2011-2015
Day 91
2011: Black Students Receive Far Harsher Punishments Than Their White Classmates
From the New York Times:
The Little Rock Nine were escorted by soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division at the order of President Eisenhower, a moment that is rightly celebrated as a triumph in civil rights history.
But a few months after taking her historic steps, Minnijean was suspended for dropping a cafeteria tray after white students obstructed her path. She was later expelled for calling other tormentors “white trash,” after they threw a purse full of combination locks at her. Although these were not major transgressions, and she was not the instigator, Minnijean was the one harshly disciplined, not the white students.
Back then, inequitably harsh discipline was a tool used by resistant white schools to make sure that racial integration would not mean equal education for black students. The racial discipline gap is now a firmly established reality in Arkansas and around the country.
Today, racial disparities in school discipline send the message that blacks are still unequal and unwanted in Arkansas schools. The state ranks 13th in the out-of-school suspension gap between black and white students, according to a recent report. During the 2011-2012 school year, black students were suspended five times as often as whites were, and little has changed since then.
The racial discipline gap is not restricted to Arkansas, or to the South. The same report finds that several Northern states, including Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, rank above Arkansas in the black-white suspension gap. And a recent study on California schools from the Brookings Institution finds evidence of this gap despite a statewide initiative to reduce suspensions.
According to a Department of Education report, black students nationally were three times more likely to be suspended than whites in 2011-2012. Suspensions occur most commonly in secondary schools, but black children were more than twice as likely to be suspended from preschool as well. Harsher discipline for black students is not just a Southern or state-level problem. It is a national crisis.
Other evidence indicates that black students are punitively disciplined for relatively minor infractions, such as showing disrespect to teachers, willful disobedience or talking too loudly, while white students who commit more serious infractions are punished less severely.
White middle-class parents, exercising white privilege, often intervene on behalf of their children, making school authorities reluctant to discipline them harshly. These students are usually viewed by staff as “good kids,” while black kids are typically labeled troublemakers.
Unfortunately, these perceptions of racial differences in conduct and character have long histories in America. In 1891, the Southern educational leader J. L. M. Curry proclaimed that blacks displayed “lack of self restraint” and didn’t obey “moral law.” Today many educators appear to harbor such views, causing black students to view school as a hostile environment, leading to higher dropout rates, lower levels of achievement and disengagement from school activities.
Some educators and other observers blame black kids for the racial discipline gap, suggesting that they misbehave more often. But this may be more myth than fact, as some studies suggest that race is a more powerful predictor of discipline than differential behavior, especially when considering the unequal penalties assessed to black and white kids for comparable infractions.
In 1957, racial inequality and the racial achievement gap were forcefully maintained by white politicians, parents and police officers determined to keep the Little Rock Nine and other blacks from attending white schools. School integration broke racial barriers at the schoolhouse doors, and the racial achievement gap closed considerably in the 1970s and ’80s. Today about a third of black students attend majority white secondary schools, yet the color line endures within these schools because of unfair suspension and expulsion practices.
This gap starts in pre-school! In PRE-SCHOOL black students are getting suspended for minor infractions.
Day 92
2012: School To Prison Pipeline- What It Looks Like
This goes hand in hand with yesterday’s post. We already talked about the “Cash For Kids” program, where judges get kickbacks for giving extremely harsh sentences for kids to go to prison. We also talked about how laws require a certain number of inmates to fill for profit prisons, regardless of whether or not people commit crimes.
Here is what that looks like in schools. From the Equal Justice Institute:
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Meridian, Mississippi, officials for systematically incarcerating African American and disabled schoolchildren for days at a time for allegedly committing minor infractions like talking back to teachers or violating dress codes.
The suit against the city of Meridian, Lauderdale County, judges of the Lauderdale County Youth Court, and the state of Mississippi was filed on October 24, 2012, more than two months after the Justice Department released findings of a joint investigation by the Civil Rights Division’s Special Litigation Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi. (The Civil Rights Division also has a long-standing school desegregation case against the Meridian Public School District.)
It alleges that students in Meridian schools are handcuffed and arrested in school and end up incarcerated for “dress code infractions such as wearing the wrong color socks or undershirt, or for having shirts untucked; tardies; flatulence in class; using vulgar language; yelling at teachers; and going to the bathroom or leaving the classroom without permission.”
Mississippi authorities are systematically violating the due process rights of children, says the Department, by incarcerating children for days without a probable cause hearing; obtaining admissions from children without advising them of their Miranda rights; and failing to provide meaningful representation by an attorney during the juvenile justice process.
The students most affected by this “school-to-prison pipeline” system are African-American children and children with disabilities. About 86% of the district’s students are African-American, but all of those referred to the court for violations were minorities, the suit said.
“The department is bringing this lawsuit to ensure that all children are treated fairly and receive the fullest protection of the law,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, in a release. “It is in all of our best interests to ensure that children are not incarcerated for alleged minor infractions, and that police and courts meet their obligations to uphold children’s constitutional rights.”
Sources/Comments:
Black schools are more likely to have 3 School Resource Officers (cops) and zero counselors. Right now, the black community is begging for the removal of SRO to have them replaced with counselors. They are finding that their children are being harassed and arrested instead of being given help.
White students who face the same discipline issues are most likely to be given medical help. Blacks, instead, are arrested.
If I ran the world, here's where I would start:
-Replace cops with counselors in schools
-Fund more art and music programs in low income schools (Funny how people are ticked about "defunding the police" but have no problem with "defunding education." It's almost as if we don't think they are correlated)
-Have more technical programs in schools- especially low income schools
-Train teachers and administrators on how to discipline in effective rather than punitive ways- especially when working with people of color. As discussed yesterday, suspensions are one of the worst things you can do because it pushes children out of school
There's lots and lots of other ideas. the NAACP has a number of effective solutions. I would use data and collaboration with leaders in the black community to determine the best course of action and implement those. I don't think black people need more white people telling them what to do- I think they deserve to have their own stories heard and validated and we should step back and listen.
Day 93
2013: Federal Judge Accused of Racial Bias
This is crazy to me- how can a federal judge who believes the things she is saying possibly be a judge determining the fate of thousands of people? Sadly, there are judges who are racist, and they should be removed. How does a person of color hope to have a fair trial when the judge thinks like this?
From the Equal Justice Initiative:
Ethics experts and civil rights organizations filed a complaint of misconduct against Judge Edith H. Jones, who sits on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Texas, alleging that her recent remarks during a speech at a law school showed racial bias against minority groups and a lack of impartiality in death penalty cases.
At a lecture entitled “Federal Death Penalty Review” at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law on February 20, 2013, the complaint asserts, Judge Jones said that African Americans and Hispanics are predisposed to crime and “prone” to commit acts of violence and that imposing a death sentence is a service to defendants because it allows them to make peace with God.
She also complained that claims of racism and innocence are “red herrings” and that capital defendants who raise claims that they are mentally retarded (and therefore cannot constitutionally be executed under United States Supreme Court precedent) abuse the system. According to the witnesses, the judge said that Mexicans would prefer to be on death row in the United States rather than in prison in Mexico.
In an affidavit accompanying the complaint, James M. McCormack, former chief disciplinary counsel for the Texas bar, said that based on the complaint, “it is my opinion that Judge Jones violated the ethical standards applicable to federal judges under the Code of Conduct for United States judges.”
Legal ethics expert Charles W. Wolfram told the New York Times that Judge Jones’s alleged statements were a cause of great concern. “She seems to have made up her mind on these issues,” he said in a telephone interview. “She is slanted. That is the whole point of the impartiality requirement.”
Chief Judge of the Fifth Circuit, Carl E. Stewart of Louisiana, will decide whether to dismiss the complaint or order an investigation. The complainants ask Judge Stewart to transfer the matter to another circuit because Judge Jones is a former chief judge of the Fifth Circuit.
Sources/Comments:
Despite these comments, the case was dismissed. Her name has been considered for SCOTUS. That thought makes me want to vomit.
Click HERE
Day 94
2014: High Profile Murders With No Indictments
After Trayvon Martin was murdered in 2013, Black Lives Matter was formed (see comments for more info about BLM). This movement started to bring to light the consistent harassment, excessive force, and murders of black men/teenagers/children. In 2014, at least three high profile murders took place.
