One Drop of Love

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Transcript

ONE DROP OF LOVE uses the ever-changing racial categories on the U.S. Census as the historical backdrop to this interactive show. Throughout, the audience is asked to participate in defining and redefining these categories for themselves and one another. Fanshen parallels this history with her own, and her family’s, search for roots, identity and for justice. Audiences will travel from the 1700s to the present, to cities around the U.S., and to West and East Africa, to pursue more truth – leading to more justice – and then, perhaps, to LOVE. The ultimate goal of the performance is to encourage the discussion of race and racism openly and critically, and to encourage a commitment to making the world more liberated for all.

The Wrap Innovators List 2018
"Hollywood Disruptors from Kenya Barris to Alyssa Milano"

Washington Post’s The Lily | Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni
"How I Came to Accept My Hard-to-Pronounce Name"

A Life With Subtitles
"One Drop of Love: A Must See Show"

La Voz Latina
"Filmmaker Fanshen Cox Talks About Multiracial Identity in One Drop of Love Performance"

Kim Wayans
"One Drop of Love is funny, entertaining and moving."

Junot Díaz
“Vibrant and tremendously brave…One Drop of Love is an odyssey of love, of race and ultimately of redemption. . . Cox’s tale will break your heart even as it heals it.”

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Main credits

Cox Digiovanni, Fanshen (screenwriter)
Cox Digiovanni, Fanshen (film producer)
Cox Digiovanni, Fanshen (performer)
Banker, Carol (film director)
Affleck, Ben (film producer)
Damon, Matt (film producer)

Other credits

Cinematography, Katie Walker; editors, Sarah Feinbloom, Alex Regalado; music, Carol Doom.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Racial Construction,Intersectionality,U.S. Census Racial Categories,Mixed Race & Biracial Identity,Racism & Racial Justice,West and East Africa; "One Drop of Love"; GOOD DOCS

00:00:15.369 --> 00:00:16.370
Let's see here.

00:00:16.453 --> 00:00:19.579
Okay, we've got one
there and two.

00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:35.799
And two.

00:00:35.883 --> 00:00:36.509
Hello.

00:00:36.592 --> 00:00:37.218
Good.

00:00:37.301 --> 00:00:38.320
And three you definitely.

00:00:38.403 --> 00:00:39.399
Hello And four.

00:00:39.483 --> 00:00:40.420
Hi, how are you?

00:00:40.503 --> 00:00:41.320
Good to see you.

00:00:41.403 --> 00:00:42.029
And five.

00:00:42.112 --> 00:00:42.738
Hello.

00:00:42.821 --> 00:00:43.447
Good to see you.

00:00:43.530 --> 00:00:44.156
And six.

00:00:44.239 --> 00:00:44.899
Definitely let's.

00:00:44.983 --> 00:00:47.560
Oh and seven
Hai hai and eight.

00:00:47.643 --> 00:00:48.729
Okay, great.

00:00:48.813 --> 00:00:49.439
Nine.

00:00:50.350 --> 00:00:51.280
No, not you.

00:00:51.363 --> 00:00:51.989
Okay.

00:00:52.072 --> 00:00:52.698
And ten.

00:00:52.781 --> 00:00:53.407
Hi.

00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:54.116
High.

00:00:54.199 --> 00:00:54.825
Okay.

00:00:54.908 --> 00:00:55.780
And 11 and 12.

00:00:55.863 --> 00:00:58.810
Good number of free
white males.

00:00:58.893 --> 00:00:59.829
12.

00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:01.810
Okay, now let's see here.

00:01:01.893 --> 00:01:02.519
Oh, hi.

00:01:02.602 --> 00:01:03.228
How are you?

00:01:03.311 --> 00:01:03.937
That's one.

00:01:04.020 --> 00:01:04.646
Okay.

00:01:04.729 --> 00:01:07.079
And Oh, gosh, no, not you are.

00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:08.709
Well, let's do it anyway.

00:01:08.793 --> 00:01:09.730
Two and three.

00:01:09.813 --> 00:01:10.439
Okay.

00:01:10.522 --> 00:01:12.659
Probably four and five.

00:01:12.743 --> 00:01:13.369
Hello.

00:01:13.452 --> 00:01:14.078
Okay.

00:01:14.161 --> 00:01:15.969
Six, seven, eight, nine.

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Oh, quite a few.

00:01:17.073 --> 00:01:17.699
Okay.

00:01:17.782 --> 00:01:18.549
And more over here.

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That's about ten or so.

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Number of
free white females.

00:01:22.803 --> 00:01:23.709
Ten.

00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:24.485
Okay.

00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:25.930
Oh, my gosh, this is exciting.

00:01:26.013 --> 00:01:26.739
I've got more here.

00:01:26.823 --> 00:01:27.449
Hello.

00:01:27.532 --> 00:01:28.870
One and two.

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Okay.

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And three.

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Hello.

00:01:31.080 --> 00:01:31.706
I see you.

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Four, five.

00:01:32.853 --> 00:01:33.479
Good.

00:01:33.562 --> 00:01:34.188
Six.

00:01:34.271 --> 00:01:35.379
Oh, yes, you are definitely.

00:01:35.463 --> 00:01:36.099
I'm seven.

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Oh, sure, for sure.

00:01:37.503 --> 00:01:40.150
Eight and
nine and ten.

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Goodness.

00:01:43.150 --> 00:01:43.775
Yeah.

00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:46.120
Number of slaves.

00:01:46.203 --> 00:01:47.260
13.

00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:52.569
No, sorry.

00:01:52.653 --> 00:01:53.769
No, no, no, no, no.

00:01:53.853 --> 00:01:54.909
Number of slaves.

00:01:54.993 --> 00:01:55.959
14.

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Good morning, class.

00:02:00.903 --> 00:02:02.650
Oh, oh, oh, Oh.

00:02:02.733 --> 00:02:04.120
Good morning, teacher.

00:02:04.849 --> 00:02:05.750
Sorry.

00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:06.859
Sorry.

00:02:06.943 --> 00:02:09.050
Good morning, Fanshen.

00:02:10.150 --> 00:02:10.960
But, Teacher?

00:02:11.259 --> 00:02:13.560
Why do we have
to call you Fanshen?

00:02:13.780 --> 00:02:15.400
In my country, we

00:02:15.483 --> 00:02:17.979
show respect by
saying Teacher.

00:02:19.210 --> 00:02:19.835
Oh!

00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:23.319
Yes, yes, I understand that.

00:02:23.403 --> 00:02:24.129
And I appreciate.

00:02:24.213 --> 00:02:24.839
that.

00:02:24.922 --> 00:02:25.719
I really do.

00:02:26.349 --> 00:02:27.699
But it's just that.

00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:28.780
Well, there

00:02:28.863 --> 00:02:32.710
are so many different
ways to show respect, right?

00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:36.939
And my parents thought really,
really hard about what

00:02:37.023 --> 00:02:38.020
to name me.

00:02:38.909 --> 00:02:40.129
So how about this?

00:02:40.213 --> 00:02:41.310
How about if

00:02:41.393 --> 00:02:45.620
I promise to learn
all of your names?

00:02:45.703 --> 00:02:48.270
I'm not going to
call you "Student" Right?

00:02:48.449 --> 00:02:49.409
Student One.

00:02:49.493 --> 00:02:50.119
Student Two...

00:02:50.202 --> 00:02:54.419
No, I will use your names and
and you guys just use mine

00:02:54.503 --> 00:02:55.129
.

00:02:55.212 --> 00:02:55.838
Okay?

00:02:57.810 --> 00:02:58.680
Sorry!

00:03:02.710 --> 00:03:04.840
So I was teaching Advanced.

00:03:04.923 --> 00:03:06.759
ESL: English as a Second

00:03:06.843 --> 00:03:10.539
Language in this adult school
in Koreatown, Los Angeles.

00:03:10.623 --> 00:03:16.270
And my students there were from
all over Asia, Korea and Japan

00:03:16.353 --> 00:03:19.180
and and Thailand and Vietnam.

00:03:20.389 --> 00:03:22.370
And well.

00:03:22.729 --> 00:03:27.110
I decided to share this
particular day with all of you

00:03:27.193 --> 00:03:31.219
because it changed my life.

00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:33.740
Okay, so I was teaching, right?

00:03:33.823 --> 00:03:36.590
And then my supervisor,
Nan comes and knocks on

00:03:36.673 --> 00:03:37.340
my door.

00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:38.509
Fanshen.

00:03:38.593 --> 00:03:39.219
Hello.

00:03:39.302 --> 00:03:40.639
Good morning,
Sawasdee Ka.

00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:42.560
Fanshen.

00:03:42.643 --> 00:03:46.430
I wanted to tell you, you will
have a new student today.

00:03:46.513 --> 00:03:50.900
Oh, and let me tell you,
you are going to fall in

00:03:50.983 --> 00:03:51.979
love with him.

00:03:56.300 --> 00:03:57.860
Okay, here's the thing.

00:03:57.943 --> 00:04:01.669
Now, first of all, Nan was
my friend, but she was also my

00:04:01.753 --> 00:04:03.860
boss and she was
a professional.

00:04:03.949 --> 00:04:06.650
So this was just a really,
really odd thing for her

00:04:06.733 --> 00:04:07.580
to say.

00:04:08.539 --> 00:04:14.479
And second of all, I was a
Black woman and I was going to

00:04:14.563 --> 00:04:18.500
marry and have children with
a Black man.

00:04:19.209 --> 00:04:22.149
And I was pretty sure that a
Black man was not going to be

00:04:22.233 --> 00:04:25.959
walking into this ESL
school in Koreatown.

00:04:28.389 --> 00:04:29.015
Fanshen.

00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:33.180
This is Diego.

00:04:41.050 --> 00:04:41.899
Okay!

00:04:41.983 --> 00:04:43.250
Well, you

00:04:43.333 --> 00:04:45.800
are white, so I'm just
going to leave it blank.

00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:46.605
Okay.

00:04:46.689 --> 00:04:52.699
And now you are B for Black and
you are now M for Mulatto.

00:04:55.670 --> 00:04:58.370
Enter Diego.

00:04:58.453 --> 00:04:59.540
DiGiovanni.

00:04:59.623 --> 00:05:03.769
And he is just everything.

00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:06.199
So he had been doing Human

00:05:06.283 --> 00:05:09.050
Rights work for for the
UN in Kosovo.

00:05:09.133 --> 00:05:13.610
And then he decides to risk his
family's rejection and a stable

00:05:13.693 --> 00:05:19.009
career to come and pursue life
as an actor in the US.

00:05:19.189 --> 00:05:23.269
He comes on a student visa and
he ends up in my class from a

00:05:23.353 --> 00:05:25.550
random Google search.

00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:27.945
Girl.

00:05:29.449 --> 00:05:34.790
Have you ever met somebody who
is so attractive that they're

00:05:34.873 --> 00:05:36.079
hard to look at?

00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:40.639
And he was funny and kind.

00:05:40.723 --> 00:05:42.139
He was always making
the class laugh.

00:05:42.223 --> 00:05:44.269
Oh, and he can

00:05:44.353 --> 00:05:45.889
kick all your asses because

00:05:45.973 --> 00:05:48.529
he has a third
degree black belt in karate.

00:05:50.449 --> 00:05:51.949
He was freaking awesome.

00:05:53.379 --> 00:05:56.769
And you know how people talk
about love at first sight,

00:05:56.853 --> 00:05:57.479
right?

00:05:58.259 --> 00:05:59.160
Did you ever notice?

00:05:59.243 --> 00:06:03.209
Nobody actually tells you what
to do if it happens to you.

00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:05.250
I mean, do you, um.

00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:10.170
Do you grab them
by the face and say,

00:06:10.709 --> 00:06:11.879
"I know you don't know

00:06:11.963 --> 00:06:16.290
this yet, but
you are all mine.

00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:18.569
Forever?"

00:06:21.540 --> 00:06:24.870
Oh, honestly, that actually
makes a whole lot of

00:06:24.953 --> 00:06:25.579
sense to me.

00:06:25.662 --> 00:06:28.980
But here's what I do instead.

00:06:33.629 --> 00:06:34.370
"Hey, girl.

00:06:34.453 --> 00:06:36.029
No, listen, listen.

00:06:36.420 --> 00:06:39.629
I am setting you
up with this hot guy.

00:06:39.713 --> 00:06:40.889
You're going to love him."

00:06:44.220 --> 00:06:45.540
Weeks go by.

00:06:45.750 --> 00:06:48.779
Diego finishes my class and we
start to hang out a

00:06:48.863 --> 00:06:49.489
little bit more.

00:06:49.572 --> 00:06:52.980
And then I learn
all these other amazing things

00:06:53.063 --> 00:06:53.939
about him.

00:06:54.023 --> 00:06:55.110
Like, he has a

00:06:55.193 --> 00:06:58.379
lot in common with my dad,
and I've always wanted to be a

00:06:58.463 --> 00:07:00.149
lot closer to my dad.

00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:04.139
They were both born into island
cultures and and both of them

00:07:04.223 --> 00:07:07.139
left at an early age to
just go out in the world

00:07:07.223 --> 00:07:08.639
and find themselves.

00:07:08.850 --> 00:07:11.220
And they both
love learning languages.

00:07:11.303 --> 00:07:15.870
They both fell in love with
Shakespeare in high school.

00:07:18.060 --> 00:07:18.990
You guys.

00:07:20.709 --> 00:07:22.120
I'm kind of starting to feel
like I might have

00:07:22.203 --> 00:07:23.589
met my soulmate.

00:07:24.670 --> 00:07:27.069
So this time I
get really serious.

00:07:28.050 --> 00:07:31.019
And I set him up with someone
even more attractive.

00:07:34.110 --> 00:07:34.735
Oh.

00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:41.259
White and Black.

00:07:41.343 --> 00:07:41.969
Okay.

00:07:42.052 --> 00:07:42.678
And Mulatto.

00:07:42.761 --> 00:07:43.387
Okay.

00:07:43.470 --> 00:07:45.100
Now, this part is a
little more, but there she

00:07:45.183 --> 00:07:45.809
is.

00:07:45.892 --> 00:07:46.518
Perfect.

00:07:46.601 --> 00:07:47.227
Quadroon.

00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:48.029
That's what you are now.

00:07:48.113 --> 00:07:49.870
Okay, now, let's see.

00:07:50.230 --> 00:07:52.509
Okay, Now I've got
to take a closer look.

00:07:52.593 --> 00:07:53.259
Excuse me.

00:07:53.343 --> 00:07:53.969
Hi.

00:07:54.052 --> 00:07:55.240
I've got to feel
this hair because that's going

00:07:55.323 --> 00:07:55.949
to tell you.

00:07:56.032 --> 00:07:58.689
Yes, This right
here is Octoroon.

00:07:58.990 --> 00:07:59.615
Okay.

00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:01.509
And now I need Chinese.

00:08:01.593 --> 00:08:03.490
Do I have Chinese?

00:08:03.573 --> 00:08:04.540
Close enough.

00:08:04.623 --> 00:08:05.249
I'll take it.

00:08:05.332 --> 00:08:05.958
Okay.

00:08:06.069 --> 00:08:06.819
Okay.

00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:10.120
And Japanese?

00:08:10.203 --> 00:08:10.829
I don't.

00:08:10.912 --> 00:08:11.538
Know.

00:08:11.621 --> 00:08:12.819
I'm just going to throw
you down there.

00:08:12.903 --> 00:08:13.529
Why not?

00:08:13.612 --> 00:08:14.238
Indian?

00:08:14.889 --> 00:08:15.515
No.

00:08:15.790 --> 00:08:16.415
No.

00:08:17.790 --> 00:08:23.129
But when Diego and this second
woman don't work out, I finally

00:08:23.213 --> 00:08:25.620
say to myself,
"This is ridiculous.

00:08:25.829 --> 00:08:28.000
I mean, you could
just date the guy, right?

00:08:28.083 --> 00:08:32.039
It's not like I have
to marry him or anything." Oh,

00:08:32.123 --> 00:08:32.789
my God!

00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:33.960
Yes.

00:08:34.043 --> 00:08:34.679
Oh, yes.

00:08:34.763 --> 00:08:36.659
Diego, I will marry you!!

00:08:37.769 --> 00:08:42.179
And we are so in love that we
actually enjoy planning

00:08:42.263 --> 00:08:43.289
for our wedding.

00:08:44.250 --> 00:08:47.039
"Honey, I hope this is okay
with you, but I just.

00:08:47.123 --> 00:08:50.370
I always wanted to
get married in Jamaica."

00:08:51.269 --> 00:08:52.070
JINX!

00:08:52.649 --> 00:08:54.159
Your parents
love it there?

00:08:54.243 --> 00:08:56.029
Well, my dad was born there.

00:08:56.113 --> 00:08:58.320
Yes, We're getting
married in Jamaica.

00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:00.480
We agree on everything.

00:09:00.563 --> 00:09:01.679
It's disgusting.

00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:10.580
And all I have left to do is
call my dad and ask him to walk

00:09:10.663 --> 00:09:11.870
me down the aisle.

00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:16.645
Hey.

00:09:16.729 --> 00:09:17.354
Hey, Dad.

00:09:17.909 --> 00:09:18.570
Hi.

00:09:19.620 --> 00:09:20.245
Good.

00:09:20.329 --> 00:09:21.059
How are you?

00:09:21.419 --> 00:09:22.045
Great.

00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:22.754
How's Grandma?

00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:24.720
Oh, great.

00:09:26.850 --> 00:09:27.730
So, Dad, I was.

00:09:27.813 --> 00:09:29.039
I was wondering, um.

00:09:29.669 --> 00:09:31.320
Did you get my invitation?

00:09:32.340 --> 00:09:33.269
Thank you.

00:09:33.353 --> 00:09:34.139
Yes.

00:09:34.223 --> 00:09:35.039
Yeah.

00:09:36.120 --> 00:09:37.470
So maybe we could talk.

00:09:37.769 --> 00:09:38.395
What?

00:09:41.169 --> 00:09:41.795
Oh.

00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:45.000
No, the weather's.

00:09:45.083 --> 00:09:46.419
It's fine.

00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:49.870
You know, it's always hot here,
but I want to see.

00:09:49.953 --> 00:09:50.740
Do you want to come?

00:09:51.309 --> 00:09:51.970
What?

00:09:55.289 --> 00:09:56.070
Uh.

00:09:57.330 --> 00:10:00.179
No, no, no, Dad.

00:10:00.600 --> 00:10:03.389
I didn't catch that
game last night.

00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:15.509
My dad was born in
1936 when Jamaica was still

00:10:15.593 --> 00:10:16.799
a British colony.

00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:20.610
And at that time he he
had a lot of influence from the

00:10:20.693 --> 00:10:22.230
Black power movement.

00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:25.769
Marcus Garvey and
and the Rastafarians.

00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:32.730
Now, his mom, my beloved
grandma Cynthia, used to work

00:10:32.813 --> 00:10:36.419
as a live-in nanny and
a maid for this British

00:10:36.503 --> 00:10:37.769
naval officer.

00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:41.139
Let's just say that,

00:10:42.070 --> 00:10:45.340
well, my dad didn't exactly
have the most comfortable

00:10:45.423 --> 00:10:49.779
introduction to Europeans.

00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:51.745
Just

00:10:55.419 --> 00:10:58.120
Now, just hold on
there and excuse me one

00:10:58.203 --> 00:10:59.299
second, Granddaughter.

00:11:01.289 --> 00:11:03.090
Me have somethin'
fe say 'bout all

00:11:06.929 --> 00:11:07.555
dis racial talk 'here.

00:11:07.639 --> 00:11:08.264
Your father?

00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:10.539
'im love unu.

00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:16.450
And the thing is now
you see in Jamaica, now nah

00:11:16.533 --> 00:11:18.090
'ave all dis black,

00:11:18.173 --> 00:11:20.370
white, red nonsense.

00:11:22.549 --> 00:11:24.620
Your great grandfather?

00:11:25.669 --> 00:11:27.889
'im was African Irish.

00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:31.230
Where you t'ink we
get we blue eyes?

00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:33.629
An' me husban'?

00:11:33.713 --> 00:11:36.210
'im was dark skinned.

00:11:36.293 --> 00:11:37.710
'im was a maroon.

00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:40.230
Dem descendants of dem escaped
slaves dat live

00:11:40.313 --> 00:11:41.549
'pon de mountain.

00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:51.769
But you see now in Jamaica,
we is all one t'ing: JAMAICAN.

00:11:57.450 --> 00:11:58.075
Okay.

00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:03.000
Now a person with both white
and black lineage is to be

00:12:03.083 --> 00:12:04.639
recorded as black.

00:12:04.723 --> 00:12:05.730
That's what I am.

00:12:05.813 --> 00:12:06.720
Okay, I got it.

00:12:06.803 --> 00:12:07.429
Okay.

00:12:07.512 --> 00:12:08.138
Now.

00:12:08.221 --> 00:12:14.879
Now, a person of mixed black
and American Indian lineage is

00:12:14.963 --> 00:12:18.149
also to be recorded as black.

00:12:18.233 --> 00:12:18.870
Got it.

00:12:18.953 --> 00:12:19.710
Okay, good.

00:12:19.793 --> 00:12:20.419
Oh.

00:12:20.502 --> 00:12:21.128
Whoa.

00:12:21.211 --> 00:12:21.929
I'm sorry.

00:12:22.013 --> 00:12:22.950
No, no.

00:12:23.429 --> 00:12:25.799
Unless he is considered.

00:12:25.883 --> 00:12:27.509
Predominantly American

00:12:27.593 --> 00:12:31.679
Indian and accepted as such
within the community.

00:12:31.763 --> 00:12:32.429
Community?

00:12:32.513 --> 00:12:33.240
I need your help.

00:12:33.323 --> 00:12:34.139
Let's take a vote.

00:12:34.223 --> 00:12:35.220
Take a look right here.

00:12:35.303 --> 00:12:36.299
Everybody take a look.

00:12:36.383 --> 00:12:37.009
Okay.

00:12:37.092 --> 00:12:39.659
Can we see here
now, Black or American Indian?

00:12:39.743 --> 00:12:41.039
Raise your hand if
you say black.

00:12:41.123 --> 00:12:41.749
Raise your hand.

00:12:41.832 --> 00:12:42.458
I need your help.

00:12:42.541 --> 00:12:43.289
I can't do it on my own.

00:12:43.373 --> 00:12:44.309
Thank you so much.

00:12:44.393 --> 00:12:45.019
Okay.

00:12:45.102 --> 00:12:45.728
Oh, quite a few.

00:12:45.811 --> 00:12:46.437
Okay.

00:12:46.520 --> 00:12:47.146
Hands down.

00:12:47.229 --> 00:12:47.855
Hands down.

00:12:47.938 --> 00:12:49.049
Now let's go
with American Indian.

00:12:49.133 --> 00:12:50.220
Raise our hands, please.

00:12:50.303 --> 00:12:51.330
Oh, not very many.

00:12:51.413 --> 00:12:52.259
Okay, you're black.

00:12:52.343 --> 00:12:55.799
Okay, now.

00:12:55.883 --> 00:13:02.669
Now, a person with both white
and American Indian lineage is

00:13:02.753 --> 00:13:06.450
to be recorded as an Indian.

00:13:06.533 --> 00:13:07.830
Okay, perfect.

00:13:07.913 --> 00:13:10.860
Oh, wait, No, no, no, no.

00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:15.990
Unless his American Indian
lineage is very small and he is

00:13:16.073 --> 00:13:18.840
accepted as white
within the community.

00:13:18.923 --> 00:13:19.559
Community?

00:13:19.643 --> 00:13:20.669
I need your help here.

00:13:20.753 --> 00:13:21.629
Right here.

00:13:21.750 --> 00:13:23.399
Let's go with American Indian.

00:13:23.483 --> 00:13:25.019
Raise your hands
for American Indian.

00:13:25.103 --> 00:13:25.950
Oh, gosh.

00:13:26.033 --> 00:13:26.659
Only a few.

00:13:26.742 --> 00:13:27.509
Okay, hands down.

00:13:27.593 --> 00:13:28.219
Now.

00:13:28.302 --> 00:13:28.928
White.

00:13:29.011 --> 00:13:29.637
Who says?

00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:30.346
Oh, yes.

00:13:30.429 --> 00:13:31.529
Congratulations.

00:13:31.860 --> 00:13:34.950
Now, that will really
come in handy for you.

00:13:35.033 --> 00:13:36.179
You will be very glad.

00:13:36.263 --> 00:13:37.259
Okay, now.

00:13:38.870 --> 00:13:39.495
Now.

00:13:39.579 --> 00:13:40.204
Oh.

00:13:40.288 --> 00:13:40.913
Oh.

00:13:40.997 --> 00:13:43.940
Now Persons with minority
interracial lineages are to be

00:13:44.023 --> 00:13:46.220
reported as the race
of their father.

00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:51.440
Filipino, Hindu and Korean are
to be written in.

00:13:51.523 --> 00:13:54.289
Oh, and Mexican is a race.

00:13:57.799 --> 00:13:59.570
Oh, no, no.

00:13:59.653 --> 00:14:00.919
Mexican is now white.

00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:06.750
My dad

00:14:06.833 --> 00:14:10.230
immigrates to the United States
in 1958, and a few

00:14:10.313 --> 00:14:14.190
years later, my dad,
who now here, is no longer

00:14:14.273 --> 00:14:17.519
considered Jamaican but
is black, meets and

00:14:17.603 --> 00:14:18.509
marries my.

00:14:19.110 --> 00:14:19.735
white

00:14:19.819 --> 00:14:20.444
mother.

