Race and Justice: Writing II, Spring 2010

I was really excited when I found out the theme of our class was race and justice.  Almost everyone else in my class is from NY, where there is every type of race and culture.  I’m from a little city in North Carolina where it is a majority of black and white.  I saw a lot of racism in NC, mostly from whites towards blacks.  I would think racism wouldn’t even exist in NY because of all the different types of people living here, and I had always thought it didn’t until this course made me more aware, to the point where I started looking for it.  I see a lot of racism where I live in Harlem.  I understand, it is a higher crime rate neighborhood, but that doesn’t call for unlawful and racist actions from the police to the citizens of the community.  Thats the biggest problem I see, where I live.  I’ve always known this racism was present, but I never really understood the full meaning of racism until this course.  Through all the readings we’ve had assigned, it’s made me understand how bad racism can really be.  Especially in the eye of the criminal justice system.  But also, the open workshops, have really helped me understand how present racism really is.  We have a very diverse english class and hearing some of their personal stories of how they’ve been treated because of race, has really made me see how present it still is.  As ignorant as it sounds, or maybe just because of how I grew up in a mostly black and white community, whenever i’ve thought about racism, whites and blacks come to my mind.  My mind doesn’t think like that at all anymore, because of this course.  My mindstate first changed, at the very beginning of this course with the columbus day reading, and then I just became so much more aware with all the stories from the open workshops I read.   I always knew racism was prestn, but I guess i’ve never experienced it personally to a large extent.  After my eyes started opening a little I noticed racism everywhere, and I HATE IT!!  I had never noticed before, but now just walking down a hall or standing outside of Baruch, I constantly here racist slurs coming from everywhere.  Whether people are joking or not, I don’t think its funny that people are being referred to as asians, or afghans, or whatever other race.  This surprises me, especially at Baruch, I would think people would be so much more open, with all the foreign students and diverse ethnicities.   People should be proud of where they come from, and their culture.  They should embrace it!  Racism just sets the barriers of keeping this world more seperate and segrated.  People who feel racism are more likely to stick to their race, rather than embracing all races and accepting them for how they are.  I really enjoyed both the books, that were chosen for this course.  Even though, I didn’t finish them on time for class, I finished them both on my own and I think that says a lot.  I’ve always known racism existed in the justice system, but i’ve never felt so passionate about the cruelty from it, until after these readings.  Knowing that racism is still so present today, I’m going to be so much more aware of it, and do anything I can to live the most unprejudice life and standing up for racism whenever I can.  From one of my first essays, i said, race and justice go hand in hand.  I think thats all the more accurate after completing this course.  Racism is still happening on the daily, towards every race.  And because of this course, I see how present it really still is in so many different aspects.

Our trip to the Manhattan Court house, though on a rainy day, was not without its moments. As we entered the court house we first had to go through a metal detector. I remember being happy that we didn’t have to take off our belts and shoes because it would have been quite a nuisance. I will admit I had to laugh when the metal detector beeped as I went through.

The first court room was not what I had imagined at all. The very layout of the room was different from what i had seen on courtroom TV shows and movies. One thing that stuck out about this courtroom (besides the attractive stenographer) was the fact that though this was a courtroom, everyone who worked there was very casual. I saw police officers eating food, throwing paper balls, and having side conversations while standing at the bench. One of the lawyers was on Facebook and i thought that was just crazy. As we watched the  cases it dawned on me that some the people  who were summoned to court were probably there for hours only to be seen by the judge for less that 5 minutes. One case that really stuck to me was the man who was caught selling handbags without a license. He had had numerous violations in the past and i found it quite funny that he was arrested on Canal St., a street notorious for selling fake items, which is located about 2 minutes from the courthouse.

The second courtroom was so much different from the first. This courtroom specialized in murder trials. The very atmosphere in this courtroom seemed more tense and edgy than the last. There was even a jury there. I felt this courtroom resembled the courtrooms that I had grown accustom to seeing on TV. The person on the stand in the case that we were watching seemed to be a witness to the murder of a friend of his. When the lawyer asked him to point to the person that killed his friend, i couldn’t help but wonder what might even happen if he pointed to someone in our class even though they wouldn’t have been involved at all with the case.

As we left the courthouse I said to myself I would never want to have to come here whether it be due to something i did or to something i witnessed.

               Going to Manhattan’s Criminal Court really opened up my eyes to the injustice that continues to happen in society. I clearly saw that African Americans are targeted more than any other ethnic group. Out of about twelve to fifteen defendants, eleven to fourteen of them were African Americans. I felt uncomfortable with the way these people were treated. Police Officers spoke to them very aggressively for no particular reason. Judges barely looked at them as they addressed them, and lawyers spent most of the time on facebook. The criminal justice system seemed informal to me, when instead it should be a place where justice should be served very respectfully, while taking into consideration the future of most criminals. I definitely sided with Paul Butlers theory of African Americans getting targeted much harshly. I remember the case in which the young man was taken to court for harassment because he was a part of a group, and I am assuming someone felt uncomfortable so they notified the police. His public defendant so cleverly stated that, that reason in its self is not enough to convict someone of a crime. If that were the case those who walk on Times Square 42^nd Street would be in trouble. I found the experience to be very informative; I grew a deep appreciation for lawyers who are assigned to the more serious cases. Overall we must stop targeting one specific group, take responsibility more serious, especially when it deals with ones freedom.

After my visit to the Manhattan Criminal Court house, I left with the impression that I live in a city of troubles.  There were so many people of all ages, men and women from different backgrounds yet they portray similar images of themselves; they are ignorant and naive. I believe this is because many of them grew up as underprivileged children with little or no opportunities to make something of themselves.  However if they did have these opportunities, they sure did lack some guidance as to what they should or should not be doing.

Some of these cases were memorable to me, mainly because I was startled and shock to hear some of them. One of the first few cases involved a woman who was arrested for child endangerment.   I felt pity for her in a way because she was homeless and sleeping on the trains. I could not help but wonder whether her kids were better off alone than riding the subway up and down during the night. Another thing I noticed about the woman was the way she dressed and how unattractive she looked. Her hair was uncombed and suffocating under a rag that looked worn out and torn.  She also wore loose baggy clothes that was hanging under her waist the same way men wear their pants. This style started under the influence of prisoners who were not allowed to wear belts which resulted in their pants falling. Its a little ironic that she looked and dressed like a prisoner yet she was in court fighting so that she wouldn’t have to go to prison. Why dress like something or someone you don’t want to be?

Another case that was memorable was the case of the young man who was arrested for walking in a “crowd”. He supposedly was walking around a group of individuals who felt assaulted by his actions. This young man looked closer to my age group than any other person that was in the court room. How ever old he was, he still should not have to be in court for something so childish like that. I liked the example that the lawyer gave in his defense that if he’s going to get in trouble for walking around people, then people on 42nd street should get arrested as well because they do the same thing everyday! I think that it was this comment that saved the young man and allowed him to walk away with no punishment. . .for now.

The last case was the best case being that it was in a higher court. I’ve only seen attempted murder cases on TV and what I saw in person was nothing like how I  expected it to be. The jury, didn’t look as serious. They looked a little hungry and anxious to leave. The judge, didn’t really say much other than sustained the defendant’s lawyer’s objection. The lawyer who was questioning the man did not walk around like how they do on TV and lastly, there wasn’t that much people in the audience. The case itself was interesting because the guy who was testifying had so much criminal background and a violent past. I was officially in a room with a dangerous man and there’s nothing more exciting and at the same time intimidating than that.

As far as the experience as a whole, I really enjoyed being there on Monday. I learned a lot about how the judicial system works and how justice is served in my community. Also, I was happy to see that there were WOMEN judges and lawyers of Latino, African American and Caucasian backgrounds. A bit inspiring on my part. 🙂

I was really excited about visiting the Manhattan Court House.  I thought it was really cool how Professor Moriah incorporated visiting the court house into the semester with the theme of our course being race and justice.  The first thing I noticed about the court house was how big it was!  And the area it was in looked like there were several different court houses all right there.  They may have been city hall or other government buildings.  I thought it was interesting and somewhat surprising they allow people off the streets to just come in and sit in the court rooms while trials or cases are being discussed.  I would think it would go against privacy rights, but I guess once you’ve been convicted as a “criminal” your rights go out the window.   The first part of being in the court room was pretty boring to me.  It was interesting maybe for the first two people who were being convicted, but once I realized it was going to be petty crimes being addressed I lost more interest.  I don’t know how the court room works so I found it interesting at first, but then it just seemed repetitive for all the criminals.  The convictions for most these cases were minor, and most of the people were just getting continuances.  I was trying mostly to just observe the people who have been convicted and the people who were working in the room.  It made me sad to see how many young people were there.  I also noticed the lawyers a lot.  They seemed like court appointed lawyers, and to me very few of them seemed passionate about their jobs or cared about their clients.  I also noticed how distracting this court room was.  People were constantly coming in and out, and I thought it seemed somewhat unprofessional.   On the other hand, once we went up stairs and sat in on the trial being held, I found that to be much more interesting.  Possibly because it was a story.  Something happened, and there was a cause and effect and the court is trying to find out exactly what that was to give justice to the situation.  This court room had a much more serious tone, then the first.  I wish we could have sat in on it longer, but I got the idea.  I’ve always known about jury duty, but seeing all those super average people sitting there trying a case was very interesting to me.  However the government decided to incorporate everyday Americans into the legal system like that, is kind of a cool thought.   After visiting the courthouse, it made me a little more interested in the law.  I was curious of all the roles people were playing in the room, and would like to learn more.  Maybe this trip inspired me to be a lawyer or a judge one day?  Who knows.  In the mean time I really enjoyed it, and found it to be abeneficial learning experience especially relating it to the theme of this class.

The trip to  criminal court was very interesting at the most part. As walking inside the room for the first time it wasn’t that interesting to see what was going on in the room. Looking around I saw police officers everywhere laughing ,giggling and just enjoying their time at work.

As for a first time person going inside a court room, I always had in my mind the room being more full and less officers. I mean I looked around the room and found there was a computer on my left hand side on a desk which had facebook opened. I never really thought that would be something i would expect to see in a court room. And the fact that some of the lawyers  were searching through their friends list, I thought  they weren’t really that much serious at times working in a court room.

 There was time in the court room when I saw a couple of police officers throwing paper balls at each other, and then when us group of intellectual college students one of them decided to come up to us and tell us to turn off our cell phones. I understood that but i never expected a court room to be that way.

Although these certain events were happening in the court room. The case was  on its way being talked about to the judge. The case which I found interesting was the one we when to on the top floor. The guy was charged for selling heroine to a undercover cop and he got caught, it was interesting in a way because not only was he charged for that but also charged for severerl things. I really enjoyed listening in to the questions that were being asked to this man, and find it interesting to be a judge. Being in a court room for the first time really had me focused on being a jugde some day .

The trip to court was pretty interesting to say the least.  The firs couple cases weren’t really interesting but what was going on in the room was.  The police officers weree ating, laughing, on facebook and just clearly didn’t take anything that was going on seriously.  These are peoples live we are talking about but even “authority” doesn’t show that much interest.   In the secnd case however it was a little more significant.  I remember some of the questions the woman was asking the “criminal.”  She asked him if when he hit the guy his fist was opened or closed.  I realized then how important little things are to ask. 

In Brothers and Keepers, Robbie was innocent.  He did not  murder anyone but I guess its all about how you prove yourself in court and how many authoritative people are on your side.  The man  in court seemed to fumble alot on his words but whose to say this means he was guilty?  Maybe he was nervous.  We didn’t see the conclusion of the case unfortunately.  I enjoyed the trip and it opened my eyes to the real “justice system.”  They laugh,eat, and go on facebook.  Very “just.” 

Last comment…. a weirdo hit on me when we were leaving….. not cool.  =( I enjoyed the experience though