The U.S. vs John Lennon Page #2

and the pursuit

of happiness at its best.

...2, 3, 4!

We don't want

to fight your war!

1, 2, 3, 4!

We don't want

to fight your war!

The ferment was considerable,

with a leading role played

by young people throughout.

People who were normally

supposed to be apathetic

and obedient and passive

were actually entering

the political arena

to press their own demands

and organizing to do something about it.

In this age of protest,

one of the most recent

finds 4,000 Londoners

decrying British support

for U.S. Action in Vietnam.

There were a few

minor scuffles, but no arrests.

The demonstrators were

stopped from approaching

Prime Minister Wilson's

Downing Street home.

The whole culture

had become radicalized,

and it's in this atmosphere

that The Beatles

were being forced

to engage with the world.

Do you mind being

asked questions?

For example, in America people keep

asking you questions about Vietnam.

Does this seem useful?

It seems a bit silly to be in America

and for none of them to mention Vietnam

as if nothing was happening.

But why should they ask you about it?

You're successful entertainers.

That is the thing...

It's because Americans

always ask showbiz people

what they think about this sort of...

The British, you know...

"Showbiz,"

you know how it is.

But, I mean, you've got to...

You can't just keep

quiet about anything

that's going on in the world

unless you're a monk.

Sorry, monks,

I didn't mean it.

I meant, actually...

The thing you have to

understand,

which people don't understand

necessarily about John,

is that his thought processes

were shifting.

He was in a process

of evolution.

Our society is run

by insane people

for insane objectives.

If anybody can put on paper

what our government

and the American government,

et cetera,

and the Russian, Chinese...

What they are actually

trying to do

and how with what

they think they're doing,

I'd be very pleased to know

what they think they're doing.

I think they're all insane.

I'm liable to be put away as insane

for expressing that,

that's what's insane about it.

He was engaged with the world,

and what was happening in the world

would change him.

And then, you know,

something quite

dramatic happened.

It's sort of hard to describe Yoko

because she's completely unique.

She had developed

quite a good reputation

as a conceptual artist.

In fact, she used to call her stuff

"Music of the Mind."

With my presentation

of performance art,

I was always aware that I

wanted to inspire people

and stir people

so that they can wake up.

She once told me, like,

"If half the people don't get up and leave,

I haven't done it right,"

because she wanted

to really affect people,

and affecting people sometimes

gets them very upset

if they're not used to being aware

of their feelings.

She suddenly makes them feel something,

they get angry,

and they get angry at her

for making them feel something.

I always had this dream of meeting

an artist woman, you know,

that I would fall

in love with and all that,

even from art school,

you know?

And then we met

and we were talking and that,

and then I don't know

how it happened.

You just realize that she knew

everything I knew

and more, probably,

and it was coming out

of a woman's head.

It just sort of bowled me over.

I believe

that when he met Yoko

he found the rest of his voice.

Yoko gave John this sense

or belief that he could

say and do anything

he wanted to say and do

without apology.

We crossed over into

each other's fields,

like people do

from country to pop.

We did it from

avant-garde left field

to rock and roll left field.

We tried to find a ground there

that was interesting to both of us,

and we both got excited

and stimulated

by each other's experiences.

We came from totally

different backgrounds,

but we were very, very similar

in a sense

that we were totally,

fiercely rebellious people.

What are they doing?

This Japanese witch

has made him crazy

and he's gone bananas.

But all she did was take

the bananas part of me

out of the closet more.

It was a complete relief

to meet somebody else

who was as far out

as I was, you know?

That was the real thing.

Would you come out?

No.

Why not?

Because this is a bag event...

Total communication.

Don't you think it's a little bit

out of fashion, what you do?

Do you think it's a fashion

to stay in a bag?

What is it?

It's total communication.

What is total communication?

An invention of John Lennon

and Yoko Ono, or is it...

No. No, it exists.

We're showing you

one example whereby...

- Total immersion?

- Well, that's your version.

If a black man goes

for a job in a bag...

If everybody had to go in a bag for a job,

there'd be no prejudice.

You'd have to judge people

on their quality within.

And we call it

total communication.

When we went to

Austria to show it,

we did a press conference

there in a bag,

and it was great because

all the press came in,

and they never saw us.

We were just both in a bag.

And they interviewed the bag

and they're saying,

"Is it really you?"

And "What are you wearing?"

And "Will you sing a song?"

And that.

"Why us?"

And they said,

"What is this?"

I said,

"It's total communication."

They said,

"But why did you pick on us?

We've never seen a Beatle."

Somewhere I read

of the freedom of assembly.

Somewhere I read

of the freedom of speech.

Somewhere I read

of the freedom of press.

Somewhere I read that

the greatness of America

is the right to protest for right.

It was another kind of atmosphere.

You have to imagine and understand

that we the Black Panther party,

we popped up

right in the middle

of an already ongoing

nationwide protest movement.

Let me tell you something.

Brothers and sisters,

if you wind up

on a poverty gig

and you don't save

half that money

to buy a gun a week,

then you laggin'.

You jivin'.

I think the Black Panther party

probably was dangerous,

but not dangerous in the way

that most people assume

it might have been.

Not dangerous

because people had guns,

but dangerous because of its ability

to provide an example

of the possibility

of standing up to power.

You have to be

more politically aware

in a day and age like this.

It's almost impossible

to close your eyes to it.

And they're afraid of us

because we are...

we are not only a cultural

and political threat,

we are a military threat

to those generals

that are running that war

and controlling young kids'

minds over there.

We're a military threat.

When it gets down to

having to use violence,

then you're playing

the system's game.

The establishment will irritate you,

pull your beard

and flick your face,

to make you fight.

Because once

they've got you violent,

then they know

how to handle you.

The Vietnam War

divided this country

as it had not been divided

since the Civil War.

F*** you, L.B.J.!

F*** you, L.B. J!

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