --> 01:38.570 array of politics in the 1970s, 01:38.567 --> 01:44.397 and then heading us into really what is this week is 01:44.400 --> 01:48.900 mainly about, is high, high, high politics as far, 01:48.900 --> 01:52.600 in, in, in the--as the way they are expressed through 01:52.600 --> 01:54.700 presidential politics. 01:54.700 --> 01:56.400 So basically, at any given moment, 01:56.400 --> 01:57.900 you could go through high, low, 01:57.900 --> 01:59.600 medium levels of politics. 01:59.600 --> 02:03.400 This week, we'll be moving from the grassroots through 02:03.400 --> 02:06.100 Jesse Jackson, up through the highest echelons of 02:06.100 --> 02:08.900 power in the United States. 02:08.900 --> 02:14.170 Now last Monday, I concluded the lecture playing an 02:14.167 --> 02:20.997 excerpt from Stevie Wonder--Stevie Wonder's song 02:21.000 --> 02:23.000 "Big Brother" from 1972. 02:25.700 --> 02:27.400 One of the lines--I don't expect you to remember 02:27.400 --> 02:31.200 it--he's talking about "My name is Nobody, 02:31.200 --> 02:33.670 and saying you, the person listening, 02:33.667 --> 02:35.097 The Man, "your name is Big Brother." 02:35.100 --> 02:37.500 And I mentioned last Monday how that's actually a 02:37.500 --> 02:41.200 harkening to Jesse Jackson's own politics, 02:41.200 --> 02:43.770 and you'll see this coming out in the middle of today's 02:43.767 --> 02:44.767 lecture. 02:44.767 --> 02:46.967 So this is just to point out these are overlapping time 02:46.967 --> 02:48.197 periods. 02:48.200 --> 02:50.200 So Jesse Jackson. 02:52.467 --> 02:54.397 The most basic biography, starting with him as a 02:54.400 --> 02:56.400 college student. 02:57.600 --> 03:00.600 He graduates from North Carolina Agricultural and 03:00.600 --> 03:07.370 Technical University down in, 03:07.367 --> 03:09.597 in Greensboro, North Carolina. 03:09.600 --> 03:12.700 Same school where, before he matriculated, 03:12.700 --> 03:17.670 four young men marched into Woolworth's and started the 03:17.667 --> 03:19.367 famous bus boycott--excuse me, 03:19.367 --> 03:22.297 the sit-in movement. 03:22.300 --> 03:25.500 So Jackson, although not politically engaged when he 03:25.500 --> 03:29.700 gets to campus, knows that he's arrived at a place that 03:29.700 --> 03:33.100 is suffused with now a young but very vibrant history of 03:33.100 --> 03:36.300 political engagement in the student politics of the era. 03:38.467 --> 03:41.667 He goes through A&T, graduates, 03:41.667 --> 03:44.567 and while he's in college, finally decides to answer a 03:44.567 --> 03:47.197 call he'd been struggling with for a long time, 03:47.200 --> 03:48.570 and that's a call to faith. 03:48.567 --> 03:50.667 So he goes to Chicago Theological Seminary. 03:54.467 --> 03:58.297 He's in seminary when the SNCC marchers, 03:58.300 --> 04:01.100 led by John Lewis, get attacked by the police and 04:01.100 --> 04:03.500 it turns into Bloody Sunday. 04:03.500 --> 04:05.200 He leaves Chicago--this is '65, 04:05.200 --> 04:08.600 of course--he leaves Chicago and heads down to Selma. 04:08.600 --> 04:11.300 You know, he is like thousands of other African 04:11.300 --> 04:14.100 American, white, brown, whatever, 04:14.100 --> 04:17.200 individuals who come to Selma to try to be part of 04:17.200 --> 04:19.200 the solution. 04:22.167 --> 04:26.197 He's in Alabama, and he joins other young civil 04:26.200 --> 04:27.770 rights workers on the ground, 04:27.767 --> 04:31.697 you know, a number of whom have gone on to great fame 04:31.700 --> 04:33.700 and then also infamy. 04:33.700 --> 04:36.200 People like Marion Barry, the former mayor of 04:36.200 --> 04:37.600 Washington, D.C., for example, 04:37.600 --> 04:40.570 was a fantastically important activist, 04:40.567 --> 04:44.897 civil--student, civil rights activist during this era. 04:44.900 --> 04:48.200 Jackson, in the midst of these other clearly talented 04:48.200 --> 04:51.770 people, he still stands out. 04:51.767 --> 04:53.867 More than anything else, he stands out because of his 04:53.867 --> 04:55.497 ability to speak. 04:55.500 --> 04:57.400 He is, you know, whatever you might think of his 04:57.400 --> 04:59.500 politics, he is clearly one of the great, 04:59.500 --> 05:03.170 one of the great speakers in our, 05:03.167 --> 05:05.897 in our moment, in our lives. 05:05.900 --> 05:09.600 And essentially, he talks his way, 05:09.600 --> 05:13.370 though sheer force of will and charisma, 05:13.367 --> 05:16.967 he talks his way into the inner-circle of leaders. 05:16.967 --> 05:19.397 He's no longer just a foot soldier down there, 05:19.400 --> 05:21.770 trying to complete this march from Selma to 05:21.767 --> 05:23.897 Montgomery. 05:23.900 --> 05:25.900 He sees himself really having an important role to 05:25.900 --> 05:29.500 play in the inner-circle. 05:32.600 --> 05:36.070 And in short notice, he's actually now in King's 05:36.067 --> 05:40.197 inner-circle, so he's right around the leader of this 05:40.200 --> 05:42.200 moment. 05:43.700 --> 05:47.300 Very early on, there begins to be whispers about Jesse 05:47.300 --> 05:50.800 Jackson: a little bit too good to believe; 05:50.800 --> 05:53.100 an incredible opportunist; you know, 05:53.100 --> 05:55.100 unbridled ambition. 05:55.100 --> 06:00.070 And these are all, you know, concerns that have followed 06:00.067 --> 06:01.797 Jackson throughout his entire political career, 06:01.800 --> 06:03.800 of course, but they're starting at that very 06:03.800 --> 06:04.800 moment. 06:04.800 --> 06:12.800 The SCLC--[Student sneezes] bless you--The SCLC, 06:12.800 --> 06:15.770 sensing that they've got somebody special in their 06:15.767 --> 06:20.797 midst who can really make a difference, 06:20.800 --> 06:24.070 is engaged in something, sends him back to Chicago. 06:28.000 --> 06:29.500 And the leadership of the SCLC, 06:29.500 --> 06:33.700 King included--[Student sneezes] bless you. 06:33.700 --> 06:34.970 Oh I thought I heard another sneeze coming, 06:34.967 --> 06:38.997 it is allergy season, after all--they see Jackson as a 06:39.000 --> 06:42.670 person who can sort of establish a beachhead for 06:42.667 --> 06:45.297 SCLC, dealing with economic issues. 06:45.300 --> 06:49.500 Now remember, S--SCLC heads to Chicago in '66, 06:49.500 --> 06:52.200 so Jackson is sent there to sort of pave the ground and 06:52.200 --> 06:54.470 get things set up. 06:54.467 --> 06:56.567 What he does when he gets there is sets up a group 06:56.567 --> 06:59.297 called Operation Breadbasket, 06:59.300 --> 07:03.970 and it is a, a group underneath SCLC's umbrella. 