Transcend The Places That Hold Us

Inspiring piece of dialogue from "The Hurricane"

                Mr. Carter?

                Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, that you?

                Mm-hmm.

                You don't look like your pictures. I thought you'd be bigger.

                Hey, I'm bigger than you.

                But don't tell anybody, okay?

                All right.

                Okay. Sit down.

                Hey, this is some place, man. No.

                No, it's not. This is no place, not for a human being.

                Don't ever get used to a place like this, Lesra.

                You got a lot of guts, kid.

                Takes a lot of courage to come all the way down here by yourself.

                I'm impressed. I was scared you weren't gonna let me come.

                Me too.

                But you're Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. What would you be scared of?

                Doors opening, of the light outside, of you.

                Me? Mr. Carter, I don't understand. Mm-hmm.

                Oh, no, no, no. Don't call me Mr. Carter. Call me Rube.

                Rube? Yeah.

                Rube.

                All right, Rube.

                So, tell me about these folks you're livin' with.

                Oh, the Canadians? Yeah. I got pictures of' em.

                Here.

                This is Sam, this is Terry and this is Lisa, and they're the greatest, man.

                Huh. Yeah. I met 'em at an EPA in Brooklyn.

                And, you know, they was doin' business and brought me home and stuff,

                and the rest is what happened, man.

                Yeah. That's when my life changed, Rube.

                Hmm. Just yanked a brother up and took him up to Canada, just like that?

                No, no. They asked my folks.

                I see. So what they do?

                Are they a religious group or hippies or a commune or-

                No. They fix up houses and sell 'em. You know?

                They're just people.

                Just people. Just workin', eatin', livin' together?

                I don't know. This is what they do, man. That's their thing.

                What'd your folks say?

                Oh, my dad, you know, he's happy. He's glad for me. Oh, good.

                You see 'em much, your folks?

                Yeah, but sometimes it's hard though. Yeah, well-

                Yeah, it's hard.

                You give them hope.

                Yeah, I guess. You do.

                You give 'em hope because you have transcended, Lesra.

                It is very important to transcend the places that hold us.

                You know that? You've learned to read. You've learned to write.

                Writing is- It's magic.

                You feel that sometimes?

                Yeah, I guess I do. Mm-hmm.

                When I started writing,

                I discovered that I was doing more than just telling a story.

                See, writing is a weapon,

                and it's more powerful than a fist can ever be.

                Every time I sat down to write, I could rise above the walls of this prison.

                I could look out over the walls all across the state of New Jersey,

                and I could see Nelson Mandela in his cell writing his book.

                I could see Huey. I could see Dostoyevsky.

                I could see Victor Hugo, Emile Zola.

                And they would say to me,

                "Rube, what you doin' in there?"

                And I say, "Hey, I know all you guys."

                It's magic, Lesra.

                They sure don't teach it that way up in Canada.

                Maybe you could tell me some books to read. I can do that.

                But these people in Canada or anywhere else, they can only teach you so much.

                It's up to you. It's your search.

                You gotta find out what's true for you, what is true for Lesra Martin.

                I ain't never met nobody like you before.

                You think I killed those people, son?

                No, I know you didn't. How you know?

                I just know.

                I'm so glad I met you, Lesra.

                Me too.