Confederate Statues Down In New Orleans, But Structural Racism Still Stands Tall In Our Schools
Above Photo: Ashana Bigard. Two students embrace outside a New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts graduation ceremony that many protested because of the high numbers of fellow students being expelled for minor, arbitrary infractions, and not allowed to graduate.
Many New Orleanians celebrated at the removal of confederate monuments around the city in recent weeks. But on the same day that Robert E. Lee’s bronzed image came down from Lee Circle, two black boys (like hundreds of boys throughout the city and state of Louisiana) were not allowed to graduate for arbitrary, punitive, and potentially illegal reasons.
The monuments may be gone, but structural racism continues to create barriers for students of color in New Orleans schools.
Take the cases of Rahsaan Ison and Rashaad Brown, both enrolled at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts. They had requested a tutor in Spanish, and one was provided to them under state and federal law protecting students with disabilities. But the tutor turned out to be so unprofessional that their school claimed he had cheated on a test by answering questions for them, and refused to accept any of their work, making it impossible for them to achieve their graduation requirements.
I acted as a student advocate for the boys, and I asked for an accommodation on the 504 plan so they could graduate with the rest of the class. Both Ison and Brown worked hard and had completed more than 621 assignments, and, according to computer records, they had passing grades. On the day of the graduation ceremony at 9:00am, they were told by their principal that they had another 1700 assignments to do that he had yet to “unlock.”
I son, who suffers with panic attacks, couldn’t breathe when he heard the news.
“Why?” he asked. “What kind of ugly set up is this? How can we do assignments if you didn’t even unlock them? Every hoop you gave us to jump through, we jumped and jumped and now you’re telling me I still can’t graduate with my class. Why?”
And if that is not enough to get your blood boiling, Ison was even featured in Teen Vogue, after NOCCA expelled him in his ninth grade year because he had crossed train tracks (which he didn’t know was forbidden) in order to save time and not be late forConfederate Statues Down In New Orleans, But Structural Racism Still Stands Tall In Our Schools | PopularResistance.Org: