Black Journal; The Young Black Lawyer

Item Information

Title:
Black Journal; The Young Black Lawyer
Description:
Three young black lawyers discuss their role in the freedom struggle and reveal new goals, approaches, attitudes, philosophies and concepts emerging in the field of black legal practices. They are Haywood Burns, director of the National Conference of Black Lawyers; Bill Clifton, a third-year student of law at the University of California and a board member of the National Black American Law Students Association; and Kenneth Cockrel, a member of a Detroit law firm and the Black Workers Congress. One innovation propounded by Mr. Clifton involves certificate application to the black-organized National Bar Association as opposed to the American Bar Association. He views the ABA, which is predominately white, as a "vestige of racism - entrenched in the institutionalized pattern of racism that pervades the society - I don't need ABA to tell me whether I'm qualified to practice law or not," says Mr. Clifton. (Mr. Burns notes during the program that black lawyers number only one percent of all the lawyers in the United States.) Kenneth Cockrel believes that blacks with legal skills have a clear responsibility "to demonstrate rather graphically to people that the American legal system is nothing but a functional apparatus that exists - only to serve the ruling class" in an imperialist society. Only by "demystifying" the legal system can the people reject it and implement the demise of the imperialist society. He is also involved in exposing the criminality of the "racist-imperialist" institutions - those that profit from the exploitation of blacks. He cites as an example the case of the black worker James Johnson, an employee of the Chrysler Corporation plant in Detroit, who shot three fellow workers. "We demonstrated to the people that in fact this man was not responsible for those homicides. That in fact the Chrysler Corporation and the existence of a racist imperialist system which has denied him every possible opportunity for productive participation in life were in fact the true culprits in this case." Mr. Johnson was acquitted. The three lawyers also discuss such problems in the legal system and its machinery as racist judges, district attorneys, clerks and bailiffs; laws that most affect the poor and non-whites such as the money bail system; and discrepancies in the system such as bail inconsistencies, exemplified by the case of Angela Davis, who was refused money bail. "Black Journal" is a production of NET Division, Educational Broadcasting Corporation (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) Black Journal began as a monthly series produced for, about, and - to a large extent - by black Americans, which used the magazine format to report on relevant issues to black Americans. Starting with the October 5, 1071 broadcast, the show switched to a half-hour weekly format that focused on one issue per week, with a brief segment on black news called "Grapevine." Beginning in 1973, the series changed back into a hour long show and experimented with various formats, including a call-in portion. From its initial broadcast on June 12, 1968 through November 7, 1972, Black Journal was produced under the National Educational Television name. Starting on November 14, 1972, the series was produced solely by WNET/13. Only the episodes produced under the NET name are included in the NET Collection. For the first part of Black Journal, episodes are numbered sequential spanning broadcast seasons. After the 1971-72 season, which ended with episode #68, the series started using season specific episode numbers, beginning with #301. The 1972-73 season spans #301 - 332, and then the 1973-74 season starts with #401. This new numbering pattern continues through the end of the series.
Producer:
Brown, Tony
Production company:
WNET (Television station : New York, N.Y.)
Panelist:
Cockrel, Kenneth
Panelist:
Clifton, Bill
Panelist:
Burn, Haywood
Date:
February 15, 1972
Format:
Film/Video
Location:
Library of Congress
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Library of Congress > Black Journal
Subjects:
Race and Ethnicity
Extent:
00:29:29
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-512-9882j6926j
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 50