- Sam Cooke: Everybody talks about they wantin' a piece of the pie, well I don't. I want the goddamn recipe.
- Jim Brown: Say man, do you have any regrets, you know, hitchin' your cart to the Muslim train?
- Jamaal: Yeah, yes I think you could say I do.
- Jim Brown: Really.
- Jamaal: I regret that I didn't join when I was younger. This kid named Rollis used to chase me on the way home every damned day on the way. That's the reason I stopped goin'. I reckon if I'd've gotten with the bothers sooner, we could have nipped it in the bud and put our foot in Rollin's ass, know what I'm sayin'?
- Jim Brown: Yeah, but you don't need a religion for that. Kid, you could have just joined a gang.
- Jamaal: What's the difference?
- Cassius Clay: Power just means a world where we're safe to be ourselves. To look like we want. To think like we want. Without having to answer to anybody for it.
- Angelo Dundee: [between rounds in the ring] Finish him off!
- Cassius Clay: I'll finish him off when I'm good and ready. I told you he was ugly, you should see him up close, MAN he's ugly!
- Jim Brown: [regarding the ice cream in the motel room] Well, what flavor is it?
- Malcolm X: Well, we have vanilla, Jimmy...
- [pulls a second carton out of the freezer]
- Malcolm X: ...and vanilla.
- Jim Brown: Shit.
- Sam Cooke: How's that for irony?
- Malcolm X: Last time I checked, Brother Sam, vanilla was your flavor of choice.
- Malcolm X: What kind of message are you sending, though, by doing one show for white folks and a completely different show for black folks, Sam?
- Sam Cooke: [laughing in contempt] Ha.
- Malcolm X: No, listen to me, you're performing in places where the only black people not on stage are the ones serving the food.
- Sam Cooke: Don't you think I know that? I can't tell you how many times I wanted to reach out and punch somebody.
- Malcolm X: Then, then, then, then strike with the weapon that you have, man: your voice! Black people, we, we standing up! We, we speaking out!
- Sam Cooke: Umm hm.
- Malcolm X: Sam, you have possibly one of the most effective, beautiful outlets of us all. You're not using it to help the cause, brother
- Sam Cooke: The hell I'm not! I got the masters to my songs. I started a label, I'm producing tons of black artists. Don't you think my determining my own creative and business destiny is every bit as inspiring to people as you standing up on a podium trying to piss 'em off?
- Sam Cooke: Everybody talks about wantin' a piece of the pie, well I don't. I want the goddamn recipie!
- Malcolm X: [Quoting Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind"] 'How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?'
- Sam Cooke: But you still obey them, so when they tell you to come out here to recruit Cassius to become a member of some...
- Malcolm X: I didn't make Cassius do anything! He came to me for insight, he had questions. His passion for Islam come from a pure...
- Cassius Clay: Passion... is kind of a strong word.
- Jim Brown: Say man, do you have any regrets, you know, hitchin' your cart to the Muslim train?
- Jamaal: Yeah, yes I think you could say I do.
- Jim Brown: Really.
- Jamaal: I regret that I didn't join when I was younger. This kid named Rollis used to chase me on the way home every damned day. That's the reason I stopped goin'. I reckon if I'd've gotten with the bothers sooner, we could have nipped it in the bud and put our foot in Rollin's ass, know what I'm sayin'?
- Jim Brown: Yeah, but you don't need a religion for that. Kid, you could have just joined a gang.
- Jamaal: What's the difference?
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