Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project (2019) - full transcript

[whooshing]

[film reeling]

♪

♪

And at five dollars
a barrel less...

Water was ten feet...

- First ball...
- But if we take away...

Lead is...

Down on the process...

[indistinct chatter]

[shouting]



Grab a look a man who left...

In a Caribbean jet liner...

- A gay man was shot to death.
- Towels for a dollar...

Our headquarters overseas.

At seventy-two seconds
following liftoff,

the tragic explosion.

The Challenger
was engulfed in flames.

♪

In Iran, the war
is a holy crusade

promoted on television
with Marshall Music and...

People always ask why.

Why did she do it?

And to understand that,

you really need to know
who my mother was



and the life she lived.

♪

I know her life is strange

and questionable by many,

but I know she was
here for a purpose.

♪

A lot of craziness
produces a lot of brilliance.

And I think there'’s something

kind of brilliant about
what Marion Stokes did.

Whatever motivated her,
this material needed to wind up

in a situation where
it could be shared.

We do expect it to tighten as
more and more adult supporters

sort of come out of the closet.

♪

Taping these programs,
for my mother,

was a form of activism.

She wanted people to be able

to seek the truth
and check facts.

♪

She thought that everybody
needed to have access

to knowledge
to make good decisions

to have the real truth.

♪

How useful is it in making life
better, making my life better,

and making life
for other people better.

Now, if it is useful,

if it'’s a useful correlation,

a way of looking at things,
if it...

If it enhances my freedom

because I can make choices

rather than be buffeted
like a leaf in the wind,

but I can make choices.

If it enhances my freedom
then I don'’t have to see

the physical cause
of why it works.

♪

I'’m sure she came to value what
was coming through the screens

more than the kind of,
very problematic messy stuff

that was happening,
you know, in her real life.

♪

[horn honking]

I was Mrs. Stokes'’ chauffeur
in Philadelphia.

She lived in the richest
part of the city.

The square itself is surrounded

by very expensive
apartment buildings.

It was the number one address
to have in Philadelphia.

My dad had
a construction company

and we did a lot
of work in Barclay.

And that'’s how
we ran into the Stokes

and they had us do
their renovations.

Very mysterious
and very private.

Her husband, John,
would come out and talk to me

and I would speak to Marion
through the door.

She would open the door
maybe an inch and talk to me.

I would say it was
three or four months

before I actually met her.

We were getting close
to finishing their place

when they said they would
like me to start working for them,

helping them do things.

I was kind of shocked
because of, you know,

I'’d never, I guess,

been with someone
that had so much stuff.

They had enormous amount
of furniture

and archives, magazines, books.

She read about
11 newspapers a day

and I don'’t think
she ever threw one out.

When I first got there,

Mrs. Stokes didn'’t
really talk to me.

She introduced herself.

She laid down what she wanted,

what she expected of me,

but it was no conversation.

She would have the tapes
going on different TVs

throughout the apartment.

So every TV
she couldn'’t get to.

So certain TVs,
I would change the tapes

and Frank also had
TVs in the back

that he was taping from, so.

It was a project
for everybody to be doing.

Now there were
some codes of conduct

that were made
very clear to me early on.

No talking.

It was like "“Driving
Miss Daisy"” in reverse.

Everything was
absolutely ritualized.

We had to make sure there
was no one in the vicinity

when we went out
the front doors.

I wasn'’t allowed
to touch the car

as far as open any doors.

That was Richard'’s job.

You know, she would sweep,

shiny black car,
like a film star.

♪

I do have a memory
of demonstrations,

one which garnered quite
a kind of hostile response.

There were, there were
some postcards sent...

Sent to my mother saying,
you know, well,

if you don'’t like it here,
go, go to Cuba.

She was the
Philadelphia Chairman

for the Fair Play
for Cuba Committee,

an organization started
by the Communist Party

to raise awareness
about the Cuban Revolution.

At her core she was motivated
by a belief in human freedom.

They spent some time in Mexico

trying to get in,
didn'’t get in.

I found a journal entry from
my mother from around that time

where she, she was fed up
with something and she said,

"I'’m going back to the United
States and taking the baby."

So I think there
was a lot of tension.

My mother was fired
from her job as a librarian

and I'’m pretty sure it had to
do with her being a Communist.

You know, she was definitely
spied on by the FBI.

And we know that she had a file

and, you know,
there are pictures of her

and reports from networks
of informants

and that kind of stuff.

She was justified
in feeling being watched.

For personality reasons,
I think my mother kind of

overdid it,
and continued to overdo it

until the day of her death.

She was enormously controlling.

She made it very difficult
on my father

when he would come to visit.

So I saw him less and less.

♪

♪

Captain'’s log
Stardate 5784.2.

We are responding
to desperate distress calls

- from an unknown planet.
- My mother was a huge fan of

- the original Star Trek series.
- Unable to account for this

since he reported no signs
of life on the planet.

The themes that she really
liked were that Earth

had actually sorted its
problems out, there was

the United
Federation of Planets.

That there was this
kind of multi-racial,

multi-national crew that
worked very well together,

that the mission of this
incredibly well-armed ship

was exploration, not warfare.

You know, it was basically
kind of televised socialism.

And she loved that whole thing.

♪

[whirring]

The first Betamax recorder
I remember was in late '’75.

And that was the first one,
it was used sparingly.

She didn'’t start recording
the news immediately.

She liked situation comedies.

Where are you goin'’?

Where am I goin'’,
where else can I go?

I'’m goin' over here
and sit down.

I do what I usually do,
look at TV.

Well, why would you look
at TV when it ain'’t workin'?

Science documentaries.

- Snakes, lizards have...
- With existence, CIA-

These kind of high-impact
current events.

First it gathers
information, intelligence.

There'’s a second kind of thing
that the CIA does

and that'’s to take secret actionto change

what goes on in another country.

This could involve giving money

to help a candidate
win an election.

It might involve aidingin the
overthrow of a government

which we think
is a threat to us.

It could even mean arranging

or trying to arrange
an assassination,

as in the case of Fidel Castro.

Your newspapers,
radio, television,

motion pictures
are understated in tone.

No dissent or oppositionis
allowed in the public media.

One of Lenin'’s principles was
that the method and the tenor

through which you
take your daily news

colors your view of the world.

Material things
do influence our emotions

and we do react
in an emotional way

to various symbols,
colors, and so on.

And some of these
things are chosen.

They'’re decided by somebody...

Now, it seems to me that...

She became aware of the power

of television to inform
or misinform people

when she started working
on a television program

in the late 1960s.

It was called "Input".

It was a current affairs
discussion program

by the local CBS affiliate
in Philadelphia.

They would assemble
experts on a topic.

Eugenics,
Native American rights,

race relations,
prisoners'’ rights,

with perspectives
all around the situations

and have it very
publically available

so that people would be able
to form their own opinions.

Completely erratic.

♪ Walkin'’ down death row ♪

♪ I sang for three men
destined for the chair ♪

Marion, how do you view
the last nine programs

as we'’ve sought to make this

an open community
type of TV presentation?

Well, I find some people, uh,

certainly grappling with
and not quite understanding

how it is that we managed
to get these people together

in the first place to talk.

And not understanding the
concept of an open community

of trust which is
big enough and open enough

to include
all the points of view

expressed within
a context of respect.

I'’ve been invited to openness

by those who really
are saying by that,

I want to open you
so that you'’ll be able

to see that I'’m right
and you'’re wrong.

And most people feel thattheir
viewpoint is being heard,

but they find themselves unable

to accept the open expression
of the other viewpoint.

