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Through rare archival footage and firsthand accounts, True North revisits 1968 Montreal, where Black liberation movements converged at the Congress of Black Writers. As student protests ignited the Sir George Williams Affair, Black youth faced violent repression, unfolding a powerful chapter of the global Black Power era.
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00:00:21Is Canada a racist country?
00:00:23A native of Dominica says that it is.
00:00:25He's Roosevelt Douglas, otherwise known as Rosie Douglas.
00:00:29Mr. Douglas, why are you so involved with Canada
00:00:32and the problem of colored people here?
00:00:34Well, first of all, I am a black man,
00:00:36and if there are black people here,
00:00:37I am going to be involved in fighting with black people.
00:00:40Further, having been born in the Caribbean,
00:00:42an area where the Canadian people are exploiting
00:00:44in the most vicious and blatant form,
00:00:46it is my responsibility while I'm here
00:00:49to expose this type of exploitation.
00:00:51Does that include violence?
00:00:52Well, I mean, if you are racist,
00:00:55by implication you are imposing your values
00:00:57and you are imposing your power on people
00:00:59in a manner which is not in the best keeping
00:01:01with their basic human integrity.
00:01:03And this is a form of violence.
00:01:05In other words, when you have black people
00:01:06living in Preston, Nova Scotia,
00:01:07in houses that are not heated when temperatures
00:01:09drop to 20 below zero during winter,
00:01:11this is a form of violence.
00:01:12And this is what we are fighting against.
00:01:14Black people...
00:01:15You are the ones that brought us out of Africa.
00:01:17I didn't ask you to be brought out of Africa.
00:01:18Are you saying that black people were brought
00:01:20to this country as slaves?
00:01:22James McGill, the founder of McGill University himself,
00:01:24owned 12 slaves.
00:01:25Slaves were also brought from Sierra Leone,
00:01:275,000 of them to build a citadel in Nova Scotia.
00:01:29So don't tell me that black people didn't come here as slaves.
00:01:31The black people were brought here as slaves.
00:01:32I didn't say that.
00:01:33Learn your history.
00:01:34The majority of black people...
00:01:58I'm going to feast at the welcome people
00:02:04One of these days, hallelujah.
00:02:05I'm going to feast at the welcome table
00:02:07One of these days, hallelujah.
00:02:10I'm going to feast at the welcome table
00:02:14One of these days, hallelujah.
00:02:15I'm going to feast at the welcome table
00:02:17One of these days, hallelujah.
00:02:21I'm going to tell God about my troubles
00:02:27I'm going to tell God about my troubles
00:02:30One of these days, hallelujah.
00:02:32I'm going to tell God about my troubles
00:02:32I'm gonna tell God about my trouble, gonna tell God all about problems one of these days.
00:03:31I'm gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about problems one of these days.
00:03:49I'm gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about problems one of these days.
00:04:31I'm gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about
00:04:32my trouble.
00:05:00I'm gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about my trouble.
00:05:21I'm gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about my trouble, gonna tell God all about
00:05:32my trouble.
00:05:42Kids of European descent would come to our home service association.
00:05:47We would go to the Jewish YMHA and the Ukrainian hall and we'd just pile into these dances.
00:05:58This was an era of doo-wop and an era of R&B and we all loved it.
00:06:18I had a very close friend who was white.
00:06:22I recall him saying to me one day when we were going to do something together.
00:06:27I said, okay, I'll come over to your house and, you know, pick you up.
00:06:30He said, well, you can't come.
00:06:32I said, why?
00:06:33He said, we have some American relatives coming and staying with us.
00:06:36And they don't like black people.
00:06:40Don't come.
00:06:42Please.
00:06:45He could never be my friend again after that.
00:06:47That was it.
00:06:48We went our separate ways.
00:07:06We talked.
00:07:10What?
00:07:11Well.
00:07:12That's alright.
00:07:15Oh.
00:07:19Well.
00:07:20Oh, what?
00:07:20Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
00:07:21So what?
00:07:23I love.
00:07:27Oh, get ready.
00:07:28We will be arriving in Montreal, our final destination, in a few minutes.
00:07:33For your safety, we ask that you remain seated until the train comes to a complete stop.
00:07:45The Blacks are not many at home.
00:07:47In Montreal, they count for 1% of the population.
00:07:52They live, since they are always in a labor environment.
00:07:56Ailleurs, on ne rencontre à peu près pas de Noirs.
00:07:59Tes parents, est-ce qu'ils te parlent des Noirs des fois?
00:08:01Mon père, ils s'amassent.
00:08:03Ils n'aiment pas les Noirs?
00:08:04Non.
00:08:05Qu'est-ce qu'ils en disent?
00:08:07Ils n'aiment pas.
00:08:09Ta mère?
00:08:10Ma mère, elle est pour les Noirs.
00:08:13Et toi?
00:08:14Hein?
00:08:14Tes parents, qu'est-ce qu'ils en disent des Noirs?
00:08:17Ils n'aiment pas.
00:08:19Toi, tu aimes les Noirs?
00:08:20Oui.
00:08:22Ton père, il les aime?
00:08:23Oui.
00:08:23Ta mère aussi?
00:08:25Oui.
00:08:25Oui?
00:08:26Est-ce que tu aimes mieux jouer avec les Noirs que jouer avec les Blancs?
00:08:29Les Blancs, il n'y a pas de différence.
00:08:30Il n'y a pas de différence, toi.
00:08:32Il n'y a pas de différence.
00:08:58Il n'y a pas de relentless.
00:08:59Il n'y a pas de différence.
00:08:59Il n'y a pas d'urgence...
00:09:01D'accord.
00:09:01I'm in the middle of the sun to my paths of the hell and of the night.
00:09:05I have eyes at the height of the sky,
00:09:08because I remember my mountains.
00:09:11Sometimes, my gaze glies on the ground.
00:09:14I remember the sea, so blue, so warm,
00:09:17which takes its source at the feet of the beach.
00:09:23From my window, I hear a wave that comes and goes,
00:09:27and then breaks and forms the same rhythm as the sea.
00:09:32At Montreal, the mechanics makes the sea.
00:09:39I come from an island of the sun where the cold is burning.
00:09:44An island of India.
00:09:46Haiti.
00:09:47You know it?
00:10:01feathers going.
00:10:04That's...
00:10:05When people regarde the sea.
00:10:11We stay that way
00:10:14We are still eating.
00:10:18We are still sitting in contact with them.
00:10:18To be able to afford it,
00:10:21poorOOOO puesugs
00:10:25first world and fairgrounds the
00:10:25sea. The
00:10:26waters, the sea.
00:10:53Satsang with Mooji
00:11:16Satsang with Mooji
00:11:53Satsang with Mooji
00:12:22Satsang with Mooji
00:12:52Satsang with Mooji
00:13:10Satsang with Mooji
00:13:41Satsang with Mooji
00:14:06Satsang with Mooji
00:14:12Satsang with Mooji
00:14:44Satsang with Mooji
00:15:05Satsang with Mooji
00:15:34Satsang with Mooji
00:16:02Satsang with Mooji
00:16:34Satsang with Mooji
00:16:34Satsang with Mooji
00:16:48Satsang with Mooji
00:16:51Satsang with Mooji
00:16:59Satsang with Mooji
00:17:27Satsang with Mooji
00:17:28Satsang with Mooji
00:17:29Satsang with Mooji
00:17:59Satsang with Mooji
00:18:29Satsang with Mooji
00:18:30Satsang with Mooji
00:19:00Satsang with Mooji
00:19:00Satsang with Mooji
00:19:1714 years old, I went home like a coli in Canada.
00:19:31When I came to Moriah, I was religious here.
00:19:51I was the only one in the city, the only black, the only Haitian.
00:20:00I felt the difference inside myself.
00:20:06No, I didn't forget my roots.
00:20:53I was the only one in the city, the only one in the city.
00:21:01I was the only one in the city that I really loved.
00:21:06I was the only one in the city.
00:21:07I was the only one in the city.
00:21:40One of these days, you will have to think about marriage.
00:21:43Would you like to marry with a black or with a black?
00:21:51It depends, but if I'm in love with a black, if I'm married with a black,
00:21:54then if I'm a black, I want to marry, I wouldn't do anything.
00:21:59What do the world think?
00:22:00Let's ask another question, would you prefer to be in love with a black rather than with a black?
00:22:07With a black.
00:22:12Would you like to be of a white race?
00:22:16Yes, in a way, yes.
00:22:20If you had the choice between being like you are and being all white, what would you like to be?
00:22:26Yes.
00:22:28I would like to be of a black.
00:22:29Yes?
00:22:30Yes.
00:22:30Yes.
00:22:45Yes.
00:22:48Yes.
00:22:49Yes.
00:22:50Yes.
00:22:50Yes.
00:22:50Yes.
00:22:52Yes.
00:22:53Yes.
00:22:54Yes.
00:22:54Yes.
00:22:57Yes.
00:23:00Yes.
00:23:01Yes.
00:23:08Yes.
00:23:08Yes.
00:23:14Yes.
00:23:15They were very, very strict parents.
00:23:22You know, when an immigrant comes, they don't come to have a party.
00:23:26They come for a better life, and they mean it.
00:23:38My father had experienced so much discrimination in Canada.
00:23:45That he made us very aware of the fact that we had to be better.
00:23:50They're going to hold this against you.
00:23:53You must be better.
00:23:55And of course, we were kids, so we're like,
00:23:57well, that doesn't make any sense.
00:24:10I went to a Catholic school.
00:24:12There was something called Ascension Day.
00:24:15When you got your grades, they rated you.
00:24:17They would say, whoever comes first next month will lead the parade.
00:24:23I came first, and yet they put me in the back.
00:24:27And I complained.
00:24:29I'm like, why am I back here?
00:24:30I'm supposed to lead the parade.
00:24:31I came first.
00:24:32Well, you're too tall.
00:24:34Of course, I went home crying to my mother.
00:24:36Then my mother went up immediately over to the school to complain.
00:24:42They didn't change it, though.
00:24:53My father was right, because I was better, but there was a lot of discrimination.
00:25:01I was a bad guy.
00:25:08I was a bad guy.
00:25:20I was a bad guy.
00:25:24I was a bad guy.
00:25:27I was about to go.
00:25:27I ran a Ellen.
00:25:28Do you think the Negro people get an even break?
00:25:30Yes.
00:25:31No discrimination?
00:25:33No discrimination.
00:25:34A few years back, there was discrimination.
00:25:37Today, you take the police around, they're putting them right in the same,
00:25:42giving them the same privilege as what the white people have.
00:25:46Now it's up to themselves to turn around and do, also.
00:25:50The police show their appreciation by keeping the place clean
00:25:52and doing the same as the white people.
00:25:55Have you ever tried to go to a white barber?
00:25:59If you're happy with your Negro bars, you don't need to go to a white barber.
00:26:02Well, Negroes, no, Negroes.
00:26:04I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say Negro.
00:26:06I was saying Negro if I was misunderstood, if I didn't come out clearly, I'm sorry.
00:26:42The Negro Community Center was really the heart and soul of the black community.
00:26:56My love has no beginning, my love has no beginning.
00:26:58Some of my friends to this day, I met at Negro Community Center.
00:27:08For someone like myself arriving from Toronto, I was in a community that had a base that
00:27:14had been there for two generations.
00:27:17You could drop in on anybody anytime, take a little food to their house, sit for a couple
00:27:24of hours, move on, this whole way of life felt like my world.
00:27:36Norman would go to the States a lot.
00:27:39So, he had a lot of that black American information that we were always dying to hear.
00:27:47I wish I were a poet
00:27:51So I could express
00:27:54What I, what I'd like to say
00:28:01There was this wonderful, wonderful club where we all went every weekend, and people like
00:28:06the Chantals and, you know, the Temptations, Jotex and all these people would come through.
00:28:35We were always taken with America because when you saw pictures of black Americans, they looked like ordinary people to
00:28:44us.
00:28:45There were policemen, they were mailmen, they were farmers.
00:28:52Well, there was no such thing in Canada, certainly not in Montreal.
00:29:03When they look like Angela Davis, actually she look better than Angela.
00:29:10Yeah.
00:29:39It was something to watch what was going on in America.
00:29:43It was something to watch what was going on in America.
00:29:45While we were having similar experiences, black Canadians are not very rebellious to begin with.
00:29:59Black Americans were simply writing something that was wrong.
00:30:15I'm going to tell the Lord about my troubles.
00:30:21I'm going to tell the Lord about my troubles.
00:30:27I'm going to tell the Lord about my peace.
00:30:52You know, in my case, having come from the Underground Railroad families,
00:30:57I was in a funny way born on the Freedom Road.
00:31:05My family had lived in Canada for at least five generations when I was born.
00:31:13And that meant finding solace in our communities.
00:31:29¶¶
00:31:49All we want is an opportunity to be able to provide a favorable environment for our children,
00:31:56and that they might have the privilege of breathing the air of freedom,
00:32:02to know that they are free to go to buy a home wherever they see fit,
00:32:08to go into any public service, barbershop, restaurant, hotel.
00:32:14Housing? No. Housing is the big problem.
00:32:23Here in Halifax, where one half of Canada's Negroes live, racial injustice is here,
00:32:29and nowhere is the picture more graphic than at the end of Halifax's main street in Africville,
00:32:35the home of 400 Negroes living next to the city dump.
00:32:39The Negro here has no garbage pickup, no running water, no sewage service, no paved roads.
00:32:46What does a city plan for Africville?
00:32:50Africville, obviously, must be redeveloped in some way.
00:32:55But should there be violations of minimum standards,
00:32:59then you have no alternative but to enforce the law, and this is universal for everybody.
00:33:05Of course, among the reasons there are violations of minimum standards is that there are no sewers and no water.
00:33:10Surely the sanitation and the health problem is greater in Africville for those reasons alone,
00:33:16leaving everything else out for the time being.
00:33:18Well, I think that the box charges involved, the kinds of properties that are there,
00:33:25I'm afraid that this would be uneconomic.
00:33:28Why do you stay here?
00:33:31When you're in this country and you own a piece of property, you're not a second-class citizen.
00:33:38That's why my people own this land. They work for it, they toil for it,
00:33:41and they work and get these little pieces of land that they own, and they try to lay on it.
00:33:45But when your land is being taken away from you, you ain't offered nothing,
00:33:49then you become a peasant in any man's country.
00:33:54The city hall may give Africville its harshest flow.
00:33:58The Negroes have been told that they must leave when the bulldozers come in.
00:34:04We have sat, and we've waited, and we've begged, and we've gotten nowhere.
00:34:09A few tokens, a few confessions, but the Negro hasn't progressed very much since the days of slavery.
00:34:18You know, I mean, before they put iron shackles on our legs, now they put economic shackles on it.
00:34:23Whites are not the enemy because they're white.
00:34:27They're enemies because they're exploiters.
00:34:55Do you enjoy talking about Africville?
00:34:58No, I don't.
00:34:59Why not?
00:35:00Because it hurts me.
00:35:04Why is that, Mr. Steed? Why does it hurt you to talk about Africa?
00:35:09Because it's one of the nicest communities I ever lived in.
00:35:14When I tell you something, I'd be in the oldest world twice.
00:35:20I'd never let a place like Africa get. Never.
00:35:26Mr. Steed, everybody thought it was such a bad place.
00:35:29Who?
00:35:30All the people who tore it down.
00:35:33Oh, the people that tore it down.
00:35:35That's the people that tore it down, the city of Halifax, the authorities of the city of Halifax.
00:35:40They said it was a bad place.
00:35:42That's what they called it.
00:35:45But it was not to us, it was a home, a real home.
00:35:54Yeah, that's what the scripture talks about.
00:37:25Growing up in St. Vincent, there were no limits to my horizon in terms of what I could achieve academically.
00:37:39I loved school.
00:37:43It allowed me to dream.
00:37:50Although my family was poor, I managed to become a teacher.
00:38:00Being a teacher meant that I had a lot of money, a lot of freedom, and a lot of fun.
00:38:33I had aspirations to go to medical school.
00:38:46The University of St. George Williams is from Montreal.
00:38:52The University of St. George Williams is from Australia and its bank.
00:38:53Only 2% come from abroad.
00:39:05A lot of us immigrants wanted to go to medical school.
00:39:10I chose St. George Williams because we had a sense of reverence for the institution.
00:39:19Students would say, don't take Perry Anderson's class if you don't have to, because he does not like West Indians.
00:39:28The thing is that you had no choice.
00:39:31Perry Anderson was gatekeeper of that particular course to medical school.
00:39:40My friend Terence does a report.
00:39:46Anderson gives it a grade of 7 out of 10.
00:39:51His friend who is white borrowed the same damn report, copied it word for word,
00:39:57did not make any corrections, handed it in, and gets 9 out of 10.
00:40:07You were supposed to accept it.
00:40:11So for them, you know, the discrimination was their God-given right.
00:40:28I speak to the people of Canada as a whole.
00:40:34I intend to make an appeal to you and the conscience of this nation.
00:40:41We can't walk forward to that new Canada when Canadians, whatever their racial origin,
00:40:49have that equality they have today.
00:40:56Ladies and gentlemen, peoples of other racial origins have a Bill of Rights
00:41:04that protects them against discrimination.
00:41:09They're with us today.
00:41:13I promised you the constitutional rights and you got them.
00:41:18Let that be clear.
00:41:28We were told we were not in the United States of America.
00:41:31America.
00:41:33Promises had been hung out about transforming values.
00:41:41But that whole strain of racism from the white South was palpable.
00:42:02We in Canada are no longer willing to sit down and accept a society which operates along the lines of
00:42:12racial prejudice and of bigotry.
00:42:14If this problem is not given immediate attention, and not only through legislation, but through the very hearts and conscience
00:42:22of white Canada,
00:42:23you will be faced with a problem much greater than has the reason in the United States.
00:42:32The real struggle was not just racism.
00:42:37It was about redefining us as people.
00:42:44And Rosie became one of the leaders of the movement.
00:42:50Rosie was a brilliant, brilliant strategist.
00:42:53He paid attention to the movements of black people worldwide.
00:42:59So he was constantly pulling that kind of information into whatever it was we were dealing with.
00:43:09The main idea was to build up world solidarity.
00:43:18The real connections took place at the Congress of Black Writers.
00:43:23That was unbelievable.
00:43:27To move forward.
00:43:32I am suggesting to the black brothers and sisters that we need to move forward and move forward and move
00:43:37forward.
00:43:38But we can never let fear immobilize us.
00:43:42We've got to move forward.
00:43:43Run forward him, for he is a poet.
00:43:46You have nothing to fear from the poet but the truth.
00:43:51I didn't consider it a writer's congress.
00:43:55What it was, was a festival of black consciousness.
00:44:09I was with Jamaicans, Trinidadians, St. Lucie.
00:44:16You know, it's like I needed this man.
00:44:35Well, I was interested in the answer given by the Prime Minister today.
00:44:39Three nights ago, he spoke of the danger to Canada in revolution.
00:44:45Brought about by revolutionary movements in the United States coming over into Canada.
00:44:51And these people said that they wanted to overthrow the government of Canada by force.
00:44:56We cannot allow this entire community and this country to be controlled by white people.
00:45:01This, in effect, is white power.
00:45:03This is what it means.
00:45:04And this is why black people are reacting now and asking for black power.
00:45:07You have put us in that position.
00:45:08We didn't put ourselves there.
00:45:30Let's come here with an international perspective of blackness.
00:45:37Oh my God, that was a terrible scene for these people.
00:45:42And nothing was the same anymore.
00:45:45Because we came to believe that we could change the world.
00:46:05Last night, for the first time in Canada, so far as we know, there was an exclusively black meeting.
00:46:09There's no whites allowed.
00:46:10The meeting had a purpose, to form a black united front.
00:46:15The meeting was probably the most enthusiastic meeting of black people that I have ever attended anywhere.
00:46:20It includes the Caribbean, the United States and Canada.
00:46:24It sort of brought about a mood for change.
00:46:28There were differences at the meeting.
00:46:29There were differences between different generation gaps.
00:46:32But there was an essential mood for change and a mood where people were beginning to feel the need to
00:46:38unite.
00:46:39And coming out of that meeting, I never felt better being black.
