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Speaker 1: You are listening and waiting on reparations of reduction of

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Speaker 1: my heart radio than what's happening y'all? It is the

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Speaker 1: dope knife. This is the lingua franca, and we are

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Speaker 1: waiting on the reparation. I like the the the lingua franca.

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Speaker 1: You should consider making that like a real official change.

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Speaker 1: I dikett, but you know, like lingua franca is often

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Speaker 1: used with what's that the singular definite article and that

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Speaker 1: you know it's the you know, English is the lingua franca,

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Speaker 1: is the lingua franca of the internet. Uh you know,

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Speaker 1: France is the lingua franca in uh quote unquote both

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Speaker 1: colonial Africa. So so where did where did the name come?

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Speaker 1: Because I don't think we've ever really discussed where a

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Speaker 1: red We not ever talked about this word. So um

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Speaker 1: so yeah, I have a master's in English for some

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Speaker 1: fucking reason, and I and sudden linguist has learned about

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Speaker 1: lingua francos, which are languages used to communicate across um

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Speaker 1: cultural boundary. So like I was saying, you know, Mandarin

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Speaker 1: um as the official language of China is the lingua franchise.

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Speaker 1: Even the various dialects have spoken all over China, um,

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Speaker 1: and I could get all into the languages versus dialect.

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Speaker 1: But um, so, I you know, adopted this to my

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Speaker 1: rap name because I wanted my music to be a

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Speaker 1: lingual franchise for all kinds of people come together around

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Speaker 1: the music that name, and I hope that's true. Um,

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Speaker 1: but that's a way more like noble reason than BT it. Obviously,

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Speaker 1: my name is Mac, but like I used to have

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Speaker 1: a homie, you still call me Mac the Knife back

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Speaker 1: in the day, and yeah, yeah, so like I'll be.

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Speaker 1: My first rap name for years was just Mac. I

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Speaker 1: would just go by Mac. And then I just didn't

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Speaker 1: like the way that it looked like on the back

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Speaker 1: of mixed on the back of mix tapes, and just

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Speaker 1: look weird to see everybody with cool rap code names.

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Speaker 1: Like before people started just rapping by their their government

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Speaker 1: and ship like that. So it's like everyone's got like yo,

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Speaker 1: I'm Spike, Yo, I'm little this young man. I was

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Speaker 1: just like I'm Mac. It's like, no, I got a chance.

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Speaker 1: So I started going by Knife and I was in

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Speaker 1: a group Dope Sandwich. Long story short, you know, when

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Speaker 1: the group disbanded, it was kind of like, let me

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Speaker 1: keep the dope too, you know, symbolize my crew that

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Speaker 1: sort of thing. This ain't a regular knife. This is

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Speaker 1: a dope knight exactly exactly. Funny Ship was like, I

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Speaker 1: don't know why, but every now and then, Joe Rogan,

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Speaker 1: we'll be talking about like an actual knife on Instagram

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Speaker 1: or Twitter or some should be like a dope name.

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Speaker 1: You'll say this is a dope knife, and then my

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Speaker 1: mentions will go fucking crazy for like a day. You capitalize, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: y'all would hate me. Um. Yeah, anyway, so we're back.

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Speaker 1: How's your Weeker? Week was good? A week has been?

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Speaker 1: Oh weak? Um, I have been on one with regards

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Speaker 1: to my like uh my, my, my perpetual tustling with

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Speaker 1: the cops or yeah, we need to follow up on

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Speaker 1: what we talked about last Okay, So I talked to

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Speaker 1: you about how the police people was like real mad

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Speaker 1: at me, and uh yeah, So that all kind of

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Speaker 1: just dissipated in that the county manager kind of had

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Speaker 1: a word with him about his behavior because not only

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Speaker 1: was what he said just just generally offensive and inappropriate,

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Speaker 1: it was in violation of the county charter, like the

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Speaker 1: literal structure of how a government is supposed to work

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Speaker 1: in certain ways. So they had a little chat UM

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Speaker 1: and uh so that was all fine, But I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: y'all thought you gonna silence me, but that's never going

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Speaker 1: to happen. Was it just like a talking to or

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Speaker 1: did he get disciplined somehow? No? He It was described

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Speaker 1: as a counseling, which I think is like a you know,

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Speaker 1: a way to stoppen like hey, but we're just gonna

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Speaker 1: have a little chat, you know, only it was a

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Speaker 1: disciplinary matter. Probably felt like it for someone that operates

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Speaker 1: with utter impunity um, as law enforcement often does. But

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Speaker 1: excuse me, but so I pinned another opinion of editorial

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Speaker 1: on Monday night, UM just about revolutionary optimism and just

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Speaker 1: like how to understand losing UM because I had read

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Speaker 1: another article recently um to crying like to fund the

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Speaker 1: police that's like UM and and the like plooral vulnerability

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Speaker 1: and a failed movement and how people need to move on,

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Speaker 1: And I just wanted to reframe some of the evidence

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Speaker 1: they used that the HI fund had failed for people

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Speaker 1: that who might be more sensitive to that kind of rhetoric.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's a lot of young people out here

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Speaker 1: who have their hope really high that they contained to

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Speaker 1: the world, and so I just wanted to like offer

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Speaker 1: them a word of hope in ways that probably further angered, um,

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Speaker 1: the law enforcement officials in my community. But you know what,

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Speaker 1: I'm not worried about it. I'm not wal worried about it.

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Speaker 1: They got a problem with it. They know where they

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Speaker 1: could stick it. About that, I mean, I don't I know,

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Speaker 1: you can't say that. I can't say that. I will

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Speaker 1: not say that, but um, I will say that I

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Speaker 1: have frequently found at moments of high tension when I

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Speaker 1: am getting like yelled at by many people about something,

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Speaker 1: it generally coincides with when something really important is happening

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Speaker 1: in a very important conversation that we need to have

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Speaker 1: is happening. So it's not something like eye relashan or

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Speaker 1: just like it does. It does come with a personal

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Speaker 1: and cost and cost my mental health. But it's like, mm,

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Speaker 1: I've seen this correlation a lot. It probably means that

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Speaker 1: this is important if this is starting to happen to me, Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean it is always always recognizing and prioritizing what's

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Speaker 1: important versus what's not. You know what I'm saying, Like

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Speaker 1: knowing would what battles to fight and win. So yeah, um,

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Speaker 1: all right, so let's get into what we're getting into today.

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Speaker 1: So today is an episode that we have been long

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Speaker 1: talking about for the last two weeks. We are going

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Speaker 1: to be talking about the man, the myth, the legend,

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Speaker 1: Dick Gregory, now Richard Claxton Gregory as he's in Claxton Claxton,

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Speaker 1: let me talk to Claxton. Richard Claxton Gregory was comedian, author,

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Speaker 1: civil rights and health activists. Born October twelfth, nineteen thirty two.

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Speaker 1: He would eventually pass away August nineteen. His career had

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Speaker 1: several moments of social relevance, from his rise in stand

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Speaker 1: up comedy in the fifties, his civil rights work alongside

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Speaker 1: Mega Evers and MLK in the sixties, his anti Vietnam

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Speaker 1: War activism in the seventies, and jump start that jump

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Speaker 1: started by a health and fitness revolution that he had

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Speaker 1: going on in the eighties. I mean, the brother was

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Speaker 1: fitness revolution. I want to have a health and fitness revolution.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like, I mean like his his impact on

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Speaker 1: health and fitness in the eighties was so much that

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Speaker 1: Dick Gregory became like a what's the word I'm looking

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Speaker 1: for this linguist. It's like like people would say something like, hey, man,

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Speaker 1: you're looking good. You've been you've been losing weight? Oh yeah, man,

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Speaker 1: you know I've been doing that. Dick Gregory, his name

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Speaker 1: became with health and fitness exactly like even a house party,

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Speaker 1: house party, there's a there's a part where like there's

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Speaker 1: a there's an overweight guy, but he's like tell us,

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Speaker 1: He's like, yo, bring me over. Some of that did

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Speaker 1: Gregory because like Dick Gregor used to have this uh

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Speaker 1: like vitamin mineral supplement juice thing. He was he was

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Speaker 1: really really had, you know, headstart on the whole juice

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Speaker 1: and juicing movement and all that clear about which one

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Speaker 1: were talking about here, all right, So um yeah, we're

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Speaker 1: gonna get into that. We're going to dive into his

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Speaker 1: life at times, talk about some of his activism over

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Speaker 1: the years, and you know, just for for for caps

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Speaker 1: who do know Dick Gregory and have heard of him,

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Speaker 1: because he is a pretty famous dude. You know, uh,

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Speaker 1: you're you're gonna be here and some of the things,

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Speaker 1: you know, you might hear some stuff you don't know.

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Speaker 1: But for some of the younger folks out there who

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Speaker 1: have never heard of I never I never heard about Dickory.

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Speaker 1: You never heard Okay, So see, like, why how did

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Speaker 1: I come to hear about Dick Gregory. Besides for like

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Speaker 1: the colloquial you know, references like in weight loss and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that. I think I started hearing about him

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Speaker 1: in the like early two thousand's. I mean, obviously he

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Speaker 1: had been around for longer, but I think the early

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Speaker 1: two thousand's he uh started speaking or at least in

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Speaker 1: forms where I would see, like he would speak at

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Speaker 1: like BT events, and you know, I think Martin Lawrence

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Speaker 1: did like a comedy special that he was part of

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Speaker 1: in his old in his advanced old age and stuff

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Speaker 1: like that. So it was always like, oh man, this

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Speaker 1: is like some old dude talking some real ship. And

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Speaker 1: obviously there's more two of them than I knew, you know,

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Speaker 1: And and that that was pretty much my exposure to

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Speaker 1: Dick Gregory. But this will be cool of you hadn't

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Speaker 1: heard of him before this. Yeah, let's get it all right.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back with that after the jump. Okay,

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Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen, we are back and we are about

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Speaker 1: to jump into this whole thing with Dick Gregory. Now

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Speaker 1: Gregory attended. The one thing I'm gonna say first, The

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Speaker 1: one thing I'm gonna stay first, is that, do you

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Speaker 1: hear me? Yeah? Okay, the one do you want to

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Speaker 1: stay first? We're talking about, like, oh, who you know?

