Last Thursday in honor of Black History Month, Dick Gregory, comedian and Civil Rights activist, performed an impromptu-style comedic performance for approximately 250 people in the New University Union multipurpose room where he criticized American society and government and discussed his life.

The predominantly African-American audience greeted Gregory with a standing ovation. Gregory made a point of thanking “the invisible people who we never see,” who set up the event and clean up afterwards.

Born in 1932, Gregory grew up in St. Louis where he lived in poverty. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale for two years until he was drafted into the army; upon his return to the university he dropped out and moved to Chicago to pursue a career in comedy.

Although he struggled financially in his early career he was one of the first Blacks to perform stand up comedy in front of White audiences. In 1961, Hugh Hefner recruited him to perform for the Chicago Playboy Club. He gained celebrity status after he became the first Black performer who was interviewed on “The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar.”

The ASI Diversity Center and Special Events arranged and hosted this event as part of a Black History Month program. Jonathan Stoll, ASI Diversity Center Manager, said Gregory was invited because, “He is a legend that very few students are actually familiar with, being that he was a part of the Civil Rights movement and used his status as a celebrity to further the movement.”

“Bringing that knowledge and exposure to our students was very intriguing and the rare combination of being [an] activist and a comedian, both entertainer and educator, people could come to laugh but then walk away having learned something.”

His performance was a candid rant about a vast array of social justice issues and also about his personal life and family relationships. He often caused the audience to break into laughter and/or applause and at times he engaged individual audience members whom he poked fun at. Sometimes audience members expressed a lighthearted shock when he talked openly about sex.

However, he took matters seriously regarding his research into socioeconomic oppression and government cover-ups, and told the audience to “wake up” and to stop focusing on football games and Nike shoes.

He said that he doesn’t need to have his investigations validated by the mainstream press because, “information is power; if you got bad information you got bad power.”

Gregory asked an audience member to read the beginning of an article called “Lead and Manganese Pollution may lead to life of crime” by Alison Motluk from New Scientist, a non-peer reviewed science magazine. He argued that Black and Latino communities’ drinking water are purposefully polluted with toxic chemical agents that distort neurological brain patterns to promote violent criminal behavior.

Freshmen Janee West said “It’s true because they are discriminating against Black people and Hispanic people and they probably don’t want us here.”

Gregory’s books sold out in the Pioneer Bookstore and the event concluded with a book signing and meet-and-greet.