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Want to be Streetwise
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“Injustice Diaries”
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“As soon as I joined SAS, I knew that I was down with a revolutionary and winning team! I have met so many wonderful people since I started my internship in October 2010. Being part of a leadership program has made me a better person because they allow you to be yourself while they let you know the truth about your rights. Basically, SAS gave me an opportunity to learn new things and meet nice people.” (SAS member Polly V.)
Did you know that…
When you are let out through the back door of the precinct or central booking there may still be charges against you? Be sure to carefully read any paperwork you are given to see if you are supposed to appear in court to answer charges at a later date – if you are not sure, contact the Legal Aid office for the borough where you were arrested!
Did you know that…
Police are NOT allowed to search you to decide your gender. If you feel unsafe in the cell where you are placed, you can tell an officer that you want to be treated as a special category prisoner and placed in a cell by yourself.
Did you know that…
a report issued in October 2010, renowned policing expert Jeffrey Fagan of Columbia University confirmed that the NYPD stopped-and-frisked New Yorkers without reasonable suspicion and engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional stops that disproportionally affected Black and Latina/o New Yorkers. The report also concluded that most stops occur in Black and Latina/o neighborhoods, and the main factor for determining who gets stopped, even after controlling for crime rates, is race. Additionally, Black and Latino New Yorkers are treated more harshly, more likely to be arrested rather than issued a summons and more likely to have force used against them than white suspects.
Did you know that…
Groups from across the City working with LGBTQQ youth came together to meet with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance to share the devastating effects of this practice and to ask his office to stop the practice of using condoms as evidence of prostitution-related offenses and to support state legislation that would prohibit this practice!
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What is SAS? by SAS member Peter G.
" SAS (Streetwise & Safe) is a fifteen-week leadership program where you are taught to stay streetwise and safe. It is for people of color and the LGBTQQ community. In this program you are trained to know your rights against police enforcement and brutality. You also get clarity of the criminal justice system. SAS really opened my eyes to actually stay safe, not just from others, but also from police abusing their authority. In addition to giving me strategies to defend my rights, this program also provided me with a paid stipend that helped me financially.
I have also learned to be a leader and speak out to a group of people, and to have a voice for something I strive for. I also heard many stories from different faces, and I realized we can all relate to the same feelings but in different situations. I was provided with intelligent lawyers and social workers to help me have a clear path to success and who taught me ways I can liberate others and myself. I will use these strengths and spread them to my community and those who come my way.”
Earlier this year, 8 new members of Streetwise & Safe graduated from our leadership program for LGBTQQ youth of color! All of our members have decided to continue to work with Streetwise & Safe and have joined the Policy Advocacy Team, whose current focus is a campaign to stop police and prosecutors from using condoms as evidence of intent to engage in prostitution-related offenses and the Community Education Team, whose role is to spread the knowledge they have gained from staff and each other through SAS about the criminal justice system to other LGBTQQ youth in their own words and using their favorite tools of expression.
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In-justice Diaries by SAS member Jonathan G.
“The Streetwise & Safe blog titled “In-justice Diaries” was created by SAS youth leaders. Its primary goal and purpose is to educate at risk youth of color who experience policing and criminalization about what the police can and cannot do and what rights people have to protect themselves. Many LGBTQQ youth of color report being profiled and harassed by police for prostitution-related offenses. Regardless of how people feel about sex work as a way to make a living, it is important for society to realize that people who trade sex shouldn’t be criminalized for trying to survive and we must stop demonizing people for it.”
Law & Disorder: A Video Project
“Law and Disorder: Streetwise and Safe” is a “Know Your Rights” video written, directed and produced by SAS members that deals with LGBTQQ youth interactions with police. Abuse and discrimination based on gender expression and presentation continues to affect lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, genderqueer, transgender and gender non-conforming youth when police respond to violence and when they process LGBTQQ youth in police facilities.
SAS Creating Change wherever we go… by SAS member Ileana G.
“From February 2nd-6th of this year, I attended the LGBT Creating Change Conference organized by the Task Force in Minneapolis. The convention was huge, three floors, and about 50 rooms on each floor with something going on in each room. Out there I learned about how to be a youth organizer, lead fundraisers, fight for rights for trans people and got to hear Chrystos, a Native American poet and organizer who inspired me to get in touch with myself.”
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Streetwise and Safe members presented their unique Show Some SAS: LGBTQ “Know Your Rights” workshop which was attended and well received by 40 Creating Change participants, most of them youth. Some of the participants shared comments in their evaluations like “this workshop will help my life” and “it will help me educate my family,” indicating that we achieved our goals of speaking directly to people’s lived experiences and providing tools that they can apply wherever they go.
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Along with the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) and our partner organizations from across the country the Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP) and Community United Against Violence (CUAV) and with the support of the Arcus Foundation, we also put on a unique and ground-breaking workshop on LGBTQQ Youth Homelessness, the Sex Trade, and Anti-trafficking Initiatives: LGBTQ responses to Coercion & Harm which was attended by over 100 people and raised critical questions for organizations working with LGBTQQ youth around the effects of current responses to prostitution and trafficking on our constituents!
