{Derrick's Brother} It's hard to look back and see the truth
about people you love. I think if you ask
Derrick why it all went the way it did and
where it all started, he'd still say it
started when our father was murdered. {Laughing}
But the truth is, it started earlier.
{Derrick's Father} Alright. Are we all meeting together for
the game tonight? Yes. Definitely.
{Derrick's Father} Alright. Thensberger at 7 o'clock, then we
go watch the big guy play. Okay, yeah.
Siking up for the game? {Derrick} Oh yeah, I'm
always ready for that. I got it. I got an
English exam third period and I'm gonna
have a heart attack. I'm not ready. {Derrick's Father} What's
the matter, afraid you're going to get a
B? {Laughing} Might do you good. B minus.
Whoooo. {Derrick} Don't laugh. I'm telling you this
guy is different. Dr. Sweeney, this guy is
unbelievable. Unbelievable. I've never had
a teacher like this. He's got like 2 PHD's.
I don't know what he's doing teaching at our school. He's not
like other teachers.
{Derrick's Father} What's he got you reading?
{Derrick} We got this essay exam on this book
Native Son. All on this one book. {Derrick's Father} Native
Son, what's that? I don't know that.
{Derrick's Mother} That's a big surprise. {Derrick's Father} What, I read.
{Derrick's Mother} Honey, they don't teach Tom Clancy at
school. Well, they don't. {Derrick's Father}So, so what is
this Native Son. {Derrick} What is it? It's this
thing. It's like this book about, this
black guy. We're doing this whole black
literature unit, you know? {Derrick's Father} What is it
black history month? {Derrick} No, it's just like
this guy Sweeney, you know. It's part of
the course now. Yeah. What? {Derrick's Father} Nothing, it's
just you know, it's everywhere I look now.
{Derrick} What? {Derrick's Father}This affirmative black action. {Derrick's Mother}Honey, a
few new books doesn't qualify as an
affirmative black action. {Derrick's Father} Hey, read the
book, ace the guy's test. Just don't
swallow everything he feeds you whole.
You know he's got you seeing it on the
evening news. {Derrick} I know, but like what? {Derrick's Father} All
this stuff about making everything equal. It's not that simple.
Look, now you got this book, Native Son,
what happened to the other books in the
course? Are they not any good anymore
because Mr. 2 PHD's
says they are? Huh? You gotta trade in
great books for black books. Does that
make sense? Huh? You gotta question these
things Derrick. You gotta look at the whole
picture. You know we're talking about
books here. But I'm also talking about my
job. I got two black guys on my squad now,
who got their job over a couple of white
guys who actually scored higher on the
test. Does that make sense? Huh? Yeah.
Sure. Everything's equal now, but I got
two guys watching my back responsible for
my life, who aren't as good as two other
guys. They only got the job because they
were black. Not because they were the
best. {Derrick} That sucks. {Derrick's Father} Yeah. Is that what
America's about? No, America's about,
best man for the job. You do your best,
you get the job. None of this affirmative
action crap. I don't know what that's
about. Its like some hidden agenda or
something going on. Do you see what I'm
saying? {Derrick} Yeah, I do. I don't know. I didn't
think about it like that. Well, this guy though, I don't know,
well the way he comes on so strong, it's
kind of hard not to listen to him, but I
don't know, maybe some of what he says is
kind of, {Derrick's Father} It's bull shit. {Derrick} Yeah. Yeah, maybe. {Derrick's Father} No, No.
It's nigger bull shit. You see that, don't
you? {Derrick} Yeah. You gotta watch out for that.
{Derrick} Yeah, I know. I get what you're saying.
I will. {Derrick's Father} Good boy! I'm proud of ya. Don't
worry about it.