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Downloaded from
YTS.BZ

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ

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Oh!

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Oh, almost didn't
make that jump.

5
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It would've hurt
something terrible

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00:01:55,324 --> 00:01:58,953
in a permanent kind
of way.

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00:01:59,078 --> 00:02:00,120
God, damn it.

8
00:02:01,247 --> 00:02:03,207
Messed my shine all up.

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00:02:03,374 --> 00:02:04,959
They know people trying
to jump these trains.

10
00:02:05,125 --> 00:02:07,294
I don't know why they
just won't slow 'em down.

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00:02:07,461 --> 00:02:08,921
Hell, I'd be willing
to buy a ticket

12
00:02:09,088 --> 00:02:12,091
if they was free.

13
00:02:12,967 --> 00:02:14,426
No.

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00:02:14,552 --> 00:02:17,012
They force a gentleman to
use these Philistine tactics

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00:02:17,179 --> 00:02:19,765
and don't even make it
easy for 'em to do it.

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00:02:21,141 --> 00:02:22,810
You know, I, I used to
didn't have to take the rails

17
00:02:22,935 --> 00:02:26,355
to get to a show before
William decided to-

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00:02:30,401 --> 00:02:33,487
First off, my name
Abel, Abel Green.

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00:02:33,654 --> 00:02:34,947
Damn glad to meet you.

20
00:02:35,114 --> 00:02:36,574
Sorry if I scared you
when I jumped on here.

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00:02:36,740 --> 00:02:39,368
And mayhaps you've heard
of me or us, rather?

22
00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:41,954
No?

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00:02:43,747 --> 00:02:44,707
Really?

24
00:02:45,457 --> 00:02:47,084
No, no, no. I know why.

25
00:02:47,251 --> 00:02:51,672
You don't recognize me
without my face on.

26
00:02:58,262 --> 00:03:01,473
Hey, that's me and
William Benson.

27
00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:03,517
All right, come on, kinfolk.

28
00:03:03,684 --> 00:03:07,271
William Benson, the
great colored actor,
comedian, minstrel.

29
00:03:08,731 --> 00:03:10,441
You heard of Burt
Williams, right?

30
00:03:10,608 --> 00:03:11,692
The song, "Nobody"?

31
00:03:11,817 --> 00:03:12,860
Well, think Burt Williams

32
00:03:13,027 --> 00:03:14,236
with a whole lot less money

33
00:03:14,403 --> 00:03:15,696
and a more complex
kind of funny.

34
00:03:16,906 --> 00:03:18,365
Yeah, I was his partner,

35
00:03:18,532 --> 00:03:20,451
and we were Captain
Davenport's Minstrel Troupe,

36
00:03:20,618 --> 00:03:25,915
featuring two willing and able
bonafide darkies.

37
00:03:27,082 --> 00:03:29,877
William came up with
that, the bonafide part.

38
00:03:30,044 --> 00:03:31,629
See, and that's how
we competed against

39
00:03:31,795 --> 00:03:33,505
the white minstrels
in blackface.

40
00:03:33,672 --> 00:03:35,341
That's where our
pitch came from,

41
00:03:35,466 --> 00:03:39,011
which was, why hire fake coons
when you can hire real ones?

42
00:03:39,178 --> 00:03:43,057
When these boys wipe off the
black, the black still there.

43
00:03:47,394 --> 00:03:48,979
Now William Benson,

44
00:03:49,146 --> 00:03:50,731
he had more sense
than a little bit,

45
00:03:50,898 --> 00:03:52,608
and made a bundle of
money making people

46
00:03:52,775 --> 00:03:54,526
think he ain't had none at all.

47
00:03:55,402 --> 00:03:57,905
Yes Lord, things were real sweet

48
00:03:58,072 --> 00:03:59,406
when William was around.

49
00:04:00,824 --> 00:04:02,326
But,

50
00:04:02,493 --> 00:04:03,911
life is change.

51
00:04:05,037 --> 00:04:07,665
Thing is, sometimes
you make the change

52
00:04:07,831 --> 00:04:09,750
and sometimes the
change make you.

53
00:04:10,834 --> 00:04:12,586
All the biggest
changes in my life,

54
00:04:12,753 --> 00:04:14,380
either William had
something to do with 'em

55
00:04:14,505 --> 00:04:17,216
or he was around when
I made 'em.

56
00:04:17,383 --> 00:04:19,885
He's the one that brought
me into the show business.

57
00:04:20,010 --> 00:04:22,930
Well, getting paid side of it.

58
00:04:23,055 --> 00:04:27,309
See, all Negroes are
actors by necessity.

59
00:04:27,476 --> 00:04:30,270
The script is passed down
generation to generation,

60
00:04:30,437 --> 00:04:32,106
and the Negroes
that know they lines

61
00:04:32,272 --> 00:04:34,525
tend to live longer than
the Negroes that don't.

62
00:04:36,193 --> 00:04:37,736
Generally speaking as
it pertain to dealing

63
00:04:37,903 --> 00:04:39,279
with white folks.

64
00:04:39,446 --> 00:04:41,615
Now as far as dealing
with other Negroes, well,

65
00:04:41,782 --> 00:04:43,409
memorization won't help.

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00:04:43,575 --> 00:04:45,744
Negroes be changing
on the daily.

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00:04:47,413 --> 00:04:51,333
William, he was privy to
one of my best performances,

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00:04:51,500 --> 00:04:54,003
performed in front of
an all Negro audience,

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00:04:54,169 --> 00:04:55,504
outside of the liquor house

70
00:04:55,671 --> 00:04:57,297
where an angry husband
held a straight razor

71
00:04:57,464 --> 00:04:59,591
but inches away from
my adam's apple.

72
00:05:01,051 --> 00:05:04,013
Now when William saw I was able
to convince said individual

73
00:05:04,179 --> 00:05:06,306
that the black ashy
bottom he saw climbing out

74
00:05:06,473 --> 00:05:10,310
of his bedroom window did
not belong to one Abel Green,

75
00:05:10,477 --> 00:05:11,895
rather to some other dirty,

76
00:05:12,062 --> 00:05:14,440
derelict defiler
of his lady love.

77
00:05:17,026 --> 00:05:19,403
Well, William offered
me a job on the spot.

78
00:05:19,570 --> 00:05:21,363
You know, we hit the
road the next day,

79
00:05:21,530 --> 00:05:24,450
made money makin' folk laugh
all across this nation.

80
00:05:25,576 --> 00:05:28,078
NAACP didn't think
we're very funny though.

81
00:05:29,288 --> 00:05:31,540
A lot of Black newspapers
didn't appreciate

82
00:05:31,707 --> 00:05:33,375
our brand of humor either.

83
00:05:33,500 --> 00:05:37,921
I got this article right here
from the New Negro Gazette.

84
00:05:38,088 --> 00:05:40,382
"The Negro performing
in blackface,

85
00:05:40,549 --> 00:05:44,053
dancing and singing
like a bubbling fool
in front of whites,

86
00:05:44,178 --> 00:05:47,723
betrays the advancement
of the entire race."

87
00:05:47,890 --> 00:05:50,684
JA Sutter, publisher.

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00:05:53,479 --> 00:05:57,858
When I read that to William,
he got real, real quiet,

89
00:05:59,193 --> 00:06:01,320
that right before a
thunderstorm type of quiet.

90
00:06:02,905 --> 00:06:04,490
Then came the boom.

91
00:06:05,365 --> 00:06:07,618
Why the negrocity of this Negro.

92
00:06:08,786 --> 00:06:10,370
Are we not the race?

93
00:06:10,537 --> 00:06:13,123
Is our skin not Black?

94
00:06:13,290 --> 00:06:14,958
I'm a colored actor
doing the best I can,

95
00:06:15,125 --> 00:06:16,460
trying to make a
living the best I can,

96
00:06:16,627 --> 00:06:18,462
and for that they call me Judas.

97
00:06:19,338 --> 00:06:20,964
I say with the utmost certainty

98
00:06:21,131 --> 00:06:23,550
that neither you nor I have
caused a single crucifixion,

99
00:06:23,717 --> 00:06:26,220
Abel Green, while
these Romans crucify us

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00:06:26,386 --> 00:06:29,348
on their editorial pages
every chance that avails them.

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00:06:30,057 --> 00:06:31,225
Bastards.

102
00:06:33,602 --> 00:06:35,562
William always
used too many words

103
00:06:35,729 --> 00:06:37,106
for the point he was making.

104
00:06:38,398 --> 00:06:39,399
Still, he was the smartest man

105
00:06:39,566 --> 00:06:41,193
I ever knew, white or colored.

106
00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:43,070
All them big shows we did.

107
00:06:43,237 --> 00:06:46,573
Them white folks still don't
know that Captain Davenport

108
00:06:47,366 --> 00:06:48,909
was really William Benson.

109
00:06:49,743 --> 00:06:50,994
Yeah.

110
00:06:51,161 --> 00:06:52,704
They ever found out they
paid a couple of coons

111
00:06:52,871 --> 00:06:54,414
that much money, some of
'em drop dead on the spot.

112
00:06:56,083 --> 00:06:57,459
I'm gonna tell
you how we did it.

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00:06:57,626 --> 00:06:59,336
Yo, William had this
cousin from New Orleans

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00:06:59,461 --> 00:07:03,841
named Alonzo Price who
could pass as white.

115
00:07:04,007 --> 00:07:06,051
So he would pose as
Captain Davenport

116
00:07:06,218 --> 00:07:07,636
for a small cut of the money.

117
00:07:07,803 --> 00:07:09,805
Get to town a week
before us, book the show,

118
00:07:09,972 --> 00:07:11,723
We would come and perform, ha.

119
00:07:13,767 --> 00:07:15,435
I'm telling you,
it was beautiful.

120
00:07:15,602 --> 00:07:17,271
That boy William, he
always had a plan.

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00:07:17,396 --> 00:07:19,106
You know he knew
everything, read everything.

122
00:07:19,231 --> 00:07:21,483
He'd get drunk, spend the
night reciting Shakespeare.

123
00:07:21,650 --> 00:07:23,026
Yeah, he would.

124
00:07:23,193 --> 00:07:25,445
He knew the complete
works except for Othello.

125
00:07:25,612 --> 00:07:27,573
He refused to commit
that one to memory.

126
00:07:27,698 --> 00:07:29,074
He said Othello was nothing

127
00:07:29,241 --> 00:07:31,285
but a minstrel show
without the punchlines.

128
00:07:32,494 --> 00:07:35,914
The only weakness he had
was for, shall we say,

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00:07:36,081 --> 00:07:37,666
ladies of the night.

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00:07:37,791 --> 00:07:39,585
Now I know some might think
I'm wrong for saying that,

131
00:07:39,751 --> 00:07:41,795
but where I come from, if you
gonna tell a man's business,

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00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:43,255
then you tell all of it.

133
00:07:45,215 --> 00:07:47,426
It wasn't that William
couldn't get a regular woman,

134
00:07:47,593 --> 00:07:49,094
it's just with the
money we were making

135
00:07:49,261 --> 00:07:50,804
and the times being what
they were, hell still are,

136
00:07:50,971 --> 00:07:52,764
a man with a dollar or
two didn't have to go

137
00:07:52,931 --> 00:07:55,642
to a house of ill repute
to find a lady friend.

138
00:07:57,102 --> 00:08:00,105
I asked William why he
liked prostitutes so much.

139
00:08:01,523 --> 00:08:04,318
He said, because they
were master actors.

140
00:08:06,069 --> 00:08:08,363
He said they knew the
secret to managing vacancy

141
00:08:08,530 --> 00:08:10,032
and he wanted to learn it.

142
00:08:12,659 --> 00:08:14,119
Now I ain't know what he
meant by that at the time,

143
00:08:14,286 --> 00:08:17,664
but I damn sure understood
after Jefferson.

144
00:08:19,374 --> 00:08:20,918
Jefferson was one of those

145
00:08:21,084 --> 00:08:23,754
life-changing moments,
like I mentioned earlier.

146
00:08:24,713 --> 00:08:25,756
Shit, it's the reason William

147
00:08:25,923 --> 00:08:27,633
ain't going on this gig with me.

148
00:08:28,926 --> 00:08:30,469
It's the reason why I got
less money in my pocket.

149
00:08:30,636 --> 00:08:32,221
It's the reason why I wake
up some nights sweating,

150
00:08:32,387 --> 00:08:34,306
which turns into
shaking and crying.

151
00:08:34,431 --> 00:08:35,724
It's the reason why I sleep

152
00:08:35,891 --> 00:08:37,184
with a bottle of whiskey
on my night table

153
00:08:37,351 --> 00:08:38,727
and a pistol
underneath my pillow.

154
00:08:44,024 --> 00:08:45,817
I wanted to drive to town.

155
00:08:45,984 --> 00:08:47,361
Damn some walking.

156
00:08:47,486 --> 00:08:49,029
Jefferson was about
three miles or more

157
00:08:49,196 --> 00:08:50,656
from this colored hotel.

158
00:08:50,822 --> 00:08:52,950
And we had us this
brand new Ford Packard.

159
00:08:53,075 --> 00:08:56,036
Couldn't even drive it 'cause
Alonzo had gotten sick,

160
00:08:56,203 --> 00:08:57,829
and as William put it,

161
00:08:57,996 --> 00:09:00,666
it makes no sense to step in
some shit you can step around.

162
00:09:02,501 --> 00:09:05,128
Two colored fellas driving
that brand new Ford?

163
00:09:05,837 --> 00:09:08,257
Well, so we walked.

164
00:09:09,466 --> 00:09:11,426
It was hotter than
fish grease that day.

165
00:09:11,593 --> 00:09:13,136
You know, it wasn't
even noon yet,

166
00:09:13,303 --> 00:09:16,390
but the air was thick, thick
enough to cut like cake,

167
00:09:17,224 --> 00:09:19,184
so we cut across this field and,

168
00:09:23,814 --> 00:09:26,817
we smelled the body
before we saw anything.

169
00:09:28,485 --> 00:09:30,946
It was a sweet stench
like burnt pork.

170
00:09:32,447 --> 00:09:35,659
Once we came down the last
dip at the end of the field,

171
00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,414
we saw the tree at the edge of
the wood where the body hung.

172
00:09:42,374 --> 00:09:43,792
I ain't want to go towards it,

173
00:09:43,959 --> 00:09:45,752
but it drew Will in
like he was hypnotized.

174
00:09:47,379 --> 00:09:49,006
I followed behind him and,

175
00:09:51,508 --> 00:09:53,176
it's hard to believe
what we was looking at

176
00:09:53,302 --> 00:09:54,428
was once human,

177
00:09:55,929 --> 00:09:57,514
once a man.

178
00:09:59,099 --> 00:10:00,684
He was burnt black as tar,

179
00:10:02,019 --> 00:10:03,937
and parts of him was missing,

180
00:10:04,104 --> 00:10:06,690
his lips, ears, nose,

181
00:10:10,068 --> 00:10:11,570
even his private parts.

182
00:10:14,948 --> 00:10:16,867
I turned my back and vomited but

183
00:10:17,576 --> 00:10:19,411
Will just kept starin'.

184
00:10:21,371 --> 00:10:23,749
There were beer
bottles, peanut hulls,

185
00:10:23,915 --> 00:10:25,542
cigarette butts everywhere.

186
00:10:27,336 --> 00:10:29,880
Some of 'em even
had lipstick on 'em.

187
00:10:32,507 --> 00:10:33,467
And Will,

188
00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:36,970
he looked down
and saw this doll,

189
00:10:38,180 --> 00:10:41,266
this little rag doll
with hay-colored hair.

190
00:10:44,519 --> 00:10:45,729
Somebody brought
their little daughter

191
00:10:45,896 --> 00:10:47,272
to watch that man burn,

192
00:10:49,232 --> 00:10:50,942
brought her like they were
taking her to the county fair

193
00:10:51,109 --> 00:10:53,070
to watch the apple
bobbing contest.

194
00:10:56,406 --> 00:10:57,449
Anyway,

195
00:10:59,034 --> 00:11:01,495
when William looked
down and saw that doll,

196
00:11:03,163 --> 00:11:04,831
a noise came outta him

197
00:11:04,998 --> 00:11:07,667
I ain't never heard come
outta any human being.

198
00:11:09,044 --> 00:11:11,296
And he started cussing,
throwing bottles in the trees.

199
00:11:11,421 --> 00:11:12,881
I had to put my
hand over his mouth,

200
00:11:13,048 --> 00:11:14,549
drag his ass out of
there before we ended up

201
00:11:14,716 --> 00:11:17,094
swinging in the wind like
the poor fella above us.

202
00:11:23,058 --> 00:11:25,519
We made it to Jefferson
later that night.

203
00:11:26,686 --> 00:11:28,772
And you're damn
right, we performed.

204
00:11:30,190 --> 00:11:31,525
What was we supposed to do,

205
00:11:31,691 --> 00:11:33,402
take the night off
'cause we was upset?

206
00:11:34,653 --> 00:11:36,696
No, we were supposed to
run and tell the sheriff.

207
00:11:37,697 --> 00:11:39,032
No, buddy.

208
00:11:39,199 --> 00:11:40,867
Me and William did what
we were supposed to do,

209
00:11:41,034 --> 00:11:42,369
and I'll tell you this,

210
00:11:42,494 --> 00:11:44,079
it was by far our
best performance ever.

211
00:11:45,580 --> 00:11:47,124
The laughs came roaring in

212
00:11:47,290 --> 00:11:48,291
from a sea of faces

213
00:11:48,458 --> 00:11:49,668
that looked just
like those faces

214
00:11:49,835 --> 00:11:51,420
that watched that man burn.

215
00:11:53,171 --> 00:11:54,798
And I smiled so
hard on those faces

216
00:11:54,965 --> 00:11:57,634
I thought my mouth was gonna
split from the stretching.

217
00:11:58,677 --> 00:12:00,137
I smiled even harder
when I got paid.

218
00:12:02,013 --> 00:12:03,598
And I smiled all the way till
I got to the dressing room

219
00:12:03,723 --> 00:12:05,767
and I shut the door
behind me, wanting to cry.

220
00:12:08,061 --> 00:12:10,814
Stage lights had dried
out my damn eyes.

221
00:12:14,401 --> 00:12:17,737
Later that night, William looked
at me and said he was done.

222
00:12:18,947 --> 00:12:20,574
He said I could keep
going if I wanted to,

223
00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:23,368
but if he kept going he
may never feel clean again.

224
00:12:25,495 --> 00:12:26,830
Hit me like a brick.

225
00:12:27,664 --> 00:12:28,707
And like I told you before,

226
00:12:28,874 --> 00:12:29,916
William the one that brought me

227
00:12:30,083 --> 00:12:31,585
into this here show business.

228
00:12:31,751 --> 00:12:33,962
So I asked him if he thought
he was better than me,

229
00:12:35,130 --> 00:12:36,590
if he thought he was
a bigger man than me

230
00:12:36,756 --> 00:12:38,633
because he can walk
away from all of it.

231
00:12:39,843 --> 00:12:41,178
The show business, the money,

232
00:12:41,344 --> 00:12:42,971
the ability to not have
to live like a nigga,

233
00:12:43,138 --> 00:12:45,891
even if he had to play one
on stage to be able to do it.

234
00:12:51,855 --> 00:12:53,773
He said he wasn't
better than me,

235
00:12:56,318 --> 00:12:57,736
just more tired.

236
00:13:01,781 --> 00:13:04,618
I called him a coward,
walked out the dressing room.

237
00:13:04,784 --> 00:13:06,411
I ain't seen him ever since.

238
00:13:09,039 --> 00:13:10,290
Heard he ended up

239
00:13:10,457 --> 00:13:11,416
with one of those
ladies of the evening,

240
00:13:11,583 --> 00:13:12,959
drank himself to death.

241
00:13:15,378 --> 00:13:16,338
Me?

242
00:13:17,631 --> 00:13:19,007
I have nightmares.

243
00:13:20,175 --> 00:13:22,969
And in those calamities
of the dreamscape,

244
00:13:24,137 --> 00:13:25,847
it's me burnt and
hanging from that rope.

245
00:13:28,475 --> 00:13:31,853
Well still, the
devils that done that,

246
00:13:33,230 --> 00:13:34,940
they mind ain't gonna
change one way or the other

247
00:13:35,106 --> 00:13:38,985
about Negroes 'cause I stopped
blackening up.

248
00:13:39,152 --> 00:13:42,072
So I keep dancing and smiling

249
00:13:42,239 --> 00:13:43,406
and they pay me for that.

250
00:13:43,573 --> 00:13:45,283
You know, good money too.

251
00:13:46,284 --> 00:13:47,869
You know what they
don't pay me for

252
00:13:48,036 --> 00:13:50,622
is what I'm thinking
behind all that smiling.

253
00:13:51,831 --> 00:13:54,417
That's all mine and none
of they damn business,

254
00:13:54,584 --> 00:13:55,919
which is good for both parties,

255
00:13:56,086 --> 00:13:58,129
'cause if they really
knew what I was thinking

256
00:13:58,255 --> 00:14:01,550
behind all that
smiling,

257
00:14:02,425 --> 00:14:03,510
well let's just say I'd probably

258
00:14:03,677 --> 00:14:04,803
wind up in the same predicament

259
00:14:04,970 --> 00:14:06,596
as that fella near Jefferson.

260
00:14:08,515 --> 00:14:13,061
So, I take my instructions
from the great Negro poet,

261
00:14:13,228 --> 00:14:15,438
Paul Laurence Dunbar.

262
00:14:15,605 --> 00:14:18,525
And I wear the mask
that grins and lies,

263
00:14:18,692 --> 00:14:21,236
hides my cheeks
and shades my eyes

264
00:14:21,403 --> 00:14:24,781
and let them bastards
dream otherwise.

265
00:14:26,408 --> 00:14:29,869
You know cause
reality is just this.

266
00:14:30,954 --> 00:14:33,456
As William once
sang so beautifully.

267
00:14:36,501 --> 00:14:41,172
♪ When life is full
of clouds and rain ♪

268
00:14:41,339 --> 00:14:45,302
♪ And I am filled
with not but pain ♪

269
00:14:45,468 --> 00:14:49,973
♪ Who soothes my
thumping bumping brain ♪

270
00:14:50,098 --> 00:14:51,224
Nobody.

271
00:14:52,434 --> 00:14:56,313
♪ When winter comes
with snow and sleet ♪

272
00:14:56,438 --> 00:15:00,442
♪ And me with hunger
and cold feet ♪

273
00:15:00,567 --> 00:15:05,822
♪ Who says, ah, here's
two bits, go and eat ♪

274
00:15:06,239 --> 00:15:07,407
Nobody.

275
00:15:08,742 --> 00:15:13,872
♪ I ain't never got nothing
from nobody no time ♪

276
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:19,961
♪ Until I get something
from somebody sometime ♪

277
00:15:21,296 --> 00:15:26,676
♪ I don't intend to do
nothing for nobody ♪

278
00:15:29,804 --> 00:15:32,182
♪ No time ♪

279
00:16:01,044 --> 00:16:03,546
Boy, I miss my friend.

280
00:16:06,383 --> 00:16:09,010
It's hard being nobody
all by yourself.

281
00:16:11,346 --> 00:16:13,014
That's probably why I talk
about Will all the time.

282
00:16:13,181 --> 00:16:14,516
I'm scared, I admit it.

283
00:16:15,767 --> 00:16:17,852
Happen if I get
tired like he did?

284
00:16:19,396 --> 00:16:22,232
Happen when I feel like I
can't get clean no more?

285
00:16:25,652 --> 00:16:27,404
I'll probably use that
38 underneath my pillow

286
00:16:27,570 --> 00:16:28,988
rather than a bottle
like Will did,

287
00:16:29,155 --> 00:16:31,533
'cause I ain't got
nothing but this here.

288
00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:35,328
This song, this
dance, this jig show.

289
00:16:36,621 --> 00:16:38,915
And the next one, some
miles up these here tracks.

290
00:16:40,250 --> 00:16:42,085
Lunceford County Dixieland
Theater to be exact.

291
00:16:42,252 --> 00:16:44,254
8:30 this p.m.

292
00:16:45,380 --> 00:16:47,632
Either I'll see you
there or I won't.

293
00:16:49,217 --> 00:16:52,011
Either way, I gotta
be about the business

294
00:16:52,178 --> 00:16:53,722
of my preparations.

295
00:16:53,888 --> 00:16:56,224
So, if y'all don't mind,

296
00:16:57,350 --> 00:16:58,685
excuse me.

297
00:17:59,996 --> 00:18:04,083
Church, turn to your
neighbor and say, neighbor.

298
00:18:04,209 --> 00:18:05,710
Neighbor.

299
00:18:05,877 --> 00:18:07,545
- I know.
- I know.

300
00:18:08,296 --> 00:18:10,715
- Jesus.
- Jesus.

301
00:18:10,882 --> 00:18:13,259
- Is Black.
- Is Black.

302
00:18:16,221 --> 00:18:18,097
Oh, some of y'all
scared to do it.

303
00:18:22,769 --> 00:18:25,104
Even though it say right
here in the good book,

304
00:18:25,939 --> 00:18:28,399
feet the color of bronze,

305
00:18:28,566 --> 00:18:31,027
hair like wool.

306
00:18:31,194 --> 00:18:35,782
What white man you know got
a white face and black feet?

307
00:18:37,617 --> 00:18:39,369
Oh, this earthly journey
ain't the end of the story.

308
00:18:39,494 --> 00:18:41,996
That's why I'm focused on
building my spiritual house.

309
00:18:42,121 --> 00:18:44,541
See, I know when it snows,

310
00:18:44,707 --> 00:18:46,751
it's white folks
jumping outta heaven,

311
00:18:46,876 --> 00:18:49,379
'cause they done found
out God is Black.

312
00:18:52,507 --> 00:18:54,884
And now they got to account

313
00:18:55,051 --> 00:18:58,930
for all the trifling
shit they done done.

314
00:18:59,848 --> 00:19:01,349
Amen.

315
00:19:02,559 --> 00:19:06,229
Your home is above
the clouds, beloved.

316
00:19:12,986 --> 00:19:14,863
These words of liberation
drip syrupy sweet

317
00:19:15,029 --> 00:19:17,198
from the lips of
the enlightened one.

318
00:19:18,283 --> 00:19:20,159
Reverend William Benson,

319
00:19:20,326 --> 00:19:22,036
founder of the
Church of Revelation,

320
00:19:22,161 --> 00:19:23,580
minister to the downtrodden

321
00:19:23,746 --> 00:19:25,123
and those lost in
despair from a life lived

322
00:19:25,290 --> 00:19:26,875
behind the walls of Babylon.

323
00:19:27,542 --> 00:19:28,751
Peace be upon him.

324
00:19:30,086 --> 00:19:32,422
Let us bow our heads in
a brief moment of silence

325
00:19:32,589 --> 00:19:34,966
as a sign of reverence
for God's prophet.

326
00:19:41,598 --> 00:19:44,434
When Abel Green didn't
have a pot to piss in,

327
00:19:44,601 --> 00:19:46,311
nor a window to throw it out.

328
00:19:47,478 --> 00:19:49,355
When I was a child
digging in garbage cans

329
00:19:49,522 --> 00:19:51,149
and begging in the streets,

330
00:19:51,316 --> 00:19:54,861
Reverend Benson gave me a
home, food, clothing, shelter.

331
00:19:55,028 --> 00:19:57,238
And he taught me the
ways of a holy man.

332
00:19:57,363 --> 00:19:58,823
He believed God had
brought me to him

333
00:19:58,990 --> 00:20:00,825
for the purpose of
training for the ministry.

334
00:20:00,992 --> 00:20:02,327
Now I began to accompany him

335
00:20:02,493 --> 00:20:04,329
and his assistant
minister Alonzo Price,

336
00:20:04,495 --> 00:20:06,956
on the visits to the
sick and shut in.

337
00:20:07,123 --> 00:20:08,666
I was 17 and living in Prospect

338
00:20:08,833 --> 00:20:10,793
when I performed
my first miracle.

339
00:20:12,003 --> 00:20:13,588
Her name was Mary Bingham.

340
00:20:15,214 --> 00:20:16,716
She was a school teacher,

341
00:20:17,884 --> 00:20:20,553
and she reminded me of a
photo I had of my mother

342
00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:23,973
who died of tuberculosis when
I was just seven years old.

343
00:20:25,391 --> 00:20:28,770
Pneumonia had wrapped Ms.
Bingham in its death grip,

344
00:20:30,063 --> 00:20:32,523
and the doctor said she
would not survive the night.

345
00:20:34,067 --> 00:20:36,069
And while Reverend Benson and
Alonzo consoled the family,

346
00:20:36,235 --> 00:20:38,404
I knelt down on the
floor by the bed,

347
00:20:38,571 --> 00:20:39,989
placed my hand on Mary's brow,

348
00:20:40,156 --> 00:20:42,241
bowed my head, and
I began to pray.

349
00:20:43,576 --> 00:20:46,287
I prayed all that evening
into the next morning.

350
00:20:46,412 --> 00:20:48,289
I didn't sleep, I didn't eat.

351
00:20:48,414 --> 00:20:51,334
It was the end of the
second day when I knew.

352
00:20:53,878 --> 00:20:54,837
I stood up,

353
00:20:56,005 --> 00:20:59,926
and Miss Bingham opened
her eyes, healed.

354
00:21:01,886 --> 00:21:03,930
In a mere few days she
was back in the classroom.

355
00:21:04,097 --> 00:21:05,431
And after her healing,

356
00:21:05,598 --> 00:21:07,558
I became the miracle
worker of Prospect.

357
00:21:09,644 --> 00:21:11,312
A massive heart attack
took Reverend Benson

358
00:21:11,479 --> 00:21:14,273
away from this world
not too long after that.

359
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,026
His last act was
to name me Pastor,

360
00:21:17,193 --> 00:21:20,446
and Alonzo Price was to
support me in that capacity

361
00:21:20,613 --> 00:21:21,781
as assistant,

362
00:21:23,282 --> 00:21:26,244
Assistant Minister of
the Church of Revelation.

