The Black Power Mixtape 1967-19752011

Stokely Carmichael:
Mrs. Carmichael, when you came to the United States with your children, where did you live?

Mable Carmichael:
We lived at Stebbins Avenue for a while.

Stokely Carmichael:
What kind of neighborhood was it?

Mable Carmichael:
It was kind of a mixed neighborhood, but a little on the rundown side.

Stokely Carmichael:
What do you mean by 'the rundown side'?

Mable Carmichael:
Streets were dirty, garbage pails all thrown around and not covered; and things like that.

Stokely Carmichael:
How big was the place you lived in?

Mable Carmichael:
We had a three room apartment there.

Stokely Carmichael:
And how many people lived there?

Mable Carmichael:
When my kids moved to the United States, we were still living there, my husband and I; so that made five children, because I had to there.The five that came with their aunt, my husband and I.

Stokely Carmichael:
How many is that all together?

Mable Carmichael:
Five and three. Eight.

Stokely Carmichael:
How was life in general for you children? I mean, could they do other things most children in the United States could do? I mean, did they have enough money to do those things?

Mable Carmichael:
No, we didn't.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why didn't they?

Mable Carmichael:
Because my husband didn't make enough money.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why didn't he make enough money?

Mable Carmichael:
He was a carpenter and he worked two weeks in, four weeks off. He drove a taxi cab part of the time...

Stokely Carmichael:
But there were other carpenters who lived better than your husband.

Mable Carmichael:
Of course.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why didn't your husband?

Mable Carmichael:
Because he was laid off. He was always the first to be laid off.

Stokely Carmichael:
Why was he always the first to be laid off?

Mable Carmichael:
Because he was negro. He always said, because he was a colored man. Because, naturally, in Trinidad, we used the word colored. We never used the word negro. So, he always said, because he was a colored man.

Stokely Carmichael:
Thank you.