Barrio Barrister (F-8)
For Barrio Barrister (F-1) click here. For BB (F-7) click here.
INT. ELDER MIGUEL’S HOME OFFICE — PRESENT — DAY
There are avocado skins and bottles lying on the desk.
MASON
Good avocados.
ELDER MIGUEL
Largest grove in Whittier.
MASON
Do demonstrations
really do any good?
School walkouts in 1968
ELDER MIGUEL
It’s a way to tell people who are too busy in their own lives just how bad things are for others. They call attention to those things.
MASON
But what really changes?
ELDER MIGUEL
(angrily)
Lots!
(softer)
But, it’s true… you need other tools besides demonstrations to make a difference. That’s why we need Chicano lawyers and judges. That’s why we needed Pitchess. That’s why we need to keep complaints against bad cops. I gotta go water. I’ll be back.
(turns back)
It’s ironic, though, that the police almost prevented me from becoming a lawyer by planting false evidence before I even started.
INT. MIGUEL’S SMALL HOUSE — DAY
On phone.
MIGUEL
Says I passed the test fine, but there’s something funny. I’m not accepted into the bar because of “moral turpitude”. What’s that about?
INT. RICHARD PARENT’S HOME — DAY
Richard is on the phone with Miguel.
RICHARD CRUZ
I got the same. It’s the demonstrations.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. CALIFORNIA STATE BAR OFFICE OF KENNETH MCCLOSKEY — DAY
CU MCCLOSKEY, 50’s, sitting behind desk. There is a file on it. He nods as BEN MARGOLIS, 62, immaculate suit with briefcase, and Miguel, (29 here)sports coat and tie, enter. Miguel starts to offer his hand to shake. McCloskey ignores him, and digs a file out of a desk drawer. Margolis catches Miguel’s eye and shakes his head, no. They sit. This occurs during V.O.. (35–40 secs.)
(Subtitle): Kenneth McCloskey, Secretary of the California State Bar Association
ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)
For months I was stiff-armed whenever I sought clarification as to why I had been denied entry to the Bar. Finally, Attorney Ben Margolis got me an interview in response to a letter he wrote. I didn’t realize it at the time but Margolis was a legendary civil rights attorney who had represented Chicanos in the Sleepy Lagoon case and, later on, Dalton Trumbo and the Hollywood Ten who were charged with being communists by Senator Joe McCarthy. He also was one of the first white people to look at me with soft eyes.
BEN MARGOLIS
Mr. McCloskey, Mr.Garcia here passed the California bar exam but was sent a letter which denied him admittance and questioned his moral character. Yet no one’s produced any evidence. You suggested this meeting only after I wrote a letter requesting all evidence in this matter.
MCCLOSKEY
No evidence, huh? Well, perhaps Mr. Garcia would like to explain what this is all about.
McCloskey produces a photograph of Miguel at the St. Basil’s demonstration, in front of a burning trash can, with a bandage on his nose. He shows the photo to Margolis who looks at it briefly, then shows it to Miguel.
MIGUEL
Yes…yes…yes. Well I was… definitely at St. Basil’s that day, utilizing my freedom of speech and my right to demonstrate. But you don’t have to be a doctor to know that someone has been… creative with this… so-called… evidence.
(McCloskey and Margolis show surprise)
BEN MARGOLIS
What do you mean?
MIGUEL
No doctor would have bandaged anyone’s nose like this — with no holes for a person to breathe.
Ben Margolis is impressed, then gives McCloskey a hard look.
BEN MARGOLIS
Mr. McCloskey, I’d like a copy of that photograph, please.
MCCLOSKEY
(lights cigarette, blows smoke)
I’ll put your request through the proper channels.
BEN MARGOLIS
You’ve had months to collect evidence and the only evidence you’ve presented appears to have been doctored. Unless you can produce something credible at this time, I expect to hear back from you on Mr. Garcia’s acceptance by this coming week, so that we can proceed if necessary.
(starts to rise)
I’d hold onto that picture. Otherwise, we may all be describing its content and explaining what the Secretary of the California Bar Association was doing with it today… in open court attended by the press. Good day.
INT. JUST OUTSIDE MCCLOSKEY’S OFFICE — MOMENTS LATER
Miguel and Ben have just left the office.
BEN MARGOLIS
You haven’t started yet and they are already manufacturing evidence against you. I hope you justify all their fear someday.
MIGUEL
I’m gonna change this system or die trying.
BEN MARGOLIS
(looking with soft eyes)
You know, I think you just might, young Mr. Garcia. But even if you do win, this war will continue after both of us are gone. The war with the abuse of power never ends.
ELDER MIGUEL (V.O.)
A week later, on February 2nd, 1972, I was certified by the California Bar Association. Two years later, I went before the California Supreme Court. But my very first case was a bitter pill to swallow.
Continue with Barrio Barrister (F-9) click here.
