By Alexis Okeowo, The New Yorker, June 26, 2020
On June 11th, near twilight, Camara Jackson was in Marcus Garvey Village, a sprawling low-income housing complex in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, checking in with residents and handing out hand sanitizer, masks, and gloves. Jackson is the executive director of Elite Learners, a community anti-violence organization that tries to mediate conflict on the street without the involvement of the police. Jackson was with her team of crisis-management-system, or C.M.S., workers, who also provide counselling and connect people to social services. On the way over, we had passed two police officers sitting on a street bench, whom Jackson called a “steady”—cops who station themselves in the neighborhood to watch goings on, but who do not engage with residents except when there is a problem.
“The fight?” one man said.
Comments (0)