Original subtitles

Chinese people helped to build the railroads a long time ago.

Today, Chinese people are famous mostly for Chinese restaurants, where they cook

many fine things like egg rolls, chopped chili, and shrimp fried rice.

Chinese people are also very good fighters.

Many people who aren't even Chinese say Bruce Lee is the best fighter, even

though he is dead. The end.

That was very good, Wanda. Thank you.

We're really learning a lot about all the different kinds of people who make

America.

Zachary, would you like to go next?

The title of my essay is Why White

Kids Should Help Black Kids.

White children should help black ones.

If you look at the statistics... you will see that the average white 13 -year

-old scores 20 points higher on the standard reading test than the average

13 -year -old.

Older students take the SAT test, and the average black kid scores 95 points

lower on the verb part and 105 points lower on the math part.

Zachary, where do these numbers come from?

The Educational Testing Service.

the National Center for Education Statistics.

And you think this report is in the spirit of Multicultural Awareness Day?

Well, I thought we should help.

All right, settle down, settle down, everybody.

Now, you listen to me.

Black people aren't any less smart than white people.

Yes, they are, Miss Winslow, and I found out why.

Oh, you found out why?

Mm -hmm.

Their brains are smaller and they think about sex all the time. I looked it up.

All right, Zachary, you're coming with me.

All right, everybody, take your seats.

Take your seats.

are brained and obsessed with sex.

Where would you pick something like that up? Show me the report.

He's made a mockery of multicultural awareness, Dave.

Here I am trying to make it work, trying to make these kids see the beauty of

the American mosaic. Jimmy and I do not tolerate bigotry of any kind in our

house. We teach our children to respect all people. I'm going to spend the next

seven months with these kids. What am I going to do now?

My God, I can't believe he wrote this.

Well, he's going to have to do the paper again if he wants to pass the

assignment.

The problem's much worse than that.

I'm afraid I have no recourse but to suspend the boy.

What? That is out -and -out hate speech. Anybody who would preach those things

is absolutely poisonous to a good learning environment, especially now.

Michael, let me talk to Zach. By all means, talk to him. You have to.

But for now, he's suspended.

Well, I really don't have the facts, so I can't comment.

But if the son of our temporary mayor and our sheriff is spewing out black

hatred, we all have to be concerned.

Makes me wonder about the parents.

But again, I can't comment without the facts.

Do you think it'll be an issue in the election?

Well, if the people of Rome are sensitive to racial prejudices, I'm sure

be an issue.

But I gotta go now. I got mail to deliver. This isn't Chicago, you know.

Ugh.

What do I do?

First talk to Zach.

I'll convene the school committee. But what about my response? It's already on

public action. You condemn what Zach said. People can't blame you. You're

his mother.

Yeah, right.

I'm just his mother.

What up, man? What's going on?

Y 'all got the cash?

You got what we carry, folks?

15 each. All right, man.

Come on, man.

It's all there.

Oh, yo, you got the mad toe boost money. Yo, we need to get something like that.

You're right, shorty.

Check out them Tims, yo.

Here you go, man.

Straight out of Green Bay.

Cool.

Got to get back to school.

All right, man.

What?

Overall, I'm disappointed.

We've got a lot of ground to cover.

I don't want to have to back up and go over old material.

But if I have to, I will.

Now, on a positive note, the best paper in the class came from one of our

newcomers, Aisha Campbell.

In fact...

She demonstrates such a grasp of the information and facility with language

it might do us all some good if she would read it for us.

Miss Campbell?

Miss Goody?

Would you please come up and read your paper for us?

I'd rather not.

One of these days we're going to have to break you of that shyness.

But take my word for it, people.

She wrote a terrific paper.

Actually, maybe we could figure out a way that you can tutor some of the other

Green Bay students.

Mr.

Steinberg. Malik.

You're so unhappy with us, why don't you try teaching us some real -world

history?

Oh? Like what, Malik?

Well, like how Caucasians are the most aggressive race on Earth because of how

they adapted during the last ice age in Europe.

It's crap.

Oh, you think so, huh?

And where did you acquire that piece of analysis, Malik?

A book called The Iceman Inheritance.

See, I'll just read what you teachers tell me to. Who wrote that, Farrakhan?

Oh, you don't know nothing about it. I read about it. So be quiet, all right?

They want to teach that crap in school.

Tony, quiet. Quiet down.

Do yourself a favor, Malik.

Spend less time thinking about the Ice Age and more time thinking about how

you're going to adapt to an F in this class.

Anything you say.

You're the teacher.

You

don't

want to do well?

I didn't say that. I said I wanted to look like I don't want to do well.

Why?

Look, it doesn't really matter, alright?

Why?

You want to be liked, Kimberly.

Well, me too.

So if you do well in school, you won't be liked?

One day we get the news that some judge wants to send her to a school in some

new town.

Then we hear that everyone in this town is doing everything to keep us from

coming in.

I mean, they even sent cops with guns to try and stop the buses.

Then we're supposed to try and do well to please them? Those same teachers who

didn't even want us, we're supposed to work hard to make them feel like good

teachers?

It wasn't anything personal against you.

Yeah, well, when a gun is pointed at your head, you take it personal.

And when my friends see me...

Trying to succeed in this.

Look, Kimberly, trust me.

I want to get good grades, okay?

And I'd love to get a scholarship and go to college, but I got to ride that bus

every day.

The children.

They're the main issue in this election. They're caught in the middle. I don't

disagree, and I'm trying, but... Try harder. Endorse me for mayor.

Oh, Carter.

What if Ed Lawson wins? You think about that?

You have an influence, John.

Carter, endorsing you is a waste. You can't win.

I can win. If I could just get people to allow for it, I can.

Jill Brock tried to block those pluses.

Yes, I know that.

So how can you support her?

I can support her as a lesser evil than Ed Lawson. Are you sure about that?

Ed Lawson, you can see coming. It's clear what he's about. Jill Brock, she's

perceived as liberal, enlightened.

She could be more dangerous.

Jill Brock's influence is at work right now. Go down to the schools. Check

things out.

Who put these things in your head?

Nobody.

Then where did you get these ideas about black people?

Well, first I noticed the bused -in kids don't do as well in class as us.

They're all black.

Then I looked at the statistics.

But what about everything we've ever taught you? You know how we feel about

prejudice.

You went to jail because of it.

No, no, that was a little bit more complicated.

Have we ever suggested to you that one race of people is better than another?

No.

Then where did this come from? All this stuff about the brain size and sex.

Where did you get that?

The encyclopedia.

What?

The Encyclopedia Britannica.

Mentally, the Negro is inferior to the white. The growth of the brain is

arrested by the premature closing of the cranial suture. I never knew that was

in there. After puberty, sexual matters take the first place in the Negro's life

and thought, the Encyclopedia Britannica.

The 1911 edition.

Well, we have updated versions without this information. We must. Why is this

edition in the library at all?

Well, it's actually a classic.

Well, I don't care about that. It contains harmful information. You should

these books and...

I mean, this is one of our most valuable assets. It contains racial material.

I know, but... Well, what about Huck Finn? The word nigger is all over that

book.

Mark Twain's books are filled with racist material. This isn't Mark Twain.

Jill, this is a classic edition.

Museums would kill for this set. I don't think we should just throw it out. Get

this encyclopedia out of this library.

You know, if I had read that paper today, I don't even want to think about

mean, it was bad enough being smart in an all -black school, but if I get good

grades here... Hey, bring it.

You gonna find time to start tooting us ignorant Negroes?

See? You see? You get punished for being smart?

Just forget it.

Hey, Aisha, get your black ass on the bus where you belong. Come on, baby. You

can hang out with that white girl all day long, sister.

Still ain't gonna make you white.

Maybe you should get your black ass on a bus.

Maybe you should just leave her alone.

