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[Barbara] What the people want is very simple.
They want an America
as good as its promise.
[inspirational music playing]
[Ann] When you were with Barbara,
you could never quite shake the feeling
that you were in the presence of somebody
that was truly great.
[crowd cheering in background]
[Brenda] Barbara Jordan blazed a trail.
She was the first black woman to serve
in the Texas State Senate.
The first black woman elected to Congress
from the deep South.
Barbara Jordan was a champion of our freedom,
our Constitution, and our laws.
[Woman 1] She could walk into all white male spaces
and be respected.
[Max] She reached into the heart of people
whose hearts didn't want to be reached into.
[Woman 2] She was someone who was respected
across party lines.
When Barbara Jordan spoke, you just sat up and listened.
We are trying to spark
the consciousness in depth of everybody in this country
and we feel that we have the capacity to do it.
[Dan] Barbara Jordan's got the voice of God.
[Barbara] When people are eroding the foundation
of the country, don't be silent.
Don't be quiet.
[Woman 3] I see the conviction and honesty that she had,
something that is absent from politics today.
I think this mood that we're in now is cyclical.
I think people are basically good,
and honest, and that they care,
and I think we will return to that posture.
[Dan] She carried the fire.
She carried the flame at a very critical time
in American history.
Today I am an inquisitor.
My faith in the Constitution is whole,
it is complete, it is total.
And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator
to the diminution, the subversion,
the destruction of the Constitution.
[♪♪♪]
[uplifting music playing]
[♪♪♪]
It would be difficult to understand and recognize
from where Barbara Jordan came to what she became.
It's a great story.
It's a great American story.
[reel whirring]
[motor whirring]
[marching]
[explosion]
[Barbara] You have the freedom to choose
the kind of future you want.
You're denied the luxury of opting out.
You can't opt out.
You're already in.
How can you opt out where you are?
You are involved in life.
You make the choice to lead.
But if you choose to lead,
you must be sure you have the capability,
the capacity, the competence to do the job.
[reel whirring]
[calm music playing]
[♪♪♪]
[Barbara] Myself and my two sisters grew up
in the Fifth Ward of Houston.
We didn't know that we were in
a deprived sector of the city.
When everybody's poor, you don't ever think
about poverty.
We thought we'd just play in our gravel streets
and eat the dust, which the cars would stir up.
We didn't worry about it too much.
[uplifting music playing]
I don't know...
[Rosemary] Barbara had a beautiful alto voice.
We started singing together at the church
to where we belong,
at Good Hope Missionary Baptist Church.
And we even gave them little mini recitals.
Grandpa Patton showed favoritism to Barbara
when we would go sometimes back to evening church,
she would stay there with him.
[calm music playing]
[Barbara] Grandpa Patton was a junk man.
We would weigh that paper and weigh the rags,
hitch up his mules, and go sell them.
I say we, because I was my Grandpa Patton's
partner in business.
And we had more money than anybody we encountered.
[horses neigh]
[Barbara] My father wanted excellence in his children.
I was very proud of a report card.
I had five As and one B.
My father, he looked at it and then with a scowl,
"Why do you have this B?"
So I was reverent toward him,
he taught me to love,
to do the best that I could do.
I didn't want to be run of the mill.
I don't want to be just same old, same old.
I want to be a little bit different
and uh, superior to tell truth.
[birds chirping]
[Otis] Barbara and I were students
together in high school and we went on
to Texas Southern University together.
We were partners as members
of the Texas Southern University debate team
under the direction of Dr. Thomas Freeman.
[Brenda] Dr. Thomas Freeman was a well-known
renowned debate coach
and he taught Martin Luther King
and some others.
Under him, she learned about cadence
and the importance of research,
of enunciation, pacing.
[upbeat music playing]
[♪♪♪]
[Rodney] Everybody loved Dr. Freeman.
All of us on the debate team did as much as we could
to please him.
He told me a good speaker accomplishes three things.
You make people laugh,
you make people cry, and you make sense.
And if you can only do one,
make sense and sit your boring self down.
[Barbara] We would drive into a city.
The signs are up.
White, colored.
Thomas Freeman would refuse to go in the back door.
He said, "We'll get a sandwich and eat it
by the side of the road
before I take you through a back door."
That certainly made an impression on me.
[door bell jingles]
[upbeat music playing]
[Otis] The final event for Barbara and me
was a debate against a team from Harvard University,
something akin to being in the World Series, I guess.
[Rodney] It was a first.
A black university in the South,
as deep in the heart of Dixie as you could get,
with a all-black debate team, against Harvard University.
[Barbara] The judges of the debate said it ended in a tie.
People were shocked.
[Barbara] Harvard is supposed to be so high, and sharp,
and smart that debating a little group like TSU
to call it a tie, we must have won.
[Otis] It just really told us personally
that we could leave Texas Southern University
and go on to do anything that we wanted to do.
[Barbara] I was a sophomore at Texas Southern University.
I can remember reading this big headline,
"Segregation Ends."
And I said, "Ha, dog."
In my naiveté, I thought tomorrow morning
it was going to happen.
When I say, it was a miracle for her
to come out of the 5th ward of that era.
I mean, you were not permitted to leave 5th ward.
We are right in the shadow of Downtown Houston.
But you couldn't go Downtown Houston.
[Barbara] Before I went to law school,
my world had been all black.
[chatter]
[Barbara] And then I arrive to attend law school
at Boston University.
In our entering class, there were about 300 people.
Of the 300, there were three or four blacks.
[♪♪♪]
[Barbara] I knew that if I worked harder
and studied longer, I'd survive it.
But one thing I discovered by observing
is that young white people love to stop
whatever they're doing and have a cup of coffee.
I would just go around and say,
"You need to take a break.
Let's have a cup of coffee."
That always worked.
I formed many friendships over a cup of coffee.
[Barbara] The first thing I did when I got my law degree
was to take the red ribbon off
and make sure that my name was on it.
And then I cried.
Because of what had gone into it.
[car whirring]
[car whooshing]
[upbeat music playing]
[Barbara] I had the notion that I'd like to do something
to affect the way masses of people live.
I became very interested in politics working first
in the Kennedy-Johnson campaign.
[applause]
Let us move for the unified goal
of an America where every man
will be free to live and be whatever he desires to be.
[Mary] She started speaking at some events
and began to come to public attention.
[Barbara] The Democrats around there said,
"You ought to run
for the Texas House of Representatives."
[Mary] They saw Barbara as a person
around whom the black community
could coalesce.
[Barbara] I ran twice for the Texas legislation
and was defeated.
Why could I not win?
[Max] It was a time when cities like Houston
were gerrymandered in a different way
because they stacked the deck.
People had to run into these countrywide district,
so that meant that in Houston, in Austin, Dallas,
black voters never could get a majority of anything.
[Ashley] The districts were discriminatory
in how their lines were outlined,
in order to divide the black voting black.
[Max] She got more votes not to be elected
to the Texas House than I got to be elected
to the Texas Senate.
[Barbara] The disappointment was especially bitter,
because I was playing by the rules,
but the rules were not fair.
Then the Supreme Court established the principle
of one person, one vote.
[Ashley] That opened up the door for districts
to be redrawn in ways where black people
could represent black people.
[Barbara] The Texas legislature was required
to reapportion itself.
So in 1966, I ran again, this time in one of those
newly-created state senatorial districts.
I won.
And my political career got started.
[Jasmine] It speaks to why it is important
that we have people who accurately interpret
these constitutional amendments.
This is how we ended up with seats where black folk
could have a voice.
[Senfronia] At that particular time,
black people only could be on the Capitol ground
if you were cutting the grass, polishing the statues
or cleaning the building.
On her first day, she was like an unknown person
from outer space coming into the Texas Senate.
They didn't even have a restroom which she could use
and they had to build a bathroom specifically
for her to use.
The good thing about that is they let her design it.
Everybody's going down to see what she looks like
to see someone come back to the Senate
after reconstruction,
an African American and a woman.
It made black people feel like they had a say
in help to shape their government.
Barbara Jordan carried with her at all times,
the Constitution
and a photo of her grandfather.
[reel whirring]
[Barbara] My grandpa was always saying
that you couldn't trust the world out there,
so you had to figure things out for yourself,
but you had to love humanity even if you couldn't trust it.
[playful music playing]
[Rodney] Barbara Jordan came along in a era
in which you had a very conservative
group of men who ran the Texas Senate.
Many of the older white men
who were in that had probably never had
any kind of relationship with a black woman
unless she was a maid in his house.
[Ben] I was a speaker of the house
and I went over to the Senate to see the Senate sworn in.
There were a lot of older men that had reservations
about what kind of senator, uh, Barbara's gonna be.
The Senate would go on hunts.
There were some reservations at first on part
of the senators.
What are we gonna ask Barbara?
We're all men.
No one really hunted, they played cards,
and drank whiskey, and sang songs.
Could Barbara fit in?
We asked Barbara to go and not only did she fit in,
she brought her guitar.
She was one of the first ones down around the fire
and had a glass of scotch in her hand
and she was one of the last ones to go to bed.
Barbara Jordan was really a good old boy
and everybody realized that.
[Jasmine] She walked in with a certain level
of credentials, and she was able to demand
a level of respect that they probably
didn't even know that they would be giving
to a Black woman.
[Barbara] Once I cut through the maleness
of the Texas State Senate and their view
that I was going to be a disruptive force
rather than a helping force, I enjoyed being in the Senate.
[Rodney] The Texas Senate, you have to persuade people.
So even if you shoot down that argument and debate,
you got to do it in such a way
you don't anger 'em, because you may need
their vote 10 minutes later.
[Mary] Barbara learned a whole lot
about political power.
[Ben] Barbara did some things that some
of her liberal friends would have been disappointed
if they'd had known that she did that.
[Barbara] We didn't agree politically
on practically anything,
but I got along with them
and formed genuine friendships.
We sat by each other over and over.
We began to talk about ourselves,
tell our history and became close,
close friends, almost brother and sister.
[birds chirping]
At the time, there was a really vibrant
civil rights and black power movement going on.
[reel whirring]
I tell you, I got to change my life,
because I'm choking to death.
[indistinct chanting]
[Huey] The party is one with the people,
because we struggle with all oppressed people.
We struggle against the international bourgeoisie.
[Fannie] I went down the 31st of August
to try to register.
They wasn't ready for that in Mississippi.
They shot in the house 15 times thinking
that I was there.
[♪♪♪]
[Barbara] You, my friends, can help somehow tear down
these walls that divides people
into groups and separates them.
The people of this country, I ask you,
what about the basic and fundamental problem
of human understanding, of a human care
for human beings?
[uplifting music playing]
[♪♪♪]
[Senfronia] There was an upswing of women
being energized politically.
[Rodney] Most of the more progressive issues
that Barbara Jordan wanted to pass were not going to pass
the Texas Senate.
[Barbara] It's not an anti-male
chauvinistic movement.
And I know, men, that there are some of you
who remain reluctant to embrace
the cause of the equality of women.
We want to help you. You need help.
[audience laughs]
[♪♪♪]
[Rosemary] In Texas, it was not until '73
that a woman was able to have a credit card
in her name or buy property.
[Ben] Barbara wanted the Equal Rights
Constitutional Amendment for women
to pass and wanted Texas to be one of the early states
to do it.
[Max] She was able to reach out to people
on all sides and pull them together.
[Ben] She got to be the author of the Equal Rights
Constitutional Amendment for women,
one of the first legislative branches
of any state that passed in the United States.
[♪♪♪]
[Ruth] Keep in mind that in the days
when she grew up, the goal for girls at the time
was to find a marriage as soon as possible
and to be rescued from your situation as a woman.
And that meant that, you know, boys had to like you.
And if they didn't, well, gee, I mean,
what was wrong with you and what was going
to happen to you?
[reel whirring]
[uplifting music playing]
[♪♪♪]
[Barbara] One thing I learned early on
was that you can't work all the time.
You need people around you who don't care
about titles or status.
One night after wrapping up a long day,
some friends invited me out.
That's where I met Nancy Earl.
She worked at the university, and from the moment
we started talking, it felt easy.
We played music, sang together,
and just enjoyed the night.
Nancy had this way of making people feel at ease.
I remember thinking,
"This is something I'd love to do again."
She enjoyed being with Nancy Earl.
She finally felt she could relax
and be herself.
[vehicles whooshing by]
[Barbara] SCR number--
- [Man 2] 14. - [Barbara] 14.
All those in favor of adoption of the resolution, vote aye.
[Men] Aye.
[Barbara] Those opposed, vote no.
Ayes have it.
Resolution is adopted.
[Ben] Barbara was an independent person
who had an agenda to represent her district.
