Twilght

by Anna Deavere Smith

  I just want to clarify one thing.

  In no way do I want to give the idea that I accepted the riot

  in any way as …

  or can even joke about it, because …

  I can’t imagine anybody jokin’ about it.

  I mean, I’m too interested in people,

  in social

  milieus and attitudes,

  and to joke …

  I took this thing extremely seriously and, uh,

  no, not joking, absolutely not,

  no way.

  But anyway.

  So when they interviewed me with the closing of the Polo Lounge

  I commented about how we all went there, huddled together,

  how we were there till two or three in the morning.

  And oh, they say,

  “What does the Polo Lounge remind them of?”

  I said, “I went there thirty-six years for lunch.

  I was there every day. I wrote my book there.”

  Well … the book starts out: “As I drove my car to the Beverly Hills

  Hotel …”

  Everything I did was there.

  People magazine interviewed me there.

  I did all my interviews there.

  Sometimes when I was exhausted

  I’d check in there for the weekend.

  When my daughter was little,

  we’d pretend like we’re going on a vacation,

  pack, get into the car, and

  drive two and a half minutes.

  Pretend like we’re going away for the weekend.

  I work so hard,

  I don’t have time to take a vacation.

  So I’d check in there,

  for two days, just to chill out.

  So I was talking about that.

  And then I said,

  “And during the riots.”

  ’Cause it was so foremost on my mind.

  And I was talking about how we were all there.

  Some man wrote me a letter.

  “To Mrs. Young.

  You are really an asshole.

  You take life so lightly.

  I saw your interview on television.

  As far as I’m concerned,

  you’re a dumb shit bimbo

  talking about having fun during the riots at the Polo Lounge.

  How stupid can you be.

  You’re an embarrassment.”

  I mean, oh my God, I’m reading this letter.

  I got it three weeks ago.

  That’s when the Polo Lounge closed.

  It was like

  oh my God,

  if he only left his number,

  so I can call him and explain that in no way did I mean to be flippant

  on television about the riots. So he thought I was being flippant.

  It was like

  people hanging out together,

  like safety in numbers.

  No one can hurt us at the Beverly Hills Hotel

  ’cause it was like a fortress.

  I Was Scared

  Anonymous Young Woman Student, University of Southern California

  (February. A rainstorm. Late afternoon, early evening. Dark out. Just before dinner. A sorority house at the University of Southern California, which is a very affluent university in the middle of South-Central. We are in a small room with Laura Ashley furnishings. Lamplight. While we are talking, someone comes by ringing a dinner bell which is like a xylophone.)

  I was scared to death.

  I’ve never felt as scared, as frightened, in my life.

  Um,

  and it was a different fear that I’ve ever felt.

  I mean, I was really afraid.

  At a certain point

  it dawned on us that they might try to attack the row,

  the sororities and the fraternities.

  Because they did do that during the Watts riots.

  And, um, they …

  they went

  into the house,

  where they smashed the windows.

  I don’t know how we got this information but somebody knew that,

  so that

  spread in the house real fast,

  and once we realized that,

  we started packing.

  We all packed a bag and we all had put on our tennis shoes.

  This was late in the evening, and we all sat in our hallways upstairs,

  very small hallways,

  and we all said,

  “Oh, if they come to the front door, this is what we’re gonna do.”

  Many things I can tell you.

  First of all, my parents were on their way,

  to drive to California,

  to take part in a caravan

  in which they bring old cars,

  old forties cars,

  and a whole bunch of ’em, all their friends, a huge club.

  They all drive their cars around the country.

  My dad has an old car.

  It’s a ’41 Cadillac.

  I told ’em to turn around, go home.

  I said, “Go home, Mom.”

  All I can think of … one bottle,

  one shear from one bottle in my father’s car,

  he will die!

  He will die.

  He collects many cars,

  he has about fifteen different kinds of cars.

  This is his thing, this is what he does.

  He’s got Lincoln

  Continentals

  and different Town and Countries.

  All forties.

  His favorite is a ’41 Cadillac.

  And, um, so … he keeps them from five to ten years,

  you know.

  Depending on whether you can get a good value for ’em.

  It’s a business

  as well as a hobby.

  And so I don’t specifically know what car he came out in.

  But one of ’em.

  And those are his pride

  and joys.

  They are perfect.

  They are polished.

  They are run perfect.

