>>Commentator: So this is a little bit of
background in, some of it's to entice you
to read this book. I got really engrossed
in your story ?
>>Belva Davis: Um.
>>Commentator: and you were born in Louisiana,
Monroe, Louisiana which is not New Orleans
and yes there's more to Louisiana than New
Orleans --
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: and you were born to a teen
mom and you were, you called it "farmed out"
but --
>>Belva Davis: Yeah.
>>Commentator: kind of moved around to different
families over the course of your life and
somehow made your way to the West Coast and
to Oakland. And in the face of lots of discrimination
accomplished what most people would never
dream of accomplishing in their life. At some
point you were a single mom.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: You were black. You're a woman
--
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: and you managed to become --
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: a news reporter.
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: The first black, female news
reporter on the West Coast. Part of your journey
has really been involved in just transcending
all different mediums from being on the radio,
to TV, to newspapers, everything. And you've
covered the gamut and you're self taught.
And your story is so rich and I'm not gonna
let every, I'll let you tell some of it --
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: but your story is so rich in
purpose and just a purpose driven life that
you've led. And you've managed to interview
everyone from Frank Sinatra to Fidel Castro.
And I would say that really describes the
gamut of ?
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
>>Commentator: talking to ?
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: and meeting with some of the
most noteworthy and newsworthy people of your
time and in fact of our time.
You're currently host of the show 'This Week
in Northern California' hosted by KQED where
you talk about current topics ranging from
politics and other current events and you're
a Bay Area legend,
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: winner of six local Emmys and
we're just happy to have you here. 'Never
In Your Wildest Dreams' is your story and
you had the courage to tell it. So thank you
for being here and thank you for sharing your
story.
Please welcome Belva Davis.
[applause]
>>Belva Davis: Thank you.
[applause]
>>Belva Davis: A wonderful introduction. [laughs]
>>Commentator: Why don't you start by just
telling us what inspired you to tell your
story, to write your story, and share it with
the world?
>>Belva Davis: I think it's because we live
in a time when so many young people are giving
up. All you need do is look at the national
dropout rate for minority youngsters ?
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: and you know that we are living
in perilous times.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: And many of the excuses that
I would hear from young people as I do stories
about how to get people back on track, how
to bring, keep kids in school longer, were
a list of stereotypical things that can happen
in a life. And if we give up on those points,
then we are cut adrift from the major society.
And I just wanted to chronicle for any younger
person or even any older person who's thinking,
"I can't do this anymore," that there are
rewards for hanging in there, for having wild
dreams, for envisioning yourself as whatever
it is that you think will make you happy.
And if you can somehow along the way convince
yourself to do the work that it takes to get
where you wanna go, then there you are.
So that was my, my main thought, my main motive
as I started to work on the book. I realized
that my position had been unique. There was
a lot of history in the late 60s, 70s, and
80s, turbulent times. We, we, --when you put
it all together in a book and you realize
the sprees of murder, suicides, protests,
head knockings going on that they were totally
different from today's world.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: And I saw it through the eyes
of a woman who came not from a career as a
prepared journalist but just an ordinary citizen
who happened to be black. Until my face was
known on television, I experienced every,
not every, but I experienced the kinds of
tough life it is to be black in America.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: And I thought there are stories
to be told even after you break the color
bar that the, these incidents don't stop --
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: and they become a little harder
to maneuver, to get around, and to keep your
self-respect. And so even in writing the stories
I thought, "Well I have a different view than
my fellow male reporters." And when I started,
I was not just the first black woman. I was
the first woman street reporter.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: And it was a place where the
standup guys back then were not all welcoming.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: So it just seemed that if for
nothing else than the fact that I'm a grandmother
now, that my granddaughter should know what
her grandma's life was like. And if she ever,
ever thought of giving up on herself [laughs]
she would know that she had the muscle to
do it if she just put her mind to it. [laughs]
>>Commentator: I think that's wonderful.
I was -- when I was reading the book there
were certainly moments for me, while I didn't
live in that generation, where I drew parallels
to my own life and people who came before
me and I saw a lot of teachings from my own
family about how to be resilient --
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: and I can think back to the
1964 Republican National Convention where
in the story, you talk about -- I want you
to share with this group kind of what that
experience was like, where you had to show
a tremendous amount of resilience and courage
in order to tell a story ?
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: and share with the public.
So why don't you share with us --
>>Belva Davis: Yeah.
>>Commentator: a little bit about that.
>>Belva Davis: Yesterday I listened to Tavis
Smiley talk about his life story ?
>>Commentator: Um-hum.
>>Belva Davis: in a book called 'Fail Up'.
Well I think of the Republican Convention
like that. It was a bad, terrible incident
but it inspired me to do something that I
may -- might not have ever done had that been
a pleasant, ordinary, normal [laughs] convention.
