1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:01,280 Speaker 1: Jesse Jackson Junior. 2 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 2: Welcome forward to the Jesse Drackmons Junior Ship on La 3 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:12,080 Top fifteen eighty. We're just one day in from the 4 00:00:12,679 --> 00:00:16,440 nast celebration of the birth of Martin Luther King Junior. 5 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,000 In this twoenty twenty six years it is. 6 00:00:22,039 --> 00:00:27,559 Speaker 1: The birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His life was so 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,079 profound that it changed the course of human history and 8 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:36,719 divided time between BC and Anno Dominie. We are in 9 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,719 year two zero two six Anno dominie measured against the 10 00:00:41,759 --> 00:00:45,039 time of the life of Jesus of Nazareth and particularly 11 00:00:45,119 --> 00:00:49,280 his ministry, so critical and so important to the idea 12 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:55,600 of civilized behavior. Martin Luther King Junior a significant and 13 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,640 pivotal force, not only in the twentieth century, but a 14 00:00:58,679 --> 00:01:02,799 man who lived for only thirty nine years. Yesterday we 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:07,879 commemorated nationally his birthday, having would have been ninety seven 16 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,560 years old. In this particular context, and of course it's 17 00:01:11,599 --> 00:01:16,239 not without controversy, every president since the inauguration of the 18 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,799 holiday has issued a proclamation commemorating and celebrating the life 19 00:01:19,799 --> 00:01:23,959 of Martin Luther King Junior, and Donald Trump almost missed it. 20 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,200 He would have been the first president to not sign 21 00:01:28,439 --> 00:01:32,799 a proclamation honoring the life of Martin Luther King Junior. 22 00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:36,239 He subsequently did so when it was brought to the attention. 23 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:42,359 I'm assuming through the media of his of his presidency 24 00:01:43,159 --> 00:01:46,480 to not sign a proclamation, but he did. Late last night, 25 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:51,239 before the holiday officially ended, he signed the proclamation honoring 26 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,000 the life of Martin Luther King Junior. I think it's 27 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,000 fascinating in and of itself that the people around the 28 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,239 President of the United States do not have the President 29 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,439 of the United States prepared for a national and international 30 00:02:07,519 --> 00:02:11,960 gaff quite like the one that took place yesterday. But 31 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:14,840 it says a lot about the spirit energy of the 32 00:02:14,879 --> 00:02:17,240 President of the United States, and it says even more 33 00:02:17,319 --> 00:02:21,439 about the time that we find ourselves in. Our very 34 00:02:21,439 --> 00:02:25,599 special guest today is Wendell L. Griffin, an Arkansas lawyer, jurist, 35 00:02:25,759 --> 00:02:29,639 legal educator, business leader, ordained Baptist minister, and public speaker. 36 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:33,520 On April fifteenth, nineteen eighty five, Governor Bill Clinton appointed 37 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,680 him Chairman of the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission, making Griffin 38 00:02:37,719 --> 00:02:40,360 the first person of color named to that state agency 39 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,039 and the first to chair it. Griffin served in that 40 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,840 position until February second, nineteen eighty seven, when he returned 41 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:51,400 to his law practice with Wright Lindsay and Jennings. Governor 42 00:02:51,439 --> 00:02:54,080 Jim Guy Tucker appointed Judge Griffin to the Court of 43 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,400 Appeals at the end of nineteen ninety five, and he 44 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,759 entered the judicial service in nineteen ninety six. While on 45 00:02:59,759 --> 00:03:03,159 the Cour of Appeals, Griffin also remained active in professional, 46 00:03:03,159 --> 00:03:07,000 civic and religious life, including service as president of the 47 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,439 Pulaski County Bar Association, pastor of Emmanual Baptist Church of 48 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:16,280 Little Rock, Arkansas, and parliamentarian of the National Baptist Convention USA. 49 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,639 He is the author of two books, The Fierce Urgency 50 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:26,120 of Prophetic Hope and Parables Politics and Prophetic Faith. Judge Griffin, 51 00:03:26,159 --> 00:03:28,039 Welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show. 52 00:03:29,319 --> 00:03:32,439 Speaker 3: Congressman Jackson, it is good to be with you again, 53 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:35,400 and Happy New Year to you. Happy day after the 54 00:03:35,479 --> 00:03:36,800 King Holiday. How are you. 55 00:03:37,199 --> 00:03:41,759 Speaker 1: I'm so grateful and honored, deeply honored by your presence 56 00:03:41,759 --> 00:03:43,120 on our show, and I can't think of a more 57 00:03:43,159 --> 00:03:47,000 appropriate guest to help contextualize what we are going through 58 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:51,599 in the Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope. Lord knows we 59 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,599 need prophetic hope at this hour. Clearly you were inspired 60 00:03:54,639 --> 00:03:58,800 to really write, create, and think through a masterpiece. We 61 00:03:58,879 --> 00:04:01,120 have about three minutes before we come forward, which means 62 00:04:01,159 --> 00:04:02,719 the first break in our show. Will you share with 63 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,360 us during this time period, why the nation, why the country, 64 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,120 maybe even the world needs a prophetic hope at this hour? 65 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,439 Speaker 3: We are in a time where hope seems to be 66 00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:17,079 almost difficult for people to imagine. People are dealing with 67 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:19,000 trauma on so many levels. In the United States, we 68 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:22,000 see the modern version of the twenty first entry version 69 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,839 of the KKK operating in IC. We see Washington, d C. 70 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:32,279 Threatening to invade Greenland, already having invaded Venezuela, threatening to 71 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:37,920 invade other countries. We see the ongoing genocide in Sudan, 72 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:42,720 in the Congo, in Gaza, we see all kinds of trauma, 73 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,639 and people are finding difficult to believe in the notion 74 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:51,360 of hope. So the issue of hope is almost People 75 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,480 are almost breathless for it at the same time desperate 76 00:04:54,519 --> 00:04:54,839 for it. 77 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,480 Speaker 1: You know, Judge, I had the privilege yesterday of speaking 78 00:04:59,519 --> 00:05:02,680 in Walking Hegan, Illinois, and I spoke from the subject matter. 