Rosewood Page #4

---

I'm taking him to jail!

We're going to string

this boy up.

Oh, no, you ain't!

All right, take the boy,

but don't you let him go.

Hey, don't you worry about

what I am or ain't going to do!

You hear me, Poly?

- We're going to get Sam.

- You get on out of here!

Do you understand?

You go do it!

Hey, listen to me.

You go with them.

Don't let them do nothing until

I get there, you hear me?

You go, too.

Ellis, you go.

I'll take old Aaron in.

Them boys is all riled.

Aaron, this is

all your damn fault!

You should've said

something earlier!

Damn!

Carter! Carter!

Hey, Booker T.

Up, boy. Up.

Thank you, Mr. Wright.

Sam, what you know about

this Jesse Hunter, boy?

I don't know nothing,

Mr. Andrews!

All n*ggers don't know nothing!

Where's Jesse Hunter?

Mr. Purdy. Mr. Purdy.

You a Mason.

You got to believe me.

I don't know

no Jesse Hunter!

Yeah, you do,

you damn n*gger!

Come on, let him go!

Come on! Hold it! Come on!

He's not against you!

Stop it! Stop it!

You shut up and get away!

Sam! Get up!

Talk now!

Talk to me, Sam!

Talk to me.

Better say something.

As...

as God is my witness,

I don't know...

Jesse Hunter.

It was that drifter. That rich

n*gger from the auction!

That big buck

with the black horse,

is that him?

Come on, let him talk.

Damn you!

Look at me!

Aaron told us

you gave him a ride!

Now you show me

where you put him out!

Show me, Sam.

I can get you out of here.

Show me, boy.

You going to show me?

We going to string you up.

Let's go. Get up.

Let's go. Get up.

If we don't pick up

his trail where you say,

you one dead

black son of a b*tch.

What you got, Earl?

Nothing, Ellis.

Nothing?

Y-you can kill me...

but you all...

you can't eat me.

You ain't

no Seminole, boy.

Duke.

Get back! Get back!

Damn it, Duke!

What'd you do that for?

Goddamn, Duke.

Dumb son of a b*tch.

You could've killed me!

He's sure dead.

He ain't dead.

Well, let's

clean this mess up.

Hang him up in this tree

over here.

OK, men, I've had

enough of this!

I'm the law here,

you hear me?

Let me in here!

Back off now!

Let me in there!

Stop it, y'all!

Stop it!

A white woman

was beat and raped...

by a colored boy!

Now, you want to tell

her husband, her children,

that this boy don't

have to pay for that?

I'm supposed

to uphold the law!

Aw, law!

Whose law, n*gger law?

You wasn't nothing but

a damn chicken farmer...

till they gave you

that stupid badge!

You want to get re-elected?

You want

to get re-elected?

- Leave me alone!

- Then leave it be!

I got your watch,

Sam Carter!

I got your watch!

You're always so gentle.

Soft touch.

You treat me like

I'm some kind of angel.

You are

an angel to me.

I'm just a woman, James.

I'm just a woman.

Things are getting crazy

out there, Fanny.

They're likely

to get worse.

Sam Carter's

lynched already.

The blacksmith?

What'd he do?

He give that n*gger a ride.

A ride?

Sam Carter?

I didn't know.

There's things that

I ought to tell you.

Evening, Mr. Taylor.

With all that's going on

and everything,

we thought y'all could use

some hot cooking.

Thank you kindly, ladies, but

my wife ain't feeling too well.

It's all right, James.

Evening, Miss Walker.

Oh, Fanny...

you poor child.

Oh, I brought you

a quilt, too.

I brought you

sweetbread.

Don't you worry.

That n*gger going to be dead...

before you

finish your pie, OK?

Get a wagon.

Now, me and Mr. Mann just cut

Sam Carter out a damn tree.

Y'all hear me?

Dirty, low-down

bastards...

took my boy.

They got my cousin

Aaron over in jail.

There's Sumner

behind this business.

They say it's for

his own protection.

Now how that sound?

What we need to do, we need

to pray. Now, dear Lord...

I ain't in no praying mood,

preacher.

Now, what I want to

know is right now,

what y'all mens prepared to do

if they run back here?

Not if, Sylvester. When.

I'm goin' to shoot.

Come on, sit down now,

Big Baby.

You by yourself

there, Mr. Wright?

I am, Sylvester.

Sylvester, them crackers

so riled up,

we don't know

what they going to do.

They don't know what

they goin' to do.

That's how

a lynch mob be.

Now, I say we send

the women and children...

to Gainesville right now.

John, we can't go nowhere

and leave that boy in jail.

No! Them dirty bastards...

can take my boy

out of that jail...

and hang him whenever

they take a notion.

Don't worry about it,

Uncle.

We ain't going nowhere.

We ain't going nowhere,

Bradley.

Now, we own this here land.

We pay taxes on it.

Now, we don't bother

nobody around here.

We keep to ourselves.

Now, colored folk just

can't be running all the time.

There comes a time

when you got to stand up...

and defend your rights.

Sylvester! Sylvester!

Listen to me. And you listen.

Hold on there

for a minute.

We got to think about

these here children.

Oh, I am thinking about

the children, preacher.

Now, you suppose they thinking

about our children?

Mr. Mann.

If there be some trouble

around here, sir,

we could sure use

your help.

I just came

from one war, friend.

I ain't looking

for another one.

Let him go, Sylvester.

For all we know,

he could have been...

the one that done this thing.

They said it was... they said

it was a stranger anyhow.

You're talking crazy

now, preacher.

I wish y'all luck.

He ain't done nothing.

What was that,

Aunt Sarah?

Mr. Wright, would you

kindly excuse us, sir?

I seen his face.

He was white as butter.

What?

This what they teach you

in the Army?

Pack up and run

when things get hot?

Thank God the Navy

don't let in...

What? Go on and

say it, Mr. Wright.

Thank God the Navy

don't let in n*ggers.

I was going

to say cowards.

That's right.

I got you figured, Mann.

You one of them

loud boys, big talk.

Figure you can say anything

to a white man...

as long as you start out saying,

"With all due respect."

First sign of trouble,

you duckin' your head running.

What you going to do...

when that mob come

down the road?

You going to grab up

your rifle,

defend colored folk?

What you care?

Man does what he has to.

Ain't that right?

Just like a colored boy

back from the war...

with a pocketful of money.

Ain't that right?

You the massa

of Rosewood, huh?

Say, boy...

these people know me.

They trust me.

How long you live here,

Mr. Wright?

Nine years.

I been in Rosewood

one night...

they asking me to stay.

Now, you pack up

your truck...

see who tries to stop you

from leaving.

You wasn't going

to say nothing.

You was just going

to leave me?

Three, four weeks,

this all blow over.

Then I come back.

But I thought we...

Why, I didn't think you was

just going to run off, is all.

Ain't you a soldier?

Scrappie.

Them boys looking

for a colored man...

ain't nobody seen

around here before.

Now, ain't no way

in the world...

one man got enough bullets

for all them crackers.

Your own preacher

ready to serve me up.

But if I stay,

I'm asking to be hung.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes