All language subtitles for Going To Mars The Nikki Giovanni Project [2023] [1080p] eng

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(WAVES LAPPING)

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

(WOOD CREAKING)

♪ (SERENE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

(FILM REEL RATTLING)

NIKKI GIOVANNI: I don't remember
a lot of things.

But a lot of things
that I don't remember,

I don't choose to remember.

(GIGGLING)

NIKKI:
I remember what's important

and I make up the rest.

(GIGGLING)

(NIKKI LAUGHING)

That's what storytelling's
all about.

-(METAL RATTLING)
-(BOOSTERS ROARING)

(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)

-(QUINDAR TONE BEEPING)
-FLIGHT CONTROLLER: Stand by.

♪ (SERENE DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

♪ (INTENSE DRUMBEAT PLAYS) ♪

LOU HOUSE: If you're right,
then what you're saying...

is you're a forerunner

of what many times happens.
So, you're sort of a prophet.

I would hate to think of myself
as being a prophet.

(GIGGLES) Prophets die.

They always--
The prophets and saints--

LOU: But don't we all?
(LAUGHING)

Oh, but they do it sooner.

What I'm trying to do
with my writing

is to bring out a reality.

I'm what they call
a personal poet.

And I try to bring out
the personality of my life.

You know? That my family
was a good family.

You know,
because they're Black people

and Black people
are good people.

And from that goodness,
we can create the revolution.

So that the revolution isn't
a reaction to Whiteness,

but a forward thrust
of Blackness.

Before we leave,
will you do one more time?

Oh, I'd be glad to.

This is "Nikki-Rosa."
It's about us.

♪ (MELLOW PERCUSSION MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

(MUFFLED LIVELY CHATTER)

NIKKI: "Childhood remembrances

are always a drag
if you're Black.

And if you become famous
or something,

they never talk
about how happy you were

to have your mother
all to yourself.

And even though you remember,

your biographers
never understand

your father's pain
as he sells his stock.

And another dream goes.
And though you're poor

it isn't poverty
that concerns you.

And though they fought a lot

it isn't your father's drinking
that makes any difference.

But only that everybody
is together.

And you and your sister
have happy birthdays

and very good Christmases.

And I really hope
no White person ever has cause

to write about me
because they never understand

Black love is Black wealth.

And they'll probably talk
about my hard childhood

and never understand
that all the while

I was quite happy."

LOU: Right on.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

♪ (MELLOW PERCUSSION MUSIC
CONCLUDES) ♪

(LEAVES RUSTLING)

(WATER BURBLING)

NIKKI:
I'm very proud of my okra.

I planted it from seed.

And so there's just something
nice about putting seed

in the ground and... this--
It looks good.

See? It's growing.

♪ (SOFT DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SOFT DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI: I was born
in Knoxville, Tennessee,

but I am an earthling.

(QUINDAR TONES BEEPING)

NIKKI:
I'm a big fan of Black women.

'Cause in our blood
is space travel.

♪ (SOFT DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI: Because we've come
from a known,

through an unknown,
to an unknown.

And that's all
that space travel is.

If anybody can find
what there is in this darkness,

it's Black women.

♪ (DISCORDANT ETHEREAL MUSIC
PLAYS) ♪

♪ (DISCORDANT ETHEREAL MUSIC
FADES) ♪

-(HORNS HONKING)
-(RAPID HUMMING)

-(HUMMING STOPS)
-(HORNS CONTINUE HONKING)

♪ (SOFT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(LIVELY CHATTER)

-Thank you so much.
-Thank you.

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER)

Thank you so much.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS, CHEERS)

Here in the Apollo Theater,

-our card-carrying members...
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

...of the Nikki Giovanni
fan club.

-(NIKKI LAUGHING)
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS, CHEERS)

So, Nikki, say something about

-the role of friends...
-(CHUCKLES)

-...in your life.
-You know, I'm not friendly.

-And-- (GIGGLES)
-JOHNNETTA COLE: That's why

I asked the question.

-I'm not friendly.
-You're the last person

you would think.

NIKKI: I'm fortunate,
you know, that I'm polite,

but I'm not friendly.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS, APPLAUDS)

JOHNNETTA: I know, Nikki,

you don't just think of yourself
as yourself.

You sure write
in a collective sense.

-You write for all of us.
-NIKKI: But, Johnnetta...

I honestly think that the most
important word to me is duty.

JOHNNETTA:
Let's... let's hear it.

NIKKI: I just think
there are things you have to do.

When all,
for lack of a better word,

the shit hits the fan,
you're still gonna stand up

-and do the right thing.
-Mm-hmm.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

Our people have.
The history of our people

is a great history.

And it's our duty
to tell that story.

♪ (DRUMBEATS PLAYING) ♪

(BIRDS CAWING)

NIKKI: My great grandfather
was a slave.

My grandfather attended
Fisk University.

He wanted to be a Latin scholar,
was a Latin scholar, in fact.

It's just that
he couldn't find a job,

because nobody was hiring
Black men to be Latin scholars

at that particular point,

but he was a dreamer
is my point.

And his dream was not realizable

because of a number
of situations.

So he became a Latin teacher
in a local high school

and he did very well.

He took care of his wife
and his three children.

My mother had me.
I'm also a dreamer.

But I don't understand
why my dreams can't come true.

So, I will continue to do

what my grandfather
could not do. I will fight.

-HOST: Mm-hmm.
-I'm a fighter.

And my son
should not have to fight

the same battles that I fought.

I'm a native Tennessean,
I was born there.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

NIKKI:
During the age of segregation

when you couldn't go
to the same amusement park

or the same movie theater,
when the White guys

would cruise up and down
the street and call out to you,

when the Black guys
were afraid of being lynched.

But we went to Church
each Sunday

and we sang a precious song,

and we found a way
not to survive,

anything can survive,

but to thrive and believe
and hope.

I'm a native Tennessean,
I was born there,

but I was only two months old
when my mother and father

moved my sister and me
to Cincinnati,

where neighborhoods
were redlined,

but at least Mommy
could get a job teaching

and Daddy could get a job
behind a desk. And after all,

if you are a college graduate,
that's the least you can expect.

-(TRAIN CHUGGING)
-♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(DOG BARKING)

NIKKI:
My father got a scholarship

to Knoxville College
where my mother lived.

They fell in love.

The yearbook
had a picture of my mother.

And it says, "When you see her,
you surely must

at the same time think of Gus."

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI:
It was a stormy relationship

at various points,
but we know that deprivation

gives us stormy relationships.

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC FADES) ♪

NIKKI: So,
what are we looking for?

DRIVER: We're trying to get
to Jackson Street.

NIKKI: We're trying
to get to... (LAUGHS)

-Lincoln Heights? Okay.
-DRIVER: Lincoln Heights.

This is Pendry. Go down Pendry.

-DRIVER: Left or right?
-NIKKI: Left.

(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

NIKKI: I shared a bedroom
with my sister,

and my bed was by the window.

When you start to look
at things that have been

changed so much,

I mean, it's very hard--
I couldn't begin as I say.

If this is what it appears
to me, this is asphalt.

And so, it's a piece of asphalt.

If that's the case,
the house was there.

'Cause it wasn't a big house.

♪ (DISCORDANT ETHEREAL MUSIC
PLAYS) ♪

When you have parents who...

have difficulties as a kid,
what you have to do is, uh...

you have to have an imagination,

and you have to step out
of their relationship

and figure out what you want.

-(DOGS BARKING)
-♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: I know crying is a skill.

I automatically wipe my eyes

even though I know
crying is a skill.

Maybe I will learn.
My mother did

when she thought I was asleep.
I think my sister did sleep,

but sleeping is difficult
to me as crying.

I laugh easily and I smile,
and withhold any true feelings.

♪ (DREAMY MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

♪ (DREAMY MUSIC FADES) ♪

CREW MEMBER:
Your book is wonderful.

Oh, thank you.
You want me to sit closer?

-Okay. Yeah.
-(INDISTINCT TV CHATTER)

You're comfortable
the way you're sitting?

HOST: I'm just gonna
label these for you.

NIKKI:
"Maybe I should be happy I found

my mother in someone else
who loves me."

"What else really matters?"

That's our guest Nikki Giovanni

reading from her poem
"I Married My Mother."

Where to begin?

Well, let's begin
with the crying part.

You're not a crier?

You're smiling at me
as I ask you this question.

I grew up because my father--

And I'm trying
to understand more,

but my father was cruel.

And it seemed
like my mother needed,

I don't know,
protection or something.

"Who was there? Who looked?

Where was the camera
that Saturday night?

My father hit my mother so hard

she literally flew
across the living room

and fell against
the windowpane

like a rag doll.

I watched.
I watched over Mommy.

I hear her say,
'Please don't hit me,'

but he does.

She says to me,

'What goes on in our house,
stays in our house.'

Who saw what I heard?

Who knows
how to make sense of it?

And we want to save the world?

What about my mother?
I am a witness.

I don't need an overseas enemy.
I have my father.

And the band played on."

Did you see him as the enemy?

I went to live with Grandmother
shortly after...

after that, because it was...
(CHUCKLES)

...well, I shouldn't say this
on the radio, I guess,

but it was clear that either
I was going to kill him

or I had to move, and so...

I decided to move.
But the funny thing was,

you know, Grandmother
and I never discussed it,

but I know
that Grandmother knew

that her daughter
was in trouble. I know that.

♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: I don't understand
how on one hand

you say you're talking
about, like, a Black man.

That he can be nothing
in the streets

and so fearful in his home.

That he can be brutalized
by some White person somewhere,

and then come home and treat--

You know, I mean,
me, my mother...

-JAMES BALDWIN: It's got to...
-...the same way

that he was being treated.

Which perpetuates-- I mean,
you take somebody like me

-I'm not married, right?
-BALDWIN: Yes, but Nikki...

NIKKI:
I couldn't play my mother.

-BALDWIN: Yes, I know.
-You know what I mean?

I just couldn't deal with it.
I said no.

But, Nikki, it's also true
that since your mother

played that role,
you haven't got to.

You say mistreated,
or I say mistreated, no.

But in the per-- In the mind
of the person who is doing it,

he's not mistreating you.

NIKKI:
No, I'm not dealing with that.

Let's say, in the mind of,
let's say, your father,

who is just an example,
or the mind of my father.

You know what I mean?
He is being mistreated.

I'm not gonna deal
with the cracker

that's mistreating him.
I'm gonna deal with him.

He knows
that he is not being treated

with the respect due him
as a person, as a Black man.

Okay? In order to, like,
get that together

when he comes into that house,

he begins to, like, brutalize
my mother, for example.

You see what I mean?

Which becomes
like a phenomenon to me,

because I don't like
White people

and I'm afraid of Black men,
right?

If you can follow
what I'm saying,

without anybody writing
a letter and saying "Sister,"

you know what I mean?
Okay, so what do you do?

BALDWIN: Listen, you have to,
I think what you have--

It's a cycle.

And that's unfortunate
because I need love.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

NIKKI: The one thing
that I did know

is whatever life would be,
I knew I had to create myself.

So, I wrote a poem,
"Nikki-Rosa."

Childhood remembrances
are always a drag,

but I also knew it could not
determine who I was.

So I'm gonna write a line

that says,
"And though we were poor,

it's not poverty
that concerned me."

INTERVIEWER: What did it feel
like to wake up at 11?

Well, you want something
that I'm obviously,

clearly not ever gonna give you

or anybody else, so you can
find another question.

(LAUGHS) I don't know
how else to say that.

But I was not asleep.

And I knew that it was Saturday,
so I knew what to expect.

But...

You're wanting me to go

to someplace
that I'm not gonna go

because it'll make me unhappy.

And I refuse to be unhappy
about something

I can do nothing about.

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: So, I selected happiness

and I put that
which was unhappy away.

I chose not to grieve.

(STATIC HISSING)

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"I brush my teeth, I smile,

but there is always this frown.

I think I'll run away
with the ants

and live on Mars."

(VEHICLES HONKING)

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC FADES) ♪

NIKKI: That thing is com--
Christmas is coming.

And I like Christmas okay,

but I really hate Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

Don't you?

And it's like, "Whoa,
what is wrong with you?"

And all of the other reindeers
would laugh and call him names.

What the hell is that?

-And--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

NIKKI: No.

I wanna know
where was Mr. Santa Claus

and Mrs. Santa Claus?

They saw what was going on
with Rudolph.

Why didn't some of them come out
and get that corrected?

But the minute
they needed something, right?

One foggy Christmas Eve,
then Santa's there, you know,

"Hey, Rudolph, we need you."

Rudolph should have
told him to kiss--

-Rudolph--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING, WHOOPING)

(SNIFFLES)
He should have. (LAUGHS)

Some of us in this room
are in some ways different.

And I just wanted to say,
you know, remember Rudolph

and that Rudolph should have
cursed him out,

because you don't have
any reason to be sucking up

under them dumbass reindeer

-who are talking about you.
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

NIKKI: Because anybody
that has any talent in this room

is lonely.

Whether you can sing,

whether you can shoot
a basketball,

whether you can play foo--

I don't care
what it is you can--

If you've got a talent...

you're lonely.

And so what you wanna do
is go on with your life.

Because at some point
you're gonna find somebody

who is lonely as you are.

And then you will build
your community.

(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)

HOST: So just come on up
and take a mic.

SPECTATOR 1: Would you ever say
that some of your poems

were inspired by stress or hate?

SPECTATOR 2:
Were you ever bullied

by your skin color
when you were younger?

SPECTATOR 3: What would you say
your life was like

whenever you just
felt depressed?

SPECTATOR 4:
If you could describe yourself

in three words,
what would it be?

(LAUGHS) I'm okay.

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(CHUCKLES)

NIKKI: I like myself,
you know, I mean...

I'm very fortunate

that I just don't care
what people think about me.

And I'm just incredibly
fortunate about that.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

SPECTATOR 5: Have you ever had
like a breakdown,

or you couldn't take it anymore,
where you just can't do it?

Have you ever had a breakdown?
Where you just couldn't take it?

-♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-(CLOCK TICKING)

NIKKI:
You gotta love people that said,

"I don't care what it is,
I'm gonna find a way to smile."

And I know
that there are people that try

to laugh at those Negros,
that try to laugh--

"Oh, they didn't know
what they were doing."

They knew
that they had to stay sane

and that they had to love.

I think Black people
are wonderful.

They're great people.

And I think it's time
that we recognize that.

That's the way
I look at the history.

(SNIFFLES) But I'm just a poet,
nobody listened to me.

That's the truth.

But that's why the new book
is called A Good Cry,

because I'm learning
to let it go. I don't...

I don't have to be strong
or brave.

I don't have to...

I don't have to do
anything for anybody.

I educated my son,
I paid for my house,

my car is paid for.

I can live my life
as I fucking well please.

So if I wanna cry,
I can do that too. (SNIFFLES)

VIRGINIA "GINNEY" FOWLER:
All right.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

-(SMOOCHES)
-(CLEO BARKING)

-Shame on you.
-(LAUGHS)

-GINNEY: Jealous dog.
-NIKKI: Tell Zena.

I will. Stay!

-NIKKI: Cleo.
-Stay.

-NIKKI: Cleo...
-(CLEO WHIMPERING)

(DIAL TONE RINGING)

NIKKI: (QUIETLY) Get over here.

(DIAL TONE RINGING)

TOM: (OVER PHONE)
Hey, Nikki. How are you doing?

NIKKI: (CHUCKLING)
I'm fine, Tom. How are you?

TOM: I'm great. It's great
to hear your voice.

Well, I was calling
because I've been doing

some research on "Encore."

Because I'm thinking
about possibly doing something

about the magazine...

-NIKKI: Oh.
-TOM: ...and its impact,

but I'm trying to speak
to all the contributors also.

Right now, Tom, and I'm not--
I hate to say this,

because it always sounds
like I don't care.

But I've had a seizure
and I know who I am.

Though they gave me
a bracelet and I wear it,

and it says who Nikki is,
just in case I get lost.

But a lot of things
I don't remember.

I remember the magazine

and it was wonderful,
and I think it was good.

-So I don't know...
-TOM: Okay. Okay.

...that I'm gonna be
all that helpful.

TOM:
Oh, I think you would be great.

I mean as much as you
can contribute with, uh,

-would mean a great deal to me.
-Well...

TOM: But I understand
your health situation.

-So I really do understand that.
-Well...

TOM: I don't want you to think
I'm being insensitive...

No, no, no.

TOM: ...and not understand.

And if there's anything
I can help you with,

you know,
don't hesitate to let me know.

TOM: Thank you so much
for giving me a call back.

Well, you take care and tell
all your folks I said hello.

-TOM: I will. Take care. Bye.
-Okey-doke, bye-bye.

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: A seizure is a seizure.

I'm only gonna
come back so much.

(STATIC HISSING)

NIKKI: You have to recognize...
Well, there's a limit

to what you can do.

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"This is what I think.

I have been blessed
with a poor memory."

(TAPE REWINDING)

NARRATOR: "I have forgotten
crazy night sweats.

I have forgotten crying.

I don't remember my anger

at witnessing
the face of Emmett Till..."

-(GARBLED CHATTER)
-NARRATOR: "...nor my fear

when four little girls
were murdered one Sunday."

(LOUD RUMBLING)

♪ (EERIE DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(GURNEY RATTLING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.:
What murdered these...

four girls?

Look around.

You will see that many people
that you never thought about

participated...

in this evil act.

♪ (PENSIVE PIANO MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

(TRAIN RUMBLING)

NIKKI:
Modern Civil Rights Movement

was started by the murder

of a young man
named Emmett Till.

Ten weeks after

Emmett Till's body
in August was discovered

Rosa Parks said, "No."

And I wrote a poem for her.

(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)

NIKKI: And I wanted to find
a way to start it

the way I thought it started.

So actually in dealing
with Mrs. Parks,

I started, of course,
with the Pullman porters.

Because America would be
an extremely different place

without the Pullman porters.

(CUTLERY CLINKING)

NIKKI: "This is for
the Pullman porters who helped

Thurgood Marshall go South
and come back North

to fight the fight
that resulted in

Brown v. Board of Education.

This is for the Pullman porters
who smiled as if they were happy

and laughed
like they were tickled

when some folks were around.

This is for the Pullman porters
who smiled and welcomed

a 14-year-old boy
onto their train in 1955.

They noticed his slight limp
that he tried to disguise

with a doo-wop walk.

They noticed his stutter
and probably understood

why his mother wanted him
out of Chicago

during the summer
when school was out.

Fourteen-year-old Black boys
with limps and stutters

are apt to try to prove
themselves in dangerous ways

when mothers aren't around
to look after them.

So this is
for the Pullman porters

who looked over that 14-year-old

while the train rolled
the reverse of Blues Highway.

From Chicago to St. Louis,
to Memphis, to Mississippi.

