1 00:00:13,021 --> 00:00:15,110 (BIRDS CHIRPING) 2 00:00:15,130 --> 00:00:18,060 ♪ (QUIET MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 3 00:01:05,161 --> 00:01:09,100 (INDISTINCT CHATTER) 4 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,100 ♪ ("HAITIAN FIGHT SONG" BY CHARLES MINGUS PLAYING) ♪ 5 00:01:28,251 --> 00:01:30,221 (SWORD CLATTERS) 6 00:01:40,180 --> 00:01:42,150 (GRUNTS) 7 00:01:45,090 --> 00:01:46,141 (GROANS) 8 00:01:49,201 --> 00:01:51,060 (CHANTS) 9 00:01:58,150 --> 00:02:00,221 (SWORDS CLANKING) 10 00:02:02,061 --> 00:02:04,130 ♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪ 11 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,250 ♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 12 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:55,141 (CAR HORN HONKS) 13 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,160 ♪ ("HAITIAN FIGHT SONG" PLAYING) ♪ 14 00:03:03,141 --> 00:03:05,120 RAOUL PECK: In kindergarten, in Haiti, 15 00:03:05,141 --> 00:03:09,111 there was this allegorical image of Saint Francis of Assisi 16 00:03:09,131 --> 00:03:12,120 on the last page of our reading book. 17 00:03:12,141 --> 00:03:16,051 It didn't matter that St. Francis was obviously white. 18 00:03:16,071 --> 00:03:19,141 At the time, I was still unaware of any civilizational 19 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:21,120 or racial differences. 20 00:03:21,141 --> 00:03:22,180 I didn't even know 21 00:03:22,201 --> 00:03:25,041 that such differences were possible. 22 00:03:25,060 --> 00:03:29,120 Besides the fact that he was a saint, and I was not. 23 00:03:29,141 --> 00:03:31,131 I knew as much about saints 24 00:03:31,150 --> 00:03:34,041 as I knew about copulation and bees. 25 00:03:34,060 --> 00:03:37,120 My ideas of religion, priests, or God 26 00:03:37,141 --> 00:03:40,150 was at best naive, if not reckless. 27 00:03:40,171 --> 00:03:44,030 I truly believed that all human beings were basically, 28 00:03:44,051 --> 00:03:47,201 in some sort of natural way, brothers and sisters. 29 00:03:47,220 --> 00:03:49,081 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 30 00:03:49,100 --> 00:03:51,081 It was in this euphoric state 31 00:03:51,100 --> 00:03:53,160 that I was sent to primary school, 32 00:03:53,180 --> 00:03:55,081 a Jesuit institution. 33 00:03:56,141 --> 00:03:57,220 On the very first day, 34 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,131 I got into a fight with another boy. 35 00:04:00,150 --> 00:04:02,131 We were both sent to the head priest 36 00:04:02,150 --> 00:04:04,090 to be disciplined. 37 00:04:04,111 --> 00:04:08,041 While waiting for what I thought would be an appeasing pep talk 38 00:04:08,060 --> 00:04:10,141 and reconciliatory handshake, 39 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,220 I had no doubt that the outcome would be peaceful. 40 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,071 I loved my world of serenity and understanding. 41 00:04:18,110 --> 00:04:21,021 To my surprise, the head priest came in, 42 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,251 took a dry ox muscle hanging from the wall, 43 00:04:24,030 --> 00:04:26,170 and, without a word, whipped us raw 44 00:04:26,191 --> 00:04:29,021 with three lashes each. 45 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:32,220 I was so stunned that I didn't cry. 46 00:04:32,241 --> 00:04:35,201 Minutes later, alone in the schoolyard, 47 00:04:35,220 --> 00:04:39,220 I realized that the world was not what I was told it would be. 48 00:04:39,241 --> 00:04:42,251 The rituals, the dogma, the theatrics, 49 00:04:43,030 --> 00:04:45,111 were now transparent. 50 00:04:45,131 --> 00:04:49,100 I decided that I was not going to be an imbecile in that show. 51 00:04:49,121 --> 00:04:53,170 Especially if it involved saint, priest, and whip, 52 00:04:53,191 --> 00:04:55,021 in that order. 53 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,191 Then, I stopped believing in God altogether. 54 00:04:58,210 --> 00:05:02,170 ♪ ("THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND" BY SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS PLAYING) ♪ 55 00:05:03,201 --> 00:05:05,251 ♪ This land is my land ♪ 56 00:05:09,150 --> 00:05:12,071 ♪ From California ♪ 57 00:05:13,081 --> 00:05:17,121 ♪ Well to the New York island ♪ 58 00:05:18,150 --> 00:05:22,040 ♪ From the redwood forest ♪ 59 00:05:23,110 --> 00:05:27,121 ♪ To the Gulf Stream waters ♪ 60 00:05:28,170 --> 00:05:32,241 ♪ I tell ya, this land ♪ 61 00:05:33,021 --> 00:05:37,191 ♪ Was made for you and me ♪ 62 00:05:39,071 --> 00:05:42,220 ♪ As I went walking ♪ 63 00:05:42,241 --> 00:05:45,150 ♪ Down that ribbon Of a highway... ♪ 64 00:05:47,050 --> 00:05:49,040 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 65 00:05:49,210 --> 00:05:51,030 RAOUL: I knew a man. 66 00:05:51,050 --> 00:05:54,090 I knew him well enough to be able to call him a friend. 67 00:05:55,141 --> 00:05:59,061 He was a scholar. One of the brightest. 68 00:05:59,081 --> 00:06:01,170 One day, I learned of his death 69 00:06:01,191 --> 00:06:04,191 after ten years of daily struggle. 70 00:06:04,210 --> 00:06:08,170 A cardiologist inserted a malfunctioning pacemaker 71 00:06:08,191 --> 00:06:09,191 in his heart 72 00:06:09,210 --> 00:06:12,100 that would destroy its functions. 73 00:06:12,121 --> 00:06:16,121 By the time they realized the mistake, it was too late. 74 00:06:18,191 --> 00:06:21,230 Michel-Rolph wrote an extraordinary book, 75 00:06:21,251 --> 00:06:25,181 Silencing the Past. A masterpiece. 76 00:06:25,201 --> 00:06:28,050 The work of a lifetime. 77 00:06:28,071 --> 00:06:30,241 By deconstructing the dominant narrative, 78 00:06:31,021 --> 00:06:32,230 he changed everything. 79 00:06:34,090 --> 00:06:35,251 Knowledge is power. 80 00:06:36,030 --> 00:06:39,150 But "history is the fruit of power," says Trouillot. 81 00:06:40,220 --> 00:06:44,170 Whoever wins in the end gets to frame the story. 82 00:06:47,201 --> 00:06:50,040 On July 4th, 2012, 83 00:06:50,061 --> 00:06:52,121 Trouillot passed away in his sleep 84 00:06:52,141 --> 00:06:54,061 at his home in Chicago. 85 00:06:59,170 --> 00:07:01,220 This is his story as well. 86 00:07:01,241 --> 00:07:04,160 ♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 87 00:07:05,150 --> 00:07:07,241 RAOUL: "Remember the Alamo," they say. 88 00:07:08,021 --> 00:07:12,141 "But remembering can be quite selective," writes Trouillot. 89 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,021 Human beings participate in history 90 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,181 both as actors and as narrators. 91 00:07:18,230 --> 00:07:20,040 Among the actors, 92 00:07:20,061 --> 00:07:23,061 we find General Antonio López de Santa Anna, 93 00:07:23,081 --> 00:07:26,170 a Mexican national hero, who, in his lifetime, 94 00:07:26,191 --> 00:07:29,110 is said to have participated in more battles 95 00:07:29,131 --> 00:07:32,191 than Napoleon and George Washington combined. 96 00:07:34,071 --> 00:07:35,210 In his eventful career, 97 00:07:35,230 --> 00:07:38,040 the Alamo was just a brief interlude 98 00:07:38,061 --> 00:07:41,121 in a long streak of defeats and victories. 99 00:07:42,131 --> 00:07:45,030 By the middle of February 1836, 100 00:07:45,050 --> 00:07:47,141 his army had reached the crumbling walls 101 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,131 of the old mission of San Antonio de Valero 102 00:07:50,150 --> 00:07:52,150 in the Mexican province of Tejas. 