79 00:05:02,959 --> 00:05:08,040 April fourth, nineteen sixty seven, when Doctor King delivered a 80 00:05:08,079 --> 00:05:11,360 speech that quite frankly changed his ministry. It changed his 81 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:15,920 relationship to the Baptist Convention. Joseph Jackson, the pastor and 82 00:05:15,959 --> 00:05:19,560 leader of that convention at that time, even changed the 83 00:05:19,759 --> 00:05:23,720 entrance to his church from Kings to thirty first Streets. 84 00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:26,920 So I know you understand that the context, Doctor King, 85 00:05:26,959 --> 00:05:28,839 I was told by my father, I believe, was to 86 00:05:28,879 --> 00:05:31,600 speak at one of the conventions and a pastor a 87 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:33,920 shuffle began on the stage at the Baptist Convention. A 88 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:38,319 pastor was knocked off the stage, broke his neck and died. Literally, 89 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:42,079 a fight broke out. Doctor King was an immensely unpopular 90 00:05:42,199 --> 00:05:46,839 man at that time and during that period. But in 91 00:05:46,959 --> 00:05:50,560 that Beyond Vietnam Vietnam speech, I chose yesterday as my 92 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:56,839 subject matter beyond Venezuela. Beyond Venezuela. He spoke about Venezuela 93 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,319 in the same speech, bringing an urgent currency to this 94 00:06:00,439 --> 00:06:02,319 to this moment, Judge Griffin. 95 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,480 Speaker 3: He spoke about it. It was prescient. And I'm glad 96 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,839 you named your speech beyond Venezuela because and we can 97 00:06:08,879 --> 00:06:12,920 talk about after the break. Because April four, nineteen sixty seven, 98 00:06:13,319 --> 00:06:18,439 is perhaps the most prelevant, relevant speech that King ever delivered. 99 00:06:18,639 --> 00:06:21,040 For our time. We need to talk about that in 100 00:06:21,079 --> 00:06:23,759 detail because too many people are courting sixty three. We 101 00:06:23,879 --> 00:06:25,079 need to be courting sixty seven. 102 00:06:26,199 --> 00:06:28,959 Speaker 1: I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. You're listening to the Jesse Jackson 103 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,240 Junior Show. We're going to have an exciting program in 104 00:06:32,279 --> 00:06:36,600 this first hour with Judge Wendell Griffin, Arkansas lawyer, jurist, 105 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,199 legal educator, business leader, ordained Baptist minister and public speaker. 106 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:41,600 Particularly honored that he's. 107 00:06:41,519 --> 00:06:41,920 Speaker 3: On our show. 108 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: I'm Jesse Jackson Junior. More on k BAA Talk fifteen eighty. Hey, 109 00:06:46,519 --> 00:06:48,560 I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. Welcome forward to the show. Our 110 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:52,360 very special guest is none other than Reverend doctor Wendell 111 00:06:52,399 --> 00:06:56,639 Griffin and Arkansas lawyer, jurist, legal educator, business leader, ordained 112 00:06:56,639 --> 00:07:00,800 Baptist minister and public speaker. And just before the break 113 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,079 before we came forward, Judge Griffin and I were having 114 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:09,240 a conversation about how immensely unpopular Martin Luther King Junior was. 115 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:13,399 On April fourth, nineteen sixty seven, he was thirty nine 116 00:07:14,519 --> 00:07:18,240 thirty nine, almost thirty eight years old, almost thirty nine 117 00:07:18,279 --> 00:07:22,600 years old. He'd be shot and killed a year from 118 00:07:22,639 --> 00:07:26,600 the delivery of this speech. But this year was a 119 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,120 year of great depression for Martin Luther King Junior. He 120 00:07:30,199 --> 00:07:33,120 had received the Nobel Peace Prize. He had delivered in 121 00:07:33,199 --> 00:07:36,720 nineteen sixty three a memorable speech at the Lincoln Memorial. 122 00:07:37,519 --> 00:07:40,279 But there's a fight breaking out between Baptist preachers and 123 00:07:41,319 --> 00:07:44,120 young people he talks about it in the speech, who 124 00:07:44,279 --> 00:07:47,199 were disagreeing with a generation of people were saying the 125 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,000 Doctor King's tactics were not working. And I can't think 126 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:55,480 of anyone more important in this hour to share with 127 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,720 us the context of the fierce urgency of prophetic hope 128 00:07:59,079 --> 00:08:01,800 and the prophetic hope admission that Doctor King was on 129 00:08:02,319 --> 00:08:03,959 at that hour, Judge Griffin. 130 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:09,079 Speaker 3: We forget. I like to remind people who have Doctor 131 00:08:09,199 --> 00:08:14,839 King's picture in their church and church studies that oftentimes 132 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:17,279 the people have the Doctor King's picture in their church 133 00:08:17,319 --> 00:08:20,959 studies when predecessor passors out of congregation wouldn't have had 134 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:23,959 Doctor King in their town along in their pulpit. And 135 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,160 so we need to remember that Doctor King was ousted 136 00:08:27,199 --> 00:08:30,160 from the National Baptist Convention USA Incorporated. As you mentioned, 137 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:32,799 he was let he was thrown out of the home 138 00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:36,440 of his father and his grandfathers on both sides, and 139 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,240 he literally was without a denominational home until the progess 140 00:08:41,279 --> 00:08:44,639 of National Baptist Convention was organized. He and Gardner Taylor 141 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:50,240 were thrown out. I say that because Doctor King called 142 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:56,399 this nation to account for its racism, for its militarism, 143 00:08:56,519 --> 00:08:59,240 and for its gangs to capitalists. We call it gangs 144 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:03,279 to capitalism now our word what he called it crass materialism. 