Pulling this out of class, we're missing important education.

Look, I pulled you out of class because I wanted to apologize about what I said

yesterday at the bus stop to you.

I'm District Attorney John Littleton.

Look,

what I saw at the bus stop yesterday, it brought out the worst in me.

Okay? I haven't been able to let that go.

I want to know why you were giving this young woman such a hard time.

I was just joking around with her.

We joke like that.

Would you have a problem with her getting good grades?

I got a problem with her thinking she better than everybody.

Trying to act white.

What acting white, Marcus?

Studying?

See, man, you don't know her.

All you know is them grades.

She always been like this.

Don't hang out in the neighborhood.

Stay at home all the time. Then, bam, they send us over here.

She start hanging around them white girls. Well, I got black friends,

They just don't spend six hours of the day on a basketball court.

Where did this idea get started that if you do well in school or if you have

white friends, that that makes you less black?

If she makes friends, if she gets good grades, that helps her.

That might help you, too.

Oh, so if we try and impress these people.

or this community, they'll accept us that much quicker, huh?

And that's supposed to be good.

Look, man, this school was designed by white people, run by white people, for

white people, with nothing whatsoever to do with our African reality.

So why should we care if we are accepted here?

What do they call it?

Mainstreaming.

You been mainstreamed, Mr. D .A.? Maybe we don't want to be mainstreamed. Did

anybody in this town ever think about that?

Did you ever think about that?

Okay, I got you reinstated, but only because that stuff came from an old

encyclopedia.

You understand how wrong that information was you put in the report?

Yes. Do you understand why?

I got expelled.

No. No.

It's wrong because it's wrong.

No race of people is superior to another.

What about Iranians?

Hi, John.

What are you doing here?

I wonder if I could speak to you for a second, alone.

Oh, sure. Zach, you remember Mr. Littleton?

Yeah.

He's an exception.

You wait right here, honey.

Jill, do you have any idea of some tensions going on at the high school?

Well, of course I do. It's what we were all afraid of. And how do you plan to

address it? Simply with cops in the corridors?

I don't like your tone.

I don't care.

If things do explode, I don't want people running around bragging about how

right they were.

I don't want them putting the trouble off on the black students when they

be pointing the fingers at the mayor. What?

You're not doing anything, Jill. Well, give me a chance. This just started.

Things could explode any second. What are you doing?

There should be counseling sessions.

You should be recruiting black faculty.

I plan to.

When?

Jill, I don't know if I can support you for mayor.

What?

You've been taking a lot of things for granted.

Don't.

Blacks are the best race.

They dress better, they act better.

Here, try this one on, G.

My cousin Compton hooked me up, yo. You got the coolest T -shirts.

Nah, boy, I got the dopest T -shirts, period. You know what I'm saying?

Whoa, whoa.

What's up with this, G?

Oh, uh, I got shot last year.

You didn't hear?

Word?

Damn, dead in the chest, too.

Yo, you must have a heart of steel, homie.

Who did it? Who kept you?

Guy in school, he's in juvenile prison.

Shoot, he popped a cap in your ass, he should have breathed his last breath,

Check it, if I was your homie back then, I would have had your back, man.

Word like Warren's a unique dog, straight regulating.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Their brains are smaller and they're dominated by sex drive. This from one of

our fifth grade students who...

Zachary Brock, the son of our mayor pro tem.

If this is how she parents a child, how can we let her parent this community?

That son of a bitch.

I'll kill him. Jill.

Of all the cheap, exploitative crap, what the hell is that? It's politics.

That's not politics.

And it isn't Carter. Not the Carter I know.

Ask those Green Bay kids how hard they laughed when our sheriff's department

stared them down with guns.

We have a problem here.

We have a situation.

He can't lead this town.

I like Carter, but he can't command respect.

Yeah, well, the problem is Jill Brock can't.

What's that supposed to mean?

I mean she's persuasive. People follow her lead.

I'm not sure I like her lead.

You can't be Fred Lawson.

The devil you know is sometimes less dangerous.

You couldn't possibly plug Ed Lawson for mayor.

I don't know.

I don't like Ed Lawson, but he is what he is. He's not hiding anything.

All these white liberals that went down there and stopped those buses, Joe Brock

included, they're the ones I feel betrayed by.

John, not Ed Lawson.

Than me.

I'm not just a medical examiner. I did two years of political science.

I'm your leader.

I am your next mayor.

I only need you.

I don't want trouble.

Then why did you write that report?

I looked it up. I thought it was true.

You said it because you hate us, didn't you? You don't want us here.

I know karate.

Me too. Me too.

I have a big bladder and a magic penis.

I could get all of you.

You're not a peon.

First one who takes a step gets it.

I'm not kidding.

Go ahead.

Make my day.

He did what?

You heard me.

It was self -defense.

I was outnumbered.

Where on earth did you get the idea to do anything like that?

He was non -violent.

First, he gives that report, and now he urinates on the black students.

I have to at least suspend him. One week.

I'm sorry.

It was self -defense.

Again, non -violent.

Certainly, it's a sad day when any fifth grader relieves himself on another

child.

The psychological question I would ask is this.

Was it self -defense, or was this the case of a white boy feeling the need to

mark his turf in the face of black students?

In any event, I would like to know what goes on in terms of discipline at the

Brock household. Why don't you save your attacks for tonight's debate, Carter?

Or is it easier without me in the room?

Gee, Jill, I can't be guaranteed that you would dignify my attacks at the

debate. I mean, my candidacy is ridiculous, right?

How about a moment alone?

I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me.

How dare you vilify me in public, attack my children, humiliate them in front

of... Maybe I should have invited you over to my house and over a nice quiet

drink, told you that your candidacy is a joke. Would that be less humiliating?

What we did was in the spirit of our affection for you, Carter. Affection? If

you call that affection, give it to yourself!

I'm tired of being the brunt of your ridicule!

I'm tired of you trying to rid this town of potato men and witches and blacks.

I'm not doing that. You are doing that. You want a nice, tidy little village

where everybody hops around in harmony. Well, that's great. But I happen to

think the people here have been too damn content for too damn long. What the

hell is happening to you, Carter?

I was betrayed by the picket fences. That's what happened.

Smiling faces, the compassion on long sleeves, covering up all the narrow

-mindedness.

Carter Pike is adorable as a medical examiner, but let him be mayor?

Douglas Wambaugh is right. This town has a silent wasp mafia. Well, I'm going to

muck everything up. As long as the white kids are pissing on the black ones, I'm

going to dig up all the goo and expose Norman Rockwell to be Norman Bates.

You're cracking up.

Well, cracks are good, Jill. Rome, Wisconsin needs more cracks.

Cracks are good!

I don't know what's happened. This whole town's gone mad.

Well, everybody's a little on edge.

I probably shouldn't say this because it makes me sound prejudiced.

The town hasn't been the same since those black students arrived.

I'm not saying that it's their fault. It's probably ours.

I'm just saying that things have changed.

I think Carter's point is things maybe are coming out that have always been

here. Which is all the more reason that Rome needs to be completely integrated.

The only way to take the schools out of the vice is to integrate the whole

township.

You mean your residential plan?

Yeah. You realize you won't get elected on a platform of making the town more

black. Well, no, I should probably just say no new taxes and universal health

care. But after I get elected, then I'll mention the residential plan.

Woke up quick. Yo, Matt, this box is for that. Let me split the batteries in

this bad boy and bring it to school. I gotta get drunk before the day begins,

before my mother starts bitching about my friend.

Much better.

Yo, Matt, you ain't tell me your sister was so fly, man.

Ooh, and ooh, baby, you got it going on for real.

Mm -mm -mm.

I like to eat that for Thanksgiving.

Who are you?

No, what are you? My name's TJ, but you can call me Daddy Long

Stroke.

Matthew's new homie. Pick a cheek, sweetness, and bite me good.

Oh, you're trying to act black, right?

It's dope. White people are lame.

Hip -hop is very exotic here.

MTV and Nike ads are the end of exposure.

Hip -hop is very romantic.

What do you mean he talks black?

He runs around talking like MTV.

TJ, that's his name. Matthew brought him down by my office, you know. He's got

that little right -haired buzz cut.

Rings to his ears and he talks like that rapper. What's his name? Ice coffee.

Ice tea.

Whatever. I knew it was something with caffeine.

Henry, we get white kids wanting to be black.

Teachers teaching the black children that they're as good as white.

And the little kids are running around like PJs talking flip -flop so that the

grown -up can't understand hip -hop.

Henry.

I'm a little scared. This town feels a little angry.

The kids are tense and the old people are nervous.

The reason I asked you to dinner.

Ed Lawson as mayor will fan the fire.

Carter can't lead and Jill really doesn't want to.

There's only one man that could step in and be a rudder.

Only one man that is made of the stuff that could see this town through this

crisis.

We both know who that man is, Henry.

So I'm asking you for the good of the town.

If I do run for mayor, will you back me?

Doug, try to receive this with the spirit it's intended.

If you stand up there and announce your candidacy, I will have you jailed.

On what grounds?

Whatever I can think of.

This is a serious election.

Our town's future hangs on the result.

Don't you make a mockery of it.

Well, somebody has to talk to the young people, Henry. I can do it. I'm a

character. They'll like me.

You will not run for mayor.

Good. End up with Ed Lawson. I'm sure he'll make you very happy.

Peek at Fences will return.

All right, keep your composure.

Don't let Lawson rattle you. He's going to try. I know, I know, I won't.

Jimmy, do you think I can lead this town?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

We're going to leave now to get good teeth.

Is it okay if Aisha spends the night? It's going to be a little late to drive

her home after the debate.

Sure. Kids be all right alone?

Oh, they'll be fine. TJ still upstairs?

Oh, yes.

Oh, it's TJ.

He's Matthew's new friend. He wants to eat Aisha for Thanksgiving.

Bye.

Yeah.

Yo, what's up with that, Pop? That's a bomb right there.

What's going on?

This is my boy, T .J.

Well, T .J., would you run along home?

I want to talk to Matthew.

We were going to watch the debate together on TV.

It's cool, man. I need to get my grub on anyway.

I'll holler at you later, man.

What's up?

What were you listening to?

It's T .J.'s tape.

They're talking about shooting cops and you're singing along?

It's hip -hop.

White boy music is lame.

Why'd you get that shirt?

I bought it from one of the bus thing kids.

Cool, huh?

You think guns are cool?

You think singing songs about murdering policemen are cool?

This is disgraceful. I don't care.

I don't care how popular that music is. It's disgraceful.

I'm just trying to get along.

With who?

With what?

Will you take that shirt off, Mr. Cool? I don't want to ever see that again.

Why won't you speak?

It isn't fair, damn it.

Oh, God.

I can still be a good mayor.

Carter, I can't endorse the chipmunk.

What?

You're endorsing me?

Yes, I am.

God, come on, let's work on your singing exercises.

It's really going to be good. You don't even know.

Douglas Wambo, your moderator.

I won't waste time with the rules because we never stick to them.

Basically, the candidates could ask questions of each other with 45 seconds

respond. And I, as your moderator, will ask the first question, which goes to

mayoral candidate Pike.

My question is this, Carter. Who do you think you're kidding?

I'm glad you asked that.

I'm an organized person. I revolutionized the coded subsection

autopsy. I'm published on that.

You work on dead people.

We're better off with you, a redneck bigot who champions prejudice like...

you want to make me out a bigot for standing up against busing? Fine, I'll

the label. Our schools are like kicking bombs right now, right? And your

attitude doesn't help.

Fear is something you can't really control.

Anybody who says you can is a liar.

Behavior you can control, and my behavior has not been bigoted.

Certainly not illegal like hers. What?

Political opposition is one thing, Jill, but when you sent troops in, that was

just plain vigilante stuff. What would you have done?

Obeyed the law.

What does it say to the kids when the mayor decides to act illegally?

That leads to chaos. Next.

We'll see our children urinating on each other. You're out of line.

What's out of line is a mayor who not only thinks she's above the law, but

above the whole town.

What? The way you stood up here a few weeks ago and wailed about, oh, this is

the saddest day ever in Rome, voting against busing. Woe is us. What kind of

awful people are we? How dare you try and shame us for being scared?

I didn't do that.

Hey, I got a news flash for you, Jill.

White people are afraid of black people. Let me say that again. White people are

afraid of black people. Is it wrong? Of course it is. But you can't just outlaw

fear. So let's look the prejudice in the face and work like hell to deal with

it.

I'm dealing with it. You're not doing anything. What plan do you have for

getting us over our prejudices?

Well, I've come up with a residential zoning plan which provides for

housing for low -income black.

I beg your pardon?

The idea is to integrate the adult population as well as the student.

Wait a second. You have a plan to introduce a low -income black

Yes. I've developed this with Judge Nance.

It's called dealing with the race problem, Mr. Lawson.

How are you going to look these people in the eye and tell them you're going to

destroy the value of their homes, you're going to overcrowd their schools,

you're going to fill their streets with unemployed?

I won't do that. Carter, would you?

Carter?

No.

I think a town should provide low -income housing, but to devise an

for poor people to move to Rome, we run the risk of turning Rome into a ghetto.

We have to be careful about that.

Tell me something, Jill.

Was this plan part of the deal for Judge Nance letting you out of jail?

I thought we agreed you wouldn't bring up the residential plan.

I know.

When he challenged me on dealing with the problem, I...

Exit poll shows 44 % for Ed Lawson, 28 % for me, 22 % for you, Jill. Oh, wow.

Mention the idea of black neighbors.

Stupid me.

Jill, our differences aside, I don't think either one of us want to see Ed

Lawson in the mayor's office.

I'm prepared to drop out, pledge my support to you.

We can call a press conference, first thing, 7 a .m. Get it on public access,

word will spread.

No. I'm dropping out.

Let me pledge my support to you.

What? Oh, Carter, the only reason that I asked you to withdraw was because I

didn't think that you could win, and now it's clear that I can't win, and so our

best shot against Ed Lawson is you.

You're also jumpy.

This is a jumpy town.

Most of the people in this town are good, open -minded people. It's just

everybody's so nervous.

Do you know about that?

I

know

it's harder for you than it is for me.

What about...

What about your parents?

What's the deal?

What do you mean?

I mean that... they were the ones behind the guns, you know?

Trying to stop us from coming in.

No, no.

They were just afraid of all the panic.

They're very pro -integration, they are.

So when you say that...

Most of the people in this town are good open -minded people Your parents fall

into that group Yes

As you can see, not only is Jill Brock pledging all her support for me, so is

Jimmy Brock,

John Littleton, and Deputy Maxine Stewart, as well as Douglas Wombo.

The leaders of this town agree. Carter Pike should be your mayor.

Not all the leaders.

Standing with me is Deputy Sheriff Kenny Lacos. Minister Henry Novotny's pledged

his name to my campaign. Also, Father Gary Barrett. This is my press

Yeah, well, Carter, what if you win?

Who's going to run things here if you get abducted by aliens?

People of Rome, this is a defining moment.

Lawson, you're endorsing him?

Free culture. Declining tax base. This is the time for change. Carter! I don't

see why they don't let us vote. I mean, we're the ones affected.

I'm 18. I did vote for Carter.

Oh, no.

Matthew. What are you doing here?

Yummy. Shut up. This is the high school.

We're just moving some stuff.

Check this out.

You like what you see, Lane?

Tony's beat it. You know what they call guys like you?

I know what so mama calls me.

