July ,
Those marched in
the streets were just kids.
And the police were using
fire hoses and dogs on 'em.
Fillin' their jails with children.
I'm just thankful we left Biloxi.
I think Dr. King's right.
That march on
Washington next month?
That'll change people's minds.
Marching the streets?
Isn't the asnwer, son.
What is Pops?
Dignity, hard work, education.
Things in life that matter most.
Dr. King says,
our lives begin to end
the day we become silent
about the things that matter.
- Your son's gotta point, Donald.
- Oh, my son?
- Where you think he get all his sass from?
- From your mother side.
But that's a whole other story.
Donald Williams.
I'm Billy Jones.
From TBL defense systems?
- Glad to finally meet you, Billy.
- You're all moved in then, I suppose?
Looking forward to
seeing the plant tomorrow.
- Why don't I take that from you?
- Thank you.
I'm Judith.
Billy's sister-in-law.
- So, pleased to meet you.
- Oh, Mary Williams, likewise.
This is my husband
Donald, and our son Ezekiel.
You can call me
Zeke for short, ma'am.
Zeke, it is then.
My husband Henry is
around here, somewhere...
Sweetheart!
I understand you're
in m*llitary, Mr. Willams?
Did they train you
to work on planes?
Well, actually I'm an engineer.
I build'em.
Mr. Williams will be
overseeing operations in TBL.
He's your boss, Billy?
Henry, the Williams are our new neighbors
they just came up from Mississippi.
Welcome.
I better help Charlotte
get some dessert.
Jump in there, Zeke.
Before my neice gobbles it all down.
Jell-O!
I thought you
wanted cake, Charlotte.
I don't like cake, Daddy.
Sure you do.
You love cake.
With this faith we will
be able to work together,
to pray together,
to struggle together,
to go to jail together,
to stand up for freedom together...
Holy moly!
- What is that?
- Let's get out of here.
It's a kid.
Don't touch it, Willy!
The fuzz will put you in the slammer.
H - DATE: Aug,
CONTENTS: Williams. E.
Last known address
was this flophouse.
Word on the street is
our guy surfaces today.
He's been wanted on
this warrarnt for six months.
Better surface.
This his posse?
Will?
Hey. What is it?
Body was found here,
years ago.
Whose body?
Sixteen year old boy.
Zeke Williams.
Cold job?
Never came in.
Every year,
folks would leave flowers.
- Not this year.
- People forget.
I was the one who found him, Lil.
I never forgot.
Hey, Scotty.
We miss you at first Thursdays.
Well, don't worry, we had a couple
of cocktails put on you tab.
Live it up.
Looks like you were
living it up yourself.
Uh, nah-.
Just... under the weather.
Can't keep up
with the barmaid, huh?
Will you drop it already?
Hey, Scotty. Take it easy.
Hey, Nun.
You tell him to take it easy.
Just messing, will ya?
I'm heading in.
Smelling like a brewery, too.
Ezekiel Williams, .
Parents reported him
missing night of August , .
Next day his body was found.
Yeah. In g*ng territory.
th and diamond posse.
AKA, diamonds, ran that turf.
Thoery was,
Zeke's m*rder was drug related.
Well, Zeke was
a straight A student.
No prior drug or criminal history.
Yep, kids like me ran those streets
dreamt of being a diamond one day.
Not kids like Zeke.
Gangster dreams, huh, Will?
Yeah, now I'm one of the good guys.
Petechial hemorrhaging,
possible suffocation, and body
was beaten too badly to be sure.
With this kind of damage you'd have a river
of blood flowing through that playground.
No mention of blood
in the scene notes.
Body was moved?
Moved from where?
What's that?
Cops back then thought
it was some kind of code.
Couldn't make heads or tails.
Maybe we'll get lucky
this time around.
Maybe.
He broke Mary's heart.
She followed Zeke shortly after.
And your wife thought Zeke's
m*rder was racially motivated.
We both did.
Police wouldn't listen.
Notherners never
could face their own Emmett Tills.
Why do you say that, Mr. Williams?
Back then, racism was
supposed to be a Southern vice.
But the North had it's own version.
Just as deadly.
Especially, when
the black man was boss.
Zeke had a run-in with
someone on your job?
He got a taste firsthand of
what I had to go through every day.
Bell UH- s.
Defence contract.
Top of the line.
You tell all these people
what to do Pops?
I oversee engineering and quality control.
Meaning you're the boss.
A man is limited to nothing...
But his dreams.
Noticed some problems in the
fuel system flow switches.
You want to double check those.
Lunch ended ten minutes ago.
Let's go.