00:14:20.528 --> 00:14:21.153
Now I am

00:14:21.237 --> 00:14:21.862
born in

00:14:21.946 --> 00:14:26.399
1970, and this is the first
time that the Census stops

00:14:26.483 --> 00:14:30.659
relying on a census taker to
just randomly go around and

00:14:30.743 --> 00:14:33.899
guess the race of the
person they're counting.

00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.980
Now we all get to
fill out our own forms.

00:14:38.063 --> 00:14:38.940
Good luck.

00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:55.450
My parents divorce
when I'm seven.

00:14:55.533 --> 00:14:59.610
My mom gets full custody of me
and my brother Winston and

00:15:00.809 --> 00:15:01.440
well

00:15:02.190 --> 00:15:06.269
aside from a few very,
very uncomfortable moments with

00:15:06.353 --> 00:15:07.529
my white mother,

00:15:09.889 --> 00:15:13.399
I don't recall my
dad ever speaking to another

00:15:13.483 --> 00:15:15.830
white person again.

00:15:17.350 --> 00:15:18.220
At all.

00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:20.919
Ever.

00:15:23.820 --> 00:15:24.509
Whoa,

00:15:26.090 --> 00:15:26.715
whoa.

00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:27.424
Okay.

00:15:27.508 --> 00:15:28.133
Excuse me.

00:15:28.217 --> 00:15:28.842
Hi.

00:15:28.926 --> 00:15:30.149
I am so sorry to
interrupt you all.

00:15:30.233 --> 00:15:30.859
Can I just.

00:15:30.942 --> 00:15:32.220
I need to talk to
my daughter once.

00:15:32.340 --> 00:15:32.965
Just.

00:15:33.049 --> 00:15:33.674
I'm sorry.

00:15:33.758 --> 00:15:35.309
I'm sorry
to offend Fanshen!

00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:36.360
Well, now.

00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:39.960
I heard you call me white
twice now, and I do have

00:15:40.043 --> 00:15:41.070
something to
say about that.

00:15:41.153 --> 00:15:41.779
Okay.

00:15:41.862 --> 00:15:42.488
So.

00:15:42.571 --> 00:15:46.750
So now I am Blackfoot Indian
and Cherokee and Danish.

00:15:46.833 --> 00:15:47.759
Now I know.

00:15:47.940 --> 00:15:51.240
I know that Census worker would
have taken one look at me and

00:15:51.323 --> 00:15:52.350
marked me down as white.

00:15:52.433 --> 00:15:53.059
But I sure

00:15:53.142 --> 00:15:53.768
as hell don't

00:15:53.851 --> 00:15:54.509
feel white.

00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:57.899
So I just wanted to say that.

00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:00.360
Oh, and Fanshen!

00:16:01.330 --> 00:16:07.809
Don't forget: your father and I
made you on purpose.

00:16:15.909 --> 00:16:16.535
Oh.

00:16:18.139 --> 00:16:19.100
Yes.

00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:20.985
Right.

00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:22.649
Yes.

00:16:22.733 --> 00:16:25.639
I love my dad
and my dad loves me.

00:16:25.723 --> 00:16:28.070
So I'm just going to pick up
this phone and tell him to

00:16:28.153 --> 00:16:28.779
come to my

00:16:28.862 --> 00:16:29.488
wedding.

00:16:34.929 --> 00:16:35.555
But.

00:16:36.179 --> 00:16:40.799
Every time I do, I start to
have these recurring "day-mares

00:16:40.883 --> 00:16:44.909
." Diego and I
are walking down the aisle.

00:16:46.289 --> 00:16:50.519
Diego is wearing this
British Imperialist uniform.

00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:51.505
And I

00:16:51.589 --> 00:16:53.549
am Thomas Jefferson's slave

00:16:53.633 --> 00:16:55.440
mistress, Dusty Sally.

00:16:56.659 --> 00:16:57.285
Ohhhh

00:16:59.059 --> 00:16:59.685
Massa thank you!

00:16:59.769 --> 00:17:00.799
Thank you so

00:17:00.883 --> 00:17:02.240
much for saving

00:17:02.323 --> 00:17:05.029
my Tragic Mulatto ass.

00:17:07.809 --> 00:17:11.410
I mean, it takes me
weeks to just call my dad.

00:17:16.910 --> 00:17:19.970
And then he does not come.

00:17:22.269 --> 00:17:23.619
And I decide.

00:17:24.890 --> 00:17:28.009
That I'm not going
to need a father anymore.

00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:35.000
Granddaughter,

00:17:37.190 --> 00:17:37.815
shhhh.

00:17:37.899 --> 00:17:39.349
Me only grandaughter
come.

00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:41.865
Shhhh.

00:17:41.949 --> 00:17:42.574
Come.

00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.200
Sit down 'ere like you used to
when you was a lickle girl an'

00:17:46.283 --> 00:17:47.309
mek me braid unu 'air.

00:17:47.393 --> 00:17:48.059
Come now.

00:17:48.143 --> 00:17:49.319
Yes.

00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:51.900
Yes, that's right.

00:18:00.059 --> 00:18:04.200
But before me begin
me remember you is real,

00:18:04.283 --> 00:18:05.819
real tender 'eaded.

00:18:07.630 --> 00:18:11.890
But for me to continue
braindin' unu 'air, unu

00:18:11.973 --> 00:18:13.119
'avee be strong.

00:18:14.349 --> 00:18:15.819
Can you be strong?

00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:17.565
Huh?

00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:19.480
All right.

00:18:22.029 --> 00:18:22.655
Now.

00:18:24.599 --> 00:18:25.650
Here's de first t'ing me

00:18:25.769 --> 00:18:26.395
wan' you to

00:18:26.479 --> 00:18:27.104
do:

00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:30.039
Me wan' you
to call your father.

00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:31.109
No.

00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:32.950
Ifin' you is too afraid to

00:18:33.033 --> 00:18:33.819
ask 'im 'bout

00:18:33.903 --> 00:18:34.539
you an'

00:18:34.990 --> 00:18:35.615
'im,

00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:39.930
start by asking 'im
'bout 'im father.

00:18:41.069 --> 00:18:41.695
Ey?

00:18:41.779 --> 00:18:44.200
A wha' ya a say?

00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:46.380
Well 'ow you
know 'im so private?

00:18:47.309 --> 00:18:49.109
'ave you ever asked?

00:18:52.769 --> 00:18:53.400
Go, man.

00:18:53.483 --> 00:18:54.109
Go.

00:18:54.192 --> 00:18:54.818
There you are.

00:18:54.901 --> 00:18:55.527
Yes, man.

00:18:55.610 --> 00:18:56.236
There you are.

00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:56.945
Run, run!

00:18:57.028 --> 00:18:57.654
Run!

00:18:57.737 --> 00:18:58.363
MAN There you go.

00:18:58.470 --> 00:18:59.095
Yes.

00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:00.390
Yes.

00:19:01.019 --> 00:19:03.630
Oh, hold on to the ball, man.

00:19:06.910 --> 00:19:07.535
Hello.

00:19:08.710 --> 00:19:10.220
Oh, Fanshen.

00:19:10.303 --> 00:19:11.089
Hi, dear.

00:19:11.173 --> 00:19:11.980
How are you?

00:19:12.670 --> 00:19:13.960
Ah, that's right.

00:19:14.230 --> 00:19:14.855
What?

00:19:15.730 --> 00:19:16.355
Uh.

00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:18.369
Yes.

00:19:18.453 --> 00:19:19.079
Um.

00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:21.069
Hold on.

00:19:26.660 --> 00:19:27.650
My father?

00:19:28.490 --> 00:19:32.450
Yes, yes, yes, of course
I remember him.

00:19:33.900 --> 00:19:38.009
Well his name is Livermore.

00:19:39.720 --> 00:19:42.150
George Livermore.

00:19:42.233 --> 00:19:42.859
And.

00:19:43.799 --> 00:19:45.420
Well, the guy drank.

00:19:45.503 --> 00:19:46.129
Okay?

00:19:46.212 --> 00:19:46.838
The.

00:19:46.921 --> 00:19:48.720
The men in my family drank.

00:19:48.803 --> 00:19:49.799
But you see, rum

00:19:49.883 --> 00:19:50.910
in Jamaica

00:19:51.210 --> 00:19:52.319
Is like water.

00:19:52.950 --> 00:19:54.450
Everyone drinks.

00:19:55.529 --> 00:19:58.980
But most people only drink
on special occasions.

00:19:59.063 --> 00:20:00.029
My dad, he.

00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:02.190
He stayed drunk.

00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:07.230
Now my mother leaves him when
I'm about nine, and I don't get

00:20:07.313 --> 00:20:09.119
to see him
very much after that.

00:20:09.203 --> 00:20:13.019
But then when I'm about 14,
I go and I find him.

00:20:13.103 --> 00:20:15.779
You see, I know he
drives the country bus down on

00:20:15.863 --> 00:20:17.279
Spanish Town Road.

00:20:18.059 --> 00:20:21.539
So I go and, well, I
bum some money off of him.

00:20:21.623 --> 00:20:24.119
And I liked the guy.

00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:28.240
I didn't get to
see him enough after that.

00:20:31.410 --> 00:20:32.035
But.

00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:33.390
Well, yeah, my

00:20:35.819 --> 00:20:41.250
my mother had to leave him
because he used to beat her.

00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:44.369
And I was mad too.

00:20:44.453 --> 00:20:47.970
I said, when I get older,
I'm going to beat the daylights

00:20:48.053 --> 00:20:48.839
out of him.

00:20:51.509 --> 00:20:54.990
Of course, when I did
get older, I felt different.

00:20:56.569 --> 00:21:04.849
Well, I guess I kind of got as
close to him as he was able to

00:21:04.933 --> 00:21:05.960
get to me.

00:21:11.740 --> 00:21:12.365
Fanshen.

00:21:12.449 --> 00:21:13.420
Are you okay, dear?

00:21:15.039 --> 00:21:17.109
I know that was not
easy to hear.

00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:21.700
In fact, in seven years
of marriage, your father never

00:21:21.783 --> 00:21:22.409
told me that.

00:21:22.492 --> 00:21:23.829
He just never told me.

00:21:25.339 --> 00:21:26.000
Oh, dear.

00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:28.039
Well, yes.

00:21:28.123 --> 00:21:29.690
Well, I guess I never

00:21:29.773 --> 00:21:31.940
really told him about
my dad either.

00:21:34.150 --> 00:21:35.470
Or Dad's.

00:21:37.049 --> 00:21:40.339
Well, now, Fanshen.

00:21:40.423 --> 00:21:42.480
Now you know about my daddy.

00:21:42.563 --> 00:21:43.559
Your grandpa Grant.

00:21:43.643 --> 00:21:47.390
Well, he was a logger,
and we lived in Elgin.

00:21:47.473 --> 00:21:48.839
A little forestry

00:21:48.923 --> 00:21:50.759
logging town in Oregon.

00:21:51.700 --> 00:21:53.349
And I just loved him.

00:21:55.349 --> 00:21:56.640
But my mom left

00:21:56.723 --> 00:21:59.549
him and took up
with Layton Hamilton.

00:22:00.990 --> 00:22:01.980
But then she divorced

00:22:02.063 --> 00:22:04.589
him after he threatened to kill
us with a rifle.

00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:07.559
And then she married
him again.

00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:10.829
So let's see now, that is.

00:22:10.980 --> 00:22:13.799
Well, that's my daddy,
your grandpa Grant and

00:22:13.883 --> 00:22:15.720
Layton Hamilton twice.

00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:17.309
And then.

00:22:19.309 --> 00:22:20.240
Gentry.

00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:22.480
The pedophile.

00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:25.609
Swales.

00:22:26.390 --> 00:22:28.160
Adams and Mitchell.

00:22:29.289 --> 00:22:30.400
Also twice.

00:22:30.483 --> 00:22:31.109
What?

00:22:34.430 --> 00:22:35.869
How did I survive?

00:22:37.869 --> 00:22:40.660
Well, I just hid.

00:22:41.589 --> 00:22:43.450
All the time now.

00:22:43.533 --> 00:22:45.819
I hid all the time.

00:22:45.903 --> 00:22:51.400
Now, when I was a toddler,
I hid in in chicken boxes

00:22:51.483 --> 00:22:52.509
in the barn.

00:22:52.593 --> 00:22:55.329
Well, I would just go around
and I'd find the smallest space

00:22:55.413 --> 00:22:59.049
that I could get myself into,
and I would just stay there and

00:22:59.133 --> 00:23:00.039
I would hide.

00:23:01.630 --> 00:23:04.299
Well, I would just
hide in chicken boxes

00:23:05.829 --> 00:23:07.329
all the time.

00:23:15.220 --> 00:23:19.480
Parents dem can only give
de love, then been

00:23:19.563 --> 00:23:21.069
taught 'ow to give.

00:23:22.359 --> 00:23:24.069
And maybe a lickle more.

00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:25.660
Nah true?

00:23:28.009 --> 00:23:31.400
Now granddaughter, me 'ave a
favor to ask of you.