The power of mass media
to affect public opinion

was something that
she became very conscious of.

And she was aware of how
the raw story gets filtered

by the predilections of the
people who are producing it.

I think there should definitelybe
controls of other kinds,

as well of material means of
manipulating mind and emotion.

And I think there are
so many examples in daily life

that people simply
don'’t recognize.

♪

From ABC in New York,
this is World News Tonight,

Sunday, with Sam Donaldson.

Good evening.
The U.S. Embassy in Tehran

has been invaded and occupied
by Iranian students.

The Americans inside
have been taken prisoner

and according
to a student spokesman,

will be held as hostages
until the deposed shah

is returned from
the United States

where he'’s receiving
medical treatment for cancer.

[shouting]

While the Iranians
burned an American flag

in front of the embassy,
they said the takeover

had the express blessing
of the Ayatollah Khomeini.

My mother was very suspicious
of the official stories

about the Iranian hostage crisis

and she became obsessed
with the media coverage.

She felt that important
information was being lost

as the story evolved.

So she kept taping.

Some 60 Americans,
including our fellow citizen

whom you just saw
bound and blindfolded,

are now beginning
their sixth day of captivity

inside the U.S.
Embassy in Tehran.

Officials will continue
their search for some way

to negotiate
the hostages'’ freedom.

The story changed.

A lot of the early reports
indicated that there were,

for example, CIA personnel
among the hostages

and then, suddenly,
there weren'’t.

You know, obviously,
if you were running

an intelligence agency it
would be perfectly reasonable

for them to suppress
that information.

But my mother was
very conscious of that.

Series of attempts
to negotiate the release.

She was saying,
"Well, we'’ve got to get this.

Nobody else
is gonna keep this."

This to restore military balance

with the Soviet Union and...

Her goal was trying
to reveal a set of agendas

on the part of governments.

Soviet troops have
swept into Afghanistan,

dramatically changing

the power game
in the Persian Gulf.

As much as it would like to,

the United States can no
longer encourage disintegration

of authority in Iran in order
to free the hostages.

Day 59, January 1st,

an angry mob of Afghan
and Iranian demonstrators

stormed the Soviet
Embassy in Tehran.

But this time, Khomeini'’s
revolutionary guards

evict the protestors.

That same day, U.N.
Secretary General Waldheim

arrives in Tehran to negotiate
the release of the hostages.

She was kind of watching

these positions
and maneuverings,

public opinion being molded.

Kind of uniformly anti-Iran,
people were calling for war.

People were calling
for all kinds of things.

She felt that there
was a lack of sympathy

for the goals
of the Iranian revolution.

One analyst says, Khomeini
so strongly detests the U.S.

for its support of the Shah
who was his lifetime enemy,

but also because he considers
Americans Satan'’s people

and leaders
of the decadent West.

Outside the United States
Embassy in Tehran,

this morning the crowds,
once again,

took up their daily chanting
and sign waving,

especially for
the television cameras.

[chanting]

During that crisis, she hit
record and she never stopped.

The Iran Crisis.

America Held Hostage.

America Held Hostage aired
first for fifteen minutes,

then for a half hour.

It'’s actually
a kind of successful show

to the point
that Nightline was born.

Nightline was actually
a very transformative program

in the history
of American television.

Iranian health representatives...

The idea of a new show
at 11:30 at night,

aired essentially in competition

with the evening talk shows
like The Tonight Show.

And then, something
kind of amazing happens.

It actually is watched
by a lot of people.

Good evening, some
of the rhetoric coming out

of Iran today was reminiscent
ofthe early weeks of this crisis.

There was a long running drama

which had the capacity

to change every day
unpredictably,

so it had a beautiful,
dramatic structure.

It had lots
of unpredictable characters,

many sub events.

There has been
a startling new development

in the Iran hostage crisis.

That U.S. attempt to launch
a military rescue

of the American hostages
in Tehran has been,

as you have now heard
several times, aborted.

Eight U.S. servicemen
killed in the process.

And it had this kind
of agonizing pathos

of being taken hostage.

Not only were the Americans

held in the embassy
in Tehran hostage,

but everybody else
was a hostage, too.

The TV was part of what
was taking us hostage.

We have a report,
Barbara, excuse me,

I am just told that
the Associated Press reports

that the hostages
are leaving the airport.

Now we can'’t go any further
than that on that report,

but it comes to us
from Associated Press.

I don'’t know
whether it'’s filed...

It must be filed
from Tehran, and, uh,

they say that the hostages
are leaving the airport.

Imagine that,
we are within half an hour

- of the transition of power.
- I'’d like to hear

from Ted Koppel before the
President-elect comes out.

Ted, can you come in and
give us any late information

- on the hostages?
- Yes, I can, UPI has just

gone with a flash, which is,
in effect, the highest,

the most important notification
of news that they can give.

The last time they did it was
with the Kennedy assassination.

It'’s two words,
it says, "Hostages Freed."

They'’re free,
they'’re free, Mr. President.

They'’re free, Mr. President.

We'’ve had press reports
that they'’re free.

- Freed.
- We'’ve had press report.

What do you have
to say about that?

- What do you have to say, sir?
- There'’s only one thing

to say... thank God.

One of the most dramatic
freedom pictures that we'’ve

all ever seen... those,

the 52 American hostages now
officially designated

the returnees out of Iran.

The Iranian hostage crisis
happened in 1979

and CNN launched in 1980.

So my mother started taping

really, at the birth
of the 24-hour news cycle.

The news 24 hours every day.

Then she, she really,

she really went into high gear.

I recall there were times when

there were eight recorders
going at once.

Those were special occasions.

Normally, there were three
to five tapes recording.

People would say
things, like, "Well,

of course, the station'’s
gonna keep everything."

Of course,
we know now that the stations

don'’t keep everything.

She understood
that this was changing,

the speed of news
was increasing,

and that you'’d find news
in places that you wouldn'’t

have found it
in order to fill that space.

♪

With new capabilities
for recording that

and for tracking that process,

she was watching public opinion

being molded in this new medium.

♪

I mean, I don'’t think it was
joyful to her, this taping.

And if the tape wasn'’t going,
she was not happy.

She couldn'’t
leave the apartment

without having a tape in.

And if we came in
and the tape stopped,

she was upset, too,
because she didn'’t get it all.

"The tape is ended,
what happened?"

You know, so it was
a disaster for the day.

♪

We had to go back to The Barclay

in-between things
to change the tapes.

She always knew exactly

when one of the tape machines
were to stop.

You said it was
on Thursday night.

- You taped the wrong show.
- Take control of your TV.

There is a system with your
TV where you can record stuff,

but she didn'’t want that.

She was concerned someone else
would know what she was taping.

And she said,
"I can tape what I want

and people don'’t really know
what I'’m actually taping."

The predawn retrieval
of Elián González

came as many had begun thinking

that a voluntary handover
was in the offing.

A moment-by-moment account
on how things changed

from NBC'’s Pete Williams.

She would often ask the people,

you know, at Rittenhouse Camera,

to send the tapes
in black trash bags.

♪

I guess she felt insecure
in a way that people were

talkin'’ about her
behind her back or something.

You know, she would
always tell me, "Frank...

I don'’t look like you
and you don'’t understand

what I'’ve been through
and how people judge her.

When she moved into
The Barclay, she said

she had gotten comments
from different residents

saying she didn'’t belong there.

She was secretive about
the process of recording

partly because she was
secretive about everything,

but partly because people kind
of viewed it as kind of nutty.

