music 
clap 
clap ahhaha 
 good evening
my name is David Anthony
clap 
I'm a member of the Department of
History at the University of California
Santa Cruz had
on behalf up the University of
California Santa Cruz I want to welcome
all love you to the 28th annual
Reverend doctor martin luther king
junior memorial convocation the
first of all I want to acknowledge the
sponsors at this event
the city of Santa Cruz inner light
ministries
good times, maverick mailing
the Santa Cruz Sentinel the Santa Cruz
branch
of  the NAACP and the 
Santa Cruz weekly I also want to thank
our UCSC colleagues in our community
partners who made this event possible
first of all  the chancellor's office
for funding support
and the MLK convocation committee
the  first item
on our agenda tonight
is in fact a very very extraordinary
performance by a tap the african american theater arts group
claps 
the UCSC theater arts department in
conjunction
with the african-american theater arts troop
is proud to announce their 20th
anniversary season
with the performance of ruined written
by Lynn
Nottage and directed by Don Williams
this is a
must see production for mature audiences
said in a rainforest bar and brothel and
a brutally war-torn land of Congo
this extraordinary new play tells the
story of the establishments
shrewd matriarch momand  as she
attempts to keep peace between customers
from
both sides in the Civil War as
government soldiers
and rebel forces alike choose from her
inventory of women
many already ruined by rape
and torture when they were pressed into
prostitution
inspired by interviews she conducted in
Africa with Congo refugees
nottage  has crafted an engrossing and
uncommonly human story
with humor and song served alongside its
post colonial and feminist politics
in the rich theatrical tradition a bit tore
of brushed
Motor Corta  Mother Courage without
further ado therefore
thinking about a tait the african-american
theater arts troops which
over its past years twenty years has
raised
eighty-five thousand dollars in
scholarships for UCSC students and six
this year to raise
10,000 i now want you to give a warm
Santa Cruz welcome to at  at the
african-american
theater arts troops 
clap
do you know how difficult it was getting
here the road is completely washed off
alright alright i don't need to hear the whole damn story just tell me how much for the one the same as usual 
plus 25 because you understand it was not easy getting up here
I will give you 15 ahh 15
no that's nothing 22 come on 20 my best offer
 ahh okay okay damn it
yes yes but  I expect another cold fanta one from the bottom this time
ahh come now hurry
i said one that one its been a good week
and i will tell you what i will give you two for the price of one why not? are you deaf no
i don't need two more mouths to feed and cast them take both and feed them as one 
please mama don't see rest for cost
but i will only pay for the one yes off course we agree why are awe arguing?
jospehine 
where is that stupid women take them out back get them washed and  some proper clothing
sassasas wait 
you come here come 
what is your name selama what selama 
rough we have to do something about that
and you 
 come here your a pretty thing whats your name sophie do you have a smile
yes
then let me see it good go get washed up come on nahaha 
did you at least tell them this time
yes
they know and came willing and salem is 
from a tiny village no place really she was abducted by rebel solider
my may the poor thing spend nearly 5 month as concubine with other people
she says her husband is a farmer and from what i know her village 
because she is a simple girl she doesn't have much learning
I wouldn't worry about her  and the other sophie
sophie
is
what
is ruined you brought me a girl that is ruined she cost you nothing 
i paid for her not for the other one, the other one is plain i have half a dozen girl like her
i don't need to feed another plain girl i know this okay
don't get work done sophie is a good girl she will not trouble you how do i know that because i am telling you 
she looks like she is having a bad time and whys that my concern take her on 
just for one month she is a good girl hard worker 
 but damage 
am i right yes look 
malaciad angola did to the child and took her wits a bayonets and left her off dead 
I don't need to hear it are you done 
things are going to get busy mama 
all along the road
people are  talking about his red dots richard cotley suddenly 
everyone has a shovel trying to stake a claim  
ever since boastful pick me dog up his fortune 
there will be twice as men by September 
you know those bastards will be thirsty
so take her put her to work for you and what make you think i have any use for her 
the girl cooks and cleans and sings like an angel 
you haven't had good music since that beauty camila got the aids
no a girl like this is bad luck i can't have this 
josehine ahaha mama she is pretty 
should keep the miners eyes a happy
stop it already no you are like a hyena
wouldn't you shut up now yes mama bring that girl sophie back 
wait josphine give us as  minutes
mama please look okay i am asking you to do me a favor i have done many thing over the years
i don't ask for alot for return please the child has no place to go 
i am sorry but i am running a business not a mission
take her to the sister in bonia let her weave basket for them 
Josephine why are you standing there like a fool go get the girl 
wait do you want me to stay or to go  
get her
i remember your lipstick and everything ahh don't look at me like that way 
i opened my door today and by tomorrow i will be a refugee camp over the suffering everyone has day 
damn war began i can't do it i keep food in the mouth of eight some
when half the country is starving don't give me shit on taking on one more girl look have anything you want 
anything off my trunk anything even have belgium chocolates 
you wouldn't lead up and why are you so damn concern about this girl come on mama 
please chocolates 
i always ask you for chocolates and you always tell me the heat how many time have you refused me 
but she very very important to you i see that do you want to lay with her 
or something she is my sister 
only daughter okay i told my family i will 
find a place for her
and at least i know she will be safe fade 
as you know the village for the girl who has been ruined bring shame 
dishonor to the family its okay for her 
to be here huh I'm sorry but i can't 
i don't have room for another broken girl
she eats like a bird nothing
madam it madmaolize  come here
how old are you old? 18 do you have a bow
no are you a student yes i was to seat for the university exam
i bet you were good at your studies am i right yes
a petite girl class in the making 
did they hurt you badly yes 
i bet they did 
christian 
go get me the chocolate does that mean
i am doing this because you have been good to me this is the last time you are bringing me damage goods 
understand not good for business
thank you thank you this is the last time i promise thank you 
do you sing yes 
do you know any popular songs yes a few
speak up thank you 
then let me hear it 
music 
music
music 
clapp
the cast bow
when i say air you sight tat
cast walk away
lets give it up  for at tat 
claps
african-american theater art troop lead by Don Williams
every time we come together
we come together with the serious
intention and someone who knows
a great deal about serious intentions
and
deepest intense his
our very own reverend Debra Johnson
who is the founder of inner light
ministries
and the winter up the 2011
