Follow This (2018) s01e02 Episode Script

[Bim] We are prepared at all times.
You gotta be, 'cause we don't know
what's going to come.
A NETFLIX ORIGINAL
DOCUMENTARY SERIES
We don't know when, where.
[squawking]
Disasters strike like that.
If you don't know how to hunt,
you're going to starve out here.
[gunshot]
[breathes out]
Fuck!
[laughter]
BLACK SURVIVALISTS
I think of my job
as a sort of anthropology
in which I am observing American people
as they go about their business.
[coffee machine sizzles]
I'm from London, England.
It's one thing to observe American culture
from across an ocean,
but it's quite another to live in America
and be writing about America.
WHAT A BRITISH WOMAN LEARNED ABOU
AMERICA DURING THE CONVENTIONS
The story I'm interested in, today,
is the story of preppers.
These are survivalists who are
essentially preparing themselves
for an emergency,
whatever that may look like.
Some kind of event,
whether that be local or global,
or whatever.
In popular culture
and on the internet at large,
there is an idea
of what the prepper looks like.
They tend to be anti-big-government
and value self-determination
over all else.
And often that profile is one
of a straight white man,
who perhaps is ex-military,
is very handy with guns, and knives,
and other kinds of weaponry.
And the reality of course
is a lot more complicated than that.
There are people who are not at all
from that background.
Specifically in this case, I'm looking at
a very select group of people.
Black survivalists.
Major national disasters
like Hurricane Katrina,
the Flint water crisis,
Hurricane Maria, and Hurricane Harvey
are events
that have disproportionately impacted
low-income citizens
and communities of color.
I wonder if these events
are sparking a movement.
HURRICANE KATRINA
1,170 FATALITIES 53% BLACK
I found a website called The Afrovivalist.
She's a black American woman preparing
for a doomsday happening.
OFF THE GRID, USA
I want to write a story about
what motivates her to be a prepper.
She agreed to meet with me,
but I had to promise to keep her identity
and location anonymous.
If the end of the world comes,
she wants to protect her family.
One of my favorite TV shows
has a post-apocalyptic setting
and I often would joke with my friends
that if this did happen in real life,
ultimately, I wouldn't make it
to the pre-credit sequence.
I think I'm going to be quite useless.
[eagle screams]
AFROVIVALIS
[breathes in]
- [breathes out]
- [arrow swishes]
Oh!
Bull's-eye!
[laughter]
- Close enough.
- That's thrilling.
So when did you get involved
in survivalism as a lifestyle, uh
habit, or choice?
It was in my thirties where I thought,
you know,
I probably should get back
to my roots and start preparing.
Right after Katrina,
I started taking it seriously,
because of the fact
that people were suffering
and not prepared.
I said, "That's not gonna be me."
And so that's where Afrovivalist
comes in,
to help encourage people of color
to start preparing
and to teach them
what they need to do to survive.
Because a lot of us think our government
is going to take care of us.
And I'm like, "No, don't think that!"
- So now let's do you.
- Oh, okay.
[nervous laugh]
What you're going to do
is notch your arrow.
[Bim] Mm-hm.
- Step up forward.
- Mm-hm.
Take a deep breath,
and then pull when you're ready.
Push, push, push, push, push!
There you go.
And let it go when you're ready.
Oh!
- Yeah!
- Did I?
- You hit it!
- I did it!
[laughter]
- Nice job.
- Thank you.
[laughter]
Being a survivalist means
you need to be self-sustainable.
You need to learn how to live
outside of the city.
You learn how to hunt, how to fish,
and learn how to preserve that
for a long shelf life.
Have you had lots and lots
of African Americans coming
to your website
and asking specifically for advice
on how to get started?
Yes. My website has been just bombarded
with questions.
People of color
are not prepared for disaster.
They would have no idea
what to do, how to purify water,
how to preserve food,
in case they have to leave the city.
And I don't know about you,
but I don't want to be in the city
when shit hits the fan. Uh-uh.
This bow and arrow,
it's less about self-defense.
What is it more about for you?
- Being self-reliant
- Mm-hm.
so I can go out and get some
turkeys.
- What do you call this?
- A turkey.
- [Bim laughs]
- This is what we call a turkey.
- Mm-hm.
- And we're going to gut it.
- We're going to gut the turkey?
- Yeah, yeah.
Okay. So we're just literally skinning
this turkey.
Oh, wow! Oh, okay.
- [loud snap]
- Oh, I just heard that.
Gotta get the guts out.
[Bim laughs]
Wow.
- You all right?
- I'm great.
- Here, girl, have a heart.
- Do you know what?
That's a lovely gift. No, thanks.
[Bim] It's kind of remarkable how it goes
from looking like a once-living creature
- to just meat.
- [Afrovivalist] Isn't that amazing?
I mean that's one word for it.
[Bim] Surviving the apocalypse
isn't just about sustenance.
Afrovivalist's pro tips
also include transport and shelter.
So this is my BOV.
A bug-out vehicle.
- I have a bed
- Mm-hm.
some water.
- My bug-out bag is in here.
- And what is in a bug-out bag?
How is that different
from a bug-out vehicle?
So do you not have a bug-out bag?
I do not have a bug-out bag.
Well look what I got for you!
- Let me see what's in my bug-out bag.
- All right.
Some cutlery. A knife, a fork and a spoon.
- Yeah.
- Wonderful.
- Uh what's this? What is this?
- That's a towel.
- Wait, what?
- Take one out. I'll show you.
[Bim] What?
[she laughs]
So it's a butt wipe, a face wipe
You know?
- It's all kinds of wipe.
- Cleans dishes.
And if it gets dirty,
- you can actually reuse it.
- Perfect.
- [laughter]
- Okay.
All right, also in here is
- Oh, maxi-pads.
- You know? Maxi-pads.
Because menstruation doesn't stop,
even in a bug-out van.
- You know what?
- Mm-hm?
If you get a cut, you put that maxi-pad
right over that cut.
- Oh, yeah, they are absorbent.
- Yeah.
- All right, I love it!
- Gotta be ready for it.
This is very useful.
[closes van's door]
[fire crackles]
[Bim] Do you think that there is
a fundamental difference between
white survivalists,
and African American survivalists,
- and other survivalists of color?
- Yes.
What's the difference?
Caucasians are a lot more prepared
than we are
- Why do you think they are?
- as people of color.
Do you think it has something to do
with wealth and income?
I think it has something to do with
the lifestyle.
For us, once we were removed
from the country and into the city,
we stopped preparing.
We stopped being farmers.
So it's not something
that we kept in our
lifestyle, in our culture.
We let that go.
- You sleep well at night knowing that
- Now I do.
Now I do. But once upon a time,
a couple of years ago,
I just had this thing in my mind
about where this world is going.
You know, I see that our government
is really not about we the people anymore.
It's more about
them and their good old boys, you know.
So that worries me a lot.
- But not anymore?
- Uh-uh.
I sleep good at night.
- [laughter]
- Perfect.
I do.
- [calling Karolina Waclawlak]
- Hey, Bim.
KAROLINA WACLAWIAK, EXECUTIVE
EDITOR, CULTURE, BIM'S BOSS
So curious to hear how the story's going.
Okay. So the Afrovivalist is
kind of a magical bad-ass.
- Um
- Wow!
Yeah.
I watched the Afrovivalist skin a turkey.
- Um
- Eugh!
Yeah, that's the correct reaction.
[laughter]
As illuminating as this was,
I can't even drive.
Like, how would I get up
to the middle of nowhere?
Yeah. I mean, we live in a city
Right.
There have to be people
who are doing this in the city.
Right, exactly.
Okay, so I'm just going to take the ticks
out of my clothes
and head back to the city.
Great.
I'll keep you posted. [laughs]
[city noises]
[Bim] I researched New York City
and black survivalists,
and found one man
who has been at the forefront
of this movement since 1989,
and has trained well over 30,000 people.
He was eager to invite me to one
of his disaster training programs
for people of color.
[man having a speech]
We haven't learned from Katrina.
We haven't learned from what's going on
in Puerto Rico right now.
[Aton] What's our community gonna do?
Look for help?
From who? The Trump Administration?
[Aton]
We are the most vulnerable communities
that exist in the United States.
That's got to end.
That's got to end, now.
Every other day on the internet,
we're hit with
another racist attack, and another,
and another, and another.
This is America in 2018.
You'd think that this was 1818,
the way this is going down.
- Am I wrong or am I right?
- Right.
- Ready up?
- [all in one voice] Now!
- Ready up?
- Now!
- Ready up?
- Now!
[Bim] A big part of his teaching
is taking to the streets
with real-life disaster training drills.
So today's exercise,
it's a standard nuke flash drill.
If there was a detonation
of a nuclear weapon,
the heat flash is going to produce
a pulse of light.
There's going to be glass coming at you
in this way, all kinds of debris,
people, bits and pieces of people.
So you want to get into a clear area,
and then you want to drop.
[chattering]
So, basically, you're down.
You do not get up
until you hear nothing
except moans and groans.
At that point,
you have about ten to 12 minutes
to do every single thing
that you need to do.
Let's move out.
[city traffic]
[Aton] So, we've been training
thousands of people,
not only in the New York City area,
but all across the country,
even around the world.
One of the things people don't talk about
in a detonation of a nuclear weapon
in the city is the mega fires.
Any tree that isn't blocked
is going to catch the brunt
of that pulse of light,
and that's going to ignite those trees.
So, in terms of, uh
like, the ideal location to end at,
your teaching is to go towards the water
because that's
where evacuation would occur?
The way to get out is going to be
at the points of the river.
So the thing is, that everyone came
out here today as first-line trainees
to go back into our communities,
who are the most vulnerable,
and to train them to respond
to these catastrophes
as if the government does not exist.
Because, as it is today,
and you all know this is true,
we are on our own.
We're on our own. So if we're on our own,
then we gotta do for self
like the original Black Panther Party
spoke about.
Right? It was all about doing for self.
And this is what the black community
needs to do.
[Bim] The Black Panther Party
also encouraged self-defense.
Their goal was
to strengthen their communities
and some members advocated
for fighting back against the government
and gun ownership.
This made them controversial
to mainstream America,
which might be why
many of the preppers I spoke to
didn't want to talk about
self-defense and guns.
[gunshots]
[Bim] But I did find two survivalists
who were also firearms experts.
They want to raise awareness
in black communities
about the right to bear arms legally.
When it comes to communities of color,
black people, especially,
what can you say about
how important it is for them to
have knowledge of firearms?
We are usually the most vulnerable.
Um Especially to crime and violence.
So we need to put things in place,
to be able to protect ourselves.
And this is just one of those things.
If a situation or a crisis was here,
we're gonna be in a in a world of hurt.
No one is is built for natural farming.
Everything is hand-to-mouth.
They are not prepared
in a disaster situation.
The savagery is going to be released
on the people,
and that's why I feel
it's really important
that you put yourself in a position
- to protect yourself.
- Mm-hm.
[gunshot]
- [gunshot]
- Okay.
[gunshot]
- You ready to roll?
- Sure.
Okay, that's good.
- See the red dot there?
- Yeah.
There you go.
Calm.
[sighs] Yes.
- Breathe.
- Mm-hm.
- Ready?
- Mm-hm.
One time. Squeeze.
- [gunshot]
- Excellent! Finger off the trigger. Relax.
[Bim laughs]
Whoa, breathe.
- [gunshot]
- Ah!
One more time.
[gunshot]
- Beautiful!
- [Crystal] And place it down.
- Beautiful.
- Okay.
[Bim laughs]
I feel like I'm in kindergarten,
except with guns!
"Well done!" [chuckles]
- So, how you feel?
- I feel
a little terrified. [laughs]
- Really?
- Yeah!
It's There's so much power.
- It's pretty cool.
- [sighs] I mean
[laughter]
BUZZFEED
[Bim] There are multiple ways
that the world can end.
But for survivalists of color,
there are complexities to consider.
This is a community that feels ignored
by their government,
and there are enough examples
to prove they're right.
I don't know if learning to skin a turkey,
or shooting guns is the answer,
but these men and women believe
it's time to ready up.
So they're building a grassroots movement
to ensure they survive
whatever comes their way.