Ragtime movie - Look What You've Done/ Think of Your Son lyrics
rate me<br>
(We see a vigil of HARLEM WOMEN with candles.) <br>
<br>
WOMEN AT VIGIL<br>
A day of peace.<br>
A day of pride.<br>
A day of justice.<br>
We have been denied.<br>
Let the new day dawn,<br>
Oh, Lord, I pray!<br>
<br>
(We are outside the impressive facade of the Morgan Library. 36th and 37th streets have been cordoned off form Madison<br>
Avenue to Park.<br>
<br>
There is a cluster of POLICE and REPORTERS. <br>
<br>
J.P. MORGAN trying to impress a flustered DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES S. WHITMAN of the gravity of the situation. Also present<br>
is a thoroughly wretched WILLIE CONKLIN who is being made to repair COALHOUSE'S car, and FATHER.)<br>
<br>
WHITMAN (raises a megaphone)<br>
Mr. Walker. This is This is District Attorney Charles S. Whitman. Do you hear me? I have Fire Chief Willie Conklin with me.<br>
He is restoring your car. Will you come out, sir?<br>
<br>
WILLIE CONKLIN<br>
You gonna let me be a martyr!<br>
<br>
WHITMAN<br>
Mr. Conklin will receive due process. You both will.<br>
<br>
MORGAN<br>
How much longer are you going to stand for this? Give him his car and then hang the savage!<br>
<br>
WHITMAN<br>
I'm doing my best, Mr. Morgan.<br>
<br>
CONKLIN<br>
This is a conspiracy of nigger lovers, that's all it is.<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
Sir, if I might suggest.<br>
<br>
WHITMAN<br>
Who the hell are you?<br>
<br>
FATHER<br>
You sent for me. I know Mr. Walker and I believe there's one man he'll listen to. <br>
Mr. Booker T. Washington.<br>
<br>
VIGIL WOMEN<br>
Justice! Ah! <br>
<br>
(The focus now goes to WASHINGTON, as the people on the street move away. It should seem as if he has been admitted to the<br>
library, and is now addressing COALHOUSE directly.) <br>
<br>
BOOKER T. WASHINGTONFor the sum of my lifeI have lived in hopeWe might all be Christian brothers.I have worked to<br>
persuadeEvery white-skinned manThat he need not fear our race.What has your selfish recklessnessCost us,We who work so hard<br>
to stillThe white man's hate.Look what you've done. VIGIL WOMENDay of peace...Day of pride...Justice!Justice!<br>
<br>
(As the conversation continues, and escalates, the lights dim on the library and come up on the people outside. Over the<br>
following, the VIGIL WOMEN continue to hum.)<br>
<br>
WHITMAN<br>
You are surrounded by militia. they are cutting off your water even as I speak.<br>
<br>
J.P. MORGAN<br>
Four Shakespeare folios! A Gutenberg bible on vellum.<br>
The treasures of civilization are at stake! You've got to do something!<br>
<br>
WILLIE CONKLIN<br>
White people should be grateful for what I done!<br>
<br>
EMMA GOLDMAN<br>
I deplore the taking of human life, nut I applaud Mr. Walker's capture of the Morgan library. His actions speak for all<br>
oppressed people. It is the cry of revolution.<br>
<br>
VIGIL WOMEN<br>
Justice!<br>
<br>
(Lights come up inside the library.<br>
<br>
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON<br>
With guns and dynamite, you are destroying everything I have fought for, sir.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
Despite the respect I have for you, Mr. Washington, you have come in vain.<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
Had you been ignorant of the tragic struggle of our people, I could have pitied you this adventure. But you are a trained<br>
musician, an educated man.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
It is true, sir. But I hope that I might suggest to you the solemn calculation of my mind.<br>
We are both men of colour who insist on the truth of our manhood, and the respect it demands!<br>
<br>
(Lights come up outside the library.)<br>
<br>
MEN, FATHERHours passing by andNot a sign from Coalhouse!Hours passing by,The situation hopeless!Hours passing by...Hours<br>
passing by... WOMENHours passing by andNot a sign from Coalhouse!Hours passing by,The situation hopeless!Hours passing by...<br>
<br>
(Lights dim on the chaos outside the library, and come up inside again. It is apparent that time has passed. They are tired.<br>
They are disheveled. The guns have been lowered.)<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
Your situation is hopeless. And you will be responsible for the death of these young men.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #1<br>
Don't listen to him, Coalhouse.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #2<br>
They're using him to get to you.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #3<br>
We're not giving up.<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
And you dare to teach your lessons<br>
To these wild, unthinking youths.<br>
Yet your own son, you abandon<br>
To be raised on white men's truths.<br>
Look what you've done.<br>
Think of your son.<br>
<br>
(COALHOUSE reacts to this blow. All at once he hears SARAH's VOICE, humming "Your Daddy's Son".)<br>
<br>
SARAH (offstage)<br>
Oooh...<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
Is this the legacy you would bestow upon him? Are these the shoulders you would have him stand upon? Let him be the son of a<br>
man who had the courage to tell the truth in a court of law. Make your case, and if the verdict is death, go to it proudly,<br>
knowing that you have been heard. The truth is all. If you do this, you will have the thanks and respect of every decent man<br>
of colour and of all those children of our race whose way is hard and whose journey is long.<br>
Think of your son.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
I would need a hostage and safe passage for my men.<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
It is done.<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
You can't change your demands. You are betraying us. You said we would all go free or we all would die!<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
And the promise of a fair trial.<br>
<br>
YOUNGER BROTHER<br>
No!<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
You have my word. I am their mediator, sir, not their fool.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
Then they will see me come out with my hands raised, and no further harm will come to any man from Coalhouse Walker, Jr.<br>
<br>
WASHINGTON<br>
God bless you sir. <br>
<br>
(WASHINGTON and COALHOUSE shake hands. WASHINGTON exits. The FOLLOWERS and YOUNGER BROTHER surround COALHOUSE in furious<br>
agitation.) <br>
<br>
FOLLOWER #1<br>
You said we'd fight to the finish.<br>
<br>
FOLLOWER #2<br>
Yeah, you can go out there, man. We ain't.<br>
<br>
FOLLOWER #3<br>
We're all ready to die as Coalhouse.<br>
<br>
FOLLOWER (leaping toward the detonator)<br>
Push the plunger! Blow it all up!<br>
<br>
FOLLOWER<br>
We're not going. You've lost, Coalhouse. We've all lost.<br>
<br>
COALHOUSE<br>
I don't believe that.<br>
<br>
[Thanks to Yehuda Alexander for lyrics]<br>
<br>
