WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.660 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:02.310 align:middle line:84% In "Tyndall Armory" my autobiography 00:00:02.310 --> 00:00:05.070 align:middle line:90% primarily serves as geography. 00:00:05.070 --> 00:00:07.320 align:middle line:84% We were there in the poem because I was there, 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:09.900 align:middle line:84% but the most effusive and relevant gestures in the poem 00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:12.900 align:middle line:84% are reserved for my friend Richard and Chuck 00:00:12.900 --> 00:00:15.840 align:middle line:84% D, who was by his very position a performer 00:00:15.840 --> 00:00:18.750 align:middle line:84% and political advocate before becoming 00:00:18.750 --> 00:00:22.170 align:middle line:84% the embodiment of those secret and public domains of our lives 00:00:22.170 --> 00:00:24.240 align:middle line:90% that Ben Okri talked about. 00:00:24.240 --> 00:00:26.550 align:middle line:84% He is a spectacle because his job in art 00:00:26.550 --> 00:00:28.410 align:middle line:84% requires it, which brings me to Jack 00:00:28.410 --> 00:00:31.500 align:middle line:84% Johnson, the primary subject of The Big Smoke. 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:34.770 align:middle line:84% Johnson is one of the most complex historical figures 00:00:34.770 --> 00:00:36.990 align:middle line:84% that we have in part because of the way he operated 00:00:36.990 --> 00:00:38.790 align:middle line:84% in the world and in part because the way 00:00:38.790 --> 00:00:41.220 align:middle line:90% the world framed those actions. 00:00:41.220 --> 00:00:43.830 align:middle line:84% If my mother could find a way to get past Johnson's 00:00:43.830 --> 00:00:46.617 align:middle line:84% physical attractiveness and his magnetic personality, 00:00:46.617 --> 00:00:49.200 align:middle line:84% and I don't think that there's any universe in which she could 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.900 align:middle line:84% have done that, I imagine she might have told him to not 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:54.540 align:middle line:90% make a spectacle of himself. 00:00:54.540 --> 00:00:56.850 align:middle line:84% Johnson was outspoken, self-possessed, 00:00:56.850 --> 00:00:59.280 align:middle line:84% self-aggrandizing, and all around aware 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:01.537 align:middle line:90% that the people want a show. 00:01:01.537 --> 00:01:03.120 align:middle line:84% He was willing to give them that show; 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:05.250 align:middle line:84% better yet, he was willing to be that show 00:01:05.250 --> 00:01:07.110 align:middle line:90% because it benefited him. 00:01:07.110 --> 00:01:08.670 align:middle line:90% Let me go further with this. 00:01:08.670 --> 00:01:11.490 align:middle line:84% We have many brilliant books and individual poems 00:01:11.490 --> 00:01:13.770 align:middle line:84% about the first generation immigrant experience 00:01:13.770 --> 00:01:17.005 align:middle line:84% in America, but what about the first free generation? 00:01:17.005 --> 00:01:18.630 align:middle line:84% As you're going to hear in these poems, 00:01:18.630 --> 00:01:20.190 align:middle line:84% Jack Johnson's parents were slaves 00:01:20.190 --> 00:01:22.920 align:middle line:84% and he was so self-determined and so talented 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:26.100 align:middle line:84% that he was able to become the most famous athlete 00:01:26.100 --> 00:01:28.465 align:middle line:90% in the world at his time. 00:01:28.465 --> 00:01:30.840 align:middle line:84% And this is in spite of the brutalities of reconstruction 00:01:30.840 --> 00:01:33.900 align:middle line:84% and Jim Crow, in spite of the fact that very few people were 00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:36.120 align:middle line:84% interested in having a Black heavyweight champion, 00:01:36.120 --> 00:01:38.620 align:middle line:84% in spite of the way he treated the women around him, 00:01:38.620 --> 00:01:40.650 align:middle line:84% and in spite of the fact that everything 00:01:40.650 --> 00:01:43.440 align:middle line:90% he did he learned himself. 00:01:43.440 --> 00:01:45.540 align:middle line:84% Jack Johnson was 30 years old when he finally 00:01:45.540 --> 00:01:48.460 align:middle line:84% got his shot at the heavyweight championship 00:01:48.460 --> 00:01:50.460 align:middle line:84% and he'd been the best prizefighter in the world 00:01:50.460 --> 00:01:52.200 align:middle line:90% for several years before that. 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:54.360 align:middle line:84% The boxing establishment and in particular 00:01:54.360 --> 00:01:56.700 align:middle line:84% the White heavyweight champions, Jim Jeffries and Tommy 00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:58.543 align:middle line:84% Burns who you're going to see drew 00:01:58.543 --> 00:02:00.210 align:middle line:84% what was called the color line back then 00:02:00.210 --> 00:02:03.450 align:middle line:84% and would not fight Jack Johnson because he was Black. 00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:04.533 align:middle line:90% It took the spectacle-- 00:02:04.533 --> 00:02:06.450 align:middle line:84% I mean, and I'm talking about a real spectacle 00:02:06.450 --> 00:02:09.060 align:middle line:84% in the true sense of the word-- of Jack Johnson following 00:02:09.060 --> 00:02:11.760 align:middle line:84% Tommy Burns all over the United States 00:02:11.760 --> 00:02:14.670 align:middle line:84% and challenging him to fight from ringside. 00:02:14.670 --> 00:02:17.522 align:middle line:84% And that didn't work, so he followed him to Australia; 00:02:17.522 --> 00:02:19.230 align:middle line:84% and that didn't work, and he followed him 00:02:19.230 --> 00:02:21.240 align:middle line:90% to France and to the UK. 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:24.330 align:middle line:84% And every time he would get up there, he would look up 00:02:24.330 --> 00:02:27.210 align:middle line:84% and there's Jack Johnson at ringside saying, 00:02:27.210 --> 00:02:29.100 align:middle line:90% I'll fight you for free. 00:02:29.100 --> 00:02:32.570 align:middle line:84% You're no real champion, you're afraid of me. 00:02:32.570 --> 00:02:34.170 align:middle line:90% As it too. 00:02:34.170 --> 00:02:35.220 align:middle line:90% Is that loud enough? 00:02:35.220 --> 00:02:36.440 align:middle line:90% Not quite. 00:02:36.440 --> 00:02:37.150 align:middle line:90% Right into it. 00:02:37.150 --> 00:02:38.040 align:middle line:90% See? 00:02:38.040 --> 00:02:39.170 align:middle line:90% I'm soft spoken. 00:02:39.170 --> 00:02:42.260 align:middle line:90% 00:02:42.260 --> 00:02:46.710 align:middle line:84% So now that everyone can hear me. 00:02:46.710 --> 00:02:49.410 align:middle line:84% So anyway, he followed him around. 00:02:49.410 --> 00:02:52.110 align:middle line:84% And it took Jack Johnson following 00:02:52.110 --> 00:02:55.110 align:middle line:84% Tommy Burns all over the US and to Europe challenging him 00:02:55.110 --> 00:02:58.375 align:middle line:84% from the ringside along with a purse of $50,000, which 00:02:58.375 --> 00:03:00.000 align:middle line:84% was more than anyone had ever been paid 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.700 align:middle line:84% for a heavyweight fight or any fight 00:03:02.700 --> 00:03:05.460 align:middle line:84% up to that point to get Tommy Burns in the ring. 00:03:05.460 --> 00:03:07.680 align:middle line:84% In essence, Johnson had to create this spectacle 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:10.950 align:middle line:84% around himself that was bigger than the sport, an already 00:03:10.950 --> 00:03:14.580 align:middle line:84% enormous spectacle of blood and brutality to shame Tommy Burns 00:03:14.580 --> 00:03:15.555 align:middle line:90% into fighting him. 00:03:15.555 --> 00:03:17.430 align:middle line:84% And once Johnson became heavyweight champion, 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:19.770 align:middle line:84% he had to continue to show that and continue 00:03:19.770 --> 00:03:24.380 align:middle line:84% the show because it was expected of him which is especially 00:03:24.380 --> 00:03:26.300 align:middle line:84% complicated when you consider how much disdain 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:27.860 align:middle line:84% white Americans at Johnson's time 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:30.708 align:middle line:90% had for Black people as a whole. 