01x09 - Chapter 9: Indiana Winter
Posted: 05/16/21 18:29
♪ ♪
[GRUNTS]
[GRUNTS]
[PANTING]
♪ ♪ [SIGHS]
[CHAINS RATTLING]
[CLOCK TICKING]
♪ [BIRDS CHIRPING]
[CHICKENS CLUCKING]
[DISTANT CHATTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[WOMAN]
Cora?
I've heard a lot about you.
Ellis, Ellis!
Oh, my lordy.
Miss-Miss Cora!
[LAUGHS]
Oh, it is mighty nice seeing you again.
That excited to see me, huh?
No, no, I'm sorry, Ellis.
It's just...
I'm surprised is all.
What are you doing here?
Headed west, me and Olivia.
After we's married, I figure we best go west.
Life in the South underground?
That ain't no way for a child.
A child?
[OLIVIA]
Yes, ma'am.
[ELLIS]
Always heard tell of this place.
[CHUCKLES]
I wouldn't believe it was real less I seen it with my own eye.
Kind of like you.
[ELLIS LAUGHS]
Was just telling these fellas.
Mr.
Royal here can tell you.
Uh, Mr.
Royal?
[BIRDS SINGING]
♪ You all right?
Yeah.
It's that I got something to say.
I'm not quite sure how to say it.
When I woke up that morning...
... when I woke up and come round and find you gone...
... it did something to me.
Made me feel things I hadn't felt in a long time.
I wants to apologize.
For...
I wants to apologize, and I'm hoping you'll let me this time.
I'm sorry for leaving without telling you.
For not coming to you and knocking on your door and... and showing you how I felt in leaving.
You understand me?
That wasn't right.
I left cause I was shamed I made you feel shamed.
But then I run and left you alone with all that shame.
That wasn't right of me.
It wasn't right.
[CORA]
There's something I got to do.
Gots me some testifying to do.
Hello, everybody.
[VOICE TREMBLES]
Uh...
Thank you for coming today.
For seeing to me.
I'm sure a lot of you know who I am by now.
Been here long enough, y'all know me.
I thought it only right...
since I knows I want to be here, want to be a part of you, that I tell you my story.
My whole story.
[EXHALES]
I am a wanted woman.
I don't mean just being a runaway.
I am that, yes, but...
I am more.
I ran away from a plantation way down in Georgia.
Was me and two others.
Was me and...
and my best friend...
... and a, and a...
a very good man.
We was on the hog trail when...
some mens jumped us.
Least I thought they was mens.
One of them got ahold of me, and I...
I smashed him across the head.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
- I'm near certain I k*lled him.
So, you see, I am a wanted woman, and I don't want to be here without y'all knowing what... what it is...
This is madness!
- The woman is a fugitive!
- [VALENTINE]
Brother m1ngo, please.
A fugitive.
Not any mere runaway but a fugitive.
- A m*rder*r.
- [SYBIL]
Well, you act like ain't been fugitives on this property before.
Yes, but I don't think they had any more right to be here than she.
And, even then, they were here, then they were gone.
And they certainly didn't k*ll no white boys.
[SIGHS]
If y'all want me to leave, I got no problem with that.
Being from where I'm from, just to see what y'all have built here is more than I ever would have hoped for.
Not the kind of thing I ever would have dreamed.
I'm thankful for that, just to see it.
You ain't going nowhere.
You's home now.
Says who?
Not your place to say, Royal.
Not your place to know that.
She ain't the first to show up here with...
[GLORIA]
And she won't be the last.
Brother m1ngo, we all know the story.
You worked, and you saved, and you bought yourself and your family out of sl*very.
But what of those who can't?
Now...
[SIGHS]
... let's not do this.
Sister Cora has earned that much.
She's one of us.
It's no secret the fate of this farm is to be decided in the next fortnight.
I'm of the mind it would be best to defer any thoughts on our sister Cora until then.
♪ - [CLOCK TICKING]
- [BELL RINGING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[BLEATING]
[HAMMERING]
♪ [SIGHS]
[CLOCK CONTINUES TICKING]
[DOOR SHUTS]
[RIDGEWAY]
Homer.
[JUDGE SMITH]
Thank you.
The property in this bulletin deeded and accounted for in the state of Georgia is wanted for the m*rder of a young white boy.
A boy whose only transgression was attempting to restrain the property after its escape.
Well...
and where is this deed?
I don't have it.
[JUDGE SMITH]
Mm.
[SIGHS]
However...
...
I do have my word.
As one lawman to another.
I am appealing to your sense of justice, Your Honor, to help me obtain this property.
Not without a warrant, you won't.
I don't take it you've spent much time around these parts, but the Negroes here are of a different breed.
Legal to read here.
Right to bear arms.
You go up there whistling Dixie and you and your little friend here will get your ears shot off.
Up where?
[SIGHS]
[JUDGE SMITH]
Send a telegram to Georgia.
You show me the girl's deed...
and you'll get your warrant.
[CLOCK TICKING]
[HORSE NEIGHS]
♪ [DOOR CLOSES]
[SYBIL]
[CHUCKLES]
You did a mighty fine job testifying today.
[LAUGHTER]
Come on over here and give me a hug.
[SYBIL LAUGHS]
Mm-hmm.
[LAUGHS]
Mmm.
You might as well accept it now.
[KISSES]
[SNIFFS]
You's home.
Your mama just trying to marry me off so she can
- move Samson in here...
- [GASPS]
Child!
Hush up there, now.
[LAUGHS]
[LAUGHTER]
- [LIVELY CHATTER]
- [SYBIL]
All right, gentlemen and gentlemen...
we hereby declare this Valentine shucking bee to order!
- [WHOOPING]
- [CHEERING]
Now, over here...
- we have... the elders.
- [CROWD EXCLAIMS]
Uh, she must be talking to you.
She's talking to you.
- It ain't me.
- [GEORGINA]
And over here, we've got the whippersnappers!
- [LAUGHTER]
- [CHEERING]
[WOMAN] Youngins.
Now this year's prize is a set of beautiful pipes, hand selected by Mr.
John Valentine himself
- from one of the finest sellers
- [CROWD EXCLAIMING]
- in all of Chicago.
- [MAN]
I'm gonna see you later.
- [CLAPPING]
- [WHOOPS]
Now... now keep in mind, should one of you men find a red cob
- in the st*lks...
- Ooh.
... there just might be a very special treat waiting for you.
- [LAUGHTER]
- [CROWD OOHS]
[MAN]
All right.
All right, ready?
- Steady...
- [MAN]
Come on, now!
[CHEERING]
♪ - [INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
- [CHEERING]
How do you like that?!
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
Come on, now!
[CHEERING]
[CLAPPING]
[MAN]
Get out the way!
- Ain't no more.
- [WOMAN]
No more.
- [CLAPPING]
- [CHEERING]
[SYBIL]
Wait a minute.
Hold on.
Oh...
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[CHEERING]
[m1ngo]
That's right.
That's right.
Young bucks.
Young bucks.
- You too young.
- All right, now!
[m1ngo]
How do you like that, Samson?
- [LAUGHTER]
- Hey, hey.
We gon' get you next time.