Lucy Coleman and Liz
are identical twins

and they'’re celebrating.

Wednesday they'’ll be
100 years old.

The odds of twins living
a century are said to be

one in seven hundred million.

This is the greatest thing
this town has ever had.

And it'’s signed Ronald Reagan.

- That'’s fine, thank you.
- You'’re very welcome.

- That'’s from the President.
- I know.

She told her husband
ten years ago

that she wanted to be buried
in her beloved Cadillac.

So after the 62-year old woman

died of cancer on Thursday,
she got her wish.

After the car was lowered
into the vault by the crane,

the woman'’s casket
was placed on top of the car.

They are still tryingto
reach little Jessica McClure.

She'’s 18 months old,
she'’s been trapped

in a narrow pipe 20 feet
below ground in Midland, Texas

for nearly 24 hours now.

The child fell while playing

with other toddlers
yesterday morning.

Rescuers are now trying
to tunnel through rock

- to reach Jessica.
- Beaufort, South Carolina

is a tranquil sort of place.

How loud can you be
when you love God?

Placid and tranquil until
the preachers hit the streets.

If you are found without
the blood of Jesus Christ,

you will be cast alive
into a lake of fire.

She did remark periodically
on how small events

from small town America would
occasionally make it onto CNN,

which would never have
made the national news.

She was concerned with how
that 24-hour news cycle

was being filled and what
effect that would have.

They send us
their cars, their VCRs,

and just about everything else.

Their success makes them
money, not necessarily friends.

The Japanese have a big
public relations problem

in America and big problems

require big solutions.

Big, how'’s this for big?

Japan'’s newest export,
Sumo wrestlers.

The Japanese have just sent
America several tons of sumos,

a good will tour to improve
Japan'’s image in this country

and just possibly to take our
minds off the trade deficit.

Since the first of the year, a
new law allows German citizens

free access to secret files
kept on them

by the former
East German Secret Police.

For decades,
the police, known as Stasi,

spied on thousands of Germans.

The East German
Secret Police had

an extraordinarily
efficient spy apparatus,

collecting information on an
estimated six million people.

The law not only gives
victims access to their files,

but lets them see the names

of those who spied against them.

Truthfulness
will not cushion the pain

as East Germans discover
just who spied on whom,

including friends, neighbors,
and even family.

She was obsessed with the
mediation of media, you know,

how media reflects
a society back to itself.

Exploitation of tearful widows,

cases of blatant sensationalism,

and the manipulation
of the press by politicians.

And although accusing
the press of looking bad

may seem to be fashionable,

Chancellor says it doesn'’t
square with the facts.

The polling data
that I have seen

and the people I'’ve
talked to around the country

show that those of us who are
in it are far more worried

about its credibility than
thosewho see it or read it.

The public is fairly content
with the journalism

it'’s getting in America today.

I was thinking,

what'’s the purpose
of continually taping,

but I didn'’t ask her about it.

I think it was
for the betterment of mankind.

♪

They are coming essentially
out of the same background

and have pretty much
the same biases

and stereotypes and approaches
to life that you have.

You talk among yourselves
in a technical language

which is to exclude
the rest of us from being able

to evaluate, in terms
of reality, our lives.

You need, you need
to deal with people

who are livinga different
reality than yours.

It seemed like she
was always interested

in getting
different people together

and having them live
together peaceably.

John and Marion were working on

this "Input" TV series together.

And I guess they just bonded.

To have a confrontation,
let'’s say, Jewish/Christian,

or Black/White, or youth/adult,

whichever the course is,
they, too, come together

as communities prepared
to hear honestly

what they don'’t normally hear.

So that this concept of really
opening yourself is, uh,

what I am attempting to,
uh, help develop here.

♪

My father and Marion
were producers on the shows.

I completely believe they were
really fighting for justice

and freedom and that they each,

in their own way,
were really committed to that.

Any conceptual prejudice
or any misinformation

which may existcan be
gotten out on the table.

And when it'’s examined in
this, uh, spirit of affirmation,

even if the affirmation'’sonly
coming, let'’s say, one way,

the belief is that somehow
thiscan be deflated and looked at

so that the goodness
begins to bubble through.

I was kind of intrigued
by him, to say the least.

You know, I was this guy
from the street corner

and this is this rich guy
in Chestnut Hill.

I knew that he didn'’t work,

'’cause he was always
around in the daytime.

So I said, this guy
is too rich to work.

John wanted something organized.

It was real '’60s type of thing
and we'’d hang out together.

He would pick a topic
and then we would discuss it.

His quest was always,

how are we gonna
change the structure?

This phoniness, this,
this role playing,

this not getting through to
each other is creating images

for each other and all this
typeof thing has got to go.

I was the rabble rouser.

And I realized he was
trying to do the same things

I was trying to do.

Marion had that same goal.

I respect a person
who will deal with, with...

With my ideas
or with the situation,

the reality of the situation.

Not, not my credentials

that I use the feminine wiles

or that I say it the right way.

You see, that'’s what's
wrong with black folks.

We don'’t say it the right way.

If we just did,
everything would be all right.

And if women would just,
you know, uh, uh,

say it politely and make
themthink it'’s their idea and so on,

then there wouldn'’t be
all this trouble.

And why are we
now rocking the boat?

-I think... I think we can'’t deal with it.

Well, I don'’t accept
that totally in that...

They were talking about process.

And my mother said,
"If I'’m charge,

everybody can be equal,"

which is the kind of thing
that you might expect

from someone transitioning
out of the Communist Party.

You talked about, about faith
in the democratic process.

You know, when people are
killedon the courthouse steps,

you know, for going up
to register to vote,

now, how can you expect

black people to have faith
in the democratic process?

If you want us to have faith
in the democratic process,

- make it work.
- See, I'’m with you.

It'’s your process, make it work.

See, I'’m with you,
all of us together.

Not I make it work,
but will you join me?

- No, you make it work.
- Will you join me?

You keep me out
of your institutions,

- therefore you... no, you
have...-I should keep you out?

Kept me out of
yourinstitutions, your institutions

- are what run this country.-But
if we are opening the door

and saying, come, let'’s sit
downand talk and reason together...

- Make your process work first.
- As Johnson always says.

- And then...
- You don'’t want to come in

and and reason together?

You don'’t want me in there.

See, you'’re only talking
as you, as an individual.

Marion wasa very intelligent, very sharp,

very determined person
to get her points across.

I think John was
attracted to that.

I think a lot of it had to do

with them having
very similar ideals.

And my mother really wasn'’t
into social issues.

She was an artist, she cared
about how things looked.

And she was not a deeply
spiritual person at all.

Unfortunately,
I think my mother felt

very accused by him

and I think that really
distressed my mom a lot.

♪

I'’m trying to make
a positive input in society

instead of hanging on some
set of norms that are prevailing.

What is the key to building

a type of way of communicating
and working together so we...

I think he knew he thought
very differently about things

and wasn'’t interested in

his social class particularly.

He had strong
philosophical convictions.

The awakening of individuals
as to who they are...

What their identity is,
how they define themselves,

whether as a member
of a white group

or black group,
Jewish, Christian.

Everyone is saying, "I'’m
tryingto find out who I am."

- Well justified.
- One said, John, uh...

The working relationship
and, eventually, the romance

between these people
from different backgrounds

really puzzled people.

My impression is that
the two of them never

really felt understood
by other people

until they really met
each other.

♪

I knew that he had a family.

I remember, you know,
seeing him at our house.

♪

I think that I understood
something'’s going on.