00:03:30.708 --> 00:03:32.250 align:middle line:84% I mean, a few white Americans outside 00:03:32.250 --> 00:03:33.708 align:middle line:84% of the gamblers Johnson made money 00:03:33.708 --> 00:03:35.910 align:middle line:84% for were enthusiastic about having 00:03:35.910 --> 00:03:39.860 align:middle line:84% a Black heavyweight champion, but that was about it. 00:03:39.860 --> 00:03:44.200 align:middle line:84% So when you throw in the fact that he had a white wife 00:03:44.200 --> 00:03:47.933 align:middle line:84% and two white mistresses and he was very overt about that, 00:03:47.933 --> 00:03:49.600 align:middle line:84% most people didn't want to have anything 00:03:49.600 --> 00:03:50.890 align:middle line:90% to do with Jack Johnson. 00:03:50.890 --> 00:03:52.390 align:middle line:84% So let me run down the accoutrements 00:03:52.390 --> 00:03:55.168 align:middle line:84% of spectacle for Jack Johnson before I read these poems. 00:03:55.168 --> 00:03:56.710 align:middle line:84% They're all superficial but they will 00:03:56.710 --> 00:03:59.950 align:middle line:84% help you to understand what an event he was. 00:03:59.950 --> 00:04:03.945 align:middle line:84% Johnson had gold fronts, he had gold teeth like rappers do now. 00:04:03.945 --> 00:04:06.070 align:middle line:84% Like I said, he was married to a white woman, Etta, 00:04:06.070 --> 00:04:08.112 align:middle line:84% and he had two white mistresses, Hattie and Belle, 00:04:08.112 --> 00:04:09.670 align:middle line:90% and they pop up in the poems. 00:04:09.670 --> 00:04:11.980 align:middle line:90% All of this was in 1908. 00:04:11.980 --> 00:04:16.089 align:middle line:84% Muhammad Ali, the great Muhammad Ali once said, this is a quote, 00:04:16.089 --> 00:04:18.579 align:middle line:90% "Jack Johnson was the greatest. 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:20.970 align:middle line:84% He had to be the greatest of them all. 00:04:20.970 --> 00:04:23.440 align:middle line:84% It wasn't no Black Panthers, wasn't no bodyguards. 00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:25.300 align:middle line:84% White people were lynching Negroes 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:27.820 align:middle line:84% and that Negro was doing all kinds of crazy stuff in them 00:04:27.820 --> 00:04:28.900 align:middle line:90% days. 00:04:28.900 --> 00:04:30.610 align:middle line:84% He was bad when you think about it. 00:04:30.610 --> 00:04:34.300 align:middle line:84% I know I'm bad, but he was crazy." 00:04:34.300 --> 00:04:37.300 align:middle line:84% Jack Johnson had a white valet and chauffeur 00:04:37.300 --> 00:04:39.190 align:middle line:84% and he owned five cars at a time when 00:04:39.190 --> 00:04:41.770 align:middle line:84% there was no such thing as an inexpensive car. 00:04:41.770 --> 00:04:43.210 align:middle line:84% To give you a little perspective, 00:04:43.210 --> 00:04:46.810 align:middle line:84% at the time in 1910, there were 100,000 cars 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:51.772 align:middle line:84% in the entire United States and Jack Johnson had five cars. 00:04:51.772 --> 00:04:53.230 align:middle line:84% I know that's got to be more than-- 00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:55.272 align:middle line:84% I don't know if anybody here is from the Dakotas, 00:04:55.272 --> 00:04:58.330 align:middle line:84% but certainly he had more cars than either of the Dakotas 00:04:58.330 --> 00:05:02.260 align:middle line:84% had at that time, maybe Montana too. 00:05:02.260 --> 00:05:05.170 align:middle line:90% 00:05:05.170 --> 00:05:09.580 align:middle line:84% So I keep thinking if there was such thing as Lifestyles 00:05:09.580 --> 00:05:12.160 align:middle line:84% of the Rich and Famous or MTV Cribs, 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:14.140 align:middle line:84% he would have been on there with his cars 00:05:14.140 --> 00:05:16.732 align:middle line:84% fanned out in the front of his driveway. 