Fred shouts through the jail cell bars to wait till Ralph Abernathy hears about this. Ralph Abernathy (1926-90) was the close friend, associate and successor to Martin Luther King (1929-1968) as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an influential civil rights organization.
Fred comments on the blaxploitation cinema of the early 1970s, noting that "any fool they cut loose from a football team" gets put before a camera to make a movie. Fred was referring to Jim Brown, Roosevelt Grier and Fred Williamson among others.
Esther insists on reading the bible to Fred, Lamont and Rollo before they are released from jail. She announces that she is going to read Isaiah, Chapter 42, versus 5 to 7. Verse 7 reads: "to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness."
When Rollo says "This is the golden age of film making for the black man," it isn't fiction. He is referring to what was happening in Hollywood in the early 70s when the new genre of blaxoploitation was opening doors for young black actors following the success of Sweet Sweetback's Badasssss Song (1971) and Shaft (1971).