  They are perfect.

  All I can think of is a bottle gettin’ anywhere near it.

  The Unheard

  Maxine Waters Congresswoman, 35th District

  (This interview is from a speech that she gave at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, just after Daryl Gates had resigned and soon after the upheaval. FAME is a center for political activity in LA. Many movie stars go there. On any Sunday you are sure to see Arsenio Hall and others. Barbra Streisand contributed money to the church after the unrest. It is a very colorful church, with an enormous mural and a huge choir with very exciting music. People line up to go in to the services the way they line up for the theater or a concert.

  (Maxine Waters is a very elegant, confident congresswoman, with a big smile, a fierce bite, and a lot of guts. Her area is in South-Central. She is a brilliant orator. Her speech is punctuated by organ music and applause. Sometimes the audience goes absolutely wild.)

  First

  African

  Methodist Episcopal Church.

  You all here got it going on.

  I didn’t know this is what you did at twelve o’clock on Sunday.

  Methodist,

  Baptist,

  Church of God and Christ all rolled into one.

  There was an insurrection in this city before

  and if I remember correctly

  it was sparked by police brutality.

  We had a Kerner Commission report.

  It talked about what was wrong with our society.

  It talked about institutionalized racism.

  It talked about a lack of services,

  lack of government responsive to the people.

  Today, as we stand here in 1992,

  if you go back and read the report

  it seems as though we are talking about what that report cited

  some twenty years ago still exist
s today.

  Mr. President,

  THEY’RE HUNGRY IN THE BRONX TONIGHT,

  THEY’RE HUNGRY IN ATLANTA TONIGHT,

  THEY’RE HUNGRY IN ST. LOUIS TONIGHT.

  Mr. President,

  our children’s lives are at stake.

  We want to deal with the young men who have been dropped off of

  America’s agenda.

  Just hangin’ out,

  chillin’,

  nothin’ to do,

  nowhere to go.

  They don’t show up on anybody’s statistics.

  They’re not in school,

  they have never been employed,

  they don’t really live anywhere.

  They move from grandmama

  to mama to girlfriend.

  They’re on general relief and

  they’re sleepin’ under bridges.

  Mr. President,

  Mr. Governor,

  and anybody else who wants to listen:

  Everybody in the street was not a thug

  or a hood.

  For politicians who think

  everybody in the street

  who committed a petty crime,

  stealing some Pampers

  for the baby,

  a new pair of shoes …

  We know you’re not supposed to steal,

  but the times are such,

  the environment is such,

  that good people reacted in strange ways. They are not all crooks and

  criminals.

  If they are,

  Mr. President,

  what about your violations?

  Oh yes.

  We’re angry,

  and yes,

  this Rodney King incident.

  The verdict.

  Oh, it was more than a slap in the face.

  It kind of reached in and grabbed you right here in the heart

  and it pulled at you

  and it hurts so bad.

  They want me to march out into Watts,

  as the black so-called leadership did in the sixties,

  and say, “Cool it, baby,

  cool it.”

  I am sorry.

  I know how to talk to my people.

  I know how to tell them not to put their lives at risk.

  I know how to say don’t put other people’s lives at risk.

  But, journalists,

  don’t you dare dictate to me

  about what I’m supposed to say.

  It’s not nice to display anger.

  I am angry.

  It is all right to be angry.

  It is unfortunate what people do when they are frustrated and angry.

  The fact of the matter is,

  whether we like it or not,

  riot

  is the voice of the unheard.

  Washington

  Maxine Waters Congresswoman, 35th District

  (I am in her office in Los Angeles. It is during a rainstorm. Late afternoon. Winter 1993. We talk for about two hours. Her original office had been burned down during the unrest.)

  Oh, Washington

  is, um,

  a place where

  ritual and custom

  does not allow them

  to,

  uh,

  talk about things that

  don’t fit nicely into

  the formula.

  I mean, our leadership

  is so far removed

  from what really goes on in the world

  they, um,

  it’s not enough to say they’re insensitive

  or they don’t care.

  They really

  don’t

  know.

  I mean, they really don’t see it,

  they really don’t understand it,

  they really don’t see their lives in

  relationship to

  solving these kinds of problems.

  Um,

  not only did they not talk about it,

  um,

  I had to force myself

  on them in every way

  and I did.

  I was outrageous

  in things that I did. (She laughs)

  When I heard about a meeting at the White House

  to talk about a kind of urban package,

  I could not believe

  that they would attempt to even try to have this meeting

  without involving,

  if not me,

  the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus,

  if not me,

  John Lewis,

  who’s supposed to be part of the leadership,

  he is a whip,

  part of the leadership, right?

  I heard about this meeting on television,

  And when I checked in with the Speaker

  I asked the Speaker if there was a meeting going on.

  He said yes.

  I said, “I was not invited.”

  Uh.

  “Who was invited?”

  He said, “It’s the leadership.

  I don’t control the

  White House invitations. The President does the inviting and it’s not up to me to decide who’s in the meeting.”

  And I told him,

  I said,

  “Well,

  uh,

  what time is this meeting?”

  He said, “Well, I’m on my way over there now.”

  And I said,

  “Well, I’ll meet you over there,

  because,” I said,

  “I’m coming

  over.”

  And I was angry

  and I went out,

  I caught a cab.

  I drive

  but I didn’t drive because I didn’t trust myself.

  I was angry.

  I caught a cab.

  I told the cabdriver, I said,

  “Take me to the White House.”

  I said, “Hurry, I’m late.

  I have an appointment at the White House.”

  He kind of looked at me like,

  “yeah, right.”

  He took me there.

  I used my little card,

  my little

  congressional card,

  to show to the gate guard.

  They don’t know if I’m supposed to

  be in this meeting or not,

  so I show them the card. They open the gate. I went down,

  opened the door.

  Some lady inside

  said, “Oh my God, we weren’t expecting you.”

  I said, “You better tell them I’m here.”

  And I saw this big guard come out

  and I was thinkin’ to myself:

  If they try

  and put me out …

  I started to plan what I was gonna do to this guard,

  where I was gonna kick him,

  and he looked at me

  and he walked past, he didn’t do anything.

  Someone came out and said, “Right this way,

  Congresswoman.”

  I said, “Thank you.”

  And the young lady ushered me.

  I said,

  “Where is my seat?”

  And people kind of looked at me

  and I sat down

  and everybody sat down

  and when the President

  came in

  everybody stood

  and the President looked around the room

  and he looked.

  When he saw me

  he looked,

  he had a kind of quiz

  on his face,

  but he was nice.

  His cabinet was there.

  And, oh,

  Sullivan

  from

  Health and Human Services,

  one other

  black was there,

  and he went around the room

  and they started to talk about this bill

  that was being proposed, the enter
prise zone bill,

  and after about five or six persons I said,

  “Mr. President,

  Hi. I’m here because I want to tell you about what I think is needed

  to deal with the serious problem

  of unemployment,

  hopelessness, and despair

  in these cities.”

  I said, “Los Angeles burned

  but Los Angeles is but one

  city

  experiencing

  this kind of hopelessness and despair,”

  I said, “and we need a job

  program

  with stipends …”

  I said, “These young people

  really,

  ya know,

  are not in anybody’s statistics

  or data.

  They’ve been dropped off of everybody’s agenda.

  They live

  from grandmama to mama to girlfriend.”

  I said,

  “We now got young people

  who are twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two years old

  who have never worked a day of their lives.”

  I said, “These are the young people in our streets

  and they are angry

  and they are frustrated.”

  I said, “Don’t take my word for it.

  Ask Jack Kemp.

  He’s in housing projects. Ask him

  what’s going on out there.”

  Jack Kemp goes, “That’s not my

  department.

  That’s better asked of Secretary

  Lynn Martin.”

  Well,

  Lynn Martin was not there, but

  her representative

  was there

  and it turns out

  that this was a black man who didn’t look black at

  all.

  He looked at the President

  and he said,

  “Mr. President,

  she’s right.”

  Well, the President’s back stiffened

  and he didn’t try and relate to that.

  He picked up on a part where I had talked about

  the Justice Department.

  I also said

  that all of this anger and despair

  was

  exacerbated by the

  excessive use of force

  by police departments,

  that the Justice Department

  has never ever used its power

  to do anything about

  excessive force in these cities,

  and that, in addition

  to

  this,

  dealing with this joblessness,

  the Justice Department of the United States is

  going to have to find a way to intervene in these cities when these

  police departments are out of control.

  So when this gentleman

  from the Department of Labor supported

  what I was saying and looked at the President

  and said,

  “This country is falling

  apart.”