- 5 hours ago
Independent Lens S27E06 The Inquisitor
Category
đș
TVTranscript
00:00:10What the people want is very simple, they want an America as good as its promise.
00:00:24When you were with Barbara, you could never quite shake the feeling that you were in
00:00:31the presence of somebody that was truly great.
00:00:39Barbara Jordan blazed the trail.
00:00:41She was the first black woman to serve in the Texas State Senate, the first black woman
00:00:46elected to Congress from the deep south.
00:00:49Barbara Jordan was a champion of our freedom, our constitution, and our laws.
00:00:54She could walk into all white male spaces and be respected.
00:00:59She reached in the heart of people whose hearts didn't want to be reached into.
00:01:04She was someone who was respected across party lines.
00:01:07When Barbara Jordan spoke, you just sat up and listened.
00:01:10We are trying to spark the consciousness in depth of everybody in this country.
00:01:16And we feel that we have the capacity to do it.
00:01:19Barbara Jordan's got the voice of God.
00:01:21When people are eroding the foundation of the country, don't be silent.
00:01:27Don't be quiet.
00:01:28I see the conviction and honesty that she had, something that is absent from politics today.
00:01:36I think this mood that we're in now is cyclical.
00:01:40I think people are basically good and honest and that they care and I think we will return
00:01:47to that posture.
00:01:51She carried the fire, she carried the flame at a very critical time in American history.
00:01:57Today, I am an inquisitor.
00:02:00My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total.
00:02:05And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion,
00:02:13the destruction of the Constitution.
00:02:31It would be difficult to understand and recognize from where Barbara Jordan came to what she became.
00:02:39It is a great story, it is a great American story.
00:02:56You have the freedom to choose.
00:02:59The kind of future you want.
00:03:02You're denied the luxury of opting out.
00:03:05You can't opt out, you're already in.
00:03:08How can you opt out where you are?
00:03:11You are involved in life.
00:03:14You make the choice to lead.
00:03:17But if you choose to lead, you must be sure you have the capability, the capacity,
00:03:23the competence to do the job.
00:03:29You make the choice to lead, you make the choice to lead, you make the choice to lead.
00:03:40Myself and my two sisters grew up in the Fifth Ward of Houston.
00:03:45We didn't know that we were in a deprived sector of the city.
00:03:51When everybody's poor, you don't ever think about poverty.
00:03:54We thought we'd just play in our gravel streets and eat the dust which the cars would stir up.
00:04:04We didn't worry about it too much.
00:04:11Barbara had a beautiful alto voice.
00:04:16We started singing together at the church to where we belong, at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
00:04:23And we even gave little mini recitals.
00:04:28Grandpa Patton showed favoritism to Barbara.
00:04:32When we would go sometimes back to evening church, she would stay there with him.
00:04:40Grandpa Patton was a junk man.
00:04:44We would weigh that paper and weigh the rags, hitch up his mules, and go sell them.
00:04:51I say we because I was my grandpa Patton's partner in business, and we had more money than anybody we
00:04:59encountered.
00:05:07My father wanted excellence in his children.
00:05:12I was very proud of a report card. I had five A's and one B.
00:05:18My father, he looked at it, and then with a scowl,
00:05:24why do you have this B? So I was reverent toward him.
00:05:34He taught me to love to do the best that I could do.
00:05:41I didn't want to be run of the mill. I don't want to be just same old, same old.
00:05:46I want to be a little bit different and superior to tell the truth.
00:06:02Barbara and I were students together in high school, and we went on to Texas Southern University together.
00:06:09We were partners as members of the Texas Southern University debate team
00:06:13under the direction of Dr. Thomas Freeman.
00:06:19Dr. Thomas Freeman was a well-known, renowned debate coach, and he taught Martin Luther King and some others.
00:06:27Under him, she learned about cadence and the importance of research, of enunciation, pacing.
00:06:36Everybody loved Dr. Freeman.
00:06:38All of us on the debate team did as much as we could to please him.
00:06:43He told me a good speaker accomplishes three things.
00:06:47You make people laugh, you make people cry, and you make sense.
00:06:53And if you can only do one, make sense and sit your boring self down.
00:06:59Barbara came to me as a 16-year-old kid.
00:07:05Her voice was above those of many others.
00:07:11If Barbara spoke, you had to stop and listen.
00:07:17You realized the depth of her thought.
00:07:21And Barbara was the only woman who traveled with the debate team.
00:07:35We were to drive into a city, the signs are up, white, colored.
00:07:45Thomas Freeman would refuse to go in the back door.
00:07:49He said, we'll get a sandwich and eat it by the side of the road before I take you through
00:07:55a back door.
00:07:57That certainly made an impression on me.
00:08:05The final event for Barbara and me was a debate against a team from Harvard University.
00:08:11Something akin to being in the World Series, I guess.
00:08:15It was a first.
00:08:16A black university in the South as deep in the heart of Dixie as you could get with an all
00:08:26-black debate team against Harvard University.
00:08:31The judges of the debate said it ended in a tie.
00:08:36People were shocked.
00:08:39Harvard is supposed to be so high and sharp and smart that debating a little group like TSU to call
00:08:47it a tie, we must have won.
00:08:52It just really told us personally that we could leave Texas Southern University and go on to do anything that
00:08:59we wanted to do.
00:09:03I was a sophomore at Texas Southern University.
00:09:07I can remember reading this big headline,
00:09:13segregation ends.
00:09:15And I said, hot dog.
00:09:18In my naivete, I thought tomorrow morning it was going to happen.
00:09:23When I say it was a miracle for her to come out of the fifth ward of that era,
00:09:29I mean you were not permitted to leave fifth ward.
00:09:34We're right in the shadow of downtown Houston.
00:09:38But you couldn't go downtown Houston.
00:09:47Before I went to law school, my world had been all black.
00:09:55And then I arrived to attend law school at Boston University.
00:10:01In our entering class, there were about 300 people.
00:10:07Of the 300, there were three or four blacks.
00:10:17I knew that if I worked harder and studied longer, I'd survive it.
00:10:23But one thing I discovered by observing is that young white people love to stop whatever they're
00:10:30doing and have a cup of coffee.
00:10:32I would just go around and say, you need to take a break.
00:10:36I'd like to have a cup of coffee.
00:10:38That always worked.
00:10:39I formed many friendships over a cup of coffee.
00:10:49The first thing I did when I got my law degree was to take the red ribbon off and make
00:10:55sure that my name
00:10:56was on it and then I cried because of what had gone into it.
00:11:26The first law practice was in our dining room.
00:11:30She had her beginnings right at home.
00:11:33There was demand for legal assistance at the church where she was a member.
00:11:40And then the popularity did grow in the community.
00:11:47I had the notion that I'd like to do something to affect the way masses of people live.