07:03.967 --> 07:08.197 Operation Breadbasket is solely based in Chicago and 07:08.200 --> 07:13.700 with Jackson's great charisma and power, 07:13.700 --> 07:17.870 he starts having great success, 07:17.867 --> 07:20.397 and starts developing real, real powerful leadership 07:20.400 --> 07:22.400 networks, kinships in Chicago. 07:22.400 --> 07:25.800 Now what was Operation Breadbasket all about? 07:28.167 --> 07:30.697 It was about trying to diversify business 07:30.700 --> 07:34.370 opportunities and service in the black community in 07:34.367 --> 07:35.367 Chicago. 07:35.367 --> 07:37.197 This is a highly segregated city, 07:37.200 --> 07:41.400 very large and densely packed neighborhood in the 07:41.400 --> 07:42.600 South Side of Chicago. 07:42.600 --> 07:44.600 It's much more than a neighborhood. 07:46.567 --> 07:49.697 And Jackson uses a strategy he's, 07:49.700 --> 07:52.200 he's maintained for decades, that's the economic boycott. 07:54.400 --> 08:01.800 So Operation Breadbasket is organized around the idea, 08:01.800 --> 08:05.000 we will boycott, we'll gather together black 08:05.000 --> 08:09.100 consumer purchasing power, and we will boycott Chicago 08:09.100 --> 08:13.170 companies that don't conduct better business practices 08:13.167 --> 08:15.297 in, in--business practices--practices in 08:15.300 --> 08:17.300 black communities. 08:20.467 --> 08:23.897 Because Jackson has been so successful at getting people 08:23.900 --> 08:27.200 together, I mean, Operation Breadbasket is doing all the 08:27.200 --> 08:30.100 classic things that, that civil rights groups are 08:30.100 --> 08:33.900 doing, have done, throughout the breadth of this course. 08:33.900 --> 08:35.200 I mean they're also, you know, 08:35.200 --> 08:37.070 putting food on people's tables, 08:37.067 --> 08:39.967 they're providing job banks, they're basic--doing basic 08:39.967 --> 08:41.967 education. 08:44.167 --> 08:46.197 The companies quickly concede because Operation 08:46.200 --> 08:49.100 Breadbasket is, is, it's working, 08:49.100 --> 08:52.570 and so you see companies start hiring black managers. 08:55.100 --> 08:56.100 This is important. 08:56.100 --> 08:58.600 I mean this is different than the boycotts in the 08:58.600 --> 09:00.200 past, like A. 09:00.200 --> 09:01.270 Philip Randolph was threatening, 09:01.267 --> 09:03.197 where he's trying to get as many black workers on the 09:03.200 --> 09:06.400 factory floor, thinking back to the defense industry jobs 09:06.400 --> 09:08.800 in World War II. 09:08.800 --> 09:10.770 Jackson is going at the management level. 09:10.767 --> 09:12.997 He's goes, "We can hire all the black factory workers we 09:13.000 --> 09:15.400 want, but there will be a glass ceiling. 09:15.400 --> 09:16.900 You won't break into management. 09:16.900 --> 09:19.300 You won't run the business or franchise." 09:19.300 --> 09:23.270 That's what Jackson's target is--targets. 09:23.267 --> 09:25.367 Companies recognize what's going on and realize they'd 09:25.367 --> 09:28.167 better get on board, so they start hiring black managers. 09:31.300 --> 09:35.100 Jackson then, with the support of SCLC, 09:35.100 --> 09:37.500 takes Operation Breadbasket national. 09:37.500 --> 09:44.100 It's going to be part of a national economic engagement 09:44.100 --> 09:45.600 with race politics. 09:45.600 --> 09:47.600 Clearly, Jackson's star is rising. 09:49.767 --> 09:53.497 It's up in Chicago in late '65 and by early '68, 09:53.500 --> 09:56.000 Operation Breadbasket, that he started for the SCLC, 09:56.000 --> 09:57.000 is going national. 09:57.000 --> 10:01.870 Then Martin Luther King is assassinated. 10:01.867 --> 10:04.697 The great prince has been slain. 10:08.900 --> 10:10.970 Now, in the moment of an assassination, 10:10.967 --> 10:14.697 people do all kinds of things that are--you know, 10:14.700 --> 10:21.400 we can overanalyze til we're blue in the face--they do 10:21.400 --> 10:23.400 things they don't really, can't really quite explain. 10:23.400 --> 10:26.970 But Jackson, Jackson was kind of curious. 10:26.967 --> 10:29.497 He's there when King is assassinated. 10:29.500 --> 10:31.600 I can't imagine that kind of horror. 10:31.600 --> 10:36.100 And for days afterward, cameras would be following 10:36.100 --> 10:37.570 Jackson and other civil rights leaders, 10:37.567 --> 10:39.397 just trying to, you know, get a pulse on what's 10:39.400 --> 10:41.500 happening, not just in Memphis but around the 10:41.500 --> 10:43.500 nation as cities burn. 10:43.500 --> 10:46.300 And Jackson's wearing the same clothes that he was 10:46.300 --> 10:49.000 wearing when King was assassinated. 10:49.000 --> 10:50.700 He's dazed; everybody's dazed, 10:50.700 --> 10:52.500 there's no doubt about that. 10:52.500 --> 10:54.300 But Jackson's clothes were particularly noteworthy, 10:54.300 --> 10:56.870 because they're blood-stained. 10:56.867 --> 11:00.067 They had King's blood on his chest. 11:00.067 --> 11:06.067 Now Jackson was right there, there's blood going to be 11:08.667 --> 11:09.667 everywhere. 11:09.667 --> 11:12.467 Certainly you can excuse him for not changing clothes for 11:12.467 --> 11:14.467 a few days. 11:16.300 --> 11:17.900 And then this is where things get interesting, 11:17.900 --> 11:20.200 is that people start grousing. 11:22.800 --> 11:24.070 Jackson said he's going, you know, 11:24.067 --> 11:27.797 he's going down to King's body to try to stop the 11:27.800 --> 11:28.800 bleeding. 11:28.800 --> 11:31.470 He had blood on his shirt--hands, 11:31.467 --> 11:33.297 and just wiped it on his shirt without thinking about 11:33.300 --> 11:34.300 it. 11:34.300 --> 11:35.400 It's a natural kind of reaction. 11:35.400 --> 11:40.570 Others start saying Jackson deliberately put his hands 11:40.567 --> 11:43.297 in King's blood and deliberately wiped it on his 11:43.300 --> 11:45.100 shirt. 11:45.100 --> 11:48.070 Now I have no idea what is true, 11:50.200 --> 11:53.600 but the fact is, this is the level of the conversation 11:53.600 --> 11:56.000 within sort of closer circles around King, 11:56.000 --> 11:59.870 trying to understand, what the heck is Jackson doing? 11:59.867 --> 12:01.867 So you see Jackson with the bloody shirt then, 12:05.700 --> 12:07.200 being caught in this interpretative moment. 12:07.200 --> 12:11.070 Is he a symbol--is his bloody shirt a symbol of the 12:11.067 --> 12:17.067 nation's guilt, or was the blood on Jackson's shirt a 12:21.100 --> 12:27.500 symbol of his own anointment of his leadership status 12:27.500 --> 12:29.500 within black America? 