DICK GREGORY: A MAN OF INTEGRITY© By Miro Lipinski
Comedian, social commentator, civil rights activist, humanitarian, natural health food advocate. Dick Gregory is all these things, and more. One deep thread running through his life has been integrity, the integrity that demands a person stand up for his beliefs despite whatever personal pain, suffering or inconvenience will result. Dick Gregory doesn’t back down from challenges or stating, with conviction, wisdom and a dose of humor, the truth about society, politics or the state of our health, individually or as a country.
Dick Gregory was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 12, 1932. (Yes, he is nearing eighty now.) A student at the Southern Illinois University of Carbondale with a track scholarship, he was drafted into the Army in 1954, which is where he began to perform comedy. After leaving the Army, he went back briefly to college, but the pull to make use of his comedic talent proved compelling, dictating a move to Chicago, where he began to perform in small clubs for chiefly black audiences. When he replaced “Professor” Irwin Corey at the famed Playboy Club in Chicago, his trajectory increased dramatically.
Gregory’s satirical comedy, coated with an ironic detached vibe, touched both the funny bone and the social consciousness of his audiences. A sample: “Segregation is not all bad. Have you ever heard of a collision where the people in the back of the bus got hurt?”…. Television appearances, such as on the popular Jack Parr Show, and then the recording of comedy albums, made Gregory a household name, at least in the hipper houses of America. In 1963 he published a controversial autobiography, Nigger, brazenly attacking in the title the derogatory appellation with pointed purpose. In his forward to his bestselling book, he explained to his mother: “Whenever you hear the word ‘Nigger’ you’ll know they’re advertising my book.’”
Aside from his pointed comedy, Gregory also participated in marches for civil rights, against the Vietnam War and world hunger. He ran for mayor of Chicago in 1966, and then in 1968 was the Freedom and Peace Party’s candidate for President of the United States. A confirmed pacifist, Gregory also realized the importance of natural health and respect for animal life, and became a vegetarian.
Dick Gregory’s concern for what foods and drinks we put into our bodies and how we damage our system with smoking and drugs is just as passionate and real as his concern for the injustices in society. In 1987, he developed a successful powdered diet mix, the Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet, that is still being used today. (Before his conversion to natural health and vegetarianism, Gregory was grossly overweight, smoked 4 packs of cigarettes a day, a drank a 5th of a Scotch daily. Afterward, he went down to a slim 135 pounds.)
In 2000, Gregory announced that he had lymphoma, but was able to become 100% cancer-free after a program of diet, vitamins, exercise, and, as his website states, “modern devices not even known to the public.”
These days, Gregory continues to be an advocate for healthy food and healthy bodies, aware that the medical community “makes money on the treatment, not the cure.” He addresses corporate America’s involvement in what passes for natural and organic food and bottled “pure” water, and speaks of the need to re-orient young people as to the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits.
The Mind Body Spirit Expo, taking place at the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison from April 13-15th, is honored to have Dick Gregory as a special guest speaker on Saturday, April 14th; starting time 1pm. Tickets available now online at www.mindbodyspiritexpo.com or by phone 215-627-0102. Tickets will also be available during expo hours.
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