WEBVTT
X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:0

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- I guess a small-town mayor

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is sort of like
a community organizer,

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except that you have actual
responsibilities.

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- He worked as
a community organizer.

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What?

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(man)
- You have to go through life
with more than just

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passion for change--
you need a strategy.

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And your plan better
include voting.

00:34.792 --> 00:38.310
You see, change requires
more than righteous anger.

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It requires a program and it
requires organizing.

00:41.834 --> 00:45.768
- Imagine a world where
undocumented immigrants

00:45.792 --> 00:49.185
don\'t have to fear their
families being separated.

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Imagine a world, if you\'re
a single mother

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and you work full time,
you don\'t live in poverty.

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Imagine a world where,

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if you\'re a young black man
or woman who walked the street,

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you\'re not racially profiled
by the police

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and have to
live with that terror.

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That world is only
possible

01:07.042 --> 01:08.976
if we organize...

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and only
if we organize.

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- They said to me,

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\"Elizabeth, if you really
want to push for this

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consumer agency,
you gotta get organized.\"

01:20.125 --> 01:22.685
And I said, \"Great.

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How?\"

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They said, \"I\'ve got
two words for you:

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Heather Booth.\"

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♪♪

01:32.125 --> 01:36.101
(woman)
- This is Heather Booth
making my first recording.

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It\'s September 19th.

01:39.334 --> 01:41.059
It was quite
a day.

01:41.083 --> 01:43.975
I\'m working with a group to host

01:43.999 --> 01:48.975
a rally on the Mall
in Washington, D.C. called

01:48.999 --> 01:51.351
Moral Action for
Climate Justice.

01:51.375 --> 01:52.976
It\'s a rally with
Pope Francis

01:53.000 --> 01:55.975
when he speaks to
the joint session of Congress,

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and they contacted me
because they had done

01:58.876 --> 02:01.435
some outreach to
some other organizations

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who said you need someone to
help you pull this together.

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You know, we have a 7:30 call

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of our core team
around the pope effort

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so that the communications,
the outreach,

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the central planning,

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the programming,
the production--

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everyone is on the call.

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I chair those calls,
\'cause part of being

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a good organizer is
accountability and follow-up.

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Organizing is 90% follow-up.

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I said I thought that
for an event this size,

02:33.083 --> 02:36.393
we would need half-a-million
to a million dollars,

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a minimum of
five to ten full-time staff,

02:39.792 --> 02:41.852
and broken into categories

02:41.876 --> 02:46.518
of program production,
outreach, logistics.

02:46.542 --> 02:48.435
And then we\'ll
open it up to all of you...

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We have the morning meeting.

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It\'s an intense meeting, um,
and we find out several things.

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One, we got a cease-and-desist
order from

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a business district in D.C.,

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saying you can\'t
put posters up.

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Part of organizing is
dealing with the unexpected.

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It\'s easy for people to turn on
each other and say,

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\"Why didn\'t
you know the law?

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How could you do this?\"

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We stopped
doing the postering.

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We decided we\'ll just do it
as flyering,

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handing out flyers
at high-traffic areas,

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by metros and bus stops.

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People can be angry
at each other.

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It\'s easy to have
misunderstandings.

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Again, that\'s part of
organizing.

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Meanwhile, I\'m trying to
pull the parts together.

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Is there a press tent?

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Yes, there is,
but it\'s very small.

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Only a small number of people
can be there.

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Where\'s the credentials?

03:40.584 --> 03:43.975
We raised ideas about how to
generate more press,

03:43.999 --> 03:46.018
pursuing radio interviews.

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Then we do a review of
the speakers,

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figuring out if there\'s
a way that we can move this

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to be 50% people of color
and 50% women

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and it\'s always a challenge

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to ensure that
we reach those goals.

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And so again, with clarity
of purpose,

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clarity of
the specific tasks,

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accountability on the tasks

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and interconnection on
the tasks...

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(keyboard clacking)

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I hope I\'ve given you
some sense of what\'s

04:22.083 --> 04:23.560
involved in organizing,

04:23.584 --> 04:26.975
and so we approach
the rest of the week.

04:26.999 --> 04:29.727
- ♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop her now ♪

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♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop her now ♪

04:32.999 --> 04:35.975
♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop her now ♪

04:35.999 --> 04:40.975
♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

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(Heather)
- I view my role
as an organizer.

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And I view it as...

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one of the highest kinds of
praise you can give to someone,

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because it\'s based on the belief

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that if people
come together

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and gain
confidence in themselves

04:57.334 --> 05:00.810
because they\'re able to work
with other people,

05:00.834 --> 05:03.518
that we can
build a better world.

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- If you\'re in a meeting with
Heather Booth

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and you have an idea,

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the next thing
she will say to you is,

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\"Good.

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So you\'ll take charge of
getting that done.\"

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(Joel chuckling)

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And... and the idea quickly
becomes your responsibility.

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- There\'s a lot of us who know
that if Heather\'s in a meeting,

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it\'s gonna get somewhere.

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So you\'ll say, \"Is it--
is this the meeting

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where we need to
have Heather in it?\"

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People say, \"No, no, no,
we\'re fine.

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Let\'s-- we\'re not
ready for that yet.\"

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- If you look at significant
times in the movement,

05:31.999 --> 05:34.101
Heather is there someplace.

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I mean,
it\'s like \"Zelig.\"

05:36.292 --> 05:37.918
(Jane laughing)

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- ♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

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- To be an organizer,
you have to love people

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and hate injustice.

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- ♪ Million strong
walk the line ♪

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(Heather)
- It\'s hard for me to say

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when did I start acting on
these beliefs.

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I felt that
that\'s what people do.

05:59.918 --> 06:04.059
(man)
- I think our parents
influence us a great deal.

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We were brought up in a family

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where social justice
was preeminent

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along with love

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and, uh, our parents...

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... raised us with those
values of trying to help others.

06:17.125 --> 06:20.226
- I was born in Brookhaven,
Mississippi.

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I was born there because my
father was in the Army in WWII.

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He was a physician.

06:26.167 --> 06:31.143
I really grew up in Bensonhurst,
New York, in Brooklyn.

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And we had a lot of friends

06:32.375 --> 06:34.918
and we\'re comfortable
in the community.

06:36.209 --> 06:39.975
Moving to the North Shore
of Long Island,

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I didn\'t feel I fit in.

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You know, to some extent,
I even think...

06:46.417 --> 06:48.059
feeling insecure

06:48.083 --> 06:50.975
and feeling that
I was an outsider

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is part of who I am.

06:52.999 --> 06:55.685
We may feel that
by ourselves alone,

06:55.709 --> 07:00.792
but that together we can have
a new kind of power.

07:04.292 --> 07:06.975
By the time I was
in high school, in part

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because I wasn\'t happy

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in the suburban
social setting,

07:11.999 --> 07:14.602
I made my way
to New York City

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every weekend I could

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and I hung out in
Greenwich Village.

07:19.209 --> 07:23.643
That was the place where
the beatniks were hanging out

07:23.667 --> 07:25.918
and I learned how to
play the guitar.

07:26.959 --> 07:29.476
The first organizational
social change work

07:29.500 --> 07:33.310
I was involved in
was against the death penalty.

07:33.334 --> 07:38.476
And I remember handing out my
first flyers in Times Square,

07:38.500 --> 07:40.268
and how
frightened I was.

07:40.292 --> 07:41.268
It was a simple task.

07:41.292 --> 07:43.852
I was just
handing out flyers.

07:43.876 --> 07:46.393
But I didn\'t even know
how to do that.

07:46.417 --> 07:47.643
I dropped them.

07:47.667 --> 07:49.643
I didn\'t give
one to a person.

07:49.667 --> 07:52.143
I\'d... get confused.

07:52.167 --> 07:53.918
And I realized...

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... that we need to
give people confidence

07:56.834 --> 07:58.975
to even take simple steps
like that.

07:58.999 --> 08:01.810
You need to train people,
you need to support them,

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you need to encourage them.

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You don\'t
send people out alone.

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And those really are elements of
learning about organizing.

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♪♪

08:21.083 --> 08:23.292
(keyboard clacking)

08:26.999 --> 08:28.935
When I graduated
from high school,

08:28.959 --> 08:31.810
I went to Israel with
a friend of mine

08:31.834 --> 08:35.602
and I spent the summer on, uh,

08:35.626 --> 08:39.751
kibbutz in Lahav
in the northern Negev.

08:40.459 --> 08:45.018
And I loved the remaking
of a new land.

08:45.042 --> 08:46.976
We did agricultural work.

08:47.000 --> 08:49.018
We traveled around
the country.

08:49.042 --> 08:53.709
In those days, it was
a much more open country.

08:56.709 --> 08:59.975
When we went to
the Holocaust Museum,

08:59.999 --> 09:00.975
Yad Vashem,

09:00.999 --> 09:05.852
seeing the memorial
to the Warsaw Ghetto

09:05.876 --> 09:07.310
had a profound
effect on me.

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(woman singing in
foreign language)

09:15.584 --> 09:17.976
Because this was a place
where people stood up

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and they fought back.

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This feeling of
better to go down standing up

09:27.292 --> 09:29.125
than living on your knees.

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- She taught me not only was it
all right to be different,

09:33.834 --> 09:35.975
it was important
to be different,

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and to stand up for what
you believe in.

09:38.918 --> 09:41.852
The kibbutz was
right on the Jordan border.

09:41.876 --> 09:43.727
We would wake up at 4:00
in the morning

09:43.751 --> 09:44.351
and pick peaches,

09:44.375 --> 09:45.975
and early in the morning,
Heather said,

09:45.999 --> 09:47.310
\"We have to find a radio.\"

09:47.334 --> 09:48.976
And I said, \"Why do we
have to find a radio?\"

09:49.000 --> 09:50.975
She said, \"It\'s
the March on Washington.\"

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(man)
- I am happy to
join with you today

09:55.667 --> 09:59.584
in what will go down
in history...

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... as the greatest
demonstration for freedom

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in the history of our nation.

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- And I remember sitting on
the steps of this house

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listening to
the March on Washington

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with Heather.

10:13.209 --> 10:14.975
♪♪

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(Heather)
- I came back to be part of

10:17.751 --> 10:19.852
the Civil Rights Movement.

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But I needed to
be in my country

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as the Civil Rights Movement
was developing.

10:25.125 --> 10:27.226
I went to
the University of Chicago.

10:27.250 --> 10:32.059
Almost immediately, I felt
my world was opening up.

10:32.083 --> 10:34.226
I could say
the things I believed

10:34.250 --> 10:37.768
and be embraced by friends
and faculty,

10:37.792 --> 10:41.975
whereas for having
similar views in high school,

10:41.999 --> 10:43.667
it was much harder.

10:44.375 --> 10:46.975
Well, today is July 16th.

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Last night, I went to the movie
about Fannie Lou Hamer,

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the great moral icon of
the Civil Rights Movement.

10:55.999 --> 10:58.268
Extraordinary human being,

10:58.292 --> 11:00.435
had a major
impact on my life.

11:00.459 --> 11:03.435
And it was being shown
in a black church

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with many of the great leaders
of the Civil Rights Movement.

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(keyboard clacking)

11:15.584 --> 11:18.185
In 1964,

11:18.209 --> 11:21.059
I went south to
Mississippi

11:21.083 --> 11:22.894
for the Freedom Summer Project.

11:22.918 --> 11:25.727
I learned so many things
from Mississippi

11:25.751 --> 11:27.059
and from Freedom Summer.

11:27.083 --> 11:30.975
It\'s the Summer Project
that gained notoriety

11:30.999 --> 11:32.310
because three young men,

11:32.334 --> 11:35.226
Andrew Goodman,
Michael Schwerner

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and James Chaney,

11:36.999 --> 11:40.602
were all picked up
by the sheriff

11:40.626 --> 11:44.476
when they were
investigating a church bombing,

11:44.500 --> 11:45.643
and were held and then--

11:45.667 --> 11:48.143
after nightfall,
which we knew was dangerous

11:48.167 --> 11:49.101
for the volunteers--

11:49.125 --> 11:51.935
were released into
the hands of the Klan.

11:51.959 --> 11:54.143
While they were looking
for the bodies

11:54.167 --> 11:55.975
of the three young men,

11:55.999 --> 11:59.602
they found bodies
of eight other black men

11:59.626 --> 12:03.876
whose hands were bound or feet
were chopped off.

12:05.209 --> 12:09.500
And I\'m told those murders
had never been reported.

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And it just shows
the level of terror

12:11.999 --> 12:14.375
that people lived in
in Mississippi.

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And I was one of
a number of northern students

12:19.334 --> 12:22.810
that went down to do both
voter registration

12:22.834 --> 12:25.375
and Freedom School training.

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(man)
- SNCC workers start
preparing the young

12:28.999 --> 12:29.975
and naïve volunteers

12:29.999 --> 12:32.999
for the dangers that
lie ahead in Mississippi.

12:33.751 --> 12:36.101
Instructions to volunteers:

12:36.125 --> 12:39.018
If you\'re caught from behind,
go limp.

12:39.042 --> 12:40.852
Cover your head, your groin,

12:40.876 --> 12:43.018
roll up in a knot
and hit the ground.

12:43.042 --> 12:45.476
Head as close to your knees
as possible.

12:45.500 --> 12:47.975
Legs together,
because a leg sticking out

12:47.999 --> 12:50.918
can be broken with
one quick stomp.

12:51.500 --> 12:55.059
- My parents were upset
that Heather

12:55.083 --> 12:57.975
was risking her life
and taking these chances

12:57.999 --> 13:00.975
and they were concerned
about her.

13:00.999 --> 13:03.602
They both felt

13:03.626 --> 13:05.975
this is a great thing to do,
we\'re proud of you,

13:05.999 --> 13:08.975
we want you to do this,
but we\'re really scared.

13:08.999 --> 13:12.042
(keyboard clacking)

13:15.792 --> 13:16.975
- \"Dear Steve:

13:16.999 --> 13:19.435
\"As you know, I was supposed to
work as a teacher

13:19.459 --> 13:20.852
\"in the Delta in Mississippi,

13:20.876 --> 13:23.518
\"establishing a curriculum
for the Freedom School,

13:23.542 --> 13:27.101
\"yet the police cars, the dogs
parading up and down the street,

13:27.125 --> 13:29.685
\"the jeers were also part of
this picture.

13:29.709 --> 13:33.852
\"And when the lights were turned
off, the fear slowly came on me.

13:33.876 --> 13:35.975
\"Every shadow seemed
to be a foe,

13:35.999 --> 13:40.810
\"and I thought distinctly
that two Klansmen were there,

13:40.834 --> 13:42.250
right by the bed.\"

13:43.709 --> 13:46.584
In Mississippi,
I was in three towns.

13:46.999 --> 13:48.852
The first was
Ruleville,

13:48.876 --> 13:49.975
with Mrs. Hamer.

13:49.999 --> 13:52.143
- Back on
Congressional D Street...

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(Heather)
- She acted and spoke
with such honesty,

13:55.500 --> 13:59.894
but also knew that you
need to stand up and fight back

13:59.918 --> 14:00.976
and organize with others.

14:01.000 --> 14:01.976
(Fannie)
- ... leave people hungry.

14:02.000 --> 14:04.435
(Heather)
- When she was at
the Democratic Convention,

14:04.459 --> 14:06.975
when the Mississippi
Freedom Delegation

14:06.999 --> 14:08.101
was offered two seats,

14:08.125 --> 14:11.310
she said,
\"We won\'t take two seats...

14:11.334 --> 14:12.268
because we\'re all tired.\"

14:12.292 --> 14:16.518
(man on radio)- The voter registration phase
of the Mississippi Project

14:16.542 --> 14:19.018
consisted of
a house-to-house canvas

14:19.042 --> 14:22.310
to try to encourage people
to go to the courthouse

14:22.334 --> 14:24.000
and register to vote.

14:25.125 --> 14:26.894
(Heather)
- And then we went to Shaw,

14:26.918 --> 14:28.810
where I spent most
of the summer.

14:28.834 --> 14:30.143
Shaw is a little town.

14:30.167 --> 14:33.810
I stayed with
Andrew and Mary Lou Hawkins

14:33.834 --> 14:35.185
and their kids.

14:35.209 --> 14:36.975
And there was
no paved roads,

14:36.999 --> 14:38.975
there was no street lights,

14:38.999 --> 14:40.852
there was
no sewer system,

14:40.876 --> 14:43.143
and yet the white part of town,
we were told,

14:43.167 --> 14:45.185
had all those accommodations.

14:45.209 --> 14:49.059
After the summer,
the Hawkins family

14:49.083 --> 14:51.935
challenged the city of Shaw

14:51.959 --> 14:53.602
with a few
other families,

14:53.626 --> 14:57.351
that the accommodations for
the white part of town

14:57.375 --> 15:00.894
couldn\'t be different than
that in the black part of town.

15:00.918 --> 15:02.643
You had to have equal
accommodations.

15:02.667 --> 15:05.975
And the Supreme Court
finally made a decision

15:05.999 --> 15:08.518
that that\'s how the law
would stand,

15:08.542 --> 15:12.101
in a decision that many
say is as great as the--

15:12.125 --> 15:14.459
as Brown vs. Board of Education.

15:15.876 --> 15:18.852
Because they
filed that suit,

15:18.876 --> 15:21.975
their house was firebombed
twice,

15:21.999 --> 15:23.560
and in one of
the firebombings,

15:23.584 --> 15:26.685
their son and two grandchildren
were killed.

15:26.709 --> 15:28.435
Later, Mrs. Hawkins,

15:28.459 --> 15:32.768
in a conflict with
a policeman in the town,

15:32.792 --> 15:33.975
he shot her to death.

15:33.999 --> 15:36.810
Now, my understanding is
that the people who firebombed

15:36.834 --> 15:40.976
the house were never apprehended
and there was no trial.

15:41.000 --> 15:45.042
And the policeman
was tried and exonerated.

15:45.918 --> 15:48.975
Mississippi Summer had
a profound effect on me

15:48.999 --> 15:51.518
and I think on everyone
who was part of it.

15:51.542 --> 15:52.975
We saw the value

15:52.999 --> 15:55.975
of working for a goal that was
much larger than ourselves.

15:55.999 --> 15:58.975
We saw how you
really could create change,

15:58.999 --> 15:59.975
change people\'s lives,

15:59.999 --> 16:02.975
change the reality
by taking action,

16:02.999 --> 16:05.975
because we felt there
were some laws that were unjust

16:05.999 --> 16:07.918
and needed to be
confronted.

16:08.292 --> 16:10.143
(keyboard clacking)

16:10.167 --> 16:12.351
♪ Papa don\'t
lay that shit on me ♪

16:12.375 --> 16:14.975
♪ Well it just don\'t
compensate ♪

16:14.999 --> 16:17.185
♪ No Papa don\'t
lay that shit on me ♪

16:17.209 --> 16:19.935
♪ Well I can\'t
accommodate ♪

16:19.959 --> 16:21.476
♪ Well you
bring me down ♪

16:21.500 --> 16:22.602
♪ It makes you cool ♪

16:22.626 --> 16:23.768
♪ You think
I like it? ♪

16:23.792 --> 16:25.959
♪ You\'re a goddamn fool ♪♪

16:29.959 --> 16:34.226
(Heather)
- In 1965, my teacher told me
that there was

16:34.250 --> 16:36.518
a National Conference
of Students

16:36.542 --> 16:38.351
for a Democratic society

16:38.375 --> 16:41.018
that was going to
have its...

16:41.042 --> 16:45.334
discussion on
the \"woman\" question.

16:45.792 --> 16:49.393
One of the fiery
guy organizers,

16:49.417 --> 16:51.059
while I\'m speaking,

16:51.083 --> 16:53.542
says to me,
\"Ahh, shut up.\"

16:55.209 --> 16:57.852
I felt this is no way
to treat anyone,

16:57.876 --> 17:01.143
and I didn\'t think it
was the way to treat me.

17:01.167 --> 17:02.810
So when I was done speaking,

17:02.834 --> 17:06.185
I walked around and tapped
every woman in the group,

17:06.209 --> 17:07.975
about 50% of the group or more,

17:07.999 --> 17:11.975
on the shoulder, and said,
\"Let\'s go upstairs.\"

17:11.999 --> 17:12.727
And we each left,

17:12.751 --> 17:15.226
we went upstairs,
left the organization,

17:15.250 --> 17:17.976
and we commit to go back
to our towns,

17:18.000 --> 17:19.185
wherever we came from,

17:19.209 --> 17:21.852
and start
consciousness-raising groups.

17:21.876 --> 17:23.975
I started many of these groups.

17:23.999 --> 17:26.226
And then connected with
Jo Freeman.

17:26.250 --> 17:27.393
- We met at my apartment.

17:27.417 --> 17:29.975
And we called it
the West Side Group.

17:29.999 --> 17:33.059
I suggested that we should have
a newsletter.

17:33.083 --> 17:36.975
It became the voice of the
Women\'s Liberation Movement.

17:36.999 --> 17:37.976
I kept telling everyone,

17:38.000 --> 17:40.101
bring me names to put on
the mailing list.

17:40.125 --> 17:42.351
Heather brought me
more names than anyone else.

17:42.375 --> 17:45.143
I think she brought me more
names than all the rest of

17:45.167 --> 17:47.143
everyone else put together,

17:47.167 --> 17:49.768
but that\'s because she\'s
a natural organizer.

17:49.792 --> 17:51.185
You know, it\'s in
her head to organize.

17:51.209 --> 17:53.643
I think she could organize
in her sleep.

17:53.667 --> 17:54.975
♪♪

17:54.999 --> 17:56.894
(Heather)
- It\'s July 21st

17:56.918 --> 18:00.417
and it\'s again been an
incredibly intense day.

18:00.626 --> 18:03.393
There\'s so many organizations
have their own issues.

18:03.417 --> 18:06.975
Planned Parenthood
is under attack right now.

18:06.999 --> 18:07.976
There\'s a chipping away,

18:08.000 --> 18:10.476
state by state,
rule by rule.

18:10.500 --> 18:12.250
We need to stand by them.

18:13.959 --> 18:15.999
(keyboard clacking)

18:21.125 --> 18:23.018
I didn\'t know,
as you probably do,

18:23.042 --> 18:25.976
that one in three women of
reproductive age

18:26.000 --> 18:29.602
will have an abortion at
some point in their life.

18:29.626 --> 18:30.268
One in three.

18:30.292 --> 18:32.018
So you go,
one, two, three.

18:32.042 --> 18:33.226
You say, \"Oh...\"

18:33.250 --> 18:34.975
One, two...

18:34.999 --> 18:38.226
In 1965,
a friend told me

18:38.250 --> 18:40.975
his sister was pregnant

18:40.999 --> 18:42.518
and was
beside herself,

18:42.542 --> 18:44.935
she wasn\'t ready
to have a child,

18:44.959 --> 18:46.975
and she wanted an abortion.

18:46.999 --> 18:50.226
- There were some
middle-class women in the city

18:50.250 --> 18:52.101
who were very desperate

18:52.125 --> 18:53.602
and...

18:53.626 --> 18:56.226
it\'s hard for me to say it,
but basically,

18:56.250 --> 18:57.975
they were going--
they were getting access

18:57.999 --> 18:59.643
to abortions through the mob.

18:59.667 --> 19:03.059
I decided that I wanted to do
something and--

19:03.083 --> 19:06.476
and my job was
to try and assure these women

19:06.500 --> 19:08.976
that everything was
going to be okay,

19:09.000 --> 19:14.852
but also that they
were going to be blindfolded,

19:14.876 --> 19:15.975
put in a limo.

19:15.999 --> 19:17.768
In a nice way,
I basically had to say,

19:17.792 --> 19:20.435
\"I really don\'t know where
you\'re going.\"

19:20.459 --> 19:22.975
- I had never thought
about the issue of abortion.

19:22.999 --> 19:26.059
Now, this was--
again, it\'s 1965,

19:26.083 --> 19:29.143
and I\'ve never had to face
the issue myself.

19:29.167 --> 19:30.810
I made my way through

19:30.834 --> 19:32.476
the Medical Committee
for Human Rights,

19:32.500 --> 19:35.602
the medical arm of
the Civil Rights Movement,

19:35.626 --> 19:38.975
and asked was there
anyone they knew

19:38.999 --> 19:40.935
who might
perform an abortion?

19:40.959 --> 19:44.975
I was directed to a doctor,
Dr. T.R.M. Howard.

19:44.999 --> 19:46.101
He was so extraordinary.

19:46.125 --> 19:50.810
He was a black leader of
the Civil Rights Movement

19:50.834 --> 19:51.810
in Mississippi

19:51.834 --> 19:54.310
who came to Chicago
when his name appeared

19:54.334 --> 19:55.852
on a Klan death list,

19:55.876 --> 19:58.602
and he started a women\'s clinic
in Chicago

19:58.626 --> 20:02.059
on 63rd Street
called Friendship Clinic.

20:02.083 --> 20:03.975
I contacted him
by phone.

20:03.999 --> 20:05.143
We actually never met,

20:05.167 --> 20:06.975
so already,
something\'s remarkable,

20:06.999 --> 20:09.810
that he would trust a white
woman on the phone

20:09.834 --> 20:10.975
talking about abortion

20:10.999 --> 20:14.685
at a time
when it was a felony.

20:14.709 --> 20:15.518
Word spread

20:15.542 --> 20:18.059
and a few months later,
someone else called.

20:18.083 --> 20:20.101
And then someone else called.

20:20.125 --> 20:24.018
And I realized,
this is a real problem

20:24.042 --> 20:25.975
and we need to do something
about it

20:25.999 --> 20:27.602
and need more of a system.

20:27.626 --> 20:29.643
It\'s part of
the organizer in me.

20:29.667 --> 20:32.393
And because I was living
in a dormitory then,

20:32.417 --> 20:33.810
we called it Jane.

20:33.834 --> 20:36.268
People could call up
and ask for Jane.

20:36.292 --> 20:39.975
- Then things radically changed
because I got pregnant.

20:39.999 --> 20:41.310
This was in 1970.

20:41.334 --> 20:44.727
I wasn\'t making a lot of money
then and I wasn\'t--

20:44.751 --> 20:45.643
it just wasn\'t the right time.

20:45.667 --> 20:50.602
So I said, \"Well, I\'m gonna
go and use Jane.\"

20:50.626 --> 20:51.518
I had no fears

20:51.542 --> 20:53.975
that I would have
a botched abortion

20:53.999 --> 20:56.810
or that I would not be treated
with respect,

20:56.834 --> 20:59.894
and so I basically found out

20:59.918 --> 21:01.975
there was
a telephone number to call.

21:01.999 --> 21:04.393
I remember when I walked into
the house

21:04.417 --> 21:07.268
that it was just
a very, you know, comfortable

21:07.292 --> 21:11.351
and, you know, homey place,
that I felt so at ease.

21:11.375 --> 21:12.935
I mean, it was a little...

21:12.959 --> 21:16.602
Wow, this doesn\'t
really feel frightening.

21:16.626 --> 21:17.975
♪♪

21:17.999 --> 21:20.768
(Heather)
- I could no longer handle
the volume,

21:20.792 --> 21:21.393
which was increasing,

21:21.417 --> 21:23.975
of people coming through
on the counseling service,

21:23.999 --> 21:28.975
and I also wanted to be involved
in additional things,

21:28.999 --> 21:31.143
so I started to
go around to meetings

21:31.167 --> 21:32.975
that I just went to normally

21:32.999 --> 21:34.852
and at the end of
the meeting, would say,

21:34.876 --> 21:38.310
\"Those people who would like
to become involved in

21:38.334 --> 21:40.975
\"a counseling service,

21:40.999 --> 21:43.226
\"an abortion
counseling service,

21:43.250 --> 21:45.310
they should see me after
the meeting.\"

21:45.334 --> 21:49.018
More hands were
needed for the procedures.

21:49.042 --> 21:50.268
The women in Jane

21:50.292 --> 21:52.185
were assisting the person
who was performing

21:52.209 --> 21:56.626
the procedure so much that
they could learn how to do it.

22:04.999 --> 22:08.185
Because it wasn\'t legal, people
were being very careful.

22:08.209 --> 22:10.975
Now, this was
with a women\'s culture

22:10.999 --> 22:13.602
and Women\'s Movement
support for it.

22:13.626 --> 22:17.351
In my view, we should never
go back to those days.

22:17.375 --> 22:19.768
By the time Roe v. Wade came,

22:19.792 --> 22:24.975
the women of Jane themselves
performed 11,000 abortions.

22:24.999 --> 22:27.292
♪♪

22:27.500 --> 22:30.018
- ♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop her now ♪

22:30.042 --> 22:35.143
♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

22:35.167 --> 22:36.643
(keyboard clacking)

22:36.667 --> 22:39.975
♪ Stand as
one million strong ♪

22:39.999 --> 22:42.417
♪ Walk the line ♪♪

22:43.751 --> 22:46.268
(man)
- On May 11, 1966,

22:46.292 --> 22:48.226
we had a demonstration,

22:48.250 --> 22:49.351
but it rained,

22:49.375 --> 22:51.101
so we went inside the
administration building,

22:51.125 --> 22:54.975
which is where we were having
the demonstration in front of

22:54.999 --> 22:55.975
and we stayed for three days.

22:55.999 --> 23:00.292
(Heather)
- And we had the first sit-in
against the war in Vietnam.

23:03.626 --> 23:05.709
(keyboard clacking)

23:07.500 --> 23:12.375
(man)
- I had heard that she was
somebody I should get to know.

23:13.459 --> 23:17.018
She was a leader of the campus,
friends of SNCC,

23:17.042 --> 23:19.584
the Civil Rights
support organization.

23:20.292 --> 23:21.975
I was, at the time,
the national secretary of

23:21.999 --> 23:24.852
Students for a Democratic
Society, which was--

23:24.876 --> 23:25.810
whose national headquarters

23:25.834 --> 23:28.310
was located in Chicago,
near the campus.

23:28.334 --> 23:30.975
And I spy
Heather Tobis, and I--

23:30.999 --> 23:33.268
this is what you say
when you go to a sit-in,

23:33.292 --> 23:36.975
if you want to meet somebody,
you say, \"Could I sit here?\"

23:36.999 --> 23:38.643
And she said yes.

23:38.667 --> 23:41.435
And then...
it became a sit-in.

23:41.459 --> 23:43.975
It lasted several days
and nights.

23:43.999 --> 23:45.935
And we got to
know each other very well,

23:45.959 --> 23:46.685
and by the end of the week,

23:46.709 --> 23:49.975
I was ready to propose marriage
and I did.

23:49.999 --> 23:53.059
And that\'s--
that\'s the whole story there.

23:53.083 --> 23:55.935
And then, of course, I moved in
to her apartment

23:55.959 --> 23:56.935
very quickly thereafter

23:56.959 --> 23:58.935
just to make sure that
nothing fell through

23:58.959 --> 24:02.894
and that former boyfriends
had to go out the backdoor.

24:02.918 --> 24:03.351
♪♪

24:03.375 --> 24:06.476
- ♪ Who\'s the woman
with the light in her eyes? ♪

24:06.500 --> 24:07.727
(Paul)
- We were married

24:07.751 --> 24:12.626
and that\'s 47,
48 years ago.

24:12.792 --> 24:13.975
(Heather)
- It gets better and better

24:13.999 --> 24:19.000
and we work at our marriage in
the same way as our organizing.

24:20.209 --> 24:23.518
- ♪ Who\'s that woman with
the heart for justice? ♪

24:23.542 --> 24:27.250
♪ Who\'s the woman
with the light in her eyes? ♪♪

24:28.918 --> 24:30.975
(Heather)
- I had two little kids.

24:30.999 --> 24:35.435
One child was born in \'68
and one in \'69.

24:35.459 --> 24:36.602
(woman)
- She had a plan.

24:36.626 --> 24:38.975
And she knew what she wanted to
do with her life

24:38.999 --> 24:39.975
and she wanted to have a family

24:39.999 --> 24:42.976
and she wanted to
be an activist

24:43.000 --> 24:46.975
and work for--
for what was right.

24:46.999 --> 24:48.476
- And she\'s so smart about it,

24:48.500 --> 24:51.999
but she\'s so intentional,
you know, she\'s so...

24:52.500 --> 24:56.727
Everything she says, there\'s
really a deliberation to it.

24:56.751 --> 24:58.852
- The first time
I met Heather,

24:58.876 --> 25:01.393
I was a young housewife,

25:01.417 --> 25:03.393
three children,
living in the suburbs,

25:03.417 --> 25:06.852
and had been recruited by
a friend to go to

25:06.876 --> 25:08.643
a grape boycott picket line.

25:08.667 --> 25:11.560
All of my friends had been
organizing in the \'60s

25:11.584 --> 25:14.894
and when I-- while I was
having babies, so this was--

25:14.918 --> 25:15.685
this was all new to me.

25:15.709 --> 25:16.976
Anyway, I go to
this picket line

25:17.000 --> 25:20.310
and here\'s this woman
walking around the picket line,

25:20.334 --> 25:22.143
pushing a stroller
with one hand,

25:22.167 --> 25:24.226
holding a baby in the other.

25:24.250 --> 25:26.476
Now, if she can do that
with two kids

25:26.500 --> 25:28.975
and they\'re younger
than mine, I could do it.

25:28.999 --> 25:30.727
- It\'s exhausting.

25:30.751 --> 25:32.560
It\'s 24/7.

25:32.584 --> 25:35.975
And because you\'re
driven by passion

25:35.999 --> 25:38.602
and for
wanting to do it, it\'s--

25:38.626 --> 25:42.268
it\'s often very difficult to
balance relationships.

25:42.292 --> 25:44.143
- My husband
was also an organizer,

25:44.167 --> 25:47.685
the assistant to the president
at AFSCME,

25:47.709 --> 25:50.476
one of the largest
public employee unions.

25:50.500 --> 25:52.101
(Paul)
- 42 years so far with

25:52.125 --> 25:55.059
the American Federation of
State, County

25:55.083 --> 25:56.643
and Municipal Employees,

25:56.667 --> 25:59.975
so it\'s a very
grounded career,

25:59.999 --> 26:01.727
just the opposite of hers.

26:01.751 --> 26:03.643
- I mean, everybody else
postponed marriage

26:03.667 --> 26:05.975
and everything \'til
we were 40 or something,

26:05.999 --> 26:09.059
and she was doing all of this
with small children.

26:09.083 --> 26:11.435
- You\'re married.

26:11.459 --> 26:16.975
Two activists...
with similar, uh, ideas,

26:16.999 --> 26:19.226
but, um...

26:19.250 --> 26:19.975
from time to time,

26:19.999 --> 26:23.143
you have to
struggle with some things,

26:23.167 --> 26:24.894
you\'re raising children

26:24.918 --> 26:27.185
and they must
come first.

26:27.209 --> 26:28.727
It ain\'t easy.

26:28.751 --> 26:29.810
♪♪

26:29.834 --> 26:31.667
(keyboard clacking)

26:34.167 --> 26:36.976
(Heather)
- There was no city-funded
childcare.

26:37.000 --> 26:39.518
Women were
returning to the workforce,

26:39.542 --> 26:41.852
and there was no real place

26:41.876 --> 26:44.143
that we could get
loving care for our kids

26:44.167 --> 26:45.476
that we felt was safe

26:45.500 --> 26:49.643
and protected
while we were at work.

26:49.667 --> 26:50.602
We organized a group called

26:50.626 --> 26:54.918
the Action Committee for
Decent Childcare, ACDC.

26:55.667 --> 26:58.351
- Childcare costs you,
for one child,

26:58.375 --> 26:59.852
at least 40 or $50 a week.

26:59.876 --> 27:03.393
- Lady, childcare cannot
do what a parent can do.

27:03.417 --> 27:04.268
I don\'t care what you say.

27:04.292 --> 27:08.975
- And we had about 30 women
and their children

27:08.999 --> 27:12.975
who agreed
to go downtown

27:12.999 --> 27:13.976
and press our demands,

27:14.000 --> 27:16.143
that there should be
funding for childcare,

27:16.167 --> 27:17.975
a million dollars for childcare.

27:17.999 --> 27:21.185
What we demanded was that there
should be a study

27:21.209 --> 27:23.059
about with women
returning to work,

27:23.083 --> 27:27.975
what were the, uh, needs
for childcare

27:27.999 --> 27:31.727
and what were the current
sources of childcare?

27:31.751 --> 27:33.768
(keyboard clacking)

27:33.792 --> 27:35.959
♪♪

27:38.292 --> 27:39.935
We got a meeting planned for.

27:39.959 --> 27:43.268
We get there and the woman
we were supposed to meet with,

27:43.292 --> 27:45.975
the bureaucrat,
was not there.

27:45.999 --> 27:47.768
So we decide to wait.

27:47.792 --> 27:51.518
You\'re waiting with women
and their little kids

27:51.542 --> 27:55.018
and one of them needs
a diaper change, the kids.

27:55.042 --> 27:56.101
So we do a diaper change,

27:56.125 --> 27:57.975
and we\'re
a little embarrassed,

27:57.999 --> 27:59.894
what will we do with
the diapers?

27:59.918 --> 28:04.018
And then we realize,
they\'ve given us the poop.

28:04.042 --> 28:05.894
Let\'s give it back to them.

28:05.918 --> 28:08.226
Some of the kids start
going through the files.

28:08.250 --> 28:10.435
First we say, \"Don\'t do that,
don\'t do that.

28:10.459 --> 28:11.476
This isn\'t our office.\"

28:11.500 --> 28:13.143
And then we realized,
go through the files,

28:13.167 --> 28:16.101
we\'re looking for the study
and we find the study.

28:16.125 --> 28:17.975
At that point,
we call the press,

28:17.999 --> 28:21.975
the news come in and as the
press reporters come in,

28:21.999 --> 28:24.393
the woman who we were supposed
to meet with shows up--

28:24.417 --> 28:26.685
\"Oh, I didn\'t
realize you were here.

28:26.709 --> 28:28.143
\"I\'m so glad you\'re here.

28:28.167 --> 28:29.351
\"Oh, you wanted
a study?

28:29.375 --> 28:31.975
\"Oh, gee,
we\'ll have to look into that.

28:31.999 --> 28:32.975
Oh, you found the study?\"

28:32.999 --> 28:36.226
And then agree to hold hearings
around the city

28:36.250 --> 28:37.268
and we made childcare,

28:37.292 --> 28:39.268
with others organizing
on this issue,

28:39.292 --> 28:41.975
the second-leading issue
in the governor\'s race,

28:41.999 --> 28:44.602
and within about eight months
of our starting,

28:44.626 --> 28:47.727
we won a review of
childcare licensing laws

28:47.751 --> 28:50.602
and we won a million dollars in
city funding for childcare

28:50.626 --> 28:53.667
at a time when a million dollars
was real money.

28:54.125 --> 28:55.768
(woman on megaphone)
- Voters in!

28:55.792 --> 28:56.435
(crowd)
- Voters in!

28:56.459 --> 28:57.935
(woman on megaphone)
- Money out!

28:57.959 --> 28:58.602
(crowd)
- Money out!

28:58.626 --> 29:03.226
(woman)
- The threshold belief of
organizers is

29:03.250 --> 29:05.435
that it is grassroots,

29:05.459 --> 29:10.018
ordinary people putting pressure
on their members--

29:10.042 --> 29:13.351
elected officials
at all levels, really--

29:13.375 --> 29:17.975
that is the key ingredient
for changing policy.

29:17.999 --> 29:21.975
That without that,
it really doesn\'t happen.

29:21.999 --> 29:23.351
- Dr. King said

29:23.375 --> 29:25.975
the arc of history
is long

29:25.999 --> 29:28.185
but it leans toward justice,

29:28.209 --> 29:30.226
and you have to
have that in mind,

29:30.250 --> 29:34.810
because you may not win
on every issue,

29:34.834 --> 29:36.894
but if you have
connected the dots,

29:36.918 --> 29:41.810
you have to see it in relation
to the larger picture.

29:41.834 --> 29:44.143
- Democracy,
as Thomas Jefferson said,

29:44.167 --> 29:48.602
is a process that has to be
constantly gone back to

29:48.626 --> 29:51.975
and renewed and renewed,
every generation.

29:51.999 --> 29:53.975
Whenever there is progress,

29:53.999 --> 29:59.393
there will always be
powerful special interests...

29:59.417 --> 30:02.685
who don\'t really want
that progress...

30:02.709 --> 30:08.310
because it constrains their
ability to exert their power,

30:08.334 --> 30:10.975
usually moneyed power,

30:10.999 --> 30:15.351
and so if we\'re not active,
they\'re gonna be active.

30:15.375 --> 30:17.667
(keyboard clacking)

30:19.918 --> 30:21.975
- There\'s tons of
people who I\'m sure,

30:21.999 --> 30:24.975
whether they know it or not,
hate Heather Booth.

30:24.999 --> 30:26.975
- \"Glenn Beck Program.\"

30:26.999 --> 30:29.059
Met a lot of interesting people
the other day.

30:29.083 --> 30:31.351
One of them was
a polite, soft-spoken woman

30:31.375 --> 30:34.226
who introduced herself
as Heather Booth.

30:34.250 --> 30:36.226
She seems like
a nice enough lady.

30:36.250 --> 30:37.643
(man)
- She does?

30:37.667 --> 30:38.476
- She does.

30:38.500 --> 30:39.727
But she\'s actually very
important, isn\'t she?

30:39.751 --> 30:41.975
(man)
- She\'s a true believer,
Kool-Aid drinker.

30:41.999 --> 30:42.894
- Yes, okay.

30:42.918 --> 30:44.727
Saul Alinsky,
he was the big--

30:44.751 --> 30:45.435
the big guy who said,

30:45.459 --> 30:48.018
hey, community organizing
and-- and really

30:48.042 --> 30:50.975
revolutionary
to take us where?

30:50.999 --> 30:54.518
(man)
- To take us, in an effort to
make America

30:54.542 --> 30:55.975
into a socialist country.

30:55.999 --> 30:59.059
(Heather)
- I went through
the training center

30:59.083 --> 31:00.185
and I learned a great deal

31:00.209 --> 31:02.975
from going through
the Alinsky training.

31:02.999 --> 31:07.852
I learned ways to systematize
organizing,

31:07.876 --> 31:10.643
as well as learned of
some of their techniques.

31:10.667 --> 31:12.976
When I went through
the training,

31:13.000 --> 31:15.975
perhaps as a way for them to...

31:15.999 --> 31:19.727
challenge the women
in the training,

31:19.751 --> 31:23.268
they had said such things as
women couldn\'t be organizers.

31:23.292 --> 31:26.810
- It was a very male crowd,

31:26.834 --> 31:29.975
uh, and with a lot of
testosterone.

