AMERICAN HISTORY X

I'm not doing your homework for you!

I gotta spreadsheet due!

DANNY

Goddammit!

Davina walks to the door and looks back to her brother.

DAVINA

What's the matter with you? You wanna

be a fuckin' loser your whole life?

Not receiving a response, she walks out the door.

DANNY

Asshole Sweeney.

He slowly begins to strike the computer keys. The screen

reads "People look at me and they see my brother. That's

the way things have gone since the murder of our father,"

TIGHT ON DANNY. The frustated kid sits and thinks to himself.

himself.

QUICK CUT TO:

EXT. ESTABLISHING SHOT - NIGHT - FLASHBACK

THE BROAD EXPANSE OF AN EMPTY, DIMLY LIT PARKING LOT. In

the distant corner we see a few parked cars and a group

of skins gathering.

DANNY (V/O)

It was lunacy after he left us. All

the time. Derek believed in

Cammeron...he was angry...that

combination gave them bodies. White

punks...sick of gettin' their asses

kicked by black and mexican gangs at

school.

TIGHT ON DANNY LEANING AGAINST AN ADJACENT CAR.

Seven skins, including Seth and Curtis, smoke and wait.

DANNY'S POV. Danny looks to his left and sees Derek with

Cammeron, who sits in the driver's seat of the BRONCO.

Stacey leans in from the backseat.

STACEY

I hope you kill that fucker.

Derek looks back at her and straight to Cameron.

CAMMERON

He might have a gun.

DEREK

Are you going in or not?

CAMMERON

You know I got the cops on me. If I

come up on one of those cameras I'm a

dead man.

Derek stares at the older man, who appears nervous.

CAMMERON

Somebody needs to drive, Derek.

DEREK

(referring to his mouth)

All right. You can turn it off now.

(back to Stacey)

You're right on his tail, right?

STACEY

(nodding)

I hate that fucking Korean. I hope

you smash his face in.

DEREK

Just be ready, okay?

She nods and Derek gets out. The group is silent.

DEREK

Come on. Let's pull it together.

Hey! We're not playing fuckin' games

here. Let's go.

The group snaps to attention behind him as Seth toys with

the camera. CURTIS from earlier takes a hit off a joint

and makes Derek wait for him. Derek walks over to the

crazy man, takes the joint, and throws it onto the

ground.

DEREK

What the fuck, Curtis? You a fuckin'

nigger now? Want some crack?

CURTIS

No.

DEREK

(grabbing his neck)

Pull your fucking stupid head out of

your ass then.

CURTIS

Okay. Jesus.

DEREK

(to the group)

We're here tonight cause we got

immigration problems spiralling out of

control. We got Asians up the ass...

taking over our land with their

fucking Yen. Mexicans...flocking into

this place like some giant fucking

Pinata was shattered.

The group busts up. Cammeron watches Derek and smiles.

DEREK

Don't laugh. It's tragic. On the

Statue of Liberty it says "Give me

your tired, your hungry, your poor,

your huddled masses...yearning to be

free." It does not say give me your

shiftless, your greedy, your indolent,

your criminals, looking for a free

ticket.

The group agrees.

DEREK

We're here tonight to show the

government how we feel about

minorities taking over our country.

The treat us like criminals while they

reward them with jobs and fucking

welfare checks. And it's only getting

worse.

ET AL

(nodding)

Fuck yeah it is.

DEREK

Are you ready to do something about

it?

ET AL

Yeah.

DEREK

Okay then.

AND THEY'RE MOVING. In formation. Fast. Directly at

us. Angry.

As the camera swings into line, TRACKING WITH THEM, Derek

reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a STOCKING

MASK. He pulls it down over his face.

The foot soldiers follow him in unison.

DEREK

(back to his troops)

Remember. No names. Danny? Stay

right on my fucking ass, man.

And now they're getting ahead of us. As the CAMERA

SWINGS behind them, we see their destination.

EXT. LIGHTED GROCERY STORE - SAME

They storm the front entrance. The few people who are in

there scream and scramble for cover. Derek grabs a

Mexican boxboy and throws him to the ground. Seth

catches up to another and gets him on the ground.

SETH

Wheto's your fucking green card,

asshole?

Seth kicks the young man in the face with a blatant shot

and continues. DEREK leaves a terrified white woman

alone like she's not even there and pushes over an

adjacent shelf, knocking over another worker with CANS OF

BEANS.

DEREK

(referring to the border)

Can't hide from me, motherfucker!

He kicks the man and looks around the market for more.

Danny watches in awe. Curtis breaks a giant jelly jar

over a head. Another skin throws a BLACK CHECKER into a

shelf of POTATO CHIPS.

