[soft vinyl crackle]
[solemn, nostalgic music]
[music continues]
[music fades]
["Lightyears" by Juan Atkins
and Moritz Von Oswald plays]
[inaudible]
[inaudible]
[inaudible]
[inaudible]
[music continues]
[inaudible]
[music fades]
This was real special. I'm glad
I could bring you for it. Okay?
-[indistinct conversations]
-[man vocalizing in background]
[cheering]
-[man] Say your name.
-[overlapping saying of name]
And look at what is present
here today.
[music resumes]
[rain falling]
[music continues muffled]
[indistinct chattering]
[woman] In this hallway, we
sense temporal entanglement
and recursion.
[man at a distance] Stop it!
The overlapping
and intimate lives
of the residents of the
tenement...
...and of all those who will
reside in its future.
["Evidence" by
Thelonious Sphere Monk
plays faintly]
[music continues
at normal volume]
[music continues, faintly]
[muffled electronic music]
[footsteps ascending stairs]
[music fades]
[slide projector clicks]
[woman]
In the 1960s and 1970s...
-[slide projector clicks]
-...there began a movement
-known as land art,
-[thunder rumbling]
where an artist would
incorporate land and landscapes
as part of their work of art.
Rooted in a desire
to make art, not commerce,
land art was often colossal
yet simple,
also known as Earth Works.
It expanded the boundaries
of the form
by using commonplace materials
such as soil, rocks,
vegetation, and water.
The sites are usually
difficult to reach,
requiring commitment
from visitors
to experience their potency.
[slide projector clicks]
[slide projector clicking]
There's a section
in the middle of the Atlantic
covering 300 square miles,
dubbed the Resonance Field.
[unsettling music playing]
["Telekinesis"
by Travis Scott plays]
I can't get enough
Told you I just...
[woman] Excuse me, can
you turn up the radio, please?
-[man] No problem.
-I can't get enough
You ain't been
Doin' enough
Do you like
The way it sounds?
So cold
So cold
It's so cold
So cold, so cold
You could see the future
There's a sparkle in your eye
Why you all up on my thigh?
Can't let you
n*gg*s plottin' my demise
I got m*rder on my mind
I got money on the line
I can't lose if I tried
Let no b*tch break my stride
Chosen, I'm gon' bet on me
Chosen, all my sh*t antique
Frozen, I can't feel no heat
Diamonds dancing on me
You're startin' fresh, man
You fell out of pocket
You f*cked that girl
That you met at the party
I got some new n*gg*s
Down in the lobby
How can I sleep when
You're out catchin' bodies?
I still wanna be with you
Trust me
I know that's insane
I'd rather f*ck on you
Than f*ck on lames
I did some sh*t in Berlin
My moldae
[woman] Excuse me, can you
actually turn it down now?
I have a phone call.
[song volume decreases]
Hello?
Hey, what's up?
No sh*t.
I can see the future
I can see the future
I just got back home.
I was on the Nautica.
I gotta write this article
about the
Trans Atlantic Biennale.
I'll tell you all about it.
But I'm tired as f*ck, girl.
Let me call you in the morning.
I'm sorry.
Can you turn it up again?
This is the last time,
I promise.
[music increases]
[man 2] Huh?
-[producer] Set.
-Oh.
-[director] You guys ready?
-[man 3] Yep.
[director] Okay.
And whenever you guys are ready.
This is BLK...
[clears throat] Sorry.
[clears throat]
This is BLKNWS. I'm Alzo Slade.
[male reporter]
Tonight, I bring you...
...a man who all of us
really want to know.
It doesn't get bigger
than this tonight.
Yes, Anas. I've heard of Anas.
He's one
of the finest journalists
we have in this country.
He investigates.
And he tries
to bring out the truth.
[Obama] People of Ghana
have worked hard, like Anas,
who risked his life
to report the truth.
[woman 2] ...who disguised
himself.
[man 4]
[male reporter]
It doesn't get bigger
than this tonight.
[female reporter]
Welcome back to BLKNWS.
My guest today is Africa's
most famous
investigative journalist.
Anas Aremeyaw Anas'
extraordinary,
deep undercover work
regularly exposes
high-level corruption.
Very few people know
what you look like.
Now, your disguise is often
beads that cover your face.
-[Anas] Correct.
-Even when you're
reporting on camera,
you always keep
your face hidden. Why?
The nature of the work
and the security implications
that come along with it
so that I would have
the capacity
to tell another story tomorrow.
[indistinct]
My journalism
is people-centered.
And that's what I do.
We've done prosthetics
on a number of occasions
where you would be an old man.
There are investigations
that I've done,
that I'm a complete woman.
I've made good use
of makeup artists,
and that enables us
to change dramatically
from one shape to the other.
[female reporter]
And recently, there's been word
of your involvement
in reacquiring
a quite famous African artifact
known as the Benin Mask.
What can you tell us about this?
[dramatic music]
[Anas laughing]
Well, I cannot confirm
any involvement at this time,
but I can tell you a story.
In 1977, the renowned
poet Nobel Laureate,
Wole Soyinka...
He attempted to steal
the original Benin Mask
ahead of the Festac,
Festival of Arts and Culture,
which was using a replica
of the mask
as the official emblem.
Wole managed
to get a private escort
to the secret room where
the mask was being held,
and he managed
to walk away with the mask
hidden under his jacket.
Only later to discover
the mask was also a replica.
Now, what I do know,
what I can confirm
from my sources, of course,
is that this mask
that has gone missing
from the British Museum
is no replica.
My name is Omar. [chuckles]
Ooh.
[Omar] Senegal, Dakar...
[woman] Have you tried the rum?
-[Omar] Not bad.
-[woman] Mmm.
-I'm Shayla, by the way.
-Omar.
[Shayla] How long have
you been working on Nautica?
I've been working
on the ship for two years now.
-[Shayla] Two years?
-Yes, it's two years.
Where are you from?
Dakar.
You ask a lot of questions.
[Shayla] Sorry, sort of my job.
I'm a journalist.
[Omar] What kind of reporting
do you do?
[Shayla] Mostly arts
and culture.
But lately, I've been doing
a lot of... profiles.
I just covered the dethroning
of the British Royal Family.
[male reporter] This was the
moment Britain had been
waiting for,
and they packed the pubs.
Millions of televisions
in millions of homes
were tuned in.
[male reporter 2
speaking indistinctly]
Wild.
Back at it again
at Krispy Kreme.
[poignant music]
-[host] Sarah.
-[Sarah] Who is Chaka Khan?
-[chuckling]
-[host] No.
-[coughing]
-[music stops]
[music resumes]
-And that's on BLKNWS.
-And that's on BLKNWS.
[discordant music]
[woman]
Dive into this world
of different colors.
And I saw the world
in a different way.
And so I see things
that other people do not.
[poignant music]
How do you get there?
...everybody is kicking up?
The only way out is in.
Breathe.
[music fades]
You got your lunch in that box?
[girl] Nope, not my lunch.
I got my books. You wanna see?
[man] Books? Yeah. Okay.
The Souls of Black Folk.
I read that, too.
Where'd you get that?
From Miss Andrews, my teacher.
I didn't read all of it yet,
but I plan to.
Got time.
[speaking in native language]
[driver]
[jazz music]
[man speaking French]
[jazz music]
[music continues]
["To You With Love"
by The Moments plays]
My love's so bold
This ring that I hold
-I give to you
-To you
With love
I walk up
To the preacher man
Just to take
Your lovely hand
-And give to you
-[man's voice echoing]
Going into archives,
what one finds
is the incompleteness
of the archive.
-That's what I
-One continually
confronts the necessity
of-- of supplementing
the historical record...
That's what I learned
...which is often
not just incomplete but--
but repressive.
The record is replete
with all these words
that don't correspond
to the situation.
[rainfall]
[music turns ethereal]
[waves crashing]
[man 2 clicks tongue]
Go! [smooches]
[narrator]
The story of the Nautica begins
with Jonah Wells,
the best-kept secret in the
Mississippi steamboat industry.
He earned the name
by designing an auger
that halved the time
it took to dig a well in 1792.
Over the next several years,
his master, John A. Quitman,
maintained a healthy
side business loaning Jonah out
to his Natchez, Mississippi,
neighbors.
[bell ringing]
One day, Quitman received
a visit from a boatman
raving about
how Wells' suggestions
had significantly improved
his steamboat's
power-to-weight ratio.
Though unlettered,
Jonah's engineering genius
extended
far beyond well-digging.
And on that night in 1809...
...the Mississippi River Boat
Company was born.
[ship horn blasting]
And for the next 100 years,
the Wells family knack
was at its heart.
Ibrahim Chester Wells
joined this proud,
yet shrouded, legacy
on April 25, 1895,
from the shop floor of the MRC.
Wells' world was
disrupted in 1917
when Woodrow Wilson declared
the United States' entry
into World w*r I.
And Ibrahim, then 22,
enlisted in the Navy.
After the w*r, Ibrahim stayed
in Washington, DC,
and enrolled
in Howard University
as a mechanical engineering
student
for the spring semester of
1919.
The following summer,
Ibrahim purchased
a one-way ticket
to Harlem, New York...
...to attend
Marcus Garvey's convention
of the Universal
n*gro Improvement Association.
Garvey, the founder and first
President-General of the UNIA,
advocated for Black separation
and pushed supporters
to return to Africa
in order to form
self-governing Black nations
on the continent.
He'd even begun
acquiring ships
operated under
the name Black Star Line
with the intention
of providing transport
to those wishing
to make the journey.
Thousands lined the streets
of Harlem to see Garvey speak.
[film projector whirring]
Lottie Selene Davis, a native
of Biloxi, Mississippi,
also traveled to New York
to see the parade.
Ibrahim and Lottie would be
married six weeks later.
[gentle music]
[female announcer]
Welcome onboard the Nautica,
the only company in the world
with direct routes
from West Africa
to the Caribbean and Brazil.
Whether this is your first,
10th, or even 20th
cruise with us,
our friendly staff, crew,
and officers are here to help
as you get to know Nautica,
your home away from home.
[woman] The sea made me
immediately feel at home.
I really didn't know
what to expect. Eh--
You know, I had these,
like, crazy images,
and then when I came,
it was just--
it was like,
"Wow, a whole new world."
[female announcer] Once again,
thank you for joining us.
-Have a wonderful journey.
-[music continues]
[female announcer 2]
Please welcome on board
those passengers that have
just boarded
here in Garveyville, Jamaica.
As we finish up
the boarding process,
we will begin our preparations
for our departures
and our transatlantic journey.
-[speaking in native language]
-[female announcer 2]
For all those
on this ship, welcome.
We will be departing for Accra
in approximately one hour.
Hi. Um...
can I speak
to Funmilayo Akechukwu?
Um, her office was supposed
to contact me.
I'm a journalist.
I'm sorry. Funmilayo is
unavailable for the time being.
There's been an urgent matter.
Is there anyone else
I can talk to?
Should I wait
for her here, or...?
Uh-- [sighs]
She's my only contact.
I'm writing a story
about the art exhibition.
For the New York Times.
-Let me see what I can do.
-[Shayla] Thank you.
[female announcer 2]
Seating will be li--
Drink.
[indistinct chatter
in background]
[cups clink]
-[birds chirping]
-[dramatic music]
There once was a woman,
enslaved woman,
born in what
we now call Nigeria.
She was stolen
and taken to the Americas
for a life
of back-breaking labor,
a life of enclosure.
But she was one
of the lucky ones.
After some time, she managed
to buy her way back to Africa.
She crossed this ocean,
first in chains
and then
with her freedom fully intact.
Each time she took the voyage,
she listened...
...and everything these waters
taught her
she passed down
to her descendants,
including her granddaughter,
for whom I am named
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti,
a ferocious global organizer
for equity and women's rights...
...mother of Fela Kuti...
...and aunt to Wole Soyinka.
Have you heard of her?
Um... No, I don't think so.
[gentle music]
A journalist who is asking to
speak to you.
Tell her I am unavailable.
Of course...
[speaks foreign language]
Thank you.
Have you seen
the art on the boat?
[woman] Mm-hmm.
