Original subtitles

What would we do, baby, without us?

What would we do, baby, without us?

And there ain't no nothing we can't love each other through.

What would we do, baby, without us?

Sha -la -la -la.

That was a wonderful dinner release.

Every time I come here, I learn so much about health food.

I like your family, Elise.

Even this guy, when he's not talking politics.

My guts on the big issues, we're not that far apart.

Matter of fact, I've always felt kind of a special bond with you.

I cried when Bush was elected.

So did I.

Mine were not tears of joy.

All right, okay, so we don't talk politics. There's one area we'll just

How are things going down at the station?

Oh, your dad and I are producing a documentary comparing Reagan's

medieval Europe's bubonic plague.

Nine out of ten people prefer the plague.

All right, so we don't talk about work.

Hey, how's Mike doing, Harp? Oh, very well, very well. He's working part -time

for Ted Kennedy.

You're killing me, Gus.

Maya, I understand you guys are looking for a house. Have you had any luck?

Not yet. The market is really tight.

Seems like there's nothing out there.

Well, if Alex and Gus don't wind up coming to blows here, why don't you take

look at the house across the street? The old best are moving.

The Obecks are moving? That's wonderful.

Why is that such good news?

Oh, well, I never liked Marty Obeck.

He was always running around telling people the only things I was interested

was makeup and clothes and shoes.

What, do you dispute that?

No.

I just think it's very rude of him to point it out.

What the hell? Most likely.

I like this one.

Victorian with a lot of charm.

Do you think we could see the house this weekend?

Well, I'll talk to the real estate agent and set it up. Just out of curiosity,

Steve, how many black families are there in the neighborhood?

Well, let's see.

There's the... Well, uh, with you, there'd be one.

Let's say we didn't move in. How many would there be?

Didn't move in.

This will take a minute.

That would be none.

Well, I think that might say something about the neighborhood.

Look, Gus, I want you to know this neighborhood is not like that. We've

here for 15 years. There's never been one racial incident.

That's a pretty impressive record for a one -race neighborhood.

It'd be great to have you guys as neighbors. Gus and I could carpool to

Hey, I'm all for that.

I get so tired of driving to work alone with nothing but the radio for company.

What do you listen to?

Strictly elevator music.

Welcome to the neighborhood gut.

I just know your friends, the Thompsons, are going to absolutely love this

house. It's just one of the most charming old Victorians in Leland

And you know what's been completely restored?

Everything brought up to code in every respect.

Oh, heck with the Thompsons. We'll take it.

Listen, I'm going to open the blinds in the kitchen. It's so pretty with the

sunlight streaming through.

Sorry we're late. Alex and Gus insisted on sitting in the car until the

accordion version of Rock Around the Clock was over.

Oh, Christine Chadway, these are our friends Gus and Maya and Michael

Christine is the real estate agent who handles this house.

How do you do?

This house is so... charming.

It's the best one we've seen, isn't it, Gus?

Yes, isn't it?

This is our dream house. This is the house I saw my family in.

Don't show so much enthusiasm. It'll only make the price go up. Yeah.

For once in his life, my dad is offering some self -financial advice.

Ken, you hate the house. Make her have to work to sell it to you, okay? This

house has a lot of problems.

Well, the roof leaks.

The basement floods, you know, it needs a lot of work. I mean, quite frankly,

they ought to just tear it down.

Now, this woman has a very unusual sales technique.

Didn't you just say that it had been brought up to code in every way?

Look, the workmanship is so shoddy. I just don't feel that I can in good

conscience sell this house to these very nice people.

Excuse me, Christine.

It seems to me that you're trying to discourage us from buying this house.

Oh, no.

Yes, excuse me.

No, I just want to make sure right up front that you know the really miserable

shape this house is in. Well, suppose we offered you full price for the house

right now. Uh, whoa, uh, full price.

Can I speak to you from Augusta?

Maya, you like the house, don't you? Yes, I do.

Yeah, well, good, good. We're offering your client full asking price for the

house. Yo, that's you who got big fella.

Well, Christine, it looks like you've got an offer you can't refuse.

I don't know that my clients are really ready to sell this house yet. I mean,

actually, they just asked me to kind of feel out the market for them first.

That's not true.

I happen to know that the OPEX are very anxious to sell.

Yeah, the absence of furniture is a bit of a tip -off.

I think it's obvious what's going on here. She doesn't want to sell the house

us because we're black.

Black? Me?

Never. No.

You're not black. We are.

This behavior is totally offensive.

I want to apologize to my friends.

Christine, I suggest you take this offer back to your clients and that they give

this a serious consideration it deserves.

Well, actually, yes, I do have to talk to my clients.

I'm beginning to think this isn't about money at all.

And that pains me on every conceivable level.

Are you aware,

Christine Chadway, realtor license number 47856, that there are any

discrimination laws in this state?

Dad, why don't we just get out of here?

This was a big mistake.

No, no, no, no. The only mistake made here today was hers.

Michael, Maya, come on.

Let's look at the rest of our house.

Gary, the things I miss when I'm not here.

