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Has anybody talked to you at all
about what we're doing?
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You just got dragged here? Yeah.
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Okay, we're gonna tell you a little bit.
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This is a documentary
we're doing for public television.
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It's called Black Is... Black Ain't.
6
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We've finally begun production
on this project.
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Two hundred and twenty five.
8
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- I thought the number would be higher...
- T-cell count slipped back down.
9
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- ...but I don't feel well.
- Weight down too.
10
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I'm worried, but keep this to myself.
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My weight and T-cell count are the same.
12
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What's happening to my body?
13
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AIDS forces you,
because of the likelihood
14
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that you could die at this moment —
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AIDS forces you to deal with that
16
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and to look around you and say,
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"Hey, I'm wasting my time
if I'm not devoting every moment
18
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to thinking about,
how can I communicate to Black people,
19
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so that we start to look at each other,
20
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we start to see each other?"
21
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Black is... Black ain't.
Black is... Black ain't.
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- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
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- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
24
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- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
25
00:01:39,434 --> 00:01:41,269
- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
26
00:01:41,369 --> 00:01:43,238
- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
27
00:01:43,338 --> 00:01:45,240
- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
28
00:01:45,340 --> 00:01:47,208
- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
29
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- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
30
00:01:49,244 --> 00:01:50,945
- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
31
00:01:51,045 --> 00:01:52,747
- Black is... Black ain't.
- Black is... Black ain't.
32
00:01:54,182 --> 00:01:56,151
♪ Well ♪
33
00:01:56,251 --> 00:01:59,120
- Oh! Come on, now. Come on!
- Hallelujah!
34
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Yes, now! Tell it!
35
00:02:02,423 --> 00:02:07,629
♪ I say, Black is ♪
36
00:02:07,729 --> 00:02:09,597
♪ And Black ain't ♪
37
00:02:09,664 --> 00:02:11,800
♪ Black is ♪
38
00:02:11,900 --> 00:02:14,002
♪ And Black ain't ♪
39
00:02:14,102 --> 00:02:16,671
♪ Black is blue ♪
40
00:02:16,771 --> 00:02:18,907
♪ Black is red ♪
41
00:02:19,007 --> 00:02:22,110
- ♪ And Black is tan ♪
- Black will get you!
42
00:02:22,210 --> 00:02:23,545
♪ And Black is light ♪
43
00:02:23,645 --> 00:02:26,915
♪ And Black will leave you alone ♪
44
00:02:27,015 --> 00:02:30,018
♪ Black can get you over ♪
45
00:02:30,118 --> 00:02:32,220
♪ Black can set you down ♪
46
00:02:32,987 --> 00:02:36,224
♪ Black can let you move forward ♪
47
00:02:36,324 --> 00:02:38,860
♪ And Black will make you stumble around ♪
48
00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,829
Black is so high!
49
00:02:41,863 --> 00:02:44,933
And Black is so low.
50
00:02:45,667 --> 00:02:48,069
Black can say yes!
51
00:02:48,736 --> 00:02:52,640
- And Black can say no.
- Black can be your best friend!
52
00:02:53,808 --> 00:02:57,045
- Be cozy as the night!
- Tell it!
53
00:02:57,145 --> 00:02:59,714
♪ Black can do you in ♪
54
00:02:59,814 --> 00:03:02,450
♪ Make you fuss and cuss and fight ♪
55
00:03:02,550 --> 00:03:05,119
- ♪ Black is Black ♪
- Preach now!
56
00:03:05,854 --> 00:03:08,389
- ♪ And Black is blue ♪
- Tell the truth!
57
00:03:08,489 --> 00:03:11,092
♪ Black is bright ♪
58
00:03:13,094 --> 00:03:15,063
♪ Black is you ♪
59
00:03:26,541 --> 00:03:30,211
To tell the truth,
there's nothing better in this world
60
00:03:30,311 --> 00:03:32,013
than my Big Mama's gumbo.
61
00:03:32,780 --> 00:03:36,217
I guess it's because it's got
a little bit of everything in it.
62
00:03:37,018 --> 00:03:39,320
Well, there goes the gumbo.
63
00:03:41,956 --> 00:03:46,327
Everything that you can imagine
can be put into gumbo —
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00:03:46,427 --> 00:03:48,529
shrimp, crayfish,
65
00:03:49,664 --> 00:03:51,833
sausage, alligator sausage,
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00:03:51,933 --> 00:03:53,668
pork sausage, crab.
67
00:03:53,768 --> 00:03:54,936
What does Black mean?
68
00:03:55,036 --> 00:03:59,974
It seems very difficult to define
in any absolute sense
69
00:04:00,074 --> 00:04:01,709
what it means to be Black.
70
00:04:01,809 --> 00:04:03,144
Seasoned just nicely.
71
00:04:03,244 --> 00:04:05,213
You don't want the broth
to overpower the roux.
72
00:04:05,313 --> 00:04:09,651
Cook it, and it just has a nice
sort of aromatic flavor with the spices.
73
00:04:09,751 --> 00:04:13,755
The most definitive identity
any Black person has is Blackness.
74
00:04:13,855 --> 00:04:16,491
If it gets too thick,
it's like you're tasting that,
75
00:04:16,591 --> 00:04:19,894
but you can't really get
to the ingredients that make the gumbo.
76
00:04:19,994 --> 00:04:21,829
There are as many kind
of Black people
77
00:04:21,930 --> 00:04:23,231
as there are Black people to be.
78
00:04:23,331 --> 00:04:25,633
There are so many variations on the theme.
79
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Cooks all night and all day.
Ooh, it's wonderful.
80
00:04:28,937 --> 00:04:32,240
And it's just inviting.
You walk in and it's like...
81
00:04:32,307 --> 00:04:33,574
Mmm!
82
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Come on here to the kitchen.
83
00:04:42,583 --> 00:04:45,219
When I was a boy,
the nation was in turmoil.
84
00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:46,421
Though, to be honest,
85
00:04:46,521 --> 00:04:50,124
much of what was going on
was at the periphery of my life.
86
00:04:50,224 --> 00:04:53,194
Still, I was aware enough of the changes
87
00:04:53,294 --> 00:04:55,930
to try to convince
one of my friends one day
88
00:04:56,030 --> 00:05:00,268
that it was time for him
to stop using the word "colored."
89
00:05:00,802 --> 00:05:05,807
"Edward Lee," I said,
"you ain't colored no mo'.
90
00:05:05,873 --> 00:05:07,375
You Black."
91
00:05:07,475 --> 00:05:09,978
"No, I ain't," he shot back.
92
00:05:10,078 --> 00:05:12,914
"Yes, you is," I said.
93
00:05:13,014 --> 00:05:16,718
"No, I ain't," he insisted.
94
00:05:16,818 --> 00:05:20,855
Now, to be real, Edward Lee was so dark
95
00:05:20,955 --> 00:05:24,392
he could have passed
as one of the original Africans.
96
00:05:24,492 --> 00:05:29,897
But back then it was an insult
to call somebody "African" or "Black,"
97
00:05:29,998 --> 00:05:32,033
so I knew why he was upset.
98
00:05:32,133 --> 00:05:35,436
Still, I wanted him to see the new light.
99
00:05:35,536 --> 00:05:38,506
"Edward Lee, you Black."
100
00:05:39,540 --> 00:05:43,644
"Colored — No one is colored anymo'.
101
00:05:43,745 --> 00:05:46,614
'Colored' is the white man's word.
102
00:05:47,415 --> 00:05:51,219
You Black and should be proud."
103
00:05:51,319 --> 00:05:53,955
"Take it back," he said.
104
00:05:54,055 --> 00:05:55,456
"No, I'm not."
105
00:05:56,591 --> 00:05:59,427
"Take it back," he repeated, tense.
106
00:06:00,361 --> 00:06:03,164
"For what? It's the truth!"
107
00:06:03,965 --> 00:06:05,900
"Take it back,
108
00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,803
or I'll beat yo' Black ass."
109
00:06:09,871 --> 00:06:11,139
"Uh-oh."
110
00:06:13,141 --> 00:06:14,809
Edward Lee was big.
111
00:06:15,777 --> 00:06:18,012
I started moving backwards.
112
00:06:18,112 --> 00:06:22,050
"Edward Lee, I don't know why you so mad.
113
00:06:22,150 --> 00:06:24,419
Ain't nothing to get mad about.
114
00:06:24,519 --> 00:06:27,755
Black is b-beautiful.
115
00:06:27,855 --> 00:06:31,959
You Black. I'm Black. My mama's Black."
116
00:06:33,161 --> 00:06:35,763
Now that stopped him.
117
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Anybody so willing to insult his own mama
must be serious.
118
00:06:41,569 --> 00:06:45,339
That day, I escaped Edward Lee's punches
119
00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,110
and held my own all at the same time.
120
00:06:49,210 --> 00:06:50,545
I was proud.
121
00:06:54,682 --> 00:06:58,486
I think Norman of Australia
leads with John Carlos.
122
00:06:58,586 --> 00:07:00,088
At the award ceremony
123
00:07:00,188 --> 00:07:03,124
came the symbolic protest
by Smith and Carlos,
124
00:07:03,224 --> 00:07:04,959
each wearing a black glove,
125
00:07:05,059 --> 00:07:08,329
holding fists aloft and bowing their heads
during the anthem.
126
00:07:08,429 --> 00:07:12,433
Later, they were dismissed from the team
and sent home by the US Olympic Committee.
127
00:07:12,533 --> 00:07:14,202
For the longest, of course,
128
00:07:14,302 --> 00:07:17,705
being Black wasn't always so beautiful.
129
00:07:19,941 --> 00:07:23,211
A 16th-century Oxford dictionary
130
00:07:23,311 --> 00:07:28,783
provides a clue to the word's meaning
before we redefined it.
131
00:07:29,417 --> 00:07:32,620
"Black: deeply stained with dirt.
132
00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,857
Soiled, dirty, foul."
133
00:07:35,957 --> 00:07:39,360
"Having dark
or deadly purposes, malignant."
134
00:07:39,460 --> 00:07:42,663
"Black:
pertaining to, or involving death.
135
00:07:42,763 --> 00:07:46,000
Deadly, baneful, disastrous, sinister."
136
00:07:46,100 --> 00:07:50,972
"Iniquitous, atrocious, horrible, wicked."
137
00:07:51,072 --> 00:07:52,473
- "Black."
- Black!
138
00:07:52,573 --> 00:07:54,408
"Indicating disgrace,
139
00:07:54,509 --> 00:07:58,346
censure, liability to punishment."
140
00:07:59,313 --> 00:08:01,616
And remember the children's rhymes?
141
00:08:02,250 --> 00:08:03,818
♪ Jump back, Jack ♪
142
00:08:03,918 --> 00:08:05,486
♪ Your hands too black ♪
143
00:08:05,586 --> 00:08:07,722
♪ Look like you been working
On a railroad track ♪
144
00:08:07,822 --> 00:08:09,524
♪ Clickety-clack
Clickety-clack, clickety-clack ♪
145
00:08:09,624 --> 00:08:11,659
♪ Jump back, Jack
Your hands too black ♪
146
00:08:11,759 --> 00:08:13,728
♪ Look like you working
On a railroad track ♪
147
00:08:13,828 --> 00:08:16,030
♪ Clickety-clack, clickety-clack
Clickety-clack ♪
148
00:08:16,130 --> 00:08:17,632
♪ If you're red, go ahead ♪
149
00:08:17,732 --> 00:08:19,200
♪ If you're brown, stick around ♪
150
00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:20,935
♪ If you're Black, get back ♪
151
00:08:21,035 --> 00:08:22,403
♪ If you're yellow, you're mellow ♪
152
00:08:22,503 --> 00:08:23,938
♪ If you're white, you're right ♪
153
00:08:24,038 --> 00:08:25,873
♪ If you're Black, get back ♪
154
00:08:25,973 --> 00:08:28,342
♪ If you're red, go ahead
If you're brown, stick around ♪
155
00:08:28,442 --> 00:08:30,144
♪ If you're Black, get back ♪
156
00:08:30,244 --> 00:08:31,679
♪ If you're yellow, you're mellow ♪
157
00:08:31,779 --> 00:08:33,247
♪ If you're white, you're right ♪
158
00:08:33,347 --> 00:08:34,782
♪ If you're Black, get back ♪
159
00:08:34,882 --> 00:08:36,751
People used all kinds of terms
160
00:08:36,851 --> 00:08:38,653
to avoid saying "Black."
161
00:08:38,753 --> 00:08:42,990
You could be dark brown, medium brown —
ridiculous things.
162
00:08:43,090 --> 00:08:45,993
But definitely there was not the concept
163
00:08:46,093 --> 00:08:48,429
of "Black is beautiful"
that later evolved.
164
00:08:48,529 --> 00:08:52,767
When I was growing up,
as was your experience,
165
00:08:52,867 --> 00:08:56,771
you didn't call anybody Black
unless you were ready to fight.
166
00:08:56,871 --> 00:09:00,608
And the very worst thing you could
call somebody was a Black African.
167
00:09:00,708 --> 00:09:04,145
Right?
"You Black African." Oh, yeah.
168
00:09:04,245 --> 00:09:07,181
That was a fighting piece.
"Don't call me Black. I don't like that."
169
00:09:07,281 --> 00:09:08,983
Why I didn't like it?
170
00:09:10,585 --> 00:09:12,153
Because...
171
00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,691
people in my community
of a different color
172
00:09:16,791 --> 00:09:19,160
made me feel so inferior.
173
00:09:19,260 --> 00:09:21,495
"Why your hair so kinky?"
174
00:09:22,129 --> 00:09:24,632
- "Why your lips so big?"
- ♪ If you're red, go ahead ♪
175
00:09:24,732 --> 00:09:27,034
- ♪ If you're brown, stick around ♪
- "Why your nose is so big?"
176
00:09:27,134 --> 00:09:29,503
♪ If you're Black, get back
If you're yellow, you're mellow ♪
177
00:09:29,604 --> 00:09:32,273
♪ If you're white, you're right
If you're Black, get back ♪
178
00:09:32,373 --> 00:09:36,277
♪ Black is beautiful
Free Huey ♪
179
00:09:36,377 --> 00:09:40,348
♪ Said I want him free
Free Huey ♪
180
00:09:40,448 --> 00:09:44,518
♪ Black is beautiful
Free Huey ♪
181
00:09:44,619 --> 00:09:48,789
In the '60s,
we began to say Black was beautiful.
182
00:09:48,889 --> 00:09:54,362
That was a slogan that indicated
a politics of struggle.
183
00:09:54,462 --> 00:09:56,764
♪ Said I want him free
Free Huey ♪
184
00:09:56,864 --> 00:10:00,668
But later on in life, I learned that
this nose was good and pretty.
185
00:10:01,335 --> 00:10:04,739
One guy came along,
name of Stokely Carmichael,
186
00:10:04,839 --> 00:10:06,741
said, "Black is beautiful."
187
00:10:07,541 --> 00:10:11,045
And then we realized
that Black is beautiful.
188
00:10:11,145 --> 00:10:15,449
This kinky hair could go
in all kinds of ways.
189
00:10:15,549 --> 00:10:18,819
This nice, brown chocolate skin,
190
00:10:18,919 --> 00:10:22,456
looks so nice, could be
all kinds of color, you know?
191
00:10:22,556 --> 00:10:26,460
And then we begin to realize that,
I am somebody.
192
00:10:28,129 --> 00:10:30,398
How does it feel
to be back in the hospital?
193
00:10:30,498 --> 00:10:33,534
I'm not happy to be back here, you know.
194
00:10:33,634 --> 00:10:36,137
It's hard. It's boring.
195
00:10:36,237 --> 00:10:39,674
It's like one week of it
and I'm just bored.
196
00:10:39,774 --> 00:10:44,545
It's like, how did I endure
six months of it last year,
197
00:10:44,645 --> 00:10:48,416
you know, from November to May or so?
198
00:10:48,516 --> 00:10:50,785
And already here, now, I wanna get out.
199
00:10:58,225 --> 00:11:03,230
When I was a boy,
every year we took a trip to Louisiana,
200
00:11:03,331 --> 00:11:06,000
where most of my cousins lived.
201
00:11:07,101 --> 00:11:11,339
It was a journey
I always looked forward to.
202
00:11:11,439 --> 00:11:15,076
My family ranged from every shade.
203
00:11:15,176 --> 00:11:16,811
Every shade you could imagine.
204
00:11:16,911 --> 00:11:21,415
Now, in Baton Rouge,
all of us were a little bit darker.
205
00:11:22,283 --> 00:11:25,986
But if you crossed the river
to New Orleans,
206
00:11:26,087 --> 00:11:28,522
all of the family was lighter.
207
00:11:28,622 --> 00:11:32,526
In fact, some of them so light,
they could pass as white.
