Pryor postscript

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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StonesFan offers this, from a 1977 interview w/ some movie critic named Guy Flatley:

An astute observer of the American scene, Pryor sees problems remaining for black Americans. “There’s a lot more hypocrisy than before. Racism has gone back underground. I went to see that movie ‘Rocky,’ and it was full of latent racism. It was obvious they meant the champion, who was not a very appealing person, to be like Muhammad Ali. He was a big clown with some of Ali’s dimension but none of his real style or spirit. You were meant to hate him and root for the white fighter.

“I’m not for integration and I’m not against it. What I am for is justice for everyone, just like it says in the Constitution. If you ask me about women’s lib, I say I don’t even know what that is. I say what about people’s lib? I’m for human lib, the liberation of all people, not just black people or female people or gay people. I also say that if there isn’t a response to what’s been happening to the people out there, there’s going to be a great explosion one of these days, and this will not be one of the nicest places to live.

“If I thought about it, I could be bitter, but I don’t feel like being bitter. Being bitter makes you immobile, and there’s too much that I still want to do. The way I see it, the earth is going to be here after we’re dead and gone. Even if it’s a polluted planet, and they messed it up. Where do they go from here – to another planet so they can mess that up too?”