All language subtitles for Ninth.Floor.2015.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

[♪♪♪]

Downloaded from
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[footsteps click]

[chair wheels draw closer]

We're dealing
with the kind of racism

that we usually break down
in two categories.

One kind of racism
is manifested

in what we call
"individualized racism."

The other kind

is what we call
"institutionalized racism,"

and we're dealing
with both kinds now.

They have not really
had to confront

this kind of issue before,
face-to-face,

because of the small
black population in Canada.

[reporter]: In your opinion,
do you believe

there is some racism
in this university?

Well, there is racial
discrimination in this city.

There is racial discrimination
on this continent,

and I would be very much
surprised

if the university was made up
of a group of angels,

whereas we know full well
that our society is not.

If there is
racial discrimination

in this university,

I will make up my mind
on this

when I hear the evidence
under due process

to this effect.

[yelling, cheering]

We want justice!
We want justice!

[narrator]:
February, 1969.

For two weeks,

hundreds of students
barricaded themselves

in the university's
computer centre.

They were protesting
the alleged racism

of a university professor.

What started out
as a peaceful protest

turned into ugly violence

when the occupants allegedly
set the building on fire

and destroyed the computers
with axes.

97 protestors faced
a variety of criminal charges.

Many of those charged
were from the Caribbean.

The Sir George Williams
incident

had a greater effect
on Canadians

than the surface details
would suggest.

The computer centre riot

has gained
an almost mythical stature

as a turning point
for race relations in Canada.

The Sir George event
is a story,

a story of a whole bunch
of circumstances

that came together.

None of the individuals
really mattered.

The individuals
were all part of a mosaic,

and they represented a story

that is embedded
in the entire larger community.

[bees buzzing]

[Bukka Rennie]: I think,
basically, what happened with me

is that, um, I was frustrated
at the time

in around '65, '66
in Trinidad and Tobago.

I wanted something else.

I wanted to explore
other possibilities,

and the idea came that, look,

I would have
to get out of Trinidad.

[dog whines]

When I began applying
to Canadian universities,

Sir George Williams
did something that was really...

that really caught me.

They were asking me things
like what kind of music I like,

whether I'm an introvert,

and I felt that this here
was a situation

where these people
began to make me feel

that I could belong here.

[♪♪♪]

♪ Hey, friend, say, friend
Come on over ♪

♪ Looking for happiness

♪ This is the place

When I came to Canada,

I did not view myself
as an immigrant.

I thought of myself

as moving from one part
of the British Empire

to the other.

I came to Canada
with little race consciousness

because Barbados
was a small island,

never changed hands,
always British,

with
a very homogenous population,

so when I think about it now,
it was a little bit amusing,

and didn't at all prepare me
for what I was to find.

[announcer]:
Montreal.

To the whole world,
Canada says, "Come to the fair."

Expo '67,

the greatest trade exhibition
in history, is open.

Here's the whole world
in colourful miniature.

All the pavilions
have exciting differences,

but over them all,
there's exciting oneness,

a common denominator
that is human and welcoming.

[Cools]: It was a great promise
of diversity.

And remember,
this is all new language.

When I was growing up,
the term would've been

the universal brotherhood
of men.

The people who are coming here
with an open mind

will have a chance
to measure themselves

at a dimension
that is far greater

than that dimension

they are normally
measuring themselves to.

We have here 70 countries,

who will be here
with a different colour skin,

a different language,
a different tradition,

a different architecture,
a different way of life,

a different political system.

The promises
can never, ever match up

to the reality of existence,

and for those people
who might've conflated Expo '67

with the Canadian experience,

well...

that would've been
an error of judgement.

[Rennie]: My immediate horror

was trying
to get a place to rent.

I remember,
on a couple occasions,

using the newspaper
and calling places,

and tell me come
and see the place,

and when I go,
the first thing they tell me,

"Oh, this is a sorority house.

We're so sorry
we didn't tell you that."

You know?

I had a number of experiences
of that,

and I realized to myself,

I said,
"Hmm, you know something?

It would seem to me as though
Canadians are racist,

but that they like to apologize
for being racist."

[laughs]

[John]: There was a pattern
of behaviour

that was brought
to my attention

in the academic year
of 1966-1967.

We met Anderson in a course

that was preparing us
for medical school.

[John]:
And if you had any illusions

about going on to medicine,

you needed that course.

Anderson was a lecturer
who missed most of his lectures,

so we had to study on our own.

Anderson never,
ever supervised us in the labs,

but the times he did come there,

he would continuously address us
as Mr. Ballantyne or Mr. Mossop,

whereas he would address
the white students

as John, Mary, or so forth.

About eight or nine
black students

were being failed regularly,

and we couldn't understand
what was the motivation for it.

[John]: Had we been a group
of white, English immigrants

who were feeling eliminated,

there would never have been
the assumption

that because
these people are immigrants,

they are somehow
intellectually inferior

to the average student.

That would never have been
the narrative.

It's not as if somehow,
I was a failing student.

None of us
were failing students.

We just hit
the brick wall of failure

when it came
to Perry Anderson's class.

My personal experience

is that I did some labs...

I was very meticulous
with lab work...

and submitted them.

These same labs were copied
by about three students,

word-for-word.

I got sevens for my labs,
and these students got tens.

[John]:
Somewhere along the line,

at the basis of all of this

are elements that can be
construed as racism.

And so,

to shorten the discussion,

that is
what was then the charge.

[wind blows]

When I came,
I was a stranger.

The essential quality
of the community

was a coldness.

I became instantly aware
that I was the other.

It was
a really sharp demarcation

from one state to another.

And as the other,

you could not go anywhere
without being watched.

We, as students, feel that
we have a right to be heard,

that our issues
should at least be aired,

that we should have a hearing.

So in April of '68,

there were 14 of us
who went to present our case.

I am interested in the fact
that it took from April of '68

until December of that year
to force this issue,

which is an issue vital
to the life of any university,

to the fore.

It seems during that period,
to me,

that the black students
acted with forbearance,

with intelligence,

in a situation

which must have been a situation
of immense frustration.

The university decided

that they would set up
a committee to investigate.

They wanted
to resolve the problem

within
the university administration.

[John]:
This hearing committee

was supposed
to reconvene a meeting

to go back over the charges.

That hearing committee,

comprised
of two black professors,

two white professors,
and one professor,

I think
it was Professor Mannen,

of East Indian heritage.

We accepted to be there
because, in part,

we wanted to make sure

that the students
had a fair hearing.

Our job was to gather
information from the students

concerning the claims
that they made,

and also gather information
from the professor

to make a judgement.

That didn't sit too easy
with me,

because you can't be the judge
and the jury

at the same time.

[John]: The position that
the two black professors were in

was untenable.

[Bayne]: And the students
were very smart.

They made sure
that we couldn't function,

because they confronted me
on the mezzanine.

Four of them confronted me
on the mezzanine

with crazy charges,

and call you sellout, traitor,
this, that,

and which got me so angry
that I almost got into a fight,

and at that very moment,
that was it.

That means I could not sit
and receive information

and make judgment about it.

So that's how it happened
that we got off the committee.

[John]:
As a minority individual,

we are constantly struggling

with the majority's notion
of who we are.

The question
that the individual faces

is in order to be authentic,

how much of that interpretation
by the other

do you absorb?

How do you then
react against it?

Well, my father
is Omowale Indongo.

He was known as Omowale

even during
the Sir George incident.

His name
was Kennedy Fredericks.

His birth name
was Kennedy Fredericks.

[Chang]: Kennedy was hoping
to get good grades,

especially in bio,

to go on to a medical degree,

and this thing was
really devastating to him.

My father was definitely
involved from the beginning

when they accused
this professor of racism.

I grew up
with the Sir George Affair

being just
a part of my narrative,

and I was just
always aware of it.

Any time somebody would
repeat to me the story,

they would say, "Oh,

and they wanted to charge him
with everything,

kidnapping,
and all these things,"

but nobody actually went
into detail why kidnapping.

[Bayne]: What I remember
specifically,

is that they were fed up,

and so that Kennedy
and these other guys

decided they would go
to the director's office,

which was an acting director
at the time, O'Brien,

and demand... literally,
that's the language they used.

"These are our demands.
We are demanding this.

We are not leaving here

until we get answers
to this question."

[locking door]

And they did not allow him
to leave,

or he felt that he couldn't.

If you are told

for all your life

that blacks are violent...

And then five blacks stand up
in your office

and say, "Either you answer me,

or else
you're not leaving here..."

how are the neurons
in your brain

connected to interpret that?

[crash]

The manner of West Indians
is somewhat more expansive

than our own.

They tend to speak
with large gestures.

They tend to laugh...

immoderately, perhaps.

The language
is very picturesque,

choice, frequently obscene,

but nowadays, of course,

since nobody seems to object
to that kind of language,

no one took it
all that seriously,

and we were assured,
therefore,

that it would be wrong
on our part,

it would be overreacting

if we took
what the students were saying

at its face value.

[John]: As a human being,
you were devalued...

and devalued in a manner

that did not give you many,
if any, opportunities

to redress it.

That somewhere along the line,
they...

the implicit assumptions
of slavery

had become institutionalized.

You were supposed
to be voiceless.

You were supposed
to simply accept

whatever was dished out to you

simply because
it was decreed...by.

At some point, it becomes
very difficult to sit back

and to accept that.

It is said that
if you are white, you are right.

If you are brown, stand down,
and if you are black, get back.

Is this the general feeling
of the Sir George students now?

[students]: No!

Well, when I came in
the school this morning,

when I came into Sir George
as a past Georgian,

I was most surprised
and shook up.

I never thought
that at any time,

I would see a display of bigotry

as what took place
at the cafeteria yesterday.

"Niggers go home!"

That was the sign
that was, um,

posted at the cafeteria
yesterday.

What is significant
about the sign

is that only last week
in your parliament,

in your just society,

one member of parliament got up

and said something pretty...
pretty similar to that.

He was saying

that they should send
the Caribbean students

back home.

[John]: In a sense, we were all
our brother's keepers

at that time,

and so all of these
were simply opportunities

to show solidarity

with people who suffered
from, um,

similar constraints

by a system
that would determine

true power...

class...

opportunity.

I was self-righteous,
of course,

because I'd been, you know,
dissed in a very negative way,

in an anti-Semitic way,

and so, the cop was,
you know, and I just...

Here I am,

this 12-year-old little guy
and this big, tall cop,

and he's trying to get us
to move on,

and I'm saying,

"Well, no, I'm not going
anywhere

until you arrest that guy,"

you know, "because
he called me a dirty Jew,"

you know?

Cop looks at me like I'm crazy,

and so he's trying to scare me
into just moving on.

So he opens,
swings open the back door,

and he says,
"Do you want to get in,

have me take you
to the police station?"

I said, "Yeah!"

