In the era of the Patriot Act, police harassment and brutality, and racial profiling, the AFSC’s “Know your Rights” workshop in the District of Columbia is right on time. DC youth have developed this interactive Help Increase the Peace-like workshop with the help of staff and consultants. They continue to refine it and have even adapted it for immigrant youth.

A recent workshop involved six youth from the AFSC-DC program and 35 young people from Nebraska who had traveled to Washington for a youth weekend institute at William Penn House, a Quaker Seminar and Hospitality Center on Capitol Hill.

The young Nebraskans were particularly fascinated and curious about the “jump-outs” that DC police conduct twice each week, in which undercover officers attempt to buy drugs from young people who fit the profile of a drug dealer. Many innocent teens get caught up in the sweep, are detained, and often are apprehended.

Workshop facilitator Emoni Wilkins, 14, told of a recent experience when she used the information she has been teaching to preserve her own safety. With several friends, she was stopped by police, questioned and harassed. When the officers began searching her, she was confident because she knew her rights.

“I do not consent to this search,” she repeated loudly several times as instructed in the workshop. She made note of the officer’s name and badge number and asked, “Are you detaining me?”

Workshops first inform youth of their rights, then offer the chance to role-play encounters and practice the skills of reporting incidents of police misconduct they witness.