The information comes from Wikipedia:
Eric Garner: NYPD officers approached 27-year-old Garner on July 17 on suspicion of selling single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. After Garner told the police that he was tired of being harassed and that he was not selling cigarettes, the officers attempted to arrest Garner. When Pantaleo placed his hands on Garner, Garner pulled his arms away. Pantaleo then placed his arm around Garner's neck (Note: The officer used a choke hold, which had been banned by NYPD) and wrestled him to the ground.
With multiple officers pinning him down, Garner repeated the words "I can't breathe" 11 times while lying face down on the sidewalk. After Garner lost consciousness, he remained lying on the sidewalk for seven minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive. Garner was pronounced dead at an area hospital approximately one hour later.
No officers were indicted.
Michael Brown: An 18-year-old black teenager, Michael Brown was fatally shot by 28-year-old white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Brown was accompanied by his 22-year-old friend Dorian Johnson. Wilson said that an altercation ensued when Brown attacked Wilson in his police vehicle for control of Wilson's gun until it was fired. Johnson claimed that Wilson initiated a confrontation by grabbing Brown by the neck through his car window, threatening him and then shooting at him.
At this point, both Wilson and Johnson state that Brown and Johnson fled, with Wilson pursuing Brown shortly thereafter. Wilson stated that Brown stopped and charged him after a short pursuit. Johnson contradicted this account, stating that Brown turned around with his hands raised after Wilson shot at his back.
According to Johnson, Wilson then shot Brown multiple times until Brown fell to the ground. In the entire altercation, Wilson fired a total of twelve bullets, including twice during the struggle in the car; the last was probably the fatal shot. Brown was struck six times, all in the front of his body.
No officers were indicted.
Tamir Rice: On November 22, 2014, Tamir Rice, a 12-year old (TWELVE-YEAR-OLD!!!!!) African-American boy, was killed in Cleveland, Ohio, by Timothy Loehmann, a 26-year-old white police officer. Rice was carrying a replica toy gun; Loehmann shot him almost immediately after arriving on the scene.
Two officers, Loehmann and 46-year-old Frank Garmback, were responding to a police dispatch call regarding a male who had a gun. A caller reported that a male was pointing "a pistol" at random people at the Cudell Recreation Center, a park in the City of Cleveland's Public Works Department. At the beginning of the call and again in the middle, he says of the pistol "it's probably fake." Toward the end of the two-minute call, the caller states that "he is probably a juvenile"; however, this information was not relayed to officers Loehmann or Garmback on the initial dispatch.
The officers reported that upon their arrival, they both continuously yelled "show me your hands" through the open patrol car window. Loehmann further stated that instead of showing his hands, it appeared as if Rice was trying to draw: "I knew it was a gun and I knew it was coming out." The officer shot twice, hitting Rice once in the torso. According to Judge Ronald B. Adrine, "...On the video the zone car containing Patrol Officers Loehmann and Garmback is still in the process of stopping when Rice is shot." Rice died the following day.
In the aftermath of the shooting it was revealed that Loehmann, in his previous job as a police officer in the Cleveland suburb of Independence, had been deemed an emotionally unstable recruit and unfit for duty. Loehmann did not disclose this fact on his application to join the Cleveland police, and the Cleveland police never reviewed his previous personnel file before hiring him.
Loehmann was never indicted for the murder of Tamir Rice, but was fired for lying on his job application for not disclosing that he had been deemed “emotionally unstable.”
Sources/Comments:
-You can agree or disagree with the cops. But, I hope we can all agree that none of these men/boys should be dead right now. I am not black- obviously. I can, however, imagine that if I was a black woman with black children, I would be scared for their lives every single day- never knowing what emotionally unstable officer might decide to shoot my son or daughter for whatever perceived crime they might come up with. That must be an incredibly difficult burden to bear.
-The point of this project is NOT to cast good guys vs. bad guys. This started as a journey for me to try and understand what the black experience in the USA is like. I have learned, and I have shared for the past 94 days, that it is very, very, very different from my experience. I am learning what it means to “mourn with those that mourn.” These murders are devastating. It doesn’t matter if the cops are good or bad (well, it does- bad cops must be fired!). Three men/children are dead, and it is sad and heartbreaking. If your first instinct is to defend the cops at all cost, instead of feeling sadness that three men are dead and three mothers had to bury their young sons, I would simply humbly invite you to ask yourself why it is that you struggle to have empathy and compassion for these mothers, families, and communities. It is a question that I have sincerely asked myself over and over again.
-From the Black Lives Matter website: #BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.”
-A little more about BLM: It is not a nationally run organization where the national leaders tell local volunteers exactly what to say and do. It is very purposely local volunteers running independently to meet the needs of their specific community. I just gave you the mission statement. When someone says something like, “I don’t like BLM because they don’t appreciate nuclear families” (or any other hang up that doesn’t align with the mission statement above) that is incorrect. That is one local leader who said that, it is not the organization.
I fully support the mission statement outlined above. 100%. It isn’t radical- it’s common sense, compassion, and Christianity in action. However, if you think BLM is “too radical” then join your local NAACP chapter. They are not at all affiliated with BLM, and the President of my faith, Russell M. Nelson, and other church leaders of my faith work very closely with the NAACP. So, join your local chapter and do some good. If it’s good enough for President Nelson, it’s good enough for me and you.
-How in the **bleep** is Tamir Rice shot within seconds of a cop showing up for holding a toy gun, but a 17-year-old kid carrying a very real assault rifle through town is lauded as a hero for shooting a bunch of people?!?!?!?! That is why BLM exists. Because white kids get deemed a hero for murder while black kids get shot for toys.
Day 95
2015: Oklahoma Frat Boys Sing Song About How Ni---- Don’t Belong
In 2015, the bombing of the Emmanuel Church by a white supremacist happened, killing 9 church goers (the FBI has declared white supremacists as the biggest terrorist threat in our country). It was tragic on every level, and I’m including information about it in the comments.
Because it is well known, I decided to go a different direction for the focus of today’s post.
I got to asking myself, “HOW on earth is a church bombing still happening today?” And I realized, the answer is quite simple: because there are still white supremacists and racism today.
In 2015, frat boys from Oklahoma State, members of the frat “Sigma Alpha Epsilon” were on video singing a song that repeated over and over “There will never be a ni--- at SAE.”
Now, this is 2015- not 1915. The frat, SAE, is the largest fraternity in the country- and the most racist, going back decades.
Here are some of the racist incidents committed by this frat, according to Slate:
In 1982, the University of Cincinnati suspended its Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter after it organized a racist party around Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. According to an article in the New York Times, fliers for the event encouraged revelers to “bring such things as a canceled welfare check, ‘your father if you know who he is’ and ‘a radio bigger than your head.’ ”
In 1992, the Texas A&M University chapter hosted a “jungle fever”–themed party that, according to an online exhibit created by the university’s Cushing Library, featured “black face, grass skirts and ‘slave hunts.’ ” In 2000, members of SAE at Oglethorpe University were among men from four fraternities who threw bottles at black athletes and yelled racial slurs during a cross-country meet. In 2002, a member of the Syracuse University chapter of SAE wore black face out to local bars.
In 2006, two SAE students were suspended at the University of Memphis after harassing another member for dating a black woman and bringing her to the chapter’s house. In 2009, the Valdosta State University chapter caused outrage on campus after flying a Confederate flag on its front lawn. The Oklahoma State University chapter also drew ire on social media when a Confederate flag could be seen through one of its windows just hours after the controversy emerged at the University of Oklahoma (the singing of the racist song).
In 2013, the Washington University in St. Louis chapter of SAE was suspended after some of its pledges were instructed to direct racial slurs at a group of black students. Last year, 15 SAE members at the University of Arizona broke into a historically Jewish off-campus fraternity and physically assaulted its members while yelling discriminatory comments at them. In December, Clemson University’s SAE chapter was suspended after the fraternity hosted a “cripmas” party at which students dressed up as gang members.
As for the now-infamous song, there’s evidence that the lyrics are not popular just among members of the Oklahoma chapter. One month ago, before the controversy at Oklahoma, a user on the online forum Reddit wrote that a nearly identical version was a “favorite” of SAE members at universities in Texas. One Twitter user posted that he “was an SAE at a university in Texas from 2000-2004. The exact same chant was often used then. This is not isolated.”
(back to me): This, my friends, is how the bombing of black churches continues to happen. This form of racism is not acceptable. We must teach our children that this is disgusting behavior and to never, ever be a part of it. Ever.
Sources/Comments:
For information on the Emmanuel Church Bombing click HERE
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