Race Page #5

I've got some explaining to do.

Good luck with that.

Ruth?

I'm so sorry,

Ruth. I...

Look, I swear I'm gonna...

Do you remember

the day we first met?

I carried your

books home from school?

And the whole way, we was...

We was talking about this and

about that,

and what we wanted out of life,

and what we didn't.

Do you remember what I

asked you at your door?

You asked me to marry you.

And do you remember

what you said?

I said we should wait.

Well, I'm done waiting.

I wanna marry you,

Minnie Ruth Solomon.

I did then and I want

it twice as bad now.

I'm a fool.

When that boy

asked me to marry him,

I should've said yes.

But you ain't him no more.

Now, go on and get out of here.

Ruth...

Get out of here!

You keepin' all these people waiting.

Just get out, Jesse.

Get out!

Whoo! Look at

all this rain.

What do you think you're doing?

Waiting to walk you home.

You been out here all day?

Yeah and I'll be out here all day tomorrow,

too,

all week if I got to.

Then you'll just

miss your damn races.

I don't care about that.

I just wanna run,

I can do that right here in Cleveland.

Jesse, you wanna work in a service

station the rest of your life?

Well, if it means I

get to be with you.

You're smooth.

Yes, you are.

Marry me.

You crazy?

Right now, let's do it.

My parents hate your damn guts.

You left me with

our daughter, Jesse.

It's a little late to make

an honest woman out of me.

Look, I'll square with your parents.

Just say yes.

Say you'll marry me.

Where are we gonna

get married, Jesse?

You think there's a decent Christian

minister in this town who'll do it?

I haven't thought

about that yet,

but I'll find a place, I swear.

It's just us, Ruth.

It's always been just us.

All right.

I'll marry you.

Where you going?

I gotta go find a guy to do it.

I'll see you later!

Gentlemen,

today we make a profound decision.

It is a complicated decision.

For all of you, I know.

A vote today

against our American athletes

participating in these Olympics

is a vote against tyranny.

Anybody who competes,

in any event, any level,

knows that

on any given day, you're going

to win or you're going to lose.

What matters

is you were there.

When it's all over,

everybody goes home.

History remembers the winners.

Every man or woman on that field

is grateful for

the chance to be there,

to meet in the spirit

of friendly competition,

man against man,

nation against nation,

to test themselves

without fear or rancor

against the best the

other side has to offer.

Surely we all

agree the Olympic code

is a direct antithesis

to Nazi ideology.

They're who we ought

to be thinking about.

Our athletes,

those putting their sweat,

their blood,

their heart into

getting that chance.

I don't feel I have the right

to take it away from them.

I know when I was competing,

I wouldn't have wanted it taken from me.

And whether they

bring home medals or not,

they'll all have

won that chance.

I urge you to vote today

not with your

hearts as sporting men.

...to tell their children...

...but with

your conscience...

...and their

children's children...

...as members of

the human race.

"I was there."

What happened to you?

Is that the, Citizen?

Come here. Let me see it.

Fifty-eight to fifty-six.

Congratulations.

I respect their decision...

...but in all conscience,

I can't be the one to carry it out.

Go get us that

gold medal, you hear?

Yes.

Hey!

Hey! How about

that?

Hope you win, Jesse!

Go, Jesse!

Good evening, y'all.

Evening.

Jesse, this is Representative

Davis of the Ohio State legislature.

He's here on

behalf of the NAACP.

The what?

The National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People.

Well, hello.

This is my wife, Ruth.

Hello.

Have a seat.

Our secretary,

Mr. Walter White,

has asked me to deliver

this to you personally

with his best wishes.

All right.

What's this about?

I want to congratulate you on

your many recent successes.

I've been following them

with great and

particular interest.

As all of us in

our community have.

Well, thank you.

And, the Olympic trials,

well, they're coming up soon.

Yes, sir.

A little under five weeks.

Well, no doubt you hope

to qualify and take part?

Well, yeah.

I mean, yes, sir.

Even under the Hitler regime?

On behalf of Mr. White

and his organization

and the Negro

community across America,

I hope you don't go.

But this is the Olympic games.

I mean, Jesse's been training

for this his whole life.

Look, Jesse, you're the best.

You have a chance to

strike a powerful blow.

I know that it must

sound hypocritical

for any American

to talk about racial bigotry

in other countries,

but that is the whole reason

we must not go to these games.

We've got a chance here

to show our solidarity

with the oppressed

people of Germany.

It's all a part of

the same great hatred.

We can make those in power

aware of their moral obligation

to fight against the wrongs

that we Negroes

suffer right here at home.

You think it's gonna make

a damn bit of difference?

He stays,

they ain't gonna notice.

He goes,

he can come back with a

drawer full of medals,

and they will hate him

even worse than before.

J.C.

Do what you want, now.

You understand me?

It ain't gonna make

no difference no how.

Do you run, Mr. Davis?

Do I?

Well, um,

not competitively, no.

Figures.

'Cause you know, out there on that track,

you're free of all this.

The moment that gun go off,

can't nothing stop me.

Not color,

not money,

not fear, not even hate.

There ain't no black and white.

There's only fast and slow.

For those 10 seconds,

you are completely free.

Now, here you come

telling me I can't do it,

that I'm letting

down my race if I go.

What's that supposed

to do for me?

God gave you

a great gift, Mr. Owens.

Maybe he can tell

you what to do with it.

You don't have to tell

them what's on your mind.

He's my coach.

I gotta say something.

Joe is ahead as we go into round four

of this 15-round bout between Joe Louis,

the Brown Bomber,

ad ex-heavyweight champion

Max Schmeling...

Hey. Hey! Guys, come on.

You're missing the fight. Get over here.

Come on, let's go.

...just a warm-up for Louis.

Louis hardly seems to

know what he's doing.

He's dazed, hurt,

fighting mechanically.

Come on, come on.

Louis is down.

Get up.

The official timekeeper is counting

the seconds across the ring.

That's it.

It's a knockout.

- What happened?

- The Nazi beat him.

He beat Joe Louis.

I don't believe it.

Well,

there's only one

thing to do now, right?

We go over there in

three weeks to Berlin,

we get some payback in their house.

Am I right?

That's right.

Alvin Kraenzlein.

Alvin Kraenzlein.

The greatest athlete that

this country's ever produced.

Kraenzlein's the only

track and field athlete

to ever bring home four

medals from a single games.

Now, me personally,

I may not get to beat Alvin Kraenzlein,

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