The Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association and the Boston Police Department Area B-3 hosted the 3rd Annual “Know Your Rights Youth Forum” for middle and high school students at the BCYF Mildred Ave Community Center in Mattapan. The organizers worked with several community partners, including Boston Medical Center (BMC) HealthNet Plan, Collaborative Parent Leadership Action Network (CPLAN), Score 4 More, Inc., Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Diamond Educators Mentoring, Inc. and the Boston Centers for Youth and Families.

Many young people feel their voices are not heard, and are unaware of their rights when they encounter law enforcement. This program gives students a rare opportunity to drive the conversation around police interactions.

The program opened with skits involving students in situations with authority figures, which led to breakout sessions where groups of youth met with a lawyer and police officer to discuss how things could have gone differently in each scenario. After the breakout sessions, a panel of experts of color, including police officers, attorneys, court personnel and community organizers, answered questions from the audience about stop and frisk and the school-to-prison pipeline.

Members of the panel included the Honorable Benjamin Barnes of the Massachusetts Trial Court; Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Adrian Bispham; Dr. Edith Alexander, Roxbury District Court Probation Officer; James Mackey from Stuck on Replay; Officer Cynthia Brewington from the Boston Police Department Area B-3; Robert Hendricks, the Dean of Students at Match Charter Public High School; Attorney Anthony Ellison; and Quari Milton from Men’s Health Crew of the Boston Public Health Commission. The panel was moderated by Conan Harris, the Deputy Director of Public Safety for the City of Boston.

The program provided law enforcement, lawyers, educators and other professionals an opportunity to hear what students are experiencing on a daily basis, which will allow them to better address and respond to students’ concerns.

After the event, BMC HealthNet Plan gave the students 100 bags of food from Fresh Truck, a mobile health food market, as well as wireless cellphone chargers and gift cards to a local food restaurant.