WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.904 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:00:15.904 --> 00:00:16.926 align:middle line:90% But not only that-- 00:00:16.926 --> 00:00:23.270 align:middle line:84% how can we take control of the situation? 00:00:23.270 --> 00:00:25.566 align:middle line:84% We are at an alternative high school, 00:00:25.566 --> 00:00:29.010 align:middle line:84% and even in that situation, I see 00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:32.454 align:middle line:84% there's so much the administration does not let me 00:00:32.454 --> 00:00:34.914 align:middle line:90% do for fear of so many things. 00:00:34.914 --> 00:00:36.520 align:middle line:90% Mm-hmm. 00:00:36.520 --> 00:00:39.340 align:middle line:84% One thing-- if you get a chance, you should read it-- 00:00:39.340 --> 00:00:42.520 align:middle line:84% I started this group with my son-- 00:00:42.520 --> 00:00:47.050 align:middle line:84% we invited 100 kids to come to my house. 00:00:47.050 --> 00:00:50.350 align:middle line:84% 30 of them showed up, which is a great number-- on their own-- 00:00:50.350 --> 00:00:52.060 align:middle line:90% mostly gang kids-- 00:00:52.060 --> 00:00:54.400 align:middle line:90% Puerto Rican and Mexican. 00:00:54.400 --> 00:00:57.580 align:middle line:84% And we decided to build an independent organization. 00:00:57.580 --> 00:01:00.490 align:middle line:84% Because they were going through the same thing. 00:01:00.490 --> 00:01:04.330 align:middle line:84% Every Mexican and Black in the schools are in the gang list. 00:01:04.330 --> 00:01:06.490 align:middle line:84% They don't even have to be gang members. 00:01:06.490 --> 00:01:08.500 align:middle line:84% Just by having virtue of dark skin, 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:10.130 align:middle line:90% they put them on gang lists. 00:01:10.130 --> 00:01:12.160 align:middle line:90% So we had this meeting. 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:15.837 align:middle line:84% And my whole thing was, OK, you do it now. 00:01:15.837 --> 00:01:17.170 align:middle line:90% I'm an adult-- I've been there-- 00:01:17.170 --> 00:01:18.400 align:middle line:90% I'll help you. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:20.920 align:middle line:84% Because they were asking us, show us the ropes. 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:22.870 align:middle line:90% But they wanted to do it. 00:01:22.870 --> 00:01:26.650 align:middle line:84% It's youth-directed, youth-empowered organization. 00:01:26.650 --> 00:01:29.243 align:middle line:90% They did a conference in August. 00:01:29.243 --> 00:01:30.910 align:middle line:84% First of all, they did weekend retreats. 00:01:30.910 --> 00:01:32.500 align:middle line:90% They involved other gang kids. 00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:35.170 align:middle line:84% They did a conference in August all by themselves 00:01:35.170 --> 00:01:37.930 align:middle line:84% in which more than 100 young people did show up 00:01:37.930 --> 00:01:39.430 align:middle line:90% from all over the city. 00:01:39.430 --> 00:01:42.100 align:middle line:84% They did it themselves with no money-- 00:01:42.100 --> 00:01:43.850 align:middle line:90% no resources. 00:01:43.850 --> 00:01:45.850 align:middle line:84% And now they meet every week, like I said. 00:01:45.850 --> 00:01:48.340 align:middle line:84% They got all these other components and everything. 00:01:48.340 --> 00:01:49.922 align:middle line:84% And what I decided to do is I would 00:01:49.922 --> 00:01:51.130 align:middle line:90% help them get more organized. 00:01:51.130 --> 00:01:52.522 align:middle line:90% I'd involve more adults. 00:01:52.522 --> 00:01:53.980 align:middle line:84% But the adults-- I told them this-- 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:54.970 align:middle line:90% we had meetings for all adults-- 00:01:54.970 --> 00:01:56.800 align:middle line:84% I says, you're not going to run this group, 00:01:56.800 --> 00:01:59.210 align:middle line:84% and you're not going to tell these kids what to do. 00:01:59.210 --> 00:02:00.550 align:middle line:90% But you know something-- 00:02:00.550 --> 00:02:03.220 align:middle line:90% help them, guide them. 00:02:03.220 --> 00:02:04.935 align:middle line:90% But let the kids run it. 00:02:04.935 --> 00:02:07.310 align:middle line:84% And I think that might be something to take into account. 