1
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:04,720
(Air raid siren)

2
00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,400
(Thunderous trembling)

3
00:00:40,759 --> 00:00:44,280
(Toni Morrison) 
'...which may, in fact, be

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00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:48,680
the only people in the world
who really care about them.

5
00:00:48,719 --> 00:00:53,000
When that unassailable combination

6
00:00:53,039 --> 00:00:56,960
of mind and heart,

7
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:01,640
of intellect and passion, was on display,

8
00:01:01,679 --> 00:01:06,760
she guided us through treacherous landscapes

9
00:01:06,799 --> 00:01:10,800
as it happened when you wrote these words,

10
00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:15,240
words that every rebel, dissident,
revolutionary,

11
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,480
every practicing artist
from Cape Town to Poland,

12
00:01:19,519 --> 00:01:24,880
from Waycross to Dublin, I could memorize.

13
00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:30,800
A person does not choose for no reason
go against your society.

14
00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:36,920
It's better to be at home
among compatriots

15
00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:40,960
than to be ridiculed and
hated by them.

16
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:47,640
And there is a level at which the mockery
of them, even their hatred,

17
00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,680
It's touching, for being so blind.'

18
00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,160
'Why does it have to be my loneliness?

19
00:02:44,199 --> 00:02:46,720
Why does it have to be my song?

20
00:02:46,759 --> 00:02:51,680
Why is my dream what should be
postponed for so long?'

21
00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,160
(Announcer) 
'On Monday night,
May 22, Mr. Hughes died.

22
00:03:07,199 --> 00:03:10,360
In his honor, Riverside 
WRVR Radio in New York

23
00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:13,320
presents "In Memoriam, 
Langston Hughes",

24
00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,080
a mix of memories, tributes 
and your own words.'

25
00:03:23,039 --> 00:03:26,080
(♪ Jazz/Blues)

26
00:03:54,639 --> 00:03:58,600
(Langston Hughes) 
The sun is setting, 
That's what I'm going to sing.

27
00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:04,760
The sun is setting,
That's what I'm going to sing.

28
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:10,440
I feel the sadness coming,
What will sadness bring?

29
00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,040
I have that sadness 
old and tired.

30
00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:25,240
I don't know where to turn.
I don't know where to go.

31
00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:29,520
Nobody cares about you
when it sinks so low.'

32
00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:34,000
(♪ Blackberri: Blues for Langston)

33
00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:39,240
♪ Langston, I'm singing 
this blues for you

34
00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:47,960
♪ Langston, I'm singing 
this blues for you

35
00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,880
♪ You love this song

36
00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,400
♪ and God knows we love 
this song too

37
00:04:58,439 --> 00:05:01,200
♪ My man has a heart

38
00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:06,720
♪ Like a rock in the sea

39
00:05:06,759 --> 00:05:13,520
♪ Whatever Happened
with the dream postponed

40
00:05:14,959 --> 00:05:21,960
♪ Whatever Happened
with the dream postponed

41
00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:27,120
♪ Things haven't changed much

42
00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:32,600
♪ We Still Find Power 
in our words

43
00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,400
♪ I wandered like you wandered

44
00:05:42,439 --> 00:05:46,840
♪ And I saw how far 
you arrived

45
00:05:46,879 --> 00:05:51,080
♪ Although the story 
have forgotten names

46
00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,960
♪ Your name will not be one of them

47
00:05:55,879 --> 00:05:59,840
♪ There is a life that 
Did you hide it?

48
00:05:59,879 --> 00:06:04,400
♪ One who felt that 
was prohibited

49
00:06:04,439 --> 00:06:07,040
♪ We are seeking the 
which is true

50
00:06:07,079 --> 00:06:14,080
♪ Because we want 
meet you ♪

51
00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,040
(Stuart Hall) 
'Langston Hughes, friend 
by Countee Cullen,

52
00:06:20,079 --> 00:06:24,800
by Bruce Nugent, Alain 
Locke, Wallace Thurman,

53
00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,160
admired by your 
intelligence and art.

54
00:06:27,199 --> 00:06:30,760
They sought the 
breed approval?

55
00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,920
or the black middle class
and the white literary class?

56
00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:40,320
Langston Hughes wrote that the black man
The average person has never heard of the Renaissance.

57
00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:44,160
And even if they did, their 
Salaries would not have even increased.

58
00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:48,000
Baraka said Harlem was
a "cruel modernism",

59
00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:51,240
"outrageously cruel,
the way it was created.

60
00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:56,720
They didn't understand such beauty,
so violent and transformative."

61
00:06:56,759 --> 00:07:02,240
But he understood beauty
of people with "weird manners"?

62
00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,480
Homosexuality was a 
sin against the race

63
00:07:05,519 --> 00:07:10,440
so it had to stay a secret,
even though it is well known.'

64
00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:13,200
(Police siren)

65
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,560
(♪ George Hannah: Freakish Man Blues)

66
00:07:21,759 --> 00:07:25,040
♪ He called me 
weird man

67
00:07:25,079 --> 00:07:28,720
♪ What else 
could you do?

68
00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,200
♪ She called me 
weird man

69
00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,280
♪ What else 
could you do?

70
00:07:39,439 --> 00:07:42,720
♪ Just because she said so 
that I was strange

71
00:07:42,759 --> 00:07:46,080
♪ It doesn't mean 
that was true

72
00:07:47,839 --> 00:07:54,160
♪ I sent her to the 
mill to grind your coffee

73
00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:02,600
♪ I sent her to the mill
to grind your coffee

74
00:08:04,879 --> 00:08:10,880
♪ Because my wheel broke
and I couldn't find my grinder

75
00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,520
♪ You mix 
ink with water

76
00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,360
(Man laughs)
♪ Of course it will turn black

77
00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,160
♪ I say, you mix 
paint with water

78
00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,120
♪ Of course you will 
turn black

79
00:08:53,919 --> 00:09:00,040
♪ Walking around with people 
strange, you'll end up staining yourself

80
00:09:01,879 --> 00:09:04,960
♪ There was a time when 
I was alone

81
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,760
♪ My weird outbursts 
to treat

82
00:09:09,639 --> 00:09:12,600
♪ There was a time when I 
I was alone

83
00:09:12,639 --> 00:09:16,160
♪ My weird outbursts 
to treat

84
00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:23,760
♪ But now they're so common, 
I have one every day of the week

85
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,040
♪ I felt something 
strange this morning

86
00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:32,640
♪ Well I felt it
all day

87
00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:37,600
♪ I felt something 
strange this morning

88
00:09:37,639 --> 00:09:40,760
♪ Well I felt it
all day

89
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:48,640
♪ One day I'll wake up, and that
feeling will stay forever ♪

90
00:09:52,919 --> 00:09:55,320
(Waves crashing)

91
00:10:56,399 --> 00:10:58,920
(Birds singing)

92
00:12:10,279 --> 00:12:16,440
(Bruce Nugent) 
'He was in a field,
of blue smoke and black poppies

93
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,560
and red lilies.

94
00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,520
He searched on his knees
and hands on the floor,

95
00:12:23,559 --> 00:12:28,200
searched among poppies 
black and red lilies.

96
00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:33,800
I was looking for stems of
poppy thrown away

97
00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:39,640
then he saw two legs
strong, like a dancer.

98
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,280
The contours pleased him.

99
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:48,320
His eyes wandered to his hocks
muscular to firm thighs.

100
00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:53,920
The rounded buttocks,
then the thin, slender waist.

101
00:12:53,960 --> 00:12:57,960
Strong torso and chest
wide and deep.

102
00:12:59,039 --> 00:13:03,160
Brown eyes looking 
for him.

103
00:13:03,919 --> 00:13:07,720
Your curly, black hair
and disheveled.

104
00:13:07,759 --> 00:13:10,000
And it was Beauty.

105
00:13:10,039 --> 00:13:14,120
And Beauty smiled
and looked at him and smiled

106
00:13:14,159 --> 00:13:17,960
and said, "I'll wait."

107
00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:34,000
And he got confused and continued
your search on your knees,

108
00:13:34,039 --> 00:13:39,040
getting stems out of the way 
poppy and lily stems.

109
00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,880
One poppy, one 
black poppy,

110
00:13:42,919 --> 00:13:46,600
a lily, a lily 
red.