00:05:16.732 --> 00:05:18.190 align:middle line:84% Again, it's all superficial things, 00:05:18.190 --> 00:05:20.357 align:middle line:84% but they speak to what Johnson valued and the things 00:05:20.357 --> 00:05:22.240 align:middle line:90% people recognized him for. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:24.250 align:middle line:84% They also speak to his unparalleled ability 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:27.100 align:middle line:84% to manipulate expectations and perceptions. 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:30.260 align:middle line:84% There are a lot of almost true stories about Jack Johnson, 00:05:30.260 --> 00:05:33.788 align:middle line:84% and I'm going to finish this up with one of them. 00:05:33.788 --> 00:05:36.330 align:middle line:84% There's one that he punched a shark when he was 12 years old, 00:05:36.330 --> 00:05:40.020 align:middle line:84% there's another one that he was a spy for the US government 00:05:40.020 --> 00:05:43.110 align:middle line:84% during World War I. But the one that's most often told 00:05:43.110 --> 00:05:45.420 align:middle line:90% is about his driving. 00:05:45.420 --> 00:05:47.760 align:middle line:84% Jack Johnson was driving in his usual fast manner 00:05:47.760 --> 00:05:50.310 align:middle line:84% through some small town and a cop 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:52.830 align:middle line:90% saw him and pulled him over. 00:05:52.830 --> 00:05:56.588 align:middle line:84% The cops had bicycles, so the cop stopped him on his bicycle 00:05:56.588 --> 00:05:58.380 align:middle line:84% and pulled him over and he was like, you're 00:05:58.380 --> 00:06:01.230 align:middle line:84% speeding, that's a $50 fine, because he recognized 00:06:01.230 --> 00:06:01.950 align:middle line:90% Jack Johnson. 00:06:01.950 --> 00:06:04.440 align:middle line:84% Like, there are not a lot of Black people 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:11.130 align:middle line:84% with cars if you think about just the odds. 00:06:11.130 --> 00:06:15.460 align:middle line:84% This dude's like, hmm, you must be Jack Johnson. 00:06:15.460 --> 00:06:17.910 align:middle line:84% So he pulls him over, he says, it's going to be 50 bucks. 00:06:17.910 --> 00:06:21.000 align:middle line:84% And Jack Johnson pulls out this big wad of money 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:24.150 align:middle line:84% and hands him a $100 bill and the cop gets all flustered, 00:06:24.150 --> 00:06:26.820 align:middle line:84% he's like, I don't have change for a hundred. 00:06:26.820 --> 00:06:29.482 align:middle line:84% Jack Johnson's like, just keep it; I'll be back this afternoon 00:06:29.482 --> 00:06:30.690 align:middle line:90% and I'm going the same speed. 00:06:30.690 --> 00:06:34.600 align:middle line:90% 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:37.330 align:middle line:84% So the spectacle of action, the spectacle of myth, 00:06:37.330 --> 00:06:40.240 align:middle line:84% the spectacle of racism and necessary resistance, 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.330 align:middle line:84% the spectacle of a publicly lived life, the little 00:06:43.330 --> 00:06:45.548 align:middle line:84% spectacles we call historical poems. 00:06:45.548 --> 00:06:47.840 align:middle line:84% I wish I could have been here to hear Kimiko, Khadijah, 00:06:47.840 --> 00:06:49.150 align:middle line:90% and Terrance talk about this. 00:06:49.150 --> 00:06:50.950 align:middle line:84% I imagine their takes were as brilliant 00:06:50.950 --> 00:06:53.050 align:middle line:84% as their respective poetries are. 00:06:53.050 --> 00:06:55.360 align:middle line:84% It's tough to be the caboose for such 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:57.130 align:middle line:90% an amazing group of writers. 00:06:57.130 --> 00:06:58.630 align:middle line:84% So what I'm going to do is I'm going 00:06:58.630 --> 00:07:01.930 align:middle line:84% to spend the rest of the time reading poems. 00:07:01.930 --> 00:07:04.740 align:middle line:90% And so let me get--