But it wasn't. It was when America was making
another, well making a very sharp turn politically.
It was the Goldwater convention. It was the
year the Dixiecrats I said moved in and co-opted
the Republican Party, the moderate Republican
Party. It was raucous in every way that you
could think of. The black delegates were treated
extremely bad. One had acid thrown on his
clothes. Others were refused seats even though
they were delegates. Jackie Robinson, the
famed baseball player, was almost into a fist
fight with somebody. It was that hot.
The major media was at war with this group
and mostly because America was changing then.
The Civil Rights Act has just been signed
in '64. '63 President Kennedy had been shot.
President Johnson seemed akin to picking up
the work that Kennedy had started in making
life more pleasant for African Americans,
Negroes back then.
And as so they were suffering those changes,
echoes of what we hear today from some members
of the Tea Party. They wanted to make sure
that their country didn't change, their neighborhoods
didn't change, that housing the way they knew
it, all of these things. It was all these
underlying causes. And so the convention was
revved up. And we were there and we couldn't
get press passes because they were not available.
We were minority media. But we were in the
rafters sitting quietly, trying to make sure
nobody found us when a mob did find us.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: And from that point on life
was hell there. And eventually we were driven
out of that hall as people threw debris at
my news director and I. And he was a proud
man who'd been told that he would never be
able to be a radio announcer because Negro
lips were too thick to pronounce words properly.
But he persevered working in black radio and
as I, my lips started to quiver as we were
leaving. By now we knew it was dangerous to
be there and I could tell the tears were swelling
up inside of me and he said, under his lips,
softly to me, "If you cry, I will break your
legs." [laughs]
[laughter]
And that's how he said it and that's why I
like to measure it that way because it was
humorous enough that it relieved my anxiety.
[laughs] True enough that I thought maybe
he would. [laughs]
[laughter]
So anyway we exited. But watching the major
media work, seeing the hatred from that floor,
but seeing their power to tell that story
to America. And I thought to myself in the
car going home, "I wanna do something like
that. I wanna be able to tell people what
happens to us. Nobody's truly interested in
what happens to us if we don't tell our own
story." So anyway it convinced me that I could
do this job --
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: or I should try to do this
job. That's it. And started me on a path that
turned out to be my life's work.
>>Commentator: Well we're all glad you did
--
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: and we're all glad you didn't
get your legs broken --
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: in the process.
Let's fast forward to today, I mean 1964 there
was clearly division in the parties and how
do you think things have evolved or changed?
Can you draw some parallels or some differences
or some improvements?
>>Belva Davis: It's like two different worlds
for black Americans today. There's the group
we dreamed of that people fought for, marched
for. And there are many of you here in this
room that represent the end of that dream.
And then there's the other world where unemployment
is higher than it's ever been, where poverty
is just at an unmeasurable amount, where walls
are so high that some don't see that they
can climb over them --
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: but the difference is there
are people like you who they can see ignored
the stereotypical drumming of what it means
to be black in America and say, "You can succeed
as well as you can fail. You just have to
decide which of those paths you're gonna take."
And that's the difference. That doesn't mean
that we have done as a society what we should
have done for them by now --
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: in terms of investing more
in education, in terms of offering more opportunities.
So as a country we need to do more. But as
a people, there's no denying the world is
totally, totally different. I mean I was,
when I was starting in this business, I mean
I was often asked to leave news conferences
because no one could imagine that I was a
real legitimate reporter. So today the President
of the country is [laughs] black so [laughs].
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: At least they can imagine it.
[laughs]
[laughter]
>>Commentator: [chuckles] That's great.
I was thinking about what other parts of your
story I should ask you about. I said, "I'll
flip the question and say, 'What were the
other defining moments in your life that sort
of helped to shape the person that you became?'"
[pause]
>>Belva Davis: There were a number of touch
points. I started out working for all black
programmed or black owned media because it
was the only place I could work. I worked
in black program radio, I was a stringer for
Jet Magazine, I wrote for anybody who'd take
copy from me. And then came an opportunity
to work in quote unquote major market radio.
Got a job in radio, I was Miss KNEW and had
a disc jockey slot on weekends. Thought I
was sailing along. This is it. And one night
I got a call from my station manager. Lot
of small talk went on. And finally he got
to the bottom line and he said, summarizing
what he said, the bottom line was, "Could
you please sound a little more black.?
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: Nobody will know you're there.'
