" What?" " Yo, dog, I ain't going." "I'm getting on that bus." "Now that means you are getting on that bus." "We look stupid!" "Oh, now you want to be all embarrassed." "You should've thought about that before." "Dog, I ain't going." "Call me dog again and see if I don't knock you flat on your ass." "Now, I'm getting on that bus and you are going right along with me." "I am your father." "You are my son." "So let's get on the bus, okay?" "Walk." "Gary stop looking at me like that." "Shelly, are we cool..." "No, we're not cool, and we're not finished either." "You'll feed Kaya for me?" "I'll feed him, walk him and watch him crap!" "I'm looking forward to it." "You make it sound like I'm running off with another woman." "You expect me to get wet like you're doing something incredible?" "This whole thing is sexist and exclusionary." "Yes!" "How would you feel if the march was only for dark-skinned brothers?" "How can Farrakhan call a march for dark-skinned brothers when Farrakhan's about your complexion, with straight hair?" "Gonna kiss me?" "Kiss me goodbye?" "I'm late for work." "I love you anyway." "Remember to watch CNN." "We're not done talking." "I know we're not." "I'll call from Arkansas." "Looks like they're boarding." "Welcome aboard, welcome aboard." "I'd have hated being on your plantation." "Runaway slave wouldn't have stood a chance against you." "Court order says I have to keep my son tethered for 72 hours." "But it's cool." "We're working it out, right?" "All right." "Welcome aboard the Spotted Owl." "We're ready to ride into history." "Step right up on in." "Come on." "Anybody else going to the Million Man March, get on the bus!" " How you feeling?" " Okay, Pop." "You?" "Never felt better in my life!" "Then give me some of what you got." "How you doing?" "Welcome aboard." "Black power, brothers!" "Black power." "Black power." "Black power." "Black power." "Sounds like he's stuck in the '60s." " Got it?" " Yeah, I got it, thank you." "Thank you very much." "My name is Jeremiah Washington." "Jamal." "Glad to meet you, Jamal." "Not much legroom, is there?" "I'll have to stretch these bones every chance I get." "Ain't that the truth?" "Them fools back at the barbershop they asked me what I hoped to accomplish by going to the march." "These black men, nagging at me..." "What'd you say?" "I said I'd be first in line at the revolution while they'd be bringing up the rear." "And by the time I return from Washington my behind's gonna be 20 years younger." "Fountain of youth, huh?" "The Miracle at the Mall, that's what I'm looking for." "And that's what I'll get." "Craig, how's it going?" " Let's roll it." " We ready to roll, peoples." "If you're going to the Slauson swap meet, the Brentwood mansion or the La Brea Tar Pits, your black ass is on the wrong bus." "This bad boy is going to Washington, DC for the Million Man March!" " I'm George, this is Craig." " Say, fellas." "We'll get you to and from the march safely, in six days." " We hope." " There are some rules we must observe." "One, and this is for you, Pop." "No drinking alcohol while on this bus." "Two, no smoking." "And three most important, and this I ain't bullshitting about no using or possessing illegal substances." "There's a bathroom in the back." "I trust that none of you men are women." "If you are, you're some of the ugliest broads I ever seen in my life." "Flush the toilet after you use it." "Try not to piss on the seat." "You two gonna have a problem with that." "He sounds like my mother." "For the next 6 days, I am your mother." "Don't make me use my belt." "Mr. Driver?" "With your permission, sir, I think we ought to ask that the Creator should travel with us." "I got no problem with that." "Any objections?" "The floor is yours, Pop." "Bow your heads." "Father God we come to You as pilgrims on a bus that's bound for glory." "We're not perfect, Lord, but we seek perfection." "We're not guilt-free, but we ask for Your forgiveness." "We know You was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea and freed the slaves." "We know You was with Noah when the rain came down 40 days and 40 nights." "You was with Malcolm in Mecca with Martin when he went to the mountaintop." "And we're asking You, dear God, to be with us now on this historic journey to fellowship with one million black men." "And if there's anything, Lord, that we need and we pray for..." "Hot damn!" "Thought y'all was gonna jet without a brother!" "My horoscope said the moon was aligned for me." "Hey, we're in the middle of a prayer here." "Oh, oh." "My bad." "Y'all go ahead." "And if anything, dear Lord, that we do need and pray for is that after this trip each and every one of us will be a better man than he was before." "Amen." "Amen." "You got a ticket?" "You better have a ticket." "I made the bus." "What's up?" " Hey, Ben Vereen!" " Ben Vereen's not on the bus." "Let me ask you what would a bus trip be without James Brown?" "Like O.J. without a white girl." "Be a sorry-ass trip." "That's all I needed to hear!" "Hit me!" "Ready?" "Papa don't take no mess" "Papa don't take no mess" "Papa is the man" "Who can understand" "How a man's got to do" "Whatever he can Hit me!" "What's up, dog?" "I done told you about that "dog" shit." "Don't let me have to take care of you out here in front of these brothers." "Now turn that mess down." "It's too loud, Junior." "Let me ask you you don't like to be called "dog."" "Well, you know, "Dad" "Daddy" "Sir" would be nice." "Take your pick." "Then I should have the right not to be called Junior." "That's cool." "That's cool." "What do you like?" "Evan?" "Hell, no!" "Then what?" "Smooth." "My homies call me Smooth." "Your homies call you Smooth." "I ain't your homie, okay?" "You must be out of your damn mind." "Ain't no way I'm calling my son Smooth." "All of a sudden, I'm your son again?" "But I'm the one out of his mind?" "You're a Bruins fan, huh?" "Yeah, 1995 NCAA champs." "Can't argue with that." "You down with the Bruins?" "I went to SC." "Flip Carter." "What's happening?" "X." "X?" "Like in, what, "X marks the spot"?" "No just X." "I've heard some trippy names in my life:" "Ezekial, Cadillac even a brother named Porcupine." "But even if she's in labor with a bottle in one hand a big fat blunt in the other no mother would name her son a letter of the alphabet." "You're saying your mama named you Flip?" "Phillip." "Flip's my stage name." "I'm what you call a thespian." "My real name's Xavier." " Xavier Moore." " That I can get with." "What up, black?" "What's up?" "I'm doing well." "I made the bus." "It's all good now." "Had trouble waking up?" "Please, I get up with the roosters." "I had an early audition." "You a singer?" "I'm an actor." "You ever been in any movies?" " See Boyz N the Hood?" " You were in that?" "Almost." "At the last minute they gave it to to Ice Cube." "You believe that?" "He's a rapper, not an actor." "They hired a rapper to act." "I can't get behind that." "It's okay, though, because I just went up for a role opposite Denzel." "That's on the q.t." "What is this, CNN?" "Excuse me." "Film school." "I'm doing a documentary for my thesis project." "Gary." "Gary what?" "Gary Rivers." "How come you're going to the march?" "The march." "How come you're going?" "I guess if the brothers are getting together, talking about things working things out, I want to be there." "Where are you from?" "Pasadena." "No, where are you from?" "Monterey, originally." "Right." "I didn't know black people lived there." "We got a handful." "If you don't mind my asking are you mulatto, or just light-skinned?" "You mean biracial?" "Biracial?" "So that's a yes." "I consider myself black." "If you're raised by at least one black parent, I guess you're down." "Many brothers were raised by one parent." "My mother's white." " No disrespect." " What's with your pop?" "What?" "Your father." "What's up with your father?" "My father was a black man." "He was a cop." "He got murdered." "Must've tripped you out." "Yeah, it tripped me out." "Really tripped me out." "Just like having to watch a rapper act." "This brother, man..." " Excuse me." " Shoot on this side." "I'm sorry." "Mind if I ask something?" "Why quit now?" "Was it a brother that killed your father?" " What kind of question is that?" " I'm just wondering." "Yes, a brother killed my father." "Did you get it?" "Did you get it, X?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I got it." "Kyle, you can't just blink your eyes and expect me to go away." "I know you can hear me." " Should I just keep talking..." " What's your beef?" "You think if you pretend to sleep, I'll forget we were talking?" "You always think I'm playing you." "I'm not accusing you." " I'm asking for clarification." " I said all I have to say." "You can't just wake up one morning and say you need space and expect it to be case closed." " After all we've been through?" " Keep your voice down!" "I forgot." "We can't let your macho ass out of the closet." "What do you want me to say?" "Anything." "That it's another man, or a woman." "That you're confused about your sexuality." "Anything." "Look, Randall, I need space." " That's it." " Not good enough." "If I knew you were gonna trip on me, I'd have made you stay home." "You've got a lot of nerve." "You are not the reason I came on this trip, you pompous bastard." "Good." "Then you won't mind if I change my seat." "I do mind." "I mind that you're not man enough to admit you love me." " Hold up!" " What?" "!" " Cool, Dad." " Oh, Lord." "We're going to the march with a bunch of homos!" "Sissy." "Tell me I didn't just hear what I think I did." "What?" "He said:" ""You're not man enough to admit that you love me," to him." "So?" "We have faggots on the bus." "Gays have no role in our community?" "I'm talking about the faggots we got on this bus." "How else would they get there?" "Skip." "Damn straight." "It's no biggie to me." "You bend down and grab your ankles too?" "No, I ain't gay, all right?" "I still don't see what the problem is." "Ask them why they're going." "Look, bro." "You know what?" "I will." "The Bible says it's an abomination." "Still sometimes I ask myself what would I do if one of them was my son?" "Or worse, still what if I was the one that was born that way?" "What's your lady's name?" " Jindai." " Oh, she is pretty!" "How long you been together?" "We been talking for about two years." "Two long years?" "Two short years?" "Two short years." "I met her one day when I was crossing the street." "Don't tell me you met this beautiful young lady and you did the "daddy-cool" thing." "In my unenlightened days big booty would catch my eye." "You could say I had "big booty radar."" "Son, you ain't in love." "You're in lust." "No, sir." "No, sir." "Far beyond that now." "Since we've been together, we've never really been together." "You kidding me?" "No." "We're of the faith." "Living clean, you know?" "No shame in that." "Shabuya, sha, sha, shabuya" "Roll call" "My name is Mike" "Representing New York" "I'm not a Muslim Still don't eat pork" "Roll call" "Don't call me Evan" "'Cause I'm on the move" "Don't call me Junior" "But you can call me Smooth" "My name is Evan" "Evan Senior" "They got my son" "On a misdemeanor" "My name is Gary" "I'm down with Shelly" "She's got the butter" "I got the jelly" "My name is X" "And I'm a Bruin" "And blah, blah, blah" "My name's Jamal" "My mind is free" "We need more love" "And unity" "My name is Pop" "We're at the top" "Now all this shabuya" "Has got to stop" "Mike, how come you're going to the march?" "I'm thinking this could be Black Monday." "What do you mean?" "This could be a setup." "This could be a conspiracy." "We could be on our way to getting done, like the trains into Dachau." " You saying it's a plot?" " It could be, man." "Think of all the planes and cars filled with black men going to DC." "Thousands, right?" "Thousands." "If I'm a crazy white man in the government and want to kill a million black men, just hit one button, and boom?" "When and where would I do it?" "At the Million Man March." "The next day, when we're all dead, who'll fight our battle?" "Nothing but black women left." "Some "holocalyptical" shit going on." "That's what I'm saying." " Jay, you going for the same reason?" " No, I'm going to the march for myself." "It's time for us to be responsible, get out of the beggar mentality to say, "Look out for a brother."" "We need to start looking out for ourselves." "This is a strong black businessman." " You have a business?" " Yes, I have my own business." "Ask him what." "I've been in business 7 years." " What kind of business?" " I have a black bubblegum company." " What's it called?" " Yo Bubba." "How's business?" "It's blowing up." "I just don't understand." "Got the girl at private school her whole life Sunday school, church every Sunday..." "How she gonna come home with a bun in the oven?" "16 frigging years old." "What about the punk got her pregnant?" "He's 16 too." "Says he gonna quit school, get a job and rent an apartment." "Ain't said nothing about no marriage." "I tell you, if Farrakhan has a way to handle this I'd be all ears." "Right now, I want to kill that boy." "Craig!" "Watch out!" " Everybody okay?" " Call Jacoby  Meyers!" " Can't you drive?" " This isn't a Bronco, is it?" "Damn, the engine just cut off." "Is everybody all right?" "Damn." "What do you think?" "We'll never get out of the ditch." "Now don't be so negative." "Okay, Little Orphan Annie, the sun'll come out tomorrow." "Haven't you heard the expression "There's strength in numbers"?" "I've been on many ditched buses." "I won't let nothing like that stop me." "Fellas?" "I need every able-bodied man off the bus now!" "Come on!" " Come on, everybody!" " Gonna mess up my shoes!" "We got a little problem." "Get on down there." "Come on." "Everybody!" "Ready?" "One two three!" "We can't do it." "Can't?" "What do you mean, can't?" "Look there." "When Hannibal crossed the Alps..." " Who's Hannibal?" " Who's the Alps?" "...and saw that he was outnumbered 10- to-1 by the Roman army, he didn't say:" ""Let's go home." "We can't do it."" "He said, "Get your ass back on that elephant and stomp them Roman bastards!"" "There ain't no such words as "We can't do it."" "Let me use 3 other words:" "Too damn heavy." "I can't believe you're so shiftless and lazy that you'll just give up." "Oh, he's going to get all plantation on us now." ""I'm gonna to do it, boss!"" "The way you look, I can't blame him." "I thought slavery was over." "It doesn't concern you." "Maybe it does." "Tell us what it's all about." "No, I'm telling you to back off." "That's what I'm telling you." "Hey, everybody, the man's got a court order." "I seen it." "I want to see it." " Who are you, Richard Roundtree?" " That's all right." "I'd like to see it too." "Okay, now, does this meet with your approval?" "Good because I'm gonna say this one time okay?" "Now, this boy right here has got one father." "One." "And that's me." "If you're trying to find somewhere to stick your noses I got several places I would love to tell you about." "But whatever you do make sure that it ain't in my business." "You see, brothers?" "That's just what I'm talking about." "The devil don't want the black man to have atonement." "Right, Pop?" "Right." "But God wants us at that march." "It's our mission." "So, on 3 I want you strong, black African Mandinka Zulu goddamn warriors to lift this damn bus out of that stupid ditch, and let's be on our way!" "To whose tribe do you belong to anyway?" "Shaka Zulu's or Clarence Thomas'?" "Shaka Zulu's!" "Put your back into it!" "You're all Mandinka warriors!" "Lift the bus!" "Come on, do it for me!" "Pull it up!" "Go!" "Go!" "Pull!" "Pull!" "Come on!" "Pull, y'all!" "That's right, baby!" "That's right." "You didn't believe me!" "You didn't want to!" "Did you see that?" "Give me my $10." "Now what?" "The devil's kicking our Mandinkan asses." "Wait." "Remember Hannibal, now." "We ain't getting our ass kicked." "We'll get out of this ditch." "You know what this is?" "A plot." "It's a plot, man!" "What's going on?" "I was putting its pedal to the metal." "The axle must be busted." "Shit." "Let me call base." " They want me to stay with the bus." " You know those idiots." "But I'll miss the march." "You know the rules." "What can I do about it?" "This is a bitch." "Who's taking my place?" "They didn't say." "They'll just send us another bus." "We got another bus coming." " When?" " I don't know." "We won't get stranded on no desert." "Why don't y'all take your shit out?" "Gentlemen, please!" "Which way?" "You going back to L.A.?" "Out on the road" "And the bus broke down" "Out on the road" "And the bus broke down" "Well, it won't be too long" "Till I see Farrakhan" "You go, Jay." "Take it away." " And it won't be long" " Till what?" "Till we're 1 million strong" "Well, I was out on the road" "And the bus broke down" "About 20 of us was Out on the road" "And the bus broke down" "Well, I think They're trying to stop us" "But we still DC bound" "You guys, here comes..." "Hey, here comes the bus!" "Y'all didn't believe me." "What's up?" "Craig, George, what's all this?" "They're going to the march." "The Farrakhan thing?" "You're kidding." "I'm kidding." "They're the Harlem Globetrotters." "They said a trip to the Capitol." "I should've known." "I guess so." "Come on, brothers!" " This is our ride." " And he's white, fellas." "He gets to go to the march, I get to stay." "You're kidding, right?" "We can't go to no