208
00:11:32,626 --> 00:11:35,463
But I just — You know,
I didn't even think about it.
209
00:11:45,139 --> 00:11:49,210
♪ Yeah, I wanna go home
But I can't get back ♪
210
00:11:49,310 --> 00:11:50,544
♪ I wanna get back... ♪
211
00:11:50,644 --> 00:11:53,681
I grew up very confused. I really did.
212
00:11:53,781 --> 00:11:56,317
You know, I never really
talk about this much,
213
00:11:56,417 --> 00:11:57,651
but I did grow up confused
214
00:11:57,752 --> 00:12:01,455
because I didn't exactly know
where I actually fit in in the world.
215
00:12:01,555 --> 00:12:04,859
Because we were never taught
to consider ourselves to be Black.
216
00:12:06,794 --> 00:12:10,698
When we reach the mulatto group,
we begin to get two extreme types,
217
00:12:10,798 --> 00:12:15,069
which, for convenience,
we shall call dominants and recessives,
218
00:12:15,169 --> 00:12:18,639
and a third type,
which we shall call intermediate.
219
00:12:18,739 --> 00:12:21,609
Black is... Black ain't.
Black is... Black ain't.
220
00:12:21,709 --> 00:12:24,211
I could not use the word "Black"
to describe my father.
221
00:12:24,311 --> 00:12:26,013
If I ever called my father Black,
222
00:12:26,113 --> 00:12:29,116
you know, I would have got
a spanking or possibly worse,
223
00:12:29,216 --> 00:12:32,353
because he did not consider
himself to be Black.
224
00:12:32,453 --> 00:12:35,423
He did not want to be Black.
He was Creole.
225
00:12:36,957 --> 00:12:41,629
When I was growing up,
I heard people who were white
226
00:12:41,729 --> 00:12:43,531
call themselves Creole.
227
00:12:43,631 --> 00:12:46,967
I heard people who were Black
call themselves Creole.
228
00:12:47,067 --> 00:12:51,238
I heard these people speak
to each other every day in Creole,
229
00:12:51,338 --> 00:12:53,607
and the people
who called themselves Creole
230
00:12:53,707 --> 00:12:55,509
ranged the whole color gamut.
231
00:12:59,947 --> 00:13:02,349
How much?
232
00:13:04,385 --> 00:13:06,220
- You speak it also?
- Yeah.
233
00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:08,088
I speak
a little Italian and French.
234
00:13:08,189 --> 00:13:11,592
- Are you a Creole?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm supposed to be.
235
00:13:11,692 --> 00:13:13,661
You're supposed to be?
What does that mean?
236
00:13:13,761 --> 00:13:16,597
- Well, that's what my people told me.
- That's what they told you?
237
00:13:16,697 --> 00:13:17,998
- What does it mean?
- What?
238
00:13:18,098 --> 00:13:21,101
- What does that mean, "Creole"?
- That means a little French, and then...
239
00:13:22,136 --> 00:13:23,804
kind of mixed up, a little French.
240
00:13:23,904 --> 00:13:25,172
- Really?
- Mm-hmm.
241
00:13:25,272 --> 00:13:26,707
Does it have anything to do with being
242
00:13:26,807 --> 00:13:28,542
a light-skinned
or a dark-skinned Black person?
243
00:13:28,642 --> 00:13:32,379
Oh, no, no. They got people
darker than you that's Creole.
244
00:13:33,047 --> 00:13:36,917
And later, as I grew up
and started being able
245
00:13:37,017 --> 00:13:40,921
to move a little bit
beyond my neighborhood,
246
00:13:41,021 --> 00:13:43,591
I learned about some people
247
00:13:43,691 --> 00:13:47,862
who had concepts of Creole
as something other than cultural,
248
00:13:47,962 --> 00:13:52,366
who had concepts of Creole
as maybe being a racial
249
00:13:52,466 --> 00:13:55,669
or a biological heritage.
250
00:13:55,769 --> 00:13:57,905
♪ This fable of elements ♪
251
00:13:58,005 --> 00:14:01,609
♪ Which classify order
Species, subspecies ♪
252
00:14:01,709 --> 00:14:03,978
♪ Genus, phyla, animal, vegetable ♪
253
00:14:04,078 --> 00:14:06,213
♪ Illegal chemical, socialist ♪
254
00:14:06,313 --> 00:14:07,915
♪ Democrat, Republican ♪
255
00:14:08,015 --> 00:14:10,618
♪ Yuppie, buppy, guppy, proud racist ♪
256
00:14:10,718 --> 00:14:12,219
♪ Black, white, African ♪
257
00:14:12,319 --> 00:14:15,623
♪ Native American, Irish and German ♪
258
00:14:17,758 --> 00:14:20,127
My family used to have
picnics out in the country,
259
00:14:20,227 --> 00:14:23,464
and they would turn
dark-skinned Black people away.
260
00:14:25,466 --> 00:14:27,468
They would not let them come in.
261
00:14:27,568 --> 00:14:31,639
My grandfather had a first cousin
who was blind who lived in Baton Rouge,
262
00:14:31,739 --> 00:14:33,374
and they would seat him at the door.
263
00:14:33,474 --> 00:14:34,909
But he would take a comb,
264
00:14:35,009 --> 00:14:37,044
and if he couldn't pass
the comb through your hair,
265
00:14:37,144 --> 00:14:38,512
you couldn't come in.
266
00:14:40,648 --> 00:14:42,816
In this study,
six degrees of curvature,
267
00:14:42,917 --> 00:14:45,853
or types of hair form, are recognized:
268
00:14:45,953 --> 00:14:51,659
straight, low waves, deep waves,
curly, frizzly and woolly.
269
00:14:51,759 --> 00:14:54,461
My friends used to tease me and my hair.
270
00:14:54,562 --> 00:14:56,330
One of the things I do remember
271
00:14:56,430 --> 00:15:00,334
was going to a Brownie camp
or Girl Scout camp,
272
00:15:00,434 --> 00:15:04,071
um, outside of Birmingham,
and it started to rain.
273
00:15:04,171 --> 00:15:07,508
You know, all the girls who had probably
274
00:15:07,608 --> 00:15:10,644
just had their hair straightened
for camp, right,
275
00:15:11,579 --> 00:15:14,048
uh, started to run.
276
00:15:14,148 --> 00:15:17,451
And, um, I didn't run
277
00:15:17,551 --> 00:15:20,287
'cause my mother
wouldn't let me straighten my hair,
278
00:15:20,387 --> 00:15:21,789
as much as I wanted to.
279
00:15:21,889 --> 00:15:23,724
And I remember the girls teasing me —
280
00:15:23,824 --> 00:15:27,795
"Oh, you just think you got good hair.
You don't have to get out of the rain."
281
00:15:27,895 --> 00:15:30,831
The good hair was the hair
that didn't require the straightening,
282
00:15:30,931 --> 00:15:33,534
and the bad hair was the hair
that did require the straightening.
283
00:15:33,634 --> 00:15:37,271
I just didn't like setting my hair
and pampering myself like that,
284
00:15:37,371 --> 00:15:39,006
so I decided to go natural.
285
00:15:39,106 --> 00:15:43,777
Mama would say,
"What you gonna do with your hair?"
286
00:15:43,877 --> 00:15:46,280
Uh, I'd say,
"I'm gonna leave it like it is.
287
00:15:46,380 --> 00:15:48,382
This is my natural hair."
288
00:15:49,116 --> 00:15:52,753
One of my aunts said,
"You look like an African."
289
00:15:52,853 --> 00:15:57,224
So I start making gyrations,
you know, start dancing.
290
00:16:00,194 --> 00:16:02,096
When I came along, it was "Negro."
291
00:16:02,196 --> 00:16:04,598
Later on, it changed to "Black."
292
00:16:05,699 --> 00:16:07,901
Later on, it changed to "Afro-American."
293
00:16:08,002 --> 00:16:10,270
I don't know what we gonna change to next,
294
00:16:10,371 --> 00:16:12,306
but we've been changing so fast
295
00:16:12,406 --> 00:16:14,708
I don't think we know
what we are ourselves.
296
00:16:14,808 --> 00:16:18,412
I think we have such an obsession
with naming ourselves
297
00:16:18,512 --> 00:16:22,316
because during most of our history
we've been named by somebody else.
298
00:16:22,416 --> 00:16:26,453
I am Black, female,
299
00:16:26,553 --> 00:16:28,889
Catholic, colored,
300
00:16:28,989 --> 00:16:32,860
Negro, African, American.
301
00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,763
So it is all those things together.
302
00:16:35,863 --> 00:16:39,700
All of those words,
when we took them into our own culture,
303
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,370
became, I think,
affirmations of who we are,
304
00:16:43,470 --> 00:16:48,575
rather than ways by which
society at large put us down.
305
00:16:59,386 --> 00:17:01,355
AIDS is central to the catalyst
306
00:17:01,455 --> 00:17:06,727
that's pushing me to deal with identity
on the global perspective.
307
00:17:06,827 --> 00:17:11,732
The connection between
AIDS and Black folks
308
00:17:11,832 --> 00:17:15,069
and Black folks' identity is metaphoric.
309
00:17:15,169 --> 00:17:18,205
Both of them are
a struggle against the odds
310
00:17:18,305 --> 00:17:20,507
in the face of adversity,
311
00:17:20,607 --> 00:17:23,377
in the face of possible extinction.
312
00:17:23,477 --> 00:17:26,447
How do we keep ourselves
together as a people
313
00:17:26,547 --> 00:17:28,949
in the face of all our differences?
314
00:17:29,049 --> 00:17:33,554
How do we maintain a sense
of communal selfhood, if you will?
315
00:17:34,621 --> 00:17:37,991
Who's in the community and who's not?
316
00:17:38,092 --> 00:17:42,329
I mean, there has been a history
of excluding other Black folk
317
00:17:42,429 --> 00:17:46,300
from community in this country
318
00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:51,371
to the detriment, I think,
of our empowerment as an overall people.
319
00:17:51,538 --> 00:17:52,906
Okay, you may begin.
320
00:17:53,907 --> 00:17:57,611
♪ To be young, gifted and Black ♪
321
00:17:59,079 --> 00:18:05,652
♪ Oh, what a lovely, precious dream... ♪
322
00:18:05,753 --> 00:18:10,357
My picture's about when I am a doctor
323
00:18:10,457 --> 00:18:13,794
and I'm about to go to dinner
at the hospital,
324
00:18:13,894 --> 00:18:15,729
which they have in the lunchroom.
325
00:18:18,298 --> 00:18:21,068
The song provokes painful...
326
00:18:22,102 --> 00:18:25,105
Health, innocence,
327
00:18:25,205 --> 00:18:28,442
the feeling of possibilities.
328
00:18:28,542 --> 00:18:32,012
Weren't we all so eager and capable then,
329
00:18:32,112 --> 00:18:35,482
each one of us, to uplift the race?
330
00:18:35,549 --> 00:18:36,984
Jubilation.
331
00:18:37,084 --> 00:18:39,453
We want Black power.
332
00:18:39,553 --> 00:18:43,690
We want Black power. We want Black power.
333
00:18:43,791 --> 00:18:45,993
- We want Black power.
- Black power!
334
00:18:46,093 --> 00:18:47,561
Contradiction.
335
00:18:47,661 --> 00:18:50,430
All the time we were saying it loud
336
00:18:50,531 --> 00:18:53,033
and proclaiming
the beauty of our Blackness,
337
00:18:53,133 --> 00:18:58,605
a deep wedge of silence
divided me from my father.
338
00:18:59,373 --> 00:19:01,875
We didn't talk. Literally.
339
00:19:01,975 --> 00:19:06,747
Like so many other Black boys
and their fathers,
340
00:19:06,847 --> 00:19:11,251
we confronted each other
across a chasm of silence.
341
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:15,088
"If there were seven blind men
342
00:19:15,189 --> 00:19:16,824
"One of them unable to speak
343
00:19:16,924 --> 00:19:19,059
"Unable to hear, would be my father
344
00:19:19,159 --> 00:19:20,194
"My father
345
00:19:20,294 --> 00:19:22,429
"He would be the one
promising to deliver
346
00:19:22,529 --> 00:19:25,599
- "Promising to deliver
- "What never arrives
347
00:19:25,699 --> 00:19:29,603
"He would be the bridge, which on one side
I stand feeling doomed
348
00:19:29,703 --> 00:19:31,872
- "Unable to speak
- "To never forgive him
349
00:19:31,972 --> 00:19:34,341
- "Unable to hear
- "For the violence in our pasts
350
00:19:34,441 --> 00:19:35,475
"Forgive him
351
00:19:35,576 --> 00:19:39,680
"While on the other side,
he vigorously waves to me to cross over
352
00:19:39,780 --> 00:19:41,014
"Promising to deliver
353
00:19:41,114 --> 00:19:43,150
- "But he doesn't know
- "Forgive him
354
00:19:43,250 --> 00:19:45,352
"The bridge has fallen through
355
00:19:45,452 --> 00:19:49,289
"If there were seven blind men,
the one unable to hear
356
00:19:49,389 --> 00:19:51,992
- "He would be the one
- "Would be my father
357
00:19:52,092 --> 00:19:53,627
"The one unable to speak
358
00:19:53,727 --> 00:19:55,762
- "Feeling doomed
- His son."
359
00:20:00,167 --> 00:20:03,670
At that time, to be a Black man
360
00:20:03,770 --> 00:20:06,406
required this code of silence.
361
00:20:07,541 --> 00:20:09,509
You didn't express feelings.
362
00:20:09,610 --> 00:20:11,245
You weren't hurt.
363
00:20:12,045 --> 00:20:16,116
You couldn't acknowledge hurt and pain
and rage and anger.
364
00:20:16,216 --> 00:20:20,287
And what that engendered was silence.
365
00:20:20,387 --> 00:20:23,090
No one talked to each other,
366
00:20:23,190 --> 00:20:26,026
'cause that would have been
admitting vulnerability,
367
00:20:26,126 --> 00:20:30,364
and vulnerability was associated
with being feminine.
368
00:20:32,699 --> 00:20:37,838
Black masculinity, Black manhood.
369
00:20:38,639 --> 00:20:43,310
Isn't that ultimately
what it became all about?
370
00:20:43,410 --> 00:20:48,749
The redemption
of an emasculated male identity.
371
00:20:49,917 --> 00:20:53,053
When we translate the history
of Black oppression sexually,
372
00:20:53,153 --> 00:20:56,990
especially through the writings
of George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver,
373
00:20:57,090 --> 00:21:01,728
it's all sexualized
into emasculation and castration,
374
00:21:01,828 --> 00:21:07,100
so the reclamation of the Black race
gets translated into "it's a dick thing."
375
00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:08,435
That's why I'm fond of saying,
376
00:21:08,535 --> 00:21:11,038
"If the Black thing is really
a dick thing in disguise,
377
00:21:11,138 --> 00:21:12,639
we're in serious trouble."
378
00:21:12,739 --> 00:21:15,609
Because it is like a kind
of worship of the phallus.
379
00:21:15,709 --> 00:21:19,880
You can buy into the popular stereotypes
and run around holding your dick
380
00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:23,016
and thinking you gotta fuck
everything in sight
381
00:21:23,116 --> 00:21:25,052
to prove that you are a man,
382
00:21:25,152 --> 00:21:28,221
to prove that you have
that stamina and that virility
383
00:21:28,322 --> 00:21:29,756
and you're not to be fucked with.
384
00:21:29,856 --> 00:21:32,459
We are men. All men do it.
385
00:21:32,559 --> 00:21:36,129
We have to do it. We are men.
It is a man thing.
386
00:21:36,229 --> 00:21:40,100
Men must find and conquer
as much pussy as they can get.
387
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,369
Do not think for two seconds
that you're the only one...
388
00:21:42,469 --> 00:21:45,238
That's why, for example,
Eddie Murphy's Raw fascinated me.
389
00:21:45,339 --> 00:21:47,841
I mean, when he says in that film
390
00:21:47,941 --> 00:21:51,078
that a woman doesn't want
to hear that you love her,
391
00:21:51,178 --> 00:21:53,580
she wants to know
you will fuck her to death.
392
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:55,215
And he's doing that — You know.
393
00:21:55,315 --> 00:21:58,719
And in the audience when I saw that,
Black men were giving Black power salutes,
394
00:21:58,819 --> 00:22:02,289
and I was thinking,
"Damn, this is just so serious,
395
00:22:02,389 --> 00:22:04,491
this idea that, you know,
396
00:22:04,591 --> 00:22:09,629
we need to reclaim the space
of that erect, brutalizing phallus
397
00:22:09,730 --> 00:22:11,465
as our identity as a people."
398
00:22:11,565 --> 00:22:15,769
The dominant conception
of being a Black male today
399
00:22:15,869 --> 00:22:20,240
is still one in which
the body is highly sexualized,
400
00:22:20,340 --> 00:22:25,912
in which one identifies
with a certain kind of sexual prowess,
401
00:22:26,013 --> 00:22:28,815
in which one does, in fact,
402
00:22:28,915 --> 00:22:33,387
feel as if one is an object of fear,
403
00:22:33,487 --> 00:22:35,355
at times, disgust,
404
00:22:35,455 --> 00:22:37,958
not just from white America —
much of white America —
405
00:22:38,058 --> 00:22:40,627
but from Black America as well.
406
00:22:40,727 --> 00:22:44,097
And hence, I think it's very difficult,
407
00:22:44,731 --> 00:22:49,102
uh, you know, being a Black male,
getting in contact with one's humanity.
408
00:22:49,202 --> 00:22:51,471
It's very, very difficult.
409
00:22:52,472 --> 00:22:53,907
What about the heart?
410
00:22:54,007 --> 00:22:56,977
What about his mind?
What about his vision?
411
00:22:57,077 --> 00:23:02,249
Couldn't be sensitive,
couldn't cry, couldn't be afraid
412
00:23:02,349 --> 00:23:05,419
because of these notions I had
about what it meant to be a Black man.
413
00:23:05,519 --> 00:23:08,121
I didn't like
being pounded into the ground.
414
00:23:08,221 --> 00:23:11,725
That wasn't my idea of becoming a man.
415
00:23:11,825 --> 00:23:14,895
I know that for myself,
in growing up, a lot of times,
416
00:23:14,995 --> 00:23:19,032
it was just a survival technique
to be able to put on that toughness.
417
00:23:19,132 --> 00:23:20,834
♪ 'Cause it ain't nothing like suburbia ♪
418
00:23:20,934 --> 00:23:23,203
♪ 'Cause in my hood a young soldier
Might murder ya ♪
419
00:23:23,303 --> 00:23:25,839
♪ It's kinda sick when you're watching
Your partner get killed... ♪
420
00:23:25,939 --> 00:23:29,509
I'll play some basketball.
I'll play some football. Get some pussy.
421
00:23:29,609 --> 00:23:33,447
You know, I'll beat up a few people.
I'll run in a gang. Just be a boy.
422
00:23:33,547 --> 00:23:37,050
You know, that's — that's —
Be a boy on his way to being a man.
423
00:23:37,150 --> 00:23:41,054
I'm a young man,
but I ain't a man yet.
424
00:23:42,389 --> 00:23:44,825
'Cause there's still some stuff
I'm not responsible for.
425
00:23:44,925 --> 00:23:46,993
I don't take responsibility
for some of my actions,
426
00:23:47,094 --> 00:23:49,396
so I guess I ain't a man yet, you know.
427
00:23:49,496 --> 00:23:50,897
I'm a young man.
428
00:23:52,332 --> 00:23:53,967
That's how I see myself.
429
00:23:54,868 --> 00:23:56,436
What about you all?
430
00:23:56,536 --> 00:23:57,804
I'm a young man, too.
431
00:23:57,904 --> 00:24:00,240
What does manhood
mean to you, though?
432
00:24:00,907 --> 00:24:02,175
Well...
433
00:24:03,176 --> 00:24:04,478
I don't know.
434
00:24:07,547 --> 00:24:09,282
Black manhood.
435
00:24:09,382 --> 00:24:13,253
Black masculinity.
436
00:24:13,353 --> 00:24:15,822
Historical sore spots.
437
00:24:15,922 --> 00:24:19,759
For centuries,
American culture had regarded us
438
00:24:19,860 --> 00:24:22,829
as playful eunuchs,
439
00:24:22,929 --> 00:24:26,900
laughing, singing sambos,
440
00:24:27,701 --> 00:24:30,704
childlike in our disposition.
441
00:24:30,804 --> 00:24:33,473
While Black women were seen as strong
442
00:24:33,573 --> 00:24:36,810
and often, because of this, unwomanly,
443
00:24:36,910 --> 00:24:38,879
our men were considered weak.
444
00:24:38,979 --> 00:24:41,281
Is there any wonder then
445
00:24:41,381 --> 00:24:46,153
that when Black men
finally achieved public voice,
446
00:24:46,253 --> 00:24:49,156
the top priority was restoring
447
00:24:49,256 --> 00:24:54,127
what society
had repeatedly stolen from us?
448
00:24:54,227 --> 00:24:55,829
The Black man must rise.
449
00:24:55,929 --> 00:24:58,698
The time has come for the
Black man to take his place at the head.
450
00:24:58,798 --> 00:25:01,434
Off the pigs!
451
00:25:01,535 --> 00:25:03,336
The world's course would change
452
00:25:03,436 --> 00:25:07,407
the day that African heritage people
come together as brothers.
453
00:25:07,507 --> 00:25:10,477
The Black man in America
has no knowledge of his true identity...
454
00:25:10,577 --> 00:25:13,680
In World War II, 850,000 Black men fought
455
00:25:13,780 --> 00:25:16,082
and we were promised freedom
and we didn't get it.
456
00:25:16,183 --> 00:25:17,817
The Black man will define Black power.
457
00:25:17,918 --> 00:25:20,086
The Talented Tenth
shows the promise of Black men.
458
00:25:20,187 --> 00:25:23,723
The only thing that's gonna free Huey
is gunpowder.
459
00:25:23,823 --> 00:25:26,993
We came to this country
as Black men and as Africans.
460
00:25:27,093 --> 00:25:29,229
...to stand up and take his place.
461
00:25:29,329 --> 00:25:30,430
It's time, brother.
462
00:25:30,530 --> 00:25:34,834
With so many words about
the Black man, one had to wonder —
463
00:25:36,203 --> 00:25:38,405
- Where were all of our women?
- Free Huey!
464
00:25:38,505 --> 00:25:40,173
And what of their redemption?
465
00:25:40,273 --> 00:25:44,578
When we said "Black is beautiful"
in the late '60s,
466
00:25:44,678 --> 00:25:48,848
that meant "the Black man is beautiful."
467
00:25:48,949 --> 00:25:50,617
There is this tendency now
468
00:25:50,717 --> 00:25:56,289
to want to constantly rehabilitate
the Black man as patriarch...
469
00:25:57,290 --> 00:26:01,595
and I have problems with positing that
as the goal of the community.
470
00:26:01,695 --> 00:26:06,099
Yes, I struggle with and for my brother.
471
00:26:06,199 --> 00:26:08,935
I speak with and for my brother.
472
00:26:09,035 --> 00:26:13,006
But I think my brother
has an equal responsibility
473
00:26:13,106 --> 00:26:15,375
to speak with and for me.
474
00:26:15,475 --> 00:26:17,844
I entered graduate school
the same year I finished college.
475
00:26:17,944 --> 00:26:20,914
That was 1969.
One of those apocryphal years, you know?
476
00:26:21,014 --> 00:26:25,151
And I really thought that
I would never be politically active again,
477
00:26:25,252 --> 00:26:27,220
because nationalism was so deep.
478
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:31,825
If there was any time in my life
when I felt like a persona non grata,
479
00:26:31,925 --> 00:26:33,994
just like out in the stratosphere,
480
00:26:34,094 --> 00:26:36,663
was in those first years
of graduate school.
481
00:26:36,763 --> 00:26:38,732
I didn't think I was any less capable
482
00:26:38,832 --> 00:26:43,136
of making decisions
and doing positive work than anyone,
483
00:26:43,236 --> 00:26:44,571
regardless of gender.
484
00:26:44,671 --> 00:26:48,708
I didn't think that because I was female
that I was supposed to somehow get stupid.
485
00:26:52,946 --> 00:26:56,483
Twenty-five years ago,
there was someone in this organization
486
00:26:56,583 --> 00:27:02,289
who argued that the role of women
was to wear long African dresses...
487
00:27:04,224 --> 00:27:08,094
to organize cocktail parties
488
00:27:08,194 --> 00:27:13,033
and to convince rich men
to donate money to the organization.
489
00:27:13,133 --> 00:27:15,035
And this particular person
actually came in
490
00:27:15,135 --> 00:27:17,404
and dismantled
the whole structure that we had
491
00:27:17,504 --> 00:27:20,307
because he felt that the women
had too much power.
492
00:27:20,407 --> 00:27:22,442
Let me see if I've got
the consequences of this.
493
00:27:22,542 --> 00:27:24,344
In addition to all this, the Black —
494
00:27:24,444 --> 00:27:27,881
In addition to the myth
of the Black macho man,
495
00:27:27,981 --> 00:27:30,550
we also have the myth
of the super Black woman.
496
00:27:30,650 --> 00:27:34,287
You're strong, you can take anything.
Boy, look at her caring for those kids.
497
00:27:34,387 --> 00:27:37,490
And that's the way we got ripped off.
That was the way we got ripped off.
498
00:27:37,590 --> 00:27:41,995
Because we had always been strong
and we didn't suffer, we didn't have pain.
499
00:27:42,095 --> 00:27:44,264
- So the myth went.
- We didn't suffer the way that they did.
500
00:27:44,364 --> 00:27:47,434
Because we had all the jobs
and it was easy for us,
501
00:27:47,534 --> 00:27:50,503
and we were just laying up
with the slave master.
502
00:27:50,603 --> 00:27:53,673
I mean, all sorts of ridiculousness
was said and was believed
503
00:27:53,773 --> 00:27:58,044
by not just Black men,
but Black women and by America at large.
504
00:27:58,144 --> 00:27:59,512
I just think that Black feminists
505
00:27:59,612 --> 00:28:03,183
have not been good at critiquing
Black male sexism,
506
00:28:03,283 --> 00:28:08,588
um, because of the oppression
that we suffer as a people.
507
00:28:08,688 --> 00:28:12,425
I think it just becomes the job
no one wants to do.
508
00:28:12,525 --> 00:28:15,695
You know, everybody knows about it.
It's well known.
509
00:28:15,795 --> 00:28:19,666
It's well understood
by Black women and Black men,
510
00:28:19,766 --> 00:28:21,601
and yet, um...
511
00:28:22,936 --> 00:28:25,205
nobody is supposed
to speak about it publicly.
512
00:28:25,271 --> 00:28:27,140
I did so.
513
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:32,412
Um, and I think that that was, you know,
sort of the significant departure.
514
00:28:32,512 --> 00:28:36,182
- And you were punished.
- And I was punished for that, yes.
515
00:28:36,282 --> 00:28:37,851
Yes, I was punished.
516
00:28:39,719 --> 00:28:43,056
That's true.
Still being punished actually, I think.
517
00:28:43,156 --> 00:28:48,027
Black women can be
and have been resistant to Black feminism
518
00:28:48,128 --> 00:28:53,733
because they're concerned
about losing approval from Black men.
519
00:28:53,833 --> 00:28:55,568
This is not an unfounded fear
520
00:28:55,668 --> 00:28:59,873
because often, to speak out
about difficult issues
521
00:28:59,973 --> 00:29:02,675
is to be ostracized, is to be criticized.
522
00:29:02,776 --> 00:29:08,014
But I think that there
are some Black women, including myself,
523
00:29:08,114 --> 00:29:13,353
who feel that speaking truth to power
is far, far, far more valuable
524
00:29:13,453 --> 00:29:15,488
than bowing and taking it.
525
00:29:15,588 --> 00:29:20,627
There's a cure
for what ails us as a people,
526
00:29:20,727 --> 00:29:22,695
and that is for us to talk to each other.
527
00:29:23,530 --> 00:29:28,134
We've got to start talking about the ways
in which we hurt each other,
528
00:29:28,234 --> 00:29:32,572
and the ways in which we hurt each other
is also through silence.
529
00:29:32,672 --> 00:29:37,577
Because nobody can unload
the pain or the shame or the guilt
530
00:29:37,677 --> 00:29:39,212
by not speaking.
531
00:29:42,749 --> 00:29:44,818
"In my loneliest gestures
532
00:29:44,918 --> 00:29:49,522
"Learning to live with less is less
533
00:29:49,622 --> 00:29:53,026
"I never wanted to be your son
534
00:29:53,126 --> 00:29:55,562
"You never made the choice
535
00:29:55,662 --> 00:29:57,864
"To be my father
536
00:29:57,964 --> 00:30:01,534
"What we have learned from no textbook
537
00:30:01,634 --> 00:30:04,938
"How to live without one another
538
00:30:05,038 --> 00:30:07,740
"How to evade the stainless truth
539
00:30:07,841 --> 00:30:12,078
"How to store our waste
in tombs beneath the heart
540
00:30:12,178 --> 00:30:16,282
"Knowing at any moment it could leak out
541
00:30:17,150 --> 00:30:19,385
"Do we expect to survive?
542
00:30:19,486 --> 00:30:22,222
"What are we prepared for?
543
00:30:22,322 --> 00:30:23,823
"Trenched off
544
00:30:23,923 --> 00:30:25,859
"Communications down
545
00:30:25,959 --> 00:30:28,728
"Angry in alien tongues
546
00:30:29,462 --> 00:30:34,601
"We use extreme weapons
to ward off one another
547
00:30:34,701 --> 00:30:38,238
"Some nights our opposing reports
548
00:30:38,338 --> 00:30:41,341
"Are heard as we dream
549
00:30:42,041 --> 00:30:46,179
"Silence is our deadliest weapon
550
00:30:46,279 --> 00:30:48,314
"We both use it
551
00:30:48,381 --> 00:30:49,883
"Precisely
552
00:30:50,884 --> 00:30:52,085
Often."
553
00:31:09,669 --> 00:31:12,372
We have basically everything,
554
00:31:12,472 --> 00:31:14,707
you know, everything
all the other states have.
555
00:31:14,807 --> 00:31:17,377
But we have a little blues, you know.
We have more blues.
556
00:31:17,477 --> 00:31:21,347
Because Mississippi is the heart of blues.
557
00:31:21,447 --> 00:31:24,684
Greats such as B.B. King and Z.Z. Hill.
558
00:31:24,784 --> 00:31:26,986
All blues songs to me
have meaning to 'em.
559
00:31:27,086 --> 00:31:29,589
'Cause they're talking about
where they're coming from,
560
00:31:29,689 --> 00:31:31,457
and their nature and things like that.
561
00:31:31,558 --> 00:31:35,028
I feel that the blues
have a lot of meaning to 'em.
562
00:31:35,128 --> 00:31:37,497
Like, regular songs around, you know,
563
00:31:37,597 --> 00:31:40,066
you can't really find
the meaning in some songs.
564
00:31:40,166 --> 00:31:42,201
But in blues, they have a lot of meaning.
565
00:31:42,302 --> 00:31:44,170
- You listen to blues?
- No, sir.
566
00:31:44,270 --> 00:31:46,806
Why not?
567
00:31:46,906 --> 00:31:50,343
It's too moody. Blues is too moody for me.
568
00:31:50,443 --> 00:31:54,147
I like — I listen to R & B
and I listen to reggae
569
00:31:54,247 --> 00:31:56,382
and I listen to rap music.
570
00:31:56,482 --> 00:31:59,619
- Black music.
- What's it all about?
571
00:31:59,719 --> 00:32:01,421
What's it all about?
572
00:32:01,521 --> 00:32:07,927
These are the profiles
of Black musical composers
573
00:32:08,027 --> 00:32:12,198
who have maintained higher standards
574
00:32:12,298 --> 00:32:14,934
throughout the years.
575
00:32:15,034 --> 00:32:19,072
They have brought us from slavery.
576
00:32:19,172 --> 00:32:25,578
♪ Swing low, sweet chariot ♪
577
00:32:31,351 --> 00:32:36,556
♪ I woke up this morning
With my mind sta... ♪
578
00:32:36,656 --> 00:32:40,693
♪ My baby's gone
And don't know what to do ♪
579
00:32:45,064 --> 00:32:48,201
♪ Turn this mother out ♪
580
00:32:49,102 --> 00:32:51,104
♪ We gonna turn this mother... ♪
581
00:32:55,742 --> 00:32:57,744
What's the sign for "cut"?
582
00:32:57,844 --> 00:33:00,313
Use it.
583
00:33:06,352 --> 00:33:08,187
You know, what's Black music?
584
00:33:08,287 --> 00:33:10,556
The music of this world.
585
00:33:10,657 --> 00:33:13,092
And that music has been so influential.
586
00:33:13,192 --> 00:33:17,897
In fact, without it you can't even imagine
what music might be on this earth.
587
00:33:19,465 --> 00:33:22,335
It's been such a crucial part
of our heritage.
588
00:33:22,435 --> 00:33:24,971
I mean, beyond the entertainment value,
589
00:33:25,071 --> 00:33:28,041
it too is what binds us
together as a people,
590
00:33:28,141 --> 00:33:33,179
that creation and recreation,
from generation to generation.
