# Harlem in 1967: The Vietnam War, Racism and Self-Defense - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2051814756361572518 - Source account: [@AfricanArchives](https://x.com/AfricanArchives) - Source language: English - Duration: 2:44 - Published: 2026-10-21 - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense) The white man holds your life in the palm of his hand. [0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=3) I agree with you. You're afraid to open your mouth- Not me ... because he can take your bread out your mouth. [0:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=8) Not me, darling. Not me. He can put you out of your apartment. He can take your job. [0:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=13) So you walk along and they come out and say, "What do you think about so and so and so?" "Oh, I ain't got nothing to say. I ain't gonna say nothing. [0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=18) I don't make no difference to me." What can you do? [0:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=20) What you're hearing is the raw, unfiltered voice of Harlem in 1967. This footage comes from the landmark documentary, No Vietnamese Ever Called Me , filmed during the massive anti-war march from Harlem to the United Nations. [0:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=34) At this moment, the United States was a powder keg, and for the Black community, the mood was one of profound, cruel irony. [0:42](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=42) While the government was drafting young Black men to fight for democracy 8,000 miles away in Southeast Asia, those same men were returning home to find they couldn't even get a job or an apartment without facing systemic walls. [0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=55) The Black man been going over away in foreign countries fighting for wars ever since I can remember. And even before your time or mine, the Black man has been sent all over the world fighting for his rights. [1:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=65) And today, there's Wallace and his wife down there forming some kind of thing to keep the Black child out of school. [1:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=72) I agree. In America. I agree with you. Let us clean up here, my darling. [1:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=76) I agree with you. We would live what we preach in the world. We wouldn't have to fight. [1:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=80) I agree with you 100. You understand? I agree with you 100%. [1:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=82) We are fighting for nothing because the white man say you fight, but you pay your taxes. When I get my little envelope, the man got my money. He don't ask me for it, he takes it. [1:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=92) He takes it. I'm a citizen then. That's it. [1:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=94) But if I open my mouth about anything else, I'm a communist, I'm a rabble-riser, I'm stirring up things. [1:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=100) But the same thing that I'm speaking for, for myself, the white man does it and been doing it all of his life. [1:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=107) What do you think of the Black man defending himself with guns in, over in Vietnam, and yet not supposed to use guns here in the States? [1:51](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=111) You don't, why do you keep on saying that? [1:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=113) He's not supposed to do it, but the white man's telling him to do it. [1:56](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=116) He's defending himself. He ain't sent there. He ain't sent there. [1:58](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=118) He's supposed to defend himself. When, when they push him like that, what the hell are you ... [2:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=124) If somebody keep on coming up to you with a damn gun, what are you gonna do? [2:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=127) Yes. Sit back? They teach him to fight and kill over there. [2:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=130) You gonna sit back? And they come here and kill the same- Huh? [2:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=132) ... because they're taught to kill. They're taught to kill over there in life. [2:15](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=135) The hell are you talking ... You keep on talking about why the Black man can't ... [2:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=138) Well, he's supposed to defend his damn self. [2:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=140) Listen, you said to me a Black man is sent over to Vietnam with a gun. What should he do? Isn't a white man sent over there, too? [2:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=148) Right. Well, what the hell would he do? No, I asked you if he should defend himself at home here, too, with a gun. [2:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=152) That's what I asked you. You bet your damn life. If they keep on bucking him. [2:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/66hR7vDcdFK4/en/harlem-in-1967-the-vietnam-war-racism-and-self-defense?t=157) If they keep on bucking him, yes. Shoot the hell out of them.