WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:04.120 You are listening to Truth Time with doctor Cornell West 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.119 and Nina Turner. We count it all joy that we 3 00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:13.400 are together today and this is our favorite day of 4 00:00:13.439 --> 00:00:18.199 the week because it is teach in Thursdays on Truth Time, 5 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.160 and that we got something rocking that's so unique and 6 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.839 different and just has it's blowing my mind. And so 7 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.719 I am going to toss this to you right away 8 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:32.399 for our teacher on Thursday. This Thursday, I'm good. 9 00:00:33.880 --> 00:00:37.079 It was some time throwing in on towering figures who 10 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:41.200 love black people who are willing to third I love 11 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:44.359 and truth in this just a couple of days ago 12 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:47.880 we had on our own life and with my seventy 13 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:51.880 second birthday. But Brother Clifton and Brother Tavish is like 14 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:56.640 a third brother. And so it occurred to me that 15 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:03.280 in our teaching today it would be magnificent about somebody 16 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:06.840 who got so much Fanny liut Hama and so much 17 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.280 with Martin King and Malcolm Exit Nina Simone. In a 18 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:14.920 I told sister Nina, we need to talk about Nina 19 00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:16.239 turning us. 20 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:17.480 If you said in. 21 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:22.159 All humans, oh no, I don't know, Doc, I said, yes, indeed, 22 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.120 we want to hear about your life. We want to 23 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.799 hear about your calling here, about how you've been able 24 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:34.439 to sustain yourself over these years with the longevity of 25 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:39.400 integrity and a consistency of loving black people. 26 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:42.760 So let us begin at the beginning. 27 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:46.319 Tell us something about your fact, tell us something about 28 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:48.719 where you come from. 29 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:52.239 Thank you Doc so much. And Doc laid it out. 30 00:01:52.280 --> 00:01:55.040 I said me no way, but Doctor insisted. And I 31 00:01:55.079 --> 00:01:59.959 am so humbled by that, said the oldest of seven 32 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:03.719 and children. I grew up in the land and known 33 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:09.280 as Cleve Cleveland, Ohio. Just you know everything about who 34 00:02:09.319 --> 00:02:14.439 I am. I was molded in this rustbelt rough let 35 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:18.400 them know, rough and tumble environment here in Cleveland. We 36 00:02:18.439 --> 00:02:24.319 are very much fighters. My parents, very working class, working poor, 37 00:02:24.400 --> 00:02:26.960 as we would you know, describe it today. Very much 38 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.360 worked really really hard. We had some roller coaster rides, 39 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.800 you know, some some mountaintop moments, a lot of valley moments. 40 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:37.479 It is by the grace of God that I am 41 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:41.879 here today, and everything that I am today, it's primarily 42 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:45.759 because of you know, the whole notion of nature nurture. 43 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:49.360 It is both the environment of Cleveland. It is both 44 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:53.080 of my parents, It is my grandparents on both sides, 45 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:57.599 my maternal and paternal although I was very much more 46 00:02:57.879 --> 00:03:05.840 closer to my maternal grandmother then my paternal grandparents. Nevertheless, 47 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:09.759 they all had an impact on helping me be who 48 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:11.400 I am today. 49 00:03:12.039 --> 00:03:16.240 And so your mama's name, your dad's name, your grandmama's name, 50 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:17.479 and granddad was what. 51 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:23.479 My mama's name was. An emphasis on was doc. I 52 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:26.000 think some in our audience may know. You know the 53 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.039 story of how my mom died at the young age 54 00:03:29.039 --> 00:03:31.319 of forty two years old. Often say she died with 55 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:36.039 her dreams deferred, quoting from the great poet from Cleveland himself, 56 00:03:36.120 --> 00:03:41.639 Langston Hughes. Fae is my mama's name. That is one 57 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:48.159 of them old fashioned names, Faye, and then my maternal grandparents, 58 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:55.479 and as ever saying, and then Oscar Oscar Steal Steal 59 00:03:55.800 --> 00:04:00.919 was his nickname, Emverson. My grandfather on both sides fought 60 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:05.639 in World War Two. Yeah, yeah, both of my grandfather's 61 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:12.719 my other grandfather, John Hudson, they fought in World War two. 62 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:16.800 Of those who were in the Vietnam War. My mother 63 00:04:16.920 --> 00:04:18.879 was an only child, so all of my aunts and 64 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:23.120 uncles other than my grandparents siblings. But when I'm talking 65 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:26.560 about my aunts and uncles and my mother's and father's generation. 