Tony Hill award
to help us set the tone for
this evening's events we are going
to listen to a moment of reflection from
Rev D , Revenard  Deborah Johnson
thank you David and thank you to the a type troop 
and to their director Don Williams
to the University for putting on this
annual event that was  extraordinary
I think now would be a good time to take a deep breathe hmm
we come here today to celebrate we come
here today
to honor not just a man
not just history not just some
formal legacy but we come here to
celebrate
like itself we come here to celebrate
our
own cell we come here tonight to be
uplifted to be inspired we come here to
reignite
the passion within our own souls to do
the work that is before
us to do honoring is not about
telling stories about somebody's life
you
honor when you impact emulate what it is
that they have done
and the fact of the matter is is that
our time is now we have the baton
this is our watch we are here for such
a time is this king spoke  of 
fierce
urgent of now
this moment
I'm knowing that if you were in this
room you're here
call sometimes we feel overwhelmed
because we're not exactly sure what to
do
we look out upon the world and we look
at the news and we look at all the
statistics in we see what's going on
sometimes he can be overwhelming and not
knowing what
little bitty us can do but what I know
is that it
the darker the space the brighter the
light
of the smallest candle Martin Luther king 
was a preacher
he was a man of great
faith and regardless of what your faith is
 regardless of whether you
consider yourself to be
a believer or not we come here to
celebrate the resilience up the human
spirit
there is something with
in us that rises above adversity there
is something with in us that connects to
the truth is he explained though crushed
earth
will rise and rise again we come here to
celebrate
 wisdom deep within us born 
out anguish to celebrate
the patients that is born out of struggle
we come here to remember that the road
it is not going to be easy
that bringing forth the Beloved
Community the king talked about is not
going to ride in on the wings
I've inevitability like he said it's
going to be some work it's going to mean
some sacrifice
and part of the sacrifice and it's going
to mean is
mmm going a little bit deeper in our
love
and you say well why is that a sacrifice
because love changes the story well I
know is that the Martin Luther King that
I knew and loved and grew up with had a
space
in his heart that was so big
when he had a dream
it included the so-called oppressor 
when he spoke up a dream he spoke up a
new
order a level playing field
a place where there was enough and if 
each and every one of us
are called forth to be a part of the
revelation of that dream
it means that it has to be unacceptable
in our minds for anybody to be left
behind no one no one 
can be left behind king understood that
the struggles here in America
we're no different than the struggles of
those in vietnam he was here just for
black people or just for white people.
he was here for all people
and I'm calling us in this moment right
now
to move beyond the comforts  
of the privileges that we might hear
hear in Santa Cruz California 
and to stand up for those who
are in deep need  and deep despair
some of them right here yes but we are
part a larger human family that is
looking upon
us and say what are you gonna do can we
stand up for sustainability
can we stand up for the planet can we
stand up for the environment can we
stand up for each other can we stand up
for
justice and  equality and truth for all can that be 
the real real real thing that we stand
up or not lip service anymore
we don't have time for lip service
anymore we don't
another 40-50 years on
this course time is now
we can do it and in this moment right
now
in are always we're gonna bless our
speaker Nikki Giovanni
who has been there in the trenches for
decades
what blessing are in this moment right
now with the clarity of vision
with the strength to continue on in to
continue to inspire
but we're not just here to celebrate her
or to celebrate king once again
we're here to call ourselves
up we are called to
take the mantle to pass on
all the torch because the hour
is now index our watch
king was a leader but he wasn't the 
movement
it was the countless people like those
of us in this room
will you join me in reigniting the flame
will you join me and say
 now is the time up the Beloved
Community
and that there is room enough for us
 all
yes yes
and more yes if you agree with that can
I hear you say yes
yes yes and more yes
lead it begin 
claps
Good Evening 
I'm joy Lea assisting campus
diversity officer
at UC Santa Cruz I'm here to introduce
our next speaker
UCSC chancellor george blumenthal
chancellor george blumenthal  joined the campus in 1972
as a professor in astronomy and
astrophysics
now i would tell you about what he
researches specifically
but quite honestly it's all astrophysics
to be
something about dark matter
gamma ray bursts active galactic nuclei
that as a campus leader
he is a constant champion of higher
education
and a strong supporter of diversity and
inclusion
at UCSC just as an example
he sponsors the chancellor achievement award for diversity  every year
which is a wonderful way recognizing
UCSC students
staff faculty academic employees
who do amazing work to promotes
diversity and inclusion
on our campus so with that is my
pleasure to introduce you to
chancellor george blumenthal
thank you so much joy for that very kind
introduction
it is a real pleasure this evening
to welcome hi nikki giovanni as our
guesses are speaker this evening she is
a talented
she's a very talented poet and a great
order
and also she's a dedicated educator
a professor at Virginia Tech University
so let's talk for a moment
about education I i understand that we
have students here tonight from four
high schools
in the Monterey County area
the sad occurs high school Black Student
Union is also here tonight the
the
welcome and welcome to all of the high
school
and middle school students who joined us
this evening
how many review dream going to college
well I'm here I'm here tonight
to say do it college is the key to your
future
if you worry that you see might be
beyond your reach
are not the place for you let me
reassure you
if you come from a family with an income
of eighty thousand dollars or less our
financial aid program
covers a hundred percent a hundred
percent
of your tuition the
and your  parents didn't go to college
when I say to you is don't worry mine
didn't either
and indeed forty-four percent
are entering freshmen this year will be
the first in their families to graduate
when they ain't they themselves graduate
I am uh paranoid and (laughing)
(laughing) You have to be I mean you know
I wouldn't dream of sitting with my back to a  door you know you kidding
so I walked in and 
and I just you know I didn't have my glasses on I couldn't half see I walked in
and I was just looking for work and I sit with my back to the  wall and
I can go to sleep
and I walked across the room and sat
down and you know it's one of those things you look across the room  
cause
I always check out every Iv'e checked you all out 
 it it's not personal but you just
wanna know who's behind you and who might
hurt you, you  know what I'm sayin
so (laughing) so I just looked
around the room and it's one of those damn that woman
looks just like rosa parks
you know it's just one of those things like na what's she doing
here
and I grab my glasses that is
It's Rosa Parks and so now I know I need 
to sit
next to her
now you know how you see people that don't have a clue what they have so
she was sitting next to her friend
Elaine but on the other side and I mean
no disrespect for any of you 
but there was as white man he don't even have a clue who he was sitting next to
yeah what I respected him if he did but I thought no he needs some
somebody needs to move cause i'ma sit next to this woman
(laughing) that's the truth and so I knew better than to try to move the black woman I'm not a fool
(laughing) that's only gonna leave
him
and so you know you try to decide you  have these moments you say now how  I handle this
do I go over and say 
excuse me sir you're sitting next to 
an icon and I'd  like to have your seat
in which case him being you know white he would be like na I want to sit here now 
who is she you know so i thought
I don"t know if any of you are old enough to know Bogard but I thought the best thing for me to do is to bogard this
so I just walked over with an attitude
and stood in front of him
and he did what he had to do because he
knew something was coming at him 
and he was like
and he looked up I said are you going to move or
what (laughing) and you know some of you here are black women so you know that he did he knew he should do he
got up
woah I'm really sorry you know
excuse me I said that's alright, he said thank you and I sat down
and I introduced myself to her and I said Ms. Parks I'm Nikki Giovanni
I'm a writer and she said oh baby cause  she had that voice
oh baby black love is black wealth
and I could not believe 
that misses Parks new my work and so I
was just like dear God let it rain all
day
and (laughing)
and we talked and you know it she's very
nice and she said you know well this is
my address and this is my phone number
well people do that but they don't mean
it you know what I'm sayin
and I gave her a mine and I thought well that will never happen
I have and I need to tell you my mother is has passed
but
as my mother was growing older she had
a hearing problem well she didn't have a hearing problem
She was going deaf
and so well there's a big difference really
and I have like four lines that come into my
home
and one of them is like my office line
cause my office is in my home
and so that that phone we answer from like you know eight in the morning till 
about five o'clock maybe six O'clock if we busy
I have another line that is for my
friends and when that phone rings I expect
to know
the voice cause I know it's my friends I
have my computer line of course
but then I had another line that I put
in for my mother because my mother
really couldn't hear
and when it did it lights up it doesn't
ring
but the red light lights up and I gave
mommy one so that if she was sitting mommy
is a sports fan
 and so if she was sitting and that lit up she knew I was trying to call her
and that way we can she lived up the
street from me and so I gave of course
Rosa that number because I figure that
if she calls I want to get off the
phone whoever I'm talking to is not as
important because as she is
so the phone rang one day is one of
those things like mmmm
I picked up the phone and I actually expected my mother and she she really did if you've
ever heard a voice say hello
this is Rosa Parks such a Southern
woman
may I speak with Nikki Giovanni please
I went hey miss Parks how you doing
you know I mean who else it's only like four people who know that line
she said I'm I'm fine baby but she's a southern woman, so how is your mother
I said mommy's fine, she said glad to hear that and your sister, I'm like danm what does she want
and some of those old  ladies, you know
that's the truth and they always wanted something but they always started with
I know you're too busy it's somebody
knows old lady
and I know you're too busy to come and help me
and I'm like no I'm not too busy I can't
really ask you to come
miss Parks what do you want so we went
back and well it's just always such a
pleasure
in and getting to know her and I just
want to share this other thing and people
people always act like Rosa Parks didn't
like white people which is ridiculous
I mean everybody has one white person
they like you know what I'm saying 
(laughing)
that's the truth, and
 she also didn't have any chip on her shoulder she you know
at some point what's going to come to
her is going to
is gonna come to her but I at least liked
to tease her because she was easy to tease
because she
she was a very serious woman you know and and there's no question about that and I
said to her not long before she passsed actually because I was working
on the book Rosa which is not what I'm going to read I made another point but
I said to her you know miss Parks it's amazing sometimes when I
when I think about you it's amazing she
said well why baby
and I said you know you've been in
public life for fifty years
and you've never made a mistake except
one
and she said well you know because she had that
and what was that baby I said you went aka
(laughing)
she did she should have been a delta we know that
she should have
we got a big kick out of it a lot of good women went aka but you know
she should have been a delta I um I
wrote a poem 
for miss Parks and then I wrote the the
book I wanted to share this point
because
some review I was meeting with some
other writers earlier today we were
talking about subjects
and I think one of the great subject in
america actually and it impacts here
California more in LA
then then up in the the LA and
Oakland
but not further up here as a pullman porters
they are the most overlooked gentleman
in America
and we wouldn't have yeah (clapping) we wouldn't have a civil rights will be without them
because they became the money men
and as one of the really sort of secret
things if you're reading for example is
not make his sister to listen we
share this:
if you're reading a biography of of
Thurgood Marshall
one of the things that you see
immediately is every time he needed
money what did he do
he got on a train so you start to say to yourself what's Thurgood doing on a train
well as three people on a train it's
the rate what is called the race men
it's the blues men because the Blues men
are the ones that have the money
and of course a Pullman porters and what
would happen is that the blues man would
give their money to the Pullman porters
and they pass it along
to the NAACP because they couldn't be
seen to be supporting
civil rights you know so you always got these really Uncle Tom crazy kind of things
from them like, I don't want to know nothing about civil rights I just want to play my guitar
and no, you know people believe that
shit that's what amazes me
what in the world do you think
how do you think we got to where we were
those were good men
but everybody want everybody to say
everything so that whatever it is it
can't happen again
did I make a bad statement there you
can't always tell folks what you doing
(clapping) you try to get things done no the
Blues men are good men and they were all up
and down the country
they made money at the risk of their
lives they carried newspapers the Chicago
Defender
they carried uh the Amsterdam news they
told stories
they sat and drank what do you think they
were doing how do you think
we ended up with a great migration if
those men on the road and some women but
more men
hadn't told people you can go up north
to look at my cousin here
and there are stories and I get so
disenchanted
when I listen to people talk about the
history black American but you just
think
black americans is wake up in the
morning to scratch the balls and say oh
I'm happy where I am.
