All the Way Home (1957) | When A Black Family Moves Next Door

a quiet street in a quiet neighborhood in the middle of the 20th century [Music] when you look for a house what are you looking for what do you see where people lived in square fine ample houses the ferocious and he still spanned many torn down rebuilding among the dispersal of people and neighborhoods away being made for the projects signs of change in all the cities and still the dark red blindness of walls the city's reach out the ghettos burst open after a long while ghettos of every kind full borders into the sunny branchy section pushing out to the new country waiting raw for the builders some of us still live in uniformity but the sifting has begun and when you look further when you look for a house you see the city's reach what are you looking for a place to live your warmth your love your work you arrest from work you're quiet and the sounds you like your privacy your friends a good place for children a place to grow in easy to keep clean a place we can afford the right place for us [Music] and even from a car we try to guess what is there for us who lives behind these doors on this quiet street who lives here for this be hit this one [Music] I don't think you can even sell them take another look I know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna get dick on the phone right away nice streets in a nice neighborhood where things are taken care of well why do people come here all the regular reasons [Music] [Music] [Music] this room this is why I mind leaving the most so many little things Bob seeing Ginny in her wedding dress here for the first time that night we got back from the hospital after little Laurie was born suddenly we were grandparents Christmases birthdays don't you feel that way about the room oh gosh you don't sure I do well tonight when I was burning the leaves I felt that again not just about the room or the house but the whole neighborhood something about the people here I just I just hate to pull out we haven't moved for ages when you think of the way most people move all the time do you remember the year Ginny was born three places we lived that year pretty late yes yes this is mrs. candy there must be some mistake [Music] it was about those people that were here today you mean because it I know it I knew it the minute they got out of that car I know somebody was gonna throw a fit but who and God's name would do a thing like that you're really very upset uh can I get you something maybe just a bath was it that bad worse gets into a person like that you know what he said [Music] hello Tom have you been fine ed you no complaints by the way Tom you're going to lodge a meeting Thursday always do don't I was there anything a matter I just don't understand you read you've always been a pretty regular guy a credit to the neighborhood too I'm the same guy I've always been there's something bothering you why don't you just say it same things bothering a lot of people I guess we didn't know you as well as we thought get to the point Tom come on here don't pretend you don't understand nobody's going to get away with the stuff you're trying to hand out now look here you look here nobody's threatening you there's never going to be any violence in this part of town we have peaceful people you've got friends here I'm your friend we just want to know what it is you think you're doing to us a quiet street quiet neighborhood never any trouble here none at all so I got off that bus and came straight here there's nothing to worry about and nothing at all everybody knows you as an ideal citizen but frankly let me give you a little friendly advice I think that sign down your house is a desirable property we'll turn up the right buyer for you I hear what you're saying Ted but don't turn on the bedside manner you struck me as upset Tom alder was upset Tom elder didn't walk in my door can't blame Tom ed people get nervous you know they worry I told him it's probably all the mistake we all know you wouldn't do anything out of line ed out of line what in heaven's name are you talking about some people came to look at my house they were Negroes I haven't done anything yet now take it easy ad I'm not Tom elder you know look let's face it if you want to sell your house I want to sell it for you that's what I'm here for that's my business but there's some things you just can't do let's sign it's a terrible thing open invitation to anybody you've been around here long enough to know we don't do things that way no listen I've had a dozen people in here would have taken your place I didn't let them get as far as you I've got to consider the community you're leaving but there are a lot of us who's gonna be here for a long time now take a dip of old friend forget this whole thing let me take care of your house ah blind well that's Ted moats for you well you either see things his way or you're out of line whoa a minute those people showed up I I knew there was gonna be some talk what was I supposed to do slam the door in their face where's Laurie she was here a minute ago oh she's outside playing with Bobby he's got a new bike and he promised to give her a ride Oh Bob how about some fishing this Saturday weather's still good Laurie could come along without nothing doing dad Bob promised to put up the wallpaper in the dinette weeks ago but he can find the darndest excuses for not doing it this Saturday that wallpaper goes up Oh who's the boss around here anyway we can get it done in a few hours with these two out of the way [Music] never to be the same again the first sign of the first family entering the street responds with the old questions why do they go where they're not wanted why in a neighborhood like this now the old cries running the place down and values down wanting our girls now images rise up riots of night murder rape images of violation fears that lie deep in people's lives and a man stands suddenly alone [Music] you hear about candy are you serious that's all we've been talking about in our house yeah ours too the way I see it schools one thing sorry for kids to learn what it's all about sure when it comes to your home your home is different we've got our rights to the classes to live with oh yeah just let them try to force this in my block well nice to tinea mrs Peterson thank you [Music] they play they play and of course they're all different but what does it mean when one level is kept one color one group what they're grown-ups think of is one kind of people shutting out the rest even here playing are they cut off from part of life are they cut off from part of themselves and refusing to touch the variety the richness the texture of reality that is always there for us these children and this place if paddy goes through with this land values around here won't be worth a plug nickel do you know what he's provoked around here I've heard that some young idiots thought they had to protect the honor of the community just what Ed's done I don't know you want to hide your head okay but I can I've had a steady stream of complaints since we opened this morning that's good Ted shows a fine spirit that paint splashing was real violation of this place when I saw it this morning I was no holes no Ralphs complaints against caddy I see well a flood you say from home maybe I exaggerated Tom elder very substantial elder anyone else miss Wesser yes well we've both known miss West for years what did she say well it wasn't so much what she said when you're dealing with complaints it's precisely that just what did miss Westar say she said she couldn't stand this smell listen I've got nothing against those people but if I go looking for trouble property values in this neighborhood will go to pot if we don't stop what Kant is doing I look Ted I'm a practical man you don't work for this Bank very long unless you are I have to talk to you from two positioners from my own and from the banks they're not necessarily the same we can't have people like Tommy older and miss Westar throwing us into a panic plan values don't have to go down not even the people in the community act like to believe in themselves here's an article reported in the New York Times which says that the official organization of home appraisal experts finds that land values actually have gone up in this type of situation come now if you can do anything with figures you know that the important thing is we don't want anything like that to happen here I've got two daughters you know what's the point Ted well I'd like the bank to get worried around that no no strike that out I hope that you and the bank will reach a policy decision on real estate loans that will reassure the homeowners of this community and the merchants and the service companies that's quite a package look Ted you know I don't make the decisions around here I'll tell you what I'll call downtown and see what they say well [Applause] if you're not on my side of the fence at least sit on it okay we'll see it's hard to know what's right what's wrong it's the most difficult thing we ever faced not just for Edie me but for Laurie and Bob and my daughter and for all the friends we've made after all this is our community - we leave something here I was thinking about that very thing I've heard about what happened you know what I can't bear anything so I'm so lovely so full of the moralities I looked at that little girl in all her sweetness and blackness and I thought just that just what black that's what I thought black like them I thought and everything I'd heard as a child came back to me don't go near one don't go into cellars even with one you know the old you'll be killed you'll be lying in a ditch dead you may be worse but that stain was black they're not really black are they when I looked out of the window in that car drove up and he got out I thought no you know how I was brought up narrow no evil but not much good as a matter of fact not much soul and no visible body no poverty just enormous blinders of very good material so something in me went no I was shocked at myself no would you say that was some shred of prejudice and an infinitesimal spark of human feeling it's not awful be ashamed by oneself know that first moment I didn't want them even to look at the house and then we got talking and I began to like them after all it's a house that they want and that they can afford and then when I tried to clean Lori's dress something happened I want them to have the house that's the first awful thing you've said go but I I want them to be like anybody else you know how the house they won and can pay for the reason the fact that it's your anger your resentment of what happened to Lori your hatred that's invite them to live here it's not a motive yes I see how does the church stand on this where do you stand the church sees it as a challenge we have a chance here to affirm our deepest beliefs in the spirit in the various nosov men and the unity of the spirit not all the church thinks this way no not all but enough of us take a look at this Carol it's a declaration of conscience a statement of Bakke principles used as a focal point by those people in a community who refused to allow ignorance and fear and hate to wreck their neighborhood now this problem is the greatest challenge the churches had to meet in a long time it's not always easy meeting challenges but this sort of thing can help us to meet our responsibilities it's a place to begin sound Ted old Stan Ralph well what's the answer you understand this is an informal statement it also may be taken as a statement of bank policy it is concerned only with that aspect of the problem if it is a problem that affects us as a financial institution this Bank is in the business of making sound loans properly secured period sound loans what does that mean if this happens here there won't be many loans worth making and you know it I think there will and there others in the community who think so too in my experience