591
00:33:37,817 --> 00:33:40,720
♪ Baby, baby, baby, I love you ♪
592
00:33:40,820 --> 00:33:45,825
♪ Ain't no doubt about it
Baby, I love you ♪
593
00:33:51,831 --> 00:33:53,866
♪ We can stop being washed away ♪
594
00:33:53,966 --> 00:33:55,802
♪ We can stop being washed away ♪
595
00:33:55,902 --> 00:33:58,004
♪ We can stop being washed away ♪
596
00:33:58,104 --> 00:33:59,872
♪ We can stop ♪
597
00:33:59,972 --> 00:34:01,808
♪ We can stop being washed away ♪
598
00:34:01,908 --> 00:34:03,876
♪ We can stop being washed away ♪
599
00:34:03,976 --> 00:34:06,279
♪ We can stop being washed away ♪
600
00:34:07,814 --> 00:34:09,682
♪ Sand grain by sand grain ♪
601
00:34:09,782 --> 00:34:11,417
♪ Pebble by pebble... ♪
602
00:34:11,517 --> 00:34:13,319
Understand, I hate history, period,
603
00:34:13,419 --> 00:34:16,789
because I don't like studying on things
that people did before, you know.
604
00:34:16,889 --> 00:34:19,225
It's all about what's going on now.
People gotta do now.
605
00:34:19,325 --> 00:34:23,029
They can't keep looking back
on stuff that happened a long time ago.
606
00:34:23,129 --> 00:34:27,033
You see, to me history is important
because you have to look back.
607
00:34:27,133 --> 00:34:29,402
History repeats itself, you know.
608
00:34:29,502 --> 00:34:30,970
Maybe you can look back on something
609
00:34:31,070 --> 00:34:35,074
that happened a long time ago
and it could help you out now.
610
00:34:35,174 --> 00:34:36,709
History repeats itself.
611
00:34:36,809 --> 00:34:38,745
All right, Whitney.
612
00:34:38,845 --> 00:34:43,082
It's all right to know who
Martin Luther King and Harriet Tubman —
613
00:34:43,182 --> 00:34:45,618
you know, know what they done
and all that.
614
00:34:45,718 --> 00:34:48,554
But, like he said,
history, ain't no need for that.
615
00:34:48,654 --> 00:34:50,389
You better look for the future.
616
00:34:50,490 --> 00:34:53,159
That's what you should be studying,
the future, you know,
617
00:34:53,259 --> 00:34:56,662
them computers and technology
and all that stuff.
618
00:34:56,763 --> 00:34:59,932
Chains tied on your ankles and stuff,
that ain't gonna help you.
619
00:35:00,032 --> 00:35:02,602
You better try to learn that
IBM computer or something.
620
00:35:02,702 --> 00:35:05,104
On the real, for real, you know.
621
00:35:05,204 --> 00:35:08,141
History is more
than chains on your ankle
622
00:35:08,241 --> 00:35:11,344
and knowing this Black leader
and knowing that Black leader.
623
00:35:11,444 --> 00:35:13,780
It's much more to history than that.
624
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,716
I mean, the thing with Black people is,
625
00:35:16,816 --> 00:35:19,552
if you wanna be Black, you don't want
to know your Black history?
626
00:35:19,652 --> 00:35:21,454
You wanna forget about your Black history?
627
00:35:21,554 --> 00:35:24,857
It's all right to know about
them people and what they done.
628
00:35:24,957 --> 00:35:28,394
But what Martin Luther King
gonna do for you now?
629
00:35:28,494 --> 00:35:30,596
What Harriet Tubman
gonna do for you right now?
630
00:35:30,696 --> 00:35:31,964
It's not only Harriet.
631
00:35:32,064 --> 00:35:35,601
She don't make history.
Malcolm don't make history.
632
00:35:35,701 --> 00:35:37,703
Is he gonna come fix you dinner?
633
00:35:37,804 --> 00:35:41,140
Is he gonna come buy your kids
some shoes next month?
634
00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:43,543
Is he gonna get you that job
on the interview tomorrow?
635
00:35:43,643 --> 00:35:46,679
No, that's not it. That's not it.
636
00:35:46,779 --> 00:35:49,048
I'm thankful for what they done,
637
00:35:49,148 --> 00:35:51,984
and for how Martin Luther King
fought all them struggles and all that.
638
00:35:52,084 --> 00:35:54,220
You're saying,
"Thank you, but to hell with you."
639
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,022
Yeah.
"Thank you, but no thank you."
640
00:35:56,122 --> 00:35:59,926
No, I'm saying —
I'm saying I'm thankful for it.
641
00:36:00,026 --> 00:36:01,661
But what is it gonna do for you now?
642
00:36:01,761 --> 00:36:04,030
What good it gon' do for you now?
643
00:36:07,333 --> 00:36:09,302
We seek after knowledge,
644
00:36:10,269 --> 00:36:13,172
and if knowledge is kept from you,
645
00:36:13,272 --> 00:36:16,075
then I would say
you're kind of dumb, you know.
646
00:36:16,175 --> 00:36:21,480
But that's why our white brothers
didn't tell us
647
00:36:21,581 --> 00:36:27,153
about all these heroes and heroines
that we have had in our race,
648
00:36:27,253 --> 00:36:29,121
because that is knowledge.
649
00:36:29,922 --> 00:36:32,191
And they don't want you
to become too knowledgeable.
650
00:36:32,291 --> 00:36:38,664
Africans were represented
as people from the dark continent
651
00:36:38,764 --> 00:36:44,103
and they were always represented
as superstitious, savage.
652
00:36:44,837 --> 00:36:47,506
Remember,
we have an identity crisis, brother.
653
00:36:47,607 --> 00:36:50,643
At one time, you call a brother
an African, he wanna get mad with you.
654
00:36:50,743 --> 00:36:53,145
You call a brother Black,
he wanna fight you.
655
00:36:53,246 --> 00:36:57,583
Now, we're coming to the focal point
that we're Black and we're African.
656
00:36:57,683 --> 00:36:59,952
And we're from African descent.
657
00:37:00,052 --> 00:37:01,888
We are Black people.
658
00:37:01,988 --> 00:37:07,994
And so now we're starting to adopt
the true identity of who we really are.
659
00:37:08,761 --> 00:37:13,799
When the Ethiopian
and Italian war of the '30s occurred,
660
00:37:13,900 --> 00:37:17,503
there were people who then developed
661
00:37:17,603 --> 00:37:20,806
a feeling of affinity to Africa.
662
00:37:20,907 --> 00:37:23,276
I imagine they knew all along
they were Africans,
663
00:37:23,376 --> 00:37:26,379
but that war kind of brought it out,
664
00:37:26,479 --> 00:37:30,383
because some Blacks actually went over
to help the Ethiopians.
665
00:37:30,483 --> 00:37:33,486
They identified with the Ethiopians.
666
00:37:33,586 --> 00:37:35,955
When I hear the word "Africa,"
667
00:37:36,055 --> 00:37:38,591
what it means to me is it brings me back
668
00:37:38,691 --> 00:37:41,427
and it makes my mind go back
to my ancestors.
669
00:37:41,527 --> 00:37:45,031
I have a vision of Africa
as a very nice place
670
00:37:45,131 --> 00:37:46,766
where I would like to go.
671
00:37:46,866 --> 00:37:50,436
I like that my ancestors
came from that place,
672
00:37:50,536 --> 00:37:53,239
and I don't like that my ancestors
were taken away from that place.
673
00:37:53,339 --> 00:37:55,841
When I hear about my ancestors,
it gives me strength
674
00:37:55,942 --> 00:37:59,578
to know that they did very good
and they survived —
675
00:37:59,679 --> 00:38:01,547
most of them survived slavery.
676
00:38:01,647 --> 00:38:04,450
So that gives me courage to go on.
677
00:38:04,550 --> 00:38:06,819
If you don't have a knowledge
of who your ancestors are,
678
00:38:06,919 --> 00:38:08,120
then of course you're lost.
679
00:38:10,456 --> 00:38:13,292
Who are your ancestors?
What is your true root?
680
00:38:14,093 --> 00:38:19,065
I'm His Royal Highness
Oba Oseijeman Adefunmi I —
681
00:38:19,165 --> 00:38:22,401
oba, or king, of Oyotunji...
682
00:38:23,436 --> 00:38:26,973
the only African Village in America,
or at least the first.
683
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:33,379
I am Her Royal Grace Iya Orite Olasowo
of the Oyotunji African Village,
684
00:38:33,479 --> 00:38:36,282
located in Beaufort County,
South Carolina.
685
00:38:36,382 --> 00:38:41,921
We realized that we could not really
develop African civilization and culture
686
00:38:42,021 --> 00:38:46,225
to its fullest degree in an American city,
687
00:38:46,325 --> 00:38:51,897
so it became necessary then
to leave the urban areas
688
00:38:51,998 --> 00:38:54,133
and found our own community.
689
00:38:56,168 --> 00:38:59,105
This village means, first of all,
690
00:38:59,205 --> 00:39:04,110
a reaffirmation of self,
my personal self identity.
691
00:39:04,210 --> 00:39:10,216
This village also means to me
a restoration and a preservation
692
00:39:10,316 --> 00:39:16,489
of some of the very, very ancient customs
and traditions of our ancestry.
693
00:39:16,589 --> 00:39:20,092
I would say to those Afro-Americans
694
00:39:20,192 --> 00:39:24,630
who have somewhat lost their identity —
695
00:39:24,730 --> 00:39:27,867
Because if they've changed
to another lifestyle,
696
00:39:27,967 --> 00:39:30,903
or they've patterned themselves
after another race
697
00:39:31,003 --> 00:39:34,740
and picked up the values
and the customs of another race,
698
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,810
then I would say to them
that they're not really living
699
00:39:37,910 --> 00:39:40,112
within the confines
of their true identity.
700
00:39:41,047 --> 00:39:42,248
I love kente cloth.
701
00:39:42,348 --> 00:39:46,118
I have kente cloth in my house
and I wear kente cloth,
702
00:39:46,218 --> 00:39:51,891
but I don't confuse that with my identity.
703
00:39:52,892 --> 00:39:54,994
Because I can wear
kente cloth if I want to,
704
00:39:55,094 --> 00:39:56,629
but I can also put on a pair of jeans
705
00:39:56,729 --> 00:40:00,366
and I feel just as Black as I did
when I had the kente cloth on.
706
00:40:00,466 --> 00:40:05,771
Putting on our kentes and whatever cloths
and importing from West Africa,
707
00:40:05,871 --> 00:40:07,273
all of that's really wonderful.
708
00:40:07,373 --> 00:40:09,141
I say all of that's really wonderful.
709
00:40:09,241 --> 00:40:11,944
Whatever makes, you know,
your spirit rise,
710
00:40:12,044 --> 00:40:15,247
I say, by all means,
nurture it in that way,
711
00:40:15,347 --> 00:40:18,384
if that's what it takes for you,
if that's the affirmation it takes.
712
00:40:18,484 --> 00:40:20,920
But that doesn't then
give you the privilege
713
00:40:21,020 --> 00:40:22,755
to beat someone else down
714
00:40:22,855 --> 00:40:24,690
just because they don't
wanna change their name
715
00:40:24,790 --> 00:40:28,027
or wear African cloths
or stay in the inner city.
716
00:40:28,127 --> 00:40:31,430
Black is... Black ain't.
Black is... Black ain't.
717
00:40:31,530 --> 00:40:34,867
An African proverb says,
"No matter how well a house is built
718
00:40:34,967 --> 00:40:38,170
and no matter how high it stands,
it must stand on something."
719
00:40:38,270 --> 00:40:40,072
And that something is our tradition.
720
00:40:40,172 --> 00:40:43,776
So that appreciation for tradition
721
00:40:43,876 --> 00:40:47,980
evolves into the modern conversation
called Afrocentricity,
722
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,683
which means centeredness in Africa.
723
00:40:50,783 --> 00:40:53,853
Most young brothers, all they know
is they come from slavery.
724
00:40:53,953 --> 00:40:58,891
But if they knew about
the antiquities of old,
725
00:40:58,991 --> 00:41:02,661
the Egyptian civilization,
how we ruled 10,000 years
726
00:41:02,761 --> 00:41:05,531
before the Greeks came in and conquered,
727
00:41:05,631 --> 00:41:08,767
if we was to know we were
descendants of kings and queens —
728
00:41:08,868 --> 00:41:11,303
We're not taught about Imhotep.
729
00:41:11,403 --> 00:41:14,974
Imhotep, who was
a chief physician, a grand vizier,
730
00:41:15,074 --> 00:41:19,211
a poet magician and a pyramid builder
for the king Djoser.
731
00:41:19,311 --> 00:41:21,280
So we got to study the in-depth,
732
00:41:21,380 --> 00:41:23,716
like my brother said, the antiquity.
733
00:41:23,816 --> 00:41:27,086
Learn about we have
great people of that stature.
734
00:41:27,186 --> 00:41:30,556
Then we will build a pride
and an enrichment of ourselves.
735
00:41:30,656 --> 00:41:34,293
Then we're like, "Hey, I am somebody,"
as Jesse Jackson would say.
736
00:41:34,393 --> 00:41:35,694
Then you know you're real.
737
00:41:35,794 --> 00:41:38,364
There is no decolonization process
738
00:41:38,464 --> 00:41:41,267
that doesn't require us
to reclaim our past.
739
00:41:41,367 --> 00:41:43,903
So there is, to me,
something very positive
740
00:41:44,003 --> 00:41:47,907
in having Black people
who used to despise the word "Africa"
741
00:41:48,007 --> 00:41:53,078
find a way to lay claim to
that diasporic connection and experience.
742
00:41:53,179 --> 00:41:55,781
When it comes into
the kind of fundamentalism
743
00:41:55,881 --> 00:41:58,617
that wants to make that Africa superior —
744
00:41:58,717 --> 00:42:00,319
You know, these Black folks who tell me,
745
00:42:00,419 --> 00:42:02,621
"We don't have to deal with sexism,
746
00:42:02,721 --> 00:42:05,824
because don't you think
that in ancient — in Africa
747
00:42:05,925 --> 00:42:08,360
we were kings and queens, we were equal?"
748
00:42:08,460 --> 00:42:10,863
I mean, that is some bullshit.
Like, let's get real.
749
00:42:10,963 --> 00:42:16,168
One of the things that we do here
is to mythologize our African past,
750
00:42:16,268 --> 00:42:18,871
since it was snatched away from us,
751
00:42:18,971 --> 00:42:23,175
and make assertions about that past
that are not necessarily true.
752
00:42:23,275 --> 00:42:27,046
We don't know for a fact
that there was not
753
00:42:27,146 --> 00:42:32,418
lesbian and gay, uh, existence in Africa.
754
00:42:32,518 --> 00:42:36,355
In fact, anthropological
research indicates
755
00:42:36,455 --> 00:42:38,924
that indeed there was.
756
00:42:39,024 --> 00:42:41,727
So, like, to be condemned
on the basis of myths,
757
00:42:41,827 --> 00:42:44,063
that's really very difficult for me.
758
00:42:46,031 --> 00:42:47,700
Six months ago,
759
00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:52,571
I weighed 140 pounds, 145.
760
00:42:52,671 --> 00:42:55,474
I weighed 110
when I went into the hospital.
761
00:42:55,574 --> 00:42:58,010
My T-Cell count,
762
00:42:58,110 --> 00:43:03,949
I know it was around 125, 135,
763
00:43:04,049 --> 00:43:07,553
which is low, but still,
it was enough to make me feel
764
00:43:07,653 --> 00:43:11,056
I had a little meat to my cells.
765
00:43:11,156 --> 00:43:14,093
Uh, I've dropped to ten T-cells.
766
00:43:14,193 --> 00:43:17,496
And then I just stopped counting
because it became irrelevant.
767
00:43:17,596 --> 00:43:20,099
More important was, how do I feel?
768
00:43:28,440 --> 00:43:30,643
♪ U-N-I-T-Y... ♪
769
00:43:30,743 --> 00:43:34,480
My father used to come home
from work humming a tune.
770
00:43:34,580 --> 00:43:37,483
And, I mean, that tune
was like a terroristic threat.
771
00:43:37,583 --> 00:43:39,051
♪ Who you callin' a bitch ♪
772
00:43:39,151 --> 00:43:43,555
In every society, the male and the female
had a specific, designated role.
773
00:43:43,656 --> 00:43:46,058
All of us have our roles to play.
774
00:43:46,158 --> 00:43:48,560
When we heard
that tune hitting those steps,
775
00:43:48,661 --> 00:43:51,230
we knew that we had
to get ourselves in order, right?
776
00:43:51,330 --> 00:43:55,901
And always, you will find that the males
were put in a more authoritative position.
777
00:43:56,001 --> 00:43:58,737
My dad didn't have to speak, honey.
