♪ ♪
(scribbling)
Dad: (West African accent)
If you ever disrespect me,
I will skin you alive.
(light acoustic guitar playing)
♪ ♪
-(birds chirping)
-(rummaging)
Dad:
Macca! Hurry now!
(rummaging continues)
Grab the end.
So, we'll start
with the Millers.
- I told them we'll - be done by 10:00 o'clock.
They have
a party at 11:00.
And then, we'll go
right over to Sarah's.
You know, she has the place
with the big pool.
- The one by - the embassy.
- Then, we'll make a stop - over at Suzanne's.
She owes me two checks,
but we have to make it
there before sundown.
If we don't get those checks,
we'll be short on the mortgage.
Help me with the ladder.
Macca. Enough with this now.
You'll be going
And meanwhile,
to medical school.
you're working with me.
So while we're
still here, please,
stop it with this
drawing-drawing. Focus.
-I just brought it
-(scoffs)
to pass the time.
- Pop the hood and fill it - with antifreeze.
I left it by the curb.
Fill it till it's level, okay?
- -Did you even hear what I said? - -Yeah.
I heard you. I got it.
(unlatches, creaks)
(clicking)
(distant siren)
(Dad rummaging in garage)
(grunts)
(rummaging continues)
-(grunting)
-(patting side)
- -(grunts) - -You still haven't opened it?
- I got it. Just give me... - (grunts)
(pop)
Hand me the antifreeze.
(opens bottle)
(pouring)
Here.
(caps radiator)
(hood creaks, shuts)
♪ ♪
-(African music on radio)
music, which, to this day,
-Radio Host:
reminds him of his ancestors,
a fawning testament
to the history of his people.
A moving story of resilience.
Next hour, we continue
our global series
with a retrospective on
the Angolan Civil War.
The conflict ended in 2002...
- -Hey, Dad? - -Hm?
- Radio Host: - can still be found strewn
Through the countryside,
adding to the number of
Thank you to our...
ongoing casualties.
Uh, it's nothing.
Radio Host:
heard among listeners...
to allow these stories to be
-Dad: Aye, Africa.
-(shuts off radio)
-Macca: What?
Sierra Leone.
-Ah, I'm just remembering
War is not good.
-Macca: Yeah?
-Those rebels were cruel, man.
I still remember your grandma.
- Your grandma would come running. - She'd open the door and say,
"The rebel dey can!
The rebel dey can!"
(laughs) You still
understand the Krio, right?
Yeah. Of course, I do.
Then, we would just
take off running,
through the fields.
Me and my brothers.
The RUF was led by
this guy, Foday Sankoh.
- The diamond fields - were in the east,
But the government
was in the west.
They would send those
diamonds to, to Europe,
and send back guns and cocaine.
So, this guy, Sankoh,
was just killing people.
Those guys would go from village
to village, just killing people.
They would come into
our homes, raping women,
taking kids. Kids!
- They would take the kids' hands. - They wouldn't kill them.
Just chop it. Bam!
(sighs)
- This is where they would - cut it, right here.
And then send them to the next
village to scare the people.
If Guinea and Britain
didn't intervene,
they would've finished us, man.
(truck rattling)
I knew it, but...
when I hear it, it's just...
it's just sad.
Dad:
Africans, man.
Africans can be
cruel to each other.
Africans can be cruel.
(sighs)
-(birds chirping)
-(truck approaching)
(rumbling)
(snipping)
No, stop that.
Come here!
(clatter)
Okay, hold the base
of the ladder.
We're on an incline here.
And if it starts to fall,
get out of the way.
- Okay? - 'Cause I'll be up there.
- If it comes down, - I'll not be looking out for you.
I'll be looking out for myself.
(snipping)
-(Dad whistling)
-(birds chirping)
(leaves rustling)
(snipping, whistling continue)
-(stops whistling)
-(scribbling)
Hey!
The next time I see that
trash, I will shred it.
-I was just drawing
-What?
an idea I had.
I was... I was just
drawing an idea I had.
-(snipping)
-(whistling)
-(sighs) Hand me my food.
-(shuts door)
(rummaging through containers)
Okay.
-(laughs)
-What?
- -I'm just laughing at your guy. - -Who?
Chris Paul.
That guy will never,
never win a championship.
He could, he just needs
the right team around him.
Macca, for some people,
even with the right team,
they can't do it.
They're cursed.
I mean, think about it.
That guy is always,
always injured.
Yeah. (laughs)
But those are the sacrifices
you make for your passion.
This is why the world
will always need doctors.
Those guys get hurt,
- and they'll always need - somebody to take care of them.
But, the world also
needs Michael Jordan.
Eh. Not everyone can
be a Michael Jordan.
- What if Michael Jordan - became a doctor?
Well, at least
it's guaranteed.
- Landscaping is a job - anybody can do.
How is that guaranteed?
Who are you talking to?
-We're just talking.
-I'm your dad!
You don't talk
to me like that!
You're getting really,
really crazy!
(sighs)
(truck rattling)
(sighs)
Hey, remember John Kerry?
That's his house down
the street there.
The guy who started AOL,
he used to live
down here, too.
This street is where all
the senators live, man.
Congressmen
and millionaires.
The area used to
be rough out here.
But they wiped out
everything for those guys.
So, this next street
we're going to?
I've taken you there
before when you were little.
I've been working
there since 1986.
I know this
neighborhood, man.
The lady who lives there?
She trusts me so much.
- Now she's out of town now, - but she gave me the key
Because I'm the only one she
trusts to take care of it.
The first time she tried
to give me the key,
I said, "No!
I'm a Black man!
"Hey? If anything goes
missing in the house,
they gonna say, 'Who gave
the Black man the key?'"
(laughing)
(Dad sighs)
Son, you gonna
love this place.
- I'm gonna get the mail, okay? - Come on.
(wind chimes ringing)
(birds chirping)
(alarm buttons beeping)
White people.
Dad:
Hey. Get away from that car.
Come on. Let's go. Follow me.
(gate creaks)
(upbeat guitar playing)
♪ ♪
(grunts)
(sighs)
- Dad: So, what do - you think, son?
Wasn't expecting this.
Dad:
working here since 1986.
I told you. I've been
That's why they pay me
the big bucks. (laughs)
-You got it. You a G.
-Mm-hmm.
- Dad: - Alright. Work time.
Grab the hose.
You water the plants over here,
and I will water the ones
on the side, okay? Alright.
♪ ♪
(muffled spraying)
-(shuts gate)
-(insects chirping)
Let me reset the alarm.
(door opens)
(alarm buttons beeping)
(dog barking)
Hey, how you doing?
-(dog whining)
-How you doing?
-(door shuts)
-(whistling)
-Hey, Dad, I think
-(scoffs)
that guy's watching us.
I've been working in this
neighborhood since 1986.
- Let's go. We need - to get to Suzanne's
- In time for those - checks, okay?
Oh wait. I have to run the car,
so the battery doesn't die out.
(car door opens)
(starts engine)
(ringtone plays)
Hello?
Stanley! Hey! (laughs)
Yeah!
- No, I'm here in DC - with Macca.
Macca's been hustling with
me the whole time, man.
Yeah! The same
Macca you know.
Yeah, that little scrawny guy?
He's not that little anymore.
(laughs)
Yeah. Okay.
(laughing)
♪ ♪
-Okay. That's right.
-Dad, listen to me.
- The guy's looking at us. - We gotta go.
What did I say? 1986.
-Here, I-I'll shut it off.
-No. I got it.
I'm sorry, Stanley.
That was Macca.
Uh-huh.
- -(car stops) - -(door chiming)
Hey, Stanley. I'm gonna
have to let you go. Okay.
- -Dad. - -(sighs) This light.
Move. I got it.
I got it! Come on!
(chiming stops)
-Come on, let's go.
-(shuts door)
Something is wrong with you.
-Come on, Pop.
-Macca.
Macca!
-Uh-oh.
-(cars pull up)
♪ ♪
- Officer 1: - Alright, stop right there, guys.
- -Macca: Whoa, whoa, whoa. - -Officer 1: We need
To see some ID.
-We just work...
see some identification.
-Officer 2: We need to
- -We're just working... - -Hey!
- -Ah, this is ridiculous. - -Dad, hey, Dad.
- -You need to calm down. - -If you could just listen!
-Officer 1:
-Oh, this is ridiculous!
You need to calm down, sir.
Dad, just show them your ID!
- -We need to see some ID. - -ID for what!?
We need to see identification.
I've been working in
this place since 1986!
- Officer 2: - You need to stand still.
- This is what happens when - you're a Black man in America!
-Officer 1: You need
-Officer 2: Sir, you need...
to calm down.
- -Okay, we're working at - the house. We're working...
-Macca!
-Be quiet!
-I was just telling them...
- -Stop talking! - -Officer 1: You need to listen.
- -Okay, sir! - -Sir, you and your friend
Need to calm down.
- That is not my friend. - That's my son.
-Officer 2: Sir!
You need to speak to me
-Ma'am, I am older than you!
- -with some respect! - -Dad, calm down, okay?
I've been working
here since 1986!
- -Come on, man! - -Officer 1: Put your hands down!
- Hey, you need to calm - him down right now!
Dad! Dad!
Listen to me! Listen!
-Listen to me for what!?
-Calm down! Dad, Dad, calm down!
- -This is ridiculous! - -Stop moving! Stop moving!
- -Why do they have - their guns out?
-Sir, put your hands down!
(overlapping shouting)
♪ ♪
-This is what happens!
we're the landscapers.
-Hey. Hey,
-Okay? We're the... Look!
-(Dad screaming)
Look in the truck! Look!
We work here, okay?
We were just working!
We're the landscapers.
Listen to me.
(police radio chatter)
Dad:
This is crazy.
Crazy.
(muffled dialogue)
♪ ♪
(street noise)
(truck rattling)
-We didn't even get the checks.
-You can't do that!
- You know exactly what happens - in those kind of situations!
-If... If I wasn't there,
-Macca, you can't...
you would've gotten shot.
No, you have to
control your anger!
You think I wasn't mad!?
Think!
- These people don't - care about you!
- They don't give a shit that - you've been here since 1986!
They're cruel!
You could've listened to me.
I can make decisions, too!
(bangs dashboard)
(truck rattling)
(rattling fades out)
(somber music playing)
♪ ♪