So he took me
to the police station

and made me sit there
for a couple of hours,

then called my father.

This is Sunday.
My father's not a happy camper.

He shows up, and then
they're all telling my father

about how I'm rude

and I was disrespectful
of a police officer

and on and on,

and I'm trying
to say something, you know,

like, tell my father
what happened,

and everybody's saying,
"No, shut up! Shut up!"

My father is telling me
to keep quiet.

Anyways, so at the end of it,

they're going to set
a date for juvenile court,

and this whole thing's
going on,

and then we leave,

and we're
walking out the door,

and we're walking
down the street towards home,

and my, you know,
and I said to my father,

"Well, Dad, you didn't let me
speak," you know?

"I mean,
the man who yelled at us

called me a dirty Jew."

My father's face just blanched.

He turned around,
grabbed my hand,

walked me back
into that police station,

walked up to the desk sergeant,
and said,

"I want the name of the person
who called in the complaint."

And they said,
"Well, we don't have it."

He said, "Aren't you supposed
to take the name

of anybody
who makes a complaint?

Because that gentleman
made an anti-Semitic comment

to my son,

and I want it dealt with."

Well, the long and the short
of it

was they became very apologetic,

very, you know,
the whole thing changed.

Forget about juvenile court,
forget about this, let's just,

you know, I'm sorry,
it was a mistake.

It's all over,
and we went home.

And... I mean,
that may have been the reason

I participated in Sir George,

because subsequent to that,
my dad never said a thing to me,

but my mother told me later
how proud he was...

that I'd stood up.

I knew nothing
about the incident

until a day in January,

when there was
this large meeting

in the big auditorium
on the main floor.

[man]:
As far back as 10 months ago,

some black students had laid
some charges of racism

against
a Sir George Williams professor,

and during
the whole period of 10 months,

the administration here
seems to have managed

to not do
one single constructive thing

about those charges.

I am disappointed
in the fact

that a university administration

is incapable of dealing

with such a minor, basic issue.

Essentially, what happened
is the students questioned

the composition
of the committee.

The six of us
who were central to this

were not, um,

taken into account

when two replacements
were made

to the two black professors.

[reporter]:
The black students have said

that the new committee
is unacceptable to them.

Were they not consulted
at the time it was formed?

A breakdown in communications
had occurred.

I believe that attempts
were made

to get in touch
with the black students.

This seems
to have come to naught.

I don't know
whose responsibility it is here.

[Bayne]: There was
a certain degree of anxiety.

I had removed myself
from the process

because I felt in some sense
that I was compromised.

It was originally agreed

that a committee
should be agreeable

to both the black students
and Anderson.

So since one of the agreements
has not been made,

therefore, as far as anybody
who's on the side of justice

is concerned,

this hearing and this committee
is totally invalid.

My recollection
is the committee then adjourned

for a short period of time,

went out of the room,

had a conversation,
came back into the room

and said
something to the effect of,

"Well, we've decided
we're impartial,

and we're going to continue."

[Lyon]: My main concern
was that the hearing go ahead

and that Perry have the chance
to clear himself.

I got the impression
that Perry was vulnerable.

My job was
to protect his interests

because the university
administration and their lawyers

would obviously consider first

their obligations
to the institution.

[Bayne]: Everyone,

from his or her own
particular perspective,

was chasing

or trying
to get a situation set up

that they felt were just,
in which justice was done,

justice was done
from their perspective.

There's no one here

who is more concerned
about this issue

than myself.

[man]:
And so am I!

As a matter of fact,

we are not only taking on
an individual member of faculty,

but also the administration...

So, when we were holding
Anderson accountable,

in a sense, we were challenging

the entire structure
of that department,

and there was no way in hell

that they were going
to accept that.

[Adamson]: I said
that under these conditions,

I would answer no questions.

I just have one more thing
to say, however.

My present condition

is that I think I can sit here
for about four hours,

but I have
a relatively weak bladder,

and I cannot answer
for the consequences after that.

[laughing, applause]

[Hubsher]:
The university was acting

in an inappropriate,
unjust manner,

and really was not giving
the due that was necessary.

Kennedy Fredericks
just got up and exploded

because we were going nowhere.

Will all black people
come down to the front?

Down to the front!

[jeering, yelling]

All those that are interested
in justice,

come on down!

Come on down!

[Adamson]:
Uh, Mr. Lyon...

Mr. Chairman...

Would you...

I...I would like to allow
the audience to this hearing

to calm itself down,

and when it has,

I'm very anxious
to hear your remarks.

At some point,
Perry's sister...

she was calling to him,
sounding quite alarmed,

to get out,

and so, I ushered Perry
to the exit

and told him
he might as well leave.

[Hubsher]: I have no idea

whether Professor Anderson
was a racist or not

or whether he discriminated
against those students or not.

We never got there.

[Fredericks]: Those people
who support our demands,

namely, one,

that the administration publicly
declare this committee illegal,

two, that the administration
meet immediately

with us and Anderson

and set up a new committee.

Three, that the administration

drop criminal charges
against three black students.

If you agree with those demands,

we ask you to come with us
right now.

Are you prepared
to stand up for your rights?

Yes!

Are you prepared
to stand for your rights?

Yes!

Are you going
to let the administration

push you around?

No!

Or do you intend
to go to the end?

Yes!

Right to the bitter end?

Yes!

[Hubsher]:
The outcome of that meeting,

which made many people
very unhappy,

led to the occupation
of the computer centre.

[Fredericks]:
We are on the ninth floor

in the computer centre,

and that's the only room

the meeting
is going to be continued.