Get back on the floor before
I dock you the rest of the day.
I'm taking a smoke first.
You heard the man
quit your dilly dallying.
Can't I get a smoke first, Billy?
No, get on the floor.
Gotta give them a kick time to time...
- That's how we run things here.
- Yeah, you tell him boss.
You said it, boss.
You gonna stand by
and watch that Pops?
He's not your boss.
My Father is.
Boy's got a mouth on him.
What d'you call him?
Ain't a man, is he?
That's all he meant, Donald.
Let's go, fellas. C'mon.
I'll never forget the look
on Zeke's face.
I dissapointed him.
Zeke had any other encounters
with your employees?
I wasn't inclined to have another
bring-your-son-to-work-days.
So, no.
And you told the cops
all this back then?
I did.
So, why do you care now?
I was the one who found
Zeke in the playground.
That's why we're here.
Trying to make it right.
You're years late, son.
Zeke was steping out of line,
he should've known better.
So maybe your boys decided
to school him in the proper etiquette.
They weren't my boys.
And they were
young and dumb, but...
Not dangerous.
You didn't agree with
their philosophical outlook?
I was there for the job and
a paycheck, not the politics.
Did they ever bring up
this incident with Zeke again?
Not to me. They knew
how I stood on it.
Boss's kid?
Leave it alone.
Well, someone didn't
leave it alone.
If you've got something to say...
Now's the time.
Look.
Zeke, he was a good kid.
But?
Even good kids play with fire.
Henry just doesn't understand
how heavy groceries can be.
Well, maybe you should
learn how to drive, Judith.
Oh, silly me on the road?
That's what Henry would say.
What's going on here?
Where's Charlotte?
- What are you doin?
- Mommy?
Oh, my God!
It's not what you think, Mrs. Judith!
You just walk into my brother's
house to chase some tail?
Carrying on in front of a child!
You never told the cops this?
Or your boss?
I thought it wasn't
any of my business.
Whatever he was doing
with that maid Matilda.
But you think that
'whatever' it was got him k*lled?
I thought Matilda
already had a boyfriend.
A real unsavory fella, too.
What do you mean?
Heard he dealt dope.
He hung out with one of
those gangs from North Philly.
North Philly?
You know what g*ng?
They call themselves
the ' Diamonds', I think.
Crazy name, huh?
Well, Zeke was
in over his head.
Hooked up with a g*ng
member's girlfriend.
th and diamond ruled
the roost in ' .
Spoke the langauge of retribution.
We got a name on this boyfriend?
Still looking for surviving members.
And shelf life being what it is on
the streets, we're lucky if we find any.
What about Matilda?
Autotracked her.
She's not in the State of PA.
Well, Valens and Vera wiill check it out.
This kid she took care of, you find her?
Charlotte Jones.
She's in Center city.
Maybe she's got some answers.
It's a place I used
to play as a child.
I was nine when Zeke d*ed.
Do you remember the time your mother
and Uncle Billy found Zeke in the house?
Yes, I do.
Were there other guys ever coming
around the house looking for Matilda?
No. / Well, Matilda had a boyfriend, though.
Someone besides Zeke?
If she did, I never knew.
She loved Zeke like
he was her one and only.
Even as a kid I could see that.
That day was the
first time they ever met.
Did he come in to look for her?
No, me.
Why?
Oh, some neighborhood kids
and I stole his flag off his front porch.
He caught us.
They got away, I didn't.
So he chased you
into your house?
He didn't hurt me
if that's what you thinking.
Then what'd he do?
He made his move.
You're sure they
won't get mad, Tommy?
See the cross on that flag,
Charlotte?
Negroes are real religious.
They like crosses.
Come on, give me that.
What are you doing?
Tommy said negroes like crosses.
Give it back.
I said give me my flag back.
How many times
I gotta tell you, Charlotte?
Quit slamming that door!
I want my flag.
What do you think
you're doing in here?
Girl who lives here took my flag.
I'd like it back.
I gotta leave right now! You can't
just barge onto other people's property!
She barged onto mine!
I'm not leaving until I get my flag.
Alright, stay here and keep quiet.
I'm Zeke.
By the way.
Matilda. Hi.
- What's going on here?
- Where's Charlotte?
What are you doing?
Mommy?
Oh, my God!
It's not what you
think Miss Judith!
You just walk into my brother's
house to chase some tail?
Matilda! How could
you bring that boy in here?
Miss Judith.
I can explain it to you.
Did he touch you, baby?
He touched that.
I can explain, Miss Judith.
Like I said,
Zeke made his move.
The Ruy Lopez.
What's that?
