] previously on queen sugar...
[nova] seems like yesterday I was chasing this boy out of my room,
and now he's getting married today.
My word for today is jubilant.
-[ralph] mmm. -And I get to use it for real right now.
[all chuckle]
-go! -Hey, girl! You were... I was supposed to call it.
I love you.
I love you too.
[all] surprise!
[darla] I never thought this day would come.
[pastor] may your hearts always be filled with joy and love.
And may that joy and love always help you find your way.
-[darla giggles] -[ralph] come on, baby. Oh, watch your head.
-[darla] okay. -You ready?
-Yeah. -Yeah?
-Yeah. Am I heavy? -Heavy?
-Yeah. -What, all 100 pounds of you?
-Aren't you... -[both gasp]
-[ralph] whoa! -Ralph! That was not... That is not funny!
-I got you. -That's not funny.
-[ralph chuckles] -oh, my gosh.
Hundred pounds isn't easy to carry.
I can carry you.
-Yeah? -I got you.
-Okay. -Ain't no thing. I just...
You better not drop me.
-You better not drop me. -Come on.
Oh, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
-After you. -Thank you.
Oh. [chuckles]
that's the smile I wanna see all weekend.
-You will. -Better make sure of it.
"just married"!
[ralph] come on.
-Four days on the gulf. The coast, the water. -Mmm.
Plus you all weekend.
I can't wait.
[darla chuckles] mmm.
[cans clattering]
[theme song playing]
♪ dreams never die take flight as the world turns ♪
♪ keep the colors in the lines take flight ♪
♪ dreams never die ♪
♪ keep the colors in the lines ♪
♪ keep the colors in the lines take flight ♪
[cell phone beeps, vibrates]
the attempted arrest was caught on camera, and we need to warn you here
that it's very difficult to watch.
The video of last night's confrontation shows
a white police officer with his knee
pinning down the neck of the suspect.
And you can clearly hear the man saying,
"I can't breathe" several times
before an ambulance arrives.
That video is... [continues indistinctly]
[crashes]
[news reports continue indistinctly]
[woman vocalizing]
[officer] get out of the car!
Now!
-[sirens blaring] -[cell door shuts]
♪ say ♪
♪ her name ♪
the attempted arrest was caught on camera and we need to warn you here
that it's very difficult to watch.
The video of last night's confrontation
-shows a white police officer with his knee... -My god.
That boy has got some big energy.
You got blue all set up for school?
Ah, he is.
Have you seen the funny papers?
Oh! I save them for blue.
I didn't know you like 'em too.
Yes. Just trying to keep my spirits up.
Trying hard.
[man on tv] ...Pay for groceries with a counterfeit $20 bill.
And this is a non-violent offence... [continues indistinctly]
penny for your thoughts?
How about $20 for 'em?
That's the going rate for black life, right?
-Twenty dollars? -Mr. Floyd.
The whole situation don't make no sense.
Racism ain't never made sense.
If a man comes into my diner,
and tries to pass a fake 20,
I can think of at least ten things
that I would do before I call the police.
So you give it back to him and say, "I can't accept it."
number one. Number two,
I'd serve the man.
If you're passing fake money, you might need to survive!
And we don't even know if it's really what happened.
-Just... They lie. -They do!
[man on tv] ...Lies face-down in handcuffs.
Floyd is heard repeatedly saying
that he can't breathe.
At one point, he, he even calls out to his mother.
He continues to call out
until he can no longer speak.
[breathing heavily]
[upbeat music playing]
to our ancestors,
to those taken too soon from us,
I thank you for this opportunity
to honor your life.
And the sacrifice
that was forced from you.
I honor
trayvon martin,
michael brown junior,
sandra bland,
eric garner,
natasha mckenna,
tamir rice,
philando castile,
alton sterling,
bettie jones,
india kager,
freddie carlos gray junior,
jordan davis,
dominique fells,
riah milton,
walter lamar scott,
antwon rose ii,
atatiana koquice jefferson,
michelle cusseaux,
elijah mcclain,
daniel prude,
ahmaud arbery,
breonna taylor,
george floyd.
[sobbing]
...Even as floyd lay on the ground
with the officer's knee pressed on the back of his neck,
-floyd... [continues indistinctly] -my god.
He's not resisting. He's not, he's not...
It doesn't matter.
Not to them.
[woman on tv] ...And asking chauvin to take his knee off his neck,
as bystanders, including the grocery clerk
-who initially called 911... -[tv switches off]
talk to me.
I'm fine. I just, um...
-I gotta study. -Please don't do that to yourself.
-Do what? -Push it down.
It doesn't work. I've tried it.
You know we won't stand for this.
It's murder. It's uis it?Table.
Everything happened on some dirt path on the side of the road.
This didn't happen in the middle of the night.
They didn't take him for a drive to a dark alley
so they could put a gun in his mouth.
Okay? This was broad daylight.
There were people across the street
begging him to stop, but he didn't.
I know.
I know the murder of black people is very acceptable.
The fact that it is is the whole point.
I'm here for you, baby.
[both sobbing]
thank you.
You all right?
Could be better.
There's an opportunity right now and I want to do my small part to make sure
his murder...
I don't know... Means something.
I don't want his name to trend for a couple of days and then disappear.
"without sanctuary: Lynching photography in america"?
A little light reading.
A little white reading.
Sorry.
That wasn't meant for you.
It's fine.
It's not a time to hold your tongue.
What's most interesting to me isn't the lynchings themselves.
It's the people who watched.
The white crowds that gathered
to make murder a wear-your-Sunday's-best public event.
There were three cops who stood there and let another cop kill a man.
I know cops are trained to protect each other.
Even before they protect civilians.
But how do they stand there and just...
Let it happen?
It's hideous.
[muttering indistinctly]
mmm. [exhales]
[muttering continues]
♪ the moment I met you ♪
♪ you came in my life ♪
♪ and made me feel special ♪
♪ you know we got settled and things ♪
♪ and then it got sexual ♪
♪ hitting the spots that you do ♪
♪ I love when we wrestle ♪
♪ secret in my respite in my bed ♪
♪ yeah, yeah ♪
♪ secrets we don't speak stay left unsaid ♪
♪ uh-huh ♪
♪ let's talk about love ♪
♪ let's talk about us ♪
♪ let's talk about love ♪
♪ let's talk about us ♪
♪ let's talk about love ♪
♪ let's talk about us ♪
what's that face?
I'm just looking at you.
♪ let's talk about l-o-v-e ♪
all of you.
♪ phone calls missed ♪
♪ I need your hit ♪
♪ I'm so obsessed ♪
♪ I need your lips ♪
♪ it's hard for me to wait for this ♪
♪ secret in my rest ♪
hi.
What's your name?
Oh, I'm darla the wife.
-Mmm. Mmm-hmm. -I've replaced darla the girlfriend.
And darla the fiancee.
It's a pleasure to meet you, darla the wife.
♪ let's talk about love ♪
and you are?
Ma'am.
I'm trying to be everything you need.
Everything you deserve.
♪ the way you act like ♪
♪ it's all me, ain't you ♪
[vocalizing]
[tv playing]
[gunshots on tv]
hey.
Hey.
Do you feel ashamed
about what happened to george floyd?
-Ashamed? -Yes.
Ashamed.
Wh horrible things happen and a black person
is responsible, we feel shame.
I can't tell you how many times I thought,
"please don't let the shooter be black,
"or the terrorist be black or the abuser be black,"
while I'm watching the news or reading an article.
Do you all feel that?
Am I speaking for all white people?
Just speak for yourself.
When you saw what happened to george floyd,
did you feel shame?
It's not a trick question. I'm just curious.
It's for my article.
I felt disgust,
watching a human life being taken.
But, no, I wasn't embarrassed by it personally
because I had nothing to do with it.
Right.
But if it were a black cop who killed him,
I feel embarrassed personally.
I feel shame.
But why? You didn't do it.
Every black person's actions are seen as a collective endeavor.
Every action besides success, of course.
Every bad thing that one of us may experience or cause
reflects on all of us in the eyes of american society.
One robbery, they are inherently criminal.
One drug deal, they inherently lack restraint.
One person does something trifling on the job,
they all lack discipline.
I see what you mean.
It's like black people have a collective conscious
in the eyes of white america.
Like you think and behave as a monolith.
But of course, that's, like, so false.
You have a white man strangling someone by the neck
while being recorded,
as both victim and bystanders begged him to stop.
You all feel no personal shame in that.
If the tables were turned, I'd be in shambles.
Y'all have an imbecile in the white house and you just shrug it off.
If it were obama, all the black folks would be hanging our heads.
Because all black americans
would be lumped together
because of the mess he was involved in.
And the mess that's happening
with the white man in the oval now?
You don't even feel at all connected to.
This is one of the treacherous and rarely discussed
side effects of white supremacy.
Es] man, I've never seen anything like this.
It's spreading everywhere.
It's 'cause the people have had it. We've had it.
It's 2020. It's rise up time, bro.
[scoffs] yo, kev.
Yo, you coming through tomorrow?
[sighs]
man, yo, let me know as soon as possible.
But you don't wanna miss it.
Yeah, I been trying to tell you.
What?
Right now?
No, I got it on. I just had it on mute.
[female reporter on tv] ...Set fire to one of the precincts
of the minneapolis police department.
-Police said... -They set the police station on fire.
...In the evening, where demonstrators reached...
Oh, that's what I'm talking about.
They deserve that.
-Burn that shit down. -Micah.
Yo, let me call you back, bro.
All right.
It's a little much, don't you think?
Someone could get hurt or die
in that building burning.
Someone could be inside.
And?
Look, I'm just as upset as you are.
But no matter what happens to us,
no matter what they do to us,
we can't become the thing that we hate.
[scoffs] so, what do you suppose we fight back with then, huh?
Love?
Don't. Don't do that just because you're angry.
Love isn't a weakness.
Love isn't something to be mocked.
You can be enraged and still lead with love, with light.
[scoffs]
ella baker said, "give light, and the people will find the way."
dr. King said, you know this, micah,
"darkness can't drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
Hate can't drive out hate.
Only love can do that."
dr. King also said that a riot is the language of the unheard.
We have other ways.
We have our vote,
we can make laws, policies, we can protest peacefully...
Mom, "protest peacefully" are two words
-that just shouldn't be used together. -Micah...
You're talking about working within a system
that's designed exactly the way it's been working.
-Against us. -All I'm saying is
rioting and looting aren't the answer.
Then what is?
You expect us to turn the other cheek
when we have a gun in our mouth
and a knee on our neck?
We have to get out in the streets.
It's the only way, mom. Period.
The council
just got word of a protest
happening at the city hall here tomorrow night.
There's concern about violence.
There'll be a police presence.
Are you going to that protest?
I helped plan that protest.
That was amazing.
I told you. I knew you'd love it.
Swimming in the moonlight?
[chuckles]
if I didn't know better, I'd think you're trying to seduce me.
Every day, baby.
I miss swimming. Thank you.
Thought I'd get you back in the water.
[cell phone ringing]
hey, wood.
[hollywood] hey, ral, what's up, man? You good?
Yeah, yeah.
Hey, bro, I'm sorry to bother you, man.
My bad. Everything good?
-Blue good? -Yeah, yeah. He cool, man.
[darla] is everything okay?
Fine, baby.
Listen, ral, something happened. You seen the news?
What are you talking about?
Just turn on any channel, man.
-It's on all the channels? -Yeah.
Another black man murdered in the middle of the street.
Cop had his knee on his neck. I don't even know what to do.
[male reporter on tv] george floyd pleaded for his life
for over five minutes while the police officer
knelt on the back of his neck.
You can hear him saying, over and over again,
"I can't breathe."
-a protest is in... -[reporters talking simultaneously]
got his knee on his neck.
[sighs deeply]
[reporters speaking indistinctly on tv]
[sniffles]
[drill whirring]
the back is all covered.
I don't think you're gonna really need all this.
I don't think we're gonna need it either,
but hollywood's right.
We gotta take precautions 'cause folks are hot and I get it.
Hollywood?
Please don't crack my molding and sash.
I heard you the first three times, vi.
So, prosper.
Outside of our honeymoon,
I don't think I have spent more than three days straight
away from this place since I was 19 years old.
-[scoffs] -[violet chuckles]
ah.
Hollywood.
You and that drill. Don't mess my diner up.
Baby, it's gonna be real messed up
if somebody come in here acting crazy.
Do you mind giving me some hammer and nails out the toolbox?
Well, you know, ain't nobody gonna mess with my place anyway.
I think we should just take some of this stuff
and board up the real spot.
It don't matter about that.
What? Just 'cause it ain't open don't mean it don't matter.
Well, it don't matter to me.
I'm over it.
You over it?
Vi.
Please.
Just leave it be.
I don't know where the hammer is.
Oh. It might be in this lower part.
Oh, no, no, no. Vi, vi...
What the hell you doing with this?
[sighs]
[door opens]
[door closes]
I've had it for a while, vi.
You keep it in our house?
To protect our home, yeah.
I know you don't like it, but...
As far as I'm concerned, a gun
ain't nothing but violence and death waiting to happen,
and I don't want it anywhere near me.
-Vi... -We agreed...
A long time ago that you wouldn't keep one.
Though every day that you kept it in our house,
you've been lying to me.
-Why, hollywood? -Why?
Baby, look what's going on right now.
What are we doing?
They killed that man dead in the middle of the street.
What does george floyd have to do
with you having a gun in our house?
Have you noticed
that ain't nobody saying nothing about
if that man had kids?
A wife.
Brother.
Sister.
Everybody paying all this attention to how he died,
and nobody saying nothing about how that man lived.
He was a brother that was killed on camera for the world to see
and feel some kind of way about it.
Now, if somebody run up on you,
prosper, baby blue, them oregon-ass bordelon kids,
anybody who we love...
You will get yourself killed!
Well, if I got to take a bullet
to keep a bullet off of those who I'm charged with protecting
and providing for, then that's just how it's gotta be.
I hear you.
I do.
But that thing there...
I don't care what you say.
It don't work for me.
It ain't never worked for me, hollywood, please.
Shame.
If I get got,
the world is gonna know that I am a black man
who knew what love feels like,
that I loved somebody,
and somebody loved me enough
to let me fight for our chance to live.
Buon appetito.
Chicken parmesan.
-Mmm. -It looks great, courtney.
I'll probably just have a few bites.
I don't wanna be late.
Smells great.
Maybe we can stay home.
Could you please pass the pepper?
Sure, but you don't have to worry.
I season my food.
[chuckles]
if you want, we can
record that and you can watch it later.
Actually, I like to keep up with it.
Things are developing fast.
How's your article coming along, nova?
Slowly but surely.
It's about those who watch.
The so-called bystanders.
Tou thao, j. Alexander kueng and thomas k. Lane.
They are the facilitators of his death too,
yet they'll claim they're innocent.
Their innocence constitutes the crime.
Jimmy b said that.
-Who's jimmy b? -James baldwin
in the fire next time.
That's probably what you should call him.
Actually, calvin, I was hoping you'd tell me about the time you watched.
You admitted you watched some of your fellow officers
beat up a black boy once.
When you first became a cop.
Wait, dad, you what?
[cutlery clatters on plate]
it was over 20 years ago.
I was a rookie. I was just trying to fit in.
But you watched.
The black kid
in the ninth ward, he got caught stealing a chocolate bar.
It was stupid. It was a waste of our time.
The store owner, he knew my partner.
It got called in and my partner then called a few more cops
and I didn't realize it at the time.
I just finally got the nerve to ask him
why he had to take it so far.
What'd he say?
He said it was a down payment.
A down payment?
It was cop talk back then...
For beating up a black kid.
The idea was to hurt 'em when they were young.
So they...
Knew what to expect when they got older.
Jesus christ, dad.
I swore that I'd never put myself in that position again.
I know I should have done more and I should've been stronger.
Better. I am.
It was one of the worst days of my life.
Yeah, I'm sure it wasn't a red-letter day for the kid, either.
[footsteps approaching]
hey.
I'm just heading out, just wanted to let you know.
I'll be safe.
I promise.
-Micah. -[micah] mom.
Please don't try to talk me out of this.
I can't sit here. I have to do something.
I have to fight this somehow.
I was just gonna ask you...
If you have another one of those.
Yeah.
[footsteps receding]
[sighs]
'sup, baby?
You talked to blue again?
Mmm-hmm.
How'd he sound this time?
Same as when you talked to him.
Like he don't know nothing.
I think vi been keeping him from it all.
That's a small miracle.
I don't like it, ralph angel.
Like what?
That the world has become a place where
black kids can see all the ways
that the world is trying to kill them.
Right in their tv at any time.
They shouldn't be playing clips in a loop, it's traumatic.
You ain't lying.
Sit down.
I've been thinking...
What if we don't cut things short.
What if we just stay?
I mean, we only got two more days left.
I don't know.
Things seem like they get really bad at home.
Things always get bad at home.
If they don't, they feel like it. Right?
I don't know what you mean.
I'm just tired of feeling like
death is always at my doorstep.
I think we're here.
Let's just be here.
You know?
I mean, you got folk who do this on a regular.
Vacation homes. All this space.
Ain't got to turn on the tv and see
what the world think about 'em...
In cold blood, over and over again.
Those people also ignore reality.
We can't.
Yeah, but we can rest.
We deserve to take care of ourselves.
I mean...
I ain't trying to rush back to all that.
Can't that pain wait a few days?
I can't argue with what you're saying, I just...
I just want to hold our son.
I just want...
I wanna hold my baby in my arms.
I wanna know he's okay.
Okay.
That's what we'll do.
[news reporter on radio] police were responding to a call over
a fraudulent $20 bill
and they decided...
-So, they did not have your favorite flavor, but... -Oh.
...I got you something else to try.
It's all good, what you got for me?
[man] "black moms matter"? What about my mom?
It'll be all good when all lives matter.
Hey, he ignorant. Don't mind him.
What you got for me, baby?
How would you feel if I walked around with a shirt that said, "white lives matter"?
I would say that it was redundant.
Oh.
I see you got one of them mouthy ones, huh?
You better watch your mouth, boy.
You don't want this smoke over here, man.
Go ahead and pump your gas.
All right?
So we're just gonna burn down the cities 'cause
one brother wouldn't stop resisting arrest?
-Cops were called on him for a reason. -Yeah, not a good one.
Says you.
He got what he deserved.
That's a fact.
Know what else a fact?
You and your kind,
you're on your last days.
-Ralph angel, let's go. -Uh-huh.
That gas you just pumped,
keep it pushing.
Know what's good for you.
Punk ass.
[crowd chanting] no justice! No peace!
[crowd continues chanting]
♪ take back the power ♪
[all continue chanting]
♪ take back the power ♪
[hollywood] I made myself watch that video.
I had to.
Had to bear witness, I guess.
Pay my respects to the man.
I had to let him know,
we see you, brother.
I see you.
The whole thing was bad.
But, my god, when he
called out to his mother.
She was the only thing, the only person
that he thought might save him.
Do you understand what it is to be a grown black man
and all you have to protect you and what you love
is your mother?
And she's passed on.
Did he...
Feel her
in those last moments?
Did he see her...
In those final minutes?
-Did you have fun in your honeymoon? -We did.
Um, let's see, we danced
and we swam.
And we celebrated being married.
Then why did you come back so early?
Well...
We missed you.
There's a lot going on right now.
Seemed best that we all be together.
At home.
Are you talking about what happened to mr. Floyd?
Did you hear about that at aunt vi's?
I heard people saying, "black lives matter" a lot on tv.
Then they said something horrible happened to him.
And he died.
But I don't know why.
Um...
George floyd was a man who,
-um... -Got killed.
By some police officers.
You know what black lives matter means, right?
Yes, but...
Don't all lives matter?
Yeah, but everybody don't act like it.
So, we can't say all lives matter till they act like black lives matter.
-Ralph angel. -You understand?
It's time.
Blue...
This world is filled with good people.
Good things.
And I want you to experience all of that.
Everything the world has to offer you,
I, I want that for you.
You understand?
Thing is,
this world ain't all good.
There's a lot of bad things out there.
-A lot of bad stuff. -And bad people.
My teacher says there's no such thing as bad people.
Well, there is.
I wish we lived in a world where...
Everybody was nice and...
Everybody was good.
But bad people don't see you.
They won't see you.
I wish I could be there to make sure
everybody you meet in life will treat you right.
But I can't.
So, I need you to know what to do when somebody don't love you the way...
Your mommy do.
You have to be
extra careful
if you're ever stopped by the police.
But I'm not gonna break the law.
That don't matter.
You will be stopped by the police, blue.
Why?
Because you're black.
And that's just what happen to black boys and men in america.
But that's not right.
-I know. -Can't we change it?
Like aunty nova always says,
we can change things if we work for change.
You're right. You wanna know how you change it?
By staying alive and doing something special with your life.
That's how.
I need you here,
so you can do that.
You understand?
Well...
How do I...
Stay alive?
Rule number one
is you don't run.
Even when you're scared, you don't run.
You hear me?
That's how they shoot you in the back.
Number two,
if anything ever happens, you call me and mama first.
Immediately.
You understand?
[mumbles]
you're smart.
I know you'll be fine in this world.
You got nothing to be scared of, okay?
Hey.
Come here.
[theme music playing]