The Falconer

RODNEY STOTTS: Tragedy strikes everyone.

It's what you do with it that determines where you're gonna end up the rest of your life.

NATASHA DEL TORO: As a teenager, Rodney Stotts led a life on the streets.

♪ Now Stotts is a master falconer who rescues and trains wild birds of prey.

RODNEY: The best classroom in the world is nature.

This is my passion, this is what saved me.

DEL TORO: "The Falconer," on America ReFramed.

♪ (insects chirping) (bird chirps) (softly): Hold still, hold still-- eat your food.

Hold still.

Hold still.

Let's do it this way.

(bird chirping) (softly): I know, buddy.

(bird chirping) That's one down.

(bird chirping) Hold still, buddy.

I got you.

I got you... let's get this off you.

(bird chirping) All right, man, nice and full?

Hm?

Enjoy life, buddy.

Whoa.

(man vocalizing) ("True Reflections" by Jah Cure playing) (singing along): ♪ Behind these prison walls ♪ Doing my paces ♪ Doing my time ♪ I'm spending my restless nights ♪ ♪ Envisioning faces ♪ Oh, they all cry, cry ♪ Impossible to see the changes ♪ ♪ That I've made in my life ♪ All they see is just ♪ The boy they left behind ♪ And I swear that I can be a better man ♪ ♪ Yes, I swear if only ♪ You could understand ♪ The faith in me shall set me free-- reflection ♪ ♪ RODNEY: The city actually leased us this property up here which has a 100-year-old dairy barn that we're actually converting into a raptor sanctuary to teach inner-city youth raptor education.

I'm also a licensed falconer, so I want to teach inner-city youth falconry, which gives the young people something to do, not standing out on a corner getting themselves in trouble, because you have a bird to take care of.

♪ MALE CADET: Left, left, right... Left, pick it up your left.

MALE SQUAD: Hey!

MALE CADET: Left, right, your left.

MALE SQUAD: You got it!

FEMALE CADET: Down the avenue.

FEMALE SQUAD: Marching down the avenue.

FEMALE CADET: A few more months and we'll be through.

FEMALE SQUAD: Few more weeks and we'll be through.

(voices fade) RAYNALD BLACKWELL: Good afternoon, everybody.

CADETS: Good afternoon, sir.

BLACKWELL: This is a, a great opportunity for all of us-- we have a gentleman here, a resident of the District of Columbia.

Rodney is one of only 25 Black falconeers.

How many of you know what a falconeer is?

You know what a falcon-- what is it?

It's when you let the bird go and it come back to your hand.

BLACKWELL: That's pretty, that's good, good.

How many people afraid of birds?

Don't be afraid.

They're not gonna harm you, okay?

Just focus, ask questions, try to learn something, okay?

(applause) RODNEY: Good afternoon, everyone, my name is Rodney Stotts.

I'm a licensed falconer, which mean I have the right to possess, own, trap, and train wild birds of prey.

I started out just like you guys, man, just running the streets and doing a lot of unnecessary nonsense, got myself in a lot of trouble.

Ended up going to 33 funerals in one year, and 20 of those funerals were people who never reached 18 years old.

This is not a job for me-- this is my passion, this is what saved me, because there's no way that I should still be here.

When I was shot, I was told I wasn't going to make it.

I asked God to help me-- He helped me.

So this is what I ended up doing, to be able to give back.

(cadets murmuring) ♪ (laughter, chatting) RODNEY: Stretch your arm out like this, all the way out, so he won't hit you.

(nervous chuckle) (chatter) (laughter) I'm just scared, like... (chatter) RODNEY: Touch right here, you'll feel all those mice he just ate.

- What's that?

RODNEY: That's called their crop.

(laughter) CADET: I'm scared.

Oh, I'm scared!

RODNEY: Ball your fist up.

- Hey.

(all laughing) Oh!

RODNEY: Listen, let me show you one thing.

Let me tell you one thing.

CADET: Okay.

RODNEY: If you move your arm, see, if you move, he has to get his balance.

- Uh-huh.

RODNEY: So as long as you stay still, he'll stay still; the moment you move, he's gonna move.

So you're the one who's actually scaring yourself.

♪ ♪ (bird shrieking) (bird shrieking) (Rodney clicking tongue softly) ♪ (object clicks) (Rodney whistles) Stay.

(music playing in background) (kisses) (singing along): ♪ Yeah, yeah ("Give It All You Got" by Beres Hammond playing) ♪ But if tomorrow you wake and find ♪ ♪ Don't you wait until it's too late ♪ ♪ Don't let the horse go through the gate ♪ ♪ Give it all you've got today ♪ RODNEY: When I used to be out on the streets drug dealing... ...it's about that money, money, money.

♪ 18, 19 years old, grown man, it was time for me to get out on my own.

♪ When you're going for an apartment, you have to show where your income comes from.

So I went out job hunting so I can get a pay stub.

(indistinct chatter) Earth Conservation Corps called me back first.

I didn't really know anything about the environment, all the pollution.

Didn't know what to expect.

(indistinct chatter) Lower Beaverdam Creek.

That was the very first project Earth Conservation Corps did.

BOB NIXON: It's really the worst creek certainly in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

It's one of the worst creeks I've ever seen.

I'm a fisherman myself, and once I saw it, I just...

I just said, "We have to clean this up."

MONIQUE JOHNSON: I feel it's sad to see people litter.

You can see all the trash on the streets and wouldn't think that they was in the stream or creeks or whatever.

♪ RODNEY: It was the original nine of us, seven guys, two girls.

It was a different mix of the backgrounds.

Growing up in poverty, drug-infested neighborhoods.

Some were trying to stop living in the street life.

Others was just going through hard times.

♪ BURRELL DUNCAN: My mother said, "Look, you get a job, or you getting the heck out of here."

E.C.C.

happened to call me first.

Here I go, work in the creek.

(laughs) RODNEY: We didn't know each other, so there just was a lot of incidents that brought everybody together.

The first incident, Bennie had sat in the front seat of the van, so Tink walked up and said, "Can I get my seat?"

So I said, "Bennie, we don't have any assigned seats.

Everybody can sit where they wanna sit."

Tink grabbed a 40-pound iron spike and went to stab Bennie because he was sitting in the front seat.

And Burrell jumped out, grabbed him.

He said, "Well, can I hit him with the bat?

Can I hit him with the spike?

Can I hit him with the spike?"

And we were all laughing, and then the next day, when we all got to work, that was the joke of the day.

So it was little things like that that broke the ice with everybody.

(indistinct chatter) Hey, they got barbecue over there, man.

ANTHONY SATTERTHWAITE: I hated Rodney.

I hated how he just thought he knew everything and trying to be the alpha male.

But once we got to work and we got in that creek every day at 8:00, then it was straight work.

RODNEY: ♪ This new millennium slavery ♪ - Where the owl at?

- I told you he's funny.

RODNEY: ♪ I see them hiding the chains ♪ ♪ And still beating us daily ♪ And I'll wait, mentally poising ♪ ♪ To fight with Black skin All right, what we gonna do today?

The best classroom in the world is nature.

My thing is exposure, encouragement.

Grab that log right there.

All right, we're gonna set it right here.

I go back to the community because I know that they've never seen this.

That's one of the reasons that it's most important, 'cause you never know who's your next falconer, who's your next avian specialist.

You never know.

Inch over.

And always with your gloved hand first, get the cord, because that way, if he went to foot at you, he couldn't get your regular hand.

Now you can slide your left hand up over the top of the knot.

Now put your arm underneath of him and start lifting.

See how he step up?

Now you got him.

(owl hoots, MiPrecious mimics) RODNEY: Right there.

There you go.

Now go up, and he'll come up to your hand.

There you go.

MAN: Wow, awesome.

Yay, Javaire!

(Rodney laughs) RODNEY: Now, when you go back down, open your fingers up some and let him step out.

There you go.

(stammers): Because it's him, you all right, and you can have your bare hand in front of him.

But if it's another bird, don't leave your bare hand, because a lot of them do what's called footing, and they'll grab you, and you don't want them to do that.

Different bird, right?

JAVAIRE: Uh-huh, yeah.

This bird is the one that put her talon through my finger and it came out on this side.

- Dang.

So when you see their feathers out like that, that mean they're being defensive.

Your gloved hand, that's the one thing that you keep in front of you and that bird, so that if that bird does something, it'll only get a glove and not you, okay?

Now you take your glove, reach over-- you're okay-- reach across, grab both of 'em.

All you do is put your hand under her feet.

See how she up on it?

And then when you want to put her down, just set her down, you can just let her go; she ain't going nowhere.

Set her right here.

(bell jingles) Okay, step out one more step.

Don't let the mouse go, okay?

And go... (both click tongue softly) (Rodney whistles softly, bell jingles) There you go.

Give me that back.

See, you let her take the whole mouse from you.

(indistinct speaking) RODNEY: So both of them, y'all gotta answer them.

MIPRECIOUS: First I wanted to be a veterinarian.

I still want to be a veterinarian, but I want to be a veterinarian and a falconer.

RODNEY: When you want to be a falconer, you get a sponsor, and when you're ready, I'll sponsor you.

- Okay.

- So then you don't even have to worry about it, 'cause you're already gonna know all the stuff you need to.

(paper rustling) See that?

That's you, fair boy.

I'm gonna wrap this one back up.

I don't wanna let nothing happen to this one.

This mean the world to me.

Come here, Fats.

You love me?

You love your daddy?

You love your daddy?

I actually plan to move up to Oak Hill on the property.

Calm down!

I want to be there 24/7 so I can actually start building the raptor sanctuary.

Good boy.

Gonyx, stop being jealous.

No.

Yes, sir.

I'm, like, 15 minutes.

What I'm trying to do now is purchase a trailer.

Perfect.

Okay.

Two 30-gallon propane tanks, a brand-new battery... And everything should be good to go.

(bird shrieking) ("A So Mi Tan" by Konshens playing) ♪ (song continues) (song stops) Wow, this is very emotional.

(song resumes) (clattering, song stops) (song resumes) (song continues) Come on, come on, Anna.

♪ (song ends) RODNEY: And set it in, like, in the middle of there.

Yeah.

Now, why my landlord walk up and he start acting like he was crying.

He said, "Sad day."

(sniffles) "It's a sad day."

I said, "Why, man?"

He said, "I don't want you to leave."

I said, "I gotta go, brother."

♪ (Rodney clicks tongue) Come on.

To stop hustling, that took time.

Especially when you have bills and family and everything else.

You can't walk in the door and not put food on the table.

At that time, we were making $100 a week.

I was selling eight-balls of coke for $125, and you can sell anywhere from one to 20 eight-balls a day.

Why would you work for $100 a week?

The reason, the answer to that is, "So you can live."

Pulling the tires, trash, car engines, sofas, you name it, out of the creek and just to see the actual water starting to flow just started that beginning of knowing we were making a difference.

(bird squawking) After we finished Lower Beaverdam Creek, we went to Texas to shore up a bayou that was being eroded.

After what happened in Texas, everything became different to me.

We rented an apartment, subleased another apartment for Monique, because it was five guys and they didn't want a female staying in a house with five guys.

We went out that Friday night.

We dropped Monique off at her apartment.

The next morning, which was that Saturday, we got up, jumped in the van, drove around the corner to go get Monique.

Turned the knob, pushed the door open.

There was blood everywhere.

Walk in, you take six steps, make a right.

Take two steps, make another right, take two steps, you're inside of the bedroom.

Turn left, take two steps, turn left again, there's a walk-through closet and a bathroom at the back end, and that's where Monique was, in the tub in the back.

So, we told everybody to back out.

I said, "If you feel like you're gonna faint, "don't try to brace yourself, just fall.

"Because once your handprints is in it, it's gonna be heck trying to get out of it."

So, we got outside, we called the police, they came.

They accused us first.

They did everything, except for charged us.

They had us at the police station for hours and... Interrogated everyone and... Come to find out, the guy that we subleased the apartment from was the guy who actually raped and murdered her.

ANTHONY: That was a, definitely a pivotal point in my life.

I mean, it just made me become super-paranoid, super-scared, and super-violent, and that's the truth.

♪ Monique was a wonderful person, wanted to work just as hard as us, ain't want us to treat her like no girl.

We'd be, like, "Come on, Mo, we got you."

Be, like, "No, I wanna do it."

You know?

I mean, she was just a ray of sunshine.

She was just...

I don't know, man.

I don't know.

♪ RODNEY: Tragedy strikes everyone.

It's what you do with it that determines where you're gonna end up the rest of your life.

♪ The first bird that I actually trapped, it was a female North American kestrel, and I named her Monique.

Come on.

(whispering): Come on, let me get these off you.

It's okay.

You're okay.

There we go.

That's one.

Come on.

That's it.

Hold on, baby.

That really was the moment that hit that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

♪ I love doing things on time.

Yeah.

RODNEY: At 10:00, cadets should have been out front ready to go.