111
00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,720
And he woke up.

112
00:13:59,759 --> 00:14:02,560
Beauty smile 
while sleeping,

113
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,640
half of your face
stained red by the sun,

114
00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:09,200
the other half in the shade,

115
00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:14,440
the eyelashes weaving blue shadows 
and thick on your cheek.

116
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:18,280
His lips were 
so beautiful,

117
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:20,720
curious.

118
00:14:21,799 --> 00:14:28,400
"I will kiss your lips."
He wanted to kiss Beauty's lips.

119
00:14:29,559 --> 00:14:32,760
He turned red 
of shame,

120
00:14:33,559 --> 00:14:36,040
Could it be that it was shame?

121
00:14:39,279 --> 00:14:43,080
His pulse was pounding
fist to fingertips.

122
00:14:44,039 --> 00:14:47,080
Beauty's lips 
touched his.

123
00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:52,520
His temples throbbed.
Beauty's breath became short,

124
00:14:53,679 --> 00:14:56,920
gently 'staccato'.

125
00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:01,680
Beauty's lips pressed
cold, cold and hard.

126
00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:07,640
How much pressure does it take
to wake up?

127
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:17,120
I could feel the breath
in the nostrils and lips.

128
00:15:17,159 --> 00:15:21,040
Beauty's lips tightened
hard against your teeth.

129
00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:28,200
He shuddered. I could feel
Beauty's body against yours,

130
00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:33,960
warm, tense and soft,

131
00:15:35,519 --> 00:15:37,520
soft.'

132
00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:59,240
(Stuart Hall) 
'He said, "Don't change 
the tone when speaking of his name."

133
00:16:59,279 --> 00:17:03,200
Don't force an air of
solemnity or sadness.

134
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:09,880
Let my name be spoken without effect,
without the ghost of shadow upon him."'

135
00:17:14,519 --> 00:17:21,080
♪ What Happened
with the dream postponed?

136
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:29,840
♪ What Happened
with the dream postponed?

137
00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,200
♪ Things don't 
have changed a lot

138
00:17:35,279 --> 00:17:40,360
♪ We Still Find Power
in our words

139
00:17:46,319 --> 00:17:50,280
♪ I wandered like 
you wandered

140
00:17:50,319 --> 00:17:54,880
♪ And I saw how far 
you arrived

141
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,920
♪ Although the story 
have forgotten names

142
00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:02,600
♪ Yours will not be 
one of them

143
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,720
♪ There is a life 
that you hid?

144
00:18:07,759 --> 00:18:12,200
♪ One that felt 
What was prohibited?

145
00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:14,520
♪ We are looking 
what is true

146
00:18:14,559 --> 00:18:20,760
♪ Because we want 
meet you ♪

147
00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:24,440
(Air raid siren)

148
00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,960
(Waves crashing)

149
00:19:11,799 --> 00:19:13,800
(Essex Hemphill) 
'Persecution.

150
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,440
The neighborhood is dangerous
but we're there.

151
00:19:20,039 --> 00:19:23,040
We walked the long way around.

152
00:19:23,079 --> 00:19:28,320
The sound of our keys
muffles the sound of the chase.

153
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:34,320
Being under the sky, above or
beneath a man,

154
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:36,960
this is our heat,

155
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,920
radiant in the night.

156
00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:43,360
Our hands stay
full of semen.

157
00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:50,200
A field of flowers blooms
where we gather in empty warehouses.

158
00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:56,840
Our seed falls without the 
sound or the grace of the stars.

159
00:19:58,079 --> 00:20:00,720
We hide in the shadows.

160
00:20:00,759 --> 00:20:04,440
We are the hunger... of the shadows.

161
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:21,200
In the dark, we don't need
say "I love you".

162
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:27,800
Darkness swallows words
and sigh like us

163
00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:32,480
after kneeling
we get up.

164
00:20:38,319 --> 00:20:41,360
I miss 
past kisses.

165
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,400
Wild lips create
streets made for pleasure.

166
00:20:45,440 --> 00:20:48,040
Romance is a trench.

167
00:20:48,079 --> 00:20:51,560
This kind of war 
scares me.

168
00:20:51,599 --> 00:20:56,520
I don't want to die in my sleep
with soldiers I don't love.

169
00:20:56,559 --> 00:20:59,160
I want to court outside the race,

170
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,560
outside the class, 
outside of attitudes,

171
00:21:03,599 --> 00:21:08,360
but love is a dangerous word
in this small town.

172
00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:15,240
Those who seek are found
face down floating on the bed.

173
00:21:15,279 --> 00:21:20,880
And those who find it, protect it
or destroy it from within.

174
00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:23,320
But the disillusioned,

175
00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:29,160
those who lost their stellar shine,
the dance of the moon, by the sea,

176
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,120
like them, I miss you
of my past.

177
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:37,400
When I was 10, 13, 20 years old,

178
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:39,560
I wanted sweet,

179
00:21:39,599 --> 00:21:43,240
five dollars a trip.'

180
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,400
(♪ Blackberri: Beautiful Black Man)

181
00:22:09,799 --> 00:22:14,760
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhh

182
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,400
Come on, look at me.

183
00:22:19,559 --> 00:22:24,560
♪ Beautiful black man, I am 
just like you

184
00:22:25,519 --> 00:22:29,600
♪ Because you know I 
I also suffer prejudice

185
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,840
♪ I got here around 10am

186
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,280
♪ Walking in this place

187
00:22:35,319 --> 00:22:39,720
♪ Almost no one
looked me in the face

188
00:22:39,759 --> 00:22:43,080
♪ You are such a beautiful black man

189
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:47,960
♪ But somehow 
made you feel

190
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,240
♪ That your beauty is not real

191
00:22:50,279 --> 00:22:54,760
♪ You are such a beautiful black man

192
00:22:54,799 --> 00:22:57,800
♪ Don't walk with your head down

193
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,040
♪ Don't do this anymore

194
00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:07,440
♪ Handsome black man, 
Did they ask for your documents?

195
00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:11,600
♪ They wanted two photos
or three?

196
00:23:12,799 --> 00:23:17,280
♪ I know it's hard, 
but sometimes we need

197
00:23:17,319 --> 00:23:21,800
♪ Just walk away, swing 
head in disgust

198
00:23:21,839 --> 00:23:25,160
♪ You are a black man 
so beautiful

199
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:29,920
♪ But somehow 
made you feel

200
00:23:29,960 --> 00:23:32,440
♪ That your beauty is not real

201
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,520
♪ You are such a beautiful black man

202
00:23:35,559 --> 00:23:39,880
♪ Walk with a smile on your face

203
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:42,960
♪ Be proud of your race

204
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,880
♪ I'm telling you you're beautiful

205
00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:48,200
♪ Saying you are beautiful

206
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,320
♪ Don't you know you're beautiful, beautiful?

207
00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,160
♪ You have a beautiful face

208
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:59,640
♪ I'm telling you you're beautiful

209
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:01,840
♪ Come on

210
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,040
♪ And be proud of your race

211
00:24:04,079 --> 00:24:05,200
♪ I'm saying it now

212
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,160
♪ Come on,
be proud, be proud... ♪

213
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:12,000
(Stuart Hall) 'Twas a time
when black was in fashion.

214
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:18,000
The white patrons of the Renaissance 
Harlem wanted its black artists

215
00:24:18,039 --> 00:24:21,840
know and feel 
primitive intuitions.

216
00:24:23,599 --> 00:24:27,000
They didn't want modernism.
They wanted black art

217
00:24:27,039 --> 00:24:30,160
to maintain art and 
artists in their place.

218
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:36,320
At the end of the 1920s, the 
Black people were no longer in fashion.

219
00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,520
Patrons found others
uses for money.

220
00:24:39,559 --> 00:24:43,200
Sophisticated New Yorkers
turned to Noel Coward

221
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,440
and black artists and writers
they began to starve.

222
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:53,040
Story: the clown
with the knife under the cover.'

223
00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,520
(Police siren)

224
00:25:01,519 --> 00:25:03,840
(♪ Bass strumming)

225
00:25:16,519 --> 00:25:19,560
(Essex Hemphill) 'He speaks English
very well with me.

226
00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:21,640
I'm his brother, Carver.

