Summary

INTERVIEW Gordon Parks 3:00 I was listening to my car radio and I was about 10 yards from Marlon Brando's house, near Beverly Hills, California And I stopped the car I couldn't believe it And I was in a state of shock went in to Marlons place and Marlon stretched out on the couch He said hello, I said hello I said you know Dr King was dead So Marlon didn't get up He just looked at me Rather steely Look, listen Are you kidding? Dr King is dead YeahSo Marlon just sort of sat up on his couch and without saying anything else, call his assistants that are me some guns from my gunsmith He told me the guns he wanted asked me what kind of guns I wanted I don't want any gun And he called a panther headquarters in California I don't know what he said to them But I waited And when he came back, I said, Marlon, what are you going to use the guns for? He said, I feel like shooting my my way all the way to Washington, DC I said, Well, look at all those people down below You're not just going to shutter shoot indiscriminately, they may feel exactly the same way you do But I don't know what I talked him out of whether his own common sense talked him out of it But I went on back to the hotel and shortly after I arrived, I got a call from Philip Kunhardt who was then acting as managing editor of Life magazine said, Gordon, I think this is one for you I said I think so And he said, Awesome Can you get to Atlanta, I said I'll On the plane in a couple hours And that's when I got on the plane after a couple hours Robert Lipsyte 5:05 We you you reacted professionally, you had something immediately to do It seems interesting that Marlon Brando thought of violence, but you didn't Gordon Parks 5:15 Well, I'm Dr King, philosophy And I knew that that's the last thing Martin Luther King would want, is violence at the moment And I was a follower of Martin Luther King And my own work I've possibly kept too much of the anger in But I've used it in my books and my photography, and my music Whatever I attempted to do, I come out that way I'm paying for it Now I have violent dreams That period And I even consulted my doctor about this as well That's why it's coming out And so I don't think it was a natural for me to feel nonviolent the moment I just felt a great tragedy Robert Lipsyte 6:14 You feel that suppressing your anger at that time is is causing the dreams now Gordon Parks 6:22 I feel so I think that a lot of my dreams now very violent Wake up, maybe fighting the desk next to my bed I lose it because it's harder than my fist But my brother told me that when he died for he died and my younger brothers, you just call me Pedro And I did something that I'll always regret He was an invalid, and I threw some spinach in his face He didn't react until he was on his dying bed This said, Pedro, you know, your brain is a lot more powerful than your fist I never forgot that Robert Lipsyte 7:12 The ballet is that? Is that purging some of the anger and the violence? Gordon Parks 7:20 Well, it's more of a tribute to Martin, what I felt about him I chose Glasgow for him because I've felt that modern London the classics, if anyone did, I've had people ask me Why classical ballet Martin Luther King dancing well, when asked to extend their imagination, beyond the limits, you know, that's the way I think that we've come by greater things And I found nothing particularly outstanding About my choosing a ballet I could have chosen the opera is so good I happen to like ballet more Robert Lipsyte 8:13 There was something that I found at least ambiguous, if not troubling, in the ballet, in an act five, which was sort of a resurrection Martin Luther King returns, and he's at the head of two lines One of black people, one of white people Black people reach out to the white people The white people reject them