Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends

- What if there were a peaceful solution? - There is no peaceful solution.

- There is no peaceful solution. - If there were, would you advocate that?

We're not going to stand here and speak of some hocus-pocus, some shazam,

some abracadabra magic. There is no peaceful way.

The white man, I say to you over and over again,

is absolutely disagreeable to get along with in peace.

Ripped By mstoll

Manhattan. I was on my way to Harlem.

My mission: To spend time with New York's Black Power groups,

from the moderate to the extreme.

I wanted to find out to what extent they'd accept me, a white man, into their lives.

And I'd arrived at a sensitive time.

There is anger tonight after four New York City police officers

shot and killed an unarmed African immigrant...

22-year-old Diallo was unarmed when police killed him. They fired 41 shots.

Three of the four cops have been involved in shootings before.

The four officers have not testified before the grand Jury investigating the shooting.

Galvanising the community reaction to the shooting of Amadou Diallo

was Reverend Al Sharpton, New York's most prominent black activist,

the man I'd come to see.

All right, hug the person next to you. Tell 'em you love them...

because they're African.

- Don't I get a hug? - Yeah, 0K. No problem. No problem, brother.

The Rev was rallying support for a march on Wall Street

to protest the shooting of Amadou Diallo.

Forward, ever! Backward, never!

No turning round, no backing up,

no selling out, no bowing down,

no submitting, no compromise.

- It's gonna be no justice... - (All) No peace!

- No justice... - No peace.

All right, everybody sing...

The Rev was a busy man, so I met one of his aides.

- How you doing, Louis? How you doing? - You're Ed Barnes? How's it going?

I'm fine. How's everything with you?

Not bad. That was a very emotional meeting.

- People seem very upset. - They are.

People are being shot. They don't bother to ask are you the right guy or the wrong guy?

They just look up, see a person of colour.

When we wake up in the morning, we have to come out combat ready,

because we know the man is going to push us in a corner, snatch us down, search us,

and sometimes he puts things on us.

So we have something to be consciously concerned about.

- And other people don't... - The white man is a devil!

- What did she say? - "The white man is a devil," she said.

- That makes me slightly uncomfortable. - (Laughs)

- That's all right, I understand. - People here...

Most of the people here are very understanding.

We don't preach that hate thing.

- We just want... - What did she mean, a devil?

That's an expression that the Muslims been using for years.

- Muslims? You mean like regular Muslims? - No, no, no, no, no.

I'm talking about certain activists that used that term quite often,

that the white man is the devil.

They've been saying that for years.

You don't hear it as much as you used to, but you used to hear that quite a bit.

Really? You don't hear it as much as you used to, but you hear it...

That's interesting too. I'd like to find out more about that.

Does Reverend Al Sharpton think that the white man is the devil?

If he did, he wouldn't deal with the white man.

No. Exactly.

What I'm hoping to do is get some time with him

and get him to explain the issues and maybe show me around New York a little bit.

If you can get five minutes, you'll be lucky. The man is very busy.

When you talking to him, you gotta be talking and walking. He's moving all the time.

Reverend Sharpton, I'm Louis from the BBC.

Did we have a...

Can we get a hook-up and maybe go on a tour of New York and find out about your work?

Reverend Sharpton?

No, I'm not expecting to do it now.

I just wanted to establish a connection and hook up later in the week.

- All right. - Yeah, so I'll call you and we'll fix up a time?

Given the frosty reception,

I knew it would take something special to coax the Rev out of his office.

So I hired a tour bus.

Hello, there.

Thank you very much for meeting with us, Reverend Al Sharpton.

I'm Louis Theroux from BBC 2.

What we're hoping to do, if you've got the time, is do a quick tour of Harlem.

- Does that sound all right? - Fine.

- Fine. - 0K. Superb. Excellent.

New York is basically a city where blacks are in one area. Uh...

Some areas, there's blacks and Latinos, then whites in a totally different community.

The high idea of integration in America is a myth.

- Yeah. - It doesn't exist, particularly in New York.

There's no banks in Harlem, and when you look at the lack of development,

and the housing conditions and the filth, it's amazing.

And we have to live in these conditions.

I'm only going to be here a few days.

Do you think I might come to that march on Wall Street?

- 0h, absolutely. - Yeah?

Absolutely.

You may, if you get very involved and we do civil disobedience, you may be here longer.

You might be in jail with us.

- You're joking. - I never joke.

I smile, but I don't joke.

Come on, let's go down. I want to show you something.

Tell him to stop. What is wrong with you, Tim?

Can we get in?

Yeah... Reverend, where are we going, exactly?

This shows the power. A young man comes out of the movement, building his own business.

If he was a young white businessman, they would have given him business loans.

This is going to be the biggest, best,

and everybody in England has to come eat with Reverend Sharpton at Mama Rousse.

If they didn't get a loan, how come it's still going ahead?

Because he had empowerment ideas.

He went to businessmen in his own community and they believed in him.

This is the largest walk-in refrigerator freezer in Harlem.

It's chilly? Wait a few minutes!

Cortez. He's the head of all the gangs in Harlem.

Yeah, comedy. I get it.

Someone called me a devil, I think because I'm white, and I wasn't sure how to take that.

You worry about if somebody calls you a devil?

If you had to live in this condition, you certainly would think this was hell,

and all hells have devils.

Just because of the colour of your skin, you can do things I can't do.

I'm well-known, I'm influential,

but you can do things I can't do in a city I was born in.

- Like? - You can go to better schools.

You can rent or buy in a better neighbourhood.

- Just because of the colour of your skin. - There's not much you can say to that.

You can definitely say something to that. You can say, "No justice, no peace."

That's what you say.

Look at the conditions now. We've just gone two blocks out of Harlem.

Look how clean the streets are.

I mean, it's amazing.

In two blocks, the city discovers how to take care of a community.

What other large groups are there on the black political spectrum?

Nation of Islam's a good group to talk to.

They are also a religious group, but they are an empowerment group.

They are a large force in the community.

- If the devil thing comes up, ignore it? - I would suppose.

I mean, if you know you're not a devil, or you don't feel you're a devil,

then don't worry about it.

If you keep getting bothered by it,

maybe there's a little devil in you that you're not too sure about.

You're going to a meeting in here? I guess we part ways here, then.

- Thank you. - See you at the rally.

- Yeah. The march. - Bring your toothbrush, just in case.

Encouraged by Reverend Sharpton, I'd arranged to meet the Nation of Islam,

the originators of the belief that the white man is the devil.

I'd been reading up on the teachings of its founder, EliJah Muhammad.

The Nation had a reputation for guarded secrecy,

but its New York minister, BenJamin Muhammad,

had promised me a rare insight, or so I thought.

0h, here we go! Here we go.

- How do you do, sir? - How are you?

You're Benjamin Muhammad. I'm Louis Theroux from BBC 2. How are you doing?

May we come in?

We will not be able to film inside of the mosque.

Uh, you know, the mosque is a sacred place.

Already I had a hunch it wasn't going to be the insight I'd planned on.

And somehow, our relationship never developed beyond the formalities.

In fact, it became even more awkward.

I've been... (Clears throat)... reading, uh...

Message... Message To The Blackman.

Yes. It was written by the Most Honourable Elijah Muhammad.

Is there any way we could do one more turn around the block?

Well, I have a conference call that I must attend to.

- Thank you. - Hey, thank you.

Bye-bye.

I'd spent time with one of the Nation of Islam's most senior figures,

and I still felt no clearer about the doctrine.

So I tracked down one of its former spokesmen, Dr Khalid Muhammad.

He'd been stripped of his rank for outspoken racist comments.

After leaving the Nation, he gained notoriety for his militant anti-white message.

In 1998, he organised the Million Youth March,

and was accused of inciting violence against the police.

In self-defence, if they attack you, take their goddamn guns from them

- and use their guns on them! - (Crowd cheering)

Dr Khalid now leads the New Black Panthers,

an underground black vigilante group advocating armed self-defence.

The rifles are with the troops.

He refused us access to the inner workings of his organisation,

but he agreed to meet me at a Harlem restaurant.

I was rather nervous.

- Thank you very much. - Tell me your name once more.

- It's Louis. Louis Theroux. - 0K.

- You're being very friendly. - I don't understand.

Your media image had led me to think you might be more aggressive.

No, you always see me in a battle mode.

The white race

is absolutely disagreeable to get along with in peace.

No other people on the face of the planet earth

have been able to get along with white people since white people have been on our planet.

Not to be too blunt about it, do you regard me as a devil?

- What a cheap little question! - Is that a cheap question?

It is not only a cheap question,

it's really evidence of what I have just said.

You are my star witness here at the table.

- You couldn't resist asking a devilish question. - Why is that a devilish question?

If, indeed, there is a mystery devil somewhere,

I don't think he has a chance against the white man on top of the ground.

Really? Do you think because, erm...

You seem slightly distracted.

Just taking in all of my surroundings.

- Let's break for a minute. - Would you like something to eat?

I'd counted on having lunch with Dr Khalid, but it seemed he had other ideas.

So I ate alone.

- You're back. - I'm back.