Ferguson decision: A call to end criminalization of black youths: guest opinion

The Birmingham News ^ | December 26, 2014 | Ebony Howard, Sr. Staff Attorney, Southern Poverty Law Center

[2ndDivisionVet]

In the wake of a grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, many people are asking a heart-wrenching question: "Why don't black lives matter?"

The answer can be found in our nation's long history of criminalizing youth of color - particularly African-American boys. They have long been demonized as predators to be feared. And this fear of black boys remains woven within the American fabric. We are reminded of it every time there is a headline reporting the death of yet another unarmed black youth.

But the path that ends with a young black man dead in the street begins long before an officer stops a youth. It's the tragic end of a long process that funnels children of color out of school and into the justice system.

It's a process found in schools across the country.

It can be seen in statistics that show black children are expelled at three times the rate of white children for similar instances of misconduct. Even in preschool, black children make up 18 percent of preschool enrollment, but are 42 percent of preschool students suspended once. They are almost half (48 percent) of preschoolers suspended more than once.

Suspensions do not help these children.

Studies show that these children are more likely to drop out of school and enter the justice system. The practice of stationing police officers in schools only brings the justice system into the school with tragic results. Black children are arrested at school and subjected to excessive force at alarming rates.

The lesson black children learn from this experience is clear: They are feared by others. They are predisposed to be criminals. They are worthy of suspicion and excessive force, but little else. It's a lesson that's been taught in Birmingham, Alabama, where police officers stationed in the schools frequently use pepper spray on students.

The students in this predominately African-American school district aren't engaging in criminal behavior, but typical teenage misbehavior: yelling, throwing temper tantrums and getting into school yard fights. These are all things that at one time simply resulted in a trip to the principal's office.

Today, Birmingham school officials say such behavior is criminal. They say the pepper spray is the only recourse these officers, also known as school resource officers, have at their disposal. So they discipline these students with a chemical weapon used on violent criminals. Even students who have done nothing wrong get a taste of it as officers spray the chemical in hallways and lunchrooms, stinging the eyes of bystanders.

This is no way to treat children. It is why the Southern Poverty Law Center will take the Birmingham Police Department to federal court early next year for a trial over these practices.

But this is about much more than the practices in one school district. If we care about the death of Michael Brown and others, we must stop this school-to-prison pipeline that needlessly pushes these children into the justice system. We must stop this system that reinforces for teachers and police officers the myth that black children are inherently dangerous.

Teachers, school resource officers and even the cop on the beat should make every effort to keep young lives on track. This isn't to say children shouldn't be disciplined, only that we shouldn't derail young lives at every opportunity.

Until we end this system that grooms our children for the criminal justice system, we should not be shocked by the increasingly long roll call of black youths killed in encounters with police. We should not be shocked by our bloated prison system filled with young black men. And we should not be shocked by the growing chorus of voices asking why black lives don't seem to matter.

[bkopto]

Any discussion of of black criminality without addressing the dysfunctional black family, along with welfare dependence, is fundamentally unserious.

[trebb]

It can be seen in statistics that show black children are expelled at three times the rate of white children for similar instances of misconduct. Even in preschool, black children make up 18 percent of preschool enrollment, but are 42 percent of preschool students suspended once. They are almost half (48 percent) of preschoolers suspended more than once.

Suspensions do not help these children.

Suspensions aren't designed to help them any more than prison time helps a convict - the punishment is designed to teach them something if they are able/willing tolearn it.

The suspensions also prevent harm and problems for the students who wish to actually learn w/o threats/disruptions.

To stop suspending those who will not assimilate into school life would be to punish those who are there to learn while leaving the disruptions free to do their mischief.

[SaraJohnson]

Good point about SPLC’s involvement in the attack on the Family Research Council. Also, they got themselves involved in educating cops about white racist groups like the Family Research Council, constitutionalists, second amendment supporters, or any other good group they hate.

[wita]

I’ll drink to that. SPLC deserves an automatic barf alert.