Doc: I ain't no criminal but I have in the past got into trouble for just day to day stuff. Stealin'. Trespassin'. Disorderly. Fightin'. Drivin' while suspended. Just everyday stuff what happens in a man's life when his luck is down.
Tondeleo: That may be day to day things to some people, Doc, but it isn't to me, and is not just "everyday" to most people. How is that "everyday?" I would be devastated if I was in trouble for even ONE of those!
Doc: Well, it's day to day if you're a poor man. Not like each and every day, but meanin' a good person will be put in a situation that it seems like there aint no choice but to take something, to eat or pay a bill. I ain't did it much but have did it before. If you ain't never been poor, you might think you wouldn't ever get into no trouble. But no matter how good you might be, you gonna maybe sleep somewhere you ain't s'posed to be... or fall asleep at the laundromat or something. Poor folks get into more trouble than folks with money.
Tondeleo: Why don't you just go to a Homeless Shelter? I would!
Doc: No, you wouldn't! You ain't never even BEEN to a shelter! Ain't everyplace GOT a men's shelter. This aint England, This is America where a man is s'posed to be able to stand on his own two feet, and if youhave too many shelters, men aint gonna do it.
But even if you are somewhere what's got one, they aint no room in the men's shelter. They's always a waiting list. So where you gonna sleep while you're waitin? You ain't thought about that, had you?
If you could get in, you ain't wanna be there. Who slept in that bed and left crabs [body lice], or scabies or puked in it or took a leak in it 'cause they was drunk? You gonna sleep in that? I aint.
You aint wanna sleep in them places 'cause someone might try to steal your stuff, an' if you wake up and stop it, you're in a fight an' they call the law an you're goin' to jail. Why? Because you is poor an' in that shelter an' someone tried to steal from you an' you was tryin' to protect your property.
See, Tondy here's how it works when you're poor. The courts and law 
are all made for folks with money. Poor folks don't get a fair shake. Like, if YOU got in trouble, you could post bond and go to work and make money and call the best lawyer you could. You'd have the money or the credit an' could get a loan. A man with a good lawyer ain't goin to jail most the time. That's anywhere you go, it's like that.
If you got money, you'll get non prossed, PBJ'd or dismissed, or community service or suspended sentence. That's cause you got money an' a good lawyer an' they want you out in society spending money.
A poor man ain't no use to society an' ain't got credit, an' aint posted bond, so he loses his job, which means losin' his place to live an' all his stuff,if he is on his own an' stays at a motel. Then, he gets a public defender who gets paid no matter how dumb he is,so he ain't gonna take no interest in gettin' you off. Mostly, that public defender don't even meet you til your court day an then he just makes up somethin' to tell the judge an' you're gonna do time.
If I came in with a suit an' tie an' a lawyer what the judge knows, I ain't doin' time, not for the kind of stuff I ever done. But when I come in wearin' work clothes an' got a public defender, I will be found guilty and do some time.
Most of the trouble I got in was from bein' poor or from bein' around other poor folks. Got in trouble for breakin' up a fight where a dude was strong arm robbin' another dude what was too drunk to defend himself.
Tondeleo: Strong arm robbing? I'm not familiar with that term...
Doc: Strong arm robbin' is robbin' without a weapon. Like this dude come up behind the other dude an' was chokin' him so he'd pass out and he could go through his pockets. I told him to cut it out, it was right outside my motel room, and he kept
at it, and then he dropped that guy he was robbin' and came after me. I did put a hurtin' on him. Didn't cut him, but did push his head against my door frame and we went round and round a couple minutes. Someone called the cops. His head looked like a bowl full of plums when they got there, so since I won, they thought I was the bad guy. It weren't no big deal though, once they heard the story from the guy what was gettin' robbed.
I been in trouble for trespassin, for sleepin' in a boat that was covered up for the winter, in a man's back yard an' he saw me gettin' out of it one morning. He called the law an' pressed charges for trespassin' and vagrancy. Cause I didn't have no money. No! I had SPENT it all on food and my motel room which I was locked out of!
Drivin' while suspended when I couldn't pay insurance because I had spent my money on a used starter and a alternator which cost me $80 at a junkyard an' then I had a flat tire and had to buy a used tire on a rim for $40. I couldn't pay insurance an' keep my truck on the road. And if I didn't fix my truck I woulda lost my job an' then I woulda lost my room.
So what you gonna do? You're gonna drive and be real careful. And on that one, the first time I got that one, I had fixed a lady's car, to try to get money for insurance an' rent, and the cop what had stopped me before for a tag light out or a brake light out, I ain't remember why, saw me behind the wheel of her car, an' thought I had stole it an' he knew I ain't had no license.
Tondeleo: Wasn't there a little bit more to it than that, Doc?
Doc: Yeah, but that ain't what's the important part. It's about what happens when you're poor what you ain't directly choosin'.
Been in trouble another time for fightin'. I was takin' a late night 
walk, so I had my cane with me. A crackhead tried to rob me an' I knocked the knife outta his hands with my cane and then I did teach him a lesson - do NOT rob a 200 pound man what carries a cane and already had a bad day! But I didn't start nothin, he did. That was assault and disorderly. Disorderly 'cause the cops let him go and was lockin' ME up. I ain't had no money but maybe $30, an' was stayin' at a motel. To a cop, that means you're no good an' nothin' but trouble. But that ain't true just because a man is poor.
You have to be twice as good if you is poor an' keep your mouth shut twiced as much, cause if you ain't got money, you ain't got no room for mistakes.
