It was on March 27, 2019 when Judge Jay Blitzman, a judge of the Middlesex Juvenile Court, came to visit the ACCL for the ACCL’s second annual judicial community dialogue. The dialogue’s purpose was for the members of the immigrant and refugee community in Lowell to have an open dialogue and discussion with a member of the Massachusetts justice system. As the ACCL’s mission is to promote responsible citizenship by assisting in improving the lives of and supporting the achievements of African immigrants and African refugees in Lowell through educational, social, and cultural initiatives, this dialogue provided immigrants and refugees in Lowell the opportunity to meet with a judge in their district and to have a one-on-one dialogue with him in order to express their concerns and issues regarding the justice system and law enforcement and learn more about the justice system with how it can help them. At the same time this meeting gave immigrants and refugees a voice and let the judge learn more about the issues these immigrants and refugees face in their daily lives in Lowell. The meeting stood for what the ACCL’s mission strides for and provided a lot of answers for immigrants and refugees while also giving them a chance to voice their concerns, while also giving the justice system more insight into this population of the city of Lowell.
Thank you.