You know as a 10, 11-year-old,
I kind of wasn'’t welcome.

♪

I'’d been through college
and was living back at home.

And I remember
coming into the kitchen

and he was almost at the door

with a suitcase.

And I said,
"How long is this for?"

I mean, at this point I was 17.

Um, "How long is this for?"

And he said, "Well,
um, I'’m not really sure."

♪

I was able to get horoscopes
of two people who I knew

who, uh, let'’s say
were very much in love

or were collaborating together
very closely.

And I was astounded

when these two charts
were superimposed

that here were these very...
About eight planets

were in close correlation
or conjunction.

♪

There'’s a certain point
where even...

Even I'’m gonna get it

and, uh, I think I got it.

[air rushing]

I guess you could call it
the pre-marriage honeymoon.

♪

We spent quite a bit of time
in London

and then we spent at least
a few days in Paris.

♪

♪

As a librarian,
she'’d kind of seen pictures

of all this stuff and
kind of knew a lot about it.

It was just an amazing thing.

♪

It was a shift.

I understood that we probably
weren'’t gonna have to heat

the house with gas
from the stove anymore.

♪

I certainly looked on him,
you know,

as a bit of a role model.

♪

They were married
in New Hope, Pennsylvania,

two days
after I turned thirteen.

♪

A lot of John'’s family
was there, that was

the first time
I met his children.

♪

I could see how happy
my father was with Marion.

♪

It was pretty overwhelming.

♪

Each of them accepted
their personality quirks,

their intensity and intellect

at a level that neither
of them, I think,

had really felt before.

Her relationship to John was

one of the most deeply
satisfying things in her life.

♪

[tape clicking]

♪

[elephants trumpeting]

♪

Turn on the machine,

pour in almost all the water,
and then go,

pump, pump, pump.

This now is a tape

of yesterday afternoon'’s
shooting, the assailant

now held to the ground...
The President, who was

immediately pushed into the car.

I knew that they
recorded things sometimes.

- 24 hours a day, relax...
- But I didn'’t have any sense of

- it being a specific project.
- NBC News Team.

Experience you can trust.

This is CBS.

Each evening,
Monday through Friday on...

This is CBS.

Twenty-four hour feeds
were CNN, FOX, MSNBC.

Then I would put in
an eight-hour tape.

Marion controlled
certain of the VCRs,

selectively changing
station to station.

She was creating
a library at home.

And she often talked
about buying another property

that she could put
her whole library in.

Imagine being able
to go to a reference source

where you can
actually see and hear.

♪ Come feel the excitement ♪

♪ Of who, what, where, why ♪

♪ Open Britannica ♪

That sense of kind
of stewarding a whole

lot of knowledge
and actually being able

to give it to people struck

her sort of democratic
sensibilities.

♪

In Afghanistan, increasing
numbers of refugees

continue crossing
the border into Pakistan.

The flow of refugees arrive

at the rate of about 400 a day

in camps set up
by the Pakistan government

- some distance from the border.
- The New York City

Transit Worker'’s strike
is into its fourth day.

[horns blaring]

Yes, despite
all kinds of traffic jams...

- Somebody do something!
- New Yorkers have not allowed

the strike to change
their usual disposition.

- This air stinks.
- It stinks.

Don'’t bother me, why don't
you do something constructive?

[clucking noises]

It'’s been two years since the
Soviets invaded Afghanistan,

and today a State Department
report said the Soviets

seemed bogged down in a
Vietnam-like no-win situation.

Terrorism in Lebanon
and in this country,

and what, if anything,
can be done about it?

It'’s an embassy in Kuwait,
a department store in London,

and overall the fear that
maybe it could happen here.

Ted Turner has announced
that his company,

Turner Broadcasting System,
is putting up

a half-million dollars
to help finance

television programs
without regard

to national origins or politics.

Turner'’s political beliefs
were questioned.

First of all, I don'’t think
these issues, in my opinion,

these are not right or left

or conservative
or liberal issues.

These are...
Issues that affect everyone.

♪ We thank you Lord ♪

Civil rights and women'’s groups

rallied over the weekend
in Pickens County, Alabama,

on behalf of two local black
activists who are likely to be

sent to prison today
for voting fraud.

Sixty-nine-year-old
Julia Wilder,

President of the
Pickens Voters League

and fifty-one-year-old
Maggie Bozeman,

President of a local NAACP.

I would not have been
trying to help people

had they been able
to do it for themselves,

but we have a lot
of illiterate people here

that don'’t understand.

And I had been doing absentees
for them for years

and still gonna plan
to do it, you know.

What'’s wrong with the journey
from log cabin to White House

and what'’s wrong withthe
journey from peanut planter

to the president
if it is within the law?

The Constitution provides
if you'’re 35 years of age

or older and an American citizen

and you can convince
the American electoral

to vote for you, that is
the Constitutional provision.

Computer technology has
expandedat an astonishing rate.

It helps check out your food
and process your income taxes.

♪

Like computer music,
computer art is

just beginning to be explored.

But there are limits.

A computer does not have
a mind of its own.

A computer does not have
a mind of its own.

A computer does not have
a mind of its own.

[indistinct sport announcements]

The day the Macintosh
computer was announced

was a really big deal
for my mother.

I remember her like, calling
me '’round to the house

to watch the commercial
as it was aired.

"I want to see it
and I want you to see it."

Today, we celebrate the
first glorious anniversary

of the Information
Purification Directives.

- We have created...
- Secure from the pests

purveying contradictory truths.

Our unification of thoughts
is more powerful a weapon

than any fleet or army on Earth.

They shall talk
themselves to death,

and we will bury them
with their own confusion.

We shall prevail.

[exploding]

On January 24th, Apple Computer

will introduce Macintosh.

And you'’ll see why 1984

won'’t be like "1984".

♪

My mother was
a huge fan of technology

as a way of unlocking
people'’s potential.

Now with Wang'’s new
integrated information system,

one person very simply can
perform data processing,

word processing.

Since mid-1970s, she'’d started

collecting VIC-20s
and Commodore 64s.

Who knows what the future holds.

And she was looking for a type

of computer
that would be easy to use.

And Macintosh is saying,
here is a way to make

personal computers
available to the rest of us.

- We don'’t want to be... -Apple
enhanced human freedom.

Apple enhanced
people'’s creativity.

Apple was her baby.

She had an incredible ability

to recognize shifts
in media and technology,

and she reacted to them.

She became
an evangelist for Apple.

She bought enormous amounts
of their technology.

The first thing she did give
mewas an Apple computer.

She was very interested
in us using it

and then coming back
and telling her

what we learned,
or what, you know,

she could learn from it.

She had multiple versions

of every Apple product
ever released.

Well, Ted, Apple Computer
says it expects profit margins

of twenty percent or better
in the coming quarter.

She really urged
the family trust

to invest in Apple early on.

I think her first purchases
were at about $7 a share.

And she'’d insist
they hold Apple stock

in an unwieldy large,
discreet holding,

and it went up significantly.

It definitely increased
both the family wealth

and her personal wealth.

"Here'’s to the crazy ones,

the misfits, the rebels,
troublemakers,

the round pegs
in the square holes,

the ones who see things
differently."

[applauding]

She was very much
into Steve Jobs.

Mike will often joke
that Steve was her...

One of her other sons

that she had
other than just Michael.

I remember when Steve Jobs died,

the next time I talked to her
she said, "I'’m surprised you

didn'’t call when Steve died."

And I was like...

