WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: What We Want, What We Believe, by Alex Smith, Part Two 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:11.760 Cool Zone Media book Club Club Club Club Club Club 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:18.439 Club Club. Hello and welcome to the Cool Zone Media 0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:20.279 book Club, the only book club where you don't have 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:25.400 to do the reading because Prince Shakur does it for you. Prince, 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:26.360 how are you doing today? 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:30.560 I'm good. I'm good. I had a pretty good breakfast today, coffee, 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:34.280 I slept well. I'm enjoying life for the most part, 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.040 So yeah, how are you. 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.000 I'm doing all right. The world has no guarantees and 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.519 you should do what you want with it. I just 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:44.760 found out that a friend passed right before he recorded, 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.760 but she lived a life to the fullest. Yeah, I 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:50.960 don't know. I did really kills all my banter for 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.280 the day that I'm like that this happened right before 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:54.160 the recording, but. 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:55.760 Yeah, rest in peace. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:56.480 What was I going to. 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:58.040 Try and banter you about. I was going to try 0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.000 and banster to you about the evidence of your name, 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:04.160 because your name. When I say things like Prince Shakur 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.160 is going to do it for you, that is a 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:08.600 fucking You have a you have a sick name. You 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:10.080 want you want to tell a story behind it? 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:17.000 Yeah, Prince is my dad's name. Yeah, I started going 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.240 by I don't know, like a while ago, just because 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.520 I never knew him and I wanted to feel more connected. 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:30.280 And around that time I read Condemned by Bumani Shakur 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:35.640 and he was a political prisoner during the Lucasville Prison 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:37.080 riots and still. 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.880 Is related to Asta or no is it just a 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:40.840 name that people take? 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:42.760 At least for him, it was just a name that 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.400 he took. He talked about that process in the book, 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.960 and I was really inspired by the text and his journey, 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.040 and I don't know, around this time was like really 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.920 a radicalizing period for me, and so it just kind 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:58.960 of made sense for me to kind of take on 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:03.320 this piece of my father in relation to all these 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.600 politics that I was kind of discovering. And my sister's 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:08.640 name is princess, so. 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:10.280 It's kind of like, oh yeah. 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:13.360 And even my dad, like my grandma had an affair. 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.480 She's dark skinned, her husband was dark skinned. My dad 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:22.400 came out light skinned, and her husband was like, oh, 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.440 he's he's royalty. Let's call him prince. So that's the 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:27.600 story behind his name. 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:31.160 So yeah, okay, for people who are wondering why I'm 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:33.720 talking about this. Prince Corp is the author of a 0:02:33.760 --> 0:02:37.160 memoir called When they tell you to be good. Yes, 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:40.799 And and I first saw it, I think actually I 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.480 think before I met you and was like, oh, Shakur, 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.760 that's the name of the legacy. And I just I 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.320 like that. It's that's something that people have taken on. 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.240 I like that. I've talked a little bit about Astottiship Court, 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:54.560 not on the show, but on my other show, the 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:59.160 History Show. But like this, like idea of people renaming 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.000 themselves to get away from the history of colonization and 0:03:02.040 --> 0:03:06.160 slave not get away from reject whiteness, you know. 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:12.519 Yeah, or to confront it in a way or to yeah, yeah. 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.040 Well, speaking of political prisoners, because two thirds of the 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:16.800 people I know it, well, no, only half the people 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.720 I know of the last name Shakur political were political prisoners, 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:22.720 because you are not, and I believe Tupac was not. 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.359 But Asada and what was the other name of the person, 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:33.000 Bumani Shakur, Umani Shakur were We are in Black August, 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.480 and we are doing episodes to honor that. And Black August, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.320 as you told me last time, comes specifically from a 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.880 legacy of black political prisoners and the fight for freedom 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:47.760 in the United States. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:51.600 Yeah, and it's a very important month of like fasting, 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:57.840 taking action towards abolition, like doing more than commemoration. Like 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.839 I have so many friends that literally fast and have 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.520 regimens of exercise during this month, so I feel like 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.480 it's really important the action part of it too. 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:13.200 Yeah, that makes sense. Well, we will be listening to 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:16.880 part two of the book the story What We Want, 0:04:17.240 --> 0:04:22.920 What We Believe by Alex Smith. And we were following 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:26.560 last time. We were following three threads. Regina, a woman 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:28.760 whose husband was murdered by the police for being a 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.799 black panther, who has just fled a mysterious government agent 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:35.039 threatening her and her child. We were also following Maya, 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.800 a transwoman who hears voices and just recovering in a 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:41.760 hospital after an altercation. And a child whose name is 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.360 who sees a bunny in a suit named Bouncy who 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:49.400 has just been smuggled out of a house in a suitcase. 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.400 And yeah, you want to read us a story. 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:58.840 Yes, yes, let's finish What we Want, What we Believe 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.760 by Alex Smith. Eight. We want freedom for all black 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:08.239 men held in federal, state, county and city prisons, in jails. 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:16.080 This won't hurt a bit, lie back, calm nurse I 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:22.520 know the needle. She's a big one. H Just miss Regina, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:28.640 please be calm there there, okay, see, not so bad. 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.919 You can rest now. You know. At the turn of 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:37.480 the century, before that, even they considered the slaves nurse, yes, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.000 just put it on the desk, yes there, thank you dear. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.400 Where was I? Oh? Yes, slaves. It was considered a 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.440 type of pathology for slaves to want to be free. 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.080 This same diagnosis was first given to women that wanted 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:56.400 to you know, work and not get married vote. They 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:00.440 called it hysteria. It's funny how these things become embedded 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:04.840 into our everyday society. The same terminology is being used today, 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.719 except with kids in the inner city. We call it 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.880 behavioral issues or what have you. But really, and this 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.200 is the sad part, it's all the same. A young 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:19.800 black child isn't a behavior risk because he, say, doesn't 0:06:19.839 --> 0:06:21.680 want to sit up in class and listen to a 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.960 teacher go on and on about great white men conquering 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.719 the world. He's just acting out and often practice pathology. 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.159 He's experiencing and expressing the delusion of freedom. But what 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:39.640 is freedom but another boring, earth bound state of mind? Ah? There, 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:45.320 you're almost under soon you'll see Thank you, Regina, thank 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.400 you for coming to see us. But don't worry. Rest assured, 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:54.200 soon we'll find your child. Trust us, let us nurture you. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.520 She tucks into her hoodie, hands deep in her pockets. 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:03.920 The city paper tornadoes over a vent bursting with hot air. 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.200 She kicks a rock with her steel toe sixteen eye 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.960 red Doc Martins. It ricochets off a trash can and 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.320 onto a parked buick, the saber echoing down the alley. 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:20.080 The night is a trapdoor hidden under the moonlight. Maya 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:23.040 pulls the flyer out of her pocket. She looks up 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.360 from the piece of paper towards a heaving, paint chipped 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:30.000 row home. A band is playing. Two white kids in 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.880 all black, ripped pants, cases of beer in hand, covered 0:07:33.920 --> 0:07:37.160 in patches adorned with band locos on them, turn the corner, 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.640 walk up the street and enter the house. They don't 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.200 even nod to her. She starts to shake a bit 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.280 and puts the flyer back into her pocket. She searches 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.200 her memory to make sure, yes, she took her pills today, 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.920 all of them. She can do this. A woman with 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:58.080 pink hair streaks from the house. Fuck you, Gavin, She screams, 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.120 throwing a bald up cigarette packed toward the house. It's fine, 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:08.000 It's fine, sighn. Maya enters the house. A thick haze 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.800 of smoke billows up around her, the din of talk 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:15.600 pushing out of maladjusted, pierced white lips as a roar 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.240 that seems to suck her own thoughts away. Check. Check. 