1.) How are you connected to this movement?  

So pretty much, I'm connected by doing the work. But more importantly, what made me attach myself to their work and mission was the consistency with the organizers. I would continuously see them pop up in communities around the city. And to me, it I've always been willing to work with people who I think are willing to do the work and close Rikers. To really get momentum, you have to go out into the community, we had to meet people where they were at, to tell electeds what the people want. You actually have to hear the people, to build a rapport with the people. And so when I started to see consistency in the organizers, and that it was in all five boroughs, I think that's what my buy in was. 

2.) Why should Rikers close?  

It should close for many reasons. I don't enjoy speaking about Rikers, but I feel the importance of it, especially having worked on Rikers in various roles. And I always say to support people who speak about their truth, that direct truth by being incarcerated, because so often society doesn't believe the formerly incarcerated. So I felt it was important as a service provider to come forward. Working on Rikers in nursing, working Rikers doing cognitive behavioral therapy, working Rikers in some forms of monitoring, working on Rikers with my chaplaincy hat on afforded me many ways or many act or access many places and spaces that the average person or provider might not have access to. And having that access, pretty much has shown me everything.  

But before I even listen to you that why should Rikers close, first and foremost, sixteen people in custody of the New York City Department of Corrections died in 2021. We're not talking about 1920. We're not talking about 1921. We're talking about a liberal city, New York City, New York City's Department of Correction, the Department of Corrections that all other cities across the nation often refer to as leaders in this correctional world, and 16 people in their care, custody and control die. That is more than enough to say there's an issue with the system and it should close.  

However, I'll list them. The staffing numbers on paper do not reflect the amount of numbers in a facility at any given time. When we talk about safety for staff, when we talk about safety for the incarcerated, that matters. Again, did I mentioned 16 people died in 2021? And I'm going to reiterate that because several of them were actually in specialized units, who often don't have the staff in them that they need that are required by law to maintain people properly and safely. Of those 16 people who died last year, one of them actually died the day before his court date. So when we are saying, especially for you black and brown youth in this New York City, that are barbarically policed by NYPD, when we say listen to a police officer, don't argue, you have your day in court - you know, as an Army brat, I take that to heart. And as a black mother, I take that to heart. As a black woman, as a black mother of a black son, I have to stand up. Because that means if black and brown people are heavily policed in the community, and then they're thrown into conditions that might harm their life, even before they're guaranteed to see a judge, what am I preparing my own child for?  

3.) What is your vision for a more just and equitable post-Rikers New York City?  

Okay, an educational system where schools aren't designed by jails, we can start there. Where our youth have more access to social workers, peer mentors, credible messengers, community leaders along with resources, prior to the response of school safety being to engage or include NYPD. And that all vulnerable populations are diverted, and actually can still be connected to all the services that they might have been connected to if they were not brought into the criminal legal system.  
NYC would finally be almost like attempting to change the narrative of its own legacy. So while showing leadership, New York City would also be showing the world or the nation that it was wrong, and that leaders can say, Hey, I want to be great, I want to be better, but I know before I can move forward, I have to apologize and start attempting to correct my wrongs. And history doesn't have to repeat itself.  

And to me, that is the beginning of restoring or giving back to the communities that have been barbarically mistreated, marginalized and disenfranchised by a city with a jail that still holds the name of an enforcer used to catch free black people and put them into slavery, along with people who have made it to freedom to only be sold back into slavery. In 2022, we still have a system called Rikers, with that history behind it. It must close, and it must restore. It must give back to the very communities that it has destroyed, that it has ripped from, that it has raped. Families will never be the same because of the history of Rikers and all that surrounded it. And when it closes, and when it starts to give back, I will finally believe that the city believes that Black and brown people are not revenue for the city.