He had to hum his tune.
778
00:43:58,837 --> 00:44:01,807
This is the way the gods
had ordered things.
779
00:44:01,907 --> 00:44:06,512
He didn't have to come in and say,
"Do this, do that. I'm the ruler here."
780
00:44:06,612 --> 00:44:07,880
It was all taking place.
781
00:44:08,247 --> 00:44:12,217
The Bible teaches us
that the head of Christ is God,
782
00:44:12,318 --> 00:44:15,788
and the head of man is Christ,
783
00:44:15,888 --> 00:44:17,756
and the head of woman is man.
784
00:44:17,856 --> 00:44:19,358
Now, who am I to change that?
785
00:44:19,458 --> 00:44:22,461
Once, you know,
I think that my father heard
786
00:44:22,561 --> 00:44:25,097
that my mother was having
an affair with somebody,
787
00:44:25,197 --> 00:44:28,934
and he came home from work
and he got his gun.
788
00:44:29,034 --> 00:44:30,369
There is no way.
789
00:44:30,469 --> 00:44:35,240
I say there's just no way that the woman
can be first partaker of the fruit.
790
00:44:35,341 --> 00:44:39,178
And I remember my father
screaming, "I will kill you!"
791
00:44:39,278 --> 00:44:44,249
That very night he said, you know,
"This is my house. I will not have this!"
792
00:44:44,350 --> 00:44:46,585
And she had to pack her bags.
793
00:44:46,685 --> 00:44:49,321
You're bringing a hawk
into the chicken yard...
794
00:44:51,190 --> 00:44:54,259
...and wondering why
the chicken got eaten up.
795
00:44:54,360 --> 00:44:57,329
It's like when you're a kid
and you think your parents are equal.
796
00:44:57,429 --> 00:45:00,466
But when I saw my mother
weeping and packing her bags
797
00:45:00,566 --> 00:45:03,202
and throwing her shit into suitcases
and I thought,
798
00:45:03,302 --> 00:45:05,337
"He has the power to do this."
799
00:45:05,437 --> 00:45:08,674
You bring Mike to a beauty contest,
800
00:45:08,774 --> 00:45:12,778
and all these fine foxes
just parading in front of Mike.
801
00:45:16,782 --> 00:45:19,284
And Mike's eyes begin to dance
like a hungry man
802
00:45:19,385 --> 00:45:21,854
looking at a Wendy's beef burger
or something.
803
00:45:21,954 --> 00:45:26,058
When my uncles came to get her,
the other patriarchs came to get her,
804
00:45:26,158 --> 00:45:28,527
I expected there would be some discussion,
805
00:45:28,627 --> 00:45:31,663
that they would try to convince my father
that you can't do this,
806
00:45:31,764 --> 00:45:35,901
you can't throw her out
of what is her house as well.
807
00:45:36,001 --> 00:45:38,437
But it was like one patriarch has spoken
808
00:45:38,537 --> 00:45:40,739
and the other patriarchs
had nodded their head.
809
00:45:40,839 --> 00:45:43,442
If the woman has done wrong,
you gotta punish her.
810
00:45:44,576 --> 00:45:46,512
She said, "No, Mike, no."
811
00:45:47,513 --> 00:45:50,182
I mean how many times, sisters,
have you said no
812
00:45:50,282 --> 00:45:52,551
and you mean yes all the time?
813
00:45:52,651 --> 00:45:54,453
Wait, wait, wait.
I'm talking to women now.
814
00:45:54,553 --> 00:45:56,555
- We going to talk now.
- Yeah!
815
00:45:56,655 --> 00:45:59,324
- You see, the day of the BS is all over.
- Yes, sir!
816
00:45:59,425 --> 00:46:02,828
You're not dealing with a man
that don't know you...
817
00:46:06,098 --> 00:46:10,269
...and the damned deceitful
games that you play.
818
00:46:10,369 --> 00:46:14,339
This man is saying
he's gonna kill our mama,
819
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:16,341
who takes care of us every day,
820
00:46:16,442 --> 00:46:19,478
and we're just gonna go up
and go to bed and go to sleep?
821
00:46:19,578 --> 00:46:23,515
And I never forgave
my sisters and brothers for a long time
822
00:46:23,615 --> 00:46:27,519
for the fact that they actually went up
and went to bed and went to sleep.
823
00:46:27,619 --> 00:46:30,522
Where I was like,
"No, I can't go upstairs and go to sleep.
824
00:46:30,622 --> 00:46:32,291
I've got to witness this."
825
00:46:32,391 --> 00:46:35,794
Witness this. Witness this.
826
00:46:35,894 --> 00:46:38,564
Witness this. Witness this.
827
00:46:39,765 --> 00:46:41,633
It's not so much for me
828
00:46:41,733 --> 00:46:45,370
manhood that we're trying to reach,
that we're emulating.
829
00:46:45,471 --> 00:46:49,174
It's, rather, human and all
the complexities of being human,
830
00:46:49,274 --> 00:46:51,643
which includes being feminine.
831
00:46:51,743 --> 00:46:55,280
That when men can be
feminine as well as manly,
832
00:46:55,380 --> 00:46:57,382
whatever those terms mean to you,
833
00:46:57,483 --> 00:47:00,118
but when you can be both comfortably,
834
00:47:00,219 --> 00:47:02,454
then you've achieved what it is —
I think it is —
835
00:47:02,554 --> 00:47:05,390
to be a man, which is to be human.
836
00:47:10,028 --> 00:47:13,065
When you think of yourself,
is there a woman within you?
837
00:47:13,165 --> 00:47:15,701
Oh, yeah, yeah. Many. Many.
838
00:47:15,801 --> 00:47:17,336
Describe the women within.
839
00:47:17,436 --> 00:47:20,105
Mmm. They're Black.
840
00:47:20,172 --> 00:47:22,007
She is Black.
841
00:47:22,107 --> 00:47:25,477
She is, uh — She's got stature.
842
00:47:25,577 --> 00:47:29,281
She swaggers and sways when she walks.
843
00:47:30,349 --> 00:47:35,454
She is strong,
great sense of humor, spiritual.
844
00:47:35,554 --> 00:47:37,623
She sings beautifully.
845
00:47:37,723 --> 00:47:41,193
She loves the man in me, who is Black...
846
00:47:42,294 --> 00:47:45,531
sensitive, strapping.
847
00:47:45,631 --> 00:47:49,167
He's a good parent, good brother.
848
00:47:49,268 --> 00:47:52,104
He dances, he leaps.
849
00:47:52,204 --> 00:47:55,707
He's wild when he moves, when he leaps.
850
00:47:55,807 --> 00:48:00,145
He and she walk together,
and they run together,
851
00:48:00,245 --> 00:48:02,347
like two animals running.
852
00:48:03,048 --> 00:48:04,783
And they roll around together.
853
00:48:07,185 --> 00:48:09,555
And they become one. And that's Bill.
854
00:48:17,863 --> 00:48:21,767
When you see the scenes of me
naked, running through the woods,
855
00:48:21,867 --> 00:48:24,736
which I will hope you will use
an abundance of,
856
00:48:24,836 --> 00:48:27,606
those things had a powerful image for me
857
00:48:27,706 --> 00:48:31,944
in terms of searching
through clutter in my life,
858
00:48:32,044 --> 00:48:35,647
searching through the clutter
of the project,
859
00:48:35,747 --> 00:48:39,952
searching through
the attempts by society at large
860
00:48:40,052 --> 00:48:44,389
to cover you and to confine you
into some space
861
00:48:44,489 --> 00:48:48,727
in which you're not seen
for the naked truth of who you are.
862
00:48:48,827 --> 00:48:52,030
Those scenes are critical
in their metaphoric importance.
863
00:48:52,130 --> 00:48:54,967
Well, I mean it's easy
for me to make the parallels
864
00:48:55,067 --> 00:48:58,470
of being confined and lost in the woods
865
00:48:58,570 --> 00:49:03,575
and a community confined
by its own limited notions of identity.
866
00:49:05,711 --> 00:49:07,346
- You see?
- Mm-hmm.
867
00:49:08,847 --> 00:49:11,617
- That's not a great leap for me.
- Mm-hmm.
868
00:49:12,584 --> 00:49:16,188
And I can say that
or write it actually as text,
869
00:49:16,288 --> 00:49:20,425
'cause I don't know if I want
to record more narration.
870
00:49:21,393 --> 00:49:24,496
Well, we've been recording this.
871
00:49:24,596 --> 00:49:27,332
- Mm-hmm.
- We can, you know — We can work with it.
872
00:49:28,467 --> 00:49:31,637
Just the woods, the rivers,
873
00:49:31,737 --> 00:49:33,772
you know, the steamboats, all of that.
874
00:49:33,872 --> 00:49:36,541
My own living memory.
875
00:49:37,309 --> 00:49:41,346
The moss trees and old shacks and...
876
00:49:41,446 --> 00:49:44,349
Black is... Black ain't.
Black is... Black ain't.
877
00:49:44,449 --> 00:49:45,617
Black is... Black ain't...
878
00:49:45,717 --> 00:49:48,654
Many people would say that I am not
a member of the Black community.
879
00:49:48,754 --> 00:49:51,657
In fact, many of the people
who are viewing this would say,
880
00:49:51,757 --> 00:49:54,726
"She says she's a lesbian?
Oh, no, that doesn't cut it."
881
00:49:54,826 --> 00:49:57,262
But the thing is, I know
I'm a part of the Black community
882
00:49:57,362 --> 00:50:00,666
in every single way that is important.
883
00:50:00,766 --> 00:50:02,334
It's obvious,
884
00:50:02,434 --> 00:50:04,403
because of our sexuality,
885
00:50:04,503 --> 00:50:06,538
we've been treated as outcasts.
886
00:50:06,638 --> 00:50:10,075
To be gay or to be lesbian
is not to be Black.
887
00:50:10,175 --> 00:50:12,010
To be Black is to be heterosexual.
888
00:50:12,110 --> 00:50:16,581
This idea that somehow my Blackness
889
00:50:16,682 --> 00:50:22,354
is diminished because I love a man
890
00:50:22,454 --> 00:50:26,958
is purely out of that sense
that Black men have been chatteled,
891
00:50:27,059 --> 00:50:30,762
Black men have been lynched,
Black men have been shot,
892
00:50:30,862 --> 00:50:33,832
beaten, brutalized by the police,
the government,
893
00:50:33,932 --> 00:50:35,801
every which way, et cetera.
894
00:50:35,901 --> 00:50:38,904
So that some people
view Black homosexuality
895
00:50:39,004 --> 00:50:42,674
as the final break in masculinity
896
00:50:42,774 --> 00:50:47,979
and don't see the love,
don't see the empowerment,
897
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:51,016
don't see the caring, the sharing,
don't see the contributions.
898
00:50:54,219 --> 00:50:59,891
A gay man organized
the 1963 March on Washington —
899
00:50:59,991 --> 00:51:01,660
Bayard Rustin.
900
00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:03,995
Could he come out at that time?
901
00:51:04,796 --> 00:51:06,131
No.
902
00:51:06,231 --> 00:51:11,403
What happened to him
after that singular event?
903
00:51:12,871 --> 00:51:15,407
He was drummed out of
the civil rights movement
904
00:51:15,507 --> 00:51:21,213
by Black preachers who didn't want
to be associated with anybody homosexual.
905
00:51:22,614 --> 00:51:28,353
And yet, what brought them to that march
wouldn't have happened without him.
906
00:51:29,254 --> 00:51:34,726
♪ We shall overcome ♪
907
00:51:34,826 --> 00:51:36,461
♪ We shall overcome someday... ♪
908
00:51:36,561 --> 00:51:40,799
Jason. Dear Jason.
909
00:51:40,899 --> 00:51:43,101
Because some of them
that looking like girls, they ain't girls.
910
00:51:43,201 --> 00:51:47,105
I mean, they got some drag queens
in Harlem that are together.
911
00:51:47,205 --> 00:51:49,641
I mean, they coming out
and they got fur coats
912
00:51:49,741 --> 00:51:52,577
and collars and wigs for days.
913
00:51:52,677 --> 00:51:54,913
And I mean, they don't slouch
down the avenue
914
00:51:55,013 --> 00:51:57,182
like no East Side maid.
915
00:51:57,282 --> 00:51:59,151
These broads tip, you know what I mean?
916
00:51:59,251 --> 00:52:06,224
Dear Jason,
when the people sang the freedom songs...
917
00:52:06,324 --> 00:52:08,960
Mama said, "You know,
that's Mama's children up there.
918
00:52:09,060 --> 00:52:11,496
You all a little funny,
but you can't help it.
919
00:52:11,596 --> 00:52:14,332
You know, somebody got
to give you a break."
920
00:52:14,432 --> 00:52:16,701
It escapes you for a while.
921
00:52:16,802 --> 00:52:19,938
When the people
sang the freedom songs,
922
00:52:20,038 --> 00:52:24,776
do you think they also sang them for you?
923
00:52:24,876 --> 00:52:30,348
Yeah, it gets next to you
that you're living some bullshit
924
00:52:30,448 --> 00:52:34,653
that really shouldn't exist,
925
00:52:34,753 --> 00:52:39,724
but you're saying,
"I guess this is my life, you know,
926
00:52:39,825 --> 00:52:43,495
and I am going to swing with it."
927
00:52:43,595 --> 00:52:46,131
How long, Jason?
928
00:52:46,231 --> 00:52:49,067
How long have they sung about the freedom
929
00:52:49,167 --> 00:52:54,272
and the righteousness
and the beauty of the Black man,
930
00:52:54,372 --> 00:52:56,641
and ignored you?
931
00:52:58,376 --> 00:53:00,245
How long?
932
00:53:06,051 --> 00:53:09,221
Oh, dear fathers, tell me what to do.
933
00:53:10,755 --> 00:53:13,658
I search for ancestral affirmation
934
00:53:13,758 --> 00:53:17,095
to find only this:
935
00:53:17,162 --> 00:53:18,463
pathos,
936
00:53:18,563 --> 00:53:22,367
or worse, historic erasure.
937
00:53:23,501 --> 00:53:27,672
How much longer
can I walk this winding road?
938
00:53:27,772 --> 00:53:31,643
♪ I cannot go home, I cannot go home ♪
939
00:53:32,777 --> 00:53:36,481
♪ I cannot go home as who I am, it seems ♪
940
00:53:37,549 --> 00:53:41,920
♪ Unredeemed by what blood lost ♪
941
00:53:42,020 --> 00:53:45,690
♪ Unsaved by what grace ♪
942
00:53:45,790 --> 00:53:49,561
♪ And unnatural by whose standard ♪
943
00:53:49,661 --> 00:53:51,863
♪ They say ♪
944
00:53:51,963 --> 00:53:53,798
♪ That this is not true ♪
945
00:53:53,899 --> 00:53:55,667
♪ Manifold wonder ♪
946
00:53:55,767 --> 00:53:58,236
♪ They say hold tight ♪
947
00:53:58,336 --> 00:54:02,140
♪ And, oh, yes
My, my, my lord, have mercy, and try ♪
948
00:54:02,240 --> 00:54:04,309
♪ Try, I try, I try ♪
949
00:54:04,409 --> 00:54:07,312
♪ I cannot go home as who I am ♪
950
00:54:09,514 --> 00:54:12,517
♪ Past are the notions ♪
951
00:54:12,617 --> 00:54:16,454
♪ Past what was past ♪
952
00:54:16,554 --> 00:54:18,890
♪ Remembrance past ♪
953
00:54:18,990 --> 00:54:21,159
♪ Honey child ♪
954
00:54:21,259 --> 00:54:22,961
♪ Say what to laughing ♪
955
00:54:23,061 --> 00:54:26,598
♪ Me, oh, my, oh, my, oh, my, oh, my ♪
956
00:54:26,698 --> 00:54:30,969
♪ And I cannot go home as who I am ♪
957
00:54:31,603 --> 00:54:36,675
Now, Lord, we're down here
calling on your name
958
00:54:36,775 --> 00:54:40,712
for we realize we can't do nothing
until you come.
959
00:54:40,812 --> 00:54:42,981
Please, sir, have mercy now.
960
00:54:43,081 --> 00:54:44,816
Bless everyone that's in this building.
961
00:54:44,916 --> 00:54:49,955
As a child,
the church did offer a sense of belonging.
962
00:54:50,055 --> 00:54:52,223
You know? I mean, a sense of community.
963
00:54:52,324 --> 00:54:56,161
And that's important, I think,
for anyone who wants to be nurtured
964
00:54:56,261 --> 00:55:01,466
in an environment of support and love
and coming together.
965
00:55:03,468 --> 00:55:04,769
I am very religious
966
00:55:04,869 --> 00:55:08,206
because I go to church
every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
967
00:55:08,306 --> 00:55:12,410
And I believe that religion should play
a very important part in everyone's life.