She really, really
identified with Steve Jobs

at a very early age,
realizing that he was

a lot more intelligent than
a lot of people around him

and be incredibly hard
on people.

And Steve Jobs'’ story
of being adopted,

those things really resonated
with my mother.

♪

The route that we took
every day was identical.

But on that particular day,

she decided to come home
via Germantown Avenue

and she wanted to go
and see her old home.

♪

We talked about
an extraordinary subject,

and that was her youth.

♪

I discovered her early life

had been very similar to mine.

We were both adopted.

♪

My mother was born
in Philadelphia in 1929

so just after the crash.

She was informally adopted.

Her mother gave her up
ostensibly for economic
reasons.

But I think my mother tracked
her down and found out

that she had raised
subsequent children,

so she felt very
betrayed by that.

♪

She had a very turbulent
childhood, you know,

just being passed
from family to family.

I think that, that early
sense of abandonment

and betrayal really kind of set
a lot of my mother'’s attitudes

toward other people.

♪

Me being a foster child,
we had that in common, too.

♪

Me and Richard,
we were able to accept it

and be more positive about it.

But she still held those,
you know,

hard to her heart
as far as her mother,

and I feel as though
that hindered her life.

It really did.

She had, I think, heightened
and unrealistic standards

for how family should
behave with each other.

[distant cheering]

Three, two, one, and lift off!

Lift off, and it has
cleared the tower.

I think maybe initially
she made efforts.

I mean I would visit some
and she was friendly,

but it definitely felt
like a barrier to my father.

♪

I believe she was seeing it
as competing with her.

They wanted to do
everything together.

Everything had to be together.

I remember her saying,
"Oh, you know,

we probably think of her
as the evil step-mother."

Well, we didn'’t,
but in some ways we did.

There was no sense of sort
of being a family with them,

because we weren'’t allowed
totalk about other family members.

That was considered gossip.

Gossip usually affirms
some sort of a norm

that is a complicity
between the two people

that are gossiping
as to the way people should be

and this other person
somehow is different.

And who decides what'’s normal,
and I think maybe

a reexamination
of what is normal is,

is in order at this point,

because what'’s normal
is gonna be what we'’ve, uh,

- been taught or accepted.
- Accepted.

The word dogmatic comes to mind.

If I would disagree with her,
I'’d get blasted.

And Michael said, basically,
she was like that, too.

♪

My mother was,
as someone who would tape
things

and kept things,
she was absolutely concerned

that everyone agreed
on the accurate details

of what had happened.

We would have a six-hour
argument with her.

I mean, literally six hours.

Obviously, I found it difficult.

It was a long point of
contention between her and me

about my boringly conventional

intellect compared to her,

which I think
is probably accurate.

♪

What she wanted was bold
thinking, autodidactic,

and really outside
the mainstream.

♪

You know, I just got completely
fed up with being controlled,

being, in a lot of ways,
talked down to.

You know, my mother,
um, really could...

Could quite be very cruel
if she thought you weren'’t

kind of intellectually up
to the... up to her standard.

It was kind of like
a two-day argument going on

and I just remember storming
out of a couple of rooms.

And my mother said, "Well,
nice to have known you."

♪

And we just didn'’t
talk a whole lot,

uh, for a long, long, long time.

One of Mr. Reagan'’s nominees
is in trouble in Washington,

in trouble for saying
that the NAACP

is a Pinko organization

and that a white civil rights
attorney from his home state

of Alabama is a disgrace
to his race.

It'’s inconceivable to me
that a person of this attitude

is qualified to be
a U.S. Attorney

let alone a United States
Federal Judge.

Jefferson Beauregard
Sessions III,

he was brought face to face
with things he personally had
said.

For example, that the NAACP
and the Civil Liberty'’s Union

are un-American organizations.

These comments
that you could say, uh,

about a commie organization
or something,

I may have said
something like that.

♪ Made in the U.S.A. ♪

Let'’s start the "Family Feud"
the winner takes all.

Thank you!

Two or three years after
that rather intense argument,

I moved out of the country
without telling her.

I was really running.

So, you know, between the two
of us, we just kept it going.

♪

A few months ago,
I told the American people

I did not trade arms
for hostages.

My heart and my best
intentionsstill tell me that'’s true,

but the facts and the evidence
tell me it is not.

The devastation.

- It'’s hopeless.
- The despair.

I'’ve never seen men cry
like they have this year.

This is CNN Breaking News.

Um, because of the...

the HIV virus that
I have attained, uh,

I will have to retire
from the Lakers.

If you feel your proposal
was unfairly denied or ignored

because you are a woman or
a member of a minority group,

if so, the state
wants information...

Live from Iraq with scouts
in the Seven-Six infantry...

Good morning, America!

We are owned by larger
and larger companies.

It doesn'’t make me a radical
to be somewhat concerned

about white male boardroom
viewwill be even more a feature

of the news gathering
and reporting.

What story isn'’t being pursued?

What story isn'’t being covered?

♪

Make us a part of your party.

It is now 1992 Happy New Year!

Curfew is in effect as
Los Angeles continues to reel

from violence in the aftermath
of the Rodney King verdicts.

South Central part
of the city looked like

- the burning Kuwaiti oil field.
- One footnote to all of this,

the final episode
of the Cosby Show

aired tonight in Los Angeles.

For eight years, the program
held up an ideal of a happy,

successful black
American family.

♪ And the victory
of good over evil ♪

♪

Fight the real enemy.

In all of this,
William Jefferson Clinton

has undermined
the integrity of his office

and has acted in a manner
subversive of the rule...

We'’re leaving this program
to bring you live coverage

of President Clinton'’s comments
on military strikes in Iraq.

On Wednesday,
I ordered our Armed Forces

to strike military
and strategic targets in Iraq.

♪

When we did talk,
it was very, very strained.

Could have an hour-long phone
conversation with my mother

during which there
might be fifteen minutes

of actual talking and the
rest of it was just silence.

♪

That is the lunar eclipse
from last night.

As this century ends,
um, we have seen

our last lunar eclipse
of the 1900s.

In Times Square, eyes
are up there on the ball.

[cheering]

♪

Happy New Year!

♪

[birds chirping]

I don'’t remember how long it
had been since I had contact,

but it was a long time because

they would not answer the phone.

Marion wouldn'’t
or couldn'’t, maybe.

At one point I asked her,
"Okay, if you don'’t answer

the phone, how are we supposed
to get in touch?"

She said,
"Well, you could FedEx us."

[chuckling]

♪

I just decided,
well, why don'’t I just

wait and see
if I can make contact.

I just sat in Rittenhouse
Square and waited to see

if he would come out,
and he did.

♪

He would use a little
grocery shop cart,

almost like a walker.

He was very stooped over.

He'’s making his way
up along 18th Street,

and, I mean,
here I am stalking my dad.

♪

So, I thought, "Well,
I guess I better just go up,"

and I, I did and said,
"Oh, here I am.

I just happened
to see you here."

And he seemed very glad
to see me.

He sat down and said,
"Let'’s talk."

♪

The burning question that I had,

that really all of us
siblings had,

was did he not
communicate with us

because he didn'’t want to,
or was it because of Marion?

♪

And he said that his
relationship with Marion

was the most important thing
in his life

and that he didn'’t
want to rock the boat.

I think he actually
used that term.

And he said, "Don'’t ever tell
Marion that we spoke here."

♪

I'’ve considered him
something of a wimp.

♪

I mean, I have
a clear visual memory

of him walking,

crossing the street,
and going back into

the Barclay apartment building

and not turning around.