66 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:29.319 I'm talking about on my father's side because my mom 67 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:30.319 was an only child. 68 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:42.040 So yeah, Johnny May Hudson, Yeah them, Johnny mays, Yeah. 69 00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:46.240 I wasn't you decided to be a love warrior, freedom 70 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:49.879 fighter and intellectual wounded healer? 71 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:55.360 Ooh, intellectual wounded here, Hiller, that speaks to me, you know, Doc, 72 00:04:55.399 --> 00:04:57.959 I don't think I had a choice. I really don't. 73 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.040 I mean a certain thing of purpose and destiny and 74 00:05:02.120 --> 00:05:04.839 kind of finding it and when those things come together, 75 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:06.879 certainly we all have choice. So let me back that up. 76 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:09.879 When I say I didn't have much of a choice, 77 00:05:10.079 --> 00:05:13.639 there was a like a it was being pulled like 78 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:16.920 a magnet. That's what I mean by not really having 79 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:20.560 a choice, although we all always have choice, but that 80 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:22.959 that whole notion of what you're seeking and seeking you 81 00:05:23.720 --> 00:05:25.600 and at such a young age, I mean I didn't know. 82 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:29.360 I mean there were times where I felt hopeless and helpless. 83 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:32.800 You know, my parents got married very young and it 84 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:36.439 didn't work out. My mom was married four times. My 85 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.360 dad was always a constant in our lives. My grandparents 86 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:43.639 certainly always a constant, But we definitely grew up on 87 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:46.319 the rough side of the mountain, a very transient you know, 88 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:50.839 oftentimes when you're poor, your family is transient. So moving 89 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:53.720 all over the place. We moved a lot within the 90 00:05:53.759 --> 00:05:57.279 city of Cleveland itself, and so that that breeds, as 91 00:05:57.319 --> 00:06:00.680 the science tells us now, a lot of instants and 92 00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:04.000 children having to start all over and not being able 93 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.319 to cope with new environments and all of that. So 94 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:08.879 when I hear this new generation talk about that, although 95 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:12.639 I know that the science is what it is, also 96 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:15.800 think as a gen xer, like, wow, you guys wouldn't 97 00:06:15.800 --> 00:06:19.000 have made it, you know then, because it was a 98 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.120 complicated and very challenging and a very hard life. And 99 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:29.040 but for my maternal grandparents, and as an Oscar Emerson, 100 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:33.279 I just don't know where we would have been. Was 101 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.279 food and secure at times, that is the social scientist's 102 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:38.040 way of putting it out there, but just flat out 103 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:41.879 did not have enough food to eat, hungry a lot 104 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:47.040 of nights, a mother who prayed and cried, and parents 105 00:06:47.079 --> 00:06:51.279 who really they really tried. Sometimes when your parents try, though, 106 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:54.920 they missed the mark and that has an impact on 107 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:59.480 their children. And so I when you asked me what 108 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:05.000 got me here? I think a spiritual understanding of what 109 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:07.519 I had to endure as a child and even as 110 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:09.720 a grown woman, even to this moment, even though I'm 111 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:13.920 blessed to have fancy titles and certainly experiences that somebody 112 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:17.639 who grew up in my type of environment in terms 113 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.120 of economics, because my environment was rich was love. We 114 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:27.079 just weren't rich with money. Yeah, yeah, but it's my 115 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:30.639 keen understanding from whence I came. As James bald would 116 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:33.040 put it, if you know, from whence you came, there's 117 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:36.360 virtually nowhere that you cannot go, and so that's part 118 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:38.959 of it. You're listening to Truth Time with doctor Cornell 119 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.279 West and Nina Turner on Our Teacher in Thursday. Doctor 120 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:47.000 West's idea. We are talking about Nina Turner. When we 121 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:52.319 come forward, we will continue this most fascinating conversation. You 122 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.480 are listening to Truth Time with doctor Cornell West and 123 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.240 Nina Turner on our favorite Truth Time day of the week, 124 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:01.079 which is our Teacher in Thursday. On this Thursday, we 125 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.959 are lifting up. We are talking about the light and 126 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:09.079 the legacy of the one and only Sam Cook. He 127 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:13.879 was born on January twenty second, nineteen thirty one, in Clarksdale, 128 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:18.879 Mississippi in the United States of America, and he died. 129 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:22.160 He was murdered. We'll get into that on but he 130 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:27.319 died on December eleventh, nineteen sixty four, in Los Angeles, California. 131 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:31.959 He was shot to death. You know. One of his 132 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.519 nicknames Doc and I didn't know that Dale Cook. I 133 00:08:34.519 --> 00:08:37.720 didn't know people. Some people called him Dale as birth 134 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:41.799 name Samuel Cook, shortened Sam Cook, and as I said, 135 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:45.799 very much known as the king of soul. Some would 136 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:51.159 described his voice as being hypnotic smooth, and that he 137 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:57.360 had these chisel looks. So you as your that's the 138 00:08:57.440 --> 00:08:59.960 story that you told us. We were coming forward about 139 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:03.080 how we were coming to the church singing and and 140 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:06.639 the women would get both a coronal Holy Ghosts and 141 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:08.919 the spiritual Holy ghost all at the same time. 142 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:14.919 That I don't know what that happened to with the 143 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:16.519 spiritual Holy ghosts, but. 144 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:16.919 They were in. 145 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.919 They were in the spirit though we. 146 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:22.320 And it hit the brothers too. 147 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:24.759 Now the brothers didn't just fall out, but it hit 148 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:28.399 the brothers too, Now, Lord Mercy, when I was little, 149 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:31.320 first song we played without must have been eight years 150 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:33.519 old with men on the chain game. 151 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:37.159 That's the sound of the men working on. 152 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:47.000 The chain gang, gold Dog working on the chain Gang. 153 00:09:49.639 --> 00:09:52.360 Oh we played that thing and we were just little boys, 154 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:54.639 but the parents were playing it for us, you know 155 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:55.120 what I mean? 156 00:09:55.399 --> 00:10:00.000 Yes, yes, yes, yes, I remember that song again my grandma, 157 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:02.120 And that's a jam of mine. I mean, I know 158 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.879 people might think, are you kidding me? It's just something 159 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:07.039 about that song and the words are so true, but 160 00:10:07.080 --> 00:10:11.679 the way you put them together and the music behind it, 161 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.919 it just like wow. And you know when that part 162 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:16.759 of the all day long, they going. 163 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:24.240 Ha ha ha, that's it. 164 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:27.639 I promise how all the is do? I will not 165 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:28.679 quit my day job. 166 00:10:29.960 --> 00:10:36.080 Oh no, shoe, we need to take this on the road. 167 00:10:37.080 --> 00:10:40.480 He's been old pressed and subjugated and repressed, yet at 168 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:42.720 the same time, here he was, as a black man, 169 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:47.759 transporting us to another world with his artistic genius. And 170 00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:51.559 he knew that he was doing that alongside others, and 171 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.240 that is very important to keep in mind. 172 00:10:55.159 --> 00:10:58.600 He was an intellectual who read intensely. 173 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:03.480 Richard Franklin who said he was her favorite artist, and 174 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:05.559 I think w Reith was in love with Sam when 175 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:08.639 they first met, but she said he was. 176 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:13.120 Reading all the time. Isn't that something now? 177 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:16.519 He's exposed to a whole lot of reading from the 178 00:11:16.519 --> 00:11:20.120 Bible and other texts. But he had this intellectual side 179 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:24.879 to him, artistic side, spiritual side, and what we call 180 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:31.240 a street side, all intertwined together. That's Sam cooking that 181 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.000 eat that he put at the end of his name 182 00:11:33.320 --> 00:11:36.039 that he added nineteen fifty six when he left the 183 00:11:36.120 --> 00:11:39.279 soulsters and let them know, I'm mustering the courage like 184 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:42.799 Ray Charles like a wreath to move from the church. 185 00:11:42.679 --> 00:11:44.840 Into rhythm and blues. 186 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:49.000 Now, he was demised, he was vilified as the devil's music. 187 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:51.039 You've been singing about Jesus all. 188 00:11:51.879 --> 00:11:54.720 Next thing, you know, you talking about Chain games and 189 00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:58.360 you talk about Chain's gonna come. He say, hey, there, 190 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:02.360 he is a spiritual and religious sensibility to rhythm and 191 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:05.919 blues when it's some right and done in the right manner. 192 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:09.200 And he's absolutely right. 193 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:16.000 Yes, sir. And the key word rhythm and blues is 194 00:12:16.039 --> 00:12:21.000 telling the whole story of a people and using his gifts. 195 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:23.840 A God definitely gifted him. There were some people who 196 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:27.399 are talented and they enhanced that talent. There's some people 197 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.960 who are gifted and talented, and it is very clear 198 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:36.080 that people like Sam Cook, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Ray, 199 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:38.840 Charles Luther. I mean, we can go on and on 200 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:43.200 and on b B king them kind of people gifted 201 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:48.360 and talented, they're just not a talent. And his first 202 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:52.960 single release was in nineteen fifty seven and it was 203 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:57.000 You Send Me Oo. And that song sold over a 204 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:01.919 million copies, and that was the song that catapulted Sam 205 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:07.440 Cook into like international stardom. And as the stories go, 206 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:10.799 some of the reports that producers were buying like they 207 00:13:10.799 --> 00:13:12.879 were fighting over trying to sign him. 208 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:18.840 M can you imagine no, Now he's twenty six years old, 209 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:25.480 he's being camptapouted out into the world. And that's the 210 00:13:25.480 --> 00:13:29.679 song you Send Me, which has been transportant folk and 211 00:13:29.879 --> 00:13:37.639 transforming folk for the last seventy years and continues to 212 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:38.080 do so. 213 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:43.840 Yeah, I mean just timeless. Generation after generation after generation 214 00:13:43.879 --> 00:13:45.679 will know Sam Cook. I mean, I play Sam Cook 215 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:48.440 for my for my grand babies. I played me some 216 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:50.960 moll too. That's how you keep it, That's how you 217 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:53.039 keep it going, you know, I play I play Michael 218 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:55.399 Jackson and Prince you know, even though they don't know 219 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.720 who these people are, but then they are going to 220 00:13:58.840 --> 00:14:04.200 keep that tradition a live He was also a composer 221 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.600 to doc not just a singer. So people should know 222 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.559 as you were laying out how he read. He was 223 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:13.919 a voracious reader. All those those talents go hand in hand. 224 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:15.639 A absolutely. 