00:11:56I became very interested in politics, working first in the Kennedy Johnson campaign.
00:12:03Let us move toward the unified goal of an America where every man will be free to live and
00:12:10be whatever he desires to be!
00:12:12She started speaking at some events and began to come to public attention.
00:12:18The Democrats around there said you ought to run for the Texas House of Representatives.
00:12:27They saw Barbara as a person around whom the black community could coalesce.
00:12:35I ran twice for the Texas legislation, was defeated.
00:12:41Why could I not win?
00:12:46It was a time when cities like Houston were gerrymandered in a different way because they stacked the deck.
00:12:53People had to run in these countywide districts.
00:12:56So that meant that in Houston, in Austin, Dallas, black voters never could get a majority of anything.
00:13:05The districts were discriminatory in how their lines were outlined.
00:13:09In order to divide the black voting bloc.
00:13:12She got more votes not to be elected to the Texas House than I got to be elected to the
00:13:19Texas Senate.
00:13:21The disappointment was especially bitter because I was playing by the rules, but the rules were not fair.
00:13:28Then the Supreme Court established the principle of one person, one vote.
00:13:35That opened up the door for districts to be redrawn in ways where black people could represent black people.
00:13:42The Texas legislature was required to reapportion itself.
00:13:48So in 1966, I ran again.
00:13:51This time in one of those newly created state senatorial districts.
00:13:56I won and my political career got struck.
00:14:05It speaks to why it is important that we have people who accurately interpret these constitutional amendments.
00:14:14This is how we ended up with seats where black folk could have a voice.
00:14:21At that particular time, black people only could be on the Capitol grounds if you were cutting the grass, polishing
00:14:29the statues, or cleaning the building.
00:14:33On her first day, she was like an unknown person from outer space coming into the Texas Senate.
00:14:39They didn't even have a restroom that she could use.
00:14:42And they had to build a bathroom specifically for her to use.
00:14:47The good thing about that is, they let her design it.
00:14:54Everybody's going down to see what she looks like.
00:14:57To see someone come back to the Senate after Reconstruction, an African American and a woman,
00:15:06it made black people feel like they had a say and helped to shape their government.
00:15:14Barbara Jordan carried with her, at all times, the Constitution, and a photo of her grandfather.
00:15:29My grandpa was always saying that you couldn't trust the world out there,
00:15:33so you had to figure things out for yourself.
00:15:36But you had to love humanity, even if you couldn't trust it.
00:15:47Barbara Jordan came along in an era in which you had a very conservative group of men who ran the
00:15:56Texas Senate.
00:15:58Many of the older white men who were in that had probably never had any kind of relationship with a
00:16:05black woman
00:16:06unless she was a maid in this house.
00:16:09I was the Speaker of the House.
00:16:12And I went over to the Senate to see the Senate sworn in.
00:16:17There were a lot of older men that had reservations about what kind of Senator Barbara was going to be.
00:16:28The Senate would go on hunts.
00:16:31There were some reservations at first on part of the Senators.
00:16:34Well, are we going to ask Barbara?
00:16:35We're all men.
00:16:36No one really hunted.
00:16:38They played cards and drank whiskey and sang songs.
00:16:42Could Barbara fit in?
00:16:44We asked Barbara to go, and not only did she fit in, she brought her guitar.
00:16:51She was one of the first ones down around the fire and had a glass of scotch in her hand.
00:16:55And she was one of the last ones to go to bed.
00:16:59Barbara Jordan was really a good old boy.
00:17:01And everybody realized that.
00:17:06She walked in with a certain level of credentials, and she was able to demand a level of respect
00:17:13that they probably didn't even know that they would be given to a black woman.
00:17:19Once I cut through the maleness of the Texas State Senate and their view that I was going
00:17:27to be a disruptive force rather than a helping force, I enjoyed being in the Senate.
00:17:36The Texas Senate, you have to persuade people.
00:17:40So even if you shoot down that argument in debate, you've got to do it in such a way
00:17:45you don't anger them, because you may need to vote ten minutes later.
00:17:50Barbara learned a whole lot about political power.
00:17:54Barbara did some things that some of her liberal friends would have been disappointed if they'd
00:18:00have known that she did that.
00:18:02We didn't agree politically on practically anything, but I got along with them and formed
00:18:09genuine friendships.
00:18:12We sat by each other over and over.
00:18:15We began to talk about ourselves, tell our history, and became close, close friends, almost
00:18:21brother and sister.
00:18:27At the time, there was a really vibrant civil rights and black power movement going on.
00:18:35I tell you, I got to change my life because I'm choking the death.
00:18:46The party is one with the people, because we struggle with all the oppressed people.
00:18:50We struggle against the international bourgeoisie.
00:18:53I went down the 31st of August to try to register.
00:18:58They wasn't ready for that in Mississippi.
00:19:01They shot in the house 15 times, thinking that I was there.
00:19:14You, my friends, can help somehow tear down these walls that divides people into groups and
00:19:23separates them.
00:19:24You, the people of this country, I ask you, what about the basic and fundamental problem
00:19:30of human understanding of a human care for human beings?
00:19:43There was an upswing of women being energized politically.
00:19:51Most of the more progressive issues that Barbara Jordan wanted to pass were not going to pass the Texas Senate.
00:20:01There was an anti-male chauvinistic movement, and I know, men, that there are some of you who remain reluctant
00:20:09to embrace the cause of the equality of women.
00:20:25In Texas, it was not until 73 that a woman was able to have a credit card in her name
00:20:32about property.
00:20:37Barbara wanted the equal rights constitutional amendment for women to pass, and wanted Texas to be one of the early
00:20:43states to do it.
00:20:46She was able to reach out to people on all sides and pull them together.
00:20:52She got to be the author of the equal rights constitutional amendment for women, one of the first legislative branches
00:21:00of any state that passed in the United States.
00:21:14Keep in mind that in the days when she grew up,
00:21:18the goal for girls at the time was to find a marriage as soon as possible and to be rescued
00:21:26from your situation as a woman.
00:21:29And that meant that, you know, boys had to like you.
00:21:34And if they didn't, well, gee, I mean, what was wrong with you and what was going to happen to
00:21:39you?
00:21:48One thing I learned early on was that you can't work all the time.
00:21:53You need people around you who don't care about titles or status.
00:21:59One night after wrapping up a long day, some friends invited me out.
00:22:05That's where I met Nancy Earl.
00:22:07She walked at the university, and from the moment we started talking, it felt easy.
00:22:15We played music, sang together, and just enjoyed the night.
00:22:21Nancy had this way of making people feel at ease.
00:22:26I remember thinking, this is something I'd love to do again.
00:22:34She enjoyed being with Nancy Earl.
00:22:36She finally felt she could relax and be herself.
00:22:46SCR number 14.