SAS all over New York City!
Over the past 4 months Streetwise and Safe youth members, became even more streetwise and safe by attending events and workshops sponsored by allied organizations in order to expand their knowledge, build in coalition with other groups, and strengthen networks challenging policing and criminalization of LGBTQ youth and working towards safety in our communities. Some of the events we attended:
Stop and Frisk Demo at Times Square
"There are few places in New York, besides ground zero, that have a more visible presence that Times Square. Combine that constant and reassuring presence with one of the most populated sidewalks in America and you have the perfect location for an electronic billboard raising awareness about the New York City Police Department’s discriminatory and baseless ‘Stop and Frisk’ practices. Over half a million people a year are stopped and frisked for little to no reason, and as you may have guessed the people stopped are disproportionally brown and black. Not content with the policy as a regular aspect of day to day life in the City, I share my own stop & frisk experience with the camera crew from the Center for Constitutional Rights in hopes that people can see how unfair and non-deterrent this process is.” For more info.
The Audre Lorde Project’s annual Safe Neighborhood Summit by SAS members Jasmine and D
“This year’s summit helped me to see just how many people care and are involved in my Bed-Stuy community! Later this year Bed-Stuy will be hosting its first gay pride parade! This year’s Safe Neighborhood Summit enabled LGBTQQ people to share critical information about their rights and strategies for increasing safety around this project as well as everyday in life! At this year’s summit, I was introduced to spoken word as a way to touch people’s hearts and to raise awareness of the injustices that police enact every day towards LGBTQQ people.” - Jasmine
“My experience at the Safe Neighborhood Summit was nothing short of awesome. It exceeded my expectations, the environment felt friendly and safe. I learned many new things such as the difference between FDNY and EMS as well as the correct procedures for making sure you get the help you need. The person leading the workshop walked us through what his day is like, what he sees and how often he does see it, and how he is trained to handle emotionally disturbed people or as he called it EDP. I also learned different ways to express myself with writing. I participated in ‘Healing through the Arts’ which took me on a spiritual journey. It helped me connect deep within myself and expressed my creativity in a whole new level” - D
No to S-Comm Nationwide! by SAS member Tree A.
SAS supported SLRP’s (Sylvia Rivera Law Project) and ALP (Audre Lorde Project’s) efforts to bring our community together to learn more about and challenge the latest anti-undocumented immigrant ICE initiative called S-COMM. If not stopped, S-Comm will affect everyone by completely breaking the already fragile trust between communities, in particular communities of color, with local police. Thanks to organizing by New York based groups, Governor Cuomo pulled out of the Secure Communities Program! We celebrate this acomplishment, but are aware that the struggle against S-COMM continues locally and nationally.
No condoms as evidence by SAS member Peter G.
“ This Spring I met with a representative of my community to speak about the policy that allows possession of condoms to be used as evidence that you are engaged in prostitution. I went to represent the ones affected and terrified by this policy and let Senator Adriano Espillat know that I was a constituent of his district and that I am a voice that supports legislation that would stop this practice. Providing my Senator with facts and details that condoms should not be used as evidence of prostitution because they prevent the spread of STI’s, I also let him know that many teenagers, especially of color and part of the LGBTQ community, are being targeted for arrest all because of having a condom. We are provided with condoms everywhere - for instance at Planned Parenthood, at hospitals, drop-in centers, health care centers etc. Schools are also providing condoms for students to practice safe sex and decrease the rates of teenage pregnancy. I also believe that this policy targets the LGBTQQ community. All we want to do is stay safe and keep infections at a low rate.”
Queer In-Justice - We say No More!
We are proud to present the book “Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the U.S.” coauthored by SAS coordinator Andrea Ritchie, along with Joey L. Mogul and Kay Whitlock. This amazing contribution to our movements was recently published by Beacon Press and has been well received by our allies and organizations across the nation. Andrea Ritchie is SAS’s coordinator and has been an activist for over 20 years and a police misconduct attorney for 10. Her knowledge, experience and political frameworks help us drive Streetwise and Safe and our work against police abuse and criminalization of LGBTQQ youth!
Queer (In)Justice is a searing examination of queer experiences as “suspects,” defendants, prisoners and survivors of crime. This new book from Beacon Press illuminates the many ways queer lives are criminalized, policed, and punished, demonstrating that policing of sex and gender is both integral to racial profiling and race-based policing and an independent function of law enforcement. Click here to purchase a copy of Queer (In)Justice and enter SASI at check out for a 10% discount and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Streetwise and Safe!
Deep and heartfelt thanks to all our supporters!
Arcus Foundation, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Craigslist Foundation, Grassroots Funding Exchange of the Common Counsel Foundation, Left Tilt Fund, Liberty Hill Foundation Queer Youth Fund, Northstar Foundation, Stonewall Community Foundation Quarter Share, Third Wave Foundation, and YOU!
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