0:08:19.680 --> 0:08:22.200 A skinny white boy with a bowl cut of jet 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:26.440 black dyed hair rocking a white belt, bellows into the mic. 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.160 Check Hello, shitheads, we're chlorox angels. This is what we 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:35.680 sound like. Roars of guitars and drums topple into each other. 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:39.480 The skinny white boy is writhing like a downed telephone wire. 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.720 Is there a bassist? It sounds like a drone. These 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:48.960 guys are really good, Maya thinks, Maya, Susie's here. She 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:53.560 runs up to Maya and hugs her deeply, uncomfortably. Susie, 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:56.800 Maya says her lungs on the verge of collapse. Hi, 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:02.079 oh my god, Hi, Maya, are you playing tonight? Susie's 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.000 enthusiasm is sweet. They'd spent so many hours on top 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.319 of so many roofs, throwing tiny pebbles at the trolley 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:12.760 as it lurched down Baltimore Avenue. So many hours on 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.640 the bed of some redneck punk's truck, talking about Bakunin 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:21.600 and dreaming up terrible band ideas. Days spent stapling zines 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:25.000 and pamphlets before shows, only to see them all discarded 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:28.560 and lining the floors of the VFW hall. They spent 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:32.720 all day canvassing we broke up. Susie tilts her head 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.680 like a puppy trying to figure out the strange sounds 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:41.160 of its owner. Maya ventured to continue over clorox, angels, cacoffney, 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:47.360 how's aoen? Oh, you know, screaming, crying, throwing stuff. Susie shrugs, 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:52.640 so she's two, yeah, Susie laughs. She has this way 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:54.960 of staring at Maya that seems to beg things out 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.679 of her. Maya has taken to avoiding eye contact, not 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.800 just with Susie but with that everyone, since the pills 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.960 they make things better, soothe her. Life on the pills 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:09.959 is not just safer or comforting. It is a lucid dream. 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:15.400 Constant work, sure, but easier work. After the band. Maya 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.760 sits on the porch, Susie sits beside her, cautiously. They 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:23.120 both stare at the stars. Thanks for not asking me 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:24.680 why I'm at the show and not at home with 0:10:24.679 --> 0:10:29.440 the kiddo, She says, what everyone always asks me, that 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.200 as if it's all my responsibility, you know, I mean, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:37.080 she's got a father for Christ's sake. Oh yeah, no, 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:41.400 fuck that shit. Maya tilts her head down. Susie edges 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:44.720 closer and puts an arm around her, almost knocking her 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.520 own glasses off. You deserve a little freedom. The night 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.880 is silent. A police car's siren oscillates. Everyone on the 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.240 porch stops to crane their necks as if they can 0:10:55.280 --> 0:11:01.559 see the ensuing drama unfold Philly, Susie says. Maya stares 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.400 at the sky, the clouds clearing, welcoming the arrival of 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:09.839 a million stars. Look at them all at home. Maya 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:13.320 looks at her pills lined up on her dresser. She 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:16.439 takes one and for a moment pretends it's a rocket. 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:20.560 The game feels ridiculous and forced, a bit of whimsy 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.000 that she can't allow herself. But Maya does eventually that night, 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:28.520 take the same bottle of pills and empties it into 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:29.080 the toilet. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:35.400 But did you know Prince and dear listeners, what else 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.800 feels ridiculous and forced. It's the ad transitions that we 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.520 have to do in order to keep the lights on 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:54.600 on this podcast. And Rebecca. 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.400 Nine, we want all black people, when brought to trial, 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.880 to be tried in court by a jury of their 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:09.000 peer group, were people from their black communities as defined 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.240 by the Constitution of the United States. Curled up on 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.640 the bed in her cell, Regina, eyes closed, let the 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.240 atmosphere around her heave against her chest, wat a weight. 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:24.080 She let her sighs soothe her. The noise of prison 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:28.160 rattled around her head, women arguing over dominoes and illegal 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:32.559 card games, cursing out, prison guards shoving and pushing themselves 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:36.640 into metal bars at the slightest infraction, mostly a low 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:41.880 grown and shuffle. The sounds were ambient, snatched samples from dreams, 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.880 so much so she didn't hear the noisy clang clanging 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:48.600 of the prison guards Billy club on the cell bars. 