Although I Wasn't Invited To

It's Like Having A Pet Dog For A Long Time. You Get Attached To It, And When It Dies You Miss It.

Well, I Couldn't Play An Instrument. I'd Just Stand Up Front And Announce The Numbers. They Had Me Sing A Little, But That Was A Horrible Mistake. I Can't Carry A Tune In A Bucket. We Played Black Theaters And Nightclubs All Over Hell. One-nighters. Apollo Theater In Harlem And The Earle Theater In Philly - That Was Big Time For Blacks.

Joe Louis And I Were The First Modern National Sports Figures Who Were Black... But Neither Of Us Could Do National Advertising Because The South Wouldn't Buy It. That Was The Social Stigma We Lived Under.

I Realized Now That Militancy In The Best Sense Of The Word Was The Only Answer Where The Black Man Was Concerned, That Any Black Man Who Wasn't A Militant In 1970 Was Either Blind Or A Coward.

In The Space Of Less Than Seven Days, I Attended A Track Meet In Boston, Flew From There To Bowling Green For The National Jaycees, Then To Rochester For The Blind, Buffalo For Another Track Meet, New York To Shoot A Film Called The Black Athlete, Miami For Ford Motor Company, Back Up To New York For 45 Minutes To Deliver A Speech, Then Into L. A. For Another The Same Night.