thank you I'm gonna stand on the side
because I don't want to stand behind the
podium favorite coming out in this bad
weather is my first visit to Wichita
Kansas and the reason why I know about
Wichita stays because to Knicks win here
David Starr worth and an x-man is their
McDaniel so that's how I know about
Wichita State because they play for the
Knicks this is we all know what month is
is and right February and February is
Black History Month and so any
african-american that could put two
words together has a job in February and
you know schools will call you in
universities and you have so called
spokes people for the mass and so
usually I'm not home and in February at
the trek across this great United States
of America and speak to young bubbling
students but I really do enjoy this
because for the most part you are the
people to go see my films and it's
always good to have this exchange and
see see faces growing up in Brooklyn New
York had no idea that I want to become a
filmmaker most filmmakers know that at a
very early age that was not the case
that was not the case with me I went my
friends and I went to the movies every
Saturday spent the entire day in the
movie theater
eating all the popcorn we can eat and
drink another coke we could drink and
throwing stuff at the screen and trying
not to get kicked out of the theater I
did not know that people made movies he
just went to the movie theater had a
good time then you went home growing up
I wanted to be a professional athlete
but genetics conspired against that that
happening genetics and and a bad hop
with a hard ball I wasn't wearing a cup
and I had to give it up after that it's
so I went to college and even upon
entering college August of 1975 at
Morehouse College in Atlanta I still had
no idea what I wanted to do and for a
semester and a half I took only elective
classes and then there comes a point as
some of you might know where you have to
declare a major some of you might know
where you have to declare a major and I
chose mass communications and that was
print journalism TV radio and film
Morehouse didn't had that major I took
those classes across the street at Clark
College which is now Clark Atlanta
University
it was there that I really decided this
is what I want to do but they only had
super 8 cameras and upon graduation I
still did not have the skills to become
a filmmaker I applied to knowingness I
had I knew I had to further my education
so I applied to the top 3 film schools
USC UCLA NYU but unfortunately for me to
get in the USC or UCLA you had to get an
astronomical score on the GRE I took the
tests did not get the score but NYU all
you had to do was submit a creative
portfolio so I submitted some my
creative writing and some of my
photographs and I was accepted and it's
their NYU I really began to learn the
craft of filmmaking and that's how you
become a filmmaker by making films for
three years you make films your films
and you even work on your classmates
films so you very rarely in the class
and just out shooting shooting shooting
and shooting some more historically they
let in a large class of first year and
then they kick out half of the class at
at them when a school year is finished
in film school is kind of strange
because you don't take tests you are
graded upon your films
it's unlike if you were in med school or
law school you take a test you know
there's a certain answer and you get 80
is 80 but when you're in film school is
based upon taste and aesthetic so you
could be a very good filmmaker and the
teachers in like your work or like the
subject matter whatever and you can
still be a good filmmaker you could you
could still nonetheless be kicked be
kicked out of the program and my first
year I was kicked out
at the end I did a film called the
answer which is about a young African
American screenwriter who's hired to
write and direct the fifty million
dollar remake of DD of a Griffin's Birth
of a Nation and the faculty didn't like
me doing a film that attacked the
so-called father of cinema but before
they had put in the final grades they're
giving me a Hank let me become a TA
because I worked in the equipment room
so once they found that out there they
really couldn't kick me out so that's
how I got that's how I stuck in school
my thesis film was a film called Joe's
bed-stuy barbershop but I think they're
gonna show tomorrow and I was lucky
enough to win the Student Academy Award
that award enabled me to get an agent
some press clippings even a little
two-minute spot on Entertainment Tonight
and I felt because I had this plaque on
my mantle my little studio apartment and
had an agent I could just sit by the
phone and Spielberg and Lucas and
Coppola and Warner Brothers and
Paramount and all these companies and
great filmmakers would call me because I
was talented and I had this award
because I won the Student Academy Award
but I was young and dumb and very naive
and I listened to my agent because I was
new in this business and he was a
veteran and he said just sit by the
phone spike and let me take care of
everything so not know any better I just
sat by the phone and sat by the phone
and sat by the phone a lot of my
classmates who graduated with who
graduated with me we're getting jobs
we're getting work doing after school
ABC after-school specials doing music
videos stuff like that industrial films
and I wasn't getting jack I would sit by
the phone and sit by the phone
and then a funny thing happened the
phone got cut off and then then Brooklyn
Union Gas came in and con Edison and so
this woke me up and knew that I really
cannot rely on an agent to make my way
in this industry I decided I wouldn't I
was not gonna write a scrip and move out
to LA and knock on doors and you have to
realize the climate was different than
than it is now there were not a lot of
African African American filmmakers
making films and you had Richard Pryor
and Michael Schultz an Eddie Murphy that
was about it
as far as directors it was not as it is
now
so I decided the best ways and do an
end-around go to independent route and
for three years I did everything in my
power to make a feature film I graduated
from my NYU in 1982 and three years
later I did have attempted to do a film
called messenger the reason why he never
heard that film is because it never
gotten made I got involved with a very
very shady producer who didn't produce
the money say he was going to produce
and we were pre-production for eight
weeks waiting for this mysterious wire
transfer that was going to come into our
account so we could shoot the film I had
gotten people like Jean called Esposito
Fishburne and be in the film and and the
crew is my classmates and all these
people had
put aside to hold someone to work on
this film and eventually after stalled
and install installing had to tell them
that there was no movie that they
weren't gonna get compensated for that
time and that's that so as you can well
imagine my name was mud and rightfully
so and for me this is really the
critical point in my development of
filmmaker and I remember going home and
running the ward in the bathtub and
crying in the bathtub and all the water
draining out so I was wrinkled like a
raisin and then I said well let me try
it one more time because I'm not a good
loser
and I just try to just try to think
about where I went wrong and I committed
the mistakes and most young filmmakers
do it that is try where you try to be
over ambitious the try to do stuff he's
not capable of I had scenes written that
script people jumping off ruse
helicopter chases car chases stuff I
could never had clothes off let alone we
never would have had raised the money
for that I'm not gonna make this mistake
again I'm gonna write a script two or
three people in a room shoot a quick
black and white we're gonna do it just
like that and that and I wrote a script
called she's gonna have and we shot that
film in the summer 1985 no applause
needed
we shot the film in the summer 1985 12
days it took us to shoot that film when
we began we only had $10,000 we had a
grant from the drone foundation and
Monty Ross who was a classmate of mine
at Morehouse and who had worked with me
on Joe's best eye barber shop we made a
list of everybody we knew in the world
and asked them to send us some money so
we could make this film and if they made
a contribution over $10 the names will
be listed in the end credits and so
while we were shooting the film money
would leave around lunchtime and wait
for the mailman to come and hopefully
there'll be some checks and if they were
checks we always crossed our fingers
that the checks would not be from out of
state so wouldn't have to wait 10 days
for the checks to clear during those 12
days while we were shooting anybody
through where the empty soda can or
bottle was severely punished
because in New York State you get a
nickel deposit with empties and we safe
enough soda cans and bottles of biiss
another roll of film and whenever I
speak I think it's good that you hear
this because so often when you see
successful people that's all you see you
see the end product but very rarely do
you hear about the hardships they had to
go through and everybody had to do that
nobody wakes up overnight in his
overnight sensation I think that far too
many young people want to become
overnight success whether it's being a
professional athlete whatever endeavor
they want to do you have to invest a
whole lot of hard work in that and you
really can't get around the hard work we
did not just jump on a film school and
director film like Malcolm X the cost
thirty five million dollars we struggle
for four years after finishing grad
school and then we were saving nickels
together to buy X roll of film
the final cost of the movie was $175,000
which we got from a limited partnership
and with the sale of the movie to Island
Pictures we sold the movie for this four
hundred seventy five thousand dollars
and so with that sale were able to pay
off our debts into the actors and crew
who worked on deferred salary and then
the film round up making eight and a
half million dollars and so with the
success of that film that gave me the
ability to really to enter the industry
in my own term does not how to do what
they want to do and also have more
importantly have a creative control I
thought that's always most important to
have creative control