I told Royal to get on home,
- but he didn't listen to me!
- All right, now.
- [LAUGHTER]
- That's just this year.
- Mmm.
- That's just this year.
[MUMBLES]
- Victory kiss!
- [LAUGHTER]
[CHEERING]
Care to take a walk with me?
[DEBUSSY: "SUITE BERGAMASQUE- .
CLAIR DE LUNE"]
Ain't gonna be needing this.
♪ ♪ ♪ [CORA EXHALES]
[BREATHES HEAVILY]
I hear your heart, Royal.
From the very first...
I always did.
I love you.
♪ ♪ [BLEATING]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
You's a mighty fine woman, Miss Cora.
I'm sure your mama real proud of you.
Y'all be safe now, you hear?
[ELLIS]
I spent nearly a lifetime underground.
Ain't much above it what I can see to fear.
Y'all take care, now.
[ELLIS]
You, too, Miss Cora.
You, too.
[ELLIS]
Honcho, walk on.
♪ [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪ [TELEGRAPH CLICKING]
Telegram.
What was that, boy?
Telegram, sir.
[COINS CLINK]
Certainly, young sir.
- [TRAIN APPROACHING]
- [TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]
[HEART BEATING]
[PANTING]
[LIQUID SLOSHING]
[CLOCKS TICKING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
[m1ngo]
Guess it's just my lucky day.
- [MEN CHUCKLE]
- [COINS JINGLE]
Oh.
[HARDMAN]
You're not like the rest of them, are you?
Not so special.
There's a whole farm of men like me.
[HARDMAN]
You know, men do talk about your farm.
The wine, that is.
I mean, the quality of this wine cannot be denied.
But they also talk about fugitives.
Runaway slaves...
and worse.
And worse?
I know what you may have heard, but Valentine is more than you give it credit for.
How else could a group of Negroes accrue land, till it, cultivate it to sustainability, beyond sustainability, to viability...
without self-purifying?
The men and women you speak of, they've been among us, yes, but they are no more.
We only want good Negroes on Valentine.
[TOWNSMAN]
Well, that's all well and good, but let's speak forthrightly about this deal.
[m1ngo]
Yes, let's.
We're prepared to offer a considerable percentage
- on all transactions.
- Mm-hmm.
[HARDMAN]
Well, in order for this deal to take hold, we're going to need to see more of the farm's operation.
It ain't gonna rest solely on you and Peyton's word.
- Then you should see it.
- Say what, now?
They should come to the compound.
You should see how eloquent and democratic Negroes can truly be.
We're having a debate and vote on this very thing.
Why shouldn't you be there to witness it?
You're having a vote?
Yes.
[HARDMAN]
On whether or not you gonna enter this deal?
Yes, we are.
[JUDGE SMITH]
My mama used to tell me, "A hard head make a soft ass."
[CHUCKLES]
You should've let 'em win a little.
Wouldn't hurt to not parade around how...
as good as white men you are every chance you get.
But I am, Peyton.
But I am.
♪ [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
You look like you've been out here all week.
♪ ♪
♪
[FIRE CRACKLING]
[ROYAL]
I've nothing more to say here.
I've nothing more to say here.
[ROYAL]
My word is my life.
My word is my life.
I can't speak for the others, but you certainly got my vote.
It ain't yours I'm worried about.
That so?
Yeah, it's nice to be here, but I'm still just a runaway from Georgia.
But, see, you...
you're not on Randall anymore, remember?
You free.
How so?
Ain't no way to prove it.
Man lost my mama...
then me.
Ain't no way he ever giving up on finding me.
Oh, you've been gone long enough.
Gone far enough.
Ain't no way no harm from Georgia's gonna come to you.
Not while I'm here.
Land is property.
Tools is property.
I'm still property.
Even in Indiana.
Say so right here.
That may be true.
[SNIFFS]
But this farm make enough money to buy out all the folks on that plantation and then some.
Hell, I'd just as soon ride down and settle your papers myself.
Why ain't y'all, then?
Why ain't we what?
Why ain't y'all... gone and bought out all them n*gg*r*s what can't escape chains?
I don't know.
Maybe it ain't right yet.
You know, nothing lasts forever, especially for Black folks.
Maybe we just...
holding on to what we can hold on to.
Protecting our own and growing all the while.
Guess that make m1ngo right about me, then.
I ain't one of y'all.
So why hold on to me?
When that vote happen, however it go, I'm-a honor it.
[ROYAL]
It ain't gonna come to that, I promise you.
No.
Don't promise me nothing.
Everybody keep telling me how special I am.
What good is a railroad if only special folk can take it?
What good is a farm full of freedom if only special folk can till it?
[WALKING AWAY]
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR CLOSES]
- Sir...
- [RIDGEWAY]
Check again.
Sir, I have checked numerous times.
I pray you keep your composure
- and we can discuss this, sir.
- Hey, I have been here
- more than a week.
- Yes, sir.
You know, I may as well have ridden to Georgia, and back by now.
- Sir, there is nothing I can do for you.
- Just a snail telegram...
Mister, the speed is down on the other...
My patience is wearing, sir.
Well, it's not me what's causing it to wear.
[MUTTERS]
[SIGHS]
- [HORSE NEIGHS IN DISTANCE]
- [SIGHS]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
I think it's a fine idea if he sells it to me.
Boss, look!
Judge?
Judge!
I need...
I need that warrant.
As a servant of the American government, I am due that warrant.
- That so?
- Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Mm-hmm.
So, you're the sheriff, and who's that?
Your deputy?
[LAUGHS]
Judge, if it comes to light that the fugitive that I seek is hiding in your town, then I'd worry for your...
[JUDGE SMITH]
Oh, cut it with that racket!
You come here with your hand-scribbled papers and your little n*gg*r helper and think you can bluff your way through this town like Montezuma?
No, sir.
Uh-uh.
Not here.
[MUTTERS]
[CHUCKLES]
[RIDGEWAY]
Come on.
[FIRE CRACKLING]
Eyes go bad, you keep that up.
Couldn't sleep.
Hmm, yeah.
[SNIFFS]
Neither could I.
[SIGHS]
Don't worry, brother, I wasn't looking.
I don't imagine it's very different.
One thing I know about us.
Two sides of the same coin.
That's the thing.
We're not the same.
Folks look at you.
They'd never believe you were ever in chains.
But look at me?
Look at me and they refuse to believe I could ever be free.
- Hate the thought of me.
- My brother.
Why is it, then, you aim to do business with them?
Why not get away from these crackers?
Away from all this?
Plenty of land out there.
You know as well as I.
More land than a man can dream of out there.
Yes, but for who?
Dreams for who?
For who?
Don't tell me about no g*dd*mn dreams.
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR SHUTS]
[EXHALES]
♪ [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪ [RIDGEWAY]
The American imperative as a, um, as a...
... elevated... elevated...
Here, so wri-write this: American imperative is a splendid...
... yes, splendid beacon...
... as a guide of...
- ...
the system.
- [KNOCKING LOUDLY]
[RIDGEWAY CLEARS THROAT]
[RIDGEWAY GRUNTS]
[SIGHS]
[SIGHS]
What?
[GRUNTS]
Yes?
I think I can help you.
