Eddie Griffin sez: Wow! All the brothers were dressed in black suits. It reminded me of the Panthers. Read ThereAlready blog:
[Excerpt]
You'll all be happy to know that the N-Word is now officially dead and buried. There apparently were at least 2 ceremonies over the past couple of days in Houston and Detroit where the oh so troublesome word was put out of our misery. In Houston;
...the so-called interment celebration will be at Houston Memorial Gardens in Pearland. A casket, draped with a banner, will contain a hanging noose, a burned cross, a replica of a Ku Klux Klan robe and an ax. It will be buried in an unmarked grave site.
more
Solving the Classroom Crisis – Part I
By Eddie Griffin
This is the beginning of a long series in response to those who have asked about What Options We Should Seek in a new road to educating our children
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
In solving the problem with our children in the educational environment of public school, we must consider that everything is relative. If there is good, there is always better. If there is bad, there is always worse.
We live in an imperfect world with imperfect people, and any solutions to our problems are only partial solutions. But the average person thinks in terms of absolutes.
A New Perspective
There is no shortage of good advisement on how to solve the problem with educating our children in the public school system. But all the ideas and plans presented in the last decade have not stemmed the decline- decline in daily attendance per student, decline in learning, decline in graduation rates, decline in academic achievement, and finally decline public confidence.
Maybe it’s time to step outside the box and create a new paradigm on education- what it means and how institutions deliver it, who its clients are, and what is the bottom line result when it is successfully achieved. Finally, what is the face of success? What does it look like?
We cannot solve the problem within the problem- thinking inside the box. Looking at the problem from a classroom perspective does not give us an institutional level overview of the problem.
We see more finances, more educational resources, better facilities, better pay, and more qualified teachers as primes toward a solution. We also see parental involvement, better home training, better parenting, and more pre-preparation as principal contributors to student success. And, based upon our own institutional goals of education, we have some basic expectations of the student. All of this is well and good, but only from an inside-the-box perspective.
Our expectations may not necessarily coincide with the children’s expectations. We assume every child knows right from wrong and expect them to act accordingly. But the alienated at-risk children may have been reared in a home where wrong was right. Therefore, the assumption at Square One is erroneous and self-delusional to the mind’s eye of the observer.
Because we began from a wrong premise, we tend to rationalize the rest, before arriving at a failed resolution. Knowing that we cannot ignore poverty as a debilitating factor in education, we seek to find a model (an example) of someone who overcame poverty. We take the exception and make it the norm. And, we turn a blind eye to cultural factors engendered by racial identity, which propagates white idealism such as this: “Any black male child has as much an opportunity to succeed as a white male child.”
We wish that it were so.
Being locked in on our ideals, we draft pie-in-the-sky solution plans and measure incremental changes. What good is a 10%-20% improvement, when you are looking for a 100% solution?
What we need in education is a qualitative change and a quantum leap. We are in an opportune vortex where this might be possible. The including series will examine the problem in education with a solution-oriented focus… and yes, a plan of action will emerge.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
On Wings of Eagles
One methodology I use in teaching is Visualization. If you can see it in the mind’s eye, the lesson is learned. And, when you have no role models to emulate, you fanaticize a hero, somebody you would want to be, and strive to be it- if you can see it, you can be it.
No man can go into prison and put on airs like El General. In penitentiary hierarchy, you are ranked by seniority and character. Those at the top are seasoned, as warriors, masters of combat, well respected among their peers, and smart as hell. At best, a man comes through the prison gates as a buck private and work your way up the ranks.
In the toughest of the tough penitentiaries, a man gets no free bunk to lay his head on. He gets no free air to breath, no a free place to sit in the dining hall. A man must earn his right to exist. And, if he exists, he must earn the right to be respected as a man. Lastly, he must earn the right to come home. Nothing about prison life is a given.
Some men are pervaded by fear because they visualize themselves as being potential victims. These are the paranoids whose fears are uncovered by penitentiary soldiers whose job it was to break the weak out of the ranks. But meekness is no weakness, as one would think, and it is the meek left standing when the smoke clears.
I noted the men in prison at the top of the pyramid were very gentle-spirited, polite, and gentlemanly. They respected everybody and everybody respected them. But woe to the man who challenged them in hand-to-hand combat- they were fierce in battle. They carried themselves as men who wore eagles upon their shoulders- bird colonels would be their equivalent. The five-star guys were nearly invincible. But they never earned the right to come home. They were lifers. And, when they went out of this world, they left a legend behind.
Just wanted you to know something about leadership- the way it looks from the inside out.
No man can go into prison and put on airs like El General. In penitentiary hierarchy, you are ranked by seniority and character. Those at the top are seasoned, as warriors, masters of combat, well respected among their peers, and smart as hell. At best, a man comes through the prison gates as a buck private and work your way up the ranks.
In the toughest of the tough penitentiaries, a man gets no free bunk to lay his head on. He gets no free air to breath, no a free place to sit in the dining hall. A man must earn his right to exist. And, if he exists, he must earn the right to be respected as a man. Lastly, he must earn the right to come home. Nothing about prison life is a given.
Some men are pervaded by fear because they visualize themselves as being potential victims. These are the paranoids whose fears are uncovered by penitentiary soldiers whose job it was to break the weak out of the ranks. But meekness is no weakness, as one would think, and it is the meek left standing when the smoke clears.
I noted the men in prison at the top of the pyramid were very gentle-spirited, polite, and gentlemanly. They respected everybody and everybody respected them. But woe to the man who challenged them in hand-to-hand combat- they were fierce in battle. They carried themselves as men who wore eagles upon their shoulders- bird colonels would be their equivalent. The five-star guys were nearly invincible. But they never earned the right to come home. They were lifers. And, when they went out of this world, they left a legend behind.
Just wanted you to know something about leadership- the way it looks from the inside out.
Friday, July 6, 2007
Remember Little Black Sambo
When I was 8 years old, my hero was Little Black Sambo. I even tried to eat 169 pancakes, only to come up 175 short. Even today, I have fond memories of the black caricature that became the arch-negro stereotype.
By the time I reached the 3rd grade, I was tired of reading We Look and See, to the point that I had completely memorized the book. Every year, we received hand-me-down books from the white school district, and every year it was We Look and See. Little Black Sambo was the first new reading book we received at our all-black elementary school. I enjoyed it, because it had big words and told a story.
Recently, I went back and found the original text as I remembered it, at http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/sambo.htm. Strange, I love the story of Sambo more now than ever before. I always remember thinking of the four tigers as white people.
What refreshed my memory of Sambo
The recent Supreme Court reversal of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education took me back to the year I was in the third grade and my introduction to Little Black Sambo. I remember the first controversy in school was “being called black”. If you wanted a fight in a segregated elementary school, all you had to do was call someone a “black Sambo”. The issue was not the stereotype. It was the black skin with the big ruby red lips. It was an image thing.
Times Change – Fast Forward
Did the Supreme Court Butcher the Sacred Brown Cow?
Speaking of simplistic tautology: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," said Chief Justice John Roberts.
Well, Duh! Add this, another tautology: It is what it is- speaking of the recent reversal of Brown v. Board of Education.
We all had problems with Brown, and Brown II didn’t fix it. Southern school districts got around the “equal” part of the “Separate but Equal” clause. Instead of providing predominately black schools with equal educational resources, they shut most of them down and phased in busing. We lost our neighborhood schools. Our educators and principals were moved to “upstairs offices” with brick walls for windows, out of sight and out of mind.
So much for the negotiated compromise that has, to date, resulted in a 50% dropout rate for black male teens, 1-in-3 going to prison, low academic performance, and heavy punitive disciplined model customary to controlling slaves rather than pupils. This is not what the African-American community wanted or expected.
TODAY READ: Star-Telegram editorial Kids and Color
Thursday, July 5, 2007
School Fight Could Lead to 80 Years in Prison for Black Teens
Did you know a school fight could lead to charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder which carries a penalty of 80 years?
