[The 90’s raw: Marion Barry, Animal Rights, Colman McCarthy, Vietnam Memorial]

Raw footage for the award-winning series The 90's. Eddie Becker covers marches for animal rights and the press waiting for Marion Barry (1936-), the Washington D.C. mayor recently charged with drug use. There is also an interview with Colman McCarthy (1938-), a teacher, journalist and peace activist, and interviews with people at the Vietnam Memorial.

00:00Copy video clip URL Tape opens on a man sitting in a chair outside with video equipment on his lap. He says he is a sound man, and has been waiting for the mayor, Marion Barry, for eight hours. Whole crews with vans are outside a government building waiting to shoot ten to fifteen seconds of footage of the mayor exiting the building. Michael Murphy, a cameraman, explains his tactics. A woman and her daughter from Arizona joke with Becker about being against drugs.

07:18Copy video clip URL All the cameramen come to attention, and Barry emerges from the building, waving to the crowd. Afterward, all the cameramen pack up.

10:30Copy video clip URL Tape cuts to a march in favor of animal rights, with many groups participating. A large banner reads, “Georgia Lesbian Ecofeminists for Animal Rights.” One of the women is interviewed briefly, and she calls animal rights a “human issue… The whole culture is oppressive.” The marchers chant, “What do we want? Animal Rights! When do we want it? Now!” and carry signs such as “Stop Elephant Abuse in Zoos and Circuses” and “Protect Our Wildlife.”

15:13Copy video clip URL A woman from Santa Monica has a poster with photos of animals, and she introduces some of them. She explains the benefits of owning animals, and says that they are marching against animal research (such as for cosmetics). She is passionate about being a vegetarian and her involvement in several animal rights movements. Becker presses her for information and opinions about her job in National Defense, which he sees as contradictory.

23:34Copy video clip URL General shots of the parade mixed with people explaining their signs. An adolescent boy has a sign about the negative effects of eating meat. Another woman has a poster with photos of animals being used for research in cruel ways. She also informs Becker that there may be 75,000 people at the march. A young woman has a sign that says, “If we could talk to the animals…,” and has only recently been involved in the movement. An older man has a sign that says, “I am an animal rights terrorist,” because someone in government called them all terrorists. Two other people have signs that say that animal research money should instead go to nobler causes, such as the homeless.

35:04Copy video clip URL Becker talks to a button seller, who is selling all sorts of buttons, and they comment that many people are not involved in any movements besides animal rights. The revenues from the buttons helps to pay for publication of a newsletter about all sorts of peace issues.

40:40Copy video clip URL The animal rights activists have gathered on the lawn in front of Congress, and PETA has a tent set up and a list of corporations that perform tests on animals. A woman has a binder explaining all types of tests on animals. She is involved with Greenpeace – “there is an interlinking of philosophy” of all peaceful organizations. The tape cuts.

50:21Copy video clip URL Footage of a march in favor of Marion Barry, where African Americans carry signs such as, “Acquittal Acquittal Acquittal” and “Does the Government have a right to break the law to uphold the law?” Apparently the marchers believe that Barry was the object of a sting operation, and the trial is therefore invalid. An older woman believes the mayor has done good work for the city. Almost all the marchers refuse to comment, or only say they want to support the mayor. People pass out black solidarity ribbons.

01:00:40Copy video clip URL Someone begins to speak onstage. The only white person there says he is protesting the police state of the Thornberg administration, and does not believe it is a racial issue. He is the most eloquent of the interviewed, and summarizes the issue well.

01:02:48Copy video clip URL The end of the opening prayer, and a young girl sings. Becker stands with the press, and takes footage of the protesters from a distance. The tape cuts.

01:05:09Copy video clip URL Colman McCarthy (teacher, journalist, peace activist) signs books for young college women in an auditorium, and they talk to him about peace studies and non-violence, asking him for advice.

01:12:04Copy video clip URL Interview with Colman McCarthy, who describes his history of education and non-violence. He advocates for courses in non-violence and peace to be taught in all schools. He says that students are overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the subject, and love the real world application.

01:17:45Copy video clip URL McCarthy mentions animal rights as attractive to high school students, and talks about his shoes and belts being animal-free: “You can find other things to wear and other things to eat.” “We’re [the United States] only number one in weapons and killing people.”

01:20:09Copy video clip URL McCarthy believes that women are more attracted to his ideas because they are more often the victims. As for the US abroad, McCarthy disapproves: “You either solve your problems through prevention or intervention… and prevention is non-violence.”

01:22:22Copy video clip URL He explains the dynamic in colleges. “It’s hard to reform a school,” but there are a select few who get into it. McCarthy goes to inner city schools to promote such ideas and encourage youth to become activists.

01:26:43Copy video clip URL McCarthy talks about field trips to death row, and to prisons, studying capital punishment. “I’m opposed to killing people to show that killing is wrong… It doesn’t work.” In fact, he says the murder rate increases around the date of an execution.

01:29:36Copy video clip URL As for television, peace activists have to start using it for their goals. He would like to see programs about teaching in schools, or the lives of Gandhi and King. “I think there’s a huge hungry audience for that.”

01:31:22Copy video clip URL At the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, people are selling t-shirts and pins. People are asked about how to teach about peace in education. One woman at a POW MIA table says she would start with Vietnam, and is in support of the veterans. She thinks conflict resolution is common sense, but doesn’t know how to teach it: “I’m for peace to a point,” but we should go to war if we need to, she says. A man who is reluctant to be on camera eventually talks about being against flag burning.

01:40:00Copy video clip URL A man, Joe Timko, is a Vietnam veteran and in support of peace studies in preventing wars, if possible. “I think that if there was a way to keep from having wars through some sort of peaceful negotiations… teach kids peace… that would be the way to go.” “If we started the children at a young age… and taught peace… we could probably come up with a generation of people who only want peace.” However, other countries might disagree and resort to physical violence. Becker questions him about domestic violence, and Joe feels that television teaches that conflicts can be solved in a short amount of time, teaching kids the wrong way to think about problems. He says he is trying to put a bill through Congress about missing persons. “I hope no young person ever has to go to war again.”

01:47:43Copy video clip URL Becker asks three young girls on a bench about about non-violent ways of solving conflicts, their own experience studying war in school, and about domestic violence. They believe that responsibility lies with the parents.

01:50:57Copy video clip URL Shots of people visiting the Vietnam Wall, and Becker questions people about peace studies in schools. Some people are ambivalent. One woman directs our attention to children’s toys and movies. “I think what you have to do is educate children in the cultures of the world, start with that… once you give them appreciation of differences, then that will come along naturally as a progression.” Another woman is absolutely in support of peace studies in learning from our mistakes. A former schoolteacher says, “It’s not hard to teach peace, but they see chaos all around them… but it’s very hard for them to live up to what you teach them.” That is, peace in communities and families cannot be achieved when nations solve their problems through violence.

02:00:48Copy video clip URL End of tape.