A Panther In Africa
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00 [ Silence ]
00:00:03 [ Birds Chirping ]
00:00:07 >> Living here in Tanzania, you have to have a gun.
00:00:11 We have spinning cobras, buffalo crashing to our fences.
00:00:15 There have been reports of lions roaming around.
00:00:18 But anyone who is not a Tanzanian requesting
00:00:23 to possess a firearm must first get permission
00:00:26 from the embassy.
00:00:27 Now this is a crazy scenario.
00:00:30 Pete O'Neill, former Black Panther in exile,
00:00:33 has to go to the United States Embassy to request a license
00:00:38 for a 12-gauge shotgun.
00:00:40 And it was a 12-gauge shotgun in 1970 that led
00:00:46 to my spending 32 years in Africa.
00:00:49 [ Gunshot ]
00:00:54 [ Background Sounds ]
00:01:04 >> As a member of the Black Panther Party, I was arrested
00:01:07 on the very bogus charge
00:01:09 of transporting a gun across state lines.
00:01:12 I had had some very serious run-ins with the police
00:01:16 in Kansas City and with the FBI as well.
00:01:18 Policemen had seriously indicated that I would die
00:01:21 if I went to prison.
00:01:23 So my wife Charlotte and I left the United States
00:01:26 and chose to go into exile.
00:01:27 [ Background Sounds ]
00:01:32 After having spent two years in Algeria,
00:01:35 we came here to Arusha, Tanzania.
00:01:38 And we've been here ever since.
00:01:40 [ Background Sounds ]
00:01:45 >> This pipe goes to our village.
00:01:48 [ Foreign Language ]
00:01:54 >> So here's where the elephants have been stepping.
00:01:56 [ Foreign Language ]
00:02:05 >> So these are how the elephants take and grab
00:02:08 out with their tusks and pull out the pipe and break them up.
00:02:12 >> Oh, that's kind of scary.
00:02:15 [ Foreign Language ]
00:02:20 >> I'm hoping and praying that this will perhaps alleviate some
00:02:23 of our water problems.
00:02:25 It doesn't look very promising right now, but fingers crossed.
00:02:28 [ Foreign Language ]
00:02:34 [ Music ]
00:02:41 >> When I brought Charlotte out here, she was 19 years old.
00:02:44 She'd never been away from home.
00:02:46 And I was 30 then.
00:02:48 I cannot imagine that I would have been able
00:02:52 to succeed without her.
00:02:54 I do not have the ability to deal with details.
00:02:59 I can't.
00:03:00 Charlotte coordinates everything.
00:03:03 >> Hey, hey.
00:03:05 Sorry to be so rush, rush, but I got another meeting this afternoon.
00:03:09 I need to know how we can do today because, you know,
00:03:12 I got to go to Rotary and then I got this.
00:03:15 I know this is a running job.
00:03:18 I'm just trying to work out how we can do trans.
00:03:22 >> I can be a little impatient at times and have developed
00:03:26 into a grumpy old man.
00:03:28 >> Are you leaving now?
00:03:29 >> And Charlotte is angelic by nature.
00:03:34 [ Music ]
00:03:37 I'm setting a new record for cholesterol.
00:03:39 I'm going to be the first person to have a cholesterol level
00:03:42 of 589 and survive.
00:03:44 >> Oh, really?
00:03:45 >> I'm telling you.
00:03:47 [ Speaking Foreign Language ]
00:03:52 >> Yeah, to Nanda's house.
00:03:53 >> Okay.
00:03:54 >> Hidasa.
00:03:56 Hidasa.
00:03:57 Hurry up.
00:03:58 Come on.
00:03:59 [ Speaking Foreign Language ]
00:04:03 >> Morning.
00:04:04 >> Good morning.
00:04:05 >> How you all doing?
00:04:06 >> How are you?
00:04:07 >> Good.
00:04:08 >> Our differing personalities have combined to create a whole
00:04:12 that has been extraordinarily productive.
00:04:16 [ Music ]
00:04:21 >> We'd like to welcome you all to the United African American
00:04:25 Community Center.
00:04:26 Myself, Charlotte O'Neill, my husband, Pete O'Neill,
00:04:30 founded the United African American Community Center in '91.
00:04:34 >> '91.
00:04:35 >> But we have been doing community work for years and
00:04:38 years in Kansas City as members of the Black Panther Party where
00:04:42 we fed more than 750 children every day and had free medical
00:04:47 clinics.
00:04:48 >> When people think of the Black Panther Party, mostly due to
00:04:51 the media, they think of young men with guns and berets and
00:04:55 leather jackets, and that's true.
00:04:57 But we were much more than that.
00:05:02 >> The really good things about the Black Panther Party was the
00:05:05 manner in which it served the community.
00:05:08 >> How old is he?
00:05:09 How old is he?
00:05:12 >> He is a--
00:05:13 >> If you look at what we're doing right now, you would find
00:05:16 it difficult to distinguish the community work we were doing
00:05:19 back in the day and the community work we're doing now.
00:05:23 >> Do you know we're dealing with 90 students a day?
00:05:26 >> How are you, Asha?
00:05:28 >> I'm fine.
00:05:29 >> If we have someone who has ability to teach English, we
00:05:32 teach English.
00:05:35 If we find volunteers who have computer skills, they teach
00:05:39 computers to our young people.
00:05:45 >> Human.
00:05:47 HIV is a human virus.
00:05:49 >> What we're trying to do here is create a microcosm of what we
00:05:53 feel the world should be.
00:05:55 People of all races, all cultures, all traditions come
00:05:58 together and live and work for common goals.
00:06:02 [ Music ]
00:06:14 >> In 1968, I started to read about the Black Panther Party.
00:06:19 I went to Oakland, California.
00:06:21 I talked with the people who were running the party there, and
00:06:24 we established the Kansas City chapter of the Black Panther
00:06:28 Party.
00:06:29 >> The Black Panther Party is officially in Kansas City.
00:06:34 >> The Black Panther Party came into existence to try to
00:06:37 control these mad dog policemen who were brutalizing people in
00:06:41 the black community.
00:06:43 >> About black community.
00:06:45 >> About black community.
00:06:47 >> Right on.
00:06:49 >> Our breakfast for school children program, our counseling
00:06:52 programs, our clothing programs, all evolved from that original
00:06:58 foundation.
00:07:00 Before the Black Panther Party, I did many things that by
00:07:04 anyone's standards would be considered wrong.
00:07:08 The Black Panther Party turned my life dramatically around.
00:07:12 >> Uh-huh.
00:07:13 >> Sister Cheryl.
00:07:15 >> I bet a lot of the -- can you imagine how a lot of the elders
00:07:18 in the village would view -- who is this?
00:07:21 I said, that's Mama Charlotte.
00:07:23 They say, who?
00:07:24 What's she doing with a gun?
00:07:26 >> Is she going hunting or what?
00:07:28 >> Uh-huh.
00:07:29 >> Wow.
00:07:30 >> Do you remember when we first came to Darcelan, to Tanzania?
00:07:34 I remember when we walked out of the airport and how warm it was,
00:07:38 and it was those coconut trees, you know.
00:07:42 I said, Pete, I love this.
00:07:45 This is like coming home.
00:07:47 And it really was.
00:07:49 >> I don't know what that means.
00:07:51 >> Do you know when I got off the plane here, and this is the truth,
00:07:55 Charlotte, all kidding aside, I didn't have a good feeling.
00:07:59 I just didn't, sister.
00:08:01 And we've talked about this a lot, and I generally make light of it.
00:08:05 But to me it was just like I had gotten too far away from everything
00:08:09 that I knew.
00:08:11 And it amazes me how you didn't feel that way.
00:08:13 I guess you were just as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine.
00:08:17 >> For me, I was saying, oh, boy.
00:08:21 I saw the tin roofs with the rusted iron, and I said, uh-oh.
