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You are immersed now in the modern myth,
but you are alone.
It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness,
this sense of always looking at yourself
through the eyes of others.
You ever feel your twoness
an American, a Black man?
Two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings,
two warring ideals in one dark body.
You're lost, Clay, but we can find you.
Don't you see?
So, Clay?
I feel like I,
I feel like you think I'm not really,
like you probably assume about me.
A lot of people do.
About a lot of Black people, Black men in particular.
It is just not what I'm going through, okay?
I, I, I don't mind there. Some of us don't really mind it.
I mean, I'm here.
I just,
anyway, nevermind.
Said everything I needed to say.
I had everything I feel, prepared to say.
Clay's been under a lot of stress because of work.
And this fundraiser that we're hosting for his friend,
Warren's reelection.
You know, Clay, everything you've just said,
which are all valid things,
but they all had to do with what other people think.
What I think you should say. Did you notice that?
Shit, sorry, my, sorry. I thought I switched it off.
Do you see what I mean?
That's why this all happened in the first place.
He's always on his cell phone instead of talking to me.
Look what you were just saying
it's just, I just, no, it's just not it, so.
How does that make you feel?
Well, it is nice for somebody to be asking me how I feel.
You see that? You see that right there?
- No, don't do that. - Wow, okay.
- Can you not do that? - Fine, go, go.
I feel like if he talked more, then we-
Talk to him.
If you talked more
and if he told me about what he was feeling,
what you were feeling, we could have avoided all of this
because we would've talked about it and I would've realized-
So it's my fault, Kaya?
I mean, all, all I have to do is just talk more
for you to not sleep with another man?
You already know what I'm going through with people at work
and in our community being not Black enough for one group
and two Black for the other.
I'm already struggling trying to find balance. And now this.
Clay is so manipulative.
Would it make you feel better if you did it too?
Who are you, even?
Kaya went out and explored, yet she remains with you.
She came back to you,
but you're struggling deeply with this and her choices.
What if he were to do the same?
You gonna be like this tonight?
What? Happy.
Okay. Really
Depends.
Are you bringing him?
What? No.
Why are you bringing someone?
No, Kaya, who would I bring? I have no one.
Well, here's your tie.
Thanks.
I'm gonna change, so I'll see you up too?
Okay.
Hey.
Let's see. Don't come, if you're gonna be like this.
Waiting for me, hey, Doc?
Clay, I'd like to give you something.
Respectfully, Doc, I'm gonna have to pass.
I don't take medication.
It's not the medication you're thinking of.
Earlier you mentioned trying to find balance.
I know exactly what you mean.
Do you?
It seems like you've been on her side this whole time.
Do you feel divided, Clay?
I guess so, yeah.
What do you struggle with the most?
Conformity and expectation? Identity and assimilation?
Anger or restraint? Vulnerability and violence?
All of the above, I guess. Why do you ask?
Because understanding these struggles can lead to freedom.
Have you ever heard of the play "Dutchman?"
This play came to me
during one of the darkest times in my life,
but sometimes we find pieces of ourselves in literature
that help us heal.
Do you see yourself on that train, Clay?
Trapped between who you really are and who you must be?
Don't you see?
Hey, Warren, what's good?
Oh, everything is good. Crew's just setting up.
You know, you outside?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just leaving the doctor's office.
You okay?
I don't know, man, I really feel
like I'm struggling with this Kaya thing.
Hey, hold, hold on one sec. It, it's Dr. Bowers.
Hey, hey. - Hey.
How are you, sweetheart? Oh, all right.
Say what you just said again.
It's nothing, man.
Don't worry.
Come on, man, I heard, Kaya.
I feel like she did her thing. Now you go do yours.
Turnabout's fair play.
Fair? Did she say that?
No, but I'm sure she thought it.
What'd the doctor say?
Man was trying to gimme something.
You think I'm really losing it?
Shit, maybe I am.
No, no, whoa, whoa. You didn't take it, did you?
Are you kidding me?
Good, 'cause it's game time, man.
I need you to get here and do your thing.
- Yeah. - All right?
- Oh, Warren, hello? - Yo, Clay?
Excuse me, sir,
do you mind stepping over here, please?
Now over here, sir, bag on the table.
Opening scene underground.
Are you in a hurry?
What's so funny?
In the flying underbelly of the city,
the subway heat and modern vein roads there.
Weren't you staring at me through the window?
At the last stop? I saw you through the window.
Lula enters.
This is a Bronx bound one train.
The next stop is Franklin Street.
Stand clear of the closing doors, please.
Hello? I'm gonna sit down, okay?
Yeah.
Nothing out there except a black wall. Darkness.
Uh-huh.
Better when you were staring at me through the window?
What?
Weren't you staring at me through the window?
The last stop?
Staring at you?
You do know what staring means, right?
I, I saw you through the window
seems that you were the one staring at me.
I was.
Okay.
I guess you were just taking those idle potshots.
Nothing else to do. Run your mind over people's flesh.
Chill out, okay?
That's why I came looking through the window.
I even smiled at you.
Yeah, I saw.
I even got onto this train, going some other way than mine
walked down the aisle searching you out.
Ha, oh, yeah, I doubt that.
Why is that so hard to believe?
Everything's hard to believe.
But if that is true, it's hilarious.
I know what you were thinking.
You think I wanna pick you up,
get you to take me somewhere and fuck.
You know, you, you asked me a lot of questions
and got just one for you, do I look like a sucker to you?
Hmm?
You look like you've been trying to grow a beard.
That's exactly what you look like.
You look like you live in New Jersey with your parents
and you're trying to grow a beard, that's what.
Okay, all right, you know, I know what this is.
- Yeah? - Yeah, yeah,
you, you are one of those- - Those?
Ah, those people on the train, you know, struggling.
No, that's not me. I lie a lot.
It helps me control the world.
Yeah, I bet.
Tell me first, it's true, most of it's true, right?
Jersey, your bumpy neck?
All right, who the hell are you?
How do you know all of this about the beard, New Jersey?
Do I know you? Have I met you before?
You know Warren Enright?
I told you I lie a lot. I don't know Warren Enright.
Well, you're not just,
you're not just pulling this out of thin air.
Is Warren Enright a tall, skinny, Black guy
with an off and on southern accent?
So you do know him.
But I don't, I just figured
you would know somebody like that.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
I'm exciting. You think I'm exciting, right?
It's New York City, you, ah.
Am I exciting you now, hmm?
Hey, don't, don't, don't do that.
You really want me to stop?
You want this? - No.
Can you get involved, hmm? Get us involved.
Would you like to be down with me, Mr. Man?
I don't, I don't know.
Down with you?
That's what I said.
Oh, a woman like you?
Oh boy. What a face.
You know, you could be a handsome man.
Thank you, and I've been waiting
for somebody to come along and confirm that, so thank you.
Thank you.
Look at me, I'm going gray, little gray hair for each year
and type I've come through.
First you're talking about my face
and how you talking like you're old.
Hey, why don't you take me
to that party you're going to, hmm?
Okay, okay, this is too much.
How do you know about the party?
Don't you wanna take me? Come on, I never get to go.
I can't take you to that party.
I don't even know your name.
I'm Lena the Hyena.
Wow, the famous woman, poet.
Poetess, same.
You know so much. What's my name?
Morris the Hyena.
I bet it's something like Adam, oh, Porter, Lathe?
Nah.
Hey.
You okay?
Bless you, young man.
Yeah. Yeah.
I don't know what happened.
Here, I got it.
No, no, I, I really, I don't, I don't,
I don't wanna impose.
No, no, it's okay. Let me help you.
You're so nice.
You are a bright young man, but I can see your strife.
You're searching for something, salvation.
Heed the warning of those before you.
Your fate can be different, it will be.
Trust me, you'll see.
- What was that about? - Ah, I don't know.
Hmm.
Just tell me your name. Come on.
I bet it's something like Gerald or Walter, Lloyd, Norman?
Something like Warren.
Well, for sure it's not Willie,
one of those hopeless names creeping out of New Jersey.
Leonard, Gag, come on, please.
It's Clay. My name is Clay, all right?
Clay, huh? Clay, what?
Take your pick, Jackson, Johnson, Williams.
Does it even matter?
I guess not, but it's gotta be Williams.
You're too pretentious to be a Jackson or a Johnson
but Clay's okay.
Yeah, thanks.
Lena's fine.
It's Lula.
You said it was Lena.
Lula the hyena.
Do you say anything that's true?
I have an idea, oh, why don't you say to me,
"Lula, Lula, will you go to the party with me tonight?"
Hey, hey.
I know these tactics. I've been around.
I've seen things. I know these tactics.
People who've been around,
don't need to say they've been around.
Don't you want me to keep reeling you in?
No.
Little, itty bitty thread?
Here's my door
through there, down four flights.
I shall open the door with this hand
the same hand I use to pull off my dress.
The same hand lover.
I'll push open the door and lead you my big eyed prey
into my, what can I call it?
Into my hovel.
Where'd you go? Where do you keep going, huh?
Hey, what are you into, huh?
What are you playing at, Mr. Clay? Clay Williams?
What the hell am I doing?
Excuse me?
Um,
nothing, it's just, it's been a while.
Hmm, thought you were cool, Clay.
Cool Clay.
Are you scared about meeting a woman?
Um,
it's, it's just that I have to,
I'm gonna be late to the party.
Mm, sit, let's talk.
We've been talking all night.
Endlessly.
And yet you want to keep going?
Look, the thing is, I'm not just going to this party
I've actually gotta make a speech, so.
You still haven't asked me to go.
Ask me.
Lula, would you like to go to the party with me?
What do you wanna do, hmm?
Your manhood. Let's talk about that.
No.
What do you think we've been talking about all this time?
What time is it? This thing broke.
There is no time when you're in here.
When you're with me.
Go on then.
We were talking about my manhood.
You still are. All the time.
I felt it, enough to make you a map of it.
You wanna keep talking or you wanna?
Finally
No, no, wait, no, no.
I want you to, I want you to throw me hard.
I want you to hurl me onto my fateful crib. Okay?
Do it now. Go.
Yeah.
Yeah, come here, come on.
Is this what you want?
Your manhood.
Oh yeah.
You like what you see, Clay?
I want you to say to me, many many times, say,
you can even whisper, that you love me.
It's okay if you don't mean it, it's fine.
I just wanna hear you say it.
Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't lie on love.
Yeah, I said you don't have to mean it.
I just wanna hear you say it.
I wouldn't lie about something like that.
It's the only kind of thing you will lie about.
Especially if you think it'll keep you alive.
What's that supposed to mean?
You know what? Nevermind, I'm gonna go.
You said I'm going to the party with you.
Yeah, well, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go home.
You just gonna fuck me and leave?
That's what y'all do, right?
Y'all, what do you mean y'all?
You know what I mean, men.
Your species, especially men like you.
Like me?
Mm-hmm, yeah, professional type.
And can you just chill with all of that?
Lula, you just keep saying things that's not true.
That's what? True?
Ah, it's been real. I'll see you around.
Isn't that something? I scream, the world stops.
Oh, oh no, look,
I've got bruises from when you threw me down.
Threw you? I didn't throw you, you told me you wanted-
I can call anyone and say anything
and it's my word against yours.
Oh, wait.
I also have evidence. What do you have, your word?
One drop of this anywhere on my body,
and that's you down for rape.
This is, it's not funny.
No, it's not funny.
It wouldn't be funny at all if I called the police.
Hell, what's wrong with you?
We're gonna go to that party like you promised me.
Like you promised before you fucked me and tried to leave.
Gimme that.
I know where you're going anyway.
You wouldn't wanna be rude, would you?
I thought you were cool.
What do you know about cool? You're not cool at all.
I didn't claim to be. Don't want to be.
Who doesn't want to be cool?
You said you just wanted to have fun.
I'm having fun.
This is fun?
You look angry. I don't know why you are angry.
I'm the one who should be angry. I didn't do anything wrong.
Everything you say is wrong.
That's what makes you so attractive. That funny book jacket.
What you got a jacket and tie on and all this heat for, huh?
This hot-ass New York night.
Did your people ever, ever burn witches
or start revolutions over the price of tea?
Don't you know these narrow shouldered clothes
come from a time you ought to feel oppressed by
fancy suit, striped tie.
What right do you have
to be wearing a fancy suit and striped tie?
You know what? I got you now, I got you, all right.
You're not gonna get me again.
We're gonna go to this party
in and out just as fast as we came.
But my life, you don't know shit about my life.
Oh, do you know?
Do you know if your great-grandfather was a slave?
Because definitely didn't go to Harvard.
How, I dare you to say one more thing about my-
Is everything okay here?
Everything okay, Clay?
Yeah, everything's fine.
Bet you went to one of those all Black colleges
where everyone thought they were Al Sharpton.
Everybody except me.
Oh yeah, what did you think you were?
- Don't worry about it. - I'm not worried about it,
I'm curious.
In college, I thought I was Jacques Prevert,
but I've slowed down since.
Bet you never once thought
you were just another one of the Blacks.
Oh, don't act so surprised. Black is the shit right now.
I wish I was Black.
What is it Beyonce says? "Black is King."
Yeah, the whole world benefits off our culture.
And what do we get for it? Nothing.
You wish you were Black?
Please, of all your lies, that's the worst.
Ugh. Let's go.
I could murder you now. Such a tiny, ugly throat.
I could squeeze it flat and watch you turn blue on a humble
for dull kicks
And all these weak-faced white people squatting around here-
Hey!
Come on.
I take back what I said before.
Everything you do is not wrong. It is perfect.
Hmm.
You should be on television.
Well, you've got enough theatrics for the both of us.
Oh, that's because I'm an actress.
Of course you are.
You're wrong. I'm no actress.
I told you I always lie. I'm nothing, don't you forget it.
Tell me about your family.
What's your mother like?
I bet she was part of the movement marching behind-
My mother is a Republican.
Oh, oh yes, of course. That's perfect.
And I bet your father,
he votes for the man rather than the party.
- Yeah, that's right. - Yay for him.
- Oh, whatever. - Oh, bullshit.
Oh wow, you got some nerve calling my words bullshit
after the nonsense that's been spewing out of your mouth
all night long.
May the people accept you as a ghost of the future
and love you that you may not kill them when you can.
What?
You're a murderer, Clay. And you know it.
Do what you gotta do, okay? Seriously.
Sir, can you just,
can you just pull over for a minute please?
I gotta go. - No.
Look, I can't take you to this thing, I cannot.
You know what? Do what you gotta do.
Fuck!
- Hi. - Hi.
- Oh, you made it. - Hey, it's about time.
Since when are you 40 minutes late?
Well, I, this is Lula.
What's good?
Hi.
- Hey, you know- - Yeah, I know.
All right, cool, cool.
Sweetie, we sh, yeah, all right.
You know what, mm?
Now, stop, no, thank you.
Clay, Clay, hi, you baby.
- Hi. - How are you?
- Well, I'm okay, thank you. - Good.
- Hey, Clay. - Hey.
- My man. - Hey.
How you doing? You all right?
Yeah, yeah, just a train drum.
People think that this is the first real depiction
of a Black family, I mean, just with imagery and with color.
Tanner is able to change-
- Oh, don't mind me. - Yeah, sure, hang out.
Oh, you don't mind?
He said it's cool. We don't mind.
Oh, the mind is a complex muscle. Am I right?
I mean, I'm always toying with my mind.
I feel like we all are. Don't you agree?
Well, actually, my mind is always toying with me.
If you could see what was going on in there, just-
Ah, it's not a muscle.
See, I knew somebody would understand.
The, the mind deals with consciousness, thought.
That's not a muscle. You're thinking of the brain.
Not a muscle either, but controls all of it.
What are you a doctor or something?
Yeah, he's a neurosurgeon.
- You? - Him.
Hmm.
Is that so hard to believe?
No, just like when I think of a doctor,
I, I mean, what do you picture?
What do you think of when you think of a doctor?
What the hell kind of question is that?
Ooh, no, I'm, it's no offense to you at all.
It's just like, it's what I see, you know?
Like, it's what we all see.
It's not what I see.
Was it something I said?
I'm sorry, what? What's your name again?
Oh, I didn't, I didn't say.
So what's your name?
It's Lula. What's yours?
Kaya.
Kaya, you're so pretty. God, your hands are so soft.
They're like silk.
But appearances can be deceiving.
It's about what's on the inside.
It's about, you know, the inside that has value.
Something is wrong with you.
Excuse me. I'll, um.
Excuse me, please.
Kaya, let me see. - I'm fine.
It's okay if you're not.
Are you gonna tell me what she said to you?
You know, I did what I did,
but I never put it all in your face.
Okay, you know, I'm struggling here
with something that you did to me.
All I want is to get that shit out of my head forever.
I came back to you, Clay.
But in here you are still with him. Do you understand?
Yeah, in here, it's in your head.
What do you want me to do?
Go sit down and meditate away. Is that what you want?
Yeah, you can try that.
- Okay. - That would be one thing.
You know what Gina said?
Oh, Gina said, what did, what did Gina say?
Gina said, Gina said, right. Okay.
It's funny how all your friends
who've never actually been to therapy
have all these wonderful ideas about what I should be doing.
- Stop it. - You stop it.
So you're gonna hold one night against me
for the rest of our lives.
Seriously?
It was a misunderstanding.
Oh, it was infidelity, Kaya.
No, it wasn't. Clearly, it wasn't.
I thought you were doing the same thing.
- You thought I was? - Yes.
How? Why would, when would I be doing that, Kaya?
- I don't know. - No, tell me.
When would it be? When I was at work working my ass off?
Or maybe when I was hosting all these fundraisers.
Maybe when I, I was going, I trust fund so
that our kids would have a fucking school to go to.
Is that what I, oh wait, sorry, I forgot.
We don't even have kids yet
because you wanted to focus on your thing.
Sorry, that was,
you know what?
It's fine.
I'm sorry I couldn't help you.
But you never shared what's going on.
- Right? - I have no idea
what's going on in your head.
It was my fault.
No, I didn't say it was your fault.
You just said it.
I didn't say it was your fault, but you brought her here.
Clay, that is breaking my heart.
What do you think is happening tomorrow?
Okay. What is going on?
I can't explain.
To hurt me? You're too smart for this.
- I know. - To derail everything.
I know, I know.
Tell me.
After therapy something had happened.
Dr. Amir tried to, tried to give me something.
Did you, were you in on that? - What?
You, what? .
Maybe it would help you.
Something, something's wrong with me.
- What's wrong? - I don't know
if something's wrong. - Kaya?
Ah, there you are.
Warren needs you downstairs. - Okay.
Hello, hit me.
Bitch, just wait.
Ah, you called me bitch?. I love it.
You here for the fireworks?
I've seen you, walking around
once they're mine, they're mine, you know that is.
I'm not gonna let this happen again.
This one is different.
Okay.
Sorry.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
I think it's, I think it's time to go.
Oh, come on.
Don't you have some big speech?
- I'm leaving. - Okay.
You need to get her up outta here. She is murder.
She is murdering the vibe.
What time is it?
Feels like things are just standing still.
What time do we have to be on?
Hey, Clay?
- What? - Look around you.
You know who's in the room tonight
and you know who's watching you and Kaya.
All right, we're building empires here.
You know, I've never fucked up.
Never once.
Oh, so now you just on some yin-yang shit?
Now is not the time. - No.
It's like I'm a machine man. It's like we are machines.
Now, stick to the plan.
The right schools, the right cities, the right job.
It's all been written, man. Every second of it, every step.
But what did it get us, Warren? What does it get us?
What?
It ain't working, Warren. Think about it, man.
The, the, the, the, the speeches, the fundraisers,
the, the meetings, the plans, what difference does it make?
Who really owns this city, huh?
Who is gonna own New Harlem once we get done fixing it up
with our picture perfect Blacks, huh?
Lula's, that's who.
I mean, you not ready to hear this.
Brother? You need to get it together.
Hmm.
She can say anything, Warren,
anything.
I fucked up.
Evidence at all that she's threatened.
Clay, but why? Why would she do that?
I don't know, I don't know.
It's like she knows everything about me, even about you.
A clear nightmare, man, don't you see?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I see.
She could say anything, but tonight
she's not gonna say anything.
And you are gonna make sure of that.
Hey.
Help me understand, what is it that you want?
Love is everything that I want.
All you had to do was say it.
- Just give me the purse. - No.
Warren, please tell me
you got further with him than I did.
She's got something on her, but don't worry about it.
You gotta be acting. Is that what this is?
I told you I wasn't an actress,
but I also told you that I lie all the time.
So draw your own conclusions.
Man, this is crazy.
Don't call me fucking crazy.
- Okay. - You men
always try and make the woman crazy.
Okay, shh, stop. Fine, you're not crazy.
Jesus, in front of all these people.
Do they frighten you?
Why would they frighten me?
Because even with all of them,
you're still an escaped Black.
How's everybody doing tonight
at the Livet party in Harlem?
Where's my man Clay at? Yo, Clay, Clay, come on up here man.
Good evening everybody. I said good evening everybody.
Good evening.
All right, all right. What a night, huh?
What a night.
So many people to thank I, first of all,
thank you to Dr. Bowers for hosting us this evening
it's been a beautiful celebration, thank you.
Thank you to my wife, Kaya, and the whole hosting committee.
You've done a beautiful job tonight, thank you.
Um.
Right. Um.
The night is beautiful. So are the faces of my people.
The stars are beautiful. So are the eyes of my people.
Beautiful, also, is the sun.
Beautiful, also are the souls of my people.
Why do people come to Harlem? Why do we?
Is it to walk in the footsteps of our, of our heroes?
To write like, like Langston, to to play like Duke,
to build like Philip Payton, to sculpt like Augusta Savage?
What is it that brings us to this place?
You know, there are some people who, who talk about
making a New Harlem and wanna refashion it, rebrand it
into some new thing.
The thing these people fail to realize
is that this place holds our history
this place is our home.
Marcus Garvey said that a people without a sense
of their origin is like a tree without roots.
But there's among us tonight,
a man whose roots run deep in this community.
A man who has a vision for Harlem
that doesn't just privilege the, the elites or the wealthy,
but that is also concerned about the down trodden
and the overlooked.
This is a man who has reached down deep within himself
to bring out the very best and he didn't stop there.
He brought out also the best in me and all of us.
Now, I want y'all to please join me
in putting your hands together and welcome him to the stage
my friend, no, my brother Mr. Warren Enright.
Let's bring him to the stage, y'all.
Enright, Enright, Enright, Enright.
Enright, Enright, Enright, Enright, Enright,
Enright, Enright, Enright, Enright.
All right, now y'all, all right.
Isn't this also that good?
I think I underestimated you.
Just to come out here and see me.
No, but in all seriousness,
when I ran for city council-
- Mm. - Wait, what are you doing?
I have something to say.
- No, . - Get off me.
Y'all got 'em so excited,
they already running to the polls, right?
Hey!
Help me! - Stop, stop.
Every minute spent denying what's in front of you
is a minute lost, then hours, then days and years.
I'm sorry, you talking to me?
Every minute spent denying what's in front of you
is a minute lost, then hours, then days then years,.
Dr. Amir. So it is you.
I am whoever it is you need me to be. I'm everyone.
I'm no one. But we don't have much time.
What is happening to me?
Time is a fickle thing.
You have until dawn to dismantle your curse.
Curse? Man, I don't have a curse.
Oh, there is. I'm sorry.
Your pain drew her to you.
And fate is a vicious cycle, but together we can end it.
- Let's go. - Wait, what were you saying
about my fate, about the, the dawn?
I have until dawn? What am what am I supposed to do?
- Get back to my office. - Hey, come on.
Read the pages, it's all been written.
Every rest, every step. - Wait.
Sometimes we can find pieces of ourselves in literature
that can help facilitate the healing process.
Salvation, it lies within, my man of Clay.
Oh my God.
- You bailed me out? - Jesus.
You wouldn't believe me if I told you who I just saw.
No, I, I, I, I'm sorry. I'm, I'm still dealing
with what I just saw. - Dr. Amir,
he told me things about me-
- What? - About me being,
being curse or something?
No, no, no.
You humiliated us in front of all of our friends.
- No, Kaya, I was there. - And for what?
It happened to me, I was there-
No, it just happened to you? It happened to us.
You're right. I, I think I just want to go home.
- No. - Please.
I just want to go home.
No, okay, you're not going anywhere
until you told me what's going on, this isn't you.
- Kay. - Okay, this is why we're at?
Look, whatever it is, Kaya, it's important.
I'm important.
I know, I,
Kaya, there's just so much more to it.
I'm sorry, Clay, I'm sorry that I hurt you.
I know you don't believe me, but I am,
I really am, I fucked up.
I'm trying my best. What are you doing?
I need you to, to figure this out.
I'm gonna go home.
- Baby, don't go. - No, don't.
Kaya, Kaya.
You are lost, Clay, but we can find you.
Don't you see?
Sometimes we find pieces of ourselves in literature
that help us heal.
Don't you see?
The opening scene is a man sitting in a subway seat.
Hello. I'm gonna sit down, okay?
Do I know you? Have I met you before?
You are afraid of white people and so is your dad.
You fool.
The girl brings up a small knife
and plunges it into Clay's chest.
What did you do to me?
If all the world is a stage, we are merely players in it.
What does that even mean? Why did you write this?
You put me in this play?
Lula's obsessions only ever end in death and destruction.
I did what I had to do to give you a fighting chance.
But here in the cradle of my legacy, my stage,
words and truth fall free.
Then tell me the truth about her, Lula, who is she?
She's my darkest thoughts may manifest
someone who sought to destroy everything about me.
My goals, dreams, my identity.
She's a demon who feeds on the divisions within men like us.
I created her in one night in '64,
conjured up both her and the first play
in some sort of fevered dream.
And I haven't been able to stop her
through time, across generations.
Wait.
So it's, it's true what I read?
She kills him.
Yes.
Wait a minute. So, so my fate is to die tonight?
For years, I believe that the moving finger
writes and having written moves on.
But that's not true. The narrative is pliable.
It can change - By me?
No, I don't, I don't have-
You have everything you need
to break free of that fiction.
You are not the "Dutchman" I wrote. You have love.
You have Kaya, but you also have a fire in you.
Rage like that used to get us killed
but now it's only through the furnace of rage
that we can truly live.
Sometimes we can find pieces of ourselves in literature
that can help us facilitate the healing process.
Yes, and sometimes a man
must go a very long distance out of the way
to get back a short distance correctly.
Finish the play, Clay.
Relax. Let's go back into the beautiful dream.
Hold me, hold me, Clay.
You stop with the craziness.
Who are you to judge who's crazy?
Why me? Lula.
Because you crawled through the wire.
I made tracks to my side.
Wire, what are you talking about?
Don't they have wire around plantations?
Plantations didn't have wire.
Oh, right, you're right.
They were big, open, whitewashed places like heaven
and everybody on 'em was grooved to be there.
- You stop - Just like
strumming and humming all day. - I said, stop.
What are you flipping out for?
Without that you would've never had the gospel.
You would've never had the blues.
That's how the blues was born.
That's how the blues was born, yeah.
That's how the blues was born, yeah, yeah.
That's how the blues was born yeah, yeah.
That's how the blues was born. Get outta my fucking way.
Can't you see I'm singing the goddamn blues?
That's how the blues was born.
Hey Clay, Clay, let's do the nasty.
Come on, let me pop it on you again. Come on, Clay.
Please do it again.
What did you put in those apples?
Come on.
Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's the fairest one of all?
Snow white, don't you forget it, baby.
Hey, come on Clay. Come on, let's do it again.
Come on, let's do the gritty grind like your old mama.
Say one more fucking thing about my mama.
Oh, come on, Clay,
shake it, shake, shake it, shake it.
Come on, let's do the box, body roll, bitch.
Come on, you rich Black bastard.
Forget your social working mother for a minute
and let's get lit, come on, you liver-lipped white man.
You ain't no Black man. You're just a dirty white man.
Come on, get up, dance with me, Clay. Come on.
Lula, sit your ass down. I'm not playing with you.
I'm not playing with you.
Jacket buttoned up to your chin.
So full of white man's words. Christ, God.
Get up, get up and scream meaningless shit
in their stupid faces.
Come on, get up.
Get up, Clay.
Don't sit there dying the way they want you to die.
- Sit down, Lula. - Screw you, Uncle Tom.
Uncle Tom, his Woolly-Head.
Yeah, tell us.
Uncle Thomas Woolly-Head.
Ha.
- You wanna dance? - Yeah.
Sit down. That's how the blues was born, yeah, yeah.
That's how the blues-
Lula!
That's how the blues was born, yeah, yeah.
That's how the blues was born.
Get off of me.
Now you sit your ass down and shut up, all right?
Shut the hell up. You don't know what you're talking about.
So shut your dumb ass mouth.
You're afraid of white people and so is your dad,
uncle Tom.
Now you shut up. It's my turn.
You don't have any sense, Lula, feelings neither.
I can murder you now, such a tiny, ugly throat.
I could squeeze it flat and watch you turn blue
for dull kicks.
And all these weak-faced white people squatting around here.
I could murder them too, even if they expected it.
That man right there,
I could rip that "Times" right outta his hand.
As skinny and uppity though I am,
I could rip that paper out of his hands
and just as easily rip out his throat.
It takes no great effort. But for what?
To kill you soft idiots?
You don't understand anything but luxury.
You fool.
All luxury in your faces and in your fingers
telling me what I ought to do.
Don't, don't tell me anything.
If I am an uppity fake white man,
then let me be and let me be how I want to be.
Let me be who I feel like being,
Uncle Tom, Thomas, whatever.
It's none of your fucking business.
You don't know anything,
other than what is there for you to see
an act, lies, device,
but not the pure heart, not the pumping Black heart.
You don't ever know that.
And oh, I sit here in my buttoned up suit
trying to keep myself from cutting all your throats.
And I mean wantonly, huge, great liberated whore.
You, you fuck some Black man and, and, and right away
you think you an expert on all Black people.
What a load of shit is that?
All you know is that you come, if he fucks you hard enough.
And that is all.
Oh, you say, you say you want to move something,
you want to shake, shake something
and you don't even know how to at all.
Oh, moves that you do, rolling your ass like a elephant.
Baby, that's not my dance, my dance is in dark places,
basement parties, Black sweat.
Oh, oh four-eyed, four-eyed white boys popping they fingers
and, and, and, don't even know how to,
that kind of dance hates you.
They talking about I love Nina Simone.
And they don't even know that Nina Simone is saying,
kiss my Black ass, kiss my Black, unruly ass.
Before love, before suffering, before desire
she is saying, and very plainly, baby kiss my ass.
And if you don't know that
it's you that's doing the kissing.
And I am the great would-be poet, oh, that's right, poet.
Some kind of bastard literature.
And all it would take is one knife thrust,
one simple knife thrust.
Listen to me.
Don't preach rationalism or code logic to these Black folks.
Let 'em alone, let 'em curse you in codes
and see your filth as a simple lack of style.
Don't make the mistake
through some irresponsible surge of Christian charity.
I'm talking too much about western rationalism
and the great intellectual legacy of the white man.
Or they might just begin to listen
and become stand up western men
with an eye for clean, youthful lives, sober bias, insane.
And one day they will murder you.
They will murder you and have very rational explanations,
very much like your own.
They will cut your throats and drag you out
to the edges of your cities for the flesh
to fall away from the bone.
I've heard enough.
I bet you have.
Looks like we won't be playing out
that little pageant of yours, after all.
Do what you want.
I'm getting the fuck off this train.
Sorry, baby, I don't think we can make it.
I thought you loved me.
Everybody loves me.
I just wanted to hear you say it.
Why didn't you just say it?
Get your hands up to the fucking roof.
On your knees.
Get off the ground now, on your stomach.
Need a bust, you hear me? Fucking down on your belly, down.
Did you see what happened?
I didn't, but she did.
I saw it.
Oh, why you arresting him? She attacked him.
We'll take your statement down at the station.
- But she- - Sit down.
This is an active crime scene
we're taking this guy down to the station.
- No, he is the victim here. - Sit down.
Up, now, come on, get up.
Sorry, baby, I don't think we can make it.
Your fate can be different, trust me, you'll see.
- What was that about? - I don't know.
Hey.
Can we talk?
What do you wanna talk about?
Everything.
Okay.
Have you ever heard of the play "Dutchman?"
It's about the brother on the train, right?
The white girl. - White.
You are lost, Clay, but we can find you.
Don't you see?
The past is prologue, Clay,
But it doesn't have to be.