Agent Rupert Anderson quotes from Mississippi Burning (1988)

Ward

Some things are worth dying for.

Anderson

Down here, things are different; here, they believe that some things are worth killing for.

Ward

Where does it come from, all this hatred?

Anderson

You know, when I was a little boy, there was an old Negro farmer lived down the road from us, name of Monroe. And he was, uh, - well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my Daddy was. He bought himself a mule. That was a big deal around that town. Now, my Daddy hated that mule, 'cause his friends were always kiddin' him about oh, they saw Monroe out plowin' with his new mule, and Monroe was gonna rent another field now they had a mule. And one morning that mule just showed up dead. They poisoned the water. And after that there was never any mention about that mule around my Daddy. It just never came up. So one time, we were drivin' down the road and we passed Monroe's place and we saw it was empty. He'd just packed up and left, I guess. Gone up North, or somethin'. I looked over at my Daddy's face - and I knew he'd done it. And he saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and he said: 'If you ain't better than a ****, son, who are you better than?'

Ward

And you think that's an excuse?

Anderson

No, it's not an excuse, it's just a story about my daddy.

Ward

Where's that leave you?

Anderson

With an old man who was just so full of hate that he didn't know that bein' poor was what was killin' him.

Mayor Tilman

Fact is, we got two cultures down here: a white culture, and a colored culture. Now, that's the way it always has been, and that's the way it always will be.

Anderson

Rest of America don't see it that way, Mr. Mayor.

Sheriff Ray Stuckey

Rest of America don't mean jack shit. You in Mississippi now.

Anderson

You know, if I were a Negro, I'd probably think the same way they do.

Ward

If you were a Negro, nobody would give a damn what you thought.

Sheriff Ray Stuckey

Do you like baseball, do you, Anderson?

Anderson

Yeah, I do. You know, it's the only time when a black man can wave a stick at a white man and not start a riot.

Frank Bailey

Now you listen here, you cornholin' ****er. You tell your ****-loving **** bosses that they ain't never gonna find those civil rightsers! So you might as well pack up and go back where you came from and...

Anderson

Now you listen here, Shitkicker! Don't you go confusin' me with some whole other body. You must be thinkin' with your dick if you think we're gonna just walk away from this. We're gonna stay 'till this gets done. [after opening his coat and exposing his gun he turns to Deputy Pell] How 'bout you, Deputy. That gun of yours just for show or do you get to shoot people once in a while? [Releases his grip on Bailey, then takes a swig of beer] Thanks for the beer.

Ward

Just don't lose sight of whose rights are being violated!

Anderson

Don't put me on your perch, Mr. Ward.

Ward

Don't drag me into your gutter, Mr. Anderson!

Anderson

These people are crawling out of the SEWER, MR. WARD! Maybe the gutter's where we outta be!

It's not good for you to be here.

Anderson

Why?

It's ugly. This whole thing is so ugly. Have you any idea what it's like to live with all this? People look at us and only see bigots and racists. Hatred isn't something you're born with. It gets taught. At school, they said segregation what's said in the Bible... Genesis 9, Verse 27. At 7 years of age, you get told it enough times, you believe it. You believe the hatred. You live it... you breathe it. You marry it.

Anderson

Nice to be back in a dry county. When I was Sheriff, about half my take-home pay was from collectin' taxes on illegal juice like this, probably works the same here. I think you'd haul in a tidy penny here, winkin' at the bootleggers.

Deputy Sheriff Clinton Pell

I don't know nothin' 'bout that.

Anderson

Yeah. Tidy penny. [takes a drink; holds up the beer] You got anything stronger than this, Deputy?

No. No, we ain't.

Anderson

No? You know in Thornton, Mississippi there's a joint-juice still in every yard. Well, all you need is some corn and sugar, and a pot to boil it in. I tried takin' the prints on this old boy one time, and he'd had his hand in the mash barrel, all his life. Well, there's no skin at all on there, there's no prints.

Deputy Sheriff Clinton Pell

We ain't too interested in your good ol' Mississippi boy stories, Anderson; you ain't from here no more. Why'd you leave, anyway?

Anderson

Just wanted a change of scenery. The grits started leavin' a bad taste in my mouth.

Frank Bailey

Well, if that's how you feel about it, Mr. FBI Man, why don't you drink up that beer and get the hell on outta here, get back to your ****-commie-lovin' bosses up North?

Anderson

You must not know my boss. Mr. Hoover? He's not too fond of commies. He'd be on your side there.

Frank Bailey

I don't give two shits whose side your Mr. Hoover's on, boy. All I know is we got 5,000 **** in this county and we ain't registered a vote yet. So you can tell your stiff-suits up there in DC that they ain't gonna change us one bit. 'Less it's over my dead body. Or a lot of dead ****.

Anderson

You'd kill, Frank? Is that what you're sayin'?

Frank Bailey

I wouldn't give it no more thought than wringin' a cat's neck. And there ain't a court in Mississippi that'd convict me for it.

Anderson

How 'bout you, Deputy? How're you with wringin' necks, huh?

Just keep pushin' me, Hoover boy.

Frank Bailey

Now you listen here, you cornholin' ****er. You tell your ****-loving **** bosses that they ain't never gonna find those civil rightsers! So you might as well pack up your bags and get your ass on back up North where you belong, boy-

Anderson

Now you listen here, shitkicker! Don't you go confusin' me with some whole other body. You got your brains in your dick if you think we're just gonna fade away- we're gonna be here 'til this thing is finished. [after opening his coat and exposing his gun he turns to Deputy Pell] How 'bout you, Deputy? That gun of yours just for show, or do you get to shoot people once in a while? [Releases his grip on Bailey, who collapses to the floor, then takes a swig of beer] Thanks for the beer.

Ward

The whole thing, huh? Bullet by bullet. I don't suppose you're interested in words like coercion, or hearsay, or duress. This is no good in court.

Anderson

We're not in court, Mr. Ward. That's a state charge. These hayseeds will never prosecute.

Ward

I know that!

Anderson

Well, we gotta get 'em in federal court! Violation of civil rights.

Ward

Just don't lose sight of whose rights you're violating!

Anderson

Don't put me on your perch, Mr. Ward.

Ward

Don't drag me into your gutter, Mr. Anderson!

Anderson

These people crawled out of the SEWER, MR. WARD! Maybe the gutter's where we should be!