The 90's, episode 306: ""RACE AND RACISM - RED, WHITE AND BLACK"
01:09 Cold Open from ""This Week in Joe's Basement,"" a cable access show in Chicago. A man on the street is asked what he thinks of black people. ""I got a difference between black people and niggers. Niggers are gang bangers. Black people are people who have respect for other people...I like black people. Niggers, I don't like."" A friend comes up and is asked what he thinks of black people. He replies, ""I don't like 'em"" and walks away. The first man explains his friend's views, ""Some people have different opinions. He don't have a difference. He don't like blacks period... It's just the way I was raised -- my mom and dad. Well, really my dad, he was like that. I always heard 'nigger' come out of their mouths. I pretty much ran into that.""
02:50 ""This Week in Joe's Basement"" by Joe Winston. A man-on-the-street interviewer asks African Americans what they think about white people. The first, a half black, half white University of Chicago student laughs at the fact that the interviewer assumed he was black. A second man explains his trouble respecting white people due to persisting racial inequalities.
04:13 ""On the street in Los Angeles."" A woman in Los Angeles comments on the impact the publicity surrounding the Rodney King beating will have on black children. ""Which is the child going to be more afraid of -- the cop or the crack dealer on the corner?""
04:36 More from ""This Week in Joe's Basement"". A black woman comments, ""To me there's nothing wrong with the white people. I love them just as I love the blacks.""
09:05 Excerpt from 1940's Anti-German propaganda film. The film depicts a distinguished-looking professor addressing a class of young German students: ""There is no scientific proof that there's any correlation between a man's racial characteristics and his native ability or character... We must judge each man as an individual..."" As he relays this controversial information, soldiers burst into the room to remove him. As they approach, he remains defiant: ""And remember that there is no master race. That is a scientific truth! Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying!""
11:16 ""La Conversacion"" by Deep Dish TV. A phone call between Guillermo Gomez-Pena in San Diego and Coco Fusco in New York who talk about the societal concept of the American melting pot. ""The problem is that the blacks, Latinos, and the Native Americans have never been part of this cooking project.""
12:34 ""Mohawk Crises at Oka"" by Robbie Leppzer & Sara Elinoff. In Kanehsatake, Quebec, the Mohawk Indians have resisted the government's attempt to take away a part of their sacred burial ground in order to build a nine hole golf course... A spokeswoman for the tribe says: ""This is a community. This is not a house under siege. This is a whole community... Canada has violated international law, yet they condemn Iraq for the invasion of Kuwait. What kind of hypocritical government do you people agree to live under?""... Rick Hornung of the Village Voice comments on the crisis and its outcome with accompanying pictures of the Mohawk surrender depicting the unnecessary brutality executed by the Canadian troops.
19:38 ""Gil Scott Heron"" by Skip Blumberg. Gil Scott Heron explains the meaning of his famous saying: ""What that catch phrase - 'the revolution will not be televised' - what that was all about: The first change that takes place is in your mind. Your have to change your mind before you change the way you live... The thing that is going to change people is something that you can never capture on film.""
20:57 ""Rose Auger"" by Robbie Leppzer. Rose Auger, a medicine woman living Ecuador, urges Aboriginal peoples of the Americas to restore the spiritual balance to the world. ""The world is really messed up. If we do not begin to act on it, the we are all going to be destroyed. The people of the modern society... to me their spiritual God is money and power... That's not the way we're supposed to be.""
28:14 ""Prof. William King commentary"" by Jimmy Sternfield. ""Capitalism is predicated on the principle of exclusion. Democracy is predicated on the principle of inclusion. So you gotta decide which one. You can't have both.""
29:08 ""Drive Through Watts"" by Jim Mulryan. In a pickup truck driving through the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, James Woods, an African American man, and Matthew Lang, a white man, discuss racism in America. According to Woods, ""Racism in America is like a disease, like alcoholism."" He lists the stages of dealing with alcoholism, emphasizing the prevalence of denial, in order to imply that most Americans are racist yet do not realize it. He discusses the difficulties faced by young African-American men who are looking for jobs, insisting that a white man with the same qualifications will always be chosen over the black man. Lang does not believe that racism is as extreme a problem as Woods claims, instead attributing the rampant unemployment of African-American males to other issues, such as poor education.
32:08 ""Prof. Rudolph Acuna commentary"" by Nancy Cain. Prof. Rudolph Acuna of California State University at Northridge refers to the recent act by the U.S. Government of forgiving 70% of Poland's debt. He claims that at the same time that the U.S. was being so generous to this European country, services for minorities within the U.S. were suffering. He finds this to be part of a larger system of injustice against minorities. ""It's a white on white game.""
39:30 More from ""Driving Through Watts."" Lang and Woods argue about the importance of names and political correctness. Lang: ""I'm not going to call you African-American... It's a pseudo-statement."" Woods replies, ""I call you what you want to be called."" ""Call me Baby Doll,"" says Lang, to which Woods says, ""Baby Doll, I don't mind that at all.""
40:03 ""Black Memorabilia Show"" by Eddie Becker. A visit to a convention of black memorabilia collectors in Washington, D.C. Collectors debate the issue of whether painful representations of African Americans should be buried or saved as reminders of the past struggle. A black woman points to a collection of ""colored"" restroom signs and says, ""We need to have these up in our home so our children know.""
49:35 ""Mandela in America"" by Globalvision. Betty Shabazz (Malcolm X' s wife) and Winnie Mandela (Nelson Mandela's wife), talk about the legacy of Malcolm X.
50:24 ""El Dorado Park, South Africa"" by Andrew Jones. A piece about El Dorado Park, S.A., a ""colored"" township where blacks (and other ethnic minorities) were forced to live under apartheid. There are currently 300,000 residents. Jones interviews various ""colored"" individuals (who may be black, Indian, Chinese, or any combination), who describe the indignities of apartheid. One man points out the racial codes listed in every passport. ""Black to us is not a skin color, it is a political position."" A black man concludes, ""I have outgrown apartheid. I am a man. Period.""
54:43 ""Fran and Tak"" by Skip Blumberg. Fran Korenman talks about her mother's reaction to her husband Takayoshi Yoshida. She says it was easier for her Jewish mother to deal with their interracial relationship when Tak demonstrated a minimal knowledge of Yiddish.
55:46 ""Charles Cooke"" by Jay April. Charles Cooke, a Chumash Indian Chief, is asked about his feelings about involving whites in his struggles for Native American rights. He replies, ""You have to have the camaraderie, that fellowship, that brotherhood. That creates this type of thing where people have to come together."