225 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:19.120 You know he was born just within weeks of Tony Morrison, 226 00:14:19.960 --> 00:14:25.559 is that right? That's some nineteen thirty one January. She 227 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:28.519 was born in February. He was born January. And in 228 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:32.080 fact we should know, you know, within six weeks when 229 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:35.399 he died in December sixty four, we lost Sam Cook, 230 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:38.399 we lost Nat King Cole, we lost Lauree and Hansbury, 231 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:45.440 and we lost Malcolm x between my god, February sixty five. Yeah, 232 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:50.200 very rare that you would have those kinds of geniuses 233 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:55.000 and giants lost so quick, because I mean Nat King 234 00:14:55.080 --> 00:14:58.480 Cole if anybody had a beautiful voice in the history 235 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:04.080 of the world, and Sam in the same zone, Laurence Frey, genius, 236 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:07.840 Malcolm xIC. We don't have a language for all gone 237 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:13.919 in six weeks. That's a major, major holes created in 238 00:15:13.960 --> 00:15:18.759 our culture just within those six weeks. 239 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:22.480 You talking about a seismic shift, That's. 240 00:15:22.519 --> 00:15:27.000 That's the word I'm looking for, seismic shift. 241 00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:30.039 It could have been just one of them would have 242 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:30.639 been enough. 243 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:33.919 Yeah. Yeah, but when you put all them giants together, 244 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:36.960 Dot and not just to be famous, to be famous 245 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:39.879 like a lot of people think today, not that superficial fame. 246 00:15:40.360 --> 00:15:44.879 Were talking about people who were deep rooted, loved black people, 247 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:49.080 loved humanity, We're not afraid to speak up and to 248 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:54.039 speak out, and was risking a lot to do it. 249 00:15:55.240 --> 00:16:00.360 That's absolutely so he was anointed. That's what I would say. 250 00:16:00.519 --> 00:16:00.879 He was. 251 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.080 Definitely annointed. And I want my house to play for 252 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.600 us a little bit of you send me, you send me, 253 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:14.200 Oh my god, so he ain't change gonna come, which 254 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:17.759 folks heard a little earlier. And Darling you said, well 255 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:19.840 it's called you send me. But he says, Darland, you 256 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.759 send me. I mean just from the moment he belts 257 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.480 those words out, but from the moment those words leave 258 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.840 his lips. You already you you caught up. You caught up. 259 00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.399 You can't you can't shake him after that. 260 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:36.440 That's real. And his friendship with Moham and Ali. 261 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:43.679 And yeah and Minister Malcolm Max Yeah. Yeah. Think somebody 262 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:47.200 did a movie. I'm forgetting the name of it, but 263 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:49.879 it kind of is edgemontatement. I want people to know, 264 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:53.240 but it brought all of them together, uh in a 265 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.519 in a fictitious but also you know a colonel truth way. 266 00:16:57.480 --> 00:16:58.480 I remember that. 267 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:05.759 Some people say that he was killed because creating a constitution. 268 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:09.720 He was creating his own label to get black artists 269 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:15.359 off the plantation and ensure that we had our own 270 00:17:15.400 --> 00:17:19.079 independent and autonomous labels, which meant we would have made 271 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:20.599 not just more money. 272 00:17:20.440 --> 00:17:23.480 Would have had more power, would have had more leverage. 273 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:27.240 And just like Oldest Red and people said Sam Cook 274 00:17:27.279 --> 00:17:29.680 had been doing trying to do the same exact thing, 275 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.240 Colchre was trying to do the same thing when he 276 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:37.119 died at forty two with Amelotti ol A Tanji. 277 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:40.119 But it's something about these great. 278 00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:44.759 Artists when they make a move to create their own 279 00:17:44.880 --> 00:17:50.799 black independent institutions in the music industry, because it's so 280 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:55.240 much money and they getting ripped off every day, every week, 281 00:17:55.440 --> 00:18:01.039 every year, all that genius is just translated into money 282 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:05.000 for somebody else. As Kendrick Lamar would say, people trying 283 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:07.000 to pimp our butterfly. 284 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:10.880 Definitely, I mean they want our rhythm, but not our blues. 