Barrio Barrister (F-14)
For Barrio Barrister (F-1) click here. For BB (F-13) click here.
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOME-LIVING ROOM — LATE AFTERNOON
BETTY,80, pleasant, warm mannered and ALEX, 23, are watching a big screen TV. Elder Miguel and Mason enter from the kitchen and walk over to where they sit on a couch.
ELDER MIGUEL
Alex, could you pause it a moment, mijo? Thank you. This is Mason with Rolling Stone. Mason, this is my middle sister, Betty, and my son, Alex.
They greet all around.
MASON
What are you watching?
BETTY
It’s an old Henry Fonda movie set back in a time when white people weren’t too good to pick crops.
ELDER MIGUEL
Henry Fonda’s the one who presented me the award I showed you downstairs.
ALEX
It’s near the end now but you’re welcome to join us.
BETTY
Fonda’s character has gotten into trouble and has to leave his mom. He doesn’t want her to worry about him because they won’t be able to stay in contact.
Alex hands Miguel the remote, and the movie comes back on. They all turn to the TV set. CU of television. Henry Fonda’s Tom Joad is talking to his mom.
TOM JOAD
I’ll be around in the dark. I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look — wherever there’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there…
(Grapes of Wrath scene here.)
Miguel stops the video.
ELDER MIGUEL
You see, Mason. The police have been used as a tool to intimidate labor movements the entire history of this country. That’s discriminatory enforcement of the law. Why did it take all these years to finally face that issue?
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S LIVING ROOM — EVENING
Betty and Alex have left. Mason is eating ice cream and watching the TV. Miguel enters.
ELDER MIGUEL
Sorry. That took much longer than I thought it would. I think we are starting to make a difference on the gerrymandering front now.
MASON
I helped myself. I hope it’s okay.
ELDER MIGUEL
(brushing it off)
Why don’t we work up here instead.
MASON
I’ll get my recorder.
ELDER MIGUEL
I’ll get some mota.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S LIVING ROOM — LATER THAT EVENING
They sit on the different parts of an L-shaped couch. Mason looks around him at the books and posters about Joaquin Murrieta, Pancho Villa, and others looming at him in the darkening light. Miguel appears relaxed. Soft guitar music comes from an old style phonograph. They are smoking.
ELDER MIGUEL
A ver, a ver, a ver. There were many, many cases. I had moved from Mt. Washington to a hill top in City Terrace.
EXT. BOYLE HEIGHTS AREA — DAY
For Bessame Mucho click here.
We see a montage of various locations in Boyle Heights, along Brooklyn Ave. (now Cesar Chavez), including restaurants (La Parrilla), corner stores, the Hollenbeck Police Station, The Police Malpractice Center. Mexican music blares, and mostly Chicano people are bustling along their chosen paths.
ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)
I enjoyed walking the streets in nearby Boyle Heights. That is a lively Chicano community even today. The sights and smells remind me of Mexico. At the time I was living high up on City Terrace.
EXT. HILLTOP OF CITY TERRACE, POMEROY — DAY
We see homes atop a hill along Pomeroy. Many neighbors are out and interacting. CAM moves along the street to Danny Pompa’s home. We see DANNY POMPA,60’s, 5’7”, light-skinned, paunchy, and his sidekick, Rubio, darker, with thick moustache, always carrying a budweiser, chasing a chicken around the front yard.
ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)
Danny Pompa lived there with his wife and family. He owned all but two houses on that street. He fixed them with extra plaster from his business and rented them out.
The CAM continues to PAN. We see OLGA BASTIDA walking door to door passing out flyers. She approaches Miguel, sitting on a small front porch.
ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)
There was the activist Olga Bastida and her husband, Jose, who lived at the end of the street.
OLGA
Hey, Miguelito. We need you at this next meeting.
MIGUEL
If I’m not busy, Olga.
OLGA
Don’t be.
The CAM PANS to next door.
MIGUEL
Tranky lived next door with his sister and her kids. When Michael and Adeliz came to visit they would often play baseball in the street with the other kids.
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOUSE-LIVING ROOM — PRESENT — NIGHT
Mason and Elder Miguel are smoking.
MASON
(looking at joint)
Wow. This shit is strong.
ELDER MIGUEL
It was dipped in something to make it stronger…
(to himself)
I wonder if young Mason is ready for this one…
We can see the effects of the marijuana taking hold. CU on Mason’s drooping eyes. He starts to hear Elder Miguel talking in a slowed down voice, and his actions seem to slow like an old movie. CU of a hand moving slowly bringing up the lit joint. It appears to be rising again…and again..never quite reaching the mouth…each shot closer than the last…ending with an extreme close up as it nears mouth.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL — 1970’S — DAY
Students are coming out. Michael is now a second grader.
EXT. SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF SCHOOL — DAY
PLAINCLOTHES MAN, late 40’s, wearing an inexpensive, gray suit and hat stands waiting.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
You must be Michael, Mr. Garcia’s son?
EXT. SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF SCHOOL — DAY
Young Michael wears a blue shirt and backpack.
MICHAEL
Yes?
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
Your mom told me you’d be wearing a blue shirt.
MICHAEL
Anyone could see that. I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.
Plainclothes Man feigns friendliness.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
It’s okay, she’s helping your auntie. She wants me to take you home.
Michael is backing away.
MICHAEL
She told me never to take a ride from a stranger.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
(smiling)
You remember me, don’t you? Maybe you were too young. There’s nothing to worry about.
Plainclothes Man starts towards Michael. Michael runs away. He rounds a corner and sees a police car parked at the curb.
EXT. POLICE CAR — DAY
Michael runs over to the car’s open window.
MICHAEL
Help me! Please, officer. There’s a man after me.
INT. SQUAD CAR — DAY
SQUAD CAR COP, (fifties),bulky, shows his concern.
SQUAD CAR COP
Where?
EXT. SIDEWALK BY SQUAD CAR — DAY
Michael points to corner. Squad Car Cop starts the engine.
SQUAD CAR COP
Hop in. Point him out to me.
Michael climbs in car. They drive around the corner. Michael points to Plainclothes Man.
MICHAEL
That’s him! That’s him! Right there!
The Plainclothes Man walks over to the squad car, opens the door and gets in, puts Michael’s backpack on the floor.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
That was easy.
Michael does not understand. He looks over to the Squad Car Cop driving, and whispers.
MICHAEL
It’s him…. It’s him!
Squad Car Cop does not reply. There is a long silence. Michael begins to worry even more. His voice is more insistent.
MICHAEL
It’s him!
CU Plainclothes Man looks around for witnesses.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
You ever ridden in a squad car before?
Michael looks straight ahead
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
You see that rifle? Neat, huh? Sometimes we have to use that on bad guys…like robbers…murderers
(voice change, harshly)
…bean eaters who don’t know their place…
Michael swallows hard. Tears well up in his eyes.
MICHAEL
I want to go home now.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
Oh, don’t worry. We’re definitely going to take you home, young man….What grade are you in, Michael?
He is silent.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
What grade?
MICHAEL
Second.
The squad car turns down a deserted alley. It stops.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
Second grade. You are getting to be a big boy now. Has the teacher been showing you how to write?
Michael is starting to shiver. He nods yes.
PLAINCLOTHES MAN
(exaggerated pleasantness)
Good. Let’s you and I write a letter to your daddy together, okay? Uh oh, I don’t seem to have any paper or pencil. Hmmm. You’re a smart boy. What could I write on so that your daddy will really understand my message? I mean, so that the both of you would be sure to get the point.
The Squad Car Cop puts a hand on Michael’s shoulder. The Plainclothes Man takes a knife from his ankle holster.
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S LIVING ROOM — PRESENT — NIGHT
CU A hit has just been taken with the joint, and the arm brought back down again — as though the entire scene before occurred in just a few moments while the puff was taken. Miguel’s eyes are closed.
MASON
Is that how Michael died?
ELDER MIGUEL
(Very, very long pause-then, quietly)
No.
(another very long pause)
I told you before… the long hours …and stress… gave me nightmares. This second one is one I had many times. Different versions, but…many times. That never made it hurt any less. It hurt like it had really happened. It has happened to other people. It made me sometimes doubt if putting my loved ones at risk was worth it.
MASON
Well, at least now we have Pitchess. At least you know you made a difference.
ELDER MIGUEL
Have I? Let me ask you a question.
Mason looks at him expectantly.
ELDER MIGUEL
If the very top men charged with enforcing the law in our society break the law themselves, who brings them to justice?
Mason looks puzzled.
INT. ROOM IN BUILDING — 1975 — NIGHT.
A meeting is going on. CAM PANS room, revealing the participants. Participants include: WARD MCCONNELL, head of City Attorney’s Office Criminal Apellate section, BURT PINES, City Attorney, LAWRENCE HOFFMAN, Chief of Civil Liability Branch, DAVID PEREZ, Chief of Criminal Branch, ROBERT THOMPSON, City Attorney’s Executive Assistant, JOHN RICE, Chief of Employee Relations, Deputy City ATTORNEY SLOAN, and THOMAS MCTIGHE, Commander of Internal Affairs Division. They are identified as the CAM passes by.
(Subtitle): Somewhere in Los Angeles, June 30, 1975
DAVID PEREZ
This shit has got to stop. We’re losing too many cases.
JOHN RICE
You start giving them the files we’re gonna lose a lotta cops.
LAWRENCE HOFFMAN
Not to mention costing the tax payers millions when the shit comes out what they’ve done.
BURT PINES
Just last September, Larry, you approved Bonaventura’s opinion that “…emphasis should be placed upon retaining and preserving public records.” Whose team are you on?
ATTORNEY SLOAN
To tell you the truth, when I looked into the legalities of my earlier advisement I found that destruction of the files actually is unlawful. And…
DAVID PEREZ
No one here heard that.
WARD MCCONNELL
As a prosecutor I would advise disposal of all files on complaints which the statue of limitations has run civily - those over one year old.
LAWRENCE HOFFMAN
Right now, many of them are scheduled for destruction in 1992, seventeen years from now.
DAVID PEREZ
Reclassify them as “Miscellaneous”. Then get approval from the City Counsel to destroy “obsolete records”.
INT. OFFICE BUILDING — NIGHT
David Perez is on the phone. INTERCUT.
DAVID PEREZ
Just waiting for your approval on this.
INT. POLICE CHIEF’S OFFICE — NIGHT
Chief Davis is on the phone.
CHIEF DAVIS
Hell, what took you so long?
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S LIVING ROOM — PRESENT — NIGHT
Elder Miguel stands up.
ELDER MIGUEL
That’s it for tonight. I’m wasted. There’s blankets and a pillow for the couch. Hope you don’t have to go in early. G‘night.
Mason takes sofa pillows off couch and arranges blankets.
MASON
‘Night? I’m gonna have nightmares.
I notice you don’t swear much.
ELDER MIGUEL
Not often.
Mason waits for an explanation that doesn’t come.
FADE TO BLACK.
Note: Part of the above was a nightmare sequence. Also, the meeting of law enforcement officials above is a dramatization of an email which they all received.
For Barrio Barrister (F-15) click here.