BLACKWELL: Okay, what we're doing today is, we'll start working on the bird sanctuary, and it's a little rustic down there.

It's almost like Habitat for Humanity.

How many people know what that is?

Where they actually build houses for people?

Well, we're actually gonna be building houses for these birds.

CADENCE LEADER: ♪ Remember MLK CADETS: ♪ Remember MLK - ♪ He was a good man - ♪ He was a good man (clapping) - ♪ He was a brave man - ♪ He was a brave man - ♪ He was a strong man - ♪ He was a strong man - ♪ Way, ay, ay, ay - ♪ Way, ay, ay, ay - ♪ Wo, oh, oh, oh - ♪ Wo, oh, oh, oh - ♪ Now let me see you clap to the left, clap to the right ♪ (cadets clapping) ♪ Let me see you clap on time ♪ Oh that's right, you're dynamite ♪ ♪ You're out of sight (people chattering) CADET WASHINGTON: I was here last class.

I got kicked out for fighting.

But I came back, 'cause I seen there wasn't nothing in the streets for me.

My friend died, got shot in the head.

He probably would have been here with me if he hadn't get shot, though.

♪ BLACKWELL: We got a little bit more to go.

Then we'll start figuring out how to get these other big boards out here, the plywood, so they can fix the floor.

(people chattering) Are we almost done?

You can help do something-- hold the door.

Look like you're doing something.

(engine starts) (saw whirring) RODNEY: What did I say?

Get in there!

I need a post hole digger, too.

- A whole post digger?

- Post hole digger?

You know, I can put perches all out, all over the place.

There you go, sir.

You wanna set this one, and I'll set the other one on the opposite side.

One time, my son and I, we were on Owens Road, and there was a hawk setting in a tree.

So, we set the traps out, we walked back to the car, sat in the car, PG County Police car rode up the street, made a U-turn and came back.

My son said, "Dad, he getting ready to come over here to us."

I said, "I know."

So, he pulled in behind us and blocked us in.

The next thing you know, there were five or six other police cars coming into where we were.

The guy said, "What are you doing?"

I said, "I trap hawks, owls, falcons.

"I'm a falconer.

I teach inner-city youth raptor education."

His first comment was, "You're Black."

I said, "So?"

We were stopped at the CVS beside a bank.

They said we were trying to rob the bank.

They jumped out, guns drawn, "Get on the ground!

Get on, you (bleep)."

My son and I, we're just sitting there laughing to each other because we've been through it over and over and over.

♪ MIKE JACKSON: Me and my dad, we built this aviary about a year, going on, going on two years ago.

Building it for my dad, blood, sweat, and tears, countless hours.

There's been events that's been happening throughout my life that let me know that I should be doing falconry.

One day, I see a juvenile American bald eagle stuck in a gate, and I was, like, "Oh, my God."

So, I called my dad, and, luckily, he was over Southeast at the time, and he pulled up within 15 minutes.

He scales this fence that has, like, a 20-, 25-foot drop.

I'm, like, "Dad, you fall off that, you gonna be hurting."

He, like, "No, man, we gonna get her, we gonna get her."

This dude takes his belt off, ties his belt around a pole.

(laughing): Look at my father, y'all.

Oh, birdman.

(laughs) He was actually willing to sacrifice his self for that bird that he don't even know, never work with.

♪ Got you.

Whoo.

He was just, like, "Man, look, man, on the count of three, we're gonna release her and, hopefully, she fly away, man."

RODNEY: Ready?

MIKE: Go ahead.

Yeah.

(laughs) (Rodney exclaims) MIKE: He was just in shock.

He was just happy.

He was, like, "Man, this ain't no coincidence.

"This ain't no coincidence, man.

When you gonna get your wings?

When you gonna get your wings?"

Maybe about six months later, I called him, and I was just, like, "Hey, Dad, I'm ready to be a falconer."

And he just said, "You ready?"

I said, "Yeah, I'm ready."

Who said "Prince" first?

- I said... you.

Amina.

(laughs) - Amina said, "Prince," and then, Journee, you said, "Poppy," right?

JOURNEE: Yeah.

AMINA: No.

(laughs) JOURNEE: Daddy, can we touch the bird?

MIKE: Yeah.

So, remember like I told you.

Put your thumb in like this, ball your first.

Right?

So... - Don't bite me.

- No, it's okay.

No, come on.

- Aw, you're so cute.

- Remember when he bit me?

- Uh-huh.

(laughs) - He bit you.

You cried.

- He bit me hard.

(kids laugh) (bird shrieks) ♪ Every time you take one step ♪ Something pulls you back ♪ But you get back up each time you fall ♪ ♪ Eh ♪ Wicked people and bad mind ♪ Lurking in the dark ♪ But I have no fear RODNEY: Hi, Bubba.

Miss your dad?

♪ Turn the world off ♪ And turn the music on RODNEY: Any rain that come, it keeps the soil in the box and won't let it get... TRESSA: Get out.

RODNEY: Yeah.

TRESSA: Oh, okay.

I got breakfast in the morning, fried green tomatoes.

♪ Bob Marley said have no fear ♪ Everything is going to be all right ♪ ♪ Some days you're up and some you're down ♪ ♪ Weak today, tomorrow strong ♪ Some you'll lose and some you're going to win ♪ ♪ Eh ♪ ♪ That's the life, the life, the life, the life we live ♪ ♪ The life, the life we live ♪ (song fading) (Rodney singing indistinctly) (Rodney whistles, bells jingling) RODNEY: I became interested in raptors when the Earth Conservation Corps got the chance to bring back the bald eagles to the nation's capital.

The last nesting pair left in the early '50s because of, the water was so polluted.

(door locks) ♪ NIXON: You guys, two of you take them side by side.

BURRELL: Bald eagles in D.C.

This is where it's at, this is where it's happening.

NIXON: This is Monique.

This is the big female.

This is a five-year program where we're going to be hack, what's called hacking birds back into the wild.

We think there's a piece of habitat in the nation's capital that will support bald eagles now.

RODNEY: When they leave, it's gonna be like losing your child.

You watched them grow and now they're on their own.

(laughs) NIXON: You think?

- Yeah, man, you gonna get attached to them... MAN: Go!

NIXON: Okay, hold it there, hold it there.

We'd been working on the river for a couple of years.

Wrap it around.

The fish were starting to come back and I thought we can try and bring the birds back.

Bring back the eagles, the ospreys, the sturgeon that used to be here and restore this system.

Okay, Monique, this is your new home.

We were able to get four birds each year from Wisconsin.

Third chicks from nests.

An eagle usually lays two eggs, sometimes they'll lay three.

If they lay the third egg, they can't feed that chick.

TINK: I think the big one's gonna fly.

The smallest one, I think, it might take him a little time, because he's small.

ANTHONY: As young Black men and women, you could do all the positive stuff you want to during the day, but you still got to go back to your environment, back to your neighborhood, because you gotta go home.

♪ BENNIE JONES: He will be missed by family, friends, his child.

RODNEY: Gerald Hulett was murdered two years after Monique died.

A month later, Bennie Jones was murdered.

A few years after that, James Medley passed away.

Those were four of the original nine corps members.

♪ NIXON: Let it rip.

Ready?

Let it rip.

♪ WOMAN: Whoa, man!

That's, that's, look it, she's so pretty.

♪ BILL CLINTON: A free spirit, said Thomas Jefferson.

High-soaring and courageous.

It's hard to think of a better way to celebrate the birth of a nation than to celebrate the rebirth of our national symbol.

By saving the bald eagle and bringing it back to the nation's capital, these young people have honored our past.

They have also imagined a future where we no longer destroy our natural resources, but instead build them up.

It is the past and it must be the future.

Thank you very, very much.

(applause) Hey, guys, come on over and stand behind.

(eagle screeching, "America the Beautiful" playing) RODNEY: Everybody's yelling, "That's the president!

That's the president!"

I said, "So what?"

I'm just as important as you are.

I don't care who you are.

You walk in here and the light off and you stub your toe on your coffee table, you going to scream and holler the same way I am.

"Leader of the Free World"?

What's that supposed to mean?

("Stars and Stripes Forever" playing) (laughter) I think that's the female.

This is the first, one of the first nesting pair of bald eagles in D.C. For the last 12, 13 years, they've been nesting here.

All of these birds that you're seeing now are more than likely related through the 16 eaglets that we had with Earth Conservation Corps.

(birds chirping) Agnes.

(whistles, clicks tongue) BURRELL: Stir the pot!

RODNEY: Stir it like so.

BURRELL: Stir the pot.

RODNEY: Stir the pot, boss.

(laughter, indistinct chatter) (song playing in background) ♪ I'm so confident in myself ♪ There's nothing and no one that can get to me ♪ ♪ Not even the... (song fades) (music playing on stereo) RODNEY: ♪ You tell her I said you give it to me ♪ ♪ And give it to me ♪ And give it to me ♪ Baby, me love your bikini, eyes look dreamy ♪ ♪ She say the vodka make she ah see three me ♪ ♪ People say me crazy, true, me no drive easy ♪ ♪ Me live my life, mad bike might make fi wheelie ♪ (song continues) When I want company, I want company.

When I want to be by myself, I want to be by myself.

If I can't give you all of what a relationship entails, it's no sense in doing it.

I tell everybody that.

Don't do nothing with me if your feelings gonna be involved, 'cause mine are not.

"Where you going?"

"Who you with?"

I don't do all that type of stuff.

I don't ask questions, so then I'm accused of not caring.

"You don't even ask where I'm going or what's..." Why?

I like to be by myself.

♪ Give us the teaching of ♪ Marcus Garvey ♪ "Kebra Negast" means Glory of Kings ♪ ♪ Give I and I Selassie I ♪ And keep the guy with the blue eyes for yourself ♪ ♪ 'Cause people without a vision perish like suicide ♪ REPORTER: Millions on the east coast are bracing for an epic winter storm that could drop near-record snowfall on the nation's capital.

The massive winter storm is expected to dump more than two feet of snow in the Baltimore and D.C. region.

♪ All you do is trick the brothers, keep them confused ♪ ♪ They don't know who to call on in this critical war ♪ ♪ And they tell me of a paradise in the sky ♪ ♪ But that's a lie ♪ And they tell me I was born in sin ♪ ♪ And shaped in inequity when love created I ♪ ♪ Look how many prophets tried to open our eyes ♪ ♪ You can't fool me RODNEY: For all y'all who thought y'all had it bad, I want y'all to see what I had to go through just trying to get out.

Yeah.

My son was over here the other day.

He said, "Man, Dad, you know if you need some help, call me."

I said, "Let me tell you something.

"You already know I'm not gonna call you.

"I don't call you and tell you.

"You know what I'm doing.

"So what's the point of me calling you so that you can say, "'Oh, you had to call me and ask me'?

"Is that what that is?

"If that's who we are, go on 'bout your business right now.

"Menfolk is not words to just be said.

"It's a way of life.

You know full well what I do up here every day, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, then.

Menfolk do what?"

"I'll see you Sunday, Dad."

(bird honking) CADET: Hey, everyone.

(indistinct chatter) RODNEY: They just got too cold.

The other ones took all the food from them.

(hammering) - That's food?

- Yeah, that's food.

(indistinct chatter) RODNEY: Take a little nail, put 'em through the side so that it's gonna have a bottom.

Otherwise, the hawk will be able to pick it up, and snatch something and just drag it out.

So you're still gonna have to put one on it.

(birds honking) (indistinct chatter) CADET HANSON: The people names that's on this board mean a lot to Rodney.

Well, since I've been here and he told me the story behind all this stuff, it got me really interested and I really want to help out, and I'm not good at building stuff, so decided I want to color, and do this.

I thought he was gonna have, like, a net come from right here to right there, so smaller birds could go right there under.

CADET: Rodney said he was gonna do all that flapping.

That's probably a common black hawk.

So if someone asks what it is, you want to know what the bird was that was actually painted, that's all.

(indistinct chatter) CADET: It looks sweet.

We could probably finish it today.

RAY CHARLES LOCKAMY: Come on, come on.

You taking forever.

You taking forever.

You taking forever.

CADET: What's her name?

LOCKAMY: Oh, his name...

It's a he, his name is Wind Walker.

MONIQUE: Wind Walker?

LOCKAMY: Stop eating, man.

When I was 16 and I was walking along one day, and somebody left the keys in a car, I got in the car 'cause I wanted to go see my girlfriend.

Y'all need to understand my state of mind.

MONIQUE (laughs): You need to understand.

LOCKAMY: So I stole the car and I dropped it off and went to see Sheila, but that got pretty good.

By the time I'm 19 years old, they put me in this prison designed like a wagon wheel.

And what I'm telling you is, I spent 20 years inside of that cage reading and studying, reading and studying, and what I found out is, information is powerful.

Like Rodney.

I'm coming round here now 'cause I want to learn birds.

What I'm telling you is, when I see something good, I show up, because once I get it, you can't take it.

Once I get that knowledge, nobody can take that knowledge away from you.

- Go brush a horse.

- That's not real.

LOCKAMY: I have ten of them, and this horse is a registered quarter horse.

So that means they the fastest horse in the world in a quarter of a mile.

- Right.

- And this horse here, ain't nobody beat him yet off the track, you know?

'Cause he run with my personality.

RODNEY: Just wait, I got something to show y'all.

Just wait.

Pull around, Bob.

Hey, guys... CADET: Yes, sir.

Bob Nixon, this is the one who started this program.

He's a master falconer, also.

CADET EKAS: That was my project.

NIXON: The trap?

EKAS: Yeah... NIXON: ...a little bigger than the other one.

How long have you had kids?

RODNEY: For the last, what, five weeks now?

Now, if they want another cohort to come, they gonna have to pay this time.

I'm not doing this again for free.

It's not gonna happen, so...

Right.

You can see all the lights on in their eyes.

RODNEY: Yeah, and I understand that, and I respect that, and that's one of the reasons why they got away with it this time.

- Yeah.

RODNEY: Right?

You cannot run a program on feelings.

That's been my problem.

When it come time that the bird's sick and I need to take it, I gotta come out of pocket and I can't afford it.

Van break down.

- I know, the first... - No, I'm just saying.

So they have to pay.

- First one's free, right?

- That's it.

You only kiss me once.

Tell me I'm pretty once.

I only believe that one time.

After that you got to pay for it, baby.

♪ CADET: You won't be scared of a horse... (speaking indistinctly) CADET: I swear to God I would have never touched a horse.

RODNEY: All this is healing.

All this is medicine.

All this changes who you are.

I love this bird.

RODNEY: I do, too.

(indistinct chatter) RODNEY: If you went from second grade to third grade reading, but you still shooting everybody, what difference did that make?

If you put the gun down and you no longer pick the gun up, that's what I want out of it.

♪ ANTHONY: I am... RODNEY: You trying to fight it.

I know, I see it in your face.

That's why you're trying not to look at them, too.

I know, I got you.

I got you.

It's okay.

(laughs) ANTHONY: Hey, Rod, that's just very impressive, you know?

For real.

- Nah, it's not.

It's all the stuff we kept talking about, that's all.

Each one of the four original corps members who were killed, everything that's done here has their name.

Tink was crazy at first.

He went from psychotic dude to, he got a business degree, and then he ended up getting killed over ten dollars.

Stabbed and jumped by two junkies.

When Monique got killed, she was pregnant by him.

He saw what it did to me and Anthony.

Man, Anthony was suicidal for real.

And that man never told us that that girl was carrying his baby.

He ate that, and held onto that for years until we went to court and that's when we found out.

We turned and looked at Tink, and he just shook his head.

When you're talking about them, all of it still come back.

The pictures come back again, Monique body in the tub come back again.

All of that, that's why I tell people sometime, "You're pressing your luck when you do, "'cause if you wake up that demon, "it's gonna be hell putting him back to sleep.

"And trust me, you don't want him woke.

Leave him alone."

That's why I don't like talking about certain things.

It's about where I'm going, it ain't about where...

If you don't know where I've been by now, you don't need to know.

Standing here... (sniffs): With my brother, man.

Gerald Hulett, the Tinkster.

Black Papa Smurf.

I miss you, man.

I love you, man.

Monique Johnson, James Medley, Bennie Jones, Gerald Hulett.

Just four of the angels on my shoulder, whispering in my ear.

I love y'all, man.

(sniffs) Happy anniversary to all of y'all, man.

20 years.

20 years of blessings, man.

As long as God keep breath in my body, I swear to y'all, man, I swear to you, no one will ever forget who you guys were.

'Cause I can't.

Love y'all, man.

I miss y'all.

Rest in peace, baby.

(whirring) Now we're gonna put ones in the middle.

- I got you.

RODNEY: I'mma need to pull this out some more.

ANTHONY: Rodney doing more than anybody, honoring Monique, and James, and Bennie, and Tink.

RODNEY: Perfect.

ANTHONY: I'mma be a part of that with him, and keep fighting and keep plugging away.

♪ RODNEY: It just really trips me out how many people wanna see me fail.

E.C.C.

put it on the calendar.

Sent emails out.

A week and a half later, I called them.

"Are y'all coming up?"

"No, we going to plant trees.

We'll be there in spirit."

I was, like, "Wow.

This something... Never mind."

PAIR É WATTS: This is my husband, Rodney.

RODNEY: How you doing, brother?

I'm Rodney.

MAN: Nice to meet you.

- You, too, man.

Appreciate this, man!

- No problem.

- Y'all got the whole tree!

♪ RODNEY: You may have a Harris Hawk land on your hand and you won't even know she's on your hand.

LOCKAMY: Just relax and then just...

Enjoy the ride.

♪ RODNEY: I hear everything she says.

Like right now, she's saying, "Put your hand back."

Because she can't see the food anymore.

(bell jingles) See?

MILES: Did the other one does?

- Mm-hmm, they all do!

MILES: I can't hear her talking.

RODNEY: I know, 'cause she's my bird.

(people chattering in background) RODNEY: I wanna give this to you, man.

It's a certificate of appreciation for helping me get that barn, man, getting that museum.

- (chuckles) I appreciate that, man.

- (indistinct) - Beautiful.

- Nah... (laughter) MAN: Who told you that?

AKIIMA PRICE: It's so awesome!

I still need to go back into that one room and just take it all in.

Took $8,000 and built everything I need.

(indistinct) - And you ain't even done yet.

RODNEY: Y'all see that smoke coming up out the back of there?

Yes, sir, we got the wood- burning stove going now, baby!

Party time!

♪ This is the guy that honored me with this, man.

These are the people who gave this to me, man.

This is actually a welcome center-slash-museum.

These are the young people that started the program, E.C.C., with me 24 years ago.

This is Monique Johnson.

(indistinct chatter) ♪ - Look at that bird!

AKIIMA: If nothing else, maybe everybody here could just shout you out for the amazing job you've done.

RODNEY: No shouting me out.

No, I'm serious, no, I'm serious, listen, listen, listen, you already know, none of this is possible without everybody that's here.

And everybody in here that did something.

I didn't do nothing.

I just had the keys to the building.

You have been consistently reminding people of Monique's memory and the memory of all these other people, so not that we haven't supported you in that, but that has been your vision for over ten years.

So it's kind of a big deal, as someone who's watched and listened, to see this happen.

'Cause if I wanna shout you out, you gonna just have to let me shout you out.

Y'all got my back?

Y'all got my back?

(crowd cheering and applauding) RODNEY: All right, man, enough of all that mushy stuff.

(laughter) (indistinct chatter) RODNEY JR.: All right, Dad.

Love you, Dad.

RODNEY: Love you, too, baby.

Nice to meet everybody.

MAN: All right, man.

Good meeting you, son-- good meeting you, son.

WOMAN: See you around.

MAN: Take care, man.

RODNEY JR.: Love y'all, too.

MAN: All right.

LOCKAMY: One, two, three, four, five.

Step back, spin, turn.

Get ready to start over.

One, two, three, and one, two, three, four, heel, heel, toe, toe.

(country music playing) (laughter) Aw, you did it again!

(reggae music playing) (music continues) (laughter) (indistinct chatter) (music continues) (music fades) RODNEY: I used to complain about what I didn't have and never took stock in what I did.

♪ I must admit, it felt kind of silly, a grown man crying like a little kid.

I had to take a long look in the mirror because I didn't recognize that that was me, knowing that I had fallen short of the man that I was supposed to be.

See?

(children chattering) So please bear with me, it's kind of hard and I'm doing the best that I can.

(people chattering) SELINA: What if you was a real cowgirl and you had to shoot somebody?

What you gonna do holding onto that horn?

RODNEY: Give me just a little bit more, I ask.

Because time changes the essence of a man.

WOMAN: Thank you, Mr. Rodney!

CHILDREN: Thank you, Mr. Rodney!

♪ ♪ Soul, soul ♪ Soul ♪ Rock your soul ♪ Baby, you know one day you're gonna be a star ♪ ♪ Baby, you know all I wanna do is ♪ ♪ Rock your soul ♪ Some may claim I'm just a ghetto superstar ♪ ♪ Baby, you know all I wanna do is ♪ ♪ Rock your soul ♪ Together we will build a community ♪ ♪ With love and harmony ♪ Away from the pettiness or jealousy ♪ ♪ What about love ♪ And love will lead us there today ♪ ♪ One day all must fade away ♪ With you there right, we will be okay ♪ ♪ What about life ♪ Baby, you know one day you gonna be a star ♪ ♪ Baby, you know all I wanna do is ♪ ♪ Rock your soul ♪ Build foundations...