On Tuesday, 1/26 my group and I met with Sam Thypin-Bermeo from the NYCLU. We had to travel downtown to get to the NYCLU’s office. We immediately started our interview that included questions such as, “How did you get involved in Police Misconduct issues” and “Was there something in your life that drove you to do this.” Sam is a great person, so full of information and enthusiasm about this topic, it shows how dedicated he was to the topic. He recalled that his first awakening to police misconduct that affected him was when he was younger. He was at a party that was being hosted by a white person and on the other side of the neighborhood there was a party being hosted by a black person. The black person’s party was stopped by the police and everyone there was charged with underage drinking. The white person’s party was different, everyone was let go and the police officers offered to drive kids home. The kids that were at the black person’s party had to go to court, in this time there is a emotional buildup in these kids and it only gets worse. Because of going to court they are delayed on schoolwork, and this small encounter with the police ends up negatively affecting their life. He remembered having a strong feeling to how wrong this was and wanting to stand up for this injustice. Meeting with Sam was great and a fundamental part of our fieldwork.