285 00:18:10.920 --> 00:18:13.240 And somebody said I cannot take credit for that quote, 286 00:18:13.279 --> 00:18:16.160 So I want our audience to know somebody said it. 287 00:18:16.200 --> 00:18:18.799 I don't know who, but it is true when they 288 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:22.079 say that, And what they mean by they is the 289 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:26.359 larger society, be a white society or other. That folks 290 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:30.519 want our rhythm. They don't want our blues. They love 291 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.240 our gifts, but they're not gonna do anything to make 292 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:35.640 sure that we live in a world where our gifts 293 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:39.079 can be enhanced by having health care, by making a 294 00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:42.279 living wage. I know our audience like there, they go, Yes, 295 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:45.039 we gotta link all of this stuff and not to 296 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:49.160 think about how creative we are as a people, even 297 00:18:49.480 --> 00:18:51.240 under so much pressure. 298 00:18:52.359 --> 00:18:58.640 Absolutely, absolutely, and the people still want to exploit it. 299 00:18:59.400 --> 00:19:04.799 They is all the creativity they can and translated into 300 00:19:04.960 --> 00:19:09.079 money for themselves and give us crumbs and then get 301 00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:11.799 upset when we ask for more than crumbs. 302 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.720 There it is, you're making me think of a movie 303 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:17.880 that I also recommend. I know the name of this 304 00:19:17.920 --> 00:19:21.720 one family and the name of this movie is called 305 00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:27.079 Cadillac Records, and Beyonce was in it and some other 306 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:31.480 folks were in that movie and it depicts doc to 307 00:19:31.640 --> 00:19:35.640 your point about how our stuff was stolen from us 308 00:19:36.079 --> 00:19:40.440 and we made other people being white people. Let's just 309 00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:42.440 go and tell the truth for shame the devils, my 310 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:47.799 grandmother would say, from all ethnic groups wealthy and how 311 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:53.119 we were cheated. Now, Cadillac Records is edge maintainment, but 312 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:57.440 the major thrust of the gifts of black singers, and 313 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:02.200 also how the industry is self stole from us Dak 314 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.000 when we highlighted we talk about Prince the Purple One 315 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:09.640 often too, and how he wanted to make sure that 316 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:13.160 he kept his his stuff, he kept ownership of of 317 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:16.160 of of his of what he was producing, that it 318 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:20.839 was not owned by other other people. I wouldn't doubt 319 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.319 to loop back to what you were saying about some 320 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:27.279 of the theories as to why Sam Cook was murdered, 321 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:29.960 that is totally plausible to me. 322 00:20:31.079 --> 00:20:33.519 I mean, it's hard to know, but we know that 323 00:20:33.640 --> 00:20:38.279 he was not highly popular among the highest echelons of 324 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.119 the music because he was such a genius when he 325 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.559 came to his artistry, but he was such a politically 326 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:49.000 astute brother when it came to not wanting to be 327 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.720 on anybody else's plantation. 328 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:55.279 That's true liberation right there. 329 00:20:55.880 --> 00:20:58.079 I'm telling you encourage. 330 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:02.759 Yeah, on your stuff, own your stuff. Now, let us 331 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:06.079 note that he was voted the fourth greatest singer of 332 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:08.839 the rock and roll era in the Rolling Stone magazine 333 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:12.240 poll that was taken in two thousand and eight. Seems 334 00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:15.799 almost like a lifetime ago. But the fact that he 335 00:21:15.880 --> 00:21:18.240 died in the sixties and in two thousand and eight 336 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:21.960 they did a poll and he ranks number four tells 337 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:26.440 us a lot about his genius and the general generational 338 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:30.119 impact of his music, and that he also was a 339 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:34.240 huge influence on other R and B artists, rock and 340 00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:37.079 roll type artists, which don't surprise us, but you had 341 00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:43.039 already mentioned Otis Redding and also Marvin Gaye considered Sam 342 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:46.599 Cook one of his favorite artists of all time. 343 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:49.920 Yeah, yeah, Reith too, absolutely. 