and that is not what's going on here it's
not
it's not and of course one of our great
terminals I'm a New Yorker
and I think the New York is way more
important than anything but one of our
great
I do that's why it's the  Harlem Renaissance and not the Chicago Rennaissance
but Chicago
that's not my fault, but it's not 
but Chicago is incredibly important
because the Blues highway just to go up
highway 61
if you turn left after a while you'll get
Saint Louis but you're not going to stay there 
you're going come on up
I was talking about Barack cause you know Barack Obama couldn't have been 
from any place other than where he's
from it's only Chicago think about it
when you get ready to write this story
if he had been from Saint Louis it wouldn't have worked Devin Lee from Missouri, last time we had
somebody from Missouri on national ticket 
was getting electric
shock treatment (laughing) he was Tommy
I'm not against electric shock if you sick you need them
 but (laughing)
no am I right, I'm right he couldn't be from Detroit because Detroit is corrrupt
and he would have been in jail for stealing
some money or something he couldn't be from New
York because they create,we are nice people but that's not what we do
it had to be it had to be Chicago
 because we had all these people
coming up from the Delta
and the Delta is incredibly important
because the people coming up from the
Delta going to do what they're 
going to bring the Blues and they're going to want to hear their music
and that's going to change radio in America
just roll that back to 1918
you were hearing barbershop quartets
you were hearing white boys with them them
and I'm not against that but they had on those little pin stripe hats black
and white
you know stupid things and their do you
remember when you find
and I want to quit this cuz I'm getting
ready but but do you remember
do you remember when you first hears the
Osmond Brothers
they were doing barber shop
music which was taking them nowhere
and then something incredibly wonderful
out of Gary Indiana called The Jackson
five happened
 yeah and all of a sudden
everybody learned how to sing to the beat didn't they
some of you are old enough to remember the Osmans first had one bad apple in old
girl
the whole birch girl well gimme one with
and he remember that
and I remember the first time I heard that
I thought Michael is sick
because it was off beat remember it was
off beat I thought
mmm that's off beat and then we realize it wasn't Michael of course it was someone trying to be Michael
but that's not why I started this
now the music is important and I get
sick of people saying that all you people did
in the sixties was drink a cup of
coffee and sing some songs
we changed America we won, (clapping) we won we won
I am fortunate in that I get invited to
do things every now and then and i was
just invited the National Portrait
Gallery
is doing I'll a civil war because it's
the
whatever anniversary of  the civil war it is and they're they're doing a
retrospective next year on
and they call me up and they say Nikki we'd like you to do a poem and I say I'd like to do it I'm a writer I'll do a poem sure
and I wrote a poem it's going to get rejected I'm so sure of that
well they rejected it on time you have
to get used to for the writers in the
audience if you can't get used to rejection
you can't write
I wrote a poem called note to the south
colon you lost (laughing, clapping, cheering)
keep your fingers crossed for me
no they did I get sick of that one too
oh and they were fighting for what
they were fighting for states rights
okay I'm game I'm I went to colored schools maybe I missed something
they was fighting for states rights to
do what
to enslave me by what right
do poor white boys fight other white
boys
to enslave me as if that's good for
everybody and i'm suppose to say
oh they fought really bravely no they
were fools
and if they're not careful the same
thing they're doing here in your state of
California same thing they're doing in
Arizona
they're fighting now against immigrants (clapping) it's true
what is wrong with these people we share this Earth get over it
that's the truth, that's the truth (clapping)
hatred is not a value get over it
we can do a whole lot better and we're
lot happier
by what right does this nation ever
ever have bad things to say
about black americans all we did was get
dragged from
our home across a bad
ocean to come till America
and you have to remember they didn't go to Africa to get slaves
they went to the African continent to
get people who live there the Africans
to bring them to America to make them
slaves
all we did was work two hundred years to
clear the land
to plant the crops to build up their
wealth
and then when everybody finally said well
it's too much we were tired of it because
we were bleeding out at the South and
they had to pass
a law it's called the Fugitive Slave Law
everybody said well the slaves are going to be really happy for them and for the
 agitated no the slave didn't like
it and they were walking away and
walking away and walking away and yeah you passed a law
that said to  other white people if you have
good sense
and try to help somebody escape to
freedom we going to get you too and it's
amazing
that people still said no we going to help
those people it was important
we look around no it was it was important and we're doing the same kinda dumb thing right
now because we're trying to pass
an anti-terrorism we're trying to make you and me
afraid of some brown people because we're bombing them and they don't like it
I'm sorry no you're not going to make me afraid is somebody
I know one thing they aren't mad at  me so
whatever happens to me it didn't happen
cause I'm Nikki
it happened because I happen to be in America and as long as America
does the things that we do people are
going to respond as we have we suppose to be
intelligent
we stand up here telling you to go to
school what you going to learn
if you not to learn to live with people
no (clapping and cheering)
you have to use your education to get
rid of your fear
because fear is a bad thing it makes you
do crazy things
I don't understand why people are afraid
of gay people like oh if we let those
gay people go around they'll be what
happy (laughing and cheering)
(laughing and cheering)
what am I missing and I don't know anything as hypocritical as Christians talking about
we don't want gays getting married are you kidding
they the Christian community gets a
divorce it's something like sixty percent
why wouldn't we want gays to get married
by what right do you decide that
somebody has no right
to be who they are i don't know that's not
no (clapping and cheering)
and if you don't like it you know what
just don't screw them
(clapping and cheering)
I won't get invited back how you get sick of that these old menopausal ladies sitting around talking about I don't believe in
abortion baby you couldn't get pregnant
if the stars were in the sky come on (cheering)
no no no
no what happened to Krishna now no
the girl the young women get pregnant
somebody needs to say to them baby how
can we help you
that's that's their decision it's not our
decision it really isn't
and I'm not encouraging anybody to have any I don't give children
I don't care you don't I really is none
up my
business I am and grew up in the Baptist
Church I am whatever Christian means
that's what I think I am
and my job is to serve you my job is to
ask you how can I help
if you have the baby i'm suppose babysit
sometime and you rember
I am remember Susan Smith you probably
don't remember Susan Smith she was the
white girl in uh
South Carolina that killed her kids well
that'd be a lot of people killed their kids
but
she's the one who put them in the lake
and left them in the car and drown them in the car
and everybody was mad because Susan did a couple really ugly things she did the
she did the American thing so when the
boys were missing she said it was a
black daddy did
