"Dick Gregory’s comedy was prophetic. It cut to the truth, challenged lies, exposed racism as a form of societal insanity and made a fool of Jim Crow. He wasn’t performing, y’all. He was preaching. He made you want to leave the comedy club and get in the fight for justice."
Excerpted from the transcript of this program on Democracy Now!:
Thousands gathered Saturday to celebrate the life of legendary comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, who passed away last month at the age of 84. We feature some of the voices of those who gathered to remember him, including Rev. William Barber, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach; Rep. Maxine Waters; and children of civil rights legends, such as Martin Luther King III; Reena Evers, daughter of Medgar Evers; and Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X.
AMY GOODMAN: Ayanna Gregory, daughter of the late Dick Gregory,
singing at Dick Gregory’s Celebration of Life last Saturday. Yes, this is Democracy
Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report.
I’m Amy Goodman.
This past Saturday, thousands gathered at the City of Praise
Family Ministries in Landover, Maryland, to celebrate the life of legendary
comedian and human rights activist Dick Gregory, who passed away August 19th at
the age of 84.
In the early ’60s, Dick Gregory became one of the most
popular comedians in the country, paving the way for generations of
African-American comedians and performers. He was the first African-American
comedian to sit on the couch of The Tonight Show, then
hosted by Jack Parr.
As his popularity grew, so did his activism. In 1967, Dick
Gregory ran for mayor of Chicago against the infamous Richard Daley. He was a
close friend of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. And in 1968, Dick Gregory
ran for president against Richard Nixon.
He also became well known for his hunger strikes for justice.
In 1967, Dick Gregory began a public fast, starting Thanksgiving Day, to
protest the war in Vietnam. Forty days later, he broke his fast with a hearty
glass of fruit juice. He weighed 97 pounds. In the summer of 1968, he fasted
for 45 days as a show solidarity with Native Americans. The following summer,
he did another 45-day fast in protest of de facto segregation
in the Chicago public schools. In 1970, Gregory went 81 days without food to
bring attention to the drug problem in America. Beginning in 1971, he went
nearly three years without solid food, again to protest the war. During that
fast, he ran 900 miles, from Chicago to Washington, D.C. During the Iran
hostage crisis, Dick Gregory traveled to Tehran in an effort to free the
hostages, and traveled to the north of Ireland to advise hunger-striking IRA prisoners.
In his campaign against hunger, he traveled to Ethiopia more than 10 times.
More recently, his face appeared in newspapers across the
country for his community action approach to investigate allegations behind CIA connection
with drugs in the African-American community. He camped out in dealer-ridden
public parks and rallied community leaders to shut down head shops. He
protested at CIA headquarters
and was arrested.
Throughout his life, Dick Gregory has been a target of FBI and
police surveillance, and he was virtually banned from the entertainment arena
for his political activism.
Well, Saturday’s six-hour celebration of Dick Gregory
featured passionate speeches and musical tributes. The program booklet also
included letters from former President Barack Obama, the National Newspaper
Publishers Association, the NAACP and
the Congressional Black Caucus. We turn now to some of those who gathered to
remember Dick Gregory. We hear from the children of the legends Martin Luther
King Jr., Richard Pryor, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers—their children. We’ll also
hear from Congressmember Maxine Waters. We begin with Reverend William Barber,
president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach.
REV. WILLIAM BARBER: To anyone who
thinks justice—injustice is final, the joke’s on you. Psalm 37:12 and 13 says,
"The wicked plot against the godly; they snarl at them in defiance. But
the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming." Dick
Gregory knew this. He was a free man, never lost his humanity.
He
was a political and comedic satirist of the highest order. One writer said that
"Humorist-activist Dick Gregory was a man of many words whose fighting
spirit helped transform ... America." He "was known for his
off-the-cuff, no-holds-barred humor. He could captivate any crowd with his cool
but passionate demeanor." He said that "He openly refused to shy away
from stinging subjects, but often reminded people that humor was not
enough." It was a vehicle, but not enough. He said, "Humor can no
more find a solution to race problems than it can cure cancer. We didn’t laugh
Hitler out of existence," he once said.
"In
a time when dissenting opinion," this writer said, "on race and
discrimination could put a literal target on your back, Gregory wasn’t just
peddling funny. He said it like he saw it, but then he did it, marching for
voting rights ... performing at benefits for civil rights groups. He was even
shot in the leg while serving as a peacemaker during the 1965 Watts riots in
Los Angeles." I love that. Gregory once said about racism—Brother Gregory,
he said, "Whole lots of Americans got that attitude, and we tolerate it
because you can hide your feeling behind policies. That’s why we’ve got to work
to flush this whole thing out." Gregory understood that racism was far
more than whether or not you had a black friend.
His
laughter was a battle cry. His jokes were not merely for entertainment and
money, but for empowerment and movement building. His laughter and his comedy
was a bold critique. His satire was fearless and bold as he challenged
America’s original sins of genocide and racism and war. He boldly went where
other comedians refused to go. But his comedy was not only a battle cry and a
bold critique, his comedy and his laughter was a balm in Gilead. It helped to
heal the wounds and the soul’s scars of slavery, Jim Crow, the wounds caused by
the violent vestiges and dehumanizations of racism and poverty and war. His
comedy helped us live through and make it through the psychic trauma. He was a
genius. He was brilliant. His comedy was not mere buffoonery. It gave us
backbone.
And
when you listen to Dick Gregory’s comedy, you were not hearing a performer, but
a prophet. You know the prophets of the Bible were political satirists. When
Jeremiah put iron yoke around his neck to show the nation how foolish it was to
do wrong, he was being a comedic satirist. It was comedic, it was satirical
genius, when Jesus said to the hypocrites of his day, "When you try to be
religious on the outside, but you hurt people on the inside, it’s just like
having graves that you make real white, but inside of them they’re full of dead
men’s bones." When Jesus, in his day, said to the hypocrites, "You
try to be religious, but you leave undone love, mercy and justice." That’s
comedic genius. And Dick Gregory was prophetic.
In
fact, I want to channel my inner Dick Gregory. If Dick was commenting today, he
might just say, "You know, president kissed black babies in Texas the
other day. And some say he’s not a racist or a white supremacist. Well,"
Dick might say, "we don’t need to remember the Alamo. We need to remember
the okey-doke." Because when you kiss a black baby in Texas while you’re
trying to take babies’ healthcare in D.C.; when you kiss a black baby in Texas,
but you’re stealing their voting rights in D.C.; when you kiss a baby or a
brown baby in Texas, but you’re stealing their immigrant rights in D.C.—that is
the okey-doke.
Please
continue this transcript, or to view the full video program, please go here: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/9/22/his_laughter_was_a_battle_
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