growing up it always amazed me about the
vitality of african-american life just
looking out the window but it was very
rarely that you could see that on the
screen or once in a while on television
so once I decided become a filmmaker was
always my goal to put that rich vitality
on the screen and when I mean that I
mean that good and bad because of the
the way been stereotyped in the media we
have those african-american artists or
people run over act all the way and make
and make sure that every image of every
african-american is 100% pristine
godlike and positive and for me I think
that's not really dramatic sometimes and
it's also not truthful so we've always
tried to have that balance between the
two because we think that's reality
that's truth and a lot of times we need
to see things even though they may be
hard to deal with we need to see that
example like school days where we dealt
with the
the petia the what I feel the petty
differences amongst african-americans
that keep us be more unified people I
was criticized as airing dirty laundry
but you know a lot of people still you
know this this complexion thing is still
with this today and I felt it needed to
be addressed
another film if you look at if you look
at like jungle fever we had a character
like Gator played by Sano al Jackson we
cannot turn our heads away from how drug
addiction is ravaging our community
wiped out generation generations of
people
we just can't turn our heads and say
that is not happening so therefore when
you do this stuff and get criticized the
same way Tony Morris it gets criticized
in our novels for some of her character
characterizations of black people but it
is true and if you had that balance I
think that's what your your that's what
your goal should be as an artist this
past year in 1986 marked my tenth year
as a filmmaker and we're very grateful
that we've been able to make ten films
in ten years I think that as an artist
you really have to be judged by your
body of work so often nowadays if
somebody had rights
the first great novel the first great
death CD or a play or as an act or role
automatically they're deemed the
greatest thing since sliced bread but I
think that if you want to make an
intelligent evaluation an artist you
have to look at a body of work over a
period of time that's we're going to
continue to do I never wanted to limit
myself just to the feature films we've
done numerous music videos commercials
we just formed the advertising agency
where DDB Needham's called spike ddb we
got our first job
we're gonna be doing the print and TV
ads for the upcoming Holyfield Tyson
rematch for Showtime
we're very happy about that advertising
is a big big big business and far too
often we've African Americans have been
excluded from that last year we spent as
a people 380 billion dollars on hair
products cigarettes beer alcohol hair
products sneakers we were the biggest
consumers we buy more than anybody and
very little of the stuff we buy comes
from African American businesses I think
that's something that we're really
changed as we've as he moved towards a
millennium for us it's about ownership
who owns what and artists particularly
have to be aware that the days of
African American artists selling their
music publishing for a new pink Cadillac
those days have to be over that's the
big reason why the artist formerly known
as Prince left Warner Brothers they
would not give him his masters how is it
that Bruce Springsteen Madonna Elton
John are able own their masters but the
artists can't you know that's how they
get you we have there no matter that may
they might write you a big check but
it's the catalog the masters who owns
ownership and I think that Weezer people
had to start thinking more than
entrepreneurial
of thinking if we're going to survive
into this next century we had a sake of
a small Segway here we we had dinner
with this thing was a group of people
before I came here tonight and knew was
gonna come up
Ebonics and it was interesting to hear
several the educators try to explain why
it is needed
I still feel differently after that
dinner and it seems to me that as soon
as we jump over one hurdle here comes
another and
I know there is a problem amongst young
african-american children and learning
but Ebonics to me is not and is not the
way I'm still not convinced and and for
people that justifies say they're
tracing it back to our speech patterns
in Africa that's a long long stretch and
we have to be very careful about even
black people you know making up stuff
because there's millions of millions of
Africans
excuse me million millions of African
Americans today who think Kwanzaa is
something that was going on for
centuries in Africa that is not the case
my man made it up himself and for me I
see the same thing trying to stretch
that Ebonics as a link to the way we
spoke we were back in a motherland
I be thinking I'd be stupid and that be
our forefathers had answers I had a lot
more obstacles than we had so why is it
they were able to learn English Kings
only English and today the kids can't do
that I mean you have to think about
history you know we weren't allowed to
read nor write you get hung for that and
yet we knew that by acquire new skills
we use that for our freedoms but now to
revert to some bogus Ebonics thing to me
seems very very very very backwards very
backwards and I think that it's not a
language I think that we have to rule
distinguish between a language and slain
and I think that all of us know slang
but there's appropriate time for it and
we go for a job interview where some
other areas is just not appropriate and
all this really goes back to what WD
boys talked about the duality of being
an african-american in this country
where you're from two worlds and all
this Ebonics things about still trying
to mesh and really kind of body is the
fact that we still don't know who we are
after all this time we're still
struggling still trying to find our
place and so hopefully before we reach
the 21st century next millennium we get
some ideal and then once we get rid of
that then we could really start doing
what needs to be done but until we find
out who we are and have our own identity
then we're still gonna be messed up
running around running around in circles
Sun mean again to his speech but I just
had to speak an antibiotics mess because
it
it's troubling to me and I'm on the
board of trustees at Morehouse and I
told the president they speak start
teaching courses Ebonics at Morehouse
I'm gonna rip my degree up because we
just can't do that I get asked we we're
gonna have a question answer period
after this but usually question always
comes up which oh your films are your
favorite and I try to answer like this
that you ask to parents who their
favorite children are that most parents
who say that had no favorites they love
all their children the same but if you
ask them in the darkness of night
who their favorite children are they
will say if they're honest I love all my
children the same but I might have my
favor one child over another for
whatever reasons maybe because they look
like him you don't know and that's why I
feel about my films I think of them as
my children and I love them all but the
two that are probably most dear to me
are the ones that turned out almost
exactly the way I envisioned it when I
started to write those scripts and those
who do the right thing and Malcolm X
with
the heart of the film was was Malcolm X
and Denso 9 while we in preparation for
the film we can go anywhere without
black people telling us don't mess
Malcolm up don't mess
Malcolm up and Denzel used to joke that
we have to keep our passports honest if
we have to make a break and leave the
country get this film didn't turn out
the way we wanted it to Denzel was a
reason why that film was a big success
and
it's best acting so far and he was
dedicated Denzel had done a play
chickens come home to roost off-broadway
several years before I was even attached
to the project but when I came on he
started to rehearse a year before we
shot stop drinking stop eating that
swine started to study the Quran because
he knew that if he kept doing that other
stuff that eventually that will come out
in his performance and that he felt it
was really intelligent his part that he
had to be in a place spiritually
mentally where dens where Mountain
spirit could flow through him as he did
the road there were many times we were
shooting that film I had to pinch myself
because I thought it was Denzel excuse
me I thought it was Malcolm instead of
Denzel many of those speeches Denzel did
performed in the film while we were
shooting him he would go on for another
eight minutes after the the text had
been finished and we'd ask him you know
what happened she said I don't know it's
Mike just the spirit and that was
evident but this performance Denzil got
robbed by the Academy of Motion Pictures
Arts and Sciences
but to me that was the biggest
demonstration of how you could not let
anyone or any one group validate your
work so people asked me do you mind
being passed over not receiving
nominations we don't even think about
that that's now that's not why you make
films are definitely not the reason why
we made Malcolm X to get an Academy
Award nomination and I think that last
year's nominations really told you what
the Academy thinks about
african-americans in front of behind in
front of and behind the camera there
over 300 nominations last year and
Academy Awards only one went to a person
of color a black woman her name is Diane
Euston who won on up over 300 many many
people were passed over and despite what
Whoopi Goldberg says as hosts the fact
that she hosted in Quincy Jones produced
this show has nothing to do with the
nominations and that is not a
demonstration than not being racist for
I think the Academy is in a lot of ways
I think that because the bad press they
got last year then they go overboard to
try to push one or two people forward
this year so because for the most part
Hollywood prides themselves as being the
most liberal people around while we were
finishing Malcolm we ran into financial
problems we never had the sufficient
budget to make that film from the get-go
everybody knew that I knew it
Warner Brothers knew it the bond company
knew it the bond company if you don't
know is like an insurance company they
are paid a fee by the studio
