Denzel Washington Monologues

Each of us is better than the worst thing we ever did.

I'm tired of doing the impossible for the ungrateful.

The real enemies aren't the ones on the outside, they're on the inside.

We are formed of frailty and error. Let us pardon reciprocally each other's follies. That is the first law of nature.

The ability to have conflicting ideas in one's head takes effort.

You know, all those years of practicing, scouring law books, achieving technical triumphs through loopholes and ambiguities, none of which were adequate to save me from the reality of my present situation. Then today, in the middle of nowhere, lost, I had a revelation; an insight so sweeping, so clear. It's me George. See, I didn't see it before because I never experienced the other side. I'm the defendant and the plaintiff simultaneously. I file against myself, I represent myself, I convict myself, hereby expanding the full scope of the legal desert, because the judgment's built in. The only thing left is forgiveness and I grant that to myself. An act doesn't make the person guilty unless the mind is guilty as well.

Well, I'm sorry for taking a nanosecond off of your assembly-line, rubber stamp existence

I think you brought me in to put your feet to the fire 'cause you're tired of treating low-income clients like dollar signs, and maybe because you remember what it feels like to actually care. That's what I think, George.

I need money." -chuckles drily- "Badly. Of course. But what I really need, George, is an ally. I've been waiting to meet someone of your high caliber, and yes, I am selective. So what I'm offering to you, right out here, now, is the chance to partner with me. On a piece of groundbreaking litigation I've been working on for over seven years now. Inside this case, is arguably the most important legal brief in modern legal history. A sweeping federal challenge that could yield nothing less than a grand new era of social reform, and I say that with all due confidence. The constitution guarantees us the right to a fair trial, but there can't be any fairness is ninety-five percent of all cases never get heard. Criminal cases never get heard by a jury or a judge. I am building a wholly original class action lawsuit with over thirty-five hundred names, all former clients, aimed at the heart of-of-of plea bargain reform. I'm talking about reforming the system where prosecutors are trying to pull sentences out of their hat, where actual guilt or innocence is being completely replaced by fear of having your day in court. Where people are being forced... George, to plead guilty, under the threat of overly harsh, and coercive sentences. It's a job for a legend, or someone who wants to be one.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle. Life is but a walking shadow… a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot… full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell that summons thee to Heaven or to Hell.

O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife. Thou knowest that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. And in his royalty of nature reigns that which would be feared. 'Tis much he dares. And, to that dauntless temper of his mind, he hath the wisdom to guide his valor to act in safety. There's none but he whose being I do fear.

Out, out, brief candle. Life is but a walking shadow… a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

C'mon Azazel. Open your eyes

Look around sometimes.

You're right I don't. You know why? Because cigarettes kill. Especially cigarettes laced with poison.

The same kind of poisons you used to kill my brother.

Yeah I know. It was so sweet.

Time, is on my side. Yes it is.

You take any cop on the force, cream or no, ninety-nine percent of the time they're doing their job, aren't they?

Point five. So he or she, cream or no, is doing more good out there every day than any lawyer or stockbroker or president of the United States can ever do in their lifetime. Cops are the chosen people.

Something is always happening, but when it happens, people don't always see it, or understand it... or accept it.

Why are we here? Us, humans? I mean there's six billion of us, we're like ants, I mean do we care what ants do, from a moral standpoint?

I don't know. I can't seem to get my mind around it. I got a bad feeling about this.

Yeah, I mean, you know, I go to church every now and then. What I see in my line of work... faith's a little hard I sustain.

There are moments which mark your life. Moments when you realize nothing will ever be the same and time is divided into two parts, before this, and after this... Sometimes you can feel such a moment coming. That's the test, or so I tell myself. I tell myself that at times like that, strong people keep moving forward anyway, no matter what they're going to find.

Sometimes, I think the basic job that human beings have is just to figure out what the hell is going on.

I know you're here.

Haven't you had enough? You made me kill an innocent man, you...

murdered by brother, come on out you son of a bitch! How much fun can you have, huh?

The criminals don't accept consequences. They kill somebody, somehow it's not their fault.

I knew you'd come. Haven't you done enough? You made me kill an innocent man. You

murdered my brother! Come out, you son of a bitch! How much more fun can you have!

I can feel the love in this room man.

Some of these people make me sick. But a law's been broken here. You do remember the law, don't you?

The Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination against otherwise qualified handicapped persons who are able to perform the duties required by their employment. Although the ruling did not address the specific issue of HIV and AIDS discrimination…

This is the essence of discrimination: formulating opinions about others not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in a group with assumed characteristics.

We're standing here in Philadelphia, the, uh, city of brotherly love, the birthplace of freedom, where the, uh, founding fathers authored the Declaration of Independence, and I don't recall that glorious document saying anything about all straight men are created equal. I believe it says all men are created equal.

Explain this to me like I'm a six year old, didn't you have an obligation to tell your employers you had this deadly infectious disease?

And they don't want to fire you for having AIDS so in spite of your brilliance they make you look incompetent thus the mysterious is that what you're trying to tell me?

Thank you. Your honor

, imagine how the children in this neighborhood are being made to feel: the constant pounding o-of construction ringing in their ears as this skyscraper - a *tribute* to mankind's greed - grows daily; casting an ominous shadow over their lives, filling them with dread even as they are surrounded by this toxic dust.

Let's not go off the deep end gentlemen. You've made an articulate and compelling presentation Mr. Miller, but I don't believe you've proven irreparable harm.

Not yet your honor.

ladies and gentlemen of the jury: forget everything you've seen on television and in the movies. There's not going to be any last minute surprise witnesses, nobody's going to break down on the stand with a tearful confession, you're going to be presented with simple facts. Andrew Beckett was fired and you'll two explanations on why he was fired, ours and theirs it's up to you to sit through layer upon layer of truth until you determine for yourself which version sounds the most true. There's certain points I must prove to you: point number one: Andrew Beckett was... is a brilliant lawyer, a great lawyer, point number two: my client afflicted with a disabling disease made the understandable, the personal, and the legal choice to keep the fact of his illness to himself point number three: his employers discovered his illness and ladies and gentlemen the illness I'm referring to is AIDS point number four: they panicked and in their panic they did what most would do which is just get "it" and everybody who has "it" as far as away as possible, the behavior of my client's employers seem reasonable to you, it does to me, after all AIDS is a deadly incurable disease but no matter how you come to judge Charles Wheeler and his partners in ethical and moral and inhuman terms, the fact of the matter is when they fired Andrew Beckett because he has AIDS they broke the law.

When you pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too.

I've done some bad things in my life, Nicolai… Things I'm not proud of. I promised someone I love very much that I would never go back to being that person… But for you, I'll make an exception.

Oh, it's about a guy who thinks he's a knight in shining armor. The only thing is, he lives in a world where knights don't exist anymore.

That girl, Alana… She's gonna go on living. You… You're gonna bleed out all over this funky floor… All over 9,800 dollars.

The men I killed, your men... I gave them a chance, they made their decision... Now I'm giving you the opportunity to make yours.

My wife did. She... She was working through the 100 Books Everybody Should Read. She made it to 97, so I figured... I'd give it a shot... And one day we'd have something to talk about when we get together.

Take singing lessons. Then I'm gonna open a donut factory. I am… What? Why you laughing?

Tomorrow you'll have returned all the money you extorted from those people. You'll tell them it will never happen again. Do that, and this video will never be seen... Don't, and a half an hour later you'll watch the uncut version on every news outlet in the area. Now I'm offering you a chance to do the right thing. Take it.

There you go. Thank you very much. There you go. Mr. Pushkin thanks you very much. We're going out of business. Closing down shop. Mr. Pushkin thanks you very much. There you are, sweetheart. Here you go. You're welcome. Accept these parting gifts on behalf of Mr. Pushkin. There you go. Three, two... Look at that, perfect... One. Thank you. Thank you, sweetheart.

Your heart's beating three times the normal rate because you're losing so much blood. About 30 seconds, your body's gonna shut down… and you're gonna suffocate. Alina, the girl you beat half to death, her life will go on. Yours is gonna end right here, on this funky floor… over $9,800. You should have taken the money.

26 one-thousand... 27 one-thousand... 28 one-thousand... I'm sorry.

Why waste city services when I got two corrupt cops right in front of me?

Your hands. If you really work on power lines, your hands wouldn't look like that. We gotta be waiting for somebody else.

What if that were me? You gonna leave me to die of smoke inhalation? I'm a buck-90. How you gonna pull me out of a burning building if you can't pull a tire 20 yards?

The most important thing in business is honesty, integrity, hardwork... family... never forgetting where we came from.

See, ya are what ya are in this world. That's either one of two things: Either you're somebody, or you ain't nobody.

My man. You know what normal is to me? I ain't see normal since I was 6 years old. Normal is seeing the police ride up to my house, dragging my 12 year old cousin out and tying him to a pole, shoving a shotgun in his mouth so hard they bust his teeth, then they bust two shotgun shells in his head, knocking it off. That's what normal is to me. Didn't give a fuck about no police then… Don't give a fuck about no police now.

The man I worked for, he had one of the biggest companies in New York City- he ran it for more than fifty years. Fifteen years, eight months, nine days- I was with him every day. I looked after him, took care of him, protected him… I learned from him. Bumpy was rich, but he wasn't white man rich, you see he wasn't wealthy. He didn't own his own company. He thought he did, but he didn't. He just managed it. White man owned it so they owned him. Nobody owns me, though. Because I own my company. And my company sells a product that's better than the competition at a price that's lower than the competition.

That's a clown suit. That's a costume, with a big sign on it that says "Arrest me". You understand? You're too loud, you're making too much noise. Listen to me, the loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.

This is my home. My country. Frank Lucas don't run from nobody. This is America.

We ain't gon' do shit about it. Close it up. Throw it back in the trunk. Everybody go home. Have some pumpin pie, warm apple cider...

I sell a product that's better than the competition at a price that's less than the competition.

I tell you what I know maybe I should just uh, put five hundred guns out there on the street and just start shooting up some people just to make a point.

Bumpy Johnson may have been rich, but he wasn't white man rich. He wasn't wealthy.

This is my home. This is where my business is, my wife, my mother, my family. This is my country, I ain't goin' nowhere.

What's with this outfit? You know what it says? You wanna know what it says? Arrest me!

I don't care what you call it, put a choke-hold on the motherfucker and call it Blue Dog Shit.

I've been paying off Johnny law since I was ten years old I put more kids through college than the National Merit Award this is different though, these special investigative unit that's their problem they think their "special"

Let me ask you something. You think by putting me in jail, you're going to stop even one junkie from dying? Because you won't. If it isn't me, it'll be someone else. With me or without me, nothing's going to change.

What you want me to do? Snitch? I know you don't want no cops. What you want? Gangsters? Pick one. Jew gangsters, mick gangsters, guinees? They been bleeding Harlem dry since they got off the boat. I don't give a fuck about no crime figures. You can have them.

Bumpy ain't hardly ever go out no more. After a certain point he stayed in the house. Watch TV. Play chess. Read the newspaper. I thought he was just trying to lead the quiet life, but no, he couldn't go nowhere. Not without something happening.

People had more than they needed. We had no idea what was precious and what wasn't. We threw away things people kill each other for now.

Cursed be the ground for our sake. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for us. For out of the ground we were taken, for the dust we are… and to the dust we shall return

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.He restores my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me

Write everything exactly as I say it. The first book of Moses, called Genesis. Chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Verse 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Verse 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Thank you lord for a warm bed to sleep on, thank you for the food we are about to eat, thank you for a roof over our heads on cold nights such as this, thank you for companionship in hard times like these, Amen.

The war tore a hole in the sky, the sun came down, burnt everything, everyone, I wandered, I didn't really know what I should do or where I was going. I was just moving from place to place, trying to stay alive. And then one day I heard this voice. I don't know how to explain it, it's like it was coming from inside me. But I could hear it clear as day. Clear as I can hear you talking to me now. It told me to carry the book west, it told me that a path would be laid out before me, that I'd be led to a place where the book would be safe. It told me I'd be protected, against anyone or anything that tried to stand in my way. If only I would have faith. That was thirty years ago and I've been walking ever since.

People had more than they needed, people didn't know what was precious and what wasn't, people threw away things they kill each other for now.

"I know who you are. Murderer of innocent travelers on the road. You're gonna be held to account for the things you've done, do you know that? Do you?

In all these years I've been carrying it and reading it every day, I got so caught up in keeping it safe that I forgot to live by what I learned from it.

Dear Lord, thank you for giving me the strength and the conviction to complete the task you entrusted to me. Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path. And for keeping me resolute when all around seemed lost. Thank you for your protection and your many signs along the way. Thank you for any good that I may have done, I'm so sorry about the bad. Thank you for the friend I made. Please watch over her as you watched over me. Thank you for finally allowing me to rest. I'm so very tired, but I go now to my rest at peace. Knowing that I have done right with my time on this earth. I fought the good fight, I finished the race, I kept the faith.

