Twilght

by Anna Deavere Smith

Trophies

  Paul Parker Chairperson, Free the LA Four Plus Defense Committee

  (Afternoon, October 1993. His girlfriend’s house in Westwood. He is dressed in Ivy League clothing. I had seen him in court several times, where he wore African clothing. He told me he wore Ivy League clothing in Westwood, so as to be able to move with the “program” and not to attract too much attention.)

  So it’s just a PR type of program.

  Gates knew that the police were catching a lot of flak

  and he

  also caught a lot of flak from being at a benefit

  banquet,

  um, the time when the rebellion

  was comin’ down,

  jumpin’ off.

  It just goes to show more or less the extremes that he went to just to

  get these brothers.

  And when they came for my brother Lance more or less,

  they sent out two SWAT teams simultaneously,

  one to my brother’s and my fiancée’s residence and one to my mom’s.

  They basically had Americas Most Wanted TV cameras there.

  Saying he was a known gang member,

  a big head honcho drug dealer in the underground world for the last

  two years,

  he owns two houses,

  things of this nature,

  and here my brother went to college for four years,

  he’s been working in a law firm as a process server.

  They basically paraded him around in the media,

  saying we got the gunman, we got this guy.

  They accused him of attempted murder, of shootin’ at Reginald Denny,

  um, with a shotgun. They said he

  attempted to blow up some gas pumps

  and my father got shot in the streets eleven years ago

  over a petty robbery,

  and Van de Kamp,

  their attitude was “We don’t want to bring your family through the

  trauma and drama,

  just stir up some more trouble.”

  They basically feel that if it’s a black-on-black crime,

  if it’s a nigger killin’ a nigger,

  they don’t have no problem with that.

  But let it be a white victim,

  oh,

  they gonna … they gonna go

  to any extremes necessary

  to basically convict some black people.

  So that’s more or less how …

  really what made me bitter

  and I said well, I ain’t gonna stand for this,

  I’m not gonna let you

  just put my brother’s face around world TV headline news,

  CNN world span,

  and just basically portray him as a negative person.

  I’m not gonna let you do that.

  So that’s more or less when I just resigned from my job,

  more or less quit my job, and I just took it on.

  And like I said, I been in law enforcement for a while, I been in the

  army for six years,

  I been doin’ a lot of things.

  So I just decided I’m not gonna let my brother, my one and only

  brother, go down like that, my one and only brother,

  my younger brother, so I decided to take this on full-time

  and I was voted in as being chairperson of the Free the LA Four

  Plus Defense Committee

  and I been workin’ for all the brothers ever since.

  Because Denny is white,

  that’s the bottom line.

  If Denny was Latino,

  Indian, or black,

  they wouldn’t give a damn,

  they would not give a damn.

  Because

  many people got beat,

  but you didn’t hear about the Lopezes or the Vaccas

  or the, uh, Quintanas

  or the, uh,

  Tarvins.

  You didn’t hear about them,

  but you heard about the Reginald Denny beating,

  the Reginald Denny beating,

  the Reginald Denny beating.

  This one white boy

  paraded all around

  this nation

  to go do every talk show there is,

  get paid left and right.

  Oh, Reginald Denny,

  this innocent white man.

  But you didn’t hear nothin’ about all these other victims

  until the day of the trial came.

  (mimicking dorky voice)

  “Well, this is more than about Reginald Denny. This is about several

  people. Many people got beat up on the corner.”

  So the bottom line is it, it, it’s

  a white victim, you know, beaten down by some blacks.

  “Innocent.”

  I don’t see it on the innocent tip,

  because if that’s the case,

  then we supposed to have some empathy

  or some sympathy toward this one white man?

  It’s like well, how ’bout the empathy and the sympathy

  toward blacks?

  You know, like I said before, we innocent. Like I said,

  you kidnapped us,

  you raped our women,

  you pull us over daily,

  have us get out of our cars, sit down on the curb,

  you go through our cars,

  you say all right,

  take all our papers out, go through our trunk,

  all right,

  and drive off,

  don’t even give us a ticket.

  You know we innocent,

  you know where’s our justice,

  where’s our self-respect,

  but, hey, you want us to feel something toward

  this white man, this white boy.

  I’m like please,

  it ain’t happenin’ here,

  not from the real brothers and sisters.

  That white man,

  some feel that white boy just better be glad he’s alive,

  ’cause a lot of us didn’t make it.

  They caught it on video.

  Some brothers beatin’ the shit out of a white man.

  And they were going to do everything in their power to convict these

  brothers.

  We spoke out on April 29.

  Hoo (real pleasure),

  it was flavorful,

  it was juicy.

  It was, uh,

  it was good for the soul,

  it was rejuven …

  it was …

  (count four, he sighs)

  it, it, it was beautiful.

  I was a cornerback

  and I ran some track

  and played football,

  everything.

  I been all off into sports since I was five.

  It was …

  it was bigger than any … any type of win I’ve been involved in.

  I mean, we been National Champions,

  Golden State League.

  I been …

  I have so many awards and trophies,

  but, um, it’s … it’s nothing compared to this.

  They lost seven hundred million dollars.

  I mean, basically you puttin’ a race of people on notice.

  We didn’t get to Beverly Hills but

  that doesn’t mean we won’t get there,

  you keep it up.

  Um,

  they’re talkin’ about “You burned down your own neighborhoods.”

  And I say, “First of all,

  we burned down these Koreans in this neighborhood.”

  About ninety-eight percent of the stores that got burned down were

  Korean.

  The Koreans was like the Jews in the day

  and we put them in check.

  You know, we got rid of all these Korean stores over here.

  All these little liquor stores.

  You know, we got rid of all that.

  We
did more in three days than all these

  politicians been doin’ for years.

  We just spoke out.

  We didn’t have a plan.

  We just acted and we acted in a way that was just.

  Now we got some weapons, we got our pride.

  We holdin’ our heads up and our chest out.

  We like yeah, brother, we did this!

  We got the gang truce jumpin’ off.

  Basically it’s

  that you as black people ain’t takin’ this shit no more.

  Even back in slavery.

  ’Cause I saw Roots when I was young.

  My dad made sure. He sat us down

  in front of that TV

  when Roots came on,

  so it’s embedded in me

  since then.

  And just to see that aye aye.

  This is for Kunta.

  This is for Kizzy.

  This is for Chicken George.

  I mean,

  it was that type of thing,

  it was some victory.

  I mean, it was burnin’ everywhere.

  It was takin’ things and nobody was tellin’ nobody.

  It wasn’t callin’ 911.

  “Aww they are takin’.”

  Unh-unh, it was like “Baby, go get me some too.”

  “I’m a little bit too old to move but get me somethin’.”

  You know, I mean, it was the spirit. I mean, actually today

  they don’t know who … who … who …

  You know, they only got these …

  What?

  Eight people.

  Eight people

  out of several thousand?

  Um (real mock disappointment).

  Um, um,

  they lost.

  Oh.

  Big time.

  No Justice No Peace.

  That’s just more or less, I guess you could say, motto.

  When I finally get my house I’m gonna have just one room set aside.

  It’s gonna be my No Justice No Peace room.

  Gonna have up on the wall No Justice,

  over here No Peace,

  and have all my articles

  and clippings and, um,

  everything else.

  I guess so my son can see,

  my children can grow up with it.

  Know what Daddy did.

  You know, if I still happen to be here,

  God willin’,

  they can just see what it takes

  to be a strong black man,

  what you gotta do for your people,

  you know.

  When God calls you, this is what you gotta do.

  You either stand

  or you fall.

  You either be black

  or you die

  and (exhale),

  you know, with No Justice No Peace

  it … it’s,

  you know, um,

  I guess you might say it’s fairly simple,

  but to me it’s pretty, um,

  not complex,

  but then again it’s deep,

  it’s nothin’ shallow.

  It basically just means if there’s no justice here

  then we not gonna give them any peace.

  You know, we don’t have any peace.

  They not gonna have no peace,

  a peace of mind,

  you know,

  a physical peace,

  you know, body.

  You might have a dent … a dent in your head from now on in life.

  It might not be you

  but it may be your daughter.

  You know, somewhere

  in your family

  you won’t have no peace.

  You know, it … it’s that type of thing.

  Without doing, say, justice,

  if I don’t do what I’m doing,

  when I do

  happen to die,

  pass away,

  I won’t be able to really rest,

  I won’t have no peace,

  ’cause I didn’t do something in terms of justice.

  I’m one brother

  doing the work of

  one brother

  and

  I just do that,

  the best that I can do.

  It’s educational.

  It’s a blessing.

  It’s a gift from God.

  It’s Awful Hard to Break Away

  Daryl Gates Former chief of Los Angeles Police Department and current talk show host

  (In a lounge at the radio station where he does a talk show. He is in great physical shape and is wearing a tight-fitting golf shirt and jeans. There is the sound of a Xerox machine. This is my second interview with him.)

  First of all, I … I don’t think it was a fund-raiser.

  I don’t think it was a fund-raiser at all.

  It was a group of

  people

  who were in opposition

  to Proposition F.

  We’re talking about long-term support.

  We’re talking about people who

  came out and supported me right from the beginning

  of this controversy,

  when people were trying to get me to retire and everything.

  Real strong supporters

  of mine

  and they were supporting

  a no against Prop …

  Proposition F.

  And they begged me to be there

  and I said I would and this is before we knew the … the,

  uh, verdicts were coming in

  and I didn’t wanna go.

  I didn’t like those things, I don’t like them at all,

  but

  strong supporters and I said I’ll drop by for a little while,

  I’ll drop by,

  and, um, so I had a commitment

  and I’m a person who tries very hard to keep commitments

  and somewhere along the way

  better sense

  should have

  prevailed.

  Not because it would have changed

  the course of … of events in any way, shape, or form, it wouldn’t have.

  I was in constant contact with my office.

  I have radio beepers, telephones,

  uh,

  a portable telephone …

  telephone in my car,

  just about everything you’d need

  to communicate anywhere within our power.

  But somewhere along the line

  I should have said

  my commitment to them is

  not as important as my overall commitment to the … to the city.

  When I … when I thought things were getting

  to the point that I had … we were having some serious problems,

  I was almost there.

  My intent was to drop in say, “Hey,

  I think we got a … a, uh,

  riot blossoming.

  I can’t stay. I gotta get out of here.”

  And that’s basically what I did.

  The problem was

  I was further away.

  I thought it was in Bel Air. It turned out to be Pacific Palisades.

  And my driver kept saying,

  “We’re almost there, we’re almost there.”

  You know, he was kinda …

  he wasn’t sure of the distance either.

  “We’re almost there, Chief, we’re almost there.”

  My intent was

  to say, “Hey, I … I gotta get outta here,” say hi,

  and that’s what I intended to do,

  and it’s awful hard to

  break away.

  I kept walking toward the door, walking toward the door.

  People want a picture.

  Shake your hand.

  And it took longer than I thought it was

  and I’ve criticized myself

  from the very beginning. I’ve never, uh,
I’ve never, uh,

  justified that in any way, shape, or form.

  I said it was wrong. I shouldn’t have … I should have turned around.

  I know better.

  Would it have made any difference

  if I had closeted myself in … in my office and did nothing?

  I never would have been criticized.

  But the very fact

  that it gave that … that

  perception of a fund-raiser,

  and I know

  in the minds of some

  that’s a big

  cocktail party

  and

  it wasn’t that at all, eh,

  but, eh, in somebody’s home

  and there weren’t that many people there at all

  and anyway …

  But I shouldn’t have gone!

  If for no other reason

  than it’s given

  so many people

  who wanted it

  an opportunity to carp

  and to criticize,

  for … for

  I should have been smarter.

  I’m usually smart enough to realize hey,

  I know I’ll be criticized for that,

  and I’m not going to give them the opportunity.

  But for some

  reason I didn’t and, uh …

  I think a lot of people who have … have

  looked at me as being, uh,

  stubborn and

  obstinate

  because I wouldn’t compromise

  and I was not going to be forced out of the department

  and I believed it would be overall harmful to the department to be

  forced out

  and I think

  the department was demoralized anyway

  and I think it would just have absolutely

  totally demoralized ’em.

  And when I stood up,

  they said, “Hey,

  by golly, uh,

  uh,

  he’s saying a lot of things that

  I’d like to say.”

  And some of them were just shaking with anger because they were

  being accused of things

  that

  they wouldn’t think of doing and

  didn’t do

  and they know the people around them,

  their partners, wouldn’t have done those types of things.

  I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t feel and isn’t sensitive to

  what is being said about them

  day in and day out.

  All you gotta do is pick up a newspaper and see what’s being said

  about you in the Los Angeles Times

  and the … and, and the … and in the electronic media.

  I mean, it was day in and day out.

  Editorials

  and all kinds of things.

  I mean, the community activists

  and most of them were really nasty

  politicians,

  nasty. I mean, they weren’t so …

  Nobody likes to read those types of things and more importantly

  no one wants their friends and family