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Page 13 July 2013 The AC Phoenix Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline: 6-year-old Arrested, Handcuffed By Judith Browne Dianis America's Wire Writers Group ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Salecia Johnson, age 6, grew frustrated in her Milledgeville, Ga., kindergarten class last year and erupted into a temper tantrum. Unfor tunately, it's something that mothers sometimes must confront with raising young children. But what happened next was not routine, nor should it be happening to Salecia or any other chil dren. Creekside Elementary school called the police, who said they found Salecia on the floor of the principal's office scream ing and crying. Police said she had knocked over furniture that injured the principal. The African American child was handcuffed, arrested and hauled to the local police station. She was held for more than hour before her parents were notified and charged with simple assault and damage to property, but didn't have to go to court because she is a juvenile. But the ordeal has severely impacted the child. Her mother, Constance Ruff, says Salecia is traumatized, having dif ficulty adjusting back to school and may never recover. Salecia, she says, has awoken at night screaming, "They're coming to get me!"Sadly, her case is not an anomaly. Across’the country, young people are being arrested for behavior that used to be solved through a trip to the prin cipal's office or the intervention of a counselor. In Florida, a 14-year-old was arrested and charged for throwing a pencil at another student and spent 21 days in jail. In New York, a 12-year-old was arrested for doodling,'! love Abby and Faith on her desk.' In Chicago, 25 children, some as young as 11, were arrested for engaging in a food fight. Supporters of zero tolerance policies say being tough on any infraction creates strong incentives to behave. But the real ity belies that myth and cries out for the implementation of common sense disci pline polices that ensure that students are put on a pathway to career or college rather than the destructive criminal justice system. The Advancement Project, a multi-racial civil rights organization based in Washing ton, DC, tracks the increasing encroach ment of law enforcement and the juvenile justice system into American classrooms, particularly impacting students of color. The research has documented racial disparities nationally and in specific school districts. According to a 2005 report by Advance ment Project, Education on LockdowniThe Schoolhouse to JailhouseTrack, Black and Latino students in Denver were 70 percent more likely to be disciplined (suspended, expelled, or given police tickets) than their white peers. There were no states where Black students were not suspended more often than their white peers. The easy answer is that Black and Latino students misbehave more than other students. However, research consistently shows that this is false. Black and Latino students are punished, even arrested, most often for subjective infractions (i.e. "disor derly conduct,""disobedience,""disrespect," etc), while White students are more likely to be punished for concrete dangerous activi ties (e.g., carrying a weapon, using drugs). During a convening for "America Healing," a racial equity initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a panel discussion this spring focused on examples where different sec tors of the community have achieved some success interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. Jody Owens, director of the Southern Pov erty Law Center's Mississippi office, which filed a lawsuit against the district, asserted that "we are losing a generation" in Merid ian, Miss., because of the way children are needlessly introduced to the criminal justice system. Kids are pushed into police detention directly from the classroom. Stu dents referred to the Police Department for misbehavior are automatically arrested and sent to the juvenile justice system. There, these students are given probation requiring them to serve any school suspen sions incarcerated in the juvenile detention center. One student spent 48 days in jail for wearing the wrong color socks. Youth who run afoul of school rules, not criminal law, are routinely handcuffed to a pole outside the school for the entire eight-hour school day. Data shows that zero tolerance policies result in higher dropout rates, lower aca demic achievement and young people being pushed into the criminal justice system - hence the name school to prison pipeline. How have practices like these become common? After the Columbine tragedy, we saw the emergence of zero tolerance policies extended into the nation's schools. Propo nents argue that safety in schools is the key issue though there is little to no evidence these practices create safer learning envi ronments or change disruptive behavior. You are loved more than you will ever know by someone who died to know you Trayvon Martin: A 21 St Century Case Study of Race in America Diversity Visiting Professor, Uni versity of San Francisco; and Scholar Writer in Residence, MLK, Jr. Institute, Stanford University By Clarence B. Jones Clarence B. Jones On the night of Feb 26th, 2012, in a conversation with a 911 dispatcher in Stanford, Florida, George Zimmerman said, "These assholes always get away ... We've had some break ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real sus picious guy ... looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something." The dispatcher asked Zimmerman: "Are you following him?" Zimmerman: "Yeah." Dispatcher: "We don't need you to do that." In his Sunday sermon yesterday, the Rev. Dr. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, said, "Trayvon Benjamin Mar tin is dead because he and other black boys and men like him are not seen as a person, but a problem." The acquittal of George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin Case provides us with a "Case Study of Race in America in The 21st Century." When are we as nation going to have the courage and honesty to have a national town hall discussion about race in the United States? TheTrayvon Martin verdict now joins a line of seminal historic events defining race relations in America: U.S. Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision, 1857 Emancipation Proclamation, 1863 Plessey vs. Fergerson, 1896 ("separate but equal') Brown vs.. Board of Education, 1954 (outlawing racial segregation in public education) Dr. King's '/ Have A Dream' Speech to 250,000+ people, March On Washing ton, 1963 Voting Rights Act, 1965 Kerner Commission Report, 1968 ("Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies, One Black, One White - Separate and Unequal") Election of Barack Obama, as first Afri can-American president of the United States, 2008 Shelby County vs. Holder, June 25th, 2013 (Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 declared unconstitutional) There have men numerous comments in the media about the acquittal of George Zimmerman. In several cities across the nation people have demon strated in opposition to the verdict. Trayvon Martin's killing by George Zim merman, on the basis of"self-defense,'' will be lost or diminished as an instruc tive template for a sustained national dialogue about race today in the Unit ed States unless practical steps are immediately initiated to assure such a dialogue, ASAP. Anyone who objects to the verdict by communicating through the social me dia or by "demonstrating" in peaceful protest at one or more venues across the country, who is not registered to vote, at the time of such communica tion or protest, denigrates the memory ofTrayvon Martin. Responsible ownership and use of guns, including background checks, and fostering non-violent resolution of the inevitable conflicts that will occur among us, whether racially motivated or not, will not be achieved unless those who seek to honor Trayvon Mar tin acquire the political power to do so. Being a registered voter and exercising your vote, in a state primary or a gener al election, and demanding an end to gun violence is the most effective way to insure that more young black lives are not extinguished by a gun shot. ANNOUNCING HAPPY ADS BIRTHDAYS ANNIVERSARIES SPECIAL OCCASIONS Share Your Happiness Call 336.635.4096 And Ask Fof An Art Taker Who Will Be Happy To Help You.
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