[Barbara] Our Urban Affairs Committee devoted specifically
and entirely to the solutions of problems of the cities.
I'm frankly very disappointed in the work
of the Constitutional Commission.
You don't have any daycare center here?
So if you can find someone who can take care
of the two youngest children...
You would be able to work?
[Ben] And she had agenda way beyond
the borders of Texas.
She wanted to go to Washington.
A group of us found the empty building,
and we set up the headquarters.
We literally would stuff envelopes
and lick stamps.
[Rosemary] We spent a lot of time in the headquarters,
helping in whatever way we could
to boost the campaign for her.
[phone ringing in background]
[indistinct chatter in distance]
[classical music playing]
[applause]
[Mary] Her main opponent in the Democratic primary
was Curtis Graves.
[Curtis] If you hear candidates now
talking about law and order,
they don't mean the kind of law and order that we mean.
We mean law that isn't necessarily looking
for order as an end result, but rather law
which is looking for justice as an end result.
[applause]
[Curtis] I represent the real Democrats of Texas,
who have always supported the traditional philosophy
of liberalism.
[Rodney] Curtis Graves had been a bomb-throwing,
very progressive, outspoken member of the House.
And so he had a lot of links out there
in the black community.
[Curtis] I served in the Texas legislature
at the same time that Barbara Jordan did.
I guess she chose not to be affiliated
with the causes that I was involved in,
because they were a little too liberal
for her politics.
Barbara Jordan looked really good
in terms of this being her time.
He had also still put in the time.
[Frank] He was a firebrand who liked
to be confrontational.
He tried to make it look like Barbara Jordan
was kowtowing to the old white guys.
[Mary] And well, he started circulating rumors
that Barbara was gay.
[Senfronia] Curtis Graves is a light-light complexion
of African American guy running against
a dark complexion woman.
[Barbara] The press seldom presented me
in a favorable light.
[country music playing]
[♪♪♪]
[Barbara] The world had decided
that we were all Negro,
but some of us were more Negro than others.
You went further, you got the awards
if you were not Black-Black with kinky hair.
Black was bad. You didn't want to be Black.
[Barbara] Everything is on the table
when you're out there running for public office.
It is a requirement of the person
who puts themselves out there.
You're going to feel that kind of pain
that comes from that kind of scrutiny.
And if you don't want that kind of scrutiny,
don't seek the office.
[indistinct whispers]
By that time, Barbara Jordan was able
to have the relationships with both the black community
and the union community, which crossed racial lines.
[Barbara] I was trying to get the hard-nosed,
crusty business establishment in the city of Houston
to come to the fundraising rally for me
and endorse my candidacy for Congress.
Well, they said we might come. We, I guess.
But then the word got out. Lyndon Johnson is coming.
Lyndon Johnson came to the first reception
that we had at the Rice Hotel in Houston
when Barbara Jordan was gonna run for Congress.
[Barbara] And of course, that guaranteed a success
of the rally.
And anybody who thought they were somebody
came to the Rice Hotel.
[Mary] And of course, she adored him for that.
[Barbara] Lyndon Johnson held my hand in both of his
as only he could do and said,
"If ever you need anything from me, just call."
He looked at her as the future
of the new South.
We gave you Lyndon Johnson
and now we're giving you Barbara Jordan.
[audience laughs]
[applause]
[Mary] He saw and heard the potential
and that was a friendship that lasted until Johnson died.
[♪♪♪]
[Rodney] That picture was on the front page
of the newspapers throughout Texas.
[♪♪♪]
Curtis Graves just didn't have what Barbara Jordan had.
[Ben] Once she was elected,
she moved away from the liberal wing
and into the Lyndon Johnson wing of the party
by doing their bidding in many cases.
And that may have been a wise decision.
It eventually got her elected to the Congress
of the United States.
But I promised you that you would have
a clear, sound, effective, clarion voice on the floor
of United States House of Representatives
if you elected me and I guarantee you,
you have that.
[applauding & cheering]
[Richard Nixon] I would only hope
that in these next four years,
we can so conduct ourselves in this country
that years from now, people will look back
to the generation of the 1970s.
And they will say, "God bless America."
[♪♪♪]
[Mary] Nancy came to Washington with Barbara.
When you look back, yes, it's easy to see
that they were a couple.
They shared a house together, they shared a life together,
and publicly that was all there was to it.
Nancy cared for Barbara Jordan,
respected her, gave her her space.
Nancy understood that Barbara Jordan's
love and life was politics.
[indistinct chanting]
[Barbara] The civil rights movement is still alive
and well.
Its methodology has perhaps changed.
The political arena, that's where
the black radicals have gone.
[indistinct shouting]
[Ashley] The Congressional Black Caucus started in 1971.
Black people are in that space in a way that we never
have been before.
[Jasmine] The difference in state and federal,
there's a lot more eyes on you.
And cameras rolling.
[indistinct speech]
[♪♪♪]
[Interviewer 1] You've made history in the Texas Senate
and now being the first black woman elected
to the US Congress from the South,
How do you feel about all this?
Well, I'm often asked whether I feel historical
and I-- I really don't.
[Elizabeth] Barbara Jordan wanted to be on
the House Judiciary Committee.
There were very few women, but there we were together.
It was a hard slog.
You get there and all of a sudden,
you're voting on agricultural appropriations.
Well, I'm from Brooklyn, I don't know too much
about farming.
But of course, what I didn't know
was that when impeachments come up,
the House Judiciary Committee plays the key role.
[Reporter 1] The Democratic National Committee
is trying to solve a spy mystery.
Five intruders were captured by police
inside the offices of the committee in Washington.
The five men carried cameras and apparently, had found
an electronic bug.
Mr. Nixon says empathetically
that the White House is in no way involved
in the burglary and mugging of the Democratic headquarters.
You had this slow drip of information
coming out that was possible that the president
of the United States was involved
in bribing burglars to keep quiet
about a break-in that affected the election.
And of course, Nixon said this was completely untrue.
[Richard Nixon] I welcome this kind of examination,
because people have gotta know whether or not
their President's a crook.
Well, I'm not a crook.
[Barbara] There were rumblings
about impeaching the president,
but no serious rumblings.
I had always had the highest respect possible
for the presidency and I could not imagine
that I would be engaged in a process
which could lead to the end of the presidency.
It was only last week that
the Senate Watergate Committee learned of the existence
of tape recordings
of President Nixon's conversations.
The tapes would tell the truth
and Nixon didn't want the tapes to come out.
