Collins begins by discussing the poverty program in place in Mississippi saying that the staff came from grass roots and was funded by the program itself. They carefully studied who should have what job to make it run as smoothly as possible. He then mentions the TCA which got rid of housing complexes that could have been refurbished and destroyed a vibrant community. They also closed down schools or focused less on the ones that were still in place. he says that the tca and neighborhood health center take the weight off of charity but are actually a way to keep people from solving important problems. He mentions his parents. His mother was a nurse and his father worked for the federal government in the department of agriculture. Collins was in college from 1962 to 66 and then worked a series of odd jobs because it was so hard to find full time jobs. Then he talks about the SELC which his mother was involved in because she knew Ella Baker who was very involved herself. He discusses the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). He was closest to members like Jim Foreman, Joyce Ladner, Stanley Weiss, and Joyce Brown. Collins was affiliated in it himself until it voted itself out of existence in December of 1969. Collins discusses the chapter he formed in New Orleans in 1968 which was comprised of mostly high school students or students who had dropped out of newly desegregated schools. He says he was the most educated one there and as a group they were involved in student activities and spearheaded the boycott of Fortier School in 1969. They organized a protest march from the various universities around New Orleans to downtown, protesting unfair draft practices. 5000-6000 people ended up showing up and they were only expecting a few hundred so it shocked everyone. There were kids from UNO, Dillard, and Xavier. His mother came from a large family and her father was a minister and Garveyite. His mother was very active as a child in church and his father was very close with A. L. Davis' parents. Collins says that churches were the bases for many demonstrations. A demonstration occurred when someone got arrested for a gun charge he was set up for. The local response was that it seemed crazy because they could not understand it. Collins described his political personality: he wanted to use the court as a platform to fight and that there was a lot going on like teachers unions. He said he had contacts on every campus. He says people made efforts to control them by offering them jobs or scholarships outside the city. People who were seen as threatening were Augustine, Lionel McIntyre, Lynn French, Xavier faculty members and nuns, Theresa Perry, UNO people, Dillard people, members of the Tulane Liberal club, Erica Monk, and Dr. Fury. They were a nameless organization and they would not cooperate with the FBI because they would just give the information to the police who would circulate it. In 1967 a woman was thrown down the stairs at the Sanger Theater and the NAACP filed a complaint to the FBI who gave the information to the police. At 3 am they showed up at her house with guns and arrested her, calming they were looking for a fugitive. Collins also says that there were around 2 or 300 people employed by the FBI between 63 and 72 as agents or part time intimidators.
