Ben Jealous presents, ‘Never Forget Our People Were Always Free’
Updated: 8:41 AM EST Jan 16, 2023
>> THANK YOU. >> MONDAY MARKS DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JUNIOR DAY. AND THIS WEEKEND CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER BEN JEALOUS IS HOSTING AN EVENT AT THE ENOCH PRATT FREE LIBRARY HONORING DR. KING’S DREAM. AND HE JOINS US LIVE IN STUDIO WITH US. GOOD MORNING. GOOD TO MEET YOU. YOU WROTE A NEW BOOK. THE TITLE HAS GRIPPED ME. TELL US ABOUT IT. >> THE TITLE IS NEVER FORGET OUR PEOPLE. THROUGH RESEARCH, WE FIGURED OUT THAT WAS A BATTLE CRY HANDED DOWN BY ENSLAVED PEOPLE. THE PURPOSE OF THE BOOK IS TO GET US TO FOCUS ON WHAT DR. KING WAS TRYING TO TEACH US WHEN HE WAS ASSASSINATED, THAT RACISM ULTIMATELY IS A WEDGE DESIGNED TO SPLIT PEOPLE, AND EVERYBODY WHO GETS SPLIT IS DISEMPOWERED BY IT, AND THAT THE WAY WE ACHIEVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IS TO COME TOGETHER ACROSS THOSE LINES. >> AND WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE THIS BOOK AND WHAT ABOUT IT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU? >> MY GRANDMOTHER, A CRUSADING SOCIAL WORKER AND BALTIMORE — IN BALTIMORE, ASKED A WOMAN ABOUT MAYBE TODD. SHE WAS 103 YEARS OLD. WE HAD A FAILED COUP AT THE U.S. CAPITOL. I WAS OUT IN PASADENA. I WANTED TO DIG IN TO THE LIES ABOUT RACE, ABOUT RACISM, AND HOW WE CAN MOVE BEYOND IT, AND THE BIG LIE ABOUT RACISM IN OUR SOCIETY IS IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY SO IT ALWAYS HAS TO BE THIS WAY. THIS IS SOMETHING WE CREATED ABOUT 100 YEARS INTO THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT, THIS NOTION OF A COLOR CASTE. WE DID NOT INHERIT IT. WE CREATED IT. ANYTHING WE HAVE DONE, WE CAN UNDO. CHAPTER ONE IS ME TRAINING DAVE TO — TRAINING DAVE CHAPELLE HOW TO SHOOT, BECAUSE ON THE EVE OF Y2K, HE THOUGHT THERE WAS A ONE PERCENT CHANCE OF A RACE WAR BREAKING OUT. BUY IT AT A LOCAL BOOKSTORE. IT WILL FILL YOU WITH HOPE AND CHALLENGE YOU. >> I LOVE THAT YOU PUT ALL THESE THINGS INTO ONE BOOK. YOU TALK ABOUT CHALLENGING PEOPLE, GIVING YOU HOPE, FILLING PEOPLE WITH STORIES THAT CAN MAKE YOU LAUGH. I LOVE ABOUT THAT’S FILLED WITH DIFFERENT EMOTION BUT ALSO TEACHES YOU SOMETHING IN THE END. >> 100%. WE HAVE TO START TALKING ACROSS ALL THOSE LINES THE WAY WE TALK AROUND THE KITCHEN TABLE OR IN OUR CONGREGATIONS, WITH HOPE, LAUGHTER, BUT ALSO IN A SERIOUS WAY, WHERE YOU CARE ABOUT EVERYONE YOU ARE TALKING TO. >> AT THIS EVENT, THERE’S GOING TO BE A BOOK SIGNING IN A Q&A. HOW DO PEOPLE COME AND SUPPORT AND GET INVOLVED? >> PLEASE COME OUT TO THE PRATT LIBRARY, 400 CATHEDRAL ST, 3:00 P.M. MY MOM GREW UP IN MCCULLOUGH. IN THE 1940’S, SHE WAS A PRECOCIOUS READER. SHE WAS READING AT SUCH AN ADVANCED GRADE LEVEL AT THREE YEARS OLD THAT HOPKINS SENT RESEARCHERS TO STUDY HER, AND THE PRATT LIBRARY DURING SEGREGATION WAS HER HAVEN BECAUSE KIDS COULD GET ALL THE BOOKS THEY WANTED. IT IS EXCITING TO TALK ABOUT IT THERE. SHE COMES FROM A LONG LINE OF REBELLIOUS, STRONG WOMEN. IT GOES BACK TO AN AFRICAN PIRATE. IT IS ALL IN THE BOOK. IT’S A FUN READ. COME BY TODAY. WE WILL TALK ABOUT IT. >> SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING WE WOULD WANT TO READ. TH
Ben Jealous presents, ‘Never Forget Our People Were Always Free’
Updated: 8:41 AM EST Jan 16, 2023
Monday marks Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and this weekend, civil rights leader Ben Jealous is hosting an event at the Enoch-Pratt Free Library honoring King’s dream, and he discusses his book, “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free.”
Monday marks Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and this weekend, civil rights leader Ben Jealous is hosting an event at the Enoch-Pratt Free Library honoring King’s dream, and he discusses his book, “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free.”