Mom, eat the apple pie.

And it's so warm, Alex.

Well, what are we waiting for?

Let's get the knife.

Alex, we can't have any. It's a welcome to the neighborhood gift for the

Thompsons.

You know, but Mom just baked it to torture us. She's not above that, you

Ooh. Sure smells good.

Probably tastes even better.

This could be her best work yet.

This pie is mine.

Just do it, Alex.

What about the Thompson?

Get them a store -bought pie. They'll never know the difference.

Please, Alex.

You eat that pie. That's the last thing you eat.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Gus.

Well, thank you, Alex. That's very sweet of you.

Thanks very much. Baked it myself.

What is this?

What is it, honey?

Nothing. Nothing.

What was that letter, Dad?

This.

Junk. Something about a sale.

Dad, have you lost your mind?

It's okay, Steve.

I know what it is. We got one, too.

What is it?

It's a letter from some of your neighbors asking you to join them in

effort to rid the neighborhood of the new unwanted element.

Oh, God, I'm so sorry. This is terrible.

They can't get away with this.

I'm going to find out who they are, and I'm going to give them a lecture on

freedom and constitutional rights that they will not soon forget, and they are

not going to bother anybody after that.

Well, I've heard your lectures, Alex, and I can't condone that kind of

What's going on? This is 1989.

Things like this don't happen now.

Well, I guess they do. It's just so shocking to find it happening in your

backyard. Oh, don't be shocked, Elise.

This thing always comes up, and it doesn't take much to bring it to the

Well, you're not going to move out now, are you? No, we are not.

Maya and I want to stay.

Gus, we have to find out who wrote this letter.

No, Stephen, no.

No, the best thing to do is to ignore it.

Once they realize we're not moving out, they'll give up.

Look, you're not alone here. We're going to keep an eye out for you. Thank you,

Stephen, but it's okay.

Look, I got to go.

Let me drive you home.

I live across the street.

Let me walk you home.

Look, Steven, when I get home, I'll come back over here and tell you I'm fine.

Okay.

Then I'll walk you home.

Hey, Michael.

How you doing? I heard you're from Harvard. Hey, Alex, good to see you.

in, man. Thanks, thanks. So, Harvard, huh? What's it like going to the best

business school in the country?

I'm not in the business school. I'm in liberal arts.

They still have that?

Sorry to disappoint you, Alex, but they do. And to tell you the truth, I think

poets are more important than thankers.

Try getting a car loan from the Bronte sisters.

You know, it's going to be interesting living in the same neighborhood with

Alex.

Hey, Dad, would you turn that down?

Wait, wait, wait. You don't want to listen to that? Hey, that's a beer

polka.

The two of you should rent an elevator, fix it up, and move in together.

Listen, Mike, let me tell you why I really came by.

I just want you to know while you're back at Harvard that you don't have to

worry about your folks.

If there's any more problems, we'll be here.

Problems? What kind of problems?

Uh, it's nothing, really. I mean, nothing.

All right.

The house is haunted.

Well, somebody in the neighborhood has passed around this racist letter trying

to convince people to get your parents to move.

Damn.

Alex, I told them this would happen if we moved into an all -white

but they wouldn't listen to me.

Hey,

Alex.

Oh, you should have been listening to WNTW. You missed an uninterrupted polka

fest.

Dad,

uh, Alex told me about the letters.

Oh, well, don't worry about it, Michael. Chances are this whole thing will just

blow over. Well, I am worried. How am I supposed to keep an eye on you and Mom

if I'm 800 miles away in Boston?

Hey, well, you don't have to. Look here. You see, we have our own personal

vigilante.

Looks like rain.

Steve, old buddy, I appreciate your concern, but it really isn't necessary

you to guard a house.

You can't be too careful, huh?

Okay.

Alex, I didn't see you come over here.

Yeah, I walked right by you on the porch, Dad.

Hi, Alex. Hi, Maya.

Hi, Steve.

Maya,

I didn't see you come home.

Oh, I walked right by you on the porch.

It's a heck of a service you provide here.

Yellow.

Look here.

If you ever call here again, I'm going to have you arrested.

Oh, and I'll take a box of mint cookies, too.

Damn brownies.

How long has this been happening, Dad?

Oh, ever since Troop 39 started that sales push.

I think he has a right to know what's happening here.

All right.

Besides the letter, there have been some phone calls.

That's not the first time this kind of thing has happened. It won't be the

But we can deal with it.

Who are you calling?

I'm canceling my flight back to Boston. You'll do no such thing.

You've got midterms coming up. We'll be all right, Michael. We don't want you to

miss school.

What good am I going to be in school if I'm worrying about you two all the time?

You deliberately put yourself into a dangerous situation and naively think

going to blow over. Well, it's not.

What do you want us to do, Michael? Move?

Yes, that's exactly what I think we should do. Well, I'm sorry. We're not

to be run out of here like criminals.

We worked hard to own a place like this. Why are you so stubborn?

This is a racist society.

You can't change that. Yes, we can.

Look at you.

I mean, you were at Harvard.

Now, do you think you got there by people sitting back and saying, I can't

change things?

I'm all for change, but not when it comes to placing my family in danger.

You're overreacting, Michael. No, I'm not.

You just don't seem to understand what could happen to you here.

I know Stephen's one hell of a watchman, but it's not enough.

I know what needs to be done here. I'm going to call a neighborhood meeting.

We've got to put an end to this. Nobody should have to live under guard.

Hi, honey.

Hi. Lise, when did you get here?

I came to hang curtains. Walk right by you on the porch.

Come on, eagle eyes. I'll walk you across the street.

You ask me, that's a trick porch.

Thank you all for responding to the call to come here and talk about what's

going on in the neighborhood here.

Well, I'm ashamed to say that...

Ever since Gus and Maya Thompson have moved in here to this neighborhood, they

have been threatened and harassed with hate mail and phone calls.

It has to stop.

Yes, it does.

Not everybody in this neighborhood is a bigot.

We're nice people and we're good neighbors.

Unless we're taken advantage of, which brings me to the other reason why I'm

here tonight.

What's that, Phil?

I want my hedge clippers back.

You had them since last May.

And my electric sander. And my snow shovel.

We promised to return everything after the meeting.

I should apologize for my parents not being here. They're visiting my aunt in

Detroit.

Look, let me start by saying most everybody in this neighborhood is happy

have you here. We don't care about the color of your skin.

All we care about is what dish you'll bring to those potluck parties and

or not you have good tools I can borrow.

I'd like to say something.

I just want to thank you for all the kind words that you said.

Now, we know that the trouble is being caused by only a few people.

We don't know who you are, and quite frankly, we don't care.

But if you're here tonight, let me say loudly and clearly, you are not scaring

us out of this neighborhood.

We are not moving.

I had something to say.

Go ahead, Glenn.

I worked at Franklin Steel for eight years, graveyard shift, to try to save

enough money to put a down payment on my house so that my wife Ginny and our

kids could have a decent place to live.

And now I hear that since they've moved in, the value of my house has dropped by

$5 ,000.

And it's just going to keep dropping as more and more blacks move in here.

So what am I supposed to do?

Stand by and watch everything I've worked for just slip away?

Now, I've got nothing against you personally.

This is all about economics.

Yeah, well, maybe it is to you, but we have to take it personally.

I mean, we're the ones who are getting the hate mail and the phone calls. Well,

I'm sorry that's happening to you, but nobody asked you to move into this

neighborhood. I wasn't aware that I had to get permission.

Well, there are plenty of nice black neighborhoods around. I mean, why'd you

have to come here? We came here because we have the right to live here, just as

you do.

You don't see me trying to move into one of your neighborhoods, do you? This is

one of my neighborhoods.

An American neighborhood.

And I am an American.

And I fought in Vietnam and Mississippi and Memphis to defend the freedom that

some of us would like to enjoy.

Well, your freedom is my financial disaster.

And if your family won't move, mine has to.

Come on, Jane. Glenn, Glenn, Glenn, just before you go. You mentioned economics,

so I feel that I must speak.

Now, the only way that property values in this neighborhood are going to go

is if people like yourself start panic selling.

Now, in the current market, our homes have been appreciating by approximately

.2 % per annum.

6 .3 % if you made any home improvements. How can we? Your dad has

tools.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is this.

I hope that we in this neighborhood can continue to live in harmony and to sell

our homes to people of all creeds and all colors, all races at tremendously

inflated profits.

Listen, Alex, I hope you're right.

But I can't afford to take that chance.

I am moving out now.

And there's a lot of you in this room here who are going to be following me.

Even if you're too ashamed to admit it.

He won't be moving so fast.

I have his trailer hitch.

I... I'm terribly sorry this has happened.

We found a house we liked and we moved in.

We didn't mean to disrupt the neighborhood.

Well, obviously this neighborhood needs disrupting.

Disrupting is healthy.

You know, my whole life I've heard my parents talk about the 60s, how they

disrupted the social order to change the things that they thought were wrong.

Well, I wish I were there in the 60s so I could say to the world, I want to

fight for justice too.

That was a beautiful thought, Jennifer.

And very well -timed, considering tie -dye is coming back in.

But it's only one family that's moving.

The rest of us are staying, right?

Yeah, of course, right.

Peter?

Phil? Nancy?

What can you be thinking?

Well, none of us want to move a lease.

But we can't afford to lose a lot of money either.

I think we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Gus, Michael, I want to talk to you in private. I think we should go home.

Look, don't let anything that's happened here change your mind.

Stephen, I'm sorry.

In my life, my family comes first.

And right now, I'm not so sure that staying here is the best thing for us to

Michael, don't let him do this.

It was never my choice to move here.

Watch the Frog.

So go away, there's more family ties coming up in less than 30 seconds. And

tonight at 6, check out San Diego's favorite comedy lineup. That's right.

Friends, Will and Grace, and everybody loves Raymond.

Smile.

You're watching San Diego's home for comedy, KSWB. Watch the Frog.

Sit, Ubu, sit.

Good dog.