00:08:27 I said, we are in for a different kind of life.
00:08:31 [laughter]
00:08:34 [speaking in foreign language]
00:08:43 >> Wait a minute, wait a minute.
00:08:45 How much is it?
00:08:47 [speaking in foreign language]
00:08:49 [speaking in foreign language]
00:08:55 [speaking in foreign language]
00:09:05 [speaking in foreign language]
00:09:20 >> I spend most of my life shopping and buying supplies.
00:09:24 We feed 20 to 30 people daily.
00:09:27 We've got our programs.
00:09:29 We have student groups coming through.
00:09:31 We've got all these people visiting.
00:09:33 We've got honeymoon people just passing through.
00:09:38 We are in constant motion.
00:09:49 >> I have a peaceful kind of floating in the clouds nature.
00:09:54 That's just me, and it balances out the way Pete is,
00:09:57 because he's more hyper, and he sweats things more than I do.
00:10:04 >> But he's very different from the way I remember him back in the day.
00:10:09 I've watched him grow to be very tolerant of all kinds of people's opinions,
00:10:16 where I think years ago, if you wasn't down with the program,
00:10:21 you know, you couldn't hardly say anything to him.
00:10:25 [crickets chirping]
00:10:30 >> We don't see any racial problems in Birmingham.
00:10:33 >> Oh, really?
00:10:34 >> No. Scott and I live there, and we love it.
00:10:36 We both live fairly Anglo lives in Alabama.
00:10:41 I don't have that much interaction with inner-city blacks or anything,
00:10:45 but I don't feel threatened walking down the street,
00:10:47 and there's no chip on my shoulder, and as far as I can tell,
00:10:50 no chip on any of their shoulders.
00:10:51 >> Well, that was going to be my next question.
00:10:53 I was going to ask you, how did you think blacks felt there?
00:10:56 You're talking about where, Birmingham?
00:10:58 >> But now in Birmingham, not--
00:10:59 >> No question, but I wanted to ask you, how do they feel?
00:11:02 >> See, I don't agree with what Claire says,
00:11:04 but I still notice that throughout the African-American community,
00:11:08 I still think there are a lot of young people who still sense some resentment
00:11:11 and get choked by the anger and the resentment and can't break out of that
00:11:15 and almost wallow at times in the anger and the resentment,
00:11:20 and instead of taking that energy and moving forward,
00:11:23 it serves as a hindrance to their moving forward.
00:11:29 >> There may be some truth in that, but can you imagine how difficult it is
00:11:33 to forge ahead when you--
00:11:34 >> I don't know how.
00:11:35 >> No, you don't, sir, when you have never had an opportunity educationally.
00:11:39 >> But you don't know what it's like to be a white male in the South either.
00:11:43 It ain't all bread and roses.
00:11:45 >> But whites weren't slaves for centuries.
00:11:47 >> But we don't live on the big rock candy mountain and the money doesn't grow on trees,
00:11:51 and it's not even easy for a white person either.
00:11:55 It's hard, Pete.
00:11:56 >> It's not easy for whites.
00:11:58 No, it's not.
00:11:59 I agree with you.
00:12:00 It's not, but you certainly, in any kind of intellectual honesty,
00:12:04 you can't compare that with what blacks--
00:12:06 you're too intelligent a man to look at people that were treated like cows and chickens
00:12:13 were denied--was against the law to know how to read for centuries.
00:12:18 >> Now, what's the solution?
00:12:20 >> The first thing in all of these problems that we talked about, I can give you the solution.
00:12:25 The first thing is to admit, and that's hard.
00:12:29 That's the hardest thing.
00:12:30 That's the hardest part, and particularly for whites.
00:12:33 Not a white man never will be, but I can imagine this is the most difficult thing
00:12:37 whites will ever have to do, is to admit categorically that we have had serious problems,
00:12:44 we can't sugarcoat them, we can't cast blame on the victim.
00:12:49 We have to say, "Hey, we screwed up.
00:12:51 This was wrong.
00:12:52 What can we do to make it right?"
00:12:58 >> Sister, sister, sister, if you could have heard some of the stuff that came out of their mouth.
00:13:04 Part of the problem--no, damn it, he said the problem, and I'm paraphrasing--
00:13:09 was that young blacks have resentment in their heart.
00:13:16 Well, what in the hell do you expect to have?
00:13:20 >> So many people have a lack of knowledge about the '60s and '70s and the Civil Rights era and all of that.
00:13:27 It's like they've been living in complete isolation.
00:13:30 >> Isolation and have no idea--
00:13:32 >> It's like the rest of the world.
00:13:34 That's what blows my mind, too.
00:13:37 >> We'll find people that will come in our presence now, and they'll talk about social issues and racial issues
00:13:42 and things like this, but these are things they don't think about when they're not--
00:13:46 and they think they have to do this in our presence.
00:13:49 >> And they may--
00:13:50 >> No, but that's the killer.
00:13:51 This is the killer.
00:13:52 This is the killer.
00:13:53 They think in their mind that they are being as progressive, and they're saying,
00:13:59 "Look, look, it's really your fault," he said, "it's your fault," or, "you're playing--you're a big part of the problem,"
00:14:05 but he means well.
00:14:07 I don't like that, do you?
00:14:09 I know that's a big part of what we talk about and what we try to do, but I don't like it, do you?
00:14:14 Truthfully.
00:14:15 >> You mean dealing with those issues?
00:14:16 >> No.
00:14:17 I'm talking about the whole cross-cultural thing, when it brings that uncomfortable feeling.
00:14:23 You know, I'd really--I'm not going to do this, but I'd really just say, "Hey, take that shit out of here," you know?
00:14:30 >> Has there been any cooling off between you and the police in Kansas City?
00:14:33 >> None whatsoever.
00:14:34 There can never be any cooling off between the Black Panther Party and the racist pigs,
00:14:39 regardless of what level of pigs we're talking about, until all oppression has been ended,
00:14:43 until we see them all sent to their graves.
00:14:46 When I look at that footage, I'm a little impressed with myself that I had the fortitude to say this and to say it on national TV.
00:14:57 I have no qualms about what we were struggling for in the Black Panther Party.
00:15:01 I think they were right.
00:15:03 But when I see myself adopting a totally unreasonable stance, it almost says to me, "I could have dealt with that better."
00:15:13 >> Eldridge Cleaver made the statement that he would like to go into the Senate, to shoot his way into the Senate and take McClellan's head.
00:15:20 While Eldridge is doing that, I would like very much to shoot my way into the House of Representatives and get this racist lion Icard's head.
00:15:27 >> The interviewer, when I said that I wanted to take Congressman Icard's head, who headed the investigation against me,
00:15:34 he said, "Now, when you say you want to take his head, you don't mean that literally."
00:15:43 And I said, "I mean it literally. I'd like to do that."
00:15:46 And perhaps I did.
00:15:48 Perhaps at that time I was thinking that going into the House of Representatives and taking the head of Icard would somehow further the revolution.
00:15:59 Well, if that's how I thought then, it's not a reflection of how I feel now.
00:16:05 >> What I need to do is just really practice the pronunciation.
00:16:11 "Tu me pata" -- see, I'm getting -- struggling already.
00:16:15 >> Try to use it.
00:16:16 >> Okay.
00:16:17 "Tu me pata, mafucka."
00:16:20 [ Laughter ]
00:16:23 First tell me the meaning. What does it mean?
00:16:25 >> The meaning is understanding.
00:16:26 >> Understanding. Like between you and I.
00:16:28 >> Yeah. Say we quarreled on certain matters.
00:16:31 >> Yes.
00:16:32 >> And then we said, "Okay, if we let's forget about our differences."
00:16:36 >> Yes.
00:16:37 >> So that understanding is called "mwafaka."
00:16:40 >> Good Lord in heaven.
00:16:42 [ Laughter ]
00:16:45 "Mwafaka."
