Race by David Mamet

the fuckin’ world . Does this immigrant . Suddenly; “get the idea” to remember the sequins. And go to the cops? The fucking cops are “la migra.” (Pause) The prosecution? Thought of it? They? “Suggested” her? They “planted the idea.” I’ll take her apart. On the Stand? I’ll fucking murder her. Okay. We need:
    HENRY : . . . the prosecution . . .
    JACK : We need her deposition . . . Her . . .
    HENRY : The prosecution didn’t “suggest” her.
    JACK : Then where does she suddenly “get the idea”?
    HENRY : Did you mind that I sent Susan for the briefcase?
    JACK : I don’t understand why you need it.
    HENRY : I don’t need it.
    JACK : Then why did you send her away?
    (Pause.)
    HENRY : Pretty girl.
    JACK : Why’d you send her away?
    HENRY : Well, I wanted to talk to you alone.
    (Pause.)
    JACK : Why?
    HENRY : Because she sold us out.
    (Pause.)
    JACK : The girl sold us out.
    HENRY : That is correct.

    JACK : How do you know that? (Pause) “Because she’s black?”
    HENRY : No. Because I’m black. And I am not affected, by her bullshit.
    JACK : And I am?
    HENRY : What the girl has been doing in this office, do you see, Jack, is the postmodern equivalent of a “nigger” act. For the right response, when you ask her to put on the dress, is not, “Fuck you, whitey ,” but, “I’d rather not, and thank you for the job.” With a white man you would see that, white woman you might see it, black woman, you’re blind as a bat.
    JACK : Is that so?
    HENRY : You bet your life it is.
    JACK : And why is that?
    HENRY : ’Cause you’re guilty?
    JACK : What am I guilty about? “Slavery”?
    HENRY : No, you weren’t here for slavery.
    JACK : Then why am I guilty?
    HENRY : All people are guilty. Didn’t you say that? And she exploited it. And, plus why the fuck shouldn’t she put on the dress? Is she a member of this firm? I told you, Day One , not to hire this girl. Day one .
    JACK : . . . yes you did . . .
    HENRY : And you overrode my suggestion.
    JACK : You went along with it.
    HENRY : I was wrong.
    JACK : What should you have done?
    HENRY : I should have told you, “You’re a fool.”
    (Pause.)
    JACK : I was concerned . . .
    HENRY : . . . I’m listening.
    JACK : That with her record . . .
    HENRY : . . . alright.
    JACK : With her credentials . . .
    HENRY : You were concerned she’d sue us. If we turned her down.
    JACK : Well, you know what, yes, I was .

    HENRY : And now look what she’s done. The girl, do you see, black or white, doesn’t make a difference, she’s trouble . . .
    JACK : And you knew that on Day One.
    HENRY : Her thesis , Jack, in college . Her college thesis was on . . . (Takes a paper and reads) “Structural Survivals of Racism in Supposedly Bias-free Transactions.” Quote. “The nexus of oppression is ineluctable. Even the consciousness of the oppressor, indeed, this consciousness least of all, is capable of expunging from his acts and utterances the dialectic of dominance.” (Pause) You think, Jacky, you are immune. Because you understand the problem. What you don’t see, is, that, to her, you are the problem. And you’re so fucking proud of yourself. For not making a pass at her, for “respecting” her as a “human being,” that you do not see, this ungrateful little girl, looking at me, and, in her eyes, “where is your watermelon .” While her privileged, Affirmative Action self is here on a pass, Jack, on a motherfucking pass. Which you gave her. However smart she is. (Pause) I would be mortified, to go through life, thinking that I’d received a dispensation because of my race. And I am ashamed of her that she is not. (Pause) And she sold us out. Because of the Race of our client. Who is innocent. (Pause) That’s all.
    JACK : “She sold us out”?
    HENRY : She called the