12:33.167 --> 12:36.897 Now helping understand some of that really aggressive 12:36.900 --> 12:38.600 critique of Jackson, people thought, 12:38.600 --> 12:40.300 you know, what, you know, "What's he actually doing 12:40.300 --> 12:41.300 here?" 12:41.300 --> 12:45.470 It's important to understand that when SCLC sent Jackson 12:45.467 --> 12:47.797 up to be an economic--set the, 12:47.800 --> 12:54.100 the groundwork in Chicago, a number of them were just 12:54.100 --> 12:58.070 trying to get him out of the South. 12:58.067 --> 12:59.597 The man wouldn't stop talking, 12:59.600 --> 13:02.970 apparently, and King, some--according to some 13:02.967 --> 13:04.497 reports, like, "Just get this kid out of here. 13:04.500 --> 13:05.900 Send him to Chicago." 13:05.900 --> 13:07.500 You know, "Have him do something." 13:07.500 --> 13:10.800 No one expected him to succeed, 13:10.800 --> 13:12.800 but he does succeed. 13:12.800 --> 13:14.600 And his success burnishes his ego, 13:14.600 --> 13:16.600 which is certainly substantial. 13:18.467 --> 13:20.597 And of--without great surprise, 13:20.600 --> 13:23.700 his great success also causes friction. 13:26.467 --> 13:28.297 Nothing breeds contempt like success, 13:28.300 --> 13:31.200 after all. 13:31.200 --> 13:35.000 So as Operation Breadbasket continues to grow, 13:35.000 --> 13:39.200 as Jackson seems to declare himself, 13:39.200 --> 13:42.100 if not the, then one of the most important leaders in 13:42.100 --> 13:44.200 black America after King's assassination. 13:44.200 --> 13:47.600 And there's certainly enough confusion where that kind of 13:47.600 --> 13:49.600 claim would make sense. 13:52.467 --> 13:55.597 It becomes clear that SCLC and Operation Breadbasket 13:55.600 --> 13:57.600 are not going to succeed; they're not going to survive 13:57.600 --> 13:59.600 together. 14:00.600 --> 14:03.570 Too many bulls in the china shop. 14:03.567 --> 14:10.197 So Jackson takes, or splits, from SCLC in 1971 and forms 14:10.200 --> 14:13.700 another operation, Operation PUSH. 14:16.867 --> 14:18.997 Now you may remember, thinking back to, 14:19.000 --> 14:20.700 I don't know, a month and a half ago in the course, 14:20.700 --> 14:23.370 a month ago in the course, that after the success of 14:23.367 --> 14:28.097 the Montgomery bus boycott, King was thinking, 14:28.100 --> 14:30.100 you know, what, what's the next thing for him to do, 14:30.100 --> 14:32.000 and Bayard Rustin says, "You've got to have an 14:32.000 --> 14:35.000 organization to capitalize on this energy, 14:35.000 --> 14:37.070 and Bayard Rustin wanted it to be called the Southern 14:37.067 --> 14:39.167 Leadership Conference, and King changed the name to the 14:39.167 --> 14:41.167 Southern Christian Leadership Conference. 14:43.100 --> 14:48.300 Well Jackson splits and forms Operation PUSH, 14:48.300 --> 14:51.100 People United to Save Humanity. 14:51.100 --> 14:54.570 It's what the original title is. 14:54.567 --> 14:56.397 People United to Save Humanity, 14:56.400 --> 14:59.670 and it's a perfect example of Jackson's sense of 14:59.667 --> 15:03.097 himself, that he can lead an organization that will save 15:03.100 --> 15:10.370 humanity, but he had advisers as well, 15:10.367 --> 15:12.597 say, you know, "Jesse, that's a bit, 15:12.600 --> 15:14.600 that's a bit much. 15:16.000 --> 15:17.600 Heck, you're not even thirty years old yet." 15:17.600 --> 15:21.900 So the name of the operation was changed before it went 15:21.900 --> 15:25.200 public to Operation PUSH, People United to Serve 15:25.200 --> 15:28.800 Humanity, much more in the spirit with the Christian 15:28.800 --> 15:32.170 ethos that Jackson stood for. 15:34.300 --> 15:36.300 So Operation PUSH is Chicago-based. 15:36.300 --> 15:42.300 This is Jackson's bedrock, his organizing center. 15:45.900 --> 15:48.500 Its goal is very much like Operation Breadbasket, 15:48.500 --> 15:50.500 which is black empowerment. 15:52.867 --> 15:57.367 And through Operation PUSH, Jackson essentially becomes 15:57.367 --> 15:59.897 the black ambassador to white corporate America. 15:59.900 --> 16:02.170 This is going through the 1970s. 16:02.167 --> 16:04.397 You know, think of this moment, 16:04.400 --> 16:08.070 we're, we're past the Black Political Assembly. 16:08.067 --> 16:10.097 We, you now had the Congressional Black Caucus 16:10.100 --> 16:11.100 formed. 16:11.100 --> 16:13.900 You have real power, people in positions of political 16:13.900 --> 16:15.900 power in Congress. 16:15.900 --> 16:17.200 You have the angry activists, 16:17.200 --> 16:19.770 of course, certainly, and you have Jesse Jackson, 16:19.767 --> 16:21.697 who's somewhere in between. 16:21.700 --> 16:25.800 He can speak and rally a black mass like nobody else 16:25.800 --> 16:28.900 can, truly. 16:28.900 --> 16:32.100 But he also knew how to massage, 16:34.800 --> 16:38.870 quote, "the system," and talk to white business 16:38.867 --> 16:41.497 managers and corporations, first in Chicago and then 16:41.500 --> 16:43.500 ultimately nationally. 16:43.500 --> 16:44.900 He was very successful. 16:44.900 --> 16:49.000 So he goes to huge corporations now, 16:49.000 --> 16:52.700 Coca-Cola, Anheuser, excuse me, 16:52.700 --> 16:58.800 Anheuser-Busch, Kentucky Fried Chicken, 16:58.800 --> 17:00.200 Burger King. 17:00.200 --> 17:02.200 He's going to these businesses, 17:05.500 --> 17:10.170 knowing that there was a disproportionate amount of 17:10.167 --> 17:12.997 black purchasing power related to these 17:13.000 --> 17:16.400 corporations and their products. 17:16.400 --> 17:20.100 And he threatens a national boycott of all of these 17:20.100 --> 17:24.570 brands, unless blacks begin to give--begin to receive 17:24.567 --> 17:26.097 leadership roles in these organizations. 17:26.100 --> 17:32.100 This is now--we're, we've now traversed the 1970s. 17:35.200 --> 17:39.900 Now we're in 1981. 17:39.900 --> 17:42.700 Corporations say, you know, "We know who Jesse Jackson 17:42.700 --> 17:45.400 is, but please, we are not worried about this." 17:45.400 --> 17:47.300 You know, "This is a little bit embarrassing, 17:47.300 --> 17:49.800 and it's true, we don't have any blacks in management 17:49.800 --> 17:53.300 positions in the comp--in these huge companies, 17:53.300 --> 17:55.400 essentially none, but we're not going to worry about 17:55.400 --> 17:56.400 it." 17:56.400 --> 17:57.400 The boycotts are called. 17:57.400 --> 18:02.070 And I remember the Coca-Cola boycott, 18:02.067 --> 18:05.197 mainly because I liked Coca-Cola when I able to get 18:05.200 --> 18:07.500 it--when I was able to get it and because--and this is 18:07.500 --> 18:09.700 actually more to the point--Coca-Cola owns Minute 18:09.700 --> 18:11.600 Maid orange juice. 18:11.600 --> 18:13.100 I loved Minute Maid orange juice, 18:13.100 --> 18:16.200 and all of a sudden, it was gone in my house. 