00:16:46 >> "Mwafaka."
00:16:48 >> Okay.
00:16:49 >> I understand why you try to avoid using that word.
00:16:53 >> Yes, I am, because there's a phrase in English that sounds very similar,
00:16:59 and it means -- certainly does not mean understanding, you know?
00:17:03 [ Laughter ]
00:17:05 >> When Peter came to Tanzania, he was young, provocative, and very rough.
00:17:12 >> I remember you cannot talk to Peter three words without exchanging horrible words.
00:17:27 One day in town, he had this panga, a big knife, and I don't know what happened,
00:17:34 but he chased a man with his knife.
00:17:38 So a lot of people came out, and everybody was saying,
00:17:41 "Wow, wow, what is this? What is this?"
00:17:44 Then we saw it was Peter.
00:17:48 In Tanzania, we don't do that.
00:17:51 If you hate somebody, there is a way of giving the message that,
00:17:56 "Well, I don't like you," but not chasing him in front of people with a panga,
00:18:03 with a knife, it doesn't happen.
00:18:10 >> When Peter came here, he had some problems in his mind.
00:18:16 I think he has some frustrations from America.
00:18:20 [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:18:26 >> Shoot.
00:18:27 [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:18:44 >> I love the Tanzanian people.
00:18:46 I think they are a gentle, considerate, loving people,
00:18:50 and things are so much more mellow here, so much more polite, but it's hard for me.
00:18:56 [ Speaking in foreign language ]
00:18:58 >> Oftentimes, the elders will stop me and want to talk about some issue.
00:19:03 I'm still with that little bit of Americanism in me, want to rush and do what I have to do.
00:19:09 I am required to visit regularly, to bring gifts when I do so,
00:19:15 and I must express the highest form of respect.
00:19:20 I have to struggle with it.
00:19:22 Don't do it this way.
00:19:23 Don't say it that way.
00:19:24 Be polite.
00:19:26 This is a daily struggle for me.
00:19:33 Yesterday, I received an e-mail about my legal case.
00:19:39 My lawyer has done so much for me, and he has done it pro bono.
00:19:44 I haven't had a cent to give him.
00:19:48 This is going to be the year that something dramatic will take place with our efforts to have my conviction thrown out
00:19:56 and my legal situation.
00:19:57 I really believe that.
00:20:04 Now, what was that woman that was the attorney general under Clinton?
00:20:07 Janet Reno, that's it.
00:20:09 This case even reached her desk, and she was, in a sense, sympathetic.
00:20:15 She said, "Yes, I couldn't agree more that his conviction was probably politically motivated."
00:20:21 She said, "But it's going to have to be resolved in the courts or either a presidential pardon."
00:20:27 Anyway, we'll see what happens.
00:20:28 I'm confident, however, that eventually I will prevail.
00:20:33 Somebody else give me a question.
00:20:35 What's that tattoo over there?
00:20:37 Oh, Lord, I knew someone would see that.
00:20:39 You're the first one.
00:20:40 Yeah, these were put on me when I was in the Navy.
00:20:42 This faded, said Pete.
00:20:46 This one says, "Mom, I've never in my life called my mother Mom, never in my entire life."
00:20:52 Now, the creme de la creme, ready?
00:20:55 Are we prepared for this?
00:20:57 Here's this one, which is a--what could I have been thinking?
00:21:02 A turtle?
00:21:04 Man, I've got stuff on me that I said, "Lord, please, let no one see it before I die."
00:21:10 You want to know what I got in Hong Kong?
00:21:12 Let me show you.
00:21:13 You want to see it?
00:21:14 This is not going to be salacious or anything.
00:21:16 Don't get upset or worried.
00:21:18 This is a Black Panther that I had put on in Hong Kong in 1958,
00:21:24 long before a Black Panther Party was ever thought about.
00:21:27 Isn't that a little odd coincidence?
00:21:29 Isn't that something?
00:21:31 We work with a lot of organizations, universities, and study abroad programs.
00:21:37 Tourists come out here and they give us donations for staying here with us.
00:21:41 So this is how we survive financially.
00:21:44 We operate and we function on a wing and a prayer.
00:21:47 See, we're talking about water situation, sister, is bad.
00:22:01 This could get disastrous, you know.
00:22:03 Let me tell you, everybody, may I make a suggestion?
00:22:06 Please forgive the indelicate subject at the dinner table,
00:22:10 but when you pee, don't flush the toilet.
00:22:12 Do not flush the toilet when you pee.
00:22:15 And when you take showers, please be brief.
00:22:19 One of our major difficulties in living here in this village is our lack of water
00:22:33 and the fact that our water supply is so uncertain.
00:22:37 When there's no rain, everybody's battling trying to get a little bit more water.
00:22:45 This can't be.
00:22:47 This is a holy mess.
00:22:51 There's a trickle of water coming in from the park.
00:22:54 The water is the absolute last of our reserves.
00:22:58 We have nothing else.
00:23:01 [Water dripping]
00:23:03 I had a real bad stomach ache.
00:23:09 I started getting fever, and now I'm coughing a lot.
00:23:12 I think it's bronchitis. I've had it before.
00:23:14 And now I'm throwing up. I can't eat anything.
00:23:17 I've been on a temperature between 100 and 101 for three days.
00:23:24 Do you have a headache?
00:23:26 Yes. It's not real bad, but I do have a headache.
00:23:29 I thought maybe it was malaria, then.
00:23:32 Let's see if you are.
00:23:34 Yeah.
00:23:43 There's scant malaria.
00:23:45 So you will need some antibiotics also to get malaria.
00:23:50 [Paper rustling]
00:23:52 So it's a double win.
00:24:04 So you got bronchitis, you got malaria.
00:24:07 That's right.
00:24:09 You know what I was afraid of? Typhoid.
00:24:12 Hmm?
00:24:14 But your head was hurting, though.
00:24:16 Yeah.
00:24:18 Yeah.
00:24:20 Oh, yeah.
00:24:24 Yeah, come on.
00:24:26 Yeah, here we go.
00:24:28 You got to worry about things like malaria parasites.
00:24:32 There's other parasites that you got to always be aware of.
00:24:36 There's all kind of problems that will be different in the states and non-existent in states.
00:24:40 But then when I look around and see all these trees and all this beauty and the birds singing,
00:24:46 and I can go around the compound and go into the classroom and see all those students, you know, working and thriving,
00:24:55 any kind of inconvenience that we experience is nothing compared to that.
00:25:00 Because I know we wouldn't be able to live a life like this in the states.
00:25:04 No way.
00:25:06 Charlotte is probably one of the most positive human beings that I've ever met in my life,
00:25:11 and she can deal with anything.
00:25:14 But we get malaria far too much.
00:25:17 We actually are getting malaria three and four times a year.
00:25:21 Hello?
00:25:23 My devil.
00:25:25 My devil, mumby.
00:25:27 It's the most horrendous disease.
00:25:29 I think malaria kills more people in sub-Saharan Africa than anything else, including AIDS.
00:25:36 The parasites hide in the liver, and at times of stress, they come out.
00:25:41 Okay, you take all these medicines and things like that, but it doesn't completely rid them out of your body.
00:25:48 You can't think, you can't breathe, you can't eat.
00:25:51 Aching and chills and sweating and fever.
00:25:55 It's horrible.
00:25:59 This is just taking too great a toll on our bodies, you know.
00:26:06 It's so nice we've got a show like this we can enjoy.
00:26:09 Isn't it nice?
00:26:11 Albert Einstein said, "The world is a dangerous place to live in, not because people do evil,
00:26:17 but because people sit by and love them."
00:26:21 Good point, Paul.
00:26:23 Congratulations, you've qualified for the state tournament.
00:26:26 I know this was going to happen, watch this.
00:26:29 He's upset about something.
00:26:31 Yeah, you can see it right there.
00:26:33 Look at that old tight face.
00:26:38 Oh, now that's smart.
00:26:41 Was that a teacher?
00:26:42 Yeah, I think she flipped out or something.
00:26:45 Look at her.
00:26:51 We're going to have another student teacher affair developing here.
00:26:58 See, I see through all that squish.
00:27:01 He's running that squish for getting closer to her, you see.
00:27:05 Uh-oh.
00:27:13 Uh-oh.
00:27:25 Well, run it then.
00:27:32 Uh-oh.
00:27:39 Oh, that was a good one, wasn't it?
00:27:50 The whole idea behind the Heal the Community program is that we want to take young African Americans,
00:27:58 preferably those from a challenged background, and expose them to traditional African life
00:28:06 with the hope that this will inspire them to go back to their communities and create a better way.
00:28:14 And I think about these young people, Morty and Derek, I think about myself and all the mistakes I made,
00:28:21 all the misguided goals that I've had in my life.
00:28:25 If I can play a part in steering some other young African American away from the pitfalls that I jumped willingly into,
00:28:35 that is extremely important to me.
00:28:39 I just didn't think I would have been picked to go to Tanzania for the simple fact
00:28:43 I didn't feel that I was doing that good in school.
00:28:46 As a young person, I was just bad, you know what I'm saying, stealing and breaking into people's houses
00:28:49 and went to jail a couple times for stuff like that.
00:28:52 I wasn't trying to do right at the time, you know what I mean?
00:28:55 And I don't know I changed. That's why I'm here today.
00:28:59 I've done bad things. I smoked weed. I stopped going to school.
00:29:06 I've done a lot of bad things.
00:29:10 I'm looking for this trip to benefit me, to help me.
00:29:14 I don't know no one who's ever been to Africa, out of the black community.
00:29:19 I'm glad I'm one of the first ones to go.
00:29:22 So these are like IDs or something?
00:29:25 Yes, sir. Federal government ID. That's better than a driver's license, actually.
00:29:28 Damn. I'm excited, man, but I'm trying to chill.
00:29:31 I'm like, man, I'm happy. I don't know what to do, man. I'm kind of nervous.
00:29:37 How are you feeling, Mark? Trip of a lifetime.
00:29:41 Let me give these brothers a proper--
00:29:52 What's your name? This is Morty.
00:29:54 How are you doing, homie?
00:29:55 How are you doing, brother? You all right?
00:30:00 How are you doing, brother? You all right?
00:30:02 I'm Charlie. I'm Mark Wilson.
00:30:05 Come on, my man.
00:30:07 Long flight, long flight.
00:30:10 So, brother, this is your first time out of the country?
00:30:13 Yeah.
00:30:14 It is? You as well?
00:30:16 Yeah.
00:30:17 Okay. All right. Have you done much traveling?
00:30:19 No, one time.
00:30:21 Were you ready for some unique adventures?
00:30:24 Yes.
00:30:25 We're going to give them to you.
00:30:27 [overlapping chatter]
00:30:33 We ain't in America no more.
00:30:36 [bell ringing]
00:30:45 Let the ancestors know that you all have returned.
00:30:50 [bell ringing]
00:30:54 And we want to welcome you as children of Africa
00:30:59 who have come home.
00:31:02 You're right back here where you started, brother.
00:31:06 [cheering]
00:31:13 The ancestors know you're all in the house.
00:31:16 [cheering]
00:31:23 Any of you all know anything about 12th Street?
00:31:25 Is 12th Street still there?
00:31:27 Yeah, 12th Street's still there.
00:31:28 That was my spot, brother.
00:31:30 Right by the island.
00:31:31 That was my-- You know the little-- the bowl?
00:31:33 Do they still have that cannon?
00:31:35 Yeah, right there.
00:31:36 That little cannon there? That was there.
00:31:38 Some of the fondest memories I have of Kansas City
00:31:41 is on a weekend in Purcell Park.
00:31:44 Is Purcell Swimming Pool still there?
00:31:46 No.
00:31:47 It's gone?
00:31:48 Yeah, that's gone.
00:31:50 Purcell Park's still there. Tell me that's still there.
00:31:52 And brothers and still-- yeah, there you go.
00:31:54 And brothers and sisters still gather there
00:31:56 on the weekend and things, huh?
00:31:58 No, no, it ain't like that.
00:32:00 It ain't like that.
00:32:01 Do you remember that, Charlie?
00:32:03 Do you remember Purcell Park, how we'd go down there
00:32:05 and just take a blanket and put a blanket-- we would.
00:32:08 Well, I guess that lends truth to the notion
00:32:12 that the Kansas City I knew really no longer exists, you know.
00:32:18 Brothers, do you all realize that we're going off
00:32:21 deep in the bush to a remote Maasai village?
00:32:25 People that come out here as tourists never experience it.
00:32:29 He said that we are completely welcome here
00:32:35 and that anything that you want to do here,
00:32:38 you're more than welcome to do it because you're not visitors.
00:32:41 You have arrived.
00:32:43 Put your head back.
00:32:45 So what?
00:32:47 So what?
00:32:49 The Maasai have to struggle to do everything.
00:32:53 They have to rub sticks together and use leaves just to make a fire.
00:32:58 They walk miles for water.
00:33:00 Now, by American standards, these people have nothing,
00:33:04 but they have held on to their traditional ways with honor,
00:33:08 and I think we can all learn something from that example.
00:33:13 We put here.
00:33:15 This is socentu.
00:33:17 We are using for perfume.
00:33:19 You got to get the odor out.
00:33:21 After maybe five minutes, my clothes will be a good smell.
00:33:26 I want to pee and say, "File," but it doesn't get smelly now.
00:33:32 [laughter]
00:33:33 Just do it like this.
00:33:35 Let Mark smell first.
00:33:41 Somebody who wanted to use toothbrushes, he has teeth.
00:33:44 Teeth.
00:33:45 He said this is good for your teeth.
00:33:47 Yeah, teeth.
00:33:49 Teeth.
00:33:50 Teeth?
00:33:51 Teeth.
00:33:52 Toothbrush, toothbrush.
00:33:53 Yeah, toothbrush, yeah.
00:33:55 Yeah, yeah.
00:33:57 It's toothbrush for us.
00:34:01 Yeah, and to brush your teeth.
00:34:02 Yeah.
00:34:03 [laughter]
00:34:04 So now you can clean your teeth with your teeth.
00:34:08 Yeah.
00:34:10 You got people with no lights, don't have water, toothbrushes, deodorant.
00:34:15 I mean, dang, sometimes, man, you be like, "Dang, this is different."
00:34:19 It ain't going to be the way we want it to be.
00:34:21 It ain't going to be what we accustomed to, I'm going to say, like that.
00:34:24 Like now, we just got to keep going through it, you know what I'm saying?
00:34:27 And it's hard.
00:34:28 Yeah.
00:34:29 Ain't like the city life, boy.
00:34:31 No cars, no buildings.
00:34:33 It's just land.
00:34:35 Yeah.
00:34:36 I miss, like, the traffic, like the noise, horn, sirens.
00:34:42 There ain't no McDonald's around here.
00:34:46 I was born in the United States of America.
00:34:49 I'm not a Masonic.
00:34:50 Yeah.
00:34:51 No, I don't feel like I'm part of their tribe.
00:34:53 I mean, I'm African-American.
00:34:55 I wasn't born here in Africa.
00:34:57 My ancestors came from here, but I'm African-American.
00:35:00 See what I'm saying?
00:35:02 I just feel like, "Dang, man, you just can't talk to nobody."
00:35:04 You know what I'm saying?
00:35:06 I mean, I know they want to talk to us, and we want to both talk,
00:35:09 but I don't feel like I have that bondage with them still.
00:35:12 It's just me and this dude here.
00:35:15 I mean, yeah.
00:35:17 I ask them, "You want to play some ball?"
00:35:19 "No."
