01x08 - Pomp and Circumstance

[bunniefuu]

What the f*ck?

What took you so long?

Thought you

was gonna be here an hour ago?

Man, it's straight Mad Max out there.

People ain't got the sense

they were born with.

Out here rioting in the streets

during a damn pandemic.

It's crazy, man.

You see what they did?

Damn.

You know what I should've done?

I should have went to the g*n store

in March when I had the chance.

Had me on the phone

with insurance all morning,

using my high-pitched voice.

Hey, how's the work coming?

I set up the cameras.

How am I supposed to hear you

through your mask?

We're outside, ain't we?

Six feet apart, you safe.

Just saying, I got here early

and set up the cameras and the switcher.

So if you just focus on these speakers,

maybe we get outta here early?

Cables need to be swapped.

I got to use the XLRs

for the Electro-Voice.

Wait, why are we using those?

'Cause the g*dd*mn looters

stole my good speakers.

Lucky I had these dinosaurs still

in storage.

How many times I got to tell you

not to set the exposure to auto?

No big deal. I'll fix it.

You know I have to reposition and demo

each setup after we finish with the audio?

To guarantee the quality.

You, uh,

sure you need me here for that, today?

You got somewhere else better to be?

You think this is how I wanted to show up

to my only contract in three months,

with some busted up old speakers?

No, sir. I didn't say you did.

You're acting like it, man.

If you're gonna be mad,

be mad at these looters.

Destroying people's property

who was struggling to survive

during this pandemic.

A lot of the things

I've seen online was peaceful protesters.

They don't show that on the news.

Except I know that they was looting

'cause they broke in my van, stole sh*t

and left a g*dd*mn g*ng tag.

That's not what that is.

What?

It's not a g*ng tag.

ACAB, stands for "all cops are b*stards."

Really? Get that smirk off your face.

All cops are b*stards?

Who that's for?

And what is that even accomplishing, man?

My uncle was a lieutenant. He bust his a*s

every day to provide for his family.

They calling him a b*stard?

I don't know.

I guess all cops are b*stards,

except John's uncle

who just wasn't as sketchy.

You're lucky you got jokes. Tell you what,

you destroy another man's property,

you deserve whatever is coming your way.

I wish I would've ran up

on one of them white boy anarchists,

out in the streets, busting up windows.

Put me in a room alone

with them for 30 seconds,

would had a field day whooping that a*s.

I gotta take this.

It's a free country.

Hey, baby.

Hey. Okay, so I narrowed down

our sign options to these.

Top three.

-One sec.

-I gotta--

These are the ones I got.

The neon one 'cause I'm like,

it's in your face. It's the future.

I got this black one

'cause it's like black, like blackness.

I also got this one.

- Because it's like-- Yeah?

- Ayana.

Look, the posters and everything,

they're real cool. Um…

I'm worried John's not gonna

let me get outta here

in time for the protest. That's all.

Are you serious?

You know, it's like,

does he not know he's Black too?

Overseer John

on the wrong side of history.

Uh, I think we might want

to reconsider that nickname,

in the light of the current moment.

I'm not comparing, I just--

You know what? You're right.

-We should lift each other up.

-Listen.

I'm gonna do everything I can

to talk some sense into him, okay?

Um, but one thing's for sure,

I promise I will not miss this protest.

It's way too important.

Okay, cool, 'cause I made mad posters

and you need to carry one.

I mean, I'll carry you if you ask me.

Oh, my God. You're so corny. Bye.

You, huh, want me

to connect these speaker cables?

Yeah. That's why they're there.

Can you tell me why white people

I barely know keep texting me

asking me if I'm okay?

White sympathy texts. Think somebody

on Black Twitter put 'em up to it.

White people are so confused.

"Heard about this racism thing.

Wanted to make sure you didn't get

m*rder*d since we last spoke."

They always end it with,

"Feel free not to respond."

b*tch, I always feel free.

Hey, um…

So, you know how I was telling you

about those peaceful protests earlier?

Yeah. What about it?

I-- I-- I was wondering, maybe since

I got here early to set up the cameras,

maybe I could get off early to go to one.

Leave work early

to go march in the streets.

-Yeah.

-Hell no. Absolutely not.

I should've figured.

Should've figured what?

That you would be

on the wrong side of history.

What you got to tell me about history?

You was in diapers

when Obama got elected.

I was seven.

That's the problem with y'all generation.

Think y'all discovered racism.

Man, now ain't the time. Get back to work.

I'm sorry.

I'm just curious.

What exactly am I supposed to do then,

every time another Black person

gets m*rder*d by the police?

What? Just shrug it off?

Not fight back? Sit and do nothing?

What makes you think you're doing nothing?

We are setting up a remote graduation

for a bunch of rich,

privileged, white private school kids.

This is a Black-owned business.

This is how you fight.

You work hard, you learn

and you build something that lasts.

It's hard to build something that lasts

when an officer has his knee

on your neck for nine minutes.

The man screamed out for his dead mother.

Are the police stopping you

from doing your job?

Why you wanna get

in these big-a*s crowds,

when Corona is hitting

Black people hardest?

I'll wear a mask.

You were telling me not to.

Wear a mask for what?

So you can fight racism?

How you fighting it?

Is it going somewhere

if you don't get out there today?

Y'all kids ain't got no strategy.

Y'all thought about demands?

We demand that they charge the officers

that m*rder*d a man in broad daylight.

We demand they defund and dismantle

the r*cist institution of American police.

-I could go on all day.

-You're tripping.

-Black people need police.

-I'm tripping?

You know American police

was founded on the idea of sl*ve patrols

and the oppression of Black lives?

What janky-a*s history book

you get that from?

They got police in Kenya.

Police in Sweden. Police in Japan.

Is that from sl*ve patrols?

This boy don't even know

what he's protesting.

I'm protesting the systematic k*lling

of Black people by the State.

And you should be too.

You're screaming at the sky

without a plan.

You and your friends,

y'all here playing civil rights hero.

Out here destroying your own damn city.

Y'all say y'all out here

in this man's memory?

-Looks like an excuse.

-His name is George Floyd!

I know his name. Keep your six feet.

If you know his name, then you say it.

So that you remember the way

he was m*rder*d in the street.

You remember he was a person.

He had a daughter!

And if you understand that,

if you really care about Black lives,

then you will say his name.

George Floyd.

That's a nice speech.

Now get back to work or you fired.

I need to take this.

You need to work!

Man…

do what you gotta do.

So, some random Becky

from my World History class

decides to Venmo me

for my emotional labor like some kind

of reparations microloan.

Like, I don't know what's happening.

I don't, but I'm down.

I think I, um…

I think I might have just lost my job.

What happened?

I don't know. John started

criticizing the protest again, and…

I just couldn't f*cking take his--

his "how to be a good Black man"

tutorial bullshit anymore.

And I said some sh*t.

I don't know what the f*ck I said, but--

- f*ck.

- Baby, baby.

-Look at me.

-Hmm?

Okay, what I need you to do right now

is breathe and keep breathing.

Good. Real good.

John's not gonna fire you

after one stupid argument.

You've been working for him for two years.

He loves you.

If he does fire you, he's petty as hell,

and you don't want to work for him anyway.

If he does fire me, where am I gonna find

another job right now with COVID?

I mean, my mom is getting no hours.

Nobody's hiring. It's--

I know, babe. Just breathe.

Do-- do you think maybe we're--

we're being impulsive

or stupid? Just-- just…

racing out to raise our voice,

and we really don't even have a plan.

I scrolled through

Breonna Taylor's Twitter this morning.

You know

she said 2020 was gonna be her year?

That breaks my heart.

John's generation is the one that

f*cked everything up in the first place.

The economy. The environment.

They thought they had done their job

with the civil rights movement

and that a Black president ended racism.

Now they try to leave the table

before the check comes? No. f*ck that.

Today is not just about today.

It's about all the days after.

It's about making sure this type of sh*t

does not keep happening to us.

I mean, yeah, but in the real today,

right here, right now,

I have a job that I will definitely lose

if I go with you.

And I mean, come on.

I-- I need this. My family needs this.

So, you don't wanna come?

No, I-- I don't know. I don't know.

I-- I don't know.

Well, you already know I'll support you

in whatever you decide to do.

I just want to make sure

that whatever that is,

is a choice you're proud of.

That's all.

Okay.

All right.

After you finish with the mixer,

we can sync the sound with the slideshow.

Yeah, no. I'm not doing that.

What?

Look. I don't mean to disrespect you,

and I'm grateful for everything

you've done for me, but…

I have got to get out there

and fight for my future.

I can't just sit on the sidelines

trying to…

cling to some version of the past.

Did I just hear you say

that you're grateful?

For what?

For how I took you on

for a paid high school internship,

because I wanted to invest

in my community?

For how I took the time to teach you

about this business I built from nothing?

For how I struggled

to keep you on payroll,

even though terms of my PPP loans

said I had to let you go?

That's not lost on me.

It damn sure seems like it is!

Without this contract,

business is done.

No more.

My life's work is gone!

You ain't got patience to see this through

after everything I sacrificed?

No. I can't be patient anymore!

We've been patient!

That patience, where's that gotten us?

Ain't sh*t changed

in the last hundred years.

Are you serious?

You're saying sh*t ain't changed

since 1920.

Things are the same today

for Black people as it was in 1920?

You spit on the grave of every

civil rights leader that came before you.

MLK did nothing.

Thurgood Marshall did nothing.

Shirley Chisholm did nothing.

You stand on the backs

of those that died for your freedom,

and all you do is complain

about the breeze?

They still lynching us in the streets!

And you're racing to give them a reason.

You like listing dead Black people?

Let me give you some more names.

Michael Brown. Tamir Rice.

Laquan McDonald, Eric Garner.

You want me to go on?

-Walter Scott.

-Freddie Gray.

Sandra Bland, Corey Jones, Jamar Clark,

Alton Sterling, Philando Castile,

Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor,

George Floyd!

You think I ain't paying attention

to this sh*t?

You think it doesn't pain me every time

another name's added to that list?

-You should be there with me.

-No, there's another way!

We plan. We take economic action.

We donate, and we vote.

-You handle that. I'm gonna go do this.

-So you're a big man now, huh?

You gonna burn it all down?

Why are we the ones that are expected

to regulate our response,

but no one expects them

to stop k*lling us?

Because if we stoop to their level,

we lose.

Because the way I see it,

it's a bunch of house n*gg*s

and porch n*gg*s

complaining about their f*cking property,

when they are out here k*lling our people!

That's how you feel?

After everything?

Yep.

I ain't got sh*t else to say to you.

Do what you're gonna do.

I was out there last night,

and I seen what happened to your van.

It wasn't no f*cking white boy

anarchist that did it.

You'll be damn sure,

I didn't try to stop them

'cause your property, your cheap a*s van,

doesn't mean sh*t compared

to a man's life!

Ungrateful m*therf*cker!

You know how hard it is

to start a business as a Black man?

You know I'm responsible for your clothes?

Without me, you ain't got that.

Without my blood, sweat and tears.

It's that plantation mentality sh*t, man.

You know what? I want my money back.

What are you talking about?

Everything I invested in you.

Starting with the shirt on your back!

Give me my shirt.

Give me my shirt.

-Are you serious right now?

-Don't make me repeat myself!

You f*cking want this shirt so bad?

This sh*t matters so much to you, huh?

Here! The f*ck is wrong with you?

What the f*ck is wrong with you?

You see this?

I built this for you and your generation!

So you didn't have to struggle as hard!

You can rest.

It's not your struggle anymore.

It's ours now.

Blackberry molasses

One of the things that never change♪

You gotta keep pushing on

The sun don't rain all the time♪

There's gonna be

Some heartache and pain ♪

Blackberry molasses♪

One of the things that never change♪

You gotta keep pushing on

The sun don't rain all the time♪

There's gonna be

Some heartache and pain ♪

Blackberry molasses

One of the things that never change♪

You gotta keep pushing on

The sun don't rain all the time♪

There's gonna be

Some heartache and pain ♪