\\NEWSERVER\FirstLD\Video_A_L\B\Banks_Ernie\Banks_Ernie_05.mpgF:\The HistoryMakers from sctnserver\Oserver_MAC\HMWebSite_Dev\Individual HistoryMakers\B\Banks, Ernie\Transcript\Banks_Ernie_05.txtTyler BarnettErnie Banks begins by discussing his views on the strenuous nature of modern society. He explains his hopes and fears for the future of African Americans, advising young African Americans never to give up. Banks explains why he does not want to be remembered. He explains why some cynics feel history is irrelevant. Banks talks about his current state of contentment. He closes by recalling instances in which sports have influenced society postitively and negatively. Three photos are shown, including images of Banks's children, Banks receiving and award, and Banks with his twin sons at Wrigley Field.A2000.0032000The HistoryMakers18 July 2000Banks, Ernie, 1931-Julieanna RichardsonChicago, Illinois00:27:21.195106Banks_Ernie_05The HistoryMakers05:00:22:01Ernie Banks interview, tape 5Matthew HickeyErnie Banks discusses how the strenuous pace of society produces a negative effectI was in Las Vegas [Nevada] when [singer] Barbra Streisand came back to perform again. One of the things she said which I--really excited me by, she was up here singing and all that, "People, people who need," but she, you know, started talking a little pbit. She said, "gosh, things are so interesting today because on Monday could be one thing, and on Tuesday could be something else to the same thing." Example: you could have a successful business and eighteen months later, you could have nothing. You can have nothing, and in eighteen months, you can have a lot. Many of the kids in the Silicon Valley [California] are making so much money in such a short of time, it's just making them--not all of them--but it's making them (gestures hand toward ceiling). So other words, you can be this today, and tomorrow something else. It's forever, ever changing, so fast. Urban living is taking us that way because most of us suffer from--getting into medical stuff--hypertension. Most people in the urban society 'cause we're just running here, running there, running here, doing this, doing this, got to be over here, got to be over there, be over here, do this, do that. And technology has taken us that way because most of this stuff we can get on--around the world on Internet. So we kind of--hard for us to kind of settle in and hard for us to use our minds on many things. The CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] had done many studies on where are the intelligent people in the world? We're losing our intelligence plus our energy at the same time. We don't have a lot of energy, as well. It's nothing bad; it's just reality. Our intelligence are going because we can't think anymore. We don't want to think about anything because it's too much. You can get most of the stuff off the Internet. You can do a lot of things real fast today, quick, boom, boom, boom. And we want everything quick. Sometime in baseball, sometime in golf, people start out playing it, and they build up all the stuff about the clubs and the bats and the balls. Some of the young kids come in with a golf club, they think the golf club is going to hit the ball. The golf club is a machine. They're going to hit it. The thinking is a little, you know, not--is that way. "I want to do it quick. I want do it now. I don't want to wait." And that's where it's so interesting to me. You've got to move fast. We're in a race that we can't stop. You jump up and start running. We can't stop. If you do, you're going to get left behind. So I encourage kids of all the things you do, you must go to school. You must stay in school. It is vital that you go to school. You have no other way, or you're going to get left out.Autobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::Views::Political and social viewsAutobiographical::Personal philosophyPopular culture::Popular culture influencesSocial problemsSocializationBanks, Ernie, 1931-Material cultureErnie Banks briefly talks about being a positive influence on professional athletesThere are people I see--that's a good question--people I see that I feel that just get twisted with things and need somebody to comfort them, not to preach to them, to comfort them. It's okay. It's okay to settle down. I had a nice visit with [baseball player] Sammy Sosa before the [Baseball] All-Star game, you know, "just it's okay. Just relax, do what you're doing. It's okay." And I see a lot of that. [Baseball player] Ken Griffey, Junior is another one. "Just relax. It's okay. It's okay. You strike out, it's okay."Autobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::PersonalitySports::Baseball::African American baseball playersSports::Baseball::ProfessionalAbility::LeadershipBanks, Ernie, 1931-Ernie Banks discusses his views on significant members of the black communityIs there anyone that you would consider most significant in terms of the black community? Please don't say [Dr.] Martin Luther King [Jr.], but I mean is there? But I mean is he the one you consider most significant?Dr. King?Mm-hmm.Mm-hmm. When I was just thinking about my friend I talked today, David Marmel, who went to South Africa to meet with [South African president Nelson] Mandela to honor him in November [1999], and he was telling me that, you know, some of the things that he [Marmel] gone through. Everybody likes him [Marmel] in