:00:29. > :00:35.Hello, I'm Laura and welcome to a special additional witness here in
:00:36. > :00:39.New York. This month we have five remarkable moments of American
:00:40. > :00:41.history told by five people who were there. We will hear from a man who
:00:42. > :00:45.helped broker a peace deal between helped broker a peace deal between
:00:46. > :00:49.two Los Angeles gangs, surfing legend and a period of American
:00:50. > :00:54.history that saw different sections of society fighting for their civil
:00:55. > :00:58.rights. In the 1960s, black Americans all across the US were
:00:59. > :01:02.demanding the same rights as white Americans. Witness has spoken to
:01:03. > :01:07.scoring which had seen, the leader of the civil rights struggle in
:01:08. > :01:12.Cambridge, Maryland. This is a picture, 1963, of us getting ready
:01:13. > :01:17.to protest to the National Guard and they were telling us know. As he put
:01:18. > :01:29.his bayonet towards me I pushed it away. In 1963 Cambridge Marilyn was
:01:30. > :01:33.a segregated town. -- Maryland. The nice jobs went to white people. It
:01:34. > :01:41.was just about unliveable in the 20th section. People wanted better
:01:42. > :01:49.housing, they wanted the schools segregated, they wanted access to
:01:50. > :01:54.better jobs and they wanted the hospital segregated. I was 40 years
:01:55. > :02:02.old. The men in Cambridge asked me to be the spokesperson for the
:02:03. > :02:09.movement. I consider that like soldiers in the army. This is
:02:10. > :02:11.something you're supposed to do. We would always do the marching,
:02:12. > :02:22.picketing and rallies and we weren't trying to get the enemy to love us
:02:23. > :02:30.either. During the summer of 63 I think the Cambridge movement reached
:02:31. > :02:37.its apex. All of that pent-up fury came out. It was like Civil War, the
:02:38. > :02:43.black and whites were fighting hand-to-hand. People just were at
:02:44. > :02:48.everyone's froze. The whites were tough, the blacks were tough, the
:02:49. > :02:53.shooting at night was going on so bad between blacks and whites. When
:02:54. > :02:59.the sun broke through at five or six o'clock in the morning, it was like
:03:00. > :03:07.clouds of smoke. That's when the mayor asked National Guard -- asked
:03:08. > :03:11.for the National Guard. They brought about 800 of them into town. I had
:03:12. > :03:19.never seen men on street corners with guns and things. One day we
:03:20. > :03:24.were lined up in the streets ready to march. I moved across the front,
:03:25. > :03:32.the soldier proceeded to put his bayonet and position it's like he
:03:33. > :03:36.was going to charge me. I don't remember making up my mind, he's
:03:37. > :03:42.going to stab me and I'm going to push this bayonet. My position on
:03:43. > :03:48.violence and nonviolence, I've always believed if they came and
:03:49. > :03:56.attacked you had a right to respond. I guess in retrospect we were
:03:57. > :04:07.radical, and certainly they thought we were crazy. At a certain point
:04:08. > :04:11.there was so much gunfire that the federal Government thought they
:04:12. > :04:18.needed to bring an immediate end. We went to Washington for
:04:19. > :04:22.negotiations. After five or six meetings we signed a Christian -- we
:04:23. > :04:27.signed the Treaty of Cambridge, which meant original commands to
:04:28. > :04:32.segregating the school -- desegregating the schools, building
:04:33. > :04:38.housing, desegregating the hospital and making more jobs available. I
:04:39. > :04:49.guess their hands were forced. They had to do that. It did feel like a
:04:50. > :04:57.victory. I'm 92 years old and I don't think I have changed my
:04:58. > :05:05.attitude. Things will change if you fight hard enough for them. Gloria
:05:06. > :05:09.Richardson, a lifelong civil rights campaigner. In August 1970 on the
:05:10. > :05:14.city thousands of American women went on strike to demand equal
:05:15. > :05:20.and told us how the experience and told us how the experience
:05:21. > :05:24.shaped the rest of her life. I made myself a vow. That was it, my life
:05:25. > :05:28.thrilling feeling, still to this thrilling feeling, still to this
:05:29. > :05:35.moment it gives me the -- gives me goose bumps. Your role as a woman
:05:36. > :05:41.was pretty much, you got married. That was it. Then you played Mamie
:05:42. > :05:45.or grand money. That was it. The jobs for women were only secretary,
:05:46. > :05:50.stenographer, collect, you could not get credit in your own aim. In
:05:51. > :05:55.buyers are used to put up that it was men only. This was all legal. I
:05:56. > :05:57.was working for the American stock exchange at that time and a couple
