Independent Lens

classical music

distant rumbling

female narrator

Acknowledgment of

a creation myth

distant rumbling

a creation myth

Before the world became the world, it was an egg. Inside the egg was dark. The rat nibbled the egg and let the light in.

engine roaring

a creation myth

And the world began.

rustling

skittering

a creation myth

The adult Norway rat can jump 32 inches high.

scuffling

a creation myth

Baltimore city trash cans are 34 inches high.

atonal electric sounds

a creation myth

Presentation of a video game

A satellite map of Baltimore is loaded into the program. A 3D terrain is created. The user assumes the role of a floating point within the game. A null object.

electronic crackling

Explanation of an experiment

Scientists place food at the end of a maze. A glass barrier is placed so the food can be seen but not reached. A rat runs the maze and is disappointed. The rat sleeps. And the scientists record its brain wave activity.

electronic crackling intensifies

Explanation of an experiment

The scientists find the same firing patterns of the neurons activated by the unreachable food are also activated in its sleep. The rat is dreaming of reaching the food. The rat is dreaming of a desirable future. A baby rat won't open its eyes until it's two weeks old.

electronic music

Explanation of an experiment

Does the blind rat dream?

distant shouts

table tennis ball bouncing

light music

Explanation of an experiment

Edmund

Watch what I did. You hear what I said? Please call me! That's what I do. My name is Edmund, but you ain't gonna get me! You gonna get the switchboard, but it's gonna be me, 'cause this is my neighborhood. This is my neighborhood, I'm telling you. It's gonna be a small thing to lay them down for y'all, what. Uh, it ain't never been a rat problem in Baltimore. It's always been a people problem. And that ain't gonna change till you educate the people. This right here is Diatrac. Now, I think that's one of the favorite poisons for the guys 'cause it's a no-choice poison. Most of the time, we kill exactly what we trying to kill. We inject the poison right into the hole with them, and it coats the whole lining of the hole. So they gonna bump into it and hit it. And as they say, "Wow, okay. "Look at me, I'm dirty now. Let me groom." And we get 'em. They don't have a choice. No choice, that's what I meant when I said "no choice." No, let me stop. No, um... I work for the Baltimore city Rat Rubout program. Basically, what we do is, we come out. We assess... what people believe to be rat problems. We project what we can do, and possibly how we can help them. And then we try to correct the problem. Basically, basically.

eerie music

Edmund

narrator

1911. Baltimore city enacts a resolution.

Quote

"An ordinance for preserving peace, preventing conflict "and ill feeling between the white and colored races in Baltimore city." The law prohibits blacks from moving into majority white neighborhoods, and whites from moving into majority black neighborhoods. It is a desperate attempt by the government to halt the rapid integration of the city. It is the nation's first legislation of its kind. Six years later, a Supreme Court decision rules residential segregation ordinances unconstitutional and the legislation is struck down. Segregation moves to the private sector. Upscale white neighborhoods maintain racial homogeneity by forming covenants that require new homeowners to sign contracts barring the sale of homes to black or minority homeowners. A map deliberately frozen. Its boundaries strain with the pressures of the growing city.

ominous music

Quote

deep breathing

playing melody

Quote

ominous music

narrator

A confidential Rockefeller Foundation report names a gaping vulnerability in America's World War II defense effort.

Quote

"There is fear that the enemy "might resort to germ warfare, "using rats to spread Bubonic plague throughout city centers." War is declared on the Norway rat. Traditional rat poison used a compound derived from the red squill plant. However, red squill only grew on the Greek shores of the Mediterranean a territory locked off by Axis-German control. Americans were left without a rat poison. Enter Dr. Curt Richter, a prominent scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Richter's work primarily focused on the biological roots of behavior. Particularly with his favorite test subject, the rat. During an experiment on the inheritance properties of taste response to phenylthiourea, Richter made a surprising discovery. The compound was tested on a group of lab rats. In the morning, they were all dead. A new candidate for rat poison had been found.