00:02:07.310 --> 00:02:08.643 align:middle line:90% I don't know how to go about it. 00:02:08.643 --> 00:02:10.690 align:middle line:90% You all know the situation best. 00:02:10.690 --> 00:02:11.380 align:middle line:90% You live here. 00:02:11.380 --> 00:02:13.780 align:middle line:84% But I would say have a situation where 00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:17.140 align:middle line:84% the young people themselves can have some authority-- 00:02:17.140 --> 00:02:19.600 align:middle line:84% some ownership over what's going on. 00:02:19.600 --> 00:02:21.910 align:middle line:84% In order for them to really be responsible, 00:02:21.910 --> 00:02:24.190 align:middle line:84% they have to first believe that they matter. 00:02:24.190 --> 00:02:26.710 align:middle line:84% You can't be responsible if you don't think you matter. 00:02:26.710 --> 00:02:28.930 align:middle line:84% And second of all, you got to have some authority. 00:02:28.930 --> 00:02:31.720 align:middle line:84% They're feeling, I'm responsible because I have authority. 00:02:31.720 --> 00:02:32.890 align:middle line:90% I'm responsible for this-- 00:02:32.890 --> 00:02:34.360 align:middle line:90% I will take care of this. 00:02:34.360 --> 00:02:37.600 align:middle line:84% And all the schools-- if they began to start doing this-- 00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:39.400 align:middle line:84% giving part of that schooling to the kids-- 00:02:39.400 --> 00:02:42.670 align:middle line:84% I'm serious-- I believe in the youth. 00:02:42.670 --> 00:02:43.822 align:middle line:90% They'll make it work. 00:02:43.822 --> 00:02:45.280 align:middle line:84% You talk to enough of them, they'll 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:48.790 align:middle line:84% give you 10,000 answers for every rotten thing going 00:02:48.790 --> 00:02:51.197 align:middle line:84% on in society-- the youth have an answer for it. 00:02:51.197 --> 00:02:52.780 align:middle line:84% And I really think that that's the way 00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:54.290 align:middle line:90% to go-- give it to them. 00:02:54.290 --> 00:02:57.010 align:middle line:84% And the adults should help them-- they need adults. 00:02:57.010 --> 00:02:58.853 align:middle line:90% They need mentors. 00:02:58.853 --> 00:03:01.270 align:middle line:84% They need people who will be there and guide them and help 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:03.312 align:middle line:84% them-- not to tell them what to do, not to do it. 00:03:03.312 --> 00:03:07.030 align:middle line:84% They need adults in their lives, but give them that power. 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:18.340 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:03:18.340 --> 00:03:19.129 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:19.129 --> 00:03:33.320 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:03:33.320 --> 00:03:36.140 align:middle line:84% I picked it up in the LA Times, and you know funny-- 00:03:36.140 --> 00:03:38.270 align:middle line:90% that both sides were told-- 00:03:38.270 --> 00:03:41.340 align:middle line:84% but the kids' side of the story was completely different. 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:43.340 align:middle line:90% That was the other guy's side. 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:46.990 align:middle line:84% And you got to put them in the law of court, 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:48.490 align:middle line:90% but they wouldn't even do that. 00:03:48.490 --> 00:03:50.650 align:middle line:84% They've already decided that his word 00:03:50.650 --> 00:03:52.600 align:middle line:84% was more valuable than their word 00:03:52.600 --> 00:03:54.610 align:middle line:84% even though they were the ones that were shot. 00:03:54.610 --> 00:03:57.520 align:middle line:84% So yeah, I would question that just 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.280 align:middle line:90% his word alone would do it. 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:02.182 align:middle line:90% How much time do I have? 00:04:02.182 --> 00:04:05.480 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:06.980 align:middle line:84% OK, let me do a couple of questions, 00:04:06.980 --> 00:04:07.530 align:middle line:90% because You know what? 00:04:07.530 --> 00:04:09.678 align:middle line:84% There's some books-- we can do some signing-- we 00:04:09.678 --> 00:04:10.470 align:middle line:90% can talk some more. 00:04:10.470 --> 00:04:12.890 align:middle line:84% But I do want to have a couple more questions so we 00:04:12.890 --> 00:04:14.750 align:middle line:90% can close up here. 00:04:14.750 --> 00:04:16.044 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:04:16.044 --> 00:04:42.070 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:04:42.070 --> 00:04:44.320 align:middle line:84% Oh, it was found just a fight, too, right? 00:04:44.320 --> 00:04:44.860 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:46.840 align:middle line:90% Yeah, I did read about that. 00:04:46.840 --> 00:04:49.180 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:04:49.180 --> 00:04:49.930 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:04:49.930 --> 00:04:51.430 align:middle line:84% Let me get one more, and then I want 00:04:51.430 --> 00:04:53.080 align:middle line:84% to read that poem, "The Facts of Life." 00:04:53.080 --> 00:04:54.790 align:middle line:90% One more-- let me get you. 00:04:54.790 --> 00:04:55.473 align:middle line:90% Go ahead. 00:04:55.473 --> 00:04:57.690 align:middle line:84% [INAUDIBLE] Do you have any comments about that? 00:04:57.690 --> 00:05:00.790 align:middle line:84% I mean, you got kids coming from upper middle class homes-- 00:05:00.790 --> 00:05:03.970 align:middle line:84% white suburban kids joining gangs nowadays. 00:05:03.970 --> 00:05:07.050 align:middle line:84% Do you have any comments [INAUDIBLE]?? 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:11.040 align:middle line:84% Well, because-- [LAUGHS] money can't buy the kind of problems 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:12.810 align:middle line:90% that these kids are living. 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:16.590 align:middle line:84% And I tell you, man, kids are all suffering something. 00:05:16.590 --> 00:05:18.155 align:middle line:84% And part of the reason why is they 00:05:18.155 --> 00:05:19.530 align:middle line:84% don't really feel that the future 00:05:19.530 --> 00:05:21.610 align:middle line:90% has anything to do with them. 00:05:21.610 --> 00:05:23.910 align:middle line:84% And if they can't envision a future, it's hard for them 00:05:23.910 --> 00:05:25.560 align:middle line:90% to feel that they're part of it. 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.350 align:middle line:84% And I tell you something, I do think that there is a class 00:05:28.350 --> 00:05:29.640 align:middle line:90% society in this society. 00:05:29.640 --> 00:05:31.180 align:middle line:90% And I've seen it. 00:05:31.180 --> 00:05:33.010 align:middle line:84% But I don't think that it helps anybody-- 00:05:33.010 --> 00:05:35.820 align:middle line:84% even the kids who happen to be from upper classes-- it hurts 00:05:35.820 --> 00:05:37.260 align:middle line:90% them. 00:05:37.260 --> 00:05:40.080 align:middle line:84% I'm not really having to defend them, 00:05:40.080 --> 00:05:42.360 align:middle line:84% because they got a lot of help for their problems. 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:43.770 align:middle line:90% Our kids don't get it. 00:05:43.770 --> 00:05:45.630 align:middle line:84% I went to Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, 00:05:45.630 --> 00:05:47.340 align:middle line:84% and did a week-long residency at one 00:05:47.340 --> 00:05:49.770 align:middle line:84% of the most wealthiest communities in this country. 