Look What You've Done Lyrics > Ragtime

WOMEN AT VIGIL
A day of peace.
A day of pride.
A day of justice.
We have been denied.
Let the new day dawn,
Oh, Lord, I pray!

WHITMAN
Mr. Walker. This is This is District Attorney Charles S. Whitman.
Do you hear me? I have Fire Chief Willie
Conklin with me. He is restoring your car. Will you come out, sir?

WILLIE CONKLIN
You gonna let me be a martyr!

WHITMAN
Mr. Conklin will receive due process. You both will.

MORGAN
How much longer are you going to stand for this?
Give him his car and then hang the savage!

WHITMAN
I'm doing my best, Mr. Morgan.

CONKLIN
This is a conspiracy of nigger lovers, that's all it is.

FATHER
Sir, if I might suggest.

WHITMAN
Who the hell are you?

FATHER
You sent for me. I know Mr.
Walker and I believe there's one man he'll listen to.
Mr. Booker T. Washington.

VIGIL WOMEN
Justice! Ah!


BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
For the sum of my life I have lived in hope we might all be Christian brothers.
I have worked to persuade every white-skinned man
that he need not fear our race.
What has your selfish recklessness cost us,we who
work so hard to still the white man's hate.
Look what you've done.

VIGIL WOMEN
Day of peace...Day of pride...
Justice! Justice!

WHITMAN
You are surrounded by militia. they are cutting off your water even as I speak.

J.P. MORGAN
Four Shakespeare folios! A Gutenberg bible on vellum.
The treasures of civilization are at stake!
You've got to do something!

WILLIE CONKLIN
White people should be grateful for what I done!

EMMA GOLDMAN
I deplore the taking of human life, nut I applaud Mr.
Walker's capture of the Morgan library.
His actions speak for all oppressed people.
It is the cry of revolution.

VIGIL WOMEN
Justice!

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
With guns and dynamite, you are destroying everything I have fought for, sir.

COALHOUSE
Despite the respect I have for you, Mr. Washington, you have come in vain.

WASHINGTON
Had you been ignorant of the tragic struggle of our people,
I could have pitied you this adventure.
But you are a trained musician, an educated man.

COALHOUSE
It is true, sir.
But I hope that I might suggest to you the solemn calculation of my mind.
We are both men of colour who insist on the truth of our manhood,
and the respect it demands!

MEN, FATHER: Hours passing by and not a sign from Coalhouse!
Hours passing by, the situation hopeless!
Hours passing by...Hours passing by...

WOMEN
Hours passing by and not a sign from Coalhouse!
Hours passing by, the situation hopeless! Hours passing by...

WASHINGTON
Your situation is hopeless.
And you will be responsible for the death of these young men.

COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #1
Don't listen to him, Coalhouse.

COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #2
They're using him to get to you.

COALHOUSE FOLLOWER #3
We're not giving up.

WASHINGTON
And you dare to teach your lessons
To these wild, unthinking youths.
Yet your own son, you abandon
To be raised on white men's truths.
Look what you've done.
Think of your son.

SARAH (offstage)
Oooh...

WASHINGTON
Is this the legacy you would bestow upon him?
Are these the shoulders you would have him stand upon?
Let him be the son of a man who had the courage to tell the truth in a court of law.
Make your case, and if the verdict is death, go to it proudly,
knowing that you have been heard.
The truth is all. If you do this, you
will have the thanks and respect of every decent man of colour
and of all those children of our race whose way is hard and whose journey is long.
Think of your son.

COALHOUSE
I would need a hostage and safe passage for my men.

WASHINGTON
It is done.

YOUNGER BROTHER
You can't change your demands. You are betraying us.
You said we would all go free or we all would die!

COALHOUSE
And the promise of a fair trial.

YOUNGER BROTHER
No!

WASHINGTON
You have my word. I am their mediator, sir, not their fool.

COALHOUSE
Then they will see me come out with my hands raised,
and no further harm will come to any man from Coalhouse Walker, Jr.

WASHINGTON
God bless you sir.

FOLLOWER #1
You said we'd fight to the finish.

FOLLOWER #2
Yeah, you can go out there, man. We ain't.

FOLLOWER #3
We're all ready to die as Coalhouse.

FOLLOWER
Push the plunger! Blow it all up!

COALHOUSE
I will not trade your precious lives for anything in this world.

YOUNGER BROTHER
Is a goddamn Model T your justice then?

COALHOUSE
Is your execution yours?

FATHER
Coalhouse. Mr. Coalhouse Walker, Jr. It is I, sir, the hostage you demanded.

FATHER
Your car is ready, Mr. Walker. I think you will be satisfied.

FATHER
You!

YOUNGER BROTHER
Yes.

FATHER
I myself require nothing from you.
But don't you feel your sister deserves an explanation?

YOUNGER BROTHER
You may tell my sister that she will always be in my thoughts.
You may tell her that I have always loved and admired her.

COALHOUSE
Are you ready?

FOLLOWER
We're not going. You've lost, Coalhouse. We've all lost.

COALHOUSE
I don't believe that.

[Thanks to Stephanie Safko for lyrics]
Last Update: December, 05th 2013