Jail & Court support - to be continued

We arrived at the courthouse 8:30a.m. & lined up in the hall with all the other folks waiting for the courtroom to open. The minute we turned down the corridor, we were, not counting the lawyers, among all African American and Hispanic folks. Few white folks were to be seen until the doors of the courtroom opened & the judge walked in.

If it wasn't totally obvious to folks who was in power & had everything here & who had nothing, it was made clear the first few minutes of court when Katie took a sip of water from her water bottle. The old white male judge, claiming to be amongst the most forgiving in the system, ranted for at least 4 minutes about daring to drink out of a bottle in his courtroom. He directed his hostile admonishment toward the 2 rows of pinkers when he informed us that we were no longer out in the streets but in HIS courtroom.

Poor Katie turned redder than red & I felt her slip to the bottom of the bench, fearing she had just managed to get sentenced the maximum punishment for this crime.