For six black high school boys in Jena, Louisiana, this could be their fate. And what is worse, these young men did not provoke the chaos to begin with. The school fight was the culmination of growing racial tension in the near all-white town of 3,000 that had been escalating for months.
One would think, by the nature of such serious charges, that the victim received life-threatening injuries. Not so, according to the moving YouTube video documentary of Michael David Murphy.
The wave of problems started last September when Black high school students asked for permission to sit under a tree at an area of the high school that had, traditionally, been used only by white students. The next day, three nooses were hanging from the tree… The following week, Black students staged a protest under the tree. (“Louisiana Justice on Trial” by Jordan Flaherty)
This backdrop of events set the stage for a series of violent eruptions in the small southern town.
According to many in Jena, tensions simmered in the town throughout the fall, occasionally exploding into fights and other incidents. No white students were charged or punished, including the students found to have been responsible for hanging the nooses. Bryant Purvis, one of the Black students now facing charges, stated that after the incident, “There were a lot of people aggravated about it, a lot of fights at the school after that, a lot of arguments, and a lot of people getting treated differently.”(Jordan Flaherty).
Eddie Griffin Commentary
It is incomprehensible to think that a school fight that resulted in a few minor bruises and a black-eye could lead LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters to throw the book at six African-American male teenagers. Clearly, the charges are inflated. But then again, when it comes to southern justice, DAs tend to always score a “slam dunk” against young African-American men, no matter how outrageously disproportionate the charges are. It also partially explains why one-out-of-three black males go to prison.
Although the original charges were tempered somewhat, 17-year old Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six, could still face up to 20 years after being found guilty by an all-white jury.
In the context of these reported events, the case of the Jena Six is more than hysterical justice gone berserk. It is a return to the old ways in which justice was handed down in Louisiana before the Civil Rights Movement. But then I wonder: Did it ever change?
The sacred rule of law in the South is as much a farce as Jim Crow, which is why African-Americans have always had to call upon the international community for Justice. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37 provides:
States Parties shall ensure that:
(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;
(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;
Although the Convention does not exclude juveniles from judicial punishment, the clear intent of all subscribing “civilized” nations is to save the child from arbitrary and excessive punishment and proscribe the use of incarceration as “a measure of last resort”. It is no wonder that the United States is only one of two countries who, to this date, has refused to sign this convention for the Rights of the Child.
As an advocate and Adult Friend for the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC), I am compelled by facts and evidence to declare the Case of the Jena Six juvenile defendants as an abhorrent abuse of police powers in the State of Louisiana and other southern states where black children are prosecuted above and beyond the nature of their offenses. This genocidal practice has robbed the black community of its youth and its future through a heavy-handed and bogus juridical process.
What can be done to stem the tide in these types of injustices?
After reviewing the Michael David Murphy video, if you agree that this is a grievous miscarriage of justice, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION to the US Justice Department Civil Rights Division. And give your support to FREE THE JENA SIX Campaign organized by Friends of Justice.
For six black high school boys in Jena, Louisiana, this could be their fate. And what is worse, these young men did not provoke the chaos to begin with. The school fight was the culmination of growing racial tension in the near all-white town of 3,000 that had been escalating for months.
One would think, by the nature of such serious charges, that the victim received life-threatening injuries. Not so, according to the moving YouTube video documentary of Michael David Murphy.
The wave of problems started last September when Black high school students asked for permission to sit under a tree at an area of the high school that had, traditionally, been used only by white students. The next day, three nooses were hanging from the tree… The following week, Black students staged a protest under the tree. (“Louisiana Justice on Trial” by Jordan Flaherty)
This backdrop of events set the stage for a series of violent eruptions in the small southern town.
According to many in Jena, tensions simmered in the town throughout the fall, occasionally exploding into fights and other incidents. No white students were charged or punished, including the students found to have been responsible for hanging the nooses. Bryant Purvis, one of the Black students now facing charges, stated that after the incident, “There were a lot of people aggravated about it, a lot of fights at the school after that, a lot of arguments, and a lot of people getting treated differently.”(Jordan Flaherty).
Eddie Griffin Commentary
It is incomprehensible to think that a school fight that resulted in a few minor bruises and a black-eye could lead LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters to throw the book at six African-American male teenagers. Clearly, the charges are inflated. But then again, when it comes to southern justice, DAs tend to always score a “slam dunk” against young African-American men, no matter how outrageously disproportionate the charges are. It also partially explains why one-out-of-three black males go to prison.
Although the original charges were tempered somewhat, 17-year old Mychal Bell, one of the Jena Six, could still face up to 20 years after being found guilty by an all-white jury.
In the context of these reported events, the case of the Jena Six is more than hysterical justice gone berserk. It is a return to the old ways in which justice was handed down in Louisiana before the Civil Rights Movement. But then I wonder: Did it ever change?
The sacred rule of law in the South is as much a farce as Jim Crow, which is why African-Americans have always had to call upon the international community for Justice. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 37 provides:
States Parties shall ensure that:
(a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age;
(b) No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily. The arrest, detention or imprisonment of a child shall be in conformity with the law and shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time;
Although the Convention does not exclude juveniles from judicial punishment, the clear intent of all subscribing “civilized” nations is to save the child from arbitrary and excessive punishment and proscribe the use of incarceration as “a measure of last resort”. It is no wonder that the United States is only one of two countries who, to this date, has refused to sign this convention for the Rights of the Child.
As an advocate and Adult Friend for the World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child (WCPRC), I am compelled by facts and evidence to declare the Case of the Jena Six juvenile defendants as an abhorrent abuse of police powers in the State of Louisiana and other southern states where black children are prosecuted above and beyond the nature of their offenses. This genocidal practice has robbed the black community of its youth and its future through a heavy-handed and bogus juridical process.
What can be done to stem the tide in these types of injustices?
After reviewing the Michael David Murphy video, if you agree that this is a grievous miscarriage of justice, PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION to the US Justice Department Civil Rights Division. And give your support to FREE THE JENA SIX Campaign organized by Friends of Justice.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Disconnecting Public School from the Juvenile Justice System
An ongoing baby moses project dialogue
The Angry Independent said...
The urban public school systems in this country, especially in areas that are predominantly African American, have been turned into Prisons.
Eddie Griffin says… It is imperative that we disconnect urban public schools from the juvenile justice system. The rash of disciplinary problems in school has led many of our young people directly into prisons. The connections are so strong that the urban school environment has taken the shape of a penal pre-incarceration regime.
Disproportionate punishment of black male students and the concomitant one-in-three black boys going to prison is a correlation that cannot be ignored.
The Angry Independent said...
A small percentage of troublemakers have turned these schools into a living hell for those who are interested in getting a decent education. It is no surprise to me that the kids internalize the negatives in their environment and live up to the low expectations that responsible adults have for them.
Many of these kids (and I used to be one of them) have a hard enough time with their home lives.... then they must get up everyday to endure another bad situation. School should be a positive escape for these kids... someplace where they can look forward to going everyday. That kind of environment is not too condusive to learning...or for any positive development whatsoever.
Eddie Griffin says… I agree that schools should be a positive escape, a place they can look forward to going everyday. This suggests an environmental change in the school setting. We can make our schools more attractive, more accommodating, more hospitable, more humane and sane, less contentious and less grievous.
But in order to even envision such an ideal school system we would first have to do some soul-searching to see if such a vision is even inside of ourselves. People are the problem, not the school as an institution.
If we can teach in the squalid remote parts of the Third World, then we should also be able to teach at home. We say that we love the people of impoverished Third World countries and yet we hate our own impoverished riffraff here at home. There is jaundice in the humanitarian and philanthropic eyes.
About the “few troublemakers” that disrupt our schools, you mentioned their destructive influence and its negative effects. The troublemaker must be co-opted into the education regime, rather than thrown out as an outcast. Expulsions only remove the problem to a different area (such as crime).