00:22:49All those in favor of adoption of the resolution, vote aye.
00:22:53Those opposed, vote no.
00:22:55Aye as have it.
00:22:56Resolution is adopted.
00:22:58Barbara was an independent person who had an agenda to represent her district.
00:23:03Our Urban Affairs Committee devoted specifically and entirely to the solutions of problems of the cities.
00:23:12I'm frankly very disappointed in the work of the Constitutional Commission.
00:23:17You don't have any daycare center here?
00:23:19No, they don't.
00:23:20I wish they had one, but I go to school.
00:23:23You go to school?
00:23:23I take in high school night, tonight, 30 weeks.
00:23:26So if you can find someone who can take care of the two youngest children...
00:23:30Are we over to work?
00:23:31You would be able to work?
00:23:32Yes, ma'am.
00:23:35And she had a agenda way beyond the borders of Texas.
00:23:39She wanted to go to Washington.
00:23:44A group of us found the empty building, and we set up the headquarters.
00:23:52We literally would stuff envelopes and lick stamps.
00:23:56We spent a lot of time in the headquarters, helping in whatever way we could to boost the campaign for
00:24:01her.
00:24:11Her main opponent in the Democratic primary was Curtis Graves.
00:24:16I hear candidates now talking about law and order.
00:24:18They don't mean the kind of law and order that we mean.
00:24:21We mean law that isn't necessarily looking for order as an end result, but rather law which is looking for
00:24:29justice as an end result.
00:24:32I represent the real Democrats of Texas, who have always supported the traditional philosophy of liberalism.
00:24:43Curtis Graves had been a bomb-throwing, very progressive, outspoken member of the House.
00:24:49And so you had a lot of angst out there in the black community.
00:24:54I served in the Texas legislature at the same time that Barbara Jordan did.
00:24:59I guess she chose not to be affiliated with the causes that I was involved in because they were a
00:25:05little too liberal for her politics.
00:25:07Barbara Jordan looked really good in terms of this being her time.
00:25:12He had also still put in the time.
00:25:17He was a firebrand who liked to be confrontational.
00:25:22He tried to make it look like Barbara Jordan was kowtowing to the old white guys.
00:25:28And, well, he started circulating rumors that Barbara was gay.
00:25:34Curtis Graves is a light, light complexion of African-American guy running against a dog-complexion woman.
00:25:47The press seldom presented me in a favorable light.
00:26:04The world had decided that we were all Negro.
00:26:08But some of us were more Negro than others.
00:26:13You went further.
00:26:15You got the rewards if you were not Black Black with kinky hair.
00:26:21Black was bad.
00:26:23You didn't want to be Black.
00:26:36Everything is on the table when you're out there running for public office.
00:26:40It is a requirement of the person who puts themselves out there.
00:26:45You're going to feel that kind of pain that comes from that kind of scrutiny.
00:26:51And if you don't want that kind of scrutiny, don't seek the office.
00:27:00By that time, Barbara Jordan was able to have the relationships with both the Black community and the union community,
00:27:08which crossed racial lines.
00:27:11I was trying to get the hard-nosed, crusty business establishment in the city of Houston to come to the
00:27:21fundraising rally for me and endorse my candidacy for Congress.
00:27:26Well, they said, we might come, I guess.
00:27:31But then the word got out, Lyndon Johnson is coming.
00:27:36Lyndon Johnson came to the first reception that we had at the Rice Hotel in Houston when Barbara Jordan was
00:27:44going to run for Congress.
00:27:44And, of course, that guaranteed a success of the rally.
00:27:49And anybody who thought they were somebody came to the Rice Hotel.
00:27:56And, of course, she adored him for that.
00:28:00Lyndon Johnson held my hand in both of his, as only he could do, and said, if ever you need
00:28:07anything from me, just call.
00:28:11He looked at her as the future of the New South.
00:28:15We gave you Lyndon Johnson, and now we're giving you Barbara Jordan.
00:28:24He saw and heard the potential.
00:28:28And that was a friendship that lasted until Johnson died.
00:28:36That picture was on the front page of the newspapers throughout Texas.
00:28:46Curtis Graves just didn't have what Barbara Jordan had.
00:28:49Once she was elected, she moved away from the liberal wing and into the Lyndon Johnson wing of the party
00:28:58by doing their bidding in many cases.
00:29:02And that may have been a wise decision.
00:29:05Eventually got her elected to the Congress of the United States.
00:29:09But I promised you that you would have a clear, sound, effective, clarion voice on the floor of the United
00:29:18States House of Representatives if you elected me, and I guarantee you, you have that.
00:29:27I would only hope that in these next four years, we can so conduct ourselves in this country, that years
00:29:36from now, people will look back to the generation of the 1970s, and they will say, God bless America.
00:30:00Nancy came to Washington with Barbara.
00:30:06When you look back, yes, it's easy to see that they were a couple.
00:30:10They shared a house together, they shared a life together, and publicly that was all there was to it.
00:30:22Nancy cared for Barbara Jordan, respected her, gave her her space.
00:30:27Nancy understood that Barbara Jordan's love in life was politics.
00:30:36The Civil Rights Movement is still alive and well. Its methodology has perhaps changed. The political arena, that's where the
00:30:47black radicals have gone.
00:30:53The Congressional Black Caucus started in 1971. Black people are in that space in a way that we never have
00:31:00been before.
00:31:02The difference in state and federal, there's a lot more eyes on you.
00:31:20You've made history in the Texas Senate, and now being the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress
00:31:25from the South. How do you feel about all this?
00:31:27Well, I'm often asked whether I feel historical, and I really don't.
00:31:39Barbara Jordan wanted to be on the House Judiciary Committee.
00:31:43There were very few women.
00:31:46But there we were together.
00:31:49It was a hard slog.
00:31:51You get there, and all of a sudden you're voting on agricultural appropriations.
00:31:56Well, I'm from Brooklyn. I don't know too much about farming.
00:32:00But of course, what I didn't know was that when impeachments come up, the House Judiciary Committee plays the key
00:32:07role.
00:32:12The Democratic National Committee is trying to solve a spy mystery.
00:32:15Five intruders were captured by police inside the offices of the committee in Washington.
00:32:20The five men carried cameras and apparently had found an electronic bug.
00:32:23Mr. Nixon says emphatically that the White House is in no way involved in the burglary and bugging of the
00:32:29Democratic headquarters.
00:32:30You had this slow drip of information coming out that it was possible that the President of the United States
00:32:38was involved in bribing burglars to keep quiet about a break-in that affected the election.
00:32:44And of course, Nixon said this was completely untrue.
00:32:47I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their president's a crook.
00:32:53Well, I'm not a crook.
00:32:54There were rumblings about impeaching the president, but no serious rumblings.