:05:58. > :06:04.of women in the office, there was only a few of us. Virtually we saw
:06:05. > :06:07.it in the newspaper about women having a march free quality and said
:06:08. > :06:13.that is interesting, so I showed up the next day. 10,000 militant
:06:14. > :06:18.feminist stage a one-day strike for equal rights. They demand job
:06:19. > :06:21.quality, free abortions and free you child care centres for working
:06:22. > :06:26.mothers. They believe they will get nothing without a fight. At the
:06:27. > :06:33.start of the day we went to the city going to various demonstrations and
:06:34. > :06:37.handing out flyers. Join us now at! We started seeing thousands of women
:06:38. > :06:41.coming off the side streets and we were looking, where were they coming
:06:42. > :06:53.from? We were thrilled that we had 50 women. Incredible signs women
:06:54. > :06:57.make themselves. There was a line of police on horses with riot sticks
:06:58. > :07:02.and helmets pulled down, they were not going to let us out of the park
:07:03. > :07:06.so when the women in front of a yield of March, forget about the
:07:07. > :07:13.police, start marching and don't stop, the search word for word. They
:07:14. > :07:20.had to step aside or get trampled, I guess. We took over the Avenue and
:07:21. > :07:26.we were yelling at the people in front, move on! I read Brave Doctor
:07:27. > :07:32.got down on one knee to take a picture and we just move over him.
:07:33. > :07:35.The people on the side bar -- sidewalk were booing prior to that
:07:36. > :07:42.and they started cheering and was exhilarating. It was now 5pm and
:07:43. > :07:46.people were coming out of the buildings and the streets filled
:07:47. > :07:56.with thousands of people between us, the estimate some was 30,000 to
:07:57. > :08:00.50,000. We turned into 41st St and on the right there was some
:08:01. > :08:03.scaffolding and work being done the public library on the second level
:08:04. > :08:07.and we climbed up there with the women of the world unite banner and
:08:08. > :08:12.unfurled it and dropped it over the side so everyone in the streets
:08:13. > :08:15.below could see and they put their face in the air and you have this
:08:16. > :08:22.sea of women yelling in quality. It was incredible.
:08:23. > :08:34.It has worked because it has worked because it's put agenda and has
:08:35. > :08:38.shown as our power to achieve it. I thought never again will I spew his
:08:39. > :08:43.examination again. Never again will I stand by and allow it to happen to
:08:44. > :08:46.other women. It is like being let out of a prison or something and
:08:47. > :08:53.being exonerated for a crime he did not commit. It was just, wild. I
:08:54. > :08:59.went home and felt I was bouncing on clients all the way home. My life
:09:00. > :09:04.completely changed from that day on. I found other women that felt the
:09:05. > :09:08.same. We worked together, mainly through the National organisation
:09:09. > :09:14.for women to make change and we went forward and we were very happy to
:09:15. > :09:18.say, I am a woman. Carol does Iran there. In that same month on the
:09:19. > :09:22.other side of the country, 45 years ago, thousands of Mexican-Americans
:09:23. > :09:28.were marched against the Vietnam War in Los Angeles. People just became a
:09:29. > :09:42.defining moment for the Latina community in the US. We were dying
:09:43. > :09:47.at twice the rate and heavily more a part of the military then are
:09:48. > :09:53.proportion in the population. We were Mexican-Americans and Latinos
:09:54. > :10:00.and others that were faced with the same kind of discrimination. That is
:10:01. > :10:03.why we had to start our own anti-war movement. We organised
:10:04. > :10:14.demonstrations that would come to a head with the national demonstration
:10:15. > :10:20.in East LA. There were older people, but so many young people. People
:10:21. > :10:32.were joining, coming in off the sidewalks, it was almost like a
:10:33. > :10:40.moving fiesta. The march ended at Laguna Park and there we were going
:10:41. > :10:47.to have a programme where I would open it with a speech. We are a
:10:48. > :10:53.proud people with a proud culture. Before the world, before all of
:10:54. > :10:59.North America, before all our brothers from the continent, we are
:11:00. > :11:03.a nation! There was a commotion and it began very quickly and you could
:11:04. > :11:13.see the sheriffs moving people, pushing people. Others began to push
:11:14. > :11:18.back and they pushed the sheriffs away. In the front there was lots of
:11:19. > :11:22.older people, children and others, families sitting in the front. They
:11:23. > :11:27.were getting squeezed out. The sheriffs came back with more and
:11:28. > :11:33.more clubs and they pushed back a little and they came back again and
:11:34. > :11:40.the tear gas starts coming. My friend says to me, they can do
:11:41. > :11:43.anything they want in this chaos. Get someone you know in the crowd
:11:44. > :11:52.and have them get you out of here. That's what I did. The police throw
:11:53. > :12:00.people out of the park, pushing people, beating people. We found out
:12:01. > :12:04.that there was a gas station opened up a false tribute to wipe the
:12:05. > :12:09.device out of their eyes and there was a line, the sheriffs came in and
:12:10. > :12:13.started beating people. People started throwing rocks at the
:12:14. > :12:26.sheriffs. Fires came up, there was some looting. Tremendous anger. 100
:12:27. > :12:41.and something people arrested, scores injured. We found out that
:12:42. > :12:43.three people had died, including Salazar, our main journalist, her
:12:44. > :12:52.voice to the country is not the world. It was a tremendous loss. The
:12:53. > :12:57.police said they had to control the situation, they had to move out all
:12:58. > :13:05.those thousands of people. They said there were incidents, and there were
:13:06. > :13:12.some incidents, we controlled them. That day, to Canada said we were
:13:13. > :13:20.going to be a voice in this country and we no longer wanted to accept a
:13:21. > :13:24.second-class status. He spent his whole life campaigning for the
:13:25. > :13:29.Mexican American cause. You can watch winners every month on the BBC
:13:30. > :13:34.News channel or you can catch up on over 1000 radio programmes in our
:13:35. > :13:42.online archive, just go to BBC .co UK/witness. In Los Angeles the
:13:43. > :13:46.Bottomley Crippes have been engaged in a deadly rivalry for decades. In
:13:47. > :13:54.1992 killer show reels brokered peace deal that brought the two
:13:55. > :14:02.sworn enemies together. Angus town here getting together. I grew up in
:14:03. > :14:08.what's in Los Angeles. In LA County alone over the past 30 years it's
:14:09. > :14:15.claimed more than 25,000 lives. It was a literal war zone. I had one of
:14:16. > :14:19.my partners get cut in half with an AK-47 and we found his body in a
:14:20. > :14:23.phone booth on the way to school in the morning. Black gangs started in
:14:24. > :14:27.south-central Los Angeles. The average with one of two rival
:14:28. > :14:31.confederations, the Crippes, who were blue, and the bloods, who were
:14:32. > :14:36.read. You have to be really careful about what colour you wore when you
:14:37. > :14:39.were in neighbourhoods, shoestrings, belts, you could literally lose your
:14:40. > :14:48.life for wearing the wrong colour in the wrong place. I can kill about 32
:14:49. > :14:53.people if I had them all. This is the same thing. I own two of these.
:14:54. > :15:01.Fortunately I never stabbed or killed anyone. Fortunately. I got
:15:02. > :15:05.accepted college and conceptualised this idea that we have to stop the
:15:06. > :15:12.didn't want to lose my life over didn't want to lose my life over
:15:13. > :15:16.this stuff. I felt like spirit had something bigger in store for my
:15:17. > :15:21.life. I went back to the neighbourhood and I started a little
:15:22. > :15:23.group. We had this idea to bring rival grinds together and started
:15:24. > :15:27.hosting these meetings every Wednesday night. Some of the
:15:28. > :15:32.get killers in the same room who get killers in the same room who
:15:33. > :15:38.have harmed each other and have traded bodies. You can imagine. It's
:15:39. > :15:45.intense. It took us about four years and although everyone agreed that
:15:46. > :15:51.this is good, there was still no going in each other's neighbourhood.
:15:52. > :15:54.April 28, 1992 we decided we had to test it because it's more than just
:15:55. > :16:02.having a conversation, people have to see it on the ground. A group of
:16:03. > :16:06.to the bureau Court housing projects to the bureau Court housing projects
:16:07. > :16:14.and pulled in front of their gym and I swear everything froze. People
:16:15. > :16:18.just stopped. Like... We were like, this is real, we're trying to stop
:16:19. > :16:33.the killing. We are asking them and they said we went. No conflicts, no
:16:34. > :16:41.problems. The peace treaty was on. That moment, I'm telling you, man,
:16:42. > :16:44.it was like... Just, paradise. Just like everyone started getting on the
:16:45. > :16:51.phone, calling their families and friends. We celebrated all night
:16:52. > :16:55.because you're talking about 30 years of not being able to go in
:16:56. > :17:05.each other's neighbourhood and suddenly this thing is wide open.
:17:06. > :17:11.For real. A attention to this. The first two years of the peace
:17:12. > :17:14.treaty, 92-94, gang homicides dropped 44%. Grandmothers began to
:17:15. > :17:19.walk the streets, kids playing in the park. Many men became fathers to
:17:20. > :17:25.their children for the first time. We created an entire grass roots
:17:26. > :17:28.sports Federation to strengthen the peace treaty and bring rival --
:17:29. > :17:31.rival gangs together so they would know which other. Thousands of
:17:32. > :17:38.people would come to the games and support. One of the things you have
:17:39. > :17:42.to know is that people love intensity and hate fiercely. When
:17:43. > :17:48.it's good, is the best you can possibly imagine. It was the heyday,
:17:49. > :17:52.we were rocking out. Achille Shirelles is still campaigning
:17:53. > :17:58.against gang violence in LA. Firm final film, just off the picturesque
:17:59. > :18:00.coastline of Northern California lies an area known as mavericks were
:18:01. > :18:04.deadly waves crash onto nearby rocks. For a long time no one
:18:05. > :18:12.thought they could be served. Jeff Clarke was the first to attempt
:18:13. > :18:16.them. I grew up on the beach in Northern California one mile away
:18:17. > :18:20.from mavericks. In the 70s, there was nothing going on here except
:18:21. > :18:28.farming and I became so enamoured with the ocean. I started surfing at
:18:29. > :18:35.nine years old and I served every milk and cranny on this coast. Those
:18:36. > :18:40.rocks are the rocks as mavericks. Beyond those rocks you will find
:18:41. > :18:53.demanding technical giant dangerous demanding technical giant dangerous
:18:54. > :18:59.waves on the planet. Can you imagine a four-storey building coming at you
:19:00. > :19:04.at 30 miles per are? And all of a sudden it hits the curve and topples
:19:05. > :19:09.over on top of you. That's what it's like as mavericks. In these everyday
:19:10. > :19:15.is the main challenge I had was trying to find somebody to serve it
:19:16. > :19:19.with me. There was nobody up for surfing it. It is breaking in front
:19:20. > :19:26.of rocks that stick out of the water 20 feet and I started to watch it
:19:27. > :19:32.and study it. Eventually in 1975 I felt like I had the ability to go on
:19:33. > :19:37.served by myself. When that wave came I turned and I was totally
:19:38. > :19:45.committed, head down, pulling water as hard as I could. I starts to feel
:19:46. > :19:50.that acceleration down the face of the wave and a shadow of that wave
:19:51. > :19:54.standing up behind me, and just going down the face of the wave and
:19:55. > :19:59.cringing, trying to maintain speed out run this thing as it is coming
:20:00. > :20:06.down and the explosion right on my heels. And I made it. I got away.
:20:07. > :20:13.After I served mavericks the first time, I drove around three years --
:20:14. > :20:19.three years trying to bury people's years, dragging them out there. The
:20:20. > :20:26.big wave riders. They didn't believe it waves like this existed. In
:20:27. > :20:37.California. Eventually we saw an influx of surfers. December 1994 I
:20:38. > :20:42.hear that mark food and some of the premier big wave riders from Hawaii
:20:43. > :20:49.were coming to mavericks. Mark was catching waves and I paddle up to
:20:50. > :20:56.him and said, Mark, what you think? And he goes, I never imagined was
:20:57. > :21:01.this big of a wave. I was so stoked. Later on in Mayday came over
:21:02. > :21:04.the loudspeaker in the harbour. This week the power of the world
:21:05. > :21:08.California ways has been a magnet for servers from all over the world.
:21:09. > :21:18.Tonight one of the very best, Mark Foo, has died. I did feel
:21:19. > :21:23.responsible. This was kind of like my baby. Opening it up to the
:21:24. > :21:32.do the whole time. Now to have such do the whole time. Now to have such
:21:33. > :21:47.a tragic event happen. His beautiful spirit smiled. That brought so much
:21:48. > :21:51.variety to mavericks. Just survive it you would have to treat death.
:21:52. > :21:59.Marco Fu said you have to be willing to pay the ultimate price for the
:22:00. > :22:03.ultimate thrill. Jeff Clark speaking to win is right next to the ways he
:22:04. > :22:07.knows so well. That is nicked from me and the team here in New York for
:22:08. > :22:13.this special edition of winners. Don't forget what -- to watch Tanya
:22:14. > :22:16.Beckett later in the month, she will be at the British library imagine
:22:17. > :22:23.bringing new five witnesses come more history through the eyes of
:22:24. > :22:26.left it. That is it for now. Goodbye and thank you for watching. -- the
:22:27. > :22:30.eyes that lived it.