There
we were
standing
in the middle of the field staring at the children
it
is
about
to
go
down
We
were at Sampson Park for three reasons, inform the kids about the school
closures, inform them of Stop & Frisk, and do it all while having fun. A
lot of people aren’t aware that New Orleans currently uses a social profiling
tool called Stop & Frisk. Stop & Frisk is what New Orleans Chief of
Police calls “a valuable law enforcement tool” which allows police officers to
stop “suspicious” civilians whom fit the profile of someone that “looks” like
they might break the law. When asked to define the term suspicious, he was
unable to do so. People also often assume that school closures are normal and
think they don’t have the right to object or fight for their schools to stay
open. We brainstormed what kind of activities we could plan in order to teach
them about the issues without leaving them bored. We used the childhood game
“Man Overboard” as an example of Stop & Frisk. I served as one of the
friskers and had to stand like monkey in the middle in order to try and catch
the “suspicious” kids. It was pretty fun as they ran for whatever stereotype
they related to. My most memorable moment of the day was my end of the event
recap when I got to talk to the kids about Stop & Frisk. The day was
definitely a success.
Asia-Vinae
Palmer
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