The Angry Independent said...
Luckily... I was able to get out of my bad situation right before entering middle school. The high schools that I attended were nothing like what you would find in urban New York, L.A., Chicago, St. Louis, etc.
But the authorities (including the school administrators/school board) are in an almost impossible situation as well. They have to be able to deal with drugs and gang activity in many of these schools...which sometimes involves weapons. If something were to happen, and these measures were not in place... then parents would be up in arms about that... So it's a catch 22 situation.
Eddie Griffin says… School administrators, being paid such exorbitant salaries, should be expected to establish law and order on each campus. The superintendent of Fort Worth ISD should be able to deal with malfeasant culture rather than dodge bullets. For that salary, I would face down a gang banger with a gun in his hand. If America is so fearful of school violence, fire the superintendent and hire S.W.O.T. teams. Maybe in the long run, you would save money.
The Angry Independent said...
But one irony that I need to point out here is this... I mentioned that I never went to an urban big city school. I went to a rural/suburban High school that was racially/economically mixed...but mostly white.... and the other high school I attended was a Federal Government High school...which is a completely different system and environment.
The point is... these are exactly the kinds of High schools where most of the nation’s biggest shootings have taken place over the last decade. (Columbine, and at least a dozen other big cases). Yet most of these schools don't have metal detectors nor do they have such an aggressive police presence where students are herded like livestock. There is no prison environment in those schools (typically).
I have yet to hear of a major shooting case at a Black urban school (although some shootings do happen and guns are often recovered in sweeps). There are cases of 1..2 people wounded... but nothing like the mass shootings that take place at predominantly White suburban schools.
Yet it's the urban students who routinely have to deal with this kind of environment. Why is that? I think that it has to do with socio-economics...& not necessarily security. In other words... poorer parents are less likely to challenge these measures... they don't have the money for legal expenses, etc.
Suburban schools, on the other hand, are full of students from more well-off backgrounds...and the authorities wouldn't dare treat Wally Cleaver in the same manner...because the legal challenges would be fierce. They simply would not be able to get away with it.
Eddie Griffin says… I would be careful about over-generalizing the cause of violence in our schools. The real general problem is the mass production of psychotics- and, it’s not in the water or the gene pool. It’s in the upbringing.
The Angry Independent said...
This is where groups like the ACLU must step in and (at the very least) demand better standards and a system of rights for students. They should take these cases to Federal Court. Females should not have to raise their shirts... there should be a private area and enough female personnel on duty. There should be video of each checkpoint area... and a system where students/parents could complain or appeal their treatment.
Eddie Griffin says… Do we need metal detectors and screeners in our schools? There is a problem here as to who is paranoid and why. If parents better understood the pathological behavior of their children, rather than putting on blinders, much fear could be deflated. If we understood that most gangs are not “gangs” per se, but cliques, then we would use a different model for their organizational behavior problems. Punitive psychology is always inferior to cognitive psychology. Teaching children to understand their behavior, responsibilities, and expectations are best enforced through proactive indoctrination, rather than punishment. We cannot assume that all children instinctively know the difference between right and wrong. They must be taught the right and proscribed the wrong.
The Angry Independent said...
This also has to do with the demonization of Black kids...(thanks to the media). There is this fear that exists & is the undertone for everything else...for every other contact that they have with teachers and police. This fear dictates that Black students are a threat (by default) and must be dealt with accordingly. When in fact, the security should be based on actual (professionally conducted) threat/risk assessments.
All in all... there has to be a balance between security and a decent learning environment. It might be a good idea to put federal observers in some of these schools (some of the worst offenders). I bet many of these police and school officials would moderate their behavior if they knew there were independent observers monitoring their activities.
Eddie Griffin says… There is, indeed, a public fear of black kids, especially black boys. And, security placements are always focused on them. If any child gets caught doing anything wrong, rest assured it is the black child. Others do the same, and when they do not get by as usual, they get slapped on the wrist as punishment, while our children wound up in the pen.