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: And I, I think made one of
the smartest moves in my career. I simply
ignored it, --
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: the question. So that was my
realization that no matter how good I was,
I knew, or how good I thought I was, I knew
why he had hired me.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: And then I pursued again a
different career because radio was not what
I wanted to be in anymore.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: So I started, after one review
of a PSA that I did or a Public Service Program,
got a great review that said there should
be a place for me in television. It became
my mantra and I started banging on any door
and every door I could until one day I hit
a concrete wall. And that was the day I applied
at the ABC station here in town for a job,
had an interview, was there, constantly having
to refuel the ol', "I can do it." [laughs]
And at the end of that interview and there's
a long story behind it, you'll have to read
the book to get there --
[laughter]
but there was something interesting with a
famous person [laughs] at that time. But anyway,
when we finished our interview he said to
me, "You know we're just not hiring Negresses
right now, but if we ever decide to hire a
Negress, we will certainly call you." And
I was, I was just so dumbfounded I didn't
know how to answer. And I was afraid that
the old thing, I didn't have Louis with me
to threaten me about crying --
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: I was afraid that was gonna
happen but it didn't. I managed to hold on
to that because I realized he didn't know
he'd even insulted me.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: And so those were, that was
another defining point. But again I just knew
I was gonna find some way some how to get
into this business if for no more reason to
let him know that if he wasn't hiring Negresses,
somebody would.
>>Commentator: Hum. [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: [laugh]
[laughter]
>>Commentator: That's great.
>>Belva Davis: So those were, those were big
developmental points as I moved forward and
eventually did land a job over at the CBS
owned station.
>>Commentator: That's great.
>>Belva Davis: Yeah.
>>Commentator: I think the things that you
did around pageants --
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
>>Commentator: and beauty pageants was also
an interesting story about how do you get
more black women on TV.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: And while in the background
it looked like it sort of happens naturally
and there she was.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: There was definitely people
who were pushing for that all along. So your
efforts did not go unnoticed.
>>Belva Davis: Well I started [chuckles] -- you
know I was a single mom with a couple of kids
and trying to figure out how I could be relevant
at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was
just ablaze on everyone's mind and everyone
was doing all they could. And so I turned
it, even in my conversation with other people,
I would say things like, "Well I was fighting
racism one swimsuit at a time" --
[laughter]
>>Belva Davis: [laughs] to justify it. But,
in actuality, the Miss America Pageant had
a rule in its bylaws, its constitution rather,
that barred the admission for competition
of anything other than a white woman.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: And it was so insulting that
the local Chamber of Commerce, Junior Chamber
of Commerce, fighting against this in liberal
San Francisco aided me in putting together
a beauty pageant just for black women. And
it was part of a thing from Los Angeles that
had been quite successful. I took on the Northern
California part of it, ended up through the
process the young women, the big prize was
a screen test in Hollywood.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: And we did well. I mean, one
of the winners ended up being nominated for
an Academy Award, Margaret Avery in 'The Color
Purple'. And some of the singers formed a
group called The Fifth Dimension and went
on, had many hit records. One of the models
became one of the top models. So it wasn't
a waste of time. But I think for the young
women who took part and I still hear from
and am friends with many of them now, there
was more to it than that. They had to take
charm lessons.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: They had to go to, to class
to learn to sit, to stand, even how to get
in and out of a car. And then there was the
talent competition and then we had questions
that were truly based in modern news of the
day. So it was a good experience for them.
The parents liked it. The girls who came from
out of town camped out at our house to stay
over so that moms could trust them to come
from Fresno and Sacramento to compete. So
it had its great value and when the walls
began to fall, our women were ready to compete
at any level.
But I do wanna note how I noted the Chamber
of Commerce's help. The man who was the producer
of the Miss Universe Pageant also thought
the Miss America Pageant needed some --
>>Commentator: Okay.
>>Belva Davis: kind of lesson and he loaned
us the crown for the Miss Universe Pageant
for our first Miss Bronze.
>>Commentator: Oh wow!
>>Belva Davis: So we're always proud of that.
We have pictures of her with this huge, wonderful
--
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: multi-whatever crown on her
head.
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: That's great.
>>Belva Davis: [laughs] Yeah, so that was
just one of my diversions, a totally volunteer
effort.
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: But one thing that I know did
change lives and it makes me proud.
>>Commentator: Thanks for sharing.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: So you have a favorite quote
about dreams.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: You wanna share that with us
and then tell us sort of how that came to
be your mantra?
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles] Well the story of
how -- I wrote it during those days of looking
for a job in television --
>>Commentator: Um-hum.
>>Belva Davis: because it was such a discouraging
scene. You can imagine I had -- there was
no woman of color on television and yet I
thought I belonged there. And why did I think
I belonged there was another thing 'cause
[chuckles] I said before not a trained journalist
just thought it was something that was destined
for me.
So I wrote a little thing that I used to carry
around in my, in my date book or in my wallet
I transferred it from time to time. And it
was a simple line that just said, "Don't be
afraid of the space between your dreams and
reality." That was the important part. "If
you dream it, you can make it so." I added
that second line as I moved along, but it
was to get over my fear of the space that
I didn't know about.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: That I could find no directional
book I could read to tell me how to get over
that hesitation of going for what you want
and that was it.