18:16.200 --> 18:20.200 Now I did not grow up in a family of black militants. 18:20.200 --> 18:22.900 I grew up in a family, my, my father can't stand Jesse 18:22.900 --> 18:24.770 Jackson, almost personally. 18:24.767 --> 18:27.097 I really don't know the, the, 18:27.100 --> 18:30.100 the, the source of the bile, but he just can't stand him. 18:30.100 --> 18:32.270 But the boycott made sense to my parents. 18:34.367 --> 18:38.297 So replacing my beloved Minute Maid orange juice was 18:38.300 --> 18:41.470 this--I think it's still made--this really bitter, 18:41.467 --> 18:43.097 nasty Donald Duck orange juice. 18:43.100 --> 18:45.370 It was just horrible. 18:45.367 --> 18:50.797 So I felt rather aggrieved by the boycott myself. 18:50.800 --> 18:54.400 But the boycott was incredibly successful, 18:54.400 --> 18:56.500 actually, and especially with Coke and all of its 18:56.500 --> 18:58.100 products. 18:58.100 --> 19:00.200 Coke starts losing money rapidly, 19:03.267 --> 19:04.597 and Coke says, "Well, we've got to, 19:04.600 --> 19:08.770 we've got to fix this," and they start targeting black 19:08.767 --> 19:11.297 business leaders in various communities to start 19:11.300 --> 19:13.870 buying--allowing them to buy franchises, 19:13.867 --> 19:15.897 you know, the local bottling franchise, 19:15.900 --> 19:16.900 for instance. 19:16.900 --> 19:21.470 And then a funny thing happens. 19:21.467 --> 19:23.497 Once Coke changes its agenda, 19:23.500 --> 19:30.300 its, its tactic regarding this boycott, 19:30.300 --> 19:34.300 and starts bringing in black managers and franchisees, 19:36.400 --> 19:39.800 they start making money hand over fist. 19:39.800 --> 19:41.900 They're embraced by the black community even more so 19:41.900 --> 19:44.900 than before, and they start realizing, 19:44.900 --> 19:48.270 "Hey, you know, there's something to this." 19:48.267 --> 19:51.167 And so Coke becomes a model, to a certain extent, 19:51.167 --> 19:53.997 which is very important, to a certain extent, 19:54.000 --> 19:56.370 of developing a black consumer base. 19:56.367 --> 19:58.767 In fact you have, during this moment, 19:58.767 --> 20:01.097 in the wake of blaxploitation films, 20:01.100 --> 20:02.900 who are realizing, "My god, there's a lot of money to be 20:02.900 --> 20:04.900 made in black America." 20:07.900 --> 20:12.500 You have corporations sort of waking up and realizing, 20:12.500 --> 20:16.500 "There is a huge market we have not bothered pursuing." 20:16.500 --> 20:18.870 You know, whether they're high-minded about civil 20:18.867 --> 20:20.667 rights or citizenship rights, 20:20.667 --> 20:21.667 it doesn't matter. 20:21.667 --> 20:23.197 This is about the almighty dollar, 20:23.200 --> 20:27.200 so corporations start aggressively courting black 20:27.200 --> 20:28.900 America and if, in the case of Coca-Cola, 20:28.900 --> 20:30.300 that meant hiring black managers, 20:30.300 --> 20:32.170 we're going to do it. 20:32.167 --> 20:36.597 Now, the caveat to all of this is that the glass 20:36.600 --> 20:38.070 ceiling still remains there. 20:38.067 --> 20:39.067 It's just a little higher up. 20:39.067 --> 20:45.067 And this would become a case of great bitterness, 20:47.600 --> 20:50.400 this phenomenon, as we go through the 1980s into the 20:50.400 --> 20:52.970 1990s, as this first generation of black 20:52.967 --> 20:55.197 managers, and women managers as well, 20:55.200 --> 20:57.900 start trying to move further up in the hierarchy, 20:57.900 --> 20:59.500 and they're stopped. 20:59.500 --> 21:02.570 You actually have lawsuits following in Coca-Cola. 21:02.567 --> 21:06.297 Texaco was quite famous in the, 21:06.300 --> 21:09.400 in the mid-to-late-1990s as well, 21:09.400 --> 21:13.700 for a very powerful, powerfully coherent glass 21:13.700 --> 21:14.700 ceiling. 21:14.700 --> 21:18.000 But in the early eighties, some things changed, 21:18.000 --> 21:21.700 and Jesse Jackson is the person who led that change. 21:21.700 --> 21:25.000 Now the success of the boycott with Coca-Cola and 21:25.000 --> 21:28.100 other corporations inspires Jackson to do something 21:28.100 --> 21:29.300 more. 21:29.300 --> 21:31.100 He's going to run for presidential office. 21:31.100 --> 21:38.700 He runs in 1984, and it's largely a symbolic campaign, 21:38.700 --> 21:44.700 that is practically scuttled from the start by Jackson's 21:47.400 --> 21:50.000 loose sort of "politics makes strange bedfellows" 21:50.000 --> 21:52.600 affiliation with Louis Farrakhan from the Nation of 21:52.600 --> 21:54.800 Islam. 21:54.800 --> 21:57.400 And, also, for an unfortunate remark that 21:57.400 --> 21:59.500 Jackson made himself, referring to, 21:59.500 --> 22:01.370 sort of one of these passing comments, 22:01.367 --> 22:05.067 probably made because he was quite tired. 22:05.067 --> 22:09.097 He referred to New York City as "Hymietown." 22:09.100 --> 22:10.700 That would be akin to calling Washington, 22:10.700 --> 22:13.400 D.C., "Niggerville" in people's minds. 22:13.400 --> 22:16.000 The mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, 22:16.000 --> 22:20.600 is infuriated by the comment, 22:20.600 --> 22:23.470 for good reason, no doubt. 22:23.467 --> 22:26.297 And although Jackson apologize--apologizes right 22:26.300 --> 22:28.500 away, the mayor wouldn't let up. 22:28.500 --> 22:31.170 He just keeps hammering away: this is who Jackson, 22:31.167 --> 22:32.697 Jesse Jackson, really is. 22:32.700 --> 22:34.600 Now we really know what's up with this particular 22:34.600 --> 22:36.670 individual. 22:36.667 --> 22:39.297 And to make it worse, he's associated with Farrakhan, 22:39.300 --> 22:41.070 sympathetic to the Palestinians. 22:41.067 --> 22:43.897 You know, the whole thing's wrapped up in this one 22:43.900 --> 22:45.900 moment. 22:47.800 --> 22:49.770 Again, Jackson apologized for the remark as quickly as 22:49.767 --> 22:51.497 he could, and said, famously, 22:51.500 --> 22:53.100 "God isn't finished with me yet. 22:53.100 --> 22:55.770 I'm far from perfect." 22:55.767 --> 22:57.967 But the slur wiped out his campaign. 23:00.500 --> 23:03.300 In '88, he decides to run again. 23:05.600 --> 23:09.100 This time he--it is not a symbolic campaign, 23:09.100 --> 23:10.800 not by a long shot. 23:10.800 --> 23:12.400 He's distanced himself from Farrakhan. 23:12.400 --> 23:15.400 He's much more politically polished as far as, 23:15.400 --> 23:17.770 sort of, national presidential politics are 23:17.767 --> 23:18.767 concerned. 23:18.767 --> 23:24.767 And in fact, in '88, he terrifies the Democratic 23:28.200 --> 23:35.170 leadership when he starts beating their people, 23:35.167 --> 23:37.767 their likely candidates. 23:37.767 --> 23:40.297 Now I know it sounds like no big deal in the age of 23:40.300 --> 23:45.300 Obama, in his fantastic run in 2008, 23:45.300 --> 23:46.800 but we have to forget that for a moment, 23:46.800 --> 23:48.800 go back twenty years. 23:50.200 --> 23:53.300 And after Jackson wins the Michigan primary, 23:53.300 --> 23:54.400 he's actually the frontrunner of the 23:54.400 --> 23:55.400 Democratic campaign. 23:55.400 --> 23:59.000 It's early on, but people thought, 23:59.000 --> 24:00.670 "The--Wait, hold, stop a second! 24:00.667 --> 24:03.167 I mean, it was cute when he boycotted Coke, 24:03.167 --> 24:06.197 you know, and his various antics over time are, 24:06.200 --> 24:08.200 you know, inspirational, certainly, 24:09.767 --> 24:11.897 but this is serious now. 24:11.900 --> 24:14.770 He's a Democratic front--frontrunner for a 24:14.767 --> 24:15.797 series of primaries." 24:15.800 --> 24:21.670 Now what's the change between '84 and '88? 24:21.667 --> 24:23.667 The big change is that, aside from being more 24:23.667 --> 24:29.497 polished, is that Jackson really masters something 24:29.500 --> 24:32.370 that Carl Stokes had done twenty years earlier in 24:32.367 --> 24:37.097 Cleveland, and he builds a coalition that hadn't been 24:37.100 --> 24:39.500 seen at the presidential level be--had never been 24:39.500 --> 24:41.300 seen at the presidential level before, 24:41.300 --> 24:42.570 through the Rainbow Coalition, 24:42.567 --> 24:44.567 this organization that he also heads up. 24:48.700 --> 24:54.700 He reaches out through the Rainbow Coalition to people 24:54.700 --> 24:59.100 of all kinds of aggrieved backgrounds. 24:59.100 --> 25:01.270 You know, blacks, of course, are going to be his 25:01.267 --> 25:05.397 strongest base, people working in labor unions, 25:05.400 --> 25:09.570 people trying to organize into labor unions, 25:09.567 --> 25:15.567 the agricultural workers, reaching out to women, 25:15.567 --> 25:17.997 to the poor. 25:18.000 --> 25:21.570 And then during this moment of great dawning awareness 25:21.567 --> 25:25.467 of the AIDS crisis, HIV and AIDS crisis, 25:25.467 --> 25:29.467 he's reaching out to people suffering from HIV and 25:29.467 --> 25:31.367 reaches out to the homosexual community, 25:31.367 --> 25:33.297 something that was quite shocking for Jackson. 25:33.300 --> 25:38.500 He reaches out to the disabled. 25:38.500 --> 25:41.000 And he pulls them all together in this great 25:41.000 --> 25:43.000 quilt, is the metaphor he uses a lot, 25:45.700 --> 25:48.100 and says that he speaks for everybody. 25:53.400 --> 25:55.070 Now Jackson does not win the nomination, 25:55.067 --> 25:57.067 Dukakis does. 25:58.700 --> 26:00.400 But Jackson, of course, earns a spot on the 26:00.400 --> 26:07.270 convention floor, and his speech--and in, 26:07.267 --> 26:09.597 in prime time, which is one of the major things you 26:09.600 --> 26:10.600 want. 26:10.600 --> 26:12.100 And his speech on the convention floor is 26:12.100 --> 26:18.500 considered one of the classics of the genre. 26:18.500 --> 26:20.370 He reaches out during the course of his speech to the 26:20.367 --> 26:22.367 coalition I just talked to you about. 26:23.800 --> 26:27.700 Talks about this great quilt to be made of everyone's 26:27.700 --> 26:29.700 separate patches. 26:32.467 --> 26:35.597 He criticizes Ronald Reagan aggressively, 26:35.600 --> 26:37.600 especially his--or especially his, 26:41.600 --> 26:43.970 what he refers to as Reaganomics, 26:43.967 --> 26:49.597 a system of economic reform that radically cut taxes to 26:49.600 --> 26:51.970 the wealthy and the idea that they would get a lot 26:51.967 --> 26:54.097 more money and they would invest more in society, 26:54.100 --> 26:55.300 and then it would trickle down, 26:55.300 --> 26:58.700 the investments, to the middle and working-classes, 26:58.700 --> 27:03.670 trickledown economics, something that Jesse Jackson 27:03.667 --> 27:09.067 thought had ravished, ravaged the American economy 27:09.067 --> 27:11.997 and the working-class in particular. 27:12.000 --> 27:18.000 And he sees Reaganomics as quite morally bankrupt. 27:18.000 --> 27:24.000 And I want to play for you a clip from the Dem--the, 27:28.000 --> 27:30.600 the, the nomination speech--the convention 27:30.600 --> 27:31.600 speech, excuse me. 27:31.600 --> 27:35.700 And you have the actual, you know, 27:35.700 --> 27:38.600 a version of this speech in the, 27:38.600 --> 27:43.970 in the reader, I know, but it is also important to hear 27:43.967 --> 27:45.567 people, speakers like Jesse Jackson, 27:45.567 --> 27:47.897 for the way in which the great--they carry on the 27:47.900 --> 27:49.500 great oral tradition of, sort of, 27:49.500 --> 27:51.500 the black minister, the black vernacular tradition. 27:57.067 --> 28:01.267 And partly, that great black vernacular tradition allows 28:01.267 --> 28:05.497 someone like Jackson to access the language of 28:05.500 --> 28:09.200 morality and, in this case, immorality, 28:09.200 --> 28:11.400 what he sees in the current state of affairs. 28:11.400 --> 28:12.600 Now you'll see during--unfortunately, 28:12.600 --> 28:16.300 during a highlight moment of his speech, 28:16.300 --> 28:19.400 this is on C-SPAN and so they are obliged to show the 28:19.400 --> 28:23.270 crowd, and they linger for a very long time over two 28:23.267 --> 28:29.597 people who were then a lot more culturally relevant in 28:29.600 --> 28:31.400 a celebrity sort of way than they are now, 28:31.400 --> 28:33.900 Ally Sheedy and one of the Baldwin, 28:33.900 --> 28:35.100 one of the other Baldwin brothers. 28:35.100 --> 28:38.700 Actually don't remember which one it is. 28:38.700 --> 28:42.170 But, but, so just, you know, kind of visually ignore that 28:42.167 --> 28:46.567 and, and listen to what Jackson is saying here. 28:46.567 --> 28:53.797 Rev. Jesse Jackson: Leadership must meet the 28:53.800 --> 28:58.970 moral challenge of its day. 28:58.967 --> 29:06.197 What's the moral challenge of our day? 29:06.200 --> 29:10.300 We have public accommodations. 29:10.300 --> 29:16.800 We have the right to vote. 29:16.800 --> 29:18.170 We have open housing. 29:18.167 --> 29:21.897 What's the fundamental challenge of our day? 29:21.900 --> 29:25.200 It is to end economic violence. 29:25.200 --> 29:27.370 Plant closings without notice, 29:27.367 --> 29:28.397 economic violence. 29:28.400 --> 29:33.300 Even the greedy do not profit long from greed, 29:33.300 --> 29:34.400 economic violence. 29:34.400 --> 29:37.600 Most poor people are not lazy. 29:37.600 --> 29:39.800 They are not black. 29:39.800 --> 29:41.970 They are not brown. 29:41.967 --> 29:46.297 They are mostly white and female and young. 