Name: Andrei
Social Justice Group: 2018-2019, Race & Policing
Date of Fieldwork: January 8, 2019
Name of Organization: PROP: Police Reform Organization Project
Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Robert/Bob Gangi
Type of Fieldwork: Direct Action
What I did:
Our group went to a court house called the County Criminal Court. There we met Bob Gangi do some court monitoring. We observed six different court cases, and 5 out of six of the prosecuted people were of color.
What I learned:
One thing we learned is that many people of color are arrested for minor crimes, for example, biking on the sidewalk, or tinted windows. We also learned that many of these minor arrests are focused towards people without homes. For example, if you didn’t have a home, your more likely to have to go to the bathroom in public, or end up in a park after dark, which are also common charges.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
I learned that cruelty exists in many different areas of the court/justice system. Unfortunately, it also happens in the police depart and the courts according to Bob Gangi. One other thing I learned is that minor rules and laws that people get arrested for are unlawful and illogical.
