GIANNA WAS RIGHT, HER DADDY CHANGED THE WORLD
Four weeks ago, a Black man was lynched. In 2020.
I remind myself of that fact each day so that I do not forget what we saw, what happened—that we witnessed a man take his last breath. In the days following, we watched people take to the streets, in the midst of a pandemic, willing to risk their health to fight against systemic and systematic racism.
Gianna Floyd, George Floyd’s daughter, perched on former NBA player Stephen Jackson’s shoulders, boldly declared, “Daddy changed the world!”
The gravity of those words is reverberating through policies, practices, and interactions across this country, and specifically, our relationship with law enforcement in our education systems.
THIS INSIDIOUS POLICE PRESENCE WAS A STAPLE OF MY MIDDLE SCHOOL EXPERIENCE AND HAS SHAPED MY ADVOCACY TODAY IN CALLING FOR THE DISMANTLING OF THE SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE
As I stood next to strangers while protesting in my hometown several weeks ago, I demanded that the Toledo Superintendent dissolve the school system’s contract with the police. This insidious police presence was a staple of my middle school experience and has shaped my advocacy today in calling for the dismantling of the school-to-prison pipeline
BLACK AND LATINO STUDENTS ARE THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE SUSPENDED FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR THAN A WHITE STUDENT FOR THE SAME OFFENSE.
The school-to-prison pipeline describes a system in which students are referred to law enforcement rather than the office for behavior. Black and CONTINUE READING: Gianna Was Right, Her Daddy Changed the World - Philly's 7th Ward