to ensure that the film does not go
over-budget and if it does they're
liable for all the overages so once we
ran out of money Warner Brothers asked
me to cut the film down we always knew
is going to be over three hours and when
I decided knew that I was not going to
do that they let the bonding company
take over the film which they promptly
fired all the editors and all the people
on the post-production staff so we had
no money to finish this film and in
doing research and studying Malcolm for
two years prior to shooting one of the
great things about them talked about his
self-reliance about african-americans
getting together and utilizing their
resources and so that's how we got that
film finished I made a list of prominent
african-americans who have some Bank
people were our doubts who are who I was
not strangers with where I could pick up
who pick up my phone call because we
knew that this is the only way that
we've been able to finish the film the
way we saw it and not the abbreviated
version Warner Brothers wanted you to
see when it finally hit the theaters
November 19th the first person I called
on that list that long long list was
Bill Cosby and
I asked bill how was he doing and how's
Camille doing and how's the family doing
and he said how much do you need spike
so since bill was the first person on
the list I don't want to be greedy and
mess everything up so I gave build a low
number and he said come by my
accountants office in the morning and
the check will be there for you
and I said I'll be there at 8:00 he said
well they don't open up till 10:00 so
but I took the subway into Manhattan and
was there and the check was there and
ran to the bank to deposit it before
anyone could change their mind and the
next caller was the Miss Winfrey in
Chicago and traded pleasantries with her
and said I saw her photograph a her
instead and jetan photo of the weekend
she's looking mighty slim and trim and
that dyes work and you look great and I
told her the plight that we were in and
she said how much do you need spike and
I said well you know we got bill already
let me give it a high number and so we
gave him the slip for you to hide number
and she said uh you'll be there tomorrow
morning in Fed Ex so we got that check
and ran to the bank then we call up
magic and told him the predicament we
are in and magic sent the check and
we're happy about that and ran to the
bank and then called Michael Jordan and
told him a Dickerman we were in and one
thing about Michael he's very
competitive doesn't money is very
competitive doesn't like to lose a
basketball
tiddlywinks craps Bid Whist whatever so
I made a point of tell him how much
magic games
then he came through and Janet Jackson
Tracy Chapman artist formerly known as
Prince and a patron the arts a woman on
a decent in Peggy Cooper Kay Fritz and
all these people all these
african-americans came together and
wrote big checks so we could finish the
film they could not write it off as a
tax who's not a tax write-off and I
could not give them a piece of the film
they just really did it so because their
love of Malcolm and they wanted you to
see the film the way we attended to be
and it's from that experience with
Malcolm X that is how we financed my
last film get on the bus get on the bus
was financed by 15 African American men
solely the studio did not finance that
film we just felt that with the subject
matter it would be more than appropriate
that we could find african-american men
would finance this film and some of the
people a month amongst those 15 Wesley
Snipes Will Smith Danny Glover Robert
Guillaume Charles Smith used to be on
the Knicks now in the San Antonio Spurs
all these gentlemen wrote checks a week
of finance this film and even though 2.4
million dollars is a small amount it
still was a long hard task in trying to
raise the money and
in a lot of lot of ways the reason why
they're so hard is a lot of us still
have slave mentality where we don't
trust each other especially when it
comes to financial matters I mean it is
no mistake that 95% of the players in
NBA which 80% black have white agents
I asked buck Williams who's president of
pleasent are the president of The
Players Association and who's on the
Knicks why is that he says brothers
don't trust black people and I think
this is something that we really have to
get over it's a vestige of slavery but
we do not trust each other many people
still today you know when it comes to
money matters whether you need a lawyer
financial planner stock broker you know
I love black people but and let me mess
up my money oh no no no no no no no no
and we hope that with the coming
together these men this would serve as
an example of what we can do
that we can't come together and work
together all the investors in this film
received their initial investment and
interest before the movie opened and
that's something that's unheard of the
film costs 2.4 million dollars but we
sold it to Columbia for 3.6 and so
everybody got paid and I think that's
the way that we have to finance films in
the future a lot of times Hollywood not
want to do what you want to do we've
been trying
I thought Jackie Robinson else to make
Jackie Robinson the budget was between
35 and 40 million dollars couldn't get
the money we're hopefully going to make
the film but cannot studio will not put
up that type of money what they feels
were black baseball film even though
Jackie is one of the most important
Americans in the century period we
wanted that film to be out this year
this year marks the 50th anniversary of
Jackie breaking breaking the color
barrier
these are things
these are things that we have to really
all deal with and today at the press
conference I was asked by someone what
can African American moviegoers do well
I think that if you want to support
African American films you have to go
see them and you can't wait three weeks
right now there is a glut of movies in
the marketplace too many films are being
made so the films are just lined up like
it's a runway and that opening weekend
is critical that Friday Saturday Sunday
or Wednesday Thursday Friday if you
don't show up if you don't have the
numbers there your film is gone you
don't show up Friday Saturday Sunday the
film is gone and can't say well I wanted
to go but by the time I got around to it
it was gone it's gone because you didn't
show up that Friday Saturday Sunday and
when you go is also important paramount
that you check your ticket stub and make
sure that the movie that you that you're
paying your good hard hard-earned money
for the movie that you pain is a movie
on your ticket stub because this is
particular practice whenever after
American film comes out that might make
a lot of money strange things start to
happen
you go to theater I'm going to see
Malcolm X but your ticket stub says
Dracula or bodyguard and whatever that
was on the ticket stub that's where the
money goes to I know it's not a habit if
you go to a concert again you look at
your ticket stub because that shows you
where your see this movie theater you
just sit down anywhere but it'll take
you five seconds to just make that look
and if you see things on Koecher raise
hell because grand death is happening
that is not supposed to be if you're
going to see a film means something that
says something else on your ticket stub
you got to make a stink and far too
often another thing we complain as a
people how there's only one type of film
being made by the Hollywood as far as
african-americans are concerned the hip
hop drug shoot them up rap
violent type of film and I can go
anywhere Wichita Morgantown Virginia
Brooklyn New York anywhere the same
thing people come to me when we do
winter you guys gonna make some more
movies that I could take my family to
but that's not people getting killed and
all this other stuff when those films
come out we don't go and for the most
part Hollywood will only finance films
they think they're gonna get return
their investment it's a business they're
not gonna just make a film out of the
goodness of their heart so when the film
like getting a bus comes out
and
thirty forty fifty that makes
eighty-five cents and then three weeks
later set it off comes out it makes
eight and a half million dollars the
first three days then number one the
studio's every morning they're looking
at what the grosses are well I don't
know you want to make this type of film
anymore you know black people they seem
to be like in this type of film and so
it becomes a self self-fulfilling
prophecy it's getting harder and harder
and harder to make films that go outside
that formula now the new formula is the
the african-american sexual comedy now
you're all going to be
hit with films like booty call that's
the film I'm not making it up booty call
love Jones how to be a player and I'll
put my money on I know what films gonna
make money which films we're going to go
to and this is even and even worse
scenarios gone over the television I
don't even why men watch sports because
I can't watch it you peon you people's
network
now who's gonna be brave enough to raise
a hand and say they watch home boys
modest space
upian doesn't come to uh you should be
happy that you're not missing nothing so
you never seen home you never had the
pleasure you never had the pleasure of
seeing homeboys from out of space
you've seen it you love that show right
Oh WB we brothers we brothers and you
people's Network
I saw some old Amos and Andy those are
better than this new stuff and they
weren't trying to front you know they
just straight out bow and shuffling you
know these Eddie do we have a microphone
in the audience because it supposed to
be no
okay and hunger yes
you know like they're scared to let our
people come to the theater so watch you
know to get entertained ourselves we're
good enough to pair our money to see
Arnold Schwarzenegger do whatever but
when it comes to a black bikini bikini
which they don't take out ads films you
say it's very subtle black films come
here at all right
well how many african-americans here at
30,000
I think 35,000 is more than enough to
support the one movie theater that can
cater to the african-american audience
and I think that if everyone called the
theaters the theater owners send them
faxes cinema letters
petition him he would have to program
accordingly I just feel that what
happened but if nobody takes action and
