1
00:01:15,475 --> 00:01:17,739
My name is Claireece "Precious" Jones.

2
00:01:20,247 --> 00:01:24,411
I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend
with real nice hair.

3
00:01:24,484 --> 00:01:27,044
And I wanna be on the cover of a magazine.

4
00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,487
But first, I wanna be
in one of them BET videos.

5
00:01:30,591 --> 00:01:32,923
Momma said I can't dance.

6
00:01:32,993 --> 00:01:36,485
Plus, she said, who wants
to see my big ass dancing, anyhow?

7
00:01:36,597 --> 00:01:40,260
Well, if there's no volunteers,
then I’m going to have to call people.

8
00:01:40,334 --> 00:01:44,168
Okay, Leticia, you got number one. Leticia!

9
00:01:44,271 --> 00:01:45,636
Jess Wesley, number two.

10
00:01:45,739 --> 00:01:48,833
I like math. I don't say nothing.

11
00:01:49,676 --> 00:01:53,112
I don't open my book, even. I just sit there.

12
00:01:53,180 --> 00:01:54,738
-You down?
-Number six.

13
00:01:54,815 --> 00:01:58,774
Every day I tell myself
something's gonna happen.

14
00:01:58,852 --> 00:01:59,978
I’m... I’m dead serious.

15
00:02:00,087 --> 00:02:02,419
Like, I’m gonna break through.

16
00:02:02,956 --> 00:02:05,686
Or somebody's gonna break through to me.

17
00:02:06,126 --> 00:02:08,424
I’m gonna be normal

18
00:02:08,495 --> 00:02:11,430
and pay attention,
and sit in the front of the class.

19
00:02:11,498 --> 00:02:13,693
Distributive principles...

20
00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:14,858
Someday.

21
00:02:14,968 --> 00:02:17,198
...are principles that
you can do in your head.

22
00:02:17,304 --> 00:02:19,363
I likes Mr. Wicher.

23
00:02:20,340 --> 00:02:24,709
I pretend he my husband
and we live someplace like Westchester.

24
00:02:25,812 --> 00:02:29,441
Look at him. He like me, too, I know it.

25
00:02:30,217 --> 00:02:34,984
I can tell by his eyes.
He always looking at me and smiling at me.

26
00:02:35,055 --> 00:02:37,148
Boys! Boys! Boys!

27
00:02:37,224 --> 00:02:38,452
I’m not your fucking boy!

28
00:02:38,525 --> 00:02:39,651
You're disrupting the class.

29
00:02:39,726 --> 00:02:42,160
Yeah, well, I’m talking now,
so you listen.

30
00:02:43,063 --> 00:02:45,827
Shut the fuck up! I’m trying to listen!

31
00:02:49,069 --> 00:02:51,401
Mr. Wicher know I got his back.

32
00:02:51,838 --> 00:02:53,362
One twenty-two.

33
00:02:55,008 --> 00:02:57,033
Why are we barking, Jess?

34
00:02:57,577 --> 00:03:02,014
Monday's assignment.
I’m assuming everybody did it.

35
00:03:02,416 --> 00:03:04,407
-No.
-No.

36
00:03:07,754 --> 00:03:12,487
Please... Quiet. Precious, get your things.

37
00:03:12,559 --> 00:03:14,652
I have... Come here for a second.

38
00:03:14,728 --> 00:03:15,854
Now this shit.

39
00:03:15,929 --> 00:03:18,921
Is there anybody
who didn't do their homework?

40
00:03:21,435 --> 00:03:26,236
Why? These aren't requests.
These are requirements. Okay?

41
00:03:29,910 --> 00:03:32,845
You have to go to the principal's office.

42
00:03:43,623 --> 00:03:44,851
Go to the principal's office!

43
00:03:44,925 --> 00:03:47,860
All right, that's enough. That's enough.

44
00:03:48,228 --> 00:03:51,288
No, he's not allowed on campus.
Where was he seen?

45
00:03:51,431 --> 00:03:53,296
Could you get Mr. Tork from Room 25,

46
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,800
tell him to go to Room 16 right away?
Thank you.

47
00:03:55,902 --> 00:03:58,632
No. He was seen on the second floor.

48
00:03:59,940 --> 00:04:01,464
Yes. Thank you.

49
00:04:01,641 --> 00:04:03,734
Send Claireece in here!

50
00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:08,971
She's ready for you now.

51
00:04:12,652 --> 00:04:14,950
Mr. Taylor? Ms. Lichenstein.

52
00:04:15,455 --> 00:04:16,752
Come in.

53
00:04:17,157 --> 00:04:19,489
Matthew Williams, second floor.

54
00:04:20,327 --> 00:04:23,626
in front of his locker.
Yes. Suspended last week.

55
00:04:26,399 --> 00:04:27,559
Yeah.

56
00:04:28,168 --> 00:04:30,295
Yes, absolutely. Thank you.

57
00:04:31,505 --> 00:04:33,268
Hello, Claireece.

58
00:04:38,345 --> 00:04:40,074
Are you pregnant?

59
00:04:47,354 --> 00:04:51,415
You're 16. You're still in junior high school,

60
00:04:53,193 --> 00:04:56,128
and you're pregnant with your second child.

61
00:04:56,196 --> 00:04:58,357
Is that correct, Claireece?

62
00:05:01,134 --> 00:05:03,102
Are you pregnant again?

63
00:05:10,443 --> 00:05:12,775
What happened, Claireece?

64
00:05:12,846 --> 00:05:15,542
I had sex, Ms. Lichenstein.

65
00:05:20,987 --> 00:05:25,014
Do you have any other thoughts
about your situation, Claireece?

66
00:05:30,230 --> 00:05:31,629
Claireece?

67
00:05:31,998 --> 00:05:33,727
Am I in trouble?

68
00:05:35,569 --> 00:05:38,333
Thank you. I gotta get back to math.

69
00:05:38,405 --> 00:05:41,499
Sit down, Claireece. Sit down right now.

70
00:05:43,710 --> 00:05:47,510
We should have a parent-teacher's
conference with you, me and your mother.

71
00:05:47,581 --> 00:05:49,674
My mother's busy.

72
00:05:49,749 --> 00:05:52,081
All right. Well then,
how about if I come to your house?

73
00:05:52,185 --> 00:05:54,153
If I were you, I wouldn't.

74
00:05:54,221 --> 00:05:56,917
I... I’m going to have to suspend you.

75
00:05:58,091 --> 00:06:01,083
That ain't fair! I didn't do nothing!
I do my work!

76
00:06:01,194 --> 00:06:02,252
My grades is good!

77
00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:04,262
Is something going on at home?

78
00:06:04,364 --> 00:06:08,494
If something's going on at home,
I want you to tell me right now.

79
00:06:20,280 --> 00:06:22,271
You get my cigarettes?

80
00:06:22,716 --> 00:06:24,547
No, they didn't have it.

81
00:06:24,618 --> 00:06:27,883
I played the number, though.
I couldn't box it.

82
00:06:55,415 --> 00:06:57,383
Yes. Yeah.

83
00:06:59,252 --> 00:07:02,050
Right there. Yeah. Daddy loves you.

84
00:07:11,164 --> 00:07:13,098
Precious, what did you think of the film?

85
00:07:13,166 --> 00:07:14,326
I thought it was fabulous.

86
00:07:14,434 --> 00:07:16,925
-What's next for you?
-What?

87
00:07:17,003 --> 00:07:19,597
-How are you feeling?
-I feel great!

88
00:07:21,574 --> 00:07:23,098
Just one more, just one more, quick!

89
00:07:23,176 --> 00:07:24,803
I love you, too!

90
00:07:27,180 --> 00:07:28,408
You know I love you!

91
00:07:28,481 --> 00:07:30,073
Hey, boo!

92
00:07:38,358 --> 00:07:40,588
I ain't gonna say it no more.

93
00:07:45,799 --> 00:07:47,926
The door was open, so I let myself in.

94
00:07:48,001 --> 00:07:51,368
Well, there goes my chance
to tell you I’m not home.

95
00:07:51,938 --> 00:07:53,667
Now, Mary, this is important.

96
00:07:58,645 --> 00:08:00,203
Now, come on, Mary,
she'll have a great time.

97
00:08:00,313 --> 00:08:03,714
I'd enrol myself, but I became ineligible
for teen pageants a few days ago.

98
00:08:04,718 --> 00:08:07,619
Yeah, I see your acne's cleared up.

99
00:08:08,555 --> 00:08:10,853
You know, this pageant can do Brenda
a world of good, Mary.

100
00:08:10,957 --> 00:08:14,620
And the man In charge, he's tops
in his field. A brilliant promoter.

101
00:08:14,894 --> 00:08:16,794
How long have you two been dating?

102
00:08:18,231 --> 00:08:20,324
A dance teacher.

103
00:08:22,235 --> 00:08:25,204
Tell them assholes to stop ringing my bell.

104
00:08:25,905 --> 00:08:27,964
I hate crackheads.

105
00:08:28,742 --> 00:08:31,540
No one ever ring this bell
except for crackheads.

106
00:08:31,644 --> 00:08:33,737
Why they fucking with us?

107
00:08:38,251 --> 00:08:41,652
Stop ringing the goddamn buzzers,
motherfuckers!

108
00:08:41,721 --> 00:08:43,882
Give the ghetto a bad name.

109
00:08:49,729 --> 00:08:52,095
Stop ringing the goddamn buzzer!

110
00:09:01,708 --> 00:09:02,936
Stop it!

111
00:09:03,576 --> 00:09:04,838
Stop it!

112
00:09:05,278 --> 00:09:07,269
press “listen,” stupid.

113
00:09:12,619 --> 00:09:16,453
It's Sandra Lichenstein
for Claireece and Ms. Mary Johnston.

114
00:09:19,559 --> 00:09:21,459
Who is that, Precious?

115
00:09:22,062 --> 00:09:24,053
White bitch from school.

116
00:09:31,438 --> 00:09:33,133
What do you want?

117
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,132
Claireece, I want to talk to you
about your education.

118
00:09:40,980 --> 00:09:42,914
Eighty-six that bitch.

119
00:09:43,750 --> 00:09:45,741
My mother don’t wanna get cut off welfare.

120
00:09:45,819 --> 00:09:48,379
And that's just what this visit
gonna result in.

121
00:09:51,257 --> 00:09:54,420
Ms. Lichenstein, get out of here
before I kick your ass.

122
00:09:54,494 --> 00:09:56,758
All right, Claireece, I spoke to Mr. Wicher,

123
00:09:56,830 --> 00:09:59,663
and he told me
that you're one of his best math students.

124
00:09:59,766 --> 00:10:02,735
If your fat ass don't get
that bitch away from here...

125
00:10:02,802 --> 00:10:05,430
...like a, like a potential for math.

126
00:10:05,505 --> 00:10:07,063
So I called Mrs. McKnight

127
00:10:07,140 --> 00:10:11,270
from Higher Education Alternative
Each One Teach One.

128
00:10:12,112 --> 00:10:14,273
It's an alternative school.

129
00:10:15,014 --> 00:10:17,346
Claireece, are you listening to me?

130
00:10:18,017 --> 00:10:18,984
Yeah.

131
00:10:19,085 --> 00:10:22,953
Okay. Mrs. McKnight. Each One Teach One.

132
00:10:23,156 --> 00:10:29,026
It’s located at the 11th floor,
Hotel Theresa, 125th Street.

133
00:10:29,596 --> 00:10:31,996
-Get rid of that bitch.
-The semester started a few days ago,

134
00:10:32,098 --> 00:10:33,122
so you're not too late.

135
00:10:33,199 --> 00:10:34,757
Eleventh floor.

136
00:10:35,168 --> 00:10:36,829
I heard you the first time.

137
00:10:37,704 --> 00:10:38,966
Okay.

138
00:10:40,373 --> 00:10:44,707
I don’t know what an alternative school is,
but I feel I wanna know.

139
00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:48,943
My heart is all warm inside.

140
00:10:49,849 --> 00:10:52,443
Mr. Wicher think I'm a good student.

141
00:10:53,987 --> 00:10:55,955
I knew that he liked me.

142
00:11:16,042 --> 00:11:18,476
School ain't gonna help none!

143
00:11:18,545 --> 00:11:21,070
Take your ass down to the welfare.

144
00:11:21,181 --> 00:11:23,411
Who the fuck she think she is?

145
00:11:24,350 --> 00:11:29,185
So I guess you think you cute now, right?
Uppity bitch.

146
00:11:29,255 --> 00:11:32,247
You should have kept
your fucking mouth shut.

147
00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:36,151
Just 'cause he gonna give you
more children than he give me,

148
00:11:36,229 --> 00:11:38,493
you think you something fucking special?

149
00:11:38,565 --> 00:11:40,556
Fuck you and fuck him!

150
00:11:45,038 --> 00:11:46,335
Precious!

151
00:11:48,441 --> 00:11:50,739
Precious! Precious!

152
00:11:51,778 --> 00:11:53,370
Get down here, bitch!

153
00:11:53,446 --> 00:11:55,846
You brought that white bitch up
in my house!

154
00:11:56,749 --> 00:11:58,683
You...
Why would you bring that bitch up in here?

155
00:11:58,751 --> 00:11:59,775
I didn't bring her here.

156
00:11:59,886 --> 00:12:02,753
Well, why the fuck did she ring my buzzer?

157
00:12:04,357 --> 00:12:05,585
I can't hear you, Precious.

158
00:12:05,692 --> 00:12:07,717
Since you got
so much motherfucking mouth,

159
00:12:07,794 --> 00:12:09,455
and you gonna bring a bitch up
in my house,

160
00:12:09,562 --> 00:12:11,587
why would that bitch ring
my goddamn buzzer?

161
00:12:11,698 --> 00:12:13,393
I didn't tell her to come here.

162
00:12:13,466 --> 00:12:17,197
See, I think right now, you feeling
like you're becoming a grown woman.

163
00:12:17,270 --> 00:12:19,101
'Cause of that shit you pulled
in the kitchen.

164
00:12:19,205 --> 00:12:22,572
I should've fucked you up,
but I let you walk away,

165
00:12:22,642 --> 00:12:24,576
and I let you come get yourself together.

166
00:12:24,644 --> 00:12:27,704
But, bitch, I’m gonna let you know
if you ever pull that shit on me again,

167
00:12:27,780 --> 00:12:30,305
that will be your last
motherfucking day standing,

168
00:12:30,416 --> 00:12:31,405
I promise you that.

169
00:12:31,484 --> 00:12:34,044
You gonna send a white bitch
to my motherfucking buzzer?

170
00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:35,747
Talking about some higher education?

171
00:12:35,822 --> 00:12:39,087
You're a dummy, bitch,
you will never know shit.

172
00:12:39,158 --> 00:12:41,456
Don't nobody want you.
Don't nobody need you.

