"We overcome odds bigger then this. We took on the mightiest nation in the world without guns and hatred in the greatness movement of planet Earth, our civil right movement," said Gregory.
I'm not denying the intense and deep racism that existed, but Gregory doesn't seem to grasp that the American people didn't just say "OK, we surrender to your superiority." The American people had consciences and basic decency that the Civil Rights movement (properly) worked on.
If Mr. Gregory had to 'take on' the US, he would still be a second-class citizen. The Civil Rights movement was more like a discussion and an agreement was reached based on the admission that blacks had been treated unfairly--that's not something you can to to an opponent who doesn't already see you as a fellow human being.
There are countless counter-examples he can look to where minorities struggled for their rights and were crushed by the majority, who didn't have a basic humanity. He is welcome to look at any number of countries in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, and then tell me about 'taking on...without gun...'. If the facts were as he believes, he'd have failed.
Anyway, now I feel better about saying he's a fool.
Amuses me to hear history distorted without challenge; even people on my political side let these lies slip through. The civil rights movement didn't take on the United States! They took on a rogue, atavistic portion of the South with the help of the United States.
Then, in a manifestation of undying gratitude, they turned around and blamed the country for the injustice it helped eradicate!
Never liked him. He went on a hunger strike to force Nixon to end our involvement in Vietnam. Said there’d be riots if he died, shrank from hefty to weighing just over 100 pounds, we were still in Vietnam (where I was reading about his shenanigans BTW) but one day a gaunt Dick Gregory arose, took up his pallet, and headed off to Burger King.
Forty years plus and he hasn’t changed. Only line I remember from his book was how he went into a whites only restaurant and ordered fried chicken and three guys named Ku, Klux, and Klan came over to his table and threatened, “Whatever you do to that chicken, boy, we’re gonna do to you.”
He wrote, “So I picked up that chicken, and I KISSED it!”