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Speaker 1: Have you? Young folks haven't heard Dick Gregory? Now? If

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Speaker 1: you had to sit me down and say, who do

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Speaker 1: you think Clacton Gregory was, I'd be like, it's me

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Speaker 1: the governor of Mississippi. Did he hey, my grandfather from

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Speaker 1: a tree and steal his land? And still a little

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Speaker 1: just today like like the odest want to say, that

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Speaker 1: is surprising. I think a lot of what we're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk about today if prising, given the old timiness of

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Speaker 1: his name. I does don't trust old timins. Nobody name Ethel,

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Speaker 1: I don't trust nobody names. Loraine do trust no Bertha,

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Speaker 1: none of y'all. Note y'all cool with me? Well, Gregory

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Speaker 1: is still a little even just that a lot like

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Speaker 1: looking at you so sideways? I don't know about that. Well.

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Speaker 1: In Dick Gregory's defense, I had never heard the name

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Speaker 1: Claxton used in in association with Dick Gregory until looking

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Speaker 1: at his Wikipedia thing. So it's not I only I've

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Speaker 1: only ever heard the name Claxton. It was the last

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Speaker 1: name of the whitest girl in my elementary He was

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Speaker 1: trans loosened in the light. I think there was a

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Speaker 1: basketball player back in the day called Speedy Claxton. This

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Speaker 1: nigga's name was Speedy Claxton. Yeah, be Claxton, BEDI Claxton,

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Speaker 1: And it wasn't a nickname. Nigga's name was Speedy. I just,

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Speaker 1: I just, I mean, I joked on this in my head.

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Speaker 1: Should I say out loud? There's so many anyways, So

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Speaker 1: Speedy class did attend me. Clas Dick Gregory attended Southern

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Speaker 1: Illinois University on a track scholarship before getting drafted into

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Speaker 1: the United States Army. Now, it was in the Army

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Speaker 1: that he would eventually get his quote unquote start in

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Speaker 1: comedy after he was urged on by a commanding officer

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Speaker 1: to get into the game, who he noticed that he

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Speaker 1: had a pension for telling jokes. That's surprising as hell

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Speaker 1: in itself, given how regimented and soul prefting the army

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Speaker 1: is like. And you know what we don't do around

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Speaker 1: here a lot? How fun? You know what you're good

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Speaker 1: at making people have fun? We're talking about fired. We're

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Speaker 1: talking about early fifties too, you know. Yeah, so so

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Speaker 1: he uh, he ended up getting into that way. He

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Speaker 1: would eventually go back to the Southern Illinois University, but

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Speaker 1: he only went I think, uh for maybe like another

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Speaker 1: year or so before he dropped out. He would state

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Speaker 1: that the school wanted him to run and not to learn,

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Speaker 1: but in any event, he was considering using this as

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Speaker 1: a jumping off point to try to pursue a career

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Speaker 1: and being a professional stand up comic. Speaking of what

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna butt in with all kinds of random ship

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Speaker 1: because um, I'm drinking Carlo Carlo Rassi go speaking of

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Speaker 1: dropping out of college. Um we uh. We talked about

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Speaker 1: student debt on like episode maybe a year ago, and

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Speaker 1: it's been coming up a lot because the re loan

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Speaker 1: payments are about to start again like in sixty days

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Speaker 1: and everybody's real mad about it and the Democrats gonna

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Speaker 1: lose the make terms over it. But this issue, but

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Speaker 1: didn't Biden already drop it? Then he said, no, I

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Speaker 1: don't didn't do ship for anybody. I mean not to know.

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Speaker 1: He didn't get child tax credit. That was pretty cool,

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Speaker 1: but in in researching this whole issue because I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: trying to push war kN off at a stop to

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Speaker 1: get behind the other congress people who are pushing canceled

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Speaker 1: student debt. Um. I learned that of student loan borrowers

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Speaker 1: drop out of college. They don't even finish coup. They

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Speaker 1: got like thirty thousand, sixty dollars and loans, but they

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Speaker 1: only have an agreed So. But back in back in

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Speaker 1: Claxton's days, Um, you don't have to worry about that.

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Speaker 1: You go to the army. You know, you get your

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Speaker 1: school paid. I mean, I guess that's still true. But

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Speaker 1: you know, college costs like three thousand dollars a year.

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Speaker 1: You can be making nickels at the little so to

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Speaker 1: float shop on Main Street and pay for that ship.

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Speaker 1: So he's like, Who's like, yo, I don't pay ship

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Speaker 1: for this degree. What's up going to become a professional comedian? Probably?

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Speaker 1: I mean it's contrasting the you know, the time a

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Speaker 1: little bit so. So somewhere somewhere after he uh left

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Speaker 1: school and left the army, he would have tried his

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Speaker 1: hand in opening up a comedy club, but that would

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Speaker 1: eventually fail, wouldn't work out the way that he wanted to,

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Speaker 1: but he still stuck with it, still kept doing his comedy,

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Speaker 1: and his star was rising. He became part of a

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Speaker 1: new generation of black comedians that included Nipsey Russell. Stop

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Speaker 1: I didn't know that Nipsey Hustle's name came from somewhere.

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Speaker 1: Stop it, I didn't know. Yeah, yeah, Nipsey Russell. He

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Speaker 1: was a comedian, yeah, obviously, but I mean he was

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Speaker 1: like he's like one of those um he's like one

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Speaker 1: of those like old like Amos and Andy type of

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Speaker 1: comedians like back in the day, you know, apparently because

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Speaker 1: he was born in fucking nineteen eighteen. Yeah, yeah, like

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Speaker 1: like this in Atlanta, which makes me more embarrassed. I

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Speaker 1: didn't know who he was. Well, see, okay, so you know,

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Speaker 1: part of that generation with Nipsey Russell, Bill Cosby, Godfred Cambridge.

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Speaker 1: These are all guys who broke the whole minstrel show

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Speaker 1: tradition and show buzin at the time. They're bucking stereotypical

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Speaker 1: portrayals of black people and that Gregory, as far as

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Speaker 1: his comedy goes, it's much akin to something that we

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Speaker 1: would recognize now, at least like in like an early

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Speaker 1: day of Chappelle or Chris Rock stuff like that where

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Speaker 1: a lot of his comedy was based on the racial

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Speaker 1: issues of the day. Um well, here's what I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: say about that, though, is that as much as you

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Speaker 1: can be groundbreaking and like showing the many facets of blackness,

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Speaker 1: I feel like, and we'll get into more of like

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Speaker 1: Dick Gregory's like audience in a bit, but when we

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Speaker 1: talk about people like Bill Cosby, who I know is

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Speaker 1: really influential you know, to me when I was growing up,

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Speaker 1: but even people like Dave Chappelle, like, at some point

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Speaker 1: you are performing for white people, particularly in the era

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Speaker 1: when you have like stuff on TV, you have Netflix, Like,

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Speaker 1: it's not as like geographically to find the audiences. So

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Speaker 1: it's not like you're performing in a comedy club but

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Speaker 1: a black neighborhood. It's like you've got special on Netflix.

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Speaker 1: Who knows he's watching it, and so like like it's

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Speaker 1: almost like, I hate to say this, but in some

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Speaker 1: ways it could still be minstrel ce like because you're

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Speaker 1: still kind of like, you know, doing a song and

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Speaker 1: dance for white people, even if you don't mean to.

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Speaker 1: Even if it's not as like like that, it's not

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Speaker 1: as flattening of the black experience, as like menstre Ce

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Speaker 1: was when they're like openly like trying to make white

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Speaker 1: people laugh about black people, think about like the making

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Speaker 1: of Claxton, think about Clayton Bigsby. Like I remember when

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Speaker 1: I was in middle school and that should dropped. I

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Speaker 1: had a bunch of fucking like white friends who were

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Speaker 1: in bands with me, like laughing about like you know, nigger, nigger, nigga,

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Speaker 1: this and that. Like it's like problematic because it kind

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Speaker 1: of reinforces some stiff that people think about black people

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Speaker 1: if they don't know actual black people. But not to

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Speaker 1: say that Dick Gregory was like that, I'm the stand

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Speaker 1: Like when we talk about breaking with the minstrel minstrel

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Speaker 1: show tradition, I think it's like a complex thing accident.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, I mean, first, Dick Gregory wasn't even

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Speaker 1: well we'll get into a little bit of what he

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Speaker 1: thought about his audience and the changing his audience and

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Speaker 1: who he was trying to reach. But Dick Gregory himself

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Speaker 1: personally wasn't against the minstrel shows. He wasn't against the

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Speaker 1: amos and Andy's and stuff like that. As a matter

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Speaker 1: of fact, He's quoted saying that the problem was much

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Speaker 1: like today, is that there wasn't ballads. You know. He

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Speaker 1: was like, it's not a matter of, oh, get rid

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Speaker 1: of Amos and Andy. It's a matter of that's all

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Speaker 1: that there is. So that they're not showing the full

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Speaker 1: facets of blackness as as he would go on to

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Speaker 1: describe it. But I mean also also we're not talking like,

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Speaker 1: um metaphorical minstrel ship. Yeah. I mean, like the comedians

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Speaker 1: that that Dick Gregory was coming after were literally minstrel shows.

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Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like like literally like bug

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Speaker 1: very specific in that context. Yeah, like like so, so

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Speaker 1: by bucking that tradition, I just mean that and the

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Speaker 1: little like I mean that, I mean that in the

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Speaker 1: technical sense. I would say if somebody started doing sound

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Speaker 1: film and they went from silent film, you know what

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Speaker 1: I mean, Yeah, nothing makes sense. There's a metaphorical sense, uh,

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Speaker 1: and then there's a literal, actual contextual, historical sense. And

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Speaker 1: I think saying in this instance, yea. So he would

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Speaker 1: credit his jump off to Hugh Hefner, the owner of

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Speaker 1: owner of founder of Playboy. Now a lot of people

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Speaker 1: have again for our younger audience, and obviously it's way

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Speaker 1: before my time. But the Playboy Club in the Playboy

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Speaker 1: clubs that were like franchise around the US were like

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Speaker 1: a big deal in the fifties and sixties. Franchise. I'm

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Speaker 1: sorry when you said franchise, you made me think when

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Speaker 1: Playboy clubs were like a fucking stunty tea or some ship.

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Speaker 1: Well that's kind of ride down to your local frit mall.

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Speaker 1: Come on, kids, hop into them. We're gonna go. The

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Speaker 1: Playboy clubs. Well that's how it was. I mean, I mean,

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Speaker 1: the Playboy Club. It wasn't they weren't They were like

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Speaker 1: it's the actual phrase, quote unquote gentleman club is that what?

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Speaker 1: There weren't necessarily strip clubs, you know what I mean

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Speaker 1: there was, There weren't women dancing naked and stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: It was more so it was more so just like

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Speaker 1: you know, stuffy white guys in suits smoking cigars and

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Speaker 1: as when it just it just had a lot of

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Speaker 1: popularity to it. You know, there's like a Playboy Club Chicago,

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Speaker 1: there's a Playboy Club Club l A. And I just

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Speaker 1: mean in a time before their work chuck e cheeses

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Speaker 1: and stuff like the Playboy Club was a big deal.

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Speaker 1: So when Dick Gregory got his opportunity to um oh,

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Speaker 1: when he threw a chance encounter with Hugh Hefner, Hugh Hefner,

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Speaker 1: you know, decided to have him fill in on a

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Speaker 1: spot at the Playboy Club. And just from the you know,

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Speaker 1: like the Playboy Club is, it's kind of like what

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Speaker 1: has that. It's kind of like if you're on like

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Speaker 1: a huge podcast or something like that. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: like once, once you play the Playboy Club as a comedian,

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Speaker 1: then it's then your name starts getting out there. So

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Speaker 1: that that's uh so he he took to the day

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Speaker 1: he died. He accredited Hugh Hefner with launching his comedy career.

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Speaker 1: What do you think? I mean, that's cool. Good for him,

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Speaker 1: that's great. I'm so caught up on this, like idea

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Speaker 1: of the Playboy Club. Still think about Chucky Teas. I'm like, well,

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Speaker 1: the Dave of Busters is like David bust Ut, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: go in there in your leisure student, like I don't know,

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Speaker 1: get asthma from breathing in the car smoke. You should.

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Speaker 1: You should check out some like some old footage from

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Speaker 1: the old Playboy Club things, because I just you know,

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Speaker 1: in this I think through time maybe it just it

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Speaker 1: has a different connotation. Not that it wasn't like some

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Speaker 1: it's a ton of girls in bonny ears and little

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Speaker 1: leotard's I'm not complaining about, but that definitely was the case.

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Speaker 1: I just mean, you know, it wasn't a strip club.

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Speaker 1: You know, if you think Playboy and you have clothes,

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Speaker 1: there's not a lot. Yeah, this is fine, it's cool.

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Speaker 1: So while we're working for the United States Postal Service

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Speaker 1: in the daytime, Gregory performance comedian small primarily black patronized nightclubs.

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Speaker 1: In an interview with The Huffington's Post, Gregory described the

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Speaker 1: history of black comics as limited. Blacks could sing, Blacks

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Speaker 1: could sing and dance in the white nightclubs, but weren't

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Speaker 1: allowed to stand flat footed and talk to white folks,

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Speaker 1: which is what comic does. And there's something about that

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Speaker 1: quote dans flat footed, like what am I supposed to

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Speaker 1: doing on my tippytales around white people? No, he's saying,

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Speaker 1: he's saying, it's just unders a funny image. Well, I

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Speaker 1: mean comedians don't sing and dance. I guess that is

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Speaker 1: what he was saying, at least not the style of

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Speaker 1: comedy that he was doing. He you know, because like

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Speaker 1: again he was doing like that. Gregory used to get

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Speaker 1: some of the criticism that he would get from other

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Speaker 1: black comedians of the day is that he was too serious.

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Speaker 1: You know. A lot, a lot of the criticism that

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Speaker 1: he would get was, oh man, he's more of an

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Speaker 1: activist the comedian of his his stuff is more angry

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Speaker 1: than funny, you know what I'm saying. So like for

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Speaker 1: him him going to the Playboy Club and doing a

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Speaker 1: set at the time, it's like, hey, this isn't like

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Speaker 1: somebody come up their wide eyed talking about hey boss,

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Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's like a fucking suave

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Speaker 1: you know, smooth, cool ass, intelligent black dude smoking us

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Speaker 1: a guard talking about real ship of the day like like.

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Speaker 1: Because of the razor early charged nature of his act,

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Speaker 1: the administration the University of Tennessee, for instance, along with others,

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Speaker 1: branded him as an extreme racist whose appearance would be

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Speaker 1: an outrage and an insult to many citizens of the state,

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Speaker 1: and they revoked his inverstation by students to speak on campus.

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Speaker 1: The students sued, and they noted. The students sued with

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Speaker 1: noted litigator William Kunstler as their counsel, and in Smith

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Speaker 1: versus the University of Tennessee, they want an order from

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Speaker 1: the court that the university's policy was too broad and vague.

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Speaker 1: In the University of Tennessee implemented an open speaker system

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Speaker 1: and Dick Gregory would eventually get to perform, and they oh,

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Speaker 1: you won, my friend, great job. Proud of him. It

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Speaker 1: would be one of one of many wins. But so

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Speaker 1: what are your what are your thoughts about that so far?

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Speaker 1: I mean I think that whenever like you raised any

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Speaker 1: kind of issues at all, whenever you're speaking realness people,

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Speaker 1: I want to say, you're angry, Like if you're ever

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Speaker 1: not just like going with the grain, people are gonna

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Speaker 1: be like, oh, even like staying is racially charged. I

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Speaker 1: don't know, man, I mean, like you throught it's talk

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Speaker 1: about real ship like everybody's found down, but that it

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Speaker 1: ultimately like came to a four case and everything, but

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Speaker 1: order that it came before the courts that like, yo,

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Speaker 1: y'all need to like y'all need to skill is I mean,

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00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 1: it's just a little ridiculous. But this is yeah, well,

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Speaker 1: I mean this is like he would have he would

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Speaker 1: eventually get to speak in nineteen seventies, but all this

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Speaker 1: stuff end in the fifth I didn't even make that connection.

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Speaker 1: Man that so um Gregory noted that as his stardom

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Speaker 1: in the world of comedy rose, he couldn't ignore the

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Speaker 1: images that he was seeing from the struggle down South

422
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:21,200
Speaker 1: and civil rightings. Many black celebs at the time avoided

423
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,919
Speaker 1: really getting their feet wet in it or commentating on

424
00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:27,600
Speaker 1: it like that out of you know, fear recussions losing

425
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 1: their career, alienating an audience that perhaps they wanted to maintain.

426
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,199
Speaker 1: So a lot of them didn't mention it. But he

427
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,400
Speaker 1: found like a lot of struggle with just sitting back

428
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 1: and making money while this was going on. And he

429
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 1: also didn't feel comfortable just sending a check, you know

430
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:48,639
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like he he didn't think that that

431
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,359
Speaker 1: was adequate. So he had a conversation with his wife

432
00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 1: and he told her, Hey, I'm about to embark on this,

433
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,400
Speaker 1: and like, I know that I'm a I'm a I'm

434
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,439
Speaker 1: i'm a rising star comedian right now, but you know,

435
00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:03,600
Speaker 1: are you all right with understanding that all this ship

436
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: could end now? And I mean, that's what you gotta do?

437
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:13,200
Speaker 1: Some downs And I look so he put his career

438
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:16,160
Speaker 1: at risk. In nineteen sixty three, he went to Selma.

439
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,880
Speaker 1: He spoke for two hours on the public platform UH

440
00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,720
Speaker 1: two days before voter registration drive known as Freedom Day.

441
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty four, he helped the search for three

442
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: missing civil rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Scharner,

443
00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,919
Speaker 1: who vanished in Philadelphia, Mississippi. After Gregory and members of

444
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,119
Speaker 1: the Corps the Congress for Racial Equality, they met with

445
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:46,440
Speaker 1: the Nashoba County Sheriff, Lawrence A. Rainey, and de Gregory

446
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,159
Speaker 1: became convinced the sheriff's office was complicit, so with cash

447
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: provided to him by Hugh Hefner, Gregory announced the twenty

448
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,880
Speaker 1: five thousand dollar reward for information, and the FBI, which

449
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 1: had been criticized for their inaction, event truly followed the

450
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,119
Speaker 1: suit with its own reward. And the rewards were the

451
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,280
Speaker 1: bodies of the three men were found by the FBI

452
00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 1: for you, four days after they disappeared. You said their names.

453
00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 1: It's like I know their names from somewhere because they

454
00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 1: were fucking murdered. Um. Great, but hey, great job getting

455
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:20,639
Speaker 1: The FBI did not merely breakup social movements, but pretend

456
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:26,400
Speaker 1: to care when their arbiters are, you know, mysteriously disappeared

457
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:28,760
Speaker 1: in kilt. Great good job, Bethy, I we love you.

458
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:32,440
Speaker 1: This isn't gonna be the last of the FBI and

459
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,120
Speaker 1: the Dick Gregory story. Now you you remember the Cointel

460
00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,639
Speaker 1: pro stuff, right o? Can I forget? I think about

461
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,399
Speaker 1: every day every day in my life. Hey, like he

462
00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: he Dick Gregory is one of those figures. Now. Remember

463
00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,040
Speaker 1: remember when we were talking about it, we were talking

464
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: about music and musicians in the right. But they had

465
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,000
Speaker 1: like a whole like j Edgar Hoover had a whole

466
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,520
Speaker 1: thing out for black comedians, with Dick Gregory being one

467
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 1: of his number one targets in it. So Gregory was beaten,

468
00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: he was jailed, he was hose, he got his arm

469
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: broken down there, he had dogs sicked on him. Him

470
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:14,720
Speaker 1: and his friend, his friends Mega evers and MLK Mega

471
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: Evers who he was actually personal personal friends with. As

472
00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:22,280
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, he was actually personal friends with

473
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: Mega evers Um. During his work that he was doing

474
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:31,399
Speaker 1: the civil rights movement, his uh son passed away, so

475
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,919
Speaker 1: he ended up having to leave to go back to

476
00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:39,040
Speaker 1: Chicago to you know, deal with that whole situation and

477
00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,640
Speaker 1: Mega Evers were and how they like pretty much any

478
00:27:42,680 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 1: other's company. There are a lot of people think that

479
00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,280
Speaker 1: was the only reason that did Gregory wasn't gunned down

480
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:53,159
Speaker 1: is because he had left to go attend his child's funeral.

481
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,919
Speaker 1: Otherwise he otherwise he would have been on in that

482
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,000
Speaker 1: in the front of that driveway with Mega Evers when

483
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:03,720
Speaker 1: he was shot. Oh god, don't missing the ship. Oh god,

484
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 1: he would. I mean, obviously, all this is to just

485
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:12,200
Speaker 1: set up the fact that this brother went from comedian

486
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:17,120
Speaker 1: on the rise to recognizing injustice as he saw it

487
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 1: and putting his money where his mouth was, which is, hey,

488
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:23,760
Speaker 1: I'm about to get involved. It might affect my career

489
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,920
Speaker 1: for the negative, but you gotta stand by they print

490
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,720
Speaker 1: what your principle, don't you know what I'm saying? And

491
00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,720
Speaker 1: see you know, we've had conversations on the show before

492
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 1: about the role of celebrities in social movements, and it's

493
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,200
Speaker 1: a very complicated conversation because there's a lot of people

494
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: don't opinions down there and trying to jump in and

495
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,680
Speaker 1: like helped it. Throw a lot of money around, is

496
00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:47,480
Speaker 1: thely what they like to do because they don't actually

497
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 1: have to put their bodies on the line. It's just

498
00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: like I mean, in this case, he was like, hey,

499
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 1: here's twenty five dollars. He's somewhat in that same vein.

500
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,880
Speaker 1: But you see that very often where it's like, hey,

501
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 1: I announced this partnership and with Venmo where we're gonna

502
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 1: like you know, give your kids, um, you know, diabetes

503
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:09,400
Speaker 1: medication or whatever. Um. But like there's something something about

504
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:10,880
Speaker 1: this to me. I mean maybe it's because of like

505
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: there's a stali nostalgizing of like the Civil rights movement

506
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 1: where everything seems so pure and like their ideals were

507
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:22,479
Speaker 1: so untainted that like I mean, and also here that

508
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: Gregory like actually put himself on the line. He was

509
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: out there with folks like close to folks who are

510
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:30,720
Speaker 1: losing their lives in the struggle. Like it feels a

511
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:33,960
Speaker 1: little more like authentic than some of the like what's

512
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,160
Speaker 1: the activism you see of like I don't know, people

513
00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 1: just showing up on marches to put it on the

514
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,560
Speaker 1: grahnd or like you know, I announced the partnership with MasterCard,

515
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 1: were we're not gonna beat your kids, or like you know, well,

516
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:47,360
Speaker 1: I mean just to put it in this context, right,

517
00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 1: and Okay, I don't think that I have that I

518
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,200
Speaker 1: should have to preface it by saying fucking Bill Cosby.

519
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,920
Speaker 1: But all right, we all know fun Bill Cosby off

520
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 1: the jump, right, but you know we're hip hop show.

521
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: It's not like a clear position support someone deeply embedded

522
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:06,360
Speaker 1: in hip hop and necessarily a whole. Yeah that's true.

523
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 1: True that too that that could be a whole unfortunately.

524
00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: But um but like you heard of Bill Cosby, right,

525
00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 1: and you haven't heard of Dick Gregory. You the reason

526
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 1: that you had heard of Bill Cosby Gregory is not

527
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 1: because like Bill Cosby was just like so infinitely funnier

528
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: than Dick, because it was because one gave up his career,

529
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:31,720
Speaker 1: like for real, for real was it was like like that.

530
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,120
Speaker 1: And that's what you don't see. You don't see activists.

531
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 1: I mean, like, um, yeah, you don't see. You don't

532
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,760
Speaker 1: see celebrities like I am going to risk my fortune.

533
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: I'm gonna risk my millions and billions crime his prime

534
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,120
Speaker 1: prime in the beginning, like he had just he it

535
00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,200
Speaker 1: would be like if it would be like if Drake

536
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 1: left Wrap to go do activism stuff in like two

537
00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: thousand ten, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, I

538
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 1: don't even really got, you know, fully like become what

539
00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,880
Speaker 1: he what he was gonna become what he did. That

540
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:06,120
Speaker 1: his activism would expand into different areas as time went on,

541
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 1: you know, because like you know, we're obviously jump cutting

542
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,080
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. But you know, through the course

543
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: of all this stuff, Mega Evers dies, he continues to fight,

544
00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 1: m Okay dies, He continues to fight and continues being

545
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 1: a civil rights uh figure. But you know, as time

546
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:26,719
Speaker 1: goes on, this would expand to anti Vietnam War activism,

547
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:32,040
Speaker 1: economic reform activism, anti drug issues, which he did stay

548
00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 1: away from. He stayed away from doing any sort of

549
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 1: like p s a don't do drugs stuff because he

550
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: was like, man, I can't tell these kids not to

551
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,520
Speaker 1: do drugs when if you see my stand up, I'm

552
00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,960
Speaker 1: like standing there like with a glass of scotch smoking

553
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 1: cigarettes like they're going out of stop. But but but

554
00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:53,440
Speaker 1: as he got more into like his activist activist activist

555
00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: stage and you know, entered into his forties, he became

556
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,719
Speaker 1: a lot more conscious about a man, these drugs are

557
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,360
Speaker 1: destroyed the community and stuff like that. Yeah yeah, yeah,

558
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:08,640
Speaker 1: um he uh It's part of his activism. One of

559
00:32:08,640 --> 00:32:12,080
Speaker 1: the things that he became pretty popular for as an activist.

560
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,680
Speaker 1: And also, you know, people were telling him, like first

561
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,880
Speaker 1: when he got into activism, people were saying, hey, stick

562
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 1: to comedy. Right. Then he gets into activism, he does

563
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:25,840
Speaker 1: all that stuff during the civil rights era, the Vietnam

564
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,719
Speaker 1: War stars he starts speaking out about that, people start going, hey, man,

565
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,959
Speaker 1: you should stick to civil right. So it's just like

566
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 1: it's just like a never that's wild. You never hear that.

567
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 1: You never ever hear that. They're always telling us to

568
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 1: shut up and dribble and ship. And they're like now

569
00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:45,880
Speaker 1: they're like, no, stick with the original activism. Um. But

570
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: now he he went in on the on the Vietnam War,

571
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:50,120
Speaker 1: and I'm sorry I caught myself in the thought. But

572
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 1: one of the things that he was popular for in

573
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,480
Speaker 1: terms of the strikes that he would organize, he would

574
00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 1: organize hunger strikes where he himself would fast and you know,

575
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,400
Speaker 1: put his body through a lot of strain in order

576
00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,800
Speaker 1: to make the points that he was making. But he

577
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: would he would do these hunger strikes like for for

578
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:09,920
Speaker 1: all of these different movements. He would get a lot

579
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,520
Speaker 1: of people to join him to the point to where

580
00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,840
Speaker 1: he started backing off on that because of like the

581
00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: young people who were following in his footsteps and like

582
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 1: actually getting pretty sick doing it, you know what I'm saying,

583
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: because they weren't like helping enthusiastic enthusiasts like he was

584
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,960
Speaker 1: when they were trying to do it. But he caused

585
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 1: up so much ship in the seventies over the Vietnam War,

586
00:33:32,800 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: brother ended up getting banned from Australia by the government

587
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: because they feared that his presence in the country would

588
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:42,240
Speaker 1: stir up demonstrate his presence alone would stir up demonstrations

589
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,080
Speaker 1: against the You know how you got you know what

590
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:45,760
Speaker 1: a bad bits you had to be to get banned

591
00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 1: from Australia. You know, you know only should have been

592
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,240
Speaker 1: in Australia an assault weapons and you gotta be a real,

593
00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:56,760
Speaker 1: real bad bit in Australia for real. And like you

594
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 1: don't even got the Internet to spread your message and

595
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 1: you're getting banned, you getting banned off, You're getting banned

596
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:11,280
Speaker 1: off a newspaper press. Um. He would take this anti

597
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:16,799
Speaker 1: war activism and use that to get into politics. So

598
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:21,319
Speaker 1: he first got into politics in nineteen sixty seven when

599
00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: he ran for the mayor of Chicago. You did not win. Yeah,

600
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,440
Speaker 1: because he grew up against fucking Richard Daily. It proved

601
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:35,279
Speaker 1: that it wouldn't be Chicago. So I mean, like, so,

602
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,320
Speaker 1: like what what what is that? What do you feel

603
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: about that? That turn? Like from that now, going from now,

604
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,520
Speaker 1: going from activism to like trying to get into electoral politics.