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: In fact that's the one place
where Google's in the book. [chuckles] 'Cause
I Googled that one day just for the fun of
it. I don't know some years back. I really
should have updated it --
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: but there was at least 60,000
hits on that line. [chuckles]
>>Commentator: Oh good!
[laughter]
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: We are glad to contribute to
--
>>Belva Davis: Right. [laughs]
>>Commentator: the propagation of the use
for your mantra. That's great.
>>Belva Davis: [laughs] Yeah.
>>Commentator: Here at Google, we call ourselves
Googlers here. I don't know if they, they
taught you that term in your lunch or in your
tour. And a lot of us work in different functions.
Some of us are engineers. Some of us work
in sales and finance. But we all are some,
we have a lot of passion around technology.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: So we Tweet and we use social
networks and we access the Internet constantly
everyday to do everything. And a lot of the
news that we read is via this new medium.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: And a lot of, you've seen a
lot of press around what was reported around
Osama Bin Laden first was reported --
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: online before it was confirmed
in other media.
As someone who's kind of transcended media
for your career, very, very long and successful
career, how do you see kind of technology
and Internet playing into shaping media to
be better, more informative, or less informative?
>>Belva Davis: Um.
>>Commentator: Tell us what you think or kind
of embellishing or helping things that you
do in --
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: journalism today.
>>Belva Davis: Well I think they're two different
worlds and I'm glad that one has one name
and it's not called journalism. [laughs]
>>Commentator: Okay. [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: [laughs] On the other one,
I think it is, it's a spreading of the word
and that's traditional going back to the earliest
of time when people beated on a drum. ?
>>Commentator: Um.
>>Belva Davis: It's the way we communicate
one on one with each other.
What we journalists have to do is educate
people to the fact that if you're reading
an article by a person who calls themself
a 'journalist', you should expect more from
that person than just the eyewitness account
--
>>Commentator: Um-hum.
>>Belva Davis: that often would end up in
our reports. It got wrapped into what we did.
It authenticated what we were doing. That
you should expect more. You should expect
content. You should expect some explanation
from authority figures as to what happened.
Even if you know what their words are, you
still should be patient enough to find out
why they were spoken and the context in which.
And that's how I view journalism versus the
sharing of an experience or an incident. I
think we've always done that. It's just that
we do it now by the millions instead [laughs]
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: [laughs] instead of the few
people who are in our neighborhood. And it
certainly has been helpful in getting the
word out. But I don't think the Tweet in any
way describes what a good journalist can pull
from a person in authority say --
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: in terms of questioning them
about the action of the moment. And that's
where I see the division. I, I hope indeed
that we will both find a comfortable position,
that people who, who want to share information
instantly certainly should be able to do that
and journalists should be able to learn to
use that information in a constructive way.
>>Commentator: So I'm gonna ask you one more
question on this ?
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: very topic. But people start
thinking about your own questions and just
line up right here at the mic in the center.
You said you don't think it defines what a
good journalist can do.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: A lot of people here were aspiring
writers. Some day --
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: we may write a book. Maybe
we've written books and we may wanna be on
TV --
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: and get our 15 minutes or 1500
hours maybe --
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: of fame.
What advice do you have for those of us who
want to be writers or journalists someday?
What does make a good journalist or a good
content? We call them 'content creators' here
'cause we're so technical --
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Commentator: with everything but 'content
creators'.
>>Belva Davis: Well there's something that
no technology can replace and that is the
gnawing in the heart, the stomach to produce
information that has value. You've gotta have
that plus the mechanics of having it done.
So therefore if you wanna be a journalist
you've gotta really in today's world, competitive
world, you've really got to wanna do it. And
I like to always tell the story that I don't
even know when I started to get paid to write.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: When I got my first payment
from Jet Magazine it used to be 'payments'
-- they were five dollars a week. They were
supposed to cover my gas [laughs] from San
Francisco to Oakland to do stories and my
postage to mail the things off and my bridge
tolls. They calculated in Chicago that should
cost me five dollars a week.
When I got my job in television I didn't even
ask what the salary was. So it was a year
later almost before I discovered I was being
paid half [chuckles] the salary of the men
in my unit all because --
>>Commentator: [unintelligible]
>>Belva Davis: of my union thank God. [laughs]
But that's what happened and of course I didn't
have to take any action because once that
fact was uncovered, they just automatically
increased me to what they were paying the
other guys.