145 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:09,480 We realize now too late, that doctor King was more 146 00:09:09,519 --> 00:09:12,279 than a civil rights leader. He was a prophet. He 147 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,559 was a preacher, as you mentioned, and he spoke prophetic truths, 148 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:20,159 and he was killed because his truth cut too deep 149 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:23,960 and too close to the real, very own wrongs of 150 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,679 this society. We are now, We are now in wars 151 00:09:29,399 --> 00:09:33,120 in this country, and not the King begged this nation 152 00:09:33,279 --> 00:09:35,279 to end his military involvement in Southeast Asia. 153 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:38,559 Speaker 1: You know, you know, Judge, when I reflect upon that 154 00:09:38,919 --> 00:09:41,559 in my own studies over the last couple of months, 155 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,519 in preparation for this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of 156 00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,960 this young nation July fourth, twenty twenty six, we will 157 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:52,440 be celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 158 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:58,159 Declaration of Independence. Doctor King stands out as this prophetic 159 00:09:58,279 --> 00:10:04,480 voice raising questions about this new civilization that has entered 160 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,360 the global sphere of contemplation. Not only a young nation, 161 00:10:08,519 --> 00:10:12,320 but it emerges as the most powerful nation, the most 162 00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:18,799 influential nation, against the backdrop of human civilization with significant 163 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,240 unfinished work in front of us. They talked about the 164 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:29,480 value system, the value system of putting people over politics, 165 00:10:30,159 --> 00:10:34,120 of putting people over things. We needed to move quickly, 166 00:10:34,159 --> 00:10:39,440 he said, from a thing oriented society to a to 167 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:44,399 a oriented society. Doc, we have a clip right here 168 00:10:44,399 --> 00:10:48,559 that I'd like to play. We are living in a 169 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:55,120 moral crisis, not symbolic, but so deep. Our humanity is 170 00:10:55,159 --> 00:10:58,799 at stake. There is a battle going on between good 171 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,840 and evil, and the fear creature of this nation and 172 00:11:01,879 --> 00:11:07,480 the world house hangs in the balance. That was Bernice King, 173 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:12,519 Reverend doctor Bernice King, speaking just yesterday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 174 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:15,879 Doctor Griffin, your thoughts. 175 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:20,919 Speaker 3: She speaks not only the truth her father spokes, but 176 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,159 she speaks the truth that we know. Our children, our 177 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:27,879 young people, are speaking it. They We're hearing it all 178 00:11:27,919 --> 00:11:31,159 across this country across the world. It is as real 179 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:36,039 as the murder of people who are murdered or killed 180 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,279 by ice in confinement, but also the killing of Nicole 181 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:44,960 Good Rene Good in Minneapolis. It is the murder of 182 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:53,519 people who are literally killed because of their ancestry or 183 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,600 because of their perceived ancestry. Because ice people are killing 184 00:11:57,759 --> 00:12:01,960 icees are killing folks and detaining folks based on appearance. 185 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:06,799 They're profiling people, and being racially profiled now is a 186 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:11,919 capital offense. We are seeing doctor King's concern about not 187 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,120 being a people, a personal in society, as he said 188 00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:19,279 so clearly on April four, nineteen sixty seven, to being 189 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:22,639 a thing or in society where we are more concerned 190 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:28,360 about cryptocurrency than the currency of human beings in communication 191 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:31,919 with each other and in solidarity with each other. And 192 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:36,720 so we have this very big dichotomy, as Bernice King mentioned, 193 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,639 where literally we our souls are being split apart. 194 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:45,000 Speaker 1: I want to pick up on that because you know, 195 00:12:45,159 --> 00:12:49,759 I've heard thousands of sermons have been delivered about the 196 00:12:49,759 --> 00:12:54,200 fierce urgency of now. Rarely does anyone refer to in 197 00:12:54,279 --> 00:12:59,759 those sermons beyond Vietnam speech and or bring the connection 198 00:12:59,799 --> 00:13:04,159 to beyond Venezuela a time to speak. But really, doctor 199 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,120 King's challenge is not only to the US government. What 200 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,639 makes him unpopular is that his challenge is to each 201 00:13:09,639 --> 00:13:12,480 and every one of us. And by that I mean 202 00:13:12,639 --> 00:13:16,360 when he says a thing oriented society. I tried to 203 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,919 break it down this way. We all want bananas, but 204 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,360 we don't want to have anything to do with Panamanian 205 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,200 neighbors or Costa Rican neighbors. We don't have anything to 206 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,159 do with people living next door to us who actually 207 00:13:30,159 --> 00:13:35,279 come from lands that grow bananas. We all want lower 208 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:40,960 gas prices, but we're ignoring the Venezuelan and the immigrants 209 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:43,200 and the crisis that they're going through in their own country, 210 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,159 the people who stand on the largest oil reserves in 211 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,639 the nation. We wake up in the morning we hear 212 00:13:49,679 --> 00:13:53,200 the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which in nineteen fifty four, 213 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:55,720 when Brown versus the Board of Education was decided. If 214 00:13:55,759 --> 00:13:58,960 you google it, the Dow Jones Industrial average was at 215 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:03,000 four hundred and four. Right the power of Doctor King's death. 