00:46:43Do you think the white community is afraid?
00:46:50Well, I'm afraid. I can't see what they had anything to be afraid of.
00:46:55Now, what do you mean, afraid of change? We're all afraid of change.
00:47:01If they're afraid, I think that that's what they're afraid of.
00:47:03They shouldn't be.
00:47:05Jim Reed brought that report back to us from Halifax this morning.
00:47:09Jim, what about the white population? You asked him if they were afraid.
00:47:14I spent very little time in the white community.
00:47:19For example, an hour after the meeting, though, let out, there was an arrest, which I saw, of Rosie Douglas,
00:47:28a militant visitor from Montreal.
00:47:34But he wasn't doing anything. He wasn't acting. He was talking to a group of people.
00:47:38There must have been 50 or 60 people on the street.
00:47:40He was singled out for arrest and charged with loitering.
00:47:47There seems to be a subtle element of harassment.
00:47:51Whatever is directed against us, we will direct back.
00:47:55Would you stop at breaking the law or are you prepared to break it if it's necessary?
00:48:00A law is something that is set up by mutual consent for the benefit of people.
00:48:05If there is a law that allows people to brutalize other people, that is an unjust law.
00:48:12Would you be prepared to break it?
00:48:15I have to deal with the moral law. I have to deal with the laws of the people,
00:48:19not the laws that someone puts down to suppress people and to brutalize people.
00:48:38I was going up north to collect specimens for biology class, and there was a car accident.
00:48:53I was knocked unconscious. I wake up, open my eyes. I had no idea where I was.
00:49:09And all I remember is these huge white men.
00:49:20As they're telling me I have total amnesia, my friend Terence was there, and he's explaining to me that I'd
00:49:31had an accident,
00:49:33and that I was in Canada, and I said, Canada, where is that?
00:49:44Eventually, my memory sort of came back.
00:49:55And somehow I remember that there was supposed to be a midterm exam.
00:50:02Now I've had to deal with Perry Anderson.
00:50:06So I asked for permission to do a makeup.
00:50:11And the answer was no.
00:50:14For that midterm exam, I got a zero.
00:50:24It turned out that some white guy had gone to Florida on vacation,
00:50:30and he was given the opportunity to do a makeup exam.
00:50:36So just imagine all the minority students, each of us with our own individual stories as to how he dealt
00:50:48with us as students.
00:50:50This was a place that, as an immigrant and as a black person, one could take a stand.
00:51:08We went to the administration offices.
00:51:12They decided that they would investigate these accusations.
00:51:17And so they took our names, and they were going to contact us with their findings.
00:51:38We got back in class in September.
00:51:43And people were asking, well, did you hear? What did you hear?
00:51:48Nothing.
00:52:00I had taken courses at Mr. George.
00:52:04And I ran into Rodney.
00:52:06We talked about what had happened.
00:52:09My feelings were it was wrong, and we should do something about this.
00:52:12Can't let them get away with this.
00:52:14You know, we got to fight this.
00:52:16One of all five demands is this.
00:52:19That the administration get together with us and with Professor Anderson as soon as possible.
00:52:26Have you dealt with black students before, and what were your relationships with them if you had?
00:52:31Could you qualify that statement?
00:52:33Have you dealt with black students before, with West Indians before in any way, and how were your relationships with
00:52:39them?
00:52:39I've had many West Indian blacks registered in my courses over the last four years at St. George Williams University,
00:52:45and I think that they have been, on the whole, satisfactory.
00:52:49Let's have an independent hearing of the case with people that are more or less mutual. The administration didn't want
00:52:59to do that.
00:53:00That the administration at this school has been giving the black students a run-around for almost a year now.
00:53:13If this case involved white students, it would have been settled long, long ago.
00:53:19So we went to the Danish students. He had no information for us other than, oh, the matter had been
00:53:27handled, and reports were sent out.
00:53:31Well, we never received any reports. So we went to the dean of science. Do you have a copy? No,
00:53:38none of them had a copy of the reports.
00:53:40Oh, there was a report sent to the principal, Ray. But Ray didn't have a report either. What happened to
00:53:47Ray's report? Oh, well, it got lost in the internal mail.
00:53:50We expected these people to act honorably. And it never occurred to me that they would be deceitful.
00:54:04The longer this is dragged out, the more questions have arisen about whether they possess the evidence that they claim
00:54:11to possess.
00:54:11I believe that attempts were made to get in touch with the black students. This seems to have come to
00:54:17not us.
00:54:18In your opinion, do you believe there is some racism in this university?
00:54:21Well, if there is racial discrimination in this university, I will meet up my mind on this when I hear
00:54:26the evidence under the process to this effect.
00:54:30Before I do, I have only, you know, probabilities.
00:54:38Niggers go home. That was the sign that was posed around at the cafeteria yesterday.
00:54:44This is the type of society that you're living in.
00:54:47So when you speak of racism and you start asking for evidence and evidence and evidence, you displayed it right
00:54:53now.
00:55:03You have a community where everyone knows that racism exists, but no one can pinpoint a racist. It's fascinating.
00:55:16It's fascinating.
00:55:19Peace and love, brothers. Peace and love.
00:55:26As a matter of fact, I was just speaking to Perry this morning.
00:55:29Perry Anderson is my friend. Some of my best friends are white people.
00:55:38That's it, you know.
00:55:40He shouts me right in the eye. I say, hi, Terry. And that's it. That's equal justice.
00:55:45But the issue is that we started out with a complaint against a professor.
00:55:50And now we end up not just fighting the whole fucking administration structure, but also you white racist students in
00:55:57the back.
00:55:57And that is enough to drive a man crazy.
00:56:02Those of you who are concerned with justice, let us deal with the central issue today, which is getting the
00:56:09administration to come here and let them negotiate with us to set up a new hearing committee.
00:56:15h
00:56:16would you have order please sir?
00:56:22Mr. Quirk, could you have order please.
00:56:30Mr. Quirk, could we have order please.
00:56:40Now, now, listen, listen now, listen now, goddammit.
00:56:45Instead of talking with us, the administration, they call on some expert called Genovese.
00:56:53Genovese is from California. He worked with the police against the Black Panthers,
00:57:00so he's an expert on niggers.
00:57:03After the meeting, the lady that was taking the notes, she gave us the notes and said,
00:57:09well, this is what they were talking about.
00:57:13So Genovese, he asked them, okay, what are your weak points?
00:57:19They told him, well, the computer center.
00:57:26Something is going on upstairs right now.
00:57:29If you're willing to take a stand and stop being hypocrites, stand up.
00:57:33Everybody stand up.
00:57:34Come on, move.
00:57:35Move.
00:57:36Go out to Austin.
00:57:37Follow me upstairs.
00:57:38Let's go.
00:57:39Let's go, everybody.
00:57:40Let's get upstairs.
00:57:41Let's take a stand now.
00:57:43Computer center.
00:57:45Computer center.
00:57:46Get moving.
00:57:47Everybody.
00:57:47Those who support our just demands.
00:57:51Those who are on the side of justice.
00:57:53Boom.
00:57:55We will.
00:57:57We will.
00:57:58We will.
00:58:00We will.
00:58:02We will.
00:58:03We will.
00:58:03We will.
00:58:04We will.
00:58:06We will.
00:58:22We'll be in there, we will not touch your machines, we'll even guard your machines, but we are in here
00:58:29and we're not leaving until we get the right answers.
00:58:36We'll be in there, we'll be in there, we'll be in there.
00:59:03Okay, you're going to keep it up?
00:59:05That's right.
00:59:06Until what time?
00:59:07Until our brothers come out.
00:59:14There was an occupation 24-7, so the meetings I chaired would go on for 18 hours.
00:59:22Periodically, you'd look at somebody and say, look, you know, I've just done six, seven hours, you're in the chair.
00:59:27Professor Anderson seems to be in a position where there are serious charges against him, and yet, in a way,
00:59:33you're preventing him from answering those charges.
00:59:36No, I disagree with this completely. The administration is preventing these charges from being heard.
00:59:42The boys who signed the charges are anxious to present the evidence before the type of committee that was agreed
00:59:49upon in the initial stage of negotiation between the administration and themselves.
00:59:54We didn't expect it to last more than three, four days. We really thought that we had them by the
01:00:03balls.
01:00:04I called John Diefenbeke on the phone yesterday, and I told him why...
01:00:07Rosie even contacted the former Prime Minister of Canada.
01:00:15Well, my phone Diefenbeke because, at least on a superficial level, he always claimed to be concerned with minority groups.
01:00:24And he told me that he was against student demonstrations and student occupations, and he had advised the necessary authorities
01:00:30in Saskatchewan
01:00:31that if the students occupied any section of the building during winter, that you turn the heat off and let
01:00:36them freeze to death.
01:00:39The last story tonight is one of the perplexing protests at Sir George Williams University in Montreal.
01:00:44John, it seems to me that the older generation is getting bored and probably irritated with this whole business of
01:00:49student protests.
01:00:50I think that's pity because it's an important subject. Can you, in your position as a university official, clarify...
01:00:56And they feel that that participation is itself part of their education. That's one, and that's...
01:01:02There's another one that, by implication, is not legitimate.
01:01:05Well, perhaps my explication is that it seems to me not legitimate.
01:01:11That's a desire of, I think, a very small minority of students, a very well-organized minority,
01:01:15to, in fact, take over the university and to use it for purposes other than their own education.
01:01:21What do you mean?
01:01:22Well, to use the university as an ideological arm in what they would describe as a social revolution.
01:01:39I received a phone call that the university were prepared to negotiate an end to this process.
01:01:48With that, a decision was taken that this occupation is over, that we have won.
01:01:59Many people left, but I stayed because we were cleaning up.
01:02:07The idea was to leave the place sparkling clean as we had found it, maybe more.
01:02:14Well, I was capable of doing this possible.
01:02:20So I was downstairs on the main floor, waiting for the elevator to take me up to join the occupation.
01:02:28And these two police came.
01:02:33They took me into this police car.
01:02:39I didn't know where we were headed.
01:02:48Probably an hour later, they let me out.
01:02:54They told me that if I was seen anywhere near the university, I would be arrested.
01:03:08I'm going to feast at the welcome table, I'm going to feast at the welcome table one of these days,
01:03:18hallelujah.
