Black Is... Black Ain't (1994) - full transcript

(rustling leaves)

- Has anybody talked to you
at all about what we're doing?

You just got dragged here?

Okay, we're gonna tell you a little bit.

This is a documentary we're
doing for public television.

It's called "Black Is, Black Ain't."

- [Voiceover] We've
finally begun production.

Two hundred and twenty five.

I thought the number would be higher.

T-cell count down, weight
down too I'm worried,

but I keep this to myself.



My weight and T-cell count are the same.

What's happening to my body?

- AIDS forces you,
because of the likelihood

that you could die at this moment.

AIDS forces you to deal with that

and to look around you and say,

hey, I'm wasting my time

if I'm not devoting every moment

to thinking about how can I
communicate to black people,

so that we start to look at each other,

we start to see each other.

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't



♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't ♫
♫ Well

♫ Come on now, come on

♫ Tell it

♫ I say, my black is

♫ And black ain't

♫ Black is

♫ And black ain't

♫ Black is blue

♫ So blue, so blue

♫ And Black is red

♫ Black is tan
♫ Black will get you

♫ And Black is light

♫ And Black will leave ya alone

♫ Black can get you over

♫ Black can set you down

♫ Black can let you move forward

♫ And black will make you stumble around

♫ Black is so high

♫ And black is so low

♫ Black can say yes

♫ And Black can say no

♫ Black can be your best friend

♫ Be cozy as the night

♫ Black can do you in

♫ Make you fuss and cuss and fight

♫ Black is black

♫ And black is blue

♫ Black is bright

♫ Black is You ♫

(upbeat gospel music)

- [Marlon] To tell the
truth, there's nothing better

in this world than my Big Mama's gumbo.

I guess it's because it's got a little bit

of everything in it.

- Well there goes the Gumbo.

- [Marlon] Everything that you can imagine

can be put into gumbo.

Shrimp, crayfish,

sausage, alligator sausage,

pork sausage, crab.

- [Voiceover] What does black mean?

It seems very difficult to define

in any absolute sense
what it means to be black.

- [Marlon] Seasoned just
nicely, you don't want the broth

to overpower the roux.

Cook it and it just has a nice sort

of aromatic flavor with the spices.

- [Voiceover] The most definitive
identity any black person

has is blackness.

- [Marlon] If it gets too thick,

it's like you're tasting
that but you can't really get

to the ingredients that make the gumbo.

- [Voiceover] There are as
many kinds of black people

as there are black people to be.

There are so many variations on the theme.

- [Marlon] It cooks all night and all day.

Ooh, it's wonderful.

And it's just inviting.

You walk in and it's like aah, mmm.

Come on here to the kitchen.

(laughs)

When I was a boy, the
nation was in turmoil.

Though, to be honest,
much of what was going on

was at the periphery of my life.

Still I was aware enough of the changes

to try to convince one
of my friends one day,

that it was time for him to
stop using the word colored.

"Edward Lee," I said,
"you ain't colored no mo',

"you black."

"No, I ain't," he shot back.

"Yes you is," I said.

"No, I ain't," he insisted.

Now, to be real, Edward Lee was so dark

he could have passed as one
of the original Africans.

But back then it was an
insult to call somebody

African or black, so I
knew why he was upset,

still, I wanted him to see the new light.

"Edward Lee, you black."

"Colored, no one is colored anymo'.

"Colored is the white man's word.

"You black and should be proud."

"Take it back," he said.

"No, I'm not."

"Take it back," he repeated, tense.

"For what?

"It's the truth!"

"Take it back, or I'll
beat yo' black ass."

"Uh oh."

Edward Lee was big.

I started moving backwards.

"Edward Lee, I don't know why you so mad.

"Ain't nothing to get mad about.

"Black is beautiful.

"You black, I'm black, my Mama's black."

Now that stopped him.

Anybody so willing to insult
his own mama must be serious.

That day, I escaped Edward Lee's punches

and held my own all at the same time.

I was proud.

(upbeat soul music)

- [Voiceover] Of Australia
leads with John Carlos.

- [Voiceover] At the award ceremony,

in the the symbolic protest

by Smith and Carlos, each
wearing a black glove,

holding fists aloft and bowing their heads

during the anthem.

Later they were dismissed from the team

and sent home by the US Olympic committee.

- [Marlon] For the longest, of course,

being black wasn't always so beautiful.

("The Star Spangled Banner")

A sixteenth century Oxford dictionary

provides a clue to the words

meaning before we redefined it.

- [Voiceover] Black:
deeply stained with dirt;

soiled, dirty, foul.

- [Voiceover] Having dark or
deadly purposes, malignant.

- [Voiceover] Black: pertaining
to, or involving death;

deadly, baneful, disastrous, sinister.

- [Voiceover] Iniquitous,
atrocious, horrible, wicked.

- [Marlon] Black.
- [Voiceover] Black!

- [Marlon] Indicating disgrace,

censure, liability to punishment.

And remember the children's rhymes?

♫ Jump back Jack

♫ Your hands too black

♫ Look like you been
workin' on a railroad track

♫ Clickety clack, clickety
clack, clickety clack

♫ Jump back Jack

♫ Your hands too black

♫ You look like you been
working on the railroad track

♫ Clickety clack, clickety
clack, clickety clack

♫ If you're red go ahead

♫ If you're brown stick around

♫ If you're black get back

♫ If you're yellow you're mellow

♫ If you're white you're right

♫ If you're black, get back

♫ If you're red, go ahead

♫ If you're brown, stick around

♫ If you're black, get back

♫ If you're yellow you're mellow

♫ If you're white, you're right

♫ If you're black, get back ♫

- People use all kinds of
terms to avoid saying black.

You could be dark brown, medium brown,

ridiculous things, but
definitely there was not

the concept of black is
beautiful that later evolved.

- When I was growing up,
as was your experience,

you didn't call anybody black

unless you were ready to fight.

And the very worst thing
you could call somebody

was a black African.

(laughs)

You black African.

Oh yeah.
- [Man] That was a

fighting piece.

"Don't call me black, I don't like that."

Why I didn't like it?

Because,

people in my community

of a different color
made me feel so inferior:

"Why your hair so kinky?

"Why you lips so big?
♫ If you're red go ahead

"Why your nose so big?"
♫ If you're brown stick around

♫ If you're black get back

♫ If you're yellow you're mellow

♫ If you're white you're right

♫ If you're black get back ♫

♫ I still beautiful, free Huey

♫ Set our water free, free Huey

♫ Black is beautiful, free Huey

♫ Set our water free ♫
- [Voiceover] In the sixties,

we began to say black is beautiful.

That was a slogan that indicated

a politics of struggle.

♫ Set our water free, free Huey ♫

- But later on in life,
I learned that this nose

was good and pretty.

One guy came along, name
was Stokely Carmichael,

said "black is beautiful."

And then we realized
that black is beautiful.

This kinky hair could
go in all kinds of ways,

this brown, nice brown chocolate skin

looks so nice could be all
kinds of color, you know.

And then we begin to
realize that: I am somebody.

(calm music)

- [Voiceover] How does it feel
to be back in the hospital?

- I'm not happy to be back here, you know.

It's hard, its boring,
its like one week of it

and I'm just bored.

Its like how did I endure six months

of it last year, you know,

from November to May or so?

And already here now I wanna get out.

(upbeat music)

When I was a boy, every
year we took a trip

to Louisiana where most
of my cousins lived.

It was a journey I
always looked forward to.

My family ranged from every shade,

every shade you can imagine.

Now, in Baton Rouge all of
us were a little bit darker.

But if you cross the river to New Orleans,

all of the family was lighter.

In fact, some of them so light
they could pass as white.

But I just, you know, I
didn't even think about it.

(upbeat music)

♫ Hey, I wanna go home,
but I can't get back

♫ I wanna get back ♫

- I grew up very confused.

I really did.

You know, I never really
talk about this much,

but I did grow up confused
because I didn't exactly

know, you know, where I
actually fit in in the world.

Because we were never taught

to consider ourselves to be black.

- [Voiceover] When we
reach the mulatto group

we begin to get two extreme types,

which, for convenience,
we shall call dominants

and recessives, and a third type,

which we shall call intermediate.

♫ Black is, Black ain't
♫ Black is, Black ain't

♫ Black is, Black ain't
♫ Black is, Black ain't ♫

- I could not use the word
black to describe my father.

If I ever called my father black,

you know, I would have got a
spanking or possibly worse,

because he did not consider
himself to be black.

He did not want to be
black and he was Creole.

- When I was growing up, I
heard people who were white

call themselves Creole.

I heard people who were
black call themselves Creole.

I heard these people speak to
each other every day in Creole

and I, the people who
called themselves Creole

ranged the whole color gamut.

(speaking foreign language)

- [Voiceover] How much?

(speaking foreign language)

- [Voiceover] You speak at all sir?

- [Voiceover] Yeah, I speak
a little Italian and French.

- [Voiceover] Are you a Creole?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm supposed to be.

- [Voiceover] You're supposed
to be, what does that mean?

- Well, that's what my people told me.

- [Voiceover] That's what they told you.

What does it mean?
- What?

- [Voiceover] What does it mean?

- That mean a little French, and then ah,

you kind of mix up, you
know, a little French.

- [Voiceover] Really.

Does it have anything to
do with being light skinned

or dark skinned black person.

- Oh no, no, they got people
darker than you as Creole.

- And later, as I grew
up and started being able

to move a little bit
beyond my neighborhood,

I learned about some people who had

concepts of Creole as
something other than cultural

who had concepts of Creole
as maybe being a racial

or a biological heritage.

♫ This fable of elements

♫ Which classify orders,
species, subspecies

♫ Genus, phyla, animal, vegetable

♫ Illegal chemical, socialist

♫ Democrat, Republican, yuppy

♫ Buffy, guppy, proud racist,

♫ Black, White, African

♫ Native American, Irish and German ♫

- My family used to have
picnics out in the country,

and they would turn
dark-skinned black people away.

You know, they would not let them come in.

My grandfather had a
first cousin who was blind

who lived in Baton Rouge and
they would sit him at the door.

But he would take a comb,
and if he couldn't pass

the comb through your
hair you couldn't come in.

- [Voiceover] In this study,
six degrees of curvature

or types of hair form are recognized:

straight, low waves, deep waves, curly,

frizzly and woolly.

- My friends used to tease and my hair.

One of the things I do remember

was going to a Brownie
Camp or Girl Scout Camp,

outside of Birmingham,
and it started to rain.

You know, all the girls
who had probably just

had their hair straightened
for camp, right,

started to run.

And I didn't run

'cause my mother wouldn't
let me straighten

my hair, as much as I
wanted to and I remember the

girls teasing me,

"Oh, you just think you got good hair,

you don't have to get out of the rain."

- [Voiceover] The good hair was the hair

that didn't require straightening

and the bad hair was the hair

that did require the straightening.

- I just didn't like setting my hair

and pampering myself like that,

so I decided to go natural.

Mama would say, 'What you
gonna do with you hair?"

I'd say "I'm going to leave it like it is,

"this is my natural hair."

One of my aunts said, "You
look like an African."

So I start making gyrations, you know,

start to huh, huh, huh.

(slow drums)

- [Voiceover] When I
came along it was Negro.

Later on it was changed to black.

Later on it changed to Afro-American.

I don't know what we are
going to change to next,

but we've been changing so fast,

I don't think we know
what we are ourselves.

- I think we have such an
obsession with naming ourselves

because during most of our history

we've been named by somebody else.

- I am black, female,

Catholic, colored,
Negro, African, American.

So it is all those things together.

- [Marlon] All of those
words, when we took them

into our own culture, became,

I think, affirmations of who we are.

Rather than ways by which
society at large put us down.

(upbeat drums)

- [Voiceover] Dr. Watts office.

(mumbling)

- [Marlon] AIDS is central to the catalyst

that's pushing me to deal with identity

on the global perspective.

The connection between
AIDS and black folks

and black folks' identity is metaphoric.

Both of them are a
struggle against the odds

in the face of adversity,

in the face of possible extinction.

How do we keep ourselves
together as a people in the face

of all of our differences?

How do we maintain a sense
of communal self-hood,

if you will?

Who's in the community and who's not?

I mean there has been a history

of excluding other black
folk from community

in this country to the detriment,

I think of our empowerment
as an overall people.

- You may begin.

♫ Who we are, gifted and black

♫ Oh what a love and precious dream ♫

- My picture's about when I am a doctor

and I'm about to go to dinner

at the hospital which they
have, in the lunch room.

("To Be Young, Gifted and
Black" by Nina Simone)

- [Marlon] The song
provokes painful memory.

Health, innocence, the
feeling of possibilities.

Weren't we all so eager
and capable then, each one

of us to uplift the race?

Jubilation.

- We want black power.

We want black power.

We want black power.

We want black power.

- [Marlon] Contradiction.

All the time we were saying
it loud and proclaiming

the beauty of our blackness,

a deep wedge of silence
divided me from my father.

We didn't talk, literally.

Like so many other black boys

and their fathers, we
confronted each other

across a chasm of silence.

- [Voiceover] If there
were seven blind men

- [Voiceover] One of them unable to speak.

- [Voiceover] Unable to
hear, would be my father.

- [Voiceover] My father.

- [Voiceover] He would be the
one, promising to deliver.

- [Voiceover] Promising to deliver.

- [Voiceover] What never arrives.

He would be the bridge,

which on one side I stand feeling doomed.

- [Voiceover] Unable to speak.

- [Voiceover] To never forgive him.

- [Voiceover] Unable to hear.

- [Voiceover] For the
violence in our pasts.

- [Voiceover] Forgive him.

- [Voiceover] While on the other side

he vigorously waves to me to cross over.

- [Voiceover] Promising to deliver.

- [Voiceover] But he doesn't know.

- [Voiceover] Forgive him.

- [Voiceover] The bridge
has fallen through.

If there were seven blind men,

the one unable to hear

- [Voiceover] He would be the one.

- [Voiceover] Would be my father.

The one unable to speak.

- [Voiceover] Feeling doomed.

- [Voiceover] His son.

- [Voiceover] At that time
to be a black man required

this code of silence.

You didn't express feelings.

You weren't hurt, couldn't
acknowledge hurt and pain

and rage and anger.

And what that engendered was silence.

No one talked to each other,

'cause that would have been
admitting vulnerability

and vulnerability was
associated with being feminine.

(rapid drums)

Black masculinity, black manhood.

Isn't that ultimately
what it became all about?

The redemption of an
emasculated male identity.

- When we translate the
history of black oppression,

sexually especially, through
the writings of George Jackson,

Eldridge Cleaver, it's all
sexualized into emasculation

and castration so the reclamation

of the black race gets translated
into it's a dick thing.

That's why I'm fond of saying,

"if the black thing is really
a dick thing in disguise,

"we're in serious trouble."

Because it is like a kind
of worship of the phallus.

