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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.

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It would've hurt
something terrible

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in a permanent kind
of way.

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God, damn it.

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Messed my shine all up.

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They know people trying
to jump these trains.

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I don't know why they
just won't slow 'em down.

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Hell, I'd be willing
to buy a ticket

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if they was free.

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No.

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They force a gentleman to
use these Philistine tactics

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and don't even make it
easy for 'em to do it.

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You know, I, I used to
didn't have to take the rails

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to get to a show before
William decided to-

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First off, my name
Abel, Abel Green.

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Damn glad to meet you.

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Sorry if I scared you
when I jumped on here.

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And mayhaps you've heard
of me or us, rather?

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No?

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Really?

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No, no, no. I know why.

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You don't recognize me
without my face on.

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Hey, that's me and
William Benson.

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All right, come on, kinfolk.

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William Benson, the
great colored actor,
comedian, minstrel.

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You heard of Burt
Williams, right?

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The song, "Nobody"?

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Well, think Burt Williams

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with a whole lot less money

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and a more complex
kind of funny.

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Yeah, I was his partner,

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and we were Captain
Davenport's Minstrel Troupe,

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featuring two willing and able
bonafide darkies.

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William came up with
that, the bonafide part.

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See, and that's how
we competed against

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the white minstrels
in blackface.

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That's where our
pitch came from,

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which was, why hire fake coons
when you can hire real ones?

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When these boys wipe off the
black, the black still there.

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Now William Benson,

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he had more sense
than a little bit,

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and made a bundle of
money making people

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think he ain't had none at all.

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Yes Lord, things were real sweet

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when William was around.

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00:04:00.824 --> 00:04:02.326
But,

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life is change.

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Thing is, sometimes
you make the change

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00:04:07.831 --> 00:04:09.750
and sometimes the
change make you.

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All the biggest
changes in my life,

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either William had
something to do with 'em

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or he was around when
I made 'em.

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He's the one that brought
me into the show business.

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Well, getting paid side of it.

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See, all Negroes are
actors by necessity.

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The script is passed down
generation to generation,

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and the Negroes
that know they lines

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00:04:32.272 --> 00:04:34.525
tend to live longer than
the Negroes that don't.

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Generally speaking as
it pertain to dealing

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with white folks.

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Now as far as dealing
with other Negroes, well,

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memorization won't help.

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Negroes be changing
on the daily.

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William, he was privy to
one of my best performances,

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performed in front of
an all Negro audience,

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outside of the liquor house

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where an angry husband
held a straight razor

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but inches away from
my adam's apple.

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Now when William saw I was able
to convince said individual

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that the black ashy
bottom he saw climbing out

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of his bedroom window did
not belong to one Abel Green,

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00:05:10.477 --> 00:05:11.895
rather to some other dirty,

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derelict defiler
of his lady love.

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Well, William offered
me a job on the spot.

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You know, we hit the
road the next day,

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made money makin' folk laugh
all across this nation.

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NAACP didn't think
we're very funny though.

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A lot of Black newspapers
didn't appreciate

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our brand of humor either.

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00:05:33.500 --> 00:05:37.921
I got this article right here
from the New Negro Gazette.

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"The Negro performing
in blackface,

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00:05:40.549 --> 00:05:44.053
dancing and singing
like a bubbling fool
in front of whites,

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00:05:44.178 --> 00:05:47.723
betrays the advancement
of the entire race."

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JA Sutter, publisher.

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When I read that to William,
he got real, real quiet,

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that right before a
thunderstorm type of quiet.

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00:06:02.905 --> 00:06:04.490
Then came the boom.

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00:06:05.365 --> 00:06:07.618
Why the negrocity of this Negro.

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Are we not the race?

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00:06:10.537 --> 00:06:13.123
Is our skin not Black?

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00:06:13.290 --> 00:06:14.958
I'm a colored actor
doing the best I can,

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trying to make a
living the best I can,

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and for that they call me Judas.

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I say with the utmost certainty

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that neither you nor I have
caused a single crucifixion,

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Abel Green, while
these Romans crucify us

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on their editorial pages
every chance that avails them.

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Bastards.

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William always
used too many words

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for the point he was making.

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Still, he was the smartest man

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I ever knew, white or colored.

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All them big shows we did.

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Them white folks still don't
know that Captain Davenport

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was really William Benson.

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Yeah.

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They ever found out they
paid a couple of coons

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that much money, some of
'em drop dead on the spot.

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I'm gonna tell
you how we did it.

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Yo, William had this
cousin from New Orleans

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named Alonzo Price who
could pass as white.

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00:07:04.007 --> 00:07:06.051
So he would pose as
Captain Davenport

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for a small cut of the money.

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Get to town a week
before us, book the show,

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We would come and perform, ha.

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I'm telling you,
it was beautiful.

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That boy William, he
always had a plan.

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You know he knew
everything, read everything.

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He'd get drunk, spend the
night reciting Shakespeare.

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Yeah, he would.

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He knew the complete
works except for Othello.

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He refused to commit
that one to memory.

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He said Othello was nothing

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but a minstrel show
without the punchlines.

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The only weakness he had
was for, shall we say,

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ladies of the night.

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Now I know some might think
I'm wrong for saying that,

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but where I come from, if you
gonna tell a man's business,

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then you tell all of it.

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It wasn't that William
couldn't get a regular woman,

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it's just with the
money we were making

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and the times being what
they were, hell still are,

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a man with a dollar or
two didn't have to go

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to a house of ill repute
to find a lady friend.

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I asked William why he
liked prostitutes so much.

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He said, because they
were master actors.

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He said they knew the
secret to managing vacancy

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and he wanted to learn it.

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Now I ain't know what he
meant by that at the time,

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but I damn sure understood
after Jefferson.

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Jefferson was one of those

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life-changing moments,
like I mentioned earlier.

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Shit, it's the reason William

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ain't going on this gig with me.

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It's the reason why I got
less money in my pocket.

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It's the reason why I wake
up some nights sweating,

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which turns into
shaking and crying.

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It's the reason why I sleep

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with a bottle of whiskey
on my night table

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and a pistol
underneath my pillow.

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I wanted to drive to town.

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Damn some walking.

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Jefferson was about
three miles or more

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from this colored hotel.

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And we had us this
brand new Ford Packard.

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Couldn't even drive it 'cause
Alonzo had gotten sick,

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and as William put it,

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it makes no sense to step in
some shit you can step around.

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Two colored fellas driving
that brand new Ford?

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Well, so we walked.

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It was hotter than
fish grease that day.

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You know, it wasn't
even noon yet,

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but the air was thick, thick
enough to cut like cake,

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so we cut across this field and,

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we smelled the body
before we saw anything.

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It was a sweet stench
like burnt pork.

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Once we came down the last
dip at the end of the field,

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we saw the tree at the edge of
the wood where the body hung.

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I ain't want to go towards it,

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but it drew Will in
like he was hypnotized.

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I followed behind him and,

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it's hard to believe
what we was looking at

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was once human,

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once a man.

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He was burnt black as tar,

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and parts of him was missing,

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his lips, ears, nose,

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even his private parts.

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I turned my back and vomited but

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Will just kept starin'.

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There were beer
bottles, peanut hulls,

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cigarette butts everywhere.

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Some of 'em even
had lipstick on 'em.

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And Will,

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he looked down
and saw this doll,

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this little rag doll
with hay-colored hair.

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Somebody brought
their little daughter

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to watch that man burn,

192
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brought her like they were
taking her to the county fair

193
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to watch the apple
bobbing contest.

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Anyway,

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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.

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00:11:09.044 --> 00:11:11.296
And he started cussing,
throwing bottles in the trees.

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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.

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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.

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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,

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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

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00:11:54.965 --> 00:11:57.634
I thought my mouth was gonna
split from the stretching.

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00:11:58.677 --> 00:12:00.137
I smiled even harder
when I got paid.

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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.

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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,

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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.

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00:12:31.751 --> 00:12:33.962
So I asked him if he thought
he was better than me,

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00:12:35.130 --> 00:12:36.590
if he thought he was
a bigger man than me

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00:12:36.756 --> 00:12:38.633
because he can walk
away from all of it.

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00:12:39.843 --> 00:12:41.178
The show business, the money,

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00:12:41.344 --> 00:12:42.971
the ability to not have
to live like a nigga,

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00:12:43.138 --> 00:12:45.891
even if he had to play one
on stage to be able to do it.

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00:12:51.855 --> 00:12:53.773
He said he wasn't
better than me,

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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

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00:13:10.457 --> 00:13:11.416
with one of those
ladies of the evening,

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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

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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.