00:00My ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa in the year 1619,
00:08the first slave ship, and brought to Jamestown, Virginia.
00:14The first person to die in the first American war,
00:20the American Revolutionary War, was a black man.
00:23His name is Crispus Attucks.
00:25A lot of people don't know that history.
00:27And it proves the point that black people have been dying for this country.
00:35And we still don't have our full rights.
01:27When I saw the Jackson 5 on the Ed Sullivan show,
01:32I wanted to be Michael Jackson.
01:35I had the afro, the looks, but singing and dancing, that's where it stopped.
01:43So I grew up with, I'm just a year older than him,
01:48I grew up with Michael Jackson.
01:58I felt that it was my feelings when I first got there,
02:03I was looked upon like the only reason I'm in school
02:06is because I was fulfilling the quota.
02:27That film came out in 1989.
02:41I wrote it in 1988.
02:45When you see brother Eric Garner,
02:52when you see King George Floyd murdered, lynched,
03:01I think of Ray Rahim.
03:04And you would think and hope that 30-something years later,
03:11the black people stopped being hunted down like the animals.
03:23Who is Malcolm X?
03:25Malcolm X was this guy who they think was slaying all white people,
03:29blue-eyed devils.
03:31But then the course of time, you know,
03:34things have a way of turning around.
03:37And when a guy's been dead and buried 20 years,
03:40he's not that potentially dangerous.
03:53The black woman has a doubly hard, not only she's black,
03:57she's also a woman.
03:59And the only way I think to correct that,
04:01as far as cinema is concerned,
04:03is for more women people to be involved
04:06in the creative process of filmmaking.
04:08More women writing screenplays, more women producing films,
04:11more women directing films.
04:14Bush and Republicans, they don't care about poor people.
04:17And I think another telling tale about Katrina
04:21is that a lot of white people found out
04:25that Bush didn't care about them also.
04:27He doesn't care about white people,
04:29he doesn't care about Black people.
04:31He doesn't care about Black people.
04:33He doesn't care about Black people.
04:35So, he's not interested in Black people.
04:37He's not interested in Black people.
04:39A lot of white people found out
04:41that Bush didn't care about them also.
04:43He doesn't care about white poor people either.
04:47What do we want? Peace!
04:49What do we want? Peace!
04:51What do we want? Put the guns down now!
04:53Put the guns down now!
04:55We have to come out from under the tyranny
04:58of the NRA and the gun manufacturers.
05:01That's what it comes down to.
05:03And not vote politicians into office
05:06except money from both of them.
05:26If a ruckus had not been raised,
05:29I believe that Academy would not have made those changes.
05:36We want to connect a film that's a period piece,
05:50early 70s, with what is happening today in the world.
05:55That was our job as storytellers
05:58to make that connection for the audience.
06:01Too many people have been silent
06:04about what is going on.
06:06And it is my hope that this film, Black Plans,
06:11sparks conversation, or more conversation,
06:19about what is happening in this country.
06:23What keeps you motivated after all this work?
06:36Well, I'm one of the blessed people in the world
06:38who gets to make a living doing what they love.
06:42It's simple.
06:44Most people go to their grave,
06:46haven't worked the job they hated.
06:53I've seen so many young kids,
07:04where parents hold them in their hand.
07:07Parents are making the decision
07:09that their children need to see
07:13what is happening in the United States and America.
07:16And they want their children to be a witness.
07:19And they're explaining.
07:21They're not just putting out there,
07:22at the same time, learning.
07:24Education's happening.
07:26Because the kids are saying,
07:27Mommy, Daddy, what's happening?
07:29And these parents are explaining
07:32to their very young children
07:34what is happening, why they're out there,
07:37and why they brought them along too.
07:40And it gives me more hope that the large amount
07:43of my young white brother and sister out there
07:47who are joining us,
07:50join their black and brown sisters.
07:53It's really a mosaic.
07:59It's not just black and brown people out there marching.
08:03And in many cities,
08:06the black and brown people are the minority.
Comments