This administration has, I think, gone further
in terms of waiving executive privilege
than any administration in my memory.
On the question of impeachment of the President,
a matter now being examined by the House Judiciary Committee
is whether he illegally received...
[Barbara] I not only did a lot of homework and study,
I lived the impeachment matter.
It was a 24-hour-a-day engagement.
Could I ask any of you to say
what your own definition of impeachable offence is?
I have no difficulty saying that.
I do not feel that an impeachable offence
has to be an indictable offence.
I do not think it has to be one
which shows criminality...
[Frank] You wouldn't say, "I'm not a crook",
if you weren't a crook.
That was enough for the rest of us,
but she needed the facts.
[Barbara] The great disservice to the country
would be to react emotionally.
Some of my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee
said, "He's guilty. I'm ready to vote."
I said, "But I am not.
And I will not be ready
until I have satisfied my own mind."
That reason, reason tells me
that this process has to be worked now.
[Elizabeth] The Nixon tapes were finally released
by the Supreme Court.
One of the tapes showed that Nixon had ordered
the cover-up from the beginning.
[Barbara] The committee will view to determine why
the President of the United States
felt it necessary to spy on citizens of this country.
Tamper with the evidence. It's a long list.
[Elizabeth] I felt as though there was no bottom
to the misconduct, abuses of power
of Nixon and of his team.
There was so much criminal--
[chuckles]
Let's be honest about it, criminal stuff going on.
[Brenda] It was three evenings that the 38 members
of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee
each had 15 minutes to say something
about the matter of impeachment.
[Ron] 1970s, we didn't have social media.
We didn't have all these distractions.
We actually all watched the news.
Everybody was glued to what was happening
in these proceedings.
Barbara was always a little bit of perfectionist.
She told me that on the way down
to the hearing, she made some revisions
to the text.
[Barbara] If I can get into the vernacular,
I had to have my stuff together.
I felt that I was participating
in a very important historical event.
[Dan] What was at stake?
We were talking about a widespread
criminal conspiracy led by the President
of the United States.
And the question was, "What are we, the people,
going to do about it?"
Barbara Jordan addressed sharply focused
on the question.
[Chairman] I recognize the gentlelady from Texas,
Miss Jordan, the purpose of general debate,
not to exceed a period of 15 minutes.
- Thank you, Mr. Chairman. - [Chairman] Miss Jordan.
Earlier today, we heard the beginning
of the preamble to the Constitution
of the United States.
We, the people.
It's a very eloquent beginning,
but when that document was completed
on the 17th of September in 1787,
I was not included in that "We, the people."
I felt somehow for many years
that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton
just left me out by mistake.
But through the process of amendment,
interpretation, and court decision,
I have finally been included in "We the people."
Today I am an inquisitor.
An hyperbole would not be fictional
and would not overstate the solemnness
that I feel right now.
My faith in the Constitution is whole,
it is complete, it is total.
And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator
to the diminution, the subversion,
the destruction of the Constitution.
When I watched this Black woman,
so articulate, so engaging,
she becomes me.
She becomes my mother and grandmother
and every woman that I know
and every African American woman
that was privileged to be born African American
in this country.
We know the nature of impeachment.
We've been talking about it a while now.
It is chiefly designed for the president
and his high ministers to somehow be called
into account.
It is designed to bridle the executive
if he engages in excesses.
It is designed as a method of national inquest
into the conduct of public men,
framers confided in the Congress,
the power, if need be, to remove the president
in order to strike a delicate balance
between a president swollen with power
and grown tyrannical and preservation
of the independence of the executive.
But impeachment must proceed within the confines
of the constitutional term, high crime and misdemeanors.
If the impeachment provision in the Constitution
of the United States will not reach
the offenses charged here, then perhaps
that 18th century Constitution should be abandoned
to a 20th century paper shredder.
Barbara Jordan built the case that we're not doing this.
The framers envisioned this.
And they didn't envision it for something trivial.
They envisioned it for something serious.
She essentially walked America through the Constitution,
the amendments, the debate over the impeachment articles.
[Sylvia] With Nixon, it was all about
whether he had violated the Constitution.
If you're following the Constitution,
then you're doing the right thing
and you have parameters.
It is reason and not passion which must guide
our deliberations, guide our debate,
and guide our decision.
I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.
I recognize the...
[Dan] Barbara Jordan was looking the camera
right straight in the eye, looked down the throat
of the camera, and said, "America,
this is what's on the table.
This is what we have to decide.
See it clearly. Have no confusion about it.
This, my friends, is what it's about."
No question.
It was an emotional time because so much was at stake.
- [Chairman] Mr. Seiberling? - [Seiberling] Aye.
- [Chairman] Mr. Danielson? - [Danielson] Aye.
- [Chairman] Mr. Drinan? - [Drinan] Aye.
- [Chairman] Ms. Holtzman? - Aye.
[Chairman] Mr. Rangel?
Aye.
- [Chairman] Ms. Jordan? - Aye.
Behind the committee hearing room,
several of us cried,
absolutely shed tears.
For Richard Nixon, no, but that the country
had come to this.
The House Judiciary Committee today
recommended formally the impeachment
of President Richard Nixon.
[Elizabeth] Republican leaders, seeing that
the midterm elections were about to come up,
knew that if Nixon were going to fight this,
that no Republicans would have been elected.
Therefore, I shall resign the presidency,
effective at noon tomorrow.
[♪♪♪]
[Mary] When she left the Capitol that night,
there were people waiting outside
as she got in her car to leave.
She couldn't believe it.
And then in the days following that,
the outpouring.
[Barbara] I'd say I got maybe a dozen letters
from people who didn't agree with me.
But you contrast that to the hundreds
upon hundreds of that, that did it for me.
It's no small thing to be socialized
in the state of Texas as a black woman,
being pushed down the way she was,
How do you come through that and then present yourself
to the nation in such a forceful way?
[Dick] Any of your black friends say to you,
"How could you get up there in front of the country
and say you had faith in the Constitution
and the law of this country when you are a descendant
of slaves, undoubtedly?
Um, and look what the country has done to us,
et cetera, et cetera."
Well, certainly some-- a few will say,
"How can you say that?
And you're just you're lying to people.
You can't really believe that, you said it,
because it sounds pretty to feel that way."
Well, Dick, if and I do believe
in the basic fundamental ideas
on which this country was founded.
What if I checked out, checked out on the country,
checked out on the Constitution,
decided it really doesn't have anything to do
with the inclusion of me now or ever?