29:46.300 --> 29:49.500 But whether white, black, or brown, 29:49.500 --> 29:54.900 a hungry baby's belly turned inside out is the same 29:54.900 --> 29:55.900 color. 29:55.900 --> 29:58.700 Color it pain; color it hurt; 29:58.700 --> 30:00.370 color it agony. 30:00.367 --> 30:04.097 Most poor people are not on welfare. 30:04.100 --> 30:09.500 Some of them are illiterate and can't read the want-ad 30:09.500 --> 30:10.500 sections. 30:10.500 --> 30:15.500 And when they can, they can't find a job that 30:15.500 --> 30:17.100 matches the address. 30:17.100 --> 30:19.800 They work hard every day. 30:19.800 --> 30:20.900 I know. 30:20.900 --> 30:23.070 I live amongst them. 30:23.067 --> 30:25.197 I'm one of them. 30:25.200 --> 30:27.400 I know they work. 30:27.400 --> 30:29.000 I'm a witness. 30:29.000 --> 30:31.700 They catch the early bus. 30:31.700 --> 30:33.900 They work every day. 30:33.900 --> 30:36.600 They raise other people's children. 30:36.600 --> 30:38.770 They work every day. 30:38.767 --> 30:40.897 They clean the streets. 30:40.900 --> 30:43.100 They work every day. 30:43.100 --> 30:45.270 They drive dangerous cabs. 30:45.267 --> 30:47.397 They work every day. 30:47.400 --> 30:51.200 They change the beds you slept in, 30:51.200 --> 30:56.600 in these hotels last night, and can't get a union 30:56.600 --> 30:57.600 contract. 30:57.600 --> 30:59.300 They work every day. 30:59.300 --> 31:02.570 No, no, they are not lazy! 31:02.567 --> 31:06.367 Someone must defend them because it's right; 31:06.367 --> 31:09.067 they cannot speak for themselves. 31:09.067 --> 31:11.197 They work in hospitals. 31:11.200 --> 31:13.400 I know they do. 31:13.400 --> 31:18.800 They wipe the bodies of those who are sick with 31:18.800 --> 31:20.400 fever and pain. 31:20.400 --> 31:22.600 They empty their bedpans. 31:22.600 --> 31:25.300 They clean out their commodes. 31:25.300 --> 31:32.600 No job is beneath them, and yet when they get sick, 31:32.600 --> 31:39.300 they cannot lie in the bed they made up every day. 31:39.300 --> 31:43.400 America, that is not right. 31:43.400 --> 31:49.070 We are a better nation than that. 31:49.067 --> 31:54.767 We are a better nation than that. 31:54.767 --> 31:59.097 So you'll see in this, this clip here, 31:59.100 --> 32:01.100 that Jackson is talking about, 32:01.100 --> 32:05.100 is engaging the economic issues of the day and 32:05.100 --> 32:10.070 linking it to what he sees as a moral failing of the 32:10.067 --> 32:12.797 leadership of the, of the moment. 32:16.667 --> 32:21.397 Jackson is speaking against--in addition to, 32:21.400 --> 32:24.100 I'm sorry, this economic logic that was a sort of 32:24.100 --> 32:27.200 reverse Robin Hood, this trickledown economics, 32:27.200 --> 32:30.800 he's also speaking about a culture of covert racial 32:30.800 --> 32:37.900 politics that has come to define much of the 1980s. 32:37.900 --> 32:43.200 Now, doing a quick survey, going backwards now to the 32:43.200 --> 32:49.200 early 1970s, President Nixon is in office. 32:51.367 --> 32:55.697 But due to culture of paranoia that's in the White 32:55.700 --> 33:00.100 House, his whole presidency goes up in flames in 33:00.100 --> 33:01.500 Watergate. 33:01.500 --> 33:03.500 Gerald Ford is brought into office, 33:05.500 --> 33:08.070 after Nixon's, former president, 33:08.067 --> 33:10.067 had to be let go. 33:12.800 --> 33:15.100 Nixon was actually pretty good on affirmative action 33:15.100 --> 33:19.570 issues, but used--in terms of trying to create job 33:19.567 --> 33:23.397 opportunities for African Americans--but he used it in 33:23.400 --> 33:25.800 a rather vicious way, as a wedge issue, 33:25.800 --> 33:29.070 to sort of break apart blacks and labor unions, 33:29.067 --> 33:31.797 labor unions being, having a very troubled relationship 33:31.800 --> 33:35.200 to affirmative action, because it disrupted the, 33:35.200 --> 33:38.800 the, the traditions of seniority. 33:38.800 --> 33:42.900 So Nixon uses affirmative action as a tactic. 33:42.900 --> 33:46.500 Ford comes in office and he's better on civil rights, 33:46.500 --> 33:50.070 but overall a lukewarm presidency on civil rights 33:50.067 --> 33:51.067 issues. 33:51.067 --> 33:52.097 And he's really, I mean as it turns out, 33:52.100 --> 33:54.970 a transitional president. 33:54.967 --> 33:58.567 And then this mystery from Plains, 33:58.567 --> 34:04.297 Georgia, Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia, 34:04.300 --> 34:05.400 sort of comes out of the blue, 34:05.400 --> 34:09.000 a very moderate Democrat, who now, 34:09.000 --> 34:11.700 as our politics have gotten more conservative in this 34:11.700 --> 34:13.470 country, looks like some kind of crazy liberal often. 34:13.467 --> 34:15.467 But he's a very moderate Democrat. 34:19.600 --> 34:24.070 And actually, on, on, on racial issues, 34:24.067 --> 34:26.267 he's actually pretty progressive, 34:26.267 --> 34:28.667 speaking of a southern tradition of governors, 34:28.667 --> 34:30.497 certainly. 34:30.500 --> 34:34.270 Carter is able to speak to black America, 34:34.267 --> 34:37.997 unlike previous Presidents had been able to. 34:38.000 --> 34:40.400 He wins huge black vote, ninety percent of the black 34:40.400 --> 34:46.870 vote; five point two million blacks vote for Carter. 34:46.867 --> 34:50.797 He wins by one point seven million votes. 34:50.800 --> 34:52.800 Now whenever people talk about this population, 34:52.800 --> 34:55.400 that population, got someone elected into office, 34:55.400 --> 34:57.900 I mean, you can cut and slice the statistics any way 34:57.900 --> 35:01.800 you can, but the belief was certainly there that the 35:01.800 --> 35:04.200 black vote delivered Carter into the White House. 35:06.200 --> 35:09.200 And there was an expectation of return. 35:09.200 --> 35:13.400 So while Jesse Jackson's organizing economic boycotts 35:13.400 --> 35:17.000 and, and developing into the star that he would 35:17.000 --> 35:23.800 be--really become, Carter is wrestling over how to 35:23.800 --> 35:29.000 diversify the executive branch of the federal 35:29.000 --> 35:30.000 government. 35:30.000 --> 35:31.970 He starts making numerous appointments, 35:31.967 --> 35:33.897 African Americans. 35:33.900 --> 35:35.570 Fifteen ambassadors are now black; 35:35.567 --> 35:39.897 thirty federal judges, fifty--fifty sub-Cabinet 35:39.900 --> 35:43.400 officials, a hundred and ten members of advisory boards, 35:43.400 --> 35:45.500 twenty-five members of the White House staff. 35:45.500 --> 35:47.500 These are numbers that no one had seen before. 