Tricks: Black Power; Money; Chicago Trial; Panthers

Annotation — 1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs

Dick Gregory - an American comedian and social activist, who in 1968 ran for president for the Freedom and Peace Party. He was born 12 October 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and died 19 August 2017 in Washington, DC, USA.12 He released a bunch of political comedy and spoken-word records, largely focused on Civil Rights, many of which referred to the Vietnam War, including Dick Gregory On: (1969), The Light Side: The Dark Side (1969), Dick Gregory's Frankenstein (1970), and At Kent State (1971) about the Kent State shooting in Ohio, where four student were killed. This record, released on Poppy (# PYS-60,004) had two tracks related to the Chicago '68 Vietnam War demonstration, in the Civil Rights context. The first track "Tricks: Black Power; Money; Chicago Trial; Panthers" called it a "trick trial", and stressed the importance of it, with regards to justice and equality. While the older generation were concerned with law and order and making money, he called on young people to remember its importance: The second track "Bobby Seale / The Real Criminals" of course focused on the co-founder of the Black Panthers, Bobby Seale, noted to have been "shackled to a chair, hands cuffed, mouth taped" because he wanted to defend himself in the courtroom. Gregory made the point that if the same thing had happened Russia, Americans would be pointing fingers at the communist. He noted that serial killer Charles Manson was permitted to defend himself, as well as Jack Ruby, who assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald. He concluded that to be convicted in an American court room does not make you a criminal, and that Bobby Seale faced discrimination from a racist judge and court. Sources1dickgregory.com (archived copy)↩2Callus on My Soul: A Memoir (Dick Gregory, 2003)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Civil Rights Songs

Dick Gregory - an American comedian and social activist, who in 1968 ran for president for the Freedom and Peace Party. He was born 12 October 1932 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, and died 19 August 2017 in Washington, DC, USA.12 He released a bunch of political comedy and spoken-word records, largely focused on Civil Rights, many of which referred to the Vietnam War, including Dick Gregory On: (1969), The Light Side: The Dark Side (1969), Dick Gregory's Frankenstein (1970), and At Kent State (1971) about the Kent State shooting in Ohio, where four student were killed. This record, released on Poppy (# PYS-60,004) had two tracks related to the Chicago '68 Vietnam War demonstration, in the Civil Rights context. The first track "Tricks: Black Power; Money; Chicago Trial; Panthers" called it a "trick trial", and stressed the importance of it, with regards to justice and equality. While the older generation were concerned with law and order and making money, he called on young people to remember its importance: Sources1dickgregory.com (archived copy)↩2Callus on My Soul: A Memoir (Dick Gregory, 2003)↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: See that old trick trial in Chicago finally got over, Chicago Seven, used to be eight, but we know about that though. I hope you young folks understand that the Chicago trial was very important...what happened, listen to your mamma and daddy, they busy making money, they didn't know what went down in Chicago, but very important that you young folks in American understand what went down in Chicago, the jury went out to deliberate, and when the jury left the room, the judge sent everybody to jail...what happened, your mothers and fathers are busy worrying about law and order... These old...degenerates...kill more people on American highways from drunken driving in one year than all the revolutionary action folks will kill in the whole world in the next 50 years. If you want to have a holiday in America, accident free, with no deaths?...Get some black kids, some white kids, get on television, say I'm SDS, I'm the Black Panthers, I'm Revolution # 9, we got a press conference, we want to ask everyone in America to demonstrate, protest against the war in Vietnam, on 4th of July, way we want you to protest...get drunk, get in your car, get on the highway, and kill someone... That trial in Chicago was very important...the way Judge Hoffman acted in Chicago, he made Hitler look like he has a lot of play...the judge knew...from the evidence the government presented...the jury...would come back in with a hung jury than a conviction...the game was, the judges job was to send…

Notes

2LP gatefold recorded at Bronx Community College; producer Kevin Eggers.

About the artist

Dick Gregory (born 12 October 1932, St. Louis, Missouri; died 19 August 2017, Washington, D.C.) was a comedian and civil rights activist who ran for president in 1968 for the Freedom and Peace Party. [Wikipedia]

Themes

Chicago Seven · Bobby Seale · Civil Rights

In collections

1968 Chicago Seven / Eight Songs · Civil Rights Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]