It's my job to put it there.
This exhibition...
...is a mix of
contemporary art...
...from all over
the Trans Atlantic...
...and a collection of pieces
that are very old.
Artifacts that long ago
were alienated
from the communities
they were intended to serve.
[eerie music]
As they travel back
to the continent
for the first time
since they were stolen,
they are beginning
to recalibrate.
You see, some artworks
need to be fed,
each in their own way.
[music builds up]
All of those lessons
that that woman
passed down from the waters
to her descendants...
...they suggest that there is
a section in the ocean.
A resonance field.
[music continues]
[deep rumble]
[music fades]
[creaking]
I'm glad you're here.
[solemn music]
I believe you
and your grandmother
were meant to join us
on this journey.
I wish you both well...
...in this life...
...your past lives...
...and the next.
-[music continues]
-[inaudible]
[both chuckle]
Why do you love me?
That's a simple question.
[blows raspberry]
It is a simple question,
-but it ain't a simple answer.
-[chuckles]
Uh...
...because of how you love me.
It's a very...
...uh...
[man sniffles]
[woman chuckles] Don't cry.
[man's voice breaking]
It's a very spiritual love.
Uh...
I've been through a lot,
and, uh,
you never see me for what
I've been through, you know?
You see me for the best
that I give to the world
and I give to my family.
And when, uh...
...everything starts
to weigh on me,
you kinda, y-- you know,
you breathe life back into me,
I don't know.
That's why I love you.
I love you because you're you.
I love you because you're you...
to me, you know?
I ju-- I just love you because
you're-- you're a gift...
...that I get to experience
in this life...
...until I don't anymore,
until I meet you again,
and I'm the woman,
and you're the man.
-Don't do that. [chuckles]
-You know? So...
that's why I love you.
It's-- it's--
This thing was, uh--
it's God-engineering,
so... it's perfect.
-Oh, babe.
-[man 2] Y'all gon' make me cry.
[woman's laugh echoes]
[music continues]
-[wind blowing]
-[thunder rumbling]
Do you ever remember the future?
[thunderclaps]
A philosopher or a scientist?
Wait, no. A mystic?
-An oceanographer.
-Oh, an oceanographer.
[thunder rumbling]
You still haven't
answered my question.
Do I remember the future?
I remember the past.
[nostalgic music]
[Funmilayo] It was 1892.
I had just arrived
in Philadelphia.
I was eager
to begin a life work
leading to the emancipation
of the American n*gro.
[music continues]
I believed the world
was thinking wrong about race.
And I was confident
I would change their mind.
I hardly knew
what was important.
[music fades]
[orchestral music]
Do you feel safe in your body
and in the street?
-Yes, I do.
-So, for those of you
who are uncomfortable, who don't
want to hear
a positive message...
[people screaming]
[woman] m*therf*cker
just took my money.
[music continues faintly]
[distant chatter]
[Funmilayo] The Boli function,
not unlike nuclear reactors...
...when grounded, they gather
and harness energy...
...then disperse it
for the good of its people.
[rhythmic music]
Boli consumed and shared
the abundant life force
called nyama,
found in sacrificial materials
such as animal blood,
wine, honey, kola nuts,
grains and vegetables.
[indistinct whispering]
[music continues]
[beep]
[beeping]
And she was rude for the--
Watch it!
[indistinct whispering]
[muffled indistinct chatter]
[music continues]
-[music stops]
-[female announcer]
...morning process.
We will begin our preparations
for our departure
And our transatlantic voyage,
and to our final destination
in Africa.
For all those on the ship,
welcome.
We will be departing for Africa
in approximately one hour.
...Atlantic voyage,
and to our final...
[Funmilayo]
Think of it as a data set.
[mechanical hum]
[eerie ambience]
["Black Balloons Reprise
(Instrumental)" plays]
Let's take a nice
Deep breath
Now, as you can exhale
Respect yourself, relax
Relax by yourself, relax
Let's take a nice
Deep breath
[distant distorted conversation]
-[man] This is a very touching
moment. Really touching.
-[knock on door]
[Whitney Houston]
Were so gallantly streaming
She's blowing the hell
out of this.
-And the rockets'...
-[knock on door]
She just reached down there
and got it. That's it--
-Sing it, baby. Whoo!
-She can sing her a*s off.
-I ain't bullshittin'.
-[knocking continues]
[door opens]
[Du Bois]
Sir, I'm conducting a survey
on the n*gro.
[door closes]
[distant chatter]
[knocks on door]
[door opens]
Good evening, ma'am.
I'm Dr. Du Bois,
a professor at the University
of Pennsylvania,
and I'm conducting a survey
on n*gro life in the city.
Would you mind answering
a few questions?
[woman] I'm not certain
what I could tell you.
I just arrived not too long ago.
Other folks could probably
tell you better.
[Du Bois] My goal is to
interview everyone in the ward.
When all the stories
are collected
and all the facts are gathered
I will have an accurate
and complete picture
of the circumstances
of Negroes in the city.
-You understand?
-[woman] Yes.
Will things get better
after your study?
[Du Bois] I hope so.
[woman chuckles]
Please, have a seat.
I am Sarah.
This is Lady and Jacob.
Lady, this is Dr. Du Boi--
So... you're
the siddity professor.
[Sarah] Would you like a glass
of water or tea or lemonade?
[Du Bois] A glass of water
would be most welcome.
[ethereal music]
[Du Bois]
The problem lay before me.
I studied it personally
and not by prox.
How many people reside
in the home?
Three or four, sometimes five.
Friends stay here
when they need a place,
or when we need help
with the rent--
[Du Bois] You take in lodgers?
No. Friends.
[scribbling]
[Du Bois]
What is your relation to
the head of the household?
Head of household? That's me.
Lady is older, but I'm the one
who found the place.
[scribbling]
[Du Bois]
Age at most recent birthday?
-I am 26.
Don't you wanna know about my
relation to the head of the
household?
He already knows.
-You're my sister--
-Sibling.
[scribbling]
Sister.
[Du Bois] Married, widowed,
divorced, separated, single?
Separated.
I'm drifting between categories.
[Du Bois] And do you know
the whereabouts of your husband?