So you've got to really want to do this work
to stay in it. That is if you wanna do -- I
like -- to me journalism is politics. [laughs]
It is an understanding of the environment
in which we live. It is adding to that base
of knowledge that's shared widely. And the
other is whatever it is too and that means
entertainment news or who's fallen out or
broken up a relationship this week and [laughs]
--
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: [laughs] I mean that's what
headlines address. But I can only give the
advice is to, is to practice to use your skills
that you've gotten, to submit material, to
have a life's plan. I mean mine was never
to do that for free all of my life. But it
was a learning experience. And today's world
changes so fast I can't even tell people which
direction to move in order to get to the New
York Times, say, today. You don't even know
if there's gonna be a New York Times [laughs]
--
>>Commentator: Um-hum.
>>Belva Davis: in the future. But you will
if you use your art, you --
[pause]
use every opportunity you can to learn. You'll
be ready for when your opportunity arrives.
[chuckles]
>>Commentator: Thank you. Question?
[pause]
>>Female Audience Member#1: Hi I just, when
you were describing before about two different
Americas especially for blacks -- what it
was before and how it is now. And granted
blacks have been, have had the opportunity
to have many more options and just have been
granted more opportunities overall now. But
it seems as though maybe there's even a bigger
gap now between African Americans for those
who have and maybe for those who are disenfranchised.
And it seems maybe the disenfranchised have
somewhat given up. So what do you do and what
did you do just through your whole journey
just to keep pushing and keep fighting and
just never to give up?
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum. That's my word. Never
give up. [laughs] I think the only people,
the only individual who can defeat you is
the internal one who tells you you can't do.
And the reason I use the dream analogy because
going back to slavery times even, the dream
was a one thing that you owned that no one
could take from you. So if you can dream it
for yourself, you can envision yourself, you
can see yourself doing that, you wanna do
it that bad you usually, unless there's some
flaw, and there are plenty of flaws, you'll
get there or close to it. But I don't think
that anyone can give you a road map today
to how to get, if your goal is to be a columnist
for the New York Times or even a reporter
for the Times or the Wall Street Journal,
they can't give you a road map because we
don't quite know what it is that'll get you
there. Probably many of you with your, with
your knowledge of technology today are far
more desirable for a company to hire than
someone who writes about politics 'cause everyone's
written a book somewhere along the lines I
mean about politics. But you still in a mystery
world for many people. And so it's, it's,
it's using what you learn from wherever you
are to apply it to where you wanna go. And
that's sort of the way I made it by writing
a little bit, talking a little bit, putting
them together, convincing somebody that it
would work if we, if we did it. I love working
with our interns at, at KQED because I go
through an airport and somebody'll stop me
and say, "Do you remember in 1987 I was the
intern?" [laughs] And blankety blank and,
"Oh I'm workin' in London now for blankety
blank." [laughs] And it gives me joy. So I
think that [pause] that relying on yourself,
preparing yourself, and knowing where you
wanna go is about the only thing I can say.
[chuckles],
>>Female Audience Member #1: Thank you.
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
[pause]
>>Justin Houser: Hi, Ms. Davis, My name is
Justin Houser and I just started here at Google
in September. I'm a recent graduate of Morehouse
College. I work in People Operations our HR
Department. And the question I have for you
is you talked about some of your notable interviews
so with Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra. Did you
have a favorite moment or a favorite interview
that you just can't forget that you want to
share?
>>Belva Davis: Oh my goodness, yeah. I have
many favorite [laughs] interviews, I can't
forget and people that I met. I like to remind
myself of this because I have this list of
people. Somebody in introducing me one day
read off a list of the people that I had interviewed,
people with some name and note. And I realized
I'd left Bob Hope's name off. Now how could
you leave off Bob Hope's name? I don't know
but I managed to do that --
>>Commentator: [chuckles]
>>Belva Davis: because there were so many
people accessible before the media sort of
got mad the way it is today. [chuckles] I
call it that because there's this gaggle of
folks pulling at you that it was, it was possible
to do that. I think I'm fortunate to have
had the access to Presidents and other high
ranking political figures from other countries
to talk with.
I can't argue against the fact that I was
fascinated by Fidel Castro. I had a chance
to meet him over a couple of times. I've always
thought that, and said it to him to his face,
but I doubt if he would have been as, would
have been able to do the things that he's
done, that Jimmy Carter was one of the most
--
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: thoughtful Presidents in terms
of the have nots that I've ever met. I admired
greatly Robert Kennedy because of the change
he made in his life and had a chance to talk
with him about it which was a wonderful, wonderful
experience.
I met with and talked with, in awe every moment,
Martin Luther King and he was a great man.
He took the time to try to 'suade me in my
feelings of guilt by not doing more during
the Civil Rights era. Even meeting Lena Horne
who said to a group of us who were visiting
her one afternoon --
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: "No matter what happens take
your naps at this age." [laughs]
[laughter]
And she was right. She was entertaining at
the Fairmont Hotel. And every afternoon at
two o'clock, she took a nap because she knew
she needed to be her best. Things, strange
little things that people say to you.