South Africa, blacks and whites, and that he has a bad back. So when he flies, he has to have a special seat and all that. So on South African Airline, they won't let him fly for free. They don't treat him like a respected man. The people in the country like--in other words, you can be liked by many, but a few that don't--and he wanted to honor him, but he's trying to get South African Airline to fly everybody down to do his show. You know, he's got a production company, too. He does a lot of shows. His shows are, like, 'Miss America' and all those kind of shows, and 'The Victory Awards' and all that. And won the honor, but he can't get down there because they won't give him tickets. The airlines don't respect him as much as the people around in the country that--which he lives. But Dr. King to me has really been the one. I mean Mahatma Gandhi, non-violence, that's kind of the way I feel, too.Ability::LeadershipAfrican American leadershipAutobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::Views::Political and social viewsAutobiographical::Personal philosophyLocations::South AfricaBanks, Ernie, 1931-ValuesErnie Banks talks about his perception of the black communityDo you have hopes for the black community? Do you have any hopes or fears?Do I have hopes or fears?I have hopes. I had a nice visit with Andrew Young, who is a U.S. ambassador. I just listened to him talk about, you know, the plight of our race. I mean [Banks' wife] Liz [Banks] is got me going over here.Liz--five more minutes.We've got to--Go? We'll wrap it up. Okay.I mean there's hope. I feel that--she's looking at you, Liz. Julieanna [interviewer] is spending more time looking at you than talking to me.I'm looking at you. Go on. Okay, no. No. Honestly. I--just asking the question.No, I'm just saying that yes, there's hope. We are--black American--are vital to me--I'm not generalizing--are vital to the success of this country. It's always been that way. This is why you have your show. Many black Americans have done many things, haven't gotten a lot of credit for, historically, always. We are the--to me--the chosen people in this country. Most of our ideas have been stolen by other people. I've experienced this. I'll say something, and then five years later, somebody's doing it. So we are. We just have to stand fast. What's going to help us? How are we going to get through it? We're already doing it. Liz's grandmother gave me this, and I have it at my office: "pray, pray, and pray." That's it. And most of the people I'm around, they do that. They pray a lot. That's it. But we are the most important race on the planet.African AmericansAutobiographical::Views::Views on RaceAutobiographical::Views::Views on future of the black communityAutobiographical::Views::Political and social viewsAutobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::Personal philosophyBanks, Ernie, 1931-Ernie Banks offers advice for young black AmericansWhat message do you have for young black Americans?(Pause). Never quit. Never give up. Never give up. Don't quit. Take it to the end. Finish whatever you start. Finish it. Don't give up. It's spiritual, now. Faith. They know what the definition of faith is. Faith. You can move mountains with faith, faith the size of a mustard seed. I mean it sounds corny and everything, but it's not. I have lived it. I have been around people who lived it, I mean people older than me. Never give up. Finish it. You have all kinds of challenges and struggles and all kind of things, but it's going to make you stronger, prouder, and most of all, stay close to your parents. They're the ones that would guide you and direct you, your parents and your grandparents. That's it.Children and Youth::African American childrenAutobiographical::Views::Views on future of the black communityAutobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::ReligionBanks, Ernie, 1931-Ernie Banks explains why he doesn't want to be rememberedWhat do you want your legacy to be?To be? What do I want it to be, [Banks' wife] Liz [Banks]?What is it now, Ernie?When you say "legacy," what do you mean?Legacy.What is a legacy?What do you want people to remember you for? What do you want them--On the tombstone?No, he wants a living legacy.Stop from the peanut gallery.Don't make it a long answer, or we're out the door. Go ahead. Go ahead, though. He can be brief about this, really he can, because we've talked about this. But a legacy, I don't--what I want to be remembered.What do you want to be remembered for?Other than Mr. Cub and "let's play two."Right, that's what I was going to say. You don't even mention, "let's play two." You didn't even mention that.But this is your legacy question. Final question.I don't want to be remembered. Look at her. I don't want to be remembered.Oh, please. That's a horrible answer.I don't. I don't want to be remembered because when you're gone, you're gone. You've got to leave the dead to the dead. Are you listening? When you're gone, you're gone. That's it. And as I said, you know, interesting time at how fast we move. I mean you can talk about--I mean like Harold Washington, mayor of this city [Chicago, Illinois]. I mean like when I go around, most people don't never talk about him. I mean a lot of people's gone. They've done so much they didn't even talk about. So when you're gone, you're gone.Banks, Ernie, 1931-Autobiographical::LegacyAutobiographical::Personal philosophyErnie