968
00:55:12,510 --> 00:55:16,715
Here in Mississippi, religion,
it's often exaggerated
969
00:55:16,815 --> 00:55:20,885
to a point where the child is...
the child is enclosed.
970
00:55:20,986 --> 00:55:22,754
You know, you can't even —
971
00:55:22,854 --> 00:55:26,057
Some people I know, some females I know,
972
00:55:26,157 --> 00:55:28,660
they can't even, you know,
hardly come outside
973
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:30,962
or watch videos or anything like that.
974
00:55:31,062 --> 00:55:34,399
And for punishment,
they either get beat with a Bible,
975
00:55:34,499 --> 00:55:37,535
or they have to stand in the corner
with a Bible in their arm.
976
00:55:37,635 --> 00:55:39,471
And that kind of makes me —
977
00:55:39,571 --> 00:55:43,041
that kind of makes me turn my head,
you know, to some religions.
978
00:55:43,108 --> 00:55:45,076
♪ Freedom ♪
979
00:55:45,176 --> 00:55:47,312
There's no way that one could look
980
00:55:47,412 --> 00:55:51,950
at the progress of Black people
in this county, from slavery on,
981
00:55:52,050 --> 00:55:58,356
without acknowledging the wonderful role
that the church has played.
982
00:55:58,456 --> 00:56:00,925
I mean, the church was
the beacon toward freedom.
983
00:56:01,026 --> 00:56:04,329
But it remains, unfortunately,
structured in this way,
984
00:56:04,429 --> 00:56:07,699
in which people are denied freedom
985
00:56:07,799 --> 00:56:13,238
and the opportunity to explain
their greater humanity.
986
00:56:13,338 --> 00:56:15,907
God loves the individual,
987
00:56:16,007 --> 00:56:18,877
but God does not love the homosexual part.
988
00:56:18,977 --> 00:56:20,145
You see what I'm saying?
989
00:56:20,245 --> 00:56:22,647
The sin that is involved,
God does not love.
990
00:56:22,747 --> 00:56:26,184
But God —
As a person, God loves the individual.
991
00:56:26,284 --> 00:56:31,790
I think that recent homophobic initiatives
being led by the Black church,
992
00:56:31,890 --> 00:56:33,691
that's not about community.
993
00:56:33,792 --> 00:56:34,959
That's the opposite.
994
00:56:35,060 --> 00:56:38,897
Religion is to bring mankind together,
995
00:56:38,997 --> 00:56:40,965
not to disperse mankind.
996
00:56:42,067 --> 00:56:44,669
So when you find something
that we call religion
997
00:56:44,769 --> 00:56:48,473
that's dividing and separating mankind,
998
00:56:48,573 --> 00:56:50,275
it's not religion.
999
00:56:50,375 --> 00:56:51,509
It's better not to have it.
1000
00:56:51,609 --> 00:56:54,512
If you love, then you will do love,
1001
00:56:54,612 --> 00:56:57,015
regardless to what's happening.
1002
00:56:57,115 --> 00:56:59,918
You don't show resentment.
1003
00:57:00,018 --> 00:57:04,222
Because love don't show hostility.
1004
00:57:05,123 --> 00:57:07,625
Love don't give you the mind
1005
00:57:07,725 --> 00:57:10,929
to get back at a person
who has mistreated you,
1006
00:57:11,029 --> 00:57:13,498
because you're so busy looking forward...
1007
00:57:15,066 --> 00:57:19,003
and waiting for the guidance
of the Lord in your life,
1008
00:57:19,104 --> 00:57:20,538
that love will just guide you.
1009
00:57:20,638 --> 00:57:23,641
No more chitlins and ribs and...
1010
00:57:25,844 --> 00:57:27,979
No more bacon fried,
1011
00:57:28,079 --> 00:57:30,782
Sunday morning on the way to church.
1012
00:57:30,849 --> 00:57:31,816
Pork chop!
1013
00:57:31,916 --> 00:57:34,919
Look out! No more — No!
1014
00:57:35,019 --> 00:57:36,921
Pork chops, girl, pork chops!
1015
00:57:40,692 --> 00:57:42,494
No more pork chops.
1016
00:57:42,594 --> 00:57:44,963
Well, the Black church just closed down.
1017
00:57:45,063 --> 00:57:49,868
I chose this church primarily
because it's a gay and lesbian church.
1018
00:57:52,203 --> 00:57:54,172
Over the years growing up in the South
1019
00:57:54,272 --> 00:57:57,342
and being a product
of the Southern Baptist church,
1020
00:57:57,442 --> 00:58:01,646
it was very restrictive to me,
as far as being a Black woman.
1021
00:58:01,746 --> 00:58:06,684
And here at Unity, I can bring all of me
whenever I come on Sunday.
1022
00:58:08,553 --> 00:58:10,088
It was okay.
1023
00:58:10,188 --> 00:58:13,525
And such a small word
that meant so much — "Okay."
1024
00:58:13,625 --> 00:58:17,529
I was okay.
After an hour of service, I was home.
1025
00:58:17,629 --> 00:58:20,431
This is the place that I belong.
1026
00:58:20,532 --> 00:58:25,603
I felt natural,
I felt myself, I felt love.
1027
00:58:26,271 --> 00:58:30,375
There is a place
where we can rejoice, where I can rejoice.
1028
00:58:30,475 --> 00:58:34,245
I try as best I can
to always get my parishioners
1029
00:58:34,345 --> 00:58:38,016
to look at how we are all really alike.
1030
00:58:38,116 --> 00:58:40,084
And once you do that,
1031
00:58:40,185 --> 00:58:43,821
we can then give and receive healing,
one from the other.
1032
00:58:43,922 --> 00:58:45,723
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ Are you glad? ♪
1033
00:58:45,823 --> 00:58:48,026
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ Are you glad? ♪
1034
00:58:48,126 --> 00:58:50,295
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ Are you glad? ♪
1035
00:58:50,395 --> 00:58:52,564
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ I'm glad ♪
1036
00:58:52,664 --> 00:58:54,699
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ I'm glad ♪
1037
00:58:54,799 --> 00:58:56,801
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ I'm glad ♪
1038
00:58:56,901 --> 00:58:59,103
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ I'm glad ♪
1039
00:58:59,204 --> 00:59:01,339
- ♪ I'm so glad he prays ♪
- ♪ I'm glad ♪
1040
00:59:01,439 --> 00:59:03,975
♪ I'm so glad he prays for me ♪
1041
00:59:04,075 --> 00:59:08,479
- How are you feeling, Marlon?
- I feel a little sort of under today.
1042
00:59:08,580 --> 00:59:12,183
My stomach is queasy,
but it's getting better.
1043
00:59:12,283 --> 00:59:14,185
'Cause I think it might —
1044
00:59:14,285 --> 00:59:17,689
People need to know
why I'm interviewing you
1045
00:59:17,789 --> 00:59:21,092
- and you're lying down in your bed.
- Mm-hmm.
1046
00:59:21,192 --> 00:59:24,729
Yeah, it's like when I eat,
if I eat too fast,
1047
00:59:24,829 --> 00:59:28,900
my stomach gets bloated
and I stop digesting my food.
1048
00:59:29,000 --> 00:59:33,838
And I have this sort of
bloated, queasy feeling.
1049
00:59:33,938 --> 00:59:37,008
So I'm here with a hot pad on my stomach.
1050
00:59:38,042 --> 00:59:42,747
That's helping
'cause it's starting to growl and digest.
1051
00:59:50,288 --> 00:59:52,790
- How many children did you have?
- Fifteen.
1052
00:59:53,458 --> 00:59:55,426
- Fifteen?
- Yeah, I run out.
1053
00:59:57,095 --> 00:59:58,763
Are you serious? Fifteen children?
1054
00:59:58,863 --> 01:00:01,466
Uh-huh, 15. Mother of 15.
1055
01:00:02,300 --> 01:00:05,069
Hmm. How did you raise
that many children?
1056
01:00:05,169 --> 01:00:06,571
Oh, they wasn't nothing to raise,
1057
01:00:06,671 --> 01:00:09,107
'cause people was planting
and raising corn
1058
01:00:09,207 --> 01:00:13,177
and sweet potatoes,
white potatoes and cane...
1059
01:00:14,178 --> 01:00:17,081
and everything they wanted then,
they was raising it,
1060
01:00:17,181 --> 01:00:18,783
all but the flour.
1061
01:00:19,984 --> 01:00:23,921
I raised hogs, cows, chickens,
1062
01:00:24,022 --> 01:00:25,523
geese, ducks...
1063
01:00:27,625 --> 01:00:28,926
guineas.
1064
01:00:33,965 --> 01:00:36,334
- What was that — Uh-oh.
- I got him that time.
1065
01:00:36,434 --> 01:00:40,371
You got him that time.
About time you grabbed him.
1066
01:00:40,471 --> 01:00:42,774
I knowed he had to be slow.
1067
01:00:42,874 --> 01:00:45,576
- You gonna keep him?
- Yeah, he'll make a great steak.
1068
01:00:45,677 --> 01:00:48,379
Yeah, I know.
1069
01:00:49,781 --> 01:00:50,748
You know, I...
1070
01:00:50,848 --> 01:00:53,017
When you asked about family,
1071
01:00:53,117 --> 01:00:55,453
ask these kids here, "Who am I?"
1072
01:00:55,553 --> 01:01:01,159
I'm their cousin, I'm his cousin,
his father is my uncle,
1073
01:01:01,259 --> 01:01:03,795
but he raised me
so they call me their sister.
1074
01:01:03,895 --> 01:01:07,098
Their children call me their auntie,
which I'm not.
1075
01:01:07,198 --> 01:01:08,900
But this is how close we are.
1076
01:01:09,000 --> 01:01:11,135
He calls me Auntie. I'm not his aunt.
1077
01:01:11,235 --> 01:01:13,004
His father is my first cousin,
1078
01:01:13,104 --> 01:01:16,908
but we come up as loving each other
and it brings —
1079
01:01:17,008 --> 01:01:18,543
We're all a different generation here.
1080
01:01:18,643 --> 01:01:24,816
We're coming together today to celebrate
Daddy's tenth anniversary of his death.
1081
01:01:24,916 --> 01:01:28,986
And because Mtumishi is
the oldest of the family,
1082
01:01:29,087 --> 01:01:34,792
Mtumishi is going to give us
the cepha, the libation.
1083
01:01:34,892 --> 01:01:37,762
It is the tradition of our ancestors
1084
01:01:37,862 --> 01:01:40,264
to always give praise to those
who have gone before us.
1085
01:01:40,365 --> 01:01:41,733
So let us start.
1086
01:01:42,700 --> 01:01:47,972
May we always remember Harold St. Julien
and all those who have gone before us.
1087
01:01:48,072 --> 01:01:49,607
My father was a good man,
1088
01:01:49,707 --> 01:01:51,843
had a sense of humor, a great storyteller.
1089
01:01:51,943 --> 01:01:54,979
The person
who loved me the most as a kid,
1090
01:01:55,079 --> 01:01:56,280
I felt, was my grandfather.
1091
01:01:56,381 --> 01:01:59,283
Big Mama Vi is dead.
1092
01:01:59,384 --> 01:02:01,386
But I remember her so well.
1093
01:02:01,486 --> 01:02:04,655
Oh, she was so — She was shorter than me.
1094
01:02:04,756 --> 01:02:09,894
His smells fill my nostrils
with the scent of happiness.
1095
01:02:09,994 --> 01:02:13,765
May our children
and our children's children
1096
01:02:13,865 --> 01:02:19,537
carry forth with pride
the nobility of our history and tradition.
1097
01:02:22,774 --> 01:02:25,209
Let's eat.
1098
01:02:28,212 --> 01:02:29,847
Family is love.
1099
01:02:29,947 --> 01:02:32,417
We all trust each other
and love each other like that.
1100
01:02:32,517 --> 01:02:34,252
Family to me
is just love and support.
1101
01:02:34,352 --> 01:02:36,654
It's just love.
Just someone that's there for you.
1102
01:02:36,754 --> 01:02:38,723
It don't have to be a mother or a father.
1103
01:02:38,823 --> 01:02:41,692
It could be
your next-door neighbor's grandmama.
1104
01:02:41,793 --> 01:02:44,529
For real, it could.
1105
01:02:44,629 --> 01:02:47,398
Back then we had a family
in the whole community.
1106
01:02:47,498 --> 01:02:49,167
We looked out for each other.
1107
01:02:49,267 --> 01:02:54,205
If someone butchered a pig,
the close people around them,
1108
01:02:54,305 --> 01:02:56,974
they would send them a piece of meat.
1109
01:02:57,074 --> 01:03:01,446
If their cow's giving milk,
or their cow quit giving milk,
1110
01:03:01,546 --> 01:03:02,713
they would call over and say,
1111
01:03:02,814 --> 01:03:05,450
"Send that boy ahead
to get a quart of milk,"
1112
01:03:05,550 --> 01:03:09,821
or some eggs, or some peas,
or some potatoes.
1113
01:03:09,921 --> 01:03:13,491
Now, that is family.
That's another family.
1114
01:03:13,591 --> 01:03:17,662
My father grew up in
Marengo County, Alabama,
1115
01:03:17,762 --> 01:03:20,498
um, on the border of Mississippi.
1116
01:03:20,598 --> 01:03:23,568
And as a child, I spent summers
1117
01:03:23,668 --> 01:03:29,073
with my uncles and aunts
who still lived on that land.
1118
01:03:29,173 --> 01:03:31,375
I just had so much fun, you know.
1119
01:03:31,476 --> 01:03:33,044
Never had to put on a shoe.
1120
01:03:33,144 --> 01:03:37,582
We could run for acres and miles
1121
01:03:37,682 --> 01:03:42,453
and still be on land that was ours,
that was my uncle's and aunt's.
1122
01:03:42,553 --> 01:03:47,291
My uncle grew cotton. He grew watermelons.
He grew all kinds of greens.
1123
01:03:48,926 --> 01:03:51,229
Handed down
from generation to generation.
1124
01:03:51,329 --> 01:03:54,866
My great-grandfather owned
this land from slavery.
1125
01:03:54,966 --> 01:03:59,537
Got this land — 40 acres and a mule?
This is part of his 40 acres.
1126
01:04:00,371 --> 01:04:01,939
It's in your blood.
1127
01:04:02,039 --> 01:04:05,176
It's in your blood.
You love it, every minute of it.
1128
01:04:05,276 --> 01:04:09,180
If you didn't like it,
you wouldn't be bothered with this.
1129
01:04:09,280 --> 01:04:10,915
It's not just the money,
1130
01:04:11,015 --> 01:04:17,722
'cause farming is one of
the lowest-paying jobs around.
1131
01:04:18,456 --> 01:04:22,793
You're doing it because you like it.
1132
01:04:23,494 --> 01:04:26,564
Love it, not like it. Love it.
1133
01:04:26,664 --> 01:04:31,135
I think that
rural life symbolizes,
1134
01:04:31,235 --> 01:04:33,971
for many of us, backwardness,
1135
01:04:34,071 --> 01:04:40,344
that perhaps there is a tendency
to want to distance ourselves
1136
01:04:40,444 --> 01:04:45,283
from, uh, rural, agrarian ways of living
1137
01:04:45,383 --> 01:04:49,820
because of its association,
for African Americans, with slavery.
1138
01:04:50,821 --> 01:04:53,925
But there's also something else there.
1139
01:04:54,025 --> 01:04:57,929
There are memories there.
There's joy there.
1140
01:04:58,029 --> 01:05:00,698
There's, um...
1141
01:05:01,632 --> 01:05:04,569
a willingness to remember.
1142
01:05:15,079 --> 01:05:19,150
The project, in part,
deals with my struggle with AIDS.
1143
01:05:24,021 --> 01:05:27,224
And I'm struggling in a deep way now.
1144
01:05:40,004 --> 01:05:44,408
Once, when I was visiting
my cousins in Baton Rouge,
1145
01:05:44,508 --> 01:05:49,513
a friend of theirs upbraided me
for trying to talk "proper."
1146
01:05:49,614 --> 01:05:53,651
"He don't talk proper,"
my cousins defended.
1147
01:05:53,751 --> 01:05:55,686
"He just from Texas."
1148
01:05:57,154 --> 01:06:01,659
When I was a kid, they spoke a language
1149
01:06:01,759 --> 01:06:04,095
which we are now trying to preserve,
1150
01:06:04,195 --> 01:06:06,464
and they call it Gullah.
1151
01:06:06,564 --> 01:06:08,833
It's a part of the English language...
1152
01:06:10,134 --> 01:06:11,802
and then again it is different.
1153
01:06:11,902 --> 01:06:15,006
If I take you to Land's End right now,
some people say,
1154
01:06:15,106 --> 01:06:19,410
"Pork it, pit that bat,
sho, sho the boy yea."
