- Younger Brother: I design fireworks. That's my job.
- [the black anarchists laugh in derision]
- Younger Brother: . I can make bombs.
- [They stop laughing and take him seriously]
- Younger Brother: What kind of music do you play?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Anything they ask me to, and then I play ragtime.
- Rheinlander Waldo: Where is J. P. Morgan?
- Vernon Elliott: Oh, he's on an expedition down the Nile... in Egypt.
- Rheinlander Waldo: Hmmm... Lucky him!
- [Looks at the Captain]
- Police Captain #1: Yes, sir!
- Rheinlander Waldo: And contact some colored big shots to talk to us in case we need to negotiate.
- Police Captain #1: Very good, sir. Anything else?
- Rheinlander Waldo: Yeah, he said something about a car and a fire chief.
- Police Captain #1: Conklin. Willie Conklin.
- Rheinlander Waldo: Get him. I want to meet him.
- Police Captain #2: Sir, that number doesn't answer. What do you want me to do?
- Rheinlander Waldo: [after thinking about it for several moments] Get me some coffee and a roll.
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: [praying] Lord, I'd hoped I'd have the courage to know what I should do now. You must see how sick at heart I've been... and how I've performed this thing with little appetite.
- [sobbing]
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: I'd hoped... you'd reveal to me along the way why you put such a rage in my heart.
- [a brief pause]
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Tell me what to do now!
- [another beat]
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Please.
- [sighs]
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: God, tell me what to do.
- Black Lawyer: [Coalhouse tries to sue for his car being damaged] Well, what's your financial situation like?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: [sighs] I have a little laid by. I planned to use it on my wedding, but I guess it'll have to wait.
- Black Lawyer: Hmm. Mr. Walker, let me give you some advice. You spend the money on your wedding. Build yourself a home and a family where you can find some comfort. And just forget that some damn white man caused you offense.
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: And that's your advice?
- Black Lawyer: That's my advice, and I pray you take it to heart.
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Just forget it? Is that it?
- Black Lawyer: I've spent my whole life forgetting. You're a young man. You better start learning now.
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Learning what? How to be a nigger?
- Black Lawyer: [after a pause] Mr. Walker, I'll thank you to leave. I have some charity cases you know nothing of. I got clients with real problems - starvation, illness, dispossession. Yes, I want justice for our people. Yes, I do. I want it so bad, I can taste it. If you think I'll go to Westchester County pleading on the behalf of a colored man that somebody dirtied his fancy car, you are very much mistaken. Now, please, you take this and leave my office.
- [Gives Coalhouse papers]
- Rheinlander Waldo: That library over there is worth millions
- Willie Conklin: So?
- Rheinlander Waldo: And people keep telling me you're a worthless piece of slime.
- Sarah: [about Coalhouse] He say one thing, and then he say another thing. And he make it all sound so good. It ain't nuthin' but talk, Ma'am. It ain't nuthin' but talk!
- Rheinlander Waldo: [refering to the anarchists in the library] Well, Mr. Elliot, why don't you go in and have a word with them?
- Vernon Elliott: I beg your pardon?
- Rheinlander Waldo: Just explain the value of the library, see what they want, that sort of thing.
- Vernon Elliott: That hardly seems like the appropriate response, Mr. Waldo, and if you're making a joke at my expense, I assure you there's nothing amusing about my responsibilities as the curator of Mr. Morgan's library.
- Rheinlander Waldo: Mr. Elliot, as long as those guys are in there, you're not curator of anything!
- [Coalhouse has just learned that his friends have safely escaped]
- Father: [trepidatiously] Well, shouldn't we... uh... tell them... that we're... we're coming?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: [calmly] Yeah. You go on ahead. Tell 'em I'll be right out.
- Father: [hesitates] Well...
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Just go on. I'll be with you.
- Father: [still hesitates] Don't...?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: [firmly] Go.
- Father: [stammering] Don't you think it would be... a better idea if we...?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: [exploding] GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! Don't you understand ANYTHING, white man?
- Father: [terrified, rushes out of the library]
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: [Speaking to Booker T. Washington] You speak like an angel, Mr. Washington. It's too bad we're living on the earth.
- P.C. O'Donnell: Nobody's intimidating me, Mister. You just don't know what you're getting yourself into, and I'm trying to keep your nose clean. Now, would you be a good boy and just get along.?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: I want my car cleaned!
- P.C. O'Donnell: Clean it then, damn you! Clean it and go!
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: I want the man who did it to clean it!
- P.C. O'Donnell: All right, all right, let me pit it this way. I can arrest you for blocking a public service exit, for creating a public nuisance, and about ten other things I ain't gonna mention. Now, am I making myself clear?
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Yes.
- P.C. O'Donnell: Good.
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Officer, I still want my car cleaned.
- P.C. O'Donnell: Oh, for Christ's sake! Ain't you got any sense in your head? I'm trying to help you! You leave me no choice.
- Coalhouse Walker Jr.: I'm sorry.
- P.C. O'Donnell: You're under arrest!
- Booker T. Washington: [to Walker in the library] What you have done here has set our race back a distance I can't measure.