Then what do I do? Pack up my bags and go to sea?
[Senfronia] I think for the first time,
she may not have been looked upon as a black person,
but as an American.
[Dan] Barbara Jordan became a media personage,
a household name.
Her speaking calendar booked solid
a year in advance.
The fact that she's the first this
or the first that isn't what's kept her
at the top.
It's a keen intelligence, a voice, a presence.
Let's talk about the mystery of Barbara Jordan.
Is marriage anything that comes into your thinking?
Oh, time to time comes into my thinking.
What do you do when it does?
I look around and see who's available.
And I usually come up with a blank.
And so I-- and so then I don't get married.
Would you mind if it didn't happen?
I don't think I'd take it to my bed over it.
Um, as a matter of fact, I think I could survive it.
The press was pretty gentle about people's sexuality.
Uh, if they didn't come out of the closet,
I don't remember her discussing it.
[Senfronia] If Barbara Jordan was in office
and she had even indicated that she was a gay person
and tried to come out,
she would have been ostracized,
first of all, by the black community.
She would have been driven out of office.
She would have lost all her credibility,
all her fame.
It just would have gone down the drain.
You compound homophobia and racism.
It is a toxic combination.
[Lisa] She had really good reasons for keeping
her relationship quiet.
At the same time, her friends always said,
you know, she never denied it in personal relationships.
It wasn't a case of internalized homophobia
that she pretended to the people
that she trusted that she wasn't gay.
But it wasn't information that the public was ready
to hear from someone who was going
to represent them.
[♪♪♪]
[Mary] Shortly after the Watergate hearings,
she noticed some changes in her vision
and some weakness in her muscles.
So she went in for some tests.
The initial tests came back as multiple sclerosis.
The type of MS that Barbara Jordan had,
you'd have an attack and then remission,
and each attack would leave a portion
of your body further damaged.
But she kept it secret.
[Rosemary] The family seemed to have been the last to know
specifically what the illness was.
She did not discuss it with us.
Neither we noticed the deterioration
and knew that she was doing all that was possible
to improve it.
[Mary] So little was known about the disease
at the time or potential cures.
There was an uncertainty within her
about her own life and well-being.
But like so many things in Barbara's life,
she put it aside, 'cause she was gonna go do
what she was gonna go do.
Right now, I'm just very pleased
that I've won re-election to represent
the 18th Congressional District in Congress.
A political office isn't a destination.
It's a tool.
She was there to do things.
And she had a very impressive list
of congressional accomplishments.
She helped shape hundreds of bills.
Barbara, congratulations.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I watch your commentary.
Do you now?
I hope that uh, they meet with your approval
- from time to time. - [laughing]
[Gerald Ford] From time to time.
In '75, Barbara worked to ensure that
the Voting Rights Act extension
also included Hispanic groups.
[applause]
[Gerald Ford] The bill that I will sign today
broadens the provisions to bar discrimination
against Spanish-speaking Americans,
American Indians, Alaskan Natives,
and Asian Americans.
[indistinct chatter]
[Gerald Ford] There you are.
- [Man 4] Thank you. - [Gerald Ford] Okay.
- [Man 4] All right. - Good.
We will be here seven years from now.
And if the act needs to be extended again,
we'll do that.
[reel whirring]
[Host 1] Among your detractors, you're known as having
an impatience with those not as smart as you
an impatience bordering on arrogance.
Would you say that's fair?
Oh, I think that's unfair.
It is just my desire to see things move along
expeditiously without too many missed steps.
[Dan] The key to moving ahead
has been understanding power.
That includes knowing the rules.
It also includes guarding her independence,
avoiding labels, making alliances all right,
but not risking too much on them.
[Yvonne] She was not really very active
in the Black Caucus.
She was just overcome with the responsibilities
of her district.
Blacks are concerned about heat, hot water, getting jobs,
unemployment, and uh...
[Barbara] The politician who is Black
will be successful
in the larger arena when he can show
and demonstrate flexibility
on a broad spectrum of issues
and not be a knee-jerk Black.
I would gamble that if you would attempt
to ask her,
"What did it mean to you being a Black American?",
that she'll find some way
of telling you that she was just
an American who happened to be Black.
[Barbara] There is no law which says all Black people
who are elected to Congress must agree
with each other on every point.
[Interviewer 3] And you don't?
And I don't.
[Interviewer 3] What about women?
Other women members of Congress?
This is the time that we will make women
and men share equally in the greatness
of America.
[Man 5] She told legislative assistant,
Bob Alcock, of a conversation she had
with New York's militant Congresswoman Bella Abzug.
[Barbara] Did you know that Bella wanted
all the women to sit together on the floor today
while they considered the women's rights bill?
No, I didn't know that.
It's very interesting.
[laughing]
And I said I wouldn't sit with 'em.
So she said, "Well, they would all come over
and sit with me."
And I told them I'd move.
[laughing]
She would not call herself a "feminist",
because it was considered a white woman's domain.
That is how the National Organization of Women
were unofficially identified.
And Barbara Jordan was not going
to be pigeonholed.
[Host 2] You've been criticized from time to time
by both Blacks and women for not being more a part
of their team.
I think I am contributing
to the work of the team every time I get out of bed
and go to work.
There's a Black and there's a woman
on the job doing things, hopefully beneficial
to the interests of Black people
and of women.
[applause]
The very first man to die
for the War of Independence in this country
was a Black man named Crispus Attucks.
Crispus Attucks.
[cheering, applauding]
He was a fool.
[audience laughs, cheers]
All but we wanted to prove what great Americans we were.
We begged the white folk to let us fight
in the War of Independence.
And they had us fighting the Indians.
Like fools, we should have teamed up
with the Indians and take care of you know who.
[cheering, applauding]
[Barbara] I am militant in my insides.
[Barbara] I know that there are problems
which Black people face which must be solved.
And even though you seethe underneath
and you want to break out in some kind of a display
of aggressiveness, the truth of the matter
is that in the back of your mind, you know,
that in the long run, that display of aggressiveness
is going to retard the cause that you're trying to fulfill
or to bring about.
So you suppress, you suppress.
[indistinct chatter]
[♪♪♪]
[Barbara] The last eight years, we have seen
the employment suffer,
a recession induced by the combination
of Mr. Nixon and Mr. Ford.
It's time that people found out
that when God put us here, he said we were equal.
You know, it's time to start thinking about that.
I, Gerald R. Ford, do grant a full, free,
and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon
for all offenses against the United States.