Banks discusses the importance of historyLet me ask you this, then. Why do you think history is important? If you're gone, you're gone, and then you don't remember, what's the importance of history, then?Today? Today. Now. (Pause). I don't see any real importance of it, 'cause people--Let me ask this question. What would your father say if he could see you now?What would he say? He would say, "people haven't left you alone yet? They still bugging (laughs) you about this?" "They're still bugging you?" He said, "Son, I've seen you in Chicago [Illinois] and up there and all that. Them people still bothering you? Won't they let you rest in peace, like I am now?" No (looks at ceiling). I'm not being ungrateful to you, is that the way we move and the way life is today, I mean a lot of people don't have--there's a certain number of people who have time for it, but they don't have time. My friend's a schoolteacher, and he teaches history. He talked to the kids about Marco Polo and different things. They said, "Mr. Lewis, why are you telling us about all this different stuff? What the hell is Marco Polo going to do for me now? I don't even know who he is. He's dead, and he's gone." That's kind of cynical, like, but it's--we do. And it is important to know what we done. My life is I always try to--that's why I don't talk about myself--my life has always been in--which I learned from [baseball player] Satchel Paige--"don't look back. Somebody might be gaining on you." So I try to eliminate what's gone back in my life and just try to deal with now.Autobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::ValuesBanks, Ernie, 1931-Ernie Banks talks about his contentmentSpeaking of now, how do you live now? What makes you happy now?I think happiness is a myth. I think tranquility and peace is greater than that. Happiness, you can be happy today and sad the next day, depending on what happened to your life. You hit the lottery, you're happy. You lose your house, you're sad. It's just peace and tranquility and balance in your life, balance.Do you have that now?Yes. I have balance in my life. (Whoops). I can jump up and shout! If people leave me alone, (whoops). Yes, I have balance in my life. And that balance is: exercise, it's a challenge to eat properly, too. It's a real challenge for all of us to eat properly, not a lot of saturated food, not a lot of food that--the diet of death. It's a real challenge. The challenge for me, exercise, work hard to eat properly, play golf, and sex. That's it (whoops).Banks, Ernie, 1931-Autobiographical::Personal philosophyAutobiographical::ValuesErnie Banks talks about the positive and negative effects of sports on the publicWas there anything in your professional career, I mean in the first year, you know, that was there any moment that you felt the best about, and was there any moment that you felt the worst about?Something I did?Did or that happened to you or whatever, or, you know--I felt good about?Right. Right.In baseball.Baseball.I felt special about? There was a game I didn't play. We played Cincinnati [Reds baseball team], wanted to tie for first place, late in the season, July. And I was upstairs with the radio announcers, and 40,000 people were there. They didn't want to leave the park, they were so overjoyed about seeing the [Chicago] Cubs [baseball team] in a tie for first place that late in the season. They just stayed around and cheered, and it was like a ritual, like a spiritual moment. And I was up there looking down saying, "wow, this is really powerful how sports can make people, as [Banks' wife] Liz [Banks] just said, happy for the moment, real happy." I mean the whole city was, like, dancing in the streets. The Cubs won a tie for first place. Then, the other side of it is a championship by the [Chicago] Bulls [basketball team], and people burning cars, turning over cars, same thing happened to the [Los Angeles] Lakers [basketball team]. I mean that's like from up to down. I mean this is like, to me, I look at it and said, "who are we, and who do we think we are?" You know, the behavior pattern, you know. Do you remember this, the championship? Turning over cars, beating up stuff, throwing things? I'm just like, "where are we?"Autobiographical::ValuesAutobiographical::Personal philosophyLocations::US::Illinois::ChicagoBanks, Ernie, 1931-Sports::Baseball::Baseball fansSports::Baseball::ProfessionalPhoto - Ernie Banks's twin sons Joey and Jerry Banks and and daughter, Jan Banks, ca. 1970sWe're looking at Ernie's children, his twin boys, Joey and Jerry Banks, and his daughter, Jan Banks.[Ernie Banks's twin sons Joey and Jerry Banks and and daughter, Jan Banks, ca. 1970s. From the collection of Ernie Banks.]00/00/1970-00/00/1979Banks, Ernie, 1931-Photo - Ernie Banks pictured with Brazilian soccer star PeleThat's Pele and Ernie Banks.And when did they meet? What was the occasion?I'm gonna have to let Ernie say because I think this was some kind of award.[Ernie Banks (left) pictured with Brazilian soccer star Pele, n.d. From the collection of Ernie Banks.]Banks, Ernie, 1931-Photo - Ernie Banks with his twin sons Joey and Jerry banks at Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1970s[Background coversation unrelated to photo].[Ernie Banks with his twin sons Joey and Jerry banks at Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1970s. From the collection of Ernie Banks]00/00/1970-00/00/1979Banks, Ernie, 1931-