35:52.467 --> 35:54.897 And we really are--I mean there's a statistic that's, 35:54.900 --> 35:57.170 that's worth keeping in mind. 35:57.167 --> 35:59.497 We aren't out of the woods when it comes to thinking 35:59.500 --> 36:02.170 about numbers and race in political office, 36:02.167 --> 36:03.367 by the way. 36:03.367 --> 36:09.367 In 1972, we have the first time in seventy years that 36:14.700 --> 36:16.900 you have a, a black person elected to Congress from the 36:16.900 --> 36:17.900 South. 36:17.900 --> 36:20.570 So there's no black representation from the 36:20.567 --> 36:23.667 South in Congress, from the turn of the twentieth 36:23.667 --> 36:27.897 century into 1972, right before Carter takes office. 36:27.900 --> 36:29.100 It would be another twenty years, 36:29.100 --> 36:33.970 not until 1992, that North Carolina and Georgia send a 36:33.967 --> 36:40.267 black representative, first time since Reconstruction. 36:40.267 --> 36:42.497 So when we're talking about putting White House 36:42.500 --> 36:46.300 appointees in place, it may sound kind of trivial today, 36:46.300 --> 36:48.600 but you need to understand that there has been an 36:48.600 --> 36:53.970 erasure of black presence at the federal level, 36:53.967 --> 36:55.297 especially from the South--and, 36:55.300 --> 36:57.500 and Carter brings up an army of, 36:57.500 --> 36:59.000 of southern folks into the White House. 36:59.000 --> 37:02.200 One of the slams against him is that he didn't understand 37:02.200 --> 37:03.200 D.C. 37:03.200 --> 37:05.100 In fact, he tried to play himself against D.C., 37:05.100 --> 37:07.300 and he brought in all these southern yokels--this was 37:07.300 --> 37:10.200 the critique--that didn't understand how to navigate 37:10.200 --> 37:14.200 D.C., but he brought up these traditions as well. 37:14.200 --> 37:16.000 A tradition of black erasure, 37:16.000 --> 37:17.100 but Carter changes that. 37:17.100 --> 37:21.400 He was a real progressive on that re--in that regard. 37:21.400 --> 37:24.300 But still there is controversy. 37:24.300 --> 37:29.170 Andrew Young, former civil rights activist 37:29.167 --> 37:33.197 extraordinaire, he's a United Nations ambassador, 37:33.200 --> 37:36.700 big deal, but meets with Yasser Arafat without 37:36.700 --> 37:37.700 authorization. 37:37.700 --> 37:39.800 He's forced to resign. 37:39.800 --> 37:44.370 There's this always lingering connection between 37:44.367 --> 37:46.967 African Americans and the "Jewish question" in the 37:46.967 --> 37:48.297 Middle East and Palestine. 37:48.300 --> 37:53.370 But what really does Carter in is not sort of black 37:53.367 --> 37:56.597 advisers doing things with great independence. 37:56.600 --> 38:02.200 Basically, it's a largely ineffective presidency. 38:02.200 --> 38:06.870 The economy that had gone in the tank during the Nixon 38:06.867 --> 38:10.067 and Ford administration stays in the tank with 38:10.067 --> 38:12.997 Carter. 38:13.000 --> 38:17.170 Students in Iran capture the U.S. 38:17.167 --> 38:20.567 embassy and start hostages--keep, 38:20.567 --> 38:25.397 keep hostages, keeps them for the, 38:25.400 --> 38:27.670 the remainder of the Carter presidency--presidency. 38:27.667 --> 38:31.797 Carter actually tried to have this incredible raid, 38:31.800 --> 38:35.100 storm the embassy, and then it was destroyed by complete 38:35.100 --> 38:39.100 ineptitude in the deserts, and Carter was exposed for 38:39.100 --> 38:41.400 being just ineffective across the board. 38:43.500 --> 38:49.500 Seeing an opportunity, tried to step in and bring back 38:52.600 --> 38:53.600 America's pride. 38:53.600 --> 38:54.900 Oh one thing I forgot to mention, 38:54.900 --> 38:56.700 part of the economic challenges here is 38:56.700 --> 38:58.300 incredible oil crises. 38:58.300 --> 39:04.500 The Middle East is rising up in a coherent way that 39:04.500 --> 39:06.700 hadn't been seen before and is crippling the United 39:06.700 --> 39:10.900 States over oil. 39:10.900 --> 39:13.600 This is a period of incredible rationing of oil. 39:13.600 --> 39:16.000 Where, I know in Maryland, where I was living at the 39:16.000 --> 39:18.400 time with my parents, depending on your license 39:18.400 --> 39:22.100 plate number, you could get gasoline on Monday, 39:22.100 --> 39:23.600 Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, 39:23.600 --> 39:25.200 Thursday, and Saturday. 39:25.200 --> 39:26.200 That was it. 39:26.200 --> 39:31.300 And my parents would go and get gasoline at the local, 39:31.300 --> 39:35.070 local store, and they'd be gone for three hours, 39:35.067 --> 39:36.567 because the line was miles long, 39:36.567 --> 39:38.567 just to get gasoline. 39:39.667 --> 39:41.167 The country was caught in a vise grip. 39:41.167 --> 39:43.767 And the former governor from California, 39:43.767 --> 39:47.497 Ronald Reagan, sees this as a great opportunity to 39:47.500 --> 39:49.500 finally realize his presidential goals. 39:52.200 --> 39:54.800 He runs on a campaign of trying to bring pride back 39:54.800 --> 40:00.770 to the United States, you know, 40:00.767 --> 40:05.897 embolden the American presence overseas. 40:05.900 --> 40:07.700 He has this idea about an economic, 40:07.700 --> 40:10.700 a new economic model that plenty of people are willing 40:10.700 --> 40:12.700 to try, because nothing else is working. 40:16.167 --> 40:19.997 And Reagan, with his incredible oratorical gifts, 40:20.000 --> 40:22.500 and they're really quite stunning--only Clinton and 40:22.500 --> 40:26.700 Obama can come close to Reagan's gifts, 40:26.700 --> 40:30.900 and they actually modeled themselves off Reagan's 40:30.900 --> 40:32.200 oratorical styles. 40:32.200 --> 40:34.900 Reagan ultimately wins in a landslide, 40:34.900 --> 40:36.600 wipes out a sitting pres--president, 40:36.600 --> 40:42.600 and he's given carte blanche to set a new agenda for the 40:45.300 --> 40:49.500 country, set a new agenda in Washington, 40:49.500 --> 40:51.500 D.C. 40:53.400 --> 40:56.270 He runs on a prob--on a, on a platform, 40:56.267 --> 41:00.097 largely saying that government is the problem, 41:00.100 --> 41:02.800 something we've all become quite familiar hearing from 41:02.800 --> 41:05.900 political conservatives, and now especially the, 41:05.900 --> 41:10.600 the fringe Tea Party, the political fringe in the Tea 41:10.600 --> 41:13.300 Party, that the federal government is the problem, 41:13.300 --> 41:19.200 and that if we could just go back to the day when the 41:19.200 --> 41:22.070 federal government wasn't so intrusive, 41:22.067 --> 41:24.067 we'd find our way out of this mess. 41:25.500 --> 41:30.700 Reagan articulates this most famously when he declares 41:30.700 --> 41:33.600 that he's--officially declares that he's running 41:33.600 --> 41:34.600 for president. 