Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:29
THE INJUSTICE OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM: Civil Rights Corps is Taking It On. Will you Join the fight? Welcome Cheryl Bonacci
But also I want to open this up so that we can all huddle together and really tell our stories and talk about our experience with the justice system so that we can understand who it impacts at what times of your life you've engaged with the legal system and how that was for you. But let's start out in a conversation with Cheryl and really dig in. So Cheryl, thank you for being here
Cheryl Bonacci
@CherylB · 2:58
Thank you for the thoughtful introduction, Deborah. I sum up my journey in this work by saying that I have one biological child and 250 bonus children. My introduction to Criminal System reform work evolved when my son was a year old and I started volunteering as a Catholic chaplain in a juvenile hall detention facility in La. In Los Angeles
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:43
Can you help us understand, when you take on a challenge, take on a case, what are the criteria you use to say, this is a case that we are going to take on? And when you have that criteria in place, does that criteria change over time? Or are there these really foundational issues that make it the right kind of case to take on for your organization? I bet that's hard. So can you give us a window into that process?
Cheryl Bonacci
@CherylB · 1:51
Oftentimes it's about capacity, because we recognize that there are more people who need and deserve support and advocacy than we have the capacity to take on. What I can share with you are the areas of focus that we work on. And we work on dismantling the criminal legal system the way we see crime, what crimes we address as a culture, what crimes we don't address as a culture, addressing the root causes of crime
J.L. Beasley
@Her_Sisu · 4:33
Deborah, you said that you'll create another swell for people to share personal experiences or other instances, but I will focus on some of the injustices that are out there that we know are out there. We can't say we don't know. We live in the world of social media and virtual news. So it's out there for everyone to hear about, even if you don't want to hear about it, it's out there, right?
J.L. Beasley
@Her_Sisu · 1:34
Sorry. I'm Aunt Mohna rant now. But even, like, beyond the Black Lives Matter signs, even down to, like, when I see things like, people scattering to send money to Russia to help the Russian. Oh, that's so horrible. What happened over there was in Russia or Ukraine. One of them like, oh, my gosh. She's like, we got to help them when there are other injustices that happened in other countries
Chelsea Hanawalt
@allowthesun · 1:28
So I was wondering if you do have any of the creative arts, therapies or theater in your programs and what that looks like, if you're willing to share. Thank you. I also posted a link to a project by one of my professors that I had, Piper Anderson. She does a lot of similar work. And the organization is richer's. Public Memory project. It's a community and healing process aiming to shift the criminalizing narratives about the people detained at Rikers
Cheryl Bonacci
@CherylB · 1:09
But the more that we are open to engaging with one another and trying to understand each other than on our own singular level, we can start to have an impact on the larger community. And oftentimes that is the best that each one of us can do when these challenges feel overwhelming, like we're never going to make a difference, it's is the responsibility of each one of us and how we live our lives
Cheryl Bonacci
@CherylB · 1:08
Oh yes. Healing work, art therapy work, restorative Justice Work are many modalities that I have been a part of over my 21 years of work. We don't use those kind of programs at Civil Rights Corps. It's just not the kind of supportive programming that we have. But there are organizations that I've worked with that are incredible creative acts, acts in La. And they do Theater of the Oppressed, which is an incredible program in California prisons
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:24
One thing that is always going to be true is that we're always going to be in a position to witness each other, especially in moments like this, where we could tell stories and express rage. And it's it's in these moments when we are being of service to ourselves by expressing and by listening. And I think that's the root of the work you do, Cheryl, is to give us a chance to hear people stories
Cheryl Bonacci
@CherylB · 3:42
And there are hundreds of ways, if not thousands, of obstacles for people looking for employment when they have a criminal history or a history of incarceration. And so, working with Warner Brothers and NBC Universal Studios to create an internship program for people who had returned from incarceration. And we were talking about internships, paid internships, in production, in marketing, in finance. So we had some questions from hiring managers. And I said, you know what?
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:51
It's better than third party telling someone's story. It's extraordinary. I'd love to know if that's something that rippled out and changed policy there, changed hiring behaviors. I'm assuming it has
Cheryl Bonacci
@CherylB · 0:15
Thank you for the invitation, Deborah, and for this really wonderful conversation. Our website is civilrightscore.org, and you can check out more of the work that we do. I look forward to doing this again. Thanks
