I'm a young filmmaker, live on Long Island and I want to be a moviemaker and my mother buys me for, I think, $100.

Ah, bullocks, wind up camera 16 millimeter That's the shut.

Got it.

Winds up again.

Take another shot.

Little teeny rolls of film and I'm looking for a subject and a guy comes to me, he says, Hey, David, do you know about the ducks on Riverhead?

Long Island?

No, I never had a duck, actually.

Well, the ducks of Long Island, they're famous.

And in Riverhead there's a big farm, and on that farm are migrant workers who come to work for the ducks for the farmer.

And they live in duck houses, he said.

And he was an early civil rights advocate.

A kid my age and he said, Let's go out there one weekend.

The boss is not there and film these people, so I say Yes, not knowing that there's any real danger involved.

In fact, later, somebody got shot for going on to this guy's form.

So we go there and what I see is really sad.

I had never seen anything like this.

I came from the lower middle class Levittown, Long Island.

I had seen things on television, of migrant workers in the south of picky.

Ah, fruit.

But I've never seen these duck forms, which were just awful.

The ducks weren't there when I was there, but the people were living in the dark houses and they were so kind and open, willing to talk with me.

I think you're gonna find it's a very touching moment in American history and a pretty sad moment.

And I'm going to tell you what the end, Something very good that came because I spent that weekend and made got to move.

This is Long Island, where in 17 76 General Washington lost 1500 men and 30 guns, battling for liberty and on whose Eastern shore the Clipper ship Savannah was wrecked.

Walt Whitman was born here.

U boat once came ashore here.

Lucky Lindy took off here.

Long Island, almost a Great Gatsby, playground of the infamous Social Register mansion records gathering place for ghosts and mysteriously moving objects, and the promised land for hundreds of thousands of suburbanites to millions of restaurant goers all over the country.

Long Island is known for its two famous delicacies ducks and potatoes.

These industries and several others in Eastern Suffolk County provide work for a segment of our population.

Some of our neighbors, if you will, who are the subject of this film?

I don't like this down.

It's about Damn, they're novelties.

Build up now.

Better.

What made you come up north?

I heard a lot of big money making up so I could get some other house house somewhere with somebody right now.

Yeah.

How way?

By a bullet.

You have to live up to me.

That's what I keep a cool head on down.

Had somewhere to go out.

No, I know I wouldn't be here.

I'm not mean.

I'm using every night with a place like this.

You know?

I can't speak up for my foot myself.

I can't speak of my home.

I'm out of Virginia to what I said and I got now No on.

And And if I don't pay for being here, this man put down, then I'd be sent.

Now they'll make a claim on right.

But I didn't think you know what I got?

I got sick with polio.

Not old.

Nothing with me and my wife leave.

Good, because I got nothing.

No more border one Linus movements cigarette.

But you're not going to get this house.

You like that.

So she's left.

All right, so we went to the door, and we're not doing that.

You gotta ad in the paper year.

Well, you want to rent this house?

He's a Yeah, but I rented it That this was in January.

He say, Yeah, but I rented it.

D Someone I know why you're running there.

Just ain't took it out here.

But, you know, during the summer, you work around here for a dollar, maybe down.

You live on the farm.

They don't charge nothing for a living, owned a premises, end a house.

Now, after a big dude crop pee and of the season, is it?

But some Sometimes this season is bad, and you haven't saved yourself known.

But you know how much you can say about about about 50 bucks a week?

Got four or five kids and then going to get his clock in and in value.

Know what happened in here till you get out you got to go now.

Where you going?

The potato business.

No unemployment and nothing behind that packing house.

Nothing bad when you finish that you live in one house here.

No way you could be washing this face here when you get up out of bed to get a glass of water or something like that.

No privacy here.

This is nowhere.

Nowhere way.

Look.

Ducks here.

He even moved duck.

The place wasn't good enough for a duck.

Health Inspector Kras.

Manolo goes to the caffeine.

That's all, Inspector.

None of the houses read.

Don't you feel each road?

Go change your life, Megan.

They don't have money enough to go bomb a good final.

Whatthe they can't find a decent house to live.

So what?

Live into this.

And eventually he'll turn right.

Like it all went into.

I know where it is.

Not in a decent place where you can go take a look.

You know what I mean.

15.

Now, the wind was sitting on the toilet.

No.

How can I stay clean and doing nobody take a bath?

Oh, you're Then you have to use it.

Took, You know one of them.

Number two What are you gonna be around?

You get up in the morning.

You go to work, you come back.

You may walk right into nothing used to sleep it off.

If you go to work days, you worthy death That fool.

Somebody sleep down there.

House catches fire down there.

You don't move down.

And this in you you you bring up again.

You don't know playing with one goal.

11 over down the other week, just before the thing happened to me Three o'clock in the morning.

That's when break out over a 7 12 families live over there.

One way out of sales in the steps.

Burned down.

No, wait another two days.

Oh, you care?

And I seen the smoke and I ran back to the house, Lost.

She was screaming, and I felt love Mom about other daughter.

They work for it.

She said I told you to come up with a good come out and I called and called and called and she went out there.

I would have left when I broke that through on Paula Creamer and I couldn't see that waiting Ready to five minutes.

Come in.

Five minutes.

Come on, walk with from now because I think you did, you know, for so long.

But anything could happen wantto catch on.

I find little girl you're talking about but it was already very didn't like me table for what they want They want Vernon.

But once I got inside of the vehicle kiss one baby moved off a job, you know?

You know, it's funny way people like us Wait.

Two best people, but not everybody cause you see day and it is not.

But they just can't do it.

I guess more people here now that was real, I guess with you it's more crowded in the end.

And it was, But that's about all place.

And the people been looking the same and doing this 15 years, I guess people from the n a a.

C p and remain whales.

They used to call me, Take pictures.

They did this.

Like I said before, they talked on the talk.

When they're talking, that's been going on for years.

Nobody never done nothing.

Nobody needed 15 Start of a long dining Got nowhere yet My mom This movie was shot on the last weekend in May 1964 Less than a month later, two of the homes you just saw had being destroyed by fire.

A man, a community, a civilization either takes responsibility or it does not.

There is no middle course to have seen with one's own eyes the terrible price of indifference Be a global or local.

His lesson, you know, or is it?

Housewife can show just so much trash under the rug.

Eventually, the room will stink, the furniture would tilt and people unable to keep their balance will fall down.

Wait, wait!

Ah, it was a sad story.

It was horrible to see.

So I take a risk.

I send the documentary in 1964 to President Lyndon Baines Johnson Washington, D.

C.

The White House.

What a crazy idea.

Is anybody going to respond?

Somebody responds and says, We like your film.

We've shown it to the president.

We're going to show it to Congress.

Congress!

Holy moly!

David Hoffman is on his way, and the issue of the migrant workers is seriously being looked at.

And in fact, partially due to this movie, I don't really know how much legislation is passed to protect migrant workers so they don't live in these horrific conditions.

So the film was successful.

I was proud of the film and proud to make something happen for the migrant workers, and it kind of launched me on my career.

Thank you very much for watching this.

David Hoppe and filmmaker Please subscribe and Patriot if you so inclined.

If you could support me.

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