THE treatment of blacks by the American justice system could have forced Marie Rattigan to hate the police and court after she was arrested by a white police on trumped up charges and taken before a judge at age 13, while on her way from school.

Rattigan told the judge in Florida, United States, that she would fight her case of resisting arrest without violence. The judge, she said, was trying to coerce her into taking a plea deal and she told her no. The then 13-year-old stood up for her rights until the case was eventually dropped.

Not allowing that injustice to deter her and fill her with hate, 12 years later, Rattigan is serving as an intern with Judge Tiffany Baker­-Carper who presides over the juvenile delinquency division at the Second Judicial Circuit in Florida, United States.

“Now, I am literally sitting next to the youngest female African American judge who goes through cases and trials with the juveniles,” Rattigan told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.

“I look up to her (Judge Baker­-Carper) as a role model and as a change maker because she does everything that she can to not push juveniles into the [prison] system.”

The 25-year-old who was born in Florida to Jamaican parents — Donovan Rattigan from St Mary and Michelle Ribalta from St James — said the ordeal that caused her to end up before the court at age 13 began while she was on her way home from middle school.

“I was actually on a bus heading home from New Renaissance Middle School [in Miramar, Florida] when my cousin who was sitting in the back was slapped in the face by a girl, while I was in the front,” she said. “After the incident happened, the bus driver asked me if I wanted him to call the police and I told him if he wanted to, but I had to call my mom so that she knew where I was. Of course, coming from a Caribbean background, you know as soon as street lights come on and you’re not home that’s trouble.”

Rattigan explained that as she tried making the call, she was exiting the bus when a policeman made his way into the vehicle. She said he questioned why she was exiting and she told him that she got permission from the bus driver. However, the meddling did not stop there.

“He got off the bus and said, ‘what the f… do you think you’re doing? Get on the f… floor’. My mom was on the phone and she said, ‘Don’t say nothing, see if you can get a pen and a paper to make sure you get his badge number and first and last name’. By that time the police officer left for another direction, I asked one of the girls through the bus window to pass me a pen so that I could write the information and then the police came and said, ‘Did you not hear? I said get on the f… floor!’” she explained.

The incident transitioned quickly, according to Rattigan.

“He threw me on the [police] car, patted me down, threw me on the roof of the car, took me down, put on handcuffs then put me in the car. By that time, my mom came, as I was able to give her the address. I was in the police car, so I used my elbow to bang on the window to get her attention,” she said.

Rattigan explained that she was in the car for an extended amount of hours, before she was taken to the juvenile detention centre. She added that she had to go to court for about six months for the charge, until the case was dropped.

“The case went to trial, but we went back to court for the last time before the verdict, nobody showed up. So, the lawyer called and told me that my case was dropped. It was an immediate relief because of what happened to me…the trauma…wow I was just 13 years old and had to be transport back and forth [to] Miramar all the way to the Miami courthouse,” she said.

“An average 13-year-old should not be going through that experience because it’s now a thing where we have to analyse the system of how black and brown people are treated especially at a young age,” Rattigan added.

Her mother Ribalta, 48, expressed how proud she is of her daughter, as she was uncertain of bringing a child into the world, due to dreadful circumstances she faced as a youngster.

“I didn’t know that I would make it here to have a child. I was one of those kids who was sitting down on the roadside, begging money, eating out of the garbage can. I cry whenever I lay down, because I fought for her. She’s tough…she’s strong. This is just the beginning,” an emotional Ribalta told the Observer in a phone interview.

Now a student pursuing a master’s degree in African American history at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Rattigan hopes to further her studies at law school, as she has big dreams of becoming a civil rights attorney.

And as she continues to be lauded by thousands of people after sharing her story on various social media platforms, Rattigan said even if she had the chance to change her experience, she wouldn’t, as it is serving as motivation to many.

“Through sharing my story, of course people liked it. People were able to share it; that’s what pushed me forward and I cannot forget that God played a major role in this. I wouldn’t even be who I am right now if it wasn’t for him and just pouring into people to let them know that if it means standing by yourself, don’t let people try to box you in. You create your definition of who you are, you create your story of who you are and you create who you want to be, you can be that change maker. I just want to be the change that I want to see,” said Rattigan.