Anissa Pierce quotes from Black Lightning

Jefferson Pierce

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

Anissa Pierce

Dr. King. And I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Jefferson

Fannie Lou Hamer.

Jennifer

Then that means you can go to the march with me. Because I've never been to one, and you're the pro here.

Anissa

Hmm, I don't think I want to go to the Reverend's march.

Jennifer

The girl with the marching shoes? And the frequent marches card doesn't want to go to the march? What's going on with 'chu?

Anissa

I'm just tired of walking around with a sign, trying to change people's hearts. I want to do more.

Jennifer

Fine, well don't think of it as marching. Think of it as being with your sister, something you've forgotten how to do.

Anissa

Okay. I'll go with you.

Well, whoever he is, he's gonna think he died and went to heaven.

Anissa

Huh, she, and there's probably gonna be a room full of them.

Jefferson

Let me ask you a question. Should I have you committed? 'Cause you've obviously lost your damn mind!

Anissa

That statue, dad, is an insult to black people, glorifying an actual traitor.

Jefferson

You broke the law, Anissa. That gives the police an excuse to hurt you. And on top of that, you used guns! Guns!

Anissa

They were water guns.

Jefferson

They looked enough like real guns to be the end of you. [pauses as two officers walk by] All it takes is for one cop, one cop, to see your color instead of your humanity and decide better dead than sorry. Look, you're a black woman. You don't have the luxury of being naive.

Jefferson

That box, you gave your mother, the box my father's research. Where'd you get it?

Anissa

I got it from your father's editor, David Poe.

Jefferson

Why?

Anissa

Dad, when I first got my powers I didn't know what was going on with me. So I started doing some digging on the internet and I saw that grandpa was doing research on missing kids and enhanced abilities. So, I reached out to his editor and he gave me what he had. I did what I could, but it was so over my head that I had to give it to mom.

Jefferson

It was selfish and reckless to give that box to your mother without giving her all the details. Your grandfather was murdered. You don't think he was researching anything else that may have been dangerous?

Anissa

So you think the box was the reason for the break-in?

Jefferson

I don't know, but if there's a chance that it is, you have to warn David Poe. No powers, just you!

Lynn

I just want you to have a normal life, free of the trials and tribulations your father and I had to go through. When he put on that suit and walked out the door, I never knew if he was gonna walk back through it again. Is that what you want for your life? Is that how you want the people who love you to live their lives?

Anissa

Wait, is Dad being Black Lightning why you two broke up?

Lynn

Yeah. This life is hard, baby. That's what I'm telling you, and if you're not careful, you could lose yourself in it. When's the last time you had a conversation with anyone besides your family? When's the last time when you were on a date? When you do what your father does, what you want to do, everybody gets a happy ending but you.

Anissa

The community, they fell apart mom without Black Lightning. But the people are starting to believe that they can get up from The 100 again, up from the crooked police. Look, I can finally help dad free Freeland, and I'm willing to sacrifice my happiness so that other people can have theirs.

Lynn

Anissa, you think I don't get it, but I do. Ever since you were a little girl, you were always protective of others. Whether it was Jen or someone being bullied on the playground, you always stood up for them. And now you want to stand up for Freeland. Just be careful, ok?

Anissa

I love you mom.

Lynn

I love you too.

Jefferson

Freeze.

Anissa

[surprised] Freeze?

Jefferson

He might be racist, but he wasn't a threat. You probably broke his ankle and maybe gave him a concussion.

Anissa

The flag on the t-shirt?

Jefferson

No, I know why it happened. You looked and you assumed he was a threat. So you didn't actually see that he wasn't. [Anissa sighs and starts walks away] Look, our goal is to stop crime and violence with no harm to civilians, even if we don't appreciate their world view.

Jefferson

Woah! How much force do you need?

Anissa

Enough to get through the wall.

Jefferson

And how much is that?

Anissa

I don't know.

Jefferson

Tap it with your finger.

Anissa

[Taps the wall with her finger and makes fractures] Okay, clearly that wasn't it.

Jefferson

Then whatever you think.

Anissa

[Blasts through the wall with her palm] Okay, maybe I could've used a little less.

Jefferson

You think?

Anissa

Let's go Dad.

Jefferson

Wait, when you power up, are you susceptible to radiation?

Anissa

I don't know.

Jefferson

Chemicals?

Anissa

I don't know.

Jefferson

Okay, what about water? Are you like a witch? Do you sink or can you swim?

Anissa

I don't know!

Jefferson

You don't know a lot.

Anissa

Okay, I've finally realized the most important part of a stakeout.

Jefferson

Go to the bathroom first?

Anissa

That would've helped a lot more than all of your "you're gonna die" talk.

Gambi

Thanks for coming.

Anissa

You said it was an emergency.

Gambi

It is. Your father know you're here?

Anissa

No, he said we can't trust you.

Gambi

That's fair. So why'd you come?

Anissa

Because I wanted to determine that for myself. What happened between you two?

Gambi

I did something very bad a long time ago, and there was stuff I should've told your father before now. He doesn't trust me because I held out on him for so long. I can't blame him, but I just want to make things right. Not just with him, but...

Anissa

With your conscience.

Gambi

But also because people are in danger. I used to work as a sort of a scout

Anissa

Scout? A scout for who?

Gambi

For some people I now know are very bad. I helped them find young people with abilities.

Anissa

You mean young people, like me, with powers?

Gambi

Yes. And I just saw the body of one the boys that I helped find 30 years ago.

Anissa

Oh my God!

Gambi

Along with several others. Please, don't tell your father just yet. Listen, Anissa, I told your father that people I used to work for are hunting Black Lightning. I don't think it's safe for either of you to be out. I have seen a dozen terrible things in my life, but I can't get out of my head what I saw in that lab. Black Lightning's the only one who can expose what's been done and bring these people to justice. Will you please tell him?

Anissa

Yes. [gets up to leave]

Gambi

Anissa, regardless of what you all may think of me, I will always care about you and your family, and I would do anything to protect you.

Jefferson

I wish I knew what he was saying.

Anissa

No, no, I've got it. He says "something's wrong, I can't reset it, move the lab tonight, get the last batch out." C'mon, we gotta go, let's go follow him.

Jefferson

How the hell did you hear that?

Anissa

I didn't. So a bunch of us took a lip-reading class so we could know what the police were saying in the homicidal protest.

Jefferson

You know you're not bad at this?

Anissa

Really?

Jefferson

Don't get a big head. I said "not bad".

Jefferson

Thirty years ago, Gambi worked for a clandestine government agency, called the A.S.A.

Anissa

With that secret room of his, it had to be something like that.

Jefferson

And after all the political uprisings around the country, the A.S.A. put Gambi here, to report on their illegal experiment that was supposed to make black folks in neighborhoods like Freeland, docile, so they could control them. They put something in the water supply and in the vaccines.

Anissa

And they called us paranoid.

Jefferson

But the vaccines inadvertently gave a few kids powers. Gambi reported kids who displayed abilities, and those kids were kidnapped.

Anissa

Look, Dad, I know. He told me. And he also told me that he was extremely naive. He thought he was being a good soldier, but when he realized what was actually happening, he leveraged his knowledge of the program to make them stop.

Jefferson

So that makes everything he did okay?

Anissa

No, it doesn't make it okay, but Dad, he saved you and he's protected you all those years. He cares! C'mon, you know he does. And he did everything he could to make things right.

Jefferson

Yeah, well there are some things you can't make right.

Jennifer

This is all just too much, being like this has already ruined my life!

Anissa

Woah, you need to calm down, seriously.

Jennifer

Why's nobody listening to me? I don't want to have powers, I don't want to save the world, okay?

Anissa

Okay, I hear you. But you're rejecting something you don't fully understand, Jen. Like I told you, this is a gift, a blessing from God.

Jennifer

In your opinion. It doesn't make it the truth. What if this is a curse from the devil?

Anissa

You don't even know what you can do. I mean you could be–

Jennifer

You know what? I don't want to know. I don't want to know.

Anissa

Oh, so you're just gonna walk away?

Jennifer

Yes.

Anissa

That's what you do when things get tough, you walk away. Go ahead, quit.

Jennifer

Girl, bye.

Anissa

Jennifer, look at me. This is real. It's real. People are out there dying. And we have powers, powers that we have a responsibility to help save people.

Jennifer

No! You have a responsibility to help save people! I don't have a responsibility to do anything.

Anissa

Okay, yup, you're right, you don't. And you know what? It's probably best that you don't find out what you can do because you just might quit. Just like you quit track, you'll probably quit on me, Mom, and Dad when we need you the most, and let's not forget that you quit on Khalil too. [off Jennifer's look] Yup, I said it.