DEREK'S POV. He looks up at one of the aisle mirrors.

INT. BACK STOCK AREA - THE 55-YEAR-OLD KOREAN OWNER

He rushes out with a pistol. He takes aim on Curtis and--

FROM OUT OF NOWHERE, DEREK TAKES A MOP TO THE OWNER'S

HEAD AND PROCEEDS TO KICK HIM. Danny looks at Derek like

he's Superman.

Derek looks to his watch and straightens up.

DEREK

Let's go! We're outta here! Move !

From just inside the door we see skins get in their last

blows and pour out the aisles and pass us through the

doors. TIRES SCREECH. THE CAMERA HOLDS ON THE WRECKAGE

OF THE MARKET AND THE MOTIONLESS BODIES ON THE FLOOR;

INT. BRONCO - TIGHT ON DANNY

He takes off his stocking mask and stares at his stone-

faced brother.

DANNY (V/O)

And before Derek could even blink...he

had a crazed army behind him.

CUT TO:

INT. BEDROOM - PRESENT - THE COMPUTER

Danny sparks up a cigarette and types on the screen.

DANNY (V/O)

Willing to follow his word like it was

the word of God.

CUT TO:

EXT. VENICE BEACH HOUSE - A RAINY NIGHT - FLASHBACK

As the rain falls, we see the Vinyards sitting at the

table. Stacey and Murray Rosenberg, Doris' then

boyfriend who we met earlier, round out the clan. Stacey

sits close to Derek.

DANNY (V/O)

And then came October 4th, 1993.

INT. BEACH HOUSE - THE DINING ROOM

Doris looks wonderful while Murray, mustache and beard,

shakes his head at Derek as he chatters away.

DANNY (V/O)

Things were fine on the homefront. My

Mom had a good job but a below average

boyfriend. We had a four-bedroom

house that Dad left us with. Everyone

was happy.

TIGHT ON DEREK. Shaved head, rolled-up sleeves, tattoos,

loosened tie, LA COPY CENTER name tag from earlier. His

charisma draws their attention as he rambles over the

crackling rainfall.

DANNY (V/O)

Everyone but Derek.

DEREK

Fuck you, Murray. White men don't

cruise the streets of LA killing each

other.

MURRAY

No. You guys make bombs.

Derek stares at the man, eyes filled with homicide.

DEREK

You're so fucking lame. A couple of

cranks in cabins in Montana is not

statistically significant.

(then)

White Americans don't take PCP and

drink and drive a hundred and twenty

fuckin' miles an hour! We pull over

and trust the law.

MURRAY

You're kidding, right?

DAVINA

(sarcastically)

Don't you know, Murray? White people

never break the law. We're perfect

little angels.

DEREK

That's not what I said, Davina.

(to the group)

Three different times Rodney King

comes at those officers with the

intent to hurt them. To hurt them!

Three times! But since we see it on

some fucking tampered videotape...the

bleeding heart media makes you believe

that he only comes at them once. All

we see is Powell, Koon and Wind

hittin' him and--

(busting up laughing)

Briseno kickin' him in the back of the

fuckin' skull with his boot. Still,

the dumbfuck's tryin' to get up and

kick their asses! That's how stupid

that motherfucker is. Those cops used

textbook-solid tactics and if Dad were

still here he'd say the same damn

thing.

DORIS

That doesn't make it right.

DEREK

Yes it does. Yes it does. They're

cops! They are taught to use that

stick and they did.

MURRAY

Excessively.

DEREK

No. Appropriately. Appropriately!

Cops have been granted a certain

amount of authority by society and

white people, unfortunately, are the

only ones who acknowledge it. I

acknowledge a cop's authority.

Davina starts to laugh.

DAVINA

Look who's talking about respecting

the law? Mr. K.K.K. here.

DEREK

That's two errors in one sentence,

Davina, so take a fucking course in

semantics. First error--I didn't say

I respect the law. I said I respect a

cop's authority. Second error...I'm

not a member of the fuckin' low rent,

disorganized, redneck Ku Klux Klan..

Pull your head outta your ass and look

at who you're dealing with.

MURRAY

Don't speak to her that way, Derek.

DEREK

Murray, stay out of it. You're not a

member of this family and you never

will be.

MURRAY

What the hell does that have to do

with anything?

DORIS

(to Derek)

You know...sometimes it's hard to

believe I gave birth to you.

DEREK

Give thanks to the food on the table

and then believe it, Doris.

DORIS

We both put food on this table, fella.

DEREK

True enough. The point is...if Dan

was walking across the street that

night and Rodney King plowed into him--

DORIS

Can we forget about Rodney King for

chrissake?!

DEREK

(fiercely continuing)