227
00:25:21,641 --> 00:25:26,479
He doesn't say this 'dis' [this]
and 'dat' [that] that you see around.

228
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:31,160
Every word he says resonates
clearly in my head.

229
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:35,000
I don't think you ever
paid attention to him.

230
00:25:35,039 --> 00:25:39,480
He's always busy,
looking for other things from him.

231
00:25:39,519 --> 00:25:42,000
His name is not important.

232
00:25:42,039 --> 00:25:48,240
It would be a coincidence if he had
a name, a face, a mind.

233
00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:51,720
Either he had a hard life, or he is poor

234
00:25:51,759 --> 00:25:54,720
and anyway you watch.

235
00:25:55,759 --> 00:25:58,640
You want crossover music.

236
00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:02,520
Want his pleasure
without guilt or capture.

237
00:26:03,759 --> 00:26:07,080
You don't notice many 
things about him.

238
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:10,080
He doesn't always use 
a red hat,

239
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:13,320
eat fried chicken, 
fuck like a jungle.

240
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,680
He doesn't always live
with mom or on the streets

241
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,680
or with some bitch,
as supposed.

242
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,080
You seem to be worried.

243
00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:25,480
You offer 20 dollars 
saying it's for the taxi

244
00:26:25,519 --> 00:26:28,320
and send him home.

245
00:26:28,359 --> 00:26:31,840
Their paths cross the next day.

246
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:34,920
You ignore him, but he remembers.

247
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:38,720
His seed dilutes 
in your blood.

248
00:26:38,759 --> 00:26:42,800
He doesn't dance well, 
but you don't realize.

249
00:26:42,839 --> 00:26:48,160
For you it is only visible 
in the dark.'

250
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,080
(The projector rotates)

251
00:27:11,839 --> 00:27:17,040
(Essex Hemphill) 'Lowering my
pants in front of another mouth.

252
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:22,880
The cheap film roll
rattles in the compartment

253
00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:27,360
while color silent film,
for 25 cents,

254
00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,640
spins and spins.

255
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:37,000
We gasp in a 
dark cabin.

256
00:27:37,039 --> 00:27:42,080
The musky odor of hair
burns our nostrils.

257
00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:47,040
I moan while your 
mouth swallows me.

258
00:27:47,079 --> 00:27:52,760
This is the first sound 
of this silent film,

259
00:27:52,799 --> 00:27:55,840
then he groans,

260
00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,800
giving the film its dialogue.

261
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:06,640
(Breathing)

262
00:28:13,079 --> 00:28:16,720
Now we think, while we have sex,

263
00:28:16,759 --> 00:28:19,960
this enjoyment may kill us.

264
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:26,960
Maybe there's a hole in the condom.

265
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,640
A deadly leak.

266
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:35,400
We stopped kissing strangers
tall and black,

267
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:41,400
sucking mustaches, putting
lips, tongues, everywhere.

268
00:28:42,599 --> 00:28:48,320
We go back to photos, phones,
toys.

269
00:28:48,359 --> 00:28:52,160
Recent lovers, private lives.

270
00:28:53,039 --> 00:28:56,240
Now we think, while we have sex,

271
00:28:56,279 --> 00:28:59,360
this enjoyment may kill us.

272
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:04,160
This kiss may turn to stone.'

273
00:29:24,319 --> 00:29:27,120
(Stuart Hall) 'Sometimes 
edge of sleep

274
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:32,560
these and other faces are projected
against the wall of memory

275
00:29:32,599 --> 00:29:34,760
and at the same time I'm 
back in the gallery

276
00:29:34,799 --> 00:29:38,880
where did I see these faces and names
for the first time

277
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:44,120
Meet Alain Locke in 
a tea party just for boys.

278
00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:48,440
Kissing Langston Hughes
and never forget.

279
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,080
Being photographed by 
Carl Van Vechten.

280
00:29:52,119 --> 00:29:57,960
Stage the first production of The Amen 
Corner, by Baldwin, at Howard University.

281
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,360
Adjust your tie 
Harold Jackman.

282
00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:05,200
Don't care too much about
Countee Cullen's appearance.

283
00:30:06,519 --> 00:30:10,000
Hunt black meat with 
Auden in Harlem.

