This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
DEBT FREE JUSTICE: Tell us about yourself.
ADO'NIJAH: My name is Adonijah Zaire Metcalf. People around here know me as Nijah or Triggz. I’m 23, you know, first out of Wichita, Kansas. Northside. My neighborhood, you know, I’m from 9th and Murdock. We got one of the like worst patrol police situations you can think of. It’s like a movie, you know, you got them police officers who’s always harassing you. They pulling over drug dealers, not even taking them to jail. They just take what they got on ‘em. That’s just to paint the picture of it, you feel me? I got friends who’d been killed by policemen.
DEBT FREE JUSTICE: How did you first start with Debt Free Campaign?
ADO'NIJAH: I learned about Debt Free Justice through Progeny. We're a group located out of Wichita, Kansas. We rehabilitate our communities from just shared values. It's a group that my auntie had come up with. You know, shout out to my Aunt Kita. She was the one who got me into this work.
The Debt Free Campaign, I first started with from a shared experience. You know, I got a lot of stories, as well as other individuals who are probably similar, dealing with police. How they affect your household, especially with funds and fees. People got a choice. You got the option either to pay your bills or pay these funds. You know what I'm saying?
The area where I come from, it's poverty-stricken, mostly. The income of the households is going to be slim to none. So we was faced with choices in life, and some of them kind of went against our own well-being.
People have fines and fees that they go through daily. And they're forced with a choice whether to pay their bills or pay the fines or the fees, buy clothes, buy food, or pay the fines or the fees.
DEBT FREE JUSTICE: The group's name is Debt Free Justice. Can you describe what the word debt means to you? And what does the word freedom mean to you?
ADO'NIJAH: My perspective is...how can I put that, freedom for a black man at 23? Walking outside and not having to worry about if your life is going to get taken by the police or somebody your same skin color. That's what freedom looks like to me, in my eyes.
And I think debt would be a place that the government would like you to be in so that you can be dependable on them for the stuff that you need.
Debt-free, in my eyes, would be having the wisdom and the knowledge to understand and navigate through life, as well as teach others.
DEBT FREE JUSTICE: Would you tell us about your personal experience with fines and fees?
ADO'NIJAH: I got experiences from when I was a baby till now. Just recently, I was ...