So, everybody,
let's get upstairs.

Let's take a stand now!

Let's go!

Everybody that believes
in justice, take a stand.

Don't sit on your asses
anymore.

Move up there and take a stand.

It's about time the white people
on this campus

took a stand
one way or the other.

So let's take your stand now.

Up that escalator,
follow that man, and go!

[Fredericks]:
If you whites can sit back

and have people like O'Brien
run you to hell crazy,

that's your privilege.

You're punks.

[Indongo]:
Way before Mommy was born,

um,

your grandfather...

took some very huge risks, um...

for... for a just cause.

I didn't really grow up
with my dad

because of how his life
panned out after that incident.

I feel
like I was maybe six or seven,

and I think

some of my aunts and uncles

took it on themselves

to really tell me
about my father.

I grew up with this image

of this, this amazing,
militant activist type

who was really smart
and courageous.

Sometimes I really feel

that my parents' story
kind of is stuck on my back.

[jamming]

Viens pour repeter.

Yeah. All right.
Awesome.

So we're going
to run through it.

I guess I kind of naturally
exude that same type of energy

that my father put out there
at the time

when he was sort of fighting
for...

fighting for justice.

♪ We forward
in this generation ♪

♪ Triumphantly

♪ Won't you help to sing

My greatest fear
is not effecting change

and not being able to feel that,
okay,

I contributed to something
in...in a large way.

♪ Redemption song

♪ Redemption song

[Cools]: The '60s
were a powerful period,

and for many young people,
including myself...

a disruptive one.

It took me a long time
to...to recover from that era.

It was powerful because
it touched so many people.

How is it and how could it be

that an entire generation
was prepared to make sacrifices

and to conceive of a notion
that something had to change

because the air was ripe
with change.

[Valerie Belgrave]: These are
euphoric sort of occasions,

when you have people
coming together for a cause,

and they're all optimistic,

and they're all supporting
what we think is a just cause,

and so it definitely was
a great atmosphere.

There was a great sense
of camaraderie,

and when the occupation
took place,

we went in order to make sure
that it didn't go bad.

Obviously, we wanted the matter
to be settled,

and that was the, um, intention,
that was the aim, you know?

That was what we expected.

Let's take a look at the action

at Sir George Williams
University tonight right now.

As we talk, some 200 students

are still occupying
the computer centre there.

They've tried
to keep the place clean.

There's been no vandalism.

As the sit-in
ends its fourth day,

matters are still at an impasse,

and the administration
is considering its next move.

[man]: It seems clear now

that this is not
a black and white issue.

The administration
are not doing anything

because they don't have to.

[applause]

It seemed to this
21-year-old deluded person

that I was at that time,

affected by everything,

that really, you know,

that an armed insurgence
was about the only way

things were going to change.

What I've got to say
is very personal,

but it affects every one of you.

You hear...

There have been people
that have stood up here

and have called you a racist.

Now, I'm going
to call you a racist,

and I'm going to call you
a racist

for a very good reason...

because I was a racist!

Because, yeah, sure,

I knew about the oppression
of the blacks,

but I'd never done anything.

As long as I haven't done
anything, I'm a racist,

and as long
as you don't do anything,

you're a racist.

[Marvin Coleby]:
Back in the '60s,

it was more acceptable,
at least easy,

to talk about race,

just because, you know,
explicit racism still existed

in a way that it doesn't exist
anymore.

So I suppose,

in that type of politically
and socially charged atmosphere,

race was a more acceptable topic
to bring up.

Now, today,
we have a strange situation

where we don't have
explicit racism in the same way

as we have implicit racism
today,

which, in my opinion,
is much more dangerous.

It's a racism
that we don't see.

It's hidden in jokes.
It's hidden in institutions.

It's hidden
in government actions.

So when I came here,
and the first place I went

was in the countryside
in Quebec,

I was the only Caribbean person
on campus.

I was the only person of colour
on campus,

and I was shocked.

I, like,
come into this community

and actually saying,

"Oh, you know, like, my skin
is actually a problem here.

Like, it's actually an issue.
People actually see it,"

as opposed to before,

where I didn't even
think of myself that way,

and I suppose my search

for understanding
the computer riots

was influenced

by the fact that I felt,
in many ways,

what they felt at the time

and what influenced
their actions.

[John]:
There was a meeting

in which discussions
were being held

as to what the next step
should do in the occupation.

And there was a gentleman there,

a black gentleman,

who advocated

that maybe
we should get some dynamite

and put it in the elevator shaft

and blow up the university.

It was thought

it was a little bit
of an outrageous suggestion.

I subsequently discovered,
many years later,

that he was, um...
a plant.

But these kind of dirty tricks
had been part and parcel

of law enforcement
in North America

for forever,

so it was not unusual.

[protestors]: We want justice!
We want justice!

We want justice!
We want justice!

We want justice!

[John]: I left home

and went down to the university

in order to join the occupation.

At that point,
the university was closed off.

Two police
from the nearby station came.

One took me under one arm,

the other one took me
under the other arm,

and they marched me
out of the university,

into a squad car...

took me down
to Pointe-Saint-Charles,

let me out, and told me

that if they saw me
around the university,

that I would be arrested.

And it was
one of the very first times

in my life

that I was actually
afraid for my life.

[Ballantyne]:
There was a fear, I believe,

on the administration's part

that we would get violent.

I mean,
that was the egregious problem.

[Butcher]: We have to begin,

when we ask ourselves
to define what violence is...

violence is not physical
in the first place.

Violence starts
from a mental state.

[Cools]:
What was their great fear?

Because fear is a,
is a strange mental state,

and fear has a way of producing
the exact thing that you fear.

You are afraid of black people.
Why? Ask yourself why.

Start thinking

and start coming to some
constructive conclusions.

[Indongo]: I think if you know
somebody's watching you,

and you may or may not know
their intention,

you...you guard yourself more.

You...

or in some cases,
with some people,

they become quite paranoid.

But I think
you definitely hold back,

and you put on a face, right?

It's hard to just be
your natural self at all times.

[camera clicks]

We want justice!
We want justice!

We want justice!
We want justice!

[Ballantyne]:
We were just waiting for them

to come and say,
"Okay, we will listen to you."

We anticipated that this
would've happened, you know?

We didn't expect everybody
in the administration

to be racist.

The line of the association
was that in the first place,

we were extremely happy to see
that in the latest document

that the black students
had submitted

to the vice-principal,

and who had asked us,
as an association,

for our comments upon it,

we had underlined
that we were extremely happy

to see that the students
were, in fact,

being ready to negotiate.

[Hubsher]:
We were told by the lawyers

that an agreement
had been reached.

And the students
had come to believe

that it was all over,

and they were going
to get the demands

that they had asked for.

[cheering]

[John]: And this was going
to set the stage

for the demands that we made,

plus a hearing committee
and so on and so on.

So we were kind of confident
that, you know,

we were on our way
to some small victory

in terms of the initial issues.

We won,

and it was no particular
political suasion

that made us win.

It was just that we persevered,

asked for what we wanted,

and we got it,

and then there was joy.

[singing]

[Rennie]:
And many people left.

Many people had gone home,
you know, feeling really great.

"We won!

It's going to, you know,
it was resolved!"

And I actually went home
that night

to take a shower,
get some sleep,

and went back in the morning

because I wanted
to be part of the cleanup crew.

I felt... again, I felt really,

and the group of us
really felt strongly

that we wanted
to leave the place

the way we found it,

so that people understood
that this was not about a party

or just having a good time
at somebody else's expense,

but it was,
it was about a principle.

But they were pretending
they were on our side,

and they were doing everything
to help us,

when in truth, and in fact,
they were not.

[Hubsher]: The final deal
was scuttled

by the Faculty Association.

They had reneged
on the decision.

[John]:
We found out in the afternoon

that the university union
was holding it up.

And it got held up
for two days,

which then caused the students,

the more radical ones
on the edges,

to say,
"You see what we are saying?

These people
are not to be trusted."

[John]: Their position
was that we had no rights

and they had
no responsibilities.

We were tricked.

It was not a victory.

[Cools]: I have a suspicion

that despair
had been setting in,

and that many people had begun
to reach the conclusion

that these highs and these lows

were just an effort
to defeat them.

[John]:
Betrayal is probably

a reasonably accurate
representation

of how I would've felt.

At this stage in time,

I realize
that to have expected otherwise

was highly naive.

[Cools]: At the heightening
of expectations

that there would be resolution,

and then the terrible letdown
or descent

that everybody went through
in disappointment,

one can expect
that a few tempers will flare.

[Ballantyne]:
The students, they said,

"To hell with it,
let's go for broke."

They immediately
blocked the campus

from the seventh floor up.

[Rennie]: And there were people
marching around downstairs.

There were two sets of people,

some saying, "Kill them,"
or something to that effect,

and others protesting
on our behalf.

I got the impression
that there was confrontation

between the two forces
in the streets.

Okay, you're going
to keep it up?

The demonstration?
That's right.

Until what time?

Until our brothers
come out.

[John]: I was outside
of the university,

and it was the first time
that I understood

what it was like as a black
to face a white mob,

where your life
was in the balance,

and between the mob
and a group of us

was a line of blue police.

All the talks were off,
so anger,

and this student just tossed
this thing out.

[Ballantyne]:
All the pent-up emotion

just exploded.

The computer cards
were thrown out of the window.

Windows were broken.

And then,
all the work we had

for the last couple of weeks

of monitoring and keeping
these computers

in pristine condition,

now you see these cards
fluttering out the window,

like...

it ticked me off.

[Hubsher]: What I think it was,

was a desperate attempt
on the part of us

to garner attention

because there were
lots of people

on the street,

around the building,

but we really felt
from what we were hearing,

that they were not
paying attention to us.

[Bayne]:
These computer cards

and ribbons falling like snow
out of heaven,

it looked like
the brains of society

scattered in the wind
or something like that.

At somewhere along the line,

the issue stopped being
Anderson.

Everybody forgot Anderson.

He was like a person
just floating around somewhere.

It was something
floating around,

but it wasn't really about him.

It was
an act of civil disobedience,

and there was no plan to do it.

I suppose in my heart,
I figured we'd occupy it,

and two days later,
it'd all be resolved,

and everybody would be happy,
and we'd be singing "Kumbaya."

Um...

not exactly what happened.

[sirens wail]

[reporter]:
The computer centre

is a very delicate and important
part of the institution now.

Um...

Will the police
be called in to...?

I don't know.

I have no idea
along these lines,

but I do know
that Vice-Principal O'Brien

does feel

that men are more important
than machines,

and that the computer
has not come

to dominate this university.

The university made a decision

to put an end to the occupation,

to ask the Montreal Police
to intervene,

and I was asked
to accompany the riot squad

as an observer and a witness.