00:35:20 Hey, come on.
00:35:21 Come on, fellas.
00:35:23 Where the other boys at, man?
00:35:25 They was running with me.
00:35:27 And it makes it boring, man.
00:35:29 Like, when we here chilling, we may want to go up there and do some stuff.
00:35:33 We may want to go up there and hoop, but, I mean, one-on-one is cool, too.
00:35:37 We get a sweat or something.
00:35:39 You get tired of that, man.
00:35:41 We know we only here for 20 days, and we can go back.
00:35:43 We got an open door to go back.
00:35:45 And to think of this man to be here for 30 years, it's like, man, it ain't--
00:35:50 I can't even think about it, man.
00:35:52 I don't even want to because I know I wouldn't want to do it.
00:35:55 You know what I'm saying?
00:35:57 The little experience I had here, man, it's hard.
00:36:00 I know you miss home.
00:36:02 I miss home.
00:36:03 Yeah, and I can understand that.
00:36:05 But in terms of missing home, that's kind of a weird thing, man.
00:36:10 I miss some parts of it.
00:36:12 You know, I miss my mama.
00:36:14 I miss my brother.
00:36:15 I got children I haven't seen.
00:36:16 I miss them.
00:36:18 But I have become so immersed in this society that I'm almost kind of lost between two worlds.
00:36:26 Does that make any sense?
00:36:27 Like you ain't an African-American now?
00:36:29 No, no, no, no, no.
00:36:30 Not that I'm not home, no.
00:36:32 Not that.
00:36:33 Not that.
00:36:34 But that I just can't grasp what the values and the mindsets of African-Americans are
00:36:45 as much and as easily as I did in the past.
00:36:49 And you know what scares the hell out--I mean, that scares me worse than anything.
00:36:52 I don't want that to happen.
00:36:54 You know, I don't want to lose that.
00:36:56 And here's the kicker, man.
00:36:58 Say I win my case tomorrow, I get an email, Pete, we won.
00:37:01 You know, it's all over.
00:37:04 I'm not sure I would get on a plane and go back.
00:37:06 I know I would not go back to live.
00:37:08 You adapted.
00:37:09 Yeah, that's it.
00:37:10 You adapted to here.
00:37:11 I have, man.
00:37:13 And at the same time, I'm not completely adapted.
00:37:16 That's what I'm trying to say.
00:37:18 Yeah.
00:37:19 [music]
00:37:25 For the entire 32 years that I've been in exile, I have clung tightly to my African-American-ness.
00:37:34 These are the people that made me who and what I am.
00:37:38 There's millions of them.
00:37:40 I have to hold on to every possible thread I can to maintain a connection.
00:37:46 And I'm finding that there's a gulf developing.
00:37:51 Whoa!
00:37:52 [music]
00:37:54 Gotcha!
00:37:55 [roar]
00:37:57 That's an elephant for you.
00:37:59 [roar]
00:38:00 Wow!
00:38:02 African-Americans come out here.
00:38:04 I love them.
00:38:05 I embrace them.
00:38:06 I enjoy their company.
00:38:07 [squeak]
00:38:08 I ain't never seen nothing like this.
00:38:10 Never.
00:38:11 But at the same time, I'm realizing they are so different from what I know.
00:38:19 Oh, look at them.
00:38:20 Look at them.
00:38:21 The monks is kicking each other.
00:38:23 That's it.
00:38:24 That monk is wild, man.
00:38:26 Look at this one here.
00:38:28 I'm losing that connection with African-Americans.
00:38:36 I'm kind of lost in a no-man's land.
00:38:39 [singing]
00:38:47 [music]
00:38:57 [singing]
00:39:07 [music]
00:39:17 [cheering]
00:39:29 We are very pleased to have each and every one of you here.
00:39:31 We're so proud and happy to see this gathering of youths who have come together to share their culture
00:39:39 and to learn about other cultures.
00:39:42 [singing]
00:39:52 [cheering]
00:39:55 I was just going to rap from my background, how I was raised.
00:40:00 African-American.
00:40:01 I'm African-American.
00:40:06 All right, let me get the claps.
00:40:09 [clapping]
00:40:10 No, not like that.
00:40:11 Like a beat.
00:40:16 I take my time to remind and try to think going back on all the things I used to do
00:40:19 and all the knowledge I lacked.
00:40:21 I didn't listen, make it with me, but they didn't come through.
00:40:23 All the things I heard of God didn't seem to come true, so I did what I wanted to do.
00:40:27 Then I ended up in jail, but I could tell that God was there for me.
00:40:30 Shedding his mercy, it kind of hurt me when I started seeing the light.
00:40:33 Because I was tired of being sick and tired of being sick.
00:40:34 I know another game.
00:40:35 It's like this.
00:40:37 Layup.
00:40:38 That's called a layup.
00:40:39 You got to practice that.
00:40:40 Michael Jordan did that.
00:40:43 It's free throw.
00:40:45 Say free throw.
00:40:46 Free throw.
00:40:47 Yeah, free throw.
00:40:48 Free throw.
00:40:51 That's how you do that.
00:40:54 Oh!
00:40:56 From here.
00:41:00 Focus on this.
00:41:03 Let it go.
00:41:04 Let it go.
00:41:07 Yes.
00:41:08 [cheering]
00:41:11 Yeah.
00:41:12 That's how you do it.
00:41:13 Yeah.
00:41:14 [drumming]
00:41:42 All right.
00:41:44 Give it up now.
00:41:45 Take care of yourself.
00:41:46 Do what I told you, and remember.
00:41:48 Do you hear me?
00:41:49 Yeah.
00:41:50 Remember.
00:41:51 All right?
00:41:52 That's all you got to do.
00:41:53 All right.
00:41:54 It's been good.
00:41:55 It's been good, brother.
00:41:56 Thanks for everything.
00:41:57 You take care of yourself.
00:41:58 Much love, brother.
00:41:59 All right.
00:42:00 All right.
00:42:01 Thank you, brother.
00:42:03 Clear.
00:42:04 Nice to meet you.
00:42:05 Great to meet you.
00:42:06 Growing up as a child in Kansas City,
00:42:07 I got into a lot of trouble,
00:42:08 and the pull of streets kind of got me.
00:42:09 Prior to becoming involved in the Black Panther Party,
00:42:10 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:11 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:12 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:13 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:14 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:15 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:16 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:17 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:18 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:19 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:20 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:21 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:22 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:23 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:24 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:25 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:26 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:27 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:28 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:29 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:30 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:31 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:32 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:33 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:34 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:35 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:36 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:37 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:38 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:39 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:40 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:41 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:42 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:43 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:44 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:45 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:46 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:47 I wanted to be a pimp.
00:42:48 But in this idea of being known as a street hustler, I wanted that.
00:42:53 I wanted to be known as a player, as a this.
00:42:56 I did some stupid shit.
00:42:58 I did.
00:42:59 You know, I'm talking little vulnerable girls into doing things that they didn't want to
00:43:07 do and that they had no business doing and destroying people's lives in the process.
00:43:13 You ask me, "Do I regret things?"
00:43:15 You don't have the slightest idea what you're asking me.
00:43:18 And I'm not joking now.
00:43:20 You say, "Does this cause me extreme pain?"
00:43:23 Because you don't know what we're talking about.
00:43:25 I feel it's something that I know I cannot undo.
00:43:35 I cannot undo it once.
00:43:37 And when I think about the people, when a picture comes into my mind of the people that
00:43:42 were involved, when I think of the young girls, and I'm a father, then I have my daughter,
00:43:47 and I said, "Lord, don't ever let anything like this happen to my children."
00:43:52 And to think that I did this to someone's daughter, to people's daughters, that I would
00:43:57 prey on them and try to take advantage of them and maneuver and manipulate for something
00:44:04 just so horrendous.
00:44:06 That is painful.
00:44:07 And that stabs me in my heart when I think about that.
00:44:14 When I involve myself in community work, the primary reason I do it is because it's helping
00:44:20 me.
00:44:21 This is for my salvation.
00:44:23 This keeps me on the straight and narrow.
00:44:27 This helps me redefine my life.
00:44:40 Hello.
00:44:52 How are you?
00:44:53 This is Mr. Alex here.
00:44:55 Okay.
00:44:56 You know there's an old saying about, "Beware of black men coming bearing big ideas."
00:45:04 So here I am with a...
00:45:05 That's new, so tell me.
00:45:06 I made that up on the spur of the moment.
00:45:09 All right.
00:45:10 What I wanted to ask you, Alex, my idea is, I want to run it by you and get your input,
00:45:14 I want to do some computer classes where we can take small children, nothing complicated,
00:45:20 and give them an introductory kind of thing.
00:45:23 And I don't know, what is your thinking?
00:45:25 Do you know of any software?
00:45:26 I think you mentioned...
00:45:27 There is software, yeah.
00:45:28 I've seen software for toddlers.
00:45:29 I think, sorry, is it three years old, four years old, they've got software.
00:45:33 Okay.
00:45:34 I'm looking for old stuff.
00:45:36 I'm not looking for anything new or anything.
00:45:38 I'm looking for old stuff.
00:45:39 Yeah, I know what you're saying because you're limited as far as funds are concerned.
00:45:46 For these kids, you need good computers.
00:45:47 That software demands something, Pentium.
00:45:50 You cannot work with three, four-year-old computers.
00:45:54 The good news is that even good computers, even new computers are getting two-prints.
00:45:58 I hear exactly what you're saying.
00:46:00 I appreciate it and I understand the correctness of what you're saying.
00:46:04 But Alex, we're always in a money crunch.
00:46:07 So I know it is and I know it's tens and I know it's poorly, poorly, and I know we've
00:46:11 got to get there slowly, but I just want you to think about this if you can.
00:46:16 Keep your eyes open.
00:46:19 All my efforts to secure a new computer were in vain.
00:46:24 You know, the economy is very tight in Tanzania at the moment.
00:46:28 So I noticed from the outstart that he was reluctant to commit himself to anything.
00:46:50 You know, a few months ago, I had feelings that something would take place with my legal
00:46:57 situation.
00:46:58 But now I'm beginning to doubt it.
00:47:00 In the post-9/11 world, overturning of a conviction of an old Panther, I doubt that that's going
00:47:07 to happen any time soon.
00:47:11 Okay.
00:47:13 136 over 91.
00:47:38 You see that it should be lower from just having got out of bed, which indicates that
00:47:49 if I had I been moving around, the diastolic probably would have been close to 100 and
00:47:59 the systolic would have been probably around 150.
00:48:05 And that's just not good enough.
00:48:14 I work my ass off out here.
00:48:18 And then things somehow never get done?
00:48:22 I don't know.
00:48:29 I'm in a bit of a funk this morning.
00:48:38 And I'm not in a very good mood.
00:48:52 So as you know, here's the well.
00:48:54 And this is 100 and between 160 and 170 feet down.
00:48:58 And it's steady pumping?
00:48:59 It's pumping.
00:49:00 Pure, clean, clean water, brother.
00:49:01 Magic.
00:49:02 I'll walk you up here and show you the tanks.
00:49:05 Okay.
00:49:06 Jeronimo G. Jagger, the former Jeronimo Pratt, came to visit me.
00:49:12 Man, you talk about a reunion.
00:49:13 I had not seen him in over 32 years.
00:49:18 Jeronimo was the field marshal of the Black Panther Party.
00:49:22 In 1970, he was arrested on some trumped up murder charge.
00:49:28 He was convicted and spent 27 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.
00:49:36 This is the first tank that we built.
00:49:38 Well, it's the same job you and Charlotte put together over these 30 years.
00:49:45 We've been hitting at it, brother.
00:49:46 Having fun.
00:49:47 Still going strong.
00:49:48 In 1997, he was released.
00:49:52 And the government, in admitting that he was unjustly in prison, made a financial settlement
00:49:58 with him.
00:49:59 When he came out, he asked me, "Pete, what can I do to be of assistance?"
00:50:03 I said, "Our primary, major problem is water."
00:50:07 He said, "Well, give me your phone."
00:50:08 I gave it to him.
00:50:09 He called his associates in the United States, and he had them transfer $10,000 so that we
00:50:16 could dig this well.
00:50:17 It definitely has that good spring taste to it, you know?
00:50:24 Good, clean water.
00:50:27 So brother, I would say between 300 and 500 individuals are benefiting from the water
00:50:33 project.
00:50:34 Right on.
00:50:35 When you see the smile, the joy on their faces, the realization that they don't have to walk
00:50:43 today five miles to get a bucket of water, that kind of makes it all worthwhile.
00:50:55 When Geronimo came out, we renewed our relationship.
00:51:00 I've helped him when he was looking for a house.
00:51:03 I've helped him when he wanted to buy certain items to furnish his home.
00:51:08 I've tried to help Geronimo acclimate to life here in Tanzania, so I get the opportunity
00:51:15 to see him on a regular basis now.
00:51:17 Ooh, boy, that was a good one, that.
00:51:20 Here we go.
00:51:23 That all right?
00:51:26 We'll cut him off.
00:51:29 Right there.
00:51:32 Geronimo is married to a lovely young woman, Joju Cleaver.
00:51:38 This is Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver's daughter.
00:51:42 When we had the international section of the Black Panther Party in Algeria, we had a nursery,
00:51:48 and I can remember Joju Cleaver being a pretty little babe with big heads.
00:51:51 Okay, y'all, let me go on and do some work.
00:51:54 Y'all come out tonight if you want.
00:51:55 Kadi Boussana.
00:51:56 I'm going to be out there soon enough.
00:51:57 Okay.
00:51:58 All right, you ready, doctor?
00:51:59 How many we going to do?
00:52:00 Hey, get the oxygen ready in there.
00:52:01 Y'all get me.
00:52:02 Call 911.
00:52:03 Here we go.
00:52:04 Look at him.
00:52:05 That's too much, man.
00:52:06 That's a warm-up, man.
00:52:07 No, it's all I can.
00:52:08 This is all you got, and this is what I do.
00:52:09 I said it's too much of a warm-up right now.
00:52:10 How many of you want to do it?
00:52:11 I'm going to do it.
00:52:12 I'm going to do it.
00:52:14 See, I tried to teach him to pedal, but he didn't stay on the pedal long enough to learn how to drive.
00:52:19 You always warm up.
00:52:20 If you don't warm up, you get an iron-ass shoulder.
00:52:21 Is that what's wrong with me, sir?
00:52:22 Seriously?
00:52:23 Yeah, and you get an iron shoulder.
00:52:24 Oh, really?
00:52:25 Yeah, if you start lifting on stuff without warming it, you lift real light first, and
00:52:26 then you start lifting heavier.
00:52:27 Okay.
00:52:28 You going to change the doohickey back there?
00:52:29 You want to change it?
00:52:30 Yeah.
00:52:31 I'm going to change it.
00:52:32 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:33 I'm going to change it.
00:52:34 You going to change it?
00:52:35 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:36 You going to change it?
00:52:37 Yeah.
00:52:38 I'm going to change it.
00:52:39 You going to change it?
00:52:40 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:41 You going to change it?
00:52:42 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:43 You going to change it?
00:52:44 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:45 You going to change it?
00:52:46 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:47 You going to change it?
00:52:48 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:49 You going to change it?
00:52:50 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:51 You going to change it?
00:52:52 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:53 You going to change it?
00:52:54 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:55 You going to change it?
00:52:56 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:57 You going to change it?
00:52:58 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:52:59 You going to change it?
00:53:00 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:01 You going to change it?
00:53:02 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:03 You going to change it?
