Ask questions, says activist, for decade of truth
Gregory tackles diverse problems
By MARK MATASSA
Of the Emerald
‘‘Y’all got a big job to do."
Dick Gregory, political
activist, author and comedian,
repeated that message several
times to a standing-room-only
crowd Friday night in the EMU
Ballroom.
More than 1,000 people lis
tened to Gregory speak for two
and a half hours about govern
ment conspiracies, drugs,
universities and sexism.
"You better ask some ques
tions in the ’80s or you ain’t
going to live to see the ’90s,"
Gregory said. "Y’all got a big
job to do."
The 1980s will be a decade of
truth, he said. It will be a decade
"when tricks will get un
covered;” when “we can turn it
around.”
He repeatedly implored his
audience to ask questions.
Ask yourself about your
drugs, Gregory said.
"Those drugs and alcohol
that’s put out for you — it’s be
ing put out by some people
who’s trying to kill you. As bad
as drugs and alcohol is, it’s a
conspiracy and you don’t even
WIUW II.
He said when Japanese
police arrested Paul McCartney
for smuggling a half a pound of
marijuana into Japan, McCart
ney canceled his concert tour.
In this country, McCartney
would have done the concert
and 200,000 more people would
have shown up to watch him,
Gregory added.
And it was no coincidence
that the U S. Army developed
LSD, and that the man to make it
popular, Timothy Leary, was a
West Point graduate, he said.
Ask yourself about universi
ties, Gregory said.
“Those elite universities —
the Harvards and Yales —
wasn’t put together for niggers
and Jews and Italians and poor
folks. That's why you all look so
silly when you get out. Most of
you leave with more hangups
than you went in with.
“Tell those universities they
exist for your benefit, you don’t
exist for theirs,” he said.
He asked women how long
they would read a sexist Bible
that says a woman messed the
world up for everybody else,
and how long into the 1980s
they would sit back and let sex
Corrections &
amplifications
A headline in Friday’s
Emerald said Democrat
Larry Perry is running for
the State Senate. Actually,
he’s running for the State
House of Representa
tives.
McKenzie
Coffee Co.
World’s finest coffees
Mexican and Swiss Chocolate
Rare and Exotic Teas
Steamed Bagels
Mavflower Building
782 E. 11th_342-2071
_
m
Photo by Erich Boekelheide
Dick Gregory
ist commercials portray them as
dumb sex symbols.
'Tell those big companies if
they’re going to use you to sell
their materials, we’re going to
call for a nationwide boycott of
their product."
Ask yourself about the situa
tion in Iran and Afghanistan,
Gregory said.
The Iranian people say they
want the shah back so they can
hold a public forum exposing 25
years of crimes, but when the
Ayatollah Khomeini came into
power they killed the people
who could have given them the
best forum, he said.
“If Iran was hip, they would
have offered a $9 million reward
for the shah while he was in New
York," he said. "The cops
guarding him would have
brought him back.
“And if the shah’s so sick,
why is he in Panama? Of all the
things Panama might be known
for, good medical treatment
isn’t one of them."
Gregory said with all the sa
tellites the United States has,
Pres. Jimmy Carter should have
known Russian troops were
moving toward Afghanistan.
"We've got so many satellites
up there that they not only know
when you light your barbecue,
but the quality of your ribs," he
said. "How can they have all
that hardware and not know
four divisions are marching
toward the border?"
He questioned how the
government could seriously
offer Pakistan $400 million
spread out over two years to
"beat up the Russians” when it
gives Chrysler $1.5 billion to
make cars they can’t sell.
And he spoke about cancer,
saying the polio shots many
Americans were given in 1962
weren’t polio shots at all, but
cancer virus SV-40.
‘‘How come when women
have their breast removed it’s
always their left one and there’s
Copies
•Reductions
•Two-sided copies
•Binding
344-7894
764 E. 13th
always that vaccination mark on
their left arm? It gets that funky.”
In April, 1977, a Carter aide
responded to a Gregory inquiry
about SV-40, admitting the sub
stance causes cancer, but
claiming it was unintentional
and due to a lack of knowledge.
"Why is it that the President
has not got on TV and told
Americans they were injected
with a virus?"
Ask yourself about income
tax, Gregory said.
He listed several companies
which pay no income tax —
among them Bethlehem Steel,
r>
Tickets available at the EMU Main Desk, University of Oregon Bookstore and Everybody's Records in Eugene
and Corvallis, and The Outdoor Store (McKenzie West Shopping Center, Springfield)
$1.00 Discount to University of Oregon Students with I.D.
-gmu
Cultural Forum & FEYLINE
Western Electric and Ford, say
ing that Ford made $148 million
last year and paid no income
tax.
“One day when you white
folks discover there’s only five
white folks who are running
everything and you discover
who the real niggers are, maybe
you'll join us and get something
done.’’
Gregory said he has
documentation the FBI has
been trying to kill him for 15
years. He read several FBI in
ternal memos calling for his
“neutralization.” In one memo,
J. Edgar Hoover, former FBI
director, instructed agents to
inform Mafia heads of a Gregory
speech in which he referred to
the Mafia as the “lowest scum
on the earth.”
Gregory said he plans on su
ing the FBI for $100 million. “For
that kind of money, y'all are
going to listen.
"They say, America — love it
or leave it. I’m not going to love
it until it gets lovable, and I won’t
leave until I straighten it out.”
Gregory said young people
have the power to turn the world
around.
“The whole world stopped in
Iran, and who did it? Students,”
he said.
"If you fraternities and sorori
ties will stop all your silliness
and deal with your power,
maybe we can get something
done.
"Instead of seeing how much
beer you can drink and how
much pussy you can get or give
away, why don't you ask some
simple questions?”
But all of Gregory’s speech
wasn’t so serious. He warmed
up the audience by poking fun
at Carter.
"Why can’t my President have
the energy level of the Pope?
"I couldn’t believe it when
Jimmy Carter said he was going
to run in a 10,000 meter race,”
he said. “I figured it out though.
"He’s the most powerful man
in the world — he controls the
FBI, the CIA, all those chemical
companies - I figured they’ll
give him some injection so he
can set a world record in
defense of peace.
"Then anytime Russia moves
into Afghanistan, Carter could
challenge them to a 10,000
meter race. The most powerful
man in the world could hold the
world record in the 10,000.
“But instead he runs two
blocks and croaks. I wouldn't
have been surprised if Jamaica
had attacked us that night.”