00:05:49.770 --> 00:05:53.058 align:middle line:84% There was five private schools that I spoke to. 00:05:53.058 --> 00:05:54.100 align:middle line:90% Now, the kids were great. 00:05:54.100 --> 00:05:55.933 align:middle line:84% They were all white kids-- they were great-- 00:05:55.933 --> 00:05:57.210 align:middle line:90% no problem with the kids. 00:05:57.210 --> 00:06:00.810 align:middle line:84% But the school-- their parents had to pay $17,000 a year 00:06:00.810 --> 00:06:02.370 align:middle line:90% for them to get there. 00:06:02.370 --> 00:06:05.200 align:middle line:84% And you know there was not one drop-- 00:06:05.200 --> 00:06:10.530 align:middle line:84% 100% success rate, 100% college entrance rate. 00:06:10.530 --> 00:06:13.080 align:middle line:84% And I will tell you that those kids aren't any better, 00:06:13.080 --> 00:06:15.390 align:middle line:84% any worse, any more creative, any more intelligent, 00:06:15.390 --> 00:06:17.850 align:middle line:90% than our kids in this community. 00:06:17.850 --> 00:06:20.490 align:middle line:84% But the difference is that they had help. 00:06:20.490 --> 00:06:22.410 align:middle line:84% They go into problems, they get help. 00:06:22.410 --> 00:06:24.960 align:middle line:84% They get into drugs-- a lot of them have alcoholism problems. 00:06:24.960 --> 00:06:26.918 align:middle line:84% Alcoholism is really big as, you probably know, 00:06:26.918 --> 00:06:28.960 align:middle line:84% among middle class kids-- big problem. 00:06:28.960 --> 00:06:29.760 align:middle line:90% A lot of drugs-- 00:06:29.760 --> 00:06:30.930 align:middle line:90% LSD, everything. 00:06:30.930 --> 00:06:32.430 align:middle line:90% But they can get help. 00:06:32.430 --> 00:06:34.470 align:middle line:90% They will succeed. 00:06:34.470 --> 00:06:37.385 align:middle line:84% Our kids-- they're expecting to fail. 00:06:37.385 --> 00:06:38.760 align:middle line:84% And there's two kind of pressures 00:06:38.760 --> 00:06:40.060 align:middle line:90% that we're dealing with here. 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:41.850 align:middle line:84% So I think, yeah, we have to look 00:06:41.850 --> 00:06:44.640 align:middle line:84% at the kind of world we're in where our kids are already 00:06:44.640 --> 00:06:46.770 align:middle line:84% decided ahead of time, you're not going to make it. 00:06:46.770 --> 00:06:49.480 align:middle line:84% We're barely fighting for empowerment for our kids. 00:06:49.480 --> 00:06:51.270 align:middle line:84% Those kids are beyond empowerment-- they 00:06:51.270 --> 00:06:53.610 align:middle line:90% feel entitled. 00:06:53.610 --> 00:06:56.010 align:middle line:84% And they get what they want in this world-- we 00:06:56.010 --> 00:06:58.453 align:middle line:90% have to fight every bit of it. 00:06:58.453 --> 00:07:00.120 align:middle line:84% Let me just end with the poem, because I 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:01.900 align:middle line:90% think it is a good poem. 00:07:01.900 --> 00:07:04.110 align:middle line:84% It's a poem that I wrote for President Clinton 00:07:04.110 --> 00:07:05.040 align:middle line:90% during the inaugural-- 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.230 align:middle line:84% Maya Angelou did an inaugural poem, 00:07:07.230 --> 00:07:09.870 align:middle line:84% and the nation had asked several poets to write one, 00:07:09.870 --> 00:07:10.860 align:middle line:90% and this is my poem. 00:07:10.860 --> 00:07:13.860 align:middle line:84% And there's a kind of an interesting story behind this. 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:19.360 align:middle line:84% I read this poem to 2,000 people in Chicago in '93 in June, 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:22.780 align:middle line:84% that day before I read it, the police had beaten up my son 00:07:22.780 --> 00:07:24.890 align:middle line:90% pretty badly. 00:07:24.890 --> 00:07:26.223 align:middle line:90% He was handcuffed on the ground. 00:07:26.223 --> 00:07:28.640 align:middle line:84% He was already saying, I'm not resisting, because I always 00:07:28.640 --> 00:07:29.530 align:middle line:90% told him to do this. 00:07:29.530 --> 00:07:32.290 align:middle line:84% It didn't matter-- they beat him up anyway. 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:36.070 align:middle line:84% And the bad thing about it is that almost 20 years before 00:07:36.070 --> 00:07:40.362 align:middle line:84% to the day, I was beaten up the same way the police. 00:07:40.362 --> 00:07:42.820 align:middle line:84% I was so mad, so when I read this poem, I was really angry, 00:07:42.820 --> 00:07:44.680 align:middle line:90% and I let these people have it. 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:48.370 align:middle line:84% And then the Letter X, which is a Chicago newspaper for poets-- 00:07:48.370 --> 00:07:52.030 align:middle line:84% they wrote an attack calling this an unpatriotic poem. 00:07:52.030 --> 00:07:54.820 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:07:54.820 --> 00:07:56.530 align:middle line:90% I don't know. 00:07:56.530 --> 00:07:58.940 align:middle line:84% I don't know, but anyway, I'll let you figure that out, 00:07:58.940 --> 00:07:59.930 align:middle line:90% and I'll just read it. 00:07:59.930 --> 00:08:05.830 align:middle line:84% It's called "The Facts of Life (To President Bill Clinton)." 00:08:05.830 --> 00:08:08.590 align:middle line:84% Let me tell you the facts of life 00:08:08.590 --> 00:08:13.060 align:middle line:84% from beneath the tattered coat of my country. 00:08:13.060 --> 00:08:18.160 align:middle line:84% This country whose soul has died long before the body-- 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.800 align:middle line:84% this country, which is bleary-eyed from lack 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:23.640 align:middle line:90% of dreaming, yet fell asleep. 00:08:23.640 --> 00:08:25.530 align:middle line:84% This country, which is inebriated 00:08:25.530 --> 00:08:28.420 align:middle line:84% with guilt and false grinning-- this country, 00:08:28.420 --> 00:08:33.090 align:middle line:84% which is a beggar's song slithering through city veins. 00:08:33.090 --> 00:08:36.000 align:middle line:84% This country, which is night pouring over the crevices 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:37.470 align:middle line:90% on the face of day-- 00:08:37.470 --> 00:08:41.370 align:middle line:84% this country of laughter and illumination across the ocean 00:08:41.370 --> 00:08:43.770 align:middle line:90% of lies where we drown. 00:08:43.770 --> 00:08:46.050 align:middle line:84% This country of winter's breath gusting 00:08:46.050 --> 00:08:49.320 align:middle line:84% across a swollen star-spangled sky. 00:08:49.320 --> 00:08:51.690 align:middle line:84% This country, which dances without a beat 00:08:51.690 --> 00:08:55.320 align:middle line:84% in constant searching-- constant rupturing. 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:58.410 align:middle line:84% This country with seeds that is hungry and limps 00:08:58.410 --> 00:09:00.420 align:middle line:90% with ambiguity. 00:09:00.420 --> 00:09:03.030 align:middle line:84% This country saturated with sweet colors-- 00:09:03.030 --> 00:09:07.920 align:middle line:84% odors and colors-- yet stenched and scrawled with race hatred. 00:09:07.920 --> 00:09:10.680 align:middle line:84% This country where the road from hope to hope 00:09:10.680 --> 00:09:15.270 align:middle line:84% must pass beyond expectation-- beyond class privilege. 00:09:15.270 --> 00:09:18.600 align:middle line:84% This country whose penitence is waiting at the corner of fury 00:09:18.600 --> 00:09:19.470 align:middle line:90% and fire-- 00:09:19.470 --> 00:09:22.290 align:middle line:84% this country where every promise must be rendered, 00:09:22.290 --> 00:09:24.630 align:middle line:90% every dream made flesh. 00:09:24.630 --> 00:09:28.470 align:middle line:84% This country were all that's left is to act. 00:09:28.470 --> 00:09:33.930 align:middle line:84% And my country will act if you won't. 00:09:33.930 --> 00:09:34.800 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:09:34.800 --> 00:09:35.940 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:38.990 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:09:38.990 --> 00:09:58.000 align:middle line:90%