284
00:30:10,039 --> 00:30:12,560
Be loved.

285
00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,080
(The tram bell rings)

286
00:30:19,119 --> 00:30:24,320
What must have been obvious to him at the time
It wasn't clear to me for years.

287
00:30:24,359 --> 00:30:27,800
We were connected by our
homosexual desires.

288
00:30:29,079 --> 00:30:33,560
Then I saw that they had broken
several rules about being black

289
00:30:33,599 --> 00:30:35,880
simply by the act of writing.

290
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,520
But before I accept this

291
00:30:38,559 --> 00:30:42,760
I would have to learn the 
terms they set

292
00:30:42,799 --> 00:30:45,400
and others established for them.

293
00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:47,080
(Seagulls caw)

294
00:30:47,119 --> 00:30:52,000
Not discussing the moral meaning
by Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes,

295
00:30:52,039 --> 00:30:56,600
Alain Locke, choosing others
of your kind to love,

296
00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,920
is to castrate and embalm
this society as a whole.

297
00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:03,960
Delete the image of two
color fags

298
00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:08,840
kissing and producing poems 
and paintings for each other.

299
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:15,080
And finally, it devalues, as
usually makes American history

300
00:31:15,119 --> 00:31:20,840
every time you try to reconcile 
like enigma known as the Black,

301
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:25,880
the rejection of almost everything
that makes something not white.

302
00:31:27,519 --> 00:31:31,400
History like the clown with the knife.'

303
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,720
(♪ Slow Jazz/Blues)

304
00:33:16,279 --> 00:33:20,040
(Langston Hughes) 
I loved my friend.

305
00:33:20,079 --> 00:33:22,160
He moved away from me.

306
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,240
You don't have anything else to say.

307
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:31,560
The poem ends as smoothly as it began.

308
00:33:31,599 --> 00:33:34,120
I loved my friend.'

309
00:33:41,319 --> 00:33:44,880
(Waves crashing)

310
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:12,960
(Langston Hughes) 'Oh, spill of
stars over the streets of Harlem.

311
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,720
Oh, little breath of
oblivion that is the night.

312
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:22,080
A city building alongside 
sound of a mother's song.

313
00:34:22,119 --> 00:34:24,520
A city dreaming
with a lullaby.

314
00:34:27,159 --> 00:34:30,000
Raise your hand, black boy,

315
00:34:30,039 --> 00:34:33,640
and take a star from the breath 
of oblivion that is the night.

316
00:34:33,679 --> 00:34:37,680
Just take one star.'

317
00:35:03,159 --> 00:35:09,800
(Hemphill) 'Left me begging for things
which many men thought they had below the waist.

318
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,240
I was trying to reach 
something higher.

319
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,400
I could play my
legs up like satellites

320
00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:21,160
but I knew I was 
fucking fallen angels.

321
00:35:21,199 --> 00:35:24,960
I made them feel 
like demigods.

322
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:29,160
I believed that my 
mission was in war zone:

323
00:35:29,199 --> 00:35:33,840
Don't create victims, heal them.

324
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:38,120
But I was the injured one, 
almost dead,

325
00:35:38,159 --> 00:35:44,640
helping the unharmed. Men whose hearts 
vigorous ones failed at dawn

326
00:35:44,679 --> 00:35:48,400
and brought them to tears, 
to your knees,

327
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,880
to her former lovers.

328
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,880
They could look at me and
say they didn't want to take it

329
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:58,320
the beauty that scars 
of love they give me.

330
00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:00,480
So touch me now,

331
00:36:00,519 --> 00:36:03,200
Hannibal, Toussaint.

332
00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:06,440
I am a revolution 
no blood spilled.

333
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:11,520
I can change the order of things
to meet my despair.

334
00:36:11,559 --> 00:36:16,480
You can raise your legs, 
almost touch the sky.

335
00:36:16,519 --> 00:36:20,760
I can be an angel, falling.'

336
00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:55,640
(♪ Royal House: Can You Party?)

337
00:36:55,679 --> 00:36:59,480
- Check it out.
- ♪ Can you feel it?

338
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,000
(Men scream)

339
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:05,840
♪ Can you feel it?

340
00:37:09,679 --> 00:37:11,760
♪ Oh, yeah!

