Southside With You Page #3

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You, uh,

doing any shin kicking these days?

Are you inquiring

about my personal life?

I might be.

- Well, the answer is no.

- Hmm.

Tell me more about your

grade school Casanova years.

No.

No, no.

I couldn't have been less popular.

The kids in Indonesia used to throw me

in the swamp and call me Blackberry.

Indonesia?

Yeah,

I lived in Jakarta for a few years.

I'm not kidding.

We had crocodiles in the backyard.

But... but...

but why were you living there?

I mean, how did you end up there?

Lolo, my mother's ex-husband,

was from there

and went back for work.

We went with him.

But where was your dad?

He was back in Kenya.

And you didn't wanna live with him?

It wasn't an option.

Anyway, I didn't have to suffer

at the hands of my Indonesian

tormentors for long.

I moved back to Hawaii when I was 10.

My mother wanted me

to get a better education.

Well?

Did you?

I don't know.

How would you rate

my level of education?

You're like that jive-talking

stereotype from "Good Times."

So, what about you?

What about me?

Well,

you're Ivy League through and through.

Craig got the natural smarts.

I just worked my butt off.

I'm sure your mother made sure of that.

She never had to.

Education was always

priority number one.

My dad would stand for nothing less,

and there was no way Craig and

I were gonna disappoint him.

What's he like?

He's the greatest man in the world.

He told us from day one

education was the key to our happiness

and he didn't let us forget it.

What's he do for a living?

Operations engineer

for the water department.

Basically, he fixes the boilers.

He's been there since '68.

That must be where you get

your work ethic.

You don't know the half of it.

Well, tell me, then.

You're asking a lot of questions.

You don't have to answer them, Michelle.

Can you keep what's said

outside the office

outside the office?

Michelle, I've been trying

to get you outside the

office for a month now.

I'm serious.

Yes. Absolutely.

My dad has MS.

That why you live at home?

It's better to be there and to help out.

He's on crutches now.

Still gets himself to work every day.

You know, they are lucky

to have a daughter like you.

I'm lucky to have parents like them.

Is your mother still alive?

Hmm, oh, yeah.

Still in Jakarta.

She's a wonderful lady.

- But you don't see her much?

- Nah, she has her own life.

But she's brilliant, warm.

Truly wonderful.

- And she's white?

- Snow white.

Born in Wichita, Kansas.

- You were born in '60?

- '61.

Hmm.

A white woman and a black man

getting married

and having a kid back then.

They were ahead of their time.

You want the God's honest

truth about my folks?

- Sure.

- Okay.

My mother thought Harry Belafonte

was the most handsome man

on the face of the planet.

Yeah, I'd say chocolate was

her favorite flavor, too.

No, really, I think their

attraction was that simple.

My father looked like Nat King Cole

and my mother looked like Patsy Cline.

Okay.

Man:
Hey!

Not bad at all, Miss Robinson.

- Those drummers were incredible.

- Yeah, they were.

- I wonder if they were African.

- Why?

Well, it can be a ritual.

I was part of one while visiting

my family's village in Kenya.

- What were the rituals for?

- Eh, prayer, mostly.

Do you believe in God?

You like to go straight for the jugular,

don't you?

- You have a real nice jugular. Real defined, real sexy.

- Watch it, now.

Growing up,

we went to church on Sundays,

but I don't know.

I believe in some sort

of guiding spirit.

But I also think God helps

those who help themselves.

- I think I saw that on a bumper sticker somewhere.

- That's how you know it's good.

Ah.

And your religious proclivities?

Let's just say I'm still evolving.

- What were you raised?

- Nothing, really.

My mom didn't associate

with any one religion.

And your father? Was he like you?

About the only thing

my father and I had in common

was that we both went to Harvard.

The only difference is

he got kicked out.

You still got two years.

Think that's enough time for me

to develop a drinking problem

and burn through all my student loans?

You don't like talking about him.

- Well, there isn't much to say, unfortunately.

- That can't be true.

It is true.

- His life is incomplete...

...in every imaginable way.

He married my mother,

they had me, he left.

Went to Harvard, got kicked out,

never got his PhD.

Got a job with the Kenyan government,

got fired,

never found a stable job again.

Had a few too many drinks

at a bar one night,

got behind the wheel,

never made it home.

He died when he was 46.

His life was incomplete.

Even his tombstone is blank.

- No one bothered to have it engraved.

- No one bothered?

All that family over there?

No one had the money.

You'll do it.

When you have the money,

you'll go back there

and have his name engraved.

You think you know me well

enough to make that prediction?

No.

But I am a pretty hopeful person,

so I'll just say I hope you do it.

Barack:

We should probably get to the meeting.

Hey, young world

- The world is yours

- Hey, young world

- The world is yours

- Young world, young world

- The world is yours

- Young world

This rap here

It may cause concern, it's...

...Denby of "New York Magazine"

thinks Spike Lee's new picture's

gonna cause them black folk to riot,

but Chicago's native son,

Roger Ebert, calls it a masterpiece.

Have you seen it? Who's seen it?

What's the good word? You writing yet?

Hit the phones and let me know.

And if you haven't checked it out yet,

"Do the Right Thing" and see it now!

Dying to see this movie.

Sounds interesting enough.

Blick, Thompson, and Cohen were

talking about it in the office.

And Thompson said the film might

be racist towards white people.

No, he didn't.

He didn't mean anything by it.

He's a little out of touch, that's all.

I'm just tired of being

two different people.

I played that game at Princeton

and I played it again at Harvard.

There were white kids at school

who would talk to me in class,

but if I saw them out on the quad

and they were with their other friends,

they would walk right past me

without so much as a nod.

Now, obviously,

the firm is not like that,

but sometimes when I'm leaving

Southside in the morning,

headed for the Loop, I feel like

I'm leaving Planet Black

and landing on Planet White.

Come on.

You got wooed just like me.

You got wined and dined.

You saw the corporate culture,

the racial culture.

You knew the score

and you still said yes.

Are you sure it's the firm

you're frustrated with?

That's the second time

you asked me that question.

It's the second time

you haven't answered it.

What are you suggesting?

Take the bottle cap case as an example.

Once you made your point,

why bother pressing further?

To try and get through to Thompson.

Come on, you knew you wouldn't.

Like you said,

you're a second-year associate.

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