605
00:34:48,200 --> 00:34:51,160
Speaker 1: I mean that makes sense. I mean as an entertainer

606
00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:52,920
Speaker 1: and I saw this story a lot, I think it

607
00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,360
Speaker 1: prepares you for life and politics in a lot of

608
00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:57,439
Speaker 1: different ways. He used to standing up from a bunch

609
00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 1: of people saying some wild shit, Um, use your platform

610
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:03,839
Speaker 1: to organize, you know, if you can fill the room

611
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 1: with people and captivate them with the story you tell.

612
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what politicians do. That's what organizers and

613
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 1: activists do. This trajectory makes a ton of sense to me,

614
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:14,920
Speaker 1: though it is I mean personally though it might not

615
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: make logical sense in like a common sense way. It's like,

616
00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:21,680
Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of what I did. I don't know, so,

617
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 1: but running against yeah, Richard Daily for mayor Chico. That's

618
00:35:25,719 --> 00:35:28,439
Speaker 1: that's dope. That's who was So who is Richard Daily?

619
00:35:29,400 --> 00:35:33,799
Speaker 1: So Richard Daily? Uh, he was like, let me hold on,

620
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,920
Speaker 1: let me refresh my memory on this, Like he like

621
00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:46,120
Speaker 1: storied storied mayor of Chicago. Um the um he was

622
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,919
Speaker 1: re elected. I think he was re elected like five times. Yeah,

623
00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:52,759
Speaker 1: like so he had six terms in office. Was he

624
00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,799
Speaker 1: an asshole? I mean he was a mayor. Probably a

625
00:35:58,840 --> 00:36:02,919
Speaker 1: little bit um comes with the territory. Yeah, I mean

626
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,439
Speaker 1: like he Um he was like for gun control, which

627
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,600
Speaker 1: I think even in this era, that's probably predated. No,

628
00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 1: this was this is post I mean, but like you know,

629
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 1: we've talked about talking about gun control out on the

630
00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,919
Speaker 1: show and how it's a little bit uh it's it's

631
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:23,959
Speaker 1: uh inequitable, inherently given. Like black people today effectively can't

632
00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,319
Speaker 1: own guns in that like if you even look like

633
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,160
Speaker 1: you if you have a cell phone in your hand,

634
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 1: you'll get shot down. Um O don't No, I can't

635
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:35,120
Speaker 1: remember a whole lot about him other than like he

636
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:41,399
Speaker 1: was the mayor for a long time, like a long time, long, long, long,

637
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:43,479
Speaker 1: long time. That's probably why he was so famous because

638
00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 1: like the nigga was in that ship for like what

639
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: fucking Yeah, he got elected nineteen eighty nine and he

640
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:57,360
Speaker 1: was reelected five times until declining to run for a

641
00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 1: seventh term. I can't believe that's even aloud. That's some

642
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 1: fucking synegal ship yo, Like you're straight up the mayor

643
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:16,839
Speaker 1: for most people's like entire teenage in twenties Banana so

644
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 1: Dick Gregory said, I feel that the two party system

645
00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 1: is obsolete. The two party system is so corrupted a

646
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: moral they cannot solve the problems confronting the masses of

647
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,840
Speaker 1: the people in this country. I agree with that. That sounds.

648
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,760
Speaker 1: I mean, he's onto something. I think he's onto something.

649
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:38,399
Speaker 1: I mean, like here we are today. Uh, I don't

650
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,399
Speaker 1: even want to get in today. I don't even want

651
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,680
Speaker 1: to get into today in that like I feel like

652
00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:47,759
Speaker 1: it's it's maybe I'm just an an adult now and

653
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 1: like I don't have the rosy I do of all

654
00:37:50,280 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 1: that anymore. But like, yeah, I feel that ship man.

655
00:37:55,680 --> 00:38:00,480
Speaker 1: I feel that well. I mean, you know, because the

656
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:04,400
Speaker 1: whole the whole thing is we need we need people

657
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:07,479
Speaker 1: like you to not be cynical, you know what I'm saying,

658
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:11,480
Speaker 1: Like people like you know, I know. I'm I'm yeah, no, no, no, no, no,

659
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,880
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. I'm revolutionary optionists over here. I

660
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:18,799
Speaker 1: give no fox about the existing quote order. I'm just

661
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,480
Speaker 1: about trying to make change through the stake or outside

662
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:26,279
Speaker 1: of it. It's cool. I appreciate this guy that he

663
00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:31,640
Speaker 1: was speaking. This truth backing was a NT yet so

664
00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:36,520
Speaker 1: he in sixty eight. In sixty eight, he ran for

665
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:39,520
Speaker 1: president of the United States as a writing candidate for

666
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,919
Speaker 1: the Freedom and Peace Party, which had broken off from

667
00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:49,040
Speaker 1: the Peace and Freedom Party. That sounds ridiculous, but cool. No, man,

668
00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: if you saw the way these the internal factions of

669
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,720
Speaker 1: things like the Democratic Socialists from America, things can't agree

670
00:38:55,719 --> 00:39:00,280
Speaker 1: on chit. They don't hate each other, each other's girlfriends

671
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:05,240
Speaker 1: hitting their jewels in their little meetings at the local library.

672
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: Then they don't know what's going on. That makes no sense. No,

673
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:11,680
Speaker 1: that's perfect, that's right, exactly how it shouldn't be. Okay.

674
00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:15,799
Speaker 1: So in the in the Freedom and Peace Party, he

675
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:20,160
Speaker 1: garnered forty seven thousand votes, including one from Hunter S. Thompson,

676
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:24,440
Speaker 1: and he with fellow activist Mark Lane as his running

677
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:28,719
Speaker 1: mate in some states. Now, the run landed him on

678
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:35,680
Speaker 1: the famed Master List of Nixon's political opponents. So Nrichard

679
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:39,400
Speaker 1: Nixon definitely took Now, I wouldn't say took it seriously,

680
00:39:39,520 --> 00:39:42,920
Speaker 1: but you know, these fucking these seventies right winger guys,

681
00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:44,520
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. They kind of they kind

682
00:39:44,520 --> 00:39:46,360
Speaker 1: of were like athletes in that way where they just

683
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,680
Speaker 1: like look for any any bit of motivation that they

684
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:51,719
Speaker 1: can to just spur their evil ship, you know what

685
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So I'm pretty sure Nixon was just like,

686
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,879
Speaker 1: what the running put them on the list? Put right now?

687
00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:03,280
Speaker 1: Do it? Even j Edgar Hoover, like we mentioned earlier,

688
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:05,279
Speaker 1: got it on the fun and he was in the

689
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:09,800
Speaker 1: cross Are so the FBI director who concocted a strange

690
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:14,919
Speaker 1: and a strange plan to potentially neutralize Dick Gregory with

691
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:19,359
Speaker 1: the help of the fucking mafia. Yeah, I made contact

692
00:40:20,239 --> 00:40:24,440
Speaker 1: with La Cosa Nostra in order to take down comedian

693
00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:28,680
Speaker 1: Dick Gregory. I misheard you at first, and I was like, Oh, sick,

694
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,920
Speaker 1: did Gregory formed a coalition him with the mafia to

695
00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:36,880
Speaker 1: win the presidency? That's that black Panther ship amazing, But

696
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,520
Speaker 1: it's the opposite, And I'm ashamed that. I'm sad the

697
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:44,360
Speaker 1: mafia guys are not. There's like, like we're talking about

698
00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:47,840
Speaker 1: like nineteen fifties mafia guys. Like these dudes are like

699
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: literally like three like a step removed from Mussolini on

700
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:56,800
Speaker 1: some real ship, Like the Niggas is fascist. Don't don't

701
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:02,080
Speaker 1: let the Godfather movies fool y'all people. The mob was fascist. Um,

702
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:04,680
Speaker 1: Dick Gregory said, do you realize what you have here?

703
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:07,880
Speaker 1: This piece of paper has the director of the most

704
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,640
Speaker 1: powerful police agency in the history of the planet proposing

705
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:15,800
Speaker 1: to contact this mafia so they could do work together.

706
00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:19,200
Speaker 1: It is pretty fucking wild when you think about it,

707
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 1: Like I know that, I mean on this level, because

708
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:25,279
Speaker 1: like I mean, you know, it's not the first time

709
00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:29,359
Speaker 1: that the government saw out the mafia's help or even

710
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: got the mafia's help. Um, the mob used to help out,

711
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:38,040
Speaker 1: I forget exactly how so that's my hymn book kicking in.

712
00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:40,440
Speaker 1: But the mob used to help out on the docks

713
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,239
Speaker 1: in World War two, and like that was like an

714
00:41:44,239 --> 00:41:46,560
Speaker 1: official like connect like sort of thing where they were

715
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:49,239
Speaker 1: using their connections to help shipments in the docks and

716
00:41:49,239 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 1: ship like that. So, I mean, you know, government's teaming

717
00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:58,800
Speaker 1: up with militia movements or like organized crime. That doesn't

718
00:41:58,880 --> 00:42:01,400
Speaker 1: shock me. I think I think as far as like

719
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,759
Speaker 1: just a recounting of his life and times, I think

720
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:08,440
Speaker 1: we'll stop there we'll well, we'll go in and we'll

721
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 1: touch some of the more more activism that he did

722
00:42:11,040 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 1: as well. He was getting to his uh little health

723
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:17,000
Speaker 1: revolution in the eighties. But we'll be right back with

724
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:37,759
Speaker 1: that after the jump. What is your overall sense of

725
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,920
Speaker 1: Dick Gregory now that you I think Dick Gregory did

726
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:44,080
Speaker 1: it right. Man? If I think about it, if every

727
00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 1: single one of these cats, if every little Pete and

728
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:52,359
Speaker 1: little Zanne and little you know, barbiturates or whatever got

729
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 1: out here and made a mill and then was like

730
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:58,000
Speaker 1: I'm gonna die for the struggle for civil rights and

731
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,279
Speaker 1: like brought all their little millions of seventeen ye olds,

732
00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,960
Speaker 1: would him marching the streets, marching, you know, occupying city Hall,

733
00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:10,080
Speaker 1: chaining themselves to construction equipment to stop the construction of pipelines.

734
00:43:10,640 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 1: That we would have a whole new we would like,

735
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:18,880
Speaker 1: America would be unrecognizable. We wouldn't have no no medical bankruptcy,

736
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:22,680
Speaker 1: climate change, nobody we worry about it, be super sick everything.

737
00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:26,040
Speaker 1: Like literally, if every person did a did Gregory, the

738
00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:29,040
Speaker 1: world would be so much better. So the cat you

739
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 1: remember when we were talking about Fred Hampton and ship,

740
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:36,719
Speaker 1: It's like these motherfuckers were young back then, you know,

741
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:41,279
Speaker 1: and like no nobody was saying anything like nobody was

742
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:43,880
Speaker 1: I don't want to say nobody. I wasn't there. I

743
00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:46,320
Speaker 1: don't know, but it's just like, you know, it didn't

744
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:51,080
Speaker 1: really seem like people were saying, Man, these kids are

745
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,520
Speaker 1: only twenty, you can't expect them to care about anything,

746
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:55,840
Speaker 1: like you know what I'm saying, Like that just this

747
00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 1: wasn't a thing like it seemed like there was like

748
00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 1: a higher more expectations for young people back then. And

749
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:03,560
Speaker 1: maybe that's not Maybe that in itself isn't a good thing.

750
00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:04,960
Speaker 1: Maybe like a lot of these kids, a lot a

751
00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:07,080
Speaker 1: lot of these young people back then had to be

752
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:09,359
Speaker 1: grown before their time and ship like that. But god

753
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:11,359
Speaker 1: damn it, it was needed, you know what I mean.

754
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:16,279
Speaker 1: And motherfucker's like I was probably probably highly likely I

755
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:18,680
Speaker 1: wouldn't be talking to y'all right now on this podcast

756
00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: if it was some of the work that these cats

757
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:22,200
Speaker 1: like did Gregory and then we're doing some of the

758
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,400
Speaker 1: sacrifices that they made, you know what I'm saying. So

759
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:27,120
Speaker 1: I appreciate you educating me on him, because you know,

760
00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:32,640
Speaker 1: I like studying uh Liberation movement history to remind myself

761
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:35,440
Speaker 1: that you know, I'm trying to fit into those shoes

762
00:44:35,480 --> 00:44:37,319
Speaker 1: the best I can and the work that I do,

763
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,239
Speaker 1: and to learn about another ancestor that you know, had

764
00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,480
Speaker 1: his own kind of lane and all this work was

765
00:44:43,480 --> 00:44:46,560
Speaker 1: was tight with these brothers like Maga Evers and raising

766
00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:49,880
Speaker 1: issues about like the slings of those three members of Cores.

767
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 1: You know, it helps me add context and like grounding

768
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:55,680
Speaker 1: to the work I try to do out here because

769
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:57,719
Speaker 1: I feel like less lonely, like oh this name was

770
00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,800
Speaker 1: comedian and went out there got hos oiled. All this

771
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 1: ship tussling with the FBI. It's like a sky relief

772
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:08,000
Speaker 1: to like to to know what kind of fight is

773
00:45:08,040 --> 00:45:10,120
Speaker 1: being carried on and how it can be carried on,

774
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,080
Speaker 1: and that the stuff all folks out here, people like

775
00:45:13,120 --> 00:45:15,120
Speaker 1: No Name who I shout out too much. I wonder

776
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:18,319
Speaker 1: to come on the show. Um, we should try to

777
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:20,279
Speaker 1: make that happen. No, she an't coming on the ship.

778
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:26,120
Speaker 1: We ain't nobody. Hey everybody, Um, I don't know like

779
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:30,239
Speaker 1: ever and I trying no name on Twitter. Tell her

780
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:32,520
Speaker 1: I'm her secret best friend. She doesn't know. We're gonna

781
00:45:32,560 --> 00:45:34,680
Speaker 1: be best friends, yepp what we are? Tell her to come,

782
00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: but what so, Yes, it's like very encouraging to know

783
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:44,000
Speaker 1: that who like, you know, to know what kind of

784
00:45:44,040 --> 00:45:46,560
Speaker 1: shoes were are out there to be filmed. I guess

785
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,799
Speaker 1: what kind of thing have to do a little just

786
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:52,239
Speaker 1: a little speed speed round just to touch on some

787
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:54,279
Speaker 1: of the other things. And he was into all kinds

788
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:58,279
Speaker 1: of ship. He was anti apart side activists. Uh, he

789
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:01,480
Speaker 1: went out was it the Mondiff Stable with Bob Marley,

790
00:46:01,640 --> 00:46:07,920
Speaker 1: Patti La Belle, outspoken feminists. He joined Glorious Steinman, Betty Freeman,

791
00:46:08,200 --> 00:46:13,000
Speaker 1: Bella Abzug, and other suffragists to lead the National Ego

792
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:16,399
Speaker 1: Rights Amendment March and Ratification Extension. You know, they still

793
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:19,320
Speaker 1: haven't ratified the r A and enough states to be

794
00:46:19,480 --> 00:46:24,160
Speaker 1: making an actual constitutional amendment. Oh no, to this day,

795
00:46:24,239 --> 00:46:27,279
Speaker 1: let's just shot the sparksment down in night. They still

796
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 1: because not enough states though, like oh well, ratifying equal

797
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:34,160
Speaker 1: rights for women will like destroy the nuclear family, Like

798
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:37,000
Speaker 1: I'm not fitting you, and like at this point in time,

799
00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 1: most people have thought, I mean not fought. Most people

800
00:46:39,200 --> 00:46:41,800
Speaker 1: have given up on the fight because it's like fucking

801
00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:44,400
Speaker 1: forty years ago. But yeah, I know the r A

802
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:47,920
Speaker 1: hasn't even been ratified and enough state legislatures to actually

803
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:51,759
Speaker 1: be in the United States constitutional Amendment Equal Rights and

804
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:55,920
Speaker 1: Women is not is like literally people for decades have

805
00:46:56,040 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 1: refused to codify it as in the Constitution. Yeah, damn,

806
00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,439
Speaker 1: that's do a lot of people know that. I don't

807
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 1: think enough people know that. I didn't. I did not

808
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:09,560
Speaker 1: know that til you just said it. Well. I also

809
00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 1: feel like feminism has moved beyond like um, like you know,

810
00:47:16,200 --> 00:47:19,360
Speaker 1: like the Constitution itself is like a very flawed document

811
00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:22,759
Speaker 1: and shit, and like there's other ways to enact like

812
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:25,880
Speaker 1: equal rights than just like putting in the Constitution. I

813
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:28,160
Speaker 1: guess people are more focused on struggles like the struggle

814
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: for abortion rights, like concretely, other than putting the e

815
00:47:31,280 --> 00:47:33,200
Speaker 1: r A in there and then you've got the Supreme

816
00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:36,920
Speaker 1: Court saying, well it don'tly meaning like that, and like

817
00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:40,040
Speaker 1: going and striking down road b way to anyway, like

818
00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:42,240
Speaker 1: people were just focused on that ship. People are focused

819
00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:45,319
Speaker 1: on getting equal pay for equal work, just concretely, rather

820
00:47:45,360 --> 00:47:47,680
Speaker 1: than this kind of abstract idea of like the Equal

821
00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:50,040
Speaker 1: Rights Amendment. I think it's where the struggle has gone

822
00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 1: since then. Um yeah, stuff like that. So I mean

823
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:55,800
Speaker 1: it's wild though that now like equal rights for women,

824
00:47:55,960 --> 00:47:58,040
Speaker 1: like people have tried to get in the Constitution for

825
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:03,399
Speaker 1: four decades, five decades, and it's the now. Well, um

826
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:08,760
Speaker 1: oh yeah, he touched on Native American rights issues. Nineteen

827
00:48:08,880 --> 00:48:12,320
Speaker 1: sixty six, Gregory and his wife were arrested for legal

828
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:16,800
Speaker 1: net fishing alongside the Nisqually people in Washington State and

829
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:21,359
Speaker 1: a protest fishing pollution. Two thousand eight, Gregory stated that

830
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:25,560
Speaker 1: he believes the air pollution in international water contamination with

831
00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 1: heavy metals such as lead and possibly magnesium or magnees

832
00:48:30,719 --> 00:48:36,480
Speaker 1: maybe used against Black Americans, especially in urban neighborhoods. Um,

833
00:48:36,520 --> 00:48:38,520
Speaker 1: we gotta do a whole nother We got another episodes

834
00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:41,080
Speaker 1: on environmental right, you know you heard about that. Did

835
00:48:41,080 --> 00:48:44,840
Speaker 1: you ever hear about that study where they we're studying

836
00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:50,480
Speaker 1: like the rise of violent crime and lead in poisoning? Yeah,

837
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 1: connection we all got sh Baltimore, Detroit, Yeah we should.

838
00:48:57,040 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: Environmental racism is a really interesting issue in the ways

839
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:02,279
Speaker 1: that I'm starting to content I'm starting to like increasingly

840
00:49:02,280 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: look at public safety issues to the lens of public health,

841
00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:08,640
Speaker 1: Like because you know, if somebody gets shot, they gotta

842
00:49:08,680 --> 00:49:11,719
Speaker 1: go hospital. That's a help issue. Somebody has prama because

843
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:14,440
Speaker 1: their house got shot up. Now they've got mental health problems.

844
00:49:14,440 --> 00:49:16,799
Speaker 1: Now they're like smoking crack because they're threat out as

845
00:49:16,800 --> 00:49:21,400
Speaker 1: a public health issue. And so like environmental like racism

846
00:49:21,440 --> 00:49:23,920
Speaker 1: in the way that it affects public health, which then

847
00:49:24,040 --> 00:49:27,879
Speaker 1: affect issues of violence and public safety, is a very

848
00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,320
Speaker 1: interesting topic that we absolutely will come back to in

849
00:49:31,440 --> 00:49:36,080
Speaker 1: Oh my god, the last year ever negotiated for the

850
00:49:36,120 --> 00:49:40,520
Speaker 1: hostages in the Iran hostage crisis in nine what excuse me?

851
00:49:41,040 --> 00:49:44,440
Speaker 1: He also did some hunger strikes for that um and

852
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:47,399
Speaker 1: then that brings us into I guess I don't want

853
00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:52,279
Speaker 1: to say like what he's most known for, because like

854
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:55,600
Speaker 1: there is a whole generation. There's like a generation. There's

855
00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:58,440
Speaker 1: like the generation that we would probably refer to as

856
00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:02,560
Speaker 1: boomers probably know Dick Gregory Moore for being a civil

857
00:50:02,640 --> 00:50:07,000
Speaker 1: rights activist and a comedian. But I guess I would say,

858
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:13,719
Speaker 1: like my dad's generation and my mom's generation, they more

859
00:50:13,840 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 1: like he that's Dick. That's when the Dick Gregory health

860
00:50:16,040 --> 00:50:19,239
Speaker 1: ship was like the boot. So in nineteen eighty four

861
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:23,200
Speaker 1: he founded the Health Enterprise, Incorporated, a company that distributed

862
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:27,040
Speaker 1: weight loss products. With this company, Gregory made efforts to

863
00:50:27,080 --> 00:50:30,360
Speaker 1: improve the life expectancy of African Americans, which he believed

864
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:33,760
Speaker 1: was being hindered by poor nutrition and drugs and alcohol abuse.

865
00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:38,600
Speaker 1: Night five, Gregory introduced the slim Safe Bohemian diet. Have

866
00:50:38,640 --> 00:50:41,439
Speaker 1: you heard of that? You know, what is that? Well?

867
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:43,600
Speaker 1: That was the thing. It's like this concoction that the

868
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,880
Speaker 1: breather made of like a bunch of viterterans and minerals

869
00:50:46,920 --> 00:50:49,080
Speaker 1: and herbal stuff, all of that ship. And then he

870
00:50:49,160 --> 00:50:52,040
Speaker 1: teamed together with like an actual scientist Nigga who like,

871
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:54,799
Speaker 1: you know, refined the formula ship and they made like

872
00:50:54,960 --> 00:51:00,080
Speaker 1: a weight loss dietary like like pretty much like a

873
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:04,160
Speaker 1: fucking smoothie type. Before that was the ship, before that

874
00:51:04,239 --> 00:51:07,000
Speaker 1: was a thing, and he made that it was multiple dimensional.

875
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:09,840
Speaker 1: He would end up selling that company for thirty million

876
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:15,920
Speaker 1: dollars and stuff like that. But it was like, I mean,

877
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:18,239
Speaker 1: you know, that whole thing was revolutionary. I mean it

878
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:20,359
Speaker 1: got to the point where you know, like he had

879
00:51:20,400 --> 00:51:22,480
Speaker 1: like a hotline where people were calling him to help

880
00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:25,880
Speaker 1: help them lose weight. There's one famous story of a

881
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:30,120
Speaker 1: gentleman who was a thousand pounds. Let me see if

882
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:35,000
Speaker 1: I can find his name, and are you well, I

883
00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:42,000
Speaker 1: mean sorry, but yeah, yeah, um, what is the name

884
00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:47,640
Speaker 1: of this guy, Mick Mickey, that's that s title Mickey style.

885
00:51:49,200 --> 00:51:53,160
Speaker 1: So this dude was more bilioed beasts, Like he tripped

886
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,719
Speaker 1: and fell in his apartment and ended up getting stuck

887
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:58,960
Speaker 1: in a doorway and it took like five rescue workers

888
00:51:59,000 --> 00:52:00,480
Speaker 1: to cut him out and ship like that, and it

889
00:52:00,560 --> 00:52:03,280
Speaker 1: was this whole big story in the eighties and stuff

890
00:52:03,280 --> 00:52:06,600
Speaker 1: like that. And famously Dick Gregory helped this guy lose

891
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:09,520
Speaker 1: like four hundred pounds or something like that. He eventually,

892
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:13,040
Speaker 1: obviously from the from being that large, he would die

893
00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,239
Speaker 1: I think like two years later, but it was a

894
00:52:15,320 --> 00:52:17,440
Speaker 1: huge press story about how Dick Gregor was trying to

895
00:52:17,480 --> 00:52:21,480
Speaker 1: help this guy, and so I was more stuff that

896
00:52:21,480 --> 00:52:25,520
Speaker 1: put him on the map. As Dick Gregory got older,

897
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:31,680
Speaker 1: you know, the I guess, like the suave, smooth, devonier

898
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:36,920
Speaker 1: aspects of his his public personality started to kind of fade,

899
00:52:37,239 --> 00:52:40,279
Speaker 1: just as you know, naturally like people get older. He

900
00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:45,279
Speaker 1: started getting, um, your very very early signs of Alzheimer's

901
00:52:45,320 --> 00:52:50,279
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, so he started becoming more angry

902
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:53,000
Speaker 1: and like like if you you can there's like a

903
00:52:53,040 --> 00:52:55,520
Speaker 1: whole there's a whole ton of interviews that you can

904
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:59,239
Speaker 1: watch with white haired old Dick Gregory just being like

905
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:02,520
Speaker 1: angry old black man, you know what I'm saying. But

906
00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:07,160
Speaker 1: at this point, at this point, you know, figuratively speaking,

907
00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:11,080
Speaker 1: he had fuck you money. So he he used this

908
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 1: aspect of his career to get back into comedy. So

909
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:18,560
Speaker 1: like you know, like before before Dick Gray group Gregory

910
00:53:18,640 --> 00:53:21,399
Speaker 1: went out like in the you know, the two thousand fifteens,

911
00:53:21,880 --> 00:53:25,040
Speaker 1: sixteen seventeens, he was back on the stand up circuit

912
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:29,000
Speaker 1: doing doing Ship and like I mean, the material that

913
00:53:29,040 --> 00:53:33,120
Speaker 1: he was doing was literally I'm old, I'm black, and

914
00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:35,399
Speaker 1: I've been around to see all of it. Y'all gonna

915
00:53:35,440 --> 00:53:37,000
Speaker 1: sit here and listen to what the funk I have

916
00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:40,399
Speaker 1: to say. It's funny. Ship that reminds me so much

917
00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:44,040
Speaker 1: of when I met John Carlos. If you don't recall,

918
00:53:44,280 --> 00:53:48,680
Speaker 1: is the Olympic um athlete. I think he's a runner

919
00:53:49,160 --> 00:53:51,600
Speaker 1: that you know, he held us fist up and the

920
00:53:51,680 --> 00:53:54,880
Speaker 1: end he accepted his his his medal at the at

921
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:59,799
Speaker 1: the Olympics um and that like he so we were

922
00:54:00,200 --> 00:54:02,279
Speaker 1: to schedule to give talks and I think it was

923
00:54:02,320 --> 00:54:05,840
Speaker 1: a University of New Mexico, and so I was nervous

924
00:54:05,920 --> 00:54:07,799
Speaker 1: in my first talk at university that flew me out

925
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:09,640
Speaker 1: to New Mexico and my oh ship, this big, big ship.

