On July 8, 2017, we at BKMSCC attended an town hall meeting to raise awareness for the #closerikers program hosted by Justleadership USA. We then asked our BKMSCC youth attendants about their experience at the town hall meeting.
Question 1: What was the meeting about?
Jada: The meeting was about trying to close Rikers Island and keeping kids off the street and away from cops.
Monet: The meeting was about different organizations and what they do to help the community, also about the closing of Rikers Island.
Shyheim: The meeting that we (Bkmscc) attended was about Rikers Island today. Basically what we spoke about was possible ways\reasons to close down Rikers Island.
Masyah: The meeting was about closing New York maximum security system Rikers Island.
Question 2: What did you learn?
Jada: I learned that if you get picked up by the police in front of NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority) buildings or on their property you could be banned from ever living there.
Monet: I learned that there are a lot of people trying to help out in the community.
Shyheim: I learned that the Rikers Island jail complex has a culture of rape that is not only persuasive, but also inevitable. I also learned that speedy trails is suppose to be our second amendment and the police walks over us.
Masyah: I learned about a permanent ban of certain convicts, meaning the place they may have called home is no longer theirs. Some corrupt neighborhoods may actually plan on giving the police false information that the perviously convicted may still live in the home they were banned from....when in reality they were just visiting for the holidays
Question 3: What did you do at the meeting?
Jada: I took pictures.
Monet: I wrote down contact information on each handout. I put our flyers on the chairs, played a game and listen to what people have to say.
Shyheim: I wrote down on a note about what I wanna see change in Brownsville and stuck it on the idea wall.
Masyah: I toke down notes about the stats that was provided, wrote down the informations of other organizations that attended, and toke notes on certain quotes that interested me. Other organizations that attended B.A.J.I, D.U.E.C.E.S, Youth represent, and B.Y.P.
Question 4: Was this your first community meeting?
Jada: Yes, this was my first meeting.
Monet: Yes this was my first meeting and it was great!
Shyheim: No I also been to a community meeting with my last summer youth job. The meeting was also about discrimination and violence within the community.
Masyah: No, I've been to a similar community meeting with my school at Medger Everest College. They also brought awareness about NYC prison but told us how propaganda give the youth the mind frame that prison was meant for blacks. They showed a series of movie clips and photos. Some photos shown how The Housing Authority windows have bars on them that resembles the same bars as jail cells.
Question 5: Was it what you expected? why or why not?
Jada: No, I thought there was going to be a lot of people there taking notes on paper.
Monet: No, this was not what I expected because I didn't know a lot of people or the organizations trying to help. Usually, in my community, people don't really do anything; they just watch, talk, and the day goes on.
Shyheim: No, because people barely tend to talk about what's going on in our community today.
Masyah: No, i wasn't expecting people to wanna close Rikers Island because i always thought people were glad about criminals being far far away. This experience made me more aware that these "criminals" are just as much victims as anyone else. They're stripped of their amendments and have a difficult time returning into modern day society.