[Barbara] For the past eight years,
Washington, D.C. has been under a pollution alert,
because of the stench of republicanism
accompanied by some other foul odors.
[laughter]
And those other foul odors may be labeled dishonor,
disgrace, betrayal of trust.
The only way that we are going
to be able to purify the air
is to elect that rational, compassionate,
depth of intellect man by the name of Jimmy Carter.
[cheering, whistling]
[♪♪♪]
My name is Jimmy Carter and I'm running for president.
[Barbara] I made a decision to help Carter get elected,
because the two terms I served in Congress,
I had Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
And I thought one experience that you've got to have
is to serve in Congress with a democratic president.
[♪♪♪]
I was gonna get a chance to hear Barbara Jordan speak.
And that was a big deal for her
being the first African-American
speaking there.
[Bob] Ladies and gentlemen.
[applauding, cheering]
[Bob chuckles]
[Bob] Ladies and gentlemen.
[Rodney] When Bob Strauss introduced her,
he didn't go through a litany of firsts.
He just said, "The Honorable Congresswoman
Barbara Jordan from Houston."
...Of Houston, Texas.
[applauding, cheering]
[Barbara] Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
144 years ago,
members of the Democratic Party
first met in convention to select
a presidential candidate.
And our meeting is a continuation
of that tradition.
But there is something different about tonight.
There is something special about tonight.
What is different? What is special?
I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
[applauding, cheering]
And my presence here
is one additional bit of evidence
that the American dream need not forever be deferred.
[applauding, cheering]
We have a positive vision of the future
founded on the belief that the gap
between the promise and reality of America
can one day be finally closed.
We believe that.
[applause]
Let there be no illusions about the difficulty
of forming this kind of a national community.
It's tough, but a spirit of harmony will survive
in America only if each of us remembers
when self-interest and bitterness seem to prevail
that we share a common destiny.
I have confidence that we can form this kind
of national community.
I am going to close my speech by quoting
a Republican president.
And I ask you that as you listen
to these words of Abraham Lincoln,
relate them to the concept of a national community
in which every last one of us...
participates.
"As I would not be a slave...
so I would not be a master."
This...
[applause]
This, this expresses my idea...
of democracy.
Whatever differs from this to the extent
of the difference is no...
democracy.
Thank you.
[applauding, cheering]
[♪♪♪]
[Dan] After Jimmy Carter was elected
there was all this speculation
who was gonna be appointed what.
[Mary] Barbara had one spot she wanted.
She wanted to be Attorney General
of the United States.
She could do a lot on the issues she cares about,
anti-discriminating, voting rights, civil rights.
[Jewell] Was it possible for Barbara Jordan
to become Attorney General under Jimmy Carter in 1976?
No.
Society was not prepared.
We were still gathered around the television set
if a black person was on television in the '70s.
I don't think that I'm trapped
in representing the 18th Congressional District
for the rest of my life.
I may want to do something else.
[Paul] One of your colleagues said Barbara Jordan
has a gothic preoccupation with power.
Politics, Paul, is about power.
And to say that it's not, I think, is to deny
the reality of-- of politics.
I don't yearn for power for myself,
but I certainly yearn for power to get things done
for the people I represent.
Tonight, Carter interviews Representative Barbara Jordan,
who is in the running for Attorney General.
Barbara was excited to go to the meeting with Carter.
[Dan] On her way into Blair House,
Representative Jordan said she hadn't the faintest idea
what post she was being considered for,
but sources said that it was indeed
Attorney General.
The Texas congresswoman left 45 minutes later
before the hour allotted for the interview had ended.
I personally, as a reporter covering the story,
thought that President Carter considered her seriously.
[♪♪♪]
[Elizabeth] He had his guy, Griffin Bell,
because people put their guys in.
[Barbara] I felt that the black and the woman stuff
were just side issues and that people
were going to ignore that.
Now that was naiveté on my part.
[Interviewer 4] You were reported as being arrogant
in saying that you would only consider
the cabinet position of Attorney General.
I suppose I was.
Uh, that is...
I don't know that there is any sin to be attached
to one being arrogant if one has a reason
to be arrogant.
I do not apologize.
[Mary] Andrew Young ultimately got the appointment
as ambassador to the United Nations.
And there were a number of key African-American leaders
who also served in his administration.
But Barbara was not one of them.
We've got to take that risks, Senator.
In my judgement the 14th and 15th ammendments
to the constitution demand that we take that risks
if those provisions of the constitution
are supposed to mean anything.
Politics is not easy for a woman.
And that is period, no semi-colon.
There is a sense still
that woman are not quite up to the job
when it comes to deciding on difficult issues
that is perception, that is not reality.
I shall not seek elective office
in 1978.
I am going to serve out my term.
I trust that there will be something for me to do
with the rest of my life.
I believe that I uh, I have a contribution to continue
to make in either the public or the private sector, but...
I felt that I had made an impact.
And frankly, I couldn't think of any way
I could do more
or get the attention of more people
or command the attention of more people
or get them to listen
that I had done that and given the structure
of the body as large and lumbersome
and cumbersome as it is.
In that setting, I felt that I had run out
of my strength.
[Rodney] If you think of that speech
that Barbara Jordan gave
at the Watergate impeachment proceedings,
that was someone teaching a lesson.
And then what does she do?
She ends up becoming a teacher.
It's Professor Barbara Jordan now,
not Congresswoman Jordan anymore.
Her audience now is 14 graduate students
at the Lyndon B. Johnson School
of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.
Well, we're in new quarters here today,
and I hope that--
Morning, Dan.
[Dan] Morning.
[Barbara] I want to test your powers of concentration.
Ignore the lights. Ignore the camera.
Ignore the star.
And just, that is, that star, not this one.
[laughing]
[Mary] She loved to challenge those students.
[Barbara] I no longer have any interest
in elective office.
I think my future is in seeing to it
that the next generation is ready to take over.
[Annise] She had so much reach into places
that desperately needed another image of someone.
We went into the AIDS epidemic,
the deaths, and the isolation.
We so much needed role models, and heroes,
and heroines to step up.
And the question was posed to her,
why she was so silent on LGBT issues.
And she said there are only so many banners
she can carry at one time.
And I understand.
And it still makes me sad today.
[♪♪♪]
A mystery disease known as the gay plague
has become an epidemic unprecedented
in the history of American medicine.
