POSE

Why are we the only ones out here?

Who wants to come to the most

remote part of New York?

You'd think people would come to pay their respects.

Out of sight, out of mind.

I'm tired.

I've been to three funerals this week.

Three. Where's the cure?

Look, we got to keep it together today, Pray.

We got a long day ahead of us.

I know.

I'm sorry, I just...

It upsets me.

His name is... was Keenan.

Keenan Howard.

I'm here to see... his burial site.

He's a relation of yours?

Not exactly.

We dated, we broke up. Listen.

He died of pneumonia

- and I was told he was buried here. - Here's the thing.

Names don't matter here.

Just a bunch of pine boxes in a ditch.

- So no headstones? - Welcome to Hart Island.

Just a mass grave of people whose families

couldn't afford a burial

or unclaimed bodies from the morgue.

Infants are out back in Potter's Field.

We quarantine the ones that died of AIDS,

don't want them infecting anyone else, you know.

But they're already dead.

Sweetie, we don't know how this thing is spread.

Come on, Pray.

How did Keenan end up here?

- I thought he had family. - No.

Orphaned just like the rest of us.

After we broke up, I heard that he had gotten sick

and I tried to reach out.

But I think that he...

he was embarrassed...

about getting sick.

He died alone.

In that tiny studio apartment.

In the dead of summer.

Three weeks before anybody found him.

Was lying in the heat for so long,

I heard that his body

- just melted into the mattress. - Mm-mmm, mm-mmm.

I'm not settling for this, Pray.

We got to do something.

- Right? - Yeah.

Only way this isn't gonna be our reality

is if we help each other.

'Cause they sure as hell aren't gonna do anything. Trust.

There it is.

Judy told me about this place and I didn't believe her.

She... she said this island

used to be a tuberculosis ward.

Now it's a burial site.

Each one of these heart-shaped rocks

represents someone buried here,

left by someone left behind.

So, what now?

We pray.

We pray for strength...

to keep fighting.

Yeah.

The category is...

Live...

Work...

Pose!

*POSE* Season 02 Episode 01

*POSE* Episode Title : "Acting Up"

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH

Synchronized by srjanapala

- Hi, Blanca. You want to come in? - Hi. Yeah.

Yeah.

This place is like the Taj Mahal compared to St. Vincent's.

You know they had me on a six-week

waiting list just to get a doctor to read my labs.

By the way, thank you for squeezing me in like this.

Anything for family, kid.

So, what does it say?

I tried reading my labs when I picked it up,

but... it all looked like Klingon to me.

Well, your red blood cells are good.

- I'm just checking out your CD4s. - See?

There you go again speaking that Klingon.

English, please?

CD4s, or T-cells, are what we want a lot of.

So... how many I gots?

'Cause I know I got a lot.

I stopped drinking,

I take my Flintstone vitamins every day.

Well, sometimes being healthy isn't enough for this virus.

Your T-cells have fallen bellow 200.

What's... So? What's that mean?

It means we have to start monitoring you once a month

instead of every three months.

And we have to move your diagnosis of being HIV-positive

to having AIDS.

What?

S...

So I have AIDS now?

Well, it's-it's just a number.

It's a way of flagging how much care a patient needs.

Nah, I've been feeling fine.

I've been feeling amazing, actually.

Last winter, when my kids got sick,

I didn't have a sniffle at all.

I mean, sometimes you can't tell what HIV is doing

- to your immune system. - So I'm dying.

No. You're not dying.

You still have plenty of T-cells to fight with,

but we can't let those numbers drop any lower.

So what do I do?

It ain't no cure for this thing.

Not yet.

But there is this.

AZT. It helps slow the progression of the virus

- and it's all we've got. - Ain't that stuff for rich folk?

Well, pharmaceutical companies are in the business

of making a profit, but there are folks

in our community who care about the less fortunate.

And they're the ones who can get us this shit for free.

When the wealthy white queens and their friends know

that the end is coming close, they call us.

It's the same thing every time.

We pay our respects.

We say our goodbyes.

And then we collect the leftover meds.

Their dying wishes are to make sure that the grief

isn't the only thing they're leaving behind.

Some of them just have antibiotics.

But the rich ones always have AZT.

Pray Tell told me about

a friend of his who was on these meds.

He said it was as toxic as chemo.

And once he got on 'em, his body completely gave out.

Blanca, I'm gonna be straight with you

because you need to hear this.

You're in denial of what HIV is doing to your body.

If you don't do something about it soon, you're

- gonna be dead in six months. - No.

Listen, they're working on new drugs every day.

You just got to stay alive long enough

for something better to come along.

You know...

it's moments like these that make your life

flash right before you.

Crazy thing is, it's... not my life

I'm seeing right now, it's my kids.

It's my kids.

Everything in this life is set up to work against them.

There is still

so much in their lives that I have to fix.

We have a saying around here:

either get busy living,

or you get busy dying.

And you've got a lot to live for.

Darling.

That one's gonna be good.

Yeah.

- Hey, can you do me a favor? - Stop.

Just look this way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right there, right there. Give me that smile.

That one's great, actually.

Um... yeah.

Oh, shit.

Y'all hear that?

That's the new Madonna single.

It's been on constant repeat on Z100.

- It's gonna be the song of the summer.

The most famous woman in the world signing about us.

- Mm! - Strike a pose.

The category is...

Runway...

Mo-del...

Effect.

Everything is about to change.

I can see it as clear as day.

Well, your vision must be cloudy

'cause ain't shit about to change for our black asses.

Madonna is shining a bright spotlight on us, girl.

We've been underground for how long?

About 20 years. Since Crystal LaBeija lost

one too many titles to white girls.

Ha-ha! Yes, baby!

Let us have it.

These walks are turning me on, kids.

Who's next?

Are you gonna show us your face, baby?

That's my baby!

Mark my words.

"Vogue" will make us stars.

Madonna lives on the edge for what's next.

And what's newer than an entire world, undiscovered,

brimming to the rim with guts,

gorgeousness...

and raw talent?