Malcolm X Page #19

BEMBRY:

Now look up "white."

Bembry turns the pages of the dictionary to "w."

BEMBRY:

Read it.

CLOSE SHOT - DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF "WHITE"

MALCOLM'S VOICE

White (whit), adj. Of the color of

pure snow; reflecting all the rays

of the spectrum. The opposite of

black, hence free from spot or

blemish; innocent, pure, without

evil intent, harmless. Honest, square-

dealing, honorable.

Malcolm stumbles through the definition as well as he can.

Bembry takes over the reading, giving it ironic emphasis.

MALCOLM:

That's bullshit. That's a white man's

book. Ain't all these white man's

books?

SHOT - THE SHELVES OF BOOKS

BEMBRY:

They sure ain't no black man's books

in here.

MALCOLM:

Then what you telling me to study in

them for?

BEMBRY:

You got to learn everything the white

man says and use it against him. The

truth is laying there if you smart

and read behind their words. It's

buried there. You got to dig it out.

MALCOLM:

Man, how'm I gonna know the ones

worth looking at?

Bembry smiles at Malcolm. He is a remarkable man who always

takes careful measure of his listener. He never talks down

to his audience; he talks to them. (A manner Malcolm later

will adopt.) Bembry can talk funky or salty or, as we will

see, in the cadence and eloquence of the Bible. Right now he

goes into street talk.

BEMBRY:

I'll pull your coat, daddy. Cause

lots of these can't nobody read, be

he black or white or a Ph.D. with

their suspenders dragging the ground

with degrees.

Malcolm laughs. He likes and admires the man. Then caught by

a passage he does not understand:

MALCOLM:

Man, I'm studying in the man's book.

I don't dig half the words.

BEMBRY:

Look 'em up and and out what they

mean.

MALCOLM:

Where am I gonna start?

BEMBRY:

Start at the beginning. Page one,

the first one. Here --

CLOSE SHOT:

As Bembry's hand opens the book to page one.

CLOSE IN ON A PICTURE OF AN AARDVARK WITH ITS DEFINITION

MALCOLM:

Aardvark, noun. An earth pig; an ant-

eating African mammal. Man, that

sounds like the dozens.

ANGLE - TWO-SHOT

BEMBRY:

Read it and keep on reading.

Malcolm's finger runs down to the next definition:

DICTIONARY:

Abacus, noun. An ancient and primitive

Chinese counting device.

BEMBRY:

If you take one step toward Allah,

He will take two steps toward you.

INT. MALCOLM'S CELL - NIGHT

He is reading on his bunk as Barnes walks by. The lights in

the cell go out. Malcolm looks up, annoyed at being

interrupted. He shifts his position to the floor of the cell

so that he can catch the dim light coming from the corridor

and goes on with his reading.

CLOSE SHOT - THE BOOK

Malcolm is studying the dictionary, the last of the "a's":

the words azimuth, Azores, Aztec, azure, etc. He reads a

word, then holds his hand over the printed definition to

test himself, half-mouthing its meaning. Malcolm is also

copying the dictionary in a school book word for word.

INT. LIBRARY - DAY

There are several books on the desk before Malcolm. WE SEE

their titles:
W.E.B. DuBois's The Soul of Black Folks, Carter

G. Woodson's Journal of Negro History, Durant's Story of

Philosophy, H.G. Wells's Outline of History, Spinoza, Thoreau,

etc.

GUARD BARNES'S VOICE

Closing. Knock it off.

Malcolm is surprised the time has gone so fast. He gathers

up his books with care. He cherishes them, putting them back

on the shelf carefully.

GUARD BARNES:

You studying to be the first colored

President of the States?

INT. LICENSE SHOP - DAY

The machines are idle; no one is in the room but Malcolm. He

starts to reach inside his jacket when Barnes sticks his

head in.

GUARD BARNES:

You taking the yard or not?

MALCOLM:

I'm staying.

GUARD BARNES:

Then give me a butt.

Malcolm takes out a half-filled pack of cigarettes, about to

offer one, then pauses. Malcolm hands him the pack of

cigarettes.

MALCOLM:

Take 'em. I don't smoke no more.

He takes the pack happily and goes. Malcolm reaches into his

jacket again, takes out a book. WE SEE its title: Mahatma

Gandhi's My Struggle. He sits next to the license press to

read.

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