There are two key factors when considering a new rat poison

One, the poison must be attractive to rats. Two, it must only kill rats. As large enough doses in humans merely induced vomiting, Richter argued that it was safe for widespread use. Because the proprietary formula remained a closely guarded secret, government safety inspections were never conducted. In 1942, with funding from both the city and the Rockefeller Foundation, a field trial was initiated in the primarily black neighborhood surrounding Johns Hopkins Hospital, an area frequently used for public health studies. Within days, hundreds of dead rats lined the streets. These photos, gathered by the Baltimore Citizens Planning and Housing Commission, were taken to document the deteriorating conditions of the city's slum districts. They were used as evidence in targeting high impact areas for Baltimore's rodent control project. The first government pest program in the nation. At its helm, Dr. Curt P. Richter. Check this one out. Yeah.

chuckles

There are two key factors when considering a new rat poison

All right, so this is what I use for rat hunting in the backyard here. This is my customized zebrawood handle. It's a single shot.177 caliber pellet rifle. It does about 800 feet per second. And um... It's pretty fun when I'm feeling sporty. You only get one shot, so usually if you miss, they run away, and then you have to, you know, reload it. And they're gone, so. And I got "Property of the Rat Czar" on this one. And then this is one of the original rifles that I-- I used this as a kid, basically. Used to shoot rabbits for sport in Pennsylvania, and they work pretty well. This one I put a laser sight on, so it's um... Wherever that laser is is where the pellet goes, and um, I can basically do headshots with this one. They're pretty--pretty great. There's one right-- There's one right now. Ugh!

laughs

There are two key factors when considering a new rat poison

We're gonna get some tonight, boys! This is a version of this that I just-- There we go. We're gonna use the blow gun. Where'd he go?

whispering

There are two key factors when considering a new rat poison

This is a blow gun. It shoots six-inch broadhead tips. And it'll go right through 'em, no suffering. Now, this is, uh--this is what they look like. They're basically same thing that you would do with a deer. We're gonna get him. Ooh! If we wait right here, he's gonna pop his head out.

inhales deeply

There are two key factors when considering a new rat poison

He'll be back.

rat squeaking

Quote

"If someone were to give me the power to create an animal "most useful for all types of studies on problems "concerned with human welfare, I could not possibly improve on the Norway rat," Dr. Curt P. Richter.

Qualifications for an ideal model

The Norway rat's dietary needs are very nearly the same as a human. It is a stable and predictable creature.

eerie tone

Qualifications for an ideal model

Its small size make it perfect for handling in all types of surgical procedures. The short life-span, typically two to three years in a laboratory environment, make it an ideal candidate for studies concerning growth, development, and aging. Additionally, the rat's cultural position as a pest make it less sympathetic of an experimental subject than other animals such as dogs, cats, and monkeys.

eerie tones

Qualifications for an ideal model

Hole here, hole over there, and a hole all-- see right up in here? All them holes right here coming from out of the cement. That's where the rats coming from. I didn't do nothing. Relax. - I'm just saying. I'm just--I'm just tired. I mean I can't even bring-- I can't even come out here and hang our clothes. I didn't do it. Calm! We not the only one-- I'm not the only one who has rats. They have rats. See the yard? See the yard? The one on the corner has rats! I love 'em. - Well, you keep on lovin' 'em. They put food on my table. They put

bleep

Qualifications for an ideal model

on your-- you mean a muskrat? Huh? Oh, you mean killing them? - Yeah. They put food on your table. - I love them guys. I love them. - But it don't put food on my table to have rats coming--I got children! I can't have--I can't come out with these children! You know? So otherwise than that, I gotta get this

bleep

Qualifications for an ideal model

together. Last year, I kept on putting down-- putting it with peanut butter and they wasn't eating it. And I said, you know what? I'm gonna out-slick the damn rat this time. So what I did, I out-slicked them that time. Last year, what I did, I did the same thing. I put the barbecue sauce, mixed it in with the rat poison, and put it right on the hole. That's what's in there now. That's why they eating it. Here's what happened, baby. Here's what happened in a nutshell. What? You was going with the peanut butter for quite a while. No, I only went-- - They figured it out. Listen to what I'm saying. They figured it out. They said, "Every time we mess with this peanut butter stuff, we in trouble." So now that you tried something different-- I got it now. That's right. That's right. It don't matter what you mix with it. If it's poison, you must make it attractive. That's right, and that's what I did. Or else they're not gonna eat it. I put that barbecue sauce in there, and made it attractive and got them! - Ask them d-Con people. d-Con ain't doing

bleep

Qualifications for an ideal model

! It's been on the market for a thousand years. Call me! Call me, I'm the d-Con woman! It been on the market for a billion years! Them guys can eat that stuff and just keep going. I'm telling you! Finish having a wonderful day! I'm gonna try to do that. Please do. Yep, yep, yep, gonna get rid of them rats. Got to get rid of them rats. - Yes, ma'am. Pleasure was all mine. A lot of times, we try to get in and get out any way we can. So now, when I put down on my paperwork that I was here for 25 minutes, my boss will be telling me, "Really?" Really! Really!

electronic noises

Qualifications for an ideal model

Sometimes, people slip through the cracks. I think that's what that was. And then cracks.

electronic noises

clock ticking

narrator

The laboratory changes the rat. Among traits noted by Dr. Richter

in domesticated versus wild Norway rat populations

a shrinking of adrenals, smaller organs, such as the liver, the heart, and the brain, aversion to physical activity, submissiveness to restraint.

clock ticking

in domesticated versus wild Norway rat populations

Richter believed his findings had a wider impact than just the lab.

clock ticking accelerates

in domesticated versus wild Norway rat populations

In a paper titled "Rats, Man, and the Welfare State," Richter argued that the modern comforts of living afforded by technological progress and social welfare programs had led to a crippling of man's abilities. Critics were quick to point out the eugenic implications of Dr. Richter's work. A rebuttal letter published in "The American Psychologist"

quote

"As I recall, two other gentlemen "named Hitler and Stalin agreed "upon a somewhat similar philosophy. "Richter, like the aforementioned gentlemen, "misses the whole point of civilization. "The merit of science lies in the fact that where it "cannot modify the individual to meet the environment, "it offers hope of modifying the environment to meet the individual."

clock ticking

electronic music

tires squealing

frantic electronic music

quote

engine revving

quote

engine roaring

quote

All right, man, so we're gonna go to the local convenience store, to get some peanut butter, you know, or either some, you know, some raw meat.

humming

quote

What's going on, buddy? How are you? You guys have lunch meat? Lunch meat? - Yeah, like turkey breasts. We have turkey breast. Turkey breast? Turkey breast is great. Uh...peanut butter. Good. Extra crunchy. We're gonna get a quarter pound of turkey breast, man. Yes, sir. You know, I guess turkey has a stronger odor to it, or, you know, oil based. Kind of like chicken. You know, and peanut butter just gives it that extra-- I guess that pasty taste. Something that's gonna stick to their bones, I guess. All right, good luck, man. - All right, man. Thank you. All right, man, let's go.

rap music playing

quote

They probably

bleep

quote

think it's one of those cop shows or something, man. So, let's probably ride around the back this way. Yeah. See if we can find a rat this way. Look at this, look at this

bleep

quote

. Look at this. Trash, mess, heat, warmth. Oh, look at this, hell yeah, look at this, look at this, look at this, this is perfect. Look at rats. Rat there. There's a rat there, there's a rat over there. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Want to see if we can park here? It's compact. Yeah, we just gonna pull in right here. They runnin' all back through there, man. Look, look. This is perfect. This is perfect. There's one right here, like literally right here. You see it? There's one here. There's a few back there. Yes, man. Let's bait up. Let's bait up. All right, so what we're gonna do... Right now, I got-- I have a double hook. So basically, I get two chances. So same thing if you was fishing for spot, perch, bass. You know, anything of that sort. So I'm basically weaving the meat, and then, I'll take some of this peanut butter. Open that thing up like that. And if we could, we're just gonna-- we're gonna dip some peanut chunks. Might put your finger in it. Oh, that's the slugger. That's a Louisville Slugger. Get one on the hook, and take one out. -

laughs

quote

So as soon as we get 'em, gone! All right, so basically, at this point now, we're just gonna cast out kind of on the right side. Uh, one... Oh, there we go. We're still connected. And basically, we're gonna sit and wait. Just gotta be patient, you gotta be real patient. Gotta kind of like keep your cool. Yes, here they come. Once again, you gotta kind of keep your line tight.

suspenseful music

Edmund

That's where you're gonna find a rat. In the places where... Most uneducated people are, the ones who have the least. Least resources. Mm... The people who have no dreams. No aspirations. Just survivin'. That's basically where you're gonna find them guys. That's it, in a nutshell. Them guys are sharp, though. I like them 'cause they got one mission. Ain't gonna see no rats educated nowhere or trying to move to Beverly Hills, or...

laughs

Edmund

They do what they do, wherever they at. How did this happen? So I gotta go all the way back up? 604 Canning. How did this happen? How did this happen? How did this happen? How did this happen? Let me see. What am I doing wrong? What am I doing wrong, girl? All right, let's turn this around.

eerie notes

Edmund

narrator

1951. A confidential Rockefeller Foundation report lists the weaknesses of Curt Richter's poisoning program. Killing procedures merely make room for more rats to grow up, and actually increase the yield of rat flesh per acre per year.

Quote

"Killing them proved an almost endless, tedious, highly repetitive, and expensive job." Enter Dr. David E. Davis, a colleague of Dr. Richter's at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. If Dr. Richter's work tried to bring nature into the lab, Davis tried to bring the lab into nature. Davis' field work meticulously mapped the distribution of rats in the urban environment. Charting their movements across yards, fences, and alleyways. Organism and environment were impossible to separate. All elements in a given system had to be studied in conversation with itself. This ecological approach expanded the focus of rodent control into the human environment that supported them. Human factors such as trash pickup, the prevalence of vacant housing, access to water and adequacy of sewage systems became objects of study for their effects on rat populations. By controlling these human factors, Davis found, rat populations could be curbed and eventually eliminated or stabilized at a sustainable level.

A link

Control the environment, control the rats. Davis' findings shifted policy and funding from poisoning programs to bringing city blocks up to newly-instated housing codes. Dr. Davis,

a quote

"The beauty of this ecological method of control "is that it improves the housing and living conditions "of the human population in addition to reducing the rat population."

scuffling

a quote

A defunded Dr. Curt Richter vehemently opposed any ecological approach, calling Davis' methods purely defensive. Killing rats, he argued, required an offensive solution.

dramatic music

a quote

Edmund

I had gerbils, I had rats, I had frogs. I had like guinea pigs. I had cats. I had dogs. I always wanted--to me, that's how you get close to God. That's how you get close to God. Get you a pet. And pay attention to his works. I'm telling you, it'll make you get closer. You sort of understand. Who else but a supreme being could put together something like that? What was that address I was at? 15... Man, 1518, right?

dog barking

Edmund

Rat Rubout! Baltimore city!

dog barking

Edmund

Rat Rubout! Baltimore city!

dog barking

Edmund

Hello? Hello there.

dramatic music

Edmund

When I first started this job, there was 25 of us. And we was rolling. We weren't playing, we were rolling. We were trying to make a difference. And nowadays, it just feel like wow, we could be doing so much more. I mean... I don't think this is one of them topics that a lot of people want to talk about. It's just--it's just not. It's not one of them--I don't want to talk about no rats! Hush hush, please. Everybody wants to make everything sugarcoated and soft and not deal with the reality of the things. No, we don't want to talk about it. Yeah, have a good one, baby. It's good seeing you again! I'm not gonna make no excuses for it. Um... It's mean! Life is mean, it's mean. It's not designed to be easy. It's what it is. It's gonna throw you a lot of curveballs and throw you some sliders every now and then. You just have to deal with it. You know. You're dealt a hand, and you gotta play it out. There ain't no saying. "Hold it, wait, time out. "I want to change some things first and then start again." There ain't none of that. You just deal with what you-- you have. You deal with it. Deal with it.