This is for the men
who kept him safe.

And if Emmett Till had been able
to stay on that train all summer

he would have maybe
grown a bit of a paunch,

certainly lost his hair,
probably have worn bifocals,

and bounced his grandchildren
on his knee.

Telling them about
his summer riding the rails.

But he had
to get off that train.

And ended up
in Money, Mississippi.

And was horribly, brutally,
inexcusably,

and unacceptably murdered."

(WAVES LAPPING)

NIKKI: "This is for
the Pullman porters who,

when the sheriff was trying to
get that body secretly buried,

got Emmet's body
on the northbound train.

Got his body home to Chicago

where his mother said,
'I want the world to see

what they did to my boy.'

And this is
for all the mothers who cried.

And this is for all the people
who said, 'Never again.'

And it was Mrs. Rosa Parks
who could not stand that death.

And in not being able
to stand it,

she sat back down."

♪ ("THE WOMEN GATHER"
BY NIKKI GIOVANNI PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: "The women gather

because it is not unusual
to seek comfort

in our hours of stress.

It is not unusual
that the old bury the young.

Though it is an abomination.

It is not strange
that the unwise

and the ungentle carry
the banner of humaneness

though it is a castration
of the spirit.

The women gathered
with cloth and ointments,

their busy hands bowing
to laws that decree.

Willows shall stand
swaying but unbroken

against even
the determined wind of death."

♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

My pretty girl...

-Hey! (LAUGHS)
-(NIKKI LAUGHING)

I like that. So, how are you?

-Doing good. How are you?
-Good. (LAUGHS)

-I'm hanging in there.
-How's Ginney doing?

NIKKI: She's doing pretty good.
She's not with me, um...

Actually, Ginney's
not the problem right now

I'm pretty much
the problem right now.

So, we're not, you know,
doing a big deal with it,

but I'm having surgery
on the 21st.

-What's happening?
-Oh...

-Do you wanna not talk about it?
-No, I mean, it's not a big--

I'm not gonna announce it,
but you know, uh...

Uh, it probably is a cancer,

but it's a-- You know,
like, what do you call it?

A breast-- You know,
a thing in the breast.

So, she's just
gonna take it out.

-Why take a chance?
-Why take a chance.

NIKKI: Yeah,
and having had lung cancer,

you know, they took
the left lung out.

So, you don't wanna, you know...

Dr. Abrams's like,

"Oh, you know, you'll be able
to go home the same night."

I said,
"Sweetie, this is my tit.

If it was your tit, maybe
you go home the same night.

My tit, I'm going to stay."

I see my granddaughter.

Hey!

-Hey. Well, looky here. Ah!
-Hey.

(NIKKI LAUGHING)

-How are you?
-Good.

Good.
How did she get to be this tall?

THOMAS GIOVANNI:
She's almost your height.

NIKKI: When are we gonna get
those folks to let you come down

so you can learn how to play
bid whist and fry some chicken?

I haven't seen you since

-Las Vegas.
-KAI GIOVANNI: Yeah.

THOMAS: No. We saw...
One time when we had dinner.

Remember? You came by.
We had dinner one time.

-But yeah. It's been a while.
-NIKKI: I've had a...

-It's been a long time.
-THOMAS: It has.

It really has, yeah!

I wanna say a couple of things
before I forget

'cause my mind's not good.

Well, it's not,
and I have to recognize that.

And I don't mean
to embarrass him

or anything, but it's a pleasure

that my son has joined me
this evening, Thomas Giovanni.

-(CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

And my very lovely
granddaughter, Kai. (CHUCKLES)

Yay.

NIKKI: The book is A Good Cry
and I learned to cry.

And probably the only person
in this room

that understands that is Thomas,

'cause I don't think Thomas
has ever seen me cry,

because I always made
a point of not to.

Some of the folks may know,
some of them may not know,

that you have "dreams" of going
to outer space--

is the wrong word.
You have an imperative.

Tell them why.

Well, you know, so again,
I hate to say it, but--

No, I don't hate to say it,
but we're Black women.

If this--
coming to this country...

(CHUCKLING)
...wasn't an alien situation,

being forced
to have sex with aliens,

-having to learn--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

We did.

They were screwing us
and what we did was,

whatever they put in us,
we... we held it,

and then we birthed it,

and then we named it,
and we loved it.

Why wouldn't we do that in Mars?

Why wouldn't we do that
in Jupiter?

Why wouldn't...
why wouldn't that same energy,

that same love,
that brought us here

and helped us to make this
a potentially great place,

why wouldn't that
same energy work? Of course.

♪ (SERENE DREAMY MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

(WAVES CRASHING)

-(QUINDAR TONE BEEPING)
-(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

(ECHOING RUMBLING)

NIKKI: When they came
to these shores,

they maintained
a humane quality.

And it's been a phenomenon.

These people decided
to fight a war with a song.

They decided to fight
a cultural war.

With love.

(WATER TRICKLING)

(RUMBLING)

NIKKI: When we go to Mars,
it's the same thing.

It's Middle Passage.
When the rocket red glares,

the astronauts will be able
to see themselves

pull away from Earth.
As the ship goes deeper,

they will see a sparkle of blue.

And then one day, not only
will they not see Earth,

they won't know
which way to look.

And that's why NASA
needs to call Black America.

They need to ask us,
"How did you calm your fears?"

"How were you able
to decide you were human

even when everything said
you were not?"

"How did you find the comfort
in the face of the improbable?

To make the world
you came to, your world?"

(CHILDREN LAUGHING)

NIKKI: "How was your soul
able to look back and wonder?"

(WATER GUSHING)

NIKKI: The first thing
that's gonna happen

in Middle Passage,
is the spiritual.

Because it's gonna give us
the spirit to go forward.

It's gonna be that...

♪ (HUMMING SPIRITUAL MELODY) ♪

We didn't have any language
that was universal.

So the only thing
that's gonna be universal,

the only thing that can
be spoken is gonna be music.

And who's going
to communicate with them?

Who's gonna say,

"Somehow we're gonna
make it through."

Has to be a woman.

'Cause it was your grandmother.
When things went wrong,

it was your grandmother
that said, "It'll be all right."

(BURBLING)

PEARL CLEAGE:
It's often true, I think,

that there is one person
in a family

who gets it,
who understands that this child

is a little different,
but she's a writer.

And it's my understanding
that your grandmother

was that person
in your family for you.

Yeah, can we talk a little bit
about your grandmother?

NIKKI: Yeah.

And we got tissues,
so you can cry

all you want to. It's okay.

You know, I still remember
grandmother's phone number.

It's 3-1-5-9-3.

Um...

-Yeah.
-PEARL: Yeah.

I just don't-- I don't know
where we'd be without...

without the grandmothers,
period.

Not just mine, one of the--

You know, you're not
that much younger,

but you'd look at Civil Rights
just a smidgen different.

But one of the things

that definitely happened
to people my age

is that we had choices.

We could tell our grandmothers
we can't do it.

-PEARL: Mm-hmm.
-Or we could change the world.

It was way easier

-to change the world.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

-(PEARL LAUGHING)
-NIKKI: It was.

♪ (OLD-TIMEY RADIO FANFARE
PLAYING) ♪

RADIO JOCKEY: (ON RADIO)
The new Rich's

opening Monday, August 29
in Knoxville.

♪ (OLD-TIMEY RADIO FANFARE
PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SPIRITED PENSIVE MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: And I never
liked to picket, you know.

I mean, some people got
really high off of picketing.

All of that stuff
scared the crap out of me.

But the day that the kids
were bombed in Birmingham.

Right? And that was a Sunday.

'Cause in a way,
the Birmingham bombing was war.

And all of the old women--
that's when adults were adults--

all of the old women
and men went to churches

all over Knoxville,

and they were trying to decide
what to do

and they decided to picket.

And once you came in the house,

Grandmother had
one of those looks.

and she said "Nikki"
and I thought, "Uh-huh."

-(PEARL LAUGHING)
-I recognized the tone.

She said, "Nikki, we decided
we're going to picket."

And I said, "Yes, Grandmother."
'Cause that was the answer.

Then she said,

"And they called
for volunteers," and I said...

-(PEARL LAUGHING)
-"...Yes, Grandmother."

She said, "And I told them
John Brown and I..."

'Cause that's my grandfather.
"John Brown and I were too old,

-but my granddaughter was here."
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

I did mention, I said,
"Does Mommy know"

you're trying to get me killed?"

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-But she gave me a hug

and thought I was kidding.

♪ (STUDENT CHOIR VOCALIZING) ♪

CROWD: ♪ Go, go, go
Go, go, go Bulldogs ♪

♪ Go, go, go
Go, go, go Bulldogs ♪

♪ Go, go, go
Go, go, go Bulldogs ♪

♪ Go, go, go
Go, go, go Bulldogs ♪

(ALL CHEERING)

♪ (SOFT PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: I went to Fisk.

I was there with John Lewis
and Diane Nash.

We sat in, in Nashville.

PROTESTER: I asked a waitress
for a hamburger and a Coke.

I said, "I'm sorry,
our management

does not allow us
to serve niggers in here."

REPORTER: In the winter
and early spring of 1960,

the efforts of Nashville's
Negro college students

had led to the integration
of lunch counters

at six department
and variety stores.

But they were still
excluded from eating

at the city's downtown
drug stores and restaurants,

train depot, and the bus stop...

-PEARL: You enrolled twice.
-(NIKKI LAUGHING)

The first time you were expelled
after a run-in

with the conservative dean
of women.

Your grandmother
was very much in your corner,

but Fisk didn't really care

about anybody being
in your corner

and they asked you to leave.

I wasn't really good
at taking a lot of stuff.

I think I had a lot of anger.

♪ (STUDENT CHOIR SINGING) ♪

NIKKI: Dean Cheatham and I
had different visions

of what a lady is,
and what a woman should do.

♪ (STUDENT CHOIR
CONTINUES SINGING) ♪

NIKKI:
But I also realized, you know,

all of my strengths
are here up, right?

It's all in my head,

so that means I have
to go back to school.

Could I have enrolled
at University of Cincinnati

or something? Sure.

But if I'm having
a failure at Fisk,

then I need to go back to Fisk.

So I borrowed a friend's car
and drove down

and wanted to meet
the dean of women.

'Cause I figured if I couldn't
get along with the dean,

I'm not gonna
make it the second time.

-So that's gonna be a waste.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

How important
was John O Killens's workshop

to you at that moment?

NIKKI:
John Killens had

the first Black Arts Festival
at Fisk.

And we had LeRoi Jones,
he was LeRoi Jones then.

That's when he was,

"Up against the wall,
motherfucker.

This is a stickup," you know?
I mean we just adored him.

Negro Digest sent
David Lawrence down.

♪ (SERENE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: David asked everybody
to write something.

That was my first experience
in publishing,

and I was just very lucky.

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI:
I'm basically a city girl.

I went to New York,
I think I was 22,

23 years old, I don't...

I don't actually
remember right now.

I guess just '67,
whatever that amounts to.

One of things I wanted to do,
of course, was write.

And in writing,
one of the skills

that I wanted to take
to the New York experience

was small-town skills.

And this is like,
this is when Nikki was crazy.

My mother's a jazz fan

and I wanted to do
something for Mommy.

New York is, you know,

none of the clubs
are open on Sunday.

So, I went to Birdland.

There's a guy there,
Harold Logan.

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: I went down
and introduced myself

and had my book
and I said I'd like to,

you know, have a book party
on a Sunday

since you're closed anyway.

His position was,
"What do I get?"

Because he's a businessman
and he's a thug.

And I said, "Well...

what do you need?" (CHUCKLES)

Because I didn't have any--
I didn't have any money.

You know, it didn't matter.
What do you need?

And he said, "Okay, Giovanni."
Giovanni, like that.

He said, "Okay, Giovanni,
bring me a hundred people.

And the club is free.

Ninety-nine people
and you'll have to pay me."

I said, "That's fair enough."

'Cause I think I can get
100 people to do anything.

My friend, Morgan Freeman,

he was my next-door neighbor.
Morgan read for me.

Novella Nelson read for me.

A bunch of people, you know.
So it was gonna be fun.

But Birdland sits,

or at that point,
it sat almost--

What do you-- Catty-cornered
to the New York Times.

So people started coming early
because it was free.

And then, the line

went out, and then the line
turned a corner.

And by that time

New York Times is looking down
and seeing

predominantly Black people
lined up.

So they went-- they sent
a reporter down

to see what's going on.

And finally, the reporter
came up and said,

"I'm looking for Nick Giovanni.
Do you know where he is?"

And I-- "I'm Nick Giovanni."

(LAUGHS) You know.
"You're looking for me."

"No, no, I'm looking
for Nick Giovanni."

"I'm Nikki Gio--" You know,

it just took him
a minute to realize.

And he said, "What is this?"

And the answer was,
"Black Judgement is coming."

(LAUGHING)

If you see a first edition
of that book, it's beautiful.

But I said, well,

who's gonna publish
my poetry, right?

Nobody. So I called
my grandmother

and I asked a few other people

to give me a loan
and I had the book published.

I had 1,000 copies of it.
So you have to sell it, right?

And I sent five copies here,
five copies there,

asked the people to sell it.

They sold and, you know,
you get these little checks

for three dollars, you know?

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI:
"Walking down Fifth Avenue

in my bell-bottoms
and Earth shoes,

smoking a cigarette

because I didn't know
the dangers of lung cancer,

nor the pleasures of wine.

There was a bookstore
on this corner

and that corner.

Life was difficult
for a Black girl with no money,

who only had a dream
of talent measured by truth.

But passing those bookstores
with a confident smoke,

there was possibility.
Always the possibility."

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC FADES) ♪

LEWIS MICHAUX:
I was lecturing the other day

down in this same cellar,

and a gang
of little Black boys came in.

They held up their fists.

Talking about Black power.
I said, "Look, son,

I'd like to straighten
you out." I said, "Black...

is beautiful,
but Black isn't power.

Knowledge is power."

NIKKI:
The day that Mr. Michaux said,

"Giovanni, you have a minute?"

Because, you know,
underneath he had that cellar

and he had
the coffee from Ghana,

and when he asked me
if I could stay,

and have the coffee with you,

I thought, "Oh shit,
I'm important."

-(LAUGHS)
-(NIKKI CHUCKLING)

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)

SPECTATOR: Where were you
on April 4th, 1968?

(AUDIENCE MURMURING)

-I don't know.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

I know what it was. You know,
Martin was killed.

I just don't know where I was.
I don't know. I'm sorry.

SPECTATOR: But how did
that day affect you?

I'm sure it's a good question,
but I'm not--

I've already answered and I...

I can't take it any further.

I don't know what else
to say about it. I'm sorry.

I really am.

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"What can I, a poor Black woman,

do to destroy America?

This is a question
with appropriate variations

being asked
in every Black heart.

There is one answer.

I can kill.

There is one compromise.
I can protect those who kill.

There is one cop-out.
I can encourage others to kill.

There are no other ways.

The assassination
of Martin Luther King

is an act of war.

And some honky asked
about the reaction.

What do you people want?

Isn't it enough
that you killed him?

You wanna tell me how to mourn?

You want to determine
how, I, a lover,

should respond
to the death of my beloved?

May he rest in peace.

May his blood choke the life
of ten hundred million Whites.

May the warriors in the streets
go ever forth into the stores

for guns and TVs,
for whatever makes them happy."

STOKELY CARMICHAEL: I think
the country made a mistake

when they killed Dr. King.

Would've been far better

if they killed Rap Brown
or myself.

Because then they could say
to Black people

that, uh, we're preaching guns
and he who preaches--

who lives by the sword,
will die by the sword.

But they couldn't
do that for Dr. King,

because he preached love.

And there is no possible way
for them to...

to make an excuse
of Dr. King's killing.

So, when they killed Dr. King,
they just opened up the eyes

of a lot of Black people.

♪ (EERIE PENSIVE MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: "When I was a teenager,

I used to sit
on front porch steps

conversing the gym teacher's son
with embryonic eyes

about the essential essence
of the universe,

recognizing the basic
powerlessness of me.

But then I went to college

where I learned that
just because everything I was

was unreal,

I could be real.

And not just real
through withdrawal

and through
emotional crosshairs

or colored-bourgeois
intellectual pretensions,

but from involvement with things
approaching reality.

I could possibly have a life.

So catatonic emotions

and time-wasting sex games
were replaced

with functioning commitments
to logic and necessity.

For a while, progress was made

along with a certain degree
of happiness.

'Cause I wrote a book
and found a love,

and organized a theater
and even gave some lessons,

some lectures on Black history,
and began to believe

all good people
could get together

and win without bloodshed.

Then Hammarskjöld was killed,
and Lumumba was killed,

and Diem was killed,
and Kennedy was killed,

and Malcolm was killed,
and Evers was killed.

and Schwerner, Chaney,
and Goodman were killed,

and King was killed,
and Kennedy was killed.

And sometimes I wonder why
I didn't become a debutante

sitting on doctors' porches,
going to church all the time,

wondering, 'is my eye makeup
on straight?'

Or a withdrawn, discoursing
on the stars and the moon.

Instead of a for real
Black person

who must now feel
and inflict pain."

BALDWIN: But sweetheart...

What you're saying
is very, very serious.

I'm not in the least denying it,
'cause you're perfectly right.

I'm not being a missionary

-trying to save America.
-(LAUGHS)

But I do know that--
I do know that...

we have paid too much
for it to be able to abandon it.

We can never abandon it.

I don't think
that that's a question,

because where else
are we gonna go?

I mean, nobody else wants us.

-But in any case...
-That's the truth.

In any case, my father
and my father's father

has paid too much for it.

I've paid too much for it.

-I'm only 28.
-Yes, yes.

'Cause, like,
I deserve, you know,

to do whatever
I wanna do with it.

-Mm-hmm.
-You know, whatever that means.

Well, I-- personally,
I'm just not interested

in many things
that people are interested in.

I'm not interested
in the president or a Congress.

Because it's still somebody
trying to run my life.

I'm not interested
in movements and ideologies.

I just don't give a damn.

♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: For the first two years
I was in New York,

I was just
taking care of myself.

But then after I had Thomas,
I had responsibilities, right?

And I didn't have a job
and didn't want a job,

wasn't looking for a job,

which meant that I had
to earn a living

from my poetry.
I had to buy diapers,

and for the first time
in my life,

I had to buy food for somebody.

I'd be on the road, uh...

I don't know,
48 weeks out of 52?

And so Thomas, of course,
is nomadic.

I mean, I'm sure to some degree
he felt like

life was more on an airplane

than anyplace else
'cause I took him with me

until he was able
to go to school.

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"My son is so lucky.

I had him educated, vaccinated,
and gave him swimming lessons.

He is unhappy.

He doesn't know that's love."

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

I have a son.

So I think I have some
insight into young men.