just keep on being the way it is yes can
we foresee in the near future I like la
baby facing yourself mr. Cosby coming
together in one mass media power to give
us what we need as
the question is will we see in the
future the coming together of people
like baby-faced myself bill cosby to
come together like David Geffen Jeffrey
Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg did to
form DreamWorks I think that that's
gonna happen but again I really have to
go back to that slave mentality I think
that for the most part you have
different camps and we don't when you
aren't confident that you're gonna be
around for a while you're like I got
mine so you have person over here
personal over here some water here
somebody over there so when we get rid
of that mentality then you'll see the
coming together and I think that the way
we funded get on the bus has beginning
to that and you will see things like
that I think a group that we all need to
look out for is an NBA played
Association they got a new guy running
Association and Billy Hunter and there's
no more visible group of
african-americans in the world and more
wealthy than the brothers playing in the
NBA and they're really working and
trying to raise the consciousness of
these brothers so they could really
start making a moves because if they get
together they could really be the beacon
and they let the brothers and NFL and
Major League Baseball get on board too
because not everyone wants to go out
like Michael Irvin
the right thing why was it easier them
through the trash into the window
and do the right thing why was it
Mookie's why why was it a character
Mookie did through the garbage can
through the window that what that film
came out in 1989 and that is a question
I always asked about and what's
interesting since 1989 the hundreds of
times their question has been asked not
when African Americans ever asked me why
Mookie do the garbage can to the window
it's always been white Americans and I
think that I'm not indict anybody thing
that really just shows you how
differently we could see see things I
think the OJ trials a big example of
that the reason why Mookie through the
garbage can't do the windows because he
just saw his best friend getting
murdered in front of his his eyes by New
York City's finest and at that time
Sal's famous pizzeria was a symbol of
everything that was wrong
the police racism the mayor at that time
Ed Koch that's why through the garbage
can to the window yes
any other school or any other white
institution what do you mean
the question is what what do I think I
got out of going to badami black school
like Morehouse versus going to a white
institution I think that at Morehouse I
got a nurturing from my faculty from my
administration from my teachers that I
might not have gotten somewhere else
and I felt that the fact that was
amongst my own it was a great learning
experience and I think there's no
different than why a Notre Dame was
formed or your Shiva or Brandeis or
Brigham Young so I don't really think
there's anything radical about an
african-american wanting to go to a
predominantly college last question yes
the question is what advice I have for
young african-american B for any
students what advice have any students
that I've liked to be given when I was a
student I recently went back to
Morehouse and I and I went to the
admissions office and I told him to pull
up my transcript and I was I forgot how
many C's I got in school and the reason
why this was is because I did not apply
myself I was lazy for the most part - I
decide I wanted to come a filmmaker then
I got excited about that major but for
the most part I only did what the
teacher asked never did anything more
and just not really try as hard as I
should have been and that's my big
regret that I did not do everything I
could have and I think that
if you're in a position out there now
you know you really have to don't go
that way because it's it's even more
competitive than it was when I graduated
I'm gonna be 40 March March 20th but
when you graduate you're gonna is gonna
be much more competitive than when I
came out of school and if you if your
grades you know people are gonna look at
your pedigree and there's not tip-top
give me shit out a lot and excuse my
language but that's the truth
and so you could mess around and party
and hemming hall and half-step if you
want to but when you leave here things
be much different and the people can be
successful the ones that took their four
years here seriously so just be serious
about you be serious about your
education I want to thank everyone for
coming tonight thank you very much
and
and in closing before you run out I
would like to say that I say my prayers
every night because I'm very fortunate
to be to make a very have a very
comfortable living doing what makes me
happy as an ass making films and 99% of
the people in this world go to the grave
having slay that a job that they hated
and for you students here these four
years is very crucial because it can
determine what you can be doing for the
rest of your life and so really try to
find what it is that you want to do and
pursue that thank you
Kelly hands