363
00:21:32,208 --> 00:21:33,501
Can you see the people?

364
00:21:34,919 --> 00:21:37,380
Imagine the multitudes
in your mind.

365
00:21:38,715 --> 00:21:40,466
You know Black folk who
heard the tale of the miracle

366
00:21:40,633 --> 00:21:43,386
of Mary and her boy healer came
from miles and miles around.

367
00:21:43,553 --> 00:21:44,804
Our numbers grew to
the point to where

368
00:21:44,971 --> 00:21:47,140
we had to hold services
in fields and parks.

369
00:21:47,265 --> 00:21:49,517
I began to spend
long weeks fasting,

370
00:21:49,684 --> 00:21:52,311
hours a day in prayer
and meditation.

371
00:21:52,478 --> 00:21:55,231
I stopped combing my hair
and cutting my nails.

372
00:21:55,356 --> 00:21:58,693
And I began referring to
myself as The Instrument,

373
00:22:00,987 --> 00:22:02,196
The Instrument of God.

374
00:22:04,282 --> 00:22:06,242
When I hadn't come outta
my room for several days

375
00:22:06,409 --> 00:22:08,995
and members began to
whisper about my sanity,

376
00:22:10,204 --> 00:22:12,457
Mrs. Benson had Alonzo
break down the door.

377
00:22:14,375 --> 00:22:17,462
And when she saw me,
she broke down crying.

378
00:22:18,713 --> 00:22:22,216
Sister, God has called
me to build a Zion

379
00:22:22,383 --> 00:22:24,052
for colored people on Earth,

380
00:22:24,927 --> 00:22:26,512
to be the shepherd of his flock

381
00:22:26,679 --> 00:22:28,598
until our Jesus returns.

382
00:22:30,975 --> 00:22:33,102
I am the instrument of God,

383
00:22:34,562 --> 00:22:37,315
and let all bear
witness to my power.

384
00:22:38,858 --> 00:22:42,111
Oh, hallelujah,
hallelujah, hallelujah.

385
00:22:48,451 --> 00:22:51,245
Mrs. Benson was speechless
for a long time.

386
00:22:52,455 --> 00:22:55,541
Before she left, she
walked over and said,

387
00:22:55,666 --> 00:22:58,961
"This is not what
my William intended.

388
00:23:00,129 --> 00:23:02,882
Satan done stole your mind boy.

389
00:23:04,092 --> 00:23:06,094
And I can't have no
more to do with you."

390
00:23:12,558 --> 00:23:14,560
It was after Mrs. Benson left,

391
00:23:16,062 --> 00:23:20,650
that Alonzo Price shared with
me what God revealed to him.

392
00:23:22,068 --> 00:23:25,446
God has also told me that
you are to be his instrument.

393
00:23:26,739 --> 00:23:27,949
And I, your first bishop,

394
00:23:28,116 --> 00:23:30,159
Chairman of the
church's Holy Council.

395
00:23:30,326 --> 00:23:32,954
You know, he has told
me that you are to heal

396
00:23:33,121 --> 00:23:35,248
10 sick people at
our next service.

397
00:23:35,414 --> 00:23:36,791
He has provided me proclamations

398
00:23:36,958 --> 00:23:38,334
and instructions as
to how our church

399
00:23:38,501 --> 00:23:40,837
is to operate from
this moment onward.

400
00:23:41,003 --> 00:23:43,256
You are to take a trip with me

401
00:23:43,422 --> 00:23:47,885
dear brother, tonight.

402
00:23:50,263 --> 00:23:53,975
We drove for a long time
down a dark country road.

403
00:23:55,143 --> 00:23:57,186
It was late when we got
to where we were going.

404
00:23:57,311 --> 00:24:00,398
And I remember this dog
tied to a tree in the yard,

405
00:24:01,649 --> 00:24:03,901
his blood-red eyes
looking right through me.

406
00:24:04,068 --> 00:24:06,237
Didn't bark, just
growled and stared,

407
00:24:06,404 --> 00:24:08,906
drool dripping from
the sides of his mouth.

408
00:24:09,740 --> 00:24:11,701
When we went into the house,

409
00:24:11,868 --> 00:24:14,537
I could smell burning
curling irons and hair grease

410
00:24:14,704 --> 00:24:16,247
as soon as we entered.

411
00:24:16,414 --> 00:24:18,583
And in the kitchen
was a small woman

412
00:24:18,749 --> 00:24:22,378
with unusually big hands
holding a straightening comb.

413
00:24:22,545 --> 00:24:23,796
Her name was Esther.

414
00:24:24,672 --> 00:24:26,174
And when she was done,

415
00:24:27,508 --> 00:24:29,886
my tangled jungle was
straighter than a horse's mane.

416
00:24:31,220 --> 00:24:33,681
Rather than cut my fingernails,
she painted them gold,

417
00:24:33,848 --> 00:24:37,101
each one representing one of
the Lord's Ten Commandments.

418
00:24:37,977 --> 00:24:39,729
And she handed me a mirror and

419
00:24:42,982 --> 00:24:44,775
I saw my transformation, I wept.

420
00:24:45,735 --> 00:24:47,570
Esther began to rub my back,

421
00:24:47,737 --> 00:24:50,907
kissed my tears, massaged
me in delicate places

422
00:24:51,073 --> 00:24:52,909
with those powerful hands and

423
00:24:53,993 --> 00:24:56,954
in a moment of
weakness, I did sin.

424
00:24:59,957 --> 00:25:02,084
When Alonzo found
out he had Esther

425
00:25:02,251 --> 00:25:04,086
excommunicated from the church.

426
00:25:08,549 --> 00:25:12,511
Now I hold in my hands
the way of heavenly glory,

427
00:25:12,678 --> 00:25:15,640
which also contains the
three points of light.

428
00:25:15,806 --> 00:25:18,684
The truth God whispered
into Alonzo's ear.

429
00:25:22,396 --> 00:25:27,443
Point one, no woman shall lie
with the Instrument of God.

430
00:25:33,991 --> 00:25:37,036
Point two, no man
or woman shall speak

431
00:25:37,161 --> 00:25:38,412
to the Instrument of God

432
00:25:38,537 --> 00:25:40,206
if Bishop Alonzo
Price is not present.

433
00:25:40,373 --> 00:25:43,000
Point three, no one shall
keep the confidence of anyone

434
00:25:43,167 --> 00:25:45,670
who questions of blasphemes
against the Instrument of God,

435
00:25:45,836 --> 00:25:49,382
Bishop Alonzo, or the
Instrument's Holy Council.

436
00:25:49,548 --> 00:25:51,092
The holy council
were a group of men

437
00:25:51,259 --> 00:25:53,010
God pointed out to Alonzo.

438
00:25:54,512 --> 00:25:55,930
The men God gave the strength
to bear the physical burden

439
00:25:56,055 --> 00:25:57,640
of upholding the law
amongst the people

440
00:25:57,807 --> 00:26:00,142
and delivering the punishment
to the law breakers.

441
00:26:00,309 --> 00:26:03,187
As Aaron spoke for
Moses, Alonzo said,

442
00:26:03,354 --> 00:26:05,439
"God tasked him
to speak for me."

443
00:26:06,983 --> 00:26:09,819
He delivered the sermons
from then on out and

444
00:26:09,986 --> 00:26:12,446
the sick and afflicted
came to me to be healed,

445
00:26:13,614 --> 00:26:15,866
and the holy council
would line them up

446
00:26:15,992 --> 00:26:19,537
and I would step down from
the dais as the sweet cherubs,

447
00:26:19,662 --> 00:26:20,997
small children of the church,

448
00:26:21,163 --> 00:26:22,999
dressed in their white
suits and dresses,

449
00:26:23,165 --> 00:26:24,834
angel wings pinned
to their backs,

450
00:26:25,001 --> 00:26:27,128
gather my robes so
I wouldn't trip.

451
00:26:28,546 --> 00:26:32,633
I would close my eyes and
lay my hand upon the heads,

452
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:34,343
and empty my mind
of all thoughts

453
00:26:34,510 --> 00:26:37,221
so that I could feel God's
energy flow through me.

454
00:26:38,014 --> 00:26:39,140
Mm.

455
00:26:39,307 --> 00:26:41,350
Feel his healing
power stretch forth

456
00:26:41,517 --> 00:26:44,687
through the palm of my hand
into their afflicted bodies.

457
00:26:47,606 --> 00:26:49,358
They fell out as I touched them,

458
00:26:50,609 --> 00:26:51,610
each one,

459
00:26:53,029 --> 00:26:55,781
and opened they eyes a few
seconds later, fully healed.

460
00:26:58,159 --> 00:26:59,660
Our movement grew,

461
00:27:00,870 --> 00:27:02,163
and so did our wealth.

462
00:27:03,497 --> 00:27:05,333
But the Bible teaches us
that it's easier for a camel

463
00:27:05,499 --> 00:27:06,709
to get through the
eye of a needle

464
00:27:06,876 --> 00:27:08,210
than a rich man to
get into heaven,

465
00:27:08,377 --> 00:27:10,504
but a instrument of God
is beyond man, amen?

466
00:27:10,671 --> 00:27:11,589
Amen.

467
00:27:11,756 --> 00:27:13,257
As Alonzo explained,

468
00:27:13,424 --> 00:27:15,509
colored people ain't gonna
follow nobody poorer than them.

469
00:27:16,719 --> 00:27:18,512
This was a time of high living,

470
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,349
of gold Cadillacs
and white rose petals

471
00:27:21,515 --> 00:27:23,893
sprinkled before my
feet, wherever I walked.

472
00:27:29,774 --> 00:27:32,109
This is before
everything fell apart,

473
00:27:33,569 --> 00:27:36,739
before our summer revival
near the town of Jefferson.

474
00:27:38,282 --> 00:27:42,912
Alonzo had delivered the word,
offering had been collected.

475
00:27:43,079 --> 00:27:44,622
Cherubs gather my robes.

476
00:27:44,789 --> 00:27:47,166
I stepped down from the dais
to unleash God's healing power,

477
00:27:47,333 --> 00:27:51,545
when I looked into the
eyes of Deborah Lee,

478
00:27:54,131 --> 00:27:55,466
that's what she
told me her name was

479
00:27:55,591 --> 00:27:57,051
when God had used me to cure her

480
00:27:57,218 --> 00:27:59,720
of lameness in Lunceord
County, just two weeks before.

481
00:28:00,930 --> 00:28:03,307
Now, she stood in front
of me as a deaf mute.

482
00:28:04,975 --> 00:28:07,686
Alonzo noticed the
bamboozled look on my face.

483
00:28:07,812 --> 00:28:09,688
The council swooped in
like desperate wolves,

484
00:28:09,855 --> 00:28:12,358
seized Deborah, roughly
escorted her away.

485
00:28:12,525 --> 00:28:13,692
Alonzo dispersed the gathering

486
00:28:13,859 --> 00:28:15,611
and I was quickly driven home.

487
00:28:18,948 --> 00:28:21,951
Why would this woman
fake her affliction?

488
00:28:23,869 --> 00:28:28,707
Now why would God not smite
her for mocking his instrument?

489
00:28:33,129 --> 00:28:34,797
That night I couldn't sleep.

490
00:28:36,841 --> 00:28:39,218
Came down to get
a glass of water.

491
00:28:40,970 --> 00:28:41,887
That's when I heard 'em.

492
00:28:42,054 --> 00:28:43,848
"You ignorant fool.

493
00:28:45,224 --> 00:28:49,103
How the hell did you pick
the same woman twice?"

494
00:28:51,730 --> 00:28:52,940
Damn, boy.

495
00:28:55,901 --> 00:28:58,154
The words hit me
like a runaway train.

496
00:28:59,905 --> 00:29:04,577
Everything I was and everything
I thought about myself

497
00:29:04,702 --> 00:29:07,997
and my relationship with God
was destroyed in that moment.

498
00:29:09,832 --> 00:29:12,293
Soon as Alonzo
came into the hall,

499
00:29:12,418 --> 00:29:15,463
I asked him if he knew he's
doomed our souls to hell?

500
00:29:17,798 --> 00:29:20,468
You've turned us into
false prophets, brother.

501
00:29:22,553 --> 00:29:23,721
Get on your knees.

502
00:29:25,431 --> 00:29:26,682
Now, Alonzo!

503
00:29:29,643 --> 00:29:33,230
We must beg the Heavenly
Father for forgiveness.

504
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:37,985
We must reveal the
truth to God's people,

505
00:29:40,613 --> 00:29:41,989
and accept their judgment.

506
00:29:45,993 --> 00:29:47,870
What have you done, brother?

507
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:52,583
Lord Jesus, what
have you done, man?

508
00:29:57,463 --> 00:29:59,715
The entire holy council
had been in his study

509
00:29:59,882 --> 00:30:02,051
when they came down on me
like they did, Deborah,

510
00:30:02,218 --> 00:30:03,469
stripped me to my under clothes,

511
00:30:03,594 --> 00:30:06,388
cut my hair, my
nails, bound my hands.

512
00:30:06,555 --> 00:30:09,934
And then Alonzo towering
over my shivering frame,

513
00:30:10,100 --> 00:30:12,895
cast his sentence like a
judge from the Old Testament.

514
00:30:13,062 --> 00:30:16,273
"You are no longer
the Instrument of God.

515
00:30:17,733 --> 00:30:20,110
You have blasphemed against the
bishop and the holy council,

516
00:30:20,236 --> 00:30:22,988
therefore I'm assuming
leadership of the church.

517
00:30:24,406 --> 00:30:26,867
We'll tell the flock that
you have ascended to return

518
00:30:26,992 --> 00:30:28,827
with Christ at the end of days.

519
00:30:30,204 --> 00:30:31,747
Now take this spawn of Satan

520
00:30:31,914 --> 00:30:34,250
where we'll never hear his
blasphemous tongue again."

521
00:30:37,044 --> 00:30:39,088
They threw me in
the trunk of a car,

522
00:30:40,714 --> 00:30:42,967
and we drove for hours.

523
00:30:50,808 --> 00:30:52,685
When they opened the trunk,

524
00:30:52,851 --> 00:30:54,353
they set upon me with clubs

525
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:56,105
and left me in a bloody
mess on the side of the road

526
00:30:56,272 --> 00:30:57,731
in the middle of nowhere.

527
00:30:59,024 --> 00:31:01,527
I laid there for a long
time thinking I was dead.

528
00:31:02,319 --> 00:31:05,364
Then I heard a truck, footsteps,

529
00:31:06,657 --> 00:31:08,450
and I felt a cold
barrel of a shotgun

530
00:31:08,617 --> 00:31:10,619
against the temple of my head,

531
00:31:10,786 --> 00:31:13,330
and heard a voice most
often associated with those

532
00:31:13,497 --> 00:31:15,249
that hang my kind from trees.

533
00:31:15,374 --> 00:31:17,418
"Explain yourself, nigger."

534
00:31:22,423 --> 00:31:25,926
God has truly forsaken me.

535
00:31:27,386 --> 00:31:30,389
Were the only words I can muster
past my busted swollen lips

536
00:31:32,433 --> 00:31:33,559
I passed out.

537
00:31:35,227 --> 00:31:38,188
When I woke I was in a barn.

538
00:31:39,064 --> 00:31:40,858
I was fully clothed.

539
00:31:41,025 --> 00:31:42,651
My wounds had been bandaged,

540
00:31:45,237 --> 00:31:47,114
and there was a jug of water,

541
00:31:52,161 --> 00:31:53,746
and a note that read,

542
00:31:54,913 --> 00:31:58,042
"Have your Black ass out
this county by sunset."

543
00:32:04,214 --> 00:32:05,758
Testimony is this.

544
00:32:07,009 --> 00:32:10,387
God is good all the time.

545
00:32:11,388 --> 00:32:12,598
And as you can see,

546
00:32:12,723 --> 00:32:14,141
I embraced my second chance

547
00:32:14,308 --> 00:32:17,061
and got my Black ass out
that county by sunset.

548
00:32:23,442 --> 00:32:25,277
So the past few months,

549
00:32:25,444 --> 00:32:28,280
I've been working as a
porter on this train.

550
00:32:28,447 --> 00:32:30,240
I hold Bible studies
on Wednesday nights

551
00:32:30,407 --> 00:32:33,160
for the other porters
and the cooks, too.

552
00:32:33,327 --> 00:32:36,372
I'm no longer
performing miracles.

553
00:32:36,538 --> 00:32:39,208
God doesn't trust me in
that capacity anymore.

554
00:32:41,043 --> 00:32:43,462
Yeah. I'm just grateful
for a second chance,

555
00:32:43,629 --> 00:32:45,047
a chance to show
Reverend Benson,

556
00:32:45,172 --> 00:32:46,590
who I know is looking
down on me right now

557
00:32:46,715 --> 00:32:48,050
from behind them pearly gates,

558
00:32:48,217 --> 00:32:50,469
that his saving my
life was not in vain.

559
00:32:52,137 --> 00:32:54,848
I know I'm a child of God
and made in his image,

560
00:32:56,767 --> 00:32:57,893
but I also know.

561
00:33:00,187 --> 00:33:05,567
♪ The devil never rests come
day, come dusk, come dawn ♪

562
00:33:06,819 --> 00:33:11,031
♪ You compromise, you
wind up sold in parts ♪

563
00:33:11,865 --> 00:33:13,075
♪ So don't it strike you funny ♪

564
00:33:13,242 --> 00:33:16,745
♪ When you look him in the eye ♪

565
00:33:16,870 --> 00:33:21,792
♪ The devil looks a
lot like you and I? ♪

566
00:35:26,542 --> 00:35:29,545
When I first met William Benson,

567
00:35:29,711 --> 00:35:31,421
I was handcuffed
to a hospital bed

568
00:35:31,547 --> 00:35:34,800
with three broken ribs facing
robbery and assault charges.

569
00:35:35,759 --> 00:35:37,135
Shit like that can happen

570
00:35:37,261 --> 00:35:38,929
when you rob houses
and run from cops.

571
00:35:41,181 --> 00:35:43,475
Needless to say,
I was desperate,

572
00:35:43,642 --> 00:35:45,477
and I ain't seen no
future without a cage

573
00:35:45,644 --> 00:35:47,312
and some muscle bound
motherfucker with
a shiv in his hands

574
00:35:47,479 --> 00:35:49,231
and plans to make me his bitch.

575
00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,485
I was vulnerable, you dig?

576
00:35:55,195 --> 00:35:56,196
And Benson,

577
00:35:58,115 --> 00:35:59,408
he knew that shit.

578
00:36:14,631 --> 00:36:17,134
Let me ask you a question.

579
00:36:17,301 --> 00:36:18,552
Do you still go to hell

580
00:36:18,719 --> 00:36:20,178
for making a deal
with the devil,

581
00:36:20,345 --> 00:36:22,973
if the devil presents
himself like Christ?

582
00:36:23,140 --> 00:36:25,183
Look look, what if an
angel ends up dying

583
00:36:25,350 --> 00:36:26,935
during the process?

584
00:36:27,060 --> 00:36:30,188
Ooh, then you best
believe you going to hell,

585
00:36:30,355 --> 00:36:32,900
with some groovy
gasoline drawers on too.

586
00:36:33,734 --> 00:36:34,943
You know, my thing is this.

587
00:36:35,068 --> 00:36:36,320
Make sure you take the bastard

588
00:36:36,486 --> 00:36:39,281
that put you on
the path with you.

589
00:36:43,660 --> 00:36:45,537
When Benson walked
into that hospital room

590
00:36:45,704 --> 00:36:48,624
with them suede patches on the
elbows of his tweed jacket,

591
00:36:48,790 --> 00:36:50,792
only Black man I ever seen
look anything like that

592
00:36:50,959 --> 00:36:53,128
was Greg Morris on
Mission Impossible.

593
00:36:54,171 --> 00:36:56,006
He sat down real
slow and cool like,

594
00:36:56,173 --> 00:36:58,300
like you could imagine
Steve McQueen doing

595
00:36:58,425 --> 00:36:59,927
if he was a soul brother.

596
00:37:01,261 --> 00:37:05,724
Abel Green, I'm William
Benson, special agent, FBI.

597
00:37:07,017 --> 00:37:10,979
Then he crossed his legs,
leaned back, smiled.

598
00:37:12,147 --> 00:37:14,316
Not that, I got your
ass now, kind of smile.

599
00:37:14,483 --> 00:37:18,946
No rather, everything's
going be all right bay bruh.

600
00:37:19,112 --> 00:37:20,322
That kind of smile.

601
00:37:22,407 --> 00:37:25,911
"A man's life is like
a page in a novel.

602
00:37:26,828 --> 00:37:28,205
In order to have a happy ending,

603
00:37:28,372 --> 00:37:29,706
a man's gotta write sentences

604
00:37:29,873 --> 00:37:32,000
that makes that happy
ending possible.

605
00:37:33,210 --> 00:37:35,003
You ain't writing them
kind of sentences, son.

606
00:37:35,170 --> 00:37:37,839
Your paragraphs
are all fucked up.

607
00:37:39,549 --> 00:37:41,301
And in your current
chapter, you're facing time

608
00:37:41,468 --> 00:37:43,095
for armed robbery, assault,
possession of stolen goods.

609
00:37:43,261 --> 00:37:44,554
Good gracious, nigga.

610
00:37:45,639 --> 00:37:47,265
The point is, right
now your story

611
00:37:47,432 --> 00:37:50,227
ain't got no happy ending
and no way to get to one.

612
00:37:51,353 --> 00:37:52,521
I can change that.

613
00:37:53,397 --> 00:37:56,316
You want me to change that."

614
00:37:58,694 --> 00:38:00,278
Then he stood up,
walked out the room,

615
00:38:00,445 --> 00:38:01,780
I ain't seen him
again till I was ready

616
00:38:01,947 --> 00:38:03,782
to get out the hospital
and head to jail.

617
00:38:04,908 --> 00:38:06,618
Told me the deal in
simple sentences.

618
00:38:06,785 --> 00:38:08,120
"And I'm sure you
heard of this group

619
00:38:08,286 --> 00:38:10,414
calling themselves
the Black Panthers.

620
00:38:10,580 --> 00:38:12,874
Yeah, well the FBI
heard some things, too."

621
00:38:13,041 --> 00:38:14,710
Needed someone to
confirm or deny.

622
00:38:14,876 --> 00:38:16,628
Told me I was to go down to
their offices and try to join.

623
00:38:16,753 --> 00:38:18,463
They'll meet me at a place
and time of his choosing

624
00:38:18,588 --> 00:38:19,589
once a week.

625
00:38:20,799 --> 00:38:22,134
They chose me 'cause I
grew up on the west side

626
00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:24,011
with this cat named Frank Red.

627
00:38:24,177 --> 00:38:25,637
Frank was involved
with the Panthers

628
00:38:25,804 --> 00:38:27,264
and 'cause he knew me
from the old neighborhood,

629
00:38:27,431 --> 00:38:29,099
Feds figured that
might be my way in.

630
00:38:30,517 --> 00:38:33,562
Benson had me feeling like
Eliot fucking Ness, you dig?

631
00:38:33,687 --> 00:38:36,064
They never used
the word informant.

632
00:38:36,231 --> 00:38:38,400
I never thought of
myself as a snitch.

633
00:38:38,567 --> 00:38:41,278
No, I was special agent
Abel Green on the scene.

634
00:38:41,445 --> 00:38:44,239
Star of the story,
the hero, shiiit.

635
00:38:47,617 --> 00:38:50,620
Hero ain't nothing but
a goddamn sandwich.

636
00:39:00,672 --> 00:39:04,342
♪ Revolution has
come, off the pigs ♪

637
00:39:04,509 --> 00:39:08,138
♪ Time to pick up a
gun, off the pigs ♪

638
00:39:08,305 --> 00:39:11,224
♪ The revolution has
come, off the pigs ♪

639
00:39:11,391 --> 00:39:16,188
♪ Time to pick up a
gun, off the pigs ♪

640
00:39:18,815 --> 00:39:20,776
I ain't gonna lie.

641
00:39:20,942 --> 00:39:23,570
First time I went
to a rally I was,

642
00:39:23,737 --> 00:39:24,780
I was mesmerized.

643
00:39:26,156 --> 00:39:27,949
I ain't never seen no shit
like that before in my life.

644
00:39:28,116 --> 00:39:31,328
Talking about the cops like
that with the cops right there.

645
00:39:31,495 --> 00:39:33,872
Black people, looking good, too.

646
00:39:34,039 --> 00:39:36,750
Sharp as a tack and
comfortable as a broke dick dog

647
00:39:36,875 --> 00:39:39,044
talking that big
bad and bold shit.

648
00:39:39,211 --> 00:39:41,880
Black leather jackets,
berets, powder blue shirts,

649
00:39:42,047 --> 00:39:43,799
fists raised in the
Black power salute.

650
00:39:43,965 --> 00:39:46,093
Baby, those pigs was red as
beets wanting to do something,

651
00:39:46,218 --> 00:39:48,053
but scared to 'cause
there wasn't no easy way.

652
00:39:48,178 --> 00:39:49,262
Black folks weren't gonna be

653
00:39:49,429 --> 00:39:50,889
the only ones leaving fucked up.

654
00:39:54,851 --> 00:39:56,478
Frank was at the party
office when I went in

655
00:39:56,645 --> 00:39:58,230
and asked to join,

656
00:39:58,396 --> 00:40:00,107
and we talked about some people
from the old neighborhood,

657
00:40:00,232 --> 00:40:01,566
what I've been up
to in the years past

658
00:40:01,733 --> 00:40:03,068
since we'd seen each other.

659
00:40:03,235 --> 00:40:05,403
And then he broke out
into this bag about

660
00:40:05,570 --> 00:40:06,613
how I've been locked up,

661
00:40:06,738 --> 00:40:08,323
because I was Black and poor,

662
00:40:08,490 --> 00:40:10,992
which was a result of capitalism
that couldn't be reformed,

663
00:40:11,159 --> 00:40:13,286
that had to be torn down for
the people and the planet,

664
00:40:13,453 --> 00:40:14,830
and this and that.

665
00:40:14,996 --> 00:40:16,873
I mean this cat could
run it down, runnin'.

666
00:40:16,998 --> 00:40:18,583
Then an angel walked in.

667
00:40:19,668 --> 00:40:20,585
Ooh.

668
00:40:23,463 --> 00:40:24,756
Chocolate angel.

669
00:40:26,049 --> 00:40:28,510
Big doe eyes, curly fro.

670
00:40:28,677 --> 00:40:32,180
"Comrade Mary, this
here's my man, Abel Green,

671
00:40:32,347 --> 00:40:33,849
from my old neighborhood,

672
00:40:34,015 --> 00:40:36,518
says he wants to join the
vanguard of the struggle."

673
00:40:36,685 --> 00:40:39,980
And I was like, nah, I ain't
never heard of no vanguards,

674
00:40:40,105 --> 00:40:41,648
I wanna join the Panthers.

675
00:40:44,442 --> 00:40:47,863
They both bust out laughing
at my ignorant ass.

676
00:40:48,029 --> 00:40:49,489
But her laugh though,

677
00:40:51,032 --> 00:40:54,786
it's like listenin' to Motown
on a sunny day in the park.

678
00:40:54,911 --> 00:40:56,621
I got lost and caught up in it.

679
00:40:56,788 --> 00:41:00,625
And Frank asked me why I
wanted to join the party.

680
00:41:00,792 --> 00:41:02,377
Well I was prepared for this,

681
00:41:02,544 --> 00:41:03,920
and I felt like Hank
Aaron at the plate

682
00:41:04,087 --> 00:41:05,547
getting ready to knock
one out the park.

683
00:41:05,714 --> 00:41:09,718
So I go, "so I can kill
honky pigs, brother."

684
00:41:15,056 --> 00:41:16,349
Room was silent.

685
00:41:17,017 --> 00:41:18,435
Frank looked at me

686
00:41:18,602 --> 00:41:20,228
like I was the dumbest
motherfucker on Earth,

687
00:41:21,354 --> 00:41:23,106
and then he broke
out into his bag.

688
00:41:25,692 --> 00:41:28,195
"The pig is a tool of
the power structure

689
00:41:28,361 --> 00:41:30,655
created to suppress
and oppress the masses.

690
00:41:30,780 --> 00:41:32,407
The pig is not a color.

691
00:41:32,574 --> 00:41:34,534
It's obvious that you don't
understand what we are about.

692
00:41:34,659 --> 00:41:36,745
We are not trying to
replace racism with racism,

693
00:41:36,870 --> 00:41:40,665
rather replace racism spawned
by capitalism with socialism.

694
00:41:40,832 --> 00:41:43,084
Do not believe what they say
about who we are in the press.

695
00:41:43,210 --> 00:41:44,920
The press is a tool
used by the capitalists

696
00:41:45,086 --> 00:41:46,504
to misinform, spread lies,

697
00:41:46,671 --> 00:41:49,591
and alienate the
vanguard from the people.

698
00:41:49,758 --> 00:41:50,800
Boy."

699
00:41:55,555 --> 00:41:57,390
I'm telling you, them ole
capitalists were a bitch.

700
00:41:57,557 --> 00:41:59,142
And then Mary chimed in,

701
00:41:59,309 --> 00:42:02,062
throwing me the lifeline
I wish she never had.

702
00:42:02,187 --> 00:42:04,022
"Just because the brother
doesn't know the time

703
00:42:04,189 --> 00:42:07,400
doesn't mean he can't learn
what the time is, Frank."

704
00:42:10,195 --> 00:42:13,031
"Everyone's level of
consciousness is not the same.

705
00:42:13,198 --> 00:42:14,616
We have to raise the people up.

706
00:42:14,783 --> 00:42:17,327
We have to educate the
people, you know that."

707
00:42:24,167 --> 00:42:26,336
So, they invited me to the
political education classes

708
00:42:26,461 --> 00:42:27,879
they held on Friday nights.

709
00:42:28,046 --> 00:42:30,173
I said right on, gave
him five and split.

710
00:42:30,340 --> 00:42:34,386
Met Benson at O'Leary's,
a dive bar in Old Town.

711
00:42:34,552 --> 00:42:38,014
He just sat, stared into
his glass of Scotch.

712
00:42:38,139 --> 00:42:40,308
Soaked it in what I told him.

713
00:42:40,475 --> 00:42:42,560
He smiled that smile of his,

714
00:42:42,727 --> 00:42:45,939
told me I done good,
slid me an envelope.

715
00:42:47,274 --> 00:42:49,150
250 bucks.

716
00:42:50,235 --> 00:42:53,196
Yeah, I was on cloud nine baby.

717
00:42:54,364 --> 00:42:56,783
But that night I dreamed
about Mary Bingham.

718
00:42:56,950 --> 00:42:58,243
I ain't gonna lie,
when I woke up,

719
00:42:58,368 --> 00:43:00,370
them sheets were
a little sticky.

720
00:43:01,997 --> 00:43:03,081
That Friday night I
had my ass at them

721
00:43:03,248 --> 00:43:05,208
political education classes.

722
00:43:05,375 --> 00:43:07,711
And when I tell you them
discussions were heavy,

723
00:43:07,877 --> 00:43:09,212
Lenin, Marx, Mao, Fanon.

724
00:43:09,337 --> 00:43:10,755
I ain't never heard of
none of these dudes.

725
00:43:10,922 --> 00:43:12,007
And these cats were
talking about 'em

726
00:43:12,132 --> 00:43:13,466
like cats be on the corner

727
00:43:13,633 --> 00:43:15,385
talking about Walt
Frazier and the Knicks.

728
00:43:15,552 --> 00:43:17,053
I'm making connections
to what was going on

729
00:43:17,178 --> 00:43:18,555
in ghettos of America

730
00:43:18,722 --> 00:43:21,141
to what was happening in
ghettos all across the world.

731
00:43:21,266 --> 00:43:22,809
And sometimes Mary
would be there,

732
00:43:22,976 --> 00:43:24,519
and whenever she made a point,

733
00:43:24,686 --> 00:43:26,813
the crowd would erupt into
chants of right on, Sister,

734
00:43:26,938 --> 00:43:28,773
tell it like it is Sister Mary.

735
00:43:31,276 --> 00:43:32,944
I would leave Mary's
name out of it

736
00:43:33,111 --> 00:43:34,779
whenever I reported to Benson.

737
00:43:36,489 --> 00:43:38,533
I told him everything
else though.

738
00:43:38,700 --> 00:43:40,827
Who was there, who said what.

739
00:43:42,078 --> 00:43:44,497
We talked about a lot
of other things too.

740
00:43:45,206 --> 00:43:46,541
Our lives, our families.

741
00:43:46,708 --> 00:43:48,752
He'd give me advice, the
type of advice I wanted

742
00:43:48,918 --> 00:43:50,628
from an older Black
man all my life

743
00:43:50,795 --> 00:43:53,548
to fill the void I was trying
to fill with nigga logic,

744
00:43:53,715 --> 00:43:54,716
which the only type of knowledge

745
00:43:54,883 --> 00:43:56,176
a blood from the street got,

746
00:43:56,301 --> 00:43:58,428
but listening,
learning from Benson,

747
00:44:00,638 --> 00:44:03,224
I really thought my life
was gonna be different.

748
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:09,856
After a few months,

749
00:44:10,023 --> 00:44:11,358
the Panthers started to
recognize my dedication,

750
00:44:11,524 --> 00:44:12,942
let me volunteer at
the breakfast program

751
00:44:13,068 --> 00:44:14,527
they ran for the kids.

752
00:44:14,694 --> 00:44:16,571
Them hungry kids be
in there lined up.

753
00:44:16,738 --> 00:44:21,659
Big eyes, swollen bellies and
they would feed 'em man, free.

754
00:44:22,577 --> 00:44:23,912
You know, after I told Benson

755
00:44:24,079 --> 00:44:25,205
how the community was
looking at the Panthers

756
00:44:25,330 --> 00:44:26,664
like superheroes and shit,

757
00:44:26,831 --> 00:44:29,042
that's when things
started to heat up.

758
00:44:29,209 --> 00:44:30,752
Brothers started to
get arrested constantly

759
00:44:30,919 --> 00:44:32,462
on bullshit charges.

760
00:44:32,629 --> 00:44:34,297
My main man, Tommy, who worked
at the free health clinic,

761
00:44:34,464 --> 00:44:36,424
the Panthers ran on Jefferson
Street, got snagged.

762
00:44:36,591 --> 00:44:38,718
So Frank assigned me to
the clinic to help out.

763
00:44:38,885 --> 00:44:42,180
And Mary, she was a nurse
prior to joining the party.

764
00:44:42,347 --> 00:44:43,807
So she ran the clinic

765
00:44:43,973 --> 00:44:46,851
along with this other doctor
from the community and,

766
00:44:49,020 --> 00:44:50,230
no, no, no, no, no, no.

767
00:44:50,397 --> 00:44:51,815
Come on now, I gotta
get to O'Leary's.

768
00:44:53,024 --> 00:44:55,860
And start the fuckin'
train man, come on.

769
00:44:56,027 --> 00:44:57,195
Shit!

770
00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:58,279
Damn.

771
00:45:11,418 --> 00:45:13,461
Wanna know how
beautiful Mary was?

772
00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:19,008
One night she was bandaging
the hand of this junkie,

773
00:45:19,843 --> 00:45:21,428
when the junkie just vamped,

774
00:45:22,512 --> 00:45:24,097
grabbed her and started
demanding drugs.

775
00:45:24,264 --> 00:45:26,433
I picked up this metal tray,
about to bash him in the head,

776
00:45:26,599 --> 00:45:29,269
when Mary just kneed
him in the nuts.

777
00:45:31,020 --> 00:45:32,772
He dropped like a
sack of potatoes,

778
00:45:32,939 --> 00:45:34,858
and she motioned me over to
help her sit him in the chair.

779
00:45:35,024 --> 00:45:38,194
She said, "Let's make sure
we get him something to eat.

780
00:45:39,571 --> 00:45:41,573
Brother looks like he
hasn't eaten in a while."

781
00:45:41,739 --> 00:45:44,117
And the junkie, you know,
tears coming down his face,

782
00:45:44,284 --> 00:45:45,827
he can't stop apologizing.

783
00:45:45,952 --> 00:45:47,996
And I done seen junkies
do a bunch of shit.

784
00:45:48,163 --> 00:45:49,747
Apologizing after
being kneed in the nuts

785
00:45:49,914 --> 00:45:54,002
while trying to get a fix,
ain't one of 'em.

786
00:45:55,336 --> 00:45:57,589
We became close over the
months that followed and,

787
00:45:59,215 --> 00:46:00,425
damn, she was right.

788
00:46:01,468 --> 00:46:03,261
I was getting
edumacated, you dig?

789
00:46:03,428 --> 00:46:05,138
In a way I never had before.

790
00:46:05,305 --> 00:46:07,307
Hell, I ain't know shit about
Black people, not history.

791
00:46:07,474 --> 00:46:09,392
Something nobody
white ain't taught me.

792
00:46:09,517 --> 00:46:11,019
I ain't know nothing about
the government either,

793
00:46:11,186 --> 00:46:12,270
so the more I learned
about the Panthers

794
00:46:12,437 --> 00:46:13,771
and what they were trying to do,

795
00:46:13,938 --> 00:46:15,648
the shittier I felt for
trying to betray 'em.

796
00:46:16,816 --> 00:46:18,193
But what was I gonna do?

797
00:46:18,359 --> 00:46:19,694
You know, come up to
Frank and be like...

798
00:46:19,861 --> 00:46:22,447
Hey blood, I hate
to drop this on you,

799
00:46:22,572 --> 00:46:27,035
but I've been snitching for the
FBI for the last six months,

800
00:46:27,202 --> 00:46:31,873
but I like y'all now so I
ain't gonna do it no more.

801
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,667
We cool?

802
00:46:37,712 --> 00:46:39,506
Instead, I thought about Mary.

803
00:46:40,965 --> 00:46:43,760
We began spending the few
free moments we had together.

804
00:46:44,928 --> 00:46:47,639
And when I was with
Mary, I felt like a man,

805
00:46:47,805 --> 00:46:49,849
not like somebody
pretending to be one,

806
00:46:50,016 --> 00:46:53,144
and that was something
very, very new for me.

807
00:46:54,145 --> 00:46:55,271
And one night we
were cleaning up

808
00:46:55,438 --> 00:46:56,648
and I just came straight out

809
00:46:56,814 --> 00:46:58,274
and asked her what
we were doing?

810
00:46:58,441 --> 00:47:00,527
And she took my
face in her hands,

811
00:47:01,778 --> 00:47:03,738
she kissed me long and deep,

812
00:47:05,740 --> 00:47:07,242
and I accepted what I knew

813
00:47:07,408 --> 00:47:09,452
from the very first moment
she spoke up for me.

814
00:47:11,204 --> 00:47:12,497
It was around this time Benson

815
00:47:12,664 --> 00:47:14,832
started hounding me
about these guns.

816
00:47:14,958 --> 00:47:17,585
These illegal guns the
Panthers were supposed to have?

817
00:47:17,752 --> 00:47:20,129
And then he started asking me
about the clinic constantly,

818
00:47:20,296 --> 00:47:23,508
even had me draw him a
diagram where everything was.

819
00:47:23,675 --> 00:47:25,552
So I finally just asked him

820
00:47:25,718 --> 00:47:27,679
if they were gonna
raid the clinic.

821
00:47:30,473 --> 00:47:31,516
He was silent.

822
00:47:33,184 --> 00:47:35,311
And that's when I
told him about Mary,

823
00:47:37,522 --> 00:47:38,523
and that I loved her,

824
00:47:40,191 --> 00:47:41,568
and I asked him to let me know

825
00:47:41,693 --> 00:47:43,444
if they were gonna raid
the place, you know,

826
00:47:43,611 --> 00:47:45,405
to give me a heads up so I can
make sure she wasn't there.

827
00:47:45,572 --> 00:47:48,908
And he looked me dead in my
eyes and said, of course I will.

828
00:47:50,702 --> 00:47:51,786
Of course, I will.

829
00:47:53,621 --> 00:47:54,622
He smiled,

830
00:47:56,124 --> 00:47:59,335
patted me on the back, slid
me an envelope full of cash

831
00:47:59,502 --> 00:48:01,713
and ordered us
two T-bone steaks.

832
00:48:05,758 --> 00:48:06,676
Well,

833
00:48:08,136 --> 00:48:09,679
they never raided the clinic.

834
00:48:12,223 --> 00:48:14,058
They burnt the motherfucka down.

835
00:48:17,770 --> 00:48:18,771
It was late.

836
00:48:20,064 --> 00:48:21,482
Maybe they thought nobody
was gonna be in there,

837
00:48:21,649 --> 00:48:23,192
but they couldn't
have known, right?

838
00:48:25,194 --> 00:48:26,195
Mary,

839
00:48:27,447 --> 00:48:30,658
she had left, came back to
do some work, laid down,

840
00:48:30,825 --> 00:48:32,577
fell asleep on the couch and,

841
00:48:34,996 --> 00:48:36,247
she ain't make it out.

842
00:48:39,500 --> 00:48:40,877
She ain't make it out.

843
00:48:46,841 --> 00:48:48,926
It didn't take the Panthers
long to figure out who did it.

844
00:48:49,093 --> 00:48:52,096
This drug dealer by the
name of Alonzo Price

845
00:48:52,263 --> 00:48:53,640
had been selling drugs
in the community,

846
00:48:53,806 --> 00:48:55,433
was getting heat
from the Panthers

847
00:48:55,600 --> 00:48:57,310
and given an ultimatum what
was gonna happen to his ass

848
00:48:57,477 --> 00:48:58,770
if he ain't stop.

849
00:48:59,771 --> 00:49:02,315
Crazy thing is,
I had met Alonzo,

850
00:49:03,232 --> 00:49:04,692
but not in the streets.

851
00:49:05,401 --> 00:49:07,028
I met him in O'Leary's,

852
00:49:08,321 --> 00:49:11,115
and Frank told me they
found a business card on him

853
00:49:11,282 --> 00:49:13,993
from a FBI agent
named William Benson.

854
00:49:15,244 --> 00:49:17,538
He said he told him
some other things too.

855
00:49:18,831 --> 00:49:20,583
Now I seen a couple of brothers
move to block the doors,

856
00:49:20,750 --> 00:49:22,085
but they was too slow.

857
00:49:22,251 --> 00:49:23,795
I bust through 'em,
they chased after me.

858
00:49:23,961 --> 00:49:26,714
I lost 'em in the city and
I just made this train.

859
00:49:32,428 --> 00:49:33,554
I'm a snitch.

860
00:49:37,892 --> 00:49:39,018
I'm a fuckin',

861
00:49:40,436 --> 00:49:43,147
I'm a low life fuckin' rat,
that's what the fuck I am.

862
00:49:54,075 --> 00:49:56,953
But even Judas had his reasons.

863
00:49:57,120 --> 00:49:58,579
If you dumb enough to
think it's just about

864
00:49:58,746 --> 00:50:00,081
30 pieces of silver,

865
00:50:00,248 --> 00:50:01,999
then you dumb as a
box of rocks for real.

866
00:50:04,919 --> 00:50:06,254
Shit ain't that simple.

867
00:50:06,421 --> 00:50:07,380
Nothing is.

868
00:50:09,382 --> 00:50:13,177
But, Judas did try to make it
right when he hung himself.

869
00:50:14,554 --> 00:50:16,180
I know putting a bullet
through Benson's head

870
00:50:16,305 --> 00:50:18,057
isn't gonna bring Mary back.

871
00:50:20,727 --> 00:50:21,936
But I'm still gonna do it.

872
00:50:23,187 --> 00:50:25,606
Have to, it's the
least I can fuckin' do.

873
00:50:34,532 --> 00:50:35,491
Ah fuck!

874
00:50:37,201 --> 00:50:39,036
Fuck they get on the train?

875
00:50:40,663 --> 00:50:41,998
It's Frank.

876
00:50:42,123 --> 00:50:44,709
He got three other
Panthers with him.

877
00:50:48,463 --> 00:50:49,422
Ah,

878
00:50:51,340 --> 00:50:54,677
I guess Abel Green still
don't get no happy ending.

879
00:50:56,596 --> 00:50:59,307
Fuck you too, William Benson.

880
00:51:01,851 --> 00:51:02,810
Fuck you.

881
00:52:25,434 --> 00:52:27,687
You're staring at me like
that because you've seen me,

882
00:52:27,854 --> 00:52:30,898
but for the life of you,
you can't remember where.

883
00:52:32,066 --> 00:52:34,902
I would tell you to
stop, but you won't.

884
00:52:37,822 --> 00:52:39,240
I've just done the
most difficult thing

885
00:52:39,407 --> 00:52:40,658
I've ever had to do in my life,

886
00:52:40,825 --> 00:52:42,660
so I don't feel
like engaging you.

887
00:52:44,954 --> 00:52:47,331
But um, If I don't
say something,

888
00:52:47,498 --> 00:52:48,791
you're just gonna
keep staring at me

889
00:52:48,958 --> 00:52:49,917
until I get off the train.

890
00:52:50,084 --> 00:52:52,420
So here it is, I'm Abel Green.

891
00:52:55,548 --> 00:52:57,967
You probably recognize
me as Donny Diamond

892
00:52:58,092 --> 00:53:00,344
from "The Revenge of
the Killer Pimps."

893
00:53:00,511 --> 00:53:02,179
Oh, you also could have seen
me in "The Death Merchant"

894
00:53:02,346 --> 00:53:04,056
or the "Take Back
the Street" series,

895
00:53:04,223 --> 00:53:06,142
but I haven't done any films
like that in a long, long time.

896
00:53:06,309 --> 00:53:08,561
But I see you have your paper
there ready to be signed.

897
00:53:08,728 --> 00:53:10,021
So I'll take it from you.

898
00:53:10,187 --> 00:53:11,522
Oh wow, you went
to go see a play?

899
00:53:11,689 --> 00:53:14,692
That's awesome.

900
00:53:14,859 --> 00:53:16,485
All right, have a great night.

901
00:53:20,823 --> 00:53:21,866
Oh man.

902
00:53:24,076 --> 00:53:25,328
You wanna know what it's like

903
00:53:25,494 --> 00:53:27,455
being a Black
actor in Hollywood?

904
00:53:28,623 --> 00:53:32,168
In 1988 it's about being
killed by white men

905
00:53:32,335 --> 00:53:34,337
with raspy voices.

906
00:53:35,421 --> 00:53:36,589
Yeah, I've been shot a lot.

907
00:53:36,756 --> 00:53:38,841
You know, Magnums,
shotguns, Uzis.

908
00:53:39,008 --> 00:53:40,468
Been blown up quite a bit too.

909
00:53:40,593 --> 00:53:44,013
You know, grenades,
rocket launchers, twice.

910
00:53:44,180 --> 00:53:46,849
In "Death Merchant 3",
the white vigilante hero

911
00:53:47,016 --> 00:53:49,644
strangles me with
his shoe strings.

912
00:53:49,810 --> 00:53:53,064
In "Take Back the Streets"
the white vigilante hero

913
00:53:53,230 --> 00:53:55,066
throws me out of a skyscraper.

914
00:53:55,232 --> 00:53:57,193
In "Take Back the
Streets Again",

915
00:53:57,360 --> 00:53:59,779
the white vigilante hero
douses me in gasoline

916
00:53:59,946 --> 00:54:01,447
and sets me on fire.

917
00:54:01,614 --> 00:54:04,992
And in "Take Back the
The Final Chapter,"

918
00:54:06,494 --> 00:54:08,371
the white vigilante
hero's daughter

919
00:54:08,537 --> 00:54:09,830
cuts off my testicles

920
00:54:09,997 --> 00:54:12,458
and stomps 'em with her
ruby red high heels.

921
00:54:13,668 --> 00:54:15,920
Yeah, I stopped doing
movies after that.

922
00:54:17,505 --> 00:54:19,215
Didn't stop acting though.

923
00:54:20,424 --> 00:54:22,510
I took a job over at
Alonzo's Hard Bodies,

924
00:54:23,511 --> 00:54:24,929
it's a vitamin and
supplement shop.

925
00:54:25,054 --> 00:54:27,431
Alonzo Price was
this steroid freak,

926
00:54:27,556 --> 00:54:29,642
competed in a couple
Mr. Universes,

927
00:54:29,809 --> 00:54:31,686
and he liked to hire
actors as salesmen

928
00:54:31,852 --> 00:54:34,814
because you had to be able
to act to sell that bullshit.

929
00:54:36,148 --> 00:54:37,817
Sir, can I be honest with you?

930
00:54:37,984 --> 00:54:39,610
Take a look at yourself.

931
00:54:39,777 --> 00:54:42,321
Now, would you fuck you?

932
00:54:43,948 --> 00:54:45,408
See? But that's not your fault.

933
00:54:45,533 --> 00:54:46,867
I know you care about your body.

934
00:54:46,993 --> 00:54:48,285
I know you like to work out,

935
00:54:48,411 --> 00:54:49,954
but to get the
results that you need,

936
00:54:50,121 --> 00:54:51,622
you need this, my friend,

937
00:54:51,789 --> 00:54:54,291
Price's Big and
Swole Protein Powder.

938
00:54:54,458 --> 00:54:58,212
For just 19.95, you too
can be ridiculously ripped

939
00:54:58,379 --> 00:54:59,964
and stupendously stacked

940
00:55:00,131 --> 00:55:04,093
and as a side effect, it makes
your penis grow three inches.

941
00:55:06,012 --> 00:55:07,471
And then one day while
stacking the shelves,

942
00:55:07,638 --> 00:55:11,308
I heard, "Does man love art?

943
00:55:12,268 --> 00:55:15,521
Man visits art, but squirms.

944
00:55:15,646 --> 00:55:17,565
Art hurts.

945
00:55:17,732 --> 00:55:21,944
Art urges voyages, and it's
easier to stay at home.

946
00:55:23,070 --> 00:55:24,488
You wanna stay at
home, Abel Green,

947
00:55:24,655 --> 00:55:26,365
or you wanna come up
with me to New York,

948
00:55:26,532 --> 00:55:29,035
make some money and do some
acting that means something?"

949
00:55:30,077 --> 00:55:31,370
I looked up,

950
00:55:31,537 --> 00:55:33,706
and standing there
by the creatine,

951
00:55:34,707 --> 00:55:36,125
was the baddest, boldest,

952
00:55:36,292 --> 00:55:39,253
best writer, actor,
director, I ever knew,

953
00:55:39,420 --> 00:55:41,130
my friend William Benson.

954
00:55:41,922 --> 00:55:43,424
I hadn't heard from him in years

955
00:55:43,591 --> 00:55:45,092
and he just shows up
when I need him most,

956
00:55:45,259 --> 00:55:47,428
quoting Gwendolyn Brooks,
the Chicago Picasso,

957
00:55:47,595 --> 00:55:49,847
offering me a role
that changed my career.

958
00:55:52,391 --> 00:55:53,350
Will,

959
00:55:54,518 --> 00:55:55,936
a beautiful human being.

960
00:55:57,229 --> 00:55:59,106
I met him in college.

961
00:55:59,273 --> 00:56:00,691
There were three
African Americans

962
00:56:00,858 --> 00:56:02,276
in the theater department,

963
00:56:02,443 --> 00:56:05,362
William Benson, Mary
Bingham, and yours truly.

964
00:56:06,238 --> 00:56:07,782
Will was a couple years ahead,

965
00:56:07,948 --> 00:56:11,535
and the first thing he
asked me when I met him was,

966
00:56:12,703 --> 00:56:14,455
"What do you want
your legacy to be?"

967
00:56:14,622 --> 00:56:17,458
And I was like, "I'm 18, man."

968
00:56:18,626 --> 00:56:21,212
He responded, "Exactly."

969
00:56:22,671 --> 00:56:26,050
This dude, not only was he deep,
but he was like Shaft, too.

970
00:56:26,217 --> 00:56:28,803
You know, Jim Kelly
minus the fro.

971
00:56:28,969 --> 00:56:30,971
I had a couple of football
players after me once.

972
00:56:31,138 --> 00:56:32,348
They had me cornered
in this bar,

973
00:56:32,515 --> 00:56:33,766
I thought was done for sure.

974
00:56:33,933 --> 00:56:35,392
And then I hear (yelling).

975
00:56:41,482 --> 00:56:43,275
They took one look
at Will and took off.

976
00:56:43,442 --> 00:56:46,487
I believe one of those big
white boys shitted himself.

977
00:56:47,863 --> 00:56:50,366
Will, he was that type of
friend. He always had your back.

978
00:56:50,533 --> 00:56:53,119
You know, a hell
of an actor, too.

979
00:56:54,995 --> 00:56:58,415
Everyone said he was gonna
be the next James Earl Jones.

980
00:56:59,250 --> 00:57:00,918
Instead, after he graduated,

981
00:57:01,043 --> 00:57:03,129
he got offered the
same roles I did.

982
00:57:04,380 --> 00:57:05,714
And that's when he started

983
00:57:05,840 --> 00:57:07,508
the African Roots
Theatrical Concern.

984
00:57:08,676 --> 00:57:10,511
Will cast me in this
amazing play called,

985
00:57:10,678 --> 00:57:11,971
"The Whispering Dream."

986
00:57:12,096 --> 00:57:13,722
It's this love story
about this soldier

987
00:57:13,889 --> 00:57:15,516
returning home from Vietnam,

988
00:57:15,641 --> 00:57:19,562
and I played the
lead, Ulysses James.

989
00:57:25,192 --> 00:57:26,152
Boop.

990
00:57:27,945 --> 00:57:30,114
"Abel Green is brilliant.

991
00:57:34,702 --> 00:57:36,412
He takes us on an
emotional rollercoaster

992
00:57:36,579 --> 00:57:38,497
without the sentimentality
and overreach

993
00:57:38,664 --> 00:57:40,249
a lesser actor would employ.

994
00:57:40,416 --> 00:57:41,959
It is indeed his understatement

995
00:57:42,126 --> 00:57:44,920
that makes the horrors of
Ulysses James even more riveting

996
00:57:45,045 --> 00:57:48,299
and gives this
production five stars."

997
00:57:48,424 --> 00:57:51,844
JA Sutter, "Main
Stage Magazine."

998
00:57:53,137 --> 00:57:53,971
It's pretty awesome, right?

999
00:57:54,138 --> 00:57:55,181
Yeah.

1000
00:57:56,974 --> 00:57:59,852
Wanna know how I repaid
Will for this opportunity?

1001
00:58:01,604 --> 00:58:03,355
When he needed me,

1002
00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:06,692
I turned my back on him and
ran as fast as I fuckin' could.

1003
00:58:10,279 --> 00:58:11,238
It was late.

1004
00:58:12,281 --> 00:58:13,782
I got drunk in a bar not too far

1005
00:58:13,949 --> 00:58:16,160
from Will's place
on Jefferson Ave.

1006
00:58:17,578 --> 00:58:21,081
Had a key to his place, he
was supposed to be outta town.

1007
00:58:21,248 --> 00:58:22,917
I was too drunk to drive home,

1008
00:58:23,083 --> 00:58:26,086
so I headed there and when I
was on the stairs walking up,

1009
00:58:26,253 --> 00:58:27,421
this guy brushes past me,

1010
00:58:27,588 --> 00:58:29,506
almost knocks me
down he's so upset.

1011
00:58:29,673 --> 00:58:32,343
And the front door to
Will's place is open.

1012
00:58:32,509 --> 00:58:34,011
Will is standing in
the middle of the room,

1013
00:58:34,178 --> 00:58:35,971
shirt ripped,
furniture overturned.

1014
00:58:36,096 --> 00:58:39,225
I was like, "Will, what
the fuck? Are you okay?"

1015
00:58:40,059 --> 00:58:41,352
And Will goes,

1016
00:58:43,979 --> 00:58:48,025
"My ex-boyfriend just found
out he's HIV positive."

1017
00:58:56,367 --> 00:58:58,160
And he sat down on the couch

1018
00:58:59,411 --> 00:59:01,872
and didn't say a word
like he was in shock.

1019
00:59:03,082 --> 00:59:04,667
Eventually he asked me
if I would go with him

1020
00:59:04,833 --> 00:59:07,920
to get the test and I
promised him I would.

1021
00:59:11,465 --> 00:59:12,424
I lied.

1022
00:59:14,969 --> 00:59:16,595
I didn't even know he was gay.

1023
00:59:17,388 --> 00:59:19,723
He dated Mary Bingham.

1024
00:59:21,016 --> 00:59:23,477
How the hell you go from
that to loving on some dude?

1025
00:59:24,436 --> 00:59:25,771
And the betrayal
of it all is that

1026
00:59:25,938 --> 00:59:27,398
he knew everything
about my life.

1027
00:59:27,564 --> 00:59:29,191
I mean, he knew things about me.

1028
00:59:29,358 --> 00:59:32,236
What kind of person can
compartmentalize like that?

1029
00:59:32,987 --> 00:59:34,822
God, I was mad as hell,

1030
00:59:34,989 --> 00:59:36,573
and he might have AIDS,

1031
00:59:36,740 --> 00:59:39,326
this shit that's going around
that ain't no cure for.

1032
00:59:39,451 --> 00:59:41,870
Know how many times I had
drank something after him?

1033
00:59:41,996 --> 00:59:44,415
Used his shower, hugged
him, shaking his hand.

1034
00:59:44,581 --> 00:59:46,375
I was like, this motherfucka.

1035
00:59:47,668 --> 00:59:49,378
I'm telling you I had no
love for Will right then.

1036
00:59:49,545 --> 00:59:52,006
The company season was over
so I got ghost like Swayze.

1037
00:59:55,175 --> 00:59:56,552
Back in LA almost a year later,

1038
00:59:56,719 --> 01:00:00,764
Mary Bingham flew out to
see me and she was pissed.

1039
01:00:02,057 --> 01:00:04,351
She asked me why I hadn't
been to see Will and

1040
01:00:05,394 --> 01:00:07,062
I told her Will's a liar.

1041
01:00:07,229 --> 01:00:09,064
I got nothing to say to him,
and you shouldn't either.

1042
01:00:09,189 --> 01:00:10,733
He betrayed you most of all.

1043
01:00:10,899 --> 01:00:12,985
"Always knew Will was gay.

1044
01:00:14,111 --> 01:00:15,946
We had an arrangement.

1045
01:00:16,113 --> 01:00:18,032
And you of all people
know how hard it is

1046
01:00:18,198 --> 01:00:20,701
for a Black man to
get a leading role.

1047
01:00:20,868 --> 01:00:23,537
A gay Black man? Times
that to infinity."

1048
01:00:25,289 --> 01:00:26,915
So you was part of this lie?

1049
01:00:28,917 --> 01:00:29,918
You know what?

1050
01:00:30,085 --> 01:00:31,503
You and Will can
both go to hell.

1051
01:00:31,670 --> 01:00:33,255
"I'm so sick of these
faggot producers

1052
01:00:33,380 --> 01:00:34,798
always running everything.

1053
01:00:34,965 --> 01:00:36,550
What I gotta do, suck
a dick to get a role?

1054
01:00:36,717 --> 01:00:38,594
You remember saying that?

1055
01:00:38,761 --> 01:00:40,220
Probably not.

1056
01:00:40,387 --> 01:00:42,556
And that's not the worst thing
you've said over the years.

1057
01:00:42,723 --> 01:00:44,141
The fact that Will
loves you so much

1058
01:00:44,308 --> 01:00:46,310
is something I will
never understand."

1059
01:00:46,477 --> 01:00:48,395
Will lied to me!

1060
01:00:54,485 --> 01:00:56,528
"Like you lying to yourself?"

1061
01:01:02,576 --> 01:01:04,536
I didn't say
anything after that.

1062
01:01:06,205 --> 01:01:08,707
Mary went on to tell me that
Will had full blown AIDS

1063
01:01:08,874 --> 01:01:10,959
and she didn't know
how long he had.

1064
01:01:13,879 --> 01:01:16,215
I spent that night
after Mary left

1065
01:01:16,382 --> 01:01:19,426
trying to prove to myself
that she was wrong about me.

1066
01:01:20,886 --> 01:01:22,179
But the fact is,

1067
01:01:23,347 --> 01:01:24,598
I can't even hug another man

1068
01:01:24,765 --> 01:01:26,892
without having a
forearm in between us.

1069
01:01:29,895 --> 01:01:30,896
I loved Will,

1070
01:01:32,356 --> 01:01:33,774
but I've never said
that to any man,

1071
01:01:33,941 --> 01:01:35,776
and I've never had
any man say it to me.

1072
01:01:37,277 --> 01:01:38,695
In my old neighborhood,

1073
01:01:38,862 --> 01:01:40,155
you'd rather have somebody
talk about your mama

1074
01:01:40,280 --> 01:01:41,740
than call you a
faggot or a punk.

1075
01:01:43,033 --> 01:01:44,660
It was a code, and I
thought a lot about those

1076
01:01:44,827 --> 01:01:46,286
that followed it and what
they had done for me,

1077
01:01:46,453 --> 01:01:48,288
which was absolutely nothing.

1078
01:01:48,455 --> 01:01:49,832
Will on the other hand.

1079
01:01:52,668 --> 01:01:54,294
That night I couldn't sleep.

1080
01:01:55,129 --> 01:01:56,505
I stayed up channel surfing

1081
01:01:56,672 --> 01:01:58,382
and I came across
this religious program

1082
01:01:58,549 --> 01:02:01,969
called Reverend Frank Red's
God's Truth Christian Hour.

1083
01:02:02,136 --> 01:02:03,846
"Christian family,

1084
01:02:03,971 --> 01:02:06,890
the Bible teaches us that when
a people get away from God,

1085
01:02:07,057 --> 01:02:09,476
when they engage in
filthy, nasty ways,

1086
01:02:09,643 --> 01:02:11,270
God will punish them,

1087
01:02:11,395 --> 01:02:14,064
and that is why we have AIDS.

1088
01:02:15,065 --> 01:02:16,483
Now that is not hate.

1089
01:02:16,650 --> 01:02:19,403
I hate no one, and
I pray for everyone,

1090
01:02:19,570 --> 01:02:23,115
but my Bible teaches me
that homosexuality is a sin

1091
01:02:23,282 --> 01:02:25,742
and the wages of sin is death.

1092
01:02:25,909 --> 01:02:26,910
Amen."

1093
01:02:35,544 --> 01:02:37,212
Fuck you, Rev.

1094
01:02:39,089 --> 01:02:41,758
God doesn't have anything
to do with this shit.

1095
01:02:42,634 --> 01:02:43,844
Fucked up people.

1096
01:02:44,970 --> 01:02:47,806
People who bring
suffering into the world,

1097
01:02:47,931 --> 01:02:49,766
seem to live forever.

1098
01:02:50,934 --> 01:02:53,479
And the dreamers, the
lovers, the people

1099
01:02:53,645 --> 01:02:55,939
who actually make this
hell worth living in

1100
01:02:56,106 --> 01:02:57,441
seem to die too soon

1101
01:02:57,608 --> 01:02:59,693
and in fucked up ways
that nobody deserves.

1102
01:02:59,860 --> 01:03:02,112
That can't be God's plan.

1103
01:03:11,914 --> 01:03:12,915
Next day,

1104
01:03:14,166 --> 01:03:15,792
I got my ass on a plane

1105
01:03:15,959 --> 01:03:17,669
and I flew to New
York to beg my friend

1106
01:03:17,836 --> 01:03:20,589
for what I knew no way
in hell I deserved,

1107
01:03:20,756 --> 01:03:22,174
his forgiveness.

1108
01:03:24,510 --> 01:03:27,763
I saw him, he had just
gotten out the hospital.

1109
01:03:28,972 --> 01:03:30,641
His body was covered in
these purple splotches,

1110
01:03:30,807 --> 01:03:32,518
leach-looking like things.

1111
01:03:33,769 --> 01:03:36,230
It's a type of skin
cancer AIDS patients get.

1112
01:03:38,524 --> 01:03:42,236
The fact that he was gonna
die finally hit home.

1113
01:03:45,113 --> 01:03:48,992
He opened his eyes
and held out his hand.

1114
01:03:51,912 --> 01:03:56,291
"Does man love art?"

1115
01:03:57,793 --> 01:03:59,795
He tried to laugh, but the pain,

1116
01:04:01,630 --> 01:04:03,340
I took his hand in mine and-

1117
01:04:06,718 --> 01:04:08,512
"Art hurts."

1118
01:04:13,684 --> 01:04:15,227
"I knew you would come."

1119
01:04:22,943 --> 01:04:24,486
I moved into Will's apartment

1120
01:04:24,653 --> 01:04:27,364
along with some other members
of the African Roots and

1121
01:04:28,407 --> 01:04:29,700
we took care of him.

1122
01:04:35,289 --> 01:04:37,624
Mary said she was gonna come
by to feed Will at noon,

1123
01:04:37,791 --> 01:04:40,127
so I'm sure she's
found the body by now

1124
01:04:40,294 --> 01:04:42,504
and called the
proper authorities.

1125
01:04:45,299 --> 01:04:46,675
At first I didn't
think I could do it,

1126
01:04:46,800 --> 01:04:48,760
but how could I not?

1127
01:04:50,512 --> 01:04:53,765
What would you do if your
friend said, help me?

1128
01:04:56,435 --> 01:04:58,770
I'm tired of hurting,
I'd do it for you.

1129
01:05:04,234 --> 01:05:06,445
I tell you what I did.

1130
01:05:06,612 --> 01:05:09,156
I kissed Will on
his forehead and

1131
01:05:10,574 --> 01:05:13,201
I gave him the overdose of
morphine that he asked me for.

1132
01:05:15,704 --> 01:05:18,999
And if that condemns my soul
to hell, then so be it but,

1133
01:05:20,459 --> 01:05:21,752
I don't think it does.

1134
01:05:26,173 --> 01:05:27,466
This is me.

1135
01:07:02,310 --> 01:07:05,397
My mother and father didn't
always try to kill each other,

1136
01:07:06,565 --> 01:07:10,444
just on the 1st and 15th
of the month.

1137
01:07:12,446 --> 01:07:13,697
I would go into my bedroom

1138
01:07:13,864 --> 01:07:16,700
and turn the TV up
as loud as I could.

1139
01:07:16,867 --> 01:07:20,287
"Star Trek, the Next
Generation" was my show.

1140
01:07:20,454 --> 01:07:23,290
Now I dreamed of traveling
to brave new worlds.

1141
01:07:23,457 --> 01:07:27,461
And in these worlds, higher
pursuits took precedence

1142
01:07:27,627 --> 01:07:30,672
because food, clothing,
and shelter were the given.

1143
01:07:31,757 --> 01:07:33,925
and not the daily
struggle to acquire,

1144
01:07:34,050 --> 01:07:35,469
and not the root cause

1145
01:07:35,594 --> 01:07:38,597
of cut lips, black eyes,
broken coffee tables.

1146
01:07:41,183 --> 01:07:43,059
Now I stopped believing
in the existence

1147
01:07:43,226 --> 01:07:44,978
of those worlds when
my father lost his job

1148
01:07:45,103 --> 01:07:46,563
and committed suicide.

1149
01:07:46,730 --> 01:07:48,440
Now, I never watched
"Star Trek" again,

1150
01:07:48,565 --> 01:07:52,152
'cause even if those
worlds did exist,

1151
01:07:53,361 --> 01:07:55,697
what the fuck did they
mean to Abel Green?

1152
01:08:20,722 --> 01:08:24,351
Did you know on Saturn
people live to be 205?

1153
01:08:25,435 --> 01:08:27,646
They have orange snow too.

1154
01:08:27,813 --> 01:08:30,482
Imagine snowboarding on sherbet.

1155
01:08:31,983 --> 01:08:33,860
Now I've seen it in my dreams.

1156
01:08:34,861 --> 01:08:37,447
Wilma Benson told
me it was real.

1157
01:08:37,572 --> 01:08:39,032
That's what these
cans are about,

1158
01:08:39,199 --> 01:08:41,326
leaving here, getting to Saturn.

1159
01:08:57,300 --> 01:09:00,136
Wilma says, if you can
imagine an elsewhere,

1160
01:09:00,303 --> 01:09:01,680
you can build it.

1161
01:09:01,847 --> 01:09:03,098
Now the problem is most of us

1162
01:09:03,265 --> 01:09:04,808
don't want to
build an elsewhere,

1163
01:09:04,975 --> 01:09:07,269
we'd rather just figure out
a way to be on top here.

1164
01:09:08,645 --> 01:09:10,397
It took the murders
of four people for me

1165
01:09:10,564 --> 01:09:13,024
to get to Wilma's
understanding of things.

1166
01:09:14,526 --> 01:09:16,903
You probably read about it or
saw the special on "Dateline."

1167
01:09:18,488 --> 01:09:20,699
Then again, you may not
have paid any attention.

1168
01:09:20,866 --> 01:09:22,284
You know shit happens
so much these days

1169
01:09:22,450 --> 01:09:24,452
you can turn it into
a drinking game.

1170
01:09:24,619 --> 01:09:27,831
Every time somebody goes off
into a school or workplace

1171
01:09:27,998 --> 01:09:31,042
and shoots up a bunch of
people, take a shot of vodka.

1172
01:09:35,088 --> 01:09:37,507
But, when you're in
the center of it,

1173
01:09:37,674 --> 01:09:39,217
vodka shots won't help.

1174
01:09:40,385 --> 01:09:41,761
You might find yourself
beaten half to death

1175
01:09:41,928 --> 01:09:43,680
in a ditch outside
of Jefferson Park,

1176
01:09:43,847 --> 01:09:45,724
which is where I was
when Wilma saved me,

1177
01:09:45,849 --> 01:09:48,018
so don't do that.

1178
01:10:05,869 --> 01:10:08,663
Before I began my studies
with Wilma Benson,

1179
01:10:08,830 --> 01:10:10,874
I didn't have a
picture of my parents

1180
01:10:11,041 --> 01:10:12,876
or a girlfriend on my dresser.

1181
01:10:13,043 --> 01:10:15,003
I had an 8x10 of Warren Buffett

1182
01:10:15,170 --> 01:10:17,964
that I talked to each morning
while preparing for work.

1183
01:10:18,131 --> 01:10:19,716
"Good morning, Mr. Buffett.

1184
01:10:19,883 --> 01:10:22,802
Today I'm gonna do something
to make you proud."

1185
01:10:23,929 --> 01:10:25,513
I had pocket sized
pics in my wallet

1186
01:10:25,680 --> 01:10:27,140
of Bill Gates and Bloomberg.

1187
01:10:27,307 --> 01:10:29,601
I named my fantasy
football team Greenspan.

1188
01:10:29,768 --> 01:10:31,895
I voted Republican because
that's what rich people did,

1189
01:10:32,062 --> 01:10:33,438
and I intended to be rich.

1190
01:10:33,605 --> 01:10:35,106
I made love to my
girlfriend while listening

1191
01:10:35,273 --> 01:10:37,651
to David Bach's "Automatic
Millionaire" on CD.

1192
01:10:39,569 --> 01:10:42,280
And when I really wanted to
get kinky, I played Suze Orman.

1193
01:10:47,452 --> 01:10:49,621
Y'know money has
always been at the

1194
01:10:49,788 --> 01:10:51,581
core of the American dream.

1195
01:10:51,748 --> 01:10:53,124
Before the housing bubble burst,

1196
01:10:53,291 --> 01:10:55,210
I made a shit-ton of
money selling that dream

1197
01:10:55,377 --> 01:10:56,753
to folks who look just like you.

1198
01:10:56,920 --> 01:10:58,421
The crooked broker
who suckered people

1199
01:10:58,588 --> 01:11:00,340
into loans they couldn't afford.

1200
01:11:01,132 --> 01:11:02,550
I was that guy.

1201
01:11:02,717 --> 01:11:04,803
Started at the bottom,
worked my way to the top.

1202
01:11:04,928 --> 01:11:08,056
Went from working for the
banks to contracting with them.

1203
01:11:08,223 --> 01:11:09,599
It was the wild, wild west,

1204
01:11:09,766 --> 01:11:11,309
and I was Clint with
the Stogie hanging out

1205
01:11:11,434 --> 01:11:13,186
the side of his mouth,
trigger finger itching.

1206
01:11:13,979 --> 01:11:16,439
I came to collect the bounties.

1207
01:11:16,606 --> 01:11:18,358
That's what I called
subprime loans,

1208
01:11:18,525 --> 01:11:20,110
'cause we got a bonus
for each one we made.

1209
01:11:20,276 --> 01:11:22,946
And Black and Latino communities
were the best targets.

1210
01:11:23,071 --> 01:11:25,073
And we pushed those fucked
up loans there the hardest

1211
01:11:25,240 --> 01:11:27,033
because nobody gives a
damn about what you do

1212
01:11:27,200 --> 01:11:29,035
to Black and Latino communities.

1213
01:11:30,370 --> 01:11:32,539
And as far as my conscience,
I found that new cars,

1214
01:11:32,664 --> 01:11:35,875
sex with beautiful women,
good coke, single malt Scotch,

1215
01:11:36,042 --> 01:11:37,919
and Cuban cigars can
clean the conscience

1216
01:11:38,044 --> 01:11:41,214
better than ammonia
can eradicate piss
from a toilet seat.

1217
01:11:49,097 --> 01:11:52,559
I met Alonzo Price
at a church picnic.

1218
01:11:54,060 --> 01:11:56,688
His daughter and son-in-law
had died in a car accident

1219
01:11:56,813 --> 01:11:57,981
not too long before,

1220
01:11:58,148 --> 01:11:59,482
and now he and his wife,

1221
01:11:59,649 --> 01:12:01,693
both in their sixties,
were raising their boy.

1222
01:12:01,860 --> 01:12:04,362
And so I talked to Price about
securing the boy's future,

1223
01:12:04,529 --> 01:12:07,032
a college education, a
nest egg the kid could have

1224
01:12:07,157 --> 01:12:08,992
to start life with
something to lean on

1225
01:12:09,159 --> 01:12:11,619
when Price and his
wife had transitioned.

1226
01:12:14,330 --> 01:12:16,583
Once I had the hook
in, I talked Price

1227
01:12:16,708 --> 01:12:19,169
into taking a second
mortgage out on his home.

1228
01:12:19,294 --> 01:12:20,128
And you know what he said to me

1229
01:12:20,295 --> 01:12:21,755
after we made that deal?

1230
01:12:21,921 --> 01:12:25,842
Mr. Green, I know your parents
are mighty proud of you.

1231
01:12:31,389 --> 01:12:34,350
Four years later,
he lost the house,

1232
01:12:35,643 --> 01:12:38,313
and the stress of
which caused his wife

1233
01:12:38,480 --> 01:12:40,565
to have a heart attack, so.

1234
01:12:46,488 --> 01:12:50,366
"There are other worlds
they have not told you of.

1235
01:12:51,618 --> 01:12:52,494
Okay?

1236
01:12:53,912 --> 01:12:56,831
There are other worlds
they have not told you of.

1237
01:12:56,998 --> 01:12:59,751
There are other worlds
they have not told you of.

1238
01:13:01,002 --> 01:13:04,547
Wrap your mind in the
peace that is Saturn.

1239
01:13:04,714 --> 01:13:08,676
Wrap your mind in the
peace that is Saturn.

1240
01:13:08,843 --> 01:13:12,430
Wrap your mind in the
peace that is Saturn.

1241
01:13:13,264 --> 01:13:15,016
Peace, Saturn.

1242
01:13:16,601 --> 01:13:18,019
Peace, Saturn.

1243
01:13:19,562 --> 01:13:20,688
"Abel Green, you
lousy son of a bitch,

1244
01:13:20,855 --> 01:13:22,941
get your ass out here now!"

1245
01:13:28,863 --> 01:13:31,699
I heard Price from
the men's room.

1246
01:13:31,825 --> 01:13:33,159
I was in the stall
doing a line of coke

1247
01:13:33,326 --> 01:13:35,036
and it wasn't even 12.

1248
01:13:39,249 --> 01:13:41,751
My secretary Mary
Bingham was dead.

1249
01:13:43,294 --> 01:13:45,088
There were three more shots.

1250
01:13:49,884 --> 01:13:51,511
Frank Red in accounts,

1251
01:13:52,595 --> 01:13:55,515
Tom Pedelton, our IT specialist,

1252
01:13:55,682 --> 01:13:58,852
and Esther in Human
Resources, all dead,

1253
01:13:58,977 --> 01:14:00,979
as I sat, hiding
in the restroom.

1254
01:14:03,606 --> 01:14:05,066
Felt like two lifetimes passed

1255
01:14:05,233 --> 01:14:07,026
before Alonzo finally walked in.

1256
01:14:08,069 --> 01:14:10,196
"I know your ass
somewhere, Green."

1257
01:14:10,363 --> 01:14:12,031
He began going
through the stalls.

1258
01:14:12,198 --> 01:14:13,825
But when the sirens howling
from the street grew louder,

1259
01:14:13,992 --> 01:14:15,618
he knew he didn't
have much time.

1260
01:14:15,785 --> 01:14:18,454
He ran past the men's room
and there was one more shot.

1261
01:14:24,836 --> 01:14:28,089
The police found his body
outside of my office door.

1262
01:14:33,928 --> 01:14:36,014
When I met Wilma Benson,

1263
01:14:36,848 --> 01:14:38,558
I was trying to end my life.

1264
01:14:40,143 --> 01:14:42,353
I rented a room
at a cheap motel,

1265
01:14:42,478 --> 01:14:45,315
drank an entire bottle
of Johnny Walker Red.

1266
01:14:46,566 --> 01:14:48,526
My plan was to hang
myself in the closet.

1267
01:14:49,861 --> 01:14:53,239
I stood on the chair, put
the noose around my neck,

1268
01:14:53,406 --> 01:14:56,242
when I heard this banging
and crunching noise

1269
01:14:56,409 --> 01:14:58,620
coming from the alley outside.

1270
01:14:58,786 --> 01:14:59,913
And I got down to look,

1271
01:15:00,079 --> 01:15:01,247
and there was this
homeless woman

1272
01:15:01,414 --> 01:15:02,665
with a bunch of coats on

1273
01:15:02,832 --> 01:15:04,459
rummaging through the
dumpster for cans,

1274
01:15:04,626 --> 01:15:07,754
stamping them flat, putting
them in a large trash bag.

1275
01:15:07,921 --> 01:15:09,255
And I yelled down,

1276
01:15:09,422 --> 01:15:10,798
would you stop making
all that damn noise?

1277
01:15:10,965 --> 01:15:12,592
And she looked up
and hollered back.

1278
01:15:12,759 --> 01:15:14,969
"I freed a thousand slaves

1279
01:15:15,136 --> 01:15:16,512
and I could have
freed a thousand more

1280
01:15:16,679 --> 01:15:19,849
if they only knew they
were slaves."

1281
01:15:22,560 --> 01:15:24,145
And she went back
to smashing cans

1282
01:15:24,312 --> 01:15:26,022
and putting them in the bag.

1283
01:15:26,147 --> 01:15:27,774
Now I raced down after her.

1284
01:15:27,941 --> 01:15:29,400
I don't know what I was thinking

1285
01:15:29,567 --> 01:15:31,110
or what I was planning to
do, but I followed her.

1286
01:15:31,277 --> 01:15:32,946
And when we reached the
outskirts of Jefferson Park

1287
01:15:33,112 --> 01:15:34,697
where a lot of homeless lived,

1288
01:15:34,864 --> 01:15:37,033
I realized I was
being followed too.

1289
01:15:38,243 --> 01:15:39,452
And right before
Wilma made it over

1290
01:15:39,619 --> 01:15:41,162
the last dip in the field,

1291
01:15:42,247 --> 01:15:43,957
my stalkers
announced themselves.

1292
01:15:44,123 --> 01:15:45,458
One administered the beating,

1293
01:15:45,625 --> 01:15:48,002
while the other went
through my pockets.

1294
01:15:48,169 --> 01:15:50,255
I started to lose
consciousness but,

1295
01:15:51,506 --> 01:15:52,757
I felt so relieved.

1296
01:15:54,092 --> 01:15:55,635
If they killed me I no
longer had to see the faces

1297
01:15:55,802 --> 01:15:58,972
of my dead friends or
Alonzo or his grandson,

1298
01:15:59,138 --> 01:16:01,266
who is now in the
foster care system.

1299
01:16:03,559 --> 01:16:04,686
But they didn't kill me.

1300
01:16:05,895 --> 01:16:08,898
Someone lifted my first
attacker off the ground,

1301
01:16:09,023 --> 01:16:10,775
and threw him face
first into a pine tree

1302
01:16:10,942 --> 01:16:12,235
like a paper airplane.

1303
01:16:12,360 --> 01:16:14,070
The other attacker
swung, my hero ducked,

1304
01:16:14,237 --> 01:16:15,947
lifted that guy, twirled
him a couple of times

1305
01:16:16,114 --> 01:16:17,782
and tossed him too.

1306
01:16:17,907 --> 01:16:20,743
I squinted through my swollen
eyes to get a better look and,

1307
01:16:22,036 --> 01:16:23,204
it was Wilma,

1308
01:16:24,372 --> 01:16:27,041
this little bitty
Black homeless woman.

1309
01:16:28,376 --> 01:16:30,003
And she picked me up,
threw me over her shoulder,

1310
01:16:30,169 --> 01:16:31,796
and I blacked out.

1311
01:16:33,673 --> 01:16:36,801
When I woke, I was
in a lean-to tent.

1312
01:16:36,926 --> 01:16:39,220
There were a couple of cots
and books scattered about.

1313
01:16:39,345 --> 01:16:40,763
And the one lying on her pillow

1314
01:16:40,930 --> 01:16:43,308
was a biography
of Harriet Tubman.

1315
01:16:44,100 --> 01:16:45,601
I got up and went outside

1316
01:16:45,768 --> 01:16:49,022
and there was this
structure like 14 feet high,

1317
01:16:49,188 --> 01:16:52,066
made outta tin cans
hammered into wooden beams.

1318
01:16:52,191 --> 01:16:55,278
And there was Wilma
hammering on the platform.

1319
01:16:55,445 --> 01:16:58,656
And she told me her Earth
name was Wilma Benson,

1320
01:17:00,033 --> 01:17:01,284
that she was from Saturn

1321
01:17:01,409 --> 01:17:02,452
and the structure
she was building

1322
01:17:02,618 --> 01:17:04,746
was a spaceship to return home.

1323
01:17:06,247 --> 01:17:09,751
So yeah, like you, I thought
she was batshit crazy.

1324
01:17:09,917 --> 01:17:12,378
But when she called me over
and handed me a hammer, I went

1325
01:17:12,545 --> 01:17:15,214
and while I hammered
away at those cans,

1326
01:17:15,381 --> 01:17:17,050
I didn't think about Price,

1327
01:17:17,216 --> 01:17:18,551
or the death of my friends

1328
01:17:18,718 --> 01:17:20,261
or drugs or alcohol.

1329
01:17:20,428 --> 01:17:21,971
The only thing that mattered

1330
01:17:24,057 --> 01:17:26,392
was hammering those cans
into that wooden frame.

1331
01:17:26,559 --> 01:17:28,061
And from the time I
nailed the first can

1332
01:17:28,227 --> 01:17:29,479
to the moment we stopped,

1333
01:17:29,645 --> 01:17:32,440
I existed in a complete
state of calm and peace.

1334
01:17:35,318 --> 01:17:37,362
Peace like I never felt before.

1335
01:17:39,030 --> 01:17:40,406
And I didn't understand why,

1336
01:17:40,573 --> 01:17:43,951
but the only thing that
mattered was, it was.

1337
01:17:47,789 --> 01:17:49,123
Then it began to rain.

1338
01:17:50,917 --> 01:17:52,251
I spent the night with
the woman in the lean-to,

1339
01:17:52,418 --> 01:17:54,670
and she told me about Saturn.

1340
01:17:55,713 --> 01:17:57,673
Delusional, deranged,
I don't know,

1341
01:17:57,840 --> 01:17:59,092
but that night I
dreamed of Saturn

1342
01:17:59,258 --> 01:18:01,010
like I was dreaming in HD.

1343
01:18:02,470 --> 01:18:05,890
I spent the next three weeks
living with Wilma in that tent.

1344
01:18:06,057 --> 01:18:07,642
In the morning we'd
collect the cans.

1345
01:18:07,809 --> 01:18:10,520
In the afternoon, we hammered
them onto the structure.

1346
01:18:11,687 --> 01:18:14,023
And out of the blue one
day, she said to me,

1347
01:18:19,529 --> 01:18:22,198
"You have to forgive yourself.

1348
01:18:24,283 --> 01:18:25,493
If you don't,

1349
01:18:26,702 --> 01:18:31,040
Saturn will always be
beyond your reach."

1350
01:18:39,715 --> 01:18:41,008
I began to cry.

1351
01:18:42,301 --> 01:18:44,470
Wilma picked me up,

1352
01:18:44,595 --> 01:18:46,931
rocked me in her arms
until I fell asleep.

1353
01:18:49,684 --> 01:18:50,643
When I woke,

1354
01:18:52,061 --> 01:18:53,271
Wilma was gone.

1355
01:18:54,730 --> 01:18:57,024
I got up and went outside and

1356
01:18:58,276 --> 01:19:00,528
the structure we had
built had disappeared.

1357
01:19:01,487 --> 01:19:02,864
I mean, this thing was huge.

1358
01:19:02,989 --> 01:19:04,073
There's no way it
could have been moved

1359
01:19:04,240 --> 01:19:05,616
without making hella noise.

1360
01:19:06,492 --> 01:19:07,535
I never said what the fuck

1361
01:19:07,702 --> 01:19:09,537
so many times in a single day.

1362
01:19:10,788 --> 01:19:11,873
I went and asked the
other homeless people

1363
01:19:12,039 --> 01:19:13,416
who slept there, what they saw.

1364
01:19:13,583 --> 01:19:15,501
And they all looked at
me like I was crazy,

1365
01:19:15,668 --> 01:19:17,211
even the crazy ones,

1366
01:19:18,546 --> 01:19:19,964
like there was never a Wilma,

1367
01:19:20,131 --> 01:19:21,591
like there was never a
big ass wooden edifice

1368
01:19:21,757 --> 01:19:23,634
with tin cans hammered onto it.

1369
01:19:25,928 --> 01:19:27,346
I went back to the tent,

1370
01:19:27,513 --> 01:19:29,599
and I saw this written on
it in big gold letters.

1371
01:19:29,765 --> 01:19:30,725
Let me show you.

1372
01:19:39,567 --> 01:19:42,695
Every great dream
begins with a dreamer.

1373
01:19:43,988 --> 01:19:46,574
Always remember, you
have the strength,

1374
01:19:47,450 --> 01:19:49,952
the patience and the passion.

1375
01:19:50,119 --> 01:19:51,662
Reach for the stars

1376
01:19:53,581 --> 01:19:55,374
to change the world.

1377
01:20:02,465 --> 01:20:04,884
I left Jefferson
Park that night.

1378
01:20:05,051 --> 01:20:07,803
The next day I
liquidated all my assets.

1379
01:20:07,970 --> 01:20:09,138
I closed all my accounts.

1380
01:20:09,305 --> 01:20:10,806
The wealth I had left over,

1381
01:20:10,973 --> 01:20:13,059
I anonymously sent to
the families I destroyed,

1382
01:20:14,018 --> 01:20:15,853
the ones I could locate anyway.

1383
01:20:17,563 --> 01:20:19,690
And then I went back
to my McMansion,

1384
01:20:20,483 --> 01:20:21,776
beautiful home bought with money

1385
01:20:21,943 --> 01:20:23,861
stolen from people's dreams.

1386
01:20:25,321 --> 01:20:26,697
I went through every room,

1387
01:20:26,864 --> 01:20:29,575
doused the curtains with
gasoline, struck a match,

1388
01:20:29,742 --> 01:20:32,870
walked away from my burning
house and didn't look back.

1389
01:20:36,791 --> 01:20:38,501
That was seven years ago.

1390
01:20:41,254 --> 01:20:43,673
Today, I live on the streets.

1391
01:20:44,715 --> 01:20:45,716
I, um,

1392
01:20:46,634 --> 01:20:49,428
I work odd jobs.

1393
01:20:51,722 --> 01:20:53,849
I have everything
I need to survive.

1394
01:20:57,144 --> 01:20:58,271
I'm free now.

1395
01:21:01,023 --> 01:21:02,692
And somewhere in this purging,

1396
01:21:03,818 --> 01:21:06,737
I found the courage
to forgive myself,

1397
01:21:08,114 --> 01:21:11,784
not forget what I've caused,
but to move beyond it.

1398
01:21:14,245 --> 01:21:16,622
And some nights, I sit
out underneath the stars

1399
01:21:16,789 --> 01:21:19,083
and I wonder what Wilma's doing.

1400
01:21:21,252 --> 01:21:22,628
I'm tired of that now.

1401
01:21:23,963 --> 01:21:26,007
I've decided to go visit her,

1402
01:21:26,132 --> 01:21:27,466
to visit Saturn.

1403
01:21:27,633 --> 01:21:29,552
Not to stay,

1404
01:21:29,677 --> 01:21:30,928
just to see for myself

1405
01:21:31,095 --> 01:21:33,139
and thank Wilma for
all she's taught me.

1406
01:21:34,140 --> 01:21:35,725
That's what these
cans are about.

1407
01:21:35,891 --> 01:21:38,311
I'm gonna build a spaceship
just like Wilma Benson,

1408
01:21:39,604 --> 01:21:42,398
and then I'm gonna sit
down in the middle of it,

1409
01:21:44,400 --> 01:21:47,653
let my drums speak my heart,

1410
01:21:49,071 --> 01:21:51,282
and wait for the
universe to answer.