[Ballantyne]:
It is a special squad.

Those people
are at least seven feet,

and they trample in, you know,

like a stampede.

They came charging in.

[Cools]: Next thing you know,
you're being attacked by police.

[Bayne]: So at that point,

a group of students
started using the fire hoses

on the police.

The first time
I saw a police officer

through that little window...

and this has never left me...

I never saw such terror
in a man's eyes.

I have no idea
what they were told about us,

but based on the look
on that man's face,

I truly believe

they thought
we were armed to the teeth

and we were going
to come out shooting.

[yelling]

[Mossop]: I was terrified.

We are locked in.

We can't go through the front
because we'll be arrested.

We try
to get through the back,

only to find the doors
barricaded.

[man yells]

[Sheppard]:
Within minutes, probably less,

we saw very black smoke
pouring out of the ducts.

There was a door
in the back there

that was always closed.

We had never opened it.

It was closed from the inside.

[Rennie]: And when we rushed
to get away

from the building-up
of the smoke to the front...

that door was locked
from outside.

[banging]

So we were virtually
trapped in there.

[siren wails]

[Sheppard]: It was
like a cloud of black smoke

like I'd never seen before,

and it was ascending.

It was coming down.

I must say,
it was quite terrifying,

because, eventually,
it fortunately stopped,

I would say,
about two feet off the ground.

We all ended up,
including the police,

on our knees on the floor.

[Cools]: It was so fast.

[interviewer]:
Were you guys scared?

Very.

[Ballantyne]: I was afraid

that my colleagues and friends
upstairs

were being burnt alive.

[Sheppard]:
One match does the trick.

[Ballantyne]: Any one of about
20 people could've done it,

or 50 people could've done it.

They were so angry.

Just pure, primal,
venal hatred.

At what?

At being a nigger?

That shook me to my core,
of course,

because that means
that there are people around

who don't mind
seeing other people perish.

That hit me hard,

and I had to come to terms
with understanding

that human beings are capable
of doing all manner of things

that I never dreamed
were possible.

All of that accompanied
by the chants of a white mob

chanting,
"Let the niggers burn."

People were yelling,
"Burn, nigger, burn."

This chanting
of, "Let the niggers burn..."

you know, they wanted us to die.

That...

that, you don't forget.

[yelling]

[Sheppard]: The police
apparently told the university

they would not go up
to the ninth floor

and dismantle the barricades

and remove the students

unless the university
representatives were there

to be able to testify

that there had been no violence,
no brutality.

Fortunately, they were able
to axe the door down

for us to get out.

[Chang]: And that's
when the riot squad went in

and started to get the guys out.

[yelling]

[Mossop]:
They started beating us

as we came through the door.

[Cools]: It was four girls,
and somebody took us,

and we were in the elevator,
and we were then downstairs.

At the time, a policeman
actually maliciously told us

that people had been killed.

[Hubsher]: Several students
got beaten up really badly,

and I know that

because two of them
were put into my paddy wagon,

and they were a mess.

They'd been severely beaten,

and I knew both of these guys,
and they were not aggressive.

They were...

[Ford]: I grew up in Trinidad.

I was a very humble person.

I was in the Scouts.

In the Scouts, we serve people.

We work with the elderly.

We work with children.

[crowds yell]

I remember
some specific things.

I was, you know, like,
cuffed in the nose,

a punch, or...

but I more remember the other
people who got beaten up.

Your hand could be bleeding,

but you aren't thinking
about your injury, you know,

but you want to make sure
everybody is...

it's okay.

Everybody who was inside
that centre at that time

on that particular floor
was, was arrested.

[fire crackles]

[Fredericks]: Originally
we had planned

to go down to O'Brien's office,

but it's too small!

[audio slows]

He...

Kennedy was bright.

Vibrant.

Um...

He probably was...
well...

he was very bright.

But... he lost faith.

You see, Kennedy...

my memory of Kennedy

was that he was a believer
in the principles

that the university was supposed
to have established,

and that the reality
of what he had to confront with

was too much for him.

Ah, I... I know that he
went off to Tanzania.

Well, he went off to Tanzania
with our blessings

and with all our money,

because we had paid,
put up the bail,

all of us had put together
for the bail,

and we knew they wanted
to hang him and crucify him

in Canada, in Montreal,

so everybody told him, "Run!"

[Ford]: I mean, I really had
to reach out for him

because he, he felt
a lot of pain,

the disappointment
and the disillusionment,

and, you know, I'm, I'm...

It really hurts me,
you know, to see where...

where he had reached,

and not to enjoy...
life to the fullest.

When this issue

has been causing mental strain
and physical...

and physical breakdown
to students,

then one begins to wonder

as to the right of the existence
of such a university.

[Indongo]: My father
has just gone through

serious bouts
of mental health issues

since
the whole Sir George incident.

And it's been really difficult
for him

to kind of,
to continue his life

without having
those kinds of demons

sort of chasing him.

[Murray]: Of course,
when all the other students

were being discharged
and released from prison,

the only ones left
were the black students.

1:00 in the morning,

they came
and took me out of my cell

and sat me down with the police,
you know, real movie-style

under a little light
and the whole bit.

He's lighting a cigarette,

and he's bringing it closer
and closer to my face,

and he eventually burned me.

[reporter]: You think it's
still possible to negotiate,

or is the day of talk over?

Well, I suppose
if we negotiate now,

it'd be across bars.

[Cools]: Taking part in a sit-in
is not wrong.

It is not even really illegal.