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.720 Seventy one, Get up, you can't stay in here all day. 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:58.480 Gina rolled over, her eyes stretched, weary. Her skin was 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.679 still pulled taut around her frame, still small but lumpy 0:13:02.760 --> 0:13:07.120 in places, she reluctantly meandered into the television room. The 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:11.320 news piped in on the small screen. Gerty was always 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:14.640 in front of it, slumped down in her chair backwards, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:19.520 sucking her teeth. The other lady shuffled in around her. Alice, 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.360 a simpering white woman who ran her husband over with 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.240 the mini van after catching him in bed with his stepdaughter. Janice, 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.040 a press secretary for a hedge fund manager caught in 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:33.920 bezzling investors money. Rita, a little, rail thin spike of 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:37.040 a thing whose life was a constant whirl of jail, 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:42.480 prostitution and crack cocaine. And there was Regina ambling around, 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:46.120 lifting up books in the library, reading their spines and 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.520 putting them back on the shelves, staring at dust mites, 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:53.680 or flicking her mashed potatoes with a spoon. Something's wrong 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:57.520 with her, Rita would say, Rita. Gertie turned from her TV. 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:04.040 So this was serious, that every day something's wrong with Regina. Nigga, 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.880 don't you know? We know that? Goddamn Gerty shot her 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:12.320 a look. Rita twittered away, mouting curses to herself, but 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:17.640 never to Gerty. Gerty spun back around, dumbass, bitch, what 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.040 do you watch it? What are they saying? Alice asked, 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.400 cutting through the tension with her mewing. It was a 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:26.520 way to distract, to get Gerty thinking about television again. 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:30.200 I don't know. Gerty shrugged, But the john on here 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.160 is bang. Who is this girl? Yo? Everyone stopped and 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:38.200 peered at the television. They became transfixed, most of them 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.040 watching for whatever it was they thought Gerty was seeing. 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.120 There were a throng of orange jumpsuits bent toward the television, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.520 hands on hips, arms crossed, all but Regina, who just 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:53.840 sat staring into the void, and Rita, who just stared 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:58.800 at Regina from across the room. What was behind those eyes, Regina, 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.800 I don't know, Gina whispered to herself, as if picking 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:06.200 up Rita's ambient thoughts through a portal to another plane. 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:09.200 All Regina could see was an image of herself and 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.720 a sun dress. She was on a farm. Several men 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.320 and women in drab gray were clapping, a hardened smile 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:20.000 on all of their faces. She walks among them. A 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.320 man at the end of the line. He looked a 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.880 little like Clark Kent, held a syringe. A stocky compact, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:30.920 dark black man was running straight toward her. He burst 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.440 through the line of gray clad clappers reaches out to her. 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:40.720 Everything slowed down, stopped, rewound. That was it, This was 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.320 all she saw. Every bit of my memory is soup. 0:15:45.480 --> 0:15:47.520 Rita snaked her way through the crowd of women in 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.480 the cell. All of them were watching a woman at 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.680 a podium. They all thought the speaker was a badass. 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:59.960 Perhaps Rita did too. Her curiosity for Regina's truth lured her. Besides, 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:04.040 Rita had seen so many badass girls doing badass things 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:09.360 get cut down by salivating, slovenly ferocious men, all starved 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:12.400 for the attention they drained from their mothers, never got 0:16:12.400 --> 0:16:15.160 from their fathers, and they now demanded from the rest 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.720 of the world. Rita will not be fooled. She sat 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.400 beside Regina and stared with the child's eagerness at the woman. 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.600 Who are you girl? What are you doing in here? 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.680 The only thing Regina could think to say was when, 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.200 in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.440 one people to dissolve the political bonds that have connected 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:39.080 them with another and to assume among the powers of 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:45.080 the earth. Rita sat back, stunned. Look at God, she whispered, 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.200 won't he do it? I knew there was something wild 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:53.480 about you. You're Regina. Gerty was standing up. Regina reflexively 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.640 snapped her head towards Gerty's thunderclap of a voice. Regina, 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:01.000 this bitch just said your name, girl. Regina pushed through 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.720 the crowd on the farm. The hands clapping in gray 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:09.760 are now tucked under orange, white hands, black hands. She 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:15.080 moved toward Gerdi, who stepped aside humbly. Gerty knew. On 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:20.200 the screen a beautiful woman stood, encircled by microphones. Cameras flashed. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.760 The woman was tall and lithe, with glowing brown skin, 0:17:24.520 --> 0:17:27.199 her hair a wild frizz of curls and locks that 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.720 seemed to flow elegantly. Her stance was of an oak's. 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.159 She spoke as if words were small fires. And we 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.640 will not stop until she is free, Until Leonard Peltier 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:42.040 is free, until Momia abou Jamal is free, until Geronimo 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:45.600 Pratt is free, until all prison walls are raised. We 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.879 will not stop, no justice, no peace, free all prisoners. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.560 There was something oddly familiar about her to Regina, something 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.119 in the head tilt, the slight twist of the body, 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.880 the way her eyes blinked in a staccato rhythm. What 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:06.080 was she saying? Oh, the eyes, the woman on the television, 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.720 her eyes onyx, stones, inky black. They swam in the 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.919 milk of their cornea. Regina clutched her hands to her 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.359 chest and let the tears fall gracelessly down her cheek. 0:18:18.080 --> 0:18:21.119 She waved to the girl on the television, that's my 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:28.359 Regina began. She paused, squinting gently, nodding, Yeah, that's my daughter. 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.760 Minutes after she inserts the disc, Maya gets a ping 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.680 on her computer. You've got mail. She's not supposed to 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.040 be using the office after hours. Not after they found 0:18:41.080 --> 0:18:43.879 her printing three hundred copies of a zine about racism 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.960 in the West Philly Marxist Knitting Circle community. That after 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:50.600 she let a few homeless queer boys sleep here for 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.119 three weeks during a particularly harsh February, she checks the screen. 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:59.399 I have the information you seek. A clap of thunder 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.560 erupts outside of the window. She watches Carrie, the new 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:07.880 programming director, smiling with her precious latte in hand, laughing 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:12.160 up the street clutching a designer briefcase. There are two 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:16.440 white men in birkenstocks standing with Carrie holding newspapers over 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.920 their heads. That doesn't give them much shelter. But those 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:24.879 men think they're bulletproof, that they're every machination, every whim, 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:29.199 every grant, every invasive design they've hinged the city on 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:35.840 matters a little rain. They're not impervious, simply unconcerned. It's 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.720 all Maya can do, not to toss the computer out 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.040 the window and down into the street at them. Don't 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:46.359 do it, You'll never find out. Maya scoffs at the 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.800 little white text box on her screen. What makes you 0:19:49.880 --> 0:19:52.600 think I want what you have? How do I know 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:58.199 it's authentic? How? Yes? How I mean? You? Contact me 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.640 literally two days after I left the side, days after 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.680 a Chinese man in a Buddhist robe passing out tai 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:09.000 Chi pamphlets gave me me, specifically one of those weird 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:12.800 AOL discs. No need for exposition. I know the story. 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.760 Don't get smart. Maya tears open a bag of chips 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:20.240 and angrily pops one in her mouth. Have I steered 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.000 you wrong before? I told you exactly where the most 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.359 strategic exits were during the RNC. I helped you and 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:29.639 your comrades void capture. I told you Dominic was a 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:34.359 saboteur working for the Philadelphia Police Department. Everything I've shown 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:38.919 you has been real, Maya bangs furiously onto her keyboard. 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.639 And everything you showed me how to catch I always 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.439 had to do some fucked up, meaningless task before you 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:49.159 gave me the full story. Nothing is meaningless, nothing has meaning. 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:55.359 All things simply are whatever. Maya flashes the computer screen 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:58.879 the middle finger. The point is, NI, you're just offering 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:05.680 this information freely. Yes, I don't think so, Maya. It's true. 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.560 I know who and where your mother is. It is 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:11.800 imperative that you go to her now. It is imperative 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:16.280 that you know bullshit, prove it. Another clap of thunder 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.399 the lights shut her off. The smell of ozone coats 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.359 the air. Maya is illuminated by the glow of the 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:27.840 computer screen. She feels something gingerly walking up her spine, 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:32.959 something pulling tight. It's somehow loose, not there, but ever present. 