It is a sad thing sometimes
to be a Black man.

I rode off to colleges
for applications.

I did my little mother thing

so that he would know
what's available.

I took him around
to colleges and everything.

But he still did
wanna go to Paris,

because he said
he wanted to find himself.

I have to laugh at my son

because I'm always
under the impression

you cannot find something
where you didn't lose it.

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI:
We were sitting around talking

and I said, you know, "Have you
thought about college?"

"Well, I'm not ready."

I said, "Tell you what,
I have a counter offer here.

How about you go to the army,
or you get out of my life?"

-So...
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

It worked very well.
He went to the army.

-I'm very proud of him. (LAUGHS)
-(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)

I am. He's soldier of the week
or something,

I get letters
from his commanding officer.

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-It's been fun. It's been great.

Because my son grew up
with a bunch of women

and some of you all did.

And I'm like probably
any other parent.

You know,
he likes his milk glass

chilled in the morning.
So I would, you know,

wake up in the morning

and put his milk glass
in the freezer,

so that it would be nice
and cold for him.

He went to the army,
not only was the glass not cold,

-the milk wasn't. You know?
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

And that was a wonderful thing,
because my son realized

that everybody doesn't have
somebody who loves them.

Some of you
don't know that even yet.

Some of you think
the world is out there

and it's supposed to love you.

The world doesn't really
care very much.

Some of the world is hostile.

But, mostly, the world
doesn't give a damn.

And it's very hard
to get that across

to those of us
who are young men,

because you actually
get disappointed.

You know, your heart is hurt

that somebody
isn't being nice to you

or kind to you.

Reality says you're gonna
have to buck up.

♪ (SOFT PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Not since Kobe, no matter
what the day is.

Oh, that's right.

GINNEY: Nikki and her son
were estranged

for a number of years.

The last couple of years,
they began to...

get back together and...

she's crazy about having
this granddaughter,

who she's really gotten to know
only in the last year or two.

And she and her son are...

having a friendship again.

And that's good,
'cause now we're old and...

who knows how long
anybody will live.

THOMAS:
You look like Grandmother.

NIKKI: I look like Grandmother?

-THOMAS: Mm-hmm.
-NIKKI: No, is that... (LAUGHS)

No, you make-- She used to make
the same face

-kinda sitting around.
-NIKKI: Really?

THOMAS: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

NIKKI: Can you take a photo
of me and Kai?

If you don't mind.

This look okay to you?

-Yes.
-My face look okay?

Very nice.

REPORTER:
Tell us about the title
of your book.

I'm sorry?

REPORTER:
The title of your book.

Make Me Rain?

REPORTER: Yeah, and how did you
come up with that?

Actually, having Kai here,
that's why I wanted a picture.

If I'm rain, she's the blossom.

As you get older, which,

I'm the oldest person here,
of course,

one of the things you know

is that you wanna
leave something.

And the only way
to leave something

is to transition it.

And so rain
is what makes that possible.

-(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)
-PHOTOGRAPHER 1: And smile.

-PHOTOGRAPHER 2: Big smile...
-PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Yeah!

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

PHOTOGRAPHER 2:
Don't worry about those teeth.

-PHOTOGRAPHER 1: Perfect.
-(CHUCKLES)

(VEHICLES HONKING)

NIKKI: Pearl always says
I didn't babysit her

because I'm not that much
older than she is.

But what she forgets

is that the difference
between 20 and 12,

is-- it changes.

-When you're 20 and 28, right?
-(PEARL CHUCKLING)

And when you get to be
40 and 48, right?

It gets erased.

You're actually now
older than I am.

-Because--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

-(LAUGHS)
-Right?

Because she's
a grandmother and I'm not.

-And grandmothers--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

I could go out into the street
and get my head beat, right?

Or I could babysit

and be doing revolutionary duty.

This was a no-brainer.

-(PEARL LAUGHING)
-So...

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: Detroit was the center.

And Reverend Cleage
was very, very important.

ALBERT CLEAGE: Everybody knows
police brutality exists.

For police officers
to take our time,

to waste the time
of an entire nation,

talking about they never heard
of police brutality,

they don't know
what Black people

are talking about,

they can't prove it.
We know in Detroit,

any time a Black person
is brutalized by the police,

he goes into court
and he's arrested

for assault and battery.

Now, the basic issue
is so simple,

and nobody will even touch it,

because you're afraid
to touch it.

You are deliberately trying
to evade the issue.

-Everybody--
-(AUDIENCE CHEERING)

NIKKI: And Reverend Cleage knew
that he couldn't leave his kids.

Couldn't leave 'em alone.

And so he needed somebody
to stay with the kids.

I'd laugh, but it's true.

I said, "I'll stay.
I'll stay with 'em."

And, of course, you're gonna
turn the lights out

because everybody knew
where Reverend Cleage

and Mrs. Cleage lived.
And everybody knew...

how to go in and shoot them.
And so,

one of the things that Al,
his name was Al, that Al knew

was that I was not
gonna let his kids get killed.

During those days, of course,
everybody, you know, had a gun.

So, uh, you just prepare to...

to take care of the people
you're supposed to take care of.

I say violence is necessary.

Violence is a part
of America's culture.

It is as American as cherry pie.

It's not us
that's preaching violence.

It's not us
that's dealing violence.

It's us that are being
subjected to violence.

♪ (TENSE ETHEREAL MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"Nigger, can you kill?

Can you kill?

Can a nigger kill a honky?

Can a nigger kill the man?

Can you kill, nigger, huh?

Do you know how to draw blood?
Can you poison?

Can you kill?

Can you run a Protestant down
with your '68 El Dorado?

Can you kill?

Can you piss on a blonde head?
Can you cut it off?

Can you kill the nigger in you?

A nigger can die.

We ain't got to prove
we can die.

We got to prove we can kill.

We killed in Vietnam for them.

We kill for UN and NATO,
and SEATO and US,

and everywhere
for all alphabet but Black.

Can we learn to kill White
for Black?

Learn to kill, niggers.
Learn to be Black men."

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

(CROWD WHISTLING)

♪ (CROWD SINGING
"THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER") ♪

(LOUD CRASH)

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI: I like football.

And when I watch the young men,
I watch Colin,

and then we watch the others,
and they're takin' a knee.

Any man that gets on his knee,

-we know that's an act of love.
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)

NIKKI: We know that.
We know that.

They are on their knee,

and they're saying
to the Constitution,

"Do you love me?"

How wonderful

that they are saying
"I love you.

Now you have to love me back."

But I think
the most important thing

that we have to do now

is take the guns away
from policemen.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

And I know, some of you say
"Oh, Nikki,

if we take the guns
away from the policemen,

the policemen will get shot."

-Well, yes. They will.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

-NIKKI: These things happen.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

But you can't keep shooting
people who are unarmed.

(CROWD MURMURING)

NIKKI: Because I'm really sick
of people picking on Black men.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

In 1983, I wrote you
and you wrote me back.

I was in college ready to quit.

'Cause it was-- You know,
I was on a seven-year plan.

-So I... (CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

And you said, "Don't give up."

You told me not to give up.

I was at Florida A&M.
I didn't give up.

And I'm now a teacher
in Newark, New Jersey.

But I love you.
My sister used to read me you.

-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
-"Nikki-Rosa."

I felt you.

-(NIKKI LAUGHING)
-'Cause I know the pains.

"It's not your father's drinking
that makes any difference."

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(CROWD MURMURING)

GUEST 1: I loved tonight.
It was awesome.

-Thank you.
-GUEST 1: Yes!

Thank you for being
such an inspiration.

NIKKI: Oh, thank you.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

My daughter's name
is Maya Giovanni

-after you.
-(NIKKI LAUGHING)

-GUEST 2: Thank you so much.
-NIKKI: It's my pleasure.

GUEST 3: Ms. Giovanni,
I just wanna say

-it's an honor meeting you.
-It's my pleasure.

I'm a poet myself.
You're an inspiration to me.

I saw you, like,
on Def Jam Poetry.

GUEST 4: Now, I'm saying this,
and I have to get my phone out.

-(LAUGHS)
-GUEST 5: Thank you so much.

I just wanna let you know
that your unapologetic spirit

is what inspired me
to do my PhD.

GUEST 6: Aw, thank you so much.

GUEST 7: I've been following
you a long time. I love you.

-(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
-NIKKI: Well, thank you.

(RAIN PATTERING)

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC FADES) ♪

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: (ECHOING)
"I used to dream militant dreams

of taking over America

to show these White folks
how it should be done.

I used to dream radical dreams
of blowing everyone away

with my perceptive powers
of correct analysis.

I even used to think
I'd be the one to stop the riot

and negotiate the peace."

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

TOURÉ: In the evolution
of your career,

there's an irony
that as you became

more radicalized,
you work became more popular.

-Do you agree?
-NIKKI: No.

INTERVIEWER:
There is some really strong

revolutionary poetry
such as, "Can You Kill."

-What has changed?
-NIKKI: I've gotten older.

-INTERVIEWER: Have you?
-NIKKI: Sure. (CHUCKLES)

-INTERVIEWER: You--
-NIKKI: Haven't we all?

INTERVIEWER: You see, you have
a poem that begins

"I used to dream
militant dreams."

NIKKI: Yeah, "of taking over."

INTERVIEWER:
But you don't anymore?

NIKKI: The poem ends though,

"I awoke, and that if I dream
natural dreams..."

...of being a natural woman,

doing what a woman does
when she is natural,

-I would have a revolution."
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

INTERVIEWER: There are people
who express some disappointment

that you've changed.
How do you react to that?