♪

There'’s, perhaps, 20 years

that they were isolated
in that house.

♪

Sometimes I'’d get down there
in the morning.

They were there theirselves,
sitting in their chairs

amidst all these books
and magazines and stuff.

And if I would come in
or whatever, you know,

their chairs were side by side
and they'’d be holding hands.

The way they treated
each otherwas just amazing.

♪

They told me
they were soulmates.

I think at that point in her
life she had ousted everyone.

She was content
with just her and John.

And he sacrificed himself
for her.

You know, I believe that

he didn'’t agree
with everything,

but he humbled himself
to allow her to be herself.

♪

John was taken in
by Ms. Stokes'’ knowledge.

She said, "People can'’t take
knowledge from you."

So she pretty much
felt that though...

The fact that she was
knowledgeable is what kept her

in the family, in John'’s heart.

♪

Would you like to lower your
monthly mortgage payments

or use the equity in your home
to consolidate your credit card

or other debts, just log on...

- Number two?
- Yeah.

This just in,
you are looking at,

obviously a very disturbing
live shot there.

That is the World Trade Center
and we have unconfirmed reports

this morning that
a plane has crashed

into one of the towers
of the World Trade Center.

CNN Center right now is just
beginning to work on this
story,

obviously calling our sources
and trying to figure out

exactly what happened,
but clearly something

relatively devastating
happening this morning there

on the south end
of the island of Manhattan.

That is, once again, a
picture of one of the towers

of the World Trade Center.

We can see these pictures,
it'’s obviously, uh,

something devastating
has happened, and, again,

unconfirmed report that
a plane has crashed into one

of the towers there, we are
efforting more information

on this subject as it
becomes available to you.

Right now we'’ve
got Sean Murtagh.

He is a CNN producer
on the telephone right now.

Sean, what can you tell us
about what you know?

This is, uh, Sean Murtagh,
I just was, uh, standing

on the, uh, vice president
of finance,

the vice president
of finance for CNN...

If every Capitol Hill scandal
merits weeks of coverage,

how much attention do

two-and-a-half million
dead merit?

It'’s a story we should
have brought you long ago.

This week, on Nightline
we'’d like to make up for that

by finally telling you
about the beauty

and the tragedy of Congo.

Three years,
two-and-a-half million dead.

We thought you should know.

One of the World
Trade Center towers.

Sean, what kind of plane,
was it a small plane, a jet?

It was, uh, it was a jet,
uh, it looked like...

We want to tell you
what we know,

as we know it,
but we just got a report in

that there'’s been
some sort of explosion

at the World Trade Center
in New York City.

One report said, and we can'’t
confirm any of this,

that a plane may have
hit one of the two towers

of the World Trade Center,
but again,

you'’re seeing
the live pictures here.

We have no further
details then that.

We don'’t know anything
about what they have concluded

happened there this morning,
but we'’re going to find out

and, of course, make sure
that everybody knows on the...

These are of course, the two
twin Trade Center buildings

that are down
at the foot of Manhattan.

That they really are
the beacons of New York.

It was there that
there was the explosion

a couple of years ago
brought about by terrorists.

That'’s all gone through
the courts, but this,

we don'’t know anything about.

We don'’t know about anything
that has happened here

other than the fact
that there'’s obviously been

a major incident there,
we'’re going to go to

a Special Report
now from ABC News.

Any debris that has hit down
there, or can you see any...

My vantage point is too far
from the World Trade Center

to make any, uh,
determination of that.

Do you see any smoke,
any flames coming out

of the engines of that plane?

This is an ABC News
Special Report.

Was, uh, coming in low and the...

The entire ABC Network,
Good Morning America

was in progress,
East Coast and the Midwest,

we will be joined
by the entire network

just to show you some
pictures of the...

I can see flames now coming
out the side of the building and...

It'’s 8:52 here in New York,
I'’m Bryant Gumbel.

We understand that there has
been a plane crash on the,

uh, southern tip of Manhattan.

Live from New York City,
apparently a plane

has crashed into the World
Trade Center in New York.

8:52, we have limited
information at this point.

We don'’t know about injuries,

uh, in the building
or people on the ground,

- but obviously, this has...
- There.

It does not appear that
there'’s any kind of a...

An effort up there yet,
now remember...

- Oh, my God!
- Oh God!

Oh my God.

I can hear you.

The rest of the world
hears you, and the people...

[applauding]

[cheering]

We didn'’t have contact
for many years.

But a month after 9/11 happened,

I had written a note saying,
you know,

"If there'’s anything
you need any help with,

I'’d be happy to help you."

Marion said,
"There are some things

we could use some help with."

And what it was they needed
helpwith was labeling videotapes.

There was a wall of tapes

and there were little stickies on them.

CNN, a certain date and time,

and they wanted actual
labels put on them.

[indistinct chatter]

It just seems that she was
more concerned about not losing

any information about what
was happening in the world.

But that seemed to get in
the way of having real contact

or information about,
um, her family.

She collected between forty
and fifty thousand books.

She would buy them
at every opportunity.

She voraciously read them.

I think she said she had
nine apartments or homes.

We were like packed
to the gills.

She was a hoarder.

You know,
she hoarded everything.

You know, she got obsessed
with the syrup containers

that you get in diners,

so we found like 50
of them or something.

We weren'’t allowed
to throw anything out.

We kept them in bags,
we called them burn bags

and we would stick '’em
throughout the apartments.

She got different books
that said, "My life is a mess"

and different ones about
how intelligent people

are hoarders and, you know,

live in disarray, you might say.

[applauding]

Hi, everybody.

What do you think we would
find if we went to your house

with our television cameras
and looked into your closet?

- A mess, probably.
- And she would buy stuff.

And I would say, "Marion,
where do you want me to put it?"

And she would say, "Make room."

It was almost like Marion'’s
brain, these apartment rooms,

and she knew where
she would store stuff.

Having all these magazines
and books piled up around her,

and tapes, and just walking
through these little pathways

was who she was.

If you took away everything,

you would take away Marion.

[applauding]

We'’re taking video tours
through shopaholics'’ closets

just to see what exactly
they had hidden away.

Here'’s one of our viewers.

This one I love,

and as soon as I get
some place to wear it.

This makes a statement.

The difference between
a hoarder and a collector

is what value someone else

finds in what they'’ve got.

So if people come
to a house and it...

They think it'’s a pile of junk,
then this person'’s a hoarder.

If they think, "Oh my God, no
one'’s ever kept this before?"

Then suddenly,
they'’re a collector.

Well, you rarely see them
in this good a shape.

For example,
the fingers are perfect.

The bird is in mint condition.

I'’d say, if this were to go to
auction today, conservatively,

it would be worth
two in the bush.

- Really?
- It'’s just beautiful.

Thank you so much
for bringing it in.

When you have a institution
like a museum or a university

and they begin to collect,
you don'’t tend to question

why they'’re doing it.

There must be a rational reason.

But when you'’re one lone
person, and especially a woman,

then you'’re considered
to be an outlier.

We shouldn'’t ascribe
rationality to those in power

and irrationality
to those without it.

♪

In her mind, there was a purpose to it all.

She was always
looking into the future.

All news had to be kept

and for history, for prosperity.

We know who shot Trayvon.

When something was important,
she would want me to sit

and watch it with her,
like Trayvon Martin.

A neighborhood watch volunteer
told Sanford, Florida police

that he was acting
in self-defense.

I don'’t know what his deal is.

- Are you following him?
- Yeah.

Okay, we don'’t need you
to do that.

She wanted to, like, compare

the way the news
is put out there

and how we,
as a community takes it in.

We are going to demand
equal justice under the law.

We are going to declare
poor people'’s independence

- in this country.
- That'’s all right.

Let the world pray,
but it'’ll be sorry.

A black insurance man
whose slaying

fell in the hands of policemen

gave new fervor
to their outcries

against police brutality.

We want them to keep
seeing it, if they keep seeing it,

they might do something
about itso it don'’t happen again.

From Washington, Ted Koppel.

The group calls itself MOVE,
M-O-V-E.

Its membership
is predominantly black,

and while it describes itself
as a back-to-nature movement,

that may be an overly benign
description of a group

that has terrorized
its neighbors

and has a history of violence.

I presume somewhere
in that archive

you could pull out a sub-archive

of racially motivated
police brutality.

Members of a radical group...

Going back and watching
in detail

how those stories get told,

what sort of justifications
are offered,

what sort of unanswered
questions remain.

Police dropped a percussion
bomb onto this house

trying to flush out members
of a radical

back-to-the-earth group
known as MOVE.

Last night,
inside the headquarters

of the radical group known
as MOVE...

Heavily armed members of
a radical group known as MOVE.

Martin Luther King said
that because of television,

it was going to be hard
to maintain racism

because television
would show all.

If you had things
like Rodney King,

then how could you not
reform racism in the country?

They can get it on videotape

and we still can'’t get
a conviction.

Well, what happens to the
policewhen they break the law?

That question'’s back again
because of Monday'’s beating

of two people
by sheriff'’s deputies

from Riverside County,
California.

Granted the video
doesn'’t tell you everything,

but it sure looks like
the deputies

were using excessive force,
and it sure looks like

the Rodney King beating
all over again.

But isn'’t it a stretch
to try to use

this horrible incident
as part of your, uh,

your, uh, attemptto
justify illegal immigration?

We are more apt
to be the victims

of police brutality
than any other group.

Police use of deadly force
against Hispanics

has been
a very significant problem.

A few weeks ago
in South Carolina,

where a state trooper
in an unmarked car

took a woman who was speeding,
manhandled her,

threw her on her back,
uh, gave her bodily injury,

and she was as white
as the driven snow.

♪

Bill, I made
an embarrassing mistake.

The woman who was manhandledin
South Carolina was not white.

She was black, I saw the
thingsabout a half a dozen times.

It just shows
how colorblind I am.

"Not Guilty,"
that was the headline

across the country today.

Three New York
police detectives,

50 bullets, and an unarmed
23-year-old shot to death

just hours before
the man was to be married.

Time and time again,

these cases are cases
of black, blue, and white.

Black is the race
of the people who are dead.

Blue is the uniform who kill
them, and white is the race

of the people
that let those killers go.

But see, but that
is the sort of race baiting.

This is... there are two police officers...

- That happens to be true.
- There were five people here.

Five police officers, two
of them were African American.

We went into a little bit
of history'’s web of violence.

And I just wonder and if
this is related in any way

to the whole acceptance
of violence

and killing
as an everyday thing.

Those in power are able
to write their own history,

uh, from their own bias.

And, I think an extension
of that certainly would be

our discussion today
of violence, which we may

not call violence, but which
is a large-scale violation

of the human being potential

and uh, total humanity
and dignity.

She felt, until the end,

that her work
was supremely important,

and she shared
that commitment with John.

How can those whoare
committed to human potential

for a cooperative
and constructive society,

how can such persons
make a breakthrough?

How can we get out
of the web of violence

and break through and help
others break through to a, uh,

more peaceful and cooperative
type of society?

♪

I remember Marion calling me
like three

or four o'’clock
in the morning and saying,

"Frank, we have to go to
the hospital right away,

there'’s a problem with John."

And when we got up there,
he was gone.

♪

It was very clear that
she fundamentally changed

as a person though afterwards.

John was her friend,
as well as her husband.

♪

She became much quieter,
more passive in many ways.

A lot of her energy drained
after his death.

She just would cry sometimes.

♪

During the period
after his death,

she decided to go to Channel Ten

to look at some
of her old TV show.

If we don'’t get
into the situation

where a majority
of white people...

Of course,
industry had passed her by

and the tapes were
no longer viewable

because they no longer had
thekind of equipment to show them.

You know, we'’re not gonna take
these arbitrary norms...

I think it took away
a part of her life

that she wanted to relive.

We'’re gonna recognize
this diversity of persons.

Each is legitimately human

and should in the total dialogueof society

for the enrichment of all,
should be recognized...

I see a snowflake
on top of Seven Hills.

♪

One after eight this morning,
drugs, sex, and rock '’n roll.

They'’re the terms
that define the '’60s.

The problem is some say
our memories of that time

often preserve the pleasure
and forget the pain.

♪ Everything, turn, turn, turn ♪

Were the '’60s a special time
or are they merely

the obsession of
the Baby Boom generation,

the generation that can'’t
put their youth behind them?

Bruce Elliott is president of
the Anti-Nostalgia Association

for the Advancement of Time,
a group that believes

America is too preoccupied
with the past.

In what sense,
too preoccupied with the past?

Well, in the sense thatso
much of contemporary culture

is really devoted to
regurgitating the past.

So it starts to obscure
our vision of the future.

What do you think
of what Bruce just said?

That if we'’re preoccupied
with that decade,

we can'’t look ahead
to the next one?

Well, you know,
it'’s on a continuum.

You can understandthe
racism today when you see...

Understand what happened with
the civil rights demonstration

in the '’60s, uh,
it'’s on a continuum.

♪

The road ahead will be long.

Our climb will be steep.

We may not get there in
one yearor even in one term.

But America,
I have never been more hopeful

than I am tonight
that we will get there.

I promise you,
we as a people will get there.

[cheering]

Nothing ever in our lifetimes
did we expect this to happen.

I... something big just happened.

It feels like, um, it feels
like anything is now possible.

Yes we can, yes we can,
yes we can, yes we can!

[audience cheering]

Mrs. Stokes was always
a futuristic person.

She was always
looking into the future.

She was absolutely determined

that the next generation
would be better.

♪

♪

Richard would say,
"Where would you like to go?"

And she would look over
at me, say,

"Frank, where do you think
we should go today?"

Sometimes she would just want
to go out and ride.

♪

And then she might
just look out the window

and once she got her iPhone,
she liked to take pictures.

♪

When we first got
into the restaurant,

she would always say,"Don'’t
just order what you like,

order..."
and I'’m not into, you know,

ordering something
I don'’t think I'm gonna like.

And she'’s like,
"Did you eat that already?"

So she would want me to try
something I didn'’t have.

She told me,"Frank,
if I'’m like your mother,

your mother yells at you, right?

So don'’t take it in a wrong way.

It'’s just that
I'’m upset with you."

She had a martini every day.

Tanqueray martini, very dry,
straight up with a twist.

If she didn'’t want
to drink it all,

we used to bring it home
in a paper cup.

♪

I don'’t think a lot of people
realize the real Marion,

how she cared about people,

was interested in everybody.

[indistinct television remarks]

You had to be sitting right
next to her holding her hand.

And that'’s what made me
notice she was a person,

a giving and loving person.

♪

It came from me
and Frank and Richard

opening her up to that,

because it was like a part
of life she never saw.

To have that connection
withsomebody to just hold your hand

and, you know,
be there for you every day.

Richard, the driver,
Anna the aide, and myself,

we were part of her family,
I guess, you would call it.

I was quite pleased
with that surrogate family.

I'’ve got a deep level
of affection for those people

and that facilitated
much more opening

and much more communication
between,

you know,
my kids and their grandmother

and they developed a really,
really sweet relationship.

I remember my daughter
saying to me,

"I just can'’t imagine
Gran getting angry."

I'’m like, you know, just...
It still makes me laugh.

It'’s just, it's hilar...
I told her,

"I love that you'’ve got
that kind of relationship

with her, because no one
else on Earth does."

It'’s really difficult
to get resolution

when somebody'’s turning
a lot of emotions into anger.

Do you know what?

"I'’m not sure what I did wrong,
but I need you to forgive me

and I forgive you,"
and we only got there

within the last
two months of her death.

You know,
we need a system that...

The same sentiment
as Arizona saying

the federal government
just isn'’t doing enough

to secure our borders and
fight the illegal immigration

- problem here in America.
- I saw the most diverse looking

- social movement...
- It was like almost 20 tapes

a day we were taping.

It was becoming harder
and harder to find VHS tapes,

and I used to go around
the city scouring the stores.

Well, who doesn'’t want to be
able to predict the future?

Thirty years ago, who
knew we'’d have the internet.

One man did know,
his name'’s Andy Gaspar.

It just seemed to us that therewas
something new being born,

something that was
dramatically different

that would change the way
we communicate.

It was newspapers back then

that you thought sort
of might be in danger.

What do you think
is sort of the next wave?

Well, there are a few of them
and that is the role

of a local TV station.

We now have FOX News Channel
that'’s available

on the internet
any time you want it.

You wonder, what is the role
of Channel Five News,

any local TV station
in that kind of environment.

♪

The aides would call me through
the night sometimes and say,

"Marion'’s not doing very well."

♪

When I came in
she was in her chair,

but her head
was almost on the ground,

like she was bent in half.

When I sat her up and
I remember her eyes were open

and she looked at me and
shejust patted my arm and she said,

"Frank, everything'’s
gonna be all right."

So I sort of felt that,
as she would say,

"The guardian angels were...

taking her home."”

And so I got over there
relatively quickly.

You know, she was sitting up,
they'’d propped her up

and she was just looking
very, very peaceful.

But on the news, and you know,
we kind of left the news running

because we didn'’t know
if she'’d wake up

and just like blow up
that we'’d turned it off,

so we just kind of left it on.

And there was this
horrific story unfolding.

We are now, uh, multiple
hours into this horrific,

horrific crime that has
happened in this small,

sleepy New England town
of Newtown, Connecticut

at this elementary school,
the call came in

to 911 right around 9:30
this morning.

A gunman walked in this school.

The latest number we have...

♪

That would have been
a rough day anyway.

♪

That would have been
a rough day anyway.

Again, we'’re hearing closer
to 30 killed at the school

as far as children,
little children.

Keep in mind,
this school is kindergarten

through fourth grade,
somewhere in-between 18...

And my mom'’s breathing was
getting shallower and shallower

and her hands
were getting colder.

I said, "You know, it looks
likeyour ride'’s here, you know?"

♪

[sighing]

♪

And she went.

♪

And then we turned off the VCRs,

turned off the TV.

It was kind of scary
in the apartment

without all that noise.

♪

It was kind of like
you only knew she was dead

when you turned the VCRs off.

♪

♪

When I discovered that I was
a co-executor of the will,

and then realizing that she
hadbasically trusted me with

finding the right home for it.

She really did
value my capabilities

and valued my perspective.

It'’s changed my view
of our relationship.

Michael said that, "This is
my mother'’s whole life.

It would be like throwing
her whole life away

if I didn'’t do something
with them.

It was really a full-time job
for a year and a half.

I donated a lot of books
to a charity that uses

second-hand books
to teach at-risk youths.

Got rid of the Apple computers,

but no one would take the tapes,

no one.

So we decided to take allthe
tapes and put '’em in a pod.

They were like 16 foot long,

8 foot high, and 8 foot wide,

and put '’em in storage until

something could be worked out.

We were very afraid
nobody wants these

and they'’ll all just be
thrown in the trash.

♪

[rattling]

Well, let me just
put this out there.

This story just hits home with
us newsies, us news junkies.

Every news broadcast
for 35 years

is about to be preserved
for posterity.

Thirty-five years, and for
thatwe have this woman to thank,

the late Marion Stokes.

Marion Stokes hit record
way back in 1977.

She didn'’t stop
until December of 2012.

All of that history arriving
today by truck at an archive

in San Francisco
from Stokes'’ home.

With me now from Philadelphia
is Marion Stokes'’ son,

Mike Metelits, and we are also
joined by Roger Macdonald

of the Internet Archive
in San Francisco.

But first, Roger,
to you, tell me

how rare is this collection
from Marion Stokes?

It'’s an exceptional collection,

really an unprecedented
collection.

I first heard of Marion Stokes

from an email from Michael.

I was just amazed that somebody

had actually done this
at this size,

the magnitude of it.

And he took the stuff.

We shipped it
across the country,

a couple, a couple of trucks,
and a huge load

was lifted from my shoulders,

and it'’s just been a
staggering, staggering, uh, relief.

That we just felt like,
you know,

a miracle had happened
that someone was willing

to take them in to, you know,

make them accessible
to the public.

♪

They arrived in our warehouse
in Richmond

in truck after truck.

I think the scale
of Marion Stokes'’ collection

is absolutely unprecedented.

Nobody in this field has
ever heard or seen the like.

What she recorded
is inaccessible to us.

All the long form
programming that she got,

all the CNN, all the FOX.

And then there'’s the local news.

That'’s a rare collection.

There are probably elements
that she has that nobody has.

She understood
the power of media

to shape public opinion
and when...

One of my mother'’s
dreams was that

that would be available
to people.

As an only child, you know,

just to be able to take
my mother'’s life's work

and to be able
to participate in someone

making it available to people,

that'’s, that's just
enormously gratifying.

♪

Our intention and goal
is to digitize them,

put everything that
she has on our servers

to hold onto it
for future generations

and make it available.

What we'’re offering is to
search television by keyword.

♪

When we sent them the test box,

they immediately
began to realize

that the early days
of my mother'’s taping

were also the early days
of closed captioning.

They can use
the closed captioning as a tag

that lets people know
and search what'’s happening

in the actual videotape.

♪

The Internet Archive is able
to make these tapes accessible

in a much more
technology savvy way.

Now there'’s so much media.

More than ever people need
access to reliable information

to make their decisions,

and that was very much
what my mother

would have wanted to do.

Decades worth
of television broadcasts

is irretrievably lost.

An archive redeems the object
of its collecting

from the trash can of history.

Effectively you will
only know afterwards

what is important
to have collected,

so the more you have,
the more you can then go back

and say, "Hm,
this is actually important."

♪

All archives create futures.

When looking
at the underlying instincts

that drives collection
and preservation,

there is this human drive
to transcend time,

not willing to let go
of any moment,

and the realization that

the past is never let go.

♪

The fact that she kept
all this stuff,

when other people call up
that they wanted to save it

20 years after she started,
that'’s smart.

♪

She had an incredible ability

to see trends
and to act on them.

♪

It'’s difficult not
to call her a visionary,

really difficult to pull
that tag away from her.

♪

She was very,
very much ahead of her time.

♪

She did give up a lot
in terms of what, you know,

people think of as
kind of a normal human life,

but she funneled all
that energy into doing things

that she felt
were important to her,

that were gonna be important
in the long run.

It was hard for me
and the family,

but I loved her.

♪

♪