Ernie Chambers Ends Racial Gaslighting with CVS-Length Receipts

Below is a conversation transcribed fro the 1966 documentary, A Time for Burning.

Ernie Chambers: The problem exists because white people think they’re better than Black people and they want to oppress us, and they want us to allow ourselves to be oppressed.

L. William Youngdahl: This is the big-I agree with you, uh, this is the basic problem, that white people think they’re better than others…

Ernie Chambers: Then what do you want to talk to me about? What’s there that I can do? I can’t solve the problem. You guys pull the strings that close schools. You guys draw the boundaries that keep our kids restricted to the ghetto. You guys write up the restrictive covenants that keep us out of houses. So it’s up to you to talk to your brothers and your sisters and persuade them that they have a responsibility. We have assumed ours for over 400 years and we’re tired of this kind of stuff now. We’re not going to suffer patiently anymore. No more 'turning the other cheek.' No more blessing our enemies. No more praying for those who despitefully use us. We’re going to show you that we’ve learned the lessons you’ve taught us, we’ve studied your history. And you did not take over this country by singing “We Shall Overcome.” You did not gain control of the world like you have it now by dealing fairly with a man and keeping your word. You’re treaty-breakers, you’re liars, you’re thieves, you rape entire continents and races of people. Then you wonder why these very people don’t have any confidence or trust in you. Your religion means nothing. Your law is a farce and we see it every day. You demonstrated it in Alabama. And I can say ‘you’ because you’re part of the whole system. You profit from it—in fact, you make your living from it. You couldn’t walk around and talk to people, stand up in your pulpit on Sunday and preach nice little songs and say “Now we’re going to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good” and “Oh, Jesus, be among us.” As far as we’re concerned, your Jesus is contaminated, just like everything else you’ve tried to force upon us is contaminated. So, you can have him. And here’s what I’ll say: I wish you would follow him the way we followed him. ‘Cause if you did that, then we’d be in charge tomorrow.

Ernie Chambers was later to become the longest-serving state senator in Nebraska history. He also authored the book, Free Radical.