I AM NOT GOING TO BURY MY SON! MY SON IS GOING TO BURY ME!

Just try to stay awake for a minute, son, I need to tell you a few things.

You always listen to your mother, understand? Do what she tells you to do. She's your best friend. Tell her you love her every day. You're too young for girls right now but there's gonna come a time, and when it does, you treat them like princesses, because that's what they are. When you say you're gonna do something, you do it. Because your word is your bond, son, that's all you have. And money, you make money if you get a chance. Even if you gotta sell out every once in a while, you make as much money as you can. Don't be stupid like your father - everything is so much easier with money, son. Don't smoke. Be kind to people. If somebody chooses you, you stand up, you be a man. And you stay away from the bad things, son. Please, don't be caught up in the bad things - there are so many great things out there for you. I'll never leave you. I'm always with you, right there.

I love you son.

My son is dying, and I'm broke. If I don't qualify for Medicare, WHO THE HELL DOES?

The hospital is under new management now! Free health care for everyone!

What? Wha- I-I mean-I mean, you guys have been taking money out of my paycheck every week. I've been paying into this policy for years.

You can't be right. I mean, come on. Alright, let me get this straight: You're telling me that you have dropped me from full-time to part-time. You switched carriers. Now you're telling me I'm not fully covered? Even though I got a policy that says I am?

No, it doesn't seem right. I mean, my son is sick. If I'm not covered, I've got a serious problem.

I don't scratch my head unless it itches and I don't dance unless I hear some music. I will not be intimidated. That's just the way it is.

We leave for camp: Gettysburg College, August 15th, 7:29 am. If you show up at 7:30, you will not be playing football this season, you will be watching. You will wear a jacket and tie. If you don't have one, buy one. Can't afford one, borrow one from your old man. Don't have an old man, find a drunk, and trade for his. Cause I guarantee you, there ain't a bum on the street that looks as raggedy and ridiculous as what I'm looking at. This is no democracy. It is a dictatorship. I am the law. If you survive camp, you will be on the team. If… you survive.

This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other of not, but you will respect each other. And maybe… I don't know, maybe we'll learn to play this game like men.

You take a look at her. Cause once you step on that bus you aint got your mama no more. You got your brothers on the team and you got your daddy. You know who your daddy is, doncha? Gary, if you want to play on this football team, you answer me when I ask you who is your daddy? Who's your daddy, Gary? Who's your daddy?

And who's team is this, Gerry? Is this your team? Or is this your daddy's team?

Now get on the bus. Put on your jacket first and then get on the bus.

What did you say?

A water break? Water is for cowards. Water makes you weak. Water is for washing blood off that uniform and you don't get no blood on my uniform, boy you must be outside your mind! We are going to do up-downs, until Blue is no longer tired, and thirsty.

We will be perfect in every aspect of the game. You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a blocking assignment, you run a mile. You fumble the football, and i will break my foot off in your John Brown hind parts and then you will run a mile. Perfection. Let's go to work.

Now I may be a mean cuss. But I'm the same mean cuss with everybody out there on that football field. The world don't give a damn about how sensitive these kids are, especially the young black kids. You ain't doin' these kids a favor by patronizing them. You crippling them; You crippling them for life.

You look like a bunch of fifth grade sissies after a cat fight! You got anger, that's good you're gonna need it, you got aggression that's even better you're gonna need that, too. But any little two year old child can throw a fit! Football is about controlling that anger, harnessing that aggression into a team effort to achieve perfection!

Yes you can. When I was fifteen years old I lost my mother and my father in the same month Ronnie, same month. 12 brothers and sisters I was the youngest one of them, now I wasn't ready either, but they needed me. Your team needs you tonight, you're the Coronel, you're going to command your troops! Twins right 48 zero read, go!

Ladies and gentleman! I've got an announcement to make. We got Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin going to camp with us this year. Jerry tells the jokes, Dean sings the songs and gets the girl. Let's give em a round of applause.

Tonight we've got Hayfield. Like all the other schools in this conference, they're all white. They don't have to worry about race. We do. let me tell you somthing: you don't let anyone come between us. Nothing tears us apart. In Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power. Well that football field out there, that's our universe. Let's rule it like titans.

It's all right. We're in a fight. You boys are doing all that you can do. Anybody can see that. Win or lose... We gonna walk out of this stadium tonight with our heads held high. Do your best. That's all anybody can ask for.

I'm not gonna talk to you tonight about winnin' and losin'. You're already winners 'cause you didn't kill each other up at camp.

I'm a winner. I'm going to win.

Well, that is obvious, but we don't know if it's obvious that God is white. The honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that Jesus did not have blond hair and blue eyes. The honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that the images of Jesus that are on prison walls and churches throughout the world are not historically correct; because, history teaches us that Jesus was born in a region where the people had color. There's proof in the very Bible that you've asked us to read in Revelations, first chapter, verses 14 and 15, that Jesus had hair like wool and feet the color of brass.

You may be shocked by these words, but I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass and prayed to the same God with fellow Muslims whose eyes were blue, whose hair was blond and whose skin was the whitest of whites. And we are brothers, truly; people of all colors and races believing in One God and one humanity. Once before, in prison, the truth came and blinded me. It has happened again... In the past, I have permitted myself to be used to make sweeping indictments of all white people, and these generalizations have caused injuries to some white folks who did not deserve them. Because of the spiritual rebirth which I was blessed to undergo as a result of my pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of one race. I intend to be careful not to sentence anyone who has not been proven guilty. I'm not a racist and do not subscribe to any of the tenets of racism. In all honesty and sincerity it can be stated that I wish nothing but freedom, justice and equality: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all people. My first concern, of course, is with the group to which I belong, the Afro-Americans, for we, more than any other, are deprived of these inalienable rights. I believe the true practice of Islam can remove the cancer of racism from the hearts and souls of white Americans.

Brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you that I charge the white man. I charge the white man with being the greatest murderer on earth. I charge the white man with being the greatest kidnapper on earth. There is no place in this world that this man can go and say he created peace and harmony. Everywhere he's gone, he's created havoc. Everywhere he's gone, he's created destruction. So I charge him. I charge him with being the greatest kidnapper on this earth! I charge him with being the greatest murderer on this earth! I charge him with being the greatest robber and enslaver on this earth! I charge the white man with being the greatest swine-eater on this earth. The greatest drunkard on this earth! He can't deny the charges! You can't deny the charges! We're the living proof of those charges! You and I are the proof. You're not an American, you are the victim of America. You didn't have a choice coming over here. He didn't say, "Black man, black woman, come on over and help me build America". He said, "Nigger, get down in the bottom of that boat and I'm taking you over there to help me build America". Being born here does not make you an American. I am not an American, you are not an American. You are one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of America. You and I, we've never see any democracy. We didn't see any… democracy on the-the cotton fields of Georgia, wasn't no democracy down there. We didn't see any democracy. We didn't see any democracy on the streets of Harlem or on the streets of Brooklyn or on the streets of Detroit or Chicago. Ain't no democracy down there. No, we've never seem democracy! All we've seen is hypocrisy! We don't see any American Dream. We've experienced only the American Nightmare!

I must emphasize at the outstart that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is not a politician. So I'm not here this afternoon as a Republican, nor as a Democrat; not as a Mason, nor as an Elk; not as a Protestant, nor a Catholic; not as a Christian, nor a Jew; not as a Baptist, nor a Methodist. In fact, not even as an American, because if I was an American, the problem that confronts our people today wouldn't even exist. So I have to stand here today as what I was when I was born: a black man. Before there was any such thing as a Republican or a Democrat, we were black. Before there was any such thing as a Mason or an Elk, we were black. Before there was any such thing as a Jew or a Christian, we were black people! In fact, before there was any such place as America, we were black! And after America has long passed from the scene, there will still be black people. I'm gonna tell you like it really is. Every election year these politicians are sent up here to pacify us! They're sent here and setup here by the White Man! This is what they do! They send drugs in Harlem down here to pacify us! They send alcohol down here to pacify us! They send prostitution down here to pacify us! Why you can't even get drugs in Harlem without the White Man's permission! You can't get prostitution in Harlem without the White Man's permission! You can't get gambling in Harlem without the White Man's permission! Every time you break the seal on that liquor bottle, that's a Government seal that you're breaking! Oh, I say and I say it again, ya been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok! This is what He does.

To understand this man, you must know that historically there are two kinds of slaves. The House Negro and the Field Negro. The house Negro lived in the big house; he dressed pretty good; he ate pretty good and he loved the master. Yeah, he loved him more than the master loved himself. If the master's house caught fire, he'd be the first to put the blaze out. If the master got sick, he'd say: "What's a matter, boss; we sick?" We sick! If someone said to him, "Let's run away and escape. Let's separate." He'd say, "Man, are you crazy? What's better than what I got here?" That was the House Negro. In those days, he was called the House Nigger. Well, that's what we call them today because we still got a lot of House Niggers running around.

If the so-called Negro in America, was truly an American citizen, we wouldn't have a racial problem. If the Emancipation Proclamation was authentic, we wouldn't have a race problem. If the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution were authentic, we wouldn't have a race problem. If the Supreme Court desegregation decision were authentic, we would not have a race problem. But you have to see that all of this is hypocrisy! These Negro leaders have been telling the white man everything is all right, everything is under control. And they've been telling the white man that Mr. Muhammad is wrong, don't listen to him. But everything Mr. Muhammad has been saying is going to come to pass is now coming to pass and now the Negro leaders are standing up saying that we are about to have a racial explosion. We're going to have a racial explosion and that's more dangerous than an atomic explosion. It's going to explode because black people are dissatisfied. They're dissatisfied now not only with the white man, but with these Negroes who have been sitting around here posing as leaders and spokesmen for black people. Anytime you put too many sparks around a powder keg, the thing is going to explode and if the thing that explodes is still inside the house, then the house will be destroyed. So the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is telling the white man get this powder keg out of your house, let the black people in this country separate from him while there's still time. And if the black man is allowed to separate and go on onto some land of his own, where he can solve his problems, then there won't be any explosion. Complete separation is the only solution to the black and white problem in this country!

Like every hustler, I was trapped. Cats that hung out together trying to find a solution found nothing. Cats that might have probed space or cured cancer, West Indian Archie might have been a mathematical genius... but we were all victims of the American social order.

I was special. The only colored kid in the class. I became sort of a mascot. Like a pink poodle. I was called a nigger so many times, I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. I thought that was my name. They talked about me like I wasn't there. Like I was a pedigreed dog or a horse. Like I was invisible.

You know, some people call this hate-teaching. This isn't hate-teaching. This is love-teaching. l wouldn't tell you this if l didn't love you. l wouldn't stick my neck out for you if l didn't love you.

So what do I say about this national day of mourning, so-called national day of mourning. I say the White Man's acts of violence should be condemned, not only by our beliefs, but by his own. Now the Holy Koran teaches us that those who work evil, will be condemned or punished or judged, according to their works. The Holy Bible teaches us that you reap what you sow. This is divine justice. Well, in the soil of the Americas the White Man has planted the seeds of hatred. He's planted the seeds of violence. He's allowed those weeds to, grow up and, choke the lives out of millions of black men and women for the last 400 years, in fact, the lives of lndians in these Americas for the last 500 years. And now those same weeds, have choked one of his own gardeners. In fact, his chief gardener. You ask me what l say. l only say what the Bible says. l say what the Koran says… l say it's justice.

We are taught that Paul, on the road to Damascus, heard the voice of Christ. He was so smitten by the truth that he fell from his horse. Now, I don't liken myself to Paul; but, I do understand. You see, it happened to me.

Let me talk to you for one second, brother. Listen, l know you're a smart man. I can tell you're a wise man. You look good. Now, you're in church every day, kneeling, praying to this God. Now, I'm telling you, these so-called white Christians, they're hanging our black Christians from trees, brother. This is the man that hates you. He tells you he loves you; but, he doesn't do anything for you. He tells you to foam at the mouth. He tells you to faint and sing and shout and hope for something in the hereafter. We can have it right now, brother. We can have it right now.

Oh, l'm so surprised! l'm so surprised! You all been in church two hours and you're expecting to see heaven out here and there ain't no heaven. You're still right here on earth. Sister, why don't you come on down to the temple? Come down to the temple at two o'clock. You'll hear truth. Hear the black man's truth! No, you can't deny it. You been down on your knees for the last two hours, haven't you? Begging some God to help you in the hereafter. But the hereafter is right now, brother. The hereafter is here and now.

As-Salaam-Alaikum. You know what that means, brother? That means, "Peace be unto you."

You don't have to come here every day begging these folks for a job. Why, you can wash their clothes for 'em. You can scrub their floors. You can rock their little brats to sleep for the rest of your life. You'll still end up poor and without anything. And yet you're out here on the auction block. They're examining you like you're a - a chicken or a horse or a slave. You see this here? This is who you are. Beautiful. Your beautiful black selves - with pride and dignity.

These are the questions you and l have to ask: "How did we get this mind?" You're not an American. You're an African who happens to *be* in America. You have to understand the difference.

Shorty? ls that you, brother? Praise be to Allah. Now, this is exactly what l'm talking about, the slave mentality. The slave mind. This brother and l, we had the slave mind. We used to rob together. We used to sleep with white women. We even went to prison together. Now, don't be surprised when I say we went to prison; because, some of you are still in prison. Right now. Prisons of your mind.

The honorable Elijah Muhammad is trying to teach you and l,that just as the white man and any other man, for that matter, on this earth, has the God-given right, the human right, the civil right, the natural right, and any other kind of i-right you can think of, to protect himself, just as this white man has the right to defend himself, we have the right to defend ourselves too. This is only natural. This is what the honorable Elijah Muhammad is trying to teach you and I. He's not teaching us to hate the white man. He's teaching us to love ourselves.

"Father" only means that you're taking care of your children. That's what it is to be a father. "Father" doesn't mean that you're having some babies. Anybody can have a baby. Having a baby does not make you a father. Anybody can go out and get a woman. But not anybody can take care of that woman. There's another word for it. lt's called responsibility.

For the white man to ask the black man why he hates him, is like the wolf asking the sheep, or the rapist asking the raped, "Do you hate me?" The white man is in no moral position to accuse the black man of anything.

Whites can help us, but they can't join us. There can't be black-white unity until there's first some black unity. We cannot think of uniting with others until we have first learned to unite amongst ourselves. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.

l don't think anybody here would deny that when you send chickens out in the morning from your barnyard, those chickens will return that evening to your barnyard, not your neighbor's barnyard. I think this is a prime example of the devil's chickens coming back home to roost. That the chickens that he sent out, the violence that he's perpetrated in other countries, here and abroad, four children in Birmingham, or Medgar Evers, or the mangrove in Africa. I think this same violence has come back to claim one of their own. Now, being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never made me sad. ln fact, it's only made me glad.

My father was not a frightened negro, as most were and as many still are today. He was six feet four and a very strong man. He believed, as did Marcus Garvey, that freedom, independence and self-respect would never be achieved by the negro in America... And, therefore, black men should leave America and return to their land of origin.

My mother was a proud woman, an educated woman, a strong woman. She was very fair-skinned because her mother was raped by a white man. One of the reasons she married my father was because he was so black. She hated her complexion, white blood in her body, and wanted her children to have some color. In fact, I think this had a profound effect on me back then and on most negroes today. Because so many of our sisters have been raped or violated by the white man, the black man can't wait to get their hands on the white man's prize: white women.

Oh, my brothers and sisters, his kind has committed God's greatest crime against your and my kind every day of his life! He ought to get on his knees and say he's committed a crime. But does he do that? Does he do that? No. No, he scorns you. He splits your head with his nightstick. He busts you up side the head with that billy club. And he calls you a nigger. I'm telling you he calls you a coon. That's what he says to you. "Boy!" "Nigger!" Four hundred years is long enough. You've been sitting down and laying down and bowing down for 400 years. And l think it's time to stand up. l think it's time to stand up.

And the white people who have practiced white supremacy, try to hide their guilt by accusing the honorable Elijah Muhammad of being a black supremacist, simply because he's trying to uplift the mentality, the social and economic condition of his people. And the Jews who have been guilty of exploiting black people, for I don't know how long, try to hide their guilt by accusing the honorable Elijah Muhammad of being anti-Semitic, simply because he's trying to teach you and l - simply because he's trying to teach you and I to - to be in charge of the businesses in our own community. To own the businesses in our own community. To have economic leadership in our own community. No! No, this isn't black supremacy, this is black intelligence.

The black people in this country have been the victims of violence at the hands of the American right wing for 400 years. Four hundred years. Four hundred years. And we thought by following those ignorant Negro preachers that it was God-like to turn the other cheek to the group that was brutalizing us. A hundred years ago, they used to put on white sheets and sic bloodhounds on us. Well, nowadays, they've traded in the sheets - well, some of them have traded in the sheets - they've traded in the sheets - please, please - they've traded in those white sheets for police uniforms. They traded in the bloodhounds for police dogs.

You've got these Uncle Tom negro leaders today that tell us we ought to pray for our enemies. We ought to love our enemy. We ought to integrate with an enemy who bombs us, who kills and shoots us, who lynches us, who rapes our women and children. No! No! No! That's not intelligent! That's not intelligent!

During slavery time, the slave master gave the negro - the so-called negro - named the so-called negro after themselves. The honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that once we come into the knowledge of lslam, the knowledge of ourselves, we replace our slave name with an "X". "X" in mathematics representing the unknown. Since we've been disconnected, or cut off from our own history, our own past, our own culture, our own land, we use the "X," the unknown, until we get back to our country.

l'm not out to fight other negro leaders. As of this minute, l've forgotten every bad thing that other leaders have said about me and l also pray they forget the many bad things that l have said about them. We must work together. We must find a common solution to a common problem.

Like you? I go outta here every morning, I bust my butt 'cause I like you? You're about the biggest fool I ever saw. A man is supposed to take care of his family. You live in my house, feed your belly with my food, put your behind on my bed because you're my son. It's my duty to take care of you, I owe a responsibility to you, I ain't got to like you! Now, I gave everything I got to give you! I gave you your life! Me and your Mama worked out between us and liking your black ass wasn't part of the bargain! Now don't you go through life worrying about whether somebody like you or not! You best be makin' sure that they're doin' right by you! You understand what I'm sayin'?

When he turned to face me, I knew why the devil never come and get him 'cause he was the devil himself. I don't know what happened. I woke up, laying there by the creek, and Blue, this old dog we had, he was licking my face. Both my eyes were swoll shut. I thought I was blind, I couldn't see nothing. I just laid there and cried. And I didn't know what I was gonna do. But I knew the time had come for me to leave my daddy's house. Suddenly, the world got big, and it was a long time before I could cut it down to where I could handle it. Part of that cutting down was where I got to the place where I could feel him kicking in my blood, and I knew the only thing that separated us was a matter of a few years.I hope he's dead. I hope he found some peace.

All right, Mr. Death. I tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build me a fence around this yard, see? I'm gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side. You stay over there till you're ready for me, then you come on. Bring your army, bring your sickle, bring your wrestling clothes. I ain't gonna fall down on my vigilance this time. You ain't gonna sneak up on me no more. When you ready for me, when the top of your list say Troy Maxson, then you come on up and knock on the front door. Ain't nobody else got nothing to do with this. This between you and me. Man to man! You stay on the other side of that fence till you ready for me!

Rose'll tell you. When I first met her, she ask me if I had gotten all that foolishness out of my system. I said: Baby, it's you and baseball, all what count to me. You hear me, Bono? And I meant it, too. She said: Which one come first? I said: Well, ain't no doubt it's baseball. But you stick and get old with me, and we'll both outlive this baseball! Am I right, Rose? And it's true.

I spend my money where I'm treated right. I go down to Bella, say, I need a loaf of bread, I'll pay you Friday, she gives it to me. What sense that make when I got money to spend it somewhere else and ignore the person who done right by me? That ain't in the Bible.

I don't care what nobody say. I'm the boss. You understand? I'm the boss around here. I do the only saying what counts.

Aww, you motherfuckers. Okay. Alright. I'm putting cases on all you bitches. Huh. You think you can do this shit… Jake. You think you can do this to me? You motherfuckers will be playing basketball in Pelican Bay when I get finished with you. SHU program, nigga. 23 hour lockdown. I'm the man up in this piece. You'll never see the light of… who the fuck do you think you're fucking with? I'm the police, I run shit around here. You just live here. Yeah, that's right, you better walk away. Go on and walk away… 'cause I'm gonna' burn this motherfucker down. King Kong ain't got shit on me. That's right, that's right. Shit, I don't, fuck. I'm winning anyway, I'm winning… I'm winning any motherfucking way. I can't lose. Yeah, you can shoot me, but you can't kill me.

Today's a training day, Officer Hoyt. Show you around, give you a taste of the business. I got 38 cases pending trial, 63 in active investigations, another 250 on the log I can't clear. I supervise five officers. That's five different personalities. Five sets of problems. You can be number six if you act now. But I ain't holding no hands, okay? I ain't baby-sitting. You got today and today only to show me who and what you're made of. You don't like narcotics, get the fuck out of my car. Go get you a nice, pussy desk job, chasing bad checks or something, you hear me?

What a day. What a motherfuckin' day.