ANDREW YOUNG
On Friday, August 17, 1984, Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young was the keynote speaker at the National Association of Black Journalists’ 9th annual convention, which was held in his city’ s Colony Square Hotel. Near the end of his hour-long speech, Mayor Young, a Democrat, complained that the staff of Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale was controlled by“ smart-ass white boys” who wouldn’ t take his advice. His words drew laughter from the 500 Black journalists who, reportedly, were in attendance. But the criticism that followed forced Young, a former United Nations ambassador during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, to express regret for his choice of words, but not his message.
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So, here’ s somebody who for all of the 20 years that he has been in public life has been( unclear) with the issues of the poor, and the issues of injustice for minorities and I don’ t think we can afford to turn our backs on that( unclear) just because nobody on the Mondale staff will listen to what I say. And they won’ t. I( unclear) all the time. I used to talk to them up the... they won’ t listen to me. They’ re smartass white boys that think they know everything.( laughter)
Largely not reported from Mayor Young’ s address that day were his opening remarks, which ironically sounded a little like the Rev. Jesse Jackson’ s entreaty to“ Let’ s talk Black.” In his case, Young wasn’ t asking to go“ off the record” with what he was about to say. But he did seem to signal that he had come to the NABJ Convention that day to“ talk Black.”
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You have to forgive me because I thought of this as coming to talk in the family. And I didn’ t realize that all of the important editors and everybody were going to be here. But I won’ t change a word I was going to say. And you will just have to interpret this for them- if it needs interpretation. The first thing I was going to say was: I didn’ t know that there were this many niggers that could write.( laughter and applause) But seriously, I seriously agonized for you and with you as you attempt to live in two worlds and interpret each of those two worlds to the other.
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