Latest / Black Girl Interrupted Podcast / Claudette Colvin

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Claudette Colvin · Black Girl Interrupted Podcast

0:11
Black Girl. Y'all already know how y'all already know how you started? Blair,
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what's up? What's up? What's up? Y'all? Is your girl
0:44
ash? I am giving y'all. Oh my goodness, y'all, what is
0:48
going on? Your girl is back with another episode of Black Girl interrupted.
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Y'all, Welcome to another episode. I don't know what's going on. I
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don't know why it's tripping. Why is acting like this? We having technical
1:03
issues, but we're gonna make it through, like we're gonna get through,
1:04
like I promise you that's what we're gonna do. Let me see, hm,
1:12
I don't want to do this. I don't know what the problem is.
1:18
They spoke doing the most be hass pyful. I got Look, I
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finally be like I be getting it, like I really be getting it,
1:26
Like I be over here practicing. Don't laugh at me, because I be
1:30
over here practicing, like I be trying to get like my little fingers and
1:33
everything together like I really be. I really be trying to get it together.
1:37
Let me pull this microphone closer because I promise. I feel like I'm
1:40
screaming at y'all. But anyway, welcome back to another episode. Of Black
1:45
Girl interrupted, y'all know it's your girl, ash by Ben. We're gonna
1:49
have fun. We all gonna have some fun, some fun, some fun.
1:53
I don't know what's going on why it's not connecting to Facebook, but
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I have to try to work out the technical issues on the back. But
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Happy Tuesday, Happy Tuesday. We are celebrating another day in Black History months
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but those that missed it last week, I'm celebrating Black History mine all month
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long. We are talking about everything in regards of Black history, hidden figures.
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And when I say we talking about real Black history, I'm not talking
2:21
about that textbook shit they taught us in school. No shade to Martin Luther
2:25
King Junior or Malcolm x A Rosa Park or any of the other pivotal figures
2:30
in Black history. But we know about them. I want to dive into
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the hidden figures that we don't always talk about. That's what I'm talking about
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tonight. So how y'all feeling to day? How y'all feeling this Tuesday?
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We are six days into the month of February. Damn it seemed like New
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Year's just got here, Like like it don't even feel like we're in twenty
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twenty four. But here we are, two months and six days into the
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new year. How y'all feeling. I hope everyone as good. I hope
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everyone's relaxed as I am. And I'm excited. Like when I let me
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say this, I'm so proud of myself, because, baby, when I
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tell you I've been in my bag, do you and me? I've been
3:20
in my bag? Like I pat myself on the back every day that I
3:23
wake up because I'm one step closer to my destination. I'm one step closer
3:29
to my goal. I'm one step closer to walking away from corporate America and
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allowing Black Girl Interrupted to be my career. Because this is what I like
3:37
doing. I enjoy doing this. I am the happiest when I'm in front
3:42
of this camera. Like I don't think y'all understand how excited I get as
3:46
soon as the lights come on, the cameras come on, and I get
3:51
the rulers, Like, I love doing this. I love the support,
3:55
I love the interaction everything with regardless of Black Girl Interrupted, I love.
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I really didn't learn to appreciate it until I was ready to walk away.
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So I can't give this up. I cannot give this up because I don't
4:12
think. Like I said, y'all don't understand like I love doing this.
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I laugh, I joke, I play with y'all. We have beautiful conversations,
4:18
and we're gonna keep having beautiful conversations. Some of them may get a
4:21
little uncomfortable, but that's all right. That's how we're gonna start to heal.
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That's how we're gonna start pulling these layers back, and we're gonna start
4:29
digging, digging, digging until that source starts to heal. So y'all already
4:34
know before I even get started, y'all know, I always have to do
4:39
my mental health check in. I always have to encourage y'all in some kind
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of way. I have to empower y'all. I have to uplift you in
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some kind of way. Even on my darkest days, I'm gonna always give
4:51
you some sunshine. But I do keep my boundaries too, Like I ain't
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gonna let y'all completely drain me, but I'm gonna I'm gonna keep pouring into
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people the way people are poured into me. So before we get started,
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y'all already know what I do here. We're going in, We're gonna jump
5:06
into some nice conversation because I cannot wait. Here we go when everybody it's
5:15
against you or don't believe in you no more. It's a lonely feeling.
5:19
Oh it hurts very badly. I know what that's like. And look at
5:25
you with that look and say, why don't you try something else? Why
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don't you give up? Get away from these people that's in your life that
5:32
ain't doing nothing. Get away from people in your life that's hey, get
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away from them, get away from them. If you take an oak tree
5:42
seed and you put it in a two foot pot, that sea will never
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become the oak tree that oak trees are capable of becoming, because it's gonna
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get stifled by the two foot pot. New check this out. They nothing
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wrong with the seed. See just fail prey to the environment. Don't you
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allow your environment to dictate the oak tree that you become. Hey, time
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you moved for being normal, they're trying to be exceptional. People aren't gonna
6:15
like this normal people. It makes them feel like she's there gonna judge you.
6:18
And that's why every true leader, they're called weird. They're called eccentric.
6:23
When you do the things of real leadership. You're gonna be called strange.
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Get strong enough in your own skin that when people laugh at you,
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or when they throw stones at you, you keep on going. I respect
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any motherfucker that wakes up every day and work. They ass off to live
6:42
their life and lifestyle A clubbing, party and hanging out. That ain't from
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me. I'm gonna be out here running in the hot sun, practicing while
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everybody else is clubbing and hanging out. You got your focus right. Don't
6:56
expect people to understand. You don't expect it to make sense to anybody.