Close the door.
[BELL CLANGING]
As you all know, John and I never had children.
Wasn't meant to be.
Hmm, maybe the curse of the amalgamation in us is the conclusion of this seed.
And John and I remember this clear as day.
A woman came to us...
out of the bitter winter...
... sick and desperate.
And we didn't take her in because we felt we couldn't save her.
Mmm.
And being here as we were, two Negroes living under the cover of their own skin...
the risk was just too great.
And when I look in this room, I see that woman's face in each and every one of yours.
The children we could not conceive...
... manifested themselves in you.
And, like all children, the work of this family is your inheritance.
We own nothing.
Valentine is yours.
Now, today, we have much to tend to.
We will hear from my beloved husband and our esteemed brother m1ngo, and afterwards we will have a vote on our farm's fate.
Including that of our beloved sister Cora.
I was born into sl*very.
And I bought my way out.
With honest labor, I bought myself out...
... I bought my family out, one by one, one day's wage at a time.
Here at Valentine, we accomplished the impossible.
But not everyone has the character we do.
We're not all going to make it.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
- I'm sorry, but...
we ain't.
Some of us are too far gone.
sl*very has...
twisted their minds.
You've seen these lost ones on the plantations, on the streets of towns and cities, those who will not, cannot respect themselves.
And you've seen them here, receiving the gift of this place but unable to fit in.
It is too late for them.
And to risk for their sake what we've built here is unwise and unnecessary.
[CROWD MURMURS]
Brother m1ngo...
made some good points.
We can't save everybody.
No.
But, uh...
... that don't mean we can't try.
[CROWD AFFIRMING]
Sometimes...
a useful delusion is better than a useless truth.
- [CROWD AFFIRMS]
- Well, here's one delusion for you: that we can escape sl*very.
That we can buy our way out from under its scourge.
We cannot escape sl*very.
Its scars will never fade.
Even on skin like mine, it will always
- be with us.
- [CROWD AFFIRMS]
When you saw your...
your mother sold off, your father beaten, your sister abused by some...
boss or master, did you ever think that you would sit here today without chains, without the yoke, among a new family?
[CROWD MURMURING]
Everything that you ever knew...
told you that freedom was a trick.
Yet here you are.
[SCATTERED MURMURING]
And I'll tell you something else: Valentine Farm
- is a delusion.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
Who told you that the...
the n*gro deserved a place of refuge?
Who told you that you had
- that right?
- [MAN]
That's right.
Every minute of your life's suffering has argued otherwise.
By every fact of history, it can't exist, so this place must be a delusion, too.
And yet here we are.
[m1ngo]
There are realities...
[CHEERING]
- Yes.
- [MAN]
Here we are.
There are realities we have to face.
White people aren't gonna change overnight.
- [MAN]
Amen.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
They aren't gonna welcome us into their houses and businesses without a rod and a stone for as long as the sky is blue and hell is hot.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
- [WOMAN]
Yeah, that's true.
But, see, here's the thing: we don't need them to.
We don't need them to because the product we make here has value and power.
[CROWD MURMURING]
White folk have a hundred dollars for every penny a n*gro holds in this country.
If we sell to and share in the fruits of our enterprise, the business we are capable of here has no ceiling.
[CROWD MURMURS]
Harboring runaways...
[CROWD MURMURING]
... people who are wanted for m*rder,
- criminals.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
You think the white folk just a few miles from here are gonna endure our impudence forever?
[CROWD]
No.
[CROWD CLAMORING]
Brothers and sisters, please.
I called these gentlemen here.
I asked them here so they could bear witness to the ways and reasons of the dignified Negroes of this farm.
All right, all right, all... all right.
- Let 'em stay.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
Let 'em stay.
Please take your seats.
Come on, sit down.
- Let 'em stay.
- [PERSON SHUSHES]
They must stand in the back there, but let 'em stay.
There is nothing that I must say to you that I would not say to them.
[CROWD MURMURING]
As I was saying, America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all.
The white race believes, believes with all its heart, that it is their right to take the land, to k*ll Indians, make w*r,
- enslave their brothers.
- [CLAPPING]
This nation shouldn't exist if there's any justice in the world, for its very foundations are m*rder, theft, and cruelty.
It wouldn't exist, but here we are.
[CHEERING]
[m1ngo]
Valentine Farm...
Valentine Farm...
has taken glorious steps into the future.
We have built a community, a product which the white man understands he cannot live without.
By continuing to prove the n*gro's thrift and intelligence, we are entering into American society as a productive member with full rights.
Brothers and sisters, this is real.
It is real!
And it's happening right here, right now.
[METAL CLANKING]
Why jeopardize that?
Rather than up and abandon all we've built, we just need to slow things down, reach an accord with our neighbors, and, most of all, stop activities that will force their wrath.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
- [METAL CLANKING]
- [CLOCK TICKING]
[m1ngo]
Here on Valentine, we've...
built something astounding.
It is a precious thing.
And it needs to be protected, nourished, or else it will wither.
Like a...
like a rose in a sudden frost and...
Now, uh...
Don't mistake me, family.
I put on this fine suit every day.
But it don't mean the scars on my back will ever fade.
[CROWD]
Amen.
I feel them...
every time you look me in the face.
Every time I look my...
... wife in the face.
My children.
Every time I feel that communion that only the colored people of this earth can know and understand.
- [MAN]
Amen.
- [CROWD AFFIRMING]
Know...
that in speaking on the future of this wonderful place, built out of Black love and spirit and virtue...
... I do so out of the same love...
... and spirit.
And out of a desperate desire...
... to see that virtue flourish.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Yeah, I...
I am supposed to...
answer brother m1ngo's call for gradual progress.
Closing our doors to those in need and opening them to those that caused the need.
Opening them to those pillaging white folks back there, but I can't tell you to do that.
I, I...
I can't because that choice is up to you, 'cause the one thing that we both know to be true: our color cannot be undone.
- [CROWD]
Amen.
- Our color will not, cannot, shall not be undone.
- [MAN]
Amen.
- [CROWD]
That's right.
[VALENTINE]
For we...
are Africans in America.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Something new to the...
history of the world without models for what we are nor what we will become, so our color must do.
Our color must do because it brought us to this place, to this discussion, and it will take us into the future, whether here, whether in Oklahoma, California, hell, whether in Egypt or Sierra Leone.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
"Nothing was given."
[MAN]
Amen.
"All was earned."
- [WOMAN]
That's right.
- [MAN]
Yes, sir.
Hold on to...
what belongs to you.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
- [MAN]
Yeah.
Brother, I, I don't know why you...
chose not to say those words, because...
they damn sure are true.
[CROWD MURMURING]
[MAN]
That's true.
[SNIFFS]
Now...
[CLEARS THROAT]
This farm is nothing.
[CHUCKLES]
- We built it, didn't we?
- [CROWD AFFIRMING]
And we can build it again.
Build it a hundred times over if it come to it!
But I would rather build it again than to give it to them.
I would rather burn it to the ground
- than to give it to them.
- [CHEERING]
Because if there's one thing I know about every white man
- that I have ever known...
- [MAN]
Yes.
... it's that if you give him a piece,
- he's coming for all of it.