I knew I knew that that couldn't, that was a
lie
I said to my class did you see that 
she said that a black man did it
and they said yeah she's upset I said let me tell you this I know black men
there's not a black man on earth who's going to drive two white children around
ain't going to happen and then you know what else I found out and yeah some things you have
to go with you know what else we found
out she had a Saturn
there's not a black man on Earth that would hijack a Saturn car
no no way
no way no way
you know that i mean you knew that when you read about it your'e like na that ain't
It's not going to happen
but you know they had four black men in
custody when she finally confessed to doing it
and so then my class is now mad at her
she killed us gymnast really awful
and all of her neighbors remember this is my point all of her neighbors was
I don't know why she did that she did it
because she was poor
she was white her husband had walked away from her she didn't know what else to do
and I'm not saying it's right
don't misunderstand but I'm saying
where were all the hypocrites
when this girl is trying to make a rip
where all the people that now but teddy
bears
where were all  the people that said yeah I saw her over there trying to trying to ya 
know
date somebody where were the people that on Saturday morning said Sue baby why don't
you go to the mall
cause she was a kid she's 21 22 years old
where were all the old ladies
that were sitting there sucking on
their teeth condemning her that's what
they were doing
condemning this girl they didn't they
didn't want to help and we have things
like that that the worst place to be
right now if you in any kind of trouble
is the church
you know it you know it because all the old ladies said that I knew she wouldn't
come to no good
nobody ask your opinion
your sitting there with your bibal that ought to burn through your lap come on
we have a right to expect better
of each other we're living in difficult
times
we do thank you we're living in difficult
times and we need to help
each other I can't solve problems I'm not
here to try to solve problems but I know
this
if we can't count on each other then
what is the point in being a human being
what is the point I read a poem
because actually Rosa Parks was the
sit in and we are the grandchildren
of Rosa Parks we forget that we forget it
then December 1st I do it every December
because I want holiday for Rosa Parks
I'm really thrilled to have a holiday
for Martin
I am I think he deserves it he
deserves a stamp I love the fact that I
was invited to be a part of 
the memorial on the mall and wasn't I just have to mention that
how in the hell can you mess up Martin's words
just like you can google that
he said if you have to say I'm a drum
major just say
that wasn't her talking about needing diversity
any colored person on that committee
would have said no Martin didn't say that
but a slight no we don't need color
people because we know everything
and it's going to cost them a couple million dollars to straighten it out but i want a
Rosa Parks day
and so every December 1st I i greet
people with that
happy Rosa Parks day like oh I hadn't realized is
I want the stamp because she was good
looking and I want she was, a she's
pretty woman
and I want to remind everybody in this
room that's in their twenties and thirties
the best is yet to come for women you
know you think about it forty two look at
who
Marian Anderson at 42 stood at the
Lincoln Memorial
and saying he had that fur coat on I got
invited to the Lincoln Memorial
and I said to my office I'm going to wear a fur for I'm going to get the a
fur see what if it's hot
July I am wearing a fur because Marian Anderson did
Rosa Parks was 42 years old when she
refused to give up
her seat and I get sick of that oh she was
just tired she didn't know what she was
doing
people in this room right here tired and
that's not to start a revolution (laughing)
am i right, I'm right this response was a committed
woman
and we have to remember too that
everybody knew Ms. Parks had been
arrested
people don't say why did they know that
because she lived in the projects
if that had been and I love Black people
and I don't try to pretend I don't I know we have
our faults but I still like this
but I do too people like me
but if that had been I'm fair I try to understand everybody 
if that had been Kereta King she's a
young woman she had a baby
it that have been Kereta King in
Montgomery Alabama December 1st 1955 who
got arrested for refusing to give her
seat
you know what black people would have said, How come Martin didn't give it to her
you know they would
you know black people we black you know
that if that's the truth
if that had been Juanita Abernathy everybody would have said how come Ralph didn't carry her
it had to, excuse me
it had to be somebody who had to be on
the bus
that's going to galvanize a community
Ms. Parks lived in the projects the
front of her door catty cornered to the
back of the door
of a man named ED Nixon Edgar David
Nixon who was the head of the Alabama
NAACP
when Ms. Parks was arrested it came
back
to the community it came back to the
project's Ms. Parks had been arrested
Ms. Parks
 so now the entire community if
she had lived
in a detached home it would have taken
all day for people to realize she wasn't
home
everybody knew what had happened
and so now we have a great moment that
nobody deals with the name is Joanne
Robinson
and doctor robinson was the head of the
English department at Alabama State
the newly elected president of the
Women's Political Caucus
and Joanne was and Piggly Wiggly when
she heard that Ms. Parks had been
arrested
and she was getting dinner she had two
sons and a husband been she was getting dinner
she got the gun she said tell the women
because now you have to be careful this
is Montgomery
Montgomery was as you know the capital
of the Confederacy she said tell the women 
to meet me tonight
at my office she went home
she cooked for husband her kids she
bathed the boys put them to bed
and I have to give and and I don't
want to stop
and give black men credit where where
more than credit is due
I think the hardest night in the life of
a black man as a group was December
first 1955 because the men
had to watch their wives go out to Alabama
State and they knew they had to stay
home
if a bunch of black men had gathered
at Alabama State the good ol boys would have rolled up on them
the good ol' boys would've rolled up on 'em
somebody would've shot at somebody
one thing would've led to the-- it would've been ugly.
And so the men had to do that, they had to let their wives go
and they had to sit up all night and I'm sure that they prayed and I'm sure some cried
and hoped that nothing would happen, that the phone wouldn't ring
and somebody would say, "Your person is gone."
But the men did that. Isn't it Tennyson who said, "we also serve, who sit and wait"?
And I get tired of people knocking black men when they have done what they had to do
in order to let things go forward.
The women went out and they ran off on those old mimeos, those old mimeograph machines
They said, "Let's have a boycott on Monday, December the 5th."
Now when you hear about it, for those of you who are young
you'll always hear "Well the preachers announced it in church that there was a boycott."
Indeed some of them did and indeed some of them didn't.
But the reality is, a lot of people don't go to church.
[audience laughter]
If you wanna reach the people, you have to reach the people on Saturday night at the juke joints
No, that's a fact.
And so we had to get the flyers out to the juke joints
because these are the people who have to be on the buses.
You have to remember, Martin Luther King Jr. was never on a bus until after the bus boycott
Daddy King had three children.
And as each of them became of driving age, A.D., and Christine, and Martin.
And as each became of age to actually be out on their own at 16 years old,
he bought them a car.