[door slams]

I would've thought
to plead guilty

to something that I thought
I was not guilty of

to be unprincipled
at that time.

[John]: Rosie was
a larger-than-life character.

He was very brilliant.

I don't think he was
at Sir George at the time.

I think he was at McGill,

but he supported us thoroughly.

You displayed it right here
that this institution is racist,

and in the house institution
of decision-making here,

your parliament
displayed it.

[reporter]:
Roosevelt Douglas,

who was involved
in the black students' movement,

gained national publicity
for his part in the sit-in.

Since his release from jail
last year,

he's made a full-time career

as a militant
Black Power advocate.

I am a fighter for liberation

and one who believes
that my country has the capacity

to produce and provide
all our people

with a decent standard
of living,

and to do that,

there have to be certain
basic structural changes.

I think Rosie Douglas
was the only one

who persisted
in trying to stretch out

the political mileage
of that whole thing.

[man]: They say Rosie Douglas

is a threat
to national security.

[Murray]: His whole life,

he felt
he was under surveillance.

[John]: Was it a reality
that we were infiltrated?

Yes, that much was proven.

Was it a reality

that so-called leaders
were under surveillance?

Yes, that was confirmed.

There was
some dramatic testimony today

before the McDonald Commission
into the RCMP.

It came from an American
named Warren Heart,

who says that for four years,

he worked as an agent
in Canada and other countries.

[reporter]: His job was
to infiltrate radical groups

like the Black Panthers.

Roosevelt "Rosie" Douglas
was to be Heart's chief target.

Today, Heart testified

that he'd been told
to break the law

to get information.

He opened mail,
broke into buildings,

and secretly taped
Douglas' conversations.

His orders, he said,
came from the Mounties directly.

[John]:
I was born in St. Vincent.

From the moment that I arrived,

interestingly enough,

my thought was always,

"At least
I will be going back home,"

and I think this is the,

this is the classic position
of the immigrant.

The immigrant moves
to a new community.

They do not belong there,

but they take solace
in the notion

that they can go back home,

and for many of us,
going back home

means to confront the fact
that you have left so long

that you really cannot go home
again.

[Rennie]: We came out of jail
sometime around June,

and by December of that year,
I fought my way into Trinidad,

and I came home
to get an assessment

of what was happening
in Trinidad.

[reporter]: It is exactly
two weeks ago today

since the first demonstrations
began

against what the Black Power
people here

call Canadian Imperialism,

and against the trial
of the 10 Trinidadians

in Montreal.

The demonstrations
have mounted steadily,

both in the number of people
concerned with them,

and in their ferocity.

[Rennie]: It started off

with the issue
being the Sir George Williams,

but the local issues
took over.

Mass movement came out
on the street.

You're talking
about 20,000, 30,000 people

marching every day.

[Ballantyne]: There was an anger
and enthusiasm.

You could feel it.

It wasn't something tangible,

but it was something
you could feel.

People wanted to do something.

[Rennie]: At the time,
unemployment was very high.

People were very frustrated
with the situation,

the lack of opportunities.

[man]: We want
to end the exploitation,

economically, culturally,
in every sense,

by the white foreign powers,

particularly from North America
and Britain.

As we go lower down the street,

we'll pass a number
of other Canadian banks.

You are
one of our major exploiters.

[Rennie]: And the moment
they were arrested

for that demonstration
against the banks,

the situation broke.

[explosion]

I think at the local level,
a butterfly flapped its wing,

and it blew,

and it blew because
you had Black Power movement

in the States,

you had the movement
for the liberation of Africa

at the same time,

you had the whole Caribbean

moving towards different degrees
of independence.

All of the Caribbean

is under the control
of the Imperialists,

and all of the Caribbean
must fight to free itself,

and since
we are the same people,

we must aid each other
in our battles

to free ourselves
from racist Imperialism.

When in April of 1970,

they passed
the state of emergency

because they wanted the army
to come out

and quell the people's
demonstrations in the street

because people
were demonstrating every day.

They passed
a state of emergency,

and they tried
to lock the square.

The square was the place
known for people's expression.

Eric Williams,
when he came in '56,

he referred to it

as the University
of Woodford Square.

That University
of Woodford Square in 1970

became a people's parliament.

And what did the government do?

Lock it up

to prevent
the expression of the people.

[fire crackles]

[John]:
At the end of the day,

the question that is posed is,

were these students suicidal,
or just absolutely stupid

that they would set a fire

in which the consequences
of setting that fire

was not simply the destruction
of the computers,

but that their lives
would be in danger?

Once you call a person,
once you identify a person

not only as the other,
but as such a feral animal

that you wished
to have him burn,

then it is very easy
to appreciate

that you can go one step further

and create the conditions.

Without any direct evidence...

I am of the opinion,

I hold the opinion...

and we're all entitled
to our opinions...

that the fire was set
by law enforcement.

[explosion]

[fire crackles]

Nobody ever told me
exactly who it was.

And it would've been ludicrous
for us to start the fire,

because we were locked in.

[Butcher]:
Nobody has been able to

or has wished to

or has said that they've seen
anybody do anything like that,

and a certain solidarity exists
that, look,

it was an injustice
in which we paid the price,

so we were going
to stand together.

[reporter]: Do you think

that the suspension
served any useful purpose?

Absolutely not.

In fact, I think
it was personally damaging.

It is now on my record.

You now have
a suspension.

Even if it is
lifted later,

you think it'll hurt
your later career?

