The Man Who Came Back

---

What are y'all doing?

Get back in the field.

Slavery's over.

We can leave if we want.

Mr. Duke, you think them Union

soldiers come back

if they hear tell of

black folks gettin' stopped?

Well, maybe you can go,

but you sure as hell ain't

takin' one of my mules.

This here my mule,

Mr. Duke.

You, uh,

made my buy him.

Deducted from my pay.

Well, in that case,

your animal is looking at me funny,

like he wants to

bite me.

Bite?

He barely got no teeth.

That's why you made

Winton buy him.

There. Now you can carry

your own stuff to Kansas.

Oh no no no no.

We got rights!

Hold my horse.

- Take it!

- You ain't got no cause, Mr. Billy!

We been free

a dozen years now.

Ever heard of a little struggle

called the Civil War?

Emancipation Proclamation

ever go by your ear?

How about this?

Did it ever

pass your ears?

You're just opening

old wounds.

Now you turn 'em over

so it browns on

both sides, you see?

You remember what I told you

about the onions?

Mr. Reese?

Mr. Reese?

There.

Turn around.

Did he do this?

Junebug got

the worst of it.

Next time,

I don't know.

Ain't gonna be

a next time.

- Sir.

- 'Morning.

When I first invited you,

a Confederate war hero,

onto my plantation,

you didn't present yourself

as Negro-soft.

You hired me to

oversee the hands.

If Billy lays on

the whip again,

he's gonna have to

deal with me.

Reese,

he's my blood son.

Then you warn him.

Warn who?

About what?

Daddy,

look at that.

That is my idea.

Right, Daddy?

You know the hands want

to be paid in cash.

No, you're paid in cash

'cause you're a white man.

Here's your month's pay.

Go make sure to buy your wife

something pretty.

This means trouble.

I tell you one thing:

Once the crop's in,

we'll say "Fare thee well, Mr. Duke,"

and we'll set up housekeeping

wherever your pretty heart desires...

California, Timbuktu,

I don't care.

I would just prefer

our cabin by the swamp.

Why'd you choose me

anyway?

I was old and poor

and beaten down

even before the war.

Mm-hmm.

I adore you.

Just adore you.

- 'Morning to you all.

- 'Morning.

- Good morning, sir.

- 'Morning.

Cash is kind of short

since the war, Winton.

Short for the Negro?

Still spends like money.

Not anymore.

They done raised all

the store prices.

Mm-hmm. How much?

So you pay them funny money

they can only spend here,

then you double and

triple the prices?

Uh, Reese, that's just

sound business practice.

Taking advantage of

a captive market.

Wanna hit me?

Hmm?

You're fired.

I knew guys like you

during the war.

When the battle started,

you'd hide.

When the fighting stopped,

you came out.

And you bayoneted

the wounded,

then you bragged about

how many Yankees you killed.

You coward.

Get up.

You want me to

arrest him?

No, just throw

his ungrateful ass

out of my overseer's

house.

See how his pride holds up

once he can't feed his family.

Y'all listen up!

From now on, I'll be

supervising y'all directly,

you lazy Negros!

I'll be working you

can to can't...

when you can see in the morning to

when you can't see at night.

You hear me?

No, sir.

I'm on strike.

We on strike.

What you mean,

you're on strike?

You don't even know

what a strike is!

Yes, we do.

And you about to find out

what one is too, sir.

What do you coloreds

expect to achieve?

You already got freedom.

Freedom?

Well, it sure don't feel like

no freedom, Judge Duke,

not when your son can

beat us whenever he pleases,

then pay us in

worthless paper.

Right!

You don't work,

you don't eat.

You don't get no rations.

Rate this script:(0.00 / 0 votes)