1155
01:06:19,510 --> 01:06:22,913
In Land's End,
"Sho the boy yea, sho the boy."
1156
01:06:23,014 --> 01:06:24,882
No one can take that from you,
1157
01:06:24,982 --> 01:06:28,586
that Gullah language
that is with the people who speaks Gullah.
1158
01:06:28,686 --> 01:06:32,723
I enjoyed speaking to a young man
that was from Africa.
1159
01:06:32,823 --> 01:06:35,893
He was here, we sat
and drank coffee, we chatted,
1160
01:06:35,993 --> 01:06:39,296
and I like the way he spoke
because he speak like I do.
1161
01:06:39,397 --> 01:06:40,731
Not like I'm doing now.
1162
01:06:40,831 --> 01:06:44,435
I mean, in the accent
of how our people speak
1163
01:06:44,535 --> 01:06:46,237
and myself before.
1164
01:06:47,471 --> 01:06:50,675
When I listen to the voices
within my family,
1165
01:06:50,775 --> 01:06:54,045
I hear the evolution
of rhythms and cadences
1166
01:06:54,145 --> 01:06:56,080
from generation to generation.
1167
01:06:56,180 --> 01:06:58,282
Big Mama still sounds country.
1168
01:06:58,382 --> 01:07:02,553
Oh, Lordy, isn't that a shame.
How come she don't buy her some...
1169
01:07:02,653 --> 01:07:05,156
Mama sounds Black,
but not country.
1170
01:07:05,256 --> 01:07:07,692
I never cooked as a kid, right?
1171
01:07:07,792 --> 01:07:09,860
Never got in the kitchen or anything.
1172
01:07:09,960 --> 01:07:12,830
My sister
could easily pass for white.
1173
01:07:12,930 --> 01:07:15,966
And my boss's daughter is having a baby,
1174
01:07:16,067 --> 01:07:19,303
and her daughter's birthday is the 27th
and the baby's expected on the 27th.
1175
01:07:19,403 --> 01:07:23,974
At Harvard, people often marked me
for the difference in my voice.
1176
01:07:24,075 --> 01:07:27,745
I didn't sound country,
I didn't sound white,
1177
01:07:27,845 --> 01:07:29,747
but just as much, I didn't sound Black,
1178
01:07:29,847 --> 01:07:33,451
in the way so-called Black English
1179
01:07:33,551 --> 01:07:37,054
was spoken at Harvard or elsewhere.
1180
01:07:37,154 --> 01:07:38,589
- What's happenin'?
- What it is?
1181
01:07:38,689 --> 01:07:40,524
- What it be like?
- It's all you, my brother.
1182
01:07:40,624 --> 01:07:42,159
- Give me five.
- Right on.
1183
01:07:42,259 --> 01:07:44,295
- Peace out.
- Girl, I heard that.
1184
01:07:44,395 --> 01:07:46,397
- Stay cool.
- Ain't it the truth?
1185
01:07:46,497 --> 01:07:48,332
- Yo, yo, yo.
- Work that booty.
1186
01:07:48,432 --> 01:07:50,367
Bring your tired, Black ass
over here.
1187
01:07:50,468 --> 01:07:52,703
Get down, get down.
1188
01:07:52,803 --> 01:07:56,340
You no-count,
frog-faced, lizard-lipped baboon.
1189
01:07:56,440 --> 01:07:59,176
- Give me some skin.
- It's a Black thang.
1190
01:07:59,276 --> 01:08:02,379
Can't you understand? It's a Black thang.
Can't you understand?
1191
01:08:05,082 --> 01:08:08,185
I was very committed
to the civil rights movement,
1192
01:08:08,285 --> 01:08:12,456
but I was constantly getting the message
that I was not Black enough.
1193
01:08:12,556 --> 01:08:15,760
You know how they did that back
in those days? They probably still do.
1194
01:08:15,860 --> 01:08:19,263
I was not Black enough
because I was at an elite school.
1195
01:08:19,363 --> 01:08:20,631
I was not Black enough
1196
01:08:20,731 --> 01:08:24,268
because I spoke, you know,
fairly standard English.
1197
01:08:24,368 --> 01:08:26,704
You're acting white, or you're imitating.
1198
01:08:26,804 --> 01:08:29,907
You're mindlessly imitating whites,
is the critique.
1199
01:08:30,007 --> 01:08:33,677
You know, you're doing an Amos 'n' Andy,
you're doing a Stepin Fetchit.
1200
01:08:33,778 --> 01:08:37,081
There was a time
when I felt ashamed almost
1201
01:08:37,181 --> 01:08:41,819
of the fact that I had studied in France
and studied in Germany, right?
1202
01:08:41,919 --> 01:08:44,522
Because we were supposed
to be talking about Africa, not Europe.
1203
01:08:44,622 --> 01:08:48,659
It's something you can always pull out.
I mean, "Why are you wearing shorts?
1204
01:08:48,759 --> 01:08:51,195
That's — White people wear shorts."
1205
01:08:51,295 --> 01:08:53,164
I mean, you can always use that.
1206
01:08:53,264 --> 01:08:57,668
And I know the way I act
and the way I talk and the way I think
1207
01:08:57,768 --> 01:09:01,205
reflects all the places that I've been,
and I've been a lot of places.
1208
01:09:01,305 --> 01:09:04,575
There's a sense in which everything
we've ever done as Afro-Americans
1209
01:09:04,675 --> 01:09:06,677
can be interpreted in that vein,
1210
01:09:06,777 --> 01:09:09,814
and so it gets to a point where that
critique just doesn't make any sense.
1211
01:09:09,914 --> 01:09:14,285
I mean, after all, we are speaking
the King's English right now.
1212
01:09:14,385 --> 01:09:15,719
When I start speaking, you know...
1213
01:09:18,055 --> 01:09:20,991
You're gonna say to me,
"Well, you're not really African."
1214
01:09:21,091 --> 01:09:22,760
And then when I go down the block
1215
01:09:22,860 --> 01:09:25,696
and talk to my man Umbake,
who's from Senegal,
1216
01:09:25,796 --> 01:09:27,798
and we're both speaking French,
1217
01:09:27,898 --> 01:09:31,535
and he is African —
he was born in Africa —
1218
01:09:31,635 --> 01:09:34,805
and you with your African self
can't speak French,
1219
01:09:34,905 --> 01:09:37,675
then who's African,
and who's African American?
1220
01:09:37,775 --> 01:09:39,777
Who's legit and who ain't?
1221
01:09:39,877 --> 01:09:45,449
I've heard questions of Blackness raised
when Blacks moved into the suburbs, okay.
1222
01:09:45,549 --> 01:09:51,488
Um, as we've moved up
in the economic system in this country,
1223
01:09:51,589 --> 01:09:54,458
some of us, there have been charges —
1224
01:09:54,558 --> 01:09:56,560
Well, you know,
that person's no longer Black.
1225
01:09:56,660 --> 01:09:59,063
They don't come through the hood.
They don't even live here.
1226
01:09:59,163 --> 01:10:01,765
They live out, you know,
50 miles outside of the city.
1227
01:10:01,866 --> 01:10:04,468
They commute in every day. Their kids
are going to school with white kids.
1228
01:10:04,568 --> 01:10:06,470
"Listen to how their kids talk."
1229
01:10:08,005 --> 01:10:10,608
♪ Livin' way out, niggas go home... ♪
1230
01:10:10,708 --> 01:10:12,543
There are those who would feel
1231
01:10:12,643 --> 01:10:16,313
that some members of
the African American middle class
1232
01:10:16,413 --> 01:10:21,352
no longer identify with being Black.
1233
01:10:21,452 --> 01:10:25,890
But I think when
you define what being Black has to do —
1234
01:10:25,990 --> 01:10:27,591
It has nothing to do with —
1235
01:10:27,691 --> 01:10:29,627
It's not about economics.
1236
01:10:30,361 --> 01:10:33,864
It is not about economics.
It's really about values.
1237
01:10:33,964 --> 01:10:37,835
We know where we've been.
We know what we've come from.
1238
01:10:37,935 --> 01:10:40,271
We know what we have to contribute.
1239
01:10:40,371 --> 01:10:42,640
It's a matter of constantly saying,
1240
01:10:42,740 --> 01:10:46,710
how can you in your small way,
whatever you do —
1241
01:10:46,810 --> 01:10:51,215
It may not be as significant
as a Malcolm X or a Martin Luther King,
1242
01:10:51,315 --> 01:10:55,219
but what have you done
to give back to the Black community?
1243
01:10:55,319 --> 01:10:59,123
Perhaps the standard,
frightening as it may be,
1244
01:10:59,223 --> 01:11:02,860
is the inner city
for defining what Blackness is,
1245
01:11:02,960 --> 01:11:05,596
that you've got to,
you know, constantly be up
1246
01:11:05,696 --> 01:11:10,234
on the changes in the hip language,
the hip Black language,
1247
01:11:10,334 --> 01:11:14,838
the hip Black fashions,
the hip Black music.
1248
01:11:14,939 --> 01:11:21,011
You've got to use your ghetto experience
as, you know, your American Express card.
1249
01:11:21,111 --> 01:11:23,013
♪ You only got yourself to blame ♪
1250
01:11:23,113 --> 01:11:24,848
♪ Get a grip, Oreo ♪
1251
01:11:24,949 --> 01:11:27,084
♪ And be true to the gang ♪
1252
01:11:28,986 --> 01:11:31,956
Like, I'm a born, bred,
raised Harlemite.
1253
01:11:32,056 --> 01:11:35,993
I knew what the hood was probably
before most of these kids were born.
1254
01:11:36,093 --> 01:11:39,763
And the reality is,
do you live your life in struggle
1255
01:11:39,863 --> 01:11:42,599
around trying to prove a point
1256
01:11:42,700 --> 01:11:46,437
to someone that doesn't really give a damn
about your reality,
1257
01:11:46,537 --> 01:11:48,772
or do you determine
what's important to you?
1258
01:11:48,872 --> 01:11:51,775
I will pull out my Blackness
and you pull out yours.
1259
01:11:51,875 --> 01:11:54,011
I have no problem in defending mine.
1260
01:11:54,111 --> 01:11:59,049
And I think I speak for a lot of people
in the African American middle class.
1261
01:11:59,149 --> 01:12:02,987
Um, you know, you can't live
in this society and not be Black.
1262
01:12:03,087 --> 01:12:05,522
The society won't let you forget
you're Black,
1263
01:12:05,622 --> 01:12:07,458
but you don't want to forget you're Black.
1264
01:12:13,464 --> 01:12:16,166
Fatigue, nausea, fever, chills.
1265
01:12:16,266 --> 01:12:19,870
Strange how we adapt so easily
1266
01:12:19,970 --> 01:12:23,540
to extraordinary circumstances.
1267
01:12:23,640 --> 01:12:27,277
I've experienced an array
of illnesses and infections.
1268
01:12:27,378 --> 01:12:29,847
Oral hairy cell leukoplakia, pneumonia,
1269
01:12:29,947 --> 01:12:33,217
gastrointestinal bleeding, herpes,
anemia, systemic blood infection,
1270
01:12:33,317 --> 01:12:35,853
gallstones, respiratory failure,
renal failure, heart failure.
1271
01:12:35,953 --> 01:12:40,224
The list goes on, and yet I am alive.
1272
01:12:46,730 --> 01:12:48,032
Good morning.
1273
01:12:48,132 --> 01:12:49,800
At least 30 fires
are burning in Los Angeles
1274
01:12:49,900 --> 01:12:52,703
after a night of rage
in the city's Black community.
1275
01:12:52,803 --> 01:12:55,005
Angry mobs set swarms of fires
1276
01:12:55,105 --> 01:12:58,175
in the predominantly Black
South Central part of the city.
1277
01:12:58,275 --> 01:12:59,510
There were so many blazes,
1278
01:12:59,610 --> 01:13:02,312
the fire department couldn't respond
to all of the calls
1279
01:13:02,413 --> 01:13:04,948
and just let some buildings
burn to the ground.
1280
01:13:08,285 --> 01:13:10,654
At least two firefighters were wounded.
1281
01:13:10,754 --> 01:13:14,191
Looting broke out in many neighborhoods
before police moved in
1282
01:13:14,291 --> 01:13:16,393
and began rounding up suspects.
1283
01:13:16,493 --> 01:13:18,328
The show of force began this morning,
1284
01:13:18,429 --> 01:13:21,698
as National Guardsmen took up positions
in the streets of Los Angeles.
1285
01:13:31,408 --> 01:13:32,609
We gotta make a living.
1286
01:13:32,709 --> 01:13:34,645
We gotta make a living
the best way we can.
1287
01:13:34,745 --> 01:13:38,282
If that means by selling dope,
I guess we gotta sell dope.
1288
01:13:38,382 --> 01:13:40,184
Ain't nobody rich in the ghetto.
1289
01:13:40,284 --> 01:13:42,252
Nobody rich in the ghetto.
1290
01:13:42,352 --> 01:13:44,488
If we was rich, we wouldn't be here.
1291
01:13:44,588 --> 01:13:47,758
I ain't gonna be out here every day,
out here gangbanging, man.
1292
01:13:47,858 --> 01:13:50,360
After I graduate from high school,
I'm going somewhere.
1293
01:13:50,461 --> 01:13:52,262
I ain't gonna be out here every day.
1294
01:13:52,362 --> 01:13:55,232
There ain't shit out here but pain.
Fuck this shit.
1295
01:13:55,332 --> 01:13:58,535
If I had a chance to start over again...
1296
01:14:00,404 --> 01:14:02,473
I wouldn't —
I wouldn't turn down that wrong path.
1297
01:14:02,573 --> 01:14:05,309
I'd try to go the right way,
get my education.
1298
01:14:05,409 --> 01:14:06,510
I wouldn't be here today.
1299
01:14:06,610 --> 01:14:10,147
I'd be here today,
but I'd be in a right mind.
1300
01:14:10,247 --> 01:14:11,915
I wouldn't be gangbanging.
1301
01:14:13,650 --> 01:14:16,887
I'd be telling y'all
a whole different story about a good life.
1302
01:14:18,422 --> 01:14:22,526
It'd be a whole different story.
I'd go to this school right here.
1303
01:14:22,626 --> 01:14:25,896
See, 'cause right now,
I be going to school every day.
1304
01:14:25,996 --> 01:14:28,999
Right now, I do not miss school a day.
You know what I'm saying?
1305
01:14:29,099 --> 01:14:31,068
'Cause I gotta have that education, man.
1306
01:14:31,168 --> 01:14:33,103
'Cause the white man
is not gonna let you do shit.
1307
01:14:33,203 --> 01:14:35,272
A high school diploma
ain't nothing no more.
1308
01:14:35,372 --> 01:14:37,808
You gotta have a —
You gotta master in something.
1309
01:14:37,908 --> 01:14:40,444
A high school diploma
ain't nothing no more, man.
1310
01:14:40,544 --> 01:14:43,413
You can't even work at McDonald's
with a high school diploma.
1311
01:14:43,514 --> 01:14:45,616
That's why, you know,
I'ma try to be something.
1312
01:14:45,716 --> 01:14:48,352
And when I get up, I'ma take them with me.
1313
01:14:48,452 --> 01:14:51,255
'Cause I don't wanna leave none
of my friends or family in the ghetto,
1314
01:14:51,355 --> 01:14:52,789
'cause there ain't shit in the ghetto.
1315
01:14:52,890 --> 01:14:54,625
Gotta tell the little generation
how to grow.
1316
01:14:54,725 --> 01:14:58,128
See, nobody told us,
"That ain't good for you."
1317
01:14:58,228 --> 01:15:00,764
No, they let us grow up to gangbang.
It's too late now.
1318
01:15:00,864 --> 01:15:03,333
- I ain't saying it's too late —
- It ain't never too late.
1319
01:15:03,433 --> 01:15:06,970
Yeah, it ain't never too late,
but we gotta tell the next generation
1320
01:15:07,070 --> 01:15:10,707
before they grow up and be like us,
and that ain't even it.
1321
01:15:18,182 --> 01:15:21,418
"Don't let it be loneliness that kills us
1322
01:15:21,518 --> 01:15:24,021
"If we must die on the front line
1323
01:15:24,121 --> 01:15:27,758
"Let us die loved by both sexes
1324
01:15:27,858 --> 01:15:31,228
"Don't let it be envy that drives us
to suck our thumbs
1325
01:15:31,328 --> 01:15:35,098
"Or shoot each other dead over snake eyes
1326
01:15:35,199 --> 01:15:39,036
"Let us not be dancing with the wind
on heavy corners
1327
01:15:39,136 --> 01:15:41,205
"Tattered by doom
1328
01:15:41,305 --> 01:15:44,608
"Let us not accept partial justice
1329
01:15:44,708 --> 01:15:47,311
"If we believe our lives are priceless
1330
01:15:47,411 --> 01:15:49,980
"We can't be conquered
1331
01:15:50,080 --> 01:15:53,817
"If we must die on the front line
1332
01:15:53,917 --> 01:15:56,920
Don't let loneliness kill us."
