Malcolm X Page #13

The entire house is in flames. The Little family stands in

front of it, just out of harm's way.

ANGLE - BLACK LEGION

They sit on their horses watching the results of their work.

CLOSE - BLACK LEGION LEADER

BLACK LEGION LEADER

Boy, good thing we're good Christians.

N*gger, it's time for you to leave

this town.

CLOSE - EARL

EARL:

This here is 'pose to be a free

country.

CLOSE - BLACK LEGION LEADER

BLACK LEGION LEADER

Rev, we warned you 'bout that Garvey

preaching, stirring up the good nigras

here. Boy, next time you're a dead

n*gger.

CLOSE - EARL

EARL:

I ain't a boy. I'm a man, and a real

man don't hide behind no bedsheets.

Earl takes his pistol out from behind his back and fires

above their heads.

EARL:

Take these here bullets for dem

sheets.

ANGLE - BLACK LEGION

The bullets send the Black Legion flying into the glorious

D.W. Griffith moonlit night.

ANGLE - HOUSE

The burning house collapses behind the Little family.

ANGLE - EARL AND LOUISE

LOUISE:

Earl, I know you a better shot than

that. You shoulda killed 'em all,

shot 'em dead.

EARL:

Just wanted to scare 'em, they won't

be bothering us no more.

CLOSE - YOUNG MALCOLM

Young Malcolm stares at his father while the house still

burns behind him, no doubt drawing on the great courage

displayed by his father.

EARL:

They won't be here no time soon. I'm

a MAN!

EXT. STREET - LANSING - NIGHT (REMEMBERED TIME)

It's raining cats and dogs and it's foggy. We hear a big

thud, then a grunt and Earl Little falls across the trolley

tracks, the sound of men running away is heard in the

distance.

ANGLE - A STREETCAR APPROACHES ANGLE - EARL ON TRACKS

He has been beaten to a bloody pulp.

ANGLE - CLOSER SHOT OF STREETCAR APPROACHING

CLOSE - EARL

He opens his one good eye.

CLOSE - STREETCAR MOTORMAN

He sees something ahead in the fog and rain.

ANGLE - MOTORMAN'S POV

CLOSE - HAND REACHES BRAKE LEVER CLOSE - STREETCAR WHEELS

STOPPING, SPARKS FLY

CLOSE - MOTORMAN

Winces and then makes the Sign of the Cross.

ANGLE - LONG SHOT OF PASSENGERS

Jumping out of the streetcar to attend to Earl.

PASSENGER'S VOICE

Somebody get a doctor.

MOTORMAN'S VOICE

No doctor, get him a priest.

VOICE OF MALCOLM

My father's skull, on one side was

crushed in, and then laid across

some tracks, for a streetcar to run

him over. His body was cut almost in

half. My father, Earl Little lived

two and a half hours in that

condition. Negroes were stronger

than they are now.

INT. A CAR - NIGHT

Shorty is driving with Sophia in the front seat. Malcolm is

in the back. They are in the country -- outside New York.

SHORTY:

Man, I'm glad we got you out of there.

With West Indian Archie on your ass,

your name on the wire -- Boston the

best goddam place in the world for

you -- things are too hot and it's

not even summer.

Malcolm has withdrawn within himself. He takes out a packet

of cocaine and sniffs it.

SOPHIA:

We'll take it easy. I got a place

fixed up on Harvard Square. How's

that sound?

SHORTY:

Yeah. Cool it and lay dead for a

while, Homeboy. And don't worry none.

The drug takes hold. Malcolm is out of it.

SHORTY:

I'll stake you, baby. I got my band.

I'm blowing great sax. Hell, you

ain't even heard us --

He and Sophia keep talking it up, trying to bolster Malcolm.

CLOSE - MALCOLM

Stoned, his nose running, Malcolm stares out of the window

at the receding landscape. FREEZE FRAME.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

Like every hustler I was trapped.

Cats that hung together trying to

find a little security, to find an

answer -- found nothing. Cats that

might have probed space or cured

cancer -- (Hell, Archie might have

been a mathematical genius) -- all

victims of whitey's social order.

Music of a dance combo heard in BG.

VOICE OF MALCOLM X

Three things I was always scared of:

a job, a bust and jail. I realized

then I wasn't afraid of anything. I

didn't care.

INT. HARVARD SQUARE APARTMENT - DAY

Shorty, Sophia and PEG face Malcolm -- stoned in a chair.

PEG is 17, Sophia's kid sister and Shorty's date.

SHORTY:

You got to eat somethin', Red.

SOPHIA:

You want eggs, baby?

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