[Politician] Why haven't the bathhouses,
whose sole purpose is to provide a setting
for casual, promiscuous homosexual sex,
been closed down?
[Ronald Reagan] To add the AIDS virus
to the list of contagious diseases
for which immigrants and aliens
can be denied entry.
[audience making noise]
We'll make America great again.
[cheer]
♪ It's like a jungle sometimes ♪
♪ It makes me wonder how I keep going under ♪
[crowd chanting]
[Barbara] We have failed.
People who come to power have been more concerned
with exacerbating our divisions
rather than healing our wounds.
If we are the inclusive society,
the inclusive government we say we are,
then everybody ought to have a say.
Freddie, you're buying into this system.
And you used to be about something.
I am about something.
I am about studying this system,
understanding it, so I can change it.
Goodbye, Tracy Chapman.
Hello, Barbara Jordan.
[laughter]
[birds chirping]
[DeAnn] Nancy and she had designed their house
that they wanted to have out in the country.
There was this huge public area for entertaining.
[indistinct chatter]
[Rosemary] She would have plenty of food
and a lot of group singing.
[♪♪♪]
[Rosemary] And of course, Barbara would do solos
every now and then.
[Jody] It was just so special.
And the older we got, the more special it became.
Of course, there was food and there was fun.
But she started to have an annual party for the team.
[♪♪♪]
[Mary] One of the pleasures that Barbara had
as she came back to Austin was to go support
the Lady Longhorns, the wonderful women's
basketball team at the University of Texas.
She became an instant expert.
So uh, she gave a lot of coaching advice.
I asked her to refrain from berating the officials.
[Cecile] Barbara would yell at these young women,
"Can we not shoot?" It was like, "Oh my God."
And Barbara never missed a game.
[Ann] Barbara Jordan and I were good friends
for many years.
We were friends other than being
political friends.
We sat together at the Lady Longhorn
basketball games at the University of Texas.
And oftentimes, you'd be frustrated
with Barbara because you couldn't get her
to relax.
You know, you couldn't get her to not be Barbara Jordan.
[laughing]
[Mary] And they like to tell dirty jokes to each other.
[Ann] I'm delighted to be here with you this evening,
because after listening to George Bush
all these years, I figured you needed to know
what a real Texas accent sounds like.
[cheering]
[♪♪♪]
[Cecile] When mom was elected governor,
she was trying to change state government.
Barbara said, "Yeah, I'm-- I'm there with you."
And Ann appointed Barbara as her ethics counsel.
I cannot tell you how intimidating it was
to walk into that room and be with the voice of God.
And then immediately how warm and loving she was.
She said, "You can make money or you can do public service,
but you're not gonna intermingle the two."
[Rodney] She pretty much carved out that niche,
America's ethics advisor.
[Ronald Reagan] It's with great pleasure
that I today announce my intention to nominate
United States Court of Appeals Judge,
Robert H. Bork,
to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court.
Robert Bork's America is a land in which women
would be forced into back alley abortions.
Blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters.
Rogue police could break down citizens' doors
in midnight rage.
And schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution.
Writers and artists would be censured
at the whim of government.
You don't get converted and become...
[Newscaster] Civil rights leaders who have been
standing in line to denounce his nomination
today got their chance.
Hearing will come to order.
It's an honor to have you here.
And I would ask you to raise your right hand
if I may, Congresswoman, to be sworn.
Do you swear to tell the whole truth
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
I do, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
My opposition to this nomination
is really a result of living 51 years
as a Black American born in the South
and determined to be heard by the majority community.
He has disagreed with the principle
of one person, one vote many times.
This is what he said.
"I do not think
there is a theoretical basis for it."
My word.
I'll tell you this much.
There is a common sense...
natural, rational basis
for all votes counting equally.
It will be very dangerous to have someone sitting
on the supreme court
who doesn't take individual rights seriously.
[Barbara] The Supreme Court of the United States
is the last bulwark of protection
for our freedoms.
[Chairman] Senator Humphrey.
[Humphrey] Which title do you prefer?
[Barbara] Whichever is comfortable for you.
[laughs]
You throw it back every time, don't you?
Um. All right.
Congresswoman Jordan, was the Senate wrong
in confirming Robert Bork
to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals?
I don't know whether you were wrong.
You might have been.
[Humphrey] Well, in your opinion.
I'm asking in your opinion.
[Barbara] I know, I know, I know what you're asking.
The Senate, in its collective wisdom,
apparently decided it was the correct thing
for the Senate to do,
and I would not second guess it.
Well, but really, you're evading
the question outrageously.
First, you accuse Robert Bork of violating the law--
He did violate the law.
[Humphrey] Very well, then, in your opinion,
what possible reason could the Senate have
for confirming unanimously someone you claim
violated the law?
The Senate maybe felt that that was not
a serious enough aberration for them
to deny confirmation.
[Humphrey] Oh, you really can't be serious.
You can't be serious on that.
Of course, I can be.
[audience chuckles]
I've never seen you humorous, I must say.
So uh, maybe this is the first time,
tongue in cheek.
Um, you're very good.
[laughter]
[Humphrey] Professor, I believe
I'll call you, "Professor".
All right.
I could get a lesser person really
over a barrel.
I can't get you over that barrel.
Um, let's talk about another point.
You said something about you personally saw
the Supreme Court as the guardian of your rights.
I think here is the nub of this controversy.
I view the Constitution, and not judges,
as the guardian of our freedom,
our rights, our liberty.
You're right. This is the nub of the issue.
[Humphrey] Whew. Got one.
Finally, you're right.
[laughter]
The nub of the issue is this.
Many people, particularly weak people,
underprivileged, unrepresented,
underrepresented, minority people,
particularly the outs, have looked
to the Supreme Court.
[Humphrey] Yes.
As the rescuer.
Mmhmm.
The Supreme Court will throw out a lifeline
when the legislators, and the governors,
and the everybody else refuses to do so.
[Ashley] I think Jordan can see down the road
how Supreme Court appointments can not only roll back
some of those measures that helped catapult her,
but also concerns about the punitive nature
of lawmaking.
We do not want to see an articulate
and persuasive voice on the Supreme Court saying,
"That's not your function."
Congress suffered when you left us,
but it's a delight to have you back here today.
[Barbara] Thank you, Senator.
I remember when you were a member of Congress,
you were one of the most articulate members
I had the pleasure of serving on the conference committee
with you, and I knew you in other ways.
And of course, I differ with you
on this nomination,
but I hope you're getting along nice in Texas
and enjoying your work
at the Lyndon Johnson School of Government.