Most people didn't have people that could buy them a car, most people
were gonna be on the bus.
So this is gonna be an incredibly important moment.
You have to remember, in the age of segregation, Mrs. Parks is gonna get on that bus.
It's gonna be in the afternoon, uncharacteristically she's off early because her mom was sick
and she worked at Montgomery Fair Department Store
and she was a seamstress, and they sent her home because it was December 1st.
24 shopping days until Christmas.
So her supervisor knew that she would stay through lunch or that she would stay late
and get the job done. So she said to Rosa, "Why don't you go on home?"
So now Rosa's on the bus at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
She was fiddling for a dime, she was looking for a dime
and she found her dime, got on the bus-- 
and I don't know who thinks up the-- I don't-- I really, honest to God,
I do not understand who thinks up tortures.
I just don't. I mean what do you do? Do you go to bed at night and dream or
do you, y'know, you talk it over with your wife,
"Honey, how else can we embarrass Negroes?"
"Well, why don't we, um, why don't we make them drop their dime in on on the bus
and then have to get out and walk around to the back?"
"Oh, that's a good idea." 
And so, somebody came up with that, how the hell do you think of things like that?
I mean, are you proud of yourself? "Guess what I did today, son."
[audience laughter]
"I thought of something else to hurt Negroes' feelings."
 "Oh daddy, really?"
Somebody-- is that insane or what?
Somebody figure that one out.
If you're black, you put your dime in, then you have to step off
'cause you're not going to be able to walk through the bus.
You gotta step off, walk around, enter at the back
and that's where, y'know, the bus is all divided:
half to white Americans from the front to the center,
black Americans from the back up, and we had two neutral-- excuse me,
two neutral zones so that whoever got there first has to wait.
It would be-- it's an insanity, totally insanity. I'm sure
I don't have to tell any grown person in this room
how many times the black person would get off the bus to walk back
and the bus would pull off and the bus driver would think that was funny.
And for a dime, you couldn't take a half a day off of work because in those days
if you were working, you were getting something called a "pay envelope."
Nowadays, your money mostly is deposited.
Somebody just sends you a note, "We deposited your money."
But in those days you had to get cash.
So you're gonna take a half a day off from work for about a dime
but you can also see why black people
were incredibly nervous about buses.
Because every time you approach the bus, it was nervous.
Mrs. Parks dropped her dime in,
and got back off. Everybody said, "Oh, she was not in compliance--"
She was in compliance with the segregationist laws of Alabama.
Alabama was not in compliance with the Constitution, but that's gonna be another question.
She got off the bus, she walked to the back, and she got on,
when she got on the bus, you have to recall, it was being filled up
because the day workers were coming in.
So, there were no seats in the back where blacks would be
but she looked to the neutral section, and there was someone sitting on the window 
and she went and sat down next to him.
Now, some of you actually know black women
and you know that one thing you can't do with old black women is ask them anything.
If they wanted you to know they would've told you,
[audience laughter]
you know that's true, you can talk to your grandma or something,
and if they didn't tell you, your asking isn't gonna change.
And it's just one of those things--
and we were talking one time and I said, "Ms. Parks, y'know, it's strange, I don't
I just don't remember who was sitting next to you, uh,
on, on the bus, I know that there was someone sitting on the window but I don't remember
reading his name."
And she did that, "Well... well, baby, I don't remember."
Which I know is a lie. I didn't call her a liar, I just said, "Mrs. Parks, come on now,
I'm not gonna accept that,
because there's only 30,000 Negroes in Montgomery and all y'all know each other,
so, just tell me."
I've always been sad that he didn't say who he is,
or that somebody would say "it was my grandaddy now" or "it was my great-grandfather"
because you can't quarrel with this man.
This is Thursday, December 1st, 1955,
you can't quarrel with this man,
when James Blake, the bus driver, came and said, "Gimme those seats."
Mrs. Parks looked up and said,
"Why do you pick on us?"
He said, "It's the law, gimme the seats!"
And she said, "No."
But the man on the window, and you can't blame him,
tomorrow, you know, the eagle flies on Friday,
and Saturday I go out to play, right?
So, this man has to be back at work on Friday in order to get his money.
I don't have to tell you, if he doesn't show up on Friday, the foreman is not going to give him his money.
He's not gonna be able to pick it up on Monday or something.
He knows that, and so he said to Mrs. Parks, "I need to give up the seat."
The people on the other side, there's two seats, two like that,
the people on the other side, the two men on that side got up.
And of course, this is gonna work, she had to get up to let him out.
When she got up, James Blake thought he had won
and so he went back to drive the bus.
When he sat back down and looked in his mirror, she was sitting down.
He said, "I'm gonna have you arrested."
And she said it as calmly, as, "You may do that."
'Cause she never raised her voice.
So he called the cops, and to the credit of the cops,
they just kinda tapped her on the arm when they got on, they just tapped her,
and one of the two cops-- to pick up a woman shorter than I am, but, nonetheless,
one of 'em said, "Auntie, are you gonna give us that seat?"
And she said, "No."
And I said, "Ms. Parks," one time I said, "It's so lucky it was you and not me."
[audience laughter]
I did, and it was, and she said, "Well, well why?"
I said, "Because the minute he said 'auntie' I would've been forced to say,
'Do I look like your momma's sister?'"
[audience laughter]
Hah, I would have, and you know what would have happened then, he would've
had to hit me, and then someone'd be like, "Don't hit Nikki!" and--
and it would've been a riot, y'know, ugly.
Nothing good would've come of it, that'd be our history.
But it was her, she got up, they arrested her, and the rest is gonna be history.
I wrote a poem for Mrs. Parks because I needed to sing
a song for the Pullman Porters because these are great men.
And they are gonna be the first organizers, as you all know, if you're in any union and you ought to be,
because Republicans are crazy to be telling you that a right to work says a right to what? Get screwed?
You need-- no, you need a union, damn it, I don't care what you think about unions,
you need a union to support you.
[audience applause]
You do, you do.
And if your union's not doing its job, you need to do something for the union, but you need a union,
because if we're out there by ourselves--
minimum wage is bad enough,
we need a living wage, minimum wage doesn't begin to make sense,
we need a living wage.
And we can't do that alone, and I'm just praying every day that
they recall the governor of Wisconsin.
No, we need to get rid of him!
[audience applause]
You know,
no, it's like, "I'm gonna save the state money."
You save the state money, the state doesn't get-- the state can't-- let me--
I'm sorry, just this one thing
[audience laughter]
The state and the government, the federal government cannot go broke.
They just make more money, it's Monopoly, we've all played Monopoly, you know, the bank
can't go broke.
You and I can go broke.
It is a false dichotomy to compare the government to a family
because the government has the ability to continue to make money.
You and I have to pay money back.
We haven't payed back the debt, I mean this is something any history major knows,
we haven't payed back the debt from World War I.
What we did was we became productive and the debt became insignificant.
We're living here in California next to Silicon Valley,
where you have billionaires who could write checks for $100 million
to give it to some fool so that you and I don't have the money
to take care of our children and to make our car payments.
[audience applause]
I just thought I'd mention that.
[audience applause]
But the first unions in America that were significant to us
was the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, A. Philip Randolph.
And nobody's gonna tell you that John Lewis and them were nice people,
they weren't, they were racists.
But they recognized if they didn't stand with the Pullman Car Porters--
they used to call them "George" 'cause they couldn't remember their names--
if they couldn't stand with the Pullman Porters, then we knew that
they, they-- John L. Lewis, the AFL-CIO, Walter, Meany, and them,
all knew that they would break the backs of the unions.
The unions still were stupid
because what the unions should have done while they're worried about black people joining the unions,
they should have been organizing internationally, so we don't have this question
of whether or not jobs that should be here in the United States have been outsourced.
Because if they had to pay them like they pay us it'd be a different situation.
[audience applause]
I just thought I'd mention that.
I won't get invited back.
[audience laughter]
But the Pullman Porters are great men,
and so I wrote this poem for Rosa Parks.
This is for the Pullman Porters,
who organized when people said they couldn't,
and carried the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender to the South,
to black Americans in the South, so that they would know they were not alone,
this is for the Pullman Porters,
who helped Thurgood Marshall go south and come back north to fight the fight that resulted in
Brown vs. The Board of Education,
because even though Kansas is west,
and even though Topeka is the birthplace of Gwendolyn Brooks,
who wrote the powerful "The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock",
it was the Pullman Porters who whispered to the traveling men,
both the blues men and the race men,
so that they could both know what is going on.
This is for the Pullman Porters,
 who smiled as if they were happy,
and laughed like they were tickled when some folks were around,
and who silently rejoiced in 1954,
when the Supreme Court announced its 9-0 decision that separate is inherently unequal,
this is for the Pullman Porters who smiled,
and welcomed a 14-year-old boy onto their train in 1954,
they noticed his slight limp,
that he tried to disguise with a doo-wop walk,
they noticed his s-s-s-stutter,
and probably understood why his mother wanted him out of Chicago during the summer when school was out,
14-year-old black boys with limps and stutters
are out to try to prove themselves in dangerous ways when others aren't around to look after them,
so this is for the Pullman Porters,
who looked over that 14-year-old while the train rolled the reverse of the Blues Highway,
from Chicago, to St. Louis, to Memphis, to Mississippi,
this is for the men who kept him safe,
and if Emmett Till had been able to stay on that train all summer,
he would probably have grown a bit of a paunch, certainly lost his hair,
probably have worn bifocals,
and bounced his grandchildren on his knee,
tellin' them about his summer riding the rails.
But he had to get off that train,
and ended up in Money, Mississippi,
and was horribly, brutally, inexcusably, and unacceptably murdered.
This is for the Pullman Porters,
who, when the sheriff was trying to get that body secretly buried,
got Emmett's body on the northbound train,
got his body home to Chicago,
where his mother said, "I want the world to see what they did to my boy."
And this is for all the mothers who cried,
and this is for all the people who said, "Never again."
And this is about Rosa Parks,
whose feet were not so tired,
it had been, after all, an ordinary day,
until the bus driver gave her an opportunity to make history,
this is about Mrs. Rosa Parks,
from Tuskegee, Alabama,
who was also the field secretary of the NAACP,
this is about the moment Rosa Parks shouldered her cross,
put her worldly goods aside,
was willing to sacrifice her life,
so that that young man in Money, Mississippi,
who had been so well protected by the Pullman Porters,
would not have died in vain.
When Mrs. Parks said, "No",
a passionate movement was begun.
No longer would there be a reliance on the law,
there was a higher law.
When Mrs. Parks brought that light of hers to expose the evil of the system,
the sun came and rested on her shoulders,
bringing the heat and light of truth.
Others would follow Mrs. Parks,
four young men in Greensboro, North Carolina, would also say, "No."
Great voices would be raised,
singing the praises of God,
and exalting us,
to forgive those who trespass against us.
But it was the Pullman Porters,
who safely got Emmett to his grand-uncle,
and it was Mrs. Rosa Parks,
who could not stand that death,
and not being able to stand it,
she sat
back
down.
[audience applause]
And I'd like to close on a poem for Martin,
it's called, "In the Spirit of Martin",
and what I wanted to do with this poem, essentially,
and again it's one of those-- I just got very fortunate,
I was invited to write a poem about, or I was invited to--
the Smithsonian asked me if they could use a poem and I wanted to write a poem,
what I wanted to do here is to remind us
because now I'm an old woman myself,
now, I know that,
Martin was a boy, he was a kid when we met him, he was 26 years old,
and we only had him for 13 years because at 39 he's gone.
And when you're 25 and writing about it is one thing,
when you're in 60s and you're writing about it
you begin to see the distance.
I like to think that if Martin was with us today, of course he would be a rapper.
[audience laughter]
He was always a modern guy, I mean you knew that,
and y'know, you can just kinda see him, he's at the
at the Washington Monument doing the march on Washington, and
[mimicking echoing microphone] "We are here-here-here to cash a check-check-check..."
You know, and-
[audience and Giovanni laughing]
I think it'd be really, it'd be really cool,
I like to think that if Martin were with us, y'know, he would have braids of course,
and I know some of you say, "Oh, no, Nikki, he wouldn't have dreads, he was anal-retentive."
and dreads go everywhere.
So, you need to have braids so you keep it down.