31:29.999 --> 31:32.560
When Heather
went to that school,

31:32.584 --> 31:35.059
it was almost all fellas
in the room

31:35.083 --> 31:38.935
and the style of
the main teachers, uh,

31:38.959 --> 31:43.310
was-- was very much
a guy thing.

31:43.334 --> 31:44.518
- I thought I was an organizer

31:44.542 --> 31:47.602
and wanted to become
a talented organizer.

31:47.626 --> 31:48.852
I raised my hand and said,

31:48.876 --> 31:54.602
\"Uh, how would I go about
becoming one of his trainees?\"

31:54.626 --> 31:55.975
And he just looked at me
and said,

31:55.999 --> 31:58.268
\"Women don\'t make
good organizers.\"

31:58.292 --> 32:00.792
- I took the challenge
seriously.

32:01.999 --> 32:06.268
And so with money
I won from a back pay suit

32:06.292 --> 32:08.975
where I\'d been organizing
on the job,

32:08.999 --> 32:12.727
I set up a training center
called Midwest Academy,

32:12.751 --> 32:16.810
and our first class
were women organizers.

32:16.834 --> 32:18.999
♪♪

32:19.751 --> 32:21.751
(keyboard clacking)

32:27.209 --> 32:29.602
- For more than 35 years,
community organizers

32:29.626 --> 32:31.975
and other activists
from around the country

32:31.999 --> 32:34.185
have come to Chicago to
learn their trade.

32:34.209 --> 32:37.975
They go to a school
called the Midwest Academy.

32:37.999 --> 32:40.976
(Heather)
- By 1973,

32:41.000 --> 32:46.268
I decided that we would create
our own training center,

32:46.292 --> 32:47.143
Midwest Academy.

32:47.167 --> 32:50.975
- And I said, \"It\'ll never work,
you can\'t teach organizing.\"

32:50.999 --> 32:52.935
And she said, \"Well,
why don\'t you come out here

32:52.959 --> 32:53.852
and see what we\'re doing?\"

32:53.876 --> 32:57.685
So I did and discovered
that it did work,

32:57.709 --> 32:58.975
much to my surprise.

32:58.999 --> 33:00.268
But we don\'t
want to put all those

33:00.292 --> 33:04.101
health insurance company workers
out of-- out of their jobs.

33:04.125 --> 33:06.143
(woman)
- The mission of
the Midwest Academy

33:06.167 --> 33:09.975
is to help create and build
infrastructure

33:09.999 --> 33:11.226
for the progressive movement.

33:11.250 --> 33:14.560
- You need formal training, you
need to serve an apprenticeship,

33:14.584 --> 33:15.185
you need experience.

33:15.209 --> 33:19.894
(Heather)
- We train people in several
aspects of political organizing.

33:19.918 --> 33:21.975
Campaign managers,
field directors,

33:21.999 --> 33:25.810
research directors,
communications directors,

33:25.834 --> 33:28.975
and then field organizers
overall

33:28.999 --> 33:29.975
and people who do data.

33:29.999 --> 33:32.518
- We\'re about helping people to
win real improvements

33:32.542 --> 33:34.643
in their lives,
real concrete improvements,

33:34.667 --> 33:38.393
to-- to help people to get
a sense of their own power.

33:38.417 --> 33:40.226
Intentionally don\'t say
\"empower\" people

33:40.250 --> 33:41.975
because it sounds
like we have it to give.

33:41.999 --> 33:44.393
How do we help them get a sense
of their own power

33:44.417 --> 33:47.975
and third, to begin to
change the relations of power?

33:47.999 --> 33:51.351
- In addition to the specific
training on skills

33:51.375 --> 33:53.101
and techniques, we would add,

33:53.125 --> 33:54.975
how to think
strategically,

33:54.999 --> 33:58.810
how to figure out what to do
when you don\'t know what to do.

33:58.834 --> 34:02.768
- Oftentimes, in these
moments of-- of reaction

34:02.792 --> 34:05.768
to criminalization or
deportation

34:05.792 --> 34:07.894
or infringement
of voting rights

34:07.918 --> 34:09.393
or economic subjugation,

34:09.417 --> 34:12.018
our first instinct
is to react.

34:12.042 --> 34:16.143
But Heather has
a way of saying, \"Wait a minute.

34:16.167 --> 34:18.975
\"What do we actually
want to accomplish?

34:18.999 --> 34:19.685
What\'s the strategy?\"

34:19.709 --> 34:24.975
- The Midwest Academy has
a strategy chart that is a--

34:24.999 --> 34:26.351
that kind of maps

34:26.375 --> 34:28.975
the development
of a campaign,

34:28.999 --> 34:29.975
from this question,

34:29.999 --> 34:31.727
and does self-interest
analysis,

34:31.751 --> 34:33.435
the various players and how--

34:33.459 --> 34:35.643
how they can be
engaged into action.

34:35.667 --> 34:37.500
♪♪

34:40.584 --> 34:42.727
(Heather)
- And I never thought
I was a good writer.

34:42.751 --> 34:44.975
So I probably
didn\'t write a lot.

34:44.999 --> 34:47.209
And so a chart was
just easier.

34:48.125 --> 34:49.975
So what is a strategy?

34:49.999 --> 34:50.975
The way I look at
a strategy,

34:50.999 --> 34:54.999
is a strategy of
figuring out where you are now.

34:57.083 --> 34:58.959
Where we are.

35:00.083 --> 35:02.999
Looking at where
we want to go.

35:06.999 --> 35:08.351
The strategy...

35:08.375 --> 35:12.292
is the map or plan on
how you get there.

35:12.999 --> 35:13.975
- I love the strategy chart.

35:13.999 --> 35:15.393
- The great thing about
the strategy chart

35:15.417 --> 35:17.518
is that it organizes
everything for you

35:17.542 --> 35:18.975
and you just
need to fill it out,

35:18.999 --> 35:21.976
and it\'s sort of like
a road map, right?

35:22.000 --> 35:24.518
And you just have
the guidance right there.

35:24.542 --> 35:27.975
So starting with, what are
your goals?

35:27.999 --> 35:29.852
Uh, so what
are you trying to win?

35:29.876 --> 35:31.918
What are you fighting for?

35:32.250 --> 35:35.018
(woman)
- To be a good strategist,
you have to understand

35:35.042 --> 35:37.143
what it takes to win,

35:37.167 --> 35:39.476
and equally important,
what is a win?

35:39.500 --> 35:41.351
You have to
define what the win is.

35:41.375 --> 35:43.975
And that all the components

35:43.999 --> 35:48.435
that come into play in order
to take your issue from

35:48.459 --> 35:51.518
one place in
the spectrum of discussion

35:51.542 --> 35:53.685
to whatever is defined
as your victory.

35:53.709 --> 35:56.268
- It\'s like
the periodic table of elements.

35:56.292 --> 35:56.975
Right?

35:56.999 --> 35:58.935
I mean, it\'s a chart,
but it\'s the concept

35:58.959 --> 35:59.975
behind it that\'s important.

35:59.999 --> 36:03.560
And-- and before Heather
thought of the strategy chart,

36:03.584 --> 36:06.351
we didn\'t have a way to
teach strategy.

36:06.375 --> 36:07.975
- But it\'s not
a theoretical thing.

36:07.999 --> 36:10.560
It\'s like teaching the practices
and principles

36:10.584 --> 36:13.976
and then making sure
people then go out and do it.

36:14.000 --> 36:16.334
(keyboard clacking)

36:22.417 --> 36:24.976
(Heather)
- We were organizing on
environmental issues.

36:25.000 --> 36:26.059
This was when
Chicago had amongst

36:26.083 --> 36:28.435
the highest pollution of any
major city in the country.

36:28.459 --> 36:32.602
I got involved in it \'cause
I had one child who had asthma.

36:32.626 --> 36:34.975
I wasn\'t involved as an
\"environmentalist,\"

36:34.999 --> 36:37.810
I was involved as a mother.

36:37.834 --> 36:38.975
Self-interest.

36:38.999 --> 36:39.975
We tie it
to people.

36:39.999 --> 36:41.975
If you have recruited me as an
environmentalist,

36:41.999 --> 36:42.852
I\'d be on the phone saying,

36:42.876 --> 36:45.101
\"I\'m washing the dishes,
I\'m off to another meeting,

36:45.125 --> 36:47.268
I don\'t have time,
but I wish you luck.\"

36:47.292 --> 36:50.143
And they\'d say,
\"You\'re apathetic.\"

36:50.167 --> 36:52.518
You talk to me on the phone
and you say,

36:52.542 --> 36:55.059
\"Your son, Dan,
he can breathe better.\"

36:55.083 --> 36:57.768
Then I say, \"When do
I get there?\"

36:57.792 --> 37:00.975
The issue that
really clicked was in \'78

37:00.999 --> 37:03.393
around the energy crisis.

37:03.417 --> 37:04.852
And so we formed a group
called

37:04.876 --> 37:06.518
the Citizen Labor
Energy Coalition.

37:06.542 --> 37:09.143
- Energy was a very important
issue at the time.

37:09.167 --> 37:11.975
Prices were going up
after the Arab oil embargo.

37:11.999 --> 37:15.351
Oil and gas companies were
pushing for deregulation.

37:15.375 --> 37:18.351
Utility companies
were pretty much on their own

37:18.375 --> 37:19.351
with very little regulation

37:19.375 --> 37:21.975
so that they could shut people
off if they were behind

37:21.999 --> 37:25.226
on their high cost of
energy during the winter.

37:25.250 --> 37:27.768
Heather had begun to
look at the--

37:27.792 --> 37:30.810
really, the nexus
between local organizing

37:30.834 --> 37:33.643
and the importance of
the labor movement,

37:33.667 --> 37:37.268
and how do you put all
those together to make change?

37:37.292 --> 37:41.560
- In the 1960s, there was really
a division caused

37:41.584 --> 37:43.768
mostly by cultural factors

37:43.792 --> 37:45.768
between people who oppose
the Vietnam War

37:45.792 --> 37:48.975
and promoted
Civil Rights, on the one hand,

37:48.999 --> 37:50.518
and you remember
the hard hats

37:50.542 --> 37:54.143
that were always opposed to
those Vietnam War protesters,

37:54.167 --> 37:57.226
even though they shared absolute
self-interest.

37:57.250 --> 38:00.268
That changed when
Heather organized together

38:00.292 --> 38:00.975
with a machinist union

38:00.999 --> 38:04.268
to do battle with the big oil
and big gas companies.

38:04.292 --> 38:08.852
- And eventually, we had state
coalitions in over 25 states.

38:08.876 --> 38:12.643
We also started
a very interesting program of

38:12.667 --> 38:13.268
door-to-door canvassing,

38:13.292 --> 38:17.059
which was the first time
that canvassing was used

38:17.083 --> 38:19.351
to mobilize
people around issues

38:19.375 --> 38:21.518
and raise money for
organizing.

38:21.542 --> 38:23.185
(keyboard clacking)

38:23.209 --> 38:25.000
♪♪

38:29.500 --> 38:30.476
(crickets chirping)

38:30.500 --> 38:31.310
(dog barking in the distance)

38:31.334 --> 38:33.976
We went into places where
people weren\'t typically

38:34.000 --> 38:35.685
organized or reached,

38:35.709 --> 38:37.935
and you also happen to
raise money.

38:37.959 --> 38:40.975
And at one point,
Citizen Labor Energy Coalition

38:40.999 --> 38:41.643
as a group,

38:41.667 --> 38:44.268
probably raised about $3 million
a year from canvassing.

38:44.292 --> 38:46.435
- We know from
the record that you--

38:46.459 --> 38:49.975
regular voters and you voted
in the past,

38:49.999 --> 38:50.727
and we wanted to make sure

38:50.751 --> 38:52.268
that you\'ll be voting
this election day.

38:52.292 --> 38:53.975
- Absolutely.
- You know, just on Tuesday.

38:53.999 --> 38:55.894
- Suddenly, here\'s all
these folks

38:55.918 --> 38:57.810
knocking on everybody\'s doors,

38:57.834 --> 38:59.975
you know, you can
go right to the block

38:59.999 --> 39:01.185
that the legislator lives on

39:01.209 --> 39:02.975
and suddenly you\'re
being canvassed.

39:02.999 --> 39:05.976
That helps put an
incredible amount of pressure

39:06.000 --> 39:07.768
on the elected
official.

39:07.792 --> 39:09.918
(keyboard clacking)

39:19.999 --> 39:20.518
- Oh yeah.

39:20.542 --> 39:22.310
I see the European parliament
is doing--

39:22.334 --> 39:23.476
- Ahh-ahh-ahh-ahh!

39:23.500 --> 39:26.393
I don\'t do
politics.

39:26.417 --> 39:27.918
- Hmm.

39:28.626 --> 39:30.768
- Surely, they\'re not
digging it up again.

39:30.792 --> 39:31.018
- Uh-uh.

39:31.042 --> 39:33.999
You don\'t do politics,
remember?

39:34.584 --> 39:36.518
- £3.50!?
- Now then.

39:36.542 --> 39:38.518
- For crying out loud...

39:38.542 --> 39:38.975
- No!

39:38.999 --> 39:41.935
(woman)
- Politics affects almost
everything,

39:41.959 --> 39:43.560
so if you don\'t do politics,

39:43.584 --> 39:45.393
there\'s not
much you do do.

39:45.417 --> 39:48.268
- Coming out of
the Alinsky model,

39:48.292 --> 39:49.852
you don\'t do electoral, okay?

39:49.876 --> 39:50.727
You don\'t do
electoral work,

39:50.751 --> 39:53.351
you organize and it
doesn\'t matter who\'s in office,

39:53.375 --> 39:56.018
we organize enough power to make
them do what we want.

39:56.042 --> 39:58.894
Well, if they
don\'t feel it\'s a threat

39:58.918 --> 40:00.685
that their political life--

40:00.709 --> 40:05.975
you know, their political
position is in jeopardy,

40:05.999 --> 40:08.059
it\'s real hard
to-- to move them.

40:08.083 --> 40:11.685
- That I will faithfully execute
the office of president

40:11.709 --> 40:12.727
of the United States.

40:12.751 --> 40:14.975
- That I will faithfully
execute the office of

40:14.999 --> 40:16.393
president of the United States.

40:16.417 --> 40:19.975
(Jeff)
- After the devastating
Regan election,

40:19.999 --> 40:23.727
and it\'s not only bad
enough that Reagan is elected,

40:23.751 --> 40:28.185
but the Republicans just wipe
out many Democrats,

40:28.209 --> 40:30.976
including
many very progressive Democrats

40:31.000 --> 40:32.143
in the House and Senate.

40:32.167 --> 40:35.518
So we\'re having our annual
citizen action meeting

40:35.542 --> 40:36.975
after the election--

40:36.999 --> 40:38.894
it\'s December,
I think--

40:38.918 --> 40:43.435
and Heather gets up and says,

40:43.459 --> 40:46.018
\"Look, we\'ve been
lobbying,

40:46.042 --> 40:50.975
\"we\'ve been holding
demonstrations on issues.

40:50.999 --> 40:56.435
\"How do we think that we can
exert our maximum power

40:56.459 --> 41:00.975
\"if a politician
who\'s our friend runs

41:00.999 --> 41:04.560
and we\'re not there
for him or her?\"

41:04.584 --> 41:09.643
(Heather)
- I had been less interested
in elections \'til 1980,

41:09.667 --> 41:11.268
but what I realized,
as a friend of mine,

41:11.292 --> 41:14.810
Alice Palmer, said,
after Reagan was elected,

41:14.834 --> 41:18.727
\"If you don\'t do politics,
politics does you.\"

41:18.751 --> 41:21.226
- And so people who think
they\'re going to sit

41:21.250 --> 41:23.975
on the sidelines
are sadly mistaken

41:23.999 --> 41:28.059
because something political
will come and get you.

41:28.083 --> 41:29.476
- If you\'re someone that--

41:29.500 --> 41:30.975
You look fit,
you run outside.

41:30.999 --> 41:33.894
What about those days when
you\'re warned to stay inside

41:33.918 --> 41:35.975
because you can\'t breathe
the air?

41:35.999 --> 41:36.975
You\'re a young woman.

41:36.999 --> 41:39.435
Are you always gonna have
control over your body

41:39.459 --> 41:41.975
and make decisions
about family planning

41:41.999 --> 41:43.975
for yourself and your family?

41:43.999 --> 41:45.810
I make those
kinds of decisions,

41:45.834 --> 41:48.975
so I\'m in your life,
I\'m in your home...

41:48.999 --> 41:51.310
I\'m in your bedroom,
unfortunately,

41:51.334 --> 41:54.310
because the Congress
and decision-makers are.

41:54.334 --> 41:57.643
So politics-- Alice Palmer
was right.

41:57.667 --> 42:00.975
Heather knows
that every day of her life

42:00.999 --> 42:02.643
that we need to be engaged

42:02.667 --> 42:07.143
because it is about us
in the most intimate ways.

42:07.167 --> 42:08.226
(keyboard clacking)

42:08.250 --> 42:10.310
- ♪ Chicago, Chicago ♪

42:10.334 --> 42:11.393
♪ Toe to toe ♪

42:11.417 --> 42:15.542
(voices distorting)
♪ Chicago, Chicago... ♪♪

42:15.959 --> 42:20.143
(man)
- The machine that ran Chicago
doesn\'t work anymore,

42:20.167 --> 42:22.018
yet Jane Byrne
and Richie Daly

42:22.042 --> 42:23.975
are still fighting over it.

42:23.999 --> 42:26.393
Harold Washington has
a different plan.

42:26.417 --> 42:28.185
- But while they
fight over that machine,

42:28.209 --> 42:29.975
I shall fight for Chicago

42:29.999 --> 42:32.643
by getting jobs
and money

42:32.667 --> 42:34.727
from the state
and federal government.

42:34.751 --> 42:36.268
(man)
- Harold Washington.

42:36.292 --> 42:37.852
- We can all win.

42:37.876 --> 42:39.935
- By the mid-\'80s,

42:39.959 --> 42:43.975
the Mayor Washington movement
in Chicago swept me up.

42:43.999 --> 42:45.975
- First time met Heather,

42:45.999 --> 42:48.685
Harold Washington campaign,
1983.

42:48.709 --> 42:51.476
She was organizing
for the campaign and she was

42:51.500 --> 42:54.476
at one of the highest levels
of the campaign.

42:54.500 --> 42:58.518
- The political environment
that gave rise to

42:58.542 --> 43:01.518
Harold Washington
was extremely important.

43:01.542 --> 43:03.626
♪♪

43:08.709 --> 43:11.143
There was a-- a murder,
actually,

43:11.167 --> 43:12.976
led by the state\'s attorney.

43:13.000 --> 43:18.018
It woke up the sleeping giant
that was the black community,

43:18.042 --> 43:21.435
with that killing of two guys
in their sleep,

43:21.459 --> 43:25.143
the state\'s attorney
leads the charge and kills them

43:25.167 --> 43:25.976
in their homes.

43:26.000 --> 43:29.476
It\'s very reminiscent of
what\'s going on now

43:29.500 --> 43:32.976
with all of
the killings of black men,

43:33.000 --> 43:36.018
especially by white
police officers.

43:36.042 --> 43:36.975
As a result of that,

43:36.999 --> 43:40.393
there was this kind of awakening
in the black community

43:40.417 --> 43:44.000
that political
power was important.

43:45.292 --> 43:47.975
- So he was our guy,
he was our ally, and we\'re like,

43:47.999 --> 43:49.476
\"Yeah, we gotta support
Harold.\"

43:49.500 --> 43:52.018
(Luis)
- We made history electing
Harold Washington.

43:52.042 --> 43:56.975
It was an
exciting momentous occasion.

43:56.999 --> 43:58.894
♪♪

43:58.918 --> 44:00.852
- It was because I knew Heather

44:00.876 --> 44:03.852
that I reached out
to her

44:03.876 --> 44:05.975
and a lot of other
organizers to come

44:05.999 --> 44:08.268
and help me with
the Harold Washington campaign,

44:08.292 --> 44:12.018
and a lot of the strategy,
grassroots,

44:12.042 --> 44:13.852
unorthodox efforts,

44:13.876 --> 44:15.975
took place
at my kitchen table.

44:15.999 --> 44:16.727
- Everybody\'s got a base

44:16.751 --> 44:19.393
but you have to grow
that base in order to win

44:19.417 --> 44:23.999
and to be able to take on what
seems to be impossible odds.

44:25.375 --> 44:31.975
- He was a great leader of
all of Chicago,

44:31.999 --> 44:35.894
and welcomed all
of Chicago into City Hall,

44:35.918 --> 44:38.059
which he called
the people\'s house

44:38.083 --> 44:40.685
and built multiracial alliances

44:40.709 --> 44:42.999
that could just
make your heart sing.

44:44.876 --> 44:47.643
- So she used her skills
and training

44:47.667 --> 44:52.143
to train
political neophytes like me,

44:52.167 --> 44:53.268
who did have a commitment

44:53.292 --> 44:58.643
to social justice on
a broad level, right?

44:58.667 --> 45:02.935
Um, but hadn\'t done
door-knocking,

45:02.959 --> 45:04.643
getting people to vote,

45:04.667 --> 45:07.185
organizing people
for an election.

45:07.209 --> 45:09.976
She taught us that,
in the end,

45:10.000 --> 45:12.975
if you truly
believed in your candidate

45:12.999 --> 45:14.226
and in the cause,

45:14.250 --> 45:17.560
when you spoke to people,
if they liked you,

45:17.584 --> 45:21.459
they would vote for
your candidate on election day.