the question of whether a man pays his debts has nothing to do with the color of his skin or where he came from know what'll happen what in your opinion opinion this is a fact the better element will leave will have a slum on our hands Ted I think that depends on us alright Ralph now we know where we stand you go ahead and talk about Bank policy but I'll tell you one thing once something like this gets started you don't stop it and if anybody around here is gonna sell in a real estate it's gonna be dead moose one house its neighbors confusion of a street they'll try to keep it from flaring up but each of them has fears that rage and threaten threats that seem to come from outside when you were a child what was it the Jews the poles the Irish Italians Chinese these fears are real about their homes yes is there money threatened they believe it is threat to their social standing guarded so long they think so and the laws beginning to recognize this legislate then you can't do what I mean you can't force tolerance by law of course you can but this has nothing to do with tolerance this has to do with practice you can by law prevent men from committing crimes against others that are always in reality crimes against themselves that's what law is for oh that's all very fine but how are we going to keep this neighborhood good we don't want undesirables we don't want land values to take a nosedive well you know as much about land values as I do they don't have to do a nosedive at all this afternoon when I waved an article on property values in Ted motes face I'd really only read the headline myself but since then I've read it through carefully and this is what it had to say it was a study for the University of California on 9 San Francisco neighborhoods and which Negroes had bought homes since 1940 I suppose you're gonna tell us property values went up exactly apparently there have been dozens of such studies made and the findings have been that prices go up not down if anything over a period of time all right I'm a banker by profession no heart very limited kind of head man's wallet is his castle that kind of imagination all right well let me tell you this a man's a desirable neighbor if he's financially all right and he doesn't throw beer cans all over his front lawn has nothing whatever to do with the color of his skin or religion or his parents come from it has to do with the worth of a person that sound economics mr. candy you're a man of good judgment would you say that these people were nice people you're the first person that asked me that yes they were nice people candy what are you trying to do to us what grudge got you going against this place anyway look if anybody's damaging this community it's not edie candy I'm leaving we've been at this for two hours and ohon knows we're not getting anywhere all right we're ready to pull out and nobody wants to do anything about it's just second time what's been happening here has happened before in other places it's always to somebody's advantage to stir things up it's an old game that Ted moats played here today that's Ted moats it's not the whole real estate profession what happens here or anywhere is completely a matter of how people handle themselves when they act like human beings the values are sound is well a silver dollar Ted moats figures show different he spent the afternoon going up and down Elm Street ringing doorbells literally giving a sales talk some of the signs are out already sure and Ted's got 10 new clients and maybe 10 new commissions mr. Yates mr. Hebner couldn't you walk up and down Elm Street and tell them that well what we might do to is put out our own signs it's been done something like we're not selling we believe in our community no I don't know how we can be good neighbors even if the land values stay the same the streets going to be different doesn't that depend on us did any of us really choose each other as neighbors we get along but how long can we keep the door closed without locking ourselves in what we must learn is how to keep from poisoning ourselves with fear and barriers and ghettos non-stem Negroes don't live in ghettos anymore good heavens look at the housing project in the city they're not ghettos of course they are any place where a human being is shut in or shut out because of the color of his skin is a ghetto in the real sense of the word I know that now I guess I knew it all along just didn't think much about it though but they are ghettos well mr. canty it's not really up to us at hearts it's up to you alone whether the sale will be made now Jim get wrong there what I do isn't very as important as what you do that's what this is all about tonight is right we can't duck it Edie Kandi's decision is his own but that's no longer important it's what we do that counts this isn't about one man and his house this is about us as a community and it has to be fought out in the white communities in the white people each in himself now it's been said the community is engaged as we move toward this beginning there's a quickening of pace you can see it right here in these people as they begin to face up to their problem we need our selves freed from our old slavery's and exclusions we are fighting for a sense of community in order to have that ever we must look at what we have been excluding we need ourselves in all our pride of differences to lift the old threat that brought us here the way we meet the difference in people this can give us strength arrange the various nosov this is a source of power always when it is met well and used this possibility is very great just now it is whatever we feel and do and think when we go out of here and go home tonight it is deep in what we are prepared to give what we feel surely and the people around us in ourselves all the way home [Music] [Music] [Music]

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Id: S9e7zXKNNwg

Length: 29min 45sec (1785 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 23 2018