Derek Vinyard quotes from American History X (1998)

Derek Vinyard

Weed is for ****. Put that away right now, have a little self-respect.

Derek Vinyard

Every night, thousands of these parasites stream across the border like some **** piñata exploded. [the skinheads laugh] Don't laugh! There's nothin' funny goin' on here! [the skinheads immediately quiet down] this is about your life and mine, it's about decent hard working Americans falling through the cracks and getting the shaft because their government cares more about the constitutional rights of a bunch of people who arent even citizens of this country, On the Statue of Liberty it says "give me your tired your hungry, your poor..." well it's Americans who are tired and hungry and poor, and I say until you take care of that, close the **** book! 'Cause we're losing, we're losing our right to pursue our destiny, we're losing our freedom, so that a bunch of **** foreigners can come in here and exploit our country, and this isn't something thats going on far away, this isn't something thats happening places we cant do anything about it, it's happening right here, right in our neighborhood, right in that building behind you..Archie Miller ran that grocery store since we were kids here..Dave worked there Mike worked there..he went under and now some ****in Korean owns it who fired these guys and is making a killing cause he hired 40 ****in border jumpers..i see this shit going on and I dont see anyone doing anything about it...and it ****in pisses me off!! So look around you,this isn't our ****in neighborhood this is a battlefield we are on a battlefield tonight..make a decision are we gonna stand by the sidelines quietly standing while our country gets raped? "(the skinheads yell) **** no!!" are we gonna ante-up and do something about it? "(skinheads yell) **** YEAHH!!!!" you're goddamn right we are!!

Derek Vinyard

One in every three black males is in some phase of the correctional system. Is that a coincidence or do these people have, you know, like a racial commitment to crime?

Derek Vinyard

Oh it doesn't? You don't think I see what you're trying to do here? You think I'm gonna sit here and smile while some ****in' **** tries to **** my mother? It's never gonna happen Murray, ****in' forget it, not on my watch, not while I'm still in this family. I will ****in' cut your Sh**ock nose off and stick it up your ass before I let that happen. Coming here and poison my family's dinner with your Jewish, N****r-lovin', hippie bullshit. **** you! **** you! Yeah, walk out, asshole, ****in' Kabalah reading mother****er. Get the **** out of my house. [showing his tattoo of a swastika] DO YOU SEE THIS!? THIS MEANS NOT WELCOME!

Derek Vinyard

We're so hung up on this notion that we have some obligation to help the struggling black man, you know. Cut him some slack until he can overcome these historical injustices. It's crap. I mean, Christ, Lincoln freed the slaves, like, what? 130 years ago. How long does it take to get your act together?

Derek Vinyard

Hey! I gotta bet..I come in this game right now same score but we play black guys against the white guys. "(black guys laugh)Name your price c***ker" No money, no money for these courts and not just today for good. If you win we will walk outta here but if we win..no bitching, no fighting, right here in front of everybody you pack up your shit and get your black asses outta here

Derek Vinyard

Don't you know it's against the law to hire **** border jumpers, you nip bastard?!

Earlier today, L.A. County firefighter Dennis Vinyard was shot and killed battling a blaze at a suspected Compton drug den. We're at the Vinyard home now, and Lieutenant Vinyard's oldest son Derek has agreed to talk with us for a moment. Derek, if you could come down here, please, for a second. Look, I know this is tough, but how do you feel right now?

How do you think I feel? I think it's typical.

Typical how?

Derek Vinyard

Well, this country's becoming a haven for criminals, so what do you expect? Decent hard-working Americans like my dad are getting rubbed out by social parasites.

Parasites?

Derek Vinyard

Blacks, browns, yellow, whatever.

I don't understand. You think maybe your father's murder was race-related?

Derek Vinyard

Yeah, it's race-related! Every problem in this country is race-related! Not just crime...it's immigration, AIDS, welfare! Those are problems of the black community, the Hispanic community, the Asian community! They're not white problems!

Aren't those really issues that deal more with poverty?

Derek Vinyard

No! They're not products of their environments! That's crap! Minorities don't give two shits about this country! They come here to exploit it, not to embrace it!

What does this have to do with the--

Derek Vinyard

Millions of white Europeans came here and flourished within a generation! What the **** is the matter with these people? They have to go around...shooting at firemen!

What does this have to do with the murder of your father?

Derek Vinyard

Because my father was murdered doing his job!! Putting out a fire in a **** **** neighborhood he shouldn't have given a shit about! He got shot by a **** drug dealer who probably still collects a welfare check!

Doris Vinyard

Honey, that's enough.

So what is this "Native Son" ?

Derek Vinyard

It's this book about this black guy. We're doing this whole black literature unit.

What, is it Black History Month?

Derek Vinyard

No, it's just this guy Sweeney, you know? It's part of the course now.

Yeah...whatever. It's everywhere I look now.

Derek Vinyard

What?

This "affirmative blaction."

Doris Vinyard

Honey, a few new books doesn't qualify as affirmative black action.

Read the book, ace the guy's test...just don't swallow everything he feeds you whole. Just because you see it on the evening news...

Derek Vinyard

I know, but what?

All this stuff about making everything "equal..." it's not that simple. Now you've got this book "Native Son." What happened to the other books in the course? They're not good anymore because Mr. Two Ph.Ds says so? Now you got to trade great books for black books? Does that make sense? You gotta question these things, Der. You gotta look at the whole picture. We're talking about books...but we're also talking about my job. I've got two black guys on my squad now who got their job over a couple of white guys who actually scored higher on the test. Does that make sense? Everything's "equal" now, but I've got two guys watching my back...responsible for my life...who aren't as good. They only got the job because they were black, not because they were the best.

Derek Vinyard

That sucks.

Yeah, is that what America's about? No, America's about the best man for the job. You do your best, you get the job. This affirmative action crap--I don't know what that's about. There's like some hidden agenda or something going on. You see what I'm saying?

Derek Vinyard

Yeah, I do. I didn't think about it like that...This Sweeney guy though, he just comes on so strong. It's hard not to listen to him. I guess some of what he says though, it's kind of--

It's bullshit.

Derek Vinyard

Yeah...yeah, maybe.

No. It's **** bullshit. You see that, don't you?

Derek Vinyard

Yeah.

You got to watch out for that.

Derek Vinyard

Yeah. No, I get what you're saying. I will.

Good boy. I'm proud of you.

Bob Sweeney

There was a moment..like this. when I used to blame everything and everyone... for all the pain and suffering and vile things that happened to me, that I saw happen to my people. Used to blame everybody. Blamed white people, blamed society, blamed God. I didn't get no answers 'cause I was asking the wrong questions. You have to ask the right questions.

Derek Vinyard

Like what?

Bob Sweeney

Has anything you've done made your life better?

Murray

What are you doing Derek? This is your family.

Derek Vinyard

Right, my family, my family, so you know what? I don't give two shits about you or anybody else or what they think. You're not a part of it and you never will be.

Murray

That has nothing to do with it!

Derek Vinyard

Oh it doesn't? You don't think I see what you're trying to do here? You think I'm gonna sit here and smile while some **** **** tries to **** my mother? It's never gonna happen Murray, **** forget it, not on my watch, not while I'm still in this family. I will **** cut your Shylock nose off and stick it up your ass before I let that happen. Coming here and poison my family's dinner with your Jewish, ****-loving, hippie bullshit. **** you! **** you! Yeah, walk out, asshole, **** Cabala reading mother****er. Get the **** out of my house.[flashes swastica tattoo] see this, this means not welcome.

Derek Vinyard

****, you just **** with the wrong bull. You should've learned your lesson on the ****in' basketball court. But you ****in' monkey's never get the message. My father gave me that truck you mother****er! You ever shoot at fireman? You come here and shoot at my family? I'm gonna teach you a real lesson now mother****er. Put your ****in' mouth on the curb.

Lawrence

Come on man.

Derek Vinyard

Put it on the curb right now!

Derek, no!

Derek Vinyard

Now say good night.
[Derek stomps Lawrence's head into the curb]

Lamont

'Sup, man? You getting outta here? Well, c'mon man! What the **** you waiting on?

Derek Vinyard

Yeah, you know, I got this funny feeling.

Lamont

Oh yeah? What's that?

Derek Vinyard

I'm thinking the only reason I'm getting outta here in one piece is you.

Lamont

C'mon man! Get the **** outta here, man! You think I'm gonna put my neck on the line for some crazy-ass peckerwood?

Derek Vinyard

Yeah, right. Stupid.

Derek Vinyard

That's what I thought. I owe you, man.

Lamont

Man, you owe me shit, a'ight?

Derek Vinyard

Yes, I do.

Derek Vinyard

You'll be outta here in no time.

Lamont

C'mon man, it's a piece of cake, a'ight? You just take it easy on the brothers, a'ight? The brothers!

I'm sorry, Derek. I'm sorry that happened to you.

Derek Vinyard

I'm not. I'm lucky. I feel lucky because it's wrong, Danny. It's wrong and it was eating me up, it was going to kill me. And I kept asking myself all the time, how did I buy into this shit? It was because I was pissed off, and nothing I ever did ever took that feeling away. I killed two guys, Danny, I killed them. And it didn't make me feel any different. It just got me more lost and I'm tired of being pissed off, Danny. I'm just tired of it.

Cameron

You made the fat kid a little nervous. He thinks the joint messed with your mind.

Derek Vinyard

It did.

Cameron

Alright, This is stupid. I'm done. You go cool off, get laid, do something, get your head on straight. Then I'll talk to you.

Derek Vinyard

Yeah, but it doesn't even really matter if I don't, does it? 'Cause you got the next crop already lined up and ready to go you ****in' chicken hawk!

Cameron

Excuse me?

Derek Vinyard

You prey on people Cam. You use 'em. I lost three years of my life for your ****in' phony cause, but I'm onto you now you ****in' snake.

Cameron

Hey, Derek, watch it, watch it. Be careful, remember where you are this is not some ****in' country club where you can waltz in and outta here as you choose...

Derek Vinyard

Shut up! Shut the **** up, I came here, to tell you one thing, I am out,out, and Danny's out too and if you come near my family again, I'll feed you your **** heart.

Derek Vinyard

We, as society, grant cops a certain amount of authority to make those calls, because we acknowledge that their job is difficult and dangerous! Very few people respect that and respect that authority.

Davina

Look who's talking about respect here, Mr. Junior KKK.

Derek Vinyard

What? I didn't say I respect the laws. I acknowledge a cop's authority.

Cameron

I understand how you feel. I mean, you've just done some hard time and...

Don't you ****in' talk to me about hard time! you don't know a thing about it!

Cameron

Hey, I've done mine.

You didn't do shit! I found out about your little prison story. You did two months and then you rolled over on two kids and let them go down for you, so don't feed me your **** lies, Cameron.

Cameron

Alright, this is stupid. I'm done. You go cool off, get laid, do something. Get your head on straight, then I'll talk to you.

Derek Vinyard

Yeah, but it doesn't even really matter if I don't, does it? 'Cause you got the next crop all lined up and ready to go, you ****in' chicken hawk!

Cameron

Excuse me?

Derek Vinyard

You prey on people, Cam! You use 'em! I lost three years of my life for your ****in' phony cause, but I am onto you now, you ****in' snake!

Cameron

Hey, Derek, watch it. Be careful. Remember where you are. This is not some ****in' country club where you can waltz in and outta here as you choose...

Derek Vinyard

Shut up! Shut the **** up! I came in here to tell you one thing, I am out! OUT! And Danny is out, too. And if you come near my family again, I'm gonna **** kill you!

Cameron

Well, excuse me, but **** you, Derek. You can't come barking threats at *me*. Look, you can do whatever you want, but Danny is a good kid. He's not some whiny pussy like you. He needs my help and I'm going to give it to him.

Derek Vinyard

If you come near Danny again, I will feed you your **** heart, Cameron.

Cameron

I won't have to. He'll come to me. I'm more important to him now than you'll ever be.

Derek Vinyard

Shit!

Cameron

You're a **** dead man, Vinyard.