344 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:54.039 I mean Sam Cook, when you think about it, is 345 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:58.920 one of the few brothers who is in the highest 346 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:04.359 conceivable a vocal genius. And that tends to be the 347 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:10.759 Black Sisters at the highest level. Sarah Vaughon, Billy Holliday, Elephizgerald, 348 00:22:11.079 --> 00:22:14.720 Carmen McCrae, Retha Franklin, Mahaya Jackson. 349 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:17.519 See, it's hard for brothers to get into that that club. 350 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:20.319 I'm telling you that right now, and Luther and others 351 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:21.880 will be the first one to say, I know, I 352 00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:23.519 got a whole out of the offer. But when when 353 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:28.880 well reatha come in, I'm sitting down, Von starts singing, 354 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:30.279 I'm sitting down. 355 00:22:30.920 --> 00:22:34.839 Sam Cook and Luther and Nat. 356 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:40.799 King Cole would be small group that could gain interest 357 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:43.039 into the club. They're not gonna be at the center 358 00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:49.799 of it, but they're gonna be in the club. Oh yeah, 359 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:52.799 Joe William got us, you got you got we got 360 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:56.319 some brothers. Who's something. Donnie Hathaway would be in that club. 361 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:57.119 You see what I mean. 362 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:02.759 You know, it's powerful when you recognize you you just 363 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:04.079 in the in the room. 364 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:07.039 You're just in the room. Jael LeVert would be right 365 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:09.200 on the edge, but he's in the club. I mean, 366 00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:12.319 it's but they would recognize when they looked at who 367 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:15.319 was at the center of and they saw Maheia and 368 00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:20.359 Sarah and Billy and Ella, and they said, oh Lord. 369 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.119 We're so glad to be in the room. We don't 370 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:25.079 know what to do. 371 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:32.319 If I could just touch to him of the garment 372 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.240 of these of these great ones. You are listening to 373 00:23:36.279 --> 00:23:38.640 Truth Time with doctor Cornel West and Nina Turner. This 374 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:42.480 is our teach in Thursday. We are teaching in about 375 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:47.440 the One and Only Sam Cook born on January twenty second, 376 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:51.680 nineteen thirty one, and he died on December eleventh, nineteen 377 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:56.359 sixty four, in Los Angeles, California. Said, mister Cook was 378 00:23:56.400 --> 00:24:00.480 shot to death. When we come forward, we're gonna continue 379 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.640 talking about his life and what he brought to all 380 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:08.279 of us. Truth time with doctor Cornell West and Nina Turner. 381 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:11.160 This is our teaching Thursday talking about the one and 382 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:15.240 only Sam Cook. If you are just joining us, welcome. 383 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:18.680 We are so glad that you are here. If you 384 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:20.920 have been on this ride with us from the beginning, 385 00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.000 thank you so much for that. Now, Sam Cook was married, 386 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:29.759 doct it's important. I'm gonna lift up these spouses of 387 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:34.119 Barbara Campbell and that was October ninth and nineteen fifty 388 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:40.640 nine to December eleventh, nineteen sixty four. So she, you know, 389 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.559 was his wife when he was murdered. And they have 390 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:50.480 three children. And then we have Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Mohawk 391 00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:54.920 and they were married in October of nineteen fifty three 392 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:00.119 and divorced on November fifteenth, nineteen fifty seven. So the 393 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:03.920 one and only Sam Cook was married twice. Three children, 394 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:10.240 Linda m Womack, Tracy Cook and Vincent Cook. 395 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:13.920 Lord Lord. Yes, just a. 396 00:25:13.880 --> 00:25:16.799 Little family background. And then Dr West. I know how 397 00:25:16.839 --> 00:25:19.319 you always love lifting up people's parents because but for 398 00:25:19.359 --> 00:25:22.359 the parents, we would not be here. And the names 399 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:27.680 of his parents, Charles Cook and Annie May Carrol, those 400 00:25:27.839 --> 00:25:34.480 are his parents. And so he he changed the landscape 401 00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:38.319