The Butler Page #6

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with Martin Luther King.

Do you, uh...

...you know how he is, sir?

I'm guessing he's pretty beat up,

but based on his record,

he must be used to it.

Cecil, he's been arrested 16 times

over the past two years.

Yes, sir.

- Will that be all, sir?

- That's it.

You know, I never understood

what you all really went through...

...until I saw that.

My brother says these kids have...

...changed his heart.

They've changed mine, too.

The fires of discord are burning

in every city North and South,

where legal remedies

are not at hand.

Redress is sought in the streets,

in demonstrations,

parades and protests.

I am therefore

asking the Congress

to enact legislation

giving all Americans the right

to be served in facilities

which are open to the public.

Hotels, restaurants, theaters,

retail stores

and similar establishments.

This seems to me to be

an elementary right.

Its denial is

an arbitrary indignity

that no American in 1963

should have to endure, but many do.

A great change is at hand.

And our task, our obligation,

is to make that revolution,

that change,

peaceful and constructive for all.

Those who do nothing are

inviting shame as well as violence...

Hey. Hey, Cecil.

Cecil, what's wrong?

Cecil?

Cecil?

They blew his...

...head off.

- Who are you talking about?

- Kennedy.

President Kennedy was shot

as he drove from Dallas airport

to downtown Dallas...

They killed him.

Governor Connally of Texas

in the car with him was also shot.

It is reported that

three bullets rang out.

A Secret Serviceman has been...

They killed our man.

"He's dead. " Whether he

referred to President Kennedy or not

is not yet known.

The president, cradled in the

arms of his wife, Mrs. Kennedy,

was carried to an ambulance

and the car rushed

to Parkland Hospital

outside Dallas...

Mrs. Kennedy refused

to change her clothes,

so that everybody could see

what they did to her husband.

The last time

I saw that much blood

was the day my daddy was killed.

Please tell me how I could help you.

Ma, what you doing?

Here. Want you to take this box

and put it in the basement.

- Make sure you label it "trophies. "

- This is Louis' stuff, Ma.

You know he gonna be pissed.

I don't care nothing about

Louis being pissed.

I'm the one pissed.

He ain't been here in three years.

Why you pissed, Mama?

And don't put that next

to my jarred okra either.

Ain't nobody trying to smell

that stankin' okra.

And when you come back, I want

you to get me some fish food.

Look what the president...

...Mrs. Kennedy gave me.

Belonged to the president.

Gloria...

President was killed.

I'm really sorry about the president.

I really am.

But you and that White House

can kiss my ass.

I don't care what

goes on in that house.

I care about what goes on in this house.

I knew that Gloria had been

unhappy for some time now.

I knew that's probably

why she drank.

She wanted me to get along

better with Louis.

I didn't know how.

I couldn't.

I could cut back them

long hours at the White House.

And I did just that.

How many pairs of shoes she got?

She got about... 125.

- A hundred twenty-five pairs of shoes?

- Yeah.

Put them in a line from the blacks

all the way to the whites.

And I'll tell you what. Next time

there's a light on in an empty room,

I will fire every sorry son of a b*tch

in this house. I mean it, Cecil!

Go back to Texas and run the country

from a dirt shack if I have to.

Is that what you want?

Who do you think pays the

goddamned bills around here?

I don't, but you

know what I mean.

Yes, sir.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot.

Lady Bird and I want you to have this.

- Matches your eyes.

- Thank you, sir.

- Get it, Gloria.

- Do it, baby.

Swim it! Go ahead, Gloria.

- I see you, baby.

- You see me, babe? Put it on.

Get it, Gloria.

- Now that's what I'm talking about.

- Get it, girl! Shake it out! Get it!

Negro! Get out here.

Back there stinking up

my bathroom.

- Oh, Lord.

- Oh, Lord.

What you doing?

Hey! Whoo!

What?

Get you some!

- You know.

- That's your friend.

Give me my wig!

What's wrong with you?!

- This my good wig!

- Oh, sh*t!

- Sit down.

- We got the spades up.

Brother just handling his business.

He can still do the splits,

I'll tell you.

James told me

that Dr. King told the president

that we would be going to the streets

down South for our right to vote.

- Didn't you, baby?

- What?

Didn't you tell me

that Dr. King told the president

that we was going down South

for our right to vote?

- I ain't make that up.

- Is that what you heard?

That Dr. King ain't no joke,

with his little militant ass.

- She talking too damned much.

- Well, sound like somebody talking.

Shut up.

- Leave my bird alone.

- Well, you know them three kids

got killed down there, trying to get

colored folks registered to vote.

That's why I didn't want

Louis to go down there.

That's what I was

trying to tell you.

You shouldn't have

sent him down there.

- I know.

- He is down there now,

and there ain't nothing

we can do about it.

The only reason

the president sent the FBI

is 'cause two of them were white.

- Now who told you that?

- Yeah, who told her that?

It was in one of them colored newspapers

from Baltimore. That all right with you?

See, she getting smart now.

Honey, you think the president

ought to do something

- about the Voting Rights bill?

- That ain't the trump.

President Johnson

just passed the greatest piece

of civil rights legislation

since Lincoln freed the slaves.

It's gonna be very difficult to

pass another bill anytime soon.

- That's it.

- You see how my wife quizzes me?

- I get it every day.

- Only, you got to know

how much to say,

when you cross the line.

You deal with your woman,

I'll deal with mine.

At least you tell your wife

what's going on over there.

- Aces!

- Damn!

Can't be a king

in your own castle.

You hit the strip joint,

that's what I say.

Hey, uh, Glo. Did you hear about

your neighbor, Howard?

Guy down on 8th Street,

caught him in bed with his wife.

Shot him dead.

- Shot him in the back.

- That's it. That's all of it.

I don't know, maybe he got

what he deserved.

You sorry sap asses

got to realize

the Negro ain't gonna take it no more.

This entire country is a tinderbox.

Goddamn tinderbox of n*gger rage

just waiting to explode!

Now, I want you all

to get on the phone,

call the NAACP, CORE

and whoever else

will listen to your sorry asses

and help me keep them Negroes

off the street.

Buck, I smell your ass from here!

What the hell are you waiting for?!

Jesus Christ.

Cecil, get me some of

that goddamned prune juice.

I'm not sure what to make

of Malcolm X.

I know what to make of him.

Got a better plan

in place than Dr. King.

If someone puts their hands on

you, put them in the cemetery.

- That a better plan?

- Ooh, We fixin' to go.

Bye, Claramay.

- Good night.

- Good night.

I mean...

You just mad 'cause he was

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