For Freedoms (Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur in collaboration with Eric Gottesman and the Wyatt Gallery), 2018. A reimagining of Norman Rockwell’s 1943 Freedom From Want
ALEX
She’s always on another line when I call her at the paper. I’ve left messages on her cell and her phone at home and with her friend, Mari, who’s visiting from New York. I didn’t think that the paper would send her out on this because of all the other work she’s been doing. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.
HENRY
Of course not.
ALEX
I need her. My feelings about getting a more colorful faculty at Clearview don’t run as deep as my love for her.
HENRY
Of course not.
ALEX
Where is she? Why doesn’t she call to tell me that she’s all right? Why doesn’t she call to see whether I’m all right?
HENRY
She knows that you’re rarely on campus because you prefer to work on your Senior Paper at home.
ALEX
Yes, but still.
HENRY
She’s a journalist. Practical at heart. If she were a worrywart dwelling on all the tragic possibilities, she wouldn’t survive in her profession for long.
ALEX
Doesn’t she realize how easily we could lose each other? That’s what something like this makes me see.
HENRY
Have you asked her to marry you?
ALEX
Yes.
HENRY
What did she say?
ALEX
She needs time.
HENRY
How much time?
ALEX
As much time as she needs.
HENRY
What do you think her answer will be?
ALEX
I don’t know, Henry. I’m afraid I popped the question too soon. As you say, she’s a journalist. She’s practical. She’s not likely to allow a fit of passion to sweep her into a lifetime commitment.
HENRY
No, not like you, poet-philosopher.
ALEX
Exactly. The time seemed so right to propose, but it came as a surprise to Yve. Too much of a surprise. She needs time to mull over the proposal.
HENRY
What is she considering, do you think? It’s not love. If I remember correctly, you proclaimed that to each other on your third date.
ALEX
She’s trying to peer into the future and determine whether we have the wherewithal to last a lifetime.
HENRY
She either has to believe in that, or not.
ALEX
I know. I once thought that I was the more cynical of the two of us. Now, I’m changing my opinion. She’s really afraid of taking the next step. She’s not sure whether there will be ground for her to walk onto. She’s afraid she’ll fall. I can understand her fear. I’m afraid, too. But I’m not so frightened that I’m paralyzed. I can’t imagine living without her, Henry. I don’t want to lose her.
CUT TO:
INT: YVONNE’S APARTMENT
ANGLE ON YVONNE IN BED
Her bedroom is lit by neon and by a full moon. She has fallen asleep in her clothes, tossing and turning. She is sleeping in such fits that it seems she would get more rest by waking up. Then, she begins to mumble.
YVONNE
Alex, why? Why, Alex? Why?
CUT TO:
EXT: BOMBED HOPKINS HALL LIT BY A FULL MOON
Yvonne is dreaming this scene. It is desolate. Instead of peace, this silence connotes unspeakable turmoil. The emptiness feels chilling. Yet, there is also something about the standing columns and a cleared arena, no smoke and the moon that strike a true resemblance to the Parthenon in Athens. Although we cannot see Yvonne, we hear her wailing from far away.
YVONNE (off screen)
Alex, why? Why, Alex? Why?
ANGLE ON ALEX
We see Alex, dressed in a tuxedo with a strip of multicolored Ashanti kente cloth around his neck, climbing the final steps to the columns. He positions himself center stage. The ruin has taken on the look of a theater. Alex begins to recite the poem, Strong Men, by Sterling A. Brown
with an opening line homage to Carl Sandburg.
ALEX
The strong men keep coming on.
They dragged you from the homeland,
They chained you in coffles,
They huddled you spoon-fashion in filthy hatches,
They sold you to give a few gentlemen ease.
They broke you in like oxen,
They scourged you,
They branded you,
They made your women breeders,
They swelled your numbers with bastards . . .
They taught you the religion they disgraced.
You sang:
Keep a-inching along
Lak a po’ inch worm
You sang:
Bye and bye
I’m gonna lay down this heaby load . . .
You sang:
Walk togedder, chillen,
Dontcha git weary . . .
The strong men keep a-coming on
The strong men git stronger.
They point with pride to the roads you built for them,
They ride in comfort over the rails you laid for them.
They put hammers in your hands
And said – Drive so much before sundown.
You sang:
Ain’t no hammah
In dis lan’
Strikes lak mine, bebby,
Strikes lak mine.
They cooped you up in their kitchens,
They penned you in their factories,
They gave you the jobs that they were too good for,
They tried to guarantee happiness to themselves
By shunting dirt and misery to you.
(MORE)
ALEX (CONT’D)
You sang:
Me an’ muh baby gonna shine, shine
Me an’ muh baby gonna shine.
The strong men keep a-coming on
The strong men git stronger . . .
They bought off some of your leaders
You stumbled, as blind men will . . .
They coaxed you, unwontedly soft-voiced . . .
You followed a way.
Then laughed as usual.
They heard the laugh and wondered;
Uncomfortable;
Unadmitting a deeper terror . . .
The strong men keep a-coming on
Gitting stronger . . .
What, from the slums
Where they have hemmed you,
What, from the tiny huts
They could not keep from you –
What reaches them
Makin them ill at ease, fearful?
Today they shout prohibition at you
“Thou shalt not this”
“Thou shalt not that”
“Reserved for whites only”
You laugh.
One thing they cannot prohibit –
The strong men . . . coming on
The strong men gittin’ stronger.
Strong men . . .
Stronger . . .
CUT TO:
INT: YVONNE’S BEDROOM
She is still sleeping.
YVONNE
(mumbling)
Alex, why? Why, Alex? Why?
Mari bursts in wearing a soft blue nightshirt with a painting of a slice of pink frosted cake with a bite taken out of it on the front. She kneels on the bed and begins to shake Yvonne awake. Eventually, she cradles her friend in her arms.
MARI
Yvonne, Yvonne. Wake up. You’re dreaming. Wake up.
YVONNE
Wh- Who?
Yvonne exhales deeply.
Mari.
MARI
Yes, it’s me.
YVONNE
(still groggy)
What a dream!
MARI
What was it about?
Yvonne pauses to remember. When she exclaimed about her dream, she was reacting to the feeling with which it had left her, not the dream itself.
YVONNE
It was about yesterday’s bombing. Alex was in it, I think. I kept seeing the building, or what’s left of it. I don’t remember anything else. (pause) I guess the bombing upset me more than I realized, that we’ve come to this again. It reminded me of the many, many race riots we’ve had in this country. I feel as though I’ve been living in a fantasy, believing that people of different ethnic backgrounds are talking and living easily with each other. It’s not so. I am so proud and happy when I write a story that I feel helps people understand each other better. A story like the Clearview takeout, which I have yet to write. But how often does that happen? How often do I write a story that validates my commitment to this profession?
MARI
Maybe it’s not the profession. Maybe it’s what you’re doing in the profession. I respect your work but, pardon my saying, the Daily Mirror is not exactly advocate journalism.
YVONNE
No, it’s not. Stories, photographs the paper runs portray blacks as powerless and disenfranchised when they are run at all. The Mirror reflects a certain segment of society. I still have to read the black press to find out what’s going on in the community. I read the San Francisco Beacon.
MARI
What about –
YVONNE
Working for the black press again? That’s how I got my first newspaper clips in Washington years ago. I was grateful to be able to get my name into print. I was ecstatic to see it. My byline looked so distinguished under the headline and above my story. So professional. There was no money to pay me for my work. At that time, I would have paid to have my stories published. But things have changed.
MARI
You don’t think that the black press can support your champagne tastes?
YVONNE
I think money would be a problem.
MARI
Money is what kept me safe and miserable in the corporate world for 10 years doing human resources. What if you found another way to support yourself while working for the Beacon?
YVONNE
How much time would I have to do that?
MARI
Aren’t there journalism fellowships that give you time off?
YVONNE
Yes, time off from your job. Some require that you take university courses; others don’t. That’s brilliant, Mari! The San Francisco Beacon wouldn’t have to pay me, and I’d have time enough to see whether I wanted to stay, return to the Mirror or do something else. The Beacon would also have to decide whether it would want me to stay. I can see I’ve got some work to do. I’ve been so caught up in reporting and writing day-to-day stories for 13 years that I’ve neglected my own. It took this bombing to shake me up, to make me realize that I was still standing at the crossroads. Well, I won’t be standing still any longer. I’ll be moving on, getting stronger.
CUT TO:
INT: YVONNE’S BATHROOM
She is talking on the telephone while taking a bubble bath.
YVONNE
I started making telephone calls today to get fellowship information and applications. I’m going to meet with the Beacon’s managing editor next week. If he’s not interested in having me work full time, I can freelance there or look elsewhere. Across the bay. I have years of daily journalism experience from which someone outside of mainstream journalism can benefit.
ANGLE INSET OF SANDY
SANDY
Have you considered teaching?
YVONNE
No. I’ve never taught before. If I could get into the right situation, maybe. I’d prefer to keep working as a journalist, and for the black press.
SANDY
It sounds like a great idea. The timing seems right. It must be. You’re so excited about it. It’s good to see you excited about trying something new. How does Alex feel about it?
YVONNE
I haven’t talked with Alex about it.
SANDY
Oh.
YVONNE
No, I haven’t.
SANDY
You aren’t thinking of swapping one new experience, like marriage, for another, are you?
YVONNE
I don’t know how I’m going to answer Alex’s proposal. We’re not married now; we’re not even engaged. I don’t have to report my every movement and thought to him.
SANDY
No, of course not. But I would think that you would want to talk about these contemplated job changes with him just as you are with me.
YVONNE
I’m not so certain that Alex and I share a similar political philosophy. He supports violence. I don’t. I don’t want to lose him but . . .
SANDY
Everything you’ve told me about him sounds great! Why should you lose him because you disagree over political tactics. It’s a philosophical dispute. So what. He’s probably happy to have someone with whom he can debate such ponderous intellectual matters. They have nothing to do with real life.
YVONNE
Until two days ago.
SANDY
What do you mean?
Yvonne pauses before answering. Her facial grimaces and biting of her lips – no need to maintain a poker face over the telephone – tell us that she is wrestling over whether she should confide her suspicions in Sandy.
YVONNE
I stood in front of a building that was there one minute and gone the next, a building that I could have been in or he could have been in or you, or hundreds of people. It made me sick to see it crumble. Alex says he doesn’t believe in people doing good; he doesn’t believe in community. It sounds like an excuse to do nothing. I’ve been doing nothing, Sandy, nothing. In a way, I feel responsible for the bombing through my passivity. Alex says he supports violence in some situations. How can he? I don’t understand it.
SANDY
I never realized that you were such a strong advocate of nonviolence. You never have been before. Maybe the bombing also changed Alex’s thinking.
YVONNE
Maybe.
SANDY
Anyway, I can’t wait to meet him tomorrow night at Jim and Rhoda’s housewarming.
YVONNE
(shaky)
Oh yes. That’s tomorrow, isn’t it?
SANDY
Yes. Are you all right, Yvonne?
YVONNE
Sure. Sure I am. Well, I’ve got to run and take care of some errands.
SANDY
All right. See you.
YVONNE
Goodbye.
ANGLE ON YVONNE ALONE
She hangs up the phone with a perturbed look on her face.
MARI (off screen)
Anybody home? Or can I start acting zany?
YVONNE
(shouting)
Mari.
Mari walks into the bathroom and closes the door behind her.
MARI
All right already. What, is there a fire?
Yvonne answers with her look of disturbance.
What’s going on? That bath looks great. Just the thing after a day of marveling at the sights of San Francisco. Not that I’m rushing you. Take –
Yvonne, who hasn’t cracked a smile, interrupts Mari.
YVONNE
Mari, sit down. I’ve got to talk with you. This has been eating at me since Wednesday. I have to tell someone.
Mari sits on the closed toilet seat.
MARI
What is it, Yvonne?
YVONNE
I don’t know how to begin, except to just say it. I think that Alex may have had something to do with the bombing.
Mari laughs.
MARI
Your Alex? So, what’s it like sleeping with a guerrilla fighter? How do you know this? Is he a card-carrying terrorist? Or did he tell you, “Yvonne, I’m a nonsmoking, HIV-negative bomber.”
YVONNE
I am not kidding.
MARI
All right. What makes you think he bombed that building? Did he tell you?
YVONNE
No, he didn’t tell me. Of course, he didn’t tell me. The first time we went out to dinner, he told me that terrorism has its place and that the fire alarm prank was a warning of the fire next time.
MARI
Yes?
YVONNE
That’s it.
MARI
That’s it? Yvonne, you’re indicting the man based on dinner conversation?! Besides, what sense does it make for a black faculty member to set bombs, knowing that he’s sure to get caught – they always do – thereby depleting the numbers on staff, the whole point of the bombing.
YVONNE
Alex isn’t a black faculty member.
MARI
I thought that you told me that he was black, although I know that you are an equal opportunity dater. We all are because we appreciate people for who they are inside and because there aren’t a whole lot of brothers who have avoided prison, crack or paranoid schizophrenia. More and more, I believe that we are all crazy. Some of us just carry it off better than others. Living this twoness Du Bois wrote about is sure to drive you mad.
YVONNE
Alex is black.
MARI
So, what are you telling me?
YVONNE
He’s not a faculty member.
MARI
But I thought philosophy was his area.
YVONNE
It is. He’s a senior. A 23-year-old senior.
MARI
The truth will shake itself out. It always does. You’ve been hiding Alex’s age. Why? What difference does it make?
YVONNE
I don’t know. There are times when there are generational gaps. He’ll mention a musician he loves who I don’t know. I’ll mention a national story I covered that he studied in history class. But the gaps are rare, and they don’t matter. They just remind me that I am 16 years older than he. I can’t even say that we’re in different phases of our lives. Although I’ve lived many more years than he, we want the same things now. Age shouldn’t make a difference; it doesn’t make a difference to me.
MARI
You care about what other people think?
YVONNE
Yes. I do. I hate to admit that. I’ve always thought of myself being true to myself, acting true to myself despite what others think. But now, I find that I’m scared of what my friends will say and of what they’ll think. I’m afraid they’ll look at me and feel sorry for me because I’m 39 and I’ve resorted to robbing the cradle.
MARI
Well, he’s not exactly jailbait. Are you seeing Alex out of desperation?
YVONNE
No. No, I love Alex. And now I find out that the man could be a crazed politico.
MARI
It sounds to me like you’ve fallen into this madman’s clutches, and you don’t know how to get away. I, for one, have got to get out of this bathroom. It’s like sitting in a sauna. I can’t stand it any longer.
Mari gets up to leave. As she reaches for the doorknob, Yvonne speaks.
YVONNE
Thank you.
Mari turns around before going out.
MARI
Any time.
She goes out.
YVONNE
(talking to herself)
I have been a fool.
MARI
(from the other side of the door)
You sure have.
CUT TO:
EXT: YVONNE IN HER CAR AT SUNSET
She is speeding through city streets and then onto the bottom rung of the Bay Bridge connecting San Francisco with the East Bay. Once off the bridge, she races toward Alex’s home and parks wildly in front of his house.
ANGLE ON ALEX
He hears her car screeching and looks out the living room window.
ANGLE ON ALEX AND YVONNE
She hurls herself out of her car and runs to his house. He opens the door before she gets to it. They kiss passionately and whirl around in circles leading into Alex’s bedroom.
CUT TO:
EXT: ALEX’S HOUSE
ANGLE ON LAWN WATER SPRINKLER GOING ON
INT: ALEX’S BEDROOM
ANGLE ON ALEX AND YVONNE
Their hands are clasped between them as they sleep. They begin to talk before they have awakened completely.
ALEX
I was worried about you. Where have you been?
YVONNE
Hiding behind a barrier in a crazy place full of fear and doubt.
ALEX
I missed you. Will you be going back there?
YVONNE
No.
ALEX
Good.
They give each other a peck on the lips and go back to sleep.
ANGLE ON CLASPED HANDS
CUT TO:
EXT: JIM AND RHODA’S HOUSE AT NIGHT
ANGLE ON CLASPED HANDS
Yvonne and Alex are standing outside the door holding hands.
WIDER ANGLE
We see Yvonne, Alex and Mari standing outside an A-frame two-story, three-bedroom house that sits at the top of many curving stone steps. The house itself is situated on a narrow, winding street in Rockridge, a hilly part of Oakland that resembles the Hollywood Hills. Mari knocks on the door with one hand while holding a wrapped gift in the other. JIM, an Irish American in his late 30s with thick brown hair wearing blue jeans and a button-down, white cotton shirt, answers the door.
JIM
Come in. Come in. Welcome to our new abode and our new life – or death, depending on your perspective – as suburbanites.
YVONNE
Thank you, Jim.
The three of them step inside. Yvonne and Jim kiss on the cheek.
CUT TO:
INT: THE HOUSE
WIDER ANGLE
They enter the living room which has a high, curved ceiling and a stone fireplace on the left side and the opposite side, glass doors that lead into a terraced garden. Nine casually dressed people in their late 30s and 40s are milling about, sipping wine, eating, gabbing. Most shout hello to Yvonne. These people are close friends. There is no need for formal introductions. They quiet down when they see new faces of people whose names they already know.
YVONNE
Jim (then in a louder voice), and everyone else fortunate enough to be on the Eagles’ A list, this is Mari, my childhood friend visiting from New York, and this is Alex, who is from this side of the Bay. But from Berkeley, not Oakland.