NIKKI: I'm real sorry,

but I think that
my responsibility in my life

is to grow.

(CHANTING IN
SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGE)

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(FIRE CRACKLING)

(PROTESTERS CLAMORING)

TV REPORTER 1: (IN ENGLISH)
In Washington today,

Jesse Jackson joined the list
of prominent Americans arrested

in anti-apartheid protests.

-(GUNSHOT)
-(PROTESTERS SCREAMING)

TV REPORTER 2: Harry Belafonte,
Senator Lowell Weicker,

and Gloria Steinem
have something in common.

They are but a few
of the hundreds of Americans

who have been arrested
for demonstrating

against South African apartheid.

TV REPORTER 3: Nikki Giovanni
is strongly opposed to apartheid

but scornful
of the demonstrations.

NIKKI: I think it's really cheap
that you go over there at 4:15.

You're arrested
by quarter to five.

You're taken down
to the police station.

You're booked maybe 5:30.

You're home in time
for The Joker's Wild.

You haven't even missed
your favorite TV show.

HARRY BELAFONTE: Our protests
and the protests of so many

that represents the leadership
voice in this country

and who have come down
to Washington to demonstrate,

to lend themselves
to being arrested.

I've done a lot to bring Africa,
South Africa particularly,

to the consciousness
to the American people.

NIKKI: This is a movement
right now at the top.

There is no
bottom movement at all.

This is all head, no body.

You've got traditional
Black leadership group,

you've got celebrity-type names.

♪ (TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

I just don't see
no little old church ladies,

I don't see
the buses rolling up.

I don't see
the community organizing.

♪ (MUSIC TURNS PENSIVE) ♪

(WHIRRING)

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"Maybe you are crushed
against the wall.

But still I do know this.

You have to know who you are.

And you can't give up on that.

Or you will become
what you don't want to be."

(RAIN PATTERING)

(ERRATIC RHYTHMIC TICKING)

NIKKI: My father was a fool,
by the way.

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-Which-- He was.

Another reason that I know
I'm not going to heaven.

And I'm gonna
end up in hell with Gus,

'cause we have some things
to discuss.

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(NIKKI LAUGHING)

But one day the phone rang
and it was Mommy.

And she said, "You know, Nikki.
Your father's in a hospital."

And I knew that the next thing
I had to do was to be home.

So I bought Mommy a house.
I said we're moving.

And so we moved,
and now we're in my house.

So Gus and I
were having an argument.

He got upset
and he's gonna get up

and I said, "Gus,

the floor that you're
gettin' up on is my floor.

The chair you're leaning on
is my chair."

And so, now he's gettin' ready
to go to his bedroom

'cause he's angry with me.

And I said, "The bedroom
you're going in is my bedroom.

The mattress you're gonna
stretch out on is my mattress."

So now we have a conversation.

And I said, "Lemme tell you
what's gonna happen

for the rest of your life.

You're gonna wake up
in the morning

and you're gonna
smile at this woman

who put up with you
all of these years,

and you're gonna tell her
how happy you were

that she put up with you,

how much you love her

and all that she's done
for you."

I said, "Do you understand me?

You will smile
and tell your wife every morning

you love her.
Should you fail to do that,

I'm gonna have you put away.
Do you understand me?"

-So--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

-NIKKI: He knew I would too.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

Ultimately, though,
of course, he died.

And when he did,
you knew he was gonna die.

So when he died, you know,
we buried him.

-And I was talking to--
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

Well, I could've thrown him
in the backyard

and let the dogs eat him, but...

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(LEAVES RUSTLING)

NARRATOR: (AS NIKKI)
"Sometimes we share a poem

because people are near,

and they would notice me
noticing you.

So I write X and you write O
and we both win.

But always we share a poem
because belief predates action.

And I believe the most
beautiful poem ever heard

is your heart...

racing."

GINNEY:
I recruited Nikki

to this position here at Tech.

We had a program and I thought

she would be great
with students.

So we put together
a nomination package

and surprise, surprise,
she accepted

and came here in '87.

I became interested

in the academic
opposition to Nikki.

They didn't wanna
give her tenure.

Part of what they had
against her

is that she was a popular poet.

And popularity doesn't...

usually sit well with academics.

STUDENT: "Spring gave away
to these hot days,

before they fell
into the school bell ringing

and snowflakes falling.

I'm sure they'd cash today in
to be those girls again,

to drive a Power Wheel outside

and be home
when the streetlight came on."

I think it's one
of your best pieces.

Thank you.
I wrote it on the Megabus

back home to see my family.

-(GIGGLES)
-(LAUGHS)

And buses are to be recom--

I really-- Don't you think
it's one of her best pieces?

I think that we as writers,

as we are sharing
the things that are essential,

that are important to us,
that are important to our...

to our hearts,
that we want to share,

then we share that.

And if somebody learns
something from it, we're happy.

And somebody
comes up to us, you know,

in 20 years and says,
"Oh, I read your poem,

you know, when I was 17,
and it meant so much to me."

You couldn't be happier.

But you didn't write that poem
to instruct them.

You wrote that poem...

because you had something
on your mind or on your heart

and you shared it.

So it's not that
we use our talent

to tell people what to do,

it's that we use
our vulnerability to share...

the love in our hearts,
don't you think?

I really do. I really do.

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: I know that you can be
with a lot of people.

And there's still,
there's just part of you

that belongs to you.

Especially artists.

Because this is how
you get your art done.

This is the price you pay.

I'm fortunate
because I'm a poet,

and poets are allowed
to be hopeful.

We are allowed to speak
to the human condition

and we're allowed
to remind people

that the only
worthwhile endeavor

is another human being.

And we have the ability
to contemplate the future

and to look back into the past.

Somebody has to think
the thought

that has not yet been thought.

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI: You have children

basically so that you can start
somebody off where you finished.

-You see what I'm saying?
-INTERVIEWER: Yes.

So whether
it's our literary children,

or our physical children,
or our emotional children,

I want somebody
to be able to say,

"Okay now,
since Nikki learned that,

I can go forward."

Not to have
to repeat what I did.

There's no point in me

having trod
the path that I trod

if nobody else
is gonna be able to go further.

♪ (PENSIVE DREAMY MUSIC FADES) ♪

NIKKI: Lately,
I've been trying to think

I wonder what kind of slave
I would have been.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

Or those of us who are White,
don't you wonder,

"What kind of slave owner
would I have been?

Don't you?

You too
are a part of segregation.

You too
are a part of slavery.

And we wanna know...

what were you thinking?
What were you hoping?

Because it's not fair
to act like slavery

and Blackness is just us.

It's you too.

Some of it
might be embarrassing.

But you have a story to tell
because it's a part

of the American story.

(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

I'm 75,
which I highly recommend.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

And I've been having
trouble hearing.

But I'm so proud
of my hearing aid.

So for any of you
who have trouble hearing,

I'm gonna recommend
a hearing aid.

(AUDIENCE CHUCKLING)

NIKKI:
It's not all that expensive.

And it's amazing because

if you're hearing goes bad,
you know what happens?

You end up with dementia,

because a part of your brain
goes to sleep.

And you can't, you know--

And then you become
unpleasant to be around.

'Cause they're like,
"Oh, I don't like to be
around Grandpa,

because he keeps saying 'What?'"

Well, a little hearing aid.

-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-See?

-It looks great, doesn't it?
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

It does. And so I'm always
either adding things.

I had breast cancer

and my doctor,
my surgeon actually,

she said, "Well, we can
take it out and you can have--"

you know, what is that thing,
chemotherapy and stuff--

"Or I can just take
the tit out."

Well, I was 74 years old.
What else am I gonna do with it?

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

(CHUCKLES) I've had it for ye--

It has done all
that it's gonna do.

-So-- (CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

It was like, "Yeah, take it off,

you know, let's get rid
of that."

So the tit's gone.

So I took a tit off
and I added an ear. So...

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

There had to be some kind
of balance going on there.

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(GRASS RUSTLING)

(TRICKLING)

NIKKI: "I always liked
house cleaning.

Even as a child, I dug
straightening the cabinets,

putting new paper
on the shelves,

washing the refrigerator
inside out,

and unfortunately,

this habit
has carried over to you.

And I find I must
remove you from my life."

(AUDIENCE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)

♪ (MELLOW GROOVY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

"A fool who grins

at a face in the mirror
and tells herself it's pretty.

A sentimental woman
who pressed his shirts

and washed his dirty underwear,

who rubbed his back
with alcohol at night.

I wonder why my insides
don't match my outside anymore,

mumbling to the mirror...

turn off that light."

(AUDIENCE CHATTERING,
APPLAUDING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

GINNEY: A sight for sore eyes.

-NOVELLA NELSON: Both of you.
-NIKKI: You're looking good.

Y'all didn't have to do that.

-Thank you so much.
-GINNEY: Oh, you're welcome.

NIKKI:
Oh, that's great, Novella.

-Yeah, I love it too.
-(NIKKI LAUGHING)

Oh, there they are.

What happened to me?
What's the word I'm looking for?

CAREGIVER: What do you mean?

When I went out and suddenly
I don't know where I am,

-and they int--
-Intubate you?

NOVELLA: Yeah, what's that?

Yeah, that's from
respiratory failure.

You're not getting
enough oxygen.

GINNEY:
You blackout when you don't--

I blackout, exactly!

That's happened to me
about four or five times.

-NIKKI: Mm-hmm.
-And, um...

And like you, then when I...
when I wake up,

a part of who I am, I forget.

