On November 18th, my group members and I had the great opportunity to sit and listen to a panel on wrongful incarceration, organized by the Greenburger center.This event was held in the high school auditorium that evening and almost every seat was filled. There was a total of 5 or 6 members on the panel, including Mr.Greenburger himself. Through this event, we learned about how the police uses petty crime enforcement to meet quotas. Frank Greenburger states: “America has 5 percent of the worlds population, but has 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated.” This quote really stuck out to me and was a great of example of how we need to make progress. We need to “give people help, not lock them in cages,” as one person on the panel said. In all honesty, the series was an event that caused an unexpected connection. Just hearing how successful white women and men who had been so deeply grounded in bringing justice for people of color to our nation speak and admit that they recognize their privilege had made me realize how large my topic is and just how it touches so many people, of different races. It was a great chance to really learn about the problems in our justice system and how need to make improvements. This personally inspired me to potentially bring in a guest speaker of my own. Each and every person was very knowledgeable of their topic and in entirety, this was a learning opportunity for me.
