Mississippi Burning Page #4

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Why didn't you?

"For better or for worse."

How about you? Are you married?

Well, I was, as I remember.

It didn't last very long. I was never home.

I guess she got fed up with... phone calls

from Miami, postcards from Des Moines.

There was always a guy around.

Any guy that could spare the time

for a movie or a beer...

..or a quarter for the jukebox.

She left.

- How about you?

- Well, you know the South, Mr Anderson.

You leave high school and marry

the first boy who makes you laugh.

Hey, your husband's quite a guy.

You know, my boss has this thing

about an hour - 50 minutes, to be exact -

..that your husband says

that he was with you.

- And I guess he was.

- Guess he was.

Well, that's a pity.

That means that I don't have an excuse

for hangin' around here any more.

Well...

Thank you for the iced tea.

- Thank you for the flowers.

- Sure.

Do you know what kind they are?

- I heard they're called trumpet-pitchers.

- Oh, that's right.

My daddy used to call 'em

ladies-from-hell because they're carn...

Carnivorous.

- That's the word?

- Yeah.

That pretty colour's the bait. Insects just

home in there and wham, they're dead,...

..even before they got their shoes off.

Maybe I should've picked something else.

Maybe.

#Sing the wondrous love of Jesus

#Sing his mercy and his grace

#ln the mansions, bright and blessed

#He'll prepare for us a place

(congregation sings)

- ' ..day of rejoicing that will be

- ' That will be

#When we all see Jesus

#We'll sing and shout the victory

(minister) May the peace and the joy

in the Holy Ghost abide with all of you...

..for now and for ever. Amen.

(screaming)

#When we all

#Get to heaven

#What a day of rejoicing

#That will be

#When we all

#See Jesus, Jesus

#We'll sing and shout

#The victory

You already been told once, n*gger.

We don't wanna have to tell you again.

You make any more trouble by flappin'

them boot-lips off to them federal men,...

.. we'll sure as hell put you in the ground,

boy, and that's without a pine box!

You understand me?

(reporter)

How are Negroes treated in Mississippi?

They're treated about fair.

About as good as they oughta be.

The n*ggers around here have been

treated awful bad for a long time.

I think Martin Luther King's

one of the leaders.

I mean, J Edgar Hoover said

that he was a communist...

..and they had proof to that effect.

But I don't know that for sure. I hadn't

seen it myself, but that's what they say.

Hey, you really wanna find that n*gger?

They say we've got to eat together and

use the same bathroom as the n*ggers.

And that's awful hard

for some Mississippi folks to do.

They're not like us. They don't take baths.

They stink, they... they're nasty,...

..they're just not like white folks.

What do you think has happened

to the three boys?

Dead.

Just as dead as they can be.

It feels so good.

- Is she asleep? ls she?

- Yeah.

Oh, my Lord. I'm sorry I woke you up.

- Bye, hon. I'll be a couple of hours.

- All right.

Well, Mary, is that your Betsy's kid?

Yeah.

She's growin' up real quick, ain't she?

Tuesday'll be just fine on those, Mary.

Funny.

Their kids are so cute.

Is that thing back on me again?

If the entire Secret Service

couldn't protect the president,...

..how in hell are we supposed

to protect a few nigras?

It ain't nothin' but a bunch of lowlife white

trash drinkin' too much cheap alcohol.

More like paint thinner and snake juice,

because this state's as dry as a martini,...

..and we got the alcoholics to prove it.

Give me a little room here.

Excuse me, Bob.

- Is this OK?

- Your name, please?

Clayton Townley. Local businessman.

Are you, sir, a spokesman for

the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?

I told you. I'm a businessman.

I'm also a Mississippian.

And an American.

And I am sick and tired

of the way many of us Mississippians...

..are havin' our views distorted

by your newspapers and on TV.

So let's get this straight.

We do not accept Jews

because they reject Christ.

Their control of the international banking

cartels are at the root of communism.

We do not accept Papists

because they bow to a Roman dictator.

We do not accept Turks, Mongols,

Tartars, Orientals nor Negroes...

..because we're here to protect

Anglo-Saxon democracy...

- ..and the American way.

- Thank you, sir.

(men laughing)

Lefty, you are livin' proof

that cousins shouldn't f***.

(laughter)

What I was tryin' to say...

there's this coloured boy.

He wants to play football

for Bear Bryant over at Alabama.

So Bear says

"I'm gonna give you a tryout."

What's he gonna run with? A watermelon?

He's gonna keep on runnin' too.

"OK, boy" he says.

"You get down there on one goal line."

He puts a whole team on the other goal

line. He throws the boy the ball and says...

- Are you open?

- You got to be a member to drink here.

A member?

A member of what?

A member of the social club.

I thought you'd just buy me a beer.

Give him a beer, Frank.

Nice to be back in a dry county again.

When I was sheriff,

half of my take-home pay...

..was from collectin' taxes

on illegal jukes like this.

Probably works the same here.

I would think you'd haul in a tidy penny

here, winkin' at the bootleggers.

I wouldn't know nothin' about that.

Yeah... A tidy penny.

- Got anything stronger than this, Deputy?

- No. No, we ain't.

Oh?

You know, in Thornton, Mississippi,

there's a joy-juice still in every yard.

All you need is just some corn

and sugar and a pot to boil it in.

I was tryin' to fingerprint

this old boy once.

He'd had his hand

in the mash barrel all his life.

There was no skin at all on there.

No prints.

We ain't interested in your

good ol' Mississippi boy stories.

You ain't from here no more.

- Why'd you leave, anyway?

- I just wanted a change of scenery.

The grits started leavin'

a bad taste in my mouth.

Well, if that's how you feel about it,

Mr FBI Man,...

..why don't you get back to your commie,

n*gger-lovin' bosses up North?

You must not know my boss - Mr Hoover.

He's not too fond of commies.

He'd be on your side there.

I don't give two shits whose side

your Mr Hoover's on, boy.

All I know is we got 5,000 n*ggers in this

county who ain't registered to vote yet.

And, as far as I'm concerned,

they never will.

So tell your stiff suits up in Washington,

DC, they ain't gonna change us one bit.

unless it's over my dead body.

Or a lot of dead n*ggers.

You'd kill, Frank?

ls that what you're sayin'?

I wouldn't give it no more thought

than wringin' a cat's neck.

And there ain't a court in Mississippi

that'd convict me for it.

How about you, Deputy?

- How are you with wringin' necks, huh?

- Just keep pushin' me, Hoover boy.

You get this straight, you cornhole f***er.

Tell your queer-ass bosses they'll never

find them civil rightsters down here.

So you might as well pack your bags

and head up North where you belong.

(cries out in pain)

You get this straight, shitkicker.

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