- Spike, added to this movie, the swagger of the dap.
- Lemme give you some power.
- Lemme see if I remember can this.
- Come on, you got it.
- Dap is an acronym for Dignity and Pride,
and it's a very important handshake
that the brothers during the Vietnam war had that showed
fraternity, brotherhood, showed togetherness.
It was more than a greeting, more than a handshake.
It was a confirmation of not only brotherhood,
but survival.
- During the Vietnam war,
black combat troops comprised a little over
a third of the troops that were stationed,
going into action.
Those young black men were coming from
urban environments and cities
that were rebelling against oppression, a systemic racism,
over-policing, police brutality, lack of employment,
active and latent discrimination.
So, we're in the midst of the burgeoning
Black Power Movement.
The slogan itself, "Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud."
represented the spirit and energy
of this new sense of pride and identity.
- When we got to Vietnam,
the black folk got into this hyper-solidarity.
And it was like me and you, brother, against the world.
- You got me?
- This gonna be a dap.
This is also considered a dap.
(hands slapping)
- I'm not above you, you're not above me.
We're side-by-side, together.
And so, from there the bloods would lock,
and one head around be here, my head would be here, meaning,
I got your back, you've got mine.
(trigger cocking)
- We all felt like it was bringing us together,
giving us pride, giving us courage, and uniting us.
- It was an expression of blackness, it was performative.
- There. (hand slapping)
- [Together] Bloods.
- That bond Vietnam vets had,
continued when they were back in the States.
And they needed that bond because of the hostilities
that existed in America toward Vietnam veterans.
Where they could express themselves fully
was really back home in the black community.
Once they got back home,
then it just went in all different directions.
- So if you could breakdown a timeline,
you could say the Vietnam war,
going down into the Black Panthers.
Then the Black communities.
Then we have the Crips.
Then we have the Bloods.
Then we have Latin Kings.
- Right. - And then handshakes
and dap parts come to all different styles
and different meanings and reputation.
So, each symbol that you can make with your hand,
has a significance-- - Yeah.
- As you connect.
- There's always a message behind it.
- So, there's always a message and a calling, a sign.
- The guys in New York, and the guys that in Miami
or Chicago, or Houston, they all had a different dap.
So when a guy walked up to you and throw his fist up,
he expect for you to give him your dap.
He open his hand, close his fist,
but you give him your dap.
And then in return, you give him back your dap.
So that rhythm was a part of the dap expression.
- If you have a chance to look at an NBA game
from the 1960s, it is very subdued,
but what you've got primarily when players are introduced,
or they greet each other on the court,
it is not necessarily with a handshake.
It is with, it's sort of a double slap of the hands,
that's a form of the dap.
And as black culture began to impact American society
in the '70s and '80s, what becomes popular?
The high-five.
What becomes even more popular is,
especially for basketball players,
is that they jump and give the high-five.
And then they continue to evolve
with all these things that outside a sport,
impacting the athletes themselves
and of course the popularity of the NBA,
began to just spread throughout.
(hands slapping)
- But you can see the dap in a lot of places.
I don't know if a lot of the
younger generation understand the dap,
but if you look at people meeting on the street,
there's a kind of a greeting.
It's a silent way of saying,
how are you, I love you and we are brothers.
- Right now in our Coronavirus and our protesting,
a lot of the young folks are putting up the Power Fist.
We started the Power Fist back in 1960.
The Power Fist is a symbol of the dap.
Black Lives Matter is doing a symbol of the dap.
- Black Lives! - [All] Matter!
- When Barack was nominated,
and he and Michelle gave the fist-pump
and I said, they dappin' right here!
And I'll talk with some of my Vietnam vet friends
and I said, did you see Barack Obama and his wife dappin'?
And he was like, yeah, yeah!
You know, so, it's just an affirmation of
the power of black culture and how it has
permeated American society even in the White House.
And I said, here you have a President of the United States,
dapping.
What else is gonna happen?
But it's just a phenomenal thing.
- Can you teach me that?
- As an adult man, I dap with my son.
My son's eight years old, and we have our personal dap.
And you could see in his eyes, that he's like,
he feels special 'cause I don't dap, nobody else's dap.
I'll have that just for him.
Dap is like a consolement.
You know, it's a positive--
- Right. - A feeling internally to know
that you're welcome somewhere,
that you're wanted somewhere,
that someone is thinking about you,
that your heart bigger
than what you're feeling in the moment.
- What we sincerely ask is that,
understand the depth and the roots
that the dap draws from.
That these very amazing gestures of black culture
represent really come from very deep places.
They really represent something
that's profound and wonderful,
but should be honored and revered
and sincerely taken and shared.
You know it's not something that's just like,
all right, you're not black, you can't dap
but it's something that, if you are gonna dap,
it has to come from a place of love and solidarity,
a recognition of humanity.
- [All] Bloods!