Wiggers.

You a wigger? Get the hell off.

So this who you hanging with now, huh, Aisha?

Look, her butt's getting flatter already.

Let's be cool, man. Nobody got to act whack. What you supposed to be?

He's the resident wigger. What you say, pal boy?

I should make your move.

Hey, he's a punk ass, Cosby.

He's fine, but he's been arrested. You had your own son arrested? John

Littleton's order. He wants to prosecute, make an example, and I think

right. Douglas Wambo for all of them.

I have a special place in my hard judge for juveniles.

Nice try.

But I'd like to prosecute them as adults, Your Honor.

Specifically under subsection 3621, hate crimes. This was a playground fight?

Yes, Your Honor. Race related.

Sit down, both of you.

You know what the American dream is?

You grow up, have a family, a home, live in a nice

community you care about.

Then, as trusted members of that community, you might even get someone

service to sit in this jury box representing society.

Imagine the irony.

That you kids got in this box way ahead of time.

Wearing handcuffs.

I'd love to look at you and say, you're not society.

You're just a bunch of hoods.

But I know better.

Complete with all the pinnings of fear, insecurity, maybe hatred.

You are very much society.

We're all struggling with this busing thing.

More than anything else, that's what growth is all about.

Struggle.

It's easier to resist it, to say, no, no, I'm not going to change.

I'm staying just the way I am. I'm not going to grow.

Leave us be.

But there's no courage in leave us be.

Courage comes with a willingness to accept one another.

So, how tough are you guys?

How much dare you got inside?

Kids before you turn to hatred.

Kids after you will do so too. Most of your parents will turn to fear.

It's easy.

Sitting down together, trying to make it work, that's what's hard.

So?

How tough are you?

I want to know.

You got the guts to accept him?

You strong enough to talk to that guy?

How the hell tough are you guys?

Huh?

Bailiff, take the handcuffs off them.

All charges dismissed.

Go on out there and show us what the future holds.

Hi. Hi.

Sorry to intrude. No, that's all right.

I was wondering if I could talk to your son for a second.

I'm sorry. I won't fight again. I promise.

What, you want to be Snoop Doggy Dog, Matthew?

Actually, I wanted to talk to Zach for a second.

I read your book report, Zach.

Zachary, do you think that I'm less smart than a white lawyer?

I don't know.

I'd understand if you did.

When I was in law school, a lot of my white classmates thought I was only

because of a special favor.

Formative action?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now I'm going to tell you something else, and this is something I haven't

anybody else in Rome, so let's just keep this between you and me, okay?

Okay. Okay.

When I was your age...

I lived in an all -black neighborhood in Chicago.

And some of the kids there, they made fun of me because I'm dark -skinned.

Other black kids picked on you?

Other black kids, because I'm darker.

See, that's one of the evil things about racism.

Even black people can believe it sometimes.

You know about slavery?

It's all roots.

Well, um... Slavery has a lot to do with it.

And today...

Some black people still have to deal with these feelings that they're not as

good.

And some black kids, even if they don't realize they believe it, they believe

it.

And it holds them back.

Maybe that helps to explain why they don't get as good grades, score lower on

the SATs.

I'm sorry.

I know you are.

We all are.

What'd you say to him?

Oh, stuff.

Nothing he probably hasn't heard before.

Maybe.

The results are now in. It is now official in one of the closest races

11 ,873 votes to 11 ,861. A

12 -vote margin. The new mayor of Rome, Wisconsin is Edward Lawson.

by 12 votes.

It was an unusually large turnout and an exceptionally tight margin.

We are now going to switch you to Ed Lawson's victory celebration at O

Pub. Well, obviously, I'm very thrilled.

Now I have to just do the job.

This is a new beginning for Rome, Wisconsin.

Monday, I take office.

And when I show up, I promise I show up.

The people of Rome have spoken.

And I have an obligation to them.

They've called for a new order.

And I've heard them loud and clear.

Rome, Wisconsin is about to change.

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