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Why you've got to do this, Why you have got to go? Why
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you leave? This is a good job. I'm going they pay you well,
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I'm going why I don't understand. You don't have to I'm going for
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me. This is something I have got to do. How are you going
7:15
to make it? I don't know what I will. The universe responds to
7:20
the man or woman that refuses to be denied, because that is your commitment,
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that business that you want, that book you want to write, that
7:29
dream that you have of controlling your destiny, that is yours. That's available
7:34
to you. But you've got to be willing to stand there and face disappointment,
7:39
not have support, feel lonely, doubt yourself, sometimes being rejected again
7:44
and again and again, become bankrupt if necessary, again and again and again,
7:48
and refuse to turn around until life gives it up. Life will always
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be, to a large extent, what you make it, not what circumstances
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will make of it, but other people will make of it, not what
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other people say it will be, not what the environment will try and dictate
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to you, but what you make of your life. So when you're uncommon,
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get ready for the criticism. When you're uncommon, get ready for the
8:13
opposition. When you're uncommon, get ready for the common people not to understand
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you. If I decided to experience the fear of rejection, the fear of
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know the fear of failure, the fear of standing by myself, the fear
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of people not liking me, what else is available? Of taking a chance,
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a fear of losing it all? What else is available to me?
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People are gonna think you're crazy. You don't have nothing but lit in the
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corner of your pockets. You at to talk about living your creed, and
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people laughing at you, and they're doubting you. In case God's ladies and
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gentlemen. Let me tell you I believe in revenge. Like Frank Sinatre.
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He said, the best revenge is massive success. It's in a kulum with
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kindness, fort you and success. I don't know. Let me say this.
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That was for somebody. That video was for somebody to day and as
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somebody is me, because when I tell y'all, I'm so far in my
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bag for twenty twenty four, can't nothing stop me from getting where I'm trying
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to go. I don't care who doesn't support. I don't care who doesn't
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like. I don't care who doesn't comment, because whatever's ordained for me by
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God. Can't nobody take that away from me. Nobody. So let me
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tell you stamp this date February six four. Remember I told you black Girl
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interrupted as a household now and can't nobody tell me different. So I think
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I needed to hear that video. Everybody that I've been an actor with needed
10:16
to hear that video because somebody right now was sitting in the midst of the
10:18
storm ready to give up. Somebody right now was sitting ready to throw on
10:22
a towel and say, you know what, I can't do this anymore that
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somebody was me, that somebody was me. I was ready. I was
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ready to throw on a towel. I was done because I felt like I
10:33
couldn't go on. But as much as I love doing what I do,
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I couldn't give up. No, I'm not where I want to be with
10:41
my podcast, but guess what I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna get there
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one day at a time. Trust and be leaved. Y'all about to make
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me emotional because let me tell you something, I'm not gonna ever give up.
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And I say that to say, whatever your dream is, whatever your
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goal is, whatever your aspiration is, don't give up. Stop worrying.
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Let me say this, and I'm gonna say this loud. Stop worrying about
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your friends and whether they support you. It's always the strangers that give you
11:13
the biggest support. Sad to say, but it's the truth. So whatever
11:18
your goals, whatever your dreams, whatever your aspirations are, don't give up
11:24
because your friends ain't supporting you. It's people on the sideline that are watching,
11:28
that may not be saying anything, that are watching you and they want
11:31
to see you win. It's the jealous, spirited, evil, harder people
11:35
that want to see you fail, and that's because they don't have anything going
11:39
on in their life, so they want to see you felt. But I'm
11:43
gonna make sure you drown while watching me trying to fail. Maybe I said
11:48
they're wrong, but I'm gonna make sure you drown while I win. Let
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me say that, let me correct that. So while you're waiting on me
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to fail, God says, I'm already a winner. Now how about that?
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How about that? You can't take that away from me? And that's
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exactly why I've been posting everything I've been posting on my Facebook page, say,
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encourage somebody, to empower somebody, to uplift somebody. Even on my
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days that have been dark for me, i'mna still love on you. I'm
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gonna still pouring to you, I'm gonna still encourage you, I'm gonna still
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empower you because that takes nothing away from me because I'm already blessed and highly
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favored by the most time, by the person that matters the most. Now
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what chew on that for a moment? Anyways? Uh Oh, that got
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my husband, y'all, Hey, my baby, I love you. I
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hope you're having a good night. He says, hey, my beautiful wife.
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Of course we locked in, sir, Now try again. I told
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you no divorce over here, Sweeten, you get tied. We lay on
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the couch. No, but I love you baby. Thanks for tuning in.
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But anyway, but to a nice conversation. Like I said, I'm
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still doing my mental health check in, so dropping a comments. Leomon,
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know how you're feeling. I know today is Tuesday. I just saw y'all
13:05
on Thursday. But hey, it doesn't matter. Anything could have happened between
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Thursday and today. But I hope whatever storm you're standing in, miss stuff
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soon comes the past, and it will. You just got to lean on
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God and give it to him, Give it to him, leave it all
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to him. But yes, y'all, welcome back to another episode of Black
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Girl Interrupted. Y'all know it's your girl, Ash and tonight we are still
13:31
celebrating Black History Month. That's what we're doing. We are still celebrating Black
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History Month, and hell, we're gonna keep celebrating Black history because black history
13:39
was just not limited to one month. It's a way of life. It's
13:41
every day every person that wakes up that's black. You're living your history.
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So I want to go ahead and jump into it right now. So tonight
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we are talking about miss plot det Covid. She is a forgotten civil rights
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high your New Years. Oh, this woman very remarkable and unfortunately her story
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was pushed to the side for another civil's rights civil rights pioneer, and that
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was Rosa Parks. But for those that don't know who Cladee Covin is,
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I'm about to introduce you to her and then we're gonna jump back into the
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conversation. Here we go. My mind set was on the hero, the
14:50
women, spending, the women, soul, John a true and harry In
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tight. So I was not going to move that. I told him that
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history had me blued to the sea, the image that Rosa folk would be
15:41
more acceptable to the white community than add complex and teenager. She's respected in
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the community, she's married, she's somewhat soft spoken. Caught it. On
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the other hand, was was uh fiery. People said I was crazy?
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Why because I was a fifteen years old and was defiant and was shouting this
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my constitutional rights. Her actions back in March of nineteen fifty five were conscientious,
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not criminal, inspired not illegal. They should have led to praise and
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not prosecution. You just have to inspire the people that you know to keep
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on pushing and keep the struggle going because it is it is not over.
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We still have to contain you fact for our freedom and our and our our
17:08
rights, all right, kay uh h. I got so choked up watching
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that because I don't think we as blacks understand how powerful we are and how
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we have made a difference in American history. Good. I really don't think
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y'all understand how we move. That made me to see a black woman who,
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at the age of fifteen years old, refuse to give up a seat
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in Montgomery, Alabama on a bus to a white woman, and at fifteen
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years old, Claudee Coven was arrested. I get so emotional when I go
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back and I look at our history and how pivotal, how pivotabal we are
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pivotal. I'm so sorry we are and the differences that we have made and
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the differences we continue to make that whites take credit for. Claudek Covin was
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pushed to the side for Rosa Parks as the representation of the bus boycott in
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Montgomery, Alabama from December of nineteen fifty five to December of nineteen fifty six,
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simply because they felt Rosa Parks was a better face for the bus boycott
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because she was a lighter shade. She wasn't rebellious, she was a very
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soft spoken woman. But Clodek Coven was actually the very first black woman in
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Montgomery, Alabama that helped to pivot the bus boycotts in Alabama in nineteen fifty
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five. It's powerful. I look at the black women up today. Some
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of y'all wouldn't have even survived during that time. I look at some of
20:15
the black women up today, and I'm embarrassed by the way that we carry
20:22
and conduct ourselves publicly. We have all these strong women leaders that we fail
20:40
to give accolades to. They paved the way for us, and we choose
20:47
to act like clowns publicly. We choose to conduct ourselves with no respect,
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and then you turn around and call yourself a woman. A lady. Cladeke
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Coven at the age of fifteen was a woman. And I'm not talking about
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just the age, but how defiant and adamant she was with regards to her
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rights. I applaud Cladeke Covin for paving the way for the other black women
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that followed behind her. I applaud her for refusing. I applaud her for
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opening the doors. You know what, let me retract that, I applaud
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her for kicking the doors down and standing her ground. That's what a strong
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black woman looks like. Not what we see on these reality shows, these
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TV shows, not what we see on social media. No, and I
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said it. I really wish us as black women would take our positions and
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be leaders instead of followers. Clydeke Covin was a leader, not a follower,
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because this young woman at the age of fifteen marched to the beat of
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her own drum, and she refused to let anybody stop her. And in
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the midst of that, she was prosecuted for refusing to give up her seat,
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which was a segregated bus to a white woman. That's not heroic.
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I don't know what that is. I'm just I'm getting so emotional and and
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and cause I I just I look at us as women and we could be
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and do so much better than what we do now. I pray for a
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lot of these black women that y'all will turn your lives around and become leaders
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and and stop subjecting yourself and allowing yourself to be the ridicule in another clown
23:48
circus. I look at us, we are so powerful, and we just
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don't even see that. Do you understand how powerful we could really truly be
24:10
if we really truly came together, if we started building our own if we
24:17
started building schools, if we started building libraries, if we started taking our
24:22
neighborhoods back, if we started giving and contributing to the communities we are forced
24:30
to be reckoned with. But it's unfortunate that a lot of us don't see
24:37
that, very unfortunate that a lot of us don't see how powerful we are,
24:45
how strong we are, how the bigger the more the people, the
24:52
bigger the movement, the more things we could get accomplished, and stop just
24:56
doing things when things are cool, just do this because it's cool for the
25:02
moment. If we could stand outside and lines for Jordan's and iPhones, imagine
25:12
what we could do. I was looking at Black at the story of Black
25:18
Wall Street Man. We were some fun looking black men and black women.
25:29
We were fine, We were powerful, we were strong, we were running
25:38
things, you know, like I get excited when I learned new things about
25:48
our history and not just what it's being taught in textbooks because they're trying to
25:52
erase our history. They're trying to make it seem as if that's what they're
26:03
doing. Let me see, Jules says, Black people are resilient, girl,
26:12
are we were strong? Like when they see us, they're intimidated by
26:22
us. That's why they emulate us. That's why they want to be like
26:26
us so bad with a blueprint. We are the originals. You can never
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excuse me ever take away our history because without us, there wouldn't be American
26:41
history without us. That wouldn't there wouldn't be history without us. There are
26:53
a lot of things that people wouldn't have without us. Stop lights we created,
27:02
that dry cleaning that came from us. That home security you have in
27:08
your home, they came from us. The first female neurosurgeon, a black
27:15
woman, elevators black so many things that whites have taken credit for that we
27:33
created. It's time for us to take that back. It's time for us
27:40
to start instilling in our children the real black history, not the water down
27:45
history that they feed our children in school. And that's what we're doing this
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month. We're not doing textbook history. This is real Black history. Claudak
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Coven. A lot of people didn't even know who she was. Because Rosa
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Parks was the face of the black boycott in Montgomery, Alabama in nineteen fifty
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five, Claudak Coven was a thing of the past. She was forgotten.
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But I'm here to give miss Claudak Coven her roses and flowers while she's still
28:22
here, while she could still smell them. So to you, Miss Covin,
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thank you, thank you, thank you for refusing to give up your
28:30
seat to a white woman. Thank you for being a pivotal person and showing
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the world that bus segregation was unconstitutional. I'm giving her huff flowers for that.
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Please don't take this. Let me say this because I know a lot
28:49
of y'all are gonna get on your soapbox and say, oh she No,
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this is not a shade, This is no shade. This is no jab
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to Rosa Parks, because Rose the Parks was very pivotabal, pivotal, pivotal
29:03
in the civil rights movie. So this is not a jab or no shade
29:07
thrown at hurt. But I want to give credit where credit is due,
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and that's the Miss Claudeke Covin, who was the first, at the age
29:17
of fifteen, refuse to give up her seat to a white woman in Montgomery,
29:23
Alabama. Accolades to both women, but to you, miss Covin,
29:30
who is still here with us. Here are your flowers, Here are your
29:37
roses. Thank you for being defiant. Thank you for not allowing them to
29:45
silence you. Thank you for that. I applaud you for that. But
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as I keep going, here's something else with regards to Miss Claudade Covid.
29:57
Here we go. This bleak month, March twenty twenty is certainly one for
30:03
the history books, but every March, including this one, we recognize women's
30:07
history. Tonight we honor Claudette Colvin, a civil rights crusader arrested for refusing
30:12
to give up her seat on a bus in segregated Alabama. Now this was
30:17
before Rosa Parks did the same, sparking the history making Montgomery bus boycott.
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Here's Colvin's incredible story and the surprising reason it went untold for so long.
30:27
You have heard the story, but likely didn't know this name. Atladda.
30:33
Accolades went towards loathing, and nobody knew about Claudette. Claudette Colvin was just
30:38
fifteen years old on March second, nineteen fifty five, when she refused to
30:44
give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus nine months before Rosa Parks.
30:48
When the news rephotos asked me, why didn't I get up? I
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said, history had me glued to the seat. I said, I felt
30:57
as though, how you tell me, hands hand was pushing me down on
31:03
one shoulder, and so John a truthhead was pushing me down on another shoulder.
31:07
And between these two historical women's, iconic women's I could not move our
31:15
paralyzing that seat and largely omitted from history books. Despite her courage and boldness
31:21
as a teen. Today, at eighty years old, she still recalls the
31:25
day with clarity, remembering the exact exchange she had with the officer who tried
31:29
to make her give up her seat. And I repeat, I told her,
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I paid my fare and it's my constitutional right to sit here. So
31:37
anyway, he yelled to the bus driver he had no juridiction here, so
31:44
we thought it was all over. If he didn't have no jurisdiction here,
31:48
we thought it was over with because this is a traffic patroler. So I
31:52
wasn't breaking the law, just that the white lady didn't have a seat.
31:53
The magnitude of her active defiance didn't hit her immediately, not until she heard
32:00
the luck of the jail cell. And you could hear when the keys go
32:04
good. You know you hear that sound, right, they lock you in.
32:07
She says of sitting in that jail cell that those were the longest hours
32:12
of her life. But those three hours would also change her life's trajectory.
32:16
I thought they knew. I thought people know that there were people before Rosa.
32:21
How rest record is what proved it, because without that the rest record,
32:25
you would only know of Rosa. Because that was stage behind claud up
32:30
going to the NAACP at fifteen years old. And once she got there,
32:36
they said that a black girl, unweeded dskin could not be the face for
32:44
the Alabama boy comes. So Rosa park stuffed up. She was an NAACP.
32:50
I think she was the secret seller at the time, and she stepped
32:53
up. She was like skin. She was nadried, she fit the bill.
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She was black, and she went on the bus first to get out
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there before Claudette or Rosa. Hundreds were arrested for doing the same, but
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it was Claudette who along with three other women, became the first to challenge
33:09
the law in the Alabama courts. The rest is history. But what happened
33:15
earlier this month in New York City, this permanent recognition of this great civil
33:23
rights at the this in celebration of women's history. Months, Claudette Colvin finally
33:30
got her due, getting her own way, you could say the Bronx,
33:35
New York, where she currently resides. At the corner of East Tremont Avenue
33:38
and Unionport Road, you will now find Claudette Colvin way fitting for a woman
33:45
who has paved the way for so many others. Man, claude that covin.
34:00
We salute you tonight. Hi everyone, Georg stephanopples here, thanks for
34:06
checking out the ABC News YouTube channel. If you'd like to get more video,
34:08
show highlights and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here
34:13
to subscribe to our channel, and don't forget to download the ABC News after
34:15
breaking news alerts. Thanks for watching, y'all. Man, let me soak
34:32
that in for just let me just take that in for just a moment,
34:36
because it's COVID. You are for us to be wrecking with, ma'am like
34:43
you you scare her, I have I gotta go to New York, y'all,
34:47
like I have to meet this woman, like I have to because as
34:52
many shows as I have done and I've gotten choked up with, but this
35:00
one is I don't know, this one is hitting different, maybe because she's
35:05
a At the time when all of this happened, she was a young black
35:07
woman, she was only fifteen years old. And she said, I I
35:13
paid my money for this. Uh uh you want have to go buy you
35:16
somewhere else to say, baby, that's what you want to do. And
35:20
that sounds about like me, like I I paid my fare, Uh you
35:25
need to go buy yours. And I love the fact that she was adamant
35:31
with that. She was like, mm mm I paid my fare. That's
35:36
it, period, And I'm gonna sit right here in this seat. I
35:40
love that about her, and and I would love to see more black women
35:46
be just like that. I just I love to see let me, let
35:53
me go, let me just see this Black women. I love to see
35:58
us in some type of power. No, I'm not talking about Kamala Harris,
36:06
don't even get me started on that one anyway, But Claudee Covin,
36:15
like I would love to see more black women stand up for their rights.
36:23
I would love to see more black women. You know what. Let me
36:27
not just say black, but black people period. I would love for y'all
36:30
to take your stands and be adamant in what it is that you do.
36:35
Stop allowing the oppressors to keep moving us by swearing us. This is why
36:43
I encourage y'all know your rights, know the law. Miss Covin, she
36:51
knew y'all are violating her constitutional rights. She knew that at fifteen years old.
37:00
Fifteen years old, you got people right now that that like, just
37:09
don't even get miss started that. That's a whole nother conversation. Hey,
37:14
ple, she said, a bronze baby. Uh. I need you to
37:17
find miss Covid and tell her I'm coming to New York. I need I
37:21
need to hug her because that lady that changed the trajectory in modern history.
37:25
Do you hear me? Like this woman? So, Nat, I need
37:30
you to get on that for me. Find her. Let's tell Miss Covin,
37:34
I'm coming to see her. Tell I'm coming to find it. I
37:36
need to know where she is. I need to go hug this woman,
37:39
and I need to give her roses while she's still here, while she's still
37:43
able to see them. I'm serious, Like I really want to pull up
37:46
on her, like I really. Anybody that's watching this video, anybody that's
37:51
tuned in, anybody that's in New York, please find miss Covin, please
37:54
tell her. Ash Lippits from Black Girl Interrupted tell I want to meet her.
37:58
I want to love on her real quick. I want to give her
38:00
her accolades and her give her her flowers while she's still here. Let her
38:04
know that I'm doing this this show tonight about her. This is all about
38:07
her, not nobody else. This is about her because she is a She
38:10
is a hidden figure that we didn't know about. She is a hidden figure
38:15
that was not taught. She was not taught in the textbooks. Okay,
38:19
So again, anybody that's in New York that has connect please please tell her.
38:23
I want to meet her. I want to find her. And when
38:27
I find her, y'all, when I see her, I promise I'm going
38:30
live so y'all can witness history in real time. Okay, please please,
38:36
you know what I'm gonna make that happen. I promise you that's gonna come
38:38
the past. I'm speaking that into existence I promise you God's gonna make that
38:43
happen for me. But black women, not just black women, but black
38:52
men too, black black people in general. I really want to see y'all
38:55
get back into position. I really want to see y'all get back in formation.
39:01
Like Beyonce says, I need y'all to get into formation. I need
39:06
us to rebuild Black Wall Street. And it doesn't have to be in Oklahoma.
39:10
It could be wherever you reside. It could be in Texas, it
39:14
could be in New Orleans. I mean, it could be in California,
39:15
it could be anywhere. I want us to get back into formation. I
39:22
want us to start putting our feet our feet down, our foot down,
39:25
and stop allowing them to swear us. I want us to be more vocal.
39:31
And I don't mean just when everything is cool, I mean consistently.
39:36
I want us to keep being vocal. I want us to keep pushing the
39:39
mark. I want us to keep pushing the envelope. I want us to
39:43
keep shaking tables. I want us to still keep kicking indoors and making our
39:47
own sets at tables and stop waiting on people to build tables for us.
39:52
Y'all about to make me get emotional because I look at us and as I
39:59
was, like I say, as I was doing my research on everyone that
40:01
I'm gonna speak about this month, I was like, damn, we were
40:08
really we are really truly the shit. Excoose my language, but we the
40:13
shit, and we don't realize that. We don't realize the power that we
40:20
have. We don't understand the power that we hold. We don't understand the
40:23
control that we could have if we just truly came together. I don't think
40:29
y'all understand that. I don't believe y'all understand that. I don't believe y'all
40:35
know the strength that resides in us, the way that these innovators have paved
40:43
the way for us and have opened the door for us. We have forgotten,
40:46
we get letting people take our power away from us, and it's time
40:50
for us to take it back. This is why I'm doing what I'm doing
40:54
this month. This is why I do what I do with Black Girl Interrupted,
40:59
because this is a way for me to help change the narrative. This
41:01
is a way for me to start projecting and showing black people in positive lights.
41:09
That's why I do what I do. I don't do this for fun.
41:13
I don't do I mean, of course I have fun doing it,
41:15
but I don't do this and hold So I'm trying to make money because I
41:19
don't care about the monetary because I'm blessed anyway. But Kardack COVID is one
41:27
of the reasons why I do what I do. Henrietta A. Lax is
41:30
another reason why I do what I do. Alexa Kennedy, Corretta Scott King.
41:37
The list goes on and on and on and on and on to join
41:39
a truth. Harriet Tubman, Zarnil Hurston, Francis pres Well Wells is why
41:47
I do what I do. Billy Holiday, These were strong black women that
41:54
kick the doors down for us. Billy Holliday, this is why I do
42:01
what I do. Because I'm strong, I'm resilient. You know what,
42:08
not me Black people. We're strong, We're resilient, we are powerful,
42:15
we are man like I. Just y'all don't understand how many mountains we can
42:23
move if we only stuck together, if we stop gatekeeping information, if we
42:30
stop trying to put one another down for lights and views. This is why
42:42
I'm doing what I'm doing for the month of February to encourage somebody to say,
42:47
you know what, look at what this person did. We can do
42:51
the scene if we only came together. But some of y'all are still living
42:58
in their crabs in a barrel mantality because you're afraid to see one person get
43:01
ahead. Missus claudek Covin, she didn't shade Rosa Parks. The world is
43:10
who pushed Rosa Parks to be the face. Clydeke Covin gave flowers to the
43:21
women before her that paved the way for her to do what she did.
43:24
In nineteen fifty five, she said, Harriet Tubman was pushing down on one
43:30
shoulder, and so joining the truth was pushing down on another's shoulder. That's
43:35
who told her to stay in that seat, sit down, don't you get
43:38
up and move. You paid for that seat. That's your seat until you
43:45
get off at your stock. And that's what miss clydeke Covin did. But
43:52
on the downside of that, cladetke Covin was still under the impression that she
43:59
was still on probation and didn't realize that her probation ended when she turned I
44:07
believe eighteen, when she became of age. I want to say I believe
44:09
it was eighteen years old. So she fault in, faults and fault until
44:19
finally it was expunge. And here's the story. We all know the name
44:28
Rosa Parks, whose defines on a Montgomery, Alabamama bus became a turning point
44:31
in the civil rights movement back in nineteen fifty five. But chances are you
44:36
may not have heard about this woman. Her name is Claudete Covin. Most
44:39
people don't know her story. As a teenager, she was arrested nine months
44:44
before Parks for the very same reason, refusing to give up her bus seat
44:47
to a white person. Her story is a very important part of our civil
44:51
rights history. And now there's a new development that you'll see only on CBS
44:54
Mornings, and we love when this happens. Lead National Courseman, that's you.
44:59
David now has an interview that we will and it's got a twist as
45:02
only you can do. I've been waiting for this all morning. I can't
45:06
wait for you to see this, and all of you. You don't hear
45:07
about Claudette Colvin in the history books, but you should. She's now a
45:12
great grandmother and for the past sixty six years she has lived with a criminal
45:16
record. In what may be her final protest, she asked a judge in
45:21
Alabama to clear her name by expunging her record, and the judge did it.
45:27
This is her story and as Gail said, you do not want to
45:30
miss the surprise of the end meeting Assistance now is very nice to meet you.
45:36
Claudette Colvin has spent most of her eighty two years as a convicted juvenile
45:42
delinquent who would go on to college, work as a nurse's aid, and
45:45
raise two sons. Do you think of yourself as an important figure in history?
45:51
No, I think of myself as a survival of the civil rights struggle.
45:57
Her place in the civil rights struggle began and when she was fifteen years
46:00
old, at the back of a crowded Montgomery, Alabama bus after school with
46:06
three friends. I was sitting in the session that was allowed for colored people,
46:13
and this white lady came. The bus driver demanded for the fourth seats
46:19
and this is you and three others students. Yes, so three of them
46:22
got up, yes, and you refuse. So I refuse because this wasn't
46:28
an elderly white lady. This was a young white lady. You're sitting there,
46:34
your classmates get up and move? Yes, what was going through your
46:38
head as to why you refuse to stand? I said I could not move
46:45
because history had me glued to the seat. And they said, how is
46:52
that? I said, well, it felt as though Harriet Tummahans was pushing
46:57
me down on one shoulder, and so John the truth hand was pushing me
47:01
down on the other shoulder. Now, that happened nine months before Rosa Parks
47:07
was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, overshadowing
47:13
for decades what a teenager had also done. And the traffic patroller came to
47:19
the rear of the bus and asked me while I wasn't sitting there? I
47:24
told him I was sitting there because I paid my fare and it's my constitutional
47:30
rights. Now watching this interview from a nearby room was Judge Calvin Williams today
47:36
he is the presiding judge of the Montgomery Family Court. And then what happened,
47:40
Oh, hello hoo to squad car patroller stopping, you know, cut
47:46
the bus off and came they stopped, and we said, oh my.
47:52
We invited the judge to listen in and hear Colvin's account of what the police
47:57
did to her in nineteen fifty five. And he asked me why I'm sitting
48:01
there, and I was even more defiant, and I said, I paid
48:07
my fare and it's my constitutional rights. He said constitutional rights in all,
48:12
No, And they put me in the squad car and they handcuffed me through
48:16
the window. Claudette Colvin was jailed, charged with disturbing the peace breaking segregation
48:23
law and found guilty of assaulting police officers, clawing them with her fingernails.
48:29
They said, I claud the policeman, and I kicked the police. I
48:34
didn't do all of that. Was it the one and only time in your
48:37
life that you've gone to jail? Yes. At the time I represented Claude
48:42
and Carvin, there was no Rosa Parks case. As a young attorney Fred
48:47
Gray later portrayed by Cuba Gooding Junior in the film Selma, took up her
48:52
case. That's before he went on to defend Rosa Parks. In his book,
48:55
he pays tribute the whole history the civil rights movement may have been different,
49:05
but for Claudadde. At the age of sixteen, she made headlines again
49:10
as one of four plaintiffs in the lawsuit that would end Alabama's bus segregation in
49:15
the landmark Browder versus Gael Supreme Court decision, when you won in court,
49:22
yes you could sit in the front row if you want, yes, and
49:25
did you yes, but the charge of assaulting police officers remained. Fast forward
49:31
to today, when Judge Calvin Williams and Montgomery, Alabama read her appeal,
49:37
he expunged her sixty six year old criminal record, and I'm no longer a
49:43
juvenile delinquent at eighty two. She was not president when the judge ruled.
49:47
She didn't know his name, she didn't even know what he looked like.
49:50
We have a surprise. It was a surprise. We have a surprise for
49:53
you. Someone would like to meet you. Hello, miss Colvin. Judge
50:05
Calvin Williams. Oh wow, Judge Calvin Williams, Oh oh lord, Oh
50:17
my goodness on behalf of myself and all of the judges of Montgomery off from
50:24
my apology for an injustice that was perpetrated upon you. Wow, this is
50:31
a surprise. So you didn't know that the judge who did this was African
50:37
American. No, I'm so proud. The judge wasn't even born When miss
50:43
Covin refused to give up her seat on that bus. When she did this
50:46
in nineteen fifty five, there were no African American judges in Montgomery. She
50:52
stood up for right and now I'm the beneficiary and byproduct of that, and
50:58
I could correct the wrong that was done to her. That amen to that,
51:07
Yes, ma'am, please do so great, Oh David, She's giggling
51:14
like a little girl all morning when we said surprise, you won't want to
51:16
miss something, and I hope it lives up to it. But it did,
51:19
it did, And I love tissues here at the take. Yes.
51:22
I love how she called on the ancestors Harriet and Sojourna, who had her
51:25
hands on had their hands on her shoulders, and said, don't get up.
51:29
I'm glued to the seat because of history. Yeah, beautifully done.
51:31
She had been studying black history in schools and it became so important to her
51:36
that she just felt moved us right. And before the movement itself with Rosa
51:39
Parks had taken off, she was independent. And you may be wondering,
51:43
why not Claudette Covin, Why Rosa Parks? Why is that the one we
51:45
hear about? Yes, and according to miss Colvin, she was fifteen and
51:50
pregnant, and so she said, the civil rights leaders didn't want a young
51:53
rebel, rouser, pregnant girl to represent the movement. Missus Parks was a
51:58
well respected secretary of the NAACP, who, according to Miss Colvin, was
52:04
lighter in color, and they thought that it would be more appealing to put
52:07
her forward as a face of the movie. And those were the times we
52:09
were living. Yeah, movements based on that's right, how you were perceived.
52:15
But but but Miss Covin, in her graciousness, says, but that's
52:17
not to take anything away from what Miss Parks right. And why now you
52:23
may be wondering why, why do not you're eighty two? She said,
52:25
when I saw the George Floyd protests, it kind of reignited a spirit in
52:30
her, an activist spirit, And she said, I just wanted my kids
52:32
in the great grand babies to see that even at eighty two in a wheelchair,
52:38
I still had a fight left, you know. And we saw kids
52:40
her age and younger out there. Prost was fifteen, that's right, fifteen.
52:45
It's a reminder if we are walking in her footsteps, yes we are,
52:49
Thank you. What a lady The surprise lives up to it. Well
52:52
done, Thank you very much. I really was not expecting to get as
53:14
choked up tonight as I have. But Han, when I tell you,
53:23
mssus Covin, thank you, thank you, mhm at fifteen years old,
53:50
Y're fifteen, fifteen years old and did a remarkable thing. And to finally
54:08
have her record expunged a beautiful thing. Salute to that judge that righted the
54:17
wrongs of the people before him. Mm wh I tell you that that woman
54:34
now, Miss Covin, I I definitely want to meet her. I definitely
54:39
definitely want to meet her because despite everything that she went through at the age
54:53
of fifteen, she still stands tall. And the fact that she said she
55:01
wanted her children, her grandchildren and the great grands to know that even at
55:07
eighty two years old, she still has some fight in her. That right
55:15
there should be encouragement enough for everybody that even at eighty two years old,
55:28
you can still fight and win, you can still fight and win. I
55:37
believe that's why I do what I do. I honestly believe that's why I
55:45
do what I do. And I take great joy and great pride and everything
55:51
that I do it's young ladies. It's young ladies like missus Covin to join
55:58
the truth, Harriet Tubmany that give me the will and the strength to keep
56:08
going and keep fighting and representing for the people that look just like me and
56:15
you. They give me the strength and the courage to not give up,
56:27
no matter how hard it gets, no matter how old you are, You'll
56:32
still keep fighting. Ms Covin, you got me over here choked up and
56:45
crying. I'm supposed to be happy, but these are not sad tears.
56:47
These are happy tears because you're resilient, you are strong. Excuse me,
56:58
even though knowing as ever told you that, But I want to be the
57:01
first to tell you. Thank you. Thank you for what you've done,
57:09
thank you for what you continue to do. Thank you for never giving up.
57:17
I appreciate you for that. I salute you for being a hidden figure.
57:28
I salute you for that. I give you a round of applause for
57:34
standing your ground and refusing to have your constitutional rights violated. I salute you
57:45
for that. I thank you for that. Thank you for carrying on and
57:52
passing on the time for the other little black girls behind you. I salute
58:01
you for that. Thank you for instilling and not just myself, but other
58:07
little black girls and black women the courage and the strength to stand tall and
58:16
your convictions and what's right. Thank you. I salute you, M's Claudee
58:29
Covid and all the great and wonderful and beautiful things that you did with regards
58:37
to the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. It was you that ended it.
58:46
It was you that stood tall and said, I'm not going down without a
58:52
fight. You're gonna have to take me, but I'm not going That's beautif.
59:01
That's wonderful. And before you leave, I'm gonna meet you. Thank
59:14
on that, y'all. I'm speaking that I'm gonna meet her. I'm going
59:16
to New York and I'm gonna meet miss Covin and I'm gonna be able to
59:20
hug her and sit down and tell her thank you for all that she's done,
59:25
even though it may not seem a lot to her, but it's a
59:29
lot to me and other black girls and black women that know her story.
59:37
You did it, You did it, she did She did it. Man.
59:49
I was not expecting to get choked up like the way I did tonight.
59:52
Y'all did this to me. Y'all did this to me. But let
59:57
me roll into the final thoughts gotten over here. I'm all choked up and
1:00:05
I'm trying to get it all together. But going into the final thoughts black
1:00:15
history. What do you think of when you think of Black history? How
1:00:22
does black history make you feel? Me? I'm proud to be black,
1:00:32
to be a black woman. I'm proud. I'm proud of the elders that
1:00:39
paved the way, that opened the door for me to have a platform,
1:00:43
for me to have the platform that I have now. I think the elders
1:00:49
for giving me the community of friends and loved ones around me. I think
1:00:54
the ancestors for that. I think the elders for that. I think misclodedt.
1:01:00
Covin for igniting the fire and me to keep going and to always stay
1:01:07
resilient and to stay focused and to never give up and to stay determined.
1:01:16
I think of for that. I think the elders for showing us how beautiful
1:01:32
Black history really truly is. I think Black History shouldn't be limited to just
1:01:43
a month, because Black history is every day. Being able to speak on
1:01:52
the elders and these hidden figures that were very pivotabal pivotal in our history,
1:02:00
is a beautiful thing. Again, we're not doing textbook history. We're doing
1:02:09
real black history. And I mean the black history that wasn't taught in school
1:02:17
or what you didn't read about in a textbook, but real black history.
1:02:25
That's what we're doing. Thank you, missus Covid. But being the pioneer
1:02:35
and ending the segregation of the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, thank you.
1:02:44
Thank you Queen mm who. That was tough. That was powerful to
1:02:51
night y'all, man Like, we had a really good time with that with
1:02:54
even though I got emotional, But our history is emotional because this is a
1:03:00
beautiful thing. And I don't want anyone to ever forget how beautiful black history
1:03:05
is, no matter how hard they try to water it down. Do your
1:03:10
own research. Stop allowing them to tell you what your history is, especially
1:03:20
if they're not black. And I'm gonna end on that one, but I
1:03:25
want to say thank y'all for coming out and tuning into another episode of Black
1:03:30
Girl Interrupted. So Thursday, we're still keeping it going with black history.
1:03:36
Remind I believe I'm talking about let me go back. I'm gonna tell y'all.
1:03:42
Oh, Charles, No, I'm so sorry. Thomas L. Jennings
1:03:49
that will be our next hidden figure. And for those that don't know who
1:03:53
Thomas L. Jennings is, he's the man responsible for dry cleaning and the
1:04:00
first black man to have anything patent. So don't forget. Tune in Thursday,
1:04:06
same time, same place, eight thirty pm Central time, nine thirty
1:04:11
Eastern time. You can catch me streaming live on Facebook as well as you
1:04:15
two. I'm gonna make sure everything is straight because I don't know what was
1:04:17
going on. We was having some technical difficulties in the back, but we
1:04:21
got it all figured out. But yes, Charles L. Jennings will be
1:04:26
the next hidden figure that we are talking about on Thursday. And again that
1:04:30
is the black man that is responsible for the dry cleaning and who was the
1:04:35
first black man to ever have anything to receive a patent. That should be
1:04:41
interesting for us to talk about. My honey, Steve. He was like,
1:04:46
great show, ba, thank you honey. I love you. Thank
1:04:48
you for being my biggest supporter. I love you, honey. I hope
1:04:51
you have ha it a good night too. But to close us out,
1:04:56
y'all, I found this cute little video y'all, and like I was like,
1:05:00
oh my god, this is so cute. So to close us out,
1:05:03
I'm gonna end with this. Don't forget, don't forget to like,
1:05:08
share, comment, and subscribe. Don't forget. Please go to black Girl
1:05:12
Interrupted my business page. Hit the three dots, invite, Invite your friends
1:05:16
to come and follow black Girl Interrupted. Cause, baby, let me tell
1:05:18
you something. We are gonna have some great and phenomenal conversations as the day's
1:05:25
progress. Because when I say we get into the meat of potatoes or things
1:05:29
into twenty four, oh yeah, I'm getting to my bag and y'all gonna
1:05:32
get in there with me. But yeah, but it's all about a year
1:05:35
of healing about it's a year of having uncomfortable conversations, but we're gonna waken
1:05:41
some stuff up too, for real. Might be uncomfortable, but that's the
1:05:46
only where we're gonna be able to heal. So to close us out,
1:05:49
I found this cute little video that I want to play for y'all. And
1:05:53
on that note, I love y'all and I'll see y'all Thursday, eight thirty
1:05:56
pm Central Time, nine thirty Eastern Time. Don't forget to comment, like,
1:06:00
share, subscribe, let me know if it's something that you want to
1:06:01
talk about again, don't forget. Send an email to a Black Girl Interrupted
1:06:06
podcast at gmail dot com. Let me know what topic you want to hear
1:06:11
about. What do y'all want to talk about. What do y'all need to
1:06:14
you know, Like, if it's something y'all need me to bring to the
1:06:15
table, if it's a story in your city that we don't hear about,
1:06:19
email me. Let's set up a time so we can talk about it.
1:06:23
You want to be a guest, shoot me an email. Black Girl Interrupted
1:06:26
Park Black Girl Interrupted Podcast at gmail dot com. So to take us out,
1:06:31
here's this cute little video and I'll see y'all Thursday. Love, y'all
1:06:35
have a good night. Left to the right, top to the floor.
1:06:45
When I say black history, say it's yours, Black history, it's yours,
1:06:50
Black history. Yes, it's yours, and we say it loud and
1:06:55
pout again. There's no America without the African fighting to get of it equal
1:07:00
like it's the read the story. Other people like history, it's yours.
1:07:05
Like history. Yes, it's yours, it's your. Only twenty eight days
1:07:12
in the month of February. It's just the kickoff. We don't stop televery
1:07:15
textbook and every class give up the glory, the true and living facts of
1:07:18
his and her story. People want to know why we still celebrated Robe Ben
1:07:24
Rocky, and we made it. We elated our survivors, strivers, fighters,
1:07:28
singers, get us dropping names like we have butter fingers, Rosa King
1:07:31
ex truth the greatness I leave, Fred Douglas. These are the basics.
1:07:35
But Harpa, Bessie Coleman, the fly a b Atrix, or Catherine Johnson
1:07:39
who blunch of spaceships, or Louis Ladimir illuminating holmes of doctor Shirley Jackson improving
1:07:45
telephones, or Fred mc kelly Jones keeping ice cream cold. I could go
1:07:48
on and on until my body get old. Left to the right, top
1:07:51
to the floor. When I say black, kiss story, say it's yours,
1:07:56
black, It's three. It's yours like history, Yes, six yours
1:08:00
sought the revolution and funks world. Yours like history. It's yours like history.
1:08:06
Yes, s' yours like history, Yes, Sis yours. Gotta say
1:08:12
it loud and pride again. There's no America without the African frighting you hear
1:08:17
it, equot black, it's the red the story. Yet we gave you
1:08:20
traffic lights to stop the crash. All the next gas furnace and gas masks,
1:08:26
give your hip hop tel of rocket losing jazz and fresh new dances with
1:08:30
flaring pizzazz, automatic gearshifts to move the cars, Potato chips and peanut butter
1:08:34
and jars, laundry dryers, home security systems, super soakers and suspenders.
1:08:40
I could go on listing many contributions across institution, Supreme Court, in bulk
1:08:45
Court. It's been an evolution and we sing it every day. Blue notes
1:08:48
like Harold Melvin for this billy holiday. We know what's going on thanks to
1:08:53
Marvin Gay get a bouncing our step on Q like kid and play, going
1:08:57
to lend and Kendrick. Our poets represent hope, Mike's like truths their self
1:09:00
evident. Yeah, we know our hero's fantastic, but gotta remember the forgotten
1:09:05
on the Atlantic, we gotta honor are departed, taken from the land where
1:09:10
humanity started. Love is the right time to the floor. When I say
1:09:15
black history, say it's yours, Black its story, It's yours black history.
1:09:19
Yes, it's yours.