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:38.280 It feels like woven gossamer. Then it passes a buzz 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:43.040 and a whirr that sound feel like a cyborg's death rattle. 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.240 Maya looks around the room. Sure she turned all the 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:50.680 computers off for the day. It's the fax machine oring 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:54.399 to life. An image takes shape on the page, an 0:21:54.520 --> 0:21:58.680 arrangement of pixelated characters, letters, and numbers, forming odd shapes, 0:21:59.280 --> 0:22:03.480 each line breaking into rounded pictures, something like a paw 0:22:04.040 --> 0:22:07.639 a body, then long pointing ears a rabbit. 0:22:09.320 --> 0:22:12.760 But do you know what, Prince and dear listeners also 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:29.560 appears despite your best efforts, its ads and we're back. 0:22:34.200 --> 0:22:41.199 Ten. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.879 The island was a strange place. Baboons would come and 0:22:46.920 --> 0:22:51.240 steal fruit from their tables. There was plenty, though. Regina 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:53.560 stood under a canopy where she took hold of a 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:57.760 large knife, swatting at birds, swatting at monkeys to cut 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:00.639 a pineapple. She put the knife down and ate the 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:05.280 succulent pieces of the thorny fruit. Children. So many children 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:09.400 ran about, playing on plastic motorbikes that cut new paths 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.760 into the sandy dirt. Regina wondered what kind of danger 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:17.480 they would be in. But these children seemed feral free. 0:23:17.640 --> 0:23:20.800 She never knew that kind of freedom. Maybe this was 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:24.920 just how kids were now the Internet is making them crazy, 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:29.800 she thought. People buzzed along on small disks, cutting through 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:32.720 the sky while tapping on invisible screens in the air. 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:36.480 Diagrams and images appeared in front of them. As they 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:40.080 navigated over the water, down the beach, through the trees. 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.160 A black man in a long flowing robe held hands 0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:48.280 with another man, brown skinned and shaggy haired. They pulled 0:23:48.280 --> 0:23:53.360 each other close. Their blithe laughter echoed. Regina stepped out 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:56.600 from under the canopian into the sun. The women tried 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:00.159 to act like she belonged there, absorbing the giant and 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:04.800 radiant yellow spears rays, letting it swim up the canals 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:08.919 of her melanin. Maybe I'll write a poem today, she thought. 0:24:09.760 --> 0:24:12.720 She took another step and almost forgot. She was standing 0:24:12.960 --> 0:24:17.880 on an embankment. Whoops, She looked down on a tall, golden, 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:22.399 sunstroked woman. What the wild mane of hair was walking 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.840 toward her In the distance. She was flanked by two 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:30.679 well built men, shirtless and flowing pants. One carried a spear, 0:24:31.280 --> 0:24:35.280 the other typed diligently with one finger on an invisible pad. 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:40.800 The woman smiled, shyly, stopped and waved at Regina. Regina 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:46.439 slowly waved back, shaking her head and awe, don't be 0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:51.600 afraid they're yours. These are your dreams. I know you 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:55.040 want land and bread and freedom and peace. I know 0:24:55.080 --> 0:24:58.439 you've been through the wars, You've seen the shuddering of shelter. 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:02.119 You've looked through the raw, ripped tapestry of the world 0:25:02.160 --> 0:25:04.919 that was supposed to protect you, and it rocked you. 0:25:05.520 --> 0:25:10.320 I know we've always been here though with you. It's okay, 0:25:10.960 --> 0:25:14.800 it's okay. You don't need them. We're right here with you. 0:25:15.440 --> 0:25:20.600 Always let us in. We know when you put those 0:25:20.680 --> 0:25:23.560 dreams on a hold for this world, when you borrowed 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:26.639 through the fog of time, when you screamed into the vortex, 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:30.600 you did. You took those pills to drown us out. 0:25:30.880 --> 0:25:33.600 You didn't know that we were looking over you, that 0:25:33.640 --> 0:25:36.960 you're an ethereal being in a corporeal world, a world 0:25:37.040 --> 0:25:41.040 that doesn't quite understand you. But it's time. We've got 0:25:41.040 --> 0:25:44.960 you sit with us. Wake up, now, let us in. 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:50.040 Maya wakes up. Mother is there. She crosses the room 0:25:51.000 --> 0:25:55.359 you slept again. Yeah, Maya shifts on the floor. Her 0:25:55.440 --> 0:25:58.800 legs are crossed and numbed. The pain doesn't wash over 0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:02.320 her so much as it just miss She's used to it. Now, 0:26:03.000 --> 0:26:06.399 get up. Mother's hands are crossed. She has draped in 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:09.600 a heavy robe of colors that swirl and shimmering chroma. 0:26:10.080 --> 0:26:13.760 Her every movement is both grand and effortless. It's weird 0:26:13.800 --> 0:26:17.800 hearing you talk, Maya mumbles, the little orphan girl, all 0:26:17.840 --> 0:26:21.240 grown up. Mother paces came to me as a seed. 0:26:21.280 --> 0:26:25.600 And now, she says, gesturing, look at you, prickly pine 0:26:25.640 --> 0:26:31.240 tree or a great, big old oak. You know, I 0:26:31.280 --> 0:26:35.160 don't do well with this esoteric stuff. Mother. Mother moves 0:26:35.160 --> 0:26:38.840 so swiftly that it's as if she simply materialized in 0:26:38.880 --> 0:26:43.120