STEVIE WALKER-WEBB: My brother has been in solitary confinement for 122 days.

A six-by-nine-foot cell.

He committed no crime.

He's just having serious delusions right now.

NATASHA DEL TORO: Filmmaker Stevie Walker-Webb is fighting for his brother Waday's freedom.

STEVIE: Because I just wanted to make it visual, the way that we treat the most vulnerable members of our community.

DEL TORO: "Hundreds of Thousands," on America ReFramed.

♪ ♪ (car approaching) (car passes in distance) STEVIE: I'm a community organizer and I've told people a thousand times not to call the police, and... (inhales softly) I called the police.

(car approaching) (people talking in background) - No, sir!

All right, it's 1-1!

(people talking in background) (men murmuring) All right, all right.

(all talking indistinctly) STEVEN, SR.: You better play your hand, partner.

- It's time for the next dude to get in.

I'm waiting for the dime to go.

- Hold him, Waday, hold him.

You see, that's the only reason I said something.

We gonna, gonna hold him on that dime, okay.

♪ ♪ STEVIE: My mom called me and was, like, your brother's having a massive attack.

So I'm driving, I'm racing on the highway from Austin to Waco, and I'm calling MHMR the entire two hours.

And I'm on the phone with them, I'm calling them, and they're telling me that there's nothing that they can do, that I need to call the police.

And I'm saying, "Hey, my brother's not a criminal.

"My brother's not doing anything violent.

He's just having serious delusions right now."

So finally, I get on the phone with MHMR again.

It's, like, my third call in, like, two hours.

I'm almost to Waco at this point.

And she says, "No, no, no, just call the police, "and we'll send out, "we'll send out the emergency response team.

They'll, they'll beat, they'll beat the police there."

Can you, can you tell me if he's here or not?

WOMAN: Uh, I can look and see-- what's the last name?

STEVIE: His last name is Walker-Webb, his first name is Steven.

WOMAN: Walker-Webb.

Okay, give me just a second.

- So I'm waiting, they're kind of...

They, they said that they were bringing my brother here.

They tased him, they pushed him down.

One cop, uh, hit him several times in his back while my mother was screaming and asking them to stop.

We called because he was having a mental health, uh, crisis.

And now we're here at the hospital and I don't even know if my brother is okay or not.

WOMAN: So I don't have that name in our computer.

- I do not know where my brother is.

I do not know what his state, um, is at this time.

Um, and I, I'm going to do everything I can to get him, uh, justice and to get him, uh, care and to get him taken care of.

And I'm going to need the support of my entire community, and, and that's gonna be, um, very necessary, um, in the coming days and weeks.

Um, so, um... Um, I'm proud that, that we have a, a family that, uh, that prays, that fight, that love, and that stick together.

Come on over here, don't stand, don't stand over there.

Get over here-- ain't none of that.

WOMAN: Let Waday go!

- Right?

(chuckles) WOMAN: Right?

Let him go!

- So, um, let's just have a moment of prayer.

Mama, you the prayer warrior.

You taught us all how to pray, so you want to, you want to keep this prayer up?

MARY WALKER-WEBB: Okay.

Father God, I ask you to forgive me of anything that I said or done that would hinder this prayer.

And I thank you, God, for this day.

I thank you for your grace and your mercy.

I thank you for your divine hand of protection.

I thank you for what the devil means for our bad, you are going to work it for our good.

Thank you that when what we did not want to happen happened, but it could have been worse, God.

Well, I'm trying to find the goodness in it.

Not trying to, because it could have been worse, God.

Instead of us trying to pray to get Waday out (inaudible), we could have been planning his funeral.

And I thank you for that, that it did not happen.

I thank you for it, God.

I thank you how you have kept me, God.

(voice cracks): How you've given me strength to endure, God.

MAN: Thank you, Jesus, thank you, God.

Thank you, Jesus.

SHAY SHAY: Hey, Waday, this is Shay Shay.

I love and I miss you, and I'm praying for you, and keep fighting, and we're going to keep fighting for you, and this battle will soon be over.

Love you.

BOY: I love you, Uncle Waday.

I hope you keep your head up, and have determination and stay strong.

KK: To my nephew Waday, we love you so much.

We miss you.

We miss your smile.

I miss you telling me how beautiful I am every time you see me.

Can't wait till you get out and come home.

We love you, Your Aunt KK.

STEVIE: Now, y'all make sure, all y'all, all y'all nephews, nieces that's trying to run back in the house to the games, whatever you're doing, make sure that you are drawing a picture that is bright, that is colorful, right?

The words are beautiful, right?

But we don't know what state Waday's mind is going to be in when he get this letter.

But, so if he sees something, a bright yellow piece of paper or a bright pink piece of paper, he going to connect that with a feeling of love, right?

Color, color has power, right?

And so make sure that you're writing something bright and beautiful, something to make him laugh.

If you know a funny joke, put a joke in there.

If you know something that, that, that you, he used to laugh at, or he used to draw... Like, he like Naruto-- put that in there, right?

Whatever you know about Waday that would make a smile come to his face, put that in the letter, because we want to send him love, right?

We want to make him feel the love of this moment.

And we not going to be, we not going to be down, 'cause we going to fight.

They brought the fight to us... (dialogue fading) (talking in background) JOHNNIE WALKER: This is my oldest daughter, Debra Louise Hilliard.

Now, why make them suffer into mess like this?

STEVIE: Yes, ma'am.

Mm-hmm.

- That's, that's suffering.

You know, it, it's not enough that Black people have been picked on all their lives.

It ain't over-- we still being picked on!

- Yeah.

- We still...

Some of them think will try to walk on us.

It's only thing it is different, it's just not like it was back in my great-grandma days, and it'll never be like that.

- Hm.

- The world will come to the end before that.

- Hm.

- No, no.

No.

And to sit in something like this 23 hours a day, my mind will start running all kind of ways.

And yours would, too.

STEVIE: Right, anybody would, especially after 120 days in a... - In this thing.

- That's the size of a parking, a parking spot.

- Is it, is it a parking spot?

- It's small.

- Can I open my door?

- Probably can't even open your doors.

- Hm.

And then you got to sit there all day, all night, all day, all night, all day, all night, all day, all night.

Mm-hmm.

(people talking in background) STEVIE: Hey, Bubba.

Yeah, I can hear you, what's up?

No, no, um.

So, uh, we're out here, we're out here building a, um, building a cell that, that, that is the same size of the cell that you're in right now, and so it's going to take us a little bit of, a little bit of time to build it, but I can talk.

- Perfect, okay.

- So you want, you want me to, you want me to pull up, um, my, pull up the internet and look, and look for the songs at the same time.

Tupac?

Moneybagg Yo?

(laughs): That's the name of the, the artist, is Moneybagg Yo?

All right.

All right, I'm, I'm gonna have those for you.

And as soon as you get out, your, everything will be ready to go.

I love you-- hey, Waday!

Waday, before you go, question: when, when you go to sleep at night, do they turn off all the lights?

They leave the lights on?

(kid screeching) - He does this thing where, like, he keeps making me plan all this stuff that he wants me to do, like, when he gets out.

Like, the movies he wants to watch, the albums that he has, that he, that, like... MAN: Just to have it ready?

- Just, like, he wants everything ready... (woman calling to child) And, like, um... Yeah, it's just, like, it's, it's beautiful, 'cause it's, like, it's... WOMAN: Let's not swing 'em.

- Like, I guess it's just, like, him trying to hold on to things, you know?

Um, have you ever heard of Y.M.

Melly?

MAN: At minimum, your, your tent stakes, at minimum, if you don't do your, your... WOMAN: The cross.

MAN: Your, your crosses.

(people talking in background) WOMAN: Right, because if you do that, the tension on either end, it'll at least balance it.

MAN: I think you're right.

WOMAN: Because we're not gonna lean up against any walls or anything.

(laughing) MAN: Yeah, you definitely don't want it to come apart.

That, that would ruin your whole thing.

So we want to make sure that you're secured for sure.

WOMAN: Absolutely.

STEVIE: So we want to do-- what's the order of operations?

You want to zip tie, and then tent stakes?

♪ ♪ He's the kind of person, like, he was able to do everything.

He played varsity football and was also a theater, a theater geek.

Like, he got into theater when, um...

I opened the Jubilee Theatre.

It's, like, ten blocks from here.

Like, right adjacent to the projects.

People were, like, "There's no way art can happen in that neighborhood."

And, um, when everybody in the city was doubting that, my brother was, like, riding shotgun with me in my hooptie.

He was there, just there, you know?

Um, he was just that way.

WADAY (as Gabriel): Hey, Troy!

(audience laughs) ROSE: What you got there?

- You know what I got, Rose?

I got fruits and vegetables.

- Well, where's all our plums you was talking about?

- Oh, I ain't got no plums, Rose.

(audience laughs) I was just singing that.

MAN: Mr. Gabe!

You blew me in, didn't you?

All right, what did you like the most about the character that you played, Mr. Gabe?

- I liked everything about my character.

- You liked everything about the character?

What'd you like about the play and, and, the play in general?

Was there any sad parts in it?

There were some sad parts in the play.

- Well, the sad part of the play was, he's stealing my money.

(people laughing) - Did you like the character you played right now?

STEVIE: My brother has been in solitary confinement for 122 days.

A six-by-nine-foot cell.

He committed no crime, but he's being treated like a criminal.

Um, he's one of hundreds of thousands.

And so I'm here because I just wanted to make it visual, um, the way that we treat the most vulnerable members of our community.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (people talking in background) STEVIE: We're gonna get him out of here.

MARY: All right.

- I love you, Mom.

- Love you.

(people talking in background) - Starting now.

(sighs) (object clatters in distance) (cars passing) (people talking in background) (cars passing) (airplane passing overhead) (reverse signal beeping in distance) (airplane passing overhead) STEVIE: I'm only suffering for one day.

My brother has been suffering for 122 days.

I think the most difficult part is, is this right here, to be honest.

Is having sat somewhere to represent my brother, to represent hundreds of thousands of folks who are in, who are incarcerated wrongfully, and to, like, feel a kind of, a fear, a cynicism that, that this will be a moment that will pass and that no legislative action will be taken.

This is something that affects people of all races, of all sexual orientations, of all genders, of all socioeconomic levels.

I feel a deep responsibility to make sure that this moment doesn't pass, and that we all don't just look at it as something that's sensationalized.

That's the hardest thing, is to feel like nothing's going to change.

WOMAN: ♪ ...yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free ♪ ♪ And the home of the brave ♪ (audience applauds) PHOTOGRAPHER: And three, two, one... (shutter snapping) (people talking in background) STEVIE: He's down there, he's just hanging out, he okay.

MAN: Thank y'all very much!

- He's fine.

Lookit, he's feeding the ducks.

- Who?

- Uncle Waday is.

He cool.

(people talking in background, child crying) (people talking in background) MAN: Hey, five dollars to whoever pick up the most balloons.

(people talking in background) - Come on in!

- Move the balloons.

- Move the balloons.

- Get the balloons out the way, little boy!

- I don't know where to put them!

MAN: Here, give them to me.

I got them.

(people talking in background) - Y'all are leaving our daddy out, he trying to... - Look at them babies, though, they having a nice field day.

MAN: Scoot up there with Stanley and Uncle Stevie.

(dialogue fades) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