During every internship, to ensure that our impact goes beyond coffee runs or data input, High Tech High students are told to design a project at their site that they believe will benefit both themselves and the organization. For mine, I decided to take Smart Justice to classrooms or programs in communities most impacted by mass incarceration or police accountability issues. When I learned about the district attorney's power, I became aware of how important this election was not only because of the facts or statistics that were shared with me, but because of the stories I heard or the connections I made between the DA and things I saw in my own community. Knowing that we have the power to elect this official made me feel motivated to take action. Communities most impacted by the criminal justice system have been left out of the conversation when positions like this are on the ballot. For so long, we have been pushed away from the polls, but that can change if we organize. I wanted my peers to first understand that their experiences with an unjust justice system were not isolated, but part of a greater issue. I also wanted to create a space where we could all talk about some of these experiences and understand that as a community we must stand together. Through this, I was able to help spread the message of Smart Justice and some of my peers out to vote on election day.
Something that really helped me in doing this was my previous experience in creating Ethnic Studies lessons. I had roughly the same amount of time, an hour, and a similar audience, high schoolers, plus, I have taught about criminal justice issues in E.S. in the past! The major challenge for me was feeling like I was an outsider and honestly being self conscious about what my peers would think about some random 16 year old teaching their class for a day. I noticed, however, that each presentation I did helped me to feel more and more comfortable with speaking to these new people. I may have blushed a time or two when no one wanted to raise their hand or if I felt like people in the room maybe weren't as enthusiastic about the DA race as I was, but I see that these are definitely the struggles of a community organizer. People aren't always going to immediately and completely change how they are just from one day in class. For me, it took years to come to the level of determination I feel to organize. In the end, there were some people who I feel resonated with what I was saying. In fact, I believe that almost every one of them on some level felt like they knew that these injustices were real because they see them every day. I know that I have to stay connected with all of them and maintain these relationships I have made so that that feeling doesn't disappear. So that as Gerrlyn taught me, their shared stories can bring our communities together to take shared action.