00:53:04 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:05 You going to change it?
00:53:06 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:07 You going to change it?
00:53:08 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:09 You going to change it?
00:53:10 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:11 You going to change it?
00:53:12 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:13 You going to change it?
00:53:14 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:15 You going to change it?
00:53:16 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:17 You going to change it?
00:53:18 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:19 You going to change it?
00:53:20 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:21 You going to change it?
00:53:22 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:23 You going to change it?
00:53:24 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:25 You going to change it?
00:53:26 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:27 You going to change it?
00:53:28 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:29 You going to change it?
00:53:30 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:31 You going to change it?
00:53:32 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:33 You going to change it?
00:53:34 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:35 You going to change it?
00:53:36 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:37 You going to change it?
00:53:38 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:39 You going to change it?
00:53:40 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:41 You going to change it?
00:53:42 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:43 You going to change it?
00:53:44 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:45 You going to change it?
00:53:46 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:47 You going to change it?
00:53:48 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:49 You going to change it?
00:53:50 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:51 You going to change it?
00:53:52 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:53 You going to change it?
00:53:54 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:55 You going to change it?
00:53:56 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:57 You going to change it?
00:53:58 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:53:59 You going to change it?
00:54:00 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:01 You going to change it?
00:54:02 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:03 You going to change it?
00:54:04 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:05 You going to change it?
00:54:06 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:07 You going to change it?
00:54:08 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:09 You going to change it?
00:54:10 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:11 You going to change it?
00:54:12 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:13 You going to change it?
00:54:14 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:15 You going to change it?
00:54:16 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:17 You going to change it?
00:54:18 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:19 You going to change it?
00:54:20 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:21 You going to change it?
00:54:22 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:23 You going to change it?
00:54:24 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:25 You going to change it?
00:54:26 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:27 You going to change it?
00:54:28 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:29 You going to change it?
00:54:30 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:31 You going to change it?
00:54:32 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:33 You going to change it?
00:54:34 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:35 You going to change it?
00:54:36 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:37 You going to change it?
00:54:38 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:39 You going to change it?
00:54:40 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:41 You going to change it?
00:54:42 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:43 You going to change it?
00:54:44 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:45 You going to change it?
00:54:46 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:47 You going to change it?
00:54:48 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:49 You going to change it?
00:54:50 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:51 You going to change it?
00:54:52 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:53 You going to change it?
00:54:54 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:55 You going to change it?
00:54:56 Yeah, I'm going to change it.
00:54:57 I was arrested in 1970, less than a month before I left the United States.
00:55:02 And I think it was a couple of months after that that he was arrested.
00:55:07 And while my exile could in no sense compare to the suffering that he endured being in
00:55:14 a horrendous prison situation, the fact that I have been in exile constitutes a sort of
00:55:23 cultural and emotional prison.
00:55:26 That you can have male friends of your tribe, people with similar cultural interests, similar
00:55:34 political interests, and develop close bonded relationships with other men like this.
00:55:42 This is something that's been missing in my life.
00:55:45 Peace, Senator Cornelius B.
00:55:51 I'm going to finish this chair, then I'm going to have to go on and finish the curtains when
00:56:08 I come back.
00:56:09 Yeah, let's just do this.
00:56:10 It's getting to be a big project, man.
00:56:13 I better glue them darn curtains up here and be done.
00:56:19 She's not going to know the difference.
00:56:21 We just put glue up there.
00:56:24 Now tell her this is a new style, straight out of Paris.
00:56:29 Okay.
00:56:30 How's that?
00:56:32 Opens fine.
00:56:34 Okay.
00:56:35 Okay, I'm there.
00:56:38 Looking good on my side.
00:56:46 It's right at 10 years since my mother was last here, and I'm a little nervous about
00:56:51 it.
00:56:52 I know it's probably going to be a little bit of awkwardness there initially, because
00:56:58 we haven't seen each other in such a long time.
00:57:02 And I can hear it in her voice.
00:57:03 When I'm talking to her on the phone, I say, "She's nervous too."
00:57:06 She said they lost the baggage, and she's got to fill out a form.
00:57:18 Old woman got to fill out a form.
00:57:21 Here, you take this.
00:57:24 Take this.
00:57:25 Here's the keys to the table.
00:57:28 Take that.
00:57:29 You want to hold the mic?
00:57:30 Hold the mic.
00:57:31 Can I go help my mom?
00:57:32 Yeah.
00:57:33 Hey, lady.
00:57:36 What you doing down here?
00:57:42 Look at you.
00:57:43 How you doing?
00:57:44 You know they left my ...
00:57:45 Don't worry about it.
00:57:46 How you feel?
00:57:47 I've been out there raising holy hell.
00:57:48 Sure have.
00:57:49 Yeah.
00:57:50 Let me put you on out of here.
00:57:51 Good Lord, a man.
00:57:52 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:53 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:54 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:55 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:56 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:57 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:58 I'm going to be a good man.
00:57:59 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:00 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:01 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:02 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:03 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:04 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:05 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:06 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:07 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:08 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:09 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:10 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:11 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:12 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:13 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:14 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:15 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:16 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:17 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:18 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:19 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:20 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:21 I'm going to be a good man.
00:58:23 I just grabbed them up and I said, "Let them look at this.
00:58:25 There might be something in here they might know."
00:58:27 But what was you talking about?
00:58:28 You was going to throw them pictures away?
00:58:29 I was going to throw them away ten years ago.
00:58:32 Because they were collecting and piling up.
00:58:35 Oh, okay.
00:58:36 Mm-hmm.
00:58:37 Okay.
00:58:38 I got a bunch of pictures of you, too, Rose.
00:58:40 I'm going to throw them away today.
00:58:42 I think I'm going to burn them today.
00:58:44 You're going to burn them today.
00:58:45 I'm going to burn them today.
00:58:46 Last night, I went to sleep and then woke up in a dream.
00:58:50 I didn't know what I was doing this morning.
00:58:52 And I said, "Where am I?"
00:58:54 I said, "Oh, I guess that must have all been a dream,
00:58:57 me being in a wheelchair and me coming over here
00:58:59 because I didn't think I'd come back over here again."
00:59:02 And had that mosquito net over you.
00:59:05 Yes.
00:59:06 And I reached out and it touched that and I said, "Oh, what is it?"
00:59:09 It got me tied up.
00:59:11 Oh, no.
00:59:12 Tied up.
00:59:14 Trying to see if she's going to get in the pearly gates tonight.
00:59:17 [laughter]
00:59:20 You know they have health tips on TV.
00:59:33 I don't know about your cholesterol, but they say that's bad for cholesterol.
00:59:37 See these here?
00:59:38 Yeah.
00:59:39 Yeah, I know.
00:59:40 I shouldn't eat these.
00:59:41 I really shouldn't.
00:59:42 This is the last time I'm going to ever buy them.
00:59:43 Want some?
00:59:44 No.
00:59:45 You want to care for a little bit?
00:59:46 No, I don't.
00:59:47 Okay.
00:59:48 Oh, Lord.
00:59:55 I'm not going to eat it.
00:59:59 That's not good for you.
01:00:00 I'm not going to.
01:00:01 [engine starting]
01:00:04 Hello, doctor.
01:00:19 How are you, sir?
01:00:20 Fine, thank you very much.
01:00:21 How are you?
01:00:22 I understand you okay?
01:00:23 Can I introduce you to my mother, please, sir?
01:00:26 Oh, this is your mother?
01:00:27 My mother.
01:00:28 And then I want to ask you if I can get a blood test.
01:00:31 Would you let me do something?
01:00:33 Yes, I'll let you do that.
01:00:35 This is my mother.
01:00:37 This is Dr. Rasa.
01:00:40 Good morning, Mr. Tornel.
01:00:42 You look fine, thank you.
01:00:43 Yeah, Peter's a good friend of mine.