- [APPLAUSE]
[SCREAMING]
[g*nshots AND SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]
[GASPS SOFTLY]
[CLAMORING]
[SCREAMING]
No, no!
[SYBIL]
Molly!
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
[g*nf*re AND SCREAMING CONTINUE]
[MAN SHOUTING ORDERS]
- [MAN]
Samson, no.
- [MAN ]
No, no...
[OVERLAPPING SHOUTING]
- [SCREAMING]
- [g*nf*re]
Why?
He said it hisself.
The whole farm full of men like him.
[g*nshots]
Well, that's just too many.
[SCREAMING]
[HORSE NEIGHS]
[DISTORTED SOUND OF CLOCK TICKING]
[WOMEN SOBBING]
- [g*nshots]
- [SCREAMING]
[GASPS]
[MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
[WHIMPERING]
We can't stay here.
We got to go.
[CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]
- [MAN]
Hold!
- [MAN ]
Hold!
[MAN ]
Hold!
[BIRDS SQUAWKING]
[HEAVY BREATHING]
- [g*nshots]
- [CLAMORING]
A shot per man, and then powder and rod.
We can get on 'em quick.
[g*nshots]
[FLAMES CRACKLING]
Ready.
♪ - [g*nshots]
- [INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[SCREAMING]
- [g*nshots]
- [INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[ALL SCREAMING]
[GRUNTING]
[g*nshots]
[WOMEN SHOUTING]
♪ [SCREAMS]
[g*nshots]
♪ [CRYING]
♪ - [GROANS]
- [THUD]
[g*nf*re CONTINUES OUTSIDE]
[KEYS JINGLING]
[FOOTFALLS APPROACH]
[GROANS]
Georgina!
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]
[SCREAMING]
[g*nsh*t]
[CORA PANTING]
[g*n COCKS]
[RIDGEWAY]
Get up.
Get up.
No!
No!
- [WAILING]
- [GRUNTING]
[CRYING]
[RIDGEWAY]
You'll take me to the railroad.
Put your hand down!
Take me to the railroad!
♪ ♪ [g*nshots CONTINUE]
[DOOR OPENING]
Oh...
[CHUCKLING]
Oh, my goodness.
Homer.
This is where they go.
This is where they go.
Huh.
[RIDGEWAY LAUGHS]
[EXHALES]
[LAUGHS]
Homer.
From Cora's little friend back there.
Go on.
[CHUCKLING]
Yeah.
♪ [EXHALES]
[GRUNTS]
♪ [RIDGEWAY]
Oh, there's anger in you.
Best find a way to do away with it.
It'll eat you alive if you don't.
Well, it's the worst kind of feeling.
The worst kind.
The worst kind.
♪ [GROANS]
[COUGHS]
[HOMER]
Boss!
[RIDGEWAY WHEEZES]
[GROANS]
[CORA GROANS]
[GROANING]
[HOMER]
Boss, I'm coming.
- [CORA STRAINING]
- [RIDGEWAY GROANING]
[g*n CLICKING EMPTY]
[CORA GRUNTS]
[HOMER]
No!
[GROANS]
Cora.
[BREATHES HEAVILY]
- [RIDGEWAY WHEEZING]
- [ROCK CLATTERS ON GROUND]
Cora.
Cora.
[GRUNTS]
- Cora.
Cora!
- [HOMER]
Let me...
[YELPS]
[HOMER BREATHES HEAVILY]
[PANTING]
Cora.
[SQUEAKING LOUDLY]
♪ [g*nf*re]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
♪ [CRYING]
[CRYING]
[SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]
♪ [CORA]
It's okay.
[PANTING]
[GRUNTS]
Okay.
Hold this for me.
Hold it.
[GRUNTS]
[PANTING]
Okay.
So, you gon' do just like I do, okay?
[PANTING]
Take it slow.
[GRUNTING]
[CORA PANTING]
Okay, give it to me.
[STRAINS]
♪ [CORA PANTING]
[GROANING]
Cora.
Cora.
I will find you.
Cora.
I will find you.
Wherever you go.
[GROANS]
I will find you.
Cora!
[GROANS]
Where... where are you?
- [HOMER]
I'm right here.
- [RIDGEWAY]
No.
Homer.
Boy, I, I have something to share.
I have words.
[GROANS]
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- The imperative...
No.
The American imperative...
... is a splendid thing.
[SHUDDERING]
A beacon...
a shining beacon...
born of a necessity.
Necessity and virtue.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
Between the hammer and the anvil.
Yeah.
Conquer and build and civilize.
And lift up the lesser races...
well, if not lift up, subjugate.
And if not subjugate...
[SIGHS]
exterminate, eliminate.
Our destiny...
... a divine prescription.
The American imperative.
Homer, go.
You must go.
Go!
[GROANS]
[RIDGEWAY]
We all have our place.
And you and me, sl*ve and the sl*ve catcher, the master and the colored boss, and everyone from the politician all the way down to the... the new arrivals flooding into the harbors.
The weak of your tribe, they're already weeded out, they either die in the sl*ve ships, they die of our European pox, or in the fields working indigo or cotton.
♪
[GROWLS]
You!
You heard my name when you were a pickaninny!
[BREATHING RAPIDLY]
Burn in hell.
♪
[RIDGEWAY]
Plucked those blue eyes right out of his head.
[PANTING]
[CRYING]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[HOMER]
Boss.
[CRYING]
Boss.
Boss, wake up.
Boss.
- [SQUEAKING]
- [HOMER CRYING]
[CHILDISH GAMBINO: "THIS IS AMERICA"]
[SOBS]
♪ We just want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for you ♪ ♪ We just want the money ♪ ♪ Money just for you ♪ ♪ I know you want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for free ♪ ♪ Girl, you got me dancin' ♪ ♪ Dance and shake the frame ♪ ♪ We just want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for you ♪ ♪ We just want the money ♪ ♪ Money just for you ♪ ♪ I know you want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for free ♪ ♪ Girl, you got me dancin' ♪ ♪ Dance and shake the frame ♪ ♪ This is America ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Look what I'm whippin' now ♪ ♪ This is America ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Look what I'm whippin' now ♪ ♪ This is America ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Look how I'm livin' now ♪ ♪ Police be trippin' now ♪ ♪ Yeah, this is America ♪
- ♪ g*ns in my area ♪
- ♪ Word, my area ♪
- ♪ I got the strap ♪
- ♪ Hey, hey ♪ ♪ I got to carry 'em ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm-a go into this ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, this is guerrilla, whoo ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm-a go get the bag ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, or I'm-a get the pad ♪
- ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm so cold like yeah ♪
- ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I'm so dope like yeah, whoo ♪
- ♪ We gon' blow like yeah ♪
- ♪ Straight up ♪ ♪ Get down ♪ ♪ Ooh... tell somebody ♪ ♪ You go tell somebody ♪
- ♪ Grandma told me, get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪
- ♪ Get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪
- ♪ Get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪ ♪ Get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪ - ♪ Black man ♪ ♪ ♪
[GRUNTS]
[GRUNTS]
[PANTING]
♪ ♪ [SIGHS]
[CHAINS RATTLING]
[CLOCK TICKING]
♪ [BIRDS CHIRPING]
[CHICKENS CLUCKING]
[DISTANT CHATTER]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[WOMAN]
Cora?
I've heard a lot about you.
Ellis, Ellis!
Oh, my lordy.
Miss-Miss Cora!
[LAUGHS]
Oh, it is mighty nice seeing you again.
That excited to see me, huh?
No, no, I'm sorry, Ellis.
It's just...
I'm surprised is all.
What are you doing here?
Headed west, me and Olivia.
After we's married, I figure we best go west.
Life in the South underground?
That ain't no way for a child.
A child?
[OLIVIA]
Yes, ma'am.
[ELLIS]
Always heard tell of this place.
[CHUCKLES]
I wouldn't believe it was real less I seen it with my own eye.
Kind of like you.
[ELLIS LAUGHS]
Was just telling these fellas.
Mr.
Royal here can tell you.
Uh, Mr.
Royal?
[BIRDS SINGING]
♪ You all right?
Yeah.
It's that I got something to say.
I'm not quite sure how to say it.
When I woke up that morning...
... when I woke up and come round and find you gone...
... it did something to me.
Made me feel things I hadn't felt in a long time.
I wants to apologize.
For...
I wants to apologize, and I'm hoping you'll let me this time.
I'm sorry for leaving without telling you.
For not coming to you and knocking on your door and... and showing you how I felt in leaving.
You understand me?
That wasn't right.
I left cause I was shamed I made you feel shamed.
But then I run and left you alone with all that shame.
That wasn't right of me.
It wasn't right.
[CORA]
There's something I got to do.
Gots me some testifying to do.
Hello, everybody.
[VOICE TREMBLES]
Uh...
Thank you for coming today.
For seeing to me.
I'm sure a lot of you know who I am by now.
Been here long enough, y'all know me.
I thought it only right...
since I knows I want to be here, want to be a part of you, that I tell you my story.
My whole story.
[EXHALES]
I am a wanted woman.
I don't mean just being a runaway.
I am that, yes, but...
I am more.
I ran away from a plantation way down in Georgia.
Was me and two others.
Was me and...
and my best friend...
... and a, and a...
a very good man.
We was on the hog trail when...
some mens jumped us.
Least I thought they was mens.
One of them got ahold of me, and I...
I smashed him across the head.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
- I'm near certain I k*lled him.
So, you see, I am a wanted woman, and I don't want to be here without y'all knowing what... what it is...
This is madness!
- The woman is a fugitive!
- [VALENTINE]
Brother m1ngo, please.
A fugitive.
Not any mere runaway but a fugitive.
- A m*rder*r.
- [SYBIL]
Well, you act like ain't been fugitives on this property before.
Yes, but I don't think they had any more right to be here than she.
And, even then, they were here, then they were gone.
And they certainly didn't k*ll no white boys.
[SIGHS]
If y'all want me to leave, I got no problem with that.
Being from where I'm from, just to see what y'all have built here is more than I ever would have hoped for.
Not the kind of thing I ever would have dreamed.
I'm thankful for that, just to see it.
You ain't going nowhere.
You's home now.
Says who?
Not your place to say, Royal.
Not your place to know that.
She ain't the first to show up here with...
[GLORIA]
And she won't be the last.
Brother m1ngo, we all know the story.
You worked, and you saved, and you bought yourself and your family out of sl*very.
But what of those who can't?
Now...
[SIGHS]
... let's not do this.
Sister Cora has earned that much.
She's one of us.
It's no secret the fate of this farm is to be decided in the next fortnight.
I'm of the mind it would be best to defer any thoughts on our sister Cora until then.
♪ - [CLOCK TICKING]
- [BELL RINGING]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[BLEATING]
[HAMMERING]
♪ [SIGHS]
[CLOCK CONTINUES TICKING]
[DOOR SHUTS]
[RIDGEWAY]
Homer.
[JUDGE SMITH]
Thank you.
The property in this bulletin deeded and accounted for in the state of Georgia is wanted for the m*rder of a young white boy.
A boy whose only transgression was attempting to restrain the property after its escape.
Well...
and where is this deed?
I don't have it.
[JUDGE SMITH]
Mm.
[SIGHS]
However...
...
I do have my word.
As one lawman to another.
I am appealing to your sense of justice, Your Honor, to help me obtain this property.
Not without a warrant, you won't.
I don't take it you've spent much time around these parts, but the Negroes here are of a different breed.
Legal to read here.
Right to bear arms.
You go up there whistling Dixie and you and your little friend here will get your ears shot off.
Up where?
[SIGHS]
[JUDGE SMITH]
Send a telegram to Georgia.
You show me the girl's deed...
and you'll get your warrant.
[CLOCK TICKING]
[HORSE NEIGHS]
♪ [DOOR CLOSES]
[SYBIL]
[CHUCKLES]
You did a mighty fine job testifying today.
[LAUGHTER]
Come on over here and give me a hug.
[SYBIL LAUGHS]
Mm-hmm.
[LAUGHS]
Mmm.
You might as well accept it now.
[KISSES]
[SNIFFS]
You's home.
Your mama just trying to marry me off so she can
- move Samson in here...
- [GASPS]
Child!
Hush up there, now.
[LAUGHS]
[LAUGHTER]
- [LIVELY CHATTER]
- [SYBIL]
All right, gentlemen and gentlemen...
we hereby declare this Valentine shucking bee to order!
- [WHOOPING]
- [CHEERING]
Now, over here...
- we have... the elders.
- [CROWD EXCLAIMS]
Uh, she must be talking to you.
She's talking to you.
- It ain't me.
- [GEORGINA]
And over here, we've got the whippersnappers!
- [LAUGHTER]
- [CHEERING]
[WOMAN] Youngins.
Now this year's prize is a set of beautiful pipes, hand selected by Mr.
John Valentine himself
- from one of the finest sellers
- [CROWD EXCLAIMING]
- in all of Chicago.
- [MAN]
I'm gonna see you later.
- [CLAPPING]
- [WHOOPS]
Now... now keep in mind, should one of you men find a red cob
- in the st*lks...
- Ooh.
... there just might be a very special treat waiting for you.
- [LAUGHTER]
- [CROWD OOHS]
[MAN]
All right.
All right, ready?
- Steady...
- [MAN]
Come on, now!
[CHEERING]
♪ - [INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
- [CHEERING]
How do you like that?!
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
Come on, now!
[CHEERING]
[CLAPPING]
[MAN]
Get out the way!
- Ain't no more.
- [WOMAN]
No more.
- [CLAPPING]
- [CHEERING]
[SYBIL]
Wait a minute.
Hold on.
Oh...
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[CHEERING]
[m1ngo]
That's right.
That's right.
Young bucks.
Young bucks.
- You too young.
- All right, now!
[m1ngo]
How do you like that, Samson?
- [LAUGHTER]
- Hey, hey.
We gon' get you next time.
I told Royal to get on home,
- but he didn't listen to me!
- All right, now.
- [LAUGHTER]
- That's just this year.
- Mmm.
- That's just this year.
[MUMBLES]
- Victory kiss!
- [LAUGHTER]
[CHEERING]
Care to take a walk with me?
[DEBUSSY: "SUITE BERGAMASQUE- .
CLAIR DE LUNE"]
Ain't gonna be needing this.
♪ ♪ ♪ [CORA EXHALES]
[BREATHES HEAVILY]
I hear your heart, Royal.
From the very first...
I always did.
I love you.
♪ ♪ [BLEATING]
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
You's a mighty fine woman, Miss Cora.
I'm sure your mama real proud of you.
Y'all be safe now, you hear?
[ELLIS]
I spent nearly a lifetime underground.
Ain't much above it what I can see to fear.
Y'all take care, now.
[ELLIS]
You, too, Miss Cora.
You, too.
[ELLIS]
Honcho, walk on.
♪ [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪ [TELEGRAPH CLICKING]
Telegram.
What was that, boy?
Telegram, sir.
[COINS CLINK]
Certainly, young sir.
- [TRAIN APPROACHING]
- [TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]
[HEART BEATING]
[PANTING]
[LIQUID SLOSHING]
[CLOCKS TICKING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
[m1ngo]
Guess it's just my lucky day.
- [MEN CHUCKLE]
- [COINS JINGLE]
Oh.
[HARDMAN]
You're not like the rest of them, are you?
Not so special.
There's a whole farm of men like me.
[HARDMAN]
You know, men do talk about your farm.
The wine, that is.
I mean, the quality of this wine cannot be denied.
But they also talk about fugitives.
Runaway slaves...
and worse.
And worse?
I know what you may have heard, but Valentine is more than you give it credit for.
How else could a group of Negroes accrue land, till it, cultivate it to sustainability, beyond sustainability, to viability...
without self-purifying?
The men and women you speak of, they've been among us, yes, but they are no more.
We only want good Negroes on Valentine.
[TOWNSMAN]
Well, that's all well and good, but let's speak forthrightly about this deal.
[m1ngo]
Yes, let's.
We're prepared to offer a considerable percentage
- on all transactions.
- Mm-hmm.
[HARDMAN]
Well, in order for this deal to take hold, we're going to need to see more of the farm's operation.
It ain't gonna rest solely on you and Peyton's word.
- Then you should see it.
- Say what, now?
They should come to the compound.
You should see how eloquent and democratic Negroes can truly be.
We're having a debate and vote on this very thing.
Why shouldn't you be there to witness it?
You're having a vote?
Yes.
[HARDMAN]
On whether or not you gonna enter this deal?
Yes, we are.
[JUDGE SMITH]
My mama used to tell me, "A hard head make a soft ass."
[CHUCKLES]
You should've let 'em win a little.
Wouldn't hurt to not parade around how...
as good as white men you are every chance you get.
But I am, Peyton.
But I am.
♪ [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
You look like you've been out here all week.
♪ ♪
♪
[FIRE CRACKLING]
[ROYAL]
I've nothing more to say here.
I've nothing more to say here.
[ROYAL]
My word is my life.
My word is my life.
I can't speak for the others, but you certainly got my vote.
It ain't yours I'm worried about.
That so?
Yeah, it's nice to be here, but I'm still just a runaway from Georgia.
But, see, you...
you're not on Randall anymore, remember?
You free.
How so?
Ain't no way to prove it.
Man lost my mama...
then me.
Ain't no way he ever giving up on finding me.
Oh, you've been gone long enough.
Gone far enough.
Ain't no way no harm from Georgia's gonna come to you.
Not while I'm here.
Land is property.
Tools is property.
I'm still property.
Even in Indiana.
Say so right here.
That may be true.
[SNIFFS]
But this farm make enough money to buy out all the folks on that plantation and then some.
Hell, I'd just as soon ride down and settle your papers myself.
Why ain't y'all, then?
Why ain't we what?
Why ain't y'all... gone and bought out all them n*gg*r*s what can't escape chains?
I don't know.
Maybe it ain't right yet.
You know, nothing lasts forever, especially for Black folks.
Maybe we just...
holding on to what we can hold on to.
Protecting our own and growing all the while.
Guess that make m1ngo right about me, then.
I ain't one of y'all.
So why hold on to me?
When that vote happen, however it go, I'm-a honor it.
[ROYAL]
It ain't gonna come to that, I promise you.
No.
Don't promise me nothing.
Everybody keep telling me how special I am.
What good is a railroad if only special folk can take it?
What good is a farm full of freedom if only special folk can till it?
[WALKING AWAY]
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR CLOSES]
- Sir...
- [RIDGEWAY]
Check again.
Sir, I have checked numerous times.
I pray you keep your composure
- and we can discuss this, sir.
- Hey, I have been here
- more than a week.
- Yes, sir.
You know, I may as well have ridden to Georgia, and back by now.
- Sir, there is nothing I can do for you.
- Just a snail telegram...
Mister, the speed is down on the other...
My patience is wearing, sir.
Well, it's not me what's causing it to wear.
[MUTTERS]
[SIGHS]
- [HORSE NEIGHS IN DISTANCE]
- [SIGHS]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
I think it's a fine idea if he sells it to me.
Boss, look!
Judge?
Judge!
I need...
I need that warrant.
As a servant of the American government, I am due that warrant.
- That so?
- Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
Mm-hmm.
So, you're the sheriff, and who's that?
Your deputy?
[LAUGHS]
Judge, if it comes to light that the fugitive that I seek is hiding in your town, then I'd worry for your...
[JUDGE SMITH]
Oh, cut it with that racket!
You come here with your hand-scribbled papers and your little n*gg*r helper and think you can bluff your way through this town like Montezuma?
No, sir.
Uh-uh.
Not here.
[MUTTERS]
[CHUCKLES]
[RIDGEWAY]
Come on.
[FIRE CRACKLING]
Eyes go bad, you keep that up.
Couldn't sleep.
Hmm, yeah.
[SNIFFS]
Neither could I.
[SIGHS]
Don't worry, brother, I wasn't looking.
I don't imagine it's very different.
One thing I know about us.
Two sides of the same coin.
That's the thing.
We're not the same.
Folks look at you.
They'd never believe you were ever in chains.
But look at me?
Look at me and they refuse to believe I could ever be free.
- Hate the thought of me.
- My brother.
Why is it, then, you aim to do business with them?
Why not get away from these crackers?
Away from all this?
Plenty of land out there.
You know as well as I.
More land than a man can dream of out there.
Yes, but for who?
Dreams for who?
For who?
Don't tell me about no g*dd*mn dreams.
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR SHUTS]
[EXHALES]
♪ [INDISTINCT CHATTER]
♪ [RIDGEWAY]
The American imperative as a, um, as a...
... elevated... elevated...
Here, so wri-write this: American imperative is a splendid...
... yes, splendid beacon...
... as a guide of...
- ...
the system.
- [KNOCKING LOUDLY]
[RIDGEWAY CLEARS THROAT]
[RIDGEWAY GRUNTS]
[SIGHS]
[SIGHS]
What?
[GRUNTS]
Yes?
I think I can help you.
Close the door.
[BELL CLANGING]
As you all know, John and I never had children.
Wasn't meant to be.
Hmm, maybe the curse of the amalgamation in us is the conclusion of this seed.
And John and I remember this clear as day.
A woman came to us...
out of the bitter winter...
... sick and desperate.
And we didn't take her in because we felt we couldn't save her.
Mmm.
And being here as we were, two Negroes living under the cover of their own skin...
the risk was just too great.
And when I look in this room, I see that woman's face in each and every one of yours.
The children we could not conceive...
... manifested themselves in you.
And, like all children, the work of this family is your inheritance.
We own nothing.
Valentine is yours.
Now, today, we have much to tend to.
We will hear from my beloved husband and our esteemed brother m1ngo, and afterwards we will have a vote on our farm's fate.
Including that of our beloved sister Cora.
I was born into sl*very.
And I bought my way out.
With honest labor, I bought myself out...
... I bought my family out, one by one, one day's wage at a time.
Here at Valentine, we accomplished the impossible.
But not everyone has the character we do.
We're not all going to make it.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
- I'm sorry, but...
we ain't.
Some of us are too far gone.
sl*very has...
twisted their minds.
You've seen these lost ones on the plantations, on the streets of towns and cities, those who will not, cannot respect themselves.
And you've seen them here, receiving the gift of this place but unable to fit in.
It is too late for them.
And to risk for their sake what we've built here is unwise and unnecessary.
[CROWD MURMURS]
Brother m1ngo...
made some good points.
We can't save everybody.
No.
But, uh...
... that don't mean we can't try.
[CROWD AFFIRMING]
Sometimes...
a useful delusion is better than a useless truth.
- [CROWD AFFIRMS]
- Well, here's one delusion for you: that we can escape sl*very.
That we can buy our way out from under its scourge.
We cannot escape sl*very.
Its scars will never fade.
Even on skin like mine, it will always
- be with us.
- [CROWD AFFIRMS]
When you saw your...
your mother sold off, your father beaten, your sister abused by some...
boss or master, did you ever think that you would sit here today without chains, without the yoke, among a new family?
[CROWD MURMURING]
Everything that you ever knew...
told you that freedom was a trick.
Yet here you are.
[SCATTERED MURMURING]
And I'll tell you something else: Valentine Farm
- is a delusion.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
Who told you that the...
the n*gro deserved a place of refuge?
Who told you that you had
- that right?
- [MAN]
That's right.
Every minute of your life's suffering has argued otherwise.
By every fact of history, it can't exist, so this place must be a delusion, too.
And yet here we are.
[m1ngo]
There are realities...
[CHEERING]
- Yes.
- [MAN]
Here we are.
There are realities we have to face.
White people aren't gonna change overnight.
- [MAN]
Amen.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
They aren't gonna welcome us into their houses and businesses without a rod and a stone for as long as the sky is blue and hell is hot.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
- [WOMAN]
Yeah, that's true.
But, see, here's the thing: we don't need them to.
We don't need them to because the product we make here has value and power.
[CROWD MURMURING]
White folk have a hundred dollars for every penny a n*gro holds in this country.
If we sell to and share in the fruits of our enterprise, the business we are capable of here has no ceiling.
[CROWD MURMURS]
Harboring runaways...
[CROWD MURMURING]
... people who are wanted for m*rder,
- criminals.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
You think the white folk just a few miles from here are gonna endure our impudence forever?
[CROWD]
No.
[CROWD CLAMORING]
Brothers and sisters, please.
I called these gentlemen here.
I asked them here so they could bear witness to the ways and reasons of the dignified Negroes of this farm.
All right, all right, all... all right.
- Let 'em stay.
- [CROWD MURMURS]
Let 'em stay.
Please take your seats.
Come on, sit down.
- Let 'em stay.
- [PERSON SHUSHES]
They must stand in the back there, but let 'em stay.
There is nothing that I must say to you that I would not say to them.
[CROWD MURMURING]
As I was saying, America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all.
The white race believes, believes with all its heart, that it is their right to take the land, to k*ll Indians, make w*r,
- enslave their brothers.
- [CLAPPING]
This nation shouldn't exist if there's any justice in the world, for its very foundations are m*rder, theft, and cruelty.
It wouldn't exist, but here we are.
[CHEERING]
[m1ngo]
Valentine Farm...
Valentine Farm...
has taken glorious steps into the future.
We have built a community, a product which the white man understands he cannot live without.
By continuing to prove the n*gro's thrift and intelligence, we are entering into American society as a productive member with full rights.
Brothers and sisters, this is real.
It is real!
And it's happening right here, right now.
[METAL CLANKING]
Why jeopardize that?
Rather than up and abandon all we've built, we just need to slow things down, reach an accord with our neighbors, and, most of all, stop activities that will force their wrath.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
- [METAL CLANKING]
- [CLOCK TICKING]
[m1ngo]
Here on Valentine, we've...
built something astounding.
It is a precious thing.
And it needs to be protected, nourished, or else it will wither.
Like a...
like a rose in a sudden frost and...
Now, uh...
Don't mistake me, family.
I put on this fine suit every day.
But it don't mean the scars on my back will ever fade.
[CROWD]
Amen.
I feel them...
every time you look me in the face.
Every time I look my...
... wife in the face.
My children.
Every time I feel that communion that only the colored people of this earth can know and understand.
- [MAN]
Amen.
- [CROWD AFFIRMING]
Know...
that in speaking on the future of this wonderful place, built out of Black love and spirit and virtue...
... I do so out of the same love...
... and spirit.
And out of a desperate desire...
... to see that virtue flourish.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Yeah, I...
I am supposed to...
answer brother m1ngo's call for gradual progress.
Closing our doors to those in need and opening them to those that caused the need.
Opening them to those pillaging white folks back there, but I can't tell you to do that.
I, I...
I can't because that choice is up to you, 'cause the one thing that we both know to be true: our color cannot be undone.
- [CROWD]
Amen.
- Our color will not, cannot, shall not be undone.
- [MAN]
Amen.
- [CROWD]
That's right.
[VALENTINE]
For we...
are Africans in America.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
Something new to the...
history of the world without models for what we are nor what we will become, so our color must do.
Our color must do because it brought us to this place, to this discussion, and it will take us into the future, whether here, whether in Oklahoma, California, hell, whether in Egypt or Sierra Leone.
[CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
"Nothing was given."
[MAN]
Amen.
"All was earned."
- [WOMAN]
That's right.
- [MAN]
Yes, sir.
Hold on to...
what belongs to you.
- [CROWD MURMURING]
- [MAN]
Yeah.
Brother, I, I don't know why you...
chose not to say those words, because...
they damn sure are true.
[CROWD MURMURING]
[MAN]
That's true.
[SNIFFS]
Now...
[CLEARS THROAT]
This farm is nothing.
[CHUCKLES]
- We built it, didn't we?
- [CROWD AFFIRMING]
And we can build it again.
Build it a hundred times over if it come to it!
But I would rather build it again than to give it to them.
I would rather burn it to the ground
- than to give it to them.
- [CHEERING]
Because if there's one thing I know about every white man
- that I have ever known...
- [MAN]
Yes.
... it's that if you give him a piece,
- he's coming for all of it.
- [APPLAUSE]
[SCREAMING]
[g*nshots AND SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]
[GASPS SOFTLY]
[CLAMORING]
[SCREAMING]
No, no!
