Mississippi Burning Page #6

---

(Ward whistles)

(judge) The defendants will rise.

In this country a man's home is his castle.

That is one of the principles

by which this community survives.

You men have done violence

to that principle.

But I want you to know

that the court understands...

..that the crimes you have committed

have been, to some extent at least,...

..brought about by... outside influences.

(murmuring)

Outsiders have come

into Jessup County...

..and they've been

people of low morality,...

..and unhygienic.

And their presence here

has provoked a lot of people.

(murmuring)

So the court understands,...

..without condoning them, mind you,...

..that the crimes to which

you men have pled guilty...

..were, to some extent at least,

provoked by these outside influences.

So, with all this,

I'm gonna make your punishment light.

I'm gonna sentence you each

to five years' imprisonment.

But I'm gonna suspend these sentences.

(cheering)

You can't go in there, sir.

FBl. Let us through.

I'm sorry, sir. You can't go in there.

Sheriff?

Y'all really started somethin' this time.

Move these cars.

I wanna go in and talk to them.

- You've gone as far as you're gonna go.

- We can handle this.

Just some crazy coloureds

tearin' up their own a**holes.

Local problem.

Look at those flames, Mr Ward. That's

why they sent you down here, wasn't it?

It would've happened anyway

and you know it.

If I was a Negro,

I'd probably think the same way they do.

If you were a Negro,

nobody'd give a damn what you thought.

(neighing)

Aaron! Take your momma, grandmomma

and the children out the back door.

When you hit the road, keep goin'.

You understand? Keep goin', son.

Nathan! Come on, Nathan. Get up!

Get up, Nathan, now! Come on!

Get out of the bed!

- (Nathan) What's happening?

- Momma! Come on, Momma.

Come on, y'all.

Come on, Grandma. Let's go!

(' "Try Jesus" by Vesta Williams)

#All ye who labour

Who's there? If you're in there,

come on out! You hear?

I ain't takin' this sh*t no more!

#Bring him your burdens

#Seek not his favour

#Tell... tell him your sorrows

#In... him... confide

#He satisfies

#He satisfies

Everything's OK, Papa.

Momma and the girls are fine.

They just cracked your head some.

You just keep on breathin'.

Don't you go dyin' on me now.

You hear me?

You gonna be just fine.

You know, cows won't run away. No one

knows why. They're just stupid, I guess.

They just stand there until

their bellies swell up and they pop.

They have relatives in Detroit.

- Are they gonna go?

- I didn't give 'em any choice.

(Anderson) At least we know who did this.

- We did.

- Well, don't fret. It's progress.

20 years ago they'd have

strung 'em up for stealin' a watermelon.

I don't understand you, Mr Anderson.

Not at all.

Let's get somethin' straight, all right?

This thing was f***ed up the moment

we turned it into a show for the newsmen.

The moment those three kids

disappeared, it was news.

The moment the three civil rights

workers disappeared, it was news.

To me they're just kids.

They're still missin'.

What's missing... is the 50 minutes

Pell said he was with his wife.

OK.

I love Mississippi.

They...

They hate Mississippi.

They hate us because

we present a shining example...

..of successful segregation.

These Northern students,

with their atheist, communist bosses,...

..that have come into our community

this summer with the wish to destroy it,...

..this week have taken a terrible blow.

This week their cause has been crippled.

This week all of these federal policemen

you see out here pryin' into our lives,...

..violatin' our civil liberties,...

..have learned that they are

powerless against us...

..if every single Anglo-Saxon

Christian one of us stands together!

This week...

- Ward?

- We have company, sir.

Why are you here?

This is a political meeting.

- Doesn't smell that way to me, Deputy.

- It's a political meeting, Hoover boy.

Oh, it looks like a political meeting

but smells more like Klan to me,...

..with or without the Halloween costumes.

Gentlemen.

In the courts of Mississippi,

they have been reminded...

..that they cannot by force

turn our communities...

..into replicas of theircommunities.

Communities in which Negroes run riot,

unrestrained and unpunished,...

..as they do this summer in the streets

of Harlem, or in the streets of Oakland,...

..or in the streets of Chicago!

(knocks)

Can I come in?

It's not good for you to be here.

- Why?

- It's ugly.

This whole thing is so ugly.

Have you any idea what it's like

to live with all this?

People look at us...

and only see bigots and racists.

Hatred isn't something you're born with.

It gets taught.

At school they said segregation

is what it said in the Bible.

Genesis 9, verse 27.

At seven years of age, you get

told it enough times, you believe it.

You believe the hatred.

You live it. You breathe it.

You marry it.

My husband drove

one of the cars that night.

- Shh.

- That's what you wanna hear, isn't it?

(sobbing) The bodies are buried

on the Roberts farm, in an earthen dam.

Sir!

Take a break, Mr Bird.

Put some handkerchiefs around your face.

(Bird retches)

Bring that here.

The bodies of the three civil rights

workers were found today...

..at an undisclosed grave.

Neither the FBI nor the sheriff's

department will comment on the case.

The bodies were brought

to Jessup County Hospital.

Officials here also refused comment.

There is speculation that an autopsy

will be performed later tonight.

OK, keep it open. We're comin' through.

Come on, open it up.

Hold it back.

Clinton,

you got problems at home to tend to.

What do you mean?

I mean pull your head

out of your ass and get home!

"I, Vincent Thompson, am the

cheddar-cheese champion ofthe world."

"In international competition with 42 other

entries, my cheddar won fiirstprize...

..based on flavour, texture,

appearance and colour."

Hey, Clinton.

I didn't expect you home so early.

Hi, Frank.

No, don't. I'm sorry.

(punching)

(Mrs Pell moans)

Sir.

Say again?

I'll be right there.

- Mr Bird.

- Yes, sir?

Get five men and meet me outside.

- Where's Anderson?

- He's at the motel, sir.

You two take the front door. If anyone

tries to get past you, break 'em down.

You two take the door on the corridor.

Mr Bird?

OK. Go get Anderson. Bring him here.

Don't tell him why.

Don't tell him anything. Just get him here.

(footsteps)

Mr Anderson. Stop!

- Mr Anderson!

- Go to hell.

I'm telling you to stop and

I mean it. We're not killers.

- It's the difference between them and us.

- No, between them and you!

- You're no more like them than I am.

- Wrong.

What do you care what I do to a bastard

hidin' behind a sheriff's badge?

- You have the whole world to change!

- And I'm changin' it.

- You're as arrogant as you are stupid!

- You're changin' it too.

I'll make some changes right now!

Don't mess this up just because

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes