VOICES: River City, Episode 67: California’s School-to-Prison Pipeline
Do cops belong in schools?
The answer is obvious: No. Yet Americans have spent the last seven decades increasing their presence in institutions of education, to devastating results. We discuss chapter three in Alex Vitale’s ‘The End of Policing’ (which you can download for just $3 from Verso Books!), while incorporating some local flair.
Longtime Sacramento residents may remember 25 years ago, when Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies terrorized students at Encina High School: pepper spraying, punching and throwing as many kids as they could get their hands on. (Fun fact: now-Sheriff Scott Jones makes a cameo on the KCRA news clip, lying through his teeth about what actually happened.) This traumatized many Encina students, and shaped how they viewed police for the rest of their lives.
Back then Sacramentans made excuses for the cops.
Today, things are different. The region is asking serious questions about if they really belong as an occupying force in our schools.
Last fall, Sacramento City Unified School District cut its policing contract by more than half. Two school board members–Leticia Garcia and Mai Vang–voted against it because they wanted police completely out. Vang, who is running for Sacramento City Council in District 8, has also signed a pledge to never take campaign contributions from cops.
Enjoy! And keep an eye out for the 1995 clip of sheriff’s deputies terrorizing the high school.
Thanks for listening and, as always:
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Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune
And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.
