Tweet
It's better to be in the company of seven devils than one policeman
"Over time, small independent municipalities formed around the city," Pool notes in the film. "This fractured political system created 90 municipalities, more than 60 police forces, 81 municipal courts and a justice system that inherited the structural racism of the past."
De Guzman says some of these municipalities are less than a square mile and only have a dozen or so people living in them. Yet they have their own police forces and their own court systems.
"All of this grew out of segregation," de Guzman says. "White people wanted to be separate from black people moving into the city."
And the discrimination was apparent the minute he set foot in the municipal courts. "Ninety-eight percent of the people being brought into court were black," de Guzman says. "They were being fined massive amounts of money for minor infractions, like jaywalking."
A recent Department of Justice report on the Ferguson shooting concluded that jaywalking was one of the biggest generators of revenue for the town. It also pointed out that more than 95 percent of those fined for jaywalking were black. Michael Brown, in fact, was originally stopped by Darren Wilson on a jaywalking charge.
"We met young kids, barely finishing high school, who had to pay $500 fines for jaywalking in neighborhoods where there are no sidewalks and no crosswalks," de Guzman says.
"In my country, we have a saying: 'It's better to be in the company of seven devils than one policeman,'" de Guzman says. He remembers traveling with his dad and having to pay bribes to cop after cop at checkpoints. When his dad ran out of money, de Guzman says, the cops "would simply ask for his shoes."
read more
"Over time, small independent municipalities formed around the city," Pool notes in the film. "This fractured political system created 90 municipalities, more than 60 police forces, 81 municipal courts and a justice system that inherited the structural racism of the past."
De Guzman says some of these municipalities are less than a square mile and only have a dozen or so people living in them. Yet they have their own police forces and their own court systems.
"All of this grew out of segregation," de Guzman says. "White people wanted to be separate from black people moving into the city."
And the discrimination was apparent the minute he set foot in the municipal courts. "Ninety-eight percent of the people being brought into court were black," de Guzman says. "They were being fined massive amounts of money for minor infractions, like jaywalking."
A recent Department of Justice report on the Ferguson shooting concluded that jaywalking was one of the biggest generators of revenue for the town. It also pointed out that more than 95 percent of those fined for jaywalking were black. Michael Brown, in fact, was originally stopped by Darren Wilson on a jaywalking charge.
"We met young kids, barely finishing high school, who had to pay $500 fines for jaywalking in neighborhoods where there are no sidewalks and no crosswalks," de Guzman says.
"In my country, we have a saying: 'It's better to be in the company of seven devils than one policeman,'" de Guzman says. He remembers traveling with his dad and having to pay bribes to cop after cop at checkpoints. When his dad ran out of money, de Guzman says, the cops "would simply ask for his shoes."
read more