And then all of a sudden
I'll remember it.

But it comes,
it shoots out in--

-NIKKI: Right.
-Do you know what I am saying?

-I do. (LAUGHS)
-NOVELLA: I know you do.

NOVELLA: (STAMMERS)
You know?

CAREGIVER: Sorry, I'm just gonna
do the orange juice, coffee,

-tea, champagne.
-Champagne.

CAREGIVER:
Straight to the champagne?

-Yes.
-Yeah, champagne.

-CAREGIVER: Okay, all right.
-I get a glass a day.

CAREGIVER: Okay, there's also
mineral water there.

NOVELLA: My most favorite cousin
passed away.

-GINNEY: Aw.
-And--

I had spoken to her
the day before,

and she had said
to come and get her,

and I couldn't.

Then we talked,
I calmed her down.

And the next day, her daughter
calls me up and tells me

she was dead.
You know, it was--

I think you reached out
to your cousin.

-I mean, she got from you--
-GINNEY: What she needed.

What she needed,
so that she could relax,

and so she could go
to her next...

her next step.

GINNEY: Mm-hmm.

I hadn't thought
about it like that.

That really helped.

-NIKKI: Yeah, thank you too.
-Thank you for that one.

'Cause it really, uh...

-(CLICKS TONGUE) Ooh!
-NIKKI: Mm-hmm.

NOVELLA:
These rings are beautiful.

-GINNEY: Oh, you like these?
-NOVELLA: These are beautiful.

-NIKKI: Thank you.
-NOVELLA: Yeah, yeah.

-I noticed them. Beautiful.
-GINNEY: You wanna look at it

-up-close and personal?
-NOVELLA: Oh, thank you!

(CHUCKLES) Oh, God!

-NIKKI: Yeah.
-NOVELLA: Have to put it on.

Really nice.

NIKKI: Ginney designed it.

-NOVELLA: You did?
-GINNEY: Well, not really.

-NIKKI: Yeah.
-GINNEY: Yeah.

NOVELLA: Really lovely.

-Nice weight to it too.
-GINNEY: It does, yeah.

NOVELLA: Very nice.

♪ (SOFT PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

Bye-bye.

♪ (UPBEAT GOSPEL MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

-♪ Let's go higher ♪
-♪ Let's go higher ♪

-♪ Higher ♪
-♪ Higher ♪

-♪ Let's go higher ♪
-♪ Let's go higher ♪

-♪ Higher in my Lord ♪
-♪ Let's go higher ♪

-♪ Let's go higher ♪
-♪ Higher ♪

♪ Higher ♪

-♪ Higher ♪
-♪ Let's go higher ♪

-♪ Higher ♪
-♪ Higher... ♪

NIKKI: It's hard to figure out
Black people.

(LAUGHING) And that's a--

No, really, I mean, you know...
you know 'cause you...

-BALDWIN: I know.
-It's very hard.

Because you say, um--
Let's say somebody like you.

You've been out of the church
for a long time, okay?

I grew up, of course,
in a Baptist church,

and I really dig the church.

-I think it's a very cool...
-BALDWIN: I do too.

I can't dig the theology,

but the music
and the energies of the church.

-BALDWIN: Yes.
-But then I went to, um...

The New York Community Choir

had its anniversary recently,
it's first anniversary,

and I went up
to an AME Zion church,

as a matter of fact.
And the lady was singing--

Some lady was singing
"Yes, Jesus Loves Me."

And people started shouting.

-You know what I mean, just...
-Yeah, yeah.

NIKKI: People were shouting.

And it hit me
as I was sitting there.

My God,
as a so-called Black militant,

I have nothing stronger
to offer than Jesus.

BALDWIN: Yeah, but you see...
Yeah, but, yeah-- but, baby--

NIKKI: And that was a--
It blew--

As a matter of fact,
I got up in church and said,

-"Ain't that a bitch."
-(LAUGHS)

NIKKI: And suddenly
I was testifying...

-It blew my mind!
-Baby, what we did with Jesus

was not supposed to happen.

-You know, at all.
-NIKKI: I could believe that.

We took him--
We took that cat over.

-NIKKI: We did.
-And made him ours.

It has nothing whatever to do
with that White Jesus

in Montgomery, Alabama,
in that White church.

We did something else with him.
We made him ours.

CHURCHGOER:
Juanita, how are you doing?

JUANITA:
I'm doing fine, and you?

CHURCHGOER: I'm doing good.

-NELL: (OVER PHONE) Hello?
-NIKKI: Good morning, Jo,
it's Nikki.

NELL: This is Nell. How are you?

NIKKI: Hi, Nell.

-NELL: How's everything?
-Oh, everything's not good.

I wanted to tell Joe that Agnes
passed this morning.

-NELL: No!
-Yeah, yeah.

-NELL: How old was she?
-Uh, 94--

Yeah, she just turned 94.

-Yeah, yeah.
-NELL: Oh, man!

Now, wait a minute.
She was your aunt?

-NELL: From your mom?
-She was my aunt.

The last of the girls. Uh-huh.

-NELL: Oh, my God!
-Yeah.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

You know all of a sudden,
that's what...

-BYSTANDER: Excuse me.
-...bothered me a little bit.

I mean, it's that I am
the oldest in the family now.

You know all of a sudden
I became a senior. (SOBS)

Not that it means anything,
but, you know,

all of a sudden you realize

you're the oldest person
in the family.

♪ (GENTLE PIANO MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

VOCALIST:
♪ I've been through the fire ♪

♪ And I have been
Through the flood ♪

♪ Broken in pieces ♪

♪ And left all alone ♪

CHOIR: ♪ But through it all
God bless me ♪

VOCALIST: ♪ And through it all
God kept me ♪

CHOIR: ♪ And through it all
God kept me ♪

♪ Yes, I still ♪

♪ Have a praise inside of me ♪

(CHURCHGOER'S APPLAUDING)

LECTOR: Please stand
for reading of the gospel.

It isn't often that someone
will die for a righteous person.

But maybe someone might dare
to die for a good person.

-(CELL PHONE RINGING)
-LECTOR: But God shows
his love for us because,

while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.

So now that we have been
made righteous by His blood

-we can...
-Thomas, I'm in church.

-THOMAS: (OVER PHONE) Okay.
-But--

-THOMAS:
Call me when you get back.
-No, no, Agnes died.

I wanted you to know.
I'll call you later.

-THOMAS: Oh, okay.
-Okay, bye-bye.

LECTOR: ...while we were
still enemies.

Now that we have
been reconciled,

we now have a restored
relationship with God.

-Amen.
-CONGREGATION: Amen.

LECTOR:
Let us welcome Nikki Giovanni.

(CROWD APPLAUDING)

I want to apologize
for my phone ringing.

My aunt died this morning
and I had to start calls.

We're trying to...

deal what you have to deal with

when you have
a death in the family.

I'm now trying to understand

what my responsibilities are

and, you know,
some of us in this room

have probably faced that
and you're saying,

"What now... do I do?"

It's important
that you all look ahead,

because Earth is just
about finished, to be honest.

I think Earth maybe have,

you know, three
or four hundred more years,

but it's just about finished
because we've messed it up.

And I tease
the men all the time,

and I have to laugh at it.

'Cause I think
that their penis is going out.

I think it's gonna
be extinct very soon.

-(CONGREGATION LAUGHING)
-(NIKKI CHUCKLING)

I do.

It's been misused.

And anything
that has been misused

is gonna be gotten rid of.

That we... that we know.

We who are women,

and I have to say this,
we who are women

have a difficult time,

because everybody
wants to control us,

everybody wants to say
what women should do.

What you should do
is what you think you should do,

what you need to do.

And so, we have
to not let people

take away those things
that we need,

those things that we love.

I am very fortunate,
I have a very good friend,

and I would be lost without her.

I don't know,
what I'd do without Ginney.

So, I'm very fortunate
to have somebody who loves me.

I don't care what anybody
has to say about it.

I'm not interested.

And what we have to continue
to do is love one another.

"This is not a poem.

This is hot chocolate
at the beginning of spring,

topped with hand-whipped
double cream,

a splash of brandy
to give it sass,

and just a little cinnamon
to give it class.

This is not a poem,
this is a summer quilt,

log cabin pattern.
See that corner piece?

That was Grandmother's
wedding dress,

That was Grandpapa’s
favorite Sunday tie.

This is a rocking chair.

Rock me gently
in the bosom of Abraham.

This is a bus seat. No,
I'm not going to move today.

This is not a poem, no.

It is a celebration
for the road we have traveled,

it is a prayer
for the roads yet to come.

This is an explosion,
the original Big Bang

that makes the world
a hopeful, loving place.

This is about us
celebrating ourselves.

And a well-deserved honor it is.

Light the candles,
this is a rocket.

Let's ride."

(CONGREGATION APPLAUDING)

♪ (SERENE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

-(WAVES CRASHING)
-(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

NIKKI: "We're going to Mars,

for the same reason Marco Polo
rocketed to China,

for the same reason Columbus

trimmed his sails
on the dream of spices.

For the very same reason

Shackleton was enchanted
with penguins.

For the reason we fall in love.
It's the only adventure.

We're going to Mars because
whatever is wrong with us

will not get right with us.

So we journey forth,
carrying the same baggage,

but every now and then,

leaving one
little bitty thing behind."

(MUFFLED CHATTER)

NIKKI: "Maybe not whipping
Uncle Tom to death.

Maybe resisting global war.

One day looking
for prejudice to slip,

one day looking for hatred
to tumble by the wayside.

One day maybe
the whole community

will no longer be vested

in who sleeps with whom.

Maybe one day the Jewish
community will be at rest,

the Christian community
will be content.

The Muslim community
will be at peace.

And all the rest of us will get
great meals at holy days,

and learn new songs
and sing in harmony."

(ETHEREAL TINKLING)

ANNOUNCER 1: And it’s an honor
to introduce this woman

she is the most
world-renowned Black poet

this world has ever seen.

She's an activist,

a Grammy-nominated activist.

-(AUDIENCE CHEERING)
-She tells it like it is.

She's original
Black girl magic, motherfuckers.

There is no you
without this goddess.

ANNOUNCER 2:
Give it up for Nikki,

poet laureate,
sister extraordinaire.

She's gonna lay it on you thick.

Give her a big warm welcome,
Afropunk, put them up!

(CROWD APPLAUDING)

We're going to Mars.

(CROWD CHEERING)

Because nobody on Earth
has any sense enough

to go to another planet
and get along with anybody.

We have got to send Black women,
we've got to ask Black women,

"Would you mind going up

and seeing what's up there,
what's alive?"

I'm a fan of Black women,

because we are the most
marvelous people on Earth.

(CROWD CHEERING)

♪ ("EGO TRIPPING"
BY NIKKI GIOVANNI PLAYING) ♪

♪ I was born in the Congo ♪

♪ I was born in the Congo ♪

♪ I walked
To the Fertile Crescent ♪

♪ And built the Sphinx ♪

♪ I designed a pyramid
So tough ♪

♪ That a star that only glows
Every one hundred years ♪

♪ Falls into the center ♪

♪ Giving divine, perfect light
I am bad ♪

♪ I sat on the throne
Drinking nectar with Allah ♪

♪ I got hot
And sent an ice age to Europe ♪

♪ To cool my thirst ♪

♪ My oldest daughter
Is Nefertiti ♪

♪ The tears
From my birth pains ♪

♪ Created the Nile ♪

♪ I am a beautiful woman ♪

♪ I gazed on the forest ♪

♪ And burned out
The Sahara Desert ♪

♪ With a packet of goat's meat
And a change of clothes ♪

♪ I crossed it in two hours ♪

♪ I am a gazelle ♪

♪ So swift, so swift
You can't catch me ♪

♪ For a birthday present
When he was three ♪

♪ I gave my son Hannibal
An elephant ♪

♪ He gave me Rome
For Mother’s Day ♪

♪ My strength flows ever on ♪

♪ My son Noah built new/ark ♪

♪ And I stood
Proudly at the helm ♪

♪ As we sailed
On a soft summer day ♪

♪ I turned myself into myself
And was Jesus ♪

♪ Men intone my loving name ♪

♪ All praises, all praises
I am the one who would save ♪

♪ I sowed diamonds
In my backyard ♪

♪ My bowels deliver uranium ♪

♪ The filings
From my fingernails ♪

♪ Are semi-precious jewels ♪

♪ On a trip north,
I caught a cold ♪

♪ And blew my nose
Giving oil to the Arab world ♪

♪ I am so hip
Even my errors are correct ♪

♪ I sailed west to reach east ♪

♪ And had to round off
The earth as I went ♪

♪ The hair from
My head thinned ♪

♪ And gold was laid
Across three continents ♪

♪ I am so perfect so divine
So ethereal, so surreal ♪

♪ I cannot be comprehended
Except by my permission ♪

♪ I mean, I can fly
Like a bird in the sky ♪

♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪

(CROWD CHEERING)

♪ (DREAMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

BALDWIN:
Let's go back to the kids.

You talk to those people
who can hear you,

and you save
what you can save.

You know, what you have to do

is make it
possible for others to live.

-NIKKI: Mm-hmm.
-You know.

That's the only reason
to be here.

You know, who needs
the rest of it, really!

Would you say that, like,
you tend to be optimistic?

You know, on those kinda levels?

When I pick a kid up
in my arms, yes.

I look at you, yes!

-You know.
-NIKKI: Not me! (LAUGHS)

-Yes. When I look at--
-NIKKI: I'm very pessimistic.

Oh, no! You're not as pessimist
as you think you are.

-NIKKI: I'm not pessimistic...
-You got far too much energy

to be as pessimistic
as you think you are.

NIKKI:
I'm pretty pessimistic, though.

No, I think
you're pretty realistic.

I think you're pretty cool.

But there has to be a way to do
what we do and survive.

Which is, to me,
what seems to be missing.

Sweetheart. Sweetheart.

Our ancestors taught
us how to do that.

♪ (THRILLING DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

NIKKI: "The captain knew
they were in trouble

in an unknown place,
without communicable abilities,

with a violent
and capricious species.

But they could look out
and still see signs of home,

they could still smell
the sweetness in the air.

But there reached a point
where the captured

could not only not look back,

they had no idea which way
back might be.

There was nothing in the middle
of the deep blue water

to indicate which way
home might be.

And it was that moment
when a decision had to be made.

Do they continue forward

with a resolve
to see this thing through,

or do they embrace the waters
and find another world?"

(WHALE SINGING ECHOING)

NIKKI:
"In the belly of the ship,

the moan was heard.

And someone picked up that moan
and a song was raised,

and that song would offer
comfort and hope

and tell the story."

♪ (THRILLING DREAMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

♪ (MUSIC TURNS INTRIGUING) ♪

♪ (INTRIGUING MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(WIND CHIMES RINGING)

(WHEELS RATTLING)

NIKKI: Make yourself, um...

comfortable.

♪ (INTRIGUING MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

I had no idea
what I was gonna see,

but I did not expect
so many antiques.

That's for sure.

So many people writing in books,

like notes to her all around
this room.

It's really cool.

So, I don't know much
about people before us,

and how they lived,
and where they came from.

LOU: (ON VIDEO) I would like
to see young people,

Black young people,
create, basically,

their own Black language
for better communication.

NIKKI: I'm not talking
about creating a language,

I'm talking about saying
that my language is legitimate.

You know, I think so.

We use the language
that we use.

They had an Italian Renaissance.

Dante and them wrote
in the vernacular.

Well, we're doing
the same thing.

We're talking
about a Black renaissance,

writing in Black vernacular.
That's what we're talking about.

I'm talking about coming
out of the White Ages

rather than the dark ones,
you dig? (LAUGHS)

LOU: We're coming out of that
into the '70s...

Well, I think it’s really cool,
how you could have

that much confidence
at, like, 20-something.

I do not-- Well, I hope I will.

But to be able
to speak like that,

it’s pretty awesome.

So, I hope I can do that
at that age,

or hopefully younger.
That would be ideal.

-NIKKI: Oh, you'll be fine.
-(KAI LAUGHING)

You'll be fine.

-(AUDIENCE CLAPPING)
-NIKKI: I'm a space freak.

I was able to go

on the SST,
on the Supersonic Transport

actually from London
back to New York,

because a friend
of mine had died

and I wanted
to be there at her funeral.

And the Supersonic-- SST,
goes up 70,000 feet,

for those of you
who don't know it.

And at 70,000 feet, you can see
the curve of the Earth.

And I always wanted
to be able to go

just a little bit higher.

I want to go to Space Station
or something like that.

And I know Charles Bolden,
who was the head of NASA.

Dr. Bolden said to me, you know,

"Nikki, I could take you
to space.

You could do that,

but I couldn't bring you back."
And I said, "Charles,

I don't know
how to tell you this."

And maybe some of you
don't understand.

(CHUCKLES) Let me share.

If you were born...

you're gonna die.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

And I thought, wouldn't
that be really, just cool?

Because I'm 76 now,
and maybe by the time I'm 80,

'cause I just wanna give
myself few more years.

And when I'm 80, I'll go up

and I'll sit
on the space station

for a couple of years,

'cause we don't have
any artists in space.

We don't have
any poets in space.

And I get to say what I've seen.

And then, you know, I'm gonna do
what everybody else does,

I'm gonna die.

And what I want them to do
is just open the--

There's a door there.
And I want-- just open the door

-and just let me out.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

And you'll just look out,
and you'll see me go and say,

-"There goes Nikki." And...
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)

-(LAUGHS)
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)

♪ (SOFT PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

There's another one over there.

NIKKI: See, it's growing.

Now-- See, now, he came out.

This guy went
and talked to him, I guess.

♪ (SOFT PENSIVE MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪

NIKKI: "To successfully go
to Mars and back,

you will need a song.

Take some Billie Holiday
for the sad days

and some Charlie Parker
for the happy ones.

But always keep at least one
good spiritual for comfort."

Yeah, I love that smell.

NIKKI: "You will need
to slice or two of a meatloaf,

and if you can manage it,
some fried chicken in a shoebox,

with a moist lemon pound cake,

a bottle of beer,

because no one
should go that far

without a beer,
and maybe a six pack,

so if there is life on Mars,
you can share.

Popcorn for the celebration
when you land,

while you wait on
your land legs to kick in.

And as you climb down the ladder
from your spaceship

to the Martian surface,

look to your left,
and there you'll see

a smiling community

quilting a black-eyed pea,
watching you descend."

(CHUCKLES)

♪ (SOFT PENSIVE MUSIC
CONCLUDES) ♪

(WAVES LAPPING)

(SEAGULLS SQUAWKING)

♪ (SERENE DREAMY MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SPIRITED PENSIVE MUSIC
PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SPIRITED PENSIVE MUSIC
CONCLUDES) ♪

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

♪ (MELLOW JAZZ MUSIC
CONCLUDES) ♪