216 00:14:03,399 --> 00:14:07,159 In nineteen sixty eight, the Dow Jones Industrial average, the 217 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,080 industrial average, the measure of the American economy, was one 218 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,360 thousand at the beginning of the Reagan administration, the Dow 219 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,679 Jones Industrial average was at seven thousand. At the end 220 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:22,840 of the Barack Obama administration, the Dow Jones Industrial average 221 00:14:22,919 --> 00:14:28,159 was at nineteen thousand. It closed last Friday at forty 222 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:33,240 nine thousand. And yet there is so much misery in 223 00:14:33,279 --> 00:14:36,279 the land. People are not getting their snap benefits. There's 224 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,559 a great debate in this nation about health care, about housing, 225 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:44,679 about affordability, about quality of life. And then I reflected 226 00:14:44,799 --> 00:14:47,919 upon in my remarks that what happens in this AI 227 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:52,759 and robotic, profit driven economy for more and more efficiencies. 228 00:14:53,279 --> 00:14:56,759 When Dow Jones is at sixty thousand and at eighty thousand, 229 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:59,600 there is a tipping point when the economy itself no 230 00:14:59,679 --> 00:15:03,519 longer needs the American people because it becomes so efficient 231 00:15:04,039 --> 00:15:06,399 that it doesn't take care of the least of these. 232 00:15:07,759 --> 00:15:11,159 Speaker 3: I think you have tesched on what doctor King talked about. 233 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:16,519 You recall quite well that doctor King said that at 234 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:21,080 some point, at some point, a nation that has a 235 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:25,240 true evvulution of values will have to regalize that when 236 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:30,600 his words, when machines and computers, profit motives, and property 237 00:15:30,679 --> 00:15:35,240 rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets 238 00:15:35,279 --> 00:15:41,200 of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. 239 00:15:42,279 --> 00:15:46,000 End quote. We not only have not conquered them, we 240 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,759 have multiplied them. What you refer to in the adult 241 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:53,679 Jones indjustment edge has been an exponential increase in the 242 00:15:53,799 --> 00:15:58,799 taw couple with an exponential increase in the misery that 243 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:03,399 our people are suffering. So we have exponential increase in 244 00:16:03,519 --> 00:16:09,720 supposed wealth and exponential increase interposed hurt, and we cannot 245 00:16:09,759 --> 00:16:13,159 recognize that the wealth is going to a smaller and 246 00:16:13,279 --> 00:16:17,240 smaller number of people, and the hurt is expanded to 247 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,600 a larger and wider and deeper the freedom so much 248 00:16:20,639 --> 00:16:24,559 so that like a virus or a cancer, we are 249 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:29,440 becoming incapable of dealing with the problems. Our problems are 250 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:34,559 now self made and multiplied. The triplets are now our couplets. 251 00:16:34,759 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: And we wake up every morning, we read the stock market, 252 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,559 we look at our iras, we ask ourselves the question, 253 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,440 how are we doing? Is the economy better off today 254 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,320 four years than it was four years ago? And we 255 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:49,600 keep going down this same road to the point doctor 256 00:16:49,679 --> 00:16:52,000 King suggests at the end of the speech that we 257 00:16:52,039 --> 00:16:59,039 are looking at either nonviolent coexistence or absolute annihilation of 258 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,559 the idea of the species and the idea of civilization. 259 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,759 Very powerful and unpopular words for someone who peeped the 260 00:17:09,759 --> 00:17:14,400 direction of our economy, who peeped the direction of our politics. 261 00:17:14,799 --> 00:17:18,079 And if you add to that the influence that the 262 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:23,079 Constitution should have on directing the economy to humane priorities 263 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:29,319 for the American people, you're right. It is simply suggestive 264 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,559 of the fact that this is a system that is 265 00:17:32,599 --> 00:17:36,000 moving in a direction that needs more and more oil, 266 00:17:36,599 --> 00:17:41,279 more and more critical minerals, more and more reserves in 267 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,319 order to consume and meet the needs of each of 268 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,839 us who wakes up in the morning concerning concerned about ourselves, 269 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:53,200 concerned about our homes, and concerned about our bottom lines. 270 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,200 That the collective is completely lost. 271 00:17:56,519 --> 00:18:01,640 Speaker 3: The line that doctor King said that haunts me to 272 00:18:01,680 --> 00:18:06,720 this day, to this day, this is nineteen sixty seven 273 00:18:06,759 --> 00:18:11,759 he gave it. We're in twenty twenty six, so we're 274 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:16,400 literally almost fifty years away. And he said, a nation 275 00:18:17,079 --> 00:18:20,319 that continues year after year to spend more money on 276 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,400 military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching 277 00:18:24,519 --> 00:18:30,079 spiritual death. I wrote in The Fierce urgency of prophetic hope, 278 00:18:30,559 --> 00:18:33,279 that we've continued to go over and over and over 279 00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:37,319 our budgets in military defense and instead of social uplift 280 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:41,279 year after year. Sooner or later, people who caught spiritual 281 00:18:41,319 --> 00:18:45,480 death find a way to kill themselves, and our society 282 00:18:45,839 --> 00:18:52,920 has found a way to commit national suicide of our souls, 283 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,279 but also of our democracy. We're seeing the democracy imperiled, 284 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:01,440 we're seeing our character imperiled, and we're seeing our sense 285 00:19:01,519 --> 00:19:06,279 of humanity imperial. The world now is aghast at the 286 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,000 nation that has so much hubris. It does not realize 287 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:09,799 how horrible it is. 288 00:19:10,319 --> 00:19:11,839 Speaker 1: Doc we only have about a minute and a half 289 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:13,799 before we come forward. If you had to preach the 290 00:19:13,799 --> 00:19:16,400 eulogy of our system, what would it sound like. 291 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:22,559 Speaker 3: It would sound like the nation that forgot its profit. 292 00:19:24,279 --> 00:19:29,680 We have learned the wrong lessons from the wrong profits. 293 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:35,640 We've learned the lessons from the profits of greed, of racism, 294 00:19:36,240 --> 00:19:39,759 of bigotry, and we have not learned the lessons from 295 00:19:39,759 --> 00:19:44,160 the prophet of love, justice and democracy. And when you 296 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,119 forget the nations of your lessons, of your prophets, you 297 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,599 commit the sins of your ancestors. We're doing that. 298 00:19:51,559 --> 00:19:54,039 Speaker 1: I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. You're listening to the Jesse Jackson 299 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:56,440 Junior Show. Our very special guest in this hour is 300 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:01,519 Judge Wendell Griffin and Arkansas lawyer juris legal educator. In 301 00:20:01,599 --> 00:20:05,079 nineteen eighty five, appointed by Governor Bill Clinton to chair 302 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,960 the Arkansas Workers' Compensation Commission, making Griffin the first person 303 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,000 of color name to that state agency and the first 304 00:20:12,319 --> 00:20:15,480 to chair it. We're having an honest conversation about the 305 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,799 destiny of the United States. We've heard a brief eulogy 306 00:20:18,839 --> 00:20:21,960 of what it represents. There may be a way, there 307 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,039 may be a way to amend our way out of 308 00:20:25,079 --> 00:20:28,000 this problem. The right to healthcare of equal high quality 309 00:20:28,279 --> 00:20:31,799 as a constitutional right and a new government priority. The 310 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:34,720 right to a clean, safe, and sustainable bull environment, and 311 00:20:34,799 --> 00:20:36,880 the right to an education of equal high quality. And 312 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,319 God knows we need the constitutional right to vote. I'm 313 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:41,400 Jesse Jackson Junior. More, but Judge Griffin and when come 314 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:44,799 forward on the Jesse Jackson Junior Show. I'm Jesse Jackson Junior. 315 00:20:44,799 --> 00:20:48,079 Welcome forward to the Jesse Jackson Junior Show. Judge Wendell Griffin. 316 00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:51,079 This is his second appearance on the Jesse Jackson Junior show. 317 00:20:51,599 --> 00:20:53,559 I'm trying to find room on our schedule to make 318 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,839 him a regular contributor to the show. I'm so great 319 00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:01,599 he's he's spending this quality, immerseful time with us on 320 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,480 the spirit energy of what's taking place in our nation. 321 00:21:04,559 --> 00:21:05,960 Judge Griffin, welcome forward to the show. 322 00:21:06,599 --> 00:21:09,799 Speaker 3: Thank you so much, and I thank you Congressmond Jackson 323 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,920 for being the wonderfully tenacious host that you are and 324 00:21:14,039 --> 00:21:17,480 keeping it real because you have not chosen to give 325 00:21:17,559 --> 00:21:23,799 up the legacy of justice in favor of let me 326 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:28,440 put it this way, in favor of the creed of 327 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,160 the day, which is get man, and don't forget Aboutny 328 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:34,200 don't think of anybody else, you know, you think about 329 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:35,480 all of us. Thank you, Judge. 330 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,079 Speaker 1: I appreciate you very much, you know I am. I'm 331 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,000 after having studied for the last month or so in 332 00:21:41,039 --> 00:21:44,799 preparation for this hour beyond Vietnam speech. I think I'm 333 00:21:44,799 --> 00:21:46,720 as depressed at this moment as I've been in a 334 00:21:46,799 --> 00:21:51,000 very long time. I share Doctor King's depression that there 335 00:21:51,039 --> 00:21:54,960 is something profoundly wrong in our society. There's something profoundly 336 00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:59,000 wrong with our system. The Constitution, the Declaration of Independence 337 00:21:59,039 --> 00:22:02,599 have guided the nation, albeit through its most difficult and 338 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:08,599 continuingly difficult periods. And I'm wondering if also in the 339 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,440 Constitution is the possibility of our nation's salvation. In two 340 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,519 thousand and one, I wrote about this in my book 341 00:22:14,839 --> 00:22:19,359 A More Perfect Union. I advanced nine new individual rights 342 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,079 to be added to the Constitution that literally would direct 343 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:27,559 capitalism to new opportunities. If the first amendment is responsible 344 00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:33,160 for ABC, NBCCBS, the Internet, cell phones and billboards, newspapers, 345 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,279 and all of the outdoor advertising, and literally the millions 346 00:22:36,319 --> 00:22:40,079 of jobs that are created from the idea of free speech, 347 00:22:41,119 --> 00:22:45,279 then a carefully worded amendment to the Constitution of the 348 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,359 United States, gearing teeing every American the right to healthcare 349 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,400 of equal high quality could also be responsible for the 350 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,720 creation the construction of hundreds, if not thousands, of hospitals 351 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:58,960 in urban areas and rural areas. It could create tens 352 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,200 of thousands, hundreds of thousands of doctors and nurses and 353 00:23:03,279 --> 00:23:05,920 share in a value to create a society where we 354 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:10,079 have the longest longevity as people by making sure people 355 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,519 can live and they can thrive. That the same constitution 356 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,200 could build public schools of equal high quality. Knowing no disparities, 357 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:23,680 and therefore the pool of athletes, for example, would be 358 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:25,839 so great when we see an NFL game or a 359 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,960 baseball game, when all of these schools have coaches and 360 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:33,960 teachers of equal high quality and fields and children during 361 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,200 the formative years of their lives are exposed to the 362 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,920 great opportunities that are America, we would have a huge 363 00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:43,319 pool to choose from to determine who plays for the 364 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,039 Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the LA Rams. We 365 00:23:47,079 --> 00:23:53,160 would change the nature of us working together again, guided 366 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,559 by the Constitution of the United States. I'm going to 367 00:23:55,599 --> 00:23:57,759 close on this quick point. Tavis Smiley once shared with 368 00:23:57,799 --> 00:24:01,440 me that he was at a forum for Michael Milkin 369 00:24:01,599 --> 00:24:06,000 and Michael Milkin Foundation, and the question was raised after 370 00:24:06,039 --> 00:24:08,720 they had met for several days with hundreds of people 371 00:24:08,759 --> 00:24:12,799 to discuss the best education ideas. And mister Milkin pulled 372 00:24:12,839 --> 00:24:14,920 all of the people into a big auditorium and he said, listen, 373 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,000 I've heard everyone's idea, but is there anyone in here 374 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,799 who has a grand idea that would solve all things 375 00:24:19,839 --> 00:24:23,559 for us? And Tavis said the quiet in the room 376 00:24:23,599 --> 00:24:25,640 was ominous. No one raised his hand. He said, he 377 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:27,640 thought for a moment, Let me try some of this, 378 00:24:27,759 --> 00:24:28,480 Jesse Jr. 379 00:24:29,039 --> 00:24:29,839 Speaker 3: Let me Jesse. 380 00:24:32,039 --> 00:24:35,319 Speaker 1: Tavis raised his hand and he said, and then he 381 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:37,559 looked around. Michael Milkin looked around and said, well, Tavis, 382 00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:40,880 what's your great idea? He said, what if we amended 383 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:45,079 the Constitution and all Americans enjoyed the right to a 384 00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,240 public education of equal high quality, setting in motion the 385 00:24:48,279 --> 00:24:52,799 construction of tens of thousands of new, highly competitive public 386 00:24:52,839 --> 00:24:56,599 schools across our country, putting people to work. He said, 387 00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:03,160 The entire room was quiet, It was ominous for everyone 388 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,240 for that moment had an insight in what was possible. 389 00:25:06,960 --> 00:25:09,759 But of course the difficulty of mending the Constitution makes 390 00:25:09,759 --> 00:25:12,240 it even more difficult. In other words, towards doctor King's 391 00:25:12,759 --> 00:25:15,880 Better Society and World House Judge. 392 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:21,160 Speaker 3: We are not accidentally dysfunctional. We are systematically dysfunctional. And 393 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:24,720 your suggestion of a men in the Constitution points to 394 00:25:24,759 --> 00:25:28,400 that we could if we would, if we had the 395 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:31,440 moral will, if we had the courage, if we had 396 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:35,440 the moral Canada, we could do exactly what you suggest 397 00:25:35,799 --> 00:25:38,640 we could produce. We could amend the Constitution so that 398 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:45,079 we would value education and liberation over incarceration. We could 399 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,559 value not only the performing art in athletics, but also 400 00:25:50,599 --> 00:25:55,640 the performing arts in drama and theater. We met value. 401 00:25:56,319 --> 00:26:01,759 We could value science, the conation that produce, that produces 402 00:26:01,799 --> 00:26:08,279 the wonderful rappers. Still that also produce Dinah Washington and 403 00:26:08,599 --> 00:26:13,279 Duke Ellington and we But if our schools, those schools 404 00:26:13,319 --> 00:26:18,680 had music programs in them, were teachers who were inspiring 405 00:26:18,839 --> 00:26:25,319 young people. August Wilson's plays could be performed, but also 406 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,839 knew August Wilson's could be producing and writing and imagining. 407 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,119 This comes out of schools. You don't get this out 408 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,920 of AI. You don't get this out of a data center. 409 00:26:37,039 --> 00:26:39,920 Speaker 4: You know you're preaching right now, Reverend, let me tell you, 410 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,960 I'm thinking in this moment that the prophetic vision of 411 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:50,000 the nation the doctor King was struggling with, which was 412 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,400 spot on in. 413 00:26:51,279 --> 00:26:56,039 Speaker 1: The nineteen sixty seven April fourth Speech, is also challenged 414 00:26:56,039 --> 00:26:59,319 by the fact that people could not hear him that 415 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:04,119 people were losing faith in America itself. Judge, you've sworn 416 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:09,720 to uphold the Constitution on many different occasions. Your thought 417 00:27:09,839 --> 00:27:13,160 about the loyalty oath to making the nation better. 418 00:27:15,039 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 3: The oath is not the problem. It is the oath 419 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:21,640 taker no oath is any better than the person who 420 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:27,039 takes it. People can swear to do something, but their 421 00:27:27,599 --> 00:27:31,079 oath is no good if their character is deceitful, if 422 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:35,119 they are hypocrites, if they are ruthless. Then the oath 423 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,279 to protect and preserve the constitution, to look out for 424 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:40,880 the least of these and the vulnerable is no good 425 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,440 because they will, in their ruthlessness, run over the people 426 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:48,759 they're sworn to protect and to serve. So I'm not 427 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:54,440 concerned about the loyalty oath itself. I'm concerned about the 428 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:59,519 fidelity of people, the faithfulness of people, and I am concerned. 429 00:27:59,599 --> 00:28:03,039 Let me just simply say it about the gullibility of 430 00:28:03,279 --> 00:28:09,440 an electorate that knowing people who have lived their careers 431 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:15,880 in ruthlessness and greed and self centeredness, would believe that 432 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:21,279 they would somehow become honest, generous, and hospitable because we 433 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,599 elect them to the highest office in power. People who 434 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,880 are corrupt when given power, use their power in more 435 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:34,599 corrupt ways. Smart liars lie smarter, They don't become more truthful. 436 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,599 Speaker 1: I just want to add before we come forward. When 437 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:44,640 such a constitutional right is added to the Constitution, it 438 00:28:44,759 --> 00:28:47,880 means that three hundred and fifty million Americans have the 439 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:52,799 legal right to take your local jurisdiction, your state, including 440 00:28:52,799 --> 00:28:57,480 the federal government, to court to demand the change through 441 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:02,400 the legal system that the constitution forces. If in fact 442 00:29:02,519 --> 00:29:06,079 it is not in the constitution, we don't have that right. 443 00:29:06,799 --> 00:29:12,079 That is deeply troubling at this hour of the American experiment. 444 00:29:12,359 --> 00:29:16,559 It is deeply troubling at democracies around the world who've 445 00:29:16,599 --> 00:29:21,400 copied our constitution and in copying our constitution, whether it 446 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,200 is in Africa or South America, these constitutions that model 447 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:30,400 themselves after our own do not reflect the human values 448 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,759 that we are still fighting for within our own country. 449 00:29:33,799 --> 00:29:36,400 I'm Jesse Jackson Junior. Listening to Jesse Jackson Junior Show. 450 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,640 More when we come forward with Judge Wendell Griffin. Right 451 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,160 after this message, I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. Welcome forward to 452 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,559 the Jesse Jackson Junior Show. And just before we continue 453 00:29:44,599 --> 00:29:47,240 our discussion with Judge Griffin, I want Judge Griffin to 454 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:49,599 know that at the top three minutes of the show, 455 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,880 I always leave it for a word of hope from 456 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:54,839 our very special guest, and I have to prepare you 457 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,480 for the idea that after our brief conversation. There will 458 00:29:57,519 --> 00:30:00,200 be three minutes at the top of the show for 459 00:30:00,279 --> 00:30:01,640 your word of hope. I want to think in a 460 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,279 very special way. In the last week, Kamala Harris has 461 00:30:05,359 --> 00:30:09,799 visited my father's bedside. We Wonder has also visited my 462 00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:13,000 father's bedside, and I'm grateful that I see a picture 463 00:30:13,039 --> 00:30:15,759 that our producer Gina Towns has put up of gil 464 00:30:15,799 --> 00:30:21,640 Scott Heron, Stevie Wonder, Reverend Jackson and Gladys Knight and 465 00:30:21,680 --> 00:30:24,640 some of the earlier times that they all spend together, 466 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:26,880 and I wanted to thank them for those visits. Judge, 467 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,519 I want to ask this this final question and leave 468 00:30:30,039 --> 00:30:36,079 some room for your thoughts. In your book Parables, Politics 469 00:30:36,119 --> 00:30:41,400 and Prophetic Faith, you draw the with I might add 470 00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:45,480 Alan Aubrey Bozak, written also with Judge Wendell Griffin. Judge 471 00:30:46,559 --> 00:30:49,960 Reverend Bozak is, as everyone knows, a champion of ending 472 00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:54,400 the apartheid regime in South Africa. You make this connection 473 00:30:54,599 --> 00:30:59,519 between our politics, the parables themselves, and the prophetic nature 474 00:30:59,559 --> 00:31:03,359 of our faith. Help restore our faith and our energy 475 00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:07,960 as we move forward during these very difficult and challenging times. 476 00:31:09,599 --> 00:31:12,480 Speaker 3: We do not choose the time in which we live. 477 00:31:12,559 --> 00:31:18,279 We choose the conduct we use in those times, and 478 00:31:18,559 --> 00:31:22,880 part of that choice involves choosing whether to have life 479 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,559 with a kind of as doctor King said, fierce hope, 480 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:32,920 a hope that is that transcends our situations. I like 481 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:38,640 to remind us that the African American national anthem lift 482 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:43,359 every voice and sing ends with a reminder that we 483 00:31:43,599 --> 00:31:47,599 have come over a way that with tears has been watered. 484 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:53,599 We have come through bad times, or as one of 485 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:56,319 our wonderful artists, that life for me ain't been no 486 00:31:56,400 --> 00:32:01,720 crystal chair. Ah. We have come through the and every 487 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:06,720 generation has a moment that we have to declare ourselves 488 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,960 who we are. Are we people of desperation or inspiration? 489 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:17,559 Are we people of frustration, of ferocity, ferocious ferocious hope? 490 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:21,920 Are we people who are determined to overcome? Are we 491 00:32:22,079 --> 00:32:25,359 people who are simply going to be confined to our 492 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:29,279 sense of misery because of the difficulty we face? Those 493 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:33,480 choices are ours, But we are come from a people 494 00:32:33,519 --> 00:32:37,079 who are inspired by a faith that is bigger than 495 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:43,559 the situations of our time. Our struggle is defined by 496 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,640 our faith and our hope. And I have I got 497 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,599 to be a preacher come on, I've got to say 498 00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:55,759 that trouble has never been God for us. Injustice has 499 00:32:55,799 --> 00:32:59,519 never been God for us. In humanity has never been 500 00:32:59,559 --> 00:33:03,799 God for us. We know who our God is, we 501 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,720 know on what we stand, and we know that just 502 00:33:07,799 --> 00:33:11,720 as we have known that Hitler was not God in 503 00:33:11,799 --> 00:33:16,359 the twenty in the nineteen, in the nineteen hundreds, Trump 504 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:21,160 is not God in the twenty first century, injustice is 505 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:26,240 not God anytime. We have to remember that the justice 506 00:33:26,519 --> 00:33:29,720 in our life is depend upon the God of our lives, 507 00:33:30,039 --> 00:33:35,880 the Biji God. And that is what your father inspired 508 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:40,599 in you and your siblings. That is what doctor King demonstrated. 509 00:33:41,119 --> 00:33:43,359 That is what we have to pass on the business generation. 510 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,319 Speaker 1: There's gonna be two words of hope, because that's the 511 00:33:48,359 --> 00:33:54,079 first one I'm thinking in this moment that Doctor King 512 00:33:54,240 --> 00:34:00,359 also talked about how often the policymakers and the liberal 513 00:34:00,519 --> 00:34:06,000 thinkers always come with the policy prescriptions, but their policies 514 00:34:06,119 --> 00:34:11,320 prescriptions are not necessarily tied to the parables or tied 515 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:15,679 to the prophetic faith. They are great on paper, stand 516 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:19,159 for this program, stand for that program, but what propels 517 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:24,360 them through time is their faith. You wove that together 518 00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:28,639 in parables, politics and prophetic faith suggesting that it is 519 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:33,079 okay to engage the present hour. Woe, may all our 520 00:34:33,119 --> 00:34:37,719 powers be engaged to do the Master's will. Judge Wendell Griffin. 521 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:40,199 A final thought, a word of hope. You got a 522 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:43,800 few more minutes this time to take you time and 523 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:44,760 take us to that place. 524 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:52,199 Speaker 3: I am seventy three years old, like your father, I'm 525 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:55,239 part of the like your parents, I'm part of the 526 00:34:55,360 --> 00:35:00,599 last generation of Africans Americans who lived and have first 527 00:35:00,599 --> 00:35:08,599 hand knowledge of Jim Crow. Separate bathrooms and water fountains 528 00:35:08,599 --> 00:35:13,159 that didn't work, schools that didn't have the right books. 529 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:16,000 I went through the whole ninth grade without an algebra book. 530 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:18,199 How do you learn algebra two if you don't have 531 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:23,440 an algebra for Algerie one? And my parents were laborers 532 00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,239 and they've paid the same taxes the white people did. 533 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,000 But the white parents had children with algeerie books and 534 00:35:30,159 --> 00:35:34,079 teachers who didn't have better education, because our black teachers 535 00:35:34,159 --> 00:35:37,320 often had master's degrees and the white teachers only had 536 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:41,400 bachelors degrees. But the white teachers got better facilities. But 537 00:35:41,679 --> 00:35:46,320 our parents sent us to schools with an inspiration. You 538 00:35:47,079 --> 00:35:51,199 are not less than your God has put you here 539 00:35:51,199 --> 00:35:53,840 for a purpose, and you are being prepared for a 540 00:35:53,920 --> 00:36:00,920 future that is bigger than this predicament. I still remember 541 00:36:01,480 --> 00:36:05,039 seeing the images of doctor King. I still remember seeing 542 00:36:05,079 --> 00:36:10,119 images of your father. I still remember hearing the voices. 543 00:36:11,039 --> 00:36:14,840 Not only have those televised, but those old saints of 544 00:36:15,199 --> 00:36:19,719 Pike County, Arkansas and Harrison Chapel Baptist Church who picked 545 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,719 cotton in the fall so we could have some money 546 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:26,239 to have. And when I went to college, told me 547 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:27,840 to come to church and they would give me a 548 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,800 piece of money. That's what they called it, a piece 549 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,159 of money, so I could go back to school. They 550 00:36:33,159 --> 00:36:35,280 didn't know what I was studying, but they believed in us. 551 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:40,719 I say all that to say that our people, and 552 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:47,280 I'm talking about black people. Our people have lived the 553 00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:52,400 parable of the scriptures of people who were faced with 554 00:36:52,639 --> 00:37:00,760 trials and left trials and triumphed, transscended trials and made triumph. 555 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:06,400 Made them triumphant not because they were given more opportunities, 556 00:37:06,639 --> 00:37:11,920 but because their God gave them a powerful sense of 557 00:37:12,039 --> 00:37:16,000 their identity that saw opportunity where other people gave them 558 00:37:16,039 --> 00:37:23,000 only opposition. We will not always be favorite, but we 559 00:37:23,119 --> 00:37:28,159 will always have favor with God. And we will not 560 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:34,239 always be favorites in the society, but we will always 561 00:37:34,519 --> 00:37:40,039 have a favorite outcome if we will simply remember that 562 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:47,039 there is, as doctor King said, a message truth knockdown 563 00:37:47,599 --> 00:37:52,920 does rise. I'm a Christian. My religion doesn't stop on 564 00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:56,840 Good Friday. It goes to the Easter Sunday morning. I 565 00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:02,440 have an Easter religion, an East assist justice, and I 566 00:38:02,559 --> 00:38:04,559 have an Eastern faith. If I didn't have that, I'd 567 00:38:04,559 --> 00:38:09,400 put my Bible down, take up rock thowing. But I 568 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:13,400 am not. I am not gonna lay my legiend down 569 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,280 because I'm not gonna let my people down. 570 00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:22,559 Speaker 1: Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne. 571 00:38:22,599 --> 00:38:25,159 Yet it is the scaffold that sways the future. For 572 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:31,800 behind the dim unknown stand it God keeping watch above 573 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,880 his own. Amen, Judge Griffin, thank you very much for 574 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:36,239 participating in our show today. 575 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:40,639 Speaker 3: Thank you so much. God bless you. Please give my 576 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,400 glove to your father and tell him, hey, folks, he 577 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:46,800 doesn't know the lawyer he used to talk to at 578 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:49,000 the Baptist mention is still praying born. 579 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,599 Speaker 1: I'm Jesse Jackson Jr. I'm particularly grateful for that, for 580 00:38:52,679 --> 00:38:55,000 that word of hope, and for that prayer from my father. 581 00:38:55,039 --> 00:38:57,960 I'm Jesse Jackson Junior. More on k BLA Talk fifteen eighty. 582 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:01,920 When we come forward, it's Tenation's Tuesdays with Attorney Barbara Arnwine. 583 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:02,559 Speaker 3: Think you judge,