01:00:45 Yeah, well, that's good.
01:00:46 And this man has pulled Charlotte and I through for these 30 years.
01:00:49 They talk about you all the time, like you're friends and family.
01:00:53 Yes.
01:00:54 How are you getting on?
01:00:55 I'm doing very well, thank you.
01:00:57 You know I had knee surgery.
01:00:59 Now, I'm not coming for consultation or anything.
01:01:02 No, no.
01:01:03 But I just want to tell you I had knee replacement.
01:01:05 Yes, you got it.
01:01:06 And I walked with a cane.
01:01:07 That's right.
01:01:08 So what can I do for you, Mrs. O'Neal?
01:01:09 And you need to get on him about his high blood pressure medicine, too.
01:01:11 I take mine every day.
01:01:13 He needs to take his.
01:01:14 Yeah, he should take his every day.
01:01:15 Every day, that's right.
01:01:17 Yes, yes, yes.
01:01:18 Mama and doctor talking to him.
01:01:19 That's right.
01:01:20 I'm going to start taking it every day.
01:01:22 Yeah, not just a promise.
01:01:24 No.
01:01:25 [birds chirping]
01:01:29 I will not smoke in front of my mother.
01:01:32 My father passed away from lung cancer, and to her, smoking is an instant death sentence.
01:01:40 So I hide it.
01:01:42 [birds chirping]
01:01:45 He can't fool me, not at all.
01:01:47 I've known him all his life, so you know I know him.
01:01:50 And I can tell when he's not telling me the truth.
01:01:53 I know it.
01:01:56 He's always doing something.
01:01:59 When he was doing the Black Panther thing, I worked for the U.S. Treasury Department,
01:02:04 and he come in front of my building and did a demonstration.
01:02:08 I wanted to hit him so bad, you know, and tell him to go away.
01:02:12 And I said, "Why did you come in front of my building?
01:02:15 Here I am, the FBI calling me in and questioning me."
01:02:18 And he said, "No, that's where I needed to be.
01:02:20 That's where I wanted to be."
01:02:22 It got me in a hot water, yes.
01:02:24 He said, "No, it's not going to get you in trouble.
01:02:26 I know what I'm doing.
01:02:27 I know what I'm doing."
01:02:29 [sighs]
01:02:31 [indistinct chatter]
01:02:37 This is probably the last chance I'm going to have to be with my mother.
01:02:43 I know this.
01:02:44 I'm not going to say it to her, you know, of course.
01:02:47 She struggled to make this trip.
01:02:50 I am about to be 63 years old.
01:02:53 I think she's 83 years old.
01:02:56 This is the last one.
01:02:58 Him, I know I can't think of his name.
01:03:05 This is Joe, isn't it, Joe Brenner?
01:03:07 No, that's Uncle Willie.
01:03:09 That's Uncle Willie.
01:03:10 Oh, is it?
01:03:11 Yeah, Uncle Willie.
01:03:12 Yeah, with his peanut head.
01:03:14 Here's a question I want to ask you.
01:03:16 Why didn't you tell--
01:03:18 There's that picture.
01:03:20 That deformed baby.
01:03:21 Oh!
01:03:22 You know what--
01:03:23 This looked like a baby that came out before time was up.
01:03:26 You know what--
01:03:27 And they put it out in the sun and all.
01:03:29 You know what they told me?
01:03:30 They what?
01:03:31 They said--Grandma told me, said, "I'm going to give you some money.
01:03:33 Can you take him to a place in the house?"
01:03:36 His picture taken.
01:03:37 I said, "Yeah, I will."
01:03:39 I wrapped you all up.
01:03:41 This look like a baby that's drunk.
01:03:43 [laughter]
01:03:46 Oh, Lord have mercy.
01:03:49 Where did you get this thing from, brother?
01:03:51 I looked for a little--
01:03:52 Are you sure that's me?
01:03:54 I'm sure that's you.
01:03:56 I packed you up there to that place, and the man said, "I ain't got no chair to fit him."
01:04:01 [laughter]
01:04:04 Yeah, so he said, "Oh, I got something.
01:04:07 I'll take this ricker chair and put him in it."
01:04:11 You know, what gets me is the baby looks confused.
01:04:14 [laughter]
01:04:21 My teacher.
01:04:23 I want to be a teacher.
01:04:25 I want to be a teacher.
01:04:27 Good.
01:04:28 Please listen to me.
01:04:30 My father's name.
01:04:31 My father's name.
01:04:32 My mother's name.
01:04:34 My mother's name.
01:04:36 Okay, go on.
01:04:37 My father's name was fired.
01:04:40 My mother's name in the law.
01:04:43 My father's name in the law.
01:04:45 My father's name in the law.
01:04:48 I want to be a teacher.
01:04:51 We have changed the name of our organization from the United African American Community Center
01:04:59 to the United African Alliance Community Center.
01:05:09 Now, who's he finding? Wake up, who's he finding?
01:05:11 We feel that the word "alliance" better describes the relationship of Africans from the continent
01:05:20 and the diaspora working together.
01:05:22 Come on, go.
01:05:24 Nice, nice.
01:05:25 [speaking in foreign language]
01:05:27 [laughter]
01:05:28 Okay.
01:05:29 [speaking in foreign language]
01:05:30 [footsteps]
01:05:36 I am happier here.
01:05:39 I feel that I'm more productive here than I have ever been in my entire life.
01:05:46 Particularly now that I've seen my mama and I've had the chance to interact with her.
01:05:51 Even the desire to visit briefly the United States is beginning to wane.
01:05:59 [chopping]
01:06:05 You won't miss this New Year.
01:06:07 This is a special New Year.
01:06:09 And one thing that makes it extra special is that Mama Clorine O'Neal is in the house tonight.
01:06:16 Give her a hand, y'all.
01:06:18 [applause]
01:06:20 Mama Clorine, you've got to say something.
01:06:22 I'm sorry.
01:06:24 I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner, but you've got to say something.
01:06:28 [speaking in foreign language]
01:06:31 Oh, wait. Wait a minute now.
01:06:33 I've got to stop him.
01:06:34 I don't need any music with my introduction.
01:06:37 Oh, cut it out.
01:06:39 [laughter]
01:06:41 [applause]
01:06:43 [singing]
01:06:49 We're so very pleased to have all of you here with us.
01:06:52 And as we prepare to welcome the year 2003,
01:06:56 be aware that in true Kansas City style, we're going to bring it in with a band.
01:07:04 [music]
01:07:26 [singing]
01:07:36 Okay, now, here's what I'm doing.
01:07:39 I've got one in the round, but I've got safety on, okay?
01:07:43 [music]
01:07:48 Okay, we're cool.
01:07:50 We'll wait until it's ready.
01:07:54 20 seconds.
01:07:58 19, 15, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
01:08:15 [music]
01:08:44 I have never in my life lived in any community
01:08:49 as long as I have lived in Arusha, Tanzania.
01:08:57 I'm trying to make sure I'm saying the right thing here now.
01:09:02 I'm not going to return to the United States ever again.
01:09:09 They can have my piece of Kansas City.
01:09:12 I'm going to give it back to them with a free heart and a clear conscience.
01:09:16 To take it further, I am at the point now--and I have given this a lot of thought.
01:09:22 This is not a frivolous decision that I've made.
01:09:27 I'm going to apply to become a citizen of the Republic of Tanzania.
01:09:36 [music]
01:10:05 [music]
01:10:19 Two young men who had been out here with some program or another
01:10:23 were receiving their Eagle Scout badges or something,
01:10:27 and they wanted a letter of recommendation from me.
01:10:32 They had used me as their reference, and the Scoutmaster was asking me,
01:10:37 "Mr. O'Neill, would you please send the letter of recommendation,
01:10:41 and we will act upon it immediately."
01:10:44 I thought that was ironic as hell--Black Panther recommending Eagle Scouts.
01:10:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]