ONE
on
ONE
with The Final Call

Dick Gregory (DG): We put a lot of information in it that people are able to put out on Black radio across the country and the Black press, but mostly Black radio. It was to say to the world that money is not power, education is not power, but information is power. I wanted to update the (Civil Rights) Movement, not from a white racist standpoint, but from a Black point of view. Black folk can have a white racist mentality, (but) we can�t be racist because the word racism means the ability to control somebody else�s fate and destiny. But I can have a white racist mentality. What I wanted to do was update and say here�s what really went down. I�m hoping that the book would sell so many copies for one reason, because then the world would find out that information sells. Then there will be people in the FBI, the CIA, who will find somebody to give information to because they know there�s a market for it.

We were able to talk about health toward the end of the book. We talked about fasting and how important it is to take care of the body. We talked about the Million Man March. I was privileged to see the Naval Intelligence Recognizance Satellite pictures of the March, and they counted 1.8 million Black men who showed up that day. We were able to say something that the white press has never said, and that is, this is the first time in history that there was a major march, that someone dared do it on a Monday in October. The unions, who have multi-billion dollar kitties, would never have a march that wasn�t in August, where people could get vacation time, the children are out of school. Here�s Brother Minister (Louis) Farrakhan, he calls a march for a Monday in October, didn�t know if it was going to be hot or cold, on a weekday, and drew 1.8 million. Now out of that, two sisters, and I�m talking about Black women, not blood sisters, decided to have the Million Woman March in Philadelphia and most folks in Philadelphia didn�t even know who they were. They drew millions of people. So these were the things that I wanted to talk about to set the record straight. I really wanted to get that information out ... with no hidden agendas.

DG: Just a history of what really happened. Remember, now, if you were in an automobile accident here, I would have to pick it up on the East Coast on NBC, CBS, ABC, and they�d give it their way. We cannot be without independent information. This is the most racist, insane, vicious nation. We do stuff in this country that would make Hitler blush; and if we�re not willing to come together and form a coalition�if you don�t like the NAACP, you should join it so that when that racist cop pulls you over and you�re reaching for your driver�s license, and he sees that NAACP card, now he knows when he goes upside your head, he�s hitting the group. It�s a hell of an insurance policy. I would just hope that Black folks would read this and learn about their health, learn how corrupt this government is, some of the vicious things they�ve done to white folks that they didn�t like, white folks who just wanted to be fair, white folks who were just trying to help Black folks. I want for women to understand, particularly Black women, how it�s an insult when I look at you and say you�re a strong sister, a beautiful sister, but my white racist mentality will not let me see beauty because it�s not what they (white society) told me beauty�s supposed to be like.

We were able to talk about the value of Jet and Ebony magazines and Johnny Johnson and in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, it was them and those Black reporters that were down (in the South) telling the truth. There were local reporters, but even if they wanted to, they couldn�t. Remember, the Justice Department, who was turning its back, couldn�t turn its back because the Black press were there reporting it.

DG: They�ve cried. There (are not many) books ... where the Black woman comes out without negativity. It�s interesting that on a hillbilly record the singer never says anything derogatory about his woman. But the most derogatory things that are said about Black women are said by Black men. Imagine if we were white folks in Australia and we�d never seen a Black woman. All we�ve ever heard is Black men singing about them, so when you walk over there with seven doctorate degrees or as the president of a college, I (white people) see y�all as whores, just as what your man said you are. If I heard a Jewish dude saying derogatory things about Jewish women, I wouldn�t assume he�s lying on them, especially if the Jewish women weren�t protesting it, but were at a party dancing to it.

We also talked about the power of the Black woman�s spirit and the hurricanes. All hurricanes are not "him," they�re "her," and they start in West Africa, where the slaves were put on the ship. They stay on the ground and follow the path that the slave ships followed. No slave was ever offloaded from ships until it got to the Caribbean. No hurricane ever jumps off water until it gets to the Caribbean. It will hit this country and go all the way up the East Coast until it gets to Maine. Remember, Canada literally is right across the street from Maine. Canada has never had a hurricane because Canada has never treated the Black woman the way America has. Again, the response has been great. We�re all out of the first printing. There are no more books in the warehouse.

DG: I keep going because I realize there was a time when I was in the military, in darkness, and would have killed for this (white) man. Had I been married and had a family and he said we�ve got to take this hill back, I would have gladly done so. I just decided one day with my wife that the fact that I would have been willing at that time to kill or be killed for a nation that hates me, that if I was willing to do that, then we would never make decisions based on how will this affect our family. I feel this way because of what I would have done for America.

FCN: Thank you.