Doctor Senator in “Unfinished Business”

Doctor Senator

I was in the legal corps. Army. Pushing papers. After the ceasefire, they send me to Nuremberg for the trials. Last Negro in Germany, I'd imagine. You ever heard of "Double V"? It's what they sold us. Mm-hmm. Fight for our country and we get two victories: one for America and one for we sons of servitude. No more lynchings. No more blackjacks at the polls. So they send me to Nuremberg and this colonel tells me he's got a big job for me. Says, "You're gonna interview Hermann Goring, the Reichsmarschall himself." Says, "Days, weeks, however it long it takes to get him to talk." Says, "I need you, Doctor Senator, Esquire, to use your training, your skills to build the People's case." Well now, what is that if not the double victory, hm? So I sit with the man for six weeks, eight hours a day, six days a week and we get into it. The first two weeks, he just stares at me, murder in his eyes. But I use my wiles. You know, appeal to his ego, get him talking. Ah, soon he won't shut up. Bragging about every little thing, and I type it down and write it up for the colonel word for word. I spend two weeks crafting my conclusion, my analysis of international law. Then, one Sunday morning, after services, I knock on the colonel's door and I give him my report. You know what he does? Throws it in the trash. Yeah. 400 pages with footnotes. Throws it it in the trash and says, "I just wanted to make that old Nazi squirm having to answer to a Negro." So you say respect the deal? Excuse me if I say our word is exactly as good as yours. The slaughterhouses, they belong to us. Deal or no deal. You can call it the cost of transition.