341
00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:15,120
♪ Can you feel it? ♪ Wooh, baby

342
00:37:15,159 --> 00:37:19,240
♪ Wooh, wooh, wooh, baby

343
00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,400
♪ Can you feel it?

344
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,440
♪ Oh, yeah!

345
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,800
♪ Oh, yeah!

346
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:28,840
♪ Can you feel it? ♪

347
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:30,880
(Wind blows)

348
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:33,280
(Birds sing)

349
00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:38,400
(Men scream)

350
00:37:44,039 --> 00:37:45,800
(Birds sing)

351
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:53,680
- I saw you last night
- Many occupants are never found.

352
00:37:53,719 --> 00:37:56,960
- in the basement
- Many canoes capsized.

353
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:01,840
- from Brass Rail.
- Your black diva face,

354
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,080
- a lake.
- Blushing and laughing.

355
00:38:05,119 --> 00:38:06,720
I hear the sea

356
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:10,720
- His voice falling from the air.
- shouting behind his eyes.

357
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:14,360
Dancing with the boys at
limit of funk.

358
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:15,440
Dusk.

359
00:38:15,480 --> 00:38:17,920
The boys danced, darling,

360
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:19,640
- My language
- touching you

361
00:38:19,679 --> 00:38:21,320
- walk
- indiscreetly.

362
00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,760
along your thighs 
like a hermit.

363
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:25,560
Your body, a green light.

364
00:38:25,599 --> 00:38:29,080
- I was naked with you.
- Inciting them.

365
00:38:29,119 --> 00:38:32,560
Dear Diva. Loved.

366
00:38:32,599 --> 00:38:34,360
- You were in the mirrors.
- The light.

367
00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:35,520
In your arms.

368
00:38:35,559 --> 00:38:38,760
- The boys whispered about you.
- Singapore Slings toasted you.

369
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,520
Under the music that 
Get out of the jukebox.

370
00:38:41,559 --> 00:38:44,720
They were frozen promises 
in ice cubes.

371
00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:47,480
- The boys whispered about you
- Endrin gin effervesces

372
00:38:47,519 --> 00:38:50,840
- under the music playing on the jukebox.
- and the Singapore Slings toasted you.

373
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:52,880
- You were in the mirrors.
- The light.

374
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:54,720
- In your arms,
- Your body is a green light.

375
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:56,520
- Dear Diva, beloved,
- The boys danced, dear,

376
00:38:56,559 --> 00:38:58,840
- I was naked with you.
- touching you indiscreetly.

377
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:00,920
My tongue walked 
along your thighs.

378
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:04,720
- Dancing on the edge of funk. Your voice...
- I found the smell. Dusk.

379
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,520
- ...falling from the air. Blushing and laughing.
- I hear the sea screaming behind your eyes.

380
00:39:08,559 --> 00:39:10,880
- Your black diva face,
- I saw you last night

381
00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,960
- a lake. Many canoes capsized.
- in the basement of the Brass Rail.

382
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:15,720
Many occupants never 
are found.

383
00:39:19,039 --> 00:39:20,840
(Boom)

384
00:39:21,679 --> 00:39:23,080
♪ Too black

385
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:29,600
♪ Too strong

386
00:39:29,639 --> 00:39:31,560
♪ Check it out ♪

387
00:39:43,840 --> 00:39:47,360
(Langston Hughes) 'It looks like she
I could have noticed if I had been paying attention.

388
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,800
He mistreated her a lot.

389
00:39:52,119 --> 00:39:53,760
He hit her badly.

390
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:58,320
So he went and left her, 
stole everything she had.

391
00:39:59,119 --> 00:40:03,440
She tried to find out 
what direction did Dave take

392
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:07,200
but there was no trace,
wherever you looked.

393
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:11,280
That woman who saw
the future

394
00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:15,320
couldn't say 
where David went.

395
00:40:23,199 --> 00:40:25,560
Sun is rising.

396
00:40:27,039 --> 00:40:29,840
This will be my song.

397
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:32,760
The sun is rising.

398
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,520
This will be my song.

399
00:40:35,559 --> 00:40:40,640
I could be sad,
but I was sad all night.

400
00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:46,000