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Moe FonerMoe Foner
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Session:         Page of 592

had on this hunger strike except he had to have milk, so they brought in milk. The milk was spiked with gin, all the time, for him. That was his hunger strike. So we come in, we say hello and congratulate him and thank him, ask him how he feels.

He says, “Okay.” Ralph, he's a very funny guy, too, he says, “Before we begin the meeting, I think we should all kneel down in prayer.” So in this stinking room, we kneel down. The first thing that happens is that we kneel down and Elliot's pants rip. That's the first thing that happens. Elliot looks at me. There's a prayer. I figure, a short prayer. The prayer goes on and on and I say to myself, “It's so hot here. I'm going to die here. I'm going to die. If this doesn't stop, I'm going to die. I can't stand it like this anymore.” So I don't die.

By the way, this story is in Jack Bass'. Jack Bass wrote an article for some magazine in the South, the Southern Regional Council magazine, and this story is in there.

Then Ralph says, “Okay, the settlement. Now I want to ask your advice. What do you think I should do? Should I stay here? What's in the best interest of the workers?” He goes around to everybody. “Ralph, you've had enough of it. You've got to come out. You can't stay here.”

Andy tells him he thinks he ought to seriously consider that, “It might be pressure for them to settle if you stay in.”

Elliot double-talks. “You know, we can't ask you to do more than what you've done.”

He turns to me, “Moe, tell me, in terms of--don't tell me your personal feelings. In terms of PR.”

So I say, “I'm glad you asked that, because my personal feelings, I'm sure, Elliot expressed them. You should come out. But if you want to know in terms of public relations, you should stay in.”

He says, “Okay, I'm staying in.”

Then the county hospital settled in the same terms a few days later. By the way, while this was going on, I decided we had to make a film, and I started to raise money, $40,000, on the phone, to make a film, to get the footage and stuff. Coretta then asked CBS. CBS gave us the footage gratis. There's a story on how I got the film out of Charleston from the local.





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