1333
01:16:07,297 --> 01:16:09,900
This sets the tone
for what we're accomplishing.
1334
01:16:10,000 --> 01:16:13,370
Bloods and Crips being able
to shake hands, go to parks together...
1335
01:16:13,470 --> 01:16:15,839
What you're seeing right here
is history in the making,
1336
01:16:15,939 --> 01:16:18,075
and the tying
of the red and the blue knot,
1337
01:16:18,175 --> 01:16:22,379
is a significant indication
that these brothers and sisters
1338
01:16:22,479 --> 01:16:25,782
- want an opportunity to see 1993.
- Peace in the neighborhood.
1339
01:16:25,882 --> 01:16:29,753
Okay, it took the riot, it took
all this and the police beating King
1340
01:16:29,853 --> 01:16:33,323
to bring us together,
to realize that we just killing ourselves.
1341
01:16:33,423 --> 01:16:35,492
We gotta learn to trust to each other.
1342
01:16:35,592 --> 01:16:38,595
You know, like they say,
this truce, that's where it's gotta begin.
1343
01:16:38,695 --> 01:16:41,565
We gotta learn to say,
"Okay, man, I know we're done.
1344
01:16:41,665 --> 01:16:43,133
Let's start trusting each other.
1345
01:16:43,233 --> 01:16:45,402
Let's take that wall down.
1346
01:16:45,502 --> 01:16:47,471
Let me help you, my brother. All right?"
1347
01:16:47,571 --> 01:16:50,040
But we don't even got no unity yet, man.
1348
01:16:50,107 --> 01:16:51,375
You know?
1349
01:16:51,475 --> 01:16:54,211
I go to church every Sunday
and we talk about unity,
1350
01:16:54,311 --> 01:16:56,546
and it's hard to get Christians
to have unity.
1351
01:16:56,647 --> 01:16:59,016
So, you know, we got
to have togetherness, man.
1352
01:16:59,116 --> 01:17:01,385
We got to be Black people as one.
1353
01:17:01,485 --> 01:17:04,321
We have too many evil allies,
I believe myself.
1354
01:17:04,421 --> 01:17:08,292
That's why we can't get unity
within the Black nation.
1355
01:17:08,392 --> 01:17:10,127
I always get this sort of feeling
1356
01:17:10,227 --> 01:17:15,132
that when Black people talk
about unity and community,
1357
01:17:15,232 --> 01:17:18,001
you know, that it's kind
of like a turf war thing.
1358
01:17:18,101 --> 01:17:20,971
We're gonna get together
and this is gonna be our block,
1359
01:17:21,071 --> 01:17:24,875
and if you come on our block,
we're gonna kick your ass.
1360
01:17:24,975 --> 01:17:29,479
And I always think I'm gonna be the one
whose ass is gonna get kicked.
1361
01:17:30,981 --> 01:17:35,018
I think all Black people
have to reconcile themselves
1362
01:17:35,118 --> 01:17:37,421
to each other,
1363
01:17:37,521 --> 01:17:39,289
to our differences,
1364
01:17:39,389 --> 01:17:45,295
and we have to get over the notion
that you can only be unified as a people
1365
01:17:45,395 --> 01:17:47,431
as long as everybody agrees.
1366
01:17:47,531 --> 01:17:50,200
You know, we don't achieve freedom
by those means.
1367
01:17:50,300 --> 01:17:54,237
Well, one, we've got to conceive
of new forms of community,
1368
01:17:54,338 --> 01:17:56,373
that we have multiple identities
1369
01:17:56,473 --> 01:17:59,509
and we're moving out of various
communities all at the same time.
1370
01:17:59,609 --> 01:18:02,846
There's no one grand Black community.
1371
01:18:02,946 --> 01:18:06,083
It seems to me that
we would do well as Black folks
1372
01:18:06,183 --> 01:18:10,587
to replace the notion of unity
with the notion of communion.
1373
01:18:10,687 --> 01:18:12,556
The root meaning of it would suggest
1374
01:18:12,656 --> 01:18:16,660
that our union is
fundamentally based on a notion
1375
01:18:16,760 --> 01:18:20,797
that we must be willing and able
to communicate with one another.
1376
01:18:20,897 --> 01:18:24,868
Because I think that so often,
when Black folks evoke unity,
1377
01:18:24,968 --> 01:18:27,637
again, it's the flattening out
of differences,
1378
01:18:27,738 --> 01:18:34,211
the sweeping certain things under the rug
so that we can appear to be alike,
1379
01:18:34,311 --> 01:18:37,414
that we hold one stand,
that we have one position.
1380
01:18:37,514 --> 01:18:39,249
I think communion,
1381
01:18:39,349 --> 01:18:42,486
and its connection
to the notion of community,
1382
01:18:42,586 --> 01:18:46,757
um, might give us greater strength
and possibility.
1383
01:18:52,429 --> 01:18:56,099
Marlon, what kind of dreams
have you been having lately?
1384
01:18:56,199 --> 01:18:57,567
Um...
1385
01:18:59,002 --> 01:19:01,972
dreams about dialysis.
1386
01:19:02,072 --> 01:19:05,308
Um, sometimes dreams
in which they're not dreams.
1387
01:19:05,375 --> 01:19:06,877
It's like MTV.
1388
01:19:06,977 --> 01:19:10,313
I just watch it sort of flashing,
different things flashing.
1389
01:19:10,414 --> 01:19:14,017
What about this dream
that you were having not too long ago,
1390
01:19:14,117 --> 01:19:16,286
when you were dreaming
about Harriet Tubman?
1391
01:19:16,386 --> 01:19:17,587
Mm-hmm.
1392
01:19:17,687 --> 01:19:22,426
This is when I was feeling really sick
in the ER and so forth.
1393
01:19:22,526 --> 01:19:27,264
Um, just her coming and standing by me,
not saying anything,
1394
01:19:27,364 --> 01:19:30,033
so I had to become aware of her presence.
1395
01:19:30,133 --> 01:19:34,471
And then just looking into my eyes,
1396
01:19:34,571 --> 01:19:37,140
and then looking
at the river in front of us.
1397
01:19:37,240 --> 01:19:39,309
- Where were you?
- I don't know.
1398
01:19:39,409 --> 01:19:44,414
Some dark foresty place
with a river running through it.
1399
01:19:45,081 --> 01:19:48,885
Um, and kind of running pretty fiercely.
1400
01:19:48,985 --> 01:19:52,289
Um, yeah, she didn't say anything.
It was with her eyes.
1401
01:19:52,389 --> 01:19:57,160
She just looked at me
and then turned and looked at the river,
1402
01:19:57,260 --> 01:19:59,062
and we started walking.
1403
01:19:59,896 --> 01:20:02,032
Harriet and I walked across the river.
1404
01:20:03,834 --> 01:20:06,369
And what do you think
that dream was about?
1405
01:20:07,804 --> 01:20:11,374
Overcoming the present crisis.
1406
01:20:11,475 --> 01:20:14,878
I mean, you know, there's gonna be more.
I know that.
1407
01:20:14,978 --> 01:20:17,948
I'm gonna be laid up
in the hospital again.
1408
01:20:18,048 --> 01:20:20,750
But as long as I have Harriet
1409
01:20:20,851 --> 01:20:23,954
and Black Is... Black Ain't
to go traveling with,
1410
01:20:24,054 --> 01:20:26,122
I'm gonna cross that river.
1411
01:20:26,223 --> 01:20:29,192
If I have work, then I'm not gonna die,
1412
01:20:29,292 --> 01:20:32,262
'cause work is a living spirit in me...
1413
01:20:33,296 --> 01:20:36,199
that which wants to connect
with other people
1414
01:20:36,299 --> 01:20:39,369
and pass on something to them
1415
01:20:39,469 --> 01:20:43,173
that they can use
in their own lives and grow from.
1416
01:20:43,273 --> 01:20:48,378
♪ I shall not ♪
1417
01:20:48,478 --> 01:20:50,547
I know there'll come a time
1418
01:20:50,647 --> 01:20:55,719
when I won't be able
to get up out of this bed,
1419
01:20:55,819 --> 01:21:01,324
and all we can do is just take me home
and let me lie in my bed,
1420
01:21:01,424 --> 01:21:03,727
and I can look out the window.
1421
01:21:03,827 --> 01:21:07,163
And then it may reach a point
where I can't even open up my eyes,
1422
01:21:07,264 --> 01:21:10,133
and I'm just, I'm lying there,
1423
01:21:10,233 --> 01:21:13,537
and I want my mother
and I want my grandmother
1424
01:21:13,637 --> 01:21:15,639
and Jack to be there
1425
01:21:15,739 --> 01:21:20,277
to hold my hand
and to rub my head and feet
1426
01:21:20,377 --> 01:21:22,345
and let me die.
1427
01:21:22,445 --> 01:21:28,318
♪ I shall not ♪
1428
01:21:28,385 --> 01:21:31,655
♪ Be ♪
1429
01:21:31,755 --> 01:21:35,225
♪ Removed ♪
1430
01:21:41,631 --> 01:21:46,703
If a people is like gumbo,
then you might ask, what is the roux?
1431
01:21:46,803 --> 01:21:52,409
That special element that binds
and gives everything its distinct flavor.
1432
01:21:53,877 --> 01:21:57,847
Well, you take some color —
1433
01:21:57,948 --> 01:22:01,117
a dash or a big dollop, it don't matter —
1434
01:22:01,217 --> 01:22:04,020
and you blend it with an assortment
of physical features
1435
01:22:04,120 --> 01:22:09,492
that reflect every face you might possibly
encounter on this great earth,
1436
01:22:09,593 --> 01:22:12,862
mix that up with a culture that just loves
1437
01:22:12,963 --> 01:22:17,100
to improvise, signify, reclaim,
1438
01:22:17,200 --> 01:22:19,970
renew and read,
1439
01:22:20,070 --> 01:22:23,740
and you've got it —
the recipe for Black folk.
1440
01:22:23,840 --> 01:22:29,079
So I wonder, why is there
still so much commotion
1441
01:22:29,179 --> 01:22:32,949
when we add a few
salt-looking people to the stew.
1442
01:22:33,049 --> 01:22:37,420
Black folk been looking like white folk
since the first traveler from Europe
1443
01:22:37,520 --> 01:22:40,757
bred with the first African woman
he encountered.
1444
01:22:40,857 --> 01:22:43,560
You let people of different colors
and cultures come together,
1445
01:22:43,660 --> 01:22:45,095
and they're bound to intermix.
1446
01:22:45,195 --> 01:22:47,964
And since nobody is
racially pure around here,
1447
01:22:48,064 --> 01:22:51,334
what sense does it make for us
to split hairs and genes
1448
01:22:51,434 --> 01:22:54,371
trying to figure out
who's got the true Black blood?
1449
01:22:54,471 --> 01:22:58,775
Still, some folks wanna go off
1450
01:22:58,875 --> 01:23:03,413
about this one acting too white
or that one not being Black enough.
1451
01:23:03,513 --> 01:23:06,583
But, honey, let me ask you, what's enough?
1452
01:23:06,683 --> 01:23:09,586
And who's to judge?
1453
01:23:09,686 --> 01:23:11,521
Haven't we had enough
of folks telling other folks
1454
01:23:11,621 --> 01:23:14,758
what's proper, how to talk, who to love,
1455
01:23:14,858 --> 01:23:16,893
how to dress, wear your hair,
1456
01:23:16,993 --> 01:23:20,664
eat, drink, pray, make love, dance?
1457
01:23:20,764 --> 01:23:23,433
It is time, my sisters and brethren,
1458
01:23:23,533 --> 01:23:26,136
to wake up to a new day,
1459
01:23:26,236 --> 01:23:28,905
a new day of community
1460
01:23:29,005 --> 01:23:34,377
where what unites us
are not some obsolete fictions about race,
1461
01:23:34,477 --> 01:23:37,781
but our common purpose of social struggle,
1462
01:23:37,881 --> 01:23:43,019
a new day, my beloveds,
of good will and communion
1463
01:23:43,119 --> 01:23:48,124
and hope and always laughter.
1464
01:23:48,224 --> 01:23:51,461
The time is nigh, sisters and brothers!
1465
01:23:56,433 --> 01:24:00,103
The statement I would like
to leave as my own personal legacy
1466
01:24:00,203 --> 01:24:02,872
would be one of faith,
1467
01:24:02,972 --> 01:24:07,811
to have faith in each other
that we will come through adversities,
1468
01:24:07,911 --> 01:24:09,546
whatever they might be.
1469
01:24:09,646 --> 01:24:12,449
And here, the adversity is really...
1470
01:24:13,750 --> 01:24:17,787
our ability to maintain
a sense of communal self.
1471
01:24:17,887 --> 01:24:23,426
So, my faith is the belief
that we will achieve that...
1472
01:24:24,494 --> 01:24:28,598
that, against all odds,
we'll come through.
1473
01:24:45,448 --> 01:24:47,751
You wanna know my recipe for gumbo?
1474
01:24:47,851 --> 01:24:50,019
- Better be good.
- Don't waste my time now.
1475
01:24:50,120 --> 01:24:53,823
Well, I cut up my onions and my celery,
1476
01:24:53,923 --> 01:24:58,328
get out a couple of bay leaves
and drop them in the broth.
1477
01:24:58,428 --> 01:25:01,531
Put some basil and black pepper
in there too.
1478
01:25:01,631 --> 01:25:05,235
Then I go to the chicken
and begin seasoning it.
1479
01:25:05,335 --> 01:25:11,040
Cut up some hot pepper sausage
and brown it along with the chicken,
1480
01:25:11,141 --> 01:25:13,376
then shell some shrimp.
1481
01:25:13,476 --> 01:25:16,646
Chicken and sausage go into the broth,
1482
01:25:16,746 --> 01:25:19,415
and I let things simmer.
1483
01:25:19,516 --> 01:25:22,752
- Ooh, baby! Stop.
- Then I turn to my roux.
1484
01:25:22,852 --> 01:25:26,322
Now, every person has a secret
about their roux,
1485
01:25:26,422 --> 01:25:29,826
and I have mine too,
so we'll leave it at that.
1486
01:25:29,926 --> 01:25:36,032
After finishing the roux,
I mix it in with the simmering chicken,
1487
01:25:36,132 --> 01:25:40,937
stirring all the while
until the brew begins to thicken.
1488
01:25:41,037 --> 01:25:45,074
Then I just go away for a time
and let things cook.
1489
01:25:45,175 --> 01:25:48,812
About an hour or so,
I put in my shelled shrimp,
1490
01:25:48,912 --> 01:25:52,048
some oysters, some crabs
1491
01:25:52,148 --> 01:25:56,619
and any other seafood I might like
until it's all done.
1492
01:25:56,719 --> 01:25:59,189
Now that's gumbo.
1493
01:25:59,289 --> 01:26:02,859
♪ Lift every voice and sing ♪
1494
01:26:02,959 --> 01:26:08,865
♪ Till earth and heaven ring ♪
1495
01:26:08,965 --> 01:26:15,071
♪ Ring with the harmonies ♪
1496
01:26:15,171 --> 01:26:20,910
♪ Of liberty ♪
1497
01:26:21,010 --> 01:26:27,116
♪ Let our rejoicing rise ♪
1498
01:26:27,217 --> 01:26:33,289
♪ High as the listening sky ♪
1499
01:26:33,389 --> 01:26:36,292
♪ Let it resound ♪
1500
01:26:36,392 --> 01:26:43,099
♪ Loud as the rolling sea ♪
1501
01:26:43,199 --> 01:26:48,104
♪ Sing a song ♪
1502
01:26:48,204 --> 01:26:54,911
♪ Full of the faith
That the dark past has taught us ♪
1503
01:26:55,011 --> 01:26:59,215
♪ Sing a song ♪
1504
01:26:59,315 --> 01:27:02,952
♪ Full of the hope that the present ♪
1505
01:27:03,052 --> 01:27:06,322
♪ Has brought ♪
1506
01:27:06,389 --> 01:27:10,894
♪ Us ♪
1507
01:27:12,528 --> 01:27:18,568
♪ Facing the rising sun ♪
1508
01:27:18,668 --> 01:27:24,674
♪ Of our new day begun ♪
1509
01:27:24,774 --> 01:27:27,710
♪ Let us march on ♪
1510
01:27:27,810 --> 01:27:31,848
♪ Till victory ♪
1511
01:27:31,915 --> 01:27:36,953
♪ Is won ♪
126574
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