I am.
There's an old uh, English expression
that says, "Character brings forth character."
You brought forth in this body,
when you were here,
and hopefully, in this committee.
[♪♪♪]
There was a long time, for me, 15 years,
with Barbara where we didn't know
what was going on with her health.
[Sylvia] I never heard exactly what it was.
We were just shocked when she had a cane,
and then we shocked more when she had her wheelchair.
I think we all just hoped that there was nothing wrong.
[DeAnn] Barbara and Nancy were deeply devoted
to each other.
As Barbara needed more and more help, physically.
That was a test.
Because any time a relationship changes
from being partners, friends, to caretaker,
that was some rough years.
And all of us tried to help.
I watched her becoming more and more disabled,
but it didn't affect her mind.
She was still blowing and going and making speeches.
the American dream is not dead.
It is not dead.
It is gasping for breath.
But it is not dead.
[crowd cheering]
The things that I was part of didn't change.
And not one time ever did I hear Barbara complain.
There was no self-pity.
[birds chirping]
[laughter]
Barbara Jordan, the former Congresswoman
and memorable political orator,
died today at the age of 59.
Today, Texas lost a pioneer.
I have this morning asked
that the state flags be lowered
to half-staff in memory of a great Texan.
Life is not always fair.
And the people who have the most
to contribute, why, I don't know why,
they are the ones we lose.
[Cicely] My dear Barbara Jordan,
if I were sitting on a porch across from God,
I would thank him for sending you to us.
[Ann] Well, Nancy, um, the truth is
I'd counted on Barbara preaching my funeral.
She always could make things sound a lot better
than they were.
[laughter]
[Bill Clinton] Last time I saw Barbara Jordan
was when Liz Carpenter talked me into coming
to the University of Texas to give a speech
on race relations on the day of the Million Man March.
I was nervous enough as it was.
[audience chuckles]
And I walked out into that vast arena.
And there were 17,000 people there.
But I could only see one, Barbara Jordan,
smiling at me.
And there I was about to give a speech to her
about race and the Constitution.
[audience laughs]
[applause]
It was the nearest experience
on this earth to the pastors giving a sermon
with God in the audience.
[laughter]
[Bill Clinton] When Barbara Jordan talked,
we listened.
She took to heart what her Grandpa Patton
told her when she was a little girl.
You just trot your own horse and don't get
into the same rut as everyone else.
[audience laughs]
Well, she sure trotted her own horse.
And she made her own path wide and deep.
[horse neighs]
[♪♪♪]
[DeAnn] Barbara's death and her wishes
for her death came up fairly often,
because she wanted everyone to understand
that she wanted to be buried
on the highest hill in the state cemetery
next to Stephen F. Austin, who's the Father of Texas.
So where's Barbara Jordan buried?
On top of the highest hill on the corner
of Stephen F. Austin.
And there's only one word on the backside
of that gravestone.
She wanted to be remembered as a teacher.
[birds chirping]
[Barbara] I'm a patriot.
And I don't feel that I need to apologize for that.
I'm not willing to abandon patriotism
to what is called, "the right wing".
It sounds so old fashioned for a representative to say,
I am going to protect the rights and secure
the liberties of the American people.
But that's what we're going to have to become.
Old fashioned watchdogs of the civil liberties
of American citizens.
[♪♪♪]
[Student 1] Growing up in Houston, Texas,
I feel like I've always known the name.
I found more about her once I joined
the Texas Southern University debate team.
[Student 2] Her voice, the way she speak,
her speeches are something you can get drawn into.
It's kind of like hearing the voice of God speaking.
"Earlier today, we heard the beginning
of the preamble to the Constitution
of the United States.
-We, the people." -"We, the people."
"We, the people."
[Student 4] "It's a very eloquent beginning.
But when that document was completed
on the 17th of September in 1787..."
"I was not included in that 'We, the people.'"
"I felt somehow for many years
that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton
had just left me out by mistake."
"But through the process of amendment,
interpretation, and court decision..."
"I have finally been included..."
"In, 'We, the people.'"
"Today, I am an inquisitor."
"Today, I'm an inquisitor."
-"Today..." -"Today..."
"I am an Inquisitor."
"Today, I am an Inquisitor."
[♪♪♪]
[Announcer] We thank you for joining us as we dedicate
the first building in the Texas Capitol Complex
to bear the name of a black woman,
Barbara Jordan.
[cheering, applauding]
♪ We rise above the sorrow ♪
♪ We find a way to shine in the dark ♪
♪ We're the heartbeat of tomorrow ♪
♪ No mistaken identity ♪
♪ We know who we are ♪
♪ Our voices echo like thunder ♪
♪ As we break the chains ♪
♪ You can't hurt us anymore ♪
♪ We've gotten used to the pain ♪
♪ And when we stand, we're unstoppable ♪
♪ When we stand, nothing's impossible ♪
♪ When we stand, strength in numbers amplified ♪
♪ Side by side, shoulder to shoulder ♪
♪ Hand in hand when we stand ♪
♪ The songs of freedom we're singing ♪
♪ Wooh ♪
♪ Words that will show us the way back home ♪
♪ And when it's us we believe in ♪
♪ We believe ♪
♪ No matter what they say, you will never walk alone ♪
♪ Our voices echo like thunder ♪
♪ As we break the chains ♪
♪ You can't hurt us anymore ♪
♪ We've gotten used to the pain ♪
♪ And when we stand, we're unstoppable ♪
♪ When we stand, nothing's impossible ♪
♪ When we stand, strength in numbers amplified ♪
♪ Side by side, shoulder to shoulder ♪
♪ Hand in hand when we ♪
♪ Stand up ♪
♪ There's no mountain we can't climb ♪
♪ Stand up ♪
♪ Long as we stand together, we'll be fine ♪
♪ Stand up ♪
♪ We can make the world a better place ♪
♪ Like nothing and nobody
♪ Nobody ♪
Coming between us ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ Stand up till they see us ♪
♪ When we stand ♪
♪ Oh, we're unstoppable ♪
♪ When we stand ♪
♪ Oh, we can do the impossible ♪
♪ When we stand, strength in numbers amplified ♪
♪ Side by side, shoulder to shoulder ♪
♪ Hand in hand
♪ When we stand ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
♪ When we, when we stand ♪
♪ When we, when we, when we, when we ♪
♪ When we, when we ♪
♪ When we stand ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
[♪♪♪]