173
00:12:41,561 --> 00:12:44,155
You done fucked around
and fucked my motherfucking man

174
00:12:44,264 --> 00:12:46,164
and had two motherfucking children,

175
00:12:46,266 --> 00:12:47,927
and one of them is a goddamn animal,

176
00:12:48,001 --> 00:12:51,095
running around,
looking crazy as a motherfucker.

177
00:12:51,170 --> 00:12:55,163
Bitch, you know what?
See, I think you... I think you're trying me.

178
00:12:55,842 --> 00:12:59,778
I think you're really trying to fuck with me.
You're fucking with my money.

179
00:12:59,846 --> 00:13:01,939
And you're gonna stand up there
and look down at me

180
00:13:02,015 --> 00:13:03,607
like you're a motherfucking woman.

181
00:13:03,683 --> 00:13:05,651
I’m gonna show you
what real women do, bitch.

182
00:13:05,752 --> 00:13:08,186
See, you don't know
what real motherfucking women do.

183
00:13:08,288 --> 00:13:10,256
Real motherfucking women sacrifice.

184
00:13:10,323 --> 00:13:13,690
I should've aborted your motherfucking ass.
'Cause you ain't shit.

185
00:13:13,793 --> 00:13:16,353
I knew it the day the doctors put you
in my goddamn hand

186
00:13:16,462 --> 00:13:17,952
you wasn't a goddamn thing,

187
00:13:18,031 --> 00:13:20,329
and you have that smirk
on your face, bitch?

188
00:13:20,433 --> 00:13:22,128
Get it off your fucking face!

189
00:13:22,201 --> 00:13:25,796
Now smile about that!
Smile about that, you fat bitch.

190
00:13:29,375 --> 00:13:31,502
I’m gonna kill you, bitch!

191
00:13:41,387 --> 00:13:43,150
Get off me, bitch!

192
00:13:45,391 --> 00:13:46,824
And “blank” and eggs?

193
00:13:46,893 --> 00:13:48,224
-Bacon?
-Right.

194
00:13:48,328 --> 00:13:50,853
-And “What's up, Doc?” He eats these.
-Carrots.

195
00:13:50,963 --> 00:13:54,330
-Right. And ice, it comes in a tray.
-Ice cubes.

196
00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:57,335
Right. And the best part of the steak. The...

197
00:13:57,403 --> 00:13:58,870
-The T-bone. The...
-No.

198
00:13:58,971 --> 00:14:00,302
-Filet mignon.
-Right!

199
00:14:00,373 --> 00:14:03,831
-And an English... Thomas' English...
-Muffin!

200
00:14:03,910 --> 00:14:05,707
-Right.
-That's it!

201
00:14:14,354 --> 00:14:16,822
You really need to get some rest.

202
00:14:16,889 --> 00:14:19,687
You have such a big day
ahead of you tomorrow.

203
00:14:19,759 --> 00:14:22,922
And remember, Mommy loves you.

204
00:14:26,265 --> 00:14:31,601
Describe these things that are planned.
Things that are planned. Ready? Go!

205
00:14:34,774 --> 00:14:37,902
Precious, you know I love you.

206
00:14:38,010 --> 00:14:41,002
I’m gonna kick that white lady
out of my house,

207
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:42,911
move you in with me.

208
00:14:43,015 --> 00:14:45,108
Wanna live in Westchester?

209
00:14:46,953 --> 00:14:48,284
-Commit a...
-Crime.

210
00:14:48,388 --> 00:14:50,356
And this is you get back together again.

211
00:14:50,423 --> 00:14:51,447
-A class...
-Reunion.

212
00:14:51,557 --> 00:14:53,047
And this is when you're like this,

213
00:14:53,126 --> 00:14:54,388
-you're expecting...
-Pregnant.

214
00:14:54,460 --> 00:14:56,928
-Yeah. And this is you make a fast...
-Escape.

215
00:14:57,029 --> 00:14:58,758
-Right.
-That's it!

216
00:15:31,297 --> 00:15:32,924
Where you going?

217
00:15:33,566 --> 00:15:35,261
Where you going?

218
00:15:35,501 --> 00:15:39,494
Make sure you play my 852
and tell them to box it.

219
00:15:43,075 --> 00:15:45,168
And get some kitty litter.

220
00:15:49,582 --> 00:15:51,447
Ethel, where you at?

221
00:15:55,421 --> 00:15:56,615
Precious, what are we gonna play?

222
00:15:56,689 --> 00:15:57,678
Girl, get the fuck out of here.

223
00:15:57,790 --> 00:15:59,257
Ain't you supposed to be
at school or something?

224
00:15:59,325 --> 00:16:00,952
You said we was gonna play.

225
00:16:01,027 --> 00:16:03,154
That's exactly why
we ain't gonna be playing.

226
00:16:03,262 --> 00:16:04,820
I never said nothing like that.

227
00:17:06,993 --> 00:17:10,690
You would say some shit like that to me,
and you don't even mean it?

228
00:17:10,763 --> 00:17:14,927
No, I’m not playing with you.
No, and she call... Hold on.

229
00:17:15,935 --> 00:17:18,403
Each One Teach One, hold, please.

230
00:17:18,938 --> 00:17:22,396
Yes. She called my house.
I know it wasn't your sister, Trey.

231
00:17:23,075 --> 00:17:25,043
Because it wasn't her.

232
00:17:28,748 --> 00:17:30,511
What this is here?

233
00:17:31,117 --> 00:17:32,448
Each One Teach One.

234
00:17:33,352 --> 00:17:35,377
I’m looking for an alternative school.

235
00:17:35,454 --> 00:17:37,251
This is an alternative.

236
00:17:37,356 --> 00:17:39,449
What alternative is?

237
00:17:39,559 --> 00:17:42,027
What exactly are you asking me?

238
00:17:42,094 --> 00:17:44,119
Lady at my other school
told me to come here.

239
00:17:44,230 --> 00:17:47,563
Hotel Theresa.
Said it's an alternative school.

240
00:17:47,633 --> 00:17:53,697
An alternative school, it's like a choice.
It’s a different way of doing things.

241
00:17:53,773 --> 00:17:57,436
So, I need your discharge papers
saying that they discharged you.

242
00:17:57,543 --> 00:18:00,444
I got kicked out of school
'cause I was pregnant.

243
00:18:00,546 --> 00:18:03,413
Well, I still need your discharge papers,
otherwise we can't let you in.

244
00:18:03,482 --> 00:18:05,541
Ms. Lichenstein didn't say all that.

245
00:18:05,618 --> 00:18:07,950
You the one she called about.

246
00:18:09,755 --> 00:18:11,484
Claireece P. Jones?

247
00:18:11,991 --> 00:18:15,324
They already sent over
your discharge papers and stuff.

248
00:18:15,428 --> 00:18:17,055
I could start today?

249
00:18:17,129 --> 00:18:20,462
Yeah. Are you currently receiving AFDC?

250
00:18:20,566 --> 00:18:23,592
My mother get AFDC
for me and my daughter.

251
00:18:23,669 --> 00:18:26,900
So your mother has custody of you and
your daughter, and you're on her budget?

252
00:18:26,973 --> 00:18:29,942
Okay, well, I’m gonna need a copy
of your mother's budget,

253
00:18:30,009 --> 00:18:33,001
and a copy of your phone bill
and your utility bill.

254
00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:36,411
We gotta give you a few tests,
test your reading and your math level,

255
00:18:36,482 --> 00:18:38,143
see where to place you.

256
00:18:38,784 --> 00:18:41,651
Hold on, baby. Each One Teach One, hold.

257
00:18:42,588 --> 00:18:47,116
To enter into the GED classes,
you gotta get an 8.0 or better on the TABE.

258
00:19:18,557 --> 00:19:21,720
There's always something wrong
with these tests.

259
00:19:23,829 --> 00:19:25,956
These tests paint a picture of me
with no brain.

260
00:19:27,233 --> 00:19:29,326
These tests paint a picture
of me and my mother,

261
00:19:29,402 --> 00:19:31,870
my whole family, as less than dumb.

262
00:19:31,971 --> 00:19:36,032
Just ugly, black grease to be wiped away,
find another job for.

263
00:19:37,810 --> 00:19:40,040
Sometimes I wish I was dead.

264
00:19:41,714 --> 00:19:45,411
I’ll be okay, I guess, 'cause I’m looking up.

265
00:19:47,653 --> 00:19:50,178
I’m looking up for a piano to fall.

266
00:19:50,256 --> 00:19:54,215
Or a desk, couch, TV... Momma, maybe.

267
00:19:55,227 --> 00:19:57,422
Always something in my way.

268
00:19:58,764 --> 00:19:59,753
Yeah, man.

269
00:19:59,865 --> 00:20:02,095
Yo, make sure you get that
for me, too, man.

270
00:20:02,201 --> 00:20:03,691
Alternative.

271
00:20:03,769 --> 00:20:05,760
Man, you gotta stop smoking
them shits, man.

272
00:20:05,871 --> 00:20:08,169
That ain't the only thing
that's gonna fucking kill you.

273
00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,105
Hustling in these streets gonna kill you.

274
00:20:10,910 --> 00:20:12,172
It is what it is.

275
00:20:12,244 --> 00:20:14,337
Then my mind come back down to Earth.

276
00:20:15,181 --> 00:20:17,945
Let me get some of that sweet ass, orca!

277
00:20:18,451 --> 00:20:19,440
What up, mama?

278
00:20:19,552 --> 00:20:21,577
Why boys always grabbing on themselves?

279
00:20:21,687 --> 00:20:25,521
You heard what the fuck I said?
I said give me some fucking ass.

280
00:20:25,591 --> 00:20:28,389
I’m serious!
When you gonna let me hit that?

281
00:20:28,461 --> 00:20:29,519
That bitch is laughing...

282
00:20:29,595 --> 00:20:30,960
I wish they'd leave me alone.

283
00:20:31,063 --> 00:20:33,054
-She's stupid.
-Yeah.

284
00:20:35,735 --> 00:20:37,600
Yo, that's not even funny.

285
00:20:38,137 --> 00:20:40,469
That's what she'd get anyway, no.

286
00:20:43,209 --> 00:20:44,471
Precious!

287
00:22:44,263 --> 00:22:47,232
Ma, I need some money!

288
00:22:51,537 --> 00:22:53,164
Ma, I'm hungry!

289
00:22:55,241 --> 00:22:57,766
Come take care of Mommy, Precious.

290
00:23:02,848 --> 00:23:05,078
I wish she'd stop this shit.

291
00:23:12,091 --> 00:23:14,082
The other day I cried.

292
00:23:15,127 --> 00:23:18,858
I felt stupid. But you know what?

293
00:23:19,398 --> 00:23:21,059
Fuck that day.

294
00:23:22,368 --> 00:23:26,202
That's why God, or whoever,
makes new days.

295
00:23:26,939 --> 00:23:28,634
Still hungry, though.

296
00:23:34,446 --> 00:23:36,812
Nigger wants me to leave my kids.

297
00:23:38,050 --> 00:23:39,540
They're my kids.

298
00:23:42,755 --> 00:23:45,588
-What d'you want, baby?
-Give me a basket, please.

299
00:23:45,658 --> 00:23:47,489
-Sides?
-I don't know yet.

300
00:23:47,593 --> 00:23:51,222
Still thinking about it.
Trying to watch my figure.

301
00:23:55,067 --> 00:23:58,059
Butchie, you got a 10-piece ready?

302
00:24:19,825 --> 00:24:21,349
potato salad.

303
00:24:21,860 --> 00:24:23,020
Thank you.

304
00:24:29,034 --> 00:24:30,865
Hell, no, she didn't!

305
00:24:31,470 --> 00:24:33,938
Get her ass! Get that big bitch!

306
00:25:07,406 --> 00:25:10,034
No, I am not the one.

307
00:26:16,875 --> 00:26:18,308
You in ABE?

308
00:26:20,379 --> 00:26:21,471
Yeah.

309
00:26:23,148 --> 00:26:24,877
Time's a-wasting.

310
00:26:48,173 --> 00:26:49,902
What's your name?

311
00:26:50,742 --> 00:26:52,175
Claireece.

312
00:26:53,412 --> 00:26:55,141
Are you coming in?

313
00:27:01,587 --> 00:27:04,021
That door closes in 20 seconds.

314
00:27:09,428 --> 00:27:11,692
How are you guys doing today?

315
00:27:13,198 --> 00:27:15,792
Would you like to join us, Consuelo?

316
00:27:16,935 --> 00:27:19,460
Consuelo, class is beginning.

317
00:27:22,608 --> 00:27:25,771
You guys know
that you are in the ABE class.

318
00:27:26,278 --> 00:27:29,770
This is not GED.
This is to get you ready for your GED.

319
00:27:50,903 --> 00:27:54,361
These journals are very important
to this class, so do not forget them.

320
00:27:54,473 --> 00:27:56,839
You will need to use them every day
that you are here.

321
00:27:56,909 --> 00:27:58,376
They are the key to this class.

322
00:27:58,477 --> 00:27:59,808
It’s 9:07, Joann. You're late.

323
00:27:59,878 --> 00:28:02,506
You're the one who said breakfast is
the most important meal of the day.

324
00:28:02,581 --> 00:28:05,550
Tomorrow, that door will be looked at 9:00.

325
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,520
I want you to state your name,
where you were born,

326
00:28:12,591 --> 00:28:17,255
your favourite colour, something you do well
and why you're here.

327
00:28:18,497 --> 00:28:20,158
I’ll go first.

328
00:28:20,232 --> 00:28:21,756
When you due?

329
00:28:22,668 --> 00:28:24,829
-My name...
-What you mean, you don't know?

330
00:28:24,903 --> 00:28:26,564
... is Blu Rain.

331
00:28:26,672 --> 00:28:28,902
-That's your real name?
-Yes, it is.

332
00:28:29,007 --> 00:28:31,441
Your first name's Blu?

333
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,946
My favourite colour is purple. I sing well.

334
00:28:40,219 --> 00:28:41,880
And I’m here

335
00:28:44,723 --> 00:28:46,782
because I love to teach.

336
00:28:46,892 --> 00:28:48,359
She like to sing.

337
00:28:48,427 --> 00:28:49,894
Rhonda?

338
00:28:49,962 --> 00:28:53,955
I wish I could sing.
Go to church and sing in the choir.

339
00:28:54,866 --> 00:28:56,231
Show them how it's done.

340
00:28:56,301 --> 00:29:01,034
All right.
My name is Rhonda Patrice Johnson.

341
00:29:02,908 --> 00:29:04,239
Problem?

342
00:29:05,611 --> 00:29:07,545
-I should smack her.
-What?

343
00:29:07,613 --> 00:29:13,142
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica,
and my favourite colour is blue.

344
00:29:13,652 --> 00:29:15,244
And I cook good.

345
00:29:15,320 --> 00:29:17,948
My mother, she used to have a restaurant
over on 7th Avenue.

346
00:29:18,056 --> 00:29:20,616
Before she get sick,
she teach me everything.

347
00:29:20,726 --> 00:29:24,560
So I'm here to get my reading up,
so I can get my GED.

348
00:29:29,768 --> 00:29:33,329
My name is Rita Romero.
I was born here in Harlem.

349
00:29:34,773 --> 00:29:38,675
I’m here 'cause I was an addict
and I dropped out of school.

350
00:29:39,511 --> 00:29:42,639
So I never got
my reading and writing together.

351
00:29:43,181 --> 00:29:44,978
My favourite colour’s black.

352
00:29:45,083 --> 00:29:46,448
What do you do good?

353
00:29:46,518 --> 00:29:49,282
“Well,” Joann. “What do you do well?”

354
00:29:49,354 --> 00:29:52,289
-What do I do well?
-No. Rita?

355
00:29:52,924 --> 00:29:55,620
I’m a good mother. Very good mother.

356
00:29:59,031 --> 00:30:02,091
My name's Jermaine.
My favourite colour is red.

357
00:30:02,167 --> 00:30:04,294
Tell us where you were born first.

358
00:30:04,369 --> 00:30:07,532
I was born in the Bronx. Still live there.

359
00:30:07,639 --> 00:30:11,541
My favourite colour is red. Used to be blue.

360
00:30:12,944 --> 00:30:15,139
I can dance real good.

361
00:30:15,213 --> 00:30:17,443
Homie of mine told me
about Each One Teach One,

362
00:30:17,516 --> 00:30:20,280
so I came here to stay out of trouble.

363
00:30:20,352 --> 00:30:23,150
So you came here to Harlem
to stay out of trouble? Is that right?

364
00:30:23,221 --> 00:30:24,620
Yeah.

365
00:30:24,690 --> 00:30:27,352
-Consuelo?
-This is bullshit.

366
00:30:27,459 --> 00:30:28,983
You think so?

367
00:30:33,732 --> 00:30:35,131
Claireece?

368
00:30:37,736 --> 00:30:39,397
Can I skip, too?

369
00:30:41,406 --> 00:30:42,873
Joann?

370
00:30:42,974 --> 00:30:46,410
Okay. I’m Joann. Hey.

371
00:30:49,047 --> 00:30:51,242
My favourite colour is fluorescent beige

372
00:30:51,350 --> 00:30:54,217
and my ambition is to have
my own record layer.

373
00:30:54,319 --> 00:30:55,343
What's a record layer?

374
00:30:55,420 --> 00:30:58,355
Tell us where you come from
and why you come to this school.

375
00:30:58,423 --> 00:31:00,391
I was born in Kings County Hospital,

376
00:31:00,492 --> 00:31:02,892
but my mother moved us to Harlem
when I was nine.

377
00:31:02,994 --> 00:31:08,022
I’m here to get my GED, and then...
Well, I’m already into the music industry.

378
00:31:08,100 --> 00:31:11,695
I’m just trying to take care of
this little education thing so I can move up.

379
00:31:11,770 --> 00:31:16,833
Let's begin. This is ABE.

380
00:31:16,908 --> 00:31:18,239
Can I go?

381
00:31:23,849 --> 00:31:27,114
I wish I could sit
in the back of the class again.

382
00:31:35,627 --> 00:31:39,688
My name Claireece “Precious” Jones.

383
00:31:40,799 --> 00:31:42,562
I go by Precious.

384
00:31:44,302 --> 00:31:47,703
I live in Harlem. I like yellow.

385
00:31:48,774 --> 00:31:54,804
And I had problems at my other school,
so I come here.

386
00:31:57,149 --> 00:31:59,083
Something you do well?

387
00:32:01,586 --> 00:32:02,951
Nothing.

388
00:32:03,655 --> 00:32:05,987
Everybody's good at something.

389
00:32:09,060 --> 00:32:10,459
Come on.

390
00:32:14,065 --> 00:32:17,796
Well, I can cook. And...

391
00:32:20,272 --> 00:32:23,070
I never really talked in class before.

392
00:32:26,945 --> 00:32:29,175
How does that make you feel?

393
00:32:36,588 --> 00:32:37,748
Here.

394
00:32:41,526 --> 00:32:43,517
It makes me feel here.

395
00:32:45,964 --> 00:32:47,989
Everybody open their journal.

396
00:32:48,099 --> 00:32:52,126
Write the date at the top of the page,
and write.

397
00:32:53,672 --> 00:32:55,936
I don't care if you spell everything wrong.

398
00:32:56,007 --> 00:32:58,134
I don't care if it's grammatically incorrect.
But just write.

399
00:32:58,210 --> 00:32:59,939
Write anything that you're feeling.

400
00:33:00,011 --> 00:33:02,343
This class will be a revolving door.

401
00:33:02,447 --> 00:33:05,610
Some of you will make it
and some of you won't.

402
00:33:07,319 --> 00:33:09,048
Fifteen min utes. Go.

403
00:33:11,857 --> 00:33:17,056
Before, I got a A-minus at English,
and I didn't have to say nothing.

404
00:33:18,363 --> 00:33:22,493
Ms. Rain said we gonna read
and write in our notebooks every day.

405
00:33:22,567 --> 00:33:24,728
How we supposed to do that?

406
00:33:27,405 --> 00:33:30,340
But then she see the worry on my face
and she say,

407
00:33:30,408 --> 00:33:33,571
“The longest journey
begin with a single step.“

408
00:33:35,981 --> 00:33:38,882
Whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

409
00:33:40,018 --> 00:33:41,508
Come on, come on, do the work.

410
00:33:41,586 --> 00:33:45,022
You love it, love it, learn it.

411
00:33:46,057 --> 00:33:47,490
Consuelo?

412
00:33:48,193 --> 00:33:50,093
“C” for Consuelo.

413
00:33:50,562 --> 00:33:52,325
“C” for kick your ass.

414
00:33:52,397 --> 00:33:54,729
It’s “K” for kick your ass, stupid.

415
00:33:54,833 --> 00:33:56,824
I got the “D,” Ms. Rain.

416
00:34:01,172 --> 00:34:02,662
“D” for dick.

417
00:34:03,508 --> 00:34:05,601
Ms. Rain, tell this little-ass bitch
that she don't know me.

418
00:34:05,710 --> 00:34:07,678
Which you wish you had.

419
00:34:15,754 --> 00:34:17,085
-Help her.
-”E.”

420
00:34:17,188 --> 00:34:18,280
“E.”

421
00:34:20,692 --> 00:34:21,784
“E.”

422
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:49,878
“F” for fat.

423
00:34:51,323 --> 00:34:52,551
What?

424
00:34:52,991 --> 00:34:54,151
Good.

425
00:34:57,762 --> 00:35:00,822
Hey! Hey! Hey! Quit it! Hey!

426
00:35:01,967 --> 00:35:03,832
-What?
-Hey, you stop it right now!

427
00:35:03,935 --> 00:35:05,459
-You fucking...
-Quit it!

428
00:35:05,570 --> 00:35:06,662
-She just hit me!
-Drop it!

429
00:35:06,771 --> 00:35:07,897
Shut the fuck up!

430
00:35:09,140 --> 00:35:10,232
She just slapped me!

431
00:35:10,308 --> 00:35:11,639
Get out.

432
00:35:12,344 --> 00:35:14,972
We don't fight in my class. Sit down.

433
00:35:19,851 --> 00:35:21,682
“C” for cold.

434
00:35:31,262 --> 00:35:33,253
Do you live with anybody?

435
00:35:34,599 --> 00:35:35,998
My mother.

436
00:35:36,701 --> 00:35:38,362
What does she do?

437
00:35:40,538 --> 00:35:42,438
She don't do nothing.

438
00:35:46,011 --> 00:35:48,878
I want you to read a page from this book.

439
00:35:57,155 --> 00:35:58,315
Try.

440
00:36:00,058 --> 00:36:03,892
All I need you to do is sound out
these words for me.

441
00:36:03,995 --> 00:36:05,519
You don't have to know every word.

442
00:36:05,630 --> 00:36:09,327
You just have to... It doesn't matter
if you stumble or... Try for me...

443
00:36:09,401 --> 00:36:13,531
...or trip up on it.
You just need to say what you know.

444
00:36:13,638 --> 00:36:17,233
Come on. You can do this.
Try. Take it word by word.

445
00:36:18,309 --> 00:36:19,901
-Are you listening to me?
-Precious!

446
00:36:20,011 --> 00:36:23,003
I just wanna know where you are
in your reading skills.

447
00:36:23,081 --> 00:36:24,378
'Cause I’m looking at your test scores...

448
00:36:24,482 --> 00:36:26,973
Some higher fucking learning.
You're a dumb bitch!

449
00:36:27,052 --> 00:36:28,679
Try to read, okay?

450
00:36:28,753 --> 00:36:31,085
Just help me and then I can help you.

451
00:36:31,690 --> 00:36:33,590
We'll start from scratch. Word for word.

452
00:36:33,692 --> 00:36:36,217
I want you better than your mother.

453
00:36:37,262 --> 00:36:39,696
-I’m gonna call the nurse.
-No.

454
00:36:44,736 --> 00:36:47,102
It all look the same to me.

455
00:36:50,775 --> 00:36:52,367
What's this?

456
00:36:54,746 --> 00:36:57,112
I can't do that, Ms. Rain.

457
00:36:58,183 --> 00:36:59,844
push yourself.

458
00:37:02,420 --> 00:37:03,614
A.

459
00:37:05,457 --> 00:37:06,890
What's this word?

460
00:37:12,097 --> 00:37:14,930
Do you know the letters? Come on.

461
00:37:16,534 --> 00:37:17,626
“D.”

462
00:37:20,905 --> 00:37:22,270
“A.”

463
00:37:23,875 --> 00:37:25,240
“Y.”

464
00:37:25,977 --> 00:37:27,968
Do you know that word?

465
00:37:30,482 --> 00:37:31,710
“Day.”

466
00:37:33,818 --> 00:37:35,615
What word is that?

467
00:37:37,655 --> 00:37:39,486
Ate. Ate.

468
00:37:39,591 --> 00:37:41,991
Good. Almost. The word is “At.”

469
00:37:43,828 --> 00:37:45,056
“At.”

470
00:37:47,665 --> 00:37:48,927
“The.”

471
00:37:51,636 --> 00:37:52,728
Sound it out.

472
00:37:52,804 --> 00:37:54,294
“Beach.”

473
00:37:54,405 --> 00:37:57,499
The word is “Shore.”
It’s almost like “Beach.”

474
00:37:58,243 --> 00:37:59,676
Very good.

475
00:38:00,311 --> 00:38:02,836
Now, read the whole thing for me.

476
00:38:04,849 --> 00:38:06,009
“A

477
00:38:07,585 --> 00:38:08,984
“Day

478
00:38:11,589 --> 00:38:13,750
“At The

479
00:38:14,793 --> 00:38:16,192
“Shore.”

480
00:38:23,968 --> 00:38:26,027
Get your big ass in here.

481
00:38:38,716 --> 00:38:41,014
Where was you at this morning?

482
00:38:47,692 --> 00:38:50,183
You hear me talking to you?
Where was you at this morning?

483
00:38:50,295 --> 00:38:52,661
School. I was at school.

484
00:38:52,730 --> 00:38:54,163
You a lying whore.

485
00:38:54,232 --> 00:38:56,223
-I’m not lying.
-You is.

486
00:38:56,835 --> 00:38:59,326
The welfare done called here saying
they gonna remove you from my budget

487
00:38:59,404 --> 00:39:01,304
'cause you ain't been
attending school regularly.

488
00:39:01,372 --> 00:39:03,067
I told you I got kicked out.

489
00:39:03,174 --> 00:39:05,199
I been home nearly every day
for two weeks now.

490
00:39:05,310 --> 00:39:08,677
You ain't told me nothing
about no damn school today.

491
00:39:08,746 --> 00:39:11,738
I told you I was going
to school this morning.

492
00:39:13,418 --> 00:39:16,649
You plan on putting some food
in that frying pan?

493
00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:24,492
Precious, you got something
you wanna say?

494
00:39:24,562 --> 00:39:26,689
-No.
-Then don't be slamming shit down in here.

495
00:39:26,764 --> 00:39:28,356
You understand?

496
00:39:29,267 --> 00:39:30,734
Yes, ma'am.

497
00:39:32,437 --> 00:39:35,873
You need to forget about that school shit
and take your ass down to the welfare.

498
00:39:35,940 --> 00:39:37,771
I’m getting a stipend from school.

499
00:39:37,876 --> 00:39:40,071
Fool, what the fuck is a stipend?
What is that?

500
00:39:40,178 --> 00:39:43,739
Fuck a stipend.
I said take your ass down to the welfare.

501
00:39:43,848 --> 00:39:44,940
Right now?

502
00:39:45,049 --> 00:39:48,712
Why in the fuck would you go right now?
It's at night-time. Shit is closed.

503
00:39:48,786 --> 00:39:50,048
You gotta be there by 7:00 a. m.

504
00:39:50,121 --> 00:39:52,715
in the morning
if you wanna talk to somebody.

505
00:39:52,790 --> 00:39:54,417
Fucking stupid.

506
00:39:58,096 --> 00:40:01,759
You think you're too good now?
Is that what it is?

507
00:40:02,567 --> 00:40:05,468
You think you is too good for the welfare?

508
00:40:08,740 --> 00:40:13,109
There's more white folk getting assistance
than it is niggers, Ms. Onassis.

509
00:40:14,946 --> 00:40:16,538
I think I said therapy...

510
00:40:16,614 --> 00:40:20,380
Hurry your ass up.
I am in here fucking starving.

511
00:40:21,119 --> 00:40:22,746
Now what you gonna do
if I die of starvation?

512
00:40:22,820 --> 00:40:24,981
Where you gonna go after that?

513
00:40:26,157 --> 00:40:28,125
I forgot. School.

514
00:40:29,594 --> 00:40:32,427
Each... What that bitch say?
Each one do what?

515
00:40:32,497 --> 00:40:34,590
Each one teach one?

516
00:40:34,666 --> 00:40:36,133
Well, they don't know
who the fuck they teaching,

517
00:40:36,234 --> 00:40:38,395
'cause you can't learn shit.

518
00:40:38,937 --> 00:40:41,804
Keep on listening to them white people.

519
00:40:41,906 --> 00:40:44,568
That's what's gonna get you fucked up.

520
00:40:47,111 --> 00:40:49,409
Precious, I’m hungry.

521
00:41:15,373 --> 00:41:19,207
You ain't cooked no collard greens
with the fucking pigs' feet?

522
00:41:19,711 --> 00:41:22,703
Like, how am I supposed to eat pigs' feet
with no collard greens?

523
00:41:22,814 --> 00:41:26,648
And why in the fuck does that pigs' feet
have so much hair in it?

524
00:41:26,718 --> 00:41:30,017
You eat it. You come eat this shit.

525
00:41:30,121 --> 00:41:32,385
-I’m not hungry, though.
-Yes, you is.

526
00:41:32,490 --> 00:41:35,653
Precious, if you don't get
this goddamn plate...

527
00:41:41,065 --> 00:41:45,559
You just fix mine when you get done.
Since you fucked it up, you gonna eat it up.

528
00:41:46,070 --> 00:41:49,005
Hurry up and eat, Precious.
I’m fucking hungry, too.

529
00:41:51,075 --> 00:41:55,478
And don't let it get cold,
'cause cold-ass pigs' feet is nasty as shit.

530
00:44:04,142 --> 00:44:07,339
So, tell me about...
Tell me about your home life.

531
00:44:10,381 --> 00:44:12,872
Ain't nothing to really talk about.

532
00:44:13,384 --> 00:44:15,875
You're in a safe place. Just talk.

533
00:44:16,220 --> 00:44:17,209
What's going on?

534
00:44:17,321 --> 00:44:18,652
What's the first thing
that comes to your mind

535
00:44:18,723 --> 00:44:20,850
when you think about home?

536
00:44:20,958 --> 00:44:24,655
I just wish I had my own TV,
so I could watch it in my room.

537
00:44:25,396 --> 00:44:28,957
If I had my own TV,
I wouldn't have to watch it with my mother.

538
00:44:29,033 --> 00:44:31,831
And what's it like,
watching TV with your mother?

539
00:44:31,903 --> 00:44:34,667
You enjoy watching TV with your mother?

540
00:44:34,739 --> 00:44:39,733
I need to know about your home life.
I need to know what it's like where you live.

541
00:44:40,745 --> 00:44:42,872
My mother's like a whale on the couch.

542
00:44:42,980 --> 00:44:46,973
She say I eat all the time,
but she always making me eat.

543
00:44:47,051 --> 00:44:49,246
Then she call me a fat mess.

544
00:44:49,353 --> 00:44:52,481
She say the apartment
is little 'cause of me.

545
00:44:52,557 --> 00:44:55,355
Only time she ever leaves
is to play her numbers.

546
00:44:55,426 --> 00:44:58,361
I feel like I could just sit in the house
with her every day,

547
00:44:58,429 --> 00:44:59,862
the shades drawn,

548
00:44:59,931 --> 00:45:04,163
watch TV, eat, watch TV, eat again.

549
00:45:05,036 --> 00:45:07,266
Can you help out with that?

550
00:45:08,506 --> 00:45:11,168
Can we talk about something else now?

551
00:45:17,448 --> 00:45:19,382
How about your firstborn?

552
00:45:19,450 --> 00:45:20,781
Mongo?

553
00:45:22,620 --> 00:45:24,713
Mongo is her... Is that...

554
00:45:25,389 --> 00:45:28,051
Mongo. That's short for “mongoloid.”

555
00:45:28,926 --> 00:45:33,260
Is that what you call her? Or that's...
What is that? A nickname?

556
00:45:33,965 --> 00:45:35,899
She got Down's syndrome.

557
00:45:44,108 --> 00:45:45,075
How you doing, Precious?

558
00:45:45,142 --> 00:45:47,736
My grandmother Tootsie
bring little Mongo over to our house

559
00:45:47,812 --> 00:45:52,146
on days when the social worker come,
so it look like she live with us.

560
00:45:53,651 --> 00:45:55,710
Answer the fucking door.

561
00:45:57,388 --> 00:45:59,618
Do you see what you did? God damn it.

562
00:45:59,724 --> 00:46:02,989
Then my mother gets money
and the food stamps for me and Mongo.

563
00:46:03,094 --> 00:46:04,493
Who is it?

564
00:46:05,096 --> 00:46:06,723
It's Ms. Turner.

565
00:46:07,765 --> 00:46:08,789
Social worker's here.

566
00:46:08,899 --> 00:46:12,596
Why didn't you tell me that bitch
was coming so fucking early?

567
00:46:12,670 --> 00:46:15,332
My fucking wig. Come get my wig!

568
00:46:15,439 --> 00:46:16,770
Come up!

569
00:46:21,512 --> 00:46:23,343
Where's my lipstick?

570
00:46:27,118 --> 00:46:29,746
Thank you, thank you.

571
00:46:39,664 --> 00:46:42,929
-Get off of me.
-Leave that chi ld alone, please.

572
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:45,195
Mind your goddamn business.

573
00:46:47,104 --> 00:46:49,095
-Hi, Precious.
-Hey.

574
00:46:49,507 --> 00:46:52,305
-Hello, Ms. Turner. How you doing?
-Hi, Mary. How are you?

575
00:46:52,376 --> 00:46:55,641
Please excuse that.
My sweet grandbaby just knocked it over.

576
00:46:55,713 --> 00:46:58,011
please, have a seat. Excuse the mess.

577
00:46:58,115 --> 00:46:59,639
-Thank you.
-Thanks.

578
00:46:59,717 --> 00:47:00,979
How are you, Mary?

579
00:47:01,052 --> 00:47:04,044
I’m doing really good, Ms. Turner.
Thank you.

580
00:47:04,889 --> 00:47:07,449
When was the last time
you've taken her to the doctor?

581
00:47:08,559 --> 00:47:10,891
Precious, when...
When did we take her? The baby?

582
00:47:10,995 --> 00:47:12,019
Last month.

583
00:47:12,129 --> 00:47:15,530
Yeah... On the 16th.
On the 16th. Yes, yes, ma'am.

584
00:47:16,133 --> 00:47:18,693
Okay, and what did the doctor say?

585
00:47:21,305 --> 00:47:24,240
They said
that she's progressing really good.

586
00:47:24,342 --> 00:47:26,139
She's doing really good.

587
00:47:26,210 --> 00:47:28,371
-That's good.
-Yes, ma'am.

588
00:47:28,479 --> 00:47:30,208
And have you been looking for a job?

589
00:47:30,314 --> 00:47:34,580
I have, Ms. Turner. I am.
But they've all been saying the same thing.

590
00:47:34,685 --> 00:47:38,177
You know, they'll call me back.
They'll get back to me.

591
00:47:40,558 --> 00:47:42,685
When did you go looking for the job?

592
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:46,924
I went last week
and I filled out several applications.

593
00:47:47,031 --> 00:47:50,728
And they all said the same thing,
that they would call me.

594
00:47:52,837 --> 00:47:54,099
Mommy!

595
00:47:54,505 --> 00:47:56,996
No! No!

596
00:47:58,275 --> 00:48:00,539
Is that a new microwave oven?

597
00:48:00,945 --> 00:48:02,913
A... A microwave?

598
00:48:03,948 --> 00:48:07,611
No, ma'am.
We warm our things up in the oven.

599
00:48:08,953 --> 00:48:11,421
-I see. It’s a toaster oven.
-Yes. Yes, ma'am.

600
00:48:11,522 --> 00:48:15,788
Okay.
I will be seeing and speaking with you

601
00:48:17,094 --> 00:48:18,083
in a week or so.

602
00:48:18,195 --> 00:48:19,219
-In a week or so?
-Yes.

603
00:48:19,296 --> 00:48:22,788
Okay, do you know what time you'll be...
You'll be coming?

604
00:48:22,900 --> 00:48:24,128
-I'll let you know.
-Okay.

605
00:48:24,235 --> 00:48:25,600
-I'll let you know.
-Thank you so much.

606
00:48:25,703 --> 00:48:28,467
Precious, any questions for me?

607
00:48:30,875 --> 00:48:32,638
How are you, Precious?

608
00:48:32,743 --> 00:48:35,803
I’m doing good. How you doing?

609
00:48:36,580 --> 00:48:38,571
I’m good, thank you.

610
00:48:39,717 --> 00:48:41,742
Ladies, thank you for your time.

611
00:48:41,819 --> 00:48:43,753
Thank you so much, Ms. Turner.
Have a great day.

612
00:48:43,821 --> 00:48:45,982
-And you. Bye, Sheila.
-Bye.

613
00:48:51,095 --> 00:48:53,563
Come get this motherfucking... Get her.

614
00:48:53,631 --> 00:48:56,498
Moving all around and shit
while I’m trying to talk to this bitch.

615
00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:58,500
Makes me fucking itch.

616
00:48:59,770 --> 00:49:02,568
She done threw her fucking candy
on the floor.

617
00:49:02,640 --> 00:49:04,164
Goddamn animal.

618
00:49:05,810 --> 00:49:08,938
And now you gonna give it to her?
put the fucking candy back on the floor!

619
00:49:09,013 --> 00:49:10,571
Then you go and pick it up
and let her have it.

620
00:49:10,648 --> 00:49:13,845
You're so fucking stupid.
Just like her dumb ass.

621
00:49:13,951 --> 00:49:17,648
That bitch gonna come up in here
and I gotta fucking make pretend?

622
00:49:17,755 --> 00:49:19,086
I’m so sick of it.

623
00:49:19,156 --> 00:49:21,624
I don't know what the fuck
you shaking your head for.

624
00:49:21,692 --> 00:49:23,159
You didn't do no goddamn better.

625
00:49:23,260 --> 00:49:25,319
You know what?
Let's talk about your father.

626
00:49:25,429 --> 00:49:27,863
Tell me about your relationship with him.

627
00:49:27,965 --> 00:49:30,433
I don't know much more
than you do, Ms. White.

628
00:49:30,501 --> 00:49:32,162
It’s Ms. Weiss.

629
00:49:32,269 --> 00:49:34,931
Talk to me about
the little you do know about your father,

630
00:49:35,005 --> 00:49:38,270
'cause it is important,
whether you know it or not.

631
00:49:39,043 --> 00:49:41,637
He give me this baby
and my one before it, but l...

632
00:49:41,712 --> 00:49:44,306
What did you say he gave you?

633
00:49:44,381 --> 00:49:45,814
-Nothing.
-No, Claireece, you just said

634
00:49:45,883 --> 00:49:47,043
your father gave you something.

635
00:49:47,151 --> 00:49:49,142
-I heard you just say...
-You didn't hear shit.

636
00:49:49,220 --> 00:49:52,018
-I heard you say your father...
-I ain't say nothing. I ain't say shit like it.

637
00:49:52,122 --> 00:49:53,953
-I don't care, honey.
-I didn't say nothing like that.

638
00:49:54,024 --> 00:49:55,616
-I need to know this.
-Let's move on.

639
00:49:55,693 --> 00:49:57,058
I need to know this to help you.

640
00:49:57,161 --> 00:50:00,153
-Bitch, can we change the subject?
-Okay.

641
00:50:00,231 --> 00:50:03,394
Well, I’ll see you next time, then.
Or maybe you'll see someone else.

642
00:50:03,501 --> 00:50:08,063
But you're gonna have to talk to somebody
if you want your check, sweetie.

643
00:50:18,315 --> 00:50:20,340
I see vampires, too.

644
00:50:23,187 --> 00:50:26,520
They come at night.
They tell me I’m one of them.

645
00:50:27,892 --> 00:50:31,020
They say, “Precious, you belong with us.”

646
00:50:33,430 --> 00:50:35,921
And then they go downstairs
through the floor.

647
00:50:36,033 --> 00:50:38,866
The people that live under us,
they is vampires,

648
00:50:38,936 --> 00:50:41,268
so that's where they should go.

649
00:50:41,839 --> 00:50:44,000
They be so nasty, though,

650
00:50:44,074 --> 00:50:46,440
leaving their dirty tampons and shit
in the garbage.

651
00:50:46,544 --> 00:50:48,944
Don't even offer to take it out.

652
00:50:49,046 --> 00:50:51,571
They got no fucking home training.

653
00:50:54,618 --> 00:50:58,384
I been going to the doctor, too. It’s nice.

654
00:50:59,790 --> 00:51:04,124
Ms. Rain fall out when she found out
I ain't never been to no doctor before.

655
00:51:07,298 --> 00:51:09,698
Don't know how I had my first baby
on the kitchen floor

656
00:51:09,767 --> 00:51:12,702
with my momma kicking me
upside my head.

657
00:51:15,372 --> 00:51:16,737
Them the kind of things
you're talking about

658
00:51:16,807 --> 00:51:19,640
when you say,
say whatever come to my mind?

659
00:51:24,214 --> 00:51:26,944
That's the end of them welfare checks.

660
00:51:27,051 --> 00:51:31,078
I just couldn't lie no more.
I shouldn’t have said none of that.

661
00:51:34,625 --> 00:51:36,422
Momma gonna kill me.

662
00:51:45,269 --> 00:51:46,827
Motherfuckers!

663
00:51:50,474 --> 00:51:52,101
Are we done?

664
00:51:52,176 --> 00:51:53,939
I’m not doing this with you today.

665
00:51:54,011 --> 00:51:56,673
At night, we went out on a field trip.

666
00:52:01,852 --> 00:52:03,786
These girls is crazy.

667
00:52:04,188 --> 00:52:07,521
Ain’t nobody ever grabbed my hand
like that before.

668
00:52:24,274 --> 00:52:26,708
...as a candidate
for the Democratic nomination

669
00:52:26,810 --> 00:52:29,802
for the presidency
of the United States of America.

670
00:52:30,481 --> 00:52:34,212
...and by having destroyed it,
now we don’t know...

671
00:52:36,620 --> 00:52:41,557
...and the testimony you're about to give
will be the truth, the whole truth...

672
00:52:41,659 --> 00:52:43,524
I still have a dream.

673
00:52:45,362 --> 00:52:48,991
It is a dream deeply rooted
in the American dream.

674
00:52:50,234 --> 00:52:54,000
I have a dream that one day

675
00:52:55,506 --> 00:53:00,671
this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of...

676
00:53:00,744 --> 00:53:02,871
I’m gonna teach my baby all of this.

677
00:53:02,980 --> 00:53:06,006
“We hold these truths to be self-evident,

678
00:53:06,083 --> 00:53:08,176
“that all men are created equal.“

679
00:53:08,252 --> 00:53:10,516
No fear. That's bullshit. That's bullshit.

680
00:53:10,587 --> 00:53:11,679
You mean, write a whole new one?

681
00:53:11,755 --> 00:53:14,656
No, girl, if I need to explain myself to you...

682
00:53:14,725 --> 00:53:16,488
-You'll figure it out.
-You think that I’m stupid?

683
00:53:16,560 --> 00:53:19,586
Oh, my God. That I believe in you?

684
00:53:21,598 --> 00:53:23,156
That I think you're incredible?

685
00:53:23,233 --> 00:53:24,928
Yes, but I don't know what to do.

686
00:53:25,035 --> 00:53:28,061
All right, pull it together. Okay.
Who's next?

687
00:53:29,039 --> 00:53:30,370
I’m happy to be writing.

688
00:53:30,441 --> 00:53:33,433
-Go ahead, Rhonda.
-I'm happy to be In school, too.

689
00:53:33,544 --> 00:53:36,877
Ms. Rain say we gonna write
every day in our notebook.

690
00:53:36,947 --> 00:53:38,915
She gonna write back to us every day, too.

691
00:53:39,016 --> 00:53:42,782
“Yesterday I went to church for
the first time since I come to this country.

692
00:53:42,886 --> 00:53:44,183
“I got all the way to Brooklyn.

693
00:53:44,254 --> 00:53:47,052
“The church was up the block and around
the corner upon the 3 train.

694
00:53:47,124 --> 00:53:48,785
“The preacher preached
two and a half hours

695
00:53:48,892 --> 00:53:51,383
-”about Jehovah.
-Rhonda! Rhonda!

696
00:53:51,462 --> 00:53:54,898
“And how Lord Jesus, Son of God, Messiah,
Jehovah delivers.”

697
00:53:54,965 --> 00:53:56,956
Is that a fairytale?

698
00:53:58,535 --> 00:53:59,866
Sit down.

699
00:53:59,937 --> 00:54:01,234
Did anybody do this assignment?

700
00:54:01,305 --> 00:54:03,796
Momma say this school ain't shit.

701
00:54:03,907 --> 00:54:06,375
She say you can't learn nothing
writing in no book.

702
00:54:06,443 --> 00:54:11,642
-This is a fairytale called “Enchanted.”
-She wrong about that. I is learning.

703
00:54:14,418 --> 00:54:17,876
“Once upon a time, in a faraway land,

704
00:54:18,288 --> 00:54:22,418
“there lived a beautiful princess
named Joann-a.

705
00:54:22,993 --> 00:54:27,293
“She was very, very fly and extra, extra tall,

706
00:54:27,898 --> 00:54:31,390
“and every single boy loved her,
big and small.

707
00:54:32,169 --> 00:54:36,265
“Except for one idiot boy
who was so stupid and dumb.

708
00:54:36,340 --> 00:54:40,572
“And out of all the cute boys who loved her,
he was the cutest one.”

709
00:54:41,678 --> 00:54:44,977
-That's all I got so far.
-That's a good beginning.

710
00:54:45,082 --> 00:54:48,609
Thinking about little Mongo, too. I miss her.

711
00:54:48,986 --> 00:54:50,453
That's how you start a fairytale.

712
00:54:50,521 --> 00:54:52,819
I’m happy my baby coming up.

713
00:54:53,957 --> 00:54:57,791
I'm gonna read to this baby, too,
and hang colours on its wall.

714
00:54:58,695 --> 00:55:01,630
Listen, baby. Mother not dumb.

715
00:55:01,698 --> 00:55:03,996
Mother I love you. Listen.

716
00:55:04,501 --> 00:55:08,164
“Once upon a time,
there was a magical princess

717
00:55:08,272 --> 00:55:11,435
“who lived in a magical bubble
under the sea.

718
00:55:11,975 --> 00:55:14,034
“And she was from land.”

719
00:55:29,293 --> 00:55:30,954
Stop screaming.

720
00:55:51,915 --> 00:55:55,749
His name's Abdul Jamal Lewis Jones.

721
00:55:56,753 --> 00:55:59,586
He healthy. His mother love him.

722
00:56:15,739 --> 00:56:17,934
The food in this hospital's nasty.

723
00:56:18,609 --> 00:56:19,735
It’s not from here.

724
00:56:19,843 --> 00:56:21,401
Where it from?

725
00:56:21,511 --> 00:56:24,036
A little shop by my house where

726
00:56:24,114 --> 00:56:26,548
I get my organic food,
so I don't have to eat that

727
00:56:26,617 --> 00:56:29,211
nasty mystery-meat stuff
they got downstairs.

728
00:56:29,286 --> 00:56:32,278
Can you bring me something?
I don't like fruit. I like McDonald's.

729
00:56:32,389 --> 00:56:34,584
First of all, I don't eat McDonald's.

730
00:56:34,691 --> 00:56:37,353
Second of all, you don't need
to be eating McDonald's, either.

731
00:56:37,427 --> 00:56:38,451
It’s not healthy.

732
00:56:38,562 --> 00:56:40,757
But I like McDonald's.
We all like McDonald's, right?

733
00:56:40,864 --> 00:56:43,458
We like McDonald's, too, over here.

734
00:56:43,567 --> 00:56:45,057
I don't like no damn McDonald's.

735
00:56:45,135 --> 00:56:48,229
I want some of that organic shit
like you got.

736
00:56:48,639 --> 00:56:50,106
Well, I tell you what,

737
00:56:50,207 --> 00:56:52,732
when you get up out of here,
you go with all your little friends,

738
00:56:52,809 --> 00:56:53,776
and you go to McDonald's,

739
00:56:53,877 --> 00:56:55,742
and you get as much
McDonald's as you want.

740
00:56:55,812 --> 00:56:58,280
But right now,
you're gonna take care of your health.

741
00:56:58,382 --> 00:57:00,077
Are you a doctor?

742
00:57:01,151 --> 00:57:03,119
-Are you her doctor?
-Am I a doctor?

743
00:57:03,220 --> 00:57:05,882
-Yeah.
-I am a nurse's aide.

744
00:57:05,956 --> 00:57:07,753
Nurse John-John.

745
00:57:07,824 --> 00:57:09,485
Oh, that's funny?

746
00:57:09,993 --> 00:57:11,756
Well, you're a man.

747
00:57:12,496 --> 00:57:15,158
-You've never seen a male nurse?
-No.

748
00:57:15,332 --> 00:57:17,425
Not looking like you do.

749
00:57:18,235 --> 00:57:22,331
I am a male nurse.
I am Nurse John McFadden.

750
00:57:22,439 --> 00:57:24,999
So was you up in the room
when she popped the baby out?

751
00:57:25,108 --> 00:57:26,132
You was like, all up in between her...

752
00:57:26,243 --> 00:57:28,268
Joann, don't be nasty!

753
00:57:28,345 --> 00:57:29,937
How was it? Was he screaming?

754
00:57:30,013 --> 00:57:31,105
It hurt.

755
00:57:31,181 --> 00:57:32,773
Tough gal like you had to scream?

756
00:57:32,849 --> 00:57:37,115
Not so tough with a baby coming out of me.
It hurt. And it burned.

757
00:57:37,187 --> 00:57:38,449
-Are you married?
-Shut up!

758
00:57:38,522 --> 00:57:40,183
You got a girlfriend?

759
00:57:40,290 --> 00:57:42,690
-Why you asking? He don't want you.
-How would you know?

760
00:57:42,793 --> 00:57:44,454
Why don't you stop being a ho
for 10 minutes?

761
00:57:44,528 --> 00:57:45,688
What's wrong with these people?

762
00:57:45,796 --> 00:57:47,161
You don't want her, right?

763
00:57:47,264 --> 00:57:50,028
I wish I was a cantaloupe in that cup.

764
00:57:50,133 --> 00:57:51,623
So he could eat you?

765
00:57:51,702 --> 00:57:55,331
Okay, no. I gotta go. I gotta go.

766
00:57:55,772 --> 00:57:58,536
No, that's all right. That's all right.

767
00:58:01,812 --> 00:58:03,780
Can I get a kiss, too, Nurse John?

768
00:58:03,847 --> 00:58:06,611
-Good afternoon, ladies.
-Bye, Nurse John.

769
00:58:06,683 --> 00:58:09,550
-Bye!
-Good night, Nurse John-John!

770
00:58:10,988 --> 00:58:13,286
Precious and John-John

771
00:58:13,357 --> 00:58:15,325
Sitting in a tree

772
00:58:15,392 --> 00:58:19,192
-F-U-C-K-I-N-G
-Shut up! Y'all are nasty.

773
00:58:22,899 --> 00:58:25,561
You think he's spending the night
up in here?

774
00:58:27,738 --> 00:58:30,969
Now she gonna write
about Nurse John in her book!

775
00:58:32,242 --> 00:58:33,903
“Dear Ms. Rain,

776
00:58:34,411 --> 00:58:37,574
“All the years I sit in class, I never learned.

777
00:58:37,881 --> 00:58:40,748
“Now I got a baby again by my father.

778
00:58:41,518 --> 00:58:44,146
“I wish I had a boyfriend like other girls.

779
00:58:44,221 --> 00:58:47,384
“Then I'll feel right
that I have to quit school.

780
00:58:47,491 --> 00:58:50,983
“I love my baby, but I want school, too.

781
00:58:51,061 --> 00:58:53,427
" Social worker ask me
if I wanna give little Mongo

782
00:58:53,530 --> 00:58:57,057
“and Abdul up for adoption.
I could kill her.

783
00:58:57,501 --> 00:59:01,232
'"She never helped before.
Now she wanna take my kids away?

784
00:59:01,938 --> 00:59:05,203
“If she take Abdul,
I won't have nothing no more.“

785
00:59:05,156 --> 00:59:07,124
“Dear Precious,

786
00:59:07,225 --> 00:59:10,490
“I think your first responsibility
has to be to yourself.

787
00:59:10,728 --> 00:59:13,253
“If you keep Abdul, you might have nothing.

788
00:59:13,331 --> 00:59:15,799
“You're learning to read and write.
That's everything.

789
00:59:15,900 --> 00:59:18,562
“You come back to school
when you get out of the hospital.

790
00:59:18,636 --> 00:59:19,762
“You're only 17.“

791
00:59:19,837 --> 00:59:22,271
This looks like a big-ass condom.

792
00:59:24,142 --> 00:59:26,235
Use that for Nurse John.

793
00:59:26,744 --> 00:59:28,905
Not looking like that.
Your hair looks a mess.

794
00:59:28,980 --> 00:59:31,676
-I’m giving you banjee.
-Shut up!

795
00:59:31,783 --> 00:59:33,273
I got your journal.

796
00:59:33,351 --> 00:59:34,841
Thank you.

797
00:59:40,124 --> 00:59:41,648
What's wrong?

798
00:59:41,759 --> 00:59:43,090
Nothing.

799
00:59:43,161 --> 00:59:44,753
Are you sure?

800
00:59:44,829 --> 00:59:45,853
Yeah, I’m sure.

801
00:59:45,964 --> 00:59:50,367
All right. I’m bored. I’m about to leave. Bye.

802
00:59:52,036 --> 00:59:53,697
Bye, Ms. Tootsie.

803
00:59:54,205 --> 00:59:55,797
You got a nasty-ass mouth.

804
00:59:55,873 --> 00:59:57,966
You got a nasty-ass hat.

805
01:00:00,378 --> 01:00:03,176
That's what's wrong,
you hanging out with bitches like that.

806
01:00:03,281 --> 01:00:04,839
Here's your baby.

807
01:00:04,949 --> 01:00:07,315
It’s probably the last time
you're gonna ever see him.

808
01:00:07,385 --> 01:00:08,818
Grandmother come and visit and say,

809
01:00:08,886 --> 01:00:11,480
“Only a dog would drop a baby
and walk off.“

810
01:00:11,556 --> 01:00:12,853
Not even a dog.

811
01:00:13,157 --> 01:00:15,557
Say later, '"Not even a dog. "

812
01:00:15,660 --> 01:00:18,720
I’m proud of you.
Ain't nothing like your mother.

813
01:00:18,830 --> 01:00:22,163
“Where was your grandmother
when your father was abusing you?

814
01:00:22,233 --> 01:00:24,326
“Where is Little Mongo now?

815
01:00:25,069 --> 01:00:27,833
“What is going to be the best thing for you
in this situation ?"

816
01:00:27,905 --> 01:00:30,203
“Ms. Rain, you ask too many questions.

817
01:00:30,308 --> 01:00:32,833
“Sometimes I wish I could stop breathing.

818
01:00:32,910 --> 01:00:35,310
“I just wanna be a good mother.“

819
01:00:36,347 --> 01:00:38,508
“Being a good mother might mean
letting Abdul be raised

820
01:00:38,583 --> 01:00:42,246
“by someone who's better able than you
to meet his needs. "

821
01:00:42,987 --> 01:00:46,479
“Ms. Rain, I is the best
to meet my child’s needs.“

822
01:00:55,867 --> 01:00:57,698
“Who's gonna help you?

823
01:00:58,236 --> 01:01:00,534
“How will you support yourself?

824
01:01:01,739 --> 01:01:04,765
“How will you keep learning
to read and write?'"

825
01:01:05,843 --> 01:01:07,902
“The welfare helped Momma.“

826
01:01:08,713 --> 01:01:12,274
“You look and see
how much welfare has helped your mom.

827
01:01:14,585 --> 01:01:16,212
“You could get your GED,

828
01:01:16,287 --> 01:01:18,949
“and go to college.
You can do anything, Precious.“

829
01:02:41,105 --> 01:02:42,504
You back?

830
01:02:43,107 --> 01:02:44,472
What's his name?

831
01:02:44,976 --> 01:02:46,534
Can I hold it?

832
01:03:50,374 --> 01:03:51,932
Hey, Precious.

833
01:03:55,713 --> 01:03:56,941
Hey.

834
01:04:00,418 --> 01:04:02,113
You had the baby?

835
01:04:02,720 --> 01:04:04,017
A boy.

836
01:04:05,256 --> 01:04:07,520
Where you been all this time?

837
01:04:14,131 --> 01:04:15,792
Let me see him.

838
01:04:23,040 --> 01:04:24,769
Can I hold him?

839
01:04:44,295 --> 01:04:46,286
He look like his daddy.

840
01:04:51,836 --> 01:04:53,326
He named Abdul.

841
01:04:54,639 --> 01:04:58,234
put all this shit down
and go get me something to drink.

842
01:05:16,694 --> 01:05:18,161
You bitch!

843
01:05:18,763 --> 01:05:20,958
-You fucking bitch!
-You crazy, Momma?

844
01:05:21,032 --> 01:05:23,523
Am I crazy? Bitch, if I was to...

845
01:05:24,535 --> 01:05:26,264
You ruined my fucking life!

846
01:05:26,337 --> 01:05:28,999
You done took my man,
you had those fucking babies,

847
01:05:29,106 --> 01:05:30,334
and you got me put off the welfare

848
01:05:30,441 --> 01:05:32,705
for running your goddamned
stupid-ass mouth!

849
01:05:32,843 --> 01:05:36,677
I ain't stupid and I didn't take your man.
Your husband raped me!

850
01:05:36,781 --> 01:05:38,271
Didn't no-fucking-body rape you!

851
01:05:38,349 --> 01:05:40,681
Bitch, don't you put
your fucking hands on me!

852
01:06:01,305 --> 01:06:03,569
Mary, leave that girl alone!

853
01:06:42,179 --> 01:06:44,113
Can I see the baby now?

854
01:08:55,713 --> 01:08:58,841
B... C... D...

855
01:08:59,750 --> 01:09:04,187
E... F... G... H...

856
01:09:04,855 --> 01:09:07,551
I... J... K...

857
01:09:14,598 --> 01:09:16,190
I’m tired of shopping.

858
01:09:16,267 --> 01:09:18,235
Yes, because they all trying
to take your money.

859
01:09:18,335 --> 01:09:20,200
They don't...

860
01:09:30,848 --> 01:09:32,748
I’m calling the cops.

861
01:09:37,955 --> 01:09:40,446
Tell me what you see back there.

862
01:09:52,870 --> 01:09:57,364
I could tell by Ms. Rain 's face
I ain’t gonna be homeless no more.

863
01:09:57,441 --> 01:09:59,466
I just don't know
where I’m gonna end up, though.

864
01:09:59,577 --> 01:10:01,135
I’ll hold.

865
01:10:03,080 --> 01:10:04,809
I feel bad for her.

866
01:10:04,915 --> 01:10:08,646
She just an ABC teacher.
She ain’t no social worker.

867
01:10:10,287 --> 01:10:11,549
What's going on?

868
01:10:11,622 --> 01:10:12,782
But she all I could think of.

869
01:10:12,890 --> 01:10:15,324
Look, when the others get here,
tell them to start writing.

870
01:10:15,426 --> 01:10:17,587
And whichever one of you is older
is in charge, okay?

871
01:10:17,661 --> 01:10:19,322
Consuelo, I know that's not you.
Come here.

872
01:10:19,430 --> 01:10:21,557
Ms. Rain, I can't stay. I’m serious.
I’ve tried to talk...

873
01:10:21,632 --> 01:10:24,226
Consuelo, you're not leaving class
and I’m not dealing with this right now.

874
01:10:24,301 --> 01:10:26,633
Take this money.
Go get something for Precious to wear.

875
01:10:26,737 --> 01:10:29,171
Quick. And bring back my change.

876
01:10:29,273 --> 01:10:32,970
Sixteen years old. A three-day-old infant.

877
01:10:33,611 --> 01:10:35,738
The baby not bleeding.
I think this is Precious' blood.

878
01:10:35,813 --> 01:10:38,680
Well, why didn't you tell me that before?

879
01:10:40,017 --> 01:10:42,485
We'll find you a place to live.

880
01:10:45,689 --> 01:10:47,418
Joann, you're late.

881
01:10:47,491 --> 01:10:49,686
Rhonda, you ain't the teacher.

882
01:10:49,827 --> 01:10:52,159
Joan n, Ms. Rain is busy
with Precious today,

883
01:10:52,262 --> 01:10:54,355
so I am the teacher today.

884
01:10:54,465 --> 01:10:56,330
Okay. Why?

885
01:10:56,800 --> 01:10:58,529
-Where's Precious?
-Just sit. Pull out your notebook.

886
01:10:58,636 --> 01:11:01,036
Joann, you wanna say one of your raps
to the baby?

887
01:11:01,138 --> 01:11:02,537
What's the baby doing here?

888
01:11:02,640 --> 01:11:04,335
-Joann's gonna rap for you.
-Let me see.

889
01:11:04,541 --> 01:11:06,839
She all right. She's doing good.

890
01:11:07,544 --> 01:11:10,513
Why is the baby wrapped up
in a blood-covered blanket?

891
01:11:10,614 --> 01:11:13,344
-Joann, what's so funny?
-For real. What happened?

892
01:11:13,450 --> 01:11:14,849
You don't wanna know is
how it got on the blanket.

893
01:11:14,952 --> 01:11:16,010
You know what your problem is, Joann?

894
01:11:16,120 --> 01:11:17,883
That you can't take anything
serious enough.

895
01:11:17,988 --> 01:11:20,388
-Jermaine, me expect better from you.
-Okay, Rhonda.

896
01:11:20,491 --> 01:11:23,016
Joann, stop laughing at this baby.

897
01:11:24,695 --> 01:11:25,992
Queens.

898
01:11:28,332 --> 01:11:30,061
Let me call you back.

899
01:11:30,167 --> 01:11:31,464
Just tell me what happened!

900
01:11:31,535 --> 01:11:32,866
No, it's not funny.

901
01:11:32,970 --> 01:11:35,803
But Joann, there's nothing funny
about a baby with blood on it.

902
01:11:35,873 --> 01:11:37,670
I got a West Indian friend
who's a Council member.

903
01:11:37,741 --> 01:11:39,868
Let me see what she can do.
Hold on a second.

904
01:11:39,977 --> 01:11:43,242
I found a lesson plan in our notebooks.
We're gonna...

905
01:11:44,815 --> 01:11:46,510
Claireece Jones.

906
01:11:46,583 --> 01:11:48,881
Hey, Ms. Lisa. How you been?

907
01:11:49,720 --> 01:11:50,914
I don't know.

908
01:11:51,021 --> 01:11:54,923
I went to see that movie, Barfly, last night.
piece of shit.

909
01:11:55,926 --> 01:11:59,054
-I’m sorry.
-It's on my desk. Can you hold?

910
01:11:59,163 --> 01:12:01,427
Something's wrong with you, Precious.

911
01:12:01,532 --> 01:12:03,056
This baby stink.

912
01:12:03,167 --> 01:12:05,431
Well, we don't have a pamper,
so have a seat with the baby.

913
01:12:05,536 --> 01:12:08,198
-I am sitting.
-In your seat, please.

914
01:12:08,272 --> 01:12:10,365
The first thing

915
01:12:10,441 --> 01:12:16,107
is shut the bumba-ros-clot...

916
01:12:17,014 --> 01:12:19,505
Ms. Rain, why did you let Rhonda
teach the class?

917
01:12:19,583 --> 01:12:21,210
She don't even know how to speak English.

918
01:12:21,285 --> 01:12:22,343
Let Rhonda take over.

919
01:12:22,419 --> 01:12:26,048
-Shut the bumba-ros-clot up.
-What the fuck is a “ros clot”?

920
01:12:26,123 --> 01:12:28,057
Yeah, Brenda, you there?

921
01:12:28,125 --> 01:12:30,719
The last four of the Social are...

922
01:12:30,794 --> 01:12:33,388
2-4-2-1.

923
01:12:33,464 --> 01:12:35,591
-Rita?
-I just wanna know how to spell “Aquarius.”

924
01:12:35,699 --> 01:12:38,566
-Anybody know how to spell “Aquarius”?
-It’s A-Q-U-A-R-l-U-S.

925
01:12:38,635 --> 01:12:39,863
Can you spell “boy” then?

926
01:12:39,937 --> 01:12:41,199
Can you spell “slut” then?

927
01:12:41,271 --> 01:12:42,898
Let's explore that.

928
01:12:42,973 --> 01:12:46,306
You wanna spell “slut,” Consuelo,
I'll give you the first letter.

929
01:12:46,410 --> 01:12:48,537
Can you spell “illegal immigrant,” then?

930
01:12:48,612 --> 01:12:50,637
Great, thank you.

931
01:12:52,249 --> 01:12:54,740
Can you please use “slut” in a sentence?

932
01:12:54,818 --> 01:12:56,217
Consuelo is a slut...

933
01:12:56,286 --> 01:12:59,084
-You the one who's the ho up in here...
-Joann is not a slut.

934
01:12:59,156 --> 01:13:01,556
perfect. You get a gold star.

935
01:13:03,393 --> 01:13:05,088
But you know she likes that.

936
01:13:05,162 --> 01:13:07,460
Well, she's just insecure.

937
01:13:07,564 --> 01:13:09,156
-You think?
-Yeah.

938
01:13:09,666 --> 01:13:13,261
-That chicken was good.
-Really good. Did you have enough?

939
01:13:13,337 --> 01:13:15,271
There ain't more, is there?

940
01:13:15,339 --> 01:13:17,000
-Is there more?
-Yeah.

941
01:13:17,341 --> 01:13:19,639
Maybe later. Not now.

942
01:13:19,743 --> 01:13:21,677
I don't want you to think I’m greedy.

943
01:13:21,779 --> 01:13:24,111
You're not greedy.
If you're hungry, let's get you some more.

944
01:13:24,181 --> 01:13:27,344
I guess I kind of eat
too much sometimes, though.

945
01:13:27,451 --> 01:13:28,679
No, you don't.

946
01:13:28,786 --> 01:13:30,651
-Blu, is that you?
-Not always.

947
01:13:30,754 --> 01:13:32,813
What are you doing here?

948
01:13:33,290 --> 01:13:35,952
I live here. Why didn't you tell me?

949
01:13:36,026 --> 01:13:38,824
-Hey, sweetie.
-Is this... Is this...

950
01:13:40,430 --> 01:13:42,625
This is Katherine, Precious.

951
01:13:42,699 --> 01:13:44,758
-Are you okay?
-It’s so nice to meet you, finally.

952
01:13:44,835 --> 01:13:48,271
Oh, my God. These straight-up lesbians.

953
01:13:48,338 --> 01:13:51,933
-This is Abdul.
-He's gorgeous. He looks just like you.

954
01:13:52,976 --> 01:13:54,307
Precious, can I hold him?

955
01:13:54,378 --> 01:13:56,141
You know how to?

956
01:13:56,213 --> 01:13:58,204
They still nice enough
to let us stay in their home

957
01:13:58,315 --> 01:14:00,647
until I get situated, though.

958
01:14:00,717 --> 01:14:04,813
-He's heavy. Oh, my God!
-You wanna hold him?

959
01:14:04,888 --> 01:14:07,379
I guess this is how the peoples
on TV feel at Christmastime.

960
01:14:07,491 --> 01:14:10,051
-Don't drop him.
-Come on. I only work with children.

961
01:14:10,160 --> 01:14:11,184
You know how you are. I saw you...

962
01:14:11,295 --> 01:14:13,320
When we were putting up the tree,
you dropped half the top of it.

963
01:14:13,397 --> 01:14:14,989
They're so nice to me and Abdul.

964
01:14:15,065 --> 01:14:17,158
-Be careful. Hold him with both hands.
-please.

965
01:14:17,234 --> 01:14:18,963
Oh, Abdul.

966
01:14:20,904 --> 01:14:23,065
Merry Christmas, Precious.

967
01:14:23,907 --> 01:14:25,033
Thank you.

968
01:14:25,142 --> 01:14:26,473
Why peoples that barely know me

969
01:14:26,543 --> 01:14:29,876
should be nicer to me
than my mother and my father?

970
01:14:30,514 --> 01:14:31,913
I felt warm.

971
01:14:32,249 --> 01:14:33,477
-What?
-I’m just...

972
01:14:33,550 --> 01:14:36,713
I’m just concerned about the baby
and the cats upstairs.

973
01:14:36,820 --> 01:14:37,980
They're fine.

974
01:14:38,055 --> 01:14:40,046
Grandmother's scared of Momma.

975
01:14:40,157 --> 01:14:42,557
I know that's why
she ain’t letting me stay with her.

976
01:14:42,659 --> 01:14:44,559
If Ronald McDonald were running things...

977
01:14:44,661 --> 01:14:47,425
Ms. Rain say don't be afraid of nothing.

978
01:14:48,098 --> 01:14:50,566
I bet she ain't scared of Momma.

979
01:14:50,667 --> 01:14:53,261
Wouldn't you be a little bit suspicious?

980
01:14:53,370 --> 01:14:54,598
Just write the book.

981
01:14:54,705 --> 01:14:57,936
-Well, who's gonna read it?
-Nobody, if you don't write it.

982
01:14:58,041 --> 01:15:01,568
You know, Precious writes every day.
You should try it.

983
01:15:01,678 --> 01:15:04,909
Is that right?
What do you write about, Precious?

984
01:15:05,716 --> 01:15:06,944
Stuff.

985
01:15:08,051 --> 01:15:10,451
My life. Abdul.

986
01:15:12,890 --> 01:15:15,051
How come y'all don't like McDonald's?

987
01:15:15,125 --> 01:15:16,956
Katherine was just drawing a comparison

988
01:15:17,094 --> 01:15:19,119
so that her point could be
more easily understood.

989
01:15:19,229 --> 01:15:20,218
Yes.

990
01:15:20,297 --> 01:15:22,788
They talk like TV channels I don't watch.

991
01:15:22,900 --> 01:15:24,265
My Uncle Clayton.

992
01:15:24,368 --> 01:15:27,804
I'm glad Abdul here to listen in on them,
though, 'cause I know they're smart.

993
01:15:27,905 --> 01:15:29,304
Before he got saved,

994
01:15:29,406 --> 01:15:32,068
he used to smoke like a chimney
and drink like a fish.

995
01:15:32,142 --> 01:15:34,201
I don’t understand a word they're saying.

996
01:15:34,278 --> 01:15:35,870
You understand?

997
01:15:39,449 --> 01:15:40,916
Y'all be watching Oprah?

998
01:15:40,984 --> 01:15:43,919
No. I don't, actually.
You know what time I get home from work.

999
01:15:43,987 --> 01:15:47,115
-I watch it.
-Momma say homos is bad peoples.

1000
01:15:47,824 --> 01:15:50,258
But Momma,
homos not ones who raped me.

1001
01:15:50,327 --> 01:15:52,625
And what do that make you?

1002
01:15:52,729 --> 01:15:56,825
Homos not ones who let me sit in class
all them years and never learn nothing.

1003
01:15:56,934 --> 01:15:59,801
The homos not ones who sell crack
to peoples in Harlem.

1004
01:15:59,903 --> 01:16:01,894
-...that I have ever seen. Tell her!
-That doesn't work.

1005
01:16:01,972 --> 01:16:04,566
I wonder what Oprah got to say about that.

1006
01:16:04,641 --> 01:16:07,007
Ms. Rain is the one
who put the chalk in my hand,

1007
01:16:07,110 --> 01:16:09,578
made me queen of the ABC's.

1008
01:16:12,516 --> 01:16:14,450
After I settled at the halfway house,

1009
01:16:14,518 --> 01:16:16,952
I worked my hardest
to memorize letter sounds,

1010
01:16:17,020 --> 01:16:20,012
writing in the journal,
and reading smaller and fatter books.

1011
01:16:20,157 --> 01:16:23,354
Then I found out the Mayor's office
give me a literacy award

1012
01:16:23,460 --> 01:16:25,189
and a check for progress.

1013
01:16:27,631 --> 01:16:29,360
One, two, three.

1014
01:16:29,466 --> 01:16:31,195
The party is on.

1015
01:16:31,501 --> 01:16:32,866
Go, Joann!

1016
01:16:36,173 --> 01:16:38,266
Let me see what you got!

1017
01:16:38,342 --> 01:16:43,439
Everybody come. Nurse John, Cornrows,
all the staff was out there.

1018
01:16:43,981 --> 01:16:46,211
Even Ms. Katherine showed up.

1019
01:16:46,550 --> 01:16:47,847
Precious.

1020
01:16:51,054 --> 01:16:52,487
What's up?

1021
01:16:52,990 --> 01:16:54,480
What's that?

1022
01:16:55,058 --> 01:16:56,719
What does it look like?

1023
01:16:56,827 --> 01:16:58,727
plastic stupid apple.

1024
01:17:01,898 --> 01:17:03,559
A little something for you.

1025
01:17:03,667 --> 01:17:06,363
-Is there more money in it?
-You're so greedy.

1026
01:17:06,470 --> 01:17:09,200
Yo, who's that?

1027
01:17:12,142 --> 01:17:13,370
What?

1028
01:17:16,246 --> 01:17:18,237
-What?
-Come on.

1029
01:17:18,749 --> 01:17:21,217
Precious, where are you taking me?

1030
01:17:22,652 --> 01:17:26,349
What am I supposed to do, diva? Yeah?
Wait a minute. Hold on, girl.

1031
01:17:26,423 --> 01:17:27,981
Yeah...

1032
01:17:32,162 --> 01:17:34,255
My mom called last night.

1033
01:17:36,933 --> 01:17:40,232
And we don't really have a relationship.

1034
01:17:40,704 --> 01:17:43,537
We don't talk,
because she really has a problem with...

1035
01:17:43,607 --> 01:17:47,373
Some folks got a light around them
that shine for other peoples.

1036
01:17:47,444 --> 01:17:50,538
I think maybe some of them was in tunnels,

1037
01:17:50,614 --> 01:17:53,344
and in that tunnel,
maybe the only light they had

1038
01:17:53,417 --> 01:17:54,941
was inside of them.

1039
01:17:55,052 --> 01:17:58,283
Then I thought about how strong
you've had to be.

1040
01:18:00,891 --> 01:18:04,622
And then,
even long after they escaped that tunnel...

1041
01:18:05,962 --> 01:18:08,795
-I’ll help you clean up.
-Okay.

1042
01:18:09,466 --> 01:18:12,458
... they still be shining for everybody else.

1043
01:18:16,706 --> 01:18:18,731
That's Ms. Rain to me.

1044
01:18:21,711 --> 01:18:23,235
“Award for Outstanding Achievement.”

1045
01:18:23,313 --> 01:18:26,942
In a book I read,
this lady escaped to a halfway house.

1046
01:18:27,050 --> 01:18:28,244
And when she was there,

1047
01:18:28,318 --> 01:18:31,253
she asked the people there
what a halfway house was.

1048
01:18:31,321 --> 01:18:35,655
They told her it was halfway between
her old life and where she wanna be.

1049
01:18:35,759 --> 01:18:37,659
That's kind of nice.

1050
01:18:39,329 --> 01:18:42,423
That also mean I can't stay here forever.

1051
01:18:42,499 --> 01:18:44,660
There's still a way to go.

1052
01:18:45,402 --> 01:18:48,337
It'd be something to get my own apartment.

1053
01:18:49,172 --> 01:18:52,664
Abdul nine months and almost walking.
He's smart, too.

1054
01:18:53,343 --> 01:18:56,437
I’ve been reading to him
since the day he was born.

1055
01:18:56,513 --> 01:18:59,573
He 's barely talking,
but he's already counting.

1056
01:19:00,517 --> 01:19:02,348
Momma, Daddy,

1057
01:19:03,120 --> 01:19:07,523
IS 111, 444 Lenox all seem
like some old, bad dream.

1058
01:19:09,693 --> 01:19:13,686
I wish I could’ve just started out here,
but still with Abdul.

1059
01:19:15,132 --> 01:19:19,296
I'm gonna get Mongo, too.
I gotta get Mongo back.

1060
01:19:21,371 --> 01:19:22,463
Hey, Miss Cassidy.

1061
01:19:22,539 --> 01:19:24,769
Hey, Precious,
somebody downstairs for you.

1062
01:19:24,841 --> 01:19:26,604
-Who is it?
-I didn't ask who it was.

1063
01:19:26,676 --> 01:19:27,870
You want me to watch the baby?

1064
01:19:27,978 --> 01:19:30,845
No, I gotta go down and get him anyway.

1065
01:20:05,248 --> 01:20:06,909
Your daddy dead.

1066
01:20:08,852 --> 01:20:10,319
That's all?

1067
01:20:15,392 --> 01:20:17,257
He had that AIDS virus.

1068
01:20:32,776 --> 01:20:34,038
There you go, dreaming again.

1069
01:20:34,110 --> 01:20:36,772
Precious, do you hear me talking to you?

1070
01:20:38,215 --> 01:20:39,341
Did you hear what I said?

1071
01:20:44,287 --> 01:20:45,720
You got it?

1072
01:20:46,957 --> 01:20:48,584
Got what?

1073
01:20:48,692 --> 01:20:50,626
-The AIDS virus.
-No.

1074
01:20:51,628 --> 01:20:53,289
How do you know?

1075
01:20:53,396 --> 01:20:56,263
We never did it up in the ass, so I know.

1076
01:21:00,637 --> 01:21:03,105
You better get to a doctor, Mom.

1077
01:21:05,809 --> 01:21:07,538
You coming home?

1078
01:21:24,494 --> 01:21:25,984
Yo, Precious!

1079
01:21:44,648 --> 01:21:47,640
Rita, what do I mean when I say the author

1080
01:21:47,751 --> 01:21:52,415
describes her protagonist's circumstances
as “unrelenting”?

1081
01:21:53,423 --> 01:21:55,755
I don't know. I don't know.

1082
01:21:58,128 --> 01:22:01,689
It’s like, say, like if Rita,
she tries to do something,

1083
01:22:01,798 --> 01:22:04,266
and she's going and she's going,
and me, I try to stop her

1084
01:22:04,334 --> 01:22:06,962
and she no stop, she keep on going.

1085
01:22:07,604 --> 01:22:09,367
Relentless-un.

1086
01:23:02,092 --> 01:23:04,560
I’ll see you tonight. Bye.

1087
01:23:53,643 --> 01:23:55,133
Come with me.

1088
01:23:56,579 --> 01:23:57,978
Precious?

1089
01:23:59,816 --> 01:24:01,283
Excuse me?

1090
01:24:03,219 --> 01:24:05,312
Nurse say I’m HIV positive.

1091
01:24:11,961 --> 01:24:14,486
I ain't got nothing to write today.

1092
01:24:16,332 --> 01:24:17,993
Is your baby okay?

1093
01:24:19,068 --> 01:24:22,435
He all right.
I just got to stop breastfeeding him.

1094
01:24:26,142 --> 01:24:28,303
Remember, you once told me

1095
01:24:28,812 --> 01:24:31,679
you never really got to tell your story.

1096
01:24:33,149 --> 01:24:35,174
-Write.
-Fuck you!

1097
01:24:35,685 --> 01:24:38,677
You know nothing
of what I’ve been through.

1098
01:24:39,856 --> 01:24:42,188
I ain't never had no boyfriend.

1099
01:24:44,861 --> 01:24:47,455
My daddy said he gonna marry me.

1100
01:24:48,131 --> 01:24:51,430
How he gonna do that?
It would fucking be illegal!

1101
01:25:07,684 --> 01:25:08,878
Write.

1102
01:25:11,020 --> 01:25:13,545
I’m tired, Ms. Rain.

1103
01:25:14,457 --> 01:25:17,620
If not for yourself,
then for the people who love you.

1104
01:25:17,694 --> 01:25:19,491
Nobody loves me.

1105
01:25:19,562 --> 01:25:21,826
people do love you, Precious.

1106
01:25:22,298 --> 01:25:24,732
please don't lie to me, Ms. Rain.

1107
01:25:25,568 --> 01:25:27,968
Love ain't done nothing for me.

1108
01:25:29,005 --> 01:25:32,406
Love beat me, raped me,

1109
01:25:33,843 --> 01:25:37,836
called me an animal,
make me feel worthless.

1110
01:25:38,515 --> 01:25:40,073
Make me sick.

1111
01:25:42,418 --> 01:25:44,511
That wasn't love, Precious.

1112
01:25:46,589 --> 01:25:48,420
Your baby loves you.

1113
01:25:51,728 --> 01:25:53,195
I love you.

1114
01:26:00,503 --> 01:26:01,731
Write.

1115
01:26:10,680 --> 01:26:12,614
What are you thinking?

1116
01:26:14,784 --> 01:26:19,016
You never told me about
your relationship with your mother.

1117
01:26:21,758 --> 01:26:23,419
I didn't, did I?

1118
01:26:24,127 --> 01:26:26,721
Really, I’m here to help you.

1119
01:26:26,796 --> 01:26:29,959
You can talk to me.
This is a safe environment.

1120
01:26:31,301 --> 01:26:32,700
You're right.

1121
01:26:32,769 --> 01:26:35,294
We could talk about your daddy instead.

1122
01:26:35,405 --> 01:26:38,238
We could talk about my mother, my father,

1123
01:26:38,308 --> 01:26:42,711
my aunts or my sister or my brother,
but none of it's gonna help you.

1124
01:26:43,379 --> 01:26:44,869
You don't even like me.

1125
01:26:44,948 --> 01:26:47,974
Have we not been in this room together

1126
01:26:48,084 --> 01:26:51,315
for, like, a year, discussing your life?

1127
01:26:51,421 --> 01:26:54,413
Does that mean we like each other,
because we discuss my life?

1128
01:26:54,490 --> 01:26:55,957
I can't speak for you.

1129
01:26:56,059 --> 01:27:00,496
I can only speak for me,
and I do like you. I do.

1130
01:27:01,164 --> 01:27:02,995
So, are you Italian, or...

1131
01:27:03,099 --> 01:27:04,396
What colour are you, anyway?

1132
01:27:04,467 --> 01:27:06,560
Are you some type of black or Spanish?

1133
01:27:06,636 --> 01:27:08,831
What colour do you think I am?

1134
01:27:10,807 --> 01:27:14,140
No, I’d like to know.
What colour do you think I am?

1135
01:27:14,978 --> 01:27:16,673
My throat is dry.

1136
01:27:17,513 --> 01:27:19,276
Your throat is dry?

1137
01:27:19,682 --> 01:27:21,411
It’s really hot in here.

1138
01:27:21,484 --> 01:27:23,577
It is kind of hot in here.

1139
01:27:24,120 --> 01:27:26,987
I’m gonna go get a soda.
What do you want?

1140
01:27:27,357 --> 01:27:29,188
Soda sounds fine.

1141
01:27:29,292 --> 01:27:30,691
All right.

1142
01:28:01,224 --> 01:28:02,714
Thank you.

1143
01:28:03,326 --> 01:28:04,793
No problem.

1144
01:28:08,498 --> 01:28:11,695
So, I have to talk to you about your mother,

1145
01:28:12,235 --> 01:28:14,567
and I don't know
how you're gonna feel about this,

1146
01:28:14,671 --> 01:28:17,401
but she says she wants to see you

1147
01:28:17,507 --> 01:28:22,137
and she wants to be reunited
with you and her grandchildren.

1148
01:28:22,712 --> 01:28:25,681
She wants to come
and have a session here with you.

1149
01:28:25,748 --> 01:28:27,340
What did you tell her?

1150
01:28:27,417 --> 01:28:30,250
I said I had to speak to you about it.

1151
01:28:32,889 --> 01:28:34,322
It’s up to you.

1152
01:28:34,390 --> 01:28:37,359
I don't know.
I never thought about it before.

1153
01:28:38,895 --> 01:28:41,386
Ms. Weiss said in that file I got HIV.

1154
01:28:41,497 --> 01:28:43,897
She said I was supposed to die from it.

1155
01:28:44,000 --> 01:28:46,025
I ain't worried about dying.

1156
01:28:46,102 --> 01:28:50,061
Shit, I gotta worry about
how I’m supposed to raise these kids.

1157
01:28:51,074 --> 01:28:53,565
I was just writing, like, about...

1158
01:28:54,277 --> 01:28:56,370
I wanna open up this clinic

1159
01:28:56,446 --> 01:28:59,677
about, like, mothers and their children.

1160
01:29:00,516 --> 01:29:03,542
You know, just,
if they're sick or something like that.

1161
01:29:03,619 --> 01:29:07,282
I always wanted to do that,
give back to the community.

1162
01:29:07,390 --> 01:29:10,257
Because I know my mom would be
proud of me if I did that,

1163
01:29:10,359 --> 01:29:12,020
and my children, too.

1164
01:29:12,095 --> 01:29:15,792
I want my children to be proud
of their mother, you know?

1165
01:29:16,933 --> 01:29:21,461
-That's always what I wanted to do, so...
-That's good. That's really nice.

1166
01:29:25,074 --> 01:29:29,534
I don't really want to read the whole thing,
I kind of just wanna say what it's about.

1167
01:29:30,780 --> 01:29:34,409
Okay, the counsellors
at Advancement House,

1168
01:29:36,252 --> 01:29:38,743
they were quizzing me
about my mother and my father, right?

1169
01:29:38,821 --> 01:29:40,584
But it's not really about them.

1170
01:29:40,656 --> 01:29:42,749
They're trying to get me to do workfare.

1171
01:29:42,825 --> 01:29:45,225
-They want me to be a home attendant.
-How do you know?

1172
01:29:45,294 --> 01:29:47,592
Because I stole my file and I read it.

1173
01:29:47,663 --> 01:29:49,597
All they want me to do is work.

1174
01:29:49,665 --> 01:29:52,930
Now, I do wanna work,
but not for no welfare check.

1175
01:29:53,002 --> 01:29:54,435
What kind of sense that make,

1176
01:29:54,504 --> 01:29:57,439
for somebody like Precious to quit school
before she got her GED

1177
01:29:57,507 --> 01:30:00,135
and go work
for some old white people somewhere?

1178
01:30:00,243 --> 01:30:03,303
She ain't never gonna be nothing
if she gets stuck in some shit like that.

1179
01:30:03,412 --> 01:30:04,902
Rhonda used to home attend.

1180
01:30:04,981 --> 01:30:07,973
She used to have to go all the way out
to Brighton Beach.

1181
01:30:08,084 --> 01:30:11,417
Yeah, okay, Rhonda would be
working there all day and night.

1182
01:30:11,487 --> 01:30:13,512
She'd be on call, right?

1183
01:30:13,956 --> 01:30:18,154
She made $6.37 an hour,
but for only eight hours.

1184
01:30:18,761 --> 01:30:20,854
That equal out to $50.96.

1185
01:30:21,864 --> 01:30:23,297
But that's not a whole lot of money,

1186
01:30:23,366 --> 01:30:26,494
especially 'cause,
for real, she there for 24 hours.

1187
01:30:26,602 --> 01:30:31,301
So, $50.96 divided by 24

1188
01:30:31,374 --> 01:30:35,310
is $2.12 an hour. That's not a lot of money.

1189
01:30:35,378 --> 01:30:39,781
She said that old bitch would ring a bell,
like, a real-life, actual bell

1190
01:30:39,849 --> 01:30:41,680
when she wanted something from her
in the middle of the night.

1191
01:30:41,784 --> 01:30:44,480
-You don't want to do that shit.
-Rhonda, is that true? Rhonda!

1192
01:30:44,554 --> 01:30:47,614
Them home attendants be working for, like,
six days a week.

1193
01:30:47,690 --> 01:30:51,558
I’d only see Abdul on Sunday.
plus, I’d have to leave class.

1194
01:30:51,894 --> 01:30:55,193
Well, that's not an option.
You're not leaving class.

1195
01:30:55,298 --> 01:30:58,392
plus, I'm gonna start going to
insect survivor meetings.

1196
01:30:58,501 --> 01:30:59,991
It’s “incest.”

1197
01:31:01,737 --> 01:31:04,900
-That ain't what I said?
-No, you said “insect.”

1198
01:31:05,508 --> 01:31:06,805
What's the difference?

1199
01:31:06,876 --> 01:31:08,673
Well, one's where your family molests you,

1200
01:31:08,744 --> 01:31:11,406
the other's like a roach or bugs.

1201
01:31:14,083 --> 01:31:16,711
-So, you a scientist now?
-I’m just saying.

1202
01:31:16,819 --> 01:31:19,583
No, that's cool. Thank you. Thank you.

1203
01:31:25,761 --> 01:31:29,356
It was hard telling them strangers there
what my father did.

1204
01:31:29,432 --> 01:31:31,423
Sometimes it felt good.

1205
01:31:36,706 --> 01:31:40,904
Last week, Ms. Rain asked us
to write down what we wanna be like.

1206
01:31:41,344 --> 01:31:44,871
I wrote that I be real skinny,

1207
01:31:45,615 --> 01:31:47,845
with light skin and long hair.

1208
01:31:49,285 --> 01:31:50,946
Loretha Holloway?

1209
01:31:52,188 --> 01:31:53,280
Go on back there.

1210
01:31:53,389 --> 01:31:55,220
She read it and said I’m beautiful like I am.

1211
01:31:55,291 --> 01:31:58,783
But, there's no kids back there
for me to play with.

1212
01:32:00,963 --> 01:32:02,931
Just shut up and sit there, then.

1213
01:32:03,032 --> 01:32:06,399
Gonna talk to this lady
before my shit gets cut off.

1214
01:32:06,469 --> 01:32:07,936
But somehow,

1215
01:32:09,071 --> 01:32:12,302
right now... And I don’t know why, but...

1216
01:32:14,443 --> 01:32:16,206
I think she right.

1217
01:32:22,585 --> 01:32:23,643
Here.

1218
01:32:32,328 --> 01:32:33,955
Claireece Jones?

1219
01:32:39,936 --> 01:32:41,927
I think she right.

1220
01:32:47,176 --> 01:32:49,269
Okay, Mrs. Johnston,
let's talk about the abuse.

1221
01:32:49,345 --> 01:32:51,575
There were no drugs in my house.

1222
01:32:51,647 --> 01:32:53,615
I didn't play that.
There weren't no drugs in my house.

1223
01:32:53,683 --> 01:32:55,344
Precious knew I would whup her ass

1224
01:32:55,451 --> 01:32:56,941
if she gonna bring some drugs
up in my house.

1225
01:32:57,019 --> 01:32:59,419
You know what I’m talking about.

1226
01:33:00,523 --> 01:33:05,688
I’m referring to specific
sexual and physical acts

1227
01:33:06,262 --> 01:33:08,025
involving Precious.

1228
01:33:08,698 --> 01:33:10,689
Why you ain't say that?

1229
01:33:11,434 --> 01:33:13,026
Yes, that.

1230
01:33:15,104 --> 01:33:17,004
What do you wanna know?

1231
01:33:17,106 --> 01:33:19,097
According to Precious' files,

1232
01:33:19,175 --> 01:33:23,202
she has now had two children
by your boyfriend,

1233
01:33:23,312 --> 01:33:27,544
the late Carl Kenwood Jones,
who was also her father.

1234
01:33:33,856 --> 01:33:35,847
-Yeah.
-This is accurate?

1235
01:33:38,294 --> 01:33:40,057
Yes, Ms. Weiss.

1236
01:33:40,563 --> 01:33:43,657
I need to know why you're here.
You've been calling this office

1237
01:33:43,733 --> 01:33:47,669
saying you want to be reunited
with Precious and your grandchild.

1238
01:33:47,737 --> 01:33:51,229
Now, I really need to know
what's gone on in that home.

1239
01:33:51,340 --> 01:33:53,467
Ms. Weiss,
I understand we need to discuss it,

1240
01:33:53,542 --> 01:33:54,873
but I’m just telling you.

1241
01:33:54,977 --> 01:33:57,707
You said I’ve been calling here
and I’ve been wanting to see

1242
01:33:57,813 --> 01:33:59,246
Precious and my grandson.

1243
01:33:59,348 --> 01:34:03,842
You're goddamn right I wanna see them.
Because they belong to me. Okay?

1244
01:34:03,919 --> 01:34:06,979
Now, there was a time
Precious had everything,

1245
01:34:07,056 --> 01:34:08,853
and I done told her that.

1246
01:34:08,924 --> 01:34:12,553
And me and Carl, we loved Precious.
And you need to know that.

1247
01:34:12,661 --> 01:34:15,357
We loved Precious and we had dreams.

1248
01:34:15,431 --> 01:34:20,164
Precious was born around the same time
Ms. West's son got killed.

1249
01:34:21,670 --> 01:34:25,606
The summertime.
She was born in the summertime.

1250
01:34:25,708 --> 01:34:27,699
Remember? Remember that?

1251
01:34:28,010 --> 01:34:29,944
I was born in November.

1252
01:34:30,446 --> 01:34:32,004
November.

1253
01:34:32,882 --> 01:34:35,350
Yeah, that's right.

1254
01:34:36,619 --> 01:34:38,519
My Scorpio child.

1255
01:34:40,689 --> 01:34:42,122
You know...

1256
01:34:42,858 --> 01:34:46,885
Scorpios, they can be tricky.

1257
01:34:48,097 --> 01:34:52,625
And, I’m not saying that they lie.
I’m not saying that.

1258
01:34:53,202 --> 01:34:55,534
But you just gotta watch them.

1259
01:34:59,475 --> 01:35:03,275
Can we talk about the actual acts

1260
01:35:03,379 --> 01:35:06,075
of physical and sexual abuse

1261
01:35:06,148 --> 01:35:08,616
that occurred in your household?

1262
01:35:09,218 --> 01:35:10,742
When it first began,

1263
01:35:10,820 --> 01:35:13,812
where it happened
and how did you respond?

1264
01:35:20,229 --> 01:35:22,390
Precious was a little girl.

1265
01:35:23,833 --> 01:35:26,825
Try and remember
how old you think she was.

1266
01:35:31,140 --> 01:35:32,664
She was three.

1267
01:35:34,643 --> 01:35:38,101
And I had been giving her the bottle

1268
01:35:40,015 --> 01:35:42,483
and I was giving Carl the tittie

1269
01:35:42,852 --> 01:35:46,913
because my milk hadn't dried up
in my breasts

1270
01:35:48,023 --> 01:35:51,356
but not from her, but because Carl was...

1271
01:35:52,528 --> 01:35:54,462
Because Carl was sucking on them

1272
01:35:54,530 --> 01:35:58,364
and that's what kept my milk in my breasts.

1273
01:36:01,103 --> 01:36:03,867
And I thought that that was for hygiene.

1274
01:36:04,807 --> 01:36:07,537
I did what my mother told me

1275
01:36:08,144 --> 01:36:12,012
that I was supposed to do with my child,
so that's what I did.

1276
01:36:12,481 --> 01:36:15,143
And you're sitting up there
and you're trying to judge me...

1277
01:36:15,217 --> 01:36:18,050
I’m not judging you,
but you're asking me for money

1278
01:36:18,154 --> 01:36:20,554
and you're asking me
to be reunited with your grandson.

1279
01:36:20,656 --> 01:36:23,056
But, Ms. Weiss,
I don't like you looking at me like that.

1280
01:36:23,225 --> 01:36:26,683
You got this bitch looking at me
like I'm some kind of fucking monster.

1281
01:36:26,795 --> 01:36:28,695
We don't talk like this in my office, okay?

1282
01:36:28,797 --> 01:36:32,324
I didn't want her sucking behind him,
because that was nasty.

1283
01:36:32,401 --> 01:36:36,132
And things that he was...
It was just nasty, Ms. Weiss.

1284
01:36:41,744 --> 01:36:45,373
I had a man, and I have a child

1285
01:36:47,183 --> 01:36:51,017
and I had to take care of both of them.
Okay?

1286
01:36:52,688 --> 01:36:57,682
Did I want Carl to touch my baby?

1287
01:36:59,762 --> 01:37:02,094
Because I would lay my baby.

1288
01:37:02,198 --> 01:37:06,828
I would lay her on the side of me,
on this pillow

1289
01:37:08,571 --> 01:37:10,732
and it was pink

1290
01:37:11,440 --> 01:37:14,500
and it had this little white writing on it

1291
01:37:14,577 --> 01:37:18,707
and it had her name,
because she was Precious.

1292
01:37:19,615 --> 01:37:21,947
And I would lay my baby on that pillow

1293
01:37:22,051 --> 01:37:25,418
and Carl would be laying on the other side

1294
01:37:26,855 --> 01:37:30,723
and then we would...
We would start doing it

1295
01:37:30,793 --> 01:37:32,920
and he reached over

1296
01:37:35,231 --> 01:37:37,222
and he touched my baby.

1297
01:37:37,299 --> 01:37:38,857
And I asked him,

1298
01:37:39,635 --> 01:37:42,229
I said, “Carl, what are you doing?”

1299
01:37:42,304 --> 01:37:44,738
And he told me to shut...

1300
01:37:44,807 --> 01:37:47,799
To shut my fat ass up,
and it was good for her.

1301
01:37:47,910 --> 01:37:51,141
-And what did you do then?
-I shut my fat ass up.

1302
01:37:51,647 --> 01:37:54,980
And I don't want you to sit there
and judge me, Ms. Weiss.

1303
01:37:55,084 --> 01:37:56,813
You shut up
and you let him abuse your daughter?

1304
01:37:56,919 --> 01:37:58,887
I did not want him to abuse my daughter.

1305
01:37:58,988 --> 01:38:00,455
-I did not want him to hurt her.
-But you allowed him

1306
01:38:00,556 --> 01:38:02,421
-to hurt her.
-I did not want him to do nothing to her.

1307
01:38:02,491 --> 01:38:04,425
I wanted him to make love to me.

1308
01:38:04,493 --> 01:38:07,485
That was my man.
That was my fucking man.

1309
01:38:07,663 --> 01:38:10,496
That was my man
and he wanted my daughter.

1310
01:38:11,800 --> 01:38:14,098
And that's why I hated her.

1311
01:38:14,169 --> 01:38:17,161
Because my man,
who was supposed to be loving me,

1312
01:38:17,273 --> 01:38:20,106
who was supposed
to be making love to me,

1313
01:38:21,176 --> 01:38:23,440
was fucking my baby.

1314
01:38:23,512 --> 01:38:27,141
She made him leave.
She made him go away.

1315
01:38:27,683 --> 01:38:28,809
So, whose fault was it, then?

1316
01:38:28,917 --> 01:38:32,080
It’s this bitch's fault
because she let my man have her

1317
01:38:32,154 --> 01:38:33,746
and she didn't say nothing.

1318
01:38:33,822 --> 01:38:35,813
She didn't scream. She didn't do nothing.

1319
01:38:35,924 --> 01:38:39,451
So, those things she told you I did to her,

1320
01:38:39,528 --> 01:38:42,691
who else was gonna love me?

1321
01:38:45,701 --> 01:38:49,330
Since you got your degree
and you know every-fucking-thing,

1322
01:38:49,438 --> 01:38:53,465
who was gonna love me,
who was gonna make me feel good?

1323
01:38:53,542 --> 01:38:57,205
Who was gonna touch me
and make me feel good late at night?

1324
01:38:57,313 --> 01:38:59,838
And she made him go away, so...

1325
01:39:00,616 --> 01:39:04,108
When you sit there and you write
them fucking notes on your pad

1326
01:39:04,186 --> 01:39:08,213
about who you think I am,
and why I did it, all of that.

1327
01:39:09,558 --> 01:39:11,788
Because I didn't have nobody.

1328
01:39:20,569 --> 01:39:23,732
The people from

1329
01:39:25,374 --> 01:39:27,399
Each One Teach One,

1330
01:39:28,143 --> 01:39:31,078
they had... They called me

1331
01:39:34,049 --> 01:39:37,143
and they told me that my baby
was writing poems.

1332
01:39:37,219 --> 01:39:38,709
in fact, you know what, I got...

1333
01:39:38,821 --> 01:39:40,379
Wait a minute.

1334
01:40:06,382 --> 01:40:07,849
I’m sorry.

1335
01:40:08,851 --> 01:40:12,218
I’m sorry.
And, Ms. Weiss, I don't want no checks.

1336
01:40:12,287 --> 01:40:16,519
I don't need no more money. please.
I’m so sorry.

1337
01:40:17,426 --> 01:40:19,587
I took that TABE test again.

1338
01:40:20,796 --> 01:40:21,922
And what happened?

1339
01:40:22,030 --> 01:40:23,691
I scored a 7.8.

1340
01:40:25,401 --> 01:40:27,301
Last time it was 2.8.

1341
01:40:29,705 --> 01:40:31,070
According to that test,

1342
01:40:31,140 --> 01:40:33,870
I’m reading at
a seventh- and eighth-grade level.

1343
01:40:35,144 --> 01:40:38,307
Next year, high school. After that, college.

1344
01:40:44,887 --> 01:40:46,650
Well, I like you, too.

1345
01:40:48,991 --> 01:40:51,050
But you can't handle me.

1346
01:40:52,828 --> 01:40:55,160
You can't handle none of this.

1347
01:41:03,105 --> 01:41:06,506
You know, I never knew what you was
until this day.

1348
01:41:06,608 --> 01:41:09,338
Not even after all them things you did.

1349
01:41:10,846 --> 01:41:14,338
Maybe I was too stupid, or
maybe I just didn't want to.

1350
01:41:16,819 --> 01:41:19,151
You ain't gonna see me no more.

1351
01:41:22,758 --> 01:41:24,020
Bye!

1352
01:41:27,763 --> 01:41:29,628
I didn't want him to hurt my baby.

1353
01:41:29,698 --> 01:41:32,132
Please, God,
I didn't want him to hurt my baby.

1354
01:41:32,201 --> 01:41:35,102
Ms. Weiss,
I didn't want him to hurt my baby.

1355
01:41:35,170 --> 01:41:36,967
I would say to him, I would say...

1356
01:41:37,039 --> 01:41:40,304
“Carl, what are you doing?
What are you doing? What are you doing?”

1357
01:41:49,384 --> 01:41:50,976
Can you go get her back?

1358
01:41:51,053 --> 01:41:53,647
You can do that,
because that's what you do.

1359
01:41:53,722 --> 01:41:55,553
That's what you do.

1360
01:41:55,991 --> 01:41:59,688
I need you to go
and I need you to get my baby back.

1361
01:41:59,795 --> 01:42:03,390
You told me that I could come in here
and you could get...

1362
01:42:03,866 --> 01:42:05,333
You could get Precious to say...

1363
01:42:05,400 --> 01:42:07,891
Ms. Weiss? Ms. Weiss? Ms. Weiss?