“I am a product of this environment”

Excerpt from Hilario, a defendant at the Palo Alto Courthouse in summer 2022

Hilario: […] the police only treat you so nicely until they look up your name and then they see your record, and then, they treat you like a criminal. You know, like, there's been times where I've been pulled over, and everything is all nice. Until they look up my name, and, they’re just like, ‘Okay, can we search your car? Can we take, uh, pho--can we update our photos on your tattoos? Anything gang related?’ And I'm just like, I'm not affiliated. I'm not gang related. It's just, I grew up in this environment. This is how I look because I am a product of this environment. But that does not mean I affiliate with such an environment.