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SIX MEETINGS BEFORE LUNCH
WEST WING SEASON ONE EPISODE 18
CUT TO: INT. JOSHS OFFICE - DAY
Donna goes to announce his appointment.
DONNA
Josh?
JOSH
Is he here?
DONNA
Yeah.
JOSH
Send him in.
DONNA
Mr. Breckenridge?
Josh straightens his desk, then JEFF BRECKENRIDGE comes in.
JEFF BRECKENRIDGE
Thank you.
JOSH
Jeff, Im Josh Lyman.
JEFF
Jeff Breckenridge.
They shake hands. Josh motions for him to sit.
JOSH
Good to meet you. Help yourself to a chair. Can Donna get you anything?
JEFF
No, thank you. Im fine. [sits]
JOSH
You were a second year summer intern at Debevoise and Plimpton when my father was a
partner there. [sits]
JEFF
Your father was a partner at Debevoise and Plimpton?
JOSH
Yeah.
JEFF
Your fathers Noah Lyman?
JOSH
Yeah.
JEFF
I met him. Hes a wonderful man. How is he?
JOSH
He died.
JEFF
Im sorry. When?
JOSH
The night of the Illinois primary.
JEFF
Im sorry.
JOSH
Thanks. Listen. I just got this handed to me last night, so Im not as up to speed as
Id like.
JEFF
A couple of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have a problem with me.
JOSH
Stadler.
JEFF
Also probably Wachtel and Tellison.
JOSH
Probably.
JEFF
Any specific problem or they just dont like me on spec?
JOSH
No.
[laughs a little] There's a book coming out by Otis Hastings called The Unpaid Debt.
Hastings position is that African Americans are owed monetary reparations for slavery.
JEFF
Yes.
JOSH
Youre quoted on the back jacket.
JEFF
Yes.
JOSH looks at the book on his desk.
JOSH
You wrote, "Otis Hastings is a unique and extraordinary historian. This book should be
read by everyone and burned into the minds of white America."
JEFF
Yes.
JOSH
Just to start, you weren't misquoted right?
JEFF
No.
JOSH
Okay. And Im assuming that if asked by the Committee, youll say that you favor
reparations?
JEFF
If asked, Ill tell the Committee that my fathers fathers were kidnapped outside a
village called Wimbabwa, brought to New Guinea, sold to a slave trader from Boston
and bought by a plantation owner in Wadsworth, South Carolina, where they worked
for no wages.
JOSH
And youre looking for back pay?
JEFF
Yes.
JOSH
Just out of curiosity did you have a figure in mind?
JEFF
Dr. Harold Washington, whos chief economist at the Manchester Institute, calculated
the number of slaves held, multiplied it by the number of hours worked, multiplied that
by the market value of manual labor and came up with a very conservative figure.
JOSH
What is it?
JEFF
1.7 trillion dollars.
Josh was taking a sip of coffee that hes now having a hard time swallowing.
JOSH
Okay. Listen, this is probably a better discussion to have in the abstract, dont you
think?
JEFF
No.
JOSH
What do you mean?
JEFF
I mean someone owes me and my friends 1.7 trillion dollars.
--------------
CUT TO: INT. JOSHS OFFICE - DAY
Josh and Jeff are still in their meeting.
JEFF
Special Field Order Number 15.
JOSH
What? [sits back at his desk with another cup of coffee]
JEFF
Im saying slavery reparations arent anything new. January 16th, 1865, General Sherman
issued Special Field Order Number 15. Nearly a half million acres from South Carolina
to Florida were divided up into 40 acre plots and given to newly freed slaves. He also
granted them the use of various decommissioned army supplies including
JOSH
Mules.
JEFF
Yes.
JOSH
40 acres and a mule.
JEFF
Yes. But the order was rescinded four years later by Andrew Johnson. In the 60s, during
the Newark riots, you could hear the looters shouting, "That was my 40 acres, Ill be
back for the mule." [drinks coffee]
JOSH
Catchy.
JEFF
See, if you guys had just paid up on time
JOSH
A lesson well learned. But lets talk about your confirmation.
JEFF
Absolutely.
JOSH
And while were on the subject of the Civil War, lets remember the 600,000 white men
who died over the issue of slavery.
JEFF
Is that why they died?
JOSH
Its why a lot of them died, Jeff. And theres no other place and time in recorded
history where an event like that has occurred. So lets leave it at that and
move on.
JEFF
Okay.
JOSH
Except to say this
JEFF
What?
JOSH
Nothing.
JEFF
What?
JOSH
Lets move on.
------
CUT TO: INT. JOSHS OFFICE - DAY
Jeff and Josh are still in the meeting. Jeff is pacing, Josh is sitting with his feet
on his desk.
JEFF
How bout the Japanese?
JOSH
I knew you were going to bring up the Japanese.
JEFF
We gave 1.2 billion to Japanese Americans who were in internment camps.
JOSH
They were actually in internment camps. Bring me a living slave and then you've got a case.
JEFF
I think Ive got a case without the living slave, but Im just a civil rights expert,
so what do I know?
JOSH
Jeff, the committee is going to be looking for a certain degree of practicality. We dont
have $1.7 trillion. To raise $1.7 trillion, we would have to sell Texas and the U.S. Navy.
JEFF
I understand the predicament and Im willing to give you a break. Well take our money
in tax deductions and scholarship funds, how bout that?
JOSH
How about you take it in affirmative action and empowerment zones and civil rights acts?
JEFF
Three things which we wouldn't have needed in the first place.
JOSH
[stands, getting ticked] You know, Jeff Id love to give you the money, I really
would. But Im a little short of cash right now. It seems the S.S. officer forgot to
give my grandfather his wallet back when he let him out of Birkenau.
JEFF
Well, your beefs with the Germans.
JOSH
Youre damn right it is!
Josh pauses and looks at his fathers picture in the wall.
JOSH
What the hell are we talking about?
He sits back down again. So does Jeff.
JEFF
We have laws in this country. You break them, you pay your fine. You break Gods laws,
thats a different story. You cant kidnap a civilization and sell them into slavery.
No amount of money will make up for it, and all you have to do is look, 200 years later,
at race relations in this country.
JOSH
Yes.
JEFF
No amount of money will make up for it.
JOSH
Yes.
JEFF
You got a dollar?
JOSH
Yeah.
JEFF
Take it out. Look at the back.
Josh does.
JEFF
The seal, the pyramid, its unfinished. With the eye of God looking over it. And the
words Annuit Coeptis. He, God, Favors our Undertaking. The seal is meant to be
unfinished, because this countrys meant to be unfinished. Were meant to keep doing
better. Were meant to keep discussing and debating and were meant to read books by
great historical scholars and then talk about them, which is why I lent my name to a
dust cover. I want to be your Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. Ill do an
outstanding job for all people in this country. You got any problem with me saying all
that to the committee?
JOSH
No.
JEFF
Good. You hungry?
JOSH
Yeah.
JEFF
Let me buy you lunch.
JOSH
Yeah, okay. [stands] Hey, Jeff.
JEFF
Yeah.
They put on their coats.
JOSH
Theres going to be a lot of these meetings before your confirmation. Why dont you let
me get lunch this time, you get it next time?
JEFF
Yeah, okay.
JOSH
Hey Suzanne.
Josh and Jeff walk out the door.
-----
Full script
https://communicationsoffice.tripod.com/1-18.txt
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