New Jersey Activist and Medical Scribe Continues Fight for Racial Justice After Arrest
Thria Bernabe’s arrest is fanning the flames of the Black Lives Matter movement in Ridgewood, NJ.
Thria Bernabe found themselves in the spotlight after a video of them getting arrested at a Black Lives Matter march was widely circulated on Twitter over the Fourth of July weekend. The 22-year-old community organizer was leading chants for some 50 protesters and signaling the group to follow on a crosswalk when police arrested and charged them with obstructing a highway or public passage. Despite being scared during the arrest, Bernabe continued to lead their group’s chants of “No justice, no peace!” until they were escorted away by two local police officers.
Following George Floyd’s death on May 25, there has been a resurgence of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. As tens of thousands poured onto the streets both in the United States and across the globe to protest police brutality against Black people, police in multiple cities shot tear gas and rubber bullets into crowds. Many were also arrested, prompting the surge of bail fund donations and mutual aid fundraisers to assist the protesters.
Bernabe’s arrest sparked a public outcry, leading to the creation of an online petition condemning the arrest as “shocking and unnecessary” and demanding the Ridgewood Police Department drop all charges against them. Since the petition was published last Thursday, more than 3,500 people have signed. “I’m still in shock and processing the full extent of what really happened,” said Bernabe. “I’m just so grateful for all the support I’ve been getting from all over the place.”
Thria Bernabe describes themselves as a queer Filipinx immigrant, the proud eldest child of a working-class family living in Ridgewood, NJ. Bernabe moved to the U.S. from the Philippines as a toddler and grew up in majority white communities for most of their childhood. They recall being in preschool when they first noticed and received microaggressions from peers.
“One of my earliest memories in the public school system was of two girls, who I thought were my friends, bullying me because I had an accent,” Bernabe said. “That has stuck with me throughout my entire life. Moving to predominantly white towns made me feel super alienated without any sense of community and I was surrounded by people who don’t look like me, think like me, or experience things the same way that I do.”
After graduating from Ridgewood High School, Bernabe joined the class of 2020 at the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and is currently working as a medical scribe at the NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Lower Manhattan Hospital.
Early on in their career, Bernabe discovered the intersection of housing injustices and disparities in healthcare after watching a patient die from hypothermia due to a lack of shelter in the winter and witnessing another denied help from the hospital due to the patient’s lack of resources. While Bernabe’s introduction to community organizing and activism came from the NYC Women’s March in 2017, it was Bernabe’s work as a medical scribe that woke them up and radicalized them to organize and empower others, especially during a time when minority populations are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. “Those two moments are what made me realize that there is so much the system should’ve done…the systems failed them,” Bernabe said. “That’s why I fight and that’s why I marched.”
Bernabe says their immunodeficiency makes them feel uneasy around large groups of people amid the pandemic, but they managed to get involved in remote organizing and online activism by participating in phone and email blasts. They eventually conquered this fear of being around others leading up to the protest organized in support of Ridgewood for Black Liberation, a collective of Ridgewood High School alumni and Village residents dedicated to anti-racist organizing and raising awareness about racism in areas such as housing discrimination and the affluent suburb’s “Eurocentric” public school curriculum.
In discussing the pros and cons of being an activist, especially one who is slowly and steadily gaining a following across the internet, Bernabe says one of the most difficult parts of getting involved with community organizing is finding time for themselves. “It’s really easy to care for others and not take care of yourself,” Bernabe said. They also prioritized helping raise their younger siblings over self-care. “Being the eldest daughter of two immigrants, you have to step up and show up for your parents,” Bernabe said. “My frame of reference for who I am was centered around helping others.”
Another concern Bernabe raised in light of their actions and activism is dragging their family into the spotlight in a potentially dangerous environment. Bernabe describes how their arrest and the events that followed made them more self-conscious about everything they do moving forward to protect their family. “I don’t think it’s a huge risk necessarily, but there is still a fear that I’ve now put myself and my family at risk of significant harm,” they said. “I don’t know if there are white supremacists in my town who want to harm me. That could very much be a possibility. That weekend has changed me in a sense that now I understand what’s really at stake.”
Besides organizing, studying for the nursing boards, and working as a healthcare professional, Bernabe also creates art, specializing in linework and abstract watercolor. They believe that creating art can be an escape from the world as well as meaningful activism. Bernabe has committed to selling their art and donating the proceeds to various organizations such as the New York affiliate of Survived & Punished, a collective that works to end the criminalization of survivors of domestic, sexual, and gender-based violence.
Bernabe is still exploring their options for what they want to do in the future, but they are becoming more and more interested in working as a nurse at a correctional facility, inspired by recent uprisings and the impact of COVID-19. Though their future is uncertain, Bernabe intends to keep fighting for all the causes that are important to them, both in the U.S. and in the Philippines. “As an activist, I’m not looking to necessarily change people’s minds,” Bernabe said. “I’m working towards helping people understand why I’m fighting for what I’m fighting for and inspiring them to learn more about the causes and injustices, so that they can join me in this fight.”