103 00:07:52,170 --> 00:07:54,081 ♪ ("YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS" BY MITCH MILLER PLAYING) ♪ 104 00:07:54,100 --> 00:07:57,150 Some 200 American slave owners and militiamen 105 00:07:57,170 --> 00:08:00,090 now occupied the Spanish mission, 106 00:08:00,110 --> 00:08:03,100 nicknamed "the Alamo." 107 00:08:03,121 --> 00:08:06,220 They refused to surrender to Santa Anna's superior force. 108 00:08:06,241 --> 00:08:08,201 -(INDISTINCT SHOUTING) -RAOUL: On March 6th, 109 00:08:08,220 --> 00:08:10,251 General Santa Anna blew the horns 110 00:08:11,030 --> 00:08:13,030 that Mexicans traditionally used 111 00:08:13,050 --> 00:08:15,170 to announce an attack to the death. 112 00:08:15,191 --> 00:08:18,040 According to the celebrated story, 113 00:08:18,061 --> 00:08:20,040 when it became clear that the choice 114 00:08:20,061 --> 00:08:23,040 for the 189 Alamo occupants 115 00:08:23,061 --> 00:08:25,040 was between escape and certain death 116 00:08:25,061 --> 00:08:27,040 at the hands of the Mexicans, 117 00:08:27,061 --> 00:08:31,040 Commander William Barret Travis drew a line on the ground. 118 00:08:31,061 --> 00:08:32,231 Those men who wish to stay... 119 00:08:34,121 --> 00:08:36,141 will cross the line and stand with me. 120 00:08:37,141 --> 00:08:38,170 The others may go... 121 00:08:39,190 --> 00:08:40,221 with my blessing. 122 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,190 RAOUL: Supposedly, everyone crossed. 123 00:08:44,211 --> 00:08:48,021 Except, of course, the man who conveniently escaped 124 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:49,131 to tell the story. 125 00:08:49,150 --> 00:08:51,150 I didn't survive Russia and Waterloo 126 00:08:51,170 --> 00:08:53,070 to die in this desert. 127 00:08:53,091 --> 00:08:55,231 RAOUL: Obviously, a Frenchman. 128 00:08:55,251 --> 00:08:58,070 -♪ (FANFARE PLAYING) ♪ -(INDISTINCT SHOUTING) 129 00:08:58,091 --> 00:09:01,030 RAOUL: Santa Anna's troops broke through the fort, 130 00:09:01,050 --> 00:09:03,040 killing most of the defenders. 131 00:09:03,231 --> 00:09:05,050 A clear victory. 132 00:09:05,070 --> 00:09:07,080 -(GUNS FIRING) -(BOMBS EXPLODING) 133 00:09:07,101 --> 00:09:11,121 RAOUL: But a few weeks later, on April 21st at San Jacinto, 134 00:09:11,141 --> 00:09:14,131 Santa Anna fell prisoner to Sam Houston, 135 00:09:14,150 --> 00:09:16,050 the freshly certified leader 136 00:09:16,070 --> 00:09:18,190 of the secessionist Republic of Texas. 137 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:23,121 Houston's men had punctuated their victorious attack 138 00:09:23,141 --> 00:09:26,030 on the Mexican army with repeated shouts 139 00:09:26,050 --> 00:09:30,030 of "Remember the Alamo! Remember the Alamo!" 140 00:09:30,050 --> 00:09:32,160 With that reference to the old mission, 141 00:09:32,180 --> 00:09:34,131 they doubly made history. 142 00:09:35,211 --> 00:09:39,030 As actors, the Texans captured Santa Anna 143 00:09:39,050 --> 00:09:41,200 and neutralized his forces. 144 00:09:41,221 --> 00:09:45,221 As narrators, they give the Alamo story a new meaning. 145 00:09:45,241 --> 00:09:48,221 What they didn't say is that General Santa Anna 146 00:09:48,241 --> 00:09:50,200 quickly recovered from the upset 147 00:09:50,221 --> 00:09:54,101 and went on to be the leader of Mexico four more times. 148 00:09:54,121 --> 00:09:57,101 But this is not what history will remember. 149 00:09:57,121 --> 00:10:01,021 General Santa Anna indeed lost the battle of the day, 150 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,170 but he also lost the battle he had won at the Alamo. 151 00:10:04,190 --> 00:10:06,150 ♪ ("RING MY BELL" BY ANITA WARD PLAYING) ♪ 152 00:10:06,170 --> 00:10:09,111 ♪ You can ring my bell Ding, dong, ding, dong ♪ 153 00:10:09,131 --> 00:10:10,131 ♪ Ring it ♪ 154 00:10:10,150 --> 00:10:13,251 ♪ You can ring my bell Anytime, anywhere ♪ 155 00:10:14,030 --> 00:10:17,101 ♪ Ring it, ring it Ring it, ring it, ow ♪ 156 00:10:17,121 --> 00:10:19,050 ♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪ 157 00:10:19,070 --> 00:10:21,121 RAOUL: How much can we reduce what happened 158 00:10:21,141 --> 00:10:24,070 to what is said to have happened? 159 00:10:24,091 --> 00:10:28,111 Does it matter whether events are fact or fiction? 160 00:10:28,131 --> 00:10:31,170 Most Europeans and North Americans learned more 161 00:10:31,190 --> 00:10:33,150 about the history of Colonial America 162 00:10:33,170 --> 00:10:37,040 and the American West from movies and television 163 00:10:37,060 --> 00:10:38,190 than from books. 164 00:10:38,211 --> 00:10:41,141 The Alamo? That was a history lesson 165 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:44,170 delivered by John Wayne on the screen. 166 00:10:44,190 --> 00:10:47,021 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 167 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:50,190 RAOUL: What does it mean for our collective experiences? 168 00:10:50,211 --> 00:10:53,101 Do we even wish for a common history? 169 00:10:54,111 --> 00:10:55,251 Does it really not matter 170 00:10:56,030 --> 00:10:59,141 whether or not the Holocaust is true or false? 171 00:11:01,050 --> 00:11:03,021 Does it really not make a difference 172 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:05,180 whether or not the leaders of Nazi Germany 173 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:09,231 planned and supervised the killing of six million Jews? 174 00:11:13,241 --> 00:11:17,241 ♪ (SOFT PIANO PLAYING) ♪ 175 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:30,211 RAOUL: If six million do not really matter, 176 00:11:30,231 --> 00:11:33,070 would two million be enough? 177 00:11:33,091 --> 00:11:36,060 Or would some of us settle for 300,000? 178 00:11:37,131 --> 00:11:40,170 If there is nothing to be proved, or disproved, 179 00:11:40,190 --> 00:11:43,021 what then is the point of the story? 180 00:12:18,221 --> 00:12:22,251 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 181 00:12:34,150 --> 00:12:38,021 RAOUL: The history of America is being written in a world 182 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:40,190 where few little boys want to be Indians. 183 00:12:45,241 --> 00:12:49,131 In 1492, neither Europe as we know it 184 00:12:49,150 --> 00:12:52,101 nor whiteness as we now experience it 185 00:12:52,121 --> 00:12:54,080 existed as such. 186 00:12:54,101 --> 00:12:58,091 ♪ ("ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHAT LOVE IS" BY IRMA THOMAS PLAYING) ♪ 187 00:12:58,111 --> 00:13:00,101 RAOUL: Here is the story we have been told. 188 00:13:00,121 --> 00:13:01,170 SINGER: ♪ Anyone... ♪ 189 00:13:03,190 --> 00:13:07,160 RAOUL: Christopher Columbus was born to a Genoese merchant family, 190 00:13:07,180 --> 00:13:11,170 and as a trader at sea, joined other European navigators 191 00:13:11,190 --> 00:13:15,070 competing for gold and other lucrative commodities, 192 00:13:15,091 --> 00:13:19,030 a market long dominated by Muslim traders. 193 00:13:19,050 --> 00:13:22,070 SINGER: ♪ Try to shame me ♪ 194 00:13:22,091 --> 00:13:27,170 ♪ And still I'll care for you... ♪ 195 00:13:27,190 --> 00:13:30,170 RAOUL: It was no secret that the Earth was spherical, 196 00:13:30,190 --> 00:13:33,211 and Columbus believed a shorter, more direct route 197 00:13:33,231 --> 00:13:37,200 could be used to reach valuable exotic spice islands. 198 00:13:37,221 --> 00:13:39,170 SINGER: ♪ Still I'll be there... ♪ 199 00:13:39,190 --> 00:13:43,030 RAOUL: Columbus sold the idea to the Spanish monarchy, 200 00:13:43,050 --> 00:13:45,200 and off he sailed with three ships 201 00:13:45,221 --> 00:13:49,070 headed directly west across the Atlantic. 