>>Commentator: Yeah.
>>Belva Davis: I would not have made the greatest
decision, the luckiest one of my life, were
it not for Nancy Wilson who convinced me to
marry my husband. We've only been together
for 47 years so she sure didn't know what
she's talkin' about. [laughs]
[laughter]
There are many people that I can talk of as
individuals. The story that lives with me
today and I still am trying to beat the drum
about it is I went on a trip to Kenya to Tanzania
after the bombing of the American Embassies
there. Five thousand people injured, 240 dead,
all but 11 of them Africans, 150 people blind
today because of that. So far as I know still
when my last communication with the woman
who introduced me to that story many of these
were still waiting to be compensated for those
burns and injuries.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: It was, as you know, the act
of Al-Quada and [pause] our government at
that time I guess was mystified as to how
they were gonna fight the war on terror. So
they were not helpful in those beginning months
to the Africans.
And I went with a woman to take medical supplies
to the injured. Glad I could go but felt bad
as an American that we, as volunteers, had
to come and bring bandages and prostheses
and other things to aid these people. So,
for a number of years, I've always beat the
drum whenever I could for the people particularly
of Nairobi because that's where the major
injuries were. Businesses lost. Families totally
destroyed.
And I still feel the pride of the African
psychiatrists and psychologists who went on
the radio to tell the people they shouldn't
blame anyone in, at that time. What they needed
to do more was to talk about helping each
other which they did.
So that's my soap box that I, I've stood on
for a very long time because it touched me
so deeply to, to have had the chance to be
there and to do something. [pause]
I'd better stop. [laughs]
>>Commentator: Thank you.
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
[pause]
>>Male Audience Member #2: Thanks so much
for coming and sharing your wisdom with us.
I just wonder what is your earliest recollection
of someone or something that gave you the
idea of never giving up?
>>Belva Davis: Well that's a truly long story
and I talk about my childhood of --. Born
to a teen mom. Given away as a baby to a relative
who died soon after about when I was three
to four years old. She had died of tuberculosis.
Being transferred around a lot between relatives
always but living, by the time I was 12, I'd
lived in seven different households. I'm talking
about this so you could see that life was
not a bed of roses.
Finally realizing at some point by the time
I was, by the time my mother left home, that
I had to be responsible for me and I would
only be giving up on myself if I gave up.
So before it was 'Don't be afraid', it was
'Never give up, never give up'. And my dream
at that time was to make someone care about
me. So to do that, I had all kinds of ways
of doing it from getting baptized in the Ouachita
River which I hope will not flood the town
of Monroe again. I was born during what was
called 'The Flood of the Century' back then
when Louisiana was being inundated with water.
So it, it was a tough life but it wasn't so
tough that it defeated me and it was because
I was using whatever tools I had to survive
and to be useful. And I think when I started
hitting these other bumps, they seem minor
compared to [chuckles] what I had been living
through.
I love it in the book. There's a number of
pictures in the center and there's one that
looks sort of middle class 'til you look at
it really closely. It's me standing around
a table with a group of people in formal attire.
And I always like to tell the under story.
That dining room table we're standing around
is the table which I slept under for three
years on the floor there [chuckles] in my
aunt's dining room as I finished high school.
So I think there are ways that you just take
life and turn it around.
>>Male Audience Member #2: So would you say
you're a natural optimist then?
>>Belva Davis: Oh of course.
>>Male Audience Member #2: Yeah.
>>Belva Davis: Yeah, I mean I of course I'm
not --
>>Commentator: [unintelligible]
>>Male Audience Member #2: It could just as
easily --
>>Belva Davis: No, but I know I could have
become a pessimist.
>>Male Audience Member #2: [unintelligible]
[laughs]
>>Belva Davis: No. No. No. I'm always expecting
the best from circumstances and people and
always saying to my husband, "It's gonna work
out. It's gonna work out." [laughs] I know
it is. I'm usually the one fretting the most
about it, but I'm also the one that feels
it's gonna work out. [laughs]
>>Male Audience Member #2: Thanks.
[pause]
>>Female Audience Member #2: Hi, Ms.Davis.
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
>>Female Audience Member #2: It's an honor
to have you here. This is a little high.
I wonder if you could talk a little bit about
the late 60s and early 70s. Here in particular
another Davis professor, Angela Davis, sort
of that experience and sort of how you were
involved with that, her trial, ?
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum, um-hum.
>>Female Audience Member #2: et cetera. Thank
you.
>>Belva Davis: Well other than being given
the Berkeley beat which I was given as my
first major assignment in -- of course you
know what went on in Berkeley during the late
60s. That meant that, that I got used to being
regularly tear gassed. That was it. But I
did have my own gas mask so I was better off
than the students.
[laughter]
But that I covered lots of those kinds of
situations.
And then, there was the Patty Hearst kidnapping
which I also reported, reported on which led
to an incident in our lives that were as close
to making me think hard about whether I belonged
in the business or not.
Angela Davis was suspected of aiding [pause]
an attempted break out at San Quentin and
she was pursued across the country and finally
arrested. And every day on the noon news at
KPIX, we did some story relating to that incident.
And then one day, we lived in El Cerrito,
an El Cerrito police officer came to our door
and I thought it was for a news tip. [chuckles]
Why else would a police officer come? So he
told us that he had heard or they had heard
that there was a plot to kidnap our daughter
in reprisal for the Patty Hearst kidnapping.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: And they thought, these Hells
Angels, non-thinkers, thought that I was Angela
Davis' sister. So therefore if "my people"
as they said, which really were not my people,
[chuckles] who really did all of the work
around that whole thing, the SLA, but that
they were gonna kidnap my daughter. And so
we decided to move. We couldn't convince them.
How could I? Couldn't go on the air and say,
'You're makin' a mistake'. So the police encouraged
us to move which we did. We moved two blocks
from where we worked, where I worked, where
I'd have access to my daughter. We never proved
whether it was going to happen. My daughter
was given police protection. She never knew
it and we didn't tell her about it for a very
long time. But at that point I, I wondered
--
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: indeed if this was the business
that we should be in. And my son didn't escape
his turn. [chuckles]
I did another series of stories, not to do
with Angela Davis, but about racial profiling
that I ended up on the list of the not very
welcome list at the Oakland Police Department.
And it was, it was a good series of stories.
They never proved that I said anything that
was inaccurate. But that was not the point.
But what did happen is that my son was arrested
for making an illegal right hand turn and
held for hours. Never charged basically, but
I got the message and that was the other time
that both my husband and I had to serious
talk as to how far do we go. Our decision
was not to leave the business but it was for
me anyway to stop being the face of that story
because now it wasn't me. It was my kid.
So Angela Davis. Incidentally, and I have
remained in touch with one another over the
years.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: She's a lovely, intelligent
woman and has continued her work with prison
reform all of these years and stayed true
to that. So I have to say that. [chuckle]
[pause]
>>Commentator: We still have a few more minutes
so if there's other questions. I still have
a list here too --
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
>>Commentator: but I don't wanna hog all the
time.
Please go ahead.
>>Belva Davis: [chuckles]
>>Commentator: I've got two people standing
up so go for it.
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
[pause]
>>Female Audience Member #3: Hi Ms. Davis.
>>Belva Davis: Um-hum.
>>Female Audience Member #3: Thanks for coming.
As a woman and an African American woman,
did you find when you started out reporting,
that they gave you different sorts of stories
to report on? And what were those stories
like? And another question. Are there any
unsolved cases that you covered that you still
wonder about?
>>Belva Davis: Hum, well my daughter's kidnapping
is one. [laughs]
[laughter]
That was different [laughs] and so we never,
we never got the real story on that one.
Well with me, it was that they were -- the
whole thing was to see how long I could last.
And I love telling the story in the book about
a camera man, in particular whose job it was
to make sure that I would get out of the business
as quickly as possible. In fact, he didn't
think I'd last two weeks even. And that was
the famous robber chase story that I tell
about a couple of weeks in I don't even think
I'd even been on the air by then. But anyway,
there was a live shoot out. Got robbers in
a car shooting. A cop car following it. I
was assigned to go out with him. We get in
his car. It's an old Peugeot, hardly runs.
But he is really a darling of the police department.
So in this chase, he moves in front of the
police car which they didn't like at all.
The robbers are shooting in our direction.
He decides to pick up his Bell and Howell
silent camera because he wants to get the
action. And the car is speeding and he tells
me to hold onto the steering wheel. [laughs]
So eventually, he was convinced by whatever
means, the radio was squeaking like crazy,
for us to get some sensibility about this
and so we got out of that.
And then after that, there were other tests
like that. So I can't complain that I got
all the soft stories, although some did come
my way. I did ask for tough assignments because
I wanted to play the game and to see, and
to see, to show them that I could do it, [chuckles]
whatever 'that' was.
And by the time the next woman got hired,
was -- a woman named Christine Lund was hired.
It's Channel 7. To show you what high esteem
all my good work had done, the news director
there said, "If they told me to hire a puppy
dog to keep my broadcast license, I would,"
when asked why he hired her. [laughs] So it
made -- neither of us felt very proud [laughs]
of that moment. Yeah.
Um-hum.
[pause]
>>Female Audience Member #4: Hi Mrs. Davis.
My name is Charlay. I'm in the Marketing Department
here at Google. A couple weeks ago, we had
the opportunity to watch a screening of a
documentary called 'Miss Representation' that
talked about how women are portrayed and perceived
in the media. And one of the things that stood
out is that a lot of female reporters and
anchorwomen today are made out to be very
like kind of sexified and objectified with
like low cut tops, a lot of makeup, hair.
And there aren't very many women anchors who
are considered to be serious reporters.
So I was wondering, in your heyday, were you
ever pressured to kind of play up your feminine
traits and be more about the physical or the
pretty, over emphasizing rather the work you
were doing? So was that ever a factor that
came into play?
>>Belva Davis: I've led a lucky life. I came
along when feminism was really just getting
on the ground. We were trying [chuckles] to
get women to wear less makeup, to do less
in terms of grammar, glamour.
I have to tell you now one trip to Los Angeles
and to see the anchor teams and you worry
as about what has happened? But, on the other
hand, if you listen to the reports coming
out of Egypt, Libya, wherever there are the
worst conditions ever, almost always now it's
a woman who's there. Now this is not true
with every woman who's there. But some of
it is because women who want to do this work,
as I told you, have put themselves in places
in countries where there's news to report.
And they've, so I'm told, they call the news
operations and say, "I'm in blankety, blank,
blank. Would you like a report from here?"
And it's launched a number of careers.
>>Commentator: Hum.
>>Belva Davis: And again, it's following my
own philosophy I have to say that's a good
thing. But on the other hand, the networks
have closed their bureaus. And when they had
them they were guys. Now the women are proving
that they can handle the toughest assignments.
So we have that group of women who are, some
of who are suffering greatly in some of these
countries 'cause they aren't protected enough.
And the other women who really wanna be in
show business and that's why they're sitting
at those anchor desks. [chuckles]
[pause]
>>Commentator: I think we have time for one
more question. I'm happy to ask the last question,
but if there's someone in the audience who
wants to ask the last question you can.
[pause]
>>Belva Davis: Okay
>>Commentator: I'll do it.
>>Belva Davis: Okay.
>>Commentator: So after listening and talking
with you and just sharing with you over the
last couple of hours, last 45 minutes in this
part of the session, it's no secret everyone
can all agree that you've had a tremendous
career and you've taken the road less traveled
on behalf all of us in this room. But whet
our appetites. What should we watch for next?
What topics are you passionate about? Who
would you like to sit across from and interview?
So when we're following you for the next many,
many years in your career, what can we be
looking for?
>>Belva Davis: Well, there's one serious answer
and one answer because I dream it and therefore
it's gonna happen.
>>Commentator: Okay.
>>Belva Davis: One is that my interest right
now lies with the three strikes law. I, I
feel there's a lot of unfairness in, it's
in the way it's written, in the way it's been
applied, and it's been applied mostly that
it falls on black males who carry that burden.
There's a project here at Stanford where they're
doing all the research to, to prove what I'm
thinking and I'm following that and reporting
on it. I've had the privilege of going into
Soledad Prison and sitting for an afternoon
in the prison yard with as many three strikers
as would come forward and listen to their
stories and they're interesting stories. We
know the hysteria around why it happened.
But I understand now that there, at least,
are conferences being held to talk about this.
And the other of course has to do with our
charming President. [chuckles] My dream is
and it's I said it's gonna happen --
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: I have not had an opportunity
to speak with Barack Obama and I hope I do
before I hang up my spurs [laughs] as the
old westerns used to say. It would be a shame
to have been around through all of these Presidents
and talk to so many of them and then the hero
of the moment, our century escape. But I'll
keep saying this in public long enough 'til
somebody --
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: one of these days will say,
"Hey Barack, remember that old lady out in
[laughs]
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Belva Davis: And it will come true because
?
>>Commentator: Yeah.
>>Belva Davis: one of the reasons, ways you
get what you want is you gotta ask for it.
[laughs]
>>Commentator: That's right.
>>Belva Davis: [laughs]
>>Commentator: That's right. And this will
be on YouTube.
>>Belva Davis: Oh boy!
>>Commentator: So then if --
>>Belva Davis: Yeah --
[laughter]
>>Commentator: and if --
>>Belva Davis: Yeah.
>>Commentator: he watches it --
>>Belva Davis: Alright you hear me. [laughs]
>>Commentator: he'll be able to see this exact
quote.
>>Belva Davis: Right. [laughs]
>>Commentator: [laughs]
>>Commentator: Well, thank you so much for
being here. For those who are interested,
you can stay after. She's gonna do a book
signing and we just are honored to have you
in our presence and for sharing your story.
Thank you for coming.
>>Belva Davis: Your hospitality couldn't have
been greater.
[applause]
Thank you so much.
[applause]