narrator

An alternate view option provides the ability to overlay real photographs onto the three dimensional models. An algorithm obscures recognizable facial features. Sometimes an inanimate object is mistaken for a face. The game does not care if it is human. Only if it matches the accepted pattern of the human face. Two men wait for the bus on the corner of 25th Street. A mother stoops to tie the shoes of her daughter off Monument Street. A grandmother in her Sunday's best climbs the stairs so slowly that she remains on the same step for all three frames that she is visible. With the real photographs activated, the game becomes impossible to continuously navigate. There are glitches everywhere within the game, fractures that reveal more than the program was ever meant to. Sometimes, hiding in a tree, beneath a car, or inside of a building, the solar system bursts into view. Object and perspective intersect. The same gaping hole within every object is revealed. A user tries to push deeper in moments like these, but the game pushes back. 1933. Following the stock market crash, the Homeowners Loan Corporation is created. Among its stated purposes, the creation of a residential security map identifying areas of high financial risk for government-backed loans. 14 mapmakers, all white, all men, lead up the effort in Baltimore. Their work is kept secret for decades. Factors considered for residential security,

quote

"Intensity of the sale and rental demand, "percentage of home ownership, "age and type of building, "economic stability of the area, "social status of the population, "racial homogeneity and restrictions for protecting homogeneity." May 1, 1937. Establishment of a map. Neighborhoods are arranged into four graded areas. Grade A, or green. Grade B, or blue. Grade C, or yellow. Grade D, or red.

Green. Quote

"In nearly all instances, they are the new, "well-planned sections of the city. "They are homogeneous. "In demand as residential locations in good times or bad."

Blue. Quote

"They're like a 1935 automobile. "Still good, but not what the people are buying today who can afford a new one."

Yellow. Quote

"Age, obsolescence, and change of style, "expiring restrictions or lack of them, "infiltration of a lower grade population, "poor maintenance of homes. Generally, these have reached the transition period."

Red. Quote

"Detrimental influences in a pronounced degree. Undesirable population or an infiltration of it." These primarily black or mixed neighborhoods gained a new,

ominous nickname

"Redlined." Based on geography, residents in redlined areas were denied loans that would've allowed them to move into more affluent neighborhoods. Business ventures that might bring revenue to the neighborhood were considered too risky by banks to invest in. Redlined areas, mapped as such, stayed red. The city continued to integrate. The market responded. House prices plummeted. Industry and industry jobs left and would continue to leave. A great migration to the suburbs began, aided by a slew of government loans and tax incentives for first-time homeowners. Loans and incentives that were only made available to the predominantly white families living in the right color of the map.

rainfall

rainfall

ominous nickname

Isn't it nice to think that when it rains, the whole city gets wet?

rainfall grows louder

ominous nickname

We'll go to one of my favorite alleys. They're usually there. Always has many rats. Ignorant son of a bitch! Look, he just took it off and just walked away and just laid on it.

reel whirring

ominous nickname

It sucks. It sucks when you can see-- See, you can't see the fish steal your bait, okay, when it's in the water. But you can see a rat take your bait right off the hook. So that sucks even worse. You know? So you just gotta be patient, you gotta be real patient. Gotta kind of, like, keep your cool, because here they come. Once again, you got to kind of keep your line tight. -

whispering

ominous nickname

You see trash everywhere. The perfect area for... Rats hideouts. Buffet.

wind blowing

wind blowing louder

heavy winds blowing

wind blowing loudly

electric crackling

ominous nickname

Got it, got it, got it, got it!

rifle fires

electric crackling

ominous nickname

Yes!

crackling

man

Rats won't eat that.

laughs

man

You going to walk the

bleep

man

home with that

bleep

man

all over you. Yeah, this guy did not struggle at all. See? That's a head shot. Had no idea what was coming. Right in the head. No suffering.

Edmund

I don't know. Life is funny. It's funny. It's gotta be funny, because if you take it too seriously, you'll wind up some place where you really don't want to be. Sometimes it's sad, sometimes it's funny. I don't know. I had no idea what I was supposed to do most of the time. Not all the time. I don't have no regrets about none of that. None of that. And I think that's the only thing you can do.

man

Do rats go to heaven? I don't--I don't believe there's a heaven. I really don't. I believe that it's crazy to live a lifetime and to gather all that information, and then just cease to exist. I think the spirit part might go somewhere in some type of collective. But I don't think you just live a lifetime and gather all that information and just expire, and that's the end. I don't believe that. As far as a heaven and hell-- No, I'm not gonna get spooky with all that God this and that, no I'm not gonna do that to myself, no, I'm not. No. I don't even believe really in good and bad. It's just some people who have some stuff happen that make them make decisions contrary to how I believe or how I feel. And then, so they act out in ways. They just do stuff. It's more stuff piled up on some more stuff. And I'm not going there with myself. I'm just not. Not me.

woman

Honestly, I know that guy!

laughs

Thank you. Take care. man

Thank you so much.

Edmund

Young lady, please call me! Just dial the 311. This is my neighborhood. This is the area I do. So every time I come, I'm gonna go above and beyond, and try to cut this mess out.

woman

Thank you.

Edmund

Honest, I'm not just making my mouth say that. Please call. Please call. And you gonna be laughing. You're gonna be laughing, 'cause they're gonna be gone.

woman

If you get me to a point where I could throw you a bushel of flowers... -

laughs

woman

You're gonna see. You'll be the one that's laughing. No, you're gonna be so happy, 'cause you're gonna be able to enjoy your yard. Watch. - And that's all I want. Watch. - That's all I want. But thank you very much. - Yes, ma'am. Just keep doing what you're doing. Yes, ma'am. - We appreciate it. Yes, ma'am. I got you. My heroes. - I got you! Take care! - Yes, ma'am. That's the best part of the job right there. It's when you run into that one person who say, "Man, thank you." Just thank you. Ain't a whole lot of conversation. Thank you. We running out of time.

engines roaring

distant shouts

classical music

narrator

A map of arrests in Baltimore city during 2015. And graded for density. Transparent areas indicate regions with the highest concentration of arrests. The same map, layered over the 1937 residential security map of Baltimore city limits. Red, yellow, and diagonally shaded areas indicate those neighborhoods deemed the highest financial risk by the Homeowners Loan Corporation nearly 80 years ago. A 2015 survey map of vacant homes. And graded for density. Transparent areas indicate regions with the highest concentration of vacant homes. And the same map layered over the 1937 residential security map. A map of Baltimore neighborhoods below the poverty line layered over. A map of Baltimore neighborhoods where the unemployment rate is double or greater than the national average. Layered over. A map showing neighborhoods where average life expectancy is one standard deviation or more below average for the entire city. And layered over. New maps. Old maps. Same maps.

rock and roll music

narrator

It is July 4th in Baltimore and the entire population has gathered on a hillside to watch the complete and final demolition of the city. It has been decided to start again. A press conference was held earlier in the day to announce the decision. The news has been received better than expected. Past indiscretions have been recognized. Plans are in place not to repeat mistakes. The mayor has announced her resignation. Open submissions have begun for the next American creation myth. Streets will be redrawn. Private property will be raffled at every corner store. Streets will glisten. The city will be renamed. New Baltimore, it will be called. Before the world became the world, it was an egg. Inside the egg was dark. The rat nibbled the egg and let the light in. And the world began.

engine roars

narrator

Edmund

Buses on strike gonna raise a fare So they could help pollute the air But that's what makes the world go 'round The up and down Carousel That's what makes the world go 'round Rats comin' over me, rats comin' over me Rats comin' over me, rats, rats Rats comin' over me, rats comin' over me Rats comin' over me, rats, rats Why you wanna go and get a haircut? Why you wanna go and get a hair Why you wanna go and get a haircut? Why you wanna go and get a hair We carni-vorous, we carnivorous We carni-vorous, we carnivorous We carni-vorous, we carnivorous We carni-vorous, we carnivorous PBS Your Home for Independent Film