01:03:19I'm going to feast at the welcome table, I'm going to feast at the welcome table.
01:03:46We had grown up in a crucible of racism that people had told us was coming to an end, and
01:03:56here was a betrayal of the highest order.
01:04:03They got pushed back, they reinforced, they tried again.
01:04:08Instead of them chasing us, we're chasing them with firehose.
01:04:24Just hang on, there's about 80 students running down the street here.
01:04:28I've just, now this may be a rumor, I was told...
01:04:31We started throwing down computer cards.
01:04:34These cards were going out the window.
01:04:36We understand they've called out all the police reserves and police cars are starting to cut in on Bishop Street
01:04:41and block the alleyways here.
01:04:42The windows have been as far as...
01:04:44Open the gas tank.
01:04:47Hey, it looks like lots of fire.
01:05:06Just a minute something's happening here.
01:05:08Just hang on.
01:05:12Go ahead, Clark.
01:05:13Can we get through on the air?
01:05:15You're on the air.
01:05:16Tell him.
01:05:17At this point, I've not got much chance of getting anywhere.
01:05:19The smoke is so bad at this point that you can't see.
01:05:22There's no light.
01:05:24There's no air.
01:05:26I don't understand what he's trying to tell me from the...
01:05:28I don't know where the students are and what's happening to them, but they can't do this.
01:05:50We were in a sea, a sea of whites, and they were chanting,
01:05:59Let the niggers burn.
01:06:26At one point, I said, Rosie, we have to prepare for evacuation.
01:06:33Rosie told me, Philip, you should have been the first one out.
01:06:38You could be sent back to Duvalier, and he will shoot you and torture you.
01:06:52The cops started taking us into the basement of the building.
01:06:59One policeman threw me on the floor, put the heel of his shoes right on my temple here,
01:07:08and he spinned around at least three times.
01:07:12My head was exploding.
01:07:21I could hear them beating on this young woman.
01:07:28I had this feeling of powerlessness.
01:07:33There are ways that you strike a person with a club.
01:07:38If it doesn't break the head, it certainly does some internal damage.
01:07:59It's been a day of delays in the arraignment of the 90 arrested yesterday at Sir George Williams University.
01:08:05Each student is being charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit mischief and arson.
01:08:10If convicted, sentences could range from five years to life imprisonment.
01:08:15The arraignment, which was scheduled for 10 a.m. or in almost immediately, lawyers for the defense and prosecution became
01:08:21involved.
01:08:25Probably 100% of us had never been arrested before.
01:08:33They did segregate us from the rest of the jail population.
01:08:39So, like, when we would be on our way to the lunchroom and have to walk past the regular population,
01:08:46you know, they would be, yay!
01:08:48They'd be, you know, cheering us on.
01:08:57And then we started hearing all kinds of wild rumors about fire.
01:09:01He did this.
01:09:02Well, I saw him go in the room and he did have a hammer in his hand.
01:09:06You know, all this kind of stuff.
01:09:09What I was concerned with the most was just keeping the group together.
01:09:15We're all going to be charged with the same things.
01:09:17And they're going to try to split us up.
01:09:19So we must stay together.
01:09:25They took me to some cells.
01:09:30And I was beaten.
01:09:32And then, these guys were really mad and crazy, threatening to send me to Duvalier if I did not say
01:09:43who burned the computer, if I didn't sign some paper, right?
01:09:49Because of my experience in Haiti, I expected to be tortured.
01:09:58I knew that I had to keep my composure.
01:10:02I just take a deep breath and take it.
01:10:06But if you're not psychologically ready for that, it becomes a terrible trauma.
01:10:17A motion by defense lawyers that some of the charges were repetitious was later withdrawn.
01:10:23Lawyers for the accused opted for jury trial at a preliminary hearing, date of which has not been set.
01:10:29Immigration officials will have the last say in the case of the 22 West Indians arrested.
01:10:34If convicted, they likely will be deported.
01:10:37This is Richard Leck, the reporting from the Montreal Municipal Court building.
01:10:46The 1620, the smaller machine, has been damaged largely by smoke and water.
01:10:54The 3300, the major damage to that machine, has been done through students using axes on the equipment.
01:11:03The letter is the million-dollar machine.
01:11:04The 3300 is the million-plus.
01:11:07Why was the university so unprepared for it?
01:11:09Well, because West Indians, as many of our colleagues who know them have assured us,
01:11:17the manner of West Indians is somewhat more expansive than in our own.
01:11:21They tend to speak with larger gestures.
01:11:24They tend to laugh immoderately, perhaps.
01:11:30The language is very picturesque, choice, frequently obscene, but nowadays, of course,
01:11:37since nobody seems to object to that kind of language, no one took it all that seriously.
01:11:42And we were assured, therefore, that it would be wrong on our part.
01:11:45It would be overreacting if we took what the students were saying at its face value.
01:11:54Now, we don't know who lit the fire, and we don't know who destroyed the computer.
01:12:02However, a lot of the statements concerning, let the niggers burn, send the West Indians back home,
01:12:09cut off the aid that we give them, don't give them job.
01:12:13The implication is that these people are nothing less than animals, they are useless, they are anti-psychic,
01:12:19and therefore be best rid of them.
01:12:21This traditional form that the white man has for keeping the nigger in its place, so to speak,
01:12:27is here in Canada and is manifested at its greatest at this point in time.
01:12:33And it is not born today, it was always there.
01:12:35It is simply that these stark racists see this as an opportunity when they feel that they can legitimize their
01:12:44race hate.
01:13:09My brother came to bail me, and I refused to go.
01:13:15Because my brother was like, what are you doing with these people?
01:13:19These people have nothing to do with you, let's get out of here, come on.
01:13:22I'm like, no.
01:13:24No, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not going.
01:13:26What are you, nuts?
01:13:27No.
01:13:27No, no, no, no, no, no.
01:13:57No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
01:14:24Four American warships, one carrying 2,000 Marines, steamed into Trinidad and Tobago.
01:14:30Their arrival was preceded by two months of demonstrations, marches, and sporadic violence,
01:14:36touched off by the trial of ten West Indians in Montreal,
01:14:39who had been charged in the computer-smashing incident at Sir George Williams University.
01:14:47if i asked you to give a message to the people of my country canada what would it be
01:14:51i would tell them to beware black people down here on the move we are aware of what is being
01:14:56done to our brothers in canada and we intend to take serious positive action if those boys do not
01:15:02get justice one of your uh one of your objectives is also to end what you call economic imperialism
01:15:10could you be more specific about that for me yes well we want to end the exploitation economically
01:15:16culturally in every sense by the white foreign powers particularly from north america and britain
01:15:23right now we are passing a canadian bank as we go lower down the street we'll pass a number of
01:15:29other
01:15:29canadian banks you have lots of insurance companies down here throughout the caribbean you have bauxite
01:15:34you are one of our major exploiters
01:15:55through this racist professor they find they go through the college system the college board of
01:16:02directors the institution of the college through them they find out who the board of directors
01:16:06are from that board of directors they find out they control most of the wealth in trinidad so they now
01:16:11recognize that their fight is not against this professor but against this man who controls their
01:16:16wealth at trinidad therefore they must now join with the people in trinidad to show the people in
01:16:21trinidad that this man who controls their wealth in trinidad is the same man who controls their lives in
01:16:26canada all of the caribbean is under the control of the imperialist
01:16:30and all of the caribbean must fight to free itself and since we are the same people we must aid
01:16:35each
01:16:35other in our battles to free ourselves from racist imperialism we have no alternative
01:16:52they found us guilty and i got personal recognizance i got let out
01:17:02rosie got two years the attitude of the government that we should get on our knees and say we're
01:17:08sorry and i point blank refuse to give me apology meant saying you were sorry for what happened and i
01:17:15could never be sorry for selling out of my own rights
01:17:38i was arrested several more times after sir george
01:17:47they came to my house four or five in the morning that's their style
01:17:51so they kicked my door down and i mean down off the hinges down arrested me
01:18:00after a while it got so stupid that the jailkeepers they would say what are you doing here
01:18:07i'm like i don't know they picked me up again i wasn't charged with anything but i now was on
01:18:15the
01:18:16the activist list
01:18:43When I made my job of citizenship,
01:19:07I had to be very careful because they were watching me all the time.
01:19:15For many years it was difficult to even get a job.
01:19:21Once they find out that you are one of them Sir George boys, that's it.
01:19:32It was a high price to pay.
01:19:38There were a number of people that had been disadvantaged by that whole experience, including my own children, who never
01:19:46knew where I was.
01:19:47I mean in those days it was from one crisis to the other.
01:19:51Some people came out of it, some people never came out of it.
01:20:05The struggle is a persistent, a constant one.
01:20:10And once you stop, you die.
01:20:14So we are condemned to keep on the struggle.
01:20:29In the sense, my soul is still colonized.
01:20:35And I feel ready to explode because I think there is no more crime.
01:21:10It took me out of it.
01:21:13It took me close to 35 years to reconcile the pieces of my life so that I can sit down
01:21:24here today and talk to you about this without tearing up.
01:21:37We are not allowed as human beings to have an identity that is not sullied by other people's notion of
01:21:46who you are.
01:21:49Who am I?
01:21:50Who am I?
01:21:50That's a damn good question.
01:21:53Everything else is a smokescreen.
01:21:56How am I?
01:22:23How are you?
01:22:24AMeet Bustam
01:22:30Now.
01:22:55Now.
01:23:36Where did your ancestors come from?
01:23:38Africa.
01:23:39How did they get here?
01:23:41Who brought them?
01:23:44White men.
01:23:45Did they want to come?
01:23:46No.
01:23:48What do you want?
01:23:49Freedom.
01:23:58What do you want?
01:24:25I'm going to feast at the welcome table.
01:24:30I'm going to feast at the welcome table one of these days.
01:24:34Hallelujah.
01:24:36I'm going to feast at the welcome table.
01:24:40I'm going to feast at the welcome table one of these days.
01:24:46I'm going to tell God about my troubles
01:24:52I'm going to tell God about my troubles
01:24:55One of these days, hallelujah
01:24:57I'm going to tell God about my troubles
01:25:02Gonna tell God all about my troubles
01:25:05One of these days
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