SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICIES ARE WHERE THE ANGER BEGINS FOR TOO MANY BLACK AMERICANS
What we are seeing in Ferguson, Missouri and in other cities is, in part, a direct outgrowth of misguided school suspension/expulsion policies over the last 50 years.
Those protests have revealed to others what black people have been living with for nearly half a century now — a whole generation of black men who believe that the game is rigged so that they will lose no matter what they do. To them it is normal to see excessive arrests, informal executions by the police who claim self-defense, or formal executions by a “justice” system that is not just to African-Americans.
In too many cases, that highly negative belief system develops from kindergarten through the last year that black students are in public schools, whatever year that may be.
Excessive Suspensions/Expulsions of Black Students
Local data was generated in several cities around the U.S. starting around 2011. But, nation-wide evidence of excessive suspensions of black students compared to other racial groups in public schools was quantified and reported in March by the US DOE Office for Civil Rights. You may download a PDF file of their report, Data Snapshot: School Discipline HERE.
A series of serious attempts at correcting the problem were instituted around the country in public school districts that showed disproportionately high numbers of suspensions and expulsions of black students.
One such attempt was made with funding changes in California. It is described in this report from the San Diego newspaper Voice & Viewpoint: “Suspension Rate for African American Students in California Alarming”.
A significant set of reports was aired on KUT the NPR affiliate public radio station in Austin, Texas by their education reporter Kate McGee.
In the first installment, she reported “Black Students Are Eight School Discipline Policies are Where the Anger Begins for Too Many Black Americans | Life at the Intersections: