WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.880 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:06.240 align:middle line:90% We snuck in to the inauguration. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:06.870 align:middle line:90% We did. 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:09.960 align:middle line:84% There was a people's inauguration 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:11.497 align:middle line:90% down on this big football field. 00:00:11.497 --> 00:00:13.080 align:middle line:84% Kids were getting their faces painted. 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:15.120 align:middle line:84% There was lots of music and good food. 00:00:15.120 --> 00:00:18.960 align:middle line:84% And then there were these stone stairs leading up. 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.240 align:middle line:84% The higher you went up the stairs the more credentials 00:00:21.240 --> 00:00:22.920 align:middle line:90% you needed. 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:25.017 align:middle line:84% So on the bottom, of course, was the press, 00:00:25.017 --> 00:00:27.600 align:middle line:84% and they had these dignitaries, and then we got all the way up 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:28.350 align:middle line:90% to the top. 00:00:28.350 --> 00:00:30.690 align:middle line:84% That was exactly where Mandela was 00:00:30.690 --> 00:00:32.700 align:middle line:84% going to be making his inauguration speech. 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:34.890 align:middle line:84% So what we did-- it was like the Emmys or Oscars 00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:37.182 align:middle line:84% where you stand there and people get out of their cars, 00:00:37.182 --> 00:00:38.070 align:middle line:90% and, you know. 00:00:38.070 --> 00:00:41.100 align:middle line:84% So we stood there and then these people got out of this cream 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:44.250 align:middle line:84% colored Mercedes, and we sort of fell into line behind them. 00:00:44.250 --> 00:00:48.930 align:middle line:84% And we're talking to the backs like we belong with them, 00:00:48.930 --> 00:00:51.240 align:middle line:90% and we put our credentials down. 00:00:51.240 --> 00:00:52.950 align:middle line:84% It doesn't say much for security, 00:00:52.950 --> 00:00:54.708 align:middle line:84% but we got all the way up to the top. 00:00:54.708 --> 00:00:56.250 align:middle line:84% And then we have to have these seats, 00:00:56.250 --> 00:00:57.960 align:middle line:84% so we just kind of kept wandering around. 00:00:57.960 --> 00:00:59.710 align:middle line:84% Oh, do you know where a glass of water is? 00:00:59.710 --> 00:01:00.480 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:04.500 align:middle line:84% So we got to be up there and see Mandela make his inauguration 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:07.230 align:middle line:84% speech, but this is a poem for me 00:01:07.230 --> 00:01:09.220 align:middle line:84% and the two people who snuck in with me in case 00:01:09.220 --> 00:01:11.220 align:middle line:84% I think the South African government is actually 00:01:11.220 --> 00:01:12.145 align:middle line:90% looking for us now. 00:01:12.145 --> 00:01:14.835 align:middle line:90% 00:01:14.835 --> 00:01:16.575 align:middle line:90% It's call "Inauguration Sneaky." 00:01:16.575 --> 00:01:22.100 align:middle line:90% 00:01:22.100 --> 00:01:25.190 align:middle line:84% Me and Paul and me and Elaine and me and Paul and Elaine 00:01:25.190 --> 00:01:27.950 align:middle line:84% slither in line behind the recent occupants of a massive, 00:01:27.950 --> 00:01:31.520 align:middle line:84% cream colored Mercedes plopping down for a ride on their cloud. 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:33.800 align:middle line:84% Up, up, up the 1,000 stone stairs. 00:01:33.800 --> 00:01:36.020 align:middle line:84% Heads down, glossy credentials dangling, 00:01:36.020 --> 00:01:39.050 align:middle line:84% up past the Hellfire press pool with feverish scribes 00:01:39.050 --> 00:01:42.020 align:middle line:84% and photogs, crabs scrambling up the backs of their colleagues. 00:01:42.020 --> 00:01:44.540 align:middle line:84% And were up, up sweaty, underdressed, 00:01:44.540 --> 00:01:46.880 align:middle line:84% totally awed at this sweet unscripted twist. 00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:49.430 align:middle line:84% Pretoria, a barbed wire playground beneath us. 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:52.880 align:middle line:84% Military mamas in ANC drag doling out butter sandwiches 00:01:52.880 --> 00:01:55.220 align:middle line:84% to their screaming kids, and it's up, up. 00:01:55.220 --> 00:01:58.910 align:middle line:84% Even the air is privilege here, thin and sweet and measured, 00:01:58.910 --> 00:02:03.590 align:middle line:84% and no one stops us and no one stops us and no one stops us. 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:06.110 align:middle line:84% Suddenly there is Colin Powell with his smashed face 00:02:06.110 --> 00:02:08.570 align:middle line:84% and bottoms behind his eyes, and Ben [? Shane ?] 00:02:08.570 --> 00:02:10.070 align:middle line:90% is in a teeny shafted suit. 00:02:10.070 --> 00:02:11.618 align:middle line:84% And Paul is saying don't breathe, 00:02:11.618 --> 00:02:13.410 align:middle line:84% don't breathe, and maybe they won't see us. 00:02:13.410 --> 00:02:16.445 align:middle line:84% And Camille Cosby slices me over with rich eyes, 00:02:16.445 --> 00:02:20.430 align:middle line:84% and Maya Angelou way back in the poet seats is thinking, rock, 00:02:20.430 --> 00:02:21.890 align:middle line:90% river, tree, rock, river, tree. 00:02:21.890 --> 00:02:24.770 align:middle line:84% Is that all I could come up with? 00:02:24.770 --> 00:02:28.400 align:middle line:84% And we are star scoping, and we are stargazing, me and Elaine 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.680 align:middle line:84% and me and Paul and me and Paul and Elaine, 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:33.260 align:middle line:84% and Danny Glover's broad pinstripe on my left 00:02:33.260 --> 00:02:35.660 align:middle line:84% and Quincy Jones's Jheri curl on my right. 00:02:35.660 --> 00:02:38.720 align:middle line:84% Then I remember how we are here to taste this time, 00:02:38.720 --> 00:02:41.130 align:middle line:90% to release doves into the air. 00:02:41.130 --> 00:02:42.200 align:middle line:90% Wait. 00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:44.710 align:middle line:90% One trembles in my hand. 00:02:44.710 --> 00:02:46.000 align:middle line:90%