Wattstax

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All of us have something to say...

but some are never heard.

Over seven years ago,

the people of Watts stood together...

and demanded to be heard.

On a Sunday this past August

in the Los Angeles Coliseum...

over 100,000 black people came together...

to commemorate that moment

in American history.

For over six hours,

the audience heard, felt, sang...

danced, and shouted the living word...

in a soulful expression

of the black experience.

This is a film of that experience...

and what some of the people have to say.

That's what we did in 1965,

We all got crazy and went out...

and started burning up

our own neighborhood and sh*t.

That brought the man

on their own land, man.

The thing about it was it did something

constructive for the whole community.

That's the only beautiful thing

that went off.

Thank you, whitey.

That's the only way we communicate

with whitey, man.

You've never seen in a community

as many markets.

They've opened up

a Dr. Martin Luther King Hospital.

There's more black people in Watts...

that were formerly on county and state aid

that are employed right now.

Like your mama.

Your mama got a job

for the first time in 10 years.

- Dumb-ass motherf***er.

- I'm talking about black people...

- like you, n*gger.

- You know he's been drinking.

You lived on 103rd.

- He's not responsible.

- Sh*t. You know what?

Once half a whitey, n*gger...

It wouldn't do no good

to burn over in Inglewood.

Them motherfuckers ain't buying

second-grade meat.

Sh*t ain't getting better.

They're still putting offices

off into the area, man, sh*t.

- They're making money off it.

- But look, brother...

You'd be surprised...

how much that building,

that particular building...

will satisfy so many n*ggers.

- Pacify them a little.

- Make them think...

make them think it's progress.

Up until the point that we had a riot...

everybody said, "Those n*ggers

are all right, they're doing fine."

Then when we had a riot,

then the white man said:

"Something's wrong, 'cause these suckers

are burning down my store.

"Now I got to give these n*ggers

something because...

- "I thought they was happy."

- But what did he give them?

They've changed some for the best...

in an awful lot of cases for the worst...

and some they have not changed at all.

There's no difference in Watts now

than Watts '65.

California's a weird state because

they have laws for pedestrians.

Like, you cross the street,

they have laws for pedestrians...

but they don't have laws for people

at night...

when cops accidentally shoot people.

They accidentally shoot more n*ggers

out here than any place in the world.

Every time you pick up a paper,

"N*gger accidentally shot in the ass."

How do you accidentally shoot a n*gger

six times in the chest?

"Well, my gun fell and just went crazy."

It's going to be the best sound,

though, that's ever been.

- I can dig it.

- So we're sure of that.

That's beautiful. I work in sound, also.

I'm hip to it.

This is the biggest and the best

sound equipment around, in our opinion.

- How many people do you have there?

- Four, Mr. Van Peebles.

Okay, there'll be one more,

which will be five.

Now, of those five people

down at that end of the tunnel...

there will be three and two...

three on the gate

and two in the dressing rooms.

When the gate slows down

after the festival gets underway...

we may then put three

in the dressing room, and two.

Now, the rest of you gentlemen...

As the first Black Queen

of Miss Watts at the Watts Festival...

and the Watts Beauty Pageant...

how do you feel about this concert today?

It's beautiful.

I think it's a very beautiful endeavor.

It's beautiful, that's what it is.

It's great, what can I tell you?

Fantastic.

It's a hell of a feeling.

I think it's beautiful.

Like, sh*t,

a whole thing is going on, you know?

Ladies and gentlemen,

our national anthem,

I don't have a damn thing to fight for,

and I got no country...

and I don't have no flag.

I ain't got a damn thing to fight for,

go up there, get half my ass blowed off...

and come back home,

and can't even draw unemployment...

- let alone find a motherfucking job.

- There's a lot of funky things...

in this country,

and there's good things, too...

but you run into more funky

than you do good.

Why can't we, as being the people,

without revolution...

you know, without political, social

and economical change...

be a part of America?

- I can say it in one word, brother.

- What's that?

- Politics.

- Thank you.

First time I discovered I was black...

was at the Interstate Fair

in Pensacola, Florida.

It was one of those things.

I was standing there...

I was working behind this little counter

where you throw the balls...

to knock over the milk bottles.

This one cat threw the ball...

knocked down two of the milk bottles.

One of them was for certain,

one almost fell...

and he said that I kept it from

falling over, and he spit on me.

Called me a black, nasty, lying n*gger.

My brother...

made me realize

I was a n*gger, 'cause he's high yellow.

You dig? He's lighter than I am, right?

So we was playing with some people,

you know, just running around...

doing this, doing that,

and then they called him over.

We was playing with some white kids.

They called him over...

and they whispered something in his ear.

So we went home. We was going home...

and my brother jumped up

and told me I was a n*gger.

I looked at this sucker 'cause,

sh*t, I didn't know what a n*gger was.

But these white boys, they identified

with him because he was light-skinned.

So he went in and he told my mother

that I was a black n*gger...

and that he was a white boy.

You dig? But, see, my mother's bad.

My mother checked that out, so she said:

"Okay, cool with it. I'm not your mother,

because all my kids are n*ggers."

When I told my mother what happened...

that this white girl had called me a n*gger,

and what does it mean?

So she said, "Wait till your father

gets home, he'll explain it to you."

When my old man got home,

I told him about it...

and he kind of gave me a weird look...

and he said,

"Look, let me tell you something."

He said, "The next time

somebody calls you a n*gger...

"just kick their ass. Don't ask no

questions, just kick their ass."

I think like n*ggers are the best

of the people that were slaves.

You know what I mean?

And that's how they got to be n*ggers.

'Cause they stole the cream of the crop

from Africa and brought them over here...

and God, as they say,

works in mysterious ways.

So he made everybody a n*gger

'cause we was arguing over in Africa...

about the Watusi, the Huwagada,

the Zagumbo, and the Zamunga.

You know... In different languages.

So he brought us all over here...

the best, the kings, the queens,

and the princesses and the princes...

sh*t, and put us all together

and called us one tribe: N*ggers.

This is a beautiful day,

It is a new day,

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