00:33:00I had always had the highest respect possible for the presidency, and I could not imagine that I would be
00:33:09engaged in a process which could lead to the end of the presidency.
00:33:14It was only last week that the Senate Watergate Committee learned of the existence of tape recordings of President Nixon's
00:33:20conversation.
00:33:21The tapes would tell the truth, and Nixon didn't want the tapes to come out.
00:33:25This administration has, I think, gone further in terms of waiving executive privilege than any administration in my memory.
00:33:33On the question of impeachment of the president, a matter now being examined by the House Judiciary Committee is whether
00:33:39he illegally...
00:33:40I not only did a lot of homework and study, I lived the impeachment matter.
00:33:46It was a 24-hour-a-day engagement.
00:33:51Could I ask any of you to say what your own definition of impeachable offense is?
00:33:56I have no difficulty saying that.
00:33:58I do not feel that an impeachable offense has to be an indictable offense.
00:34:03I do not think it has to be one which shows criminality.
00:34:07You wouldn't say, I'm not a crook, if you weren't a crook.
00:34:10That was enough for the rest of us.
00:34:13But she needed the facts.
00:34:15The great disservice to the country would be to react emotionally.
00:34:21Some of my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee said,
00:34:24he's guilty, I'm ready to vote.
00:34:26I said, but I am not.
00:34:29And I will not be ready until I have satisfied my own mind that reason,
00:34:36reason tells me that this process has to be worked now.
00:34:45The Nixon tapes were finally released by the Supreme Court.
00:34:50One of the tapes showed that Nixon had ordered the cover-up from the beginning.
00:34:58The committee will view to determine why the President of the United States felt it necessary
00:35:04to spy on citizens of this country, tampering with the evidence.
00:35:09It's a long list.
00:35:12I felt as though there was no bottom to the misconduct, abuses of power of Nixon and of his team.
00:35:21There was so much criminal, let's be honest about it, criminal stuff going on.
00:35:33It was three evenings that the 38 members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee each had 15 minutes to
00:35:40say something about the matter of impeachment.
00:35:431970s. We didn't have social media. We didn't have all these distractions. We actually all watched the news.
00:35:51Everybody was glued to what was happening in these proceedings.
00:35:56Barbara was always a little bit of a perfectionist.
00:35:59She told me that on the way down to the hearing, she made some revisions to the text.
00:36:04If I can get into the vernacular, I had to have my stuff together.
00:36:10I felt that I was participating in a very important historical event.
00:36:19What was at stake?
00:36:21We were talking about a widespread criminal conspiracy led by the President of the United States.
00:36:28And the question was, what are we, the people, going to do about it?
00:36:36Barbara Jordan's address sharply focused on the question.
00:36:40I recognize the gentlelady from Texas as Jordan.
00:36:46The purpose of general debate, not to exceed a period of 15 minutes.
00:36:51Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:36:52That's right.
00:36:53Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.
00:37:01We, the people.
00:37:02It's a very eloquent beginning.
00:37:05But when that document was completed on the 17th of September in 1787, I was not included in that we,
00:37:13the people.
00:37:14I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake.
00:37:22But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in we, the people.
00:37:32Today, I am an inquisitor.
00:37:36And hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now.
00:37:44My faith in the Constitution is whole.
00:37:47It is complete.
00:37:47It is total.
00:37:49And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction
00:37:58of the Constitution.
00:38:02When I watch this black woman so articulate, so engaging, she becomes me.
00:38:11She becomes my mother and grandmother and every woman that I know and every African-American woman that was privileged
00:38:19to be born African-American in this country.
00:38:22We know the nature of impeachment.
00:38:24We've been talking about it a while now.
00:38:28It is chiefly designed for the President and his high ministers to somehow be called into account.
00:38:36It is designed to bridle the executive if he engages in excesses.
00:38:41It is designed as a method of national inquest into the conduct of public men.
00:38:47Framers confided in the Congress the power if need be to remove the President in order to strike a delicate
00:38:55balance between a President swollen with power and grown tyrannical and preservation of the independence of the executive.
00:39:04But impeachment must proceed within the confines of the constitutional term high crime and misdemeanors.
00:39:14If the impeachment provision in the Constitution of the United States will not reach the offenses charged here, then perhaps
00:39:22that 18th century Constitution should be abandoned to a 20th century paper shredder.
00:39:30Barbara Jordan built a case that we're not doing this. The framers envisioned this. And they didn't envision it for
00:39:37something trivial. They envisioned it for something serious.
00:39:41She essentially walked America through the Constitution, the amendments, the debate over the impeachment articles.
00:39:50With Nixon it was all about whether he had violated the Constitution. If you're following the Constitution then you're doing
00:39:57the right thing and you have parameters.
00:40:00It is reason and not passion which must guide our deliberations, guide our debate, and guide our decision.
00:40:11I yield back the balance of my time to Jim.
00:40:15I recognize the...
00:40:17Barbara Jordan was looking the camera right straight in the eye, looked down the throat of the camera and said,
00:40:23America, this is what's on the table.
00:40:27This is what we have to decide. See it clearly. Have no confusion about it. This, my friends, is what
00:40:35it's about. No question. It was an emotional time because so much was at stake.
00:40:42Mr. Cyberling. Aye.
00:40:44Mr. Danielson. Aye.
00:40:46Mr. Dreinen. Aye.
00:40:48Ms. Holtzman. Aye.
00:40:49Mr. Rangel. Aye.
00:40:53Ms. Jordan. Aye.
00:40:54Behind the committee hearing room, several of us cried. Absolutely shed tears. For Richard Nixon? No. But that the country
00:41:08had come to this.
00:41:11The House Judiciary Committee today recommended formally the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
00:41:18Republican leaders, seeing that the midterm elections were about to come up, knew that if Nixon were going to fight
00:41:24this, that no Republicans would have been elected.
00:41:28Mr. Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.
00:41:45When she left the Capitol that night, there were people waiting outside as she got in her car to leave.
00:41:50She couldn't believe it. And then in the days following that, the outpouring...
00:41:54Mr. I'd say I got maybe a dozen letters from people who didn't agree with me. But you contrast that
00:42:02to the hundreds upon hundreds who said, that did it for me.
00:42:08Ms. It's no small thing to be socialized in the state of Texas as a black woman, being pushed down
00:42:16the way she was.
00:42:19Ms. How do you come through that and then present yourself to the nation in such a forceful way?
00:42:27Mr. Can any of your black friends say to you, how could you get up there in front of the
00:42:30country and say you had faith in the Constitution and the law of this country when you are a descendant
00:42:36of slaves, undoubtedly?
00:42:38And look what the country's done to us, et cetera, et cetera.
00:42:41Ms. Well, certainly. Some a few will say, how can you say that? And you're just, you're lying to people.
00:42:47You can't really believe that. You said it because it sounds pretty to feel that way.
00:42:52Well, Dick, if, and I do believe in the basic fundamental ideas on which this country was founded.
00:43:02What if I checked out, checked out on the country, checked out on the Constitution, decided it really doesn't have
00:43:09anything to do with the inclusion of me now or ever.
00:43:14Then what do I do? Pack up my bags and go to sea?
00:43:20I think for the first time, she may not have been looked upon as a black person, but as an
00:43:27American.
00:43:29Barbara Jordan became a media personage, a household name. Her speaking calendar booked solid a year in advance.
00:43:38The fact that she's the first this or the first that isn't what's kept her at the top. It's a
00:43:43keen intelligence, a voice, a presence.
00:43:48Let's talk about the mystery of Barbara Jordan. Is marriage anything that comes into your thinking?
00:43:54Oh, from time to time comes into my thinking.
00:43:57What do you do when it does?
00:43:59I look around and see who's available. And I usually come up with a blank. And so then I don't
00:44:06get married.
00:44:07Would you mind if it didn't happen?
00:44:11I don't think I'd take to my bed over it. As a matter of fact, I think I could survive
00:44:18it.
00:44:21The press was pretty gentle about people's sexuality. If they didn't come out of the closet, I don't remember her
00:44:31discussing it.
00:44:36If Barbara Jordan was in office and she had even indicated that she was a gay person and tried to
00:44:41come out, she would have been ostracized, first of all, by the black community.
00:44:46She would have been driven out of office. She would have lost all her credibility, all her fame. It just
00:44:53would have gone down the drain.
00:44:56You compound homophobia and racism. It is a toxic combination.
00:45:05She had really good reasons for keeping her relationship quiet. At the same time, her friends always said, you know,
00:45:12she never denied it in personal relationships.
00:45:15It wasn't a case of internalized homophobia that she pretended to the people that she trusted that she wasn't gay.
00:45:23But it wasn't information that the public was ready to hear from someone who was going to represent them.
00:45:41Shortly after the Watergate hearings, she noticed some changes in her vision and some weakness in her muscles.
00:45:47So she went in for some tests. The initial tests came back as multiple sclerosis.
00:45:55The type of MS that Barbara Jordan had, you'd have an attack and then remission. And each attack would leave
00:46:04a portion of your body further damaged.
00:46:08But she kept it secret.
00:46:12The family seemed to have been the last to know specifically what the illness was.
00:46:19She did not discuss it with us. We noticed the deterioration.
00:46:24And knew that she was doing all that was possible to improve it.
00:46:31So little was done about the disease at the time or potential cures.
00:46:37There was an uncertainty within her about her own life and well-being.
00:46:44But like so many things in Barbara's life, she put it aside because she was going to go do what
00:46:49she was going to go do.
00:46:51Right now, I'm just very pleased that I've won re-election to represent the 18th Congressional District of Congress.
00:46:57A political office isn't a destination. It's a tool.
00:47:06She was there to do things. And she had a very impressive list of Congressional accomplishments. She helped shape hundreds
00:47:14of bills.
00:47:19Thank you, Mr. President.
00:47:20Ingratulation.
00:47:21Thank you, Mr. President.
00:47:23I watch your commentary.
00:47:24Do you now?
00:47:26I hope that they meet with your approval from time.
00:47:32From time to time.
00:47:33From time to time.
00:47:39In 75, Barbara worked to ensure that the Voting Rights Act extension also included Hispanic
00:47:48groups.
00:47:52The bill that I will sign today broadens the provisions to bar discrimination against
00:47:59Spanish-speaking Americans, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Asian-Americans.
00:48:12We will be here seven years from now, and if the act needs to be extended again, we'll
00:48:18do that.
00:48:29Among your detractors, you're known as having an impatience with those not as smart as
00:48:34you, an impatience bordering on arrogance.
00:48:40Would you say that's fair?
00:48:42Oh, I think that's unfair.
00:48:43It is just my desire to see things move along expeditiously without too many missteps.
00:48:52The key to moving ahead has been understanding power.
00:48:55That includes knowing the rules.
00:48:57It also includes guarding her independence, avoiding labels, making alliances all right,
00:49:03but not risking too much on them.
00:49:06She was not really very active in the Black Caucus.
00:49:10She was just overcome with the responsibilities of her district.
00:49:15Blacks are concerned about heat, hot water, getting jobs, unemployment, and the Nixon administration.
00:49:20The politician who is Black will be successful in the larger arena when he can show and demonstrate
00:49:28flexibility on a broad spectrum of issues and not be a knee-jerk Black.
00:49:38I would gamble that if you would attempt to ask her, what did it mean to you being a Black
00:49:45American, that she'll find some way of telling you that she was just an American who happened
00:49:50to be Black.
00:49:52There is no law which says all Black people who are elected to Congress must agree with
00:49:58each other on every point.
00:50:00And you don't?
00:50:01And I don't.
00:50:02What about women?
00:50:04Other women members of Congress?
00:50:05This is the time that we will make women and men share equally in the greatness of America.
00:50:12She told Legislative Assistant Bob Alcock of a conversation she had with New York's militant
00:50:16Congresswoman Bella Abzug.
00:50:18Did you know that Bella wanted all the women to sit together on the floor today while they
00:50:22considered the Women's Rights Bill?
00:50:25No, I didn't know that.
00:50:30That's very interesting.
00:50:33And I said I wouldn't sit with them.
00:50:35So she said, well, they would all come over and sit with me.
00:50:38And I told them I'd move.
00:50:41She would not call herself a feminist because it was considered a white woman's domain.
00:50:47That is how the National Organization of Women were unofficially identified.
00:50:52And Barbara Jordan was not going to be pigeonholed.
00:50:56You've been criticized from time to time by both blacks and women for not being more part of their team.
00:51:02I think I am contributing to the work of the team every time I get out of bed and go
00:51:09to work.
00:51:11There's a black and there's a woman on the job doing things hopefully beneficial to the interests of black people
00:51:19and of women.
00:51:24The very first man to die for the war of independence in this country was a black man named Crispus
00:51:30Addox.
00:51:32Crispus Addox.
00:51:40He was a fool.
00:51:44Oh, but we wanted to prove what great Americans we were.
00:51:48We begged the white folk to let us fight in the war of independence.
00:51:51And they had us fighting the Indians like fools.
00:51:54We should have teamed up with the Indians and take care of you-know-who.
00:52:02I am militant in my insides.
00:52:10I know that there are problems which black people face which must be solved.
00:52:16And even though you seethe underneath and you want to break out in some kind of a display of aggressiveness,
00:52:26the truth of the matter is that in the back of your mind you know that in the long run
00:52:30that display of aggressiveness is going to retard the cause that you're trying to fulfill or to bring about.
00:52:38So you suppress.
00:52:40You suppress.
