Trellis Briefing - June 2023 v.1 - Addressing Injustice Together

July 05, 2023 by Zac Martin

These updates provide opportunities for organizations and individuals to be more invested, involved in their community and advocating for the justice of our neighbors

Education

In a panic, if she floors it, Marilyn Blanco can drive from her job at the Rikers Island jail complex to her son Ian’s school in Harlem in less than 18 minutes.
Nine times since December, Blanco has made the drive because Ian’s school — Success Academy Harlem 2 — called 911 on her 8-year-old.
Ian has been diagnosed with ADHD. When he gets frustrated, he sometimes has explosive tantrums, throwing things, running out of class and hitting and kicking anyone who comes near him

Charter schools have been increasing rapidly in New York, particularly in often under-resourced communities, with the goal of providing “better” alternatives to the public schools in the neighborhood. And, while they are providing another option, they are sometimes an option without accountability, particularly as it relates to the new and necessary changes to discipline and mental health in schools seeking to disrupt the school to prison pipeline. Read more HERE

Shaping the Future of New York City

June 16, 2021 by Zac Martin in trelliscrew

There were also talks about stopping the militarization of schools which includes security guards and metal detectors. The city is normalizing militarizing schools and it doesn’t it make it comfortable for students. Metal detectors are understandable because you never know what can happen but in most schools they overdue it and it doesn’t make the school area comfortable for most.

…schools should instead focus on developing resources that can help bring about the support students need such as student support teams and trauma care centers for certain situations that break out in order to provide the proper help instead of using forms of exclusion and punishments to solve problems in schools.

Youth have the Right to Remain Silent

April 14, 2021 by Zac Martin in trelliscrew

The Netflix series “When They See Us”—a drama based on the prosecution of five innocent teens for a crime they did not commit—demonstrates the many ways in which the law fails to protect the rights of children when police seek to interrogate them. It has now been over three decades since the five teenagers were wrongly prosecuted. Still, New York law continues to fail to protect children under the age of 18. California recently passed a law (SB 203) to protect children in police custody by requiring a consultation with an attorney before a child may waive Miranda rights or be interrogated. New York State should afford children similar procedural safeguards. This is why Trellis and our Trellis Crew supports S.2800/A.5891, which amends procedures required for the custodial interrogation of children and for taking juveniles into custody to provide additional protections.

Re-imagining Policing

February 01, 2021 by Zac Martin

Abolish, Defund, many words have been put into the public conversation about how policing in this country has to change. The reality though, is that slight adjustments and conversations about reform just won’t suffice anymore; not in view of all that we are seeing and many in our communities continue to experience.

The word we are using is re-imagine. We need to re-imagine what policing, public safety and law enforcement should and could look like in our communities.

These posts provide information and education about important issues facing our communities and opportunities to be involved in action and advocacy; this week police and law enforcement.

The Continued and Necessary Call to Close Rikers

February 01, 2021 by Zac Martin

“Mass incarceration has cost our communities so many lives. Mass criminalization has forced too many of us to live under surveillance and stigmatized in our schools, communities, and cities. We have lost too many people, my people, because of structural oppression. The truth remains, money is being spent to destroy the lives of people of color and it should instead go to help our communities.

We need to spend money to keep people out of the criminal justice system and one way to do that is to spend more money on education. 1 in 331 Americans is a NYC public school student. I’ll say that again, 1 in 331 Americans is a NYC public school student yet these are the same people whose needs our city ignores.”