White knight to F ,
black knight to C .
It's a chess opening.
That's what that
piece of paper was.
Chess moves.
So, Zeke was a chess player.
A very good one.
So was my Mother.
That's why she was smiling.
She knew she had
finally met her match.
Your mother and Zeke met again?
Every afternoon.
Matilda and I would
watch the games.
It was our secret.
So how long did this go on for?
Till the day Zeke d*ed.
Your daughter says your chess
games were secret, Mrs. Jones.
Why?
Back then, it was one thing,
sharing pot lucks
with your black neighbors.
Another thing, inviting
their grown sons into your home.
The world wasn't ready
for your kind of friendship.
The world treated me
like a dumb housewife,
Zeke like a boy.
We treated each
other like much more.
He was my friend.
You never told the police about
your games, after he was m*rder*d?
I didn't think our games had anything
to do with what happened to Zeke.
No one in my world knew.
How about his?
Zeke and I went out in public once.
We didn't think anyone would mind.
Because we'd be among our own.
Your own?
People who loved
nothing more than the game.
Best players in Philadelphia
are here in this park.
I heard a grand master's coming
next Wednesday.
Are you planning to go?
I was hoping to go to
Washington that day for the march.
Father doesn't believe in that stuff.
Never let me.
You'll find a way.
If you really want to.
You think I should go?
A great man once said, our lives
begin to end the day we become silent...
about the things that matter!
I think you should do
what you believe is right, Zeke.
Can I ask you something, Mrs. Jones?
When a young lady likes someone.
How can you tell?
By the way she acts.
She smiles a lot, laughes at little
things, like the way Matilda does.
When you're around.
Clyde!
Didn't know you played.
You know Mrs. Jones, right?
Blitz. One minute each.
You play white.
Seems you got affinity for it.
Like brother Malcolm said, coffee
gets weak when you mix it with cream.
I thought we were
playing game here.
Question is,
what are you playing.
Black stud to your white queen?
Maybe we should go, Zeke.
Don't talk about her like that!
Man who doesn't stand for
something, falls for anything.
Malcolm X.
We must learn to live together as
brothers or perish together as fools.
Dr. Mrtin Luther King.
Who's the fool here?
Black man who think he's white?
At least I know what I am.
But not who.
Clock ran out, I win.
Be peaceful, be courteous,
obey the law, respect everyone.
Malcolm said that, too.
But if someone puts his hand on you,
send him to the cemetery.
Forgot the last part.
Fool.
Who was this Clyde?
He did gardening work in the
neighborhood, from time to time.
You two have had
any run-ins with him?
I never went back there.
Zeke may have.
I don't know.
Where was this chess park located?
Up near Temple University.
th street and Diamond.
That's where Zeke's
body was found.
Yeah.
Zeke was found a block away
from your little chess club, Clyde.
What my chess club?
Opened to public,
as far as I knew.
But not white public.
Boss man sent you in here
Talk to the black man?
You got a penchant for
assualting police officers.
Black police officers.
Oxymoron, you ask me.
Sellouts, race traitors, right?
Blind, deaf and
dumb is more like it.
And Zeke was the worst
kind of blind, deaf and dumb.
Fraternizing with the white woman.
I didn't have a problem
with the white woman, junior.
I had a problem with that woman.
- Mrs. Jones?
- That's right.
Why is that?
Mrs get her hair
done every Tuesday.
Blind, deaf and dumb
as to what goes on on her house.
Figured one Tuesday,
I'd share with Zeke.
Mrs is barely out of her house.
And already it's starting up.
What are we doing here, Clyde?
Told you there's
somehing you should see.
I'm not looking in there?!
Get over here!
I'm leaving.
You like that girl, don't you?
Matilda?
Listen.
You love white people so much.
See how they love you back?
Turned up dead the next day.
Zeke do something
about what he saw?
Must've done something.
He dead, ain't he?
This world a rich happy man,
three years ago.
You think Judith knew about
her husband's indiscretions?
Sounded like she
was out of the loop.
How about Matilda,
we find her yet?
Still looking. Turns out
she wasn't Philly born.
Family was from outside
Wilmington, Delaware?
Came up here for work, left town
the day before Zeke was m*rder*d.
Wonder what made her run?
Well, maybe this.
A complaint filed with the old
sex crimes unit by Matilda Jefferson.
Report of a r*pe.
Accompanying her was a n*gro male
companion, unidentified.
- Could be Zeke.
- Must be Zeke.
Young girl, no family, who else
could she have turned to?
Who's the officer on the report?
No officer listed, the only name we've got
is a secretary who typed it up, Linda O'Hara.
We know where she is?
In town, still alive and kickin'.
It's Miss O'Hara.
Never did have a ball and chain.
About time they got some
female detectives on the force.
They didn't let girls
in the club til ' .
Pretty rough for
female cops back then?
Rough?
Commissioners put first timers
on the worst drug corners.
No patrol cars, no back up.
Can't live with'em,
can't k*ll'em off.
Yeah, you got that right.
Never got past secretary myself.
Their loss, you ask me.
You remember this report you filed?
Back in ' .
'Course I do.
My superiors wouldn't
let me, did it anyway.
Why didn't they let you?
Back then they said r*pe was
when a lady changed her mind.
But you believed Matilda.
she was a brave little girl.
So was her friend.
I was the only one
who believed them.
And you saw what
happened, young man?
Told you they'd listen.
What's going on, Linda?
This young girl was r*ped.
That right, Miss?
You know the person
who did this to you?
His name is Henry Jones.
He runs Emmerson Bank.
I know who he is.
Take it.
Show me what he did.
- What?
- This isn't right, sir.
She wants to charge a man
with r*pe, she proves it first.
Show me.
Stick it in.
C'mon.
C'mon~
C'mon!
Stick it in.
Can't r*pe a woman,
if she don't let you.
But you can make her let you.
Sir!
Zeke!
You're under arrest for
assualting a police officer!
Get him out of here.
And throw that damn thing away.
Right after that, sergeant
went to the phone made a call.
- To who?
- Henry Jones.
I heard him yakking about how
he couldn't let some uppity colored boy
humiliate an upstanding citizen,
blah-blah-blah.
How long was
Zeke there that night?
My shift ended at midnight.
That poor boy was
still in the cell when I left.
And you never reported this?
After Zeke was found dead?
Who would I report it to?
The police?
Report wasn't in the box because
Zeke was never officially arrested.
And we've got no
record of who got him out.
Making it real easy for our sergeant to
call up Henry and hold Zeke unofficially.
Until our upstanding
citizen shows up to claim him.
Maybe Matilda saw him go down.
She was at the station earlier.
Any luck finding her yet?
Yeah, I found her.
You found Matilda?
Yeah, oh yeah.
I thought I told you. She's uh-,
living on a Jersy shore.
Ocean City.
Thanks for the heads up.
Don't put yourself out.
Hold on a second, Scotty.
You found our witness,
didn't bother letting us know.
Hey, I'm uh- sorry, okay?
- Thought I did...
- You didn't.
- You've been drinking?
- No.
No, that's crazy.
I can smell it on you, Scotty.
Well, look.
I was off the clock at lunch, so...
I'm fine.
I've given you every sh*t I can, pal.
I get yourself cleaned up,
you do your job or you're gone.
You get me?
Get out.
I was .
Alone in the big city.
Family miles away.
Zeke was my first love.
Didn't ever wondered why he never
contacted you after you left Philly?
I thought he'd forgot about me.
What'd you do after
Zeke got arrested?
I waited outside the
station house for hours.
Scared, alone...
- And then she showed up.
- Who?
Miss Judith.
Judith Jones?
I thought she'd come to help.
Being Zeke's friend and all.
But she was the
furthest thing from it.
- Mrs. Jones!
- Zeke! Did they hurt you?
I want you out of my house, tonight.
Don't bother picking up your things.
- What's going on?
- And you.
I never want to see you again.
I got a call from sergeant Petoskey.
He told me what
you were doing here.
It's not Matilda's fault.
Or mine.
What your husband did.
Why couldn't you just
keep your mouth shut?
You once told me to do
what you believe is right.
Well, I was wrong.
And that our lives begin to end the day we
become silent about the things that matter?
Remember, Mrs. Jones?
Didn't this place teach you, Zeke?
What you have to say,
doesn't matter.
Maybe here it doesn't.
But to those people going to
Washington tomorrow?
To Dr. King?
It matters.
That's why I need to go to
get someone to hear me, then I'll go.
Tonight.
To tell the truth.
Wanna come?
Thank you, officer.
Go to Washington.
Go wherever you want, Zeke.
Just get out of here.
Get out of my life.
And don't you ever come back.
It was almost morning when we left.
Zeke walked me to the train station.
Spend his last dime on
my ticket back to Wilmington.
Promised he'd come
back for me one day.
Where'd he go after that?
He was gonna hitchhike, walk...
Do whatever it took to
get to Washington, DC.
For the march.
Zeke meant what he said.
Always did.
And only one other person
knew where he was headed.
The day he was k*lled.
Mrs. Jones.
his supposed friend.
- That right, Judith?
- Some friend you were.
When it hit the fan,
you ran for cover.
Zeke never did follow the rules.
I admired that, believe me!
But I wasn't as strong as he was.
And couldn't stand all the neighbors
knowing your dirty little secret.
What your husband
was doing to the maid?
So you told Henry where to
find him to shut Zeke up for good.
I said those things
to scare Zeke!
To make him go
faraway from here.
Why?
Because I knew it was only a matter
of time before Henry did something.
So you were trying to save Zeke.
I owed it to him.
Because in some ways
Zeke saved me.
Yeah? How?
He cared about what I thought.
There weren't many who did.
Like your husband.
So why did you tell him
where to find Zeke?
I'll regret that for the rest of my life.
You have no idea.
Where've you been, Judith?
I uh-...
I was spending
the night at Marge's.
Billy says a friend of his
at the station house saw you.
Getting that colored boy out.
I did it for you, Henry.
So you wouldn't go to jail.
You believe that boy's lies?
More than your husband.
Where is he?
You tell me right now,
or you pack your bags,
and you get out,
and you will never
see your daughter again.
You can't do that.
None of this would ever
happened if wasn't for those people.
Moving into our neighborhoods,
taking a man's livelihood,
his job,
his woman.
That's why she
got him out, Henry.
I don't know what
you're talking about, Billy!
You're sleeping with
that colored boy aren't you?
No!
God, I don't even know him!
Mommy?
What do you got there, honey?
Something for Mommy?
It's his winning chess move.
Whose chess moves, sweetheart?
Zeke's.
Please don't take her from me.
Where is he?
Headed to Washington.
Please don't take her!
Wanna come see your
friend Zeke, sweetheart?
Henry! What are you doing?
Mommy?
Well, that piece of paper
was found in Zeke's pocket.
Your daughter was
there when Zeke was k*lled.
That day, I lost my
one friend in the world.
I couldn't lose my child, too.
We know you were there, Charlotte.
When Zeke was k*lled.
I was in bed asleep.
You were with your father
and your uncle Billy.
Looking for Zeke.
You loved your daddy a lot.
You're uncle Billy, too.
And that's why you never told.
Remember this?
Zeke's winning move.
The Ruy Lopez.
He taught it to you.
And you left it with him.
I found it on his body.
He was left in the
middle of the playground,
beaten so badly his
own mother barely knew him.
I was twelve.
I'm sorry.
It was my fault.
I forgot our chess
games were secret.
Tell us where your
father took you, Charlotte.
A place in the woods
I used to play.
My father, he...
put up on a swing for me and...
Show us where.
Zeke was hitchhiking
on the side of the road.
And my father and
uncle Billy and their friends...
they made him get into the car...
and they brought him here.
Where do you think
you're going now?
Ain't DC.
We interrupt our regular braodcast to
go live to the march on Washington...
Sorry.
I am happy to join with you today
in what will go down in history
as the greatest demonstration-
You stay in here.
I got him, I got him!
Get him up, get him up!
Where you going now, boy?
- Ain't DC, boy!
- You'll learn to shut that big mouth.
Shut that big mouth,
Shut that big mouth!
Who you gonna tell now!
... quest for freedom left you battered
by the storms of persecution
and staggered by
the winds of police brutality.
You have been...
C'mon! C'mon!
No one's ever gonna
hear about this, right?
Especially not your daddy.
You mean, your boss?
I'll tell him.
I'll tell everyone.
What you did to me.
To Matilda.
You can't stop me.
Yes, I can.
Billy, enough's enough.
I have a dream
that one day
this nation will rise up
and live out the true
meaning of its creed:
"We hold these truths
to be self-evident...
Daddy! / You don't want your
daddy to go to jail, do you, Charlotte?
I have a dream
that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color
of their skin but by the
content of their character.
I have a dream today!
With this faith,
we will be able to work together,
to pray together, to struggle together,
to go to jail together,
to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day
when all of God's children...
- Don't look!
- Why Daddy?
- ... be able to sing with new meaning,
- Please don't look!
when we allow freedom ring,
when we let it ring from every
village and every hamlet,
from every state and every city,
we will be able to speed up that day
when all of God's children,
black men and white men,
Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics,
will be able to join hands and sing
in the words of the old n*gro spiritual:
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty,
we are free at last!
Nina Simon, 'Strange Fruit'
Southern trees
bearing strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging
in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging
from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene
of the gallant south
And bulging eyes
and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias
clean and fresh
Then the sudden
smell of burning flesh
Here is a strange
and bitter crop