Mississippi Burning

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Mississippi Burning (1988)

#Precious Lord

#Take my hand

#Lead me on

#Let me stand

#I am tired

#I am weak

#I am worn

#Through the storm

#Through the night

#Lead me on

#Through the night

#Take my hand

#Precious Lord

#And lead

#Me home

#Take my hand

#Precious Lord

#And lead

#Me home

uh-oh.

What is it?

- What do they want?

- I don't know.

Just pass me. Pass me.

- Is it a cop?

- I can't see.

- What the f*** are they playin' at?

- They ain't playin'. You better believe it.

- What are we gonna do?

- I don't know.

OK. Hold on, you guys.

There's a truck too.

Sh*t. It is a cop.

You better stop.

OK. Sit tight, you guys.

Don't say anything. Let me talk.

All right? We'll be all right. Just relax.

Y'all think you can drive

any speed you want around here?

You had us scared to death, man.

- Don't you call me "man", Jew-boy.

- No, sir. What should I call you?

You don't call me nothin',

n*gger-lovin' Jew-boy. You just listen.

Yes, sir.

Hell, you even startin' to smell

like a n*gger, Jew-boy.

- Take it easy. We'll be all right.

- Sure you will, n*gger-lover.

(cop) He's seen your face. That ain't good.

You don't want him seein' your face.

Oh, it don't make no difference no more.

(click)

- Whoa, sh*t! We into it now, boys.

- (three gunshots)

You only left me a n*gger,

but at least I shot me a n*gger.

(men laugh)

Yes, indeed.

Now listen,

you communists and n*ggers and Jews

Tell all your buddies to spread the news

Your Day of Judgment will soon be nigh

As the Lord in his wisdom

looks down from on high

Will his battle be lost

by mixin' the races?

We want beautiful babies,

not ones with brown faces

Never, never, never, I say

For the Ku Klux Klan is here to stay

#Never, never, never, I say

#Cos the Ku Klux Klan is here to stay

These Ku Kluxers are better

with lynchings than with lyrics.

Just read the file, Mr Anderson.

I can do without the cabaret.

- You don't like me much, do you, boss?

- Sure I like you.

I just don't share your sense of humour.

Sometimes that's all you got left.

- How long you been in the Bureau?

- Three years.

- Right outta college, huh?

- No. From the Justice Department.

Kennedy boy. Now I see.

No. I don't think you do see.

Let's get this thing straight.

I haven't had a pimple in years.

I shave every morning.

I even go to the bathroom by myself.

So you can quit this "boss" stuff.

I'm in charge because

I've been through this before.

- Birmingham? Montgomery?

- Oxford. I was with Meredith at Old Miss.

Oh. You got hit in the head with a brick,

so they gave you a promotion.

No. Shot in the shoulder.

- Well, at least you lived. That's important.

- Meredith lived. That's what's important.

What's got four eyes and can't see?

- What?

- Mississippi.

#Never, never, never, I say

#Cos the Ku Klux Klan is here to...

(laughs)

- Big building for a small town.

- Yeah.

Howdy.

Good morning. My name's Alan Ward.

I'm with the FBl.

Federal Bureau of lntegration?

- In that get-up, you ain't undercover.

- We're here to see Sheriff Stuckey.

Sheriff's right busy now.

You'll have to wait

or come back some other time.

We'll wait.

(sighs)

Listen to me,

you backwoods sh*t-ass, you.

You got two seconds to get the sheriff out

here or I'll kick the goddamn door in. OK?

(door opens)

Well, hell.

Looks like we got some company.

Some Hoover boys come down to visit.

- How ya doin'?

- Good.

- I'm Sheriff Stuckey.

- Rupert Anderson.

Rupert, we've been expectin' you.

- I assume you met my deputy, Mr Pell.

- Sure did.

You down here to help us

solve our n*gger problems?

No. It's just a missing-person case.

Well, come on.

- You gonna want your boy in on this?

- Sheriff...

I'm Special Agent Ward

and I'm in charge of this case.

We think it might be a little

more serious than missing persons.

I don't think so, boy.

Know what I think it is?

It's a publicity stunt cooked up

by that Martin Luther King fella.

(chuckles) Come on.

At around 3pm, Deputy Pell says

he arrested the three boys for speeding.

He held them in jail until 10pm

and then released them.

They drove off. He says he followed them

as far as the county line...

..and never saw them again.

Why didn't they make a phone call?

- Why should they?

- These boys were trained activists.

They're taught to check in every hour and,

if arrested, the moment they're released.

The hotel is near the jail. They could've

phoned from the lobby. It doesn't follow.

- (Anderson) Maybe they had a beer.

- Not these boys.

The civil rights office in Rossville started

making calls when they didn't check in.

The sheriff's office here said

they had no idea where the boys were.

First lie.

By who?

Sheriff's office or civil rights office?

Who would you believe?

Mr Ward, I was a sheriff in a little

Mississippi town just like this.

- Yes, I'm aware of that.

- Well, lyin' just don't come into it.

We were ten miles from Memphis,

a million miles from the rest of the world.

If a sheriff in a town like this says that's

what happened, that's what happened.

Let's go eat.

We're full up, honey.

Y'all wanna wait a while?

- Is the wait worth it?

- We're not full for nothin', sugar.

Y'all wanna look at a menu

while you wait?

Thank you.

Well, what y'all gonna do? Wait or leave?

We're gonna wait

cos we wanna be near you.

- There are some empty seats down there.

- uh, Mr Ward...

That's coloured down there.

Don't even think about it.

- People here are gettin' ready to leave.

- Aren't you hungry, Mr Anderson?

Good afternoon. Looks good.

Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?

I'm looking for some information.

- I ain't got nothin' to say to you, sir.

- Just a few questions.

I ain't got nothin' to say to you, sir.

The civil rights boys came to propose

setting up a voter registration clinic.

Before the locals got a chance to say yes,

the Klan burned 'em down.

- You give a man a vote but he can't use it.

- Yeah, that's the way it works.

What did their office in Rossville say?

That the boys came back here

to apologise to the congregation.

"Sorry you folks didn't get to vote."

"I suppose most of you

never knew you even had one."

"Now you got no place to go on Sunday."

Apparently, after they came back here,

they talked to some locals down the road.

- I think that's where we should start.

- Oh, they won't talk to you.

These people have to live here

long after we're gone.

They'd rather bite their tongue off

than talk to us.

Bureau procedure, Mr Anderson.

(Ward) The church caught fire

and you ran home. Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

And then the four white men

stopped you?

Yes, sir.

And these four white men

attacked your husband?

Yes, sir.

But you can't identify them.

No, sir.

Did you report this to the police?

No, sir.

But you told the civil rights boys

what happened?

Yes, sir.

Ma'am, did they tell you

where they were going after that?

- No, sir.

- Nothing?

No, sir.

All right. Thank you, ma'am.

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