He might be alive or dead.
[scribbling]
[music continues]
[Du Bois] How long have you been
at this residence?
Three months.
We've had to move around a lot.
Once landlords rent to Negroes,
they raise the rent
and the place run down.
We had a grand row house
over there at Chestnut Street,
but we grew lonely and decided
to seek the company of other
Negroes.
-Isn't it obvious?
-[Du Bois] I do realize that
many think
my gaze is directed
at the wrong race,
-[Lady] Hm...
-but I do sincerely believe
that this is a chance
to study Black folk.
To create a portrait of the race
that will show exactly
what our place is
in the community.
[Lady scoffs]
The bottom.
That much is obvious.
[Du Bois] Why? But how?
What are the plexus
of social problems,
some new, some old,
some simple, some complex,
that engulf n*gro life.
[indistinct]
[voice getting distant]
A whole group of problems
amass around us and what
do they have in common?
Where to next? The object...
So that's it?
That's your grand theory,
that Negroes are
plagued with problems?
Well, sh*t. Call me Dr. Lady.
[Du Bois] Well...
what do you propose?
[Lady] We've only had a problem.
-Evil-eyed folks.
-[Du Bois] Color prejudiced?
[Lady chuckles]
No. Something stronger.
Hatred,
it makes your skin crawl.
Makes you wonder how anyone
could treat a person like that.
[Du Bois] It touches every
aspect of life, and death.
It threatens our homes,
our children... our hopes.
[music turns dramatic]
[Funmilayo]
All I needed were the facts.
I thought the scientific method
might prove robust enough
to solve the problem.
I was a fool then.
I had not read enough Marx
and Freud to know better.
I visited and talked
with 5000 persons.
835 hours of Negroes
reflecting on their conditions.
This is the moment
when the ghetto emerges.
This racialized enclosure
will define Black life
for the next century.
[motorcycle revving]
[helicopter blades whirring]
[music continues]
[white noise]
[man speaking indistinctly
over radio]
[man 2 on radio] Oh, got him!
[laughs] Whoo-hoo!
[men speaking indistinctly
over radio]
[man 3 on radio] There's a whole
fleet of 'em. Look on the ASA.
My gosh.
They're all going against
the wind. The wind's 120 knots
to the west.
Look at that thing, dude.
[music turns gentle]
[man] You know, art...
And I don't want to
sort of, you know,
[stuttering] fetishize, you
know, art and become patronizing
the way we become patronizing
you know, towards
art and artists,
or-- it's-- it's--
It's so lovely. It's so amazing.
You know, it moves you,
changes your entire perspective,
which it does. I mean, it can,
you know?
But I think it's really
to bring it down
to the every day.
This space between the spectator
and the work of art
is a very important one.
And I think we neglect
and ignore this all the time.
It is not just simply
a frontal relationship
standing between-- you know,
before a picture.
You know, it's that,
you know, space in between.
[loud thud]
-Oh, oh!
-[loud thud]
[metal clanking]
[man 5] This art hurt me!
This art sucks!
You're living a lie!
This art is terrible!
[upbeat music playing]
[male reporter] BLKNWS would
like to take this moment to
remember the inimitable
Okwui Enwezor.
Okwui is credited
with pushing the art world
to embrace an international,
and specifically African,
perspective of art
and art history.
The Nigerian-born curator
is known for being
the first person
of African descent
to curate the Venice Biennale
and the first non-European
to curate "Documenta,"
widely considered the most
important art exhibition.
The Biennale, the exhibition
was also part of a process
of thinking.
And this process of thinking
had to do
with what one could call
"the state of things."
The state of things
around the world
that demanded, not only just,
you know, response
but also demanded
an analytical lens
through which the exhibition
can become a kind
of thinking machine.
[gentle music]
[female announcer] Welcome
to the Shirley Du Bois suite.
Your journey to Ghana is
two nights and three days.
There is one stop
on your second day
in Garveyville, New Jamaica,
before heading to your final
destination in West Africa.
For maximum comfort and safety,
this vessel will travel
using graphene velocity
guaranteeing the safest
and smoothest ride.
For travel onboard the vessel,
the extremely efficient
Hyperloop tubes
are located at the end
of every corridor.
[sighing deeply]
A reading docent will stop by
your room before departure
with a collection
of the latest books,
magazines, and newspapers,
free for all passengers
during the journey.
[sighs]
The Biennale exhibitions
are open 24 hours
and free for all passengers.
[sighs deeply]
[whispers] Okay, okay.
[deep rumbling]
[waves crashing loudly]
[music playing faintly
over speakers]
[narrator 2 spelling]
Along the coastline
of the British Isles,
Lloyd's Signal Stations watch
the ships of the world go by.
Big ships
and little ships alike,
their movements all recorded
by the men
of the signal station.
[singer vocalizing]
Lloyd's, of course, occupies
a very important place
in the shipping world.
Important and unique.
But the members of Lloyd's
don't build ships.
They don't sail ships.
They don't, as a rule,
own any ships.
[eerie music]
Lloyd's itself, as a body,
does not insure,
but its members do.
A broker, also
a subscriber to Lloyd's,
has been instructed,
on behalf of the owners,
to insure a ship's cargo.
Before the underwriter
will issue
an insurance policy
on the cargo,
he must know something about
the ship carrying the cargo.
He'll look it up in the
register book of
Lloyd's Register of Shipping,
which classifies
all the ships of the world.
They've approved
the workmanship at every stage
in the ship's construction
down to the marking
of the pencil line.
Proof that when the vessel
is ready
for sea, she is
thoroughly reliable
and seaworthy.
Worthy of the classification
given her
in Lloyd's Register...
[Shayla] The classification
of the ship allows for a more
accurate
assessment of its risk.
[music continues]
Twist locks physically
secure goods in the hold...
...locking them to the hull
and to each other.
[inaudible]
The certification
of lashing equipment
is established to ensure
the value of the goods
regardless
of their potential loss.
["Who I Am"
by Wiz Khalifa plays]
Yeah
You are now tuned in
To W.E.E.D
I am your host
Mr. EZ Rider, ya dug?
Always rollin' up
Back-to-back
But right now we gon'
Take you on a smooth ride
Straight outta the 412
My man Wiz Khalifa here
Something y'all can
All sing along to
I be rolling, rolling
Riding, riding
Oh, so fly
I be so, so high
She say
I'm that guy you wanna
Ride with, ride with
Like my car? Get inside it
Inside it, inside it,
Inside it
I don't blame you,
Everywhere I go
All them hoes act
The same, too
I don't wanna date you
I just wanna take you home
And do somethin' grown folks
Can relate to
[man] To stop the destruction
of this magnificent planet,
this conference is one of the
most important meetings
in history.
You have the chance
to make decisions
and reach agreements
which will affect the lives
of generations to come.
You are in a position
of extraordinary power.
[audience laughing]
Anyway, it's great to be on
television. I'm actually shocked
'cause it ain't even
near Thanksgiving.
-And, uh...
-[audience laughing]
[applause]
Or Earth Day, that's another
time they call me. Yeah...
I grew up in Oneida, Wisconsin.
You know, I could make a good
living going, uh, "B27..."
[Charlie continues indistinctly]
-[wind blowing]
-[gentle music]
[Wole] For some of us,
from our society,
where Christianity has intruded,
not al-- always in very
positive, uh, ethical ways,
intruded for the sole purpose,
very often
of preparing the way,
a kind of, eh, avant-garde
for the real stormtroopers
of commerce, imperialism,
colonialism,
exploitation, etc., etc.
And the history
of Christianity in our society,
as you know, uh, yeah,
that's not been of the best,
even till today.
[narrator 3] The stories
of survivors and the details
of the 884-page grand jury
report are difficult to hear.
The two-year investigation
lays out in graphic detail
allegations against...
[voice fades]
One very important, eh, example,
culturally
when the Christians came,
determined to spread the Gospel,
and they looked around,
they couldn't find--
they needed the devil.
And so they took
one of the deities--
Yoruba deities, Eshu,
who happens to be a trickster.
You know, very complex,
but I call Eshu
the master dialectician.
And he-- he can upset
the best-laid plans
you know, of mice and men,
and they took Eshu
and decided,
"That is the devil."
And they distorted
the entire ethical structure
that was based
on the Yoruba pantheon,
the various deities
of various departments
or existence, phenomena,
conduct, relationship
on which a whole ethical
structure had been built.
[speaking in native language]
[choir singing
in native language]
-[music fades]
-[wind blowing]
[slide projector clicking]
[slow music]
[helicopter blades whirring]
[upbeat music]
[singer vocalizing]
-[drumming echoes]
-[music gets muffled and fades]
[man]
Soul rebel don't really mean
he gonna w*r
with you physically.
He's warring
with the other spirit.
[upbeat music resumes]
[slide projector clicking]
What are the two things
you would do today?
[interviewee speaking]
-In fact I will get--
-[interviewer] Then it wouldn't
be money.
-What is money?
-Weighed against what? Because
money--
[interviewee] American money is
weighed against what?
Gold.
You search on your internet.
Check.
They don't have any.
It is just paper.
It's backed up by tanks
and F-- F-*5 fighters.
They have no gold.
Ain't nobody got this.
Ain't nobody got it.
You ain't got it.
Yeah. I mean, you know, style.
[chuckles] You know...
What a prosaic term,
but also a very elusive term.
Um... I do believe
that style, you know,
is the resistance
to confine oneself
to where...
circumstances
say that you belong.
It's to go beyond that,
to live with a sense
of constant affirmation of...
...with incredible...
It's-- it's in a-- is a style
that really is inherent in--
in going beyond.
Here's the Rich family.
What'd you think about that?
[solemn, nostalgic music]
[Okwui] You know,
style in-- in an African context
is really not h*m*.
It's so individual
in-- in the kind of conventional
way in which we think
about style.
It's so individual,
because if you are going to--
so talk about the way you greet
people to go to Bamako,
and you run into somebody
on the street and, you know--
and of course, the exchange,
you say hello,
and the person say hello
back to you.
And they will spend the next
two minutes saying hello,
asking you about each member.
Then at the end,
you return the favor.
What for me is very fascinating
about that type of greeting
is the-- in-- the time invested,
is the-- the-- the dimension
of slowness to it.
It's not-- it's not high. You
know, the dimension of slowness
and that sense, that space,
between greeting
and slowing down is really
incredibly attractive
in-- in a moment where,
you know,
quote, unquote "time,"
you know, uh, is money.
[slow music]
[music continues]
[woman]
There have always been...
[smacks lips] ...
you know, an endless number
of beautiful models
of living otherwise, right,
um... that...
...encounter defeat
and then m-- must re-emerge,
you know, again, so it's not,
[voice echoes]
um, that you're, like,
you know, insufficient...
[Fred] What if it turns out
that--
that the particular kind of
history
that-- that we're tryna
work through or talk about,
you know,
you as a historical thinker
and me as a profoundly
ahistorical kind of thinker,
you know, is--
but the particular history
that we're working through
in these different ways...
...it's not even really
something
that you can talk about
within, again,
within a calculus of victory
and defeat.
[panting]
The concepts
that we have been given...
...to you to talk-- you know,
in order to try
to think about
and talk about the stuff
we try and talk about
just don't work.
You know, they're--
they're inadequate.
They're-- they're--
they're inoperative.
I mean, it might
even be the case
that the concept itself
is an inadequate,
sort of mental construct,
or-- or conceptualism itself
is an inadequate sort of
intellectual disposition
with regard-- I mean--
[audio static]
[fast, rhythmic music playing]
[Saidaya]
What is the social poiesis
of the dispossessed?
How is it that we live
these lives...
...in the context
of this racialized enclosure?
It seems that
we're always involved
in this incredible
making of a way
where there is no way,
and rather than that
be celebrated,
it's often disparaged.
Black folks...
Even just that language they...
And I was like, "Wow,
what does it mean to be
so transported
by the idea of freedom that
you're kind of having this
ecstatic experience, right?
-[music continues]
-[voice echoing indistinctly]
[Fred] It's not just
a past history of displacement.
It's a present history
of displacement.
How do these social bonds form?
We tend to want to imagine
that these social bonds
form somehow
against the grain
of displacement.
What if, in fact, displacement
is the condition
of these social bonds?
What if it's displacement
that makes these bonds possible?
[music continues]
This is the f*cked up
dialectic that we have to be
theorizing
and experimenting about.
[inaudible]
What if there's something
about the way we dance
that bears within it a secret
about how we should live
and take up space?
[music continues]
Or that, better put, how we
should not take up space...
...but be embedded in the places
that we are a part of?
[Fred continues indistinctly]
With regard-- I mean, it's just
like, we working on
some other kind of stuff.
[music continues muffled]
[music fades]
[Saidiya on recording] You know,
I have such a complex
relationship
to Du Bois, you know? I mean,
-[knock on door]
-uh, he's a father figure
with all the ambivalence
that the father figure,
you know,
or is it-- it's both,
you know, um--
you know,
love and disagreement.
And I think of, you know,
him in the midst
of the Seventh Ward,
um, you know, trying to
describe the historical forces
that have produced his now.
Um... [echoes indistinctly]
[ethereal music]
One of the things that
I was trying to do in the book
is that, I mean, basically,
the discourse of pathology
is a way of naming
ways in which people
are toppling hierarchy
and practicing otherwise
in the here and now.
I mean, the--
the deviation of Black,
you know,
intimate and familial life
from heteronormative
family forms,
I mean, people... you know,
have been doing that.
I mean, I think that
that was part of the--
the concern
of the Philadelphia n*gro,
uh, is that, you know, after
sl*very, um, you know,
Du Bois says that--
that the-- that the Black church
is actually older
than the Black family form,
and then, what is going to be
the shape that it acquires?
Is it gonna be, you know,
a patriarchal family?
And what happens if it's not?
And I think that what we see
is that people creating,
you know,
structures of love and support
that bear no resemblance
to that,
but usually that's only
described as, you know,
the failure to achieve a norm...
...as opposed to being described
in the terms of what it in--
what it is.
So, I think that partly, um,
attending to these lives
should make,
you know, I mean, I--
I guess one of
the grand ambitions, you know,
would be that, you know,
people who then would suture
some notion of Black, you know,
advancement or progress
or futures
to the achievement
of those norms
or the actualization of that
would abandon those kinds
of projects,
you know? So, it's not about...
...us kind of
replicating the structures
that are, you know,
harming us, right?
Um, so I think that
for me that's about thinking
about that
the everyday anarchy of,
you know,
Black life
that people are living in ways
that are utterly recalcitrant
to capitalism.
They're not thinking about
well-being in these ways
that kind of, like,
fetishize, you know,
private property and ownership.
And so, that's, you know,
food for thought for us.
That's an example
of living otherwise.
It's not about-- it's not
unfolding in the future.
It's happening now,
and it's how we've survived.
[music continues]
[music fades]
I have a cousin
that's very sensitive
when it comes to racism.
He called me one day
'cause he was quite upset...
...that he went
to a tuba recital
where he was one of only three
Black tuba players.
[crowd chuckles]
And he thought that was r*cist.
[crowd laughs]
-And I wanted to agree.
-[crowd chuckles]
But then, I realized...
three Black tuba players
is a lot of f*cking
Black tuba players.
[crowd laughing]
[eerie music]
[music continues]
[inaudible]
[Shirley speaks indistinctly]
I heard Fannie Lou Hamer
on the radio...
-[groans]
-[music fades and echoes]
[softly] Are you good?
[voice echoing]
Mm-hmm. What do I do?
Are you in pain?
-I'll be all right.
-[cough echoes]
I'll be okay.
I just need to relax.
Okay.
[deep breath]
[suspenseful music]
[groans softly]
[groans]
[crickets chirping]
[William muffled]
Okay. Can you help me?
[engine idling]
[woman on radio]
I would say to the--
the beautiful audience out here
to me this afternoon,
because I always liked people.
A couple of weeks ago,
I was doing a show
in New York City,
for NBC Studios on the role
of a Black woman,
and somebody asked a
question...
[phone ringing]
How did I feel talking
to a lot of people?
I said... [continues
speaking indistinctly]
[phone ringing]
[Shirley] Hello?
Yes.
Hi.
-[melancholic music]
-No, he's not.
No, he's-- he's-- [chuckles]
he's determined to finish it.
That's what
he's determined to do.
Well, you know he's stubborn.
Yeah.
I think that would be good.
But let me ask you, what,
uh, was the doctor saying
about his chances,
uh, you know, his age, and...?
[inaudible]
No, I understand.
Well, that's pretty obvious,
but--
but, you know,
he's strong as an ox.
In that regard, he has a will.
Then let's do it.
This might be the answer, yeah.
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much. Bye-bye.
[phone hangs up]
Thank you for staying
with us. Now,
over the weekend,
hundreds of demonstrators
gathered in the Ghanaian
capital, Accra,
for a third day
of anti-government protests
linked to economic hardship.
Protestors are speaking out
against the high taxes
and cost of living.
Here to discuss some
similarities
and differences found
throughout the history
of strikes in Ghana
is investigator journalist
Anas Aremeyaw Anas.
-[Anas] Great to be here.
-[news host] So, Anas,
this is not
the first time
Ghanaians would be protesting
high cost of living.
We've seen that Ghana
has been battling
a series of economic crises
dating back
since the very birth
of independent Ghana.
What can you tell me
about what's at stake?
[Anas] Our very
livelihood is at stake.
Our well-being, our ability to
survive in such
circumstances...
[knock on door]
Who is it?
[Funmilayo] It's Funmi.
[wind howling]
[clicking]
[William]
More strikes. Who is it now?
[driver]
The transportation workers.
[indistinct] striking.
Cousins, uncles, most
of my family are involved.
We don't have enough money
to buy basic goods because
of the new taxes
on flour, sugar.
Even salt is sky high.
[dramatic music]
What scares me the most
are the arrests.
Can I ask you a question?
What made you want
to come here today?
To the Marcus Garvey Memorial.
[William] That's Garvey's
Pan-African flag there, is it?
-No, that's Ghana's flag.
-No, I mean,
the one next to your photograph.
Ah, yes.
I never realized
they were so similar.
Essentially, the same flag.
Garvey's Memorial is
my favorite site in the city.
His vision of Africa
was tremendous.
One million people worldwide.
It's unbelievable.
The largest Black movement
in world history.
[William]
He had his eye on something
they never thought to look at.
He knew the freedom
America had to offer
was a freedom he didn't want.
He simply wanted a place where
his body drew no questions.
A home for all Africans.
Garvey's beliefs
were powerful enough
to bring him to a new home...
...even if he never
set foot here.
But I have never felt so lost.
Did you know that America has
refused to renew my passport?
They call me un-American.
I always imagined I'd be
buried in Massachusetts.
Next to him.
I did not know you lost a son.
To lose a child
is its own kind of death.
[William] If he had lived...
...he might have looked
like yours.
Oh, that's not my son.
That's my daughter. Yaya.
[William chuckles] Yaya.
Yaya...
[Aja] If you're just joining
us, I've been speaking
with Ernie Abara,
-[Ernie] Hello.
-otherwise known as
the Rum Tycoon.
-[Ernie] Thank you for
having me.
- [Aja] We were just
speaking about his grandmother,
Yaya, and her connection
-with the Nautica,
-[Ernie] Mm-hmm.
the famous ocean liner
which houses
the Trans Atlantic Biennale.
Now, earlier, you mentioned
your father's Nigerian roots,
and I wanted to dig
a little deeper.
As I understand it,
your great-great-grandfather
amassed extraordinary wealth
and power
-by being a sl*ve trader.
-[Ernie] Yes.
[Aja] He captured and sold
enslaved Africans
across the Atlantic,
first to the Portuguese
and then
to the American traders,
with the most ending up
in Brazil.
How have you been able
to reconcile the fact that
that is how your family
made their fortune?
Or is it something
that even needs
to be reconciled?
[Ernie] Hmm. Tsk.
You know...
...I remember
asking my father one time
if he was ashamed of--
of what his grandfather
had done.
Now, the fact that I even
asked him
irritated my father.
He said, "I can never
be ashamed of him.
W-- Why should I be?
His business was
legitimate at the time."
I mean, he was
respected by everyone.
[woman]
I'm just coming from an event.
[Ernie] Now, keep in mind
that my father is a lawyer
and a human rights activist
who spent much of his life
challenging government abuses
in Nigeria...
[woman]
Did you hear Dad on the podcast?
He talked about great Granddad
and the sl*ve trading
and all that.
[Aja] And you?
What do you think about
how your grandfather
earned your family's fortune?
-[woman] Why do you ask that?
-[Ernie] During my school days,
if a friend asked the meaning
of my surname,
I would give them a-- a
narrative instead of a
translation.
[woman]
He's selfish. I don't know.
I mean, he's not wrong.
[Ernie] But in the past decade,
I felt this
growing sense of unease.
African intellectuals
tend to blame the West
for the sl*ve trade, but I knew
that white traders couldn't
have loaded their ships
without the help from
Africans...
...like my grandfather.
So, I-- I read arguments
for paying reparations
to the descendants
of, uh, American sl*ves.
And I wondered if...
[continues indistinctly]
[ethereal music]
[inaudible]
[music continues]
[music continues]
-[deep sea rumbling]
-[music fades]
[ethereal music]
[music increases]
[music continues]
[woman]
Art will not outlive us.
This time,
there will be no remains.
All that we can see
from the world now...
...is the disappearance
of evenings.
And in this disappearance...
...this long gray,
blue light...
...this poet's
recommendation...
...is to each night dwell
on this...
...and dwell
on each "not whereness,"
"not thereness."
And I can only
recommend the interstices...
[music continues]
[deep sea rumbling]
[music turns interesting]
[Funmi] Waves that occur
in the wake of the ship
move at the same speed
of the ship.
From at least
the 16th century onward,
a major part of the ocean
engineering of ships
has been to minimize
the bow wave...
...and therefore
to minimize the wake.
But the effect of trauma
is the opposite.
It is to make maximal the wake.
It's likely, then, that those
Africans thrown overboard
would have floated
just a short while
and only because of
the shapes of their bodies.
It's likely, too,
that they would have sunk
relatively quickly...
...and drowned relatively
quickly as well.
And then there were the sharks
that always traveled
in the wake of sl*ve ships.
The amount of time
it takes for a substance
to enter the ocean
and then leave the ocean
is called residence time.
Human blood is salty,
and sodium has a residence time
of 260 million years.
There've been studies done
on whales that have died
and sunk to the sea floor.
These studies show
that within a few days,
these whales' bodies
are picked almost clean
by benthic organisms.
[music continues]
It's likely, then,
that a human body
would not make it
to the sea floor intact.
The atoms of those people
who were thrown overboard
are out there in the ocean,
even today.
They were eaten,
organisms processed them,
and those organisms were,
in turn, eaten and processed.
Nobody dies of old age
in the ocean.
And what happens to the energy
that's produced in the waters?
-[man] Holy...
-[woman] Oh! Oh!
[laughter]
Please tell me
you got that, Julie.
Aah!
[muffled water splash]
[narrator 4] It is late night
on the deck of the Nautica.
The full moon illuminates
the passage...
...as a turbulent storm rages
in the Atlantic Ocean below.
There is the hum
of the ship's motor...
...and the distinct soft sounds
of a jazz trio
playing in the background.
[thunder rumbling]
[soft jazz music]
Lady leans slightly
over the ship's railing
looking pensively at the ocean.
She is wearing
a shimmering dress, sequins,
or perhaps something blue
and luminescent.
There should be
a strong visual connection
between her body and the sea.
Du Bois/Funmi steps
onto the deck
a few feet from Lady.
After a minute,
Du Bois turns toward Lady.
"Ruby, My Dear" concludes
in the background,
and we hear faint clapping.
[faint applause]
It's sublime.
[Lady] That's one word for it.
It is so vast. [voice echoes]
It's hard to look at this ocean
without thinking about...
[Lady] About crossing.
Yes.
[Lady] Thankfully,
it isn't exhausted
by our human history.
It's just a small part of it.
True.
So it doesn't haunt you?
No past in the present?
[Lady] So, are you a historian
or a sociologist?
Am I so easy to figure out?
An historical sociologist,
a curator, and archivist.
[deep rumbling]
[Lady]
History isn't the measure.
There are other calibrations...
No tidy sequence of past,
present, and future.
[distorted voice]
My time scale is different.
Forget the past.
Live in the now.
Celebrate the death of man.
[soft music]
So, am I a clich?
[sorrowful music]
An elder died on the boat
in her sleep
just after we left port
in Los Angeles.
Her granddaughter flew in from
Ohio to identify the body.
[Du Bois]
After we spoke on the phone,
I tried to learn as much about
your grandmother as I could.
She was a volunteer.
She worked in the library as
an afternoon reading docent.
[knock on door]
International protocol
would have her return
with the body to California.
But the granddaughter
wants her grandmother's body
to finish its voyage.
She's asleep right now
in the bed
where her grandmother died
fewer than two days ago.
[driver echoing]
Doctor?
[normal voice] Doctor.
[music fades]
Can I ask you a question?
What made you want
to come here today?
[thunder rumbling]
[Lady] Do you ever
remember the future?
[wind blowing]
[ethereal music]
A philosopher or a scientist?
Wait, no. A mystic?
An oceanographer.
Ah! An oceanographer.
You still haven't answered
my question.
Do I remember the future?
I remember the past.
That small room in Philadelphia,
the lace curtains in the window.
A porcelain cup of tea
spiked with whiskey.
The long lines of your neck.
You were merciless with me.
You called me a snob.
[Lady] I believe the word
I used was "siddity."
You remember that?
Perhaps.
[exhales] She won't even
give me that.
Okay.
So what do you
remember about the future?
Hmm.
If you...
try to hear me explain it--
You're just gonna laugh.
-Try me.
-No.
Do I have to beg?
[Lady] Your hand in mine.
Your white suit was almost
incandescent in the sun.
You looked both young and old
at the same time.
[sighs] And...
...it was almost as if the sun
was arrested in the horizon...
...trapped there.
Feels like a beautiful day
that would never end,
and, oh,
what a beautiful day it was.
[music continues]
Who are you?
I'm drifting between categories.
[voice echoing indistinctly]
[muted chattering]
[Ernie] Everybody was asleep.
And now what?
Nobody was watching.
I'm talking of sleep.
Look at this beautiful woman,
Sleeping Beauty.
You're sitting
at the perfect table.
And just like my rum.
Taste it. Taste it.
-[Shayla] For me?
-Correct, girl.
It will clear your eye.
Your eye will shine now.
You understand me? [laughs]
-[man] Mr. Abara, what you doing
bothering this fine journalist?
-Hey! What's the matter?
-Are you up to your old tricks
again?
-Tricks? Me? Hey!
[man]
Shayla, you must be starving.
Let's leave Mr. Abara
to his peace.
Oh, please, my friend.
You're always throwing
salt in someone's game.
I beg. You're a hostile man.
Shayla, come, dear.
[woman] ...see me.
They didn't want to see me.
Did you see what
they were doing?
[man] Take a seat.
[muted chatter]
Ooh.
[Shayla] I met chefs, poets,
DJs,
artists, fighters, nurses,
hair braiders, beauticians,
and college students.
That night, I met a man
named Omar from Dakar,
a refugee who was rescued
by the Nautica safeguard
off the coast of Senegal.
The Nautica has a program
giving refugees rescued at sea
automatic asylum.
During this grace period,
which can last as long
as six months,
provisional health care
and education
are provided for all children.
Temporary paid work
and training
are provided
to all adult men and women
aboard various Nautica vessels.
That is how Omar found himself
on the Nautica.
[soft music]
It was this encounter
that would lead me down
an unexpected rabbit hole...
That is where my story begins.
[muffled chattering]
-[knock on door]
-[music fades]
One minute.
Ah-- Desmond.
-Hey, girl.
-[Shayla] It's late.
It's the right time
for this, though.
[door opens]
[muffled music]
[indistinct muffled chatter]
[emotional music]
[music turns electronic]
-The second?
-The second one...
When the Secretary
to the Treasury
in America wants money,
he asks them,
"How long will it take you
to print this?"
[interviewer laughs]
Why do you think they
are having trouble with, uh--
with, uh-- with Russia?
Because Russia is buying gold,
and it is moving away
from the dollar.
And China is the same.
China is moving gold.
Look at the countries
that have now
the largest collection of gold.
They want a currency
that is backed by gold,
and Uganda has gold.
What they would do
is they would make our
currency gold.
And we have gold.
So, instead of letting
this gold hemorrhage
out of the country,
would get this money
and turn it into gold.
[interviewer] The Gold Stan--
[interviewee]
[music continues]
[man]
Peking, a world-famous city,
ancient yet young,
the capital of the
People's Republic of China.
This spring, we have the honor
to extend our hospitality
to Dr. William E.B. Du Bois,
eminent n*gro scholar
of the United States
and member of
the World Peace Council,
together with his wife,
the writer Shirley Graham.
It's Dr. Du Bois' 91st
birthday.
A birthday celebration
is held for him
by more than 1000 professors
and students
of Peking University.
At Wuhan on March 13th,
Chairman Mao Zedong
has dinner with the guests.
I think the problem with your
generation is that you guys...
-You-- you're waiting for us.
-Waiting for you to do what?
You're waiting for the young
people to do things--
You should carry your leg
and do things.
-The young people are standing--
-[indistinct]
No, no, no, no, no. Do y-- young
people are standing
-on who's shoulders?
-Whose shoulders should I be
standing on?
[stutters]
should be the people before us.
-You can't say that.
You can't say that.
-[indistinct]
Okay, let me do one for you.
The young people
are standing on the
shoulders of somebody.
The people that-- the shoulders
you're standing on, I have to
look in the history book and
-find them.
-Hey, look now.
Awolowa is there. Kwame Nkrumah
is there. [stutters]
Nnamdi Azikiwe is there.
They're all there.
Ah, this thing is not spitting
any...
[music continues]
[music ends]
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