00:52:55The last eight years, we have seen the employment suffer a recession induced by the combination
00:53:04of Mr. Nixon and Mr. Ford.
00:53:07It's time that people found out that when God put us here, he said we were equal.
00:53:11You know, it's time to start thinking about that.
00:53:15I, Gerald R. Ford, do grant a full, free and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon
00:53:23for all offenses against the United States.
00:53:27For the past eight years, Washington, D.C. has been under a pollution alert
00:53:32because of the stench of republicanism accompanied by some other foul odors.
00:53:39And those other foul odors may be labeled dishonor, disgrace, betrayal of trust.
00:53:48The only way that we are going to be able to purify the air is to elect that rational, compassionate,
00:53:56depth of intellect man by the name of Jimmy Carter.
00:54:05My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for president.
00:54:13I made a decision to help Carter get elected because the two terms I served in Congress,
00:54:19I had Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
00:54:22And I thought one experience that you've got to have is to serve in Congress with a democratic president.
00:54:30Come on, come on.
00:54:52I was going to get a chance to hear Barbara Jordan speak,
00:54:54and that was a big deal for her being the first African-American speaking there.
00:55:00Ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:06Ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:14When Bob Strauss introduced her, he didn't go through a litany of firsts.
00:55:20He just said, the Honorable Congresswoman Barbara Jordan from Houston.
00:55:24The Honorable Barbara Jordan, Democrat of Houston, Texas.
00:55:32Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
00:55:36One hundred and forty-four years ago, members of the Democratic Party first met in convention to select a presidential
00:55:46candidate.
00:55:47And our meeting is a continuation of that tradition, but there is something different about tonight, there is something special
00:55:56about tonight.
00:55:58What is different? What is special?
00:56:01I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
00:56:12My presence here is one additional bit of evidence that the American dream need not forever be deferred.
00:56:28We have a positive vision of the future founded on the belief that the gap between the promise and reality
00:56:39of America can one day be finally closed.
00:56:44We believe that.
00:56:50Let there be no illusions about the difficulty of forming this kind of a national community.
00:56:59It's tough, but a spirit of harmony will survive in America only if each of us remembers when self-interest
00:57:08and bitterness seem to prevail,
00:57:11that we will that we share a common destiny.
00:57:15I have confidence that we can form this kind of national community.
00:57:22I am going to close my speech by quoting a Republican president.
00:57:29And I ask you that as you listen to these words of Abraham Lincoln, relate them to the concept of
00:57:39a national community
00:57:41in which every last one of us participates.
00:57:51As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.
00:58:02Here, this, this expresses my idea of democracy.
00:58:20Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.
00:59:12After Jimmy Carter was elected, there was all this speculation who was going to be appointed
00:59:17and what Barbara had one spot she wanted.
00:59:22She wanted to be Attorney General of the United States.
00:59:26She could do a lot on the issues she cares about, anti-discriminating, voting rights,
00:59:32civil rights.
00:59:33Was it possible for Barbara Jordan to become Attorney General under Jimmy Carter in 1976?
00:59:40No.
00:59:42Society was not prepared.
00:59:44We were still gathered around the television set if a black person was on television in
00:59:50the 70s.
00:59:51I don't think that I'm trapped in representing the 18th Congressional District for the rest
00:59:56of my life.
00:59:57I may want to do something else.
00:59:59One of your colleagues said, Barbara Jordan has a gothic preoccupation with power.
01:00:05Politics, Paul, is about power.
01:00:08And to say that it's not, I think, is to deny the reality of politics.
01:00:15I don't yearn for power for myself, but I certainly yearn for power to get things done for the people
01:00:22I represent.
01:00:24Tonight, Carter interviews Representative Barbara Jordan, who is in the running for Attorney General.
01:00:29Barbara was excited to go to the meeting with Carter.
01:00:34On her way into Blair House, Representative Jordan said she hadn't the faintest idea what
01:00:39post she was being considered for, but sources said that it was indeed Attorney General.
01:00:43The Texas Congresswoman left 45 minutes later before the hour allotted for the interview had ended.
01:00:52I personally, as a reporter covering the story, thought that President Carter considered her seriously.
01:01:04He had his guy, Griffin Bell, because people put their guys in.
01:01:13I felt that the black and the woman stuff were just side issues and that people were going
01:01:20to ignore that.
01:01:22Now that was naivete on my part.
01:01:28You were reported as being arrogant and saying that you would only consider a cabinet position
01:01:33of Attorney General.
01:01:34I suppose I was.
01:01:37That is, I don't know that there is any sin to be attached to one being arrogant if one has
01:01:44a reason to be arrogant.
01:01:46I do not apologize.
01:01:50Andrew Young ultimately got the appointment as ambassador to the United Nations.
01:01:55And there were a number of key African American leaders who also served in his administration,
01:02:00but Barbara was not one of them.
01:02:03We've got to take that risk, Senator.
01:02:05In my judgment, the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution demand that we take that risk
01:02:12if those provisions of the Constitution are supposed to mean anything.
01:02:16The other-
01:02:17Politics is not easy for a woman.
01:02:20And that is period.
01:02:22No semicolon.
01:02:23No semicolon.
01:02:24There is a sense still that women are not quite up to the job.
01:02:32When it comes to deciding on difficult issues, that is perception that is not reality.
01:02:48I shall not seek elective office in 1978.
01:02:55I am going to serve out my term.
01:02:59I trust that there will be something for me to do with the rest of my life.
01:03:04I believe that I have a contribution to continue to make in either the public or the private sector.
01:03:11But I felt that I had made an impact.
01:03:16And frankly, I couldn't think of any way I could do more or get the attention of more people
01:03:25or command the attention of more people or get them to listen, that I had done that.
01:03:32And given the structure of the body, as large and lumbersome and cumbersome as it is, in that setting, I
01:03:42felt that I had run out my strength.
01:03:46If you think of that speech that Barbara Jordan gave at the Watergate impeachment proceedings,
01:03:52that was someone teaching a lesson.
01:03:55And then what does she do?
01:03:57She ends up becoming a teacher.
01:04:00It's Professor Barbara Jordan now, not Congresswoman Jordan anymore.
01:04:04Her audience now is 14 graduate students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of
01:04:10Texas.
01:04:11Well, we're in new quarters here today, and I hope that...
01:04:14Morning, Dan.
01:04:15Morning.
01:04:16I want to test your power, your concentration.
01:04:20Ignore the lights.
01:04:23Ignore the camera.
01:04:25Ignore the star.
01:04:27And just, that is that star, not this one.
01:04:32She loved to challenge those students.
01:04:37I no longer have any interest in elective office.
01:04:40I think my future is in seeing to it that the next generation is ready to take over.
01:04:47She had so much reach into places that desperately needed another image of someone.
01:04:54As we went into the AIDS epidemic, the deaths and the isolation, we so much needed role models and heroes
01:05:02and heroines to step up.
01:05:03And the question was posed to her why she was so silent on LGBT issues.
01:05:08And she said there are only so many banners she can carry at one time.
01:05:13And I understand, and it still makes me sad today.
01:05:19A mystery disease known as the gay plague has become an epidemic unprecedented in the history of American medicine.
01:05:25Why haven't the bad houses whose sole purpose is to provide a setting for casual, promiscuous homosexual sex been closed
01:05:33down?
01:05:34To add the AIDS virus to the list of contagious diseases for which immigrants and aliens can be denied entry.
01:05:46We'll make America great again.
01:05:53The disability does not negate our entitlement to the same constitutional rights.
01:06:01We have failed.
01:06:04People who come to power have been more concerned with exacerbating our divisions rather than healing our wounds.
01:06:14If we are the inclusive society, the inclusive government we say we are, then everybody ought to have a say.
01:06:23Freddie, you're buying into the system.
01:06:26And you used to be about something.
01:06:28I am about something.
01:06:30I am about studying this system, understanding it so I can change it.
01:06:33Goodbye, Tracy Chapman.
01:06:35Hello, Barbara Jordan.
01:06:46Nancy and she designed their house that they wanted to have out in the country.
01:06:51There's this huge public area for entertaining.
01:06:58She would have plenty of food and a lot of group singing.
01:07:13And, of course, Barbara would do solos every now and then.
01:07:18It was just so special.
01:07:19And the older we got, the more special it became.
01:07:25Of course, there was food and there was fun, but she started to have an annual party for the team.
01:07:41One of the pleasures that Barbara had as she came back to Austin was to go support the Lady Longhorns,
01:07:48the wonderful women's basketball team at the University of Texas.
01:07:52She became an instant expert, so she gave a lot of coaching advice.
01:07:58I asked her to refrain from berating the officials.
01:08:02Barbara would yell at these young women,
01:08:05Can we not shoot?
01:08:07It was like, Oh my God.
01:08:09And Barbara never missed a game.
01:08:14Barbara Jordan and I were good friends for many years.
01:08:17We were friends other than being political friends.
01:08:20We sat together at the Lady Longhorn basketball games at the University of Texas.
01:08:29And oftentimes, you'd be frustrated with Barbara because you couldn't get her to relax.
01:08:34You know, you couldn't get her to not be Barbara Jordan.
01:08:39And they'd like to tell dirty jokes to each other.
01:08:44I'm delighted to be here with you this evening.
01:08:47Because after listening to George Bush all these years,
01:08:51I figured you needed to know what a real Texas accent sounds like.
01:09:03When mom was elected governor, she was trying to change state government.
01:09:08Barbara said, Yeah, I'm there with you.
01:09:11And Anne appointed Barbara as her ethics counsel.
01:09:17I cannot tell you how intimidating it was to walk into that room
01:09:22and be with the voice of God.
01:09:25And then immediately how warm and loving she was.
01:09:29She said, You can make money or you can do public service.
01:09:32But you're not going to intermingle the two.
01:09:35She pretty much carved out that niche.
01:09:40America's ethics advisor.
01:09:42It's with great pleasure that I today announce my intention
01:09:45to nominate United States Court of Appeals Judge Robert H. Bork
01:09:50to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
01:09:53Robert Bork's America is a land in which women
01:09:56would be forced into back alley abortions.
01:10:00Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters.
01:10:03Rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids.
01:10:07And school children could not be taught about evolution.
01:10:10Writers and artists would be censured at the whim of government.
01:10:15Civil rights leaders who have been standing in line
01:10:17to denounce his nomination today got their chance.
01:10:22The hearing will come to order.
01:10:24It's an honor to have you here and I would ask you to raise your right hand
01:10:27if I may, Congresswoman, to be sworn.
01:10:29Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you God?
01:10:32I do, Mr. Chairman, and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
01:10:35My opposition to this nomination is really a result of living 51 years as a Black American born in the
01:10:48South
01:10:49and determined to be heard by the majority community.
01:10:55He has disagreed with the principle of one person, one vote many times.
01:11:00This is what he said.
01:11:02I do not think there is a theoretical basis for it.
01:11:09My word.
01:11:11I'll tell you this much.
01:11:13There is a common sense, natural, rational basis for all votes counting equally.
01:11:24It would be very dangerous to have someone sitting on the Supreme Court who doesn't take individual rights seriously.
01:11:31The Supreme Court of the United States is the last bulwark of protection for our freedoms.
01:11:43Senator Humphrey, which title do you prefer?
01:11:47Whichever is comfortable for you.
01:11:50You throw it back every time, don't you?
01:11:55All right. Congresswoman Jordan, was the Senate wrong in confirming Robert Bork to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals?
01:12:04I don't know whether you were wrong. You might have been.
01:12:06Well, in your opinion. I'm asking in your opinion.
01:12:09I know. I know. I know what you're asking.
01:12:11The Senate, in its collective wisdom, apparently decided it was the correct thing for the Senate to do.
01:12:20And I would not second-guess it.
01:12:22Okay.
01:12:23Well, but really, you're evading the question outrageously.
01:12:28First, you accused Robert Bork of violating the law.
01:12:31He did violate the law.
01:12:32Very well. Then, in your opinion, what possible reason could the Senate have for confirming unanimously someone you claim violated
01:12:38the law?
01:12:39The Senate maybe felt that that was not a serious enough aberration for them to deny confirmation.
01:12:49Oh, you really can't be serious.
01:12:51You can't be serious on that.
01:12:53Of course I can be.
01:12:55I've never seen you humorous, I must say, so maybe this is the first time, tongue-in-cheek.
01:13:03Um...
01:13:04You're very good.
01:13:09Professor?
01:13:11I believe I'll call you Professor.
01:13:13All right.
01:13:17If I could get a lesser person really over a barrel, I can't get you over that barrel.
01:13:22Um, let's talk about another point.
01:13:24You said something about you personally saw the Supreme Court as the guardian of your rights.
01:13:30I think here is the nub of this controversy.
01:13:32I view the Constitution, and not judges, as the guardian of our freedom, our rights, our liberty.
01:13:41You're right, this is the nub of the issue.
01:13:43Shoot that one.
01:13:45Finally, you're right.
01:13:51The nub of the issue is this.
01:13:55Many people, particularly weak people, underprivileged, unrepresented, underrepresented, minority people, particularly the ouch, have looked to the Supreme Court as
01:14:19the rescuer.
01:14:21Mm-hmm.
01:14:22The Supreme Court will throw out a lifeline when the legislators and the governors and everybody else refuses to do
01:14:34so.
01:14:35I think Jordan can see down the road how Supreme Court appointments can not only roll back some of those
01:14:42measures that helped catapult her, but also concerns about the punitive nature of lawmaking.
01:14:48We do not want to see an articulate and persuasive voice on the Supreme Court saying, that's not your function.
01:15:00Congress suffered when you left us, but it's a delight to have you back here today.
01:15:03Thank you, Senator.
01:15:04I remember when you were a member of Congress, you were one of the most articulate members.
01:15:08I had the pleasure of serving on the conference committee with you, and I knew you in other ways.
01:15:15Of course, I differ with you on this nomination, but I hope you're getting along nice in Texas and enjoying
01:15:20your work at the Leonard Johnson School of Government.
01:15:23There's an old English expression that says, character brings forth character. You brought forth in this body when you were
01:15:32here, and hopefully in this committee.
01:15:44There was a long time for me, 15 years, with Barbara, where we didn't know what was going on with
01:15:51her health.
01:15:53I never heard exactly what it was. We were just shocked when she had a cane, and we were shocked
01:15:58more when she had her wheelchair.
01:16:01I think we all just hoped that there was nothing wrong.
01:16:07Barbara and Nancy were deeply devoted to each other.
01:16:13As Barbara needed more and more help physically, that was a test.
01:16:19Because any time a relationship changes from being partner's friends to caretaker, that was some rough years.
01:16:29And all of us tried to help.
01:16:32I watched her becoming more and more disabled.
01:16:35But it didn't affect her mind.
01:16:38She was still blowing and going and making speeches.
01:16:41The American dream is not dead.
01:16:45It is not dead.
01:16:49It is gasping for breath.
01:16:52But it is not dead.
01:16:56The things that I was part of didn't change.
01:16:59And not one time ever did I hear Barbara complain.
01:17:04There was no self-pity.
01:17:07Uh, Gary, if you play, I'll sing.
01:17:09Okay.
01:17:10Now, you know, if you go out someplace and you see your baby stretched out on a long white table.
01:17:22There's no self-pity.
01:17:25There's no self-pity.
01:17:25I'm out there.
01:17:26I'm out there.
01:17:27I'm out there.
01:17:29I'm out there.
01:17:30I'm out there.
01:17:34I'm out there.
01:17:43I'm out there.
01:18:01Barbara Jordan, the former congresswoman and memorable political orator, died today at the age of 59.
01:18:08Today, Texas lost at Pioneer.
01:18:12I had this morning asked that the state flags be lowered to half-staff in memory of a great Texan.
01:18:20Life is not always fair.
01:18:23And the people who have the most to contribute, why, I don't know why, they are the ones we lose.
01:18:32My dear Barbara Jordan, if I were sitting on a porch, a cross from God, I would thank him for
01:18:43sending you to us.
01:18:45Well, Nancy, the truth is I'd counted on Barbara preaching my funeral.
01:18:52She always could make things sound a lot better than they were.
01:18:59The last time I saw Barbara Jordan was when Liz Carpenter talked me into Cohen to the University of Texas
01:19:05to give a speech on race relations on the day of the Million Man March.
01:19:13I was nervous enough as it was.
01:19:18And I walked out into that vast arena, and there were 17,000 people there.
01:19:26But I could only see one, Barbara Jordan, smiling at me.
01:19:33And there I was about to give a speech to her about race and the Constitution.
01:19:46It was the nearest experience on this earth to the pastors giving a sermon with God in the audience.
01:19:57When Barbara Jordan talked, we listened.
01:20:02She took to heart what her Grandpa Patton told her when she was a little girl.
01:20:07You just trot your own horse and don't get into the same rut as everyone else.
01:20:13Well, she sure trotted her own horse, and she made her own path wide and deep.
01:20:31Barbara's death and her wishes for her death came up fairly often
01:20:35because she wanted everyone to understand
01:20:38that she wanted to be buried on the highest hill in the state cemetery
01:20:43next to Stephen F. Austin, who's the father of Texas.
01:20:48So where's Barbara Jordan buried?
01:20:52On top of the highest hill on the corner of Stephen F. Austin.
01:20:56And there's only one word on the backside of that gravestone.
01:21:04She wanted to be remembered as a teacher.
01:21:12I'm a patriot, and I don't feel that I need to apologize for that.
01:21:16I'm not willing to abandon patriotism to what is called the right wing.
01:21:23It sounds so old-fashioned for a representative to say,
01:21:28I am going to protect the rights and secure the liberties of the American people,
01:21:33but that's what we're going to have to become,
01:21:35old-fashioned watchdogs of the civil liberties of American citizens.
01:22:03Growing up in Houston, Texas, I feel like I've always known the name.
01:22:08I found more about her once I joined the Texas Southern University debate team.
01:22:13Her voice, the way she speak,
01:22:16her speeches are something you can get drawn into.
01:22:20It's kind of like hearing the voice of God speaking.
01:22:24Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the preamble
01:22:28to the Constitution of the United States.
01:22:31We the people.
01:22:32We the people.
01:22:34It's a very eloquent beginning,
01:22:37but when that document was completed on the 17th of September in 1787...
01:22:42I was not included in that we the people.
01:22:45I felt somehow for many years
01:22:48that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton
01:22:52had just left me out by mistake.
01:22:57But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision,
01:23:02I have finally been included in we, the people.
01:23:08Today, I am an inquisitor.
01:23:11Today, I am an inquisitor.
01:23:14Today, I'm an inquisitor.
01:23:16Today?
01:23:17Today.
01:23:17Today.
01:23:18Today.
01:23:18I am an inquisitor.
01:23:20I am an inquisitor.
01:23:21I am an inquisitor.
01:23:22I am an inquisitor.
01:23:38We thank you for joining us
01:23:40as we dedicate the first building
01:23:42in the Texas Capitol complex
01:23:44to bear the name of a black woman,
01:23:48Barbara Jordan.
01:23:49We're a matter of the same
01:23:51We will never walk alone
01:23:54Voices echo like thunder
01:23:57As we break the chains
01:24:00Can't hurt us anymore
01:24:02We've gotten used to the pain
01:24:05And when we stand
01:24:06We're unstoppable
01:24:09When we stand
01:24:11Nothing's impossible
01:24:17Independent Lens is made possible by
01:24:19The Action Circle for Independent Lens
01:24:21With major funding from
01:24:23The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
01:24:25Acton Family Giving
01:24:27The Ford Foundation
01:24:29The Jonathan Logan Family Foundation
01:24:31And contributions from the following
01:24:35Support for this Independent Lens presentation
01:24:37was provided by
01:24:39Additional support for this series
01:24:41has been provided by
01:24:42The Corporation for Public Broadcasting
01:24:44And by contributions to your PBS station
01:24:46from viewers like you
01:24:47Thank you
01:25:13Thank you
01:25:15Thank you
01:25:24Thank you
01:25:26Thank you