202 00:13:49,091 --> 00:13:53,030 SINGER: ♪ May think I'm foolish ♪ 203 00:13:53,050 --> 00:13:56,070 ♪ They can't see you ♪ 204 00:13:57,050 --> 00:14:00,131 ♪ Like I can ♪ 205 00:14:00,150 --> 00:14:03,241 ♪ Oh, but anyone... ♪ 206 00:14:04,021 --> 00:14:07,101 RAOUL: Instead of the bustling ports of the East Indies, 207 00:14:07,121 --> 00:14:10,040 Columbus came upon a tropical paradise 208 00:14:10,060 --> 00:14:12,190 populated by the Taíno people, 209 00:14:12,211 --> 00:14:14,200 what is now Haiti. 210 00:14:14,221 --> 00:14:17,221 -(CANNON BOOMS) -RAOUL: Then, from the Iberian Peninsula, 211 00:14:17,241 --> 00:14:22,170 came merchants, mercenaries, criminals, and peasants. 212 00:14:22,190 --> 00:14:24,190 They seized the land and property 213 00:14:24,211 --> 00:14:26,101 of Indigenous peoples 214 00:14:26,121 --> 00:14:29,070 and declared the territories to be extensions 215 00:14:29,091 --> 00:14:31,200 of the Spanish and Portuguese states. 216 00:14:34,241 --> 00:14:38,021 These acts were confirmed by the monarchies 217 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,131 and endorsed by the papal authority 218 00:14:40,150 --> 00:14:42,091 of the Roman Catholic Church. 219 00:14:43,060 --> 00:14:45,111 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 220 00:14:45,131 --> 00:14:48,091 RAOUL: That's more or less the official story. 221 00:14:48,111 --> 00:14:50,091 And through that official story, 222 00:14:50,111 --> 00:14:52,241 a new vision of the world was created... 223 00:14:53,190 --> 00:14:55,200 The Doctrine of Discovery. 224 00:15:05,050 --> 00:15:08,190 The extent of the demographic catastrophe that followed 225 00:15:08,211 --> 00:15:11,091 is without equivalent in world history. 226 00:15:12,211 --> 00:15:15,160 Within 100 years, over 90 percent 227 00:15:15,180 --> 00:15:18,200 of the original population of this continent 228 00:15:18,221 --> 00:15:20,111 would be wiped out. 229 00:15:23,070 --> 00:15:26,060 -(INDISTINCT SHOUTING) -(SCREAMING) 230 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,141 RAOUL: Despite large-scale massacres, torture, 231 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,080 and other inconceivable atrocities, 232 00:15:32,101 --> 00:15:34,091 the great majority of these people 233 00:15:34,111 --> 00:15:36,060 did not die in battle. 234 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:41,131 Most died of disease, hunger, and inhuman labor conditions 235 00:15:41,150 --> 00:15:43,121 because their social organization 236 00:15:43,141 --> 00:15:46,060 had been wrecked by the white conquerors. 237 00:15:48,021 --> 00:15:49,131 Bartolomé de las Casas, 238 00:15:49,150 --> 00:15:53,091 the first ordained priest to officiate in the New Indies, 239 00:15:53,111 --> 00:15:55,200 was one of the witnesses and a chronicler 240 00:15:55,221 --> 00:15:57,160 of this catastrophe. 241 00:15:57,180 --> 00:16:00,060 Killing and enslaving other beings, 242 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,091 thought to be equally human, created a dilemma for him. 243 00:16:04,111 --> 00:16:05,241 (DISTANT SCREAMING) 244 00:16:06,021 --> 00:16:10,180 (IN FRENCH) 245 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,170 ♪ (HYMNAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 246 00:16:55,190 --> 00:16:57,190 RAOUL: (IN ENGLISH) Bartolomé de las Casas 247 00:16:57,211 --> 00:16:59,231 believed both in colonization 248 00:16:59,251 --> 00:17:02,121 and in the humanity of the Indians. 249 00:17:02,141 --> 00:17:05,251 He was torn between the symbolic and the practical, 250 00:17:06,030 --> 00:17:08,251 incapable of reconciling the two. 251 00:17:09,030 --> 00:17:13,050 Instead, he offered a poor and ambiguous compromise 252 00:17:13,070 --> 00:17:15,021 that he would later regret, 253 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,021 freedom for the savages, the Indians, 254 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,080 slavery for the barbarians, the Africans. 255 00:17:22,181 --> 00:17:25,241 (IN FRENCH) 256 00:17:40,110 --> 00:17:42,251 RAOUL: (IN ENGLISH) Colonization won the day. 257 00:17:43,030 --> 00:17:46,181 ♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 258 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,100 RAOUL: The 17th century saw the increased involvement 259 00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:19,021 of England, France, and the Netherlands 260 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,021 in the Americas and in the slave trade. 261 00:18:23,151 --> 00:18:26,151 ♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪ 262 00:18:33,231 --> 00:18:37,030 RAOUL: The 18th century followed the same path 263 00:18:37,050 --> 00:18:40,040 with an added touch of perversity. 264 00:18:40,060 --> 00:18:43,070 The more European merchants and mercenaries 265 00:18:43,090 --> 00:18:46,021 bought and conquered other men and women 266 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:47,100 in the Americas, 267 00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:51,251 the more European philosophers wrote and talked about Man. 268 00:19:08,241 --> 00:19:12,060 Meanwhile, there was no single view of Blacks 269 00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,070 or of any non-white group, for that matter. 270 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,080 All assumed that, ultimately, 271 00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:21,090 some humans were more so than others. 272 00:19:22,181 --> 00:19:25,021 Viewed from outside the West, 273 00:19:25,040 --> 00:19:29,161 the Age of Enlightenment was a century of obscurity. 274 00:19:31,030 --> 00:19:32,191 In the Western conception, 275 00:19:32,211 --> 00:19:35,241 Man was primarily European and male. 276 00:19:36,021 --> 00:19:38,161 Everyone else was at the lowest level 277 00:19:38,181 --> 00:19:40,090 of this hierarchy. 278 00:19:43,060 --> 00:19:47,181 -(WOOD CREAKING) -(CHAINS JINGLING) 279 00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,241 (HEAVY BREATHING) 280 00:20:04,171 --> 00:20:06,221 (COUGHING) 281 00:20:12,030 --> 00:20:15,030 (WIND WHISTLING) 282 00:20:21,191 --> 00:20:24,080 (WAVES CRASHING) 283 00:20:31,171 --> 00:20:32,221 (MATCH STRIKES) 284 00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:40,231 (ROPE CREAKING) 285 00:20:43,060 --> 00:20:45,181 (THUNDER RUMBLING) 286 00:21:24,070 --> 00:21:26,181 (CRASH ECHOES) 287 00:21:30,151 --> 00:21:33,110 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 288 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:14,181 RAOUL: I have no complaints. 289 00:22:16,050 --> 00:22:17,241 I just want to understand. 290 00:22:19,140 --> 00:22:21,080 Trading human beings, 291 00:22:21,100 --> 00:22:23,221 what sick mind thought of this first? 292 00:22:25,221 --> 00:22:29,040 Brought by force and pushed to death. 293 00:22:30,050 --> 00:22:31,080 Slavery. 294 00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:35,050 Or "the trade," as they refer to it euphemistically. 295 00:22:36,251 --> 00:22:39,100 A state-sponsored genocide. 296 00:22:41,021 --> 00:22:43,191 What does this say about a civilized world? 297 00:22:46,231 --> 00:22:49,221 (BIRD CALLING) 298 00:22:56,191 --> 00:23:01,181 RAOUL: No. I have no complaints. I just want to understand. 299 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,070 ♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 300 00:23:09,151 --> 00:23:11,130 RAOUL: What if, from the beginning, 301 00:23:11,151 --> 00:23:13,191 the story was inaccurate? 302 00:23:15,070 --> 00:23:17,130 What if it was not just a question 303 00:23:17,151 --> 00:23:20,140 of vocabulary or interpretation? 304 00:23:21,211 --> 00:23:26,201 Perhaps a case of collective borderline personality disorder? 305 00:23:26,221 --> 00:23:30,021 (MUTTERING) 306 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,171 (BIRDS CALLING) 307 00:23:35,161 --> 00:23:36,251 (COUGHS) 308 00:23:38,211 --> 00:23:41,140 (PASTOR CONTINUES MUTTERING) 309 00:23:44,181 --> 00:23:45,181 Okay. 310 00:23:46,161 --> 00:23:49,050 Let's go. (SIGHS) 311 00:23:50,100 --> 00:23:52,050 -What? -(JESUP EXHALES) 312 00:23:54,060 --> 00:23:56,021 What about the boat? 313 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:58,171 Boat's probably stuck in Matadi up the river. 314 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,171 I need to join my parish. 315 00:24:03,211 --> 00:24:05,191 I'm already two months late. 316 00:24:08,161 --> 00:24:09,161 So? 317 00:24:16,151 --> 00:24:17,151 PASTOR: Wait! 318 00:24:20,181 --> 00:24:21,191 Wait! 319 00:24:22,191 --> 00:24:26,140 (BIRDS TWITTERING) 320 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:43,090 (JESUP GRUNTING) 321 00:25:05,221 --> 00:25:10,241 (DOGS BARKING) 322 00:25:11,221 --> 00:25:17,140 ♪ (HYMNAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 323 00:25:19,050 --> 00:25:21,140 Come on! Let's go, let's go! 324 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:24,191 (INDISTINCT CLAMOR) 325 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:28,070 Faster! 326 00:25:28,090 --> 00:25:30,171 CAPTAIN: Keep them tight! Keep them tight! 327 00:25:32,050 --> 00:25:34,090 -Go, go! Go! -(WHIP SLASHES) 328 00:25:35,060 --> 00:25:36,110 Faster! 329 00:25:43,120 --> 00:25:46,120 -(GRUNTS) -(DOG BARKING) 330 00:25:53,110 --> 00:25:56,201 (INDISTINCT CLAMOR) 331 00:25:58,241 --> 00:26:00,231 What is this? 332 00:26:02,191 --> 00:26:04,050 Dammit, faster! 333 00:26:04,070 --> 00:26:05,241 (SHOUTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE) 334 00:26:06,021 --> 00:26:07,100 (IN ENGLISH) Go! Go! Faster! 335 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:08,251 -You there! -CAPTAIN: Faster! 336 00:26:09,030 --> 00:26:10,090 PASTOR: You! 337 00:26:11,021 --> 00:26:13,120 Stop that at once! 338 00:26:13,140 --> 00:26:16,171 What do you think you are doing with those children? 339 00:26:17,241 --> 00:26:19,030 What children? 340 00:26:20,030 --> 00:26:21,140 These are shipments. 341 00:26:23,201 --> 00:26:24,201 Shipments? 342 00:26:26,050 --> 00:26:29,211 CAPTAIN: They are to be trained as soldiers by the state. 343 00:26:29,231 --> 00:26:32,221 Or sold as slaves. 344 00:26:44,201 --> 00:26:48,161 -Hey! -(PASTOR GASPING, GRUNTING) 345 00:26:49,201 --> 00:26:51,251 (GRUNTS, BREATHES HEAVILY) 346 00:26:57,110 --> 00:26:58,090 Faster! 347 00:26:58,110 --> 00:27:00,231 -(DOGS BARKING) -(WHIPS SLASHING) 348 00:27:00,251 --> 00:27:02,120 CAPTAIN: Keep them tight! 349 00:27:06,231 --> 00:27:09,040 RAOUL: In Columbus's travel journal, 350 00:27:09,060 --> 00:27:12,030 there is a description of the first sighting of land 351 00:27:12,050 --> 00:27:15,161 on Thursday, October 11th, 1492. 352 00:27:16,251 --> 00:27:20,151 "At two hours after midnight, land appeared, 353 00:27:20,171 --> 00:27:23,171 from which they were about two leagues distant. 354 00:27:24,191 --> 00:27:26,140 They hauled down the sails, 355 00:27:26,161 --> 00:27:28,251 passing time until daylight Friday, 356 00:27:29,030 --> 00:27:32,140 when they reached an islet and descended." 357 00:27:32,161 --> 00:27:34,060 A normal day, after all. 358 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:38,080 ♪ ("ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHAT LOVE IS" PLAYING) ♪ 359 00:27:40,211 --> 00:27:42,130 ♪ Anyone ♪ 360 00:27:42,151 --> 00:27:45,221 RAOUL: The isolation of a single fetishized moment 361 00:27:45,241 --> 00:27:48,100 creates a historical fact. 362 00:27:48,120 --> 00:27:50,161 SINGER: ♪ Anyone ♪ 363 00:27:50,181 --> 00:27:53,201 RAOUL: Once discovered, the Other is allowed 364 00:27:53,221 --> 00:27:56,120 to finally enter the human world. 365 00:27:56,140 --> 00:27:58,130 SINGER: ♪ You can blame me... ♪ 366 00:27:58,151 --> 00:28:00,191 RAOUL: Whatever else may have happened 367 00:28:00,211 --> 00:28:04,021 to other peoples in that process is reduced, 368 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:07,060 as if by magic, to a natural fact... 369 00:28:07,221 --> 00:28:09,221 they were discovered. 370 00:28:09,241 --> 00:28:12,100 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 371 00:28:13,171 --> 00:28:15,191 PASTOR: Show me the way, my Lord. 372 00:28:15,211 --> 00:28:17,251 Let me walk along your path. 373 00:28:18,030 --> 00:28:21,221 Touch my heart to fear your name, my Lord, 374 00:28:21,241 --> 00:28:25,130 as to surrender myself to your glory. 375 00:28:25,151 --> 00:28:29,221 Show me the way, my Lord. Let me walk along your path. 376 00:28:29,241 --> 00:28:31,181 -Touch my heart-- -(WHIP SLASHING) 377 00:28:31,201 --> 00:28:34,161 (SLAVE GRUNTING) 378 00:28:35,181 --> 00:28:37,021 (SLASHING AND GRUNTING CONTINUE) 379 00:28:37,151 --> 00:28:40,070 (SLAVE GRUNTS) 380 00:28:40,090 --> 00:28:41,221 (CAPTAIN PANTING) 381 00:28:44,231 --> 00:28:49,090 (GRUNTING CONTINUES) 382 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:55,021 What's the problem now? What did he do? 383 00:28:56,181 --> 00:28:58,120 (LASHING AND GRUNTING CONTINUE) 384 00:28:58,140 --> 00:29:01,021 Nothing. Why? 385 00:29:02,161 --> 00:29:04,040 (WHIP LASHING CONTINUES) 386 00:29:05,100 --> 00:29:08,191 -(SLAVE GRUNTING) -(PANTING) 387 00:29:11,151 --> 00:29:14,120 (SLAVE GRUNTING) 388 00:29:14,140 --> 00:29:17,201 (INDISTINCT CHATTER) 389 00:29:17,221 --> 00:29:20,181 (SLAVERS SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) 390 00:29:20,201 --> 00:29:23,021 (ALL LAUGH) 391 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,161 (BIRDS CALLING) 392 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:34,161 (CHAIN JINGLING) 393 00:30:13,171 --> 00:30:14,221 (GRUNTS) 394 00:30:19,191 --> 00:30:23,100 ♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 395 00:30:27,241 --> 00:30:30,151 PASTOR: My dear Rose... 396 00:30:30,171 --> 00:30:34,251 may these words convey to you the fullness of my sentiments. 397 00:30:35,030 --> 00:30:37,100 I hope they will find you well. 398 00:30:40,151 --> 00:30:44,090 It seems so strange to walk under this unbearable heat, 399 00:30:44,110 --> 00:30:46,151 when only four months ago, 400 00:30:46,171 --> 00:30:49,140 I could still comfort myself in your arms. 401 00:30:50,151 --> 00:30:54,070 The madness in these distant lands 402 00:30:54,090 --> 00:30:56,021 is hard to describe. 403 00:30:58,251 --> 00:31:01,171 I am making new experiences. 404 00:31:03,021 --> 00:31:04,120 Two days ago, 405 00:31:04,140 --> 00:31:09,120 I saw my first corpses. A good dozen of them, 406 00:31:09,140 --> 00:31:14,191 white little bodies, floating into the darkness. 407 00:31:14,211 --> 00:31:19,251 Floating as if they were just resting for a long journey. 408 00:31:22,070 --> 00:31:23,151 These... 409 00:31:24,140 --> 00:31:27,251 are not our choices to make. 410 00:31:31,130 --> 00:31:36,130 The ways of the Lord are infinite. 411 00:31:46,100 --> 00:31:49,120 I miss so much 412 00:31:49,140 --> 00:31:52,161 this delicate temple 413 00:31:52,181 --> 00:31:56,130 hidden in the depth of your thighs. 414 00:32:18,191 --> 00:32:19,221 (EXHALES) 415 00:32:21,140 --> 00:32:23,110 RAOUL: Any historical narrative 416 00:32:23,130 --> 00:32:25,241 is a particular bundle of silences. 417 00:32:28,070 --> 00:32:32,221 It is an exercise of power that makes some narratives possible 418 00:32:32,241 --> 00:32:35,030 and silences others. 419 00:32:36,140 --> 00:32:42,021 In this fabricated narrative, not all silences are equal. 420 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:47,201 Our job as filmmakers, writers, historians, image-makers 421 00:32:47,221 --> 00:32:50,191 is to deconstruct these silences. 422 00:32:53,171 --> 00:32:54,201 (CREAKING) 423 00:32:55,171 --> 00:32:57,151 From its first appearances, 424 00:32:57,171 --> 00:32:59,221 the word nègre, "negro," 425 00:32:59,241 --> 00:33:01,151 entered French dictionaries 426 00:33:01,171 --> 00:33:04,251 with increasingly precise negative undertones. 427 00:33:06,151 --> 00:33:08,241 By the middle of the 18th century, 428 00:33:09,021 --> 00:33:12,100 "black" was almost universally bad. 429 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:14,110 What had happened in the meantime, 430 00:33:14,130 --> 00:33:18,130 was the expansion of African American slavery. 431 00:33:18,151 --> 00:33:21,021 That was the most potent impetus 432 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,060 for the transformation of European ethnocentrism 433 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:25,211 into scientific racism. 434 00:33:27,100 --> 00:33:30,211 Blacks were inferior and therefore enslaved. 435 00:33:30,231 --> 00:33:35,151 Black slaves behaved badly and were therefore inferior. 436 00:33:35,171 --> 00:33:38,181 The practice of slavery in the Americas 437 00:33:38,201 --> 00:33:40,161 secured the Blacks' position 438 00:33:40,181 --> 00:33:42,221 at the bottom of the human world. 439 00:33:44,110 --> 00:33:46,191 By the time of the American Revolution, 440 00:33:46,211 --> 00:33:51,080 European ethnocentrism had merged into scientific racism 441 00:33:51,100 --> 00:33:53,251 and framed the ideological landscape 442 00:33:54,030 --> 00:33:56,090 on both sides of the Atlantic. 443 00:34:00,070 --> 00:34:03,030 The final years of the 18th century 444 00:34:03,050 --> 00:34:06,060 were called the Age of Revolutions. 445 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:09,151 But one usually thinks of the American Revolution 446 00:34:09,171 --> 00:34:11,160 starting in 1763, 447 00:34:11,180 --> 00:34:15,040 and the French Revolution of 1789. 448 00:34:15,060 --> 00:34:18,251 Not the Haitian Revolution of 1790. 449 00:34:19,031 --> 00:34:21,100 Indeed, in those changing years, 450 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,180 a particular group of Black slaves, 451 00:34:23,200 --> 00:34:27,021 men, women, and children, would rise. 452 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:29,231 In just ten short years, they would fight 453 00:34:29,251 --> 00:34:31,220 and create the nation of Haiti, 454 00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:35,100 the truly first free republic in America. 455 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,060 The only revolution that materialized 456 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:40,080 the ideal of enlightenment, 457 00:34:40,100 --> 00:34:43,220 freedom, fraternity, and equality for all. 458 00:34:45,140 --> 00:34:48,220 In 1790, French colonist La Barre 459 00:34:48,240 --> 00:34:51,220 wrote to his wife in France to reassure her 460 00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:55,060 of the peaceful state of life in the tropics. 461 00:34:56,140 --> 00:34:59,021 "There is no movement among our Negroes. 462 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,021 They don't even think of it. 463 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:03,151 A revolt among them is impossible. 464 00:35:03,171 --> 00:35:06,151 Freedom for Negroes is a chimera." 465 00:35:07,251 --> 00:35:09,131 Just a few months later, 466 00:35:09,151 --> 00:35:13,111 the events would ridicule these racist assumptions. 467 00:35:14,231 --> 00:35:20,100 A nation is not an act of creation... 468 00:35:22,071 --> 00:35:25,171 but a process of growth. 469 00:35:25,191 --> 00:35:30,071 You will take the city of Cap Haitien... 470 00:35:31,231 --> 00:35:36,191 but only when it is reduced to ashes. 471 00:35:36,211 --> 00:35:42,060 And even on those ashes, I will fight you. 472 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,231 ♪ ("MWEN PARE" BY EMELINE MICHEL PLAYING) ♪ 473 00:35:44,251 --> 00:35:46,091 RAOUL: What happened in Haiti 474 00:35:46,111 --> 00:35:48,100 contradicts most of what the West 475 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:50,240 has claimed about itself. 476 00:35:51,021 --> 00:35:53,131 The silencing of the Haitian Revolution 477 00:35:53,151 --> 00:35:57,100 is part of a narrative of global domination. 478 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:00,231 Nevertheless, the revolution played a central role 479 00:36:00,251 --> 00:36:03,220 in the collapse of the entire system of slavery 480 00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:06,140 and in the liberation of Latin America. 481 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,060 Haiti created the possible. 482 00:36:14,051 --> 00:36:16,220 ♪ (SINGING IN HAITIAN CREOLE) ♪ 483 00:36:25,100 --> 00:36:28,021 RAOUL: The Haitian Revolution was unthinkable 484 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:29,160 even as it happened, 485 00:36:29,180 --> 00:36:31,220 but unthinkable only in the framework 486 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:34,231 of a self-centered Western thought. 487 00:36:34,251 --> 00:36:36,151 Unthinkable in the West, 488 00:36:36,171 --> 00:36:40,071 not only because it challenged slavery and racism, 489 00:36:40,091 --> 00:36:42,131 but because of the way it did so. 490 00:36:42,151 --> 00:36:46,071 It was the ultimate test of the universalist pretensions 491 00:36:46,091 --> 00:36:49,111 of both the French and the American Revolutions. 492 00:36:49,131 --> 00:36:50,111 (ROPE CREAKING) 493 00:36:50,131 --> 00:36:52,191 And they both failed that test. 494 00:36:52,211 --> 00:36:54,021 (INDISTINCT CLAMOR) 495 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:56,091 RAOUL: Confronted with this unthinkable, 496 00:36:56,111 --> 00:37:01,171 Napoleon sent 65,000 troops to reestablish slavery in Haiti. 497 00:37:01,191 --> 00:37:05,060 His whole army was defeated within two years, 498 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,021 forcing him to renounce his American dreams 499 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,251 and sell all his American properties. 500 00:37:11,031 --> 00:37:13,200 The so-called Louisiana Purchase 501 00:37:13,220 --> 00:37:16,071 doubled the size of the United States 502 00:37:16,091 --> 00:37:20,071 and, through this added power, would accelerate the conquest 503 00:37:20,091 --> 00:37:22,240 of the rest of Indian territories. 504 00:37:23,021 --> 00:37:27,051 The debt owed to Haiti still remains to be paid. 505 00:37:27,071 --> 00:37:30,131 ♪ ("DE CUBA TRAIGO UN CANTAR" BY CARLOS PUEBLA PLAYING) ♪ 506 00:37:30,151 --> 00:37:33,171 ♪ (SINGING IN SPANISH) ♪ 507 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,021 RAOUL: I fell in love in Rome. 508 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:43,131 I made my first film in Berlin. 509 00:37:43,151 --> 00:37:46,180 My parents spent 25 years in Africa. 510 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:48,211 My daughter was born in Uganda 511 00:37:48,231 --> 00:37:50,240 and went to school in New Jersey. 512 00:37:51,021 --> 00:37:53,231 One brother works for the Seminoles, 513 00:37:53,251 --> 00:37:56,100 the other won an Emmy. 514 00:37:56,120 --> 00:37:58,231 My older brother spent two years in Vietnam 515 00:37:58,251 --> 00:38:01,040 and even more with PTSD. 516 00:38:01,211 --> 00:38:03,151 Who are we? 517 00:38:03,171 --> 00:38:06,120 I have taught filmmaking from Norway to Lebanon, 518 00:38:06,140 --> 00:38:08,111 and from New York to Lomé. 519 00:38:09,031 --> 00:38:10,200 Who am I? 520 00:38:10,220 --> 00:38:13,160 Who am I in this official, pre-approved, 521 00:38:13,180 --> 00:38:15,160 Eurocentric classification? 522 00:38:15,180 --> 00:38:17,171 -(SPEAKING HAITIAN CREOLE) -CROWD: Non! 523 00:38:18,091 --> 00:38:19,100 CROWD: Oui! 524 00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:21,080 CROWD: Oui! 525 00:38:22,051 --> 00:38:23,051 CROWD: Oui! 526 00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:24,171 CROWD: Oui! 527 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:26,040 CROWD: Oui! 528 00:38:28,071 --> 00:38:30,220 (CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING) 529 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:33,131 RAOUL: (IN ENGLISH) I once followed a charismatic man 530 00:38:33,151 --> 00:38:37,080 whom I revered, and who one day betrayed his people. 531 00:38:38,111 --> 00:38:40,080 I made a film about him, too. 532 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:42,080 Who am I? 533 00:38:42,100 --> 00:38:45,060 ♪ (SINGING "HASTA SIEMPRE, COMANDANTE" IN SPANISH) ♪ 534 00:38:45,080 --> 00:38:47,151 RAOUL: (IN ENGLISH) I have traveled to many places, 535 00:38:47,171 --> 00:38:50,031 and have never called them my own. 536 00:38:50,051 --> 00:38:53,080 And no violence was ever involved. 537 00:38:53,100 --> 00:38:56,120 Places where I lived. Places where I worked. 538 00:38:56,140 --> 00:39:00,240 Places where I loved and sometimes was loved. 539 00:39:01,021 --> 00:39:04,120 I played war in the streets of Léopoldville. 540 00:39:04,140 --> 00:39:06,151 I rode a bicycle in Katanga. 541 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,120 I built houses in Cuba. 542 00:39:11,060 --> 00:39:12,080 Who am I? 543 00:39:12,100 --> 00:39:14,211 ♪ ("I DON'T NEED NO DOCTOR" BY JOHN MAYER PLAYING) ♪ 544 00:39:16,220 --> 00:39:18,211 RAOUL: During the 16th century, 545 00:39:18,231 --> 00:39:21,191 England began its brutal conquest of Ireland 546 00:39:21,211 --> 00:39:25,080 and declared half a million acres of land in the north 547 00:39:25,100 --> 00:39:26,220 open to settlement. 548 00:39:28,140 --> 00:39:32,071 Under British colonial rule, the Irish were regarded 549 00:39:32,091 --> 00:39:36,120 as a lower species and naturally inferior. 550 00:39:36,140 --> 00:39:39,151 They were descendants of apes, while, of course, 551 00:39:39,171 --> 00:39:41,251 the English were descendants of Man, 552 00:39:42,031 --> 00:39:45,140 who had been created by God in His own image. 553 00:39:46,091 --> 00:39:47,211 The English were angels. 554 00:39:48,251 --> 00:39:52,111 But Britain's Irish policies brought economic ruin 555 00:39:52,131 --> 00:39:55,131 to Ireland's wool and linen industries. 556 00:39:55,151 --> 00:39:57,251 The invaders became losers. 557 00:39:58,031 --> 00:40:00,200 This pushed nearly a quarter of a million 558 00:40:00,220 --> 00:40:03,111 Calvinist Scots-Irish colonizers 559 00:40:03,131 --> 00:40:06,171 to leave Ireland for British North America. 560 00:40:06,191 --> 00:40:09,120 One of history's greatest migrations. 561 00:40:09,140 --> 00:40:10,160 (ROPE CREAKS) 562 00:40:10,180 --> 00:40:13,211 But as foot soldiers of British empire-building, 563 00:40:13,231 --> 00:40:15,231 and even before ever encountering 564 00:40:15,251 --> 00:40:17,080 Indigenous Americans, 565 00:40:17,100 --> 00:40:21,140 the Scots-Irish had already practiced scalping for bounty, 566 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:22,200 on the Irish. 567 00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:26,120 ♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 568 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:36,021 ♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪ 569 00:40:37,191 --> 00:40:39,100 ♪ ("SCOTLAND THE BRAVE" PLAYING ON BAGPIPES) ♪ 570 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:43,160 RAOUL: Theodore Roosevelt said of his Scots-Irish ancestors, 571 00:40:43,180 --> 00:40:45,171 "They were a grim, stern people, 572 00:40:45,191 --> 00:40:49,021 strong and simple, powerful in good and evil, 573 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,051 relentless, revengeful, suspicious, 574 00:40:52,071 --> 00:40:54,191 knowing neither ruth nor pity. 575 00:40:54,211 --> 00:40:57,100 They were of all men the best fitted 576 00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:58,171 to conquer the wilderness 577 00:40:58,191 --> 00:41:01,040 and to hold it against all comers." 578 00:41:01,231 --> 00:41:03,220 They made up the officer corps 579 00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:06,071 and were soldiers of the regular army 580 00:41:06,091 --> 00:41:08,191 as well as the frontier ranging militias 581 00:41:08,211 --> 00:41:11,040 that cleared areas for settlement 582 00:41:11,060 --> 00:41:13,131 by exterminating Indigenous farmers 583 00:41:13,151 --> 00:41:15,080 and destroying their towns. 584 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,140 They served in slave patrols 585 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,040 as well as in the Confederate Army. 586 00:41:21,060 --> 00:41:22,091 They regarded themselves 587 00:41:22,111 --> 00:41:24,160 as chosen people of the covenant, 588 00:41:24,180 --> 00:41:27,211 commanded by God to go into the wilderness 589 00:41:27,231 --> 00:41:29,220 to build the new Israel. 590 00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:33,211 I, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, do solemnly swear 591 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:37,031 that I will faithfully execute 592 00:41:37,051 --> 00:41:40,140 the office of president of the United States... 593 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:42,140 RAOUL: All modern nation states 594 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,220 claim a kind of rationalized origin story 595 00:41:45,240 --> 00:41:48,120 upon which they fashion patriotism 596 00:41:48,140 --> 00:41:50,040 or loyalty to the state. 597 00:41:50,060 --> 00:41:52,160 -So help me God. -So help me God. 598 00:41:52,180 --> 00:41:54,251 -So help me God. -So help me God. 599 00:41:55,031 --> 00:41:57,051 -So help me God. -So help me God. 600 00:41:57,071 --> 00:41:58,080 So help me God. 601 00:41:58,100 --> 00:42:01,060 RAOUL: According to God's unfathomable will, 602 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:04,031 one is born as part of the elect or not. 603 00:42:04,051 --> 00:42:06,071 And being elected gives you the right 604 00:42:06,091 --> 00:42:09,111 to implement God's will and eliminate the native people. 605 00:42:09,131 --> 00:42:11,031 ♪ (HYMNAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 606 00:42:11,051 --> 00:42:13,211 Because individuals could not know for certain 607 00:42:13,231 --> 00:42:16,040 if they were among the elected or not, 608 00:42:16,060 --> 00:42:20,131 material wealth became the manifestation of election. 609 00:42:20,151 --> 00:42:22,251 Conversely, bad fortune and poverty, 610 00:42:23,031 --> 00:42:27,051 not to speak of dark skin, became evidence of damnation. 611 00:42:28,140 --> 00:42:32,040 "The attractiveness of such a doctrine is quite obvious," 612 00:42:32,060 --> 00:42:35,091 commented historian Donald Akenson. 613 00:42:35,111 --> 00:42:39,100 "The Natives are immutably profane and damned, 614 00:42:39,120 --> 00:42:43,160 while oneself is predestined to virtue." 615 00:42:43,180 --> 00:42:46,240 The Puritans who founded the Massachusetts Colony 616 00:42:47,021 --> 00:42:48,191 endorsed this virtue. 617 00:42:50,091 --> 00:42:53,040 Forty-one of the Pilgrims, all men, 618 00:42:53,060 --> 00:42:55,040 wrote and signed the compact, 619 00:42:55,060 --> 00:42:57,211 invoking God's name while planting "the First Colony." 620 00:42:57,231 --> 00:43:00,040 ♪ ("AMERICAN PHARAOH" BY JASE HARLEY PLAYING) ♪ 621 00:43:00,060 --> 00:43:02,220 ♪ Money's my language But I'm nobody's slave... ♪ 622 00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:05,040 RAOUL: The United States is supposedly 623 00:43:05,060 --> 00:43:07,021 a nation of immigrants. 624 00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,151 But this assumption masks a reality 625 00:43:09,171 --> 00:43:11,160 of over three centuries of violence. 626 00:43:11,180 --> 00:43:14,251 SINGER: ♪ Woke up in the morning Broke all my chains... ♪ 627 00:43:15,031 --> 00:43:18,060 RAOUL: According to the myth, the faithful citizens 628 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,160 come together of their own free will 629 00:43:20,180 --> 00:43:23,180 and pledge to each other and to their God 630 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,211 to form and support a godly society, 631 00:43:26,231 --> 00:43:28,091 and their God in turn 632 00:43:28,111 --> 00:43:32,051 vouchsafes them prosperity in a promised land. 633 00:43:32,071 --> 00:43:34,091 SINGER: ♪ I don't understand What they jealous of... ♪ 634 00:43:34,111 --> 00:43:36,111 RAOUL: But for non-European immigrants, 635 00:43:36,131 --> 00:43:39,140 no matter how much might they strive to prove themselves 636 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:42,051 to be as hardworking and patriotic 637 00:43:42,071 --> 00:43:45,051 as descendants of the original settlers, 638 00:43:45,071 --> 00:43:46,211 they are suspect. 639 00:43:46,231 --> 00:43:51,031 To be accepted, they must prove their fidelity to the covenant 640 00:43:51,051 --> 00:43:53,231 -and what it stands for. -(GUNSHOTS) 641 00:43:54,240 --> 00:43:56,120 (GUNFIRE CONTINUES) 642 00:43:56,140 --> 00:43:58,231 RAOUL: They must endeavor to embrace whiteness 643 00:43:58,251 --> 00:44:02,151 and look down on descendants of enslaved Africans, 644 00:44:02,171 --> 00:44:04,251 the Indigenous, and Mexicans, 645 00:44:05,031 --> 00:44:07,251 none of whom, of course, are immigrants. 646 00:44:14,191 --> 00:44:16,100 It was a messy night, 647 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:20,060 not Thursday anymore, but not yet Friday. 648 00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:23,200 ♪ (QUIET MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 649 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:30,191 RAOUL: This is Howard Zinn, 650 00:44:30,211 --> 00:44:35,180 probably the most decisive historian of this country. 651 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:40,240 This is Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a respected historian as well. 652 00:44:41,021 --> 00:44:42,240 Her father was Scots-Irish, 653 00:44:43,021 --> 00:44:45,191 and she once married a famous poet. 654 00:44:47,131 --> 00:44:50,200 Howard and Roxanne are friends. 655 00:44:50,220 --> 00:44:55,060 When Howard published A People's History of the United States, 656 00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,131 it immediately became a milestone 657 00:44:57,151 --> 00:44:58,231 in the deconstruction 658 00:44:58,251 --> 00:45:01,060 of the official American narrative. 659 00:45:02,091 --> 00:45:04,120 A distinguished white scholar 660 00:45:04,140 --> 00:45:06,231 was for once questioning the dream 661 00:45:06,251 --> 00:45:09,021 and telling the story differently. 662 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:12,211 (INDISTINCT CLAMORING) 663 00:45:12,231 --> 00:45:15,060 RAOUL: One day, Roxanne asked Howard 664 00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:18,180 why he left out parts of the Native peoples' story. 665 00:45:19,231 --> 00:45:23,171 Howard listened quietly, then confessed, 666 00:45:23,191 --> 00:45:27,131 "I don't know how to write it. Why don't you write it?" 667 00:45:29,051 --> 00:45:30,200 So Roxanne did, 668 00:45:30,220 --> 00:45:33,080 putting Native Americans at the center 669 00:45:33,100 --> 00:45:35,211 and knowing that it was going to be painful. 670 00:45:35,231 --> 00:45:38,040 ♪ ("NEW WOMEN'S SHUFFLE DANCE" BY YOUNG NATION SINGERS PLAYING) ♪ 671 00:45:38,060 --> 00:45:41,051 RAOUL: I met Howard long before I met Roxanne. 672 00:45:41,071 --> 00:45:42,160 And when I met Roxanne, 673 00:45:42,180 --> 00:45:45,080 Howard had died a few years earlier. 674 00:45:45,100 --> 00:45:49,160 And Howard never read Roxanne's finished book. 675 00:45:49,180 --> 00:45:53,131 I learned from Howard, Roxanne, and Michel-Rolph 676 00:45:53,151 --> 00:45:56,160 as we learn from our elders. 677 00:45:56,180 --> 00:45:59,220 From them, I learned to favor the collective 678 00:45:59,240 --> 00:46:01,200 over the individual. 679 00:46:01,220 --> 00:46:05,140 To look for the "we" before indulging in the "I." 680 00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:10,151 And to always place oneself within the world, not above. 681 00:46:12,071 --> 00:46:13,211 Learning years. 682 00:46:13,231 --> 00:46:17,100 ♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪ 683 00:46:22,120 --> 00:46:24,100 RAOUL: Contrary to what has been asserted 684 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,160 about the birth of the United States 685 00:46:26,180 --> 00:46:29,051 and its domination of the continent, 686 00:46:29,071 --> 00:46:32,091 it was neither superior weapons, nor technology, 687 00:46:32,111 --> 00:46:35,220 nor a superior number of settlers, nor disease, 688 00:46:35,240 --> 00:46:39,191 that is to say, not "guns, steel, and germs," 689 00:46:39,211 --> 00:46:42,071 that can account for it. 690 00:46:42,091 --> 00:46:44,220 The determining factor of this domination 691 00:46:44,240 --> 00:46:48,231 was the willingness to eliminate whole civilizations of people 692 00:46:48,251 --> 00:46:51,040 in order to possess their land. 693 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:54,031 The case of Andrew Jackson, 694 00:46:54,051 --> 00:46:56,220 the seventh president of the United States, 695 00:46:56,240 --> 00:46:58,060 is a telling story. 696 00:46:58,080 --> 00:46:59,240 ♪ ("TANGLE EYE BLUES" BY TANGLE EYE PLAYING) ♪ 697 00:47:00,021 --> 00:47:03,240 Andrew Jackson is enshrined in most U.S. history texts 698 00:47:04,021 --> 00:47:06,251 in a chapter titled "The Age of Jackson," 699 00:47:07,031 --> 00:47:10,100 "The Age of Democracy," "The Birth of Democracy," 700 00:47:11,031 --> 00:47:12,231 or some variation thereon. 701 00:47:13,220 --> 00:47:16,040 Jackson's family personified 702 00:47:16,060 --> 00:47:20,040 the Protestant Scots-Irish migration. 703 00:47:20,060 --> 00:47:23,160 He was an influential Tennessee land speculator, 704 00:47:23,180 --> 00:47:25,180 politician, and wealthy owner 705 00:47:25,200 --> 00:47:28,060 of a slave plantation near Nashville, 706 00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:32,080 worked by 150 slaves, the Hermitage. 707 00:47:33,151 --> 00:47:38,180 Jackson bought his first slave, a young woman, in 1788. 708 00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:40,160 He was 21 years old. 709 00:47:42,091 --> 00:47:44,131 When Tennessee became a state, 710 00:47:44,151 --> 00:47:49,111 he was elected at the age of 29 as its first US senator, 711 00:47:49,131 --> 00:47:51,120 an office he quit after a year 712 00:47:51,140 --> 00:47:54,151 to become a judge in the Tennessee Supreme Court. 713 00:47:56,071 --> 00:47:58,140 As a judge, he was in a better position 714 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:00,131 to seize Native lands. 715 00:48:02,091 --> 00:48:05,220 It was in 1801 that Jackson first took command 716 00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:08,171 of the Tennessee militia as a colonel 717 00:48:08,191 --> 00:48:12,211 and began his Indian-killing military career. 718 00:48:12,231 --> 00:48:16,111 In 1821, by then a national hero, 719 00:48:16,131 --> 00:48:20,140 Jackson became military governor of the Florida territory. 720 00:48:21,140 --> 00:48:25,171 In 1829, Jackson became president. 721 00:48:25,191 --> 00:48:28,140 By that time, it was already clear 722 00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:32,171 that this new nation called the United States of America 723 00:48:32,191 --> 00:48:35,120 needed a clear and decisive policy 724 00:48:35,140 --> 00:48:37,131 toward the first Americans. 725 00:48:39,021 --> 00:48:41,091 It was their land, after all. 726 00:48:42,111 --> 00:48:43,111 (GUNSHOT) 727 00:48:45,120 --> 00:48:50,140 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. 728 00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:53,021 Andrew Jackson immediately pushed through 729 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:55,220 to forcibly deport all Indigenous peoples 730 00:48:55,240 --> 00:48:57,151 from east of the Mississippi 731 00:48:57,171 --> 00:49:00,191 to what they would then call "Indian Territory." 732 00:49:02,151 --> 00:49:05,131 The Seminoles in Florida were one of the nations 733 00:49:05,151 --> 00:49:07,120 which firmly resisted. 734 00:49:08,071 --> 00:49:09,231 Jackson sent in the army. 735 00:49:13,071 --> 00:49:14,111 And as usual, 736 00:49:14,131 --> 00:49:17,200 when a power decides to "solve" a problem, 737 00:49:17,220 --> 00:49:21,220 especially if it includes the removal of whole peoples, 738 00:49:22,100 --> 00:49:24,051 it turns ugly. 739 00:49:25,091 --> 00:49:29,021 ♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 740 00:49:34,091 --> 00:49:36,120 (FIRE CRACKLING) 741 00:49:52,240 --> 00:49:56,060 RAOUL: Quartermaster General Thomas Sidney Jesup 742 00:49:56,080 --> 00:49:58,140 was made commander of that force. 743 00:49:58,160 --> 00:50:00,111 He would become the embodiment 744 00:50:00,131 --> 00:50:03,140 of every other henchman in history. 745 00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:05,200 (FLY BUZZING) 746 00:50:05,220 --> 00:50:07,071 (HORSE SNORTS) 747 00:50:33,031 --> 00:50:34,031 (GRUNTS) 748 00:50:47,171 --> 00:50:48,220 (JESUP GRUNTS) 749 00:50:51,240 --> 00:50:53,031 (GROANS) 750 00:50:55,180 --> 00:50:56,200 (GRUNTS) 751 00:51:15,100 --> 00:51:17,220 (BIRDS CALLING) 752 00:51:26,231 --> 00:51:29,211 ♪ (UPBEAT ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYING IN DISTANCE) ♪ 753 00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:34,211 DEMONSTRATORS: You will not replace us! 754 00:51:34,231 --> 00:51:36,180 You will not replace us! 755 00:51:36,200 --> 00:51:38,231 You will not replace us! 756 00:51:40,251 --> 00:51:42,140 You will not replace us! 757 00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:44,151 ♪ (MUSIC FADES) ♪ 758 00:51:57,180 --> 00:52:01,031 ♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 759 00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:17,231 RAOUL: A treaty is an agreement signed by two nations 760 00:52:17,251 --> 00:52:19,191 in order to establish borders 761 00:52:19,211 --> 00:52:22,131 and conditions for their mutual survival. 762 00:52:24,220 --> 00:52:29,021 But nevertheless, from 1832 to 1871, 763 00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:32,060 American Indians were arbitrarily considered 764 00:52:32,080 --> 00:52:34,200 to be "domestic dependent tribes," 765 00:52:34,220 --> 00:52:36,021 and as such, 766 00:52:36,040 --> 00:52:39,080 any treaty had to be approved by the U.S. Congress. 767 00:52:41,240 --> 00:52:46,231 Andrew Jackson said to Secretary of War John Caldwell Calhoun, 768 00:52:46,251 --> 00:52:48,180 of Scots-Irish descent, 769 00:52:48,200 --> 00:52:52,120 who considered slavery as a necessary evil, 770 00:52:52,140 --> 00:52:55,080 "I think making treaties with Indians 771 00:52:55,100 --> 00:52:57,211 is not only useless but absurd." 772 00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:01,211 Indeed, to accept the term "treaty" 773 00:53:01,231 --> 00:53:05,091 was to tacitly accept the notion of "nation." 774 00:53:07,100 --> 00:53:09,080 During the Jacksonian period, 775 00:53:09,100 --> 00:53:12,091 also called "the birth of the white republic," 776 00:53:12,111 --> 00:53:15,071 the United States made 86 treaties 777 00:53:15,091 --> 00:53:17,131 with 26 Indigenous nations 778 00:53:17,151 --> 00:53:19,240 between New York and the Mississippi, 779 00:53:20,021 --> 00:53:22,131 all of them forcing land handovers 780 00:53:22,151 --> 00:53:24,071 and including removals. 781 00:53:25,160 --> 00:53:29,111 And then, they signed treaty after treaty 782 00:53:29,131 --> 00:53:32,120 which were violated one after the other. 783 00:53:32,140 --> 00:53:35,111 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 784 00:54:26,191 --> 00:54:29,021 RAOUL: Famous French aristocrat and writer 785 00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:30,171 Alexis de Tocqueville 786 00:54:30,191 --> 00:54:33,031 witnessed part of what would become known 787 00:54:33,051 --> 00:54:35,151 as the Trail of Tears. 788 00:54:35,171 --> 00:54:37,171 He was present at the deportation 789 00:54:37,191 --> 00:54:39,071 of the Choctaw people. 790 00:54:40,131 --> 00:54:44,171 "I saw with my own eyes several of the cases of misery 791 00:54:44,191 --> 00:54:46,220 which I have been describing. 792 00:54:48,031 --> 00:54:50,100 I was the witness of sufferings 793 00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:52,151 which I have not the power to portray." 794 00:54:52,171 --> 00:54:54,031 (DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE) 795 00:54:54,051 --> 00:54:56,231 "No cry, no sob. 796 00:54:56,251 --> 00:54:58,180 All were silent." 797 00:54:58,200 --> 00:55:00,160 (FOOTSTEPS) 798 00:55:00,180 --> 00:55:03,200 (DOG PANTING, WHINING) 799 00:55:03,220 --> 00:55:07,021 ♪ ("WARRIOR'S MOURNING SONG" BY WAR RAVEN PLAYING) ♪ 800 00:55:30,060 --> 00:55:32,111 (BIRDS CALLING) 801 00:55:38,021 --> 00:55:39,151 (PANTING) 802 00:55:42,180 --> 00:55:44,191 (DOG WHINING) 803 00:55:51,071 --> 00:55:52,251 (WOOD SLIDES, THUDS) 804 00:55:54,180 --> 00:55:56,080 (WHINING) 805 00:55:57,240 --> 00:55:59,211 (HOWLING) 806 00:56:00,171 --> 00:56:03,021 (DOGS HOWLING) 807 00:56:05,071 --> 00:56:08,211 -(DOGS RUNNING) -(HOWLING CONTINUES) 808 00:56:11,211 --> 00:56:15,191 (SPLASHING) 809 00:56:20,131 --> 00:56:24,031 (HOWLING CONTINUES) 810 00:56:33,111 --> 00:56:36,171 ♪ ("ABOVE THE TREETOPS" BY PAT METHENY PLAYING) ♪ 811 00:57:08,160 --> 00:57:12,040 RAOUL: Life, race, patriotism. 812 00:57:12,060 --> 00:57:14,051 -(JESUP COUGHS) -RAOUL: What is a flag? 813 00:57:14,071 --> 00:57:16,231 A piece of cloth to die for? 814 00:57:17,191 --> 00:57:19,071 Or to kill for? 815 00:57:20,160 --> 00:57:22,151 Explained in two words. 816 00:57:33,111 --> 00:57:34,220 (HORSE SNORTS) 817 00:57:51,180 --> 00:57:55,080 ♪ (SONG CONTINUES) ♪ 818 00:58:10,211 --> 00:58:13,200 ♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪ 819 00:58:16,100 --> 00:58:20,031 ♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪ 820 00:59:25,080 --> 00:59:27,140 ♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