Definitely so,

and I can refer to an article
in the New York Times

in relationship to this,

where a statement was made

that students had brought
a charge of racism against me,

that the administration
had moved to suspend me,

and that an inquiry was pending.

The connotation there,
of course,

is that the administration...

possibly felt that I was guilty.

[Duff]: You don't get
an accusation like that

unless it's happening.

I mean, you know,

people don't jump to conclusions
like that

because there isn't good grounds
for it in the culture at large,

and in that sense,

Perry's as guilty as me
or anyone else

of being culturally biased,
right?

And I don't think
it was a personal bias,

but he was
part of the cultural bias.

Have you dealt with
black students before,

and what were your
relationships with them,

if you have?

Could you qualify
that statement?

Have you dealt with
black students before,

with West Indians
before, in any way,

and how were your
relationships with them?

There are forces
and, and movements

and political movements
in societies

that really are, you know,

much more powerful
than individuals,

and that he felt very much

that you should be aware of that
in life,

because he wasn't,
and he felt very much

that he got caught up
in something

that he didn't understand.

Well, I feel that the pressures

that were on my shoulders
since last December

were subconscious
more than anything,

and it is only recently
that I've realized

how mentally depressed I was
over the course of the period.

But you didn't realize
it at the time,

when the pressure
was at its most...

was the most intense?

No, I don't think
that I realized

how depressed I really was.

[Bayne]: How can you tell
what is racist?

In any particular context,

every single one of us
might be racist.

There is the extent to which
is what control do you have

over your selfish
genetic demands

for self-security?

That is what makes
the difference between someone

who is a conscious,
vicious racist,

and someone
who is simply responding

on a sort of, um...

"I need
to ensure that I survive,

and I need to respond in a way
which meets my particular needs,

and if I see
someone or something

that is different to who I am
and I can't read it,

I block them out
or exclude them."

Now, I think we're all capable
of that kind of response.

The question is, have we learned
how to control this

so that we can have

the maximum amount
of harmony and peace

and move forward together

against an external,
physical world

that's not always giving us
the security we need?

[Indongo]: Things aren't
that much different

for my son.

It may look different

because there's a little bit
more tolerance,

or what seems to be
more tolerance,

but...

I, I really...

I really don't see it.

So if I stay here with my son,
who's African-Caribbean...

whose father has to walk...

witness young, white,
Hasidic girls

rush across the street

when they see him
coming out of his apartment,

and then cross back
once they've passed him,

those are the moments
it's just like,

"There's nothing we could do."

[John]: Your entire being
is involved

in trying to affect something,

and at the end of the day,

you have failed,
and failed spectacularly.

And even to this day,

the relationships with my,
with my two sons is, um...

bracketed by those early days
when I was not there,

and we subsequently
got divorced, my wife and I,

and...

I do not bother
to say to them, you know, I...

I don't even say...

I haven't even said
that I'm sorry,

because to say that I'm sorry

presupposes that I should've
done something different.

I think Perry felt

that it was very much, um,

an absolutely horrific thing
that was happening to him.

I think Mom felt...

she wanted
to carry on and persevere

in the way that we had,

where Perry, I think,
saw it differently.

This is just
when I start to have memory.

I'm not sure
if I'm four and a half or five.

I remember
sitting on the staircase.

We were in a duplex
over in NDG.

I think it was two floors,
It must've been,

'cause I remember
sitting on the staircase

and just hearing loud voices
downstairs,

not sure what was going on, um,

and then I remember
Mom being gone.

[Ford]: Some people ask me,

"Well,
how long does a bee live?"

But then, I never take that on,
because a bee is a bee is a bee.

So that same bee, if I mark it,
it'll probably die and go,

but there's another bee
that's doing the same thing,

and producing honey,

and the honey from thousands
and thousands of years ago

is the same thing.

Now, as you're working,

I think sometimes,
you reflect a lot,

you meditate a lot,
you think a lot.

You touch on
a whole lot of things.

You get a chance
to resolve things.

Issues come up,
and you solve them.

A time to get into you
and to understand you,

and what are your beliefs.

What are you believing,

and what are you doing here,
you know?

And the fact that
you will not be here forever,

and that you're passing through,

and these things
are resolved in your mind,

that you're just a,
you're just a traveller,

and it removes fear.

[♪♪♪]

♪ Oh, pirates, yes
they rob I ♪

♪ Sold I to the merchant ships

♪ Minutes after they took I

♪ From the bottomless pit

♪ But my hand was made strong

♪ By the 'and of the Almighty

♪ We forward
in this generation ♪

♪ Triumphantly

♪ Won't you help to sing

♪ These songs of freedom

♪ 'Cause all I ever have

♪ Redemption song

♪ Redemption song

♪ Emancipate yourself
from mental slavery ♪

♪ None but ourselves
can free our minds ♪

♪ Have no fear
for atomic energy ♪

♪ 'Cause none of them
can stop the time ♪

♪ How long shall they
kill our prophets ♪

♪ While we stand aside
and look ♪

♪ Some say
it's just a part of it ♪

♪ We've got
to fulfill the book ♪

♪ Ooh

♪ Won't you help us sing

♪ Redemption
Redemption ♪

♪ Redemption redemption

[singing harmony]

♪ None but ourselves
can free our minds ♪

♪ Redemption
Redemption ♪

♪ None but ourselves
can free our minds ♪

♪ Emancipate

♪ These songs of freedom

♪ Emancipate

♪ These songs of freedom

♪ Emancipate

♪ These songs of freedom

♪ Emancipate

♪ These songs of freedom

[♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪]