Is equality enough? No. Not even close.

First, I want to start by differentiating equity from equality because the two are often confused. Equality is the belief that everyone is treated the same and seen with the same amount of value. Equity, on the other hand, is the quality of being fair and just. Rather than giving everyone the same opportunities, equity attempts to give additional aid to those who have generationally been at a disadvantage. If everyone was treated equally, there would still be severe disparity in society.

My project is addressing income inequality and racial disparities within the Buffalo criminal justice system. This past April, the NY state legislature eliminated cash bail for nearly all misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies. This is huge. Continuously, poor brown and black folks are being locked up pretrial without even being convicted of a crime simply because they cannot afford it. My project addresses equity in Buffalo because monetary bail is inherently biased against poor people and disproportionately affects people of color. For my research, I have been going to the county court to watch arraignments, or bail hearings. These have been really insightful but mostly tragic. The outrageous majority of black folks who are being charged. This system is broken and in no way equitable.

In fact, Erie County is one of the worst counties in New York when it comes to pretrial detention. A majority—64 percent—of those in the Erie County Holding Center are held pretrial. Why are most of those held in jail not even guilty of a crime. This is not equitable nor just. Finally, the NY legislature recognized this fact, and did something about it. Come January 2020, significant change will hit NYS courts.

This is only just one step in achieving equity in Buffalo. The only way people of color, women, women of color, and the LGBTQ+ community, non-Christians, immigrants, poor people (basically everyone but the rich straight white Christian men of the world) will have an even playing field is through programs, policies, and initiatives to support these marginalized communities in their academic, professional, and financial endeavors. White people have the world at their fingertips. For someone like me, I have to be exceptional to be enough. I want to make policies so future women of color do not have to see their successes diminished in any way. For now, I have to make sure Buffolians know their rights and are informed enough to resist court injustice.