The Least Among You Page #2

What?

Hey, you know what,

you're finished here, Nick. Get out.

You ain't the only one around here

who knows how to use a knife, buddy boy.

Jesus sees a woman carrying jars of water

and asks for a drink.

She asks, "Why would a Jew

be willing to share a cup

"with a Samaritan

who the Jews think are unclean?"

He then tells her of her life as a prostitute.

Then?

She recognizes he's a prophet

and she asks him what he wants.

He wants her to stop sleeping around.

The disciples labeled her vulgarity

as a result of her Samaritan ethnicity.

Professor, it was racism

taught by Church leaders,

maybe like today.

I mean, Jesus called the leaders

a brood of vipers.

That's one interpretation.

He called us to be peacemakers,

not insurgents.

The Ecclesiastes says, "There's a time

for war and a time for peace."

What about a time for learning?

Include today's discussion

with the next four chapters.

Your essays are on my desk.

I didn't start anything.

He came at me with this dirty Negro bull.

Richard, we train young men here

in the ways of God.

-And that excludes punching people out.

-So you're in favor of segregated showers?

You allowed schoolboy name-calling

to escalate into a brawl.

Procedure requires disciplinary action.

Perhaps you come from somewhere

where discipline is not highly regarded.

Listen, my mother raised two children,

with no help, working nights.

Richard, Branch Rickey had the choice

of 10 Negro ballplayers,

all of whom

were better than Jackie Robinson.

But what Mr. Rickey needed

was someone who had the combination

of talent and maturity.

Now, was I wrong about you?

-No.

-They expect violence. Don't give it to them.

Let them learn your truth,

which is their truth.

You expect a lot.

Any more trouble,

you make sure I'm the first one to know.

Now, let's see some results.

Racism, right here, where they're training

people to preach mercy and justice.

But for whom?

The right people, the ones who deserve it?

Sit down, holy man.

You here to learn something

or just make trouble?

Totally out of control.

Moneybags back there

isn't going to like this.

If you want to break the back

of Christian sponsored bigotry, step up.

Demand that this seminary

bring in black students and faculty.

We march tomorrow at noon.

"Christian bigotry"?

Relax. That's just rhetoric.

-Tremaine was standing right next to me.

-Good.

He'll see that we're on the right side

of the integration issue.

How do you know what side he's on?

Stansfield Tremaine is an enlightened man.

Kelly is a leader. Tremaine will see this.

Got him.

Hey, hey, hey.

All right, it's been half an hour.

Nobody's coming.

You know, just what I thought.

They didn't even hear a word I said.

They heard you all right.

-Why'd you come?

-I think I know what you were trying to say.

But what came out was, "All you bigots

follow me and I'll forgive your sins."

No, that's just an excuse not to get done

what needs to get done on this campus.

I know, I know.

It's my way or the highway, right?

That's a big one in Texas.

Look, you might try getting to know

these people before you save them.

Hey, Tex, how many black neighborhoods

have you gone into

and gotten to know someone?

Yeah, yeah, I know.

Look, show me how.

Yeah, Rich, I think you got

your Martin Luthers mixed up.

The one who was nailing petitions

to the Church doors and all that,

he was the reformer.

King? He's the one in jail.

Hey, do y'all know

how that lady professor got here?

Yeah, Beckett brought her in.

She was like a missionary in Africa.

Bet she didn't wear those tight pants

in the jungle.

You want recruitment goals,

two professors.

Your class teaches

that spiritual transformation

is the best route to societal changes.

Why did you come to me?

I thought you could help

get the faculty on my side.

Where did you hear that?

You risked your life in Africa

all those years. There had to be a reason.

-A "why" to all that.

-I don't remember the why.

What happened there?

If you think I'm gonna curve your grade

because of some noble societal goals,

-you're wrong.

-I'm not begging favors.

Then study. I don't tutor.

There are over 19 million black people

in this country and one at this seminary.

-I mean, shouldn't there be 50?

-There are other seminaries.

-If you're so miserable here, transfer.

-I can't.

Look, I'm not jumping through hoops

for some kid who's trying to find his way.

Odds are you're just gonna

wash out of here first semester, anyway.

Now, it's my teatime.

Yeah, Ma, the food's fine.

Hey, of all the seminaries,

why'd you pick this place?

You needn't go haIfway across the country

when you couId Iearn cIose by

and visit me on the weekend.

Did you know I was

the only black student here?

Whatever it is, Richard,

God's got his hand on it.

-Yeah, you been taking that medicine?

-Yeah.

-You know you can't lie.

-And neither can you.

You can't afford that medicine and I'm here.

-I gotta go. I Iove you.

-I love you, too.

What do you want?

-Thank you, ma'am, for inviting me.

-Miss, ma'am.

He must not be from Los AngeIes, huh?

OriginaIIy Savannah, Georgia.

But I grew up here.

Have a seat.

I'll get the juice.

You get that shiner out there?

-Yeah, but I gave some back.

-I know you did.

-So those are all rejects?

-Yeah.

Lucky for me.

Kierkegaard, St. Augustine.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

-Yeah.

-Heavy stuff.

-I've read it a couple of times.

You can take it if you want.

Thank you, B.

You're welcome.

Oh, me God, don't be beating

the glass to death, man.

He think everything he pick up

is some kind of a tool.

Woman, I gotta get the good stuff

off the bottom, don't I?

Cheers.

So now tell me, Richard,

how are things going on up there?

-I thought this was going to be easy.

-Yeah, what about the other boys?

I'm a get the melon.

They're making theirs.

-How are they treating you?

-Like I wasn't supposed to leave the ghetto.

And they're watching everything

real closely, just anxious for me to fail.

Maybe they are.

You're welcome here anytime, day or night.

You leave those people up there.

Now, Richard,

I have fought the enemy for 60 years.

I mean, anybody that walked in my path,

it was either him or me.

-This is different. It's psychological.

-It's all psychological.

Here you go.

I think that those people

that you think are the enemy,

but sometimes,

they could be your deliverance.

-I didn't tell you something.

-What?

They burned a cross in my room.

-My mother's.

-Oh, me God.

Sorry, Fred.

Lord, please, help me make these grades

so I can get that job back.

I promise I won't let go of the dream.

Hey, phone. It's an emergency.

-What's the news, Doctor?

-Your mother's had severe kidney failure.

-We can get her through this, but for now.

-For now?

The medication she was on

was for a minor infection.

She needs to be on a dialysis machine

for weeks, maybe months.

So hook it up.

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