“You’re more likely to go to jail than go be a fucking rocket scientist; that’s just life these days.”

Excerpt from an interview with Cheef, a defendant at the Hall of Justice in winter 2022.

Interviewer: […] And, if you could change our country, what things would you change about it?

Cheef: [Deep breath] Umm... man... I guess, I guess, the amount of ignorance that's like socially acceptable. You know I mean? Like, uhh... I mean, I know you can't change like racism, poverty, like this, that, and the third, but I mean I’d definitely address the level of ignorance. Like, ‘cause I think a lot, a lot goes on in society just because, you know, willful, willful ignorance. You know? It's usually somebody's bliss. And I would change uhh… definitely the way, the way, uhh policing is done. Like... I don't know, I just feel like you're going to have like six bogus domestic cases. I definitely would've preferred not to live my life in fear of going to jail and never getting a job.

Interviewer: Mm-Hmm.

Cheef: You know? At the beginning of this as opposed to like having to live thinking about that every day like, this might be the last time I ever get a check, you know? Uh, simply because it's just one sided. I mean, I understand it's [domestic violence is] a problem, like people honestly die from it. Like, it's really horrible, like men and women. But, I think, I think as serious as it is for like, as serious as some laws are for perpetrators, I think they should be equally as serious against false alleg-ators. Um, and, uh, I don't know. I think, I think I just... Oh, I definitely, if I could change something about the country, I would, I would actually have like... um, “Justice” as a part of like, early high school curriculum. Like, you know, definitely some secondary schooling type of shit. Because I mean, you should definitely know what to do [when] going to jail, if you have to go to jail, like fighting cases. ‘Cause these people […], those type of things, I think that should be taught to everybody, regardless. ‘Cause, you know, you're more likely to go to jail than go be a fucking rocket scientist; that's just life these days. So, you should definitely do it as a education thing so you know, won't be like 28 and turn 29 and think your life is over because you don't know anything about things like this. But yeah, that, that's about it.