45:23.417 --> 45:27.975
(Heather)
- This is the diary
for July 27th.

45:27.999 --> 45:31.143
I was on a 10:00 a.m. call

45:31.167 --> 45:32.975
with the Voter Participation
Center.

45:32.999 --> 45:37.643
They work on voting for
the rising American electorate:

45:37.667 --> 45:38.268
unmarried women,

45:38.292 --> 45:41.209
African-Americans, Latinos
and youth.

45:43.999 --> 45:46.042
(keyboard clacking)

45:55.876 --> 45:59.351
- Two million new voters
brought to the polls.

45:59.375 --> 46:03.975
Voter turnout in Texas up 50%.

46:03.999 --> 46:07.810
Voter turnout in Florida
up 60%.

46:07.834 --> 46:13.894
Black voter turnout
in Missouri up 134%.

46:13.918 --> 46:15.975
And they were voting for
a dead man,

46:15.999 --> 46:17.560
and the dead man won.

46:17.584 --> 46:19.935
(Heather)
- In 2000, Julian Bond,

46:19.959 --> 46:21.768
who I knew from
the Civil Rights Movement,

46:21.792 --> 46:26.852
he asked me to run the advocacy
arm of the NAACP,

46:26.876 --> 46:29.351
called the NAACP
National Voter Fund.

46:29.375 --> 46:32.435
- When we talk about the numbers
of minorities

46:32.459 --> 46:34.143
that have been
locked out of this process,

46:34.167 --> 46:36.476
it really does become
a Civil Rights issue.

46:36.500 --> 46:39.393
- Whether it\'s the Koch brothers
and the oil companies

46:39.417 --> 46:41.560
trying to, uh...

46:41.584 --> 46:43.727
undermine environmental
regulation

46:43.751 --> 46:46.226
and then
undermine who can vote.

46:46.250 --> 46:48.435
Those in unaccountable power

46:48.459 --> 46:51.727
want to hold on to their
unaccountable power,

46:51.751 --> 46:54.935
and so need to
push others back...

46:54.959 --> 46:56.935
and voting is at the center
of it.

46:56.959 --> 46:58.935
- Why is it that some people

46:58.959 --> 47:01.894
are so determined to
keep black people

47:01.918 --> 47:04.101
from voting
on Election Day?

47:04.125 --> 47:05.185
You know what they do?

47:05.209 --> 47:08.310
They put armed guards
and make-believe policemen

47:08.334 --> 47:09.101
at the polls.

47:09.125 --> 47:11.852
They told voters they can\'t cast
their votes

47:11.876 --> 47:14.185
if they\'ve ever been
arrested for anything.

47:14.209 --> 47:16.310
They told voters that if you
miss the election on

47:16.334 --> 47:18.935
November 2nd,
don\'t worry about it,

47:18.959 --> 47:20.852
you can come back on
November 3rd

47:20.876 --> 47:22.059
and cast your vote.

47:22.083 --> 47:23.310
But I\'ll tell
you why it is.

47:23.334 --> 47:27.918
Because they know when we vote,
things change.

47:29.999 --> 47:33.643
(Greg)
- The NAACP National Voter Fund
is working very hard

47:33.667 --> 47:35.435
to build this program as well.

47:35.459 --> 47:37.975
We\'re conducing massive
voter registration.

47:37.999 --> 47:43.560
In 2000, the NAACP\'s creation
of the NAACP National Voter Fund

47:43.584 --> 47:45.643
allowed it to begin for
the first time

47:45.667 --> 47:50.018
developing a mechanism
that would maximize

47:50.042 --> 47:52.810
African-American voter turnout.

47:52.834 --> 47:54.143
Heather was
the first director

47:54.167 --> 47:56.310
of the NAACP National
Voter Fund,

47:56.334 --> 47:59.435
along with Julian Bond
and Kweisi Mfume,

47:59.459 --> 48:01.975
Peter Cohn
and Bill Brackett.

48:01.999 --> 48:03.310
It was in 22 states,

48:03.334 --> 48:05.226
over 100 congressional
districts,

48:05.250 --> 48:08.975
and she was the leader of
that whole mass of operation.

48:08.999 --> 48:11.643
NAACP had never seen anything
like it before.

48:11.667 --> 48:12.393
So from that moment,

48:12.417 --> 48:14.393
I realized,
we did a great job.

48:14.417 --> 48:19.975
But we did not do a good
enough job on preparing

48:19.999 --> 48:22.143
our election system

48:22.167 --> 48:25.268
for a turnout of voters
of that magnitude,

48:25.292 --> 48:29.185
and this played itself out
most dramatically in Florida.

48:29.209 --> 48:29.976
Most people don\'t know this,

48:30.000 --> 48:32.935
but the biggest problem with
those dangling chads

48:32.959 --> 48:35.560
was because there
were so many people voting,

48:35.584 --> 48:37.643
it wasn\'t able to
record the vote.

48:37.667 --> 48:41.393
There was 68,000
mostly African-American votes

48:41.417 --> 48:42.435
that were never counted

48:42.459 --> 48:45.310
because the dent
on the voting card

48:45.334 --> 48:47.602
wasn\'t deep enough
for it to count.

48:47.626 --> 48:49.185
(keyboard clacking)

48:49.209 --> 48:51.167
♪♪

48:53.500 --> 48:55.542
(cheers and applause)

48:57.999 --> 48:59.727
- I thank the NAACP

48:59.751 --> 49:03.185
for having the courage
and the willingness

49:03.209 --> 49:06.226
to help to
initiate the Voter Fund.

49:06.250 --> 49:11.018
I thank the board for the legacy
of what we were able to do

49:11.042 --> 49:13.310
and I applaud
the work of Greg Moore

49:13.334 --> 49:14.476
and the wonderful staff

49:14.500 --> 49:15.975
for how he
will carry this on

49:15.999 --> 49:19.685
and create the elections that
can\'t be stolen in the future

49:19.709 --> 49:22.975
when the turnout is increased
as it is.

49:22.999 --> 49:25.292
(cheers and applause)

49:27.584 --> 49:29.626
(keyboard clacking)

49:30.999 --> 49:32.834
(bell ringing)

49:35.209 --> 49:37.975
(woman)
- And the bell has sounded,
brining to a close

49:37.999 --> 49:40.351
an extraordinary
day on Wall Street.

49:40.375 --> 49:42.310
Hi, everybody, welcome to
the closing bell.

49:42.334 --> 49:44.976
(Elizabeth)
- By the fall of 2008,

49:45.000 --> 49:46.560
the markets are crashing,

49:46.584 --> 49:50.018
the Secretary of the Treasury
and the head of the Fed

49:50.042 --> 49:51.310
are coming forward, saying,

49:51.334 --> 49:52.975
we\'ve got to pump,
literally,

49:52.999 --> 49:55.310
tens of billions
of dollars into these banks

49:55.334 --> 49:57.685
or they\'re gonna bring the whole
economy down.

49:57.709 --> 49:59.894
(woman)
- It\'s another
ugly day for stocks.

49:59.918 --> 50:02.894
Bear Stearns today leading
the tumble on Wall Street.

50:02.918 --> 50:05.975
- Some of the largest financial
institutions in this country

50:05.999 --> 50:08.935
had figured out
that they could make

50:08.959 --> 50:10.852
a bazillion dollars

50:10.876 --> 50:13.975
by selling
mortgages to families

50:13.999 --> 50:17.727
that were a lot like grenades
with the pins pulled out.

50:17.751 --> 50:19.935
Didn\'t know exactly when they
were gonna explode,

50:19.959 --> 50:23.768
but knew that
they were gonna explode,

50:23.792 --> 50:24.894
and they\'d be out of the picture

50:24.918 --> 50:26.185
by the time
the whole thing blew up

50:26.209 --> 50:28.518
and let everybody else
pick up the mess.

50:28.542 --> 50:31.643
- There were loans being peddled
aggressively

50:31.667 --> 50:33.518
in communities
of color above all.

50:33.542 --> 50:36.143
It was really just about
stealing the wealth

50:36.167 --> 50:39.975
and home equity of people
who already owned their homes.

50:39.999 --> 50:42.975
(Elizabeth)
- There were a lot of consumer
protection laws,

50:42.999 --> 50:45.226
just no agency that
would actually get out there

50:45.250 --> 50:45.975
and enforce them.

50:45.999 --> 50:50.727
- The Republicans just hated
anything that had to do with

50:50.751 --> 50:52.727
a consumer protection.

50:52.751 --> 50:55.602
They didn\'t want to do
any of the bill...

50:55.626 --> 50:59.226
but they
particularly detested--

50:59.250 --> 50:59.975
I had to use that word--

50:59.999 --> 51:04.185
anything that had to do
with government, uh,

51:04.209 --> 51:07.727
standing up
to protect consumers.

51:07.751 --> 51:09.435
- Big banks will hate this.

51:09.459 --> 51:10.768
It will
cost them money

51:10.792 --> 51:13.975
and there is no way on God\'s
green earth

51:13.999 --> 51:16.185
they will
permit this to happen.

51:16.209 --> 51:17.185
It will not happen.

51:17.209 --> 51:18.976
So they
said to me...

51:19.000 --> 51:21.059
\"Elizabeth, if you really want
to push for this

51:21.083 --> 51:24.727
consumer agency,
you gotta get organized.\"

51:24.751 --> 51:27.602
And I said, \"Great.

51:27.626 --> 51:27.976
How?\"

51:28.000 --> 51:30.975
They said, \"I\'ve got
two words for you:

51:30.999 --> 51:31.518
Heather Booth.\"

51:31.542 --> 51:34.975
- And you are really up against
some very powerful interest

51:34.999 --> 51:35.810
in Washington, Heather.

51:35.834 --> 51:37.975
What makes you think
you stand a chance

51:37.999 --> 51:40.476
up against those
kind of forces.

51:40.500 --> 51:43.894
- Well, first of all, it\'s
a David-and-Goliath fight.

51:43.918 --> 51:47.935
We should remember
that sometimes, David wins.

51:47.959 --> 51:48.560
We\'ve got trade unions,

51:48.584 --> 51:50.810
Civil Rights organizations,
religious organizations,

51:50.834 --> 51:53.852
investors and we broadly
would like to see the values of

51:53.876 --> 51:56.852
decency, democracy,
accountability,

51:56.876 --> 52:00.975
transparency and fairness
in the financial system.

52:00.999 --> 52:02.894
That system
should work for us,

52:02.918 --> 52:03.975
for the American public.

52:03.999 --> 52:05.143
And people are
starting to organize.

52:05.167 --> 52:09.975
We saw it clearly in Chicago,
we see it in last few weeks,

52:09.999 --> 52:12.810
maybe 150 demonstrations
around the country.

52:12.834 --> 52:15.975
- Lots of
different groups who said

52:15.999 --> 52:17.975
we\'ll pitch in something
on this.

52:17.999 --> 52:21.226
We care about
what\'s happening to families,

52:21.250 --> 52:23.226
we care about financial reform.

52:23.250 --> 52:26.476
The big financial institutions,
boy, they got organized

52:26.500 --> 52:28.268
in like a nanosecond.

52:28.292 --> 52:32.602
They were spending literally
more than a million dollars

52:32.626 --> 52:36.894
a day to lobby against
the financial reforms

52:36.918 --> 52:40.101
and principally
the consumer agency.

52:40.125 --> 52:43.143
Heather got our groups together

52:43.167 --> 52:45.226
and just kept
growing the number of groups,

52:45.250 --> 52:47.268
kept showing them what
was possible.

52:47.292 --> 52:52.310
- Heather is
the consummate building of--

52:52.334 --> 52:54.226
builder of coalitions.

52:54.250 --> 52:55.810
And her ability

52:55.834 --> 52:59.768
to talk to
every kind of person

52:59.792 --> 53:01.476
and every kind of constituency,

53:01.500 --> 53:06.518
bringing together a unstoppable
progressive coalition.

53:06.542 --> 53:07.560
(Heather)
- I\'m Heather Booth,

53:07.584 --> 53:10.268
the executive director of
Americans for Financial Reform.

53:10.292 --> 53:13.476
We\'re a coalition of over
200 national and state groups

53:13.500 --> 53:17.226
ranging from financial experts
and community groups,

53:17.250 --> 53:17.935
businesses...

53:17.959 --> 53:20.727
(Paul)
- There is a film,
it\'s called \"The Big Short.\"

53:20.751 --> 53:21.852
It got a lot of Oscars.

53:21.876 --> 53:22.975
But what it
doesn\'t tell

53:22.999 --> 53:25.101
and actually it
doesn\'t do justice to

53:25.125 --> 53:29.667
is the significance of the
reforms that were enacted.

53:30.167 --> 53:32.685
Now, Mrs. Booth
likes a big challenge

53:32.709 --> 53:37.975
and this certainly matched up
to her preferences.

53:37.999 --> 53:39.975
It was a very big challenge.

53:39.999 --> 53:43.975
- And still, the far right wing
and the Wall Street crowd

53:43.999 --> 53:45.975
are still coming
after these reforms

53:45.999 --> 53:46.602
day after day

53:46.626 --> 53:50.000
and it\'s just a deposit on what
we really need to do.

53:50.626 --> 53:54.310
(Elizabeth)
- Because of Americans for
Financial Reform and the work

53:54.334 --> 53:55.976
that Heather was doing,

53:56.000 --> 53:59.810
we were able to get
that little agency

53:59.834 --> 54:01.018
passed into law.

54:01.042 --> 54:03.602
It has already forced

54:03.626 --> 54:05.975
the biggest financial
institutions

54:05.999 --> 54:07.226
in this country

54:07.250 --> 54:12.185
to return more than
$5 billion

54:12.209 --> 54:16.518
directly to consumers
that they cheated,

54:16.542 --> 54:20.975
and it has
fired a warning shot

54:20.999 --> 54:22.435
across the bow

54:22.459 --> 54:26.476
of every big financial
institution out there

54:26.500 --> 54:28.143
that issues mortgages

54:28.167 --> 54:31.810
and credit cards
and payday loans and said,

54:31.834 --> 54:35.226
clean up your act...
or you\'re next.

54:35.250 --> 54:38.643
That\'s government
that works for the people.

54:38.667 --> 54:39.560
♪♪

54:39.584 --> 54:41.834
(keyboard clacking)

54:56.999 --> 54:59.042
(keyboard clacking)

55:06.667 --> 55:08.310
- ... and they said that
I could come and...

55:08.334 --> 55:10.518
(Cristina)
- I see her
as one of my mentors.

55:10.542 --> 55:15.101
I reached out to her when I feel
fear about the organizing work

55:15.125 --> 55:17.351
that I am doing,
when I have questions,

55:17.375 --> 55:19.976
when I have doubts about
the strategy,

55:20.000 --> 55:22.083
and she\'s always there.

55:24.876 --> 55:26.310
(Austin)
- She has a plan

55:26.334 --> 55:29.310
and a process that she\'s been
able to help us

55:29.334 --> 55:32.059
think about as
young activists and organizers,

55:32.083 --> 55:36.459
to make our vision real
in the world.

55:36.959 --> 55:39.768
(Fred)
- I\'m blessed that
I can make a living,

55:39.792 --> 55:40.975
provide for myself and my family

55:40.999 --> 55:43.476
by doing work I love
as an organizer, right,

55:43.500 --> 55:45.894
and I think there\'s
a generation of us

55:45.918 --> 55:48.292
who are lucky enough
to be able to do that.

55:49.542 --> 55:51.667
(Heather)
- It\'s September 26th.

55:52.334 --> 55:56.584
And today, I\'d say a theme
is hope springs eternal.

55:58.584 --> 55:59.018
Meanwhile, I\'m--

55:59.042 --> 56:04.643
still got problems with my knee,
my ankle, my hand.

56:04.667 --> 56:06.935
Yeah, there are
signs of aging.

56:06.959 --> 56:09.351
But it
is a good life.

56:09.375 --> 56:10.999
It is a good life.

56:11.000 --> 56:14.935
- It\'s the act and pursuit
of justice...

56:14.959 --> 56:18.476
not necessarily
the justice itself

56:18.500 --> 56:20.852
that gives us purpose,

56:20.876 --> 56:24.018
and so the pushing of
the rock up the hill,

56:24.042 --> 56:26.268
the struggles
that we engage in,

56:26.292 --> 56:30.125
this long march towards
a more just society.

56:31.918 --> 56:33.435
The joy comes from the pushing.

56:33.459 --> 56:35.059
The joy comes
from the struggle.

56:35.083 --> 56:39.975
It comes from the moments
where we meet together,

56:39.999 --> 56:41.476
where we sing together,

56:41.500 --> 56:44.209
where we face
difficulties together.

56:45.626 --> 56:49.685
- Will you commit yourself
and do often the boring,

56:49.709 --> 56:50.975
difficult, hard,

56:50.999 --> 56:55.310
it\'s too hot, it\'s too cold,
I\'m too tired,

56:55.334 --> 56:57.852
will you do
the work every day...

56:57.876 --> 57:03.351
and build organization
and support movements

57:03.375 --> 57:05.143
that will make change?

57:05.167 --> 57:08.334
♪♪

57:09.167 --> 57:11.125
- ♪ Ooh ♪♪

57:11.999 --> 57:13.999
♪♪

57:16.918 --> 57:20.226
(Heather)
- On November 9, 2016,

57:20.250 --> 57:21.768
we woke up to the end of a long

57:21.792 --> 57:24.459
and hostile presidential
campaign.

57:25.042 --> 57:27.751
We did not
anticipate the outcome.

57:30.584 --> 57:33.975
We need to build from love,
justice and unity

57:33.999 --> 57:35.975
and be agents of hope.

57:35.999 --> 57:38.975
The rhetoric and threatening
promises that were made

57:38.999 --> 57:41.101
caused fear and anger.

57:41.125 --> 57:43.417
We will hold
leaders to account.

57:44.334 --> 57:46.852
We will stand up.

57:46.876 --> 57:49.375
We will organize.

58:16.999 --> 58:19.751
♪♪

58:20.667 --> 58:23.518
- ♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop her now ♪

58:23.542 --> 58:26.975
♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop her now ♪

58:26.999 --> 58:29.852
♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop her now ♪

58:29.876 --> 58:35.584
♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

58:36.918 --> 58:42.417
♪ Woman at
the crossroads of time ♪

58:43.500 --> 58:49.250
♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

58:49.709 --> 58:53.393
♪ Stand as
one million strong ♪

58:53.417 --> 58:56.083
♪ Walk the line ♪

58:56.626 --> 59:00.226
♪ Stand as
one million strong ♪

59:00.250 --> 59:02.999
♪ Walk the line ♪

59:04.709 --> 59:07.975
♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop her now ♪

59:07.999 --> 59:11.999
♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop her now ♪

59:13.334 --> 59:15.542
♪ Yeah ♪

59:18.000 --> 59:23.584
♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

59:24.918 --> 59:30.417
♪ Woman at
the crossroads of time ♪

59:31.584 --> 59:37.375
♪ Woman on the front lines
of justice ♪

59:37.792 --> 59:41.476
♪ Stand as
one million strong ♪

59:41.500 --> 59:43.999
♪ Walk the line ♪

59:44.584 --> 59:48.185
♪ Stand as
one million strong ♪

59:48.209 --> 59:50.999
♪ Walk the line ♪

59:52.626 --> 59:55.975
♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop her now ♪

59:55.999 --> 01:00:00.459
♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop her now ♪

01:00:01.999 --> 01:00:03.292
♪ Yeah ♪

01:00:03.918 --> 01:00:06.768
♪ No... no ♪

01:00:06.792 --> 01:00:09.999
♪ No, no, no, no, no ♪

01:00:11.209 --> 01:00:12.975
♪ Nobody ♪

01:00:12.999 --> 01:00:13.975
♪ Somebody ♪

01:00:13.999 --> 01:00:15.876
♪ No, no ♪

01:00:16.250 --> 01:00:17.975
♪ Can stop her now ♪

01:00:17.999 --> 01:00:18.976
♪ Yeah ♪

01:00:19.000 --> 01:00:20.999
♪ Can\'t stop her ♪

01:00:22.167 --> 01:00:23.975
♪ No, no, no ♪

01:00:23.999 --> 01:00:26.727
♪ No, no, no,
no, no ♪

01:00:26.751 --> 01:00:28.876
♪ Nobody ♪

01:00:29.125 --> 01:00:31.292
♪ Can stop her now ♪

01:00:31.999 --> 01:00:33.709
♪ No ♪

01:00:37.999 --> 01:00:40.685
♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop us now ♪

01:00:40.709 --> 01:00:41.268
♪ No, no ♪

01:00:41.292 --> 01:00:44.351
♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop us now ♪

01:00:44.375 --> 01:00:47.894
♪ Ain\'t nobody gonna
stop us now ♪

01:00:47.918 --> 01:00:50.935
♪ Ain\'t nobody
gonna stop us now ♪

01:00:50.959 --> 01:00:53.000
♪ Nobody is gonna
stop us now ♪

01:00:54.459 --> 01:00:56.894
♪ No, no, no, no ♪

01:00:56.918 --> 01:00:59.834
♪ You can\'t
stop us now ♪

01:01:00.626 --> 01:01:02.918
♪ No, no, no ♪

01:01:04.459 --> 01:01:06.250
♪ You can\'t stop us ♪

01:01:07.125 --> 01:01:09.999
♪ You can\'t
stop us no, no ♪

01:01:10.459 --> 01:01:15.876
♪ No, no, no, no,
no, no, no ♪

01:01:17.125 --> 01:01:21.500
♪ Can\'t nobody stop us now ♪♪