« La réalité est que vivre aujourd’hui dans nos quartiers, c’est avoir plus de chances de vivre des situations d’abandon économique, de fragilisation psychologique, de discrimination à l’embauche et d’humiliations policières régulières »

(2002, Hamé, aka Mohamed Bourokba from La Rumeur)

(The reality is that living in our ghettos today increases chances of experiencing situations of economic abandon, psychological fragility, employment discrimination and regular police humiliation)

Following an eight-year-long trial, Hamé has finally had charges dropped on the grounds of freedom of expression. In 2002, he wrote a text decrying the French police’s brutality and expressed his concern over the allegedly heavy-handed  ”Sarkozyist” policies.

« Les rapports du ministère de l’Intérieur ne feront jamais état des centaines de nos frères abattus par les forces de police sans qu’aucun des assassins n’ait été inquiété. »

(Reports from the Ministry of the Interior never mention the hundreds of our brothers beaten by police forces, without any of the assassins ever having been questioned)

And that concludes our peek of an insight into a spokesperson for the French underprivileged population, his views on Police brutality and life in general, and how the French establishment responded.