41:34.600 --> 41:37.500 Now he's running around, you know, 41:37.500 --> 41:40.570 testing out the talk in various places quietly in 41:40.567 --> 41:41.967 the country, but he makes his public 41:41.967 --> 41:46.667 declar--declaration for his candidacy in Mississippi, 41:46.667 --> 41:48.667 at the state fair. 41:51.200 --> 41:56.100 And he declares at the state fair in Philadelphia, 41:56.100 --> 42:00.100 Mississippi--I hope that rings a bell--that he's for 42:00.100 --> 42:01.100 states' rights. 42:01.100 --> 42:04.070 Again, federal government is the problem; 42:04.067 --> 42:06.067 states' rights are the solution. 42:07.500 --> 42:09.800 In Philadelphia, Mississippi. 42:09.800 --> 42:12.770 Now it's important to belabor the point, 42:12.767 --> 42:15.567 just in case, just to make sure you don't miss it. 42:15.567 --> 42:21.567 When, when Reagan does this, it shocks people as much as 42:21.567 --> 42:22.967 it excites people. 42:22.967 --> 42:25.867 Certainly his political base is thrilled. 42:25.867 --> 42:29.467 "Finally, someone who's going to get the federal 42:29.467 --> 42:31.197 government off our damn back." 42:31.200 --> 42:36.100 Civil rights activists are horrified, 42:36.100 --> 42:37.700 for reasons I hope are painfully obvious to you at 42:37.700 --> 42:38.700 this point. 42:38.700 --> 42:40.300 I've already laid out over the course of the last few 42:40.300 --> 42:44.000 weeks this, this battle, no longer simmering, 42:44.000 --> 42:45.600 between the federal government's ability to 42:45.600 --> 42:47.900 exert authority versus the state--individual state 42:47.900 --> 42:50.600 governments. 42:50.600 --> 42:54.400 So much of the civil rights agenda of the 1960s was 42:54.400 --> 42:56.770 about creating federal oversight into elections, 42:56.767 --> 43:02.997 for instance, and to access for public accommodation, 43:03.000 --> 43:04.300 places of public conveyance. 43:04.300 --> 43:09.470 The federal government was seen by African Americans 43:09.467 --> 43:12.767 and other civil rights activists--quote, 43:12.767 --> 43:15.267 friends of the movement--the federal government is seen 43:15.267 --> 43:18.397 to be the most responsible entity to preserve 43:18.400 --> 43:22.800 citizenship rights, and Reagan says, 43:22.800 --> 43:27.400 "No, that--the government is actually the problem. 43:27.400 --> 43:28.900 Let's give power back to the states." 43:28.900 --> 43:30.400 Now when you are going to Mississippi, 43:30.400 --> 43:34.370 or any southeastern state at that time, 43:34.367 --> 43:36.497 the civil rights--the heights of the civil rights 43:36.500 --> 43:42.000 movement are just a decade previous. 43:42.000 --> 43:44.000 When you go to these places and declare you're for 43:44.000 --> 43:46.600 states' rights, everybody knows, 43:46.600 --> 43:48.500 black as well as white, what you're talking about. 43:48.500 --> 43:52.270 You're talking about a return of the organizing, 43:52.267 --> 43:55.997 or the, the centralizing power of people like Bull 43:56.000 --> 44:00.500 Connor, people like Orval Faubus. 44:00.500 --> 44:07.070 You're talking about authorizing the economic 44:07.067 --> 44:08.567 power of Citizens' Councils. 44:08.567 --> 44:12.867 You're talking about supporting in covert ways 44:12.867 --> 44:16.297 the Ku Klux Klan in the worst of the situations. 44:16.300 --> 44:21.170 Now I mentioned a few moments ago that Jesse 44:21.167 --> 44:23.297 Jackson's fighting against economic policies. 44:23.300 --> 44:24.300 And this is in his speech in'88, 44:24.300 --> 44:27.070 the economic policies that Reagan puts into motion 44:27.067 --> 44:30.897 after he wins the presidency. 44:30.900 --> 44:32.800 And he's also fighting against an aura, 44:32.800 --> 44:35.800 or an era I should say, of covert racial politics. 44:35.800 --> 44:38.000 And this is where Reagan's announcement is so 44:38.000 --> 44:39.900 particularly important. 44:39.900 --> 44:42.670 Reagan never mentions anything about race when he 44:42.667 --> 44:44.667 declares for the presidency. 44:47.400 --> 44:49.400 But when you talk about states' rights in 44:49.400 --> 44:52.070 Philadelphia, Mississippi, the site where Schwerner, 44:52.067 --> 44:53.697 Goodman, and Chaney were disappeared, 44:53.700 --> 44:56.000 people understand what you're talking about. 44:56.000 --> 44:59.400 And this is what has happened to the--and we'll 44:59.400 --> 45:02.870 see, over the course of the next two lectures, 45:02.867 --> 45:06.497 this is what has happened to the conversation about race 45:06.500 --> 45:10.670 in America, in what is allegedly the post-civil 45:10.667 --> 45:11.967 rights moment. 45:11.967 --> 45:16.867 The laws are on the books, the Voting Rights Act--the 45:16.867 --> 45:18.867 Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. 45:20.767 --> 45:22.767 Affirmative action is there. 45:24.800 --> 45:28.000 You have all these mechanisms in place to 45:28.000 --> 45:32.700 pre--preserve citizenship that have been race-based 45:32.700 --> 45:34.700 because they've been race-denied. 45:36.567 --> 45:40.567 It is certainly not fashionable any longer, 45:40.567 --> 45:42.867 unless you're out on the political fringe, 45:42.867 --> 45:46.697 to, to race-bait in a way that you could have before. 45:46.700 --> 45:49.600 You know, Bull Connor was proven wrong. 45:49.600 --> 45:52.870 You can't be like Bull Connor and expect to have a 45:52.867 --> 45:55.397 political future. 45:55.400 --> 45:58.800 It's uncomfortable to talk about race in a way that 45:58.800 --> 46:01.500 someone might, someone might interpret as, 46:01.500 --> 46:02.500 as negative. 46:02.500 --> 46:03.500 No one wants to be seen as a po--as, 46:03.500 --> 46:06.500 as racist, certainly no one who wants to get elected to 46:06.500 --> 46:08.270 office, because if he starts being seen as a racist, 46:08.267 --> 46:10.197 well, Jesse Jackson's going to rally the troops and come 46:10.200 --> 46:11.300 after you. 46:11.300 --> 46:13.900 And I'm not really being fanciful; 46:13.900 --> 46:14.900 I'm being literal. 46:14.900 --> 46:19.800 And so you have a rise of politicians, 46:19.800 --> 46:21.800 and Reagan is an absolute expert at it, 46:24.400 --> 46:26.600 that can talk about race politics with never talking 46:26.600 --> 46:29.170 about race. 46:29.167 --> 46:30.997 And that moment, as you'll see over--again over the 46:31.000 --> 46:35.300 next two lectures, has never left and every politician 46:35.300 --> 46:37.570 since has mastered it just as well. 46:37.567 --> 46:40.097 And we'll pick up on that on Wednesday. 46:42.367 --> 46:44.367 Thank you.