[SYBIL]
Molly!
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
[g*nf*re AND SCREAMING CONTINUE]
[MAN SHOUTING ORDERS]
- [MAN]
Samson, no.
- [MAN ]
No, no...
[OVERLAPPING SHOUTING]
- [SCREAMING]
- [g*nf*re]
Why?
He said it hisself.
The whole farm full of men like him.
[g*nshots]
Well, that's just too many.
[SCREAMING]
[HORSE NEIGHS]
[DISTORTED SOUND OF CLOCK TICKING]
[WOMEN SOBBING]
- [g*nshots]
- [SCREAMING]
[GASPS]
[MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
[WHIMPERING]
We can't stay here.
We got to go.
[CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY]
- [MAN]
Hold!
- [MAN ]
Hold!
[MAN ]
Hold!
[BIRDS SQUAWKING]
[HEAVY BREATHING]
- [g*nshots]
- [CLAMORING]
A shot per man, and then powder and rod.
We can get on 'em quick.
[g*nshots]
[FLAMES CRACKLING]
Ready.
♪ - [g*nshots]
- [INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[SCREAMING]
- [g*nshots]
- [INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
[ALL SCREAMING]
[GRUNTING]
[g*nshots]
[WOMEN SHOUTING]
♪ [SCREAMS]
[g*nshots]
♪ [CRYING]
♪ - [GROANS]
- [THUD]
[g*nf*re CONTINUES OUTSIDE]
[KEYS JINGLING]
[FOOTFALLS APPROACH]
[GROANS]
Georgina!
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION]
[SCREAMING]
[g*nsh*t]
[CORA PANTING]
[g*n COCKS]
[RIDGEWAY]
Get up.
Get up.
No!
No!
- [WAILING]
- [GRUNTING]
[CRYING]
[RIDGEWAY]
You'll take me to the railroad.
Put your hand down!
Take me to the railroad!
♪ ♪ [g*nshots CONTINUE]
[DOOR OPENING]
Oh...
[CHUCKLING]
Oh, my goodness.
Homer.
This is where they go.
This is where they go.
Huh.
[RIDGEWAY LAUGHS]
[EXHALES]
[LAUGHS]
Homer.
From Cora's little friend back there.
Go on.
[CHUCKLING]
Yeah.
♪ [EXHALES]
[GRUNTS]
♪ [RIDGEWAY]
Oh, there's anger in you.
Best find a way to do away with it.
It'll eat you alive if you don't.
Well, it's the worst kind of feeling.
The worst kind.
The worst kind.
♪ [GROANS]
[COUGHS]
[HOMER]
Boss!
[RIDGEWAY WHEEZES]
[GROANS]
[CORA GROANS]
[GROANING]
[HOMER]
Boss, I'm coming.
- [CORA STRAINING]
- [RIDGEWAY GROANING]
[g*n CLICKING EMPTY]
[CORA GRUNTS]
[HOMER]
No!
[GROANS]
Cora.
[BREATHES HEAVILY]
- [RIDGEWAY WHEEZING]
- [ROCK CLATTERS ON GROUND]
Cora.
Cora.
[GRUNTS]
- Cora.
Cora!
- [HOMER]
Let me...
[YELPS]
[HOMER BREATHES HEAVILY]
[PANTING]
Cora.
[SQUEAKING LOUDLY]
♪ [g*nf*re]
[INDISTINCT SHOUTING]
♪ [CRYING]
[CRYING]
[SCREAMING IN DISTANCE]
♪ [CORA]
It's okay.
[PANTING]
[GRUNTS]
Okay.
Hold this for me.
Hold it.
[GRUNTS]
[PANTING]
Okay.
So, you gon' do just like I do, okay?
[PANTING]
Take it slow.
[GRUNTING]
[CORA PANTING]
Okay, give it to me.
[STRAINS]
♪ [CORA PANTING]
[GROANING]
Cora.
Cora.
I will find you.
Cora.
I will find you.
Wherever you go.
[GROANS]
I will find you.
Cora!
[GROANS]
Where... where are you?
- [HOMER]
I'm right here.
- [RIDGEWAY]
No.
Homer.
Boy, I, I have something to share.
I have words.
[GROANS]
You ready?
- Yes, sir.
- The imperative...
No.
The American imperative...
... is a splendid thing.
[SHUDDERING]
A beacon...
a shining beacon...
born of a necessity.
Necessity and virtue.
[BREATHES SHAKILY]
Between the hammer and the anvil.
Yeah.
Conquer and build and civilize.
And lift up the lesser races...
well, if not lift up, subjugate.
And if not subjugate...
[SIGHS]
exterminate, eliminate.
Our destiny...
... a divine prescription.
The American imperative.
Homer, go.
You must go.
Go!
[GROANS]
[RIDGEWAY]
We all have our place.
And you and me, sl*ve and the sl*ve catcher, the master and the colored boss, and everyone from the politician all the way down to the... the new arrivals flooding into the harbors.
The weak of your tribe, they're already weeded out, they either die in the sl*ve ships, they die of our European pox, or in the fields working indigo or cotton.
♪
[GROWLS]
You!
You heard my name when you were a pickaninny!
[BREATHING RAPIDLY]
Burn in hell.
♪
[RIDGEWAY]
Plucked those blue eyes right out of his head.
[PANTING]
[CRYING]
[BREATHING HEAVILY]
[HOMER]
Boss.
[CRYING]
Boss.
Boss, wake up.
Boss.
- [SQUEAKING]
- [HOMER CRYING]
[CHILDISH GAMBINO: "THIS IS AMERICA"]
[SOBS]
♪ We just want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for you ♪ ♪ We just want the money ♪ ♪ Money just for you ♪ ♪ I know you want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for free ♪ ♪ Girl, you got me dancin' ♪ ♪ Dance and shake the frame ♪ ♪ We just want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for you ♪ ♪ We just want the money ♪ ♪ Money just for you ♪ ♪ I know you want to party ♪ ♪ Party just for free ♪ ♪ Girl, you got me dancin' ♪ ♪ Dance and shake the frame ♪ ♪ This is America ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Look what I'm whippin' now ♪ ♪ This is America ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Look what I'm whippin' now ♪ ♪ This is America ♪ ♪ Don't catch you slippin' now ♪ ♪ Look how I'm livin' now ♪ ♪ Police be trippin' now ♪ ♪ Yeah, this is America ♪
- ♪ g*ns in my area ♪
- ♪ Word, my area ♪
- ♪ I got the strap ♪
- ♪ Hey, hey ♪ ♪ I got to carry 'em ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm-a go into this ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, this is guerrilla, whoo ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm-a go get the bag ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, or I'm-a get the pad ♪
- ♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm so cold like yeah ♪
- ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ I'm so dope like yeah, whoo ♪
- ♪ We gon' blow like yeah ♪
- ♪ Straight up ♪ ♪ Get down ♪ ♪ Ooh... tell somebody ♪ ♪ You go tell somebody ♪
- ♪ Grandma told me, get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪
- ♪ Get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪
- ♪ Get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪ ♪ Get your money, Black man ♪
- ♪ Black man ♪ - ♪ Black man ♪ ♪ ♪