march with a white boy driving." "What about all that Mandinka stuff?" "Used to be we always had to chauffeur the white man." "This time, he's chauffeuring us." "Right, Pop?" "Right." "Come on!" "You got anything to stow, leave it with me." "What's up, Reuben Kinkaid?" "You looking for a recording contract, you come to the wrong place." "What's up?" " Gary." " Rick." "Not scared or anything, are you?" "Of course not." "Why, should I be?" "Damn right." "They got guns and knives." "I'll be with you guys in spirit!" "Freedom now!" "We're just getting going, y'all." "Yeah, one million strong." "I can't believe this." "Writing a letter?" "This is a prayer I thought I might say when we arrived at the march thanking the Lord for all that this means to me." "If we arrive." "White boy driving us to the Million Man March, that's gotta be a bad omen." "What's the deal with Kunta Kinte there?" "Brother said for us to stay out of his business." "I don't care what some judge said, no way I'd handcuff my son like that." "You?" "That I cannot say." "No kids?" "Oh, yeah, I had two kids." "But not anymore." "That's all over now." "No family at all?" "Not anymore." "Jeremiah's strictly on his own." "How do you feel?" "Pardon?" "You're on a bus with 20 black men." "How do you feel?" "Black, white, all the same to me." "I like to think of myself as colorblind." "Colorblind?" "So you didn't notice at all that everyone on this bus is black but you?" "So-called black men, descendants of slaves." "Well, we're all brothers under the skin, right?" "Now we're brothers just because you're on the black bus?" "Look, I never wore a white sheet over my head." "I'm Jewish." "God forbid we think a Jew could be a bigot." "My parents were for civil rights." "Blacks came to our house..." "Are you getting this?" "They actually had blacks at their house." "I didn't mean it like that." "Oh, spare us." "Only two things came out of the civil rights movement." "One:" "Black people got a few crumbs." "And two:" "Condescending whites could say they struggled with us." "But it didn't end with the March on Washington." "We're still catching hell." "My people know about catching hell." "My parents did their part." "Their part to make a difference, or to appear liberal?" "Jews made a difference in the movement." "As soon as they got what they wanted, they abandoned it." "I don't see black people marching for Jews Hispanics or Asians." "Why do you expect whites to solve all your problems?" "We didn't create our problems." "White people did." "You think we asked for slavery?" "We asked for the Holocaust?" "Six million Jews died." "Doesn't mean we're gonna forget Nazis, Arabs black anti-Semites..." "Do you know how many blacks died in the slave trade?" "Over 60 million." "I didn't kill them, nor did my parents." "Don't blame us." "Yeah, it's our fault." "After 400 years of slavery and oppression we're just supposed to fix everything ourselves?" "Damn right, we are." "Who else will do it?" "Hey, Spike Lee Jr., are you paying me for this movie?" "Then I quit." "Get that camera out of my face." "Your name is what?" "Randall, right?" "And correct me if I'm mistaken, but you are a homosexual?" " Yes." " And he's Jewish." "That makes both of you minorities on this bus." "Which shows you know nothing about the civil rights movement because it was about bringing people together." "So we can stop insulting each other and deal with the real issue the real oppressor." "I've known him for 5 years." "All he's trying to do is do his job." "Just help us get to the march." "That's all he's doing." "A reasonable man like you can understand that." "So why don't you cut him some slack?" "I don't have a problem with you." "Good." "Thanks, George." "I appreciate that." "Yeah, Rick." "Listen as long as you do your share of the driving, I have no problem with you." "You're okay in my book, pal." "Yo, dog!" "Yo, dog!" "What, man?" "I gotta use the restroom." "What?" "Piss." "The bathroom!" "If you don't mind, I'd love to go by myself." "Thanks." "What's happening?" "So they liked me?" "Yeah, yeah, count on that." "I got my fingers and toes crossed." "Bye." "Bye." "Oh, boy!" "Did you get it?" "They're gonna make the decision this weekend, but it looks like I got it." "Big role?" "They throw me up on that screen, I'll blow up too large." "People be like:" ""Denzel who?" You know what I'm saying?" "I hope it works out." "Then I can say I knew you when." " "The fool on the bus."" " Right on." "Go on your way to the Million Man March, 1995." "Say what do you think he's thinking?" "Mighty whitey, driving the bus." "Right now he's probably thinking about kicking his boss's ass." "You don't have a problem with him." "You got no problem with him because you share a white thing." "You know what I mean." "I already told you, I consider myself black." "Hang on." "No disrespect, brother." "I didn't..." "A person is white, doesn't mean I dislike him." "And just because a person is black does not mean I like him." "I consider myself black, just like Bob Marley." " I'm not talking about him." " He was mulatto." "I'm black." "No disrespect, partner, but I could consider myself 6'4" and ugly." "The fact remains that I'm 6 foot and too cute for the English vocabulary." "Wait a minute, Mr. Hollywood." "The man is black." "Just let him be." "He's also white!" "If this was slavery, would ole massa care?" "He'd be a slave like the rest of us." "He'd be a house slave in the big house." "While we'd be talking about grits he'd eat potatoes." "He'd have the breast of chicken." "Our women would be blistered from picking cotton." "His would be bathed, smelling good." "And 9 times out of 10, the honey he'd hit skins with she'd be a white girl." "Hold it just a minute." "About the grits:" "Grits was for the white folks up in the big house." "Slaves were lucky to get corn mush." "As for hitting the skins with a white girl a black man could get lynched for just thinking that thought." " Pop, you know what I mean." " You are wrong." "Look, my lady's not white." "But you would never understand that, would you?" "What's your problem, really?" "Do you want a white woman?" " That's it." " Is that it?" "Please, please!" ""Player" is written all over me." "I done tagged all kinds of freaks, black, white..." " Blondes, cripples, crazies." "...Chinese, Mexican." "Why do you insist on calling women freaks?" "I love my woman, okay?" "I respect her." "She's not a freak." "She's a queen." "I bang queens too." "Oh, sorry." "I get it." "You're on that henpecked trip." "I don't cheat on her." "It doesn't make me a henpeck." "It makes me honest." "I wish I could see how noble you'd be if you had as many drawers thrown in your face as I do." "Delusions of grandeur." "What's that you said?" "Well your constant references to your sexual prowess are nothing if not overcompensatory and lead me to think that you're a misogynist who is very insecure." ""Overly-compensatory."" "Nobody asked you, Harriet Tubman, Alice Walker, Angela Davis or whatever sister you think you are." "Randall Royal, if you don't mind." "Well, "Randall Royal, if you don't mind" just because I like pussy, I like the way it feels I like the way it smells and, on occasion, like the way it tastes don't make me insecure." "Can you even say the word?" " Pussy." " I'm looking at one." "Come on." "Pussy." " You want to back off?" " Come on, faggot." "Leave him alone!" "Stand by your man!" "Oh, no, my bad, because actually you're the man of the relationship." "You made your point." "Leave him alone." "He wasn't bothering you." "He was." "Just the fact that we got two faggots on the bus bothers me." "I won't be too many more of your "faggots."" "Leave him alone." "Mr. Chain Gang in the mix." ""The Defiant Ones."" "What's your sign, old man?" ""All deliveries in the rear?"" "Yo, dog, don't even trip." ""Yo, dog, don't even trip."" "Sit down, clown." "Don't trip, dog." "Y'all so serious, brothers." "But a lot of gays think that Farrakhan is homophobic." "He called for a day of atonement." "Perhaps the minister will atone for his homophobia." "When I go down the street, white women clutch their purses cross the street like they would for a straight brother." "I'm going because I'm a black man." "My sexuality doesn't change that." " Evan Junior." " Smooth." "Okay, Smooth." "Tell me how come you're going to the march." "Because he's making me." "He's making you go?" "Otherwise you wouldn't be going at all?" "Hell, no." "I don't even want to go." "Tell him why." "I'd rather be with my homies." "I got things to do." "That's why I'm taking him." "The homies are just killing each other." "I want to take my son to this historic event." "I want him to see a million black men doing something positive for the country." "I served enough for this country." "Ten years in the Marines, fought in the Persian Gulf I even took a bullet." ""Friendly fire" from two homophobic assholes who suspected that I was gay." "When I woke up, they were laughing and talking about how they killed two birds with one stone." "One nigger, one faggot." "You care about blacks?" "Yeah, I mean, I'm black myself..." "You care about other blacks?" "Do you steal from black people?" "Man..." "Steal?" "I ain't stole from nobody." "Okay, do you take what isn't yours even from black people?" " Lf it's just lying around the house?" " Yeah, sure, if it's there." "Right." "But you say you care about black people." " Don't think I have a right to go?" " I didn't say that." "I just want to know what you think the gay man's role is in the black community." "What's yours?" "Why do you say that stealing's not wrong?" "I didn't say it wasn't wrong." "I'm saying the way I got it, it wasn't really wrong." "Because I ain't hurt nobody." "Right, so you're saying if you take someone's stuff and don't hurt anyone, it's okay." "You're taking it the wrong way." "I ain't taking nobody's stuff." "It was there." "The money was there, you know?" "Nobody was there." "You'd leave money if you saw it?" "If it wasn't mine." "Yeah, okay, that's what you say." "Don't know, man." " Are we going to eat?" " I think I'm getting a hangnail." "It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Little Rock rest area." "Who are you supposed to be?" "The welcoming committee for all the fine sisters." "Oh, please!" "You don't recognize me, do you?" "I'm an actor." "You played on an episode of Martin!" "You were the janitor!" "He's famous." "You're funny." "Sorry we didn't recognize you." "We've been driving." " Where are you from?" " Dallas." "I've heard Dallas has fine honeys." "Wait a minute." "Aren't you the only two black cheerleaders on the Dallas Cowboys?" "Well, what do you know?" "Is he bothering you?" " You scared me." " Sorry." "Hopefully Minister Farrakhan will teach him not to bother ladies." "Are you going to the march?" "Yes, it's time for the brothers to work it out." "No, wait a minute." "No!" "How do you brothers propose to work things out without the sisters?" "I've heard this argument." "She's got a point." "It's not right to exclude women." "Especially after all the things our sisters have done for us." "So why are you going?" "Someone's gotta raise the consciousness of these lost brothers." "There are certain questions which are specific to manhood." "Such as, how can we be better husbands, sons, fathers and Iovers?" "You can start by not trying to put us womenfolk in our place." "Leave the sisters at home while you work it out?" "Please!" "Personally, I'm glad to see the brothers showing some unity." "Thank you." "That's not unity!" "What we need is some solidarity." "You cannot name one struggle in black America in which the sisters were not an active force, can you?" "I can." "Can you?" "It's not about excluding sisters." "It's about trying to gain your respect and keep it." "By the way, my name is Gary." " Gina." " Nice to meet you." "I'm Jamilia." " Nice to meet you." " You too." "You know, I wish we could go to DC." "Why don't you?" "I could help you drive." "Follow our bus." "Gentlemen, thank you very much but we do have somewhere we need to be." "That's too bad." "In that case, slide me those digits so when it's over I can run it all down for you." "You don't quit, do you?" "This one right here, can this one be trusted?" "I just met the brother." " What about you?" "Can we trust you?" " Me?" "There's no one more trustworthy than good old Gary." "Just ask his girlfriend." "My, my." "No, he's right." "Ask her." "She'll tell you I'm very..." "Trustworthy?" "Very trustworthy." "Exactly." "Let's go." "Well, you know what?" "It's been stimulating." "Nice to meet you." "Bye, brothers!" "God bless!" "Keep up the good work!" "God bless!" "One love, all right?" "Hey, watch CNN, all right?" "CNN." "Get out of here." "You poured salt on my rap." " Swing and a miss." " He's out!" "You're crazy." " You're crazy." " Tripping ain't easy." "You're still crazy." "Look at Flip!" "Brother's jealous!" "Mr. "I don't cheat on my girlfriend."" "I don't." "Please, please, please!" "You was salivating all over her." "Oh, come on, James Brown." "You're crazy." "Pop, are you hearing this?" "!" " I'm hearing this." " You tell me." "What man ain't gonna try to get something on the side if he can?" "Some men wouldn't." "Name one." "Better yet, how about you?" "You ever cheat?" "Maybe I did, when I was a youth." "So, Jeremiah was a bullfrog." "And no friend of mine." ""Maybe I did in my youth." That's a yes." "How about you?" "I never cheated on my wife." "Technicality!" "There was a time I was on this bus with 20 nymphos." "I had to fight them all." "But, no, I'm serious." "Let me think about it." "You ain't got to think about it." "I never cheated on my girlfriend." "I like Cathy a lot." " How old are you?" " 19." "You got plenty of time." "Brother Jamal over there he didn't ever cheat on his girlfriend." "Course not." "He prays 5 times a day!" "Get him to pray for music, since James Brown's on the other bus." "You want music music you got." "We got music that goes way back yonder." "Is this it?" "Now I want to introduce you to my pride and joy." "This is my djembe drum." "What's up, man?" "The drum is the mother of all music." "Tell them, Pop!" "I tell you what I'm gonna do." "I am gonna use this djembe drum to take all you brothers back to the motherland." "I see a ship" "It's a big ship" "Ain't no slave ship I don't see no chains" "I don't see no shackles" "It's a going-home ship" "I cross the ocean" "Get off the beaches" "I walk in the sand" "I step in the grass" "Say hello to the python" "And the baobab tree" "I walk in the jungle" "I see the monkey" "I see the chimpanzee" "I cross the river I see the crocodile" "I come to my village" "I see the chief I see all the elders" "I see the warriors" "I see the women and the children" "I see the fires" "I smell the cooking" "Hear the singing and drumming" "And dance all the dances" "I cross the compound" "And there at the end" "In a little rise" "I see home" "Jeremiah sees home" "And they're glad to see me" "Pop!" "Pop!" "Get your ass on the bus." "Memphis." "Listen to your mother." "You should listen to your mother." "That's not how I was raised." "That doesn't matter." "What's happening?" "Not much, I guess." "Not much is better than nothing." "Can we get some menus?" "Sandy, get them some menus." "Let's get something to eat, then I'll drive for a while." "I need a favor, George." " You can't drive the whole way." " That's not it." "Base calls, tell them I got sick." "Why?" "I'm not coming back." "Shit!" "What the hell you mean?" "I can't do it." "Stop bullshitting me." "You're just trying to go to Graceland." "I'd be safer there." "Meaning what?" "Think we'd put you in boiling water and eat you for supper?" "You already have the African drums in there." "That's the epitome of cultural disrespect." "I could come back with something anti-Semitic..." "Or I could whip your ass." "Which would you prefer?" "I'm sorry." "All right, here it is." "Maybe I am a little prejudiced, but no more than you are." "Want me to stay and prove I'm liberal?" "I don't have to prove anything to anybody." "I think affirmative action has been fucked up." "I think O.J. is a cold-blooded murderer who slaughtered two innocent people." "There it is." "And I bet you wish there were more white players in the NBA." "Let's just get it out in the open, huh?" "I bet you'd like to call me a nigger." "Or, what do you call it?" "A shvartzer, whatever it is?" "I'll allow you to say it." "I never called anybody that in my life." "But this bus is going to the Farrakhan march, and I can't be part of that." "This is not just Farrakhan's march." "He called Judaism a gutter religion." "He said Hitler was a great man." "I wouldn't expect you to drive a bus to a Ku Klux Klan rally." "So now you're comparing this to a Klan rally." "Either you'll kick my ass, you'll cover for me or I'll get fired." "But no way am I getting my white ass back in that bus." "So what's it gonna be?" "If you feel that way, you shouldn't get back on the bus." "I'll cover for you, Rick." "See you in L.A." "Thanks, George." "Is there a problem?" "Sorry, I just never seen this many people in here before." "Where are y'all from?" "L.A." "Long way from Los Angeles." " We're going to the Million Man March." " No kidding?" " Guess where these fellas are headed?" " Where?" "The Million Man March." "No fooling?" "That's what they said." "Farrakhan is the new black leader, huh?" "The new black leader?" "Like Martin Luther King was." "You could say that." "Not really." "But he's one of our leaders." "The only one that could pull this off." "What about that stuff they say?" "About him thinking the white man is the devil, that true?" " Yep." " No." "Not really." "Actually, Farrakhan is pro-black." "That doesn't mean he's anti-white or anything else." " I assume you feel the same way?" " Oh, yeah." " I'm Rodney." " Evan." " This here's Mitch." " How you doing, Mitch?" "I'm Smooth." "Evan Junior." "Just Smooth." "What's with the handcuffs?" "It's personal." "I can talk for myself." "It's a court order." "Judge mandated that I be in the custody of my father." "A judge?" "It was either community service and this for 72 hours or me serving a one-year sentence." "So, what'd you do?" "I stole something from a grocery." "Like a candy bar or something?" "No, like money out of the cash register." "Damn!" "It wasn't at gunpoint or nothing..." "But it was still a boneheaded thing to do." "You know better." "How do you know what I know?" "I know your mother taught you better than that, okay?" "Yeah, put it off on Moms." "We'll talk later." "What's this for?" "First-prize amateur rodeo, steer wrestling." "I used to do a little rodeo myself." "Then an old sassy horse kicked me where the sun don't shine." "Ever hear tell of a black cowboy named Bill Pickett?" "Sounds familiar." "He invented steer wrestling." "One day Bill was loading cattle onto this stock car and one longhorn got away." "Bill hopped on his horse and chased that heifer." "When he got close, he slid down, grabbed her horns turned her head, wrestled that cow straight back to the stock car." "And that's how he invented steer wrestling." "Black guy, huh?" "That's right." "Bill Pickett." "Damn." "Well, what do you know?" "Howdy." "What's up?" "You been down here before?" "No, ain't never been out of South Central." "There's another urinal." "You don't have to wait for me to finish." "That's all right." "I'm just gonna wash up." "You wash your hands any more, you'll rinse away the melanin." "Thank you." "There they are!" "How you doing?" "How are you, my brothers?" "Hey, brother." "Good morning to you." "Good morning." "Come here, young blood." "How you all doing, brothers?" "What happened to Rick?" " I don't know." " What do you mean?" "He had something to do." "He bailed?" "Don't worry, I'll get us there." "DC's not just around the corner." "The devil wants us to throw in the towel, but I'll still get us there." "Excuse me." "What can I do for you?" "I just heard you're going to the DC march." "That's right." "Well, well." "My name's Wendell." "Wendell Perry." "I own a car dealership here in Memphis." "Lexus SC 400 $75,000." "And it's mine." "We already have a ride, brother." "I'm not trying to make a sale." "I want to tag along." "You want to come with us?" "Yes, indeed." "It's the place to be, and I want to be there." "All I need is a ride from y'all." "I wish I could help you, but everybody paid money to get on this bus." "Oh, well, brother if you're concerned about money..." "That ain't what I mean." "You see, if I pick up any strays, I could lose this gig." "Understand?" "We won't say anything." "I'm with them." "The man says he wants to come to Washington, let him come." "He's a brother." "Yeah, Pop, but every brother ain't righteous, so mind if I...?" "Go ahead." "So none of you brothers have any objections picking him up?" "I have no objections to him, but that funky cigar's gotta go." "No smoking." "No problem." "Well, Wendell, welcome aboard." "Wendell Perry." "Man, there's nothing like the sunrise." "Reminds me of heaven." "Been there, huh?" "I'm just saying I can't imagine what could be nicer." "Times like now you couldn't pay me a million bucks to do something else." "If you weren't driving, would you still be going?" "You kidding?" "Even if I didn't want to, the women wouldn't let me hear the end of it." " They wanted you to come?" " They insisted." ""George, you find time to watch football you better find time to go to DC."" "Or, "Daddy, I know you're gonna be there, right?"" "You got a houseful of women." "Yeah, I got two girls and a wife." "You got kids?" "No, man." "Keep Jimmy in his pants, locked up tight." "Finish school." "Get a career." "Get married." "Then have babies." "You don't have to worry about me." "You're attached to that thing, huh?" "One day my kids'll see these tapes." "You'll be a Hollywood hotshot." "Just might surprise you." "That would be a nice one." "Hollywood thinks they got us all figured out." "And the evening news." "Yeah, George, they sum us up with the four R's:" "Rap, rape, rob and riot." "Who's making the coffee?" " When you find out, let me know." " I'll have some." "How long you been in Memphis?" "Born and raised." " You never lived anywhere else?" " No." "Don't intend to." "Business must be good." "Couldn't be better." "Let that be a lesson to you." "Work hard, graduate from school." "White man can't hold you down, I don't care what they say." "Get an education." "But just don't go anywhere." "You see me?" "I went to Vanderbilt." "In Nashville." "I graduated Phi Beta Kappa." "You'd never catch me going to a nigger school, like Fisk." "All them niggers know how to do is step and sing." "Sell fish sandwiches to get textbooks." "Y'all better open up these windows, it's getting funky." "Jay forgot his deodorant." "We're used to it." "Fuck you." "I'm sick." "Young blood, do something with your life." "Don't just talk about it." "Niggers love to talk about what they gonna do:" ""I'm gonna do this."" "Niggers ain't gonna do a thing." "That's why they like Farrakhan." "He ain't no Bible leader." "Who are you to be dissing Farrakhan?" "What have you done?" "What have you sacrificed to help lift your people?" "Farrakhan has been at the forefront of the struggle to clean up the black man for 40 years." "What have you done?" "You haven't done a goddamn thing." "Love Louis Farrakhan or hate him, that's your choice." "But if it wasn't for him your ass wouldn't be on this bus." "You know why?" "He was the only black leader with the balls to call for this march." "You know why?" "Because as far as so-called black leaders go Louis Farrakhan is the only free black man in America." "You know why?" "Because his only allegiance is to his God, Allah, and his people." "Nigger, come on." "You must admit the man is self-serving." "Everybody's self-serving on one level or another." "The fact is, the Nation of Islam can help thousands." "And put a lot of money in his pocket." "I been to his palace in Chicago." "That home belonged to the Honorable Elijah Muhammad." "That nigger the same thing." "You saying people shouldn't get paid for helping others?" "Priests and reverends get paid." " The president's getting paid." " Him too." "I'm just saying, one positive thing about Farrakhan is he don't have that nigger attitude like Jesse Jackson." "Here you go begging for a ride on this bus and you're gonna dis Farrakhan and Reverend Jackson." "Because of Reverend Jackson "I am somebody."" "The bus I drive, and I mean this may be for the ugliest brothers alive, but I am:" "Somebody!" "Seriously, you know what I'm saying about niggers like Jackson." "They all say the same thing: "Hire us." "Feed us." "Affirmative action."" "Like we need a nipple in our mouth." "You a Republican?" "Yeah, and proud of it." " You "Nigger Gingrich"?" " Got a problem?" "How can a black be a Republican?" "I don't see how he can't." "Got that right." "Oh, here we go again." "Democrats want to keep us powerless, begging for handouts." "If we have babies without a plan for their future they say it's okay." ""Take a few more handouts." "Have a few more babies."" "A gay, black Republican." "Now I've seen everything." "According to my observation, you haven't seen much." "I told you about riding my ass, especially without my permission." "Hey!" "You gay?" "That's okay." "You might be gay but as long as you're a Republican, you're okay." "We're an endangered species, just like that owl on the bus." "It's niggers like Flip..." "Niggers like Flip?" "Wear their suffering on them like a badge of honor." "You better wake up and smell the coffee!" "Because 9 times out of 10 your mama's in the whites' kitchen brewing it." "You leave my mama out of this." "At least she ain't out there on his doorstep begging like most of you lazy niggers." "Don't make me whip your ass." "Are you saying that all brothers and sisters that haven't made it are lazy?" "Basically." "Have you ever heard of racism?" "Racism is a figment of the black man's imagination." "Brothers, we are moving into the next millennium." "The year 2000 is here." "We gotta move into the future." "If I'm lying, how do you explain Colin Powell?" "White man didn't keep him down!" "Colin