Kareem Said quotes from Oz

Said

Now, I am not saying that the men in Oz are innocent. I am saying they are not here because of the crimes that they committed, but because of the color of their skin, the lack of education, the fact that they are poor. You see, this riot is not about getting smoking back, conjugal rights, it's not even about life in prison. It's about society taking responsibility. It's about the whole horrid judicial system. And we don't need more prisons, bigger prisons, better prisons. We need better justice. Now what can you do about that?

Kareem Said

Quickest way to find the needle: burn the haystack.

Kareem Said

I am black, I am a Muslim, and I am a man. And sometimes those three things, they war with each other.

Said

You wanna SEE the nigger in ME!

Kareem Said

Adebisi lives!

Said

I would give my life for you.

Keane

You gonna have to.

Tim McManus

In Em City we treat each other the way that we would like to be treated. We treat each other with respect.

Kareem Said

And what happens when one of us does not respect the other?

Tim McManus

There's violence.

Kareem Said

Then prison life isn't all that different from the outside world.

Tim McManus

Your celebrity status doesn't buy you any extra advantages here. All my prisoners are equal.

Kareem Said

How ironic. To finally be an equal in a place where I do not have the freedom to enjoy it.

You have to take something, or you'll die!

Said

Oh believe me, doctor, I have no intention of dying!

Bob Rebadow

I'm sorry that you're ill.

Kareem Said

And who told you that I was ill?

Bob Rebadow

God.

Kareem Said

Oh, yes. You talk to God.

Bob Rebadow

When he's in town.

Kareem Said

Well, in Islam, we believe that only two people spoke to God directly. Mohammad], and praise be to him, and Moses. So, you see, you are in excellent company.

Bob Rebadow

You think I'm lying or deluded.

Kareem Said

Oh, yes.

Bob Rebadow

I may well be. I do know sometimes I can see inside men's souls.

Kareem Said

And can you see into mine, old man?

Bob Rebadow

Yes.

Kareem Said

And what is there?

Bob Rebadow

Anger.

Kareem Said

Yes, I am angry. I am angry at a society that cripples my people and infects their bodies.

Bob Rebadow

No, you're angry at God.

Kareem Said

I am not. My illness is Allah's will and I accept the bad as well as the good that God gives me.

Bob Rebadow

Still, you're angry at him and afraid. Afraid of dying.

Kareem Said

That is not true.

Bob Rebadow

You watched Jefferson Keane die, die gladly. Keane embraced death like a lover, like a traveler going home. You saw that and you were afraid. You realized you aren't as willing to go.

(seeing Said is having a heart attack) It is the hand of God! It is the will of Allah!

Said

Call a doctor!

You must go ahead and die.

Said

Husseini Mershah! You saw that I was dying and yet you walked away? You wanted me to die!

No, minister--

Said

NO! This man is not our brother! He is our enemy! As of this moment, this man is cast out! No Muslim will speak to him, look him in the eye, or acknowledge him! You wanted the death of another? Well, right now you're dead to us all!

Kareem Said

The only reason Judge Lima is overruling all my objections is racism.

Augustus Hill

Oh. It couldn't be because most of your objections are stupid. Right? No, it couldn't be because maybe you're not as good a lawyer as you think you are.

Kareem Said

Do you want to replace me? You wanna get Beecher to take up our cause?

Augustus Hill

Our cause? This is not our cause, this is my fucking life! I am not you, man! I don't want to be a martyr or a fucking saint! All I want is to get out of here and be free. Either you can do that or you leave me the fuck alone! Goddammit!

Kareem Said

You're packed.

No, I decided I didn't want to take anything outta this place.

Kareem Said

So no last meal? No goodbyes to anybody. Just see ya, have a nice life.

It's kinda fucked up, leaving. Everybody else is staying. It's like waking up from a dream.

Kareem Said

Hope is a waking dream.

Who that, Mohammad?

Kareem Said

Aristotle.

Well, that fuck ain't never served no time in Oz.

Said

Beecher, don't do this.

Beecher

Do what?

Said

Drink.

Beecher

You like to dabble in peoples' lives, huh? Because you're so much better than us, because you've seen the light. You've seen the face of God. So you wave your dick around trying to help us lowly mortals. Hill, Mershah, Groves, Jefferson Keane. Fuck, you helped Jefferson Keane right into a lethal injection. So in the end, when all is said and done, who have you really fucking helped? Other than yourself?

Said

(proudly) Poet.

Beecher

Poet? I just saw on the news, he killed a man. He's coming back to Oz.

Mr. Said, how do you feel?

Kareem Said

How do I feel? I feel joyless. My brothers remain behind. Imprisoned, suppressed. I don't just mean my Muslim brothers, I mean every single man that will sleep in here tonight, that was cut off from everything that he loves. Cut off from his own self. You know, as the word went around that the Governor was gonna give somebody clemency, I saw a rift develop as each inmate wished himself to be the chosen one. The longing to be free became as palpable as the food that we eat. But it is a meal that I am being served right now. And I am Muslim. And Allah does not allow me to swallow certain things. Allah does not allow me to take scraps from the hands of a man such as this. A man who is corrupt and immoral. A man who denigrates the gift of clemency just as he violates the principles of justice. A man that gave the order that caused the death of eight people. And so, Governor Devlin, because even the cost of freedom can be too high, I refuse your pardon!