A white woman with shoulder-length, curly brown hair, who is 40 and eight month’ pregnant, walks out of the adjacent kitchen.
JIM
This is Rhoda, my wife. And my unborn child who has no name as yet. Oh, and I’m Jim.
RHODA
(talking to Mari and Alex)
It’s nice to meet you both finally. Yvonne has told me a lot about you.
Jim resumes introductions as though he hasn’t been interrupted. As he mentions names, people raise their hands or wave.
JIM
That’s THOMAS, my brother (he looks like Jim) and his wife, MIA (dark Cuban American with smartly coiffed hair), and PAUL (he doesn’t resemble his brothers with his impish looks and cellophane red-dyed hair), my baby brother. That’s it for relatives. We’re a good Irish Catholic family of seven children, but none of the others live in the area. So, you’re spared meeting the rest of the Eagle clan. Now, that’s LARRY (heavy-set Japanese American), Sandy, TERRY (tall, svelte black man with a bubbly personality), WALTER (a stocky black man with dark skin and blue eyes), JOE (a Scandinavian-looking man with blond hair and light eyes) and his wife, LAURA (a fair-skinned black woman with light brown eyes).
RHODA
There’s food and wine, beer, soft drinks and mineral water in the kitchen. Please help yourself.
JIM
Let the games resume.
Everyone continues talking, laughing, eating and drinking, everyone except Sandy who keeps staring at Alex in disbelief.
MARI
I love your house. It’s charming.
RHODA
Thank you. We saw a lot of houses, many which we hated. We both liked this one immediately.
Jim begins to talk with Alex. Rhoda and Mari continue their conversation. Yvonne goes into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of red wine.
ANGLE ON SANDY
Sandy follows Yvonne into the kitchen.
ANGLE ON SANDY AND YVONNE
SANDY
(in a low, shocked voice)
Yvonne, he’s so young.
YVONNE
He’s younger than I am if that’s what you mean.
SANDY
Of course, that’s what I mean. How much younger?
YVONNE
(playfully)
He’s 23, so that makes him . . . let’s see, three minus nine leaves six, two minus three leaves one. 16. Sorry I don’t know the new Math which isn’t new anymore. Alex is 16 years younger than I am.
SANDY
16! My God, Yvonne. Don’t you feel ol – odd?
YVONNE
Not anymore, no. It’s wonderful to be with someone who’s open to love and not armored against it. You can’t love scared, and he’s not. When I’ve dated older men or men my own age, the strongest feeling from them is often anxiety. Many of them had worked out some complex system of survival which cut them off from people. They were emotional cowards, cripples unable to make a commitment, unable to touch. I used to believe that an older man knows himself better and has worked out a place for himself in this world. But you and I both know that that’s not necessarily so. In fact, it often isn’t. I hope you like Alex.
SANDY
I’m sorry. I wasn’t criticizing you. It’s just that I was stunned and a little upset that you didn’t tell me.
YVONNE
I know. I didn’t say anything intentionally. I had to work out my own mishegosh.
Yvonne sips her wine.
I nearly killed our love with my fear. For a moment, I died. But I’m back now, and I know that we’ll love each other as long as there is a sky over our heads.
SANDY
I’d better go meet this man.
Sandy smiles and squeezes Yvonne’s hand as she leaves. Terry walks over to Yvonne.
TERRY
He seems to be a well-mannered, good-hearted man. Howard would have approved. You deserve a good man.
YVONNE
Thank you. I’m happy you approve, but I do miss Howard.
TERRY
So do I. I dreamt about him a few days ago. He said that he had come back from the other side to make sure that I was all right. The strange thing is that I could see his shrunken arms marred by rickets brought on by AIDS, but I couldn’t see his face. He felt very present in that dream. I felt I could reach out and touch him. I suppose that Howard’s spirit is still alive in each of us.
Jim walks in. Terry serves himself a plate of food.
JIM
He’s a nice guy, Yvonne. And Mari’s really funny. A good person to have at a party.
TERRY
I was just saying the same thing.
YVONNE
I’m glad you like them. I’m especially glad you like Alex.
JIM
Yvonne, have I ever not liked someone you’ve gone out with?
YVONNE
Yes. Phil. The man who was pushing for marriage and who I thought I would marry. But you held your tongue. It was after we broke up that you told me you thought he was a jerk.
JIM
I jumped right into that one, didn’t I? All right, all right. But what if you had married him? You would have resented me for telling you.
Terry leaves the kitchen.
YVONNE
I don’t know. It is tricky. How honest should we be about our friends’ heartthrobs? You’re probably right. Honest only if we like them and evasive otherwise. I remember when you brought your first wife to Tad’s birthday party in Long Beach. No one could believe that you two were married. She was so harsh, so cold and insecure.
JIM
That seems like a lifetime ago.
YVONNE
It was. Rhoda is so full of life, no pun intended. She’s bright. She’s happy. She’s loving. You’re a lucky man.
JIM
I know I am. Rhoda is the light of my life.
YVONNE
It’s so good to be here at this double celebration of fertility and settling down.
JIM
It is good, isn’t it? For so long, I never wanted to be responsible for bringing life into this world. Then, when I agreed to go along with Rhoda trying to get pregnant, I didn’t believe it would happen. We tried for so long. Three years. Rhoda did everything she could to get pregnant. Now that she’s about to have the baby, I’m so happy she did. Watching our child grow inside the woman I love has made me love him. I’m eager to become a father – scared too – but eager.
YVONNE
I’m eager, too. This is the first baby in the family. We’re finally growing up.
JIM
I am definitely crossing the river of time and entering the fuzzy land of grown-ups.
YVONNE
None of us are holding onto an unfettered life any longer. It took us awhile to figure out what we wanted. All these choices, I think, intimidated us. We put off making decisions, making commitments. But it’s all right because now we go after what we know we want and need.
Yvonne and Jim have been inching toward the open door leading into the living room. Now, they stand in the doorway looking at the others.
ANGLE ON RHODA AND ALEX
They are sitting on a couch, talking and laughing.
ANGLE ON JIM AND YVONNE
They are gazing at their partners.
JIM
What do you think will happen to you two?
YVONNE
I think that we’ll be crossing that river of time together.
She smiles and walks into the living room where she sits beside Alex. Jim follows her and stands behind Rhoda.
ANGLE ON THE TWO COUPLES
All four are talking with each other in a cozy way. Kisses finish some sentences, and there is a lot of touching and stroking.
WIDER ANGLE
We see the entire group engrossed in conversation, food and drink. This is a happy event that will draw these old friends even closer.
CUT TO:
EXT: NIGHT OUTSIDE THE HOUSE
ANGLE ON A GRAY CAT
The cat presses its nose against the living room window looking in from the terraced garden. We hear the bells in its collar tinkle as it pushes through the cat flap into the living room and curls up in a corner box with a pillow.
CUT TO:
INT: NEWSROOM
ANGLE ON BILL AND YVONNE
Editor and reporter are standing and talking near his desk.
YVONNE
I just got a call from Berkeley Police. They’ve made several arrests in the Clearview bombing.
BILL
Students?
YVONNE
No. No one connected with the school.
BILL
No? Who was it then?
YVONNE
They’re arrested several members of a white supremacist group in the East Bay.
BILL
How did they get them?
YVONNE
Through the paper that they wrote anonymous notes on. It has an unusually thick texture. Police matched it with flyers of the White Aryan Guard that they found in trash cans outside the administration building.
BILL
The White Aryan Guard. Isn’t that the group that vandalized Jewish cemeteries last year?
YVONNE
One and the same.
BILL
That’s amazing. The bombing was an act of sabotage. It was meant to stop the push for minority faculty. They were trying to increase hostility toward the campaign.
YVONNE
That’s what they wanted, and that’s what they did. I’ve been interviewing students and teachers for this piece on race relations, and the bombing comes up every time. I guess there’s no way it can’t. I sure get the feeling that if I had interviewed people before it, I would have been getting a different story.
BILL
The question is whether you’re getting a more honest story.
CUT TO:
INT: PRESIDENT OAK’S TINY, MAKESHIFT OFFICE
Everything is smaller in this office – its size, his desk. The Joan Mirós are gone; there is no art on the white walls. President Oak, himself, looks smaller, and his tanned skin has grown paler. He looks like a man who has been losing sleep with worry.
ANGLE ON PRESIDENT OAK
He is sitting in a spartan wooden chair with a caned bottom and no arms.
PRESIDENT OAK
This has been a difficult time for Clearview. Since the bombing last week, people have been walking in a fog. I’m relieved to hear that the suspected bombers are not in the Clearview family. But even knowing that, we have still been attacked and there is a looming feeling that it could happen again anytime. We have hired psychologists to be on call for anyone who feels the need to talk with professionals.
ANGLE ON YVONNE
She is sitting on the other side of the desk taking copious notes. Her chair is similar to President Oak’s.
WIDER ANGLE ON YVONNE AND PRESIDENT OAK
PRESIDENT OAK
The psychologists’ phones have been ringing. My phone has been ringing off the hook. Parents are calling for explanations and reassurances. I’m doing my best to stave off a mob of students withdrawing from school. We’re installing bomb and weapon detectors at the entrance of each building. We’ve already increased the security staff. It’s a shame that we have to take these sorts of precautions on a campus of learning, but the times dictate them. Still, I can’t make any promises to the parents or any other members of the community.
YVONNE
What about Hopkins Hall? When will you start rebuilding?
PRESIDENT OAK
We haven’t determined a definite time as yet. It probably won’t be until the spring. I’m sorry we’ll have to wait that long. We’ve had a wrecking ball knock down the remains of the building. That gaping space is an inescapable reminder of the terrible thing that happened there. So, instead of trying to forget, we’re going to make it a point to remember. We’re going to put a plaque there dealing with the issue at hand – racism. Clearview will not allow itself to be manipulated by terrorists. We’re not sure what the plaque will say as yet.
YVONNE
What about the work you’ve been doing on hiring more minority faculty?
PRESIDENT OAK
We haven’t stopped. We believe in that. The school was not doing enough to hire minority faculty until recently. We were suffering from an arrogance that allowed us to think that we didn’t have to go out looking for people. Our thinking was that they should come to us.
YVONNE
I see.
PRESIDENT OAK
It wasn’t until we got Kevin Chin on the Search Committee that we became aware of how aggressive other schools have been in finding people, and we found out about the perks they offer potential faculty members. Many attempt to lure them with higher salaries, lighter class loads, that kind of thing. Those schools have been successful in getting people. Some, however, have been more successful than others in keeping them. That’s what we want to do at Clearview, keep them. We’re going to try to entice qualified teachers with our sincere desire to reflect the larger, changing American society on our teaching staff.
YVONNE
Does that mean that they won’t be offered competitive salaries and workloads?
PRESIDENT OAK
They will be competitive with those offered to others. You know, Yvonne, competition in the academic world is fierce. We don’t think that it helps new faculty members any to walk into a cushy situation where they will certainly meet with resentment from other teachers. It would prevent them from integrating into our community. As it is, they’ll always be dealing with one count against them. Because they are members of minority groups and this is the age of affirmative action, many on the faculty are going to presume that they got their jobs because of the color of their skin. Having been schooled in this time themselves, they’ll probably know how to deal with that. They’ve been dealing with it for a good part of their lives. You and I both know that in order for them to be successful academically and in their careers, they’ve had to be better than the rest. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have survived. It’s a shameful truth about American society.
YVONNE
I see.
PRESIDENT OAK
We are a campus in the process of healing after a trauma. I think that you need to keep that in mind as you do your reporting on the race story. Some of the responses you’re getting are bound to be irrational and the result of fear.
YVONNE
Isn’t that what racism is?
CUT TO:
INT: YVONNE’S BEDROOM IN THE MORNING
Yvonne and Alex are sitting up in bed under the Black Orpheus poster. Alex is reading a book; Yvonne is reading the San Francisco Beacon. She looks over at him and smiles.
YVONNE
I could stay here forever.
Alex keeps reading as he answers, but as Yvonne talks, he eventually gives her his attention.
ALEX
Your public would miss you.
YVONNE
Not my public. The public. I don’t know whether it would miss me, but I would feel remiss for not serving it. There are too many inequities to make equal, too many wrongs to make right. In today’s conservative political climate, people willing to run against the wind are becoming fewer and fewer. Even journalists are more believing of what politicians and other bureaucrats say. The media often seem like mouthpieces of those in power. It’s scary. Still, for me, the Fourth Estate is the best way to make a difference.
ALEX
My sweetie. A reporter with a mission. What about philosophers? Where do we fit in?
YVONNE
How do you see yourself fitting in?
ALEX
Answering a question with a question. That’s not fair, Yve.
YVONNE
But I really do want to know.
ALEX
The stories that you’ve done on the Clearview race issue have changed my mind about journalism. You have changed things. You influenced the Third World Coalition and the administration to talk with each other. Your piece on the bombing gave me the chills and, yet, was even-handed. I think that much of the campus looked for your stories to hold onto. They represented a stability that didn’t exist at school. Then, when you wrote the larger story about race and the editorial looking backwards and looking ahead, you opened up a lot of minds. You treated the issue as one not new nor confined to one campus. Now that you’re planning to move on to a black newspaper, your challenges will be different and, therefore, more exciting. I have a lot of respect for your work, Yve. But I am not a journalist.
YVONNE
I know you’re not.
ALEX
I’m not searching for wrongs to right. As far as running against the wind, sometimes I am and sometimes I’m not. I’m a man who wants to lead a quiet life. I have one close friend in the States, Henry, and a few others in Dakar and Paris with whom I keep in close contact. I love my parents, my grandparents and my other relatives, and I love you. I am Everyman. I don’t have one activist bone in my body. That’s not to say that I’m not outraged by situations such as a predominantly all-white male faculty. I am. I will do what I can, but I’ll not pledge my every waking second to securing change.
YVONNE
I understand that. But –
ALEX
I’d been considering this before the bombing, but perhaps the bombing helped me make my decision. I am going to go to graduate school for my doctorate and, then, teach. I had been toying with the idea of taking time off, maybe going to Senegal, before continuing my studies, but now I feel a sense of urgency to get on with it. I took some time off before college. I don’t want to take a break again. I don’t want to put my life on hold.
YVONNE
I think that’s a wonderful plan and an admirable choice of career, Professor.
ALEX
Thank you. Thank you. I’m going to apply for that new minority teaching fellowship at Clearview along with some others. I’d like to stay in the Bay Area.
YVONNE
I’d like that, too.
ALEX
You would?
He puts his book aside and places his head in her lap. She strokes his face.
YVONNE
Yes, I would.
ALEX
And why is that?
YVONNE
Because . . . I . . .
ALEX
Yes?
YVONNE
I . . .
ALEX
I’m waiting, Ms. Yve. If it takes the rest of my life, I’ll wait because since I met you, life has become extraordinary. I see beauty now where I once saw gray. On a clear day, the sky is bluer; on a foggy day, the mist is enchanting. You are an incredible woman – accomplished, beautiful and kind. It would be an honor to begin and end each day with you by my side. So, I will wait for your answer for as long as it takes.
YVONNE
You won’t have to wait any longer because I can’t imagine living without you. I will marry you.
ALEX
You will?
YVONNE
I will.
He kisses her hard on the lips and leaps out of bed. He dances around the room with joy.
ALEX
She will. She will. She will.
Alex stops abruptly, goes over to a beaming Yvonne and takes her hand.
ALEX
When?
YVONNE
As soon as we can, on one condition.
Alex almost stops breathing as he waits to hear what she has to say.
ALEX
Oh, and what’s that?
YVONNE
That we get married in Belize.
Alex breathes a sigh of relief.
ALEX
That’s a great idea. We’ll give our families and friends ample notice so that they can make plans. What about June? That’s eight months away.
YVONNE
Sounds perfect.
Alex sits down beside her and snuggles.
ALEX
I love you.
YVONNE
I love you, too. How did we get to be so lucky?
He positions himself behind her and encircles her body with his arms. She leans back into the caress.
ALEX
We were two lonely souls who believed in happy endings.
INT: CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BELIZE
The church’s new architecture is light and airy. There are no stained-glass windows to darken the interior. The sun shines through clear glass windows near the high ceiling above the altar and around the church, which is built in a semi-circle. The church also is not cluttered with statues. The crucifix and few statues of saints are simple and impressively hand-carved. The pews are of a blond wood. They are filled with friends and families of the bride and groom. The guests at Mari’s birthday dinner and at Jim and Rhoda’s housewarming are there along with other people we have not met before. Jim is holding his seven-month-old son.
WIDE MOVING ANGLE
We follow a trail of sweet-smelling orange blossoms down the aisle to the altar railing where Alex, dressed in a light-colored tropical suit, and Yvonne, wearing a peach chiffon calf-length dress, are taking their vows. The PRIEST is wearing light-colored vestments.
YVONNE (off screen)
I do.
PRIEST (off screen)
I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss.
ANGLE ON YVONNE AND ALEX
They are kissing at the foot of the altar, briefly but passionately. They walk down the aisle taking the hands of their PARENTS and beckoning everyone in the church to walk out with them to the sound of joyous music. Guests holding hands burst out of the church into even brighter sunshine outdoors.
FREEZE FRAME
The couple and their guests walk out uplifted.
CUT TO:
EXT: THE SEA
We leave the church and travel a few blocks to the Caribbean Sea where we see and hear gulls and a few children playing in the warm, greenish blue water.
FADE OUT.