Get on the Bus Page #8

Stop it. See, you never did play fair.

I'm not playing.

You know, I did what I did because...

...I don't think we should...

...be forced into living a lie.

Into pretending to be someone

we're not. I like who I am.

I won't apologize to anyone.

Not to you, not to Minister Farrakhan,

not anyone on this bus.

You're always worried about

what people will say and think.

If you decide you don't want

to be with me anymore...

...that you don't want this lifestyle,

I can live with that.

But do it because

it's what you want...

...not because it's

what people want for you.

If anything, be a man about it.

You're right.

I'm gonna be a man about it.

I'm as gay as the Nile is long.

I know that now more than ever,

and you helped me with that.

I also know I don't want

to be your lover anymore.

That doesn't mean...

...I don't want to be your friend.

All right?

I'd like that.

Hey, hey, hey.

You all right?

I just need a cup of coffee in

a little while. I'll be good to go.

Look, brother, I've been driving

an 18-wheeler for nine years.

Just say the word, I got your back.

It'll be hard for you to take

the wheel with them shackles.

They'll be long enough.

I have plenty of room.

Evan, you mind if I get up

in your business for a minute?

If you need to back off,

I will let you know.

I think you got yourself a good kid.

I mean, teenagers mess up, man,

that's what they do.

That's what they do best.

What's your point, George?

Whatever crime he committed,

he probably did it to get your attention.

If I was you...

...I'd take the cuffs off,

let y'all work this out.

The two of you, man-to-man.

We'll work it out, but the court said

he has to be in them one more day.

I don't know about you...

...but I don't see no

judge on this bus.

You don't understand, man.

The boy needs discipline.

I guess I'm to blame for that,

but he run over his mama...

...and I won't have that.

Evan...

...we're getting ready

to ride into history, man.

You cannot roll into

Washington, DC...

...with that boy in shackles.

Can't do that.

Maybe you're right, George.

Man don't have to

sneak around no lady's back.

A man says, "This is how it is"

and lives by his word.

I have a lot of honeys

but I don't have to sneak.

My women know I'm not

the settling-down type.

Besides, I learned long ago

never to lie to a black woman.

- Sounds like you learned the hard way.

- Oh, yeah.

I must've been about...

...13 years old. I told my mom I was

going to the library after school.

But really I was trying out for track.

She said, " Until you get your

grades up, don't try out for nothing."

- You had to be hard-headed.

- Absolutely.

She looks for me at the library.

A so-called friend

tells her where I am.

Next thing I know, here she comes

across the track where tryouts are...

...with this big,

thick-ass leather belt.

It was so thick no one could wear it.

It was just made for whupping ass.

I couldn't take that

in front of the fellas, so I had to...

I had to jet.

They know you can't run forever.

You tell it.

Finally, when I made it back home...

...when I got tired of running,

she whupped my ass so good...

...that to this day

I hate wearing belts.

The worst beating I ever got,

I was about 8.

My mother was a Baptist,

so we was in church on Easter.

This lady sitting next to me

catches the Holy Ghost.

Old gal was hooting and howling, talk

about "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you!"

And she steps on

my brand-new Stacy Adams.

Only thing I could think to do...

...was to kick her

in her big, fat bubble behind.

No, tell me you didn't.

The congregation froze.

Even the lady stopped hollering.

Next think I know, my mother

grabs the collection plate...

...and starts whupping me

upside my head with it.

I tried to tell her

the Spirit made me kick her...

...but that made her hit me more.

One time I stole some candy

from the grocery store...

...and the manager saw me,

caught me red-handed.

He calls my mom, she comes

to the grocery store...

...and, you know, my mom must have

lectured me for two or three hours.

- Lectured you?

- Yeah.

- You didn't get a beating?

- No.

Not a smack or nothing?

His mother's white.

She's white, so what?

- I'm just telling him.

- Is it relevant?

- Your mother's just different.

- You have a problem?

No, I don't have a problem.

She's different. Our mothers

whup ass. Yours lectures.

That's all I'm saying.

- Nothing personal.

- Nothing personal.

You're a sensitive,

sensitive brother. Sensitive.

Jamal, what you do for a living?

I work with kids at risk.

- Yeah?

- Yeah?

- What kind of kids?

- Gangbangers.

Good luck on that, brother.

I meet them on my job every day.

Trying to get through to them

is like talking to a brick wall.

What do you do?

I'm a cop.

You're a cop?

- Where?

- South Central.

Let me get this straight.

Your daddy got 187'd by a brother...

...and you 5-O in South Central?

We need cops who ain't looking

for an excuse to smoke a brother.

I became a cop because a lot of cops

up here don't give a damn.

Call an ambulance, it takes 20 minutes.

Call a cop, it takes two hours.

- So when you get the call?

- ASAP, brother.

You never pulled a Rodney King?

No, and hope I never have to.

You hope? What do you mean?

I mean there's a lot of brothers

out here who play for keeps.

Crips and Bloods are not choirboys.

Most white kids ain't choirboys,

but do you whup them at will?

If I have to clock a brother

to teach him a lesson...

...I'll do it and save his life.

You think what you want.

All you know about South Central

is what you see at the movies...

...brought to you by folks who don't

go south of the Santa Monica Freeway.

I think it's great what you're doing.

I really do. Working with at-risk

kids is wonderful.

My lady runs a mentoring program

out of her office on weekends.

I tell Shelly all the time,

"You're running this program...

...that's great...

...but you're behind a desk and have

no idea what's going on out there."

Don't tell me I have no idea!

Because I've been on the front lines

many times, okay? Many times.

You used to gangbang?

Up until two years ago.

I've been Cripping since

I was 12 years old.

Gangbanging, that was my job.

24l7, I used to have to watch my back.

Kill or be killed. Why?

That's what every fool

in the 'hood did.

Who was I to be different?

Ever smoke somebody?

First time was on my 13th birthday.

You know what Jewish kids

are doing on their 13th birthday?

OGs wanted to test my manhood.

So we pull up on some Bloods.

They was just kids,

but I saw them as Bloods.

Then this one fool...

...I don't know, 13 or 14 years old...

...kicking it to some girl...

...tickling, whatnot...

Suddenly he turns around...

...and sees my 9 in his face.

He didn't get a chance to blink.

That was your first time.

Brother, if I used...

...both my hands...

...to count the number of kids...

...that I cancelled...

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