There has been a lot of talk about institutional racism recently with most of the focus being on the strong and important #BlackLivesMatter movement, but that's not the only way our society discriminates against people of color and sometimes we are lucky enough to get a first hand glimpse into other aspects of this blight on our country. Today is one of those days as the University of Pennsylvania study on the disproportionate impact of k-12 suspensions on blacks in southern states goes national in an NPR piece that breaks down the information for all to see.
The study focuses on 3000 school districts in 13 southern states
Schools in (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia) were responsible for more than half of all suspensions and exclusions of black students nationwide.
Some of the key facts discovered in this study include that
Blacks are only 24 percent of students enrolled in public schools in those states, yet they are 48 percent of students suspended, 49 percent of students expelled," Harper says. "There are 84 districts where blacks were 100 percent of students suspended from school.
Most of the time the discipline is for minor transgressions and have nothing to do with safety and even in states where suspensions are down the percentage of punishments for black students have actually risen.
"In Texas, out-of-school suspensions have decreased by 20 percent over the last few years," she notes, "but as the numbers decrease, the disparities for black students increase."
When we dig into those numbers we clearly see this is exactly what many have talked about when they refer to the
School to Prison Pipeline which causes a disproportionate number of children of color to end up in jail at a young age.
Overly harsh disciplinary policies push students down the pipeline and into the juvenile justice system. Suspended and expelled children are often left unsupervised and without constructive activities; they also can easily fall behind in their coursework, leading to a greater likelihood of disengagement and drop-outs. All of these factors increase the likelihood of court involvement.
It doesn't really take much effort to jump to the conclusion that's what these states really want. They don't want to do anything to change their ingrained political system that treats blacks like second class citizens and goes about creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that people of color are all criminals.
Of course none of this is really new. We've long known about these issues, but as we dig deeper into the numbers we can shine an ever brighter light on these policies that marginalize and punish children of color all over America but especially in the South. Until we manage to change the system we will continue to reap the unjust rewards of criminalizing black skin and the impact that has on the children of America.
9:46 AM PT: Have to go to work, I'll check back in later. Thanks for the recs and the comments.