Name: Romy Kregsman

Social Justice Group: 2021-2022, Homelessness—Communities of Color and Children

Date of Fieldwork: February 10, 2022

Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):Judith Mack

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :

On Thursday, February 10th, our group was able to meet with Judith Mack. Judith is a learning specialist at LREI middle school. Surprisingly, Judith also knew Shams, one of the people we interviewed. Many people know him as Da Homeless Hero. She’s worked with him and very passionate about fixing the issue of homelessness in anyway possible.

During the beginning of the pandemic, the people experiencing homelessness, stayed at a hotel on the Upper West Side. Some people in the neighborhood were angry and even filed a law suit, so that they couldn’t stay there. People were very nasty and did not accept this. As soon as Judith heard about these people getting moved, she wanted to get involved. She partnered with Friends of Fidi and was able to get them to stay. While this was going on, she said “We need everyone to get involved and care.” She started giving out food, water, hats and other resources people needed.

We learned from Judith that “people experiencing homelessness were being treated as criminals even when they really aren’t. It really made me think that we all need to treat people how we want to be treated. This interview taught me a lot and was really amazing. We were honored to meet with her.