- You can buy into the popular stereotypes

and run around holding your dick

and thinking you gotta to fuck everything

in sight to prove that you are a man,

to prove that you have that
stamina and that virility,

and you're not to be fucked with.

- We are men, all men do it.

We have to do it, we are
men, it is a man thing.

Men must find and conquer as
much pussy as they can get.

Do not think for two seconds
that you're the only one--

- That's why, for example,

Eddie Murphy's RAW fascinated me so.

I mean when he, when he says in that film

that a woman doesn't want
to hear that you love her,

she wants to know you
will fuck her to death

and he's doing that, you
know, and in the audience

when I saw that, black men we're
giving black power salutes,

and I was thinking damn,
this is just so serious,

this idea that, you know, we need

to reclaim the space of that
erect brutalizing phallus

as our identity as a people.

- The dominant conception
of being a black male today

is still one in which the
body's highly sexualized,

in which one identifies
with a certain kind of, ah,

sexual prowess, in which one does in fact

feel as if one is an object of fear,

at times disgust, not
just from white America,

much of white Americans,

but from black America as well.

And hence I think it's very difficult,

you know, being a black male,

getting in contact with one's humanity.

Very, very difficult.

- [Voiceover] What about the heart?

What about his mind?

What about his vision?

- [Voiceover] Couldn't be
sensitive, couldn't cry,

couldn't be afraid because of these

notions I had about what
it meant to be a black man.

- [Voiceover] I didn't like
being pounded into the ground.

That wasn't my idea of becoming a man.

- [Voiceover] I know that for
myself in growing up it was,

a lot of times it was
just a survival technique

to be able to put on that toughness.

(upbeat rap music)

♫ It's kinda sick

♫ when you're watching
your pops get killed ♫

- [Voiceover] Yeah, I'll
play some basketball,

I'll play some football,
I'll get some pussy you know,

I'll beat up a few people,

I'll run in a gang, just be a boy,

that's be a boy on his way to being a man.

- I'm a young man.

I ain't a man yet.

'Cause there's still some
stuff I'm not responsible for.

I don't take responsibility
for some of my actions

so I guess I ain't a man yet, you know.

I'm a young man, that's how I see myself.

- [Marlon] What about you all?

- I'm a young man, too.

- [Marlon] What does
manhood mean to you, though?

- I don't know.

- [Marlon] Black manhood,
black masculinity,

historical sore spots.

For centuries, American
culture had regarded us

as playful eunuchs, laughing,

singing Sambos, childlike
in our disposition.

While black women were
seen as strong and often,

because of this, unwomanly,
our men were considered weak.

Is there any wonder then that when black

men finally achieved public voice,

the top priority was
restoring what society

had repeatedly stolen from us?

- [Voiceover] The black man must rise.

- [Voiceover] The time
has come for the black man

to stand up and take his place--

- [Voiceover] Black man, black solidarity.

- [Voiceover] The black
man, with his black--

- [Voiceover] The wars
course would change the day

that African American as people
come together as brothers

The black man in America has no knowledge

of his true identity.

- [Voiceover] In World War
II, 850,000 black men fought

and we were promised freedom
and we didn't get it.

- [Voiceover] Black
men define black power.

- [Voiceover] Black men in America--

- The only thing that's
gon' free Huey is gunpowder.

- We came to this country as
black men and as Africans.

- [Voiceover] It's time brother.

- [Marlon] With so many
words about the black man,

one had to wonder: Where
were all of our women?

- Free Huey!

- [Marlon] And what of their redemption?

- When we said black is
beautiful in the late sixties,

that meant the black man is beautiful.

There is this tendency now to want

to constantly rehabilitate the black man

as patriarch, and I have
problems with positing that

as the goal of the community.

Yes, I struggle with and for my brother.

I speak with and for my brother.

But I think my brother has
an equal responsibility

to speak with and for me.

- I entered graduate school the same year

I finished college.

That was 1969, one of those
apocryphal years, you know.

And I really thought that I would never

be politically active again,

because nationalism was so deep.

If there was any time in my
life when I felt like a persona

non grata, just like
out in the stratosphere

was in those first years
of graduate school.

I didn't think I was any less capable

of making decisions
and doing positive work

than anyone regardless of gender.

I didn't think that because I was female

that I was supposed to somehow get stupid.

(upbeat music)

- Twenty-five years ago, there was someone

in this organization who argued

that the role of women was
to wear long African dresses,

to organize cocktail parties

and to convince rich men to donate money

to the organization.

Now, this particular
person actually came in

and dismantled the whole structure

that we had because he felt that the women

had too much power.

- Let me see if I've got the
consequences of this, now.

In addition to all this, the black,

in addition to the myth
of the black macho man,

we also have the myth of
the super black woman.

- [Voiceover] Right.

- I mean you're strong,
you can take anything.

Boy, look at her caring for those kids.

- And that is the way we got ripped off,

that was, was the way we
got ripped off you see,

because we had always
been strong and we didn't,

we didn't suffer, we didn't have pain.

We didn't suffer the way that they did,

because we had all the jobs,
and it was easy for us,

and we were just laying
up with the slave master.

I mean, all sorts of
ridiculousness was said

and was believed by not just black men,

but black women and by America at large.

I just think that black feminists have not

been good at critiquing
the black male sexism.

Because of the oppression
that we suffer as a people,

I think that it just becomes
the job no one wants to do.

You know, everybody knows about it.

It's well known.

It's well understood by

black women and black men and yet,

nobody is supposed to
speak about it publicly.

I did so.

And I think that, you know, was sort of

the significant departure.

- [Marlon] And you were punished?

- And I was punished for that, yes.

Yes, I was punished.

That's true, still being
punished actually, I think.

- Black women can be
and have been resistant

to black feminism
because they're concerned

about losing approval from black men.

This is not an unfounded
fear because often,

to speak out about difficult issues is to

be ostracized, is to be criticized.

But I think that there
are some black women,

including myself, who
feel that speaking truth

to power is far far far more valuable

than bowing and taking it.

- There's a cure for
what ails us as a people,

and that is for us to talk to each other.

We have got to start
talking about the ways

in which we hurt each other

and the ways in which we hurt each other

is also through silence.

Because nobody can unload
the pain or the shame

or the guilt by not speaking.

- In my loneliest gestures

learning to live

with less is less.

I never wanted to be your son.

You never made the choice

to be my father.

What we have learned from no textbook

how to live without one another,

how to evade the stainless truth,

how to store our waste

in tombs beneath the heart

knowing at any moment

it could leak out.

Do we expect to survive?

What are we prepared for?

Trenched off,

communications down,

angry in alien tongues.

We use extreme weapons

to ward off one another.

Some nights

our opposing reports
are heard as we dream.

Silence is our deadliest weapon.

We both use it.

Precisely.

Often.

(calm soulful music)

- [Voiceover] We have
basically everything,

you know, everything all
the other states have,

but we have a little blues,
you know, we have more blues

because Mississippi is
the heart, you know,

the heart of the blues greats,

such as B.B.King and Z.Z. Hill.

- [Voiceover] All blues songs
to me have meaning to 'em.

'Cause they're talking about
where they're coming from,

and their nature and things like that.

- [Voiceover] I feel that the
blues have a lot of meaning

to it, like regular
songs around, you know,

you can't really find the
meaning in some songs,

but in blues they have a lot of meaning.

- [Marlon] You listen to blues?

- [Voiceover] No, sir.

(laughs)

- [Marlon] Why not?

- It's too moody, blues
is too moody for me,

I like, I listen to R,B
and I listen to Reggae

and I listen to rap music,

- [Voiceover] Black music,

- [Voiceover] What's it all about?

- [Voiceover] What's it all about?

These are the profiles of
black musical composers

who have maintained higher
standards throughout the years.

They have brought us from slavery.

♫ Swing low, sweet chariot ♫

♫ I woke up this morning
with my mind standin' ♫

♫ My baby's gone and don't
know what to do, shum ♫

♫ Turn this mother out

♫ We gonna turn this mother ♫

- [Voiceover] Is this a sign of your cut?

(laughing)

Music.

(calm blues)

- [Marlon] You know what's black music?

The music of this world,
and that music has been

so influential.

In fact, without it you can't even imagine

what music might be on this earth.

It's been such a crucial
part of our heritage.

I mean, beyond the entertainment value,

it too is what binds us
together as a people.

That creation and recreation,
from generation to generation.

(old and new music)

♫ Ain't no doubt about
it, baby I love you ♫

♫ We can stop baby watch the way

♫ We can stop baby watch the way

♫ We can stop baby watch the way

♫ We can stop

♫ We can stop baby watch the way

♫ We can stop baby watch the way

♫ We can stop baby watch the way

♫ Segway by segway

♫ Pebble by pebble ♫

- I'm just saying I hate history period

because I don't like studying things

that people did before, you know,

it's just all about what's going on now.

People gotta do now, they
can't keep looking back

on stuff that happened a long time ago.

- [Voiceover] What happened long time ago.

- You see, to me history is important

because you have to look back.

History repeats itself, you know,

maybe you can look back on something

that happened a long time ago
and it could help you out now.

History repeats itself.

- [Voiceover] Alright Whitney.

- It's alright to know
who Martin Luther King

and Harriet Tubman, you know,
know what they done and,

you know, all that.

But, like he said, history,
ain't no need for that.

You know, you better look for the future.

That's what you should be
studying, the future, you know,

them computers and technology
and all that stuff.

Chains tied on your ankles and stuff,

that ain't gonna help you.

You better try to learn that
IBM computer or something.

On the real, for real, you know.

- [Voiceover] History is more
than chains on your ankles

and knowing this black leader
and knowing that black leader,

it's much more to history than that.

I mean the thing with black people is,

if you wanna be black you don't want

to know your black history!

You wanna forget about your black history.

- It's alright to know, you
know, know about them people

and what they've done.

What's Martin Luther King
gonna do for you now?

What's Harriet Tubman
gonna do for you right now?

- It's not only Harriet.

She don't make history,
Malcolm don't make history.

- Is he gonna cook you dinner?

Is he gonna come buy your
kids some shoes next month?

- Is he gonna get you that
job on the interview tomorrow?

- No, that's not it.

That's not it.

- I'm thankful for what
they done and, you know.

And for how Martin Luther King
brought all them struggles

and all that.
- [Voiceover] It's sound

like you saying, "Thank
you, but to hell with you."

- [Voiceover] Yeah, thank
you but no thank you.

- [Voiceover] No I'm saying, I'm saying,

I'm thankful for it, but what
is it gonna do for you now?

- [Voiceover] What good is
it gonna do for you now?

- We seek after knowledge,

and if knowledge is kept from you

then I would say you're
kind of a dumb, you know.

That's why our white
brothers didn't tell us

about all these heroes and
heroines that we have had

in our race, because that is knowledge

and they don't want you to
become too knowledgeable.

- Africans were represented as people

from the dark continent and
they were always represented

as superstitious, savage.

- Remember we have an
identity crisis brother.

At one time you call a brother an African,

he wanna get mad with you,
you call a brother black

he wanna fight you.

Now, we coming to the focal
point that we're black

and we're African.

And we're from African descent.

We are black people and
so now we're starting

to adopt the true identity
of who we really are.

- When the Ethiopian and Italian war

of the thirties occurred,
there were people

who then developed a feeling
of affinity to Africa.

I imagine they knew all
along they were Africans,

but that war kind of brought it out

because some blacks actually went over

to help the Ethiopians.

They identified with the Ethiopians.

- When I hear the word Africa

and what it means to
me is it brings me back

and it makes my mind go
back to my ancestors.

- I have a vision of
Africa as a very nice place

where I would like to go.

I like that my ancestors
came from that place

and I don't like that my

ancestors were taken away from that place.

- When I hear about my
ancestors it gives me strength

to know that they did very
good, and they survived,

most of them survived slavery.

So that gives me courage to go on.

- If you don't have a knowledge
of who your ancestors are

then of course you're lost.

Who are your ancestors,
what is your true root?

- [Voiceover] I'm His Royal Highness

Oba Oseijeman Adefunmi the First.

Oba King of Oyotunji,

the only African Village in America,

or at least the first.

- I am Her Royal Grace Iya Orite Olasowo

of the Oyotunji African Village,

located in Beaufort
County, South Carolina.

- We realized that we could not really

develop African civilization and culture

to its fullest degree in an American city,

so it became necessary then
to leave the urban areas

and found our own community.

- [Voiceover] This
village means first of all

a re-affirmation of self,
my personal self identity.

This village also means
to me a restoration

and a preservation of some of the very,

very ancient customs and
traditions of our ancestors.

I would say to those, those Afro-Americans

who have somewhat lost their identity,

because if they've changed
to another lifestyle,

or they've patterned
themselves after another race

and picked up the values and
the customs of another race,

then I would say to them that
they're not really living

within the confines of
their true identity.

- I love kente cloth.

I have kente cloth in my house

and I wear kente cloth
but I don't confuse that

with my identity.

Because I can wear kente cloth
if I want to, but I can also

put on a pair of jeans

and I feel just as black as I did

when I had the kente cloth on.

- Putting on our kentes
and whatever cloths

and importing from West Africa,

all of that's really wonderful,

I say all of that's really wonderful,

whatever makes you know, your spirit rise,

I say by all means nurture it in that way,

if that's what it takes for you,

if that's the affirmation it takes.

But that doesn't then
give you the privilege

to beat someone else down just

because they don't wanna change their name

or wear African cloths or
stay in the inner city.

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't ♫

- The African proverb
says, "no matter how well

"the house is built and no
matter how high it stands,

"it must stand on something."

And that something is our tradition.

So that, that appreciation
for tradition evolves

into the modern conversation
called Afrocentricity,

which means centeredness in Africa.

- Most young brothers all they know

is they come from
slavery, but if they knew

about the antiquities of old,
the Egyptian civilization,

how we were ruled 10,000 years

before the Greeks came in and conquered.

If we was to known we were
descendants of kings and queens.

- We're not taught about Imhoptep.

Imhoptep who was a chief
physician, a Grand Vizier,

a poet magician and a pyramid
builder for the King Djoser.

So we got to study the in depth,

like my brother said, the antiquity.

Learn about we have great
people of that stature.

Then we will build a pride
and an enrichment of ourself.

Then we're like Hey, I am somebody,

as Jesse Jackson would say.

Then you know you're real.

- There is no decolonization process

that doesn't require
us to reclaim our past.

So there is, to me,
something very positive

in having black people who used to despise

the word Africa, find a way to lay claim

to that diasporic
connection and experience,

when it comes into the
kind of fundamentalism

that wants to make that Africa superior.

You know, those black folks who tell me,

"We don't have to deal
with sexism because,

"don't you think that in
ancient Africa we were kings

"and queens, we were equal?"

I mean that is some bullshit,
like let's get real.

- One of the things that we do here

is to mythologize our African past,

since it was snatched away from us.

And make assertions about that past

that are not necessarily true.

We don't know for a fact that there

was not lesbian and gay
existence in Africa,

in fact, anthropological
research indicates

that indeed there was.

So, like, to be condemned
on the basis of myths,

that's really very difficult for me.

- Six months ago I
weighed 140 pounds, 145.

I weighed 110 when I
went into the hospital.

My T-Cell count, I know it was,

around 125, 135 which is low,

but still it was enough to make me feel

I had a little meat to my, my cells.

I've dropped to 10 T-cells and
then I just stopped counting

because it became irrelevant.

More important was, how do I feel?

(slow jazz)

♫ U-N-I-T-Y ♫

- My father used to come home
from work hummin' a tune,

and I mean that tune was
like a terroristic threat.

♫ Who you callin' a bitch ♫

- In every society the male and the female

had a specific designated role.

All of us have our roles to play.

- When we heard that
tune hittin' those steps,

we knew that we had to get
ourselves in order, right.

- And always, you will find that the males

were put in a more authoritative position.

- My dad didn't have to speak
honey, he had to hum his tune.

- This is the way the
Gods had ordered things.

- He didn't have to come in and say,

do this, do that, I'm the ruler here.

It was all taking place.

- The Bible teaches us
that the head of Christ

is God and the head of man is Christ,

and the head of woman is man.

Now who am I to change that?

- Once, you know, I think
that my father heard

that my mother was having
an affair with somebody

or you know, and he came home from work,

and he got his gun.

- There is no way.

I say there is, is just
no way that the woman

can be first partaker of the fruit.

- And I remember my father
screaming, "I will kill you!"

That very night he said, you know,

"This is my house, I will not have this!"

And she had to pack her bags.

- You're bringing a hawk
into the chicken yard,

and wondering why the
chicken got eaten up?

- It's like when you're a kid

and you think your parents are equal,

but when I saw my mother
weeping and packing her bags

and throwing her shit into
suitcases and I thought,

he has the power to do this.

- You bring Mike to a beauty
contest, and all these fine,

foxes just parading in front of Mike.

(laughter)

And Mike's eyes begin
to dance like a hungry

man looking at a Wendy's
beef burger or something.

- When my uncles came to get her,

the other patriarchs came
to get her, I expected

there would be some discussion,

that they would try to convince my father

that you can't do this,
you can't throw her out

of what is her house as well.

But it was like one patriarch has spoken

and the other patriarchs
had nodded their head,

if the woman has done
wrong, you gotta punish her.

- She says ,"No, Mike, no."

I mean how many times,
sisters, have you said no

and you mean yes all the time?

Wait, wait, wait.

I'm talking to women now.

We gon' talk now.

I mean, the day of the B.S. is all over.

You not dealing with a
man that don't know you.

And the damned deceitful
games that you play.

- This man is saying he's
going to kill our Mamma,

who takes care of us every day

and we're just gonna go up
and go to bed and go to sleep?

And I, I never forgave
my sisters and brothers

for a long time for the fact
that they actually went up

and went to bed and went to sleep.

Where I was like no, I can't
go upstairs and go to sleep,

I've got to witness this, witness this,

witness this, witness this.

- [Marlon] It's not so much for me manhood

that we're trying to reach,

that we're emulating.

It's, rather, human and all the
complexities of being human.

Which includes being feminine.

That when men can be
feminine as well as manly,

whatever those terms mean to you,

but when you can be both comfortably,

then you've achieved what it is,

I think it is, to be a
man, which is to be human.

(calm music)

When you think of yourself,
is there a woman within you?

- [Voiceover] Oh, yeah, yeah, many, many.

- [Marlon] Describe the women within.

- They're black, she is black.

She is, she's got stature.

She swaggers and sways when she walks,

she is strong, great
sense of humor, spiritual.

She sings beautifully.

She loves the man in me, who is black,

sensitive, strapping, he's
a good parent, good brother.

He dances, he leaps,

he's wild when he moves, when he leaps.

He and she walk together,
and they run together

like two animals running.

And they roll around together.

And they become one.

And that's Bill.

(spiritual singing)

- When you see the scenes of me naked,

running through the woods,
which I will hope you will use

an abundance of, those
things had a powerful image

for me in terms of searching
through clutter in my life,

searching through the
clutter of the project,

searching through the
attempts by society at large

to cover you and to
confine you in some space

in which you're not seen for
the naked truth of who you are.

Those scenes are critical in
their metaphoric importance.

Well, I mean its easy for
me to make the parallels

of being confined and lost
in woods and a community

confined by it's own
limited notions of identity.

You see?

That's not a great leap for me.

And I can say that or
write it actually as text,

'cause I don't know if I want
to record more narration.

- [Voiceover] Well, we've
been recording this,

we can, you know, we can work with it.

- Just the woods, the rivers,
you know the steamboats,

all of that.

My own living memory.

The moss trees and old shacks and.

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't

♫ Black is, black ain't
♫ Black is, black ain't ♫

- Many people would say
that I am not a member

of the black community.

In fact, many of the
people who are viewing this

would say, "she says a lesbian,
oh no, that doesn't cut it."

But the thing is I know I'm
a part of the black community

in every single way that is important.

- [Marlon] It's obvious,
because of our sexuality,

we've been treated as outcasts,

to be gay or to be lesbian
is not to be black.

To be black is to be heterosexual.

- This idea that, somehow my blackness

is diminished because I love a man,

is purely out of that sense that black men

have been chattled, black
men have been lynched,

black men have been shot,

beaten, brutalized by the
police, the government,

every which way, etc.

So that some people
view black homosexuality

as the final break in masculinity.

And don't see the love,
don't see the empowerment,

don't see the caring the sharing,

don't see the contributions.

(slow drums)

- [Marlon] A gay man organized

the 1963 March on
Washington, Bayard Rustin.

Could he come out at that time?

No.

What happened to him
after that singular event?

He was drummed out of
the Civil Rights movement

by black preachers who didn't want

to be associated with anybody homosexual.

And yet, what brought them
to that March wouldn't

have happened without him.

♫ We shall overcome

♫ We shall overcome someday ♫
- [Marlon] Jason,

dear Jason.

- Some of them looking like
girls but they ain't girls.

I mean, they got some
drag queens in Harlem,

that are together.

I mean, they coming and
out and they got fur coats

and collars and wigs for days.

And I mean they don't
slouch down the Avenue

like no East Side maid,
these broads tip, you know.

- [Marlon] Dear Jason,
when the people sang

the freedom songs.

- Mama said, you know, that's
Mamma children up there,

you all a little funny,
but you can't help it.

You know, somebody got
to give you a break.

- [Marlon] When the people
sang the freedom songs,

do you think they also sang them for you?

- Yeah, it gets next to you

that you're living some
bullshit that really

shouldn't exist but you're saying,

I guess this is my life, you know.

And I am going to swing with it, you know.

- [Marlon] How long, Jason?

How long have they sung about the freedom

and the righteousness and
the beauty of the black man

and ignored you?

How long?

Oh, dear fathers, tell me what to do.

I search for ancestral
affirmation to find only this:

pathos, or worse: historic erasure.

How much longer can I
walk this winding road?

(calm music)

♫ I cannot go home I cannot go home

♫ I cannot go home as who I am it seems

♫ Un-redeemed by what blood lost

♫ Unsaved by what grace

♫ And unnatural by whose standard

♫ They say

♫ That this is not true

♫ Manifold wonder

♫ They say

♫ Hold tight

♫ And oh yes, my, my, my
lord have mercy and cry

♫ Try, try, I try

♫ I cannot go home as who I am

♫ Past are the notions

♫ Past what was past

♫ Remembrance past

♫ Honey chile

♫ Say what to laughing

♫ Me oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my

♫ And I cannot go home as who I am ♫

- Oh Lord, we're down
here callin' on your name,

for we realize we can't
do nothing until you come.

Please sir, looking have mercy.

Bless everyone that's in this building.

- [ Marlon] As a child, the
church did offer a sense

of belonging, you know, I
mean a sense of community.

And that's important, I
think, for anyone who wants

to be nurtured in an environment,

of support and love, in coming together.

- I am very religious because I go

to church every Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday.

And I believe that religion should play

a very important part in everyone's life.

- Here in Mississippi,
religion it's often exaggerated

to a point where the child
is, the child is enclosed,

you know, you can't
even, some people I know,

some females I know, they
can't even, you know,

hardly come outside or watch
videos or anything like that.

And for punishment, you know,

they either get beat with a
Bible, or they have to stand

in the corner with a Bible in their arm.

And that kind of makes me,

that kind of makes me turn my head,

you know, to some religions.

- [Marlon] There's no
way that one could look

at the progress of black
people in this county,

from slavery on, without
acknowledging the wonderful role

that the church has played.

I mean the church was the
beacon toward freedom,

but it remains, unfortunately,
structured in this way

in which people are denied freedom

and the opportunity to explain
their greater humanity.

- God loves the individual,

but God does not love the homosexual part.

You see what I'm saying,
the sin that is involved,

God does not love.

But God, as a person,
Gods love the individual.

- I think that, recent
homophobic initiatives

being led by the Black church,
that's not about community.

That's the opposite.

- Religion is to bring mankind together,

not to disperse mankind,
so when you find something

that we call religion that's dividing

and separating mankind, it's not religion.

It's better not to have it.

- If you love then you will do love,

regardless to what's happening.

You don't, you don't show resentment

because love don't show hostility.

Love don't give you the mind

to get back at a person
who has mistreated you,

because you're so busy looking forward

and waiting for the guidance
of the Lord in your life,

that love will just guide you.

- No more chitlins and ribs and oop,

no more bacon fried,

Sunday morning on the way to church.

- Pork chop!

- Look out, no more pork
chops, girl pork chops

no more pork chops,

well, the black church just closed down.

- I chose this church
primarily because it's a gay

and lesbian church, over
the years growing up

in the South and being a product

of the southern Baptist church,

it was very restrictive to me,

as far as being a black woman.

And, here at Unity, I can bring all of me

whenever I come on Sunday.

- It was okay.

And such a small word
that meant so much, okay.

I was okay.

After an hour of service I was home.

This is the place that I belong.

I felt natural, I felt
myself, I felt love.

- There is a place where we can rejoice,

where I can rejoice.

I try as best I can to
always get my parishioners

to look at how we are all really alike.

And once you do that, we can then give

and receive healing one from the other.

♫ I'm so glad he prays, are you glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, are you glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, are you glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, I'm glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, I'm glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, I'm glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, I'm glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays, I'm glad

♫ I'm so glad he prays for me ♫

- [Voiceover] How are you feeling Marlon?

- I feel a little sort of under today,

my stomach is queasy
but its getting better.

- [Voiceover] 'Cause I
think it might, people need

to know why I'm interviewing
you and you're lying down

in your bed.

- Yeah, it's like when
I eat, if I eat too fast

my stomach gets bloated and
I stop digesting my food.

And I have this sort of
bloated queasy feeling.

So I'm here with the
hot pad on my stomach,

that's helping 'cause it's
starting to growl and digest.

How many children did you have?

- [Voiceover] Fifteen.

- [Marlon] Fifteen?

- Yeah, I run out.

- [Marlon] Are you
serious, fifteen children?

- 15, mother of 15.

- [Marlon] How did you
raise that many children?

- Oh, they wasn't nothing to raise

'cause people was
planting and raising corn

and sweet potatoes,
white potatoes and cane

and everything they wanted
then they was raising it,

all but the flour.

Raise hogs, cows, chickens,

geese, duck, guineas.

(chirping crickets)

- [Marlon] What was that, uh oh.

- Got him that time.

- [Marlon] You got him that time.

About time you grabbed him.

- I know he had to be slow.

- [Marlon] You gonna keep him?

- Yeah, he'll make a great steak.

- [Marlon] Yeah I know.

(laughing)

- You know I--

- When you asked about
family, you know what,

ask these kids here, Who
am I, I'm their cousin,

I'm his cousin, his father is my uncle,

but he raised me so they
call me their sister.

Their children call me
their Auntie, which I'm not.

But this is how close we are.

He calls me Auntie, I'm not his aunt.

His father is my first cousin,

but we come up as loving
each other and it brings a,

we're all different generations here, we--

- We coming to celebrate
Daddy's tenth anniversary

of his death.

And because Mtumishi is
the oldest of the family,

Mtumishi is going to give
us the Cepha, the libation.

- It is the tradition of our ancestors

to always give praise to
those who have gone before us.

So let us start.

May we always remember Harold St. Julien

and all those who have gone before us.

- [Voiceover] My father was
a good man, a sense of humor,

a great story teller.

- [Voiceover] The person who
loved me the most as a kid,

I felt, was my grandfather.

- [Marlon] Big Mama Vi is dead.

But I remember her so well.

Oh, she was so, she was shorter than me.

- [Voiceover] His smells fill my nostrils

with the scent of happiness.

- May our children and
our children's children

carry forth with pride the nobility

of our history and tradition.

(clapping)

- [Voiceover] Let's eat.

- [Voiceover] Family is love.

- [Voiceover] We all trust
each other and love each other

like that, you know.

- [Voiceover] Family to me
is just love and support.

- [Voiceover] It's just love.

Just someone that's just there for you,

it don't have to be a mother or a father,

it could be your next
door neighbor's grandmomma

(laughs)

but really it could.

- Back then we had a
family: the whole community;

we looked out for each other.

If someone butchered a pig,
the close people around them,

they would send them a piece of meat.

If their cow's giving milk,
or their cow quit giving milk,

they would call over and say,

"Send that boy ahead to
get a quart of milk,"

or some eggs or some
peas or some potatoes.

Now that is family, that's another family.

- My father grew up in
Maringo county, Alabama,

on the border of Mississippi,

and as a child I spent
summers with my uncles

and aunts who still lived on that land.

I just had so much fun, you know,

never had to put on a shoe,
we could run for acres

and miles and still be on
land that was, was ours,

that was my uncle's.

And my uncle grew cotton,
he grew watermelons,

he grew all kinds of greens.

- Handed down from
generation to generation.

My great-grandfather owned
this land from slavery,

got this land at 40 acres and a mule,

this is part of his 40 acres.

It's in your blood, it's
in your blood, you love it,

every minute of it.

If you didn't, you didn't like it

you wouldn't be bothered with this.

It's not just the money 'cause farmer,

farming is one of the
lowest paying jobs around,

you're doing it because you like it,

love it not like it, love it.

- I think that rural life symbolizes

for many of us backwardness.

Perhaps there is a tendency to want

to distance ourselves from our rural,

agrarian ways of living,
because of its association,

for African Americans, with slavery.

But there's also something else there.

They're memories there, there's joy there,

there's,

a willingness to remember.

(rapid beeping)

- The project in part deals
with my struggle with AIDS,

And I'm struggling in a deep way now.

(upbeat guitar music)

Once when I was visiting
my cousins in Baton Rouge,

a friend of theirs abraded me

for trying to talk proper.

"He don't talk proper,"
my cousins defended,

"he just from Texas."

- When I was a kid, they spoke a language

which we are now trying to preserve,

and they call it Gullah.

It's a part of the English language,

and then again it is different.

- If I take you to Land's End right now,

some people say,

"Pork it, pit that bat
sho, sho the boy yea,"

In Land's End, "Sho the
boy yea, sho the boy."

- No one can take that from
you, that Gullah language,

that is with the people who speaks Gullah.

I enjoy speaking to a young
man that was from Africa.

He was here, we sat and
drank coffee, we chatted,

and I like the way he spoke
because he speak like I do,

not like I'm doing now,
I mean in, in the accent

of how our people speak and myself before.

- [Marlon] When I listen to the voices

within my family, I hear the evolution

of rhythms and cadences from
generation to generation.

Big Mama still sounds country.

- Oh, Lordy, ain't that a shame.

How come you don't buy her some--

- [Marlon] Mama sounds
black but not country.

- I never cooked as a kid right,

never got in the kitchen or anything--

- [Marlon] My sister could
easily pass for white.

- And my boss's daughter is having a baby,

and her daughter's birthday is the 27th

and the baby's expected on the 27th.

- [Marlon] At Harvard,
people often marked me

for the difference in my voice.

I didn't sound country,
I didn't sound white,

but just as much I didn't sound black,

in the way so called black English

was spoken at Harvard or elsewhere.

- [Voiceover] What's happenin'?

- [Voiceover] What it is?

- [Voiceover] What it be like?

- [Voiceover] It's all you my brother.

- [Voiceover] Give me five.
- [Voiceover] Blood.

- [Voiceover] Right on, right on.

- [Voiceover] Peace out.

- [Voiceover] Girl, I heard that.

- [Voiceover] Stay cool.

- [Voiceover] Ain't it the truth.

- [Voiceover] Yo, yo, yo.
- [Voiceover] Whasup, whasup.

- [Voiceover] Work that booty.

- [Voiceover] Bring you're
tired black ass over here.

- [Voiceover] Get down, get down.

- [Voiceover] You no count,
frog face, lizard lip--

- [Voiceover] Give me some skin.

- [Voiceover] Its a black thang.

- [Voiceover] Can't you understand?

- [Voiceover] It's a black thing.

- [Voiceover] Can't you understand?

- I was very committed to
the Civil Rights Movement,

but I was constantly getting the message

that I was not black enough.

You know how they did
that back in those days,

they probably still do.

I was not black enough because
I was at an elite school,

I was not black enough because,

I spoke, you know,
fairly standard English.

- You're acting white,
or you're imitating,

you're mindlessly imitating
whites, is the critique.

You know, you're doing an Amos 'n Andy,

you're doing a Step 'n Fetchit.

- There was a time when
I felt ashamed almost

of the fact that I had studied in France

and studied in Germany, right,
because we were supposed

to be talking about Africa, not Europe.

- It's something you can always pull out.

Yeah, I mean, Why are you wearing shorts?

White people wear shorts.

I mean you can always use that.

- And I know the way I act

and the way I talk and the way I think,

reflects all the places that I've been

and I've been a lot of places.

- I mean there's sense in which everything

we've-ever done as Afro-
Americans can be interpreted

in that vein, and so it gets to a point

where that critique just
doesn't make any sense.

I mean after all,

we are speaking the
King's English right now.

- When I start speaking you know.

(speaking foreign language)

You gonna say to me, well
you're not really African.

And then when I go down the
block and talk to my man Umbake,

who's from Senegal and
we both speaking French,

and he is African, he was born in Africa,

and you with your African
self can't speak French,

then who's African, and
who's African American,

who's legit and who ain't?

- I've heard questions of blackness raised

when blacks moved into the suburbs, okay.

As we've moved up in the economic system

in this country, some of us,

there have been charges, well, you know,

that person's no longer black,

they don't come through the
hood, they don't even live here,

they live out, you know, 50
miles outside of the city,

they commute in every day,

their kids are going to
school with white kids,

listen to how their kids talk.

♫ Livin' way out

♫ Nigga's go home ♫

- There are those who would feel

that some members of the middle,

African American middle class,

no longer identify with being black.

But I think when you
define what being black

has to do with it, it
has nothing to do with,

it's not about economics.

It is not about economics,
it's really about values.

- We know where we've been.

We know what we've come from.

We know what we have to contribute.

It's a matter of constantly
saying how can you

in your small way, whatever you do,

it may not be as
significant as a Malcolm X

or a Martin Luther King,

but what have you done to give
back to the black community?

- Perhaps the standard,
frightening as it may be,

is the inner city for
defining what blackness is.

That you've got to, you
know, constantly be up

on the changes in the hip
language, the hip black language,

the hip black fashions,
the hip black music.

You got, to use your ghetto
experience as you know,

your American Express card.

♫ You only got yourself to blame

♫ Get a grip oreo

♫ And be true to the gang ♫

- Like, I'm born bred, raised Harlemite.

I knew what the hood was probably

before most of these kids were born.

And the reality is, do you live your life

in struggle around trying to prove a point

to someone that doesn't really give a damn

about your reality, or do you determine

what's important to you?

- I will pull out my blackness
and you pull out yours.

I have no problem in defending mine.

And I think I speak for a lot of people

in the African American middle class.

You know you can't, you
can't live in this society

and not be black, you know, the
society won't let you forget

you're black, but you don't
want to forget you're black.

(muffled pager announcement)

- [Marlon] Fatigue, nausea, fever, chills.

Strange how we adapt so easily

to extraordinary circumstances.

I've experienced an array
of illnesses and infections,

oral hairy cell leukoplakia, pneumonia,

gastrocolitus, herpes, anemia,
systemic blood infection,

gallstones, respiratory
failure, heart failure,

the list goes on and yet I am alive.

(slow jazz)

- [Voiceover] Good
morning, at least 30 fires

are burning in Los Angeles,
after a night of rage

in the city's black community.

Angry mobs set swooms of fires.

In the black south
central part of the city

There were so many voices,
the fire department.

(mumbling reporters)

At least two firefighters were wounded.

- [Voiceover] Losses by fire
alone reported at $200 million.

Nearly 3000 were arrested.

- We gotta make a living,
we gotta make a living

the best way we can.

If that means by selling dope
I guess we got to sell dope

Ain't nobody rich in the ghetto.

Nobody rich in the ghetto.

If we was rich we wouldn't be here.

- I ain't gonna be out here every day,

out here gang banging man.

After I graduate from high
school I'm going somewhere.

I ain't gonna be out here everyday,

it ain't shit our here
but pain, fuck this shit.

- If I had a chance to start
over again, I wouldn't,

I wouldn't turn down that wrong path,

I'd try to go the right
way, get my education.

I wouldn't be here
today I'd be here today,

but, I'd be in a right mind.

I wouldn't be gang banging.

I'd be telling ya'll a
whole different story

about a good life, it'd be
a whole different story.

I'd go to this school right here.

- See, cause right now I be
going to school every day.

Right now I do not miss school a day,

you know what I'm saying,

'cause I gotta have that education, man.

'Cause the white man is
not gonna let you do shit,

a high school diploma
ain't nothing no more.

You gotta have a, you
gotta master in something.

High school diploma ain't nothing no more,

man, you can't even work at McDonald's

with a high school diploma.

That's why, you know,
Ima try to be something.

And when I get up Ima take them with me,

you know what I'm saying.

'Cause I don't wanna leave
none of my friends or family

in the ghetto, 'cause there
ain't shit good in the ghetto.

- We gotta tell the little
generation how to grow.

See, nobody told us, you can't be gang,

that ain't good for you
that ain't good for you.

No, they let us grow up to gang banging,

it's too late now.

I ain't saying it's
too late, but, you know

- [Boy In White] It ain't never too late

- Yeah, it ain't never too late,

but we gotta tell the next generation

before they grow up and be
like us and it ain't even it.

(slow music)

- [Voiceover] Don't let it
be loneliness that kills us.

If we must die on the front line,

let us die loved by both sexes.

Don't let it be envy that drives us

to suck our thumbs or
shoot each other dead

over snake eyes.

Let us not be dancing with the wind

on heavy corners tattered by doom.

Let us not accept partial justice.

If we believe our lives are priceless

we can't be conquered.

If we must die on the front line

don't let loneliness kill us.

(clapping)

- This sets the tone for
what we're accomplishing.

Bloods and Crips being
able to shake hands,

go to parks together--

- [Voiceover] What
you're seeing right here

is history in the making,

and the tying of the
red and the blue knot,

is a significant indication
that these brothers

and sisters want an opportunity

to see 1993.
- Peace in the neighborhood.

- [Voiceover] Okay, it took
the riot, it took all this

and the police just beating King

and all that, to bring us together,

to realize that we just killing ourselves.

- We gotta learn to trust to each other.

You know, like they say, this truce

that's where it's gotta begin.

We got to learn to say, okay man,

I know we done.

Let's start trusting each other.

Let's take a, let's take that wall down.

Let me help you my brother, alright.

- But we don't even got unity yet man.

I go to church every Sunday
and we talk about unity,

and it's hard to get
Christians to have unity.

So, you know, we got to
have togetherness man.

We got to be black people as one.

- We have too many evil
allies, I believe myself.

That's why we don't, we can't get unity

within the black nation.

- I always get the sort of feeling

that when black people talk
about unity and community,

you know, that it's kind
of like a turf war thing,

you know.

We're gonna get together and
this is gonna be our block,

and if you come on our block, you know,

we're gonna kick your ass.

And I always think I'm
gonna be the one whose ass

is gonna get kicked.

- [Marlon] I think all black people

have to reconcile
themselves to each other,

to our differences and we have

to get over the notion that you can,

you can only be unified as a people

as long as everybody agrees.

You know, we don't achieve
freedom by those means.

- Well one, we've got to conceive
of new forms of community,

that we have multiple identities

and we're moving out
of various communities

all at the same time.

There's no one grand black community.

- It seems to me that we
would do well as black folks

to replace the notion of unity
with the notion of communion.

The root meaning of it would suggest

that our union is
fundamentally based on a notion

that we must be willing
and able to communicate

with one another.

Because I think that so often
when black folks evoke unity,

again it's the flattening
out of differences,

the sweeping certain things under the rug,

so that we can appear to be alike,

that we hold one stand,

that we have one position.

I think communion and it's
connection to the notion

of community might give us
greater strength and possibility.

("Lift Every Voice and Sing")

- [Voiceover] Marlon what kind of dreams

have you been having lately?

- [Marlon] Umm, dreams about dialysis.

Sometimes dreams in
which they're not dreams,

it's like MTV, I just
watch it sort of flashing,

different things flashing.

- [Voiceover] What about this dream

that you were having not too long ago,

when you were dreaming
about Harriet Tubman?

- [Marlon] This is when
I was feeling really sick

in the ER and so forth.

Just her coming and standing
by me, not saying anything

so I had to become aware of here presence,

and then just looking into my eyes

and then looking at the
river in front of us.

- [Voiceover] Where were you?

- [Marlon] I don't know,
some dark foresty place

with the river running through it.

And kind of running pretty fiercely,

and she didn't say anything,
it was with her eyes.

She just looked at me and then turned

and looked at the river
and we started walking.

Harriet and I walked across the river.

- [Voiceover] And what do you
think that dream is about?

- [Marlon] Overcoming the present crisis.

I mean, you know, there's
gonna be more, I know that.

I'm gonna be laid up
in the hospital again,

but as long as I have Harriet
and Black Is, Black Ain't

to go travelling with,

I'm gonna cross that river.

If I have work, then I'm not gonna die,

'cause work is a living spirit in me,

that which wants to
connect with other people

and pass on something, something to them

that they can use in their
own lives and grow from.

I know there'll come a time

when I won't be able to
get up out of this bed,

and all we can do is just take me home

and let me lie in my bed, and
I can look out the window.

And then it may reach a point

where I can't even open
up my eyes and I just

I'm lying there, and I want my mother

and I want my grandmother
and Jack to be there

to hold my hand and to
rub my head and feet

and let me die.

♫ I shall not be moved ♫

(upbeat piano)

If a people is like
gumbo, then you might ask,

What is the roux?

That special element that binds

and gives everything its distinct flavor.

- Well, you take some color,
a dash or a big dollop,

it don't matter and you
blend it with an assortment

of physical features
that reflect every face

you might possibly encounter
on this great earth.

Mix that up with a culture that just loves

to improvise, signify, reclaim,

renew and read.

And you've got it, the
recipe for black folk.

- So I wonder, why is there
still so much commotion

when we add a few salt-looking
people to the stew.

Black folk been looking like white folk

since the first traveler from Europe bred

with the first African
woman he encountered.

You let people of different
colors and cultures

come together and they're
bound to intermix.

And since nobody is
racially pure around here,

what sense does it make
for us to split hairs

and genes trying to figure out

who's got the true black blood?

- Still, some folks wanna go off

about this one acting too white

or that one not being black enough.

But honey let me ask you, what's enough?

And who's to judge?

Haven't we had enough of
folks telling other folks

what's proper, how to talk, who to love,

how to dress, wear your hair,

eat, drink, pray, make love, dance?

- It is time my sisters and brothers,

to wake up to a new day.

A new day of community,
where what unites us

are not some obsolete fictions about race,

but our common purpose of social struggle.

A new day, my beloveds,
of good will and communion

and hope and always laughter.

The time is nigh sisters and brothers!

- [Marlon] The statement
I would like to leave

as my own personal legacy
would be one of faith,

to have faith in each other
that we will come through

adversities whatever they might be.

And here, the adversity
is really our ability

to maintain a sense of communal self.

So, my faith is the belief
that we will achieve that,

that against all odds we'll come through.

("Lift Every Voice and Sing")

- You wanna know my recipe for gumbo?

Well, I cut up my onions and my celery,

get out a couple bay leaves
and drop them in the broth,

put some basil and black
pepper in there, too.

Then I go to the chicken
and begin seasoning it,

cut up some hot pepper
sausage and ground it

along with the chicken,
then shell some shrimp.

Chicken and sausage go into the broth

and I let things simmer.

Then I turn to my roux.

Now every person has a secret

about their roux and I have mine too,

so we'll leave it at that.

After finishing the roux, I mix it in,

with the simmering chicken,
stirring all the while

until the roux begins to thicken.

Then I just go away for a
time and let things cook.

About an hour or so I
put in my shelled shrimp,

some oysters, some crabs

and any other seafood I might like

until its all done.

Now that's gumbo.

♫ Lift every voice and sing

♫ Til earth and heaven ring

♫ Ring with the harmonies

♫ Of liberty

♫ Let our rejoicing rise

♫ High as the glistening sky

♫ Let it resound loud as the rolling sea

♫ Sing a song

♫ Full of the faith that
the dark past has taught us

♫ Sing a song

♫ Full of the hope that
the present has brought us

♫ Facing the rising sun

♫ Of our new day begun

♫ Let us march on 'til victory is won ♫

("Lift Every Voice and Sing")