00:23:32.589 --> 00:23:35.420
De next time now you talk to
your mommy and your daddy,

00:23:35.503 --> 00:23:36.880
ask dem for me:

00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:40.190
What in God's

00:23:40.273 --> 00:23:42.019
name is a Fanshen?

00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:44.720
Me never could say dat name.

00:23:45.019 --> 00:23:47.089
It's why me call
you me granddaughter.

00:23:49.250 --> 00:23:51.259
Why dem give you dat name?

00:23:52.680 --> 00:23:53.970
Well, now.

00:23:54.053 --> 00:23:54.679
Okay.

00:23:54.762 --> 00:23:57.819
Now, your father and I met at
the University of Oregon.

00:23:57.903 --> 00:23:58.529
Now, he

00:23:58.612 --> 00:23:59.309
was getting his

00:23:59.730 --> 00:24:03.930
PhD, and I was
his TA for American Politics.

00:24:04.230 --> 00:24:06.119
And it was the late 60s.

00:24:06.203 --> 00:24:08.940
And we were reading lots
of revolutionary stuff.

00:24:09.023 --> 00:24:10.109
Doing analysis

00:24:10.193 --> 00:24:12.299
on Marxism and Mao, you know.

00:24:12.420 --> 00:24:14.684
And we would go
to these meetings OH!

00:24:14.768 --> 00:24:19.140
and one time we won a trip to
to Alabama to visit a family

00:24:19.223 --> 00:24:20.160
of Black Panthers.

00:24:22.890 --> 00:24:24.059
We did.

00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:25.500
Well.

00:24:25.583 --> 00:24:29.099
Well, it was it was a drawing
out of a hat in one of my most

00:24:29.183 --> 00:24:31.740
leftist groups, the one where
we did embroidery for

00:24:31.823 --> 00:24:32.700
the Viet Cong.

00:24:35.779 --> 00:24:36.405
Yeah.

00:24:38.150 --> 00:24:39.049
And let's see.

00:24:39.133 --> 00:24:39.759
Now.

00:24:39.842 --> 00:24:40.468
Now.

00:24:40.551 --> 00:24:41.177
Okay.

00:24:41.260 --> 00:24:41.886
No, no.

00:24:41.969 --> 00:24:42.890
I had just gotten out of jail.

00:24:42.973 --> 00:24:43.599
What?

00:24:43.682 --> 00:24:44.308
Well, no.

00:24:44.391 --> 00:24:47.480
Well, they arrested me for
protesting some Bolivian

00:24:47.563 --> 00:24:50.089
dictator's statue,
and I'm in jail.

00:24:50.173 --> 00:24:51.670
And I tell them,
I say, you know what?

00:24:51.753 --> 00:24:54.859
You better let me out because I
got to breastfeed my baby or

00:24:54.943 --> 00:24:55.569
you're going to see

00:24:55.652 --> 00:24:56.990
milk all over the place!

00:24:57.529 --> 00:24:58.970
And they just
let me right out.

00:24:59.750 --> 00:25:00.375
They did.

00:25:00.769 --> 00:25:01.395
Oh.

00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:03.200
So anyway.

00:25:03.283 --> 00:25:03.909
Now.

00:25:03.992 --> 00:25:05.390
Now, your father and

00:25:05.473 --> 00:25:07.789
I are reading
the book Fanshen together

00:25:07.873 --> 00:25:09.740
and we are really close.

00:25:10.930 --> 00:25:13.779
The closest we ever were.

00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:16.289
Okay.

00:25:16.650 --> 00:25:21.089
Now, you see, in those
times I was very interested

00:25:21.173 --> 00:25:21.799
in the

00:25:21.882 --> 00:25:24.809
Socialist revolution,
especially in the form of

00:25:24.893 --> 00:25:26.369
a village program.

00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:30.299
Now, I wanted to find
a place to raise you kids,

00:25:30.383 --> 00:25:33.779
to be competent,
self respecting,

00:25:33.863 --> 00:25:37.200
and socially
conscious citizens.

00:25:38.220 --> 00:25:39.839
A place where where

00:25:39.923 --> 00:25:41.730
racial and class

00:25:41.813 --> 00:25:44.279
oppression was absent,
you see.

00:25:44.940 --> 00:25:48.240
So I do some research on on how
different countries go

00:25:48.323 --> 00:25:49.109
about doing that.

00:25:49.193 --> 00:25:51.089
And when I saw that book,

00:25:51.173 --> 00:25:52.680
Fanshen in the

00:25:52.763 --> 00:25:58.410
bookstore in Eugene, well,
well, I was so taken up with it

00:25:58.493 --> 00:26:02.009
that I decided to name
you after it.

00:26:05.029 --> 00:26:05.655
Hey.

00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:11.029
Did anybody else notice that my
my dad kind of has this

00:26:11.113 --> 00:26:13.430
inability to use the
pronoun we.

00:26:13.513 --> 00:26:14.599
Do, right?

00:26:14.683 --> 00:26:15.309
Like.

00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.650
I mean, to describe this
decision that obviously my

00:26:18.733 --> 00:26:20.480
parents had to make together.

00:26:21.410 --> 00:26:25.099
Well, many of his words in this
play come from his memoir,

00:26:25.183 --> 00:26:31.069
manuscript he wrote several
years ago in 138 pages, my dad

00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:37.130
very skillfully manages, not to
mention my mother.

00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:46.099
And I think this is what makes
it so scary for me to to

00:26:46.183 --> 00:26:48.710
confront him about not coming
to my wedding.

00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:52.519
I mean, if he could
just erase my mother from his

00:26:52.603 --> 00:26:53.750
life this way.

00:26:57.029 --> 00:26:59.309
Couldn't he just as
easily do that to me?

00:27:02.609 --> 00:27:06.839
So anyway, we read the

00:27:06.923 --> 00:27:07.740
book

00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:11.605
Fanshen.

00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:17.750
Every revolution
creates new words.

00:27:17.833 --> 00:27:22.650
The Chinese revolution created
a whole new vocabulary.

00:27:23.579 --> 00:27:28.369
A most important word in this
vocabulary was fan shen.

00:27:28.453 --> 00:27:33.509
Now, literally it means to turn
the body or to turn over.

00:27:33.593 --> 00:27:40.740
But to China's hundreds of
millions of landless and land

00:27:40.823 --> 00:27:45.930
poor peasants, it meant to
stand up, to throw off

00:27:46.013 --> 00:27:50.549
the landlord, yoke to abolish
word blindness and learn

00:27:50.633 --> 00:27:55.890
to read, to establish equality
between the sexes.

00:27:58.180 --> 00:28:01.720
But it meant much
more than this.

00:28:02.140 --> 00:28:05.380
It meant to enter

00:28:05.650 --> 00:28:06.339
a new.

00:28:06.423 --> 00:28:07.480
world.

00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:17.500
And so we say: we're going to
name our next baby, Fanshen.

00:28:26.660 --> 00:28:27.829
So you see,

00:28:28.930 --> 00:28:30.819
race was not de only t'ing on

00:28:30.903 --> 00:28:32.410
your parents' minds.

00:28:33.009 --> 00:28:35.619
Dem cared just as much
about de poor people as dem

00:28:35.703 --> 00:28:36.369
care about all

00:28:36.453 --> 00:28:38.049
dis racial talk.

00:28:40.470 --> 00:28:41.269
Granddaughter.

00:28:43.690 --> 00:28:45.009
Maybe you is de

00:28:45.093 --> 00:28:49.210
one making a bigger deal about
this race t'ing than dem.

00:28:56.500 --> 00:28:57.940
I spent my first

00:28:58.023 --> 00:28:58.649
seven

00:28:58.732 --> 00:29:03.339
years in Washington DC,
aka Chocolate City, and this is

00:29:03.423 --> 00:29:04.180
what they told me.

00:29:04.263 --> 00:29:07.779
"Oh, you were Redbone." "Nah,
nah, she High Yella."

00:29:08.950 --> 00:29:11.200
The problem with these
terms is that like

00:29:11.283 --> 00:29:13.599
on one hand, I always
felt like they were embracing

00:29:13.683 --> 00:29:16.900
me as black while at
the same time pushing me

00:29:16.983 --> 00:29:17.920
away, you

00:29:18.003 --> 00:29:20.019
know, by pointing
out our differences.

00:29:21.089 --> 00:29:22.410
So my parents divorced.

00:29:22.493 --> 00:29:25.829
My mom gets full custody of me
and my brother, and then she

00:29:25.913 --> 00:29:26.849
gets a job as

00:29:26.933 --> 00:29:29.299
a nurse midwife
in Strong, Maine.

00:29:29.383 --> 00:29:32.119
Now, the population of strong
is about 400 people.

00:29:32.203 --> 00:29:34.890
The Black population is one.

00:29:35.220 --> 00:29:37.680
My half and my brother's half.

00:29:38.970 --> 00:29:41.039
I'm not going to repeat the
words that I learned for

00:29:41.123 --> 00:29:42.809
Black in Maine.

00:29:43.970 --> 00:29:47.299
But one year later,

00:29:47.383 --> 00:29:48.680
we end up in

00:29:48.763 --> 00:29:51.680
multi culti heaven.

00:29:52.819 --> 00:29:53.589
Where are we going, Mom?

00:29:53.673 --> 00:29:54.299
Where are we going?

00:29:54.382 --> 00:29:55.008
Where are we going?

00:29:58.319 --> 00:29:59.490
Cambridge,
Massachusetts!

00:29:59.940 --> 00:30:00.569
Yeah.

00:30:01.589 --> 00:30:04.859
I attend the Martin
Luther King Junior Open School.

00:30:04.943 --> 00:30:05.700
We call all our

00:30:05.783 --> 00:30:07.230
teachers by their first names.

00:30:07.313 --> 00:30:10.170
My classmates names are
Sunshine and

00:30:10.253 --> 00:30:12.390
Freedom and Omowale.

00:30:12.779 --> 00:30:15.150
And many of them have two moms

00:30:15.233 --> 00:30:16.440
or two dads.

00:30:16.523 --> 00:30:17.609
In Cambridge,

00:30:17.693 --> 00:30:20.730
nobody snickers when I tell
them that: "You guys,

00:30:20.813 --> 00:30:22.769
back in D.C., my mom

00:30:22.853 --> 00:30:24.960
made me wear
a yellow rain jacket

00:30:25.043 --> 00:30:26.849
with "Nixon Burns

00:30:26.933 --> 00:30:28.440
Babies" scrawled

00:30:28.523 --> 00:30:29.789
on it and permanent ink.

00:30:29.970 --> 00:30:31.289
No, in

00:30:31.373 --> 00:30:34.140
Cambridge, they just raise
their fists and say,

00:30:34.223 --> 00:30:35.700
RIGHT ON Sister!

00:30:52.759 --> 00:30:53.960
In Cambridge.

00:30:54.043 --> 00:30:57.109
I am other and proud of it.

00:30:58.130 --> 00:31:01.009
And then I go to college.

00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:04.099
My father and I
both learned hard lessons about

00:31:04.183 --> 00:31:06.289
race in undergrad.

00:31:10.390 --> 00:31:11.650
Well, now, you know, it's

00:31:11.733 --> 00:31:15.940
my first week at California
Polytechnic State College.

00:31:16.023 --> 00:31:21.910
And, well, I remember that that
on the bus on the way to

00:31:21.993 --> 00:31:22.869
school this

00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:27.940
white woman comes and
sits down next to me.

00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.369
And I tell you, I am so afraid
of this white woman sitting

00:31:33.453 --> 00:31:35.109
next to me on the bus.

00:31:35.819 --> 00:31:37.119
My friends in

00:31:37.203 --> 00:31:40.450
Jamaica had warned me,
"You'll get lynched for talking

00:31:40.533 --> 00:31:43.720
to a white woman!" And I had
read that and seen that in

00:31:43.803 --> 00:31:44.829
the movies, too.

00:31:47.109 --> 00:31:50.140
So this white woman tried to
talk to me, but I wouldn't

00:31:50.223 --> 00:31:51.009
say a word.

00:31:54.250 --> 00:31:59.740
It's my very first week at the
University of Michigan, and I'm

00:31:59.823 --> 00:32:03.279
starting to notice this kind of
a strange thing happening.

00:32:03.490 --> 00:32:05.769
Total strangers, women and men,

00:32:06.309 --> 00:32:10.869
nodding their heads at
me as I pass by.

00:32:13.170 --> 00:32:15.119
I couldn't have met that many
people in the first

00:32:15.203 --> 00:32:16.289
week of school.

00:32:17.579 --> 00:32:22.619
And then one day it hits me:
all of the faces of the people

00:32:22.703 --> 00:32:26.410
saying hello to me
randomly are Black and Brown.

00:32:26.493 --> 00:32:28.619
They are totally profiling me!

00:32:29.160 --> 00:32:30.150
But how did they know?

00:32:30.233 --> 00:32:30.859
I mean,

00:32:30.942 --> 00:32:32.009
I thought I
was too High Yella.

00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:34.200
It's like,

00:32:34.283 --> 00:32:35.910
I'm getting this big old giant

00:32:35.993 --> 00:32:36.619
hug

00:32:36.702 --> 00:32:38.490
from a community that recognizes

00:32:38.573 --> 00:32:39.199
me.

00:32:39.779 --> 00:32:41.069
And I like it.

00:32:46.299 --> 00:32:50.200
It turns out this
white woman on the bus,

00:32:50.740 --> 00:32:52.420
is from Turkey.

00:32:53.829 --> 00:32:56.289
She barely even
speaks English.

00:32:58.299 --> 00:33:00.730
She just wants to
talk to me because we're

00:33:00.813 --> 00:33:01.990
both foreign students.

00:33:02.073 --> 00:33:03.460
But I just can't.

00:33:04.509 --> 00:33:08.529
Now, when I get to
that campus, I see how things

00:33:08.613 --> 00:33:10.180
really are going to be.

00:33:10.390 --> 00:33:12.579
There aren't any
other Black students.

00:33:12.663 --> 00:33:17.799
I'm completely surrounded by
whites 24 hours a day.

00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:21.289
I feel very, very self-conscious

00:33:21.373 --> 00:33:22.009
about my

00:33:22.093 --> 00:33:24.710
accent and I lose
it as quickly as possible.

00:33:24.980 --> 00:33:28.009
I just put my head
down and go to class.

00:33:31.059 --> 00:33:35.380
In Jamaica, now, you see,
I was aware of being a

00:33:35.463 --> 00:33:37.000
lower class person.

00:33:38.890 --> 00:33:41.319
But I had never felt shackled.

00:33:41.950 --> 00:33:42.575
You see?

00:33:44.619 --> 00:33:49.859
But here in the US
suddenly I was in a position

00:33:49.943 --> 00:33:53.069
of permanent inferiority.

00:33:55.009 --> 00:33:59.210
I had become a racial being.

00:34:02.819 --> 00:34:06.900
One night early in my
freshman year, I'm hanging out

00:34:06.983 --> 00:34:08.340
in a dorm room
with some friends.

00:34:08.423 --> 00:34:11.039
And this guy Charles,
with light skin and

00:34:11.123 --> 00:34:13.139
steel blue eyes asks me,

00:34:15.260 --> 00:34:15.889
"So.

00:34:16.929 --> 00:34:17.679
Sister.

00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:20.329
You joining the

00:34:20.413 --> 00:34:21.110
Black Student

00:34:21.193 --> 00:34:21.819
Union?"

00:34:23.380 --> 00:34:24.005
I'm.

00:34:24.170 --> 00:34:24.795
I'm sorry.

00:34:25.010 --> 00:34:25.635
Me?

00:34:25.719 --> 00:34:26.344
Oh.

00:34:27.349 --> 00:34:28.610
No.

00:34:28.909 --> 00:34:29.535
No.

00:34:29.619 --> 00:34:31.760
I'm not joining
the Black Student Union

00:34:31.843 --> 00:34:32.750
because actually, I'm...

00:34:33.050 --> 00:34:37.219
Well, I'm Cherokee and
Danish and Jamaican.

00:34:41.320 --> 00:34:42.130
"You what?"

00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:44.825
Oh!

00:34:45.090 --> 00:34:47.230
Oh, I'm sorry.

00:34:47.469 --> 00:34:48.095
Sorry.

00:34:48.179 --> 00:34:48.804
No.

00:34:49.179 --> 00:34:50.190
Yes.

00:34:50.273 --> 00:34:50.899
Yes.

00:34:50.982 --> 00:34:52.360
I am Black.

00:34:52.443 --> 00:34:53.069
I'm just.

00:34:53.152 --> 00:34:54.039
I'm not.

00:34:54.489 --> 00:34:55.360
I'm not.

00:34:55.809 --> 00:34:57.070
Only Black.

00:35:01.170 --> 00:35:01.869
"Mhm.

00:35:01.953 --> 00:35:02.579
Hmm."

00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:07.019
"So let me ask you something:

00:35:08.550 --> 00:35:13.260
If it came down to
it, and you had to choose,

00:35:15.320 --> 00:35:16.670
what would you choose?"

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:20.625
Oh.

00:35:20.709 --> 00:35:21.334
Um.

00:35:21.860 --> 00:35:22.789
Well, I.

00:35:26.019 --> 00:35:28.420
Well, I don't
have to choose, so.

00:35:31.780 --> 00:35:33.849
"Yeah, that's true.

00:35:34.639 --> 00:35:36.289
You don't have to choose.

00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:43.400
Because they have already
chosen for you.

00:35:45.340 --> 00:35:50.530
You see, during slavery,
the slave masters would rape

00:35:50.613 --> 00:35:53.739
their slaves and produce
these mulatto babies.

00:35:54.340 --> 00:35:57.250
And then they had to decide
what to do with these babies.

00:35:57.333 --> 00:36:00.099
Were they free
or were they slaves?

00:36:01.239 --> 00:36:03.699
They created laws that stated

00:36:03.783 --> 00:36:05.380
that one drop of

00:36:05.463 --> 00:36:09.190
African blood made you
a slave.

00:36:11.789 --> 00:36:15.210
The slave masters created the
one drop rule,

00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:20.460
to enslave their own children.

00:36:22.619 --> 00:36:27.269
And these laws remained very
much in effect through Jim Crow

00:36:27.353 --> 00:36:31.559
and continue to be used today
to determine who has access to

00:36:31.643 --> 00:36:37.019
housing and education
and health care,

00:36:38.039 --> 00:36:39.150
and wealth."

00:36:44.119 --> 00:36:47.809
Well, now I decide
to spend the summer

00:36:47.893 --> 00:36:50.000
after my freshman year in New

00:36:50.083 --> 00:36:50.960
York City.

00:36:51.289 --> 00:36:54.949
Now, I don't have the money to
fly there, so I find a couple

00:36:55.033 --> 00:36:55.730
of
classmates

00:36:55.813 --> 00:36:57.139
driving cross-country.

00:36:57.223 --> 00:36:59.429
A Chinese guy and a Jew.

00:36:59.513 --> 00:37:00.949
Very friendly guys.

00:37:02.090 --> 00:37:05.480
Now, we're we're on
a coffee break in Idaho.

00:37:05.563 --> 00:37:06.189
And.

00:37:06.272 --> 00:37:06.898
And this waitress...

00:37:12.650 --> 00:37:14.840
refuses to serve me.

00:37:16.989 --> 00:37:18.400
It was the first time

00:37:18.483 --> 00:37:20.590
I would see "the look."

00:37:23.610 --> 00:37:27.900
The look I would see
many times over in America.

00:37:27.983 --> 00:37:28.710
The look

00:37:30.570 --> 00:37:33.449
that told me my very presence

00:37:35.159 --> 00:37:36.780
was an offence.

00:37:41.719 --> 00:37:45.349
I become: SUPA SISTA!.

00:37:52.369 --> 00:37:53.420
I wear big

00:37:53.503 --> 00:37:54.260
ass brass

00:37:54.343 --> 00:37:54.969
earrings in the

00:37:55.052 --> 00:37:58.159
shape of Africa and a red,
black and green leather emblem

00:37:58.243 --> 00:37:59.840
of Africa around my neck.

00:38:00.920 --> 00:38:02.030
I blast Public

00:38:02.113 --> 00:38:03.019
Enemy, Poor

00:38:03.103 --> 00:38:05.809
Righteous Teachers and X Klan
through my Walkman

00:38:05.893 --> 00:38:07.309
earphones while snapping

00:38:07.393 --> 00:38:08.960
my gum, rolling my

00:38:09.043 --> 00:38:12.500
eyes at "Whitey" and daring
anybody to question

00:38:12.583 --> 00:38:14.659
my racial identity.

00:38:16.070 --> 00:38:16.880
And I take

00:38:16.963 --> 00:38:22.840
pictures like this: (
camera click)

00:38:22.923 --> 00:38:24.730
And by my sophomore year,

00:38:25.059 --> 00:38:26.829
I am profiling all the

00:38:26.913 --> 00:38:31.030
light skinned freshman mixies,
and giving them the nod so

00:38:31.113 --> 00:38:34.300
they know where their
loyalties should lie.

00:38:37.489 --> 00:38:42.139
And once I start to assert
myself racially this way,

00:38:42.223 --> 00:38:46.280
it's like the entire universe
opens up and allows me to see

00:38:46.363 --> 00:38:49.519
every bastion of racial
oppression in the

00:38:49.603 --> 00:38:50.630
solar system.

00:38:52.219 --> 00:38:53.780
It's the summer after my

00:38:53.863 --> 00:38:56.059
freshman year, and I'm
back in Cambridge working

00:38:56.143 --> 00:38:56.869
at the Harvard

00:38:56.953 --> 00:38:58.070
Square Cinema.

00:38:58.369 --> 00:39:01.429
Now, Spike Lee's Do the Right
Thing is playing, and I watch

00:39:01.513 --> 00:39:03.170
it 14 times.

00:39:05.300 --> 00:39:07.550
Mesmerized as Rosie Perez

00:39:07.633 --> 00:39:10.489
gyrates her way through
those opening credits.

00:39:10.909 --> 00:39:14.960
And bawling my eyes out as
Radio Raheem takes that last

00:39:15.043 --> 00:39:16.670
breath when that white officer

00:39:16.753 --> 00:39:18.409
chokes him with
the nightstick.

00:39:19.309 --> 00:39:22.340
And then one night, my brother
Winston comes to pick me

00:39:22.423 --> 00:39:23.389
up after work.

00:39:26.730 --> 00:39:27.360
All right.

00:39:27.809 --> 00:39:30.090
So now.

00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:33.150
First of all, y'all got to
understand where I was coming

00:39:33.233 --> 00:39:34.260
from that summer.

00:39:35.150 --> 00:39:36.260
Now Fanshen,

00:39:36.619 --> 00:39:38.539
you and I had very different

00:39:38.623 --> 00:39:40.969
experiences growing
up in Cambridge.

00:39:41.119 --> 00:39:42.289
We were embraced

00:39:42.373 --> 00:39:44.480
by all the multicultural love.

00:39:44.563 --> 00:39:45.189
It's true.

00:39:45.272 --> 00:39:50.690
But I was not getting what I
needed as a young Black child.

00:39:52.219 --> 00:39:54.199
And so for college,
I go to find that.

00:39:54.283 --> 00:39:58.159
I'm 17 years old
and dad literally drops me

00:39:58.243 --> 00:39:58.869
off on the

00:39:58.952 --> 00:40:01.820
sidewalk at the University of
North Carolina, Greensboro,

00:40:01.903 --> 00:40:03.769
and drives off.

00:40:07.460 --> 00:40:11.000
And so I meet up
with these other guys with

00:40:11.083 --> 00:40:14.510
similar stories, you know,
not really close to our dads.

00:40:14.593 --> 00:40:15.650
And we had all been kind of

00:40:15.733 --> 00:40:16.359
just

00:40:16.442 --> 00:40:19.550
dropped off there and
left to our own devices.

00:40:21.630 --> 00:40:24.929
And man,
it was utter debauchery.

00:40:27.659 --> 00:40:30.449
Now, not long into my
freshman year, I get into

00:40:30.533 --> 00:40:32.159
this fight with this crackhead

00:40:32.243 --> 00:40:33.300
staying at our house.

00:40:33.383 --> 00:40:35.039
And there are guns all over

00:40:35.123 --> 00:40:36.210
the place, and I am

00:40:36.293 --> 00:40:37.739
scared shitless.

00:40:40.360 --> 00:40:42.389
But you see
that's when I realized:

00:40:42.473 --> 00:40:46.809
I mean, I have the luxury
of experimenting here,

00:40:48.639 --> 00:40:51.730
for a lot of these guys,
this was going to be a

00:40:51.813 --> 00:40:52.809
way of life.

00:40:55.030 --> 00:40:56.079
But man, I

00:40:56.163 --> 00:40:59.139
can't tell you the amount of
heartache when I left.

00:41:00.219 --> 00:41:05.619
I mean, had Martin and
Malcolm's lives meant anything

00:41:06.010 --> 00:41:10.150
if some smart young
Black guys like us

00:41:11.019 --> 00:41:12.550
were just going
to kill each other?

00:41:29.369 --> 00:41:31.150
But so I'm back in Cambridge.

00:41:31.233 --> 00:41:32.719
And I'm in
a really good place.

00:41:32.803 --> 00:41:34.900
You're home from
Michigan Fanshen, and I

00:41:34.983 --> 00:41:35.609
love having

00:41:35.692 --> 00:41:36.460
time with you.

00:41:37.150 --> 00:41:37.960
You're working at

00:41:38.043 --> 00:41:39.519
the Harvard Square
Cinema and I come

00:41:39.603 --> 00:41:41.289
to pick you
up around midnight.

00:41:41.380 --> 00:41:42.369
Double park my

00:41:42.453 --> 00:41:43.420
car, put on

00:41:43.503 --> 00:41:44.829
my hazards, and come in to

00:41:44.913 --> 00:41:45.559
get you.

00:41:45.643 --> 00:41:48.159
Now, you're not quite finished
with your shift yet.

00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:50.400
And then I

00:41:50.483 --> 00:41:51.300
see this police

00:41:51.383 --> 00:41:53.519
cruiser pull up behind
the car outside.

00:41:53.603 --> 00:41:56.760
So I kind of gesture to
the officer, like and then I

00:41:56.843 --> 00:41:57.840
turn around to let you know

00:41:57.923 --> 00:41:58.549
that I'm going to run

00:41:58.632 --> 00:41:59.258
out.

00:41:59.341 --> 00:42:01.949
And when I turn back around,
this white officer is

00:42:02.033 --> 00:42:03.150
inside the building,

00:42:03.233 --> 00:42:04.320
rushing up to me.

00:42:05.699 --> 00:42:07.650
"License and registration."

00:42:08.400 --> 00:42:09.059
Oh.

00:42:09.659 --> 00:42:10.769
It's cool, Officer.

00:42:10.853 --> 00:42:11.479
I'm actually.

00:42:11.562 --> 00:42:12.780
I'm just coming in to
pick my sister.

00:42:12.863 --> 00:42:13.929
I'm coming right out.

00:42:14.013 --> 00:42:15.780
"Don't be a fucking wise ass.

00:42:15.863 --> 00:42:18.090
Just give me
the license and registration."

00:42:21.400 --> 00:42:22.920
And I'm thinking, what?

00:42:23.003 --> 00:42:23.889
What in the

00:42:23.973 --> 00:42:25.750
world is going on?

00:42:26.170 --> 00:42:28.750
I mean, I
just narrowly escaped death

00:42:28.833 --> 00:42:29.949
in the South.

00:42:30.190 --> 00:42:31.269
And here I am in

00:42:31.780 --> 00:42:34.030
the safest zip code
in America.

00:42:35.739 --> 00:42:39.010
So I start walking out
and when we get outside,

00:42:39.093 --> 00:42:39.940
he pushes me.

00:42:40.023 --> 00:42:40.649
And I'm

00:42:40.732 --> 00:42:41.358
sure I pushed

00:42:41.441 --> 00:42:42.067
him back and we

00:42:42.150 --> 00:42:42.776
get into a scuffle,

00:42:42.859 --> 00:42:43.510
and I get him into a

00:42:43.593 --> 00:42:44.320
headlock.

00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:53.610
And I just remember holding on
for dear life because I know

00:42:56.039 --> 00:42:57.300
if I let go,

00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:01.820
I'm gonna be
shot and killed right

00:43:01.903 --> 00:43:03.889
here at the Harvard Square
Cinema in front of

00:43:03.973 --> 00:43:05.000
my baby sister.

00:43:09.260 --> 00:43:12.650
The other officer comes over
and starts beating me over the

00:43:12.733 --> 00:43:17.269
head with the nightstick,
and then he pulls me back and

00:43:17.389 --> 00:43:18.349
that first officer

00:43:18.433 --> 00:43:20.239
hauls off and strikes me.

00:43:24.519 --> 00:43:25.690
Now, I'm not.

00:43:25.773 --> 00:43:27.309
I'm not feeling any
of this because.

00:43:27.393 --> 00:43:29.409
Because the adrenaline
is is rushing.

00:43:29.493 --> 00:43:30.119
But.

00:43:31.750 --> 00:43:34.719
I remember the look on your
face when he hit me.

00:43:36.869 --> 00:43:38.280
That scared me.

00:43:43.469 --> 00:43:44.550
And man I was

00:43:47.090 --> 00:43:49.219
so depressed because
I was thinking,

00:43:51.489 --> 00:43:52.829
What just happened?

00:43:52.913 --> 00:43:53.539
I mean.

00:43:53.622 --> 00:43:54.248
You know.

00:43:54.331 --> 00:43:54.957
Things have been going

00:43:55.040 --> 00:43:56.230
so well and

00:43:59.239 --> 00:44:00.920
it was very humiliating.

00:44:03.510 --> 00:44:05.550
And I really didn't know

00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:09.179
if I was going
to come away from that.

00:44:17.190 --> 00:44:19.889
At my brother's final hearing.

00:44:19.973 --> 00:44:24.929
He has a Black female judge who
openly reprimands the cops

00:44:25.013 --> 00:44:26.400
for their behavior.

00:44:27.670 --> 00:44:28.295
Mm.

00:44:28.379 --> 00:44:30.519
The ironies of Cambridge.

00:44:32.389 --> 00:44:34.400
So by the time
I graduate from Michigan,

00:44:34.483 --> 00:44:35.590
I'm feeling really restless.

00:44:35.673 --> 00:44:36.380
I feel like, you know what?

00:44:36.463 --> 00:44:39.980
I pay a lot of lip service to
issues of black struggle

00:44:40.063 --> 00:44:44.480
and Pan-Africanism, but I just
I need to do something more.

00:44:48.559 --> 00:44:49.185
Africa!

00:44:49.880 --> 00:44:53.869
So my dad had shared so many
romantic stories with us about

00:44:53.953 --> 00:44:55.699
Africa when we were
growing up.

00:44:56.179 --> 00:45:01.460
But when I read his memoir,
I realized that his trips there

00:45:01.543 --> 00:45:05.690
were as tough on him
as mine were on me.

00:45:09.039 --> 00:45:13.690
So, I'm teaching at Federal
City College in Washington, DC.

00:45:13.780 --> 00:45:17.469
Now, the civil rights activists
are starting to separate into

00:45:17.553 --> 00:45:22.539
two groups: integration
and Black Power.

00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:25.119
But you see,
now within Black Power,

00:45:25.203 --> 00:45:26.469
there's another group now.

00:45:27.389 --> 00:45:32.829
Pan Africans now we believe in
the unity of all Africans,

00:45:32.913 --> 00:45:35.739
no matter how far
we are from the continent.

00:45:36.820 --> 00:45:41.530
So I do some research on the
Ujamaa villages of Tanzania,

00:45:41.829 --> 00:45:46.480
a living, breathing example
of African socialism.

00:45:46.563 --> 00:45:50.769
And I know I
am meant to be there.

00:45:52.809 --> 00:45:56.619
I am giving the middle finger
to "The Man" in the US and

00:45:56.703 --> 00:46:00.730
going to join my true brothers
and sisters in the Motherland.

00:46:01.449 --> 00:46:02.920
I join the Peace

00:46:03.003 --> 00:46:05.050
Corps and I am
placed in the Cape

00:46:05.133 --> 00:46:07.659
Verdean Islands, West Africa.

00:46:07.869 --> 00:46:11.500
Now I'll teach English on the
island of Praia, where you can

00:46:11.583 --> 00:46:15.579
still see a slave auction block
on one of the coasts.

00:46:16.269 --> 00:46:19.329
Now, Portuguese is their
official language there,

00:46:19.413 --> 00:46:23.110
but everyone speaks
Cape Verdean Creole.

00:46:23.193 --> 00:46:26.739
And there's this woman named
Tuka and she sells candy and

00:46:26.823 --> 00:46:29.949
she greets me on my way to
teach class every morning.

00:46:32.760 --> 00:46:34.050
Oy Menina!

00:46:34.559 --> 00:46:36.119
Compra'm Drops.

00:46:36.203 --> 00:46:36.829
Qual drops
bu kre oji?

00:46:38.010 --> 00:46:40.469
N'teni Snickers,
N'teni and KitKat.

00:46:42.610 --> 00:46:43.235
Kuze?

00:46:43.319 --> 00:46:43.944
Bu ka kre?

00:46:44.028 --> 00:46:44.653
Ma pamodi?

00:46:44.737 --> 00:46:45.362
Bu mesti kumi.

00:46:45.446 --> 00:46:46.071
Ma Menina.

00:46:46.155 --> 00:46:46.780
Ben li.

00:46:46.864 --> 00:46:47.489
Ben li.

00:46:47.573 --> 00:46:48.198
Le'ba'm pa 'Merika pa'm torno
branca sima bo!

00:47:07.199 --> 00:47:07.829
What!?

00:47:07.913 --> 00:47:08.539
Oh.

00:47:08.622 --> 00:47:09.248
Oh.

00:47:09.331 --> 00:47:09.960
Oh.

00:47:11.110 --> 00:47:12.880
Oh, no, no, no, no.

00:47:12.963 --> 00:47:13.589
Oh

00:47:16.050 --> 00:47:16.675
Tuka no, girl, no.

00:47:16.759 --> 00:47:18.860
I'm not white Tuka.

00:47:18.943 --> 00:47:19.980
I am Black.

00:47:20.063 --> 00:47:21.059
I'm African.

00:47:21.210 --> 00:47:22.199
Like you.

00:47:24.750 --> 00:47:25.375
Kuze?

00:47:26.539 --> 00:47:27.165
A bo?

00:47:27.710 --> 00:47:28.929
Africana?

00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:31.585
No, (laughter)

00:47:34.199 --> 00:47:35.010
no,

00:47:37.219 --> 00:47:38.369
no, no.

00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:40.179
(laughter) A bo e
ka Africana!

00:47:40.263 --> 00:47:40.889
No.

00:47:40.972 --> 00:47:41.598
No.

00:47:41.681 --> 00:47:42.307
African.

00:47:42.390 --> 00:47:43.016
Aha.

00:47:46.260 --> 00:47:46.885
Mr.

00:47:46.969 --> 00:47:47.594
Cox?

00:47:47.969 --> 00:47:48.630
Yes.

00:47:49.909 --> 00:47:52.250
Your visa is denied.

00:47:52.730 --> 00:47:55.460
Tanzania is for Tanzanians.

00:47:55.730 --> 00:47:59.030
Why don't you go back to your
own country and serve it.

00:47:59.449 --> 00:48:00.559
Next?

00:48:03.030 --> 00:48:05.760
Well, I am beaten,
but I'm not broken.

00:48:06.750 --> 00:48:10.440
I continue to travel east
towards Tanzania to find

00:48:10.523 --> 00:48:12.030
another form of entry.

00:48:12.360 --> 00:48:15.989
I stop in the Sudan, the first

00:48:16.073 --> 00:48:17.130
predominantly

00:48:17.213 --> 00:48:20.940
dark skinned country I have
been to in Africa.

00:48:21.119 --> 00:48:22.440
Not since I had been in

00:48:22.523 --> 00:48:26.610
the West Indies had I been
in a country ruled by Blacks.

00:48:26.880 --> 00:48:30.059
And man, I tell you,
it is inspiring.

00:48:31.320 --> 00:48:36.030
I continue to travel east
towards Ethiopia, but well,

00:48:36.113 --> 00:48:38.760
there is a civil
war with Eritrea.

00:48:39.090 --> 00:48:43.710
Now some other young travelers
and I decide to ignore all of

00:48:43.793 --> 00:48:47.639
the travel restrictions and and
we go to Eritrea without

00:48:47.723 --> 00:48:48.349
a visa.

00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:52.719
And we end
up under armed guard.

00:48:53.519 --> 00:48:56.190
Until we can be deported
the next morning.

00:48:58.489 --> 00:49:00.949
It scares the daylights
out of me.

00:49:01.033 --> 00:49:06.139
And and with a heavy heart,
I return to DC.

00:49:10.269 --> 00:49:11.230
Good morning

00:49:11.313 --> 00:49:11.939
Class!

00:49:12.022 --> 00:49:13.840
Bondia, everybody okay?

00:49:13.923 --> 00:49:14.549
Hi.

00:49:14.632 --> 00:49:17.079
Okay, so today I'm going to
teach you English, of

00:49:17.163 --> 00:49:21.010
course, but I thought I'd throw
in a little bit of US history

00:49:21.093 --> 00:49:21.719
to do it.

00:49:21.802 --> 00:49:22.428
So.

00:49:22.511 --> 00:49:26.289
Okay, everybody repeat after
me: One Drop Rule.

00:49:26.469 --> 00:49:27.179
That's it you guys!

00:49:27.263 --> 00:49:27.889
Yeah.

00:49:27.972 --> 00:49:28.598
Yes.

00:49:28.681 --> 00:49:29.307
Good.

00:49:29.390 --> 00:49:30.429
Okay, great.

00:49:30.513 --> 00:49:31.179
You see?

00:49:31.263 --> 00:49:31.889
Okay, so.

00:49:31.972 --> 00:49:34.539
I'm trying to tell you that
makes all of you,

00:49:34.623 --> 00:49:36.400
my brothers and sisters.

00:49:37.150 --> 00:49:37.775
Okay?

00:49:38.590 --> 00:49:39.280
No?

00:49:41.380 --> 00:49:42.940
I don't know what's happening.

00:49:43.420 --> 00:49:46.780
Every time I try to convince
the Cape Verdeans of my

00:49:46.863 --> 00:49:49.960
Black identity, it's like I
just confuse them.

00:49:50.170 --> 00:49:54.250
Like when they come to my house
and they see pictures of

00:49:54.333 --> 00:49:55.510
Malcolm and

00:49:55.593 --> 00:49:58.360
and Maya and
Martin on my walls.

00:49:58.443 --> 00:50:00.519
Oh, okay Teacher.

00:50:00.603 --> 00:50:01.420
Yes, yes, I see.

00:50:01.503 --> 00:50:02.129
Of course.

00:50:02.212 --> 00:50:02.838
Yes.

00:50:02.921 --> 00:50:07.239
So, this is your brother and
your mother and your father

00:50:07.323 --> 00:50:08.019
, right?

00:50:10.539 --> 00:50:14.170
I receive another grant to
go to Africa.

00:50:14.559 --> 00:50:18.159
This time I take my son,
who's just three years old,

00:50:18.243 --> 00:50:19.809
Little Winston, with me.

00:50:20.889 --> 00:50:25.659
I will study the Ujamaa
villages from the University of

00:50:25.743 --> 00:50:30.400
Nairobi in Kenya, which is very
comfortable and welcoming.

00:50:31.519 --> 00:50:32.179
But.

00:50:32.263 --> 00:50:33.260
Well, it is a

00:50:33.343 --> 00:50:36.619
two hour bus ride
from our hotel.

00:50:36.703 --> 00:50:40.190
And I soon learn that little
Winston cannot handle

00:50:40.273 --> 00:50:41.659
that long trip.

00:50:41.900 --> 00:50:46.369
Now, we had become very close
friends with some of the local

00:50:46.453 --> 00:50:48.019
fruit vendors there.

00:50:48.860 --> 00:50:50.030
Good morning, Dr.

00:50:50.113 --> 00:50:50.739
Cox.

00:50:50.822 --> 00:50:51.448
Hello!

00:50:51.531 --> 00:50:52.157
Yes.

00:50:52.240 --> 00:50:53.420
Oh, yes, Dr.

00:50:53.503 --> 00:50:54.440
Cox, you

00:50:54.523 --> 00:50:57.260
go and learn all
about our people.

00:50:57.343 --> 00:50:59.480
And we will watch your son.

00:50:59.563 --> 00:51:00.409
Go.

00:51:00.493 --> 00:51:01.550
Go!

00:51:01.670 --> 00:51:03.590
We will watch your son.

00:51:07.610 --> 00:51:09.500
It's been about six

00:51:09.583 --> 00:51:12.650
months here in Cape Verde,
and I'm actually getting used

00:51:12.733 --> 00:51:13.710
to life here.

00:51:13.793 --> 00:51:18.110
I've got a boyfriend, a mango
and papaya farmer, and I can

00:51:18.193 --> 00:51:18.889
negotiate my

00:51:18.973 --> 00:51:21.369
groceries in the
local outdoor market.

00:51:21.453 --> 00:51:23.630
I can dance Zouk and Funana.

00:51:24.559 --> 00:51:27.980
And I finally realized the best
way to teach my students

00:51:28.063 --> 00:51:30.769
English is actually to ask them
to tell me about

00:51:30.853 --> 00:51:32.090
their history.

00:51:32.960 --> 00:51:34.969
Things are going really,
really well.

00:51:38.579 --> 00:51:39.205
But.

00:51:39.289 --> 00:51:39.914
Okay.

00:51:41.610 --> 00:51:45.659
Well, I am starting to notice
that...just sometimes when I

00:51:45.743 --> 00:51:47.909
get home in the afternoons.

00:51:48.210 --> 00:51:48.835
It's just...

00:51:48.919 --> 00:51:52.199
some items have been missing
from my apartment.

00:51:53.460 --> 00:51:57.860
One day I hear a noise coming
from the outside hallway.

00:51:57.943 --> 00:51:58.650
Hello?

00:51:58.733 --> 00:51:59.969
Come back here!

00:52:00.053 --> 00:52:02.070
I push open the door.

00:52:02.153 --> 00:52:04.619
And this young boy,
probably about 12 years old,

00:52:04.703 --> 00:52:06.809
had been fiddling with
the lock.

00:52:07.050 --> 00:52:10.650
He runs away and I chase
after him, yelling in my best

00:52:10.733 --> 00:52:12.750
Cape Verdean Creole,
"Kuze ba sta fazi?

00:52:12.833 --> 00:52:14.369
Pamodi bu sta li!?

00:52:15.030 --> 00:52:15.655
I get to

00:52:15.739 --> 00:52:17.760
the door of the apartment
downstairs and I push it open

00:52:17.843 --> 00:52:19.320
and I'm facing a number of

00:52:19.403 --> 00:52:20.460
Boys.

00:52:22.889 --> 00:52:25.079
Ranging in age from

00:52:25.163 --> 00:52:27.900
12 to

00:52:27.983 --> 00:52:29.309
15.

00:52:35.050 --> 00:52:36.460
And there is no

00:52:37.530 --> 00:52:38.489
adult

00:52:40.420 --> 00:52:41.260
in sight.

00:52:46.170 --> 00:52:47.159
I learn

00:52:48.840 --> 00:52:49.949
that this is a

00:52:50.033 --> 00:52:50.699
home

00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:54.820
for juvenile delinquent boys.

00:52:57.389 --> 00:53:00.150
And I should not
have entered this building

00:53:01.780 --> 00:53:02.469
alone.

00:53:05.320 --> 00:53:05.945
Dr.

00:53:06.029 --> 00:53:06.654
Cox!

00:53:06.969 --> 00:53:08.619
We are so sorry.

00:53:08.703 --> 00:53:10.269
Your son was here.

00:53:10.480 --> 00:53:12.429
He was just right here!

00:53:14.880 --> 00:53:17.550
We finally find my son.

00:53:18.550 --> 00:53:20.920
Three miles away.

00:53:22.480 --> 00:53:26.760
After that, I never let little
Winnie out of my sight again.

00:53:26.843 --> 00:53:32.199
We just stay close to
the hotel, and then I meet this

00:53:32.283 --> 00:53:36.519
very charismatic young man who
tells me he can get us into

00:53:36.603 --> 00:53:38.110
the Ujamaa villages.

00:53:38.530 --> 00:53:39.460
He knows all the

00:53:39.543 --> 00:53:40.179
right people.

00:53:40.263 --> 00:53:41.050
Uses all

00:53:41.133 --> 00:53:41.759
the right names.

00:53:41.842 --> 00:53:42.880
This is it!

00:53:42.969 --> 00:53:44.559
My chance!

00:53:44.940 --> 00:53:45.579
Oh, he's just

00:53:45.663 --> 00:53:48.340
going to spend the night in our
hotel room with us so we can

00:53:48.423 --> 00:53:50.769
all wake up early
enough the next morning and

00:53:50.853 --> 00:53:51.479
catch the

00:53:51.562 --> 00:53:52.360
helicopter.

00:53:53.170 --> 00:53:55.449
When Winnie and I
wake up the next morning,

00:53:57.500 --> 00:53:59.030
all of our things

00:54:00.130 --> 00:54:00.820
are gone.

00:54:06.250 --> 00:54:12.030
I am medically evacuated by
the Peace Corps.

00:54:12.239 --> 00:54:17.760
And I'm sent to Washington,
D.C. for a month of therapy.

00:54:18.420 --> 00:54:21.030
And at the end of
that month, I have to make

00:54:21.113 --> 00:54:22.320
an important decision.

00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:30.619
Okay.

00:54:32.519 --> 00:54:33.989
So I.

00:54:34.880 --> 00:54:36.739
I am going to go back.

00:54:36.823 --> 00:54:39.260
I'm going to finish
these two years.

00:54:40.130 --> 00:54:44.030
But like you suggested, I am,
I'm going to take some tools

00:54:44.113 --> 00:54:46.940
with me so I can
stay strong when I'm there.

00:54:51.280 --> 00:54:58.300
So whenever I start to feel
scared or angry or betrayed,

00:55:02.769 --> 00:55:05.559
I'm going to look at this
picture of my brother Winston.

00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:09.280
Winston reminds me

00:55:09.363 --> 00:55:11.710
that there are good

00:55:11.793 --> 00:55:12.820
people

00:55:13.210 --> 00:55:14.469
in the world.

00:55:15.670 --> 00:55:17.590
And there are good men.

00:55:18.940 --> 00:55:20.829
All over the world.

00:55:24.380 --> 00:55:25.489
And

00:55:27.050 --> 00:55:28.610
a picture of my mom.

00:55:29.820 --> 00:55:33.449
Mama Trudy is not
confined by categories.

00:55:33.960 --> 00:55:39.269
She fights for equality
for everyone, no matter what

00:55:39.353 --> 00:55:42.449
race they've been assigned or
what class they've

00:55:42.533 --> 00:55:43.739
been born into.

00:55:47.900 --> 00:55:49.219
So, yes.

00:55:50.829 --> 00:55:55.480
I'm going to go back to Africa
and not because I am African or

00:55:55.563 --> 00:55:58.329
African American or Black, but

00:55:59.980 --> 00:56:01.179
because there are

00:56:01.263 --> 00:56:04.119
good people in Africa, too.

00:56:06.269 --> 00:56:11.989
And everyone deserves to have
someone fight for them.

00:56:21.460 --> 00:56:27.099
On the 2000 and the
2010 census, we were all

00:56:27.183 --> 00:56:30.099
allowed to choose more
than one race.

00:56:31.429 --> 00:56:32.840
What did you choose?

00:56:51.530 --> 00:56:54.530
Since my wedding
seven years ago.

00:56:54.613 --> 00:56:57.889
My relationship with my
father is dead.

00:56:58.699 --> 00:57:02.449
Aside from a couple
of birthday or holiday calls,

00:57:02.533 --> 00:57:04.070
we just don't speak.

00:57:06.000 --> 00:57:06.929
And then

00:57:08.199 --> 00:57:12.730
my dear precious Grandma
Cynthia becomes ill.

00:57:13.880 --> 00:57:16.070
She's been
stricken with Alzheimer's.

00:57:16.639 --> 00:57:19.610
She hasn't recognized any of
us for years.

00:57:21.500 --> 00:57:24.530
She's on a respirator
and the doctors are

00:57:24.613 --> 00:57:26.239
discussing final measures.

00:57:38.429 --> 00:57:39.340
Granddaughter.

00:57:41.369 --> 00:57:41.995
Come.

00:57:44.789 --> 00:57:47.130
You done a real, real good job

00:57:47.213 --> 00:57:48.809
looking at dis t'ing 'ere.

00:57:51.269 --> 00:57:52.260
But you 'affee

00:57:52.343 --> 00:57:54.809
do one more t'ing
for me before me leave.

00:57:57.130 --> 00:57:59.139
You affee call your father.

00:58:01.829 --> 00:58:02.455
Tell 'im

00:58:02.639 --> 00:58:03.329
'ow you

00:58:03.413 --> 00:58:04.349
feel.

00:58:04.889 --> 00:58:07.860
Ask 'im how 'im feel.

00:58:07.943 --> 00:58:08.569
Me know.

00:58:10.250 --> 00:58:10.875
Me know.

00:58:11.739 --> 00:58:13.539
'im is de parent.

00:58:13.623 --> 00:58:14.860
Me know all of dat.

00:58:16.539 --> 00:58:20.349
But you affee
be de strong one.

00:58:22.340 --> 00:58:24.030
You haffee face de

00:58:24.113 --> 00:58:24.769
Bull.

00:58:42.150 --> 00:58:42.775
Oh.

00:58:42.860 --> 00:58:43.889
Hey, Dad.

00:58:44.070 --> 00:58:46.050
Oh, Fanshen.

00:58:46.133 --> 00:58:47.010
Hi, dear.

00:58:47.699 --> 00:58:48.869
How are you?

00:58:49.920 --> 00:58:50.789
Fine.

00:58:54.269 --> 00:58:55.800
Dad, Actually, I was.

00:58:56.550 --> 00:58:58.260
I was just wondering if you.

00:58:58.409 --> 00:59:00.510
Do you have a little
bit of time to talk?

00:59:00.840 --> 00:59:01.469
What?

00:59:02.079 --> 00:59:02.980
Oh.

00:59:04.170 --> 00:59:05.099
Yes.

00:59:05.969 --> 00:59:06.750
Yes, I do.

00:59:08.579 --> 00:59:10.409
I have some time.

00:59:12.440 --> 00:59:13.065
You do?

00:59:13.149 --> 00:59:13.774
Because I could call

00:59:13.858 --> 00:59:14.483
you back.

00:59:14.567 --> 00:59:15.500
At another time.

00:59:15.583 --> 00:59:16.460
No, no.

00:59:17.030 --> 00:59:17.655
No.

00:59:17.739 --> 00:59:18.500
That's all right.

00:59:19.699 --> 00:59:21.320
I have some time now.

00:59:23.250 --> 00:59:23.969
Great.

00:59:26.159 --> 00:59:27.510
So, Dad, I.

00:59:28.980 --> 00:59:29.605
I've just.

00:59:29.689 --> 00:59:30.960
I've been wondering a lot.

00:59:33.849 --> 00:59:36.219
Did you catch
that game last night?

00:59:36.579 --> 00:59:37.719
Oh, yes.

00:59:37.803 --> 00:59:38.429
Yes, I did.

00:59:38.512 --> 00:59:40.039
They're doing so great,
aren't they?

00:59:40.123 --> 00:59:41.500
Yep, they sure are.

00:59:42.070 --> 00:59:42.849
Yep.

00:59:44.230 --> 00:59:46.119
But actually, I.

00:59:46.203 --> 00:59:47.019
Really was.

00:59:47.103 --> 00:59:47.889
Calling.

00:59:48.550 --> 00:59:50.079
Because I wanted to know

00:59:51.820 --> 00:59:53.199
how's the weather?

00:59:56.969 --> 00:59:58.139
No, Dad.

01:00:00.230 --> 01:00:02.389
Actually, I'm calling because I
want to know:

01:00:05.309 --> 01:00:06.840
Why didn't you come?

01:00:08.030 --> 01:00:09.260
To my wedding?

01:00:11.300 --> 01:00:11.929
Oh.

01:00:13.130 --> 01:00:14.269
Oh, yes, yes.

01:00:14.353 --> 01:00:14.979
Right.

01:00:15.062 --> 01:00:15.688
I see.

01:00:15.771 --> 01:00:16.397
I do.

01:00:16.909 --> 01:00:17.869
I see it.

01:00:21.619 --> 01:00:26.000
Well, the thing is now
you see, it is very difficult.

01:00:29.210 --> 01:00:32.780
Well, I think about it all
the time, and I just didn't

01:00:32.863 --> 01:00:34.699
have the courage
to bring it up.

01:00:34.789 --> 01:00:35.539
I just.

01:00:35.623 --> 01:00:36.860
I just.

01:00:37.679 --> 01:00:38.610
Faltered.

01:00:41.360 --> 01:00:42.079
Yeah.

01:00:43.329 --> 01:00:47.289
That's been really hard and
I've been carrying that

01:00:47.373 --> 01:00:48.699
with me, you know?

01:00:50.409 --> 01:00:52.360
But, Dad, actually, what

01:00:52.443 --> 01:00:54.070
I wanted to know was:

01:00:56.519 --> 01:01:00.420
Was it because I
was marrying a European?

01:01:03.159 --> 01:01:03.849
Oh.

01:01:04.659 --> 01:01:06.519
Oh, no.

01:01:07.210 --> 01:01:08.460
Oh, gracious me.

01:01:08.543 --> 01:01:09.400
No.

01:01:10.480 --> 01:01:11.559
No.

01:01:13.030 --> 01:01:13.750
Well, Dad, I

01:01:13.833 --> 01:01:15.039
mean, we got married in

01:01:15.123 --> 01:01:15.749
Jamaica.

01:01:15.832 --> 01:01:16.458
For you.

01:01:16.541 --> 01:01:17.167
And so

01:01:17.250 --> 01:01:17.876
when you

01:01:17.959 --> 01:01:18.585
didn't come, I just.

01:01:18.668 --> 01:01:19.294
Yes.

01:01:19.809 --> 01:01:20.530
Yes, yes.

01:01:20.613 --> 01:01:21.239
Right.

01:01:21.322 --> 01:01:21.948
Of course I do.

01:01:22.031 --> 01:01:23.260
I see, I.

01:01:24.159 --> 01:01:25.539
I understand.

01:01:28.699 --> 01:01:29.325
Oh.

01:01:30.210 --> 01:01:32.940
You know, the the
thing is now it is.

01:01:34.289 --> 01:01:41.539
Well, it is very difficult for
me to go back there.

01:01:42.920 --> 01:01:48.079
You see, I was there
in in 1990 with with your

01:01:48.163 --> 01:01:49.010
grandmother.

01:01:49.093 --> 01:01:51.170
When my favorite aunt died.

01:01:51.253 --> 01:01:53.659
And I just could not bear it.

01:01:54.170 --> 01:01:57.650
I mean, seeing all
those people, all those people

01:01:57.733 --> 01:01:59.030
I had left behind.

01:01:59.113 --> 01:02:05.110
And many of them had passed
away and I just could

01:02:05.193 --> 01:02:06.730
not bear it.

01:02:09.309 --> 01:02:14.500
But I owe you and
Winnie a bunch of apologies.

01:02:14.583 --> 01:02:16.150
I can't even begin to put

01:02:16.233 --> 01:02:20.230
together about missing you both
for so long.

01:02:22.969 --> 01:02:28.130
And I guess I just never was
bold enough to face it.

01:02:29.530 --> 01:02:31.719
To really sit down.

01:02:32.909 --> 01:02:34.829
And face it.

01:02:38.929 --> 01:02:41.269
(on the video) FANSHEN: But,
you know, I do realize,

01:02:41.353 --> 01:02:44.420
you know, I take responsibility
for my part that I, you know,

01:02:44.503 --> 01:02:47.269
that I didn't talk
to you about that beforehand.

01:02:47.353 --> 01:02:50.949
And, of course, and I don't
mean to say it

01:02:51.320 --> 01:02:51.945
was only

01:02:52.029 --> 01:02:52.654
for you.

01:02:52.738 --> 01:02:54.260
It also was easier

01:02:54.343 --> 01:02:56.329
for his parents,
for Diego's parents.

01:02:56.413 --> 01:02:57.050
To get there from

01:02:57.133 --> 01:02:57.759
Italy.

01:02:57.842 --> 01:02:58.820
But, you know, it wasn't bad.

01:02:59.360 --> 01:03:04.849
(DAD) I think about it all
the time, and I just didn't

01:03:04.933 --> 01:03:06.179
have the courage
to bring it up.

01:03:06.263 --> 01:03:07.400
I mean, I don't know.

01:03:07.483 --> 01:03:09.710
I always wanted to talk
about it, and I.

01:03:10.400 --> 01:03:11.119
I just.

01:03:12.409 --> 01:03:13.579
I just faltered.

01:03:13.849 --> 01:03:17.119
(FANSHEN) Well, I want you to
know that I completely

01:03:17.203 --> 01:03:19.219
forgive you, and it's.

01:03:19.303 --> 01:03:22.760
I'm so happy about
our new relationship.

01:03:23.059 --> 01:03:23.685
(DAD) Yeah.

01:03:23.769 --> 01:03:24.394
Yeah.

01:03:24.478 --> 01:03:25.360
You know, I mean, I.

01:03:25.443 --> 01:03:26.659
I'm so happy.

01:03:26.743 --> 01:03:29.659
I mean, yeah, you know,
I mean, it's such a wonderful

01:03:29.743 --> 01:03:31.340
thing we have now.

01:03:31.423 --> 01:03:33.400
And, I mean, I just
don't ever want to let go.

01:03:36.039 --> 01:03:42.730
(MAMA TRUDY) I went to a
conference and I won a trip to

01:03:44.289 --> 01:03:50.590
Alabama to to, you know,
to visit with some family

01:03:50.673 --> 01:03:52.269
that were Panthers.

01:03:52.840 --> 01:03:55.719
And we went, (FANSHEN) Wait,
I'm sorry, Mom.

01:03:55.803 --> 01:03:57.699
That's the
most bizarre statement.

01:03:57.783 --> 01:03:58.409
You just

01:03:58.492 --> 01:03:59.118
won a trip?

01:03:59.201 --> 01:04:00.309
(MAMA TRUDY) I won a trip.

01:04:00.393 --> 01:04:01.019
I did.

01:04:01.102 --> 01:04:04.000
(FANSHEN) You won a
trip to go live

01:04:04.083 --> 01:04:05.050
with some Panthers?

01:04:05.349 --> 01:04:06.130
But I'm sorry.

01:04:06.213 --> 01:04:06.839
What kind of

01:04:06.922 --> 01:04:07.989
contest was this?

01:04:08.199 --> 01:04:10.630
That you won a trip to Alabama?

01:04:10.713 --> 01:04:11.339
(MAMA TRUDY) It was a

01:04:11.422 --> 01:04:12.048
drawing.

01:04:12.131 --> 01:04:13.360
It was just out of the hat.

01:04:14.019 --> 01:04:15.280
(FANSHEN) Like in what group?

01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:18.190
(MAMA TRUDY) In one
of my most leftist groups.

01:04:18.340 --> 01:04:22.480
You know, the ones where we did
embroidery for the Vietcong

01:04:22.563 --> 01:04:23.189
that were there.

01:04:23.272 --> 01:04:24.099
And then.

01:04:24.659 --> 01:04:25.510
(FANSHEN) Are These are the ones

01:04:25.593 --> 01:04:28.510
that encouraged you to make me
wear the raincoat that said

01:04:28.593 --> 01:04:30.159
Nixon Burns Babies?

01:04:30.243 --> 01:04:31.510
(MAMA TRUDY) Well, you know,
that was my...

01:04:31.659 --> 01:04:32.469
I mean, I don't think...

01:04:32.553 --> 01:04:33.460
I think I just...

01:04:33.543 --> 01:04:35.440
That's what I wanted
to do, you know?

01:04:38.280 --> 01:04:41.730
(BROTHER WINSTO) But,
you know, trial after trial,

01:04:41.813 --> 01:04:46.469
we eventually had a Black woman
judge hear the case.

01:04:46.553 --> 01:04:51.659
And it was just beautiful
because she just she just I

01:04:51.743 --> 01:04:54.690
remember her just staring at
the officers and being like,

01:04:54.773 --> 01:04:59.429
you really are wasting my time
and the city's time over this

01:04:59.513 --> 01:05:03.389
nonsense where, you know,
this gentleman clearly,

01:05:03.480 --> 01:05:05.280
you know, you have no case.

01:05:05.363 --> 01:05:09.719
This you know, you know that he
did not instigate this this

01:05:09.809 --> 01:05:12.989
altercation and she threw it
threw it out.

01:05:59.809 --> 01:06:02.420
I continue to have
these conversations

01:06:02.503 --> 01:06:03.129
with my

01:06:03.212 --> 01:06:05.360
Dad for a really
long time after.

01:06:05.989 --> 01:06:07.429
Now, these

01:06:07.513 --> 01:06:09.860
conversations did not take away
all of my

01:06:09.943 --> 01:06:12.230
family's racial insecurities.

01:06:12.889 --> 01:06:15.320
But they certainly helped me
put my own

01:06:15.403 --> 01:06:17.300
feelings into perspective.

01:06:19.079 --> 01:06:22.349
There's this whole
world underneath

01:06:22.433 --> 01:06:24.420
my father's life choices.

01:06:24.869 --> 01:06:26.340
And without really
sitting down.

01:06:26.423 --> 01:06:28.230
And talking to him, I only

01:06:28.313 --> 01:06:29.400
understood a fraction

01:06:29.483 --> 01:06:31.349
of what made up who he was.

01:06:32.280 --> 01:06:35.969
It was kind of like picking
racial categories on

01:06:36.053 --> 01:06:37.230
the census, as though

01:06:37.313 --> 01:06:37.939
they tell us

01:06:38.022 --> 01:06:39.960
something meaningful
about a person.

01:06:41.179 --> 01:06:42.260
They don't.

01:06:45.210 --> 01:06:47.969
You know, I've been doing this
show for a little while now,

01:06:48.053 --> 01:06:51.570
and I cannot believe that at
the end, some people still have

01:06:51.653 --> 01:06:54.179
the nerve to come up to me
afterwards and say, So what are

01:06:54.263 --> 01:06:55.199
you anyway?

01:06:56.969 --> 01:06:58.619
I am a

01:06:58.703 --> 01:07:01.650
culturally mixed woman.

01:07:02.809 --> 01:07:05.929
Searching for racial answers.

01:07:06.013 --> 01:07:07.909
And I'm going to
keep on searching.

01:07:08.210 --> 01:07:09.289
No matter how

01:07:09.373 --> 01:07:13.849
scary those questions and
answers might get.

01:07:14.840 --> 01:07:16.070
I'm not going to hide from

01:07:16.153 --> 01:07:18.139
them in chicken boxes.

01:07:19.099 --> 01:07:21.139
And I'm not going to pretend

01:07:21.289 --> 01:07:23.179
like they don't exist.

01:07:25.559 --> 01:07:28.800
Because maybe that is how

01:07:28.883 --> 01:07:30.210
we can all get a

01:07:30.293 --> 01:07:31.860
little bit closer to some

01:07:31.943 --> 01:07:32.820
Peace.

01:07:34.300 --> 01:07:36.039
And some justice.

01:07:37.420 --> 01:07:38.320
And then,

01:07:39.360 --> 01:07:40.440
perhaps,

01:07:41.980 --> 01:07:46.719
Even One Drop of Love.

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One Drop of Love

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