Powell made it in spite of racism, not because it doesn't exist." "Say it again." "Uncle Tom!" "You hear that?" "Just because we stand on our own two feet and don't sing slave songs, they call us Uncle Toms." "I have the sense to know racism and homophobia exist." "So I'm Judas?" "I'm the enemy to all the brothers and sisters, niggers like O. J..." "They the hero, right?" "Niggers are out there singing in the street, dancing because he was to be the Second Coming." "How many of you danced and sang?" "People weren't celebrating that he was a hero." " So you admit he's guilty." " That's not what he's saying." "The man's saying that whites had been getting over on blacks for centuries." "Please, niggers." "Let there be one voice of reason amongst all these niggers." "Who, Mark Fuhrman?" "What about you, old man?" "You got an opinion?" "I got an opinion." "And a question." "When you use that word that way, are you talking about you too or just the rest of us?" "It seems like that's the only word you know." "If you were to take that word and turn it over on the other side, you would find kings and queens." "Sorry, Pops." ""If it don't fit, you must acquit."" "Why are you going to the march?" "Niggers and cars." "Niggers need cars like cars need niggers." "I gotta make money." "Think I'd miss all that networking?" "Shit, nigger, you must be crazy." "I got a joke for you." "What do you get when you cross a million lesbians and the Million Man March?" "What do you get when you cross a million lesbians and the Million Man March?" "Two million motherfuckers who don't do dick." "You niggers are something else." "Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger." "All you niggers." "Hey, Wendell, I got a joke for you." "What do they call a black man with a Lexus dealership?" "What?" "Nigger!" "Don't lose it!" "Nigger need coat like coat need nigger!" "Back on the road" "And we're DC bound" "Back on the road And we're DC bound" "Go, Pop." "Go, Pop!" "I might have been lost" "But I done got found" "I might've been lost" "But now I'm found" "I might've been lost" "But now I'm found" "I say that this Monday" "Shall be so profound" "See, sometimes in the village drums would be talking all night long." "Like this." "And you have a heavier sound up here, right?" "And a lighter sound here." "And you have to get them both in." "And give yourself an easy rhythm." "Like that." "Steady and hold it." "Show me what you can do with that." " Here's the deep sound." " Right." " The high sound." " Right." "One, two, three, four." "No, young blood." "Your hands are too flat, like a pancake." "You have to loosen up your wrists." "Don't beat it." " Make love to it, you know?" " Make love to it." " Make love to the drum." " Like Cathy." "Yeah!" "Like Cathy." "That's right." "Easy does it." "Slowly." "Slow." "Easy." "Steady." "There you go." "There you go." "Like this?" "That would last all night long." "I'm sorry I outed you like that." "It's just whenever I think about you leaving, I get panicked." "You could've handled it better." "I don't think you want me to let you go." " Let's not talk about it." " Fine." "Change the subject." "Let's talk about happier times." "What about the first time we met?" "When I rocked your world?" "I think it was the other way around." "No, I remember it vividly." "I gave you a bath." "I scrubbed every inch of your body." "When you got out of the shower, I rubbed oil on your feet." "Stop it." "See, you never did play fair." "I'm not playing." "You know, I did what I did because I don't think we should be forced into living a lie." "Into pretending to be someone we're not." "I like who I am." "I won't apologize to anyone." "Not to you, not to Minister Farrakhan, not anyone on this bus." "You're always worried about what people will say and think." "If you decide you don't want to be with me anymore that you don't want this lifestyle, I can live with that." "But do it because it's what you want not because it's what people want for you." "If anything, be a man about it." "You're right." "I'm gonna be a man about it." "I'm as gay as the Nile is long." "I know that now more than ever, and you helped me with that." "I also know I don't want to be your lover anymore." "That doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend." "All right?" "I'd like that." "You all right?" "I just need a cup of coffee in a little while." "I'll be good to go." "Look, brother, I've been driving an 18-wheeler for nine years." "Just say the word, I'll help." "It'll be hard for you to take the wheel with them shackles." "They'll be long enough." "I have plenty of room." "Evan, you mind if I get up in your business for a minute?" "If you need to back off, I'll tell you." "I think you got yourself a good kid." "I mean teenagers mess up, that's what they do." "That's what they do best." "What's your point, George?" "Whatever crime he committed, he probably did it to get your attention." "If I were you I'd take the cuffs off, let y'all work this out." "The two of you, man-to-man." "We'll work it out, but the court said he has to be in them one more day." "I don't know about you but I don't see no judge on this bus." "You don't understand, man." "The boy needs discipline." "I guess I'm to blame for that, but he run over his mama and I won't have that." "We're getting ready to ride into history, man." "You cannot roll into Washington, DC with that boy in shackles." "Can't do that." "Maybe you're right." "Man don't have to sneak around no lady's back." "A man says, "This is how it is" and lives by his word." "I have a lot of honeys but I don't have to sneak." "My women know I'm not the settling-down type." "Besides, I learned long ago never to lie to a black woman." " Sounds like you learned the hard way." " Yeah!" "I must've been about 13 years old." "I told my mom I was going to the library after school." "But really I was trying out for track." "She said: "Until you get your grades up, don't try out for anything."" " You had to be hard-headed." " Absolutely." "She looks for me at the library." "A so-called friend tells her where I am." "Next thing I know, here she comes across the track where tryouts are with this big, thick leather belt." "It was so thick no one could wear it." "It was just made for whupping ass." "I couldn't take that in front of the guys so I had to I had to jet." "They know you can't run forever." "You tell it." "Finally, when I made it back home when I got tired of running, she whupped my ass so good that I still hate wearing belts." "The worst beating I ever got, I was about 8." "My mother was a Baptist, so we was in church on Easter." "This lady sitting next to me catches the Holy Ghost." "Old gal was hooting and howling, talk about "Thank you, Jesus." "Thank you!"" "And she steps on my brand-new Stacy Adams." "Only thing I could think to do was to kick her in her big, fat bubble behind." "No, tell me you didn't." "The congregation froze." "Even the lady stopped hollering." "Next think I know, my mother grabs the collection plate and starts whupping me upside my head with it." "I tried to tell her the Spirit made me kick her but that made her hit me more." "One time I stole some candy from the grocery store and the manager saw me, caught me red-handed." "He calls my mom, she comes to the grocery store and you know, my mom must have lectured me for two or three hours." "Lectured you?" "You didn't get a beating?" "Not a smack or nothing?" "His mother's white." "She's white, so what?" "I'm just telling him." "Is it relevant?" " Your mother's just different." " You have a problem?" "No, I don't have a problem." "She's different." "Our mothers whup ass." "Yours lectures." "That's all." " Nothing personal." " Nothing personal." "You're a sensitive, sensitive brother." "Sensitive." "What do you do for work?" "I work with kids at risk." "What kind of kids?" "Gangbangers." "Good luck on that, brother." "I meet them on my job every day." "Trying to get through to them is like talking to a brick wall." "What do you do?" "I'm a cop." "You're a cop?" " Where?" " South Central." "Let's get this straight." "Your daddy got 187'd by a brother and you 5-O in South Central?" "We need cops who ain't looking for an excuse to smoke a brother." "I became a cop because a lot of cops up here don't give a damn." "Call an ambulance, it takes 20 minutes." "Call a cop, it takes two hours." " So when you get the call?" " ASAP, brother." "You never pulled a Rodney King?" "No, and hope I never have to." "You hope?" "What do you mean?" "I mean there's a lot of brothers out here who play for keeps." "Crips and Bloods are not choirboys." "Most white kids ain't choirboys, but do you whup them at will?" "If I have to clock a brother to teach him a lesson I'll do it and save his life." "You think what you want." "All you know about South Central is what you see at the movies brought to you by folks who don't go south of the Santa Monica Freeway." "I think it's great what you're doing." "I really do." "Working with at-risk kids is wonderful." "My lady runs a mentoring program out of her office on weekends." "I tell Shelly all the time, "You're running this program that's great but you're behind a desk and have no idea what's going on out there."" "Don't tell me I have no idea!" "Because I've been on the front lines many times." "You gangbanged?" "Up until two years ago." "I've been Cripping since I was 12 years old." "Gangbanging, that was my job." "24/7, I used to have to watch my back." "Kill or be killed." "Why?" "That's what every fool in the 'hood did." "Who was I to be different?" "Ever smoke somebody?" "First time was on my 13th birthday." "You know what Jewish kids do on their 13th birthday?" "OGs wanted to test my manhood." "So we pull up on some Bloods." "They was just kids, but I saw them as Bloods." "Then this one fool I don't know, 13 or 14 years old kicking it to some girl tickling, whatnot..." "Suddenly he turns around and sees my 9 in his face." "He didn't get a chance to blink." "That was your first time." "Brother, if I used both my hands to count the number of kids that I canceled I'd run out of fingers." "So what made you quit, Jamal?" "Went to my best friend's funeral." "Now, I done buried a lot of homies but my boy, D, was like a brother to me." "And it wasn't like I wanted to go out and kill every Blood in the 'hood." "I guess I wanted one of them to smoke me." "So I went up in their 'hood." "Where I come from, that's suicide." "There wasn't a Blood in sight." "That's when I realized I'd just pull the trigger on myself." "Next thing you know I meet Jindai." "She breaks it down to me on how Allah has a plan for my life and how he could use me." "Because nowadays, brothers just kill each other on a glare." "She made me realize how lost I really was." "And that killing myself wasn't gonna end that cycle." "You know what will end the cycle, Jamal?" "Locking up somebody like you behind bars." "Of course." "You gotta make your quota, don't you?" "Someone just like you murdered my father." "Excuse me." "You can rationalize it all you want." "Living in the 'hood is no excuse for taking the life of another human being." "Damn!" "Damn!" "Be cool." "Be cool." "Shit." "All right, everybody, be cool." "I hope y'all remembered rule number three." "What's going on here?" "Nothing, officer." "I kept it under 60." "We've been asked to beef up surveillance around here." "A lot of boys been smuggling drugs through our state." "How does that concern us?" "You tell me." "Excuse me, officer." "I'm Officer Rivers, LAPD." "We're just taking a bus to DC." "LAPD, huh?" "That's right." "I hate to break it to you, but this is Knoxville." "I know what you thought." "Take a seat." "Mike!" "Bring him in!" "See what you can find, Bruno." "If any of you are holding any illegal substances now's the time to confess your sins." "Bruno here has one hell of a nose." "Look underneath that seat." "Find anything?" "Check him." "You got him?" "Back there." "Look up above those racks too." "Anyone carrying anything?" "You?" "Are you really asleep?" "You sleeping?" "What about Uncle Remus?" "Back there." "How about you?" "Clean?" "Clean." "Okay, boys." "Been my pleasure." "If you find yourself in Knoxville again and need law-enforcement assistance be sure and look us up." "Good evening." "Fuck Knoxville!" "Damn troopers!" "Kiss my ass!" "Be cool till we get out of here." "What's up?" "Just tripping off how Mom told me you could drive anything." "You name it, I can drive it:" "Car bus truck tractor boat, motorcycle..." "A plane?" "That's something I haven't done." "That's what I'll do." "I'm gonna be a pilot." "Pilot, huh?" "Soon as I get out of high school I'm going straight into the Air Force." "Might even make a career out of it." "Why planes?" "You know, planes kill people." "People get killed in grocery stores, but you don't stop eating." "No, you don't." "You're just like your mama, I swear." "You most definitely got that mouth of hers." "Want to hear something funny?" "What's that?" "She told me I was just like you." "Can't wait to tell her she was wrong." "No way, Jeremiah." "You're not off the hook." "Why are you going to the march?" "Why am I going?" "Yes, that's the question." "Well I missed the March on Washington in '63." "Missed it?" "You didn't go?" "I wanted to go." "I intended to." "But I'd just got a good-paying job with a company and I didn't want to lose it." "You know, go along to get along, play it safe, make no waves." "People in the office asked me about Malcolm X, Martin Luther King." "I said I didn't even know them cats." "The truth of the matter is, I didn't believe in troublemakers and rabble-rousers." "No, sir." "White man had me in his hip pocket 100%." "And that was all right with me." "Soon I was getting a raise every year, just like everybody else." "And got my little office down in personnel." "My own office." "Yep." "Bought this great big house out in the suburbs." "Cars for me and my wife, college for the kids, the whole thing." "Paid down on this expensive boat." "When I was at the company I trained a lot of people, mostly white, some women." "Every one of them got promoted over me." "That should've told me something." "But it didn't." "Not me." "I had it made." "Oh, man." "Everybody from the president on down, the whole company loved good, old, faithful quick-with-the-jokes-and-smiles Jeremiah." "Oh, man they integrated me lock, stock and barrel." "And I loved it." "Thirty-three years with the company." "I never missed a day." "And then they had a big merger." "Instead of giving me the watch I'd been waiting for they gave old Jeremiah the pink slip." ""We regret to inform you that your services will no longer be required."" "Now, I didn't see how they could just throw a man away." "I couldn't accept it." "So I went to the new management and put on a show that you wouldn't believe." "I talked more trash showed more teeth kissed white ass..." "I begged that man for my job." "And I got it." "30% reduction in pay no benefits but it was a job." "It was mine." "Two years ago a lot of loose Japanese money coming in hostile takeover, some kind of stuff." "Company got lean and mean for the new world order of the 21 st century." "Downsized my black ass right out the door and then locked it." "Threw away the key." "No job no future, no nothing." "Of course, I had to get stupid." "I took to drinking." "I lost my wife, cars, house children credit my good name." "Now, all my worldly possessions and the rest of my life is in that bag." "As a matter of fact if something good don't happen to Jeremiah, and soon..." "Well, he's..." "That's why I'm going to the march." "I gotta go." "Yes, sir, you'll make this march or you'll die trying." "You're looking at the co-star of Denzel's newest flickity-flick." "I got the part!" "What, no congratulations?" "Congratulations." "Now why don't you sit down and shut up?" "You think that's funny?" "I'm rather amused, but poor Denzel!" "Your girlfriend thinks that's funny." " Fuck you." " Are you sure?" "Sure you want to fuck me?" "That waitress in Memphis slipped you her phone number." "You must be feeling butch." "Randall Royal-if-you-don't-mind:" "...your boyfriend may give up his membership." "Give me some respect!" "I told you to stop riding my ass!" " Or I'll bust your ass!" " They are bigger assholes than him." "You had your Wheaties this morning!" "Hope you had yours, bitch!" "You call me bitch?" "Sounded like it." "I know you didn't!" "Let's just calm down." "How's this for a bitch?" "Break it up!" "I'll pull this bus over and throw both your asses..." "Let's go." "The "Thrilla in Manila," baby." "Brothers, don't!" "Don't!" "Don't fight!" "That's it?" "Bring it on." "Oh, jeez!" "Y'all counted me out too soon!" "Come on, sugar!" "The dance ain't over." "You like that, fag?" "Who's the faggot now?" "That's for Langston Hughes." "For James Baldwin." "Come on, mister." "Give it your best shot." "What are you waiting on?" "That was for Dennis Rodman." "Dennis Rodman is gay?" "You seen my son?" "No, I haven't." "You seen Junior?" "He was here." "I don't know where he went." "Smooth!" "Split up." "Everybody, just split up." " Yo, Smooth!" " Yo, brother!" "Junior, where you at?" "Stop, boy!" "Stop!" "Stop!" " Get the hell off of me!" " What's wrong with you?" "Where do you think you're going?" "!" "Get the hell off me!" "Where you going?" "I ain't going nowhere!" "Why are you running away?" "Maybe because I take after you more than you know, that's why!" "Look I'm not saying that you don't have the right to be mad." "You got the right." "In fact, you're right about me." "When you were born, I broke out just as fast as I could." "I know that!" "Tell me something I don't know!" "But I was not rejecting you." "It was not about that." "Yeah, whatever." "I was scared, Junior." "I was 22 years old." "I had no job and a brand-new baby boy from a woman I kind of liked." "But it wasn't love, man." "So I figured that if I just split, then the problem would go away." "Won't you let me just split?" "You was never the problem." "I want you to understand that I was the problem." "Because after you were born I was not man enough to take on my responsibilities." "And I want to be your father." "I realize that your mother was right." "You need your father in your life." "What, are you crazy or something?" "Look at me." "I'm practically grown." "Now you're saying I need you?" "You know what my mama went through?" "My mama taught me how to ride a bike how to tie a tie." "She even told me how to use a condom so I wouldn't be a brother with an unwanted baby, like you." "You want to come back into the picture telling me I need you?" "I don't expect for us to be great overnight." "But..." "It might even be a few years." "But I don't care." "Because you are my son." "And I am your father and I love you." "And you are wanted." "And I'm going to face that." "You remember when we left on the way to Washington for this trip and Jeremiah prayed that we would be better men after we left than we were before we got there?" "I was praying right along with him." "And I'm never, ever running away again." "Day of atonement!" "Day of atonement!" "We're here!" "Look at all these people." "Look at all these people!" "You ever seen anything like this?" "I bet they'll try to say not that many brothers showed up." "Hey, Jeremiah." "You still mad about the fight?" "Something's wrong with Jeremiah!" "Shut up!" "Something's wrong with Jeremiah!" "You all right?" "There's something wrong with him!" " You'll be all right." " Give him some space!" "He'll be all right." "Get 911 on the cellular!" "Stop the bus!" "Shut up!" "Shut up!" "Shut up!" "Everybody, shut the fuck up!" "Let's move it, people." " Dr. Cook?" " Yes." "It's a heart attack." " Will he be okay?" " I don't know." "We found pills in his pocket and I contacted his doctor from that prescription." "He's very sick." "We've moved him up to the cardiac intensive care unit." "Was the trip too much?" "He has a coronary artery disease, you know?" "Meaning what?" "He knew the trip would put his life in jeopardy." "Will he make it?" "We'll do everything we can." "What now?" "We wait." "If we wait, we'll miss the march." "All you care about?" "Look, I'm just saying..." "You guys go ahead." "I'm gonna stay here with him." "What do you want to do?" "We can't just leave him." "Not until we know he's all right." "He's right, man." "Brothers come too far to miss the march." "You go, we'll stay." "I don't want to leave him either." "We've got it covered." "George, he's right." "All right." "The Spotted Owl will be in front of the Lincoln Memorial." "My brothers  and sons  and grandsons  and cousins and nephews  the night has been long." "Who's that lady?" "She's Maya Angelou." "Who is she?" "She's a great poet." " Under a dead blue sky  on a distant beach..." "The scenes on the street aren't that bad." "In fact, we had absolutely no trouble getting in." "They expect to have more trouble getting out of here than getting in..." "You're hearing now the crowd as it starts to get worked up and chanting." "They are chanting, "We are here."" "We need to take control of our institutions  our media, our schools." "When you maximize our economic resources  towards our own benefits." "When you stop making excuses  when you stand with our mothers..." "Please vote!" "You gotta vote, black man!" "Your vote counts." "Please vote, or this is where you'll end up." "In the garbage can!" "Take me out of there!" "Cause I'm gonna vote." "I messed up last year!" "I didn't vote!" "See what happened?" "And this is 1995!" "Just think 10 years from now!" "We'll all be running around like this!" "And he gonna be howling!" "Long live the spirit of the Million Man March!" "Long live the spirit of the Million Man March!" "God bless you!" "You can see there's a Jumbotron  for those who can't see the stage from further back." "I don't want you to think I was rationalizing smoking brothers." "What happened to your dad was messed up." "The way I lived my life was messed up." "The only thing I can try to do is make sure other kids don't do the same." "The last place I saw my father alive was the hospital." "Three bullets in him." "I asked my mother who would do something like that." "She said, "There are good people and bad people in this world and a very bad person did this to your father."" "I take you as a man of your word." "I respect that." "If you've done what you said you did I'll do what I can to see that you pay for it." "As soon as we get to L.A. and you step off the bus, I may cuff you." "Unless you want to turn yourself in privately." "Probably save us both some embarrassment." "Million Man March minus how many?" "How's he doing?" "His heart muscle was too weak." "He was just pronounced dead." "I'm sorry." "Do you have any idea who his next of kin is?" "He didn't have anybody." "He didn't have anybody?" "We got halfway there and decided to turn around and..." "What?" "He's gone." "We came 3000 miles just to bury another black man." "Hey..." "Listen." "I know we came 3000 miles to attend the march and it didn't happen." "But at least we stood by the brother when he needed us." "That's got to mean something." "We're here because God Almighty wanted us here." "And he don't care so much about what you already done." "God asks what you're gonna do now." "So maybe we missed the speeches." "The chance to smile, to chat to rub a friendly elbow with one another." "To collect all the souvenirs, the buttons the T-shirts." "That was important." "That would have been good for the spirit." "And I'm sorry we missed it." "Because the real march..." "The real march ain't even started yet." "This was only the prelim, the warm-up calling the tribes together." "The real Million Man March won't start till we black men take charge of our own lives and start dealing with crime drugs and guns and gangs and children having children, and children killing children all across this country." "So if..." "You know something?" "If y'all are all ready to quit your apathetic and unsympathetic ways as I am and take back control of the black community, as I am if you're ready to stop being the boys that started to Washington on this bus and be the men the men that our wives and mothers and children are waiting for back home to stand up against all the evils lined up against the black man back home." "And just say, you know we're tired of this shit!" "And we ain't gonna take it anymore!" "If you're ready to do that if you're ready to do that, then we got work to do." "We got a lot of work to do." "Men, I think Xavier should have this." "And I hope you learned something from brother Jeremiah." "That's the prayer he wanted to say." "This is what he..." "This is what he wanted to say." "I think brother Jeremiah would want us to bow our heads." ""We made it, Lord." "From all across this nation, we black men made it." "And we thank You." "None of us is perfect but we seek perfection." "And we especially want our wives, mothers and daughters to understand that we are trying trying hard." "But we still need Your help." "Sometimes we felt that You had given up on us left us abandoned forsaken and betrayed." "And we may have gone astray from time to time but we're still good people." "And we're still Your people." "We're still Your sons." "So here we are, one million black men strong like the Prodigal Son when he comes home to his father." "He wasn't looking for a handout, Lord, but a job."" ""Make me as one of the hired servants," That's what he said." "That's all he asked." "And that's our prayer as we stand before You today." "Not a handout, Lord  but a job  and a second chance." "It says to us in the 14th chapter of the book of Job  these holy words:" ""For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down  that it will sprout again  and that its tender shoots will not cease  though its roots may grow old in the earth  and its stump may die in the ground." "Yet at the scent of water  it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant."" "Lord  we don't ask for much." "Maybe water is something we no longer deserve." "We ask instead from You  just the scent." "The scent  of Your living water." "Thank You for listening, Lord." "Amen."