926
00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:12,080
Speaker 1: I wrote my whole thing down. I was like, all nervous,

927
00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:13,719
Speaker 1: I get up there and get my old speech, and

928
00:54:13,719 --> 00:54:16,000
Speaker 1: then this thing comes up after me and talks to

929
00:54:16,040 --> 00:54:21,880
Speaker 1: like forty five minutes about like bitches and like like

930
00:54:21,960 --> 00:54:25,279
Speaker 1: literally bitches, and I'm not even sure. It's like in

931
00:54:25,320 --> 00:54:28,080
Speaker 1: there's a banquet hall full of like full of all

932
00:54:28,120 --> 00:54:32,440
Speaker 1: the administrators and faculty and ship. So I'm like, yo,

933
00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:35,800
Speaker 1: one time myself, this bitch getting fucking personal. It was crazy. Anyway,

934
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:38,960
Speaker 1: while am I talking about so, I mean it's just,

935
00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:42,759
Speaker 1: you know, getting old seems cool. I mean if I

936
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:44,920
Speaker 1: get to get old, that'd be dope, because you know,

937
00:54:45,080 --> 00:54:49,440
Speaker 1: I'm never I'm not sure sometimes um but yeah, no, no,

938
00:54:49,560 --> 00:54:51,879
Speaker 1: that makes sense. That makes sense. So immediately she had

939
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:54,440
Speaker 1: the outlet that it could be channeled into something that

940
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:59,280
Speaker 1: everybody could share it. There's them. There is a twenty

941
00:54:59,440 --> 00:55:03,799
Speaker 1: twenty documentary on Dick Gregory. Let me get the name

942
00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:11,279
Speaker 1: for you for you all. The actually film is called

943
00:55:11,280 --> 00:55:13,359
Speaker 1: The One and Only Dick Gregory. You guys should check

944
00:55:13,400 --> 00:55:16,480
Speaker 1: that out. I watched it in preparation for this, But

945
00:55:17,280 --> 00:55:22,040
Speaker 1: there is like a really really funny scene where, you know,

946
00:55:22,120 --> 00:55:24,640
Speaker 1: throughout the throughout the documentary, you know, you obviously have

947
00:55:24,680 --> 00:55:26,960
Speaker 1: a bunch of people who knew him commenting, you know,

948
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:29,480
Speaker 1: as they're telling the story of his life, right, and

949
00:55:30,040 --> 00:55:34,960
Speaker 1: Kevin Hart and Chris Rock and who is the third, motherfucker?

950
00:55:35,480 --> 00:55:37,440
Speaker 1: Who's the third? I can't remember, I can't remember, but

951
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:41,280
Speaker 1: you know one of those comedian dudes, right, they're, they're, they're,

952
00:55:41,360 --> 00:55:44,719
Speaker 1: they're appearing throughout the documentary. But then it gets to

953
00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:47,319
Speaker 1: the point where they start talking about when you know,

954
00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:49,560
Speaker 1: he got older and started getting more angry and the

955
00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:52,720
Speaker 1: alzheimers started kicking in, he started doing more comedy shows.

956
00:55:53,080 --> 00:55:55,600
Speaker 1: And that ship is funny because when you hear Kevin

957
00:55:55,640 --> 00:55:59,360
Speaker 1: Hart and these guys talking about just interacting with the

958
00:55:59,520 --> 00:56:02,279
Speaker 1: Gregory at that stage in his life, just having him like,

959
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:04,279
Speaker 1: you know, he would just he would just get you,

960
00:56:04,400 --> 00:56:05,520
Speaker 1: just sit you down and be like, what is it,

961
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:08,920
Speaker 1: you little motherfucker? I want you to understand it. This

962
00:56:09,080 --> 00:56:12,520
Speaker 1: j ain't is easier, you young motherfucker. You mother like

963
00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:17,240
Speaker 1: like that was just this whole thing, amazing, amazing, amazing.

964
00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:22,239
Speaker 1: L P did Gregory. Mr Claxton, I appreciate learning about

965
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:26,080
Speaker 1: you today. I hope you rested well with the ancestors.

966
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:29,760
Speaker 1: I appreciate your inspiration, will carry your fight forward to struggle.

967
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:35,640
Speaker 1: Right thing over is the Jews Revolution? No, no, not

968
00:56:35,719 --> 00:56:40,640
Speaker 1: at all, Um, We've got no music angle for this episode,

969
00:56:40,680 --> 00:56:45,839
Speaker 1: but I did just want to telling you what Dick

970
00:56:45,840 --> 00:56:50,080
Speaker 1: Gregory stops on hip hop wark. Right. So, Dick Gregory

971
00:56:50,560 --> 00:56:52,359
Speaker 1: was I don't want to say he was a hip

972
00:56:52,440 --> 00:57:01,040
Speaker 1: hop advocate, but he was very, very vehemently against making

973
00:57:01,120 --> 00:57:04,320
Speaker 1: hip hop responsible for the world's problems, you know what

974
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:07,160
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Like he he was, he was. He was

975
00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:09,520
Speaker 1: one of those cats who was like man the blues

976
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:13,160
Speaker 1: music that I was listening to when I was a kid.

977
00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:16,400
Speaker 1: They were saying the same ship that hip hop casts

978
00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:19,160
Speaker 1: are saying, like the same same exact type of ship.

979
00:57:19,680 --> 00:57:22,919
Speaker 1: So it doesn't make any sense for us to try

980
00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:26,120
Speaker 1: to act like hip hop is like, you know, for

981
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:28,480
Speaker 1: for prude, prude people or whatever whatever he's like. It

982
00:57:28,520 --> 00:57:31,480
Speaker 1: doesn't make any sense for people to act like what

983
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:33,919
Speaker 1: hip hop is bringing to the table is something new

984
00:57:34,120 --> 00:57:37,080
Speaker 1: or something that's so like uniquely new and vulgar that

985
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:40,120
Speaker 1: we've never seen it before because he's like hip hop

986
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:43,120
Speaker 1: never invented any cuss word. You know. That's a beautiful metaphor,

987
00:57:43,320 --> 00:57:46,520
Speaker 1: like the like hip hop didn't invent any cussboard, Like

988
00:57:46,640 --> 00:57:49,080
Speaker 1: hip hop didn't invent any of the ship it talks about.

989
00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:54,400
Speaker 1: It just inherited it from capitalism in the streets. Um.

990
00:57:54,440 --> 00:57:57,400
Speaker 1: It may now be a perpetual cycle of people hearing

991
00:57:57,480 --> 00:57:59,200
Speaker 1: the music and then going out and doing the ship

992
00:57:59,240 --> 00:58:01,200
Speaker 1: that thinks cool. Those little peeps at it or whatever,

993
00:58:02,440 --> 00:58:06,040
Speaker 1: little people dead to bring it up like I just

994
00:58:06,160 --> 00:58:08,720
Speaker 1: saw him hating on him and he's dead man, that's

995
00:58:08,720 --> 00:58:12,080
Speaker 1: not cool. I'm sorry. It's rap music right now, you

996
00:58:12,120 --> 00:58:16,400
Speaker 1: ain't ready well, speaking of rap music, I feel like

997
00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:19,520
Speaker 1: rapping because that is it for this episode. We are done,

998
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:24,400
Speaker 1: so Sun. We will see y'all next week. But you

999
00:58:24,440 --> 00:58:26,680
Speaker 1: know we you know, we we gotta hit you with

1000
00:58:26,720 --> 00:58:28,680
Speaker 1: the bars before we close it off. Right, check us

1001
00:58:28,680 --> 00:58:40,720
Speaker 1: on out. Joe hey, yo, let me talk you about

1002
00:58:40,720 --> 00:58:43,680
Speaker 1: with nicker name Clacton part term comedian and the civil

1003
00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:46,160
Speaker 1: rights actors. I'd thought to know him, but you didn't

1004
00:58:46,200 --> 00:58:48,560
Speaker 1: know be half of it. Back in university he was

1005
00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:50,960
Speaker 1: want to track a yip. But after this hawd everybody

1006
00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,360
Speaker 1: get from the laughter in the commedy clubs from here

1007
00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:56,080
Speaker 1: to over. The Africa never started to wait from talking

1008
00:58:56,080 --> 00:58:58,200
Speaker 1: about his braces, even though they try to silence him

1009
00:58:58,240 --> 00:59:00,520
Speaker 1: and put him in a casket after I was after

1010
00:59:00,840 --> 00:59:03,360
Speaker 1: how does Robin mega? But suddenly he endeavor trying to

1011
00:59:03,400 --> 00:59:07,080
Speaker 1: make everything better. Today we still remember as many contributions

1012
00:59:07,120 --> 00:59:10,160
Speaker 1: Dick Gregory are we spoke to yo. I'm gonna rock

1013
00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:12,360
Speaker 1: the ship freshly and make it a bit sketchy and

1014
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:14,760
Speaker 1: I like him. Thick, ease up on that. Dick Gregory.

1015
00:59:14,840 --> 00:59:17,400
Speaker 1: Speaking of Dick, Yeah, he's seeming legit and he even

1016
00:59:17,480 --> 00:59:20,160
Speaker 1: dropping knowledge when he's speaking to kids. But Mafia and

1017
00:59:20,200 --> 00:59:22,320
Speaker 1: the feeds, they were thinking a hit because he said

1018
00:59:22,320 --> 00:59:24,640
Speaker 1: fun Vietnam. He don't think that it's hip. We're talking

1019
00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:27,120
Speaker 1: about a lifetime as rare as a fucking thunder strike.

1020
00:59:27,200 --> 00:59:29,720
Speaker 1: He was fighting fascists who were trying to plunder rights

1021
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:32,040
Speaker 1: the ships wild than It even made me wonder like

1022
00:59:32,200 --> 00:59:34,000
Speaker 1: how does nigga even have the strength to do a

1023
00:59:34,080 --> 00:59:36,240
Speaker 1: hunger strike? So if you wonder how they did in

1024
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,440
Speaker 1: the days, whether it's integration or a minimum ways, just

1025
00:59:39,560 --> 00:59:46,440
Speaker 1: salut Dick Gregory's the motherfuck truth on. My name is

1026
00:59:46,480 --> 00:59:51,000
Speaker 1: Dope Knight and y'all have been listening to Waiting on

1027
00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:53,480
Speaker 1: Reparations and hopefully you're waiting on them too. It we

1028
00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:56,120
Speaker 1: all waiting on them. We don't get them down. Thank

1029
00:59:56,160 --> 01:00:03,560
Speaker 1: you guys for rocket See you next week. Hey. Waiting

1030
01:00:03,560 --> 01:00:06,640
Speaker 1: on Reparations is the production of I Heart Radio. For

1031
01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:08,960
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, check out the i

1032
01:00:09,080 --> 01:00:12,000
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your

1033
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:20,320
Speaker 1: podcast m