- What?
- Yo, dog, I ain't going.
I'm getting on that bus.
Now that means
you are getting on that bus.
We look stupid!
Oh, now you want to be
all embarrassed.
You should've
thought about that before.
- Dog, I ain't going.
- Call me "dog" again...
...and see if I don't knock you
flat on your ass.
Now, I'm getting on that bus and you
are going right along with me.
I am your father.
You are my son.
So let's get on the bus, okay?
Walk.
Gary...
...stop looking at me like that.
Shelly, are we cool...?
No, we're not cool,
and we're not finished either.
You'll feed Kaya for me?
I'll feed him, walk him and watch him
crap! I'm looking forward to it.
You make it sound like I'm
running off with another woman.
You expect me to get moist like
you're doing something incredible?
This whole thing is sexist
and exclusionary.
- Exclusionary?
- Yes!
How would you feel if the march
was only for dark-skinned brothers?
How can Farrakhan call a march
for dark-skinned brothers...
...when Farrakhan's about your
complexion, with straight hair?
- Fine!
- Gonna kiss me? Kiss me goodbye?
Gary, I'm late for work.
I love you anyway.
Don't forget to watch CNN.
We're not done talking.
- I know we're not.
- Gary.
I'll call you when
we get to Arkansas.
- Okay.
- How you doing today?
Looks like the brothers
are boarding.
Welcome aboard, welcome aboard.
I'd have hated
being on your plantation.
Runaway slave wouldn't have
stood a chance against you.
Court order says I have to keep my son
tethered for 72 hours.
But it's cool.
We're working it out, right, Evan?
All right.
Welcome aboard the Spotted Owl.
All right, go on.
We're ready to ride into history.
Step right up on in.
Come on. Anybody else going to the
Million Man March, get on the bus!
- How you feeling?
- Okay, Pop. You?
Never felt better in my life!
Then give me some of what you got.
How you doing?
Welcome aboard the Spotted Owl.
Black power, brothers!
Black power.
- Black power.
- Black power.
Black power.
Sounds like he's stuck in the '60s.
- Got it?
- Yeah, I got it, thank you.
Thank you very much.
My name...
...is Jeremiah Washington.
- Jamal.
- Glad to meet you, Jamal.
- Not much legroom, is there?
- No.
I'll have to stretch these bones
every chance I get.
Ain't that the truth?
Them fools back at the barbershop...
...they asked me what I hoped to
accomplish by going to the march.
These black men, nagging at me.
- What'd you say?
- I said I'd be first in line...
...at the revolution
while they'd be bringing up the rear.
And by the time I return
from Washington...
...my behind's gonna be
20 years younger.
- Fountain of youth, huh?
- Oh, yeah.
The Miracle at the Mall,
that's what I'm looking for.
And that's what I'll get.
Craig, how's it going?
- Let's roll it.
- We ready to roll, peoples.
If you're going to the Slauson
swap meet, the Brentwood mansion...
...or the La Brea Tar Pits,
your black ass is on the wrong bus.
This bad boy is going
to Washington, DC...
...for the Million Man March!
- I'm George, this is Craig.
- Say, fellas.
We'll get you to and from the march
safely, in six days.
- We hope.
- There are some rules we must observe.
One, and this is for you, Pop.
No drinking alcohol
while on this bus.
Two, no smoking.
And three...
...most important, and this
I ain't bullshitting about...
...no using or possessing
illegal substances.
There's a bathroom in the back.
I trust that none of you men
are women.
If you are, you're some of the
ugliest broads I ever seen in my life.
Flush the toilet after you use it.
Try not to piss on the seat.
You two gonna have
a problem with that.
He sounds like my mother.
For the next six days, I am your mother.
Don't make me use my belt.
Mr. Driver?
With your permission, sir,
I think we ought to ask...
...that the Creator
should travel with us.
I got no problem with that.
- Any objections?
- No, sir.
The floor is yours, Pop.
Bow your heads, brothers.
Father God...
...we come to you as pilgrims on a bus
that's bound for glory.
We're not perfect, Lord,
but we seek perfection.
We're not guilt-free,
but we ask for your forgiveness.
We know you was with Moses
when he parted the Red Sea...
...and freed the slaves.
We know you was with Noah...
...when the rain came down
40 days and 40 nights.
You was with Malcolm in Mecca...
...with Martin when he went
to the mountaintop.
And we're asking you, dear God,
to be with us now...
...on this historic journey
to fellowship...
...with 1 million black men.
And if there's anything, O Lord,
that we need and we pray for...
Hot damn! Thought y'all was
gonna jet without a brother!
My horoscope said the moon
was aligned for me.
Hey, we're in the middle
of a prayer here.
Oh, oh, my bad.
Y'all go ahead.
And if anything, dear Lord,
that we do need and pray for...
...is that after this trip...
...each and every one of us will
be a better man than he was before.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.
You got a ticket?
You better have a ticket.
I made the bus.
- What's up?
- Hey, Ben Vereen!
Ben Vereen's not on the bus.
Let me ask you...
...what would a bus trip be
without James Brown?
- Booty!
- Like O.J. Without a white girl.
Be a sorry-ass trip.
That's all I needed to hear!
Hit me, Craig!
Oh, shit!
Y'all ready for this here?
Hey.
Hey.
What's up, dog?
I done told you about that "dog" shit.
Don't let me have to take care of you
out here in front of these brothers.
Now turn that mess down.
It's too loud, Junior.
Let me ask you...
...you don't like to be
called "dog," right?
Well, you know, "Dad"...
..."Daddy"...
..."sir" would be nice.
Take your pick.
Then I should have the right
not to be called "Junior."
That's cool. That's cool.
What do you like? Evan?
Hell, no!
Then what?
"Smooth."
My homies call me Smooth.
Your homies call you Smooth.
I ain't your homie, okay?
You must be out your damn mind.
Ain't no way
I'm calling my son Smooth.
All of a sudden, I'm your son again?
But I'm the one out his damn mind?
You're a Bruins fan, huh?
Yeah, 1995 NCAA champs.
Can't argue with that.
You down with the Bruins?
I went to SC.
Flip Carter. What's happening?
X.
X? Like in, what,
"X marks the spot"?
No, just X.
I've heard some trippy names
in my life: Ezekial, Cadillac...
...even a brother named Porcupine.
But even if she's in labour
with a bottle in one hand...
...a big fat blunt in the other...
...no mother would name her son
a letter of the alphabet.
You're saying your mama
named you Flip?
Phillip. Flip's my stage name.
I'm what you call a thespian.
Okay.
- My real name's Xavier.
- Xavier.
- Xavier Moore.
- That I can get with.
- What up, black?
- What's happening?
I'm doing well. I made the bus.
It's all good now.
Had trouble waking up?
Please, I get up with the roosters.
I had an early audition.
- You a singer or something?
- I'm an actor.
You ever been in any movies?
- See Boyz N the Hood?
- You were in that?
Almost. At the last minute
they gave it to...
To Ice Cube.
You believe that?
They hired a rapper to act?
He's a rapper, not a actor.
They hired a rapper to act.
I can't get behind that.
It's okay, though, because
I just went up for a role opposite...
...Denzel.
That's on the q.t.
Okay.
What is this, CNN?
No, no. Excuse me. Film school.
I'm doing a documentary
for my thesis project.
Hey.
Gary.
Gary what?
Gary Rivers.
How come you're going
to the march?
What?
The march. How come you're going?
I guess if the brothers are getting
together, talking about things...
...working things out,
I want to be there. Right?
Right.
Where are you from?
I live in Pasadena.
No, where are you from?
Monterey, originally.
- Monterey?
- Right.
I didn't know black people
lived there.
We got a handful.
If you don't mind my asking...
...are you mulatto,
or just light-skinned?
You mean biracial.
Biracial?
So that's a yes.
I consider myself black.
If you're raised by at least one
black parent, I guess you're down.
Many brothers were raised
by one parent.
My mother's white.
- No disrespect.
- What's with your pop?
What?
Your father.
What's up with your father?
My father was a black man.
He was a cop. He got murdered.
Must've tripped you out.
Yeah, it tripped me out.
Really tripped me out.
Just like having to watch a rapper act.
This brother, man...
- Excuse me.
- Shoot on this side.
I'm sorry.
- Mind if I ask something?
- Why quit now?
Was it a brother
that killed your father?
- What kind of question is that?
- I'm just wondering.
Yes, a brother killed my father.
Did you get it?
Did you get it, X?
Yeah. Yeah, I got it.
Kyle, you can't just blink your eyes
and expect me to go away.
I know you can hear me.
- Should I just keep talking...?
- What's your beef?
You think if you pretend to sleep,
I'll forget we were talking?
You always think I'm playing you.
I'm not accusing you.
- I'm asking for clarification.
- I said what I had to say.
You can't just wake up one morning
and say you need space...
...and expect it to be case closed.
- After all we've been through?
- Keep your voice down!
I forgot.
We can't let your macho ass
out of the closet.
What do you want me to say?
Anything.
That it's another man, or a woman.
That you're confused about
your sexuality. Anything.
Look, Randall, I need space.
- That's it.
- Not good enough.
If I knew you were gonna trip on me,
I'd have made you stay home.
You've got a lot of nerve.
You are not the reason I came on
this trip, you pompous bastard.
Good. Then you won't mind
if I change my seat.
Yeah, I do mind. I mind that you're not
man enough to admit you love me.
- Hold up!
- What?!
- Cool, Dad.
- Oh, Lord.
We're going to the march
with a bunch of homos!
Sissy.
Tell me I didn't just hear
what I think I did.
What?
He said:
"You're not man enough to admit
that you love me," to him.
- So?
- So?
- So?
- We have faggots on the bus.
Gays have no role
in our community?
I'm talking about the faggots
we got on this bus.
How else they supposed
to get there?
- Skip.
- Damn straight.
Well...
...it's no biggie to me.
You bend down
and grab your ankles too?
No, I ain't gay, all right?
I still don't see what the problem is.
Ask them why they're going.
Look, bro. You know what? I will.
The Bible says it's an abomination.
Still...
...sometimes I ask myself
what would I do if...
...one of them was my son?
Or worse, still...
...what if I was the one
that was born that way?
What's your lady's name?
- Jindai.
- Oh, she is pretty!
- Thank you.
- Yeah.
How long you been together?
We been talking for about two years.
- Two long years? Two short years?
- Two short years.
I met her one day
when I was crossing the street.
Don't tell me you
met this beautiful young lady...
...and you did the
"daddy-cool" thing.
Yeah, well,
in my unenlightened days...
...big booty would catch my eye.
You could say I had
"big-booty radar."
Son, you ain't in love.
You're in lust.
No, sir. No, sir.
Far beyond that now.
Since we've been together,
we've never really been together.
- You kidding me?
- No.
We're of the faith.
Living clean, you know?
No shame in that.
Shabuya, sha, sha, shabuya
Roll call
My name is Mike
Representing New York
I'm not a Muslim
Still don't eat pork
Roll call
Don't call me Evan
'Cause I'm on the move
Don't call me Junior
- But you can call me Smooth
- Roll call
My name is Evan
Evan Senior
They got my son
- On a misdemeanour
- Roll call
My name is Gary
I'm down with Shelly
She's got the butter
- I got the jelly, roll call
- Roll call
My name is X
And I'm a Bruin
And blah, blah, blah
My name's Jamal
My mind is free
We need more love
- And unity, roll call
- Roll call
My name is Pop
We're at the top
Now all this shabuya
- Has got to stop
- Roll call
Mike, how come you're going
to the march?
I'm thinking this
could be Black Monday.
- What do you mean?
- This could be a setup.
This could be a conspiracy.
We could be on our way to getting
done, like the trains into Dachau.
- You saying it's a plot?
- It could be, man.
Think of all the planes and cars
filled with black men going to DC.
Thousands, right? Thousands.
If I'm a crazy white man
in the government...
...and want to kill a million black men,
just hit one button, and boom?
When and where would I do it?
At the Million Man March.
The next day, when we're all dead,
who'll fight our battle?
Nothing but black women left.
Some "holocalyptical" shit going on.
That's what I'm saying.
- Jay, you going for the same reason?
- No, I'm going to the march for myself.
It's time for us to be responsible,
get out of the beggar mentality...
...to say, "Look out for a brother."
We need to start looking out
for ourselves.
This is a strong black businessman.
- You have a business?
- Yes, I have my own business.
- Ask him what he do.
- I've been in business seven years.
- What kind of business?
- I have a black bubblegum company.
- What's it called?
- Yo Bubba.
- How's business?
- It's blowing up.
I just don't understand.
Sent the girl to private school
her whole life...
...Sunday school,
church every Sunday...
How she gonna come home
with a bun in the oven?
Sixteen frigging years old.
What about that little punk
got her pregnant?
He's 16 too.
Says he gonna quit school,
get a job and rent an apartment.
Ain't said nothing about no marriage.
I tell you, if Farrakhan
has a way to handle this...
...I'd be all ears.
Right now, I want to kill that boy.
Craig! Watch the ditch!
- Everybody okay?
- Call Jacoby & Meyers!
- Can't you drive?
- This isn't a Bronco, is it?
Damn, the engine just cut off.
Is everybody all right?
Damn.
What do you think?
We'll never get out of the ditch.
Now don't be so negative.
Okay, Little Orphan Annie,
the sun'll come out tomorrow.
Haven't you heard the expression
"There's strength in numbers"?
I've been on many ditched buses. I
won't let nothing like that stop me.
- Hey, fellas?
- What's up?
I need every able-bodied man
off the bus now! Come on!
- Come on, everybody!
- Gonna mess up my shoes!
We got a little problem.
Come on.
What's wrong with that arm?
Get on down there.
- Come on. All right.
- All right.
Come on. Everybody!
Ready? One...
...two...
...three!
That ain't gonna work.
- We can't do it.
- Can't?
What do you mean, we can't?
Look there. When Hannibal
crossed the Alps...
- Who's Hannibal?
- Who's the Alps?
...and saw that he was outnumbered
10-1 by the Roman army, he didn't say:
"Let's go home. We can't do it."
He said, "Get your ass
back on that elephant...
...and stomp them Roman bastards!"
There ain't no such words
as "We can't do it."
Let me use three other words:
Too damn heavy.
I can't believe you're so shiftless...
...and lazy that you'll just give up.
Oh, he's going to get all
plantation on us now.
I'm gonna do it, boss!
The way you look, I can't blame him.
I thought slavery was over.
It doesn't concern you.
Maybe it does.
Tell us what it's all about.
No, I'm telling you to back off.
That's what I'm telling you.
Hey, everybody, the man's got
a court order. I seen it.
- I want to see it.
- Who are you, Richard Roundtree?
That's all right.
I'd like to see it too.
Okay, now, does this
meet your approval?
Okay, good, because I'm gonna
say this one time...
...okay?
Now, this boy right here
has got one father. One.
And that's me.
If you're trying to find
somewhere to stick your noses...
...I got several places I would
love to tell you about.
But whatever you do...
...make sure that it ain't
in my business.
You see, brothers?
That's just what I'm talking about.
The devil don't want the black man
to have atonement.
- Right, Pop?
- Right.
But God wants us at that march.
It's our mission.
So, on three...
...I want you strong, black African
Mandinka Zulu goddamn warriors...
...to lift this damn bus out of that
stupid ditch, and let's be on our way!
To whose tribe
do you belong to anyway?
Shaka Zulu's or Clarence Thomas'?
Shaka Zulu's!
Put your back into it! You're all
Mandinka warriors! Lift the bus!
Come on, do it for me!
Pull it up! Go! Go! Pull! Pull!
Come on!
Pull, y'all! That's right, baby!
That's right.
You didn't believe me!
You didn't want to!
I told you, Pop.
Did you see that?
Give me my $10.
- Now what?
- Now the devil's kicking...
...our Mandinkan asses.
Wait. Remember Hannibal, now.
We ain't getting our ass kicked.
We'll get out of this ditch.
You know what this is? A plot.
It's a plot, man!
- Come on, man.
- What's going on?
I was putting its pedal to the metal.
The axle must be busted.
Shit.
Let me call base.
- This is malicious fucking country.
- Talking negative.
- Malicious.
- Damn, man.
- They want me to stay with the bus.
- You know those idiots.
But I'll miss the march.
You know the rules.
What can I do about it?
Ain't this a bitch.
Who's taking my place?
They didn't say. They'll just
send us another bus.
We got another bus coming.
- When?
- I don't know.
We won't get stranded on no desert.
Why don't y'all take your shit out?
Lord have mercy, man.
Gentlemen, please!
Which way? You going back to L.A.?
Out on the road
And the bus broke down
Out on the road
And the bus broke down
Well, it won't be too long
Till I see Farrakhan
Out on the road
And the bus broke down
Out on the road
And the bus broke down
Here you go, Jay. Take it away.
And it won't be long
Till what?
Till we're 1 million strong
Well, I was out on the road
And the bus broke down
About 20 of us was
Out on the road
And the bus broke down
Well, I think
They're trying to stop us
But we still DC bound
Hey.
Hey, you guys, here comes...
Hey, here comes the bus!
Y'all didn't believe me.
- What's up?
- Craig, George, what's all this?
- They're going to the march.
- The Farrakhan thing? You're kidding.
I'm kidding. They're the
Harlem Globetrotters.
They said a trip to the Capitol.
I should've known.
I guess so. Come on, brothers!
- This is our ride.
- And he's white, fellas.
He gets to go to the march,
I get to stay.
You're kidding, right?
We can't go to no march
with a white boy driving.
What about all that Mandinka stuff?
Used to be we always
had to chauffeur the white man.
This time, he's chauffeuring us.
Right, Pop?
- Right.
- Come on!
You got anything to stow,
leave it with me.
What's up, Reuben Kinkaid?
You looking for a recording contract,
you come to the wrong place.
What's up?
Hey, how you doing?
- Gary.
- Rick.
Not scared or anything, are you?
Of course not. Why, should I be?
Damn right.
They got guns and knives.
I'll be with you guys in spirit!
Freedom now!
We're just getting going, y'all.
Yeah, 1 million strong.
I can't believe this.
"Thank you..."
- Writing a letter?
- No.
This is a prayer I thought I might say
when we arrived at the march...
...thanking the Lord
for all that this means to me.
If we arrive.
White boy driving us to the Million
Man March, that's gotta be a bad omen.
What's the deal
with Kunta Kinte there?
Brother said for us to stay
out of his business.
I don't care what some judge said,
no way I'd handcuff my son like that.
- You?
- That I cannot say.
No kids?
Oh, yeah, I had two kids. Had them...
...but not anymore.
That's all over now.
No family at all?
Not anymore.
Jeremiah's strictly on his own.
- How do you feel?
- Pardon?
You're on a bus...
...with 20 black men.
How do you feel?
Black, white, all the same to me.
I like to think of myself
as colour-blind.
Colour-blind?
So you didn't notice at all that
everyone on this bus is black but you?
So-called black men,
descendants of slaves.
Well, we're all brothers
under the skin, right?
Now you're brothers just because
you're on the black bus?
Look, I never wore a white sheet
over my head. I'm Jewish.
God forbid we think a Jew
could be a bigot.
My parents were for civil rights.
Black people came to our house...
Are you getting this? They actually
had black people at their house.
- I didn't mean it like that.
- Oh, spare us.
Only two things came out of
the civil rights movement.
One, black people got a few crumbs.
Two, condescending white people
could say they struggled with us.
But it didn't end with
the March on Washington.
We're still catching hell.
My people know about catching hell.
My parents did their part.
Their part to make a difference,
or to appear liberal?
Jews made a difference
in the movement.
As soon as they got what they wanted,
they abandoned it.
I don't see black people
marching for Jews...
...Hispanics or Asians.
Why do you expect white people
to solve all your problems?
We didn't create our problems.
White people did.
You think we asked for slavery?
We asked for the Holocaust?
Six million Jews died.
Doesn't mean we're gonna forget
Nazis, Arabs, black anti-Semites...
Do you know how many blacks died
in the slave trade? Over 60 million.
I didn't kill them, nor did my parents.
Don't blame us.
Yeah, it's our fault.
After 400 years of slavery
and oppression...
...we're just supposed
to fix everything ourselves?
Yeah. Damn right, we are.
Who else will do it?
Hey, Spike Lee Jr., are you
paying me for this movie?
- No, sir.
- Then I quit.
Get that camera out of my face.
- Your name is what? Randall, right?
- Yes.
And correct me if I'm mistaken,
but you are a homosexual?
- Yes.
- And he's Jewish.
That makes both of you
minorities on this bus.
Which shows you know nothing about
the civil rights movement...
...because it was about
bringing people together.
So we can stop insulting each other
and deal with the real issue...
...the real oppressor.
I've known him for five years.
All he's trying to do is do his job.
Just help us get to the march.
That's all he's doing.
A reasonable man like you
can understand that.
So why don't you cut him
some slack?
- I don't have a problem with you.
- Good.
Thanks, George. I appreciate that.
Yeah, Rick. Listen...
...as long as you do your share of the
driving, I have no problem with you.
You're okay in my book, pal.
Yo, dog!
- Yo, dog!
- What, man?
I gotta use the restroom.
- What?
- Piss. The bathroom!
If you don't mind,
I'd love to go by myself.
Thanks.
Yep.
What's happening, Barb? Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah. So they liked me?
Yeah, yeah, count on that.
I got my fingers and toes crossed.
Oh, oh, okay. Bye. Bye.
Oh, boy!
So did you get it?
They're gonna make the decision this
weekend, but it looks like I got it.
- Yeah? Yeah?
- Yeah.
Big role?
They throw me up on that screen,
I'll blow up too large. People be like:
"Denzel who?"
You know what I'm saying?
I hope it works out.
Then I can say I knew you when.
- "The fool on the bus."
- Right on.
Go on your way
to the Million Man March, 1995.
Say, yo...
...what do you think he's thinking?
- Who?
Mighty whitey, driving the bus.
Right now he's probably thinking
about kicking his boss's ass.
I guess you don't have
a problem with him though.
You got no problem with him
because you share a white thing.
You know what I mean.
I already told you,
I consider myself black.
Hang on. No disrespect, brother.
I didn't...
Because a person is white
doesn't mean I dislike him.
And just because a person is black
does not mean I like him.
I consider myself black,
just like Bob Marley.
- I'm not talking about him.
- He was mulatto. I'm black.
No disrespect, partner, but I could
consider myself 6'4" and ugly.
The fact remains that I'm 6 foot and
too cute for the English vocabulary.
- Wait a minute, Mr. Hollywood.
- Yes?
The man is black.
Just let him be.
He's also white!
If this was slavery,
would ole massa care?
He'd be a slave like the rest of us.
He'd be a house slave
in the big house.
While we'd be talking about grits...
...he'd eat potatoes.
He'd have the breast of chicken.
Our women would be blistered
from picking cotton.
His would be bathed, smelling good.
And nine times out of 10,
the honey he'd hit skins with...
...she'd be a white girl.
Hold it just a minute.
About the grits:
Grits was for the white folks
up in the big house.
Slaves were lucky to get corn mush.
As for hitting the skins
with a white girl...
...a black man could get lynched for
just thinking that thought.
- Pop, you know what I mean.
- You are wrong.
Look, my lady's not white.
But you would never
understand that, would you?
What's your problem, really?
Do you want a white woman?
- That's it.
- Is that it?
Please, please!
"Player" is written all over me.
I done tagged all kinds of freaks,
black, white...
- Blind, crippled, crazy.
...Chinese, Mexican.
Why do you insist on
calling women freaks?
I love my woman, okay?
I respect her.
She's not a freak. She's a queen.
I bang queens too.
Oh, sorry. I get it.
You're on that henpecked tip.
I don't cheat on her. It doesn't make
me a henpeck. It makes me honest.
I wish I could see
how noble you'd be...
...if you had as many drawers
thrown in your face as I do.
Delusions of grandeur.
What's that you said?
Well...
...your constant references
to your sexual prowess...
...are nothing if not
overcompensatory...
...and lead me to think that you're a
misogynist who is very insecure.
"Overly compensatory."
Nobody asked you, Harriet Tubman,
Alice Walker, Angela Davis...
...or whatever sister
you think you are.
Randall Royal, if you don't mind.
Well, " Randall Royal,
if you don't mind"...
...just because I like pussy,
I like the way it feels...
...I like the way it smells...
...and, on occasion,
like the way it tastes...
...don't make me insecure.
Can you even say the word?
- Pussy.
- I'm looking at one.
Come on. Pussy.
- You want to back off?
- Come on, faggot. Pussy.
Leave him alone!
Stand by your man!
Oh, no, my bad, because actually
you're the man of the relationship.
You made your point. Leave him alone.
He wasn't bothering you.
He was.
Just the fact that we got two faggots
on the bus bothers me.
I won't be too many more
of your "faggots."
Leave him alone.
Mr. Chain Gang in the mix.
"The Defiant Ones."
What's your sign, old man?
"All deliveries in the rear?"
Yo, dog, don't even trip.
"Yo, dog, don't even trip.
- Don't trip, dog."
- Sit down, clown.
Don't trip, dog.
Y'all some serious brothers.
But a lot of gays think that
Farrakhan is homophobic.
He called for a day of atonement.
Perhaps the minister
will atone for his homophobia.
When I go down the street,
white women clutch their purses...
...cross the street like they
would for a straight brother.
I'm going because I'm a black man. My
sexual preference doesn't change that.
- Evan Junior.
- Smooth.
Okay, Smooth.
Tell me, how come you're going
to the march?
Because he's making me.
- He's making you go?
- Yeah.
Otherwise you wouldn't be
going at all?
Hell, no. I don't even want to go.
- Tell him why.
- I'd rather be with the homies.
I got things to do.
That's why I'm taking him.
The homies are just killing each other.
I want to take my son
to this historic event.
I want him to see...
...a million black men doing something
positive for the country.
I served enough for this country.
Ten years in the Marines,
fought in the Persian Gulf...
...I even took a bullet.
Friendly fire from two homophobic
assholes who suspected that I was gay.
When I woke up, they were laughing
and talking about how...
...they killed two birds
with one stone.
One nigger, one faggot.
- You care about black people?
- Yeah, I mean, I'm black myself...
- You care about other black people?
- Yeah.
Do you steal from black people?
Man...
Steal? I ain't stole from nobody.
Okay, do you take what isn't yours...
...even from black people?
- Lf it's just lying around the house?
- Yeah, sure, if it's there.
Right. But you say you care
about black people.
- Don't think I have a right to go?
- I didn't say that.
I just want to know what you think
the gay man's role is...
...in the black community.
What's yours?
Why do you say that
stealing isn't wrong?
I didn't say it wasn't wrong.
I'm saying the way I got it,
it wasn't really wrong.
Because I ain't hurt nobody.
Right, so you're saying...
...if you take someone's stuff
and don't hurt anyone, it's okay.
You're taking it the wrong way.
I ain't taking nobody's stuff.
It was there.
The money was there, you know?
Nobody was there.
You'd leave money if you saw it?
If it wasn't mine.
- Yeah, okay, that's what you say.
- Okay.
- I didn't...
- Yes, you did.
I don't know, man.
- Are we going to eat?
- I think I'm getting a hangnail.
Hello, ladies. It gives me
great pleasure to welcome you...
...to the Little Rock, Arkansas
rest area.
Who are you supposed to be?
The welcoming committee
for all the fine sisters.
Oh, please!
You don't recognize me, do you?
I'm an actor.
- You played on an episode of Martin!
- Yes!
- You were the janitor!
- Yes!
He's famous. You're funny.
Sorry we didn't recognize you.
We've been driving.
- Where are you from?
- Dallas.
I've heard Dallas has fine honeys.
Wait a minute.
Aren't you the only two black
cheerleaders on the Dallas Cowboys?
Well, what do you know?
Is he bothering you?
- You scared me.
- Sorry.
Hopefully Minister Farrakhan will
teach him not to bother ladies.
Are you going to the march?
Yes, it's time for the brothers
to work it out.
No, wait a minute. No!
How do you brothers propose to work
things out without the sisters?
I've heard this argument.
She's got a point.
It's not right to exclude women.
Especially after all the things
our sisters have done for us.
So why are you going?
Someone's gotta raise the
consciousness of these lost brothers.
There are certain questions
which are specific to manhood.
Such as, how can we be better
husbands, sons, fathers and...
...Iovers?
You can start by not trying to put us
womenfolk in our place.
Leave the sisters at home
while you work it out? Please!
Personally, I'm glad to see
the brothers showing some unity.
- Thank you.
- That's not unity!
What we need is some solidarity.
You cannot name...
...one struggle in black America...
...in which the sisters were not
an active force, can you?
I can't. Can you?
It's not about excluding sisters.
It's about trying
to gain your respect and keep it.
By the way, my name is Gary.
- Gina.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm Jamilia.
- Hi.
- Nice to meet you.
- You too.
You know, I wish we could go to DC.
Why don't you? I could
help you drive. Follow our bus.
Gentlemen, thank you very much...
...but we do have somewhere
we need to be.
That's too bad.
In that case,
slide me those digits...
...so when it's over I can
run it all down for you.
You don't quit, do you?
This one right here,
can this one be trusted?
I just met the brother.
- What about you? Can we trust you?
- Me?
There's no one more trustworthy
than good old Gary.
- Just ask his girlfriend.
- Girlfriend?
- Got him.
- My, my.
No, he's right. Ask her.
She'll tell you I'm very...
- Trustworthy?
- Very trustworthy. Exactly.
Let's go.
Well, you know what?
It's been stimulating.
Nice to meet you.
Bye, brothers! God bless!
Keep up the good work!
God bless!
One love, all right?
Hey, watch CNN, all right? CNN.
- CNN?
- Yeah, yeah.
Get out of here.
You poured salt on my rap.
- Swing and a miss.
- He's out!
You're crazy.
- You're crazy.
- Pimping ain't easy.
- You're still crazy.
- Look at Flip! Brother's jealous!
- Mr. L-Don't-Cheat-On-My-Girlfriend.
- I don't.
Please, please, please!
You was salivating all over her.
Oh, come on, James Brown.
You're crazy.
Pop, are you hearing this?!
- I'm hearing this.
- You tell me.
What man ain't gonna try to get
something on the side if he can?
Some men wouldn't.
Name one.
Better yet, how about you?
- What?
- You ever cheat?
Maybe I did, when I was a youth.
So Jeremiah was a bullfrog.
And no friend of mine.
"Maybe I did in my youth."
That's a yes. How about you?
I never cheated on my wife.
Technicality!
There was a time I was
on this bus with 20 nymphos.
I had to fight them all.
But, no, I'm serious.
Let me think about it.
You ain't got to think about it.
I never cheated on my girlfriend.
I like Cathy a lot.
- How old are you?
- Nineteen.
You got plenty of time.
Brother Jamal over there...
...he didn't ever cheat
on his girlfriend.
Course not.
He prays five times a day!
Get him to pray for music.
James Brown's on the other bus.
- You want music, music you got.
- All right.
We got music that goes
way back yonder.
Is this it?
Now I want to introduce you
to my pride and joy.
This is my djembe drum.
What's up, man?
The drum is the mother of all music.
Tell them, Pop!
I tell you what I'm gonna do.
I am gonna use this djembe drum...
...to take all you brothers back
to the motherland.
I see a ship
It's a big ship
Ain't no slave ship
I don't see no chains
I don't see no shackles
It's a going-home ship
I cross the ocean
Get off on the beaches
I walk in the sand
I step in the grass
Say hello to the python
And the baobab tree
I walk in the jungle
I see the monkey
I see the chimpanzee
I cross the river
I see the crocodile
I come to my village
I see the chief
I see all the elders
I see the warriors
I see the women and children
I see the fires
I smell the cooking
Hear the singing and drumming
And dance all the dances
I cross the compound
And there at the end
In a little rise
I see home
Jeremiah sees home
And they're glad to see me
Pop! Pop!
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Get your ass on the bus.
George, hey. Memphis.
Listen to your mother.
You should listen to your mother.
That's not how I was raised.
That doesn't matter.
What's happening?
Not much, I guess.
Not much is better than nothing.
Can we get some menus?
- Sandy, get them some menus.
- Oh, sure.
Let's get something to eat,
then I'll drive for a while.
I need a favour, George.
- You can't drive the whole way.
- That's not it.
Base calls, tell them I got sick.
Why?
I'm not coming back.
Shit! What the hell you mean?
- I can't do it.
- Stop bullshitting me.
You're just trying to go to Graceland.
I'd be safer there.
Meaning what?
Think we'd put you in boiling water
and eat you for supper?
You already have
the African drums in there.
That's the epitome
of cultural disrespect.
I could come back with something...
...anti-Semitic...
...or I could whip your ass.
Which would you prefer?
I'm sorry.
All right, here it is.
Maybe I am a little prejudiced,
but no more than you are.
Want me to stay
and prove I'm liberal?
I don't have to prove
anything to anybody.
I think affirmative action
has been fucked up.
I think O.J. Is a cold-blooded murderer
who slaughtered two innocent people.
There it is.
And I bet you wish there were
more white players in the NBA.
Let's just get it out
in the open, huh?
I bet you'd like to call me a nigger.
Or what do you call it?
I'll allow you to say it.
I never called anybody that
in my life.
But this bus is going to the Farrakhan
march, and I can't be part of that.
This is not just Farrakhan's march.
He called Judaism a gutter religion.
He said Hitler was a great man.
I wouldn't expect you to drive a bus
to a Ku Klux Klan rally.
So now you're comparing this
to a Klan rally.
Either you'll kick my ass,
you'll cover for me or I'll get fired.
But no way am I getting my
white ass back in that bus.
So, what's it gonna be?
If you feel that way,
you shouldn't get back on the bus.
I'll cover for you, Rick.
See you in L.A.
Thanks, George.
Is there a problem?
Sorry, I just never seen this many
people in here before.
- Where are y'all from?
- L.A.
Long way from Los Angeles.
- We're going to the Million Man March.
- No kidding?
- Guess where these fellas are headed?
- Where?
The Million Man March.
No fooling?
That's what they said.
Farrakhan is the new
black leader, huh?
The new black leader?
Like Martin Luther King was.
You could say that.
Not really.
But he's one of our leaders.
The only one that could pull this off.
What about that stuff they say?
About him thinking the white man
is the devil, that true?
- Yep.
- No.
Not really.
Actually, Farrakhan...
...is pro-black.
That doesn't mean he's anti-white
or anything else.
- I assume you feel the same way?
- Oh, yeah.
- I'm Rodney.
- Evan.
- This here's Mitch.
- How you doing, Mitch?
I'm Smooth.
Evan Junior.
Just Smooth.
What's with the handcuffs?
It's personal.
I can talk for myself.
It's a court order.
Judge mandated that I be
in the custody of my father.
- A judge?
- It was either community service...
...and this for 72 hours...
...or me serving
a one-year sentence.
So, what'd you do?
I stole something from a grocery.
Like a candy bar or something?
No, like money
out the cash register.
Damn!
It wasn't at gunpoint or nothing...
But it was still a boneheaded
thing to do. You know better.
How do you know what I know?
I know your mother taught you
better than that, okay?
Yeah, put it off on Moms.
We'll talk later.
What's this for?
First-prize amateur rodeo,
steer wrestling.
I used to do a little rodeo myself.
Yeah.
Then an old sassy horse kicked me
where the sun don't shine.
Ever hear tell of a black cowboy
named Bill Pickett?
Sounds familiar.
He invented steer wrestling.
One day...
...Bill was loading cattle
onto this stock car...
...and one longhorn got away.
Bill hopped on his horse...
...and chased that heifer.
When he got close, he slid down,
grabbed her horns...
...turned her head, wrestled that cow
straight back to the stock car.
And that's how
he invented steer wrestling.
- Black guy, huh?
- That's right. Bill Pickett.
Damn.
Well, what do you know?
Howdy.
What's up?
You been down here before?
No, ain't never been
out of South Central.
There's another urinal. You don't
have to wait for me to finish.
That's all right.
I'm just gonna wash up.
You wash your hands any more,
you'll rinse away the melanin.
Thank you.
There they are! How you doing?
How are you, my brothers?
Hey, brother.
Good morning to you, now.
Good morning to you.
Excuse me there, young blood.
How you all doing, brothers?
- What happened to your driving partner?
- I don't know.
- What do you mean?
- He had something to do.
He bailed?
Don't worry, I'll get us there.
DC's not just around the corner.
The devil wants us to throw in
the towel, but I'll still get us there.
Hey!
- Excuse me.
- What can I do for you?
I just heard you're going
to the DC march.
You heard right.
Well, well.
My name's Wendell. Wendell Perry.
I own a car dealership here
in Memphis. Lexus SC 400...
...$75,000.
And it's mine.
- We already have a ride, brother.
- Oh, no, no, no.
I'm not trying to make a sale.
I want to tag along.
You want to come with us?
Yes, indeed.
It's the place to be,
and I want to be there.
All I need is a ride from y'all.
I wish I could help you...
...but everybody paid money
to get on this bus.
Oh, well, brother...
...if you're concerned about money...
That ain't what I'm talking about.
You see, if I pick up any strays,
I could lose this gig. Understand?
We won't say anything.
I'm with them.
The man says he wants to come
to Washington, let him come.
He's a brother.
Yeah, Pop, but every brother
ain't righteous, so mind if I...?
Go ahead.
- Yeah.
- Yep.
So none of you brothers have any
objections picking him up?
No, sir.
I have no objections to him,
but that funky cigar's gotta go.
- No smoking.
- No problem.
- Well, Wendell, welcome aboard.
- Thank you.
Wendell Perry.
Man, there's nothing like the sunrise.
Reminds me of heaven.
Been there, huh?
I'm just saying I can't imagine
what could be nicer.
Times like now you couldn't pay me
a million bucks to do something else.
If you weren't driving,
would you still be going?
You kidding me?
Even if I didn't want to...
...the women wouldn't let me
hear the end of it.
- They wanted you to come?
- They insisted.
"George, you find time
to watch football...
...you better find time to go to DC."
Or, " Daddy, I know you're
gonna be there, right?"
You got a houseful of women.
Yeah, I got two girls and a wife.
You got kids?
No, man.
Keep Jimmy in his pants,
locked up tight.
Finish school. Get a career.
Get married. Then have babies.
You don't have to worry about me.
You're attached to that thing, huh?
One day my kids'll see these tapes.
You'll be a Hollywood hotshot.
Just might surprise you.
That would be a nice one.
Hollywood thinks
they got us all figured out.
And the evening news.
Yeah, George, they sum us up
with the four R's:
Rap, rape, rob and riot.
Who's making the coffee?
- When you find out, let me know.
- I'll take a cup.
How long you been in Memphis?
Born and raised.
- You never lived anywhere else?
- No. Don't intend to.
Business must be good.
Couldn't be better.
Let that be a lesson to you.
Work hard, graduate from school.
White man can't hold you down, I don't
care what they say. Get an education.
But don't just go anywhere.
You see me? I went to Vanderbilt.
In Nashville.
I graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
You'd never catch me going to
a nigger school, like Fisk.
All them niggers know how to do
is step and sing.
Sell fish sandwiches
to get textbooks.
Y'all better open up these windows,
it's getting funky.
Jay forgot his deodorant.
We're used to it.
Fuck you. I'm sick.
Young blood, do something
with your life.
Don't just talk about it.
Niggers love to talk about
what they gonna do:
"I'm gonna do this."
Niggers ain't gonna do a thing.
That's why they like Farrakhan.
He ain't no Bible leader.
Who are you to be
dissing Farrakhan?
What have you done? What have you
sacrificed to help lift your people?
Farrakhan has been at the forefront...
...of the struggle to clean up
the black man for 40 years.
What have you done?
You ain't done a goddamn thing.
Love Louis Farrakhan or hate him,
that's your choice.
But if it wasn't for him,
your black ass wouldn't be on this bus.
- You know why?
- Why?
He was the only black leader with
the balls to call for this march.
- You know why?
- Why?
Because as far as so-called
black leaders go...
...Louis Farrakhan is the only
free black man in America.
- You know why?
- Why, nigger?
Because his only allegiance...
...is to his God, Allah,
and his people.
Nigger, come on. You must admit
the man is self-serving.
Everybody's self-serving
on one level or another.
The fact is, the Nation of Islam
can help thousands.
And put a lot of money in his pocket.
I been to Chicago. I seen his palace.
That home belonged to
the Honourable Elijah Muhammad.
That nigger the same thing.
You saying people shouldn't
get paid for helping others?
Priests and reverends get paid.
- The president's getting paid.
- Him too.
I'm just saying, one positive thing
about Farrakhan is...
...he don't have that nigger attitude
like Jesse Jackson.
Here you go begging
for a ride on this bus...
...and you're gonna dis
Farrakhan and Reverend Jackson.
Because of Reverend Jackson:
"I am somebody."
The bus I drive, and I mean this...
...may be for the ugliest brothers
alive, but I am:
Somebody!
Seriously, you know what I'm saying
about niggers like Jackson.
They all say the same thing:
"Hire us. Feed us. Affirmative action."
Like we need a nipple in our mouth.
You a Republican?
Yeah, and proud of it.
- Who? "Nigger Gingrich"?
- Got a problem?
How can a black be a Republican?
I don't see how he can't.
- Got that right.
- Oh, here we go again.
Democrats want to keep us powerless,
docile, begging for handouts.
If we have babies without
a plan for their future...
...they say it's okay.
"Take a few more handouts.
Have a few more babies."
A gay, black Republican.
Now I know I've seen everything.
According to my observation,
you haven't seen much.
I told you about riding my ass,
especially without my permission.
- Hey! You gay?
- Yes.
That's okay.
You might be gay...
...but as long as you're
a Republican, you're okay.
We're an endangered species,
just like that owl on the bus.
It's niggers like Flip...
Niggers like Flip?
Wear their suffering on them
like a badge of honour.
You better wake up
and smell the coffee!
Nine times out of 10 your mama's
in the white man's kitchen brewing it.
You leave my mama out of this.
At least she ain't out there
on his doorstep begging...
...like most of you lazy niggers.
Don't make me whip your ass.
Are you trying to say...
...that all brothers and sisters
that haven't made it are lazy?
- Yeah, basically.
- Have you ever heard of racism?
Racism is a figment
of the black man's imagination.
Brothers, we are moving
into the next millennium.
The year 2000 is here.
We gotta move into the future.
If I'm lying, how do you
explain Colin Powell?
White man never kept him down!
Colin Powell made it in spite of racism,
not because it doesn't exist, Uncle Tom.
- Say it again, louder.
- Uncle Tom!
You hear that? Just because
we stand on our own two feet...
...and don't sing slave songs,
they call us Uncle Toms.
I have the sense to know racism
and homophobia exist.
So I'm Judas? I'm the enemy
to all the brothers and sisters...
...and niggers like O.J.
They the hero, right?
Niggers are out there singing
in the street, dancing...
...because he was supposed
to be the Second Coming.
How many of you sang and danced?
People weren't celebrating
that he was a hero.
- So you admit he's guilty.
- That's not what he's saying.
The man's saying that whites had been
getting over on blacks for centuries.
Please, niggers.
Let there be one voice of reason
amongst all these niggers.
Who, Mark Fuhrman?
What about you, old man?
You got an opinion?
Yeah, I got an opinion.
Also, I got a question.
When you use that word that way,
are you talking about you too...
...or just the rest of us?
It seems like
that's the only word you know.
If you were to take that word
and turn it over...
...on the other side,
you would find kings and queens.
Sorry, Pops.
"If it don't fit, you must acquit."
Why are you going to the march?
Niggers and cars.
Niggers need cars
like cars need niggers.
I gotta make me some money.
Think I'd miss all that networking?
Shit, nigger, you must be crazy.
I got a joke for you.
What do you get when you
cross a million lesbians...
...and the Million Man March?
What do you get when you
cross 1 million lesbians...
...and the Million Man March?
Two million motherfuckers
who don't do dick.
You niggers are something else.
Nigger, nigger, nigger, nigger.
All you niggers.
- Hey, Wendell, I got a joke for you.
- All right.
What do they call a black man
with a Lexus dealership?
- What?
- Nigger!
Don't lose it!
Nigger need coat
like coat need nigger!
Back on the road
And we're DC bound
Back on the road
And we're DC bound
Go, Pop. Go, Pop!
I might have been lost
But I done got found
I might've been lost
But now I'm found
I might've been lost
But now I'm found
I say that this Monday
Shall be so profound
See, sometimes in the village...
...drums would be talking
all night long.
Like this. And you have...
...a heavier sound up here, right?
And a lighter sound here.
And you have to get them both in.
And give yourself an easy rhythm.
Like that. Steady and hold it.
Show me what you can do with that.
- Here's the deep sound.
- Right.
- The high sound.
- Right.
Okay.
One, two, three, four.
No.
No, young blood. Your hands
are too flat, like a pancake.
You have to loosen up your wrists.
Don't beat it.
- Make love to it, you know?
- Make love to it.
- Make love to the drum.
- Like Cathy.
Yeah! Like Cathy.
That's right. Easy does it.
- Slow. Easy. Steady.
- Slow and easy.
Yes, sir.
There you go. There you go.
- Like this?
- Yeah.
That would last you all night long.
I'm sorry I outed you like that.
It's just whenever I think about
you leaving, I get panicked.
You could've handled it better.
I don't think you want me
to let you go.
- Let's not talk about it.
- Fine.
Change the subject.
Let's talk about happier times.
What about the first time we met?
When I rocked your world?
I think it was the other way around.
No, I remember it vividly.
I gave you a hot bath.
I scrubbed every inch of your body.
When you got out of the shower,
I rubbed oil on your feet.
Stop it. See, you never did play fair.
I'm not playing.
You know, I did what I did because...
...I don't think we should...
...be forced into living a lie.
Into pretending to be someone
we're not. I like who I am.
I won't apologize to anyone.
Not to you, not to Minister Farrakhan,
not anyone on this bus.
You're always worried about
what people will say and think.
If you decide you don't want
to be with me anymore...
...that you don't want this lifestyle,
I can live with that.
But do it because
it's what you want...
...not because it's
what people want for you.
If anything, be a man about it.
You're right.
I'm gonna be a man about it.
I'm as gay as the Nile is long.
I know that now more than ever,
and you helped me with that.
I also know I don't want
to be your lover anymore.
That doesn't mean...
...I don't want to be your friend.
All right?
I'd like that.
Hey, hey, hey.
You all right?
I just need a cup of coffee in
a little while. I'll be good to go.
Look, brother, I've been driving
an 18-wheeler for nine years.
Just say the word, I got your back.
It'll be hard for you to take
the wheel with them shackles.
They'll be long enough.
I have plenty of room.
Evan, you mind if I get up
in your business for a minute?
If you need to back off,
I will let you know.
I think you got yourself a good kid.
I mean, teenagers mess up, man,
that's what they do.
That's what they do best.
What's your point, George?
Whatever crime he committed,
he probably did it to get your attention.
If I was you...
...I'd take the cuffs off,
let y'all work this out.
The two of you, man-to-man.
We'll work it out, but the court said
he has to be in them one more day.
I don't know about you...
...but I don't see no
judge on this bus.
You don't understand, man.
The boy needs discipline.
I guess I'm to blame for that,
but he run over his mama...
...and I won't have that.
Evan...
...we're getting ready
to ride into history, man.
You cannot roll into
Washington, DC...
...with that boy in shackles.
Can't do that.
Maybe you're right, George.
Man don't have to
sneak around no lady's back.
A man says, "This is how it is"
and lives by his word.
I have a lot of honeys
but I don't have to sneak.
My women know I'm not
the settling-down type.
Besides, I learned long ago
never to lie to a black woman.
- Sounds like you learned the hard way.
- Oh, yeah.
I must've been about...
...13 years old. I told my mom I was
going to the library after school.
But really I was trying out for track.
She said, " Until you get your
grades up, don't try out for nothing."
- You had to be hard-headed.
- Absolutely.
She looks for me at the library.
A so-called friend
tells her where I am.
Next thing I know, here she comes
across the track where tryouts are...
...with this big,
thick-ass leather belt.
It was so thick no one could wear it.
It was just made for whupping ass.
I couldn't take that
in front of the fellas, so I had to...
I had to jet.
They know you can't run forever.
You tell it.
Finally, when I made it back home...
...when I got tired of running,
she whupped my ass so good...
...that to this day
I hate wearing belts.
The worst beating I ever got,
I was about 8.
My mother was a Baptist,
so we was in church on Easter.
This lady sitting next to me
catches the Holy Ghost.
Old gal was hooting and howling, talk
about "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you!"
And she steps on
my brand-new Stacy Adams.
Only thing I could think to do...
...was to kick her
in her big, fat bubble behind.
No, tell me you didn't.
The congregation froze.
Even the lady stopped hollering.
Next think I know, my mother
grabs the collection plate...
...and starts whupping me
upside my head with it.
I tried to tell her
the Spirit made me kick her...
...but that made her hit me more.
One time I stole some candy
from the grocery store...
...and the manager saw me,
caught me red-handed.
He calls my mom, she comes
to the grocery store...
...and, you know, my mom must have
lectured me for two or three hours.
- Lectured you?
- Yeah.
- You didn't get a beating?
- No.
Not a smack or nothing?
His mother's white.
She's white, so what?
- I'm just telling him.
- Is it relevant?
- Your mother's just different.
- You have a problem?
No, I don't have a problem.
She's different. Our mothers
whup ass. Yours lectures.
That's all I'm saying.
- Nothing personal.
- Nothing personal.
You're a sensitive,
sensitive brother. Sensitive.
Jamal, what you do for a living?
I work with kids at risk.
- Yeah?
- Yeah?
- What kind of kids?
- Gangbangers.
Good luck on that, brother.
I meet them on my job every day.
Trying to get through to them
is like talking to a brick wall.
What do you do?
I'm a cop.
You're a cop?
- Where?
- South Central.
Let me get this straight.
Your daddy got 187'd by a brother...
...and you 5-O in South Central?
We need cops who ain't looking
for an excuse to smoke a brother.
I became a cop because a lot of cops
up here don't give a damn.
Call an ambulance, it takes 20 minutes.
Call a cop, it takes two hours.
- So when you get the call?
- ASAP, brother.
You never pulled a Rodney King?
No, and hope I never have to.
You hope? What do you mean?
I mean there's a lot of brothers
out here who play for keeps.
Crips and Bloods are not choirboys.
Most white kids ain't choirboys,
but do you whup them at will?
If I have to clock a brother
to teach him a lesson...
...I'll do it and save his life.
You think what you want.
All you know about South Central
is what you see at the movies...
...brought to you by folks who don't
go south of the Santa Monica Freeway.
I think it's great what you're doing.
I really do. Working with at-risk
kids is wonderful.
My lady runs a mentoring program
out of her office on weekends.
I tell Shelly all the time,
"You're running this program...
...that's great...
...but you're behind a desk and have
no idea what's going on out there."
Don't tell me I have no idea!
Because I've been on the front lines
many times, okay? Many times.
You used to gangbang?
Up until two years ago.
I've been Cripping since
I was 12 years old.
Gangbanging, that was my job.
24l7, I used to have to watch my back.
Kill or be killed. Why?
That's what every fool
in the 'hood did.
Who was I to be different?
Ever smoke somebody?
First time was on my 13th birthday.
You know what Jewish kids
are doing on their 13th birthday?
OGs wanted to test my manhood.
So we pull up on some Bloods.
They was just kids,
but I saw them as Bloods.
Then this one fool...
...I don't know, 13 or 14 years old...
...kicking it to some girl...
...tickling, whatnot...
Suddenly he turns around...
...and sees my 9 in his face.
He didn't get a chance to blink.
That was your first time.
Brother, if I used...
...both my hands...
...to count the number of kids...
...that I cancelled...
...I'd run out of fingers.
So what made you quit, Jamal?
Went to my best friend's funeral.
Now, I done buried a lot of homies...
...but my boy, D,
was like a brother to me.
And it wasn't like
I wanted to go out and kill...
...every Blood in the 'hood.
I guess I wanted
one of them to smoke me.
So I went up in their 'hood.
Where I come from, that's suicide.
There wasn't a Blood in sight.
That's when I realized I'd just
pull the trigger on myself.
Next thing you know...
...I meet Jindai.
She breaks it down to me...
...on how Allah has a plan
for my life...
...and how he could use me.
Because nowadays, brothers just
kill each other on a glare.
She made me realize...
...how lost I really was.
And that...
...killing myself...
...wasn't gonna end that cycle.
You know what will
end the cycle, Jamal?
Locking up somebody like you
behind bars.
Of course. You gotta make
your quota, don't you?
Someone just like you
murdered my father.
Excuse me.
You can rationalize it all you want.
Living in the 'hood is no excuse...
...for taking the life
of another human being.
Damn! Damn!
Be cool. Be cool.
Shit.
All right, everybody, be cool. I hope
y'all remembered rule number three.
What's going on here?
Nothing, officer. I kept it under 60.
We've been asked to beef up
surveillance around here.
A lot of boys been smuggling drugs
through our state.
- What does that have to do with us?
- You tell me.
Excuse me, officer.
I'm Officer Rivers, L.A.P.D.
We're just taking a bus to DC.
- L.A.P.D., huh?
- That's right.
I hate to break it to you,
but this is Knoxville.
- I just thought...
- I know what you thought.
Take a seat.
Mike! Bring him in!
See what you can find, Bruno.
If any of you are holding
any illegal substances...
...now's the time
to confess your sins.
Bruno here has one hell of a nose.
Look underneath that seat.
Yeah.
Find anything?
Check him. You got him?
Back there. Look up above
those racks too.
Anybody carrying anything? You?
Are you really asleep?
You sleeping?
What about Uncle Remus?
Back there.
How about you?
- Clean?
- Clean.
Okay, boys.
Been my pleasure.
If you find yourself
in Knoxville again...
...and need law-enforcement
assistance...
...be sure and look us up.
Good evening.
- Fuck Knoxville!
- Damn troopers!
- Kiss my ass!
- Be cool till we get out of here.
- What's on your brain?
- Nothing.
Just tripping off how Mom told me
you could drive anything.
You name it, I can drive it.
Car, bus...
...truck, tractor...
...boat, motorcycle...
- A plane?
- That's something I haven't done.
That's what I'll do.
I'm gonna be a pilot.
Pilot, huh?
Soon as I get out of high school...
...I'm going straight
to the Air Force.
Might even make a career out of it.
Why planes?
You know, planes kill people.
People get killed in grocery stores,
don't mean I should stop eating.
No, it don't.
You're just like your mama, I swear.
You most definitely
got that mouth of hers.
Want to hear something funny?
What's that?
She told me I was just like you.
Can't wait to tell her she was wrong.
No way, Jeremiah.
You're not off the hook.
What made you wanna go to the march?
What made me wanna go?
Yeah, that's the question.
Well...
...I missed the March on Washington
in '63.
Missed it? You didn't go?
I wanted to go. I intended to.
But I'd just got this
good-paying job with a company...
...and I didn't want to lose it.
You know, go along to get along,
play it safe, make no waves.
People at the office
asked me about...
...Malcolm X, Martin Luther King.
I said I didn't even know them cats.
The truth of the matter is,
I didn't believe in...
...troublemakers and rabble-rousers.
No, sir.
White man had me
in his hip pocket 100 percent.
And that was all right with me.
Soon I was getting a raise every year,
just like everybody else.
And got my little office
down in personnel.
My own office. Yep.
Bought this great big house
out in the suburbs.
Cars for me and my wife,
college for the kids, the whole thing.
Paid down on this expensive boat.
When I was at the company...
...I trained a lot of people,
mostly white, some women.
And every one of them
got promoted over me.
That should've told me something.
But it didn't.
Not me. I had it made. Oh, man.
Everybody from the president on down,
the whole company...
...Ioved good old faithful...
...quick-with-the-jokes-and-smiles
Jeremiah. Oh, man...
...they integrated me
lock, stock and barrel.
And I loved it.
Thirty-three years...
...with the company.
I never missed a day.
And then
they had this big merger.
Instead of giving me the watch
I'd been waiting for...
...they gave old Jeremiah
the pink slip.
"We regret to inform you...
...that your services
will no longer be required."
Now, I didn't see
how they could just...
...throw a man away.
I couldn't accept it.
So I went to the new management...
...and put on a show
that you wouldn't believe.
I talked more trash...
...showed more teeth...
...kissed more white ass...
I begged that man...
...for my job.
And I got it.
Thirty percent reduction in pay...
...no benefits...
...but it was a job.
It was mine.
Two years ago...
...a lot of loose Japanese
money coming in...
...hostile takeover,
some kind of stuff.
Company got lean and mean for the
new world order of the 21 st century.
Downsized my black ass
right out the door...
...and then locked it.
Threw away the key.
No job...
...no future, no nothing.
Of course, I had to get stupid.
I took to drinking.
I lost my wife, cars, house...
...children...
...credit...
...my good name.
Now, all my worldly possessions
and the rest of my life is in that bag.
As a matter of fact...
...if something good...
...don't happen to Jeremiah,
and soon...
...well, he's gonna...
That's why I'm going to the march.
I gotta go.
Yes, sir, you'll make this march
or you'll die trying.
You're looking at the co-star...
...of Denzel's newest flickity-flick.
I got the part!
What, no congratulations?
Congratulations. Now why don't you
sit down and shut up?
You think that's funny?
I'm rather amused, but poor Denzel!
Your girlfriend thinks that's funny.
- Fuck you.
- Are you sure?
- What?
- Sure you want to fuck me?
That waitress in Memphis
slipped you her phone number.
You must be feeling butch.
Hear that,
Randall Royal-if-you-don't-mind?
Your boyfriend may
give up his membership.
Give me some respect!
I told you to stop riding my ass!
- Or what?
- Or I'll bust your ass!
They are bigger assholes than him.
- You had your Wheaties this morning!
- Hope you had yours, bitch!
- You call me bitch?
- Sounded like it.
I know you didn't!
Let's just calm down.
How's this for a bitch?
Cut that shit out!
- Come on, break it up! Break it up!
- Take it outside.
I'll pull this bus over
and throw both your asses...
No!
Let's go.
The "Thrilla in Manila," baby.
Whup his motherfucking ass!
Brothers, don't! Don't! Don't fight!
Don't be shy.
- Don't be shy now. Come on!
- Get him, Kyle.
That's it?
Is that it?
Bring it on.
- Oh, jeez!
- Come on, Kyle. Get up, man.
Y'all counted me out too soon!
Come on, sugar!
The dance ain't over.
Damn. Come on, Hollywood.
- You like that, fag?
- Knock him down.
Come on now!
Who's the faggot now?
That's for Langston Hughes.
That's for James Baldwin.
Come on, mister. Give it your best shot.
What are you waiting on?
That was for Dennis Rodman.
Dennis Rodman is gay?
- You seen my son?
- No, I haven't.
- You seen Junior?
- He was here.
- I don't know where he went.
- Junior!
Smooth!
Split up. Everybody, just split up.
- Junior!
- Junior!
- Young brother!
- Junior!
Junior!
- Yo, Smooth!
- Young brother!
Junior, where you at, man?
Stop, boy!
Evan! Stop!
Stop!
- Get the hell off of me!
- What's wrong with you?
Where do you think you're going?!
Get the hell off me!
Where you going?
I ain't going nowhere!
Why are you running away?
Maybe because I take after you
more than you know, that's why!
Look...
...I'm not saying that you don't have
the right to be mad.
You got the right.
In fact, you're right about me.
When you were born,
I broke out just as...
...fast as I could.
I know that! Tell me something
I don't know!
But I was not rejecting you.
It was not about that.
Yeah, whatever.
I was scared, Junior.
I was 22 years old.
I had no job
and a brand-new baby boy...
...from a woman I kind of liked.
But it wasn't love, man.
So I figured that...
...if I just split, then the problem
would go away.
Won't you let me just split?
You were never the problem.
I want you to understand that I...
...was the problem.
Because after you were born...
...I was not man enough...
...to take on my responsibilities.
And I want to be your father.
I realize that your mother was right.
You need your father in your life.
What, are you crazy or something?
Look at me. I'm practically grown.
Now you're talking about I need you?
You know what my mama
went through?
My mama taught me
how to ride a bike...
...how to tie a tie.
She even told me
how to use a condom...
...so I wouldn't be a brother
with an unwanted baby, like you.
You want to come back
into the picture...
...telling me I need you?
I don't expect for us
to be great overnight.
But...
It might even be a few years.
But I don't care.
Because you are my son.
And I am your father and I love you.
And you are wanted.
And I'm going to face that.
You remember when we left...
...on the way to Washington
for this trip...
...and Jeremiah prayed that we would
be better men after we left...
...than we were before we got there?
I was praying...
...right along with him.
And I'm never, ever...
...running away again.
Day of atonement!
Day of atonement!
Day of atonement!
Day of atonement!
We're here!
Look at all these people.
Look at all these people!
You ever seen anything like this?
I bet they'll try to say
not that many brothers showed up.
Hey, Jeremiah.
You still mad about the fight?
Hey. Hey, Jeremiah.
Hey, hey, hey, y'all.
Something's wrong with Jeremiah!
Shut up! Something's wrong
with Jeremiah!
You all right?
There's something wrong with him!
- You'll be all right.
- Give him some space!
He'll be all right.
Get 911 on the cellular!
Stop the bus!
Shut up! Shut up!
Shut up!
Everybody, shut the fuck up!
Let's move it, people.
- Dr. Cook?
- Yes.
It's a heart attack.
- Will he be okay?
- I don't know.
We found pills in his pocket...
...and I contacted his doctor
from that prescription.
He's very sick.
We've moved him up to the
cardiac intensive care unit.
- Was the trip too much?
- Well...
...he has a coronary
artery disease, you know?
Meaning what?
He knew the trip
would put his life in jeopardy.
Will he make it?
We'll do everything we can.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
What now?
We wait.
If we wait, we'll miss the march.
All you care about?
Look, I'm just saying...
You guys go ahead.
I'm gonna stay here with him.
What do you want to do?
Pops, we can't just leave him.
- Not at least till we know he all right.
- Right.
He's right, man.
Brothers come too far
to miss the march.
You go, we'll stay.
I don't want to leave him either.
We've got it covered.
George, he's right.
All right.
The Spotted Owl will be in front
of the Lincoln Memorial.
My brothers...
... and sons...
... and grandsons...
... and cousins and nephews...
... the night has been long.
Who's that lady?
She's Maya Angelou.
Who is she?
She's a great poet.
- Under a dead blue sky...
... on a distant beach...
The scenes on the street
aren't that bad.
In fact, we had absolutely
no trouble getting in...
... but of course that was going north.
We expect to have 250 coming today.
They expect to have more trouble
getting out of here than getting in...
You're hearing now the crowd as it
starts to get worked up and chanting.
We are here! We are here!
They are chanting, "We are here."
We need to take control
of our institutions...
... our media, our schools.
When you maximize our
economic resources...
... towards our own benefits.
When you stop making excuses...
... when you stand with our mothers...
...when you stick it out with a family,
when you start mentoring our young...
Please vote!
You gotta vote, black man!
Your vote counts.
Please vote, or this
is where you'll end up.
In the garbage can!
Take me out of there!
Because I'm gonna vote.
I messed up last year!
I didn't vote! See what happened?
And this is 1995!
Just think 10 years from now!
We'll all be running around like this!
And he gonna be howling!
Long live the spirit
of the Million Man March!
Long live he spirit
of the Million Man March!
God bless you!
You can see there's a Jumbotron...
... for those who can't see the stage
from further back.
I don't want you to think I was
rationalizing smoking brothers.
What happened to your father
was messed up.
The way I lived my life
was messed up.
The only thing I can try to do is...
...make sure other kids
don't do the same.
The last place I saw my father
alive was the hospital.
Three bullets in him.
I asked my mother who would do
something like this to my father.
She said, "There are good people
and bad people in this world...
...and a very bad person
did this to your father."
I take you as a man of your word.
I respect that.
If you've done
what you said you did...
...I'll do what I can to see
that you pay for it.
As soon as we get to L.A. And you
step off the bus, I may cuff you.
Unless you want to turn yourself in...
...privately.
Probably save us both
some embarrassment.
Million Man March...
...minus how many, Jamal?
How's he doing?
His heart muscle was too weak.
He was just pronounced dead.
I'm sorry.
Do you have any idea
who his next of kin is?
He didn't have anybody.
- He didn't have anybody?
- No.
We got halfway there
and decided to turn around and...
What?
No.
He's gone.
We came 3000 miles just to...
...bury another black man.
Hey, listen.
I know we came...
...3000 miles to attend the march...
...and it didn't happen.
But...
...at least we stood by the brother
when he needed us.
That's got to mean something.
We're here because...
...God Almighty wanted us here.
And he don't care so much about
what you already done.
God...
...asks what you're gonna do now.
So maybe we...
...missed the speeches.
The chance to smile, to chat...
...to rub a friendly elbow
with one another.
To collect all the souvenirs,
the buttons...
...the T-shirts.
That was important.
That would have been
good for the spirit.
And I'm sorry we missed it.
Because the real march...
The real march
ain't even started yet.
This was only the prelim,
the warm-up...
...calling the tribes together.
The real Million Man March...
...won't start...
...till we black men...
...take charge of our own lives...
...and start dealing with crime...
...drugs...
...and guns and gangs...
...and children...
...having children, and children...
...killing children all across
this country. So if...
You know something?
If y'all are all ready to quit...
...your apathetic and unsympathetic
ways as I am...
...and take back control of
the black community...
...as I am,
I mean, if you're ready to stop...
...being the boys...
...that started to Washington
on this bus...
...and be the men...
...the men that our wives
and mothers and children...
...are waiting for back home...
...to stand up against all the evils
lined up against the black man...
...back home.
And just say, you know...
...we're tired of this shit!
And we ain't gonna take it anymore!
If you're ready to do that...
...if you're ready to do that,
then we got work to do.
We...
...got a lot...
...of work to do.
Men, I think...
...Xavier should have this.
And I hope you learned
something from...
...brother Jeremiah.
That's the prayer he wanted to say.
This is what he...
This is what he wanted to say.
I think brother Jeremiah would
want us to bow our heads.
"We made it, Lord.
From all across this nation,
we black men made it.
And we thank you.
None of us is perfect...
...but we seek perfection.
And we especially want our wives,
mothers and daughters...
...to understand that we are trying...
...trying hard.
But we still need your help.
Sometimes we felt that
you had given up on us...
...left us abandoned...
...forsaken and betrayed.
And we may have gone astray
from time to time...
...but we're still good people...
...and we're still your people.
We're still your sons.
So here we are,
1 million black men strong...
...like the Prodigal Son when
he comes back home to his father.
He wasn't looking for a handout, Lord,
he was looking for a job."
"Make me as one of the hired
servants, " that's what he said.
That's all he asked.
And that's our prayer
as we stand before you today.
Not a handout, Lord...
... but a job...
... and a second chance.
It says to us in the 14th chapter
of the Book of Job...
... these holy words:
"For there is hope for a tree,
if it be cut down...
... that it will sprout again...
... and that its tender shoots
will not cease...
... though its roots may
grow old in the earth...
... and its stump may die
in the ground.
Yet at the scent of water...
... it will bud and bring forth
branches like a plant. "
Lord...
... we don't ask for much.
Maybe water is something
we no longer deserve.
We ask instead from you...
... just the scent.
The scent...
... of your living water.
Thank you for listening, Lord. Amen.
- Amen.
- Amen.