I doubt we could get Martin to go blond,
though he would've been fabulous blond 'cause he was a good looking guy.
and you see, "let's maybe tip it a little bit."
and-- [audience laughter]
certainly we know that he would've had a tattoo
 because everybody has a tattoo,
I mean, you have to have that,
I have a tattoo, of course mine says, "Thug Life".
[audience cheering and laughter]
It does.
[Giovanni and audience laughing]
Now I know, y'know, Daddy King would not let Martin have "thug life"
so he'd probably have "Vote" or "Freedom now", y'know, something responsible, y'know.
But [laughing] nonetheless he would have his tattoo.
I know that we know that the first person to be arrested for
civil disobedience in America was Henry David Thoreau,
and Thoreau had a friend named Ralph Emerson,
nobody likes Emerson, I mean that's true even now, you say
name the million people you would have dinner with if you could have dinner with anybody
and Ralph doesn't make the list,
[audience laughter] y'know, nobody wants to be bothered.
But do you remember when Thoreau was in jail,
Ralph decided it was his Christian duty--
he was a snob, you know, he's one of those [sniffs]
and he decided it was his Christian duty
to go see about Thoreau.
So he goes, he called him David,
and he went to the jail to see him and he said, "David!"
"What are you doing in jail?"
And of course Thoreau was having none of this and he looks at him and said, "Ralph,
what are you doing out?"
[audience laughter]
And he was absolutely-- he was absolutely right, because
if there's an injustice, where do you stand?
And we know that when the campaign, when the civil rights campaign moved out of Montgomery
and into Birmingham,
the seven religious fathers of Birmingham took an ad in the paper
to say to Martin Luther King Jr., 
"What are you doing here in Birmingham troubling the waters?"
And from that, we get one of the great theological documents of the western world,
Letter from Birmingham City Jail, "Why Aren't You Here With Us?"
Martin was a fabulous writer and he was always refining and dealing with what he was doing.
I wrote a poem called "In the Spirit of Martin".
This is a sacred poem,
blood has been shed to consecrate it,
wash your hands, remove your shoes,
bow your head, "I- I- I have a dream".
That was a magical time,
Hi-ho, Silver, away!
Oh Cisco, oh Poncho, here I come to save the day!
I want the world to see what they did to my boy.
No
No
No
I'm not gonna move
If we are wrong
then the Constitution of the United States is wrong
Montgomery, Birmingham, Selma,
four little girls,
constant threats, constant harassment, constant fear.
SCLC, Ralph and Martin, Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver,
Ed Sullivan,
how long?
Not long.
But, "What," Mr. Thoreau said to Mr. Emerson,
"are you doing out?"
This is a letter from Birmingham City Jail.
This is a eulogy for Albany.
This is a water hose for Anniston.
This is a thank-you to Diane Nash.
This is a flag for James Farmer.
This is a "how could I make it without you?" to Ella Baker.
This is for the red clay of Georgia
that yielded black men of courage, black men of vision, black men of hopes,
bent over cotton or sweet potatoes or pool tables and baseball diamonds,
playing for a chance to live free and breathe easy
and have enough money to take care of the folks they love.
This is why we can't wait.
That swirling Mississippi wind,
the Alabama pine,
that Tennessee dust,
defouling the clothes that women washed,
those hot winds the lemonade couldn't cool,
that let the women know, we too, must overcome.
This is for Fannie Lou Hamer, Jo Ann Robinson, Septima Clark, Daisy Bates,
all the women who said,
"Baby baby baby, I know you didn't mean to lose your job,
I know you didn't mean to gamble the rent money,
I know you didn't mean to hit me.
I know the Lord is going to make a way,
I know I'm leaning on the everlasting arms."
How much pressure does the Earth exert on carbon to make a diamond?
How long does the soil push against the flesh,
molding,
molding,
molding the moan that becomes a cry that bursts forth crystalline,
unbreakable,
priceless,
incomparable Martin.
I made my vow to the Lord
that I never would turn back.
How much pressure do the sins of the world press against the heart of a man,
who becomes the voice of his people?
He should have had a tattoo, you know,
"Freedom Now" or something like that.
Should've braided his hair,
carried his pool cue in a mahogany case,
wafted that wonderful laugh over a plate of skillet fried chicken,
drop biscuits, dandelion greens on the side.
This is a sacred poem.
Open your arms,
turn your palms up,
feel the Spirit of Greatness,
and be redeemed.
[audience cheering and applauding]
David (muffled): Nikki, Nikki! Hold on, hold on.
[audience applause]
David: Nikki Giovanni.
[audience applause]
Singer of tales.
Professor Nikki Giovanni, you know, in the blues tradition, a professor
is a person
who is the master of the art.
Alright?
E.D. Nixon
was a Pullman Porter.
Nikki: I know. Oh, I didn't say that, did I?
David: But it's OK, I said it.
Nikki: I know.
[both laughing]
Nikki: Thank you.
David: We are very, very fortunate
in this little town that keeps getting bigger.
To have people who serve in our interest
who we can run into
when we shop,
when we're down the street,
when we're moving around.
So if somebody is representing us or representing
our interests, it's because they are one of us.
One such person
is our mayor. His Honor, Don Lane.
[audience applause]
And the mayor has a little bit of something for the Professor.
Don Lane: David, thank you for that very kind introduction.
On behalf of the people of Santa Cruz, I wanna say first,
"Wow! Thank you!"
[audience applause]
As some of you know, I have the honor, from time to time, of,
at ceremonies, providing a mayor's proclamation
for someone who's done something special in our community,
but,
even less frequently, when we have someone distinguished from out of town,
we have the opportunity to present
the key to the city.
[audience cheering and applauding]
And in this instance, as I present this to Nikki,
I want to say, one of the main reasons we want to give this to you
is that you will come back again and use it.
[audience cheering]
David: Now folks, 
there's one thing I need to remind you.
And that is that
Professor, Sister, Doctor
Nikki Giovanni is going to be signing books.
Alright, so don't forget that!
Don't melt away yet.
I wanna thank everyone for coming tonight
for being part of this very, very important event,
and for sharing in the spirit of call-and-response
because this was a live audience.
[audience cheering]
Some musicians believe that the audience is one of the musicians.
So when this performer
and all these performers were performing,
this was a chorus.
This was moving together.
Thank you for that.
We look forward-- thank you for coming, we look forward to seeing you next year.
Thank you.
[audience applause]
