>> Cathy: "REWIND: LESSONS FROM FIFTY YEARS OF ACTIVISM" FROM T. WILLIAMS WITH DAVID LAWRENCE GRANT IS A MEMOIR FROM THE MINNESOTA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

THE BOOK REFLECTS ON WILLIAMS' UPBRINGING IN MISSISSIPPI AND HIS DECADES OF ACTIVISM IN MINNEAPOLIS.

AS THE TITLE SUGGESTS, THE RELEASE AIMS TO APPLY LESSONS LEARNED THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER TO MODERN DAY ACTIVISM.

JOINING US NOW, AUTHORS OF "REWIND" T. WILLIAMS AND DAVID LAWRENCE GRANT.

SO HONORED TO HAVE YOU BOTH HERE.

THANK YOU O VERY MUCH.

>> THANK YOU.

>> Cathy: WELL, Mr. WILLIAMS, YOU WERE AT HE FOREFRONT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HERE IN MINNESOTA.

CURIOUS, HOW STRONG WAS IT BACK IN THE DAY?

WAS THERE A CERTAIN BRAND OF MINNESOTA-TYPE ACTIVISM?

VERSUS OTHER STATES?

>> WELL, IT WAS, HAD ITS OWN STRENGTH, AND IT WAS SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WAS GOING ON ELSEWHERE, BUT IT WAS COGNIZANT OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING ELSEWHERE.

AND I THINK THAT WHAT IS REFLECTED IN THE BOOK IS WHAT WAS HAPPENING HERE IN THE MID-1960s THROUGH THE EARLY '70s AND MAYBE EVEN INTO THE '80s.

AND IT WAS HOW THIS COMMUNITY RESPONDED TO CRISES, CONFLICT IN THE STREET AND CONFLICT IN ITS INSTITUTIONS.

>> Cathy: WELL, GIVEN, I REMEMBER BACK, HAT YEAR WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN -- PLYMOUTH AVENUE, WHEN IT WENT UP IN FLAMES.

I MEAN THAT WAS KIND OF A -- THAT WAS A DIFFICULT MOMENT.

>> TWICE.

'66 AND '67.

>> Cathy: THANK YOU FOR THAT.

WHAT WAS THAT LIKE TO LIVE THROUGH THAT?

>> WELL, T. >> WELL, MY FAMILY AND I HAD BEEN IN MINNESOTA FOR JUST OVER A YEAR IN 1966, AND TWO YEARS IN '67, AND IT WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN HERE, AT LEAST THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED HERE DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN HERE.

I WAS NOT SURPRISED THAT IT HAPPENED HERE.

BUT WHAT WAS SURPRISING AND IN IS THAT THIS COMMUNITY REALLY RESPONDED DIFFERENTLY THAN WHAT WAS HAPPENING ACROSS HE COUNTRY.

IT WAS MORE ENGAGED AND IT WAS ACROSS THE COMMUNITY, AND THE DIVERSITY OF PARTICIPANTS IN THAT PROCESS.

>> Eric: WHAT DROVE YOU, DREW YOU TO THE PROJECT?

>> I'VE BEEN A HISTORY NERD MY WHOLE LIFE.

>> Eric: OKAY.

[ LAUGHTER ] >> AND MY PARENTS KNEW T QUITE WELL, ESPECIALLY MY ATHER.

I WAS ONE OF THE KIDS WHO WHEN THE OLD FOLKS HELD FORTH ABOUT WHAT THEY REMEMBERED FROM THE OLD DAYS, YOU KNOW, MOST OF MY PEERS WOULD SHAKE HANDS AND HANG OUT JUST LONG ENOUGH AND THEN SKEDADDLE UT OF THE ROOM.

I WAS THE KID WHO WANTED TO STICK AROUND AND HEAR THE STORIES.

WHEN T TOLD ME THAT HE HAD A BIG BOX FULL OF NOTES AND INTERVIEWS AND MANUSCRIPTS AND HE NEEDED TO MAKE SOME KIND OF SENSE OUT OF IT AND TURN IT INTO A BOOK I WAS THRILLED WHEN HE CAME TO ME AND SAID, HEY, WILL YOU HELP WITH THIS.

>> Eric: YOU WERE A DRIVING FORCE FOR THE URBAN COALITION.

IT STRUCK ME READING THE BOOK THAT YOU HAD THE SOUL PATROL AND RED PATROL, WERE THEY KIND OF THE ORIGINAL VIOLENCE INTERRUPTERS?

>> WELL, WHAT HAPPENED WHEN DR.N 1968, EVERYONE EXPECTED THINGS TO BLOW UP HERE BECAUSE THEY WERE BLOWING UP ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

AND THE URBAN COALITION HAD RECENTLY BEEN FORMED, AND PEOPLE WERE REALLY FRIGHTENED ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

AND THERE WAS A GROUP THAT WAS ALREADY ORGANIZED IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS AND IN SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS, AND WHEN THE NIGHT AFTER THE ASSASSINATION, THERE WAS A GATHERING OF URBAN COALITION IN DOWNTOWN MINNEAPOLIS AT THE CITIZENS AID BUILDING, TALKING ABOUT WHAT CAN BE DONE.

AND THAT WAS WHEN WE, THEY PROVIDED SUPPORT FOR WHAT WE CALL THE SOUL PATROL AND THE RED PATROL.

IN SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS, THE RED PATROL AND NATIVE AMERICANS, AND THE SOUL PATROL IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS AND SOUTH MINNEAPOLIS AROUND SABATHANI COMMUNITY CENTER.

AND WHAT HAPPENED WAS THAT THEY WERE, WHAT THEY NEEDED MOST WAS THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE.

WELL, WE DIDN'T HAVE CELL PHONES THEN.

WHAT WE HAD WERE WALKIE-TALKIES.

SO THEY WERE EQUIPPED WITH WALKIE-TALKIES AND PUT IN THE STREETS AND MANY OF THE PEOPLE WHO WERE PART OF THAT PROCESS KNEW WHO SOME OF THE PLAYERS, MANY OF THE PLAYERS OUT THERE, AND THEY COULD GO AND BECOME DISRUPTORS.

AND THEY WERE NOT TO TRY TO PLAY POLICE, WHAT THEY WERE WAS TO PROVIDE INFORMATION, STOP RUMORS, AND GET GOOD INFORMATION TO THE PEOPLE WHO COULD ACT ON IT.

>> Cathy: Mr. GRANT, DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE A KID WHEN YOU WOULD LISTEN TO THE ELDERS, WHAT DID YOU THINK?

LISTENING TO SOME OF THESE STORIES?

>> ONE OF THE THINGS THAT STUCK WITH ME WAS HOW RESILIENT OUR ANCESTORS WERE.

AND HOW FULL OF OPTIMISM THEIR STORIES WERE, EVEN THOUGH, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THE THINGS THAT THEY HAD TO LIVE WITH AND THINGS THAT HAD HAPPENED TO THEM WERE TOUGH.

AND DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE, THAT SPIRIT OF OPTIMISM THAT SHONE THROUGH ANYTHING WAS THE MOST POWERFUL THING AND IT WAS EMPOWERING FOR ME PERSONALLY, RIGHT?

I MEAN, I FELT LIKE THERE'S NOTHING THAT CAN BE THROWN AT ME THAT IS GOING TO COMPLETELY THROW ME BECAUSE I KNOW THEIR EXAMPLE, AND I BELIEVE IN THEM AND I BELIEVE IN THEIR -- AND THEY BELIEVE IN US, OUR GENERATION AS WE WERE COMING UP, SO.

I THINK THAT'S THE OVERRIDING THING.

>> Cathy: WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH YOUR FRIENDS?

CLEARLY YOU'RE FRIENDS.

>> YEAH.

IT WAS FABULOUS EXPERIENCE.

YOU KNOW, I THINK WE TRUSTED EACH OTHER TO FIND OUR WAY TO THE HEART OF WHAT NEEDED TO BE SAID.

AND BIT BY BIT WE GOT THERE, SO, YEAH, IT WAS A WONDERFUL PROCESS OF G GIVE AND TAKE THAT GOT US TO THE BOOK THAT I'M HOLDING IN MY LAP NOW.

>> Cathy: WELL DONE.

>> Eric: ANY SIGNINGS OR APPEARANCES THAT WE CAN PLUG?

>> WE ARE RECENTLY COMPLETED ONE.

THE NEXT APPEARANCE IS GOING TO BE AT GRAND MARAIS AT THE DRURY LANE BOOK STORE.

>> Cathy: THEY'RE GREAT.

>> YEAH, WE'LL BE GOING THERE.

WE WERE AT THE QUINN MAGERS BOOK STORE A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO AND WE STARTED AT THE BRUNCH LIBRARY IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS, SUMNER BRANCH.

>> Cathy: WE ARE GRACED BY YOUR PRESENCE AND THE FACT THAT THE BOOK, THE STORIES -- I'M GLAD YOU WROTE THEM DOWN.

>> Eric: INDISPENSABLE HISTORY, REALLY TREMENDOUS.

ALL THE BEST.

>> THANKS.

I THINK WHAT'S IMPORTANT A