Cry Freedom Page #2

one white South African in 10,000 has.

You see,

we know how you live.

We cut your lawns, we cook

your food, clean your rubbish.

How would you like

to see how we live?

The 90% of your countrymen who have to

get off your streets at 6 o'clock at night?

- Jane!

- Yes, Mum?

- Put the strawberries in the fridge.

- Ok, then I'll come down.

All right, dear.

What time did you get back?

I'd given up on you.

Half an hour ago.

I've already had a swim.

Mummy, Mummy,

look what Alice gave me!

Oh, isn't that nice?

And what did you give her?

- Nothing.

- You terrible girl.

- Well?

- You were right.

What was he like?

- They've built a damn clinic up there.

- Dillon!

She's the doctor. You should see it.

People come from miles.

How did they raise the money?

Some local money from the community,

a lot of church money from overseas,

and even the

mining companies.

South African

mining companies?

Yes. Apparently, someone important heard

him make a speech that impressed him.

- Thanks, Evalina.

- He is impressive.

Master?

He hasn't talked you

into black consciousness?

No. But I have agreed to let him take me

to a black township. He'll educate me.

He's banned. How could

he take you anywhere?

I'm not sure.

- You really think this is worth the risk?

- The education of a white liberal?

If you get caught out of

your banning area, well...

All he might have to do is write

a letter to his board of directors.

I don't want them

to get you in a jail.

You tell David he promised

to finish that table today.

- I won't get caught.

- He gets no tea till he does.

I need some money

from the cash box.

No, you won't get caught, if some

paid informer doesn't run to the police.

It's in the drawer.

It's open.

We'll make a working man

of you yet, Steve Biko.

How do you want to do this?

Ask Thabo to come over.

I'll turn on the desk light.

Mapetla will occupy the

system for a few minutes,

I'll slip out,

Thabo will sit in my seat.

I'm glad I wasn't

your mother.

Now look, look, I was born

in a tribal homeland.

Transkei,

my dad had a store there.

I'm not half as uncomfortable

as you think.

As a liberal, if you had your way, you'd

be riding buses and taxis, just like us.

You tell me my days of white privilege are

numbered, so I'll enjoy them while I can.

Run, son, run.

It's a miracle a child

survives here at all.

Most of the women who have work

permits are domestic maids,...

...so they only get to see their kids

for a couple of hours on Sundays.

The place is full of drunks,

thuggery,...

...people so desperate for anything they'll

beat a kid bloody if he had five rand.

Was that kid you,

a few years ago?

Yeah.

Maybe more scared.

But if you do run

fast enough,...

...if you do survive, you grow up

in these streets, these houses.

Your parents try,

but in the end,

you only get the education

the white man will give you.

Then you go to the city

to work, or to shop,...

...and you see their streets,

their cars, their houses,

and you begin to feel there is something

not quite right about yourself,...

...about your humanity.

Something to do

with your blackness.

Because no matter how dumb or smart

a white child is, he's born into that world.

But you, the black child?

Smart or dumb,

you're born into this.

And smart or dumb,

you'll die in it.

I thought that most shebeen

queens were informers.

Yeah, they are. If they weren't, the police

would close down this place just like that.

But you see, it's only some things they

inform on. Others, they don't bother.

Anyway, we're ok here.

This one's wild about Steve.

You see, he has that

way with women.

He's very articulate.

Where did he get his education?

He's never been inarticulate,...

...but his father died, and when he was

17 he was taken into a mission school.

You know,...

...most of these guys, they're living

in a bed out there on their own.

No work permit,

no residence permit.

A man and wife who can't find

work in the same white town,

are not allowed to live together

in the same black township.

You split up black families,...

...so that for thousands

of husbands and wives,

if they see each other

once a year, they're lucky.

You keep saying "you". You're talking

about the Afrikaner government.

Don't blame all the

whites for apartheid.

How many live-in maids

do you have, Mr. Woods?

- One, but she doesn't...

- Don't pick on him.

He's here to have a good time.

Come on, drink up. Cheers.

Look, I'm not defending what's been done,

but he's the one who's against liberals.

We're trying to move

towards integration.

Of course. You want to give

us a slightly better education,

so that we can get

slightly better jobs.

- At first maybe, but...

- I won't be forced into your society.

I'm going to be me as I am, and you

can beat me, or jail me, or even kill me,...

...but I am not going to be

what you want me to be.

The best you want for us is to

be allowed to sit at your table,...

using your silver and your china,

and if we can learn to use it like you do,

then you will

kindly let us stay.

We want to wipe the

whole table clean.

It's an African table,

and we will sit at it in our own right.

You must remember,

before you arrived we

had our own culture.

We had many villages, small.

You know our language,

Mr. Woods.

The word we use for nephew

is "my brother's son".

Tenjy calls my wife,

not aunt,

but "mother's sister".

We've no separate words

for members of the family.

All begin with

"brother" and "sister".

We took care of each other.

We got a lot of things right,

which your society never solved.

You did have tribal wars

in this land of yours.

Well, what do you call

World War I and World War II?

You use words very cleverly, but there's

something about it that scares me.

Of course there is, because in your

world anything white is normal.

The way the world

is supposed to be.

And your real genius,

is that for years you've managed

to convince most of us of that too.

Could you ask Tony to come in?

Ken, this is Tenjy Mtinsto

and Mapetla Mohapi.

They're from King William's Town.

- Yes, sir?

- Could you come in?

I'm glad to say that yesterday the board

approved their appointments to the staff.

Brief them on our copy rules.

- Can you take them upstairs to see Bob?

- Will you come this way?

Tell him to give them their

assignments for tomorrow.

I want you to teach them

how to use our cameras.

I... where...

where are they going to work?

In the newsroom.

Does this Biko practise

black magic as well?

I'm not sure, but I think

this is worth a try.

They'll cover the real black news.

Things we've never reported.

It's not illegal,

and it'll bring new readers.

The white readership

will be delighted.

And when they start ranting on

about black consciousness... Sh*t!

Yeah. Just remember my blue pencil

still determines what goes in this paper.

Yes, of course it does.

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