In Texas, Paris Hilton could have gotten up to 10 years for repeated DUI and driving recklessly with suspended license. But then too, even in Texas, she is still Paris Hilton.
Yes indeed, we have noted the evolving militarization of our schools, with metal detectors, armed security guards, and draconian punitive measures. Thankfully, the Texas Legislature saw fit to stop the insane flow of children from the classrooms to the jailhouses, for minor disciplinary actions. And, as we began to examine how we can solve our problems ourselves, internally, without the feds or the state, we must recognize that as long as the public school system exists (in its present form), we will need monitors to monitor the monitors.
We have some basic misconceptions about human nature. We assume that given the choice, people will do the bad thing, especially looking through colored lenses. But people, especially children, are more amenable that we think.
I agree with Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza, who said at a school-related forum, that if he had his way, he would not even put police officers inside the schools. But this is Fort Worth, Texas, where we have our children reasonably under control. It probably would not work for New York. (See “Criminalizing the Classroom” in Make It Plain where 93,000 children undergo extreme security measure in New York every day)
Read The Angry Independent blog that made my day.
The Angry Independent said...
The urban public school systems in this country, especially in areas that are predominantly African American, have been turned into Prisons.
Eddie Griffin says… It is imperative that we disconnect urban public schools from the juvenile justice system. The rash of disciplinary problems in school has led many of our young people directly into prisons. The connections are so strong that the urban school environment has taken the shape of a penal pre-incarceration regime.
Disproportionate punishment of black male students and the concomitant one-in-three black boys going to prison is a correlation that cannot be ignored.
The Angry Independent said...
A small percentage of troublemakers have turned these schools into a living hell for those who are interested in getting a decent education. It is no surprise to me that the kids internalize the negatives in their environment and live up to the low expectations that responsible adults have for them.
Many of these kids (and I used to be one of them) have a hard enough time with their home lives.... then they must get up everyday to endure another bad situation. School should be a positive escape for these kids... someplace where they can look forward to going everyday. That kind of environment is not too condusive to learning...or for any positive development whatsoever.
Eddie Griffin says… I agree that schools should be a positive escape, a place they can look forward to going everyday. This suggests an environmental change in the school setting. We can make our schools more attractive, more accommodating, more hospitable, more humane and sane, less contentious and less grievous.
But in order to even envision such an ideal school system we would first have to do some soul-searching to see if such a vision is even inside of ourselves. People are the problem, not the school as an institution.
If we can teach in the squalid remote parts of the Third World, then we should also be able to teach at home. We say that we love the people of impoverished Third World countries and yet we hate our own impoverished riffraff here at home. There is jaundice in the humanitarian and philanthropic eyes.
About the “few troublemakers” that disrupt our schools, you mentioned their destructive influence and its negative effects. The troublemaker must be co-opted into the education regime, rather than thrown out as an outcast. Expulsions only remove the problem to a different area (such as crime).
The Angry Independent said...
Luckily... I was able to get out of my bad situation right before entering middle school. The high schools that I attended were nothing like what you would find in urban New York, L.A., Chicago, St. Louis, etc.
But the authorities (including the school administrators/school board) are in an almost impossible situation as well. They have to be able to deal with drugs and gang activity in many of these schools...which sometimes involves weapons. If something were to happen, and these measures were not in place... then parents would be up in arms about that... So it's a catch 22 situation.
Eddie Griffin says… School administrators, being paid such exorbitant salaries, should be expected to establish law and order on each campus. The superintendent of Fort Worth ISD should be able to deal with malfeasant culture rather than dodge bullets. For that salary, I would face down a gang banger with a gun in his hand. If America is so fearful of school violence, fire the superintendent and hire S.W.O.T. teams. Maybe in the long run, you would save money.
The Angry Independent said...
But one irony that I need to point out here is this... I mentioned that I never went to an urban big city school. I went to a rural/suburban High school that was racially/economically mixed...but mostly white.... and the other high school I attended was a Federal Government High school...which is a completely different system and environment.
The point is... these are exactly the kinds of High schools where most of the nation’s biggest shootings have taken place over the last decade. (Columbine, and at least a dozen other big cases). Yet most of these schools don't have metal detectors nor do they have such an aggressive police presence where students are herded like livestock. There is no prison environment in those schools (typically).
I have yet to hear of a major shooting case at a Black urban school (although some shootings do happen and guns are often recovered in sweeps). There are cases of 1..2 people wounded... but nothing like the mass shootings that take place at predominantly White suburban schools.
Yet it's the urban students who routinely have to deal with this kind of environment. Why is that? I think that it has to do with socio-economics...& not necessarily security. In other words... poorer parents are less likely to challenge these measures... they don't have the money for legal expenses, etc.
Suburban schools, on the other hand, are full of students from more well-off backgrounds...and the authorities wouldn't dare treat Wally Cleaver in the same manner...because the legal challenges would be fierce. They simply would not be able to get away with it.
Eddie Griffin says… I would be careful about over-generalizing the cause of violence in our schools. The real general problem is the mass production of psychotics- and, it’s not in the water or the gene pool. It’s in the upbringing.
The Angry Independent said...
This is where groups like the ACLU must step in and (at the very least) demand better standards and a system of rights for students. They should take these cases to Federal Court. Females should not have to raise their shirts... there should be a private area and enough female personnel on duty. There should be video of each checkpoint area... and a system where students/parents could complain or appeal their treatment.
Eddie Griffin says… Do we need metal detectors and screeners in our schools? There is a problem here as to who is paranoid and why. If parents better understood the pathological behavior of their children, rather than putting on blinders, much fear could be deflated. If we understood that most gangs are not “gangs” per se, but cliques, then we would use a different model for their organizational behavior problems. Punitive psychology is always inferior to cognitive psychology. Teaching children to understand their behavior, responsibilities, and expectations are best enforced through proactive indoctrination, rather than punishment. We cannot assume that all children instinctively know the difference between right and wrong. They must be taught the right and proscribed the wrong.
The Angry Independent said...
This also has to do with the demonization of Black kids...(thanks to the media). There is this fear that exists & is the undertone for everything else...for every other contact that they have with teachers and police. This fear dictates that Black students are a threat (by default) and must be dealt with accordingly. When in fact, the security should be based on actual (professionally conducted) threat/risk assessments.
All in all... there has to be a balance between security and a decent learning environment. It might be a good idea to put federal observers in some of these schools (some of the worst offenders). I bet many of these police and school officials would moderate their behavior if they knew there were independent observers monitoring their activities.
Eddie Griffin says… There is, indeed, a public fear of black kids, especially black boys. And, security placements are always focused on them. If any child gets caught doing anything wrong, rest assured it is the black child. Others do the same, and when they do not get by as usual, they get slapped on the wrist as punishment, while our children wound up in the pen.
In Texas, Paris Hilton could have gotten up to 10 years for repeated DUI and driving recklessly with suspended license. But then too, even in Texas, she is still Paris Hilton.
Yes indeed, we have noted the evolving militarization of our schools, with metal detectors, armed security guards, and draconian punitive measures. Thankfully, the Texas Legislature saw fit to stop the insane flow of children from the classrooms to the jailhouses, for minor disciplinary actions. And, as we began to examine how we can solve our problems ourselves, internally, without the feds or the state, we must recognize that as long as the public school system exists (in its present form), we will need monitors to monitor the monitors.
We have some basic misconceptions about human nature. We assume that given the choice, people will do the bad thing, especially looking through colored lenses. But people, especially children, are more amenable that we think.
I agree with Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza, who said at a school-related forum, that if he had his way, he would not even put police officers inside the schools. But this is Fort Worth, Texas, where we have our children reasonably under control. It probably would not work for New York. (See “Criminalizing the Classroom” in Make It Plain where 93,000 children undergo extreme security measure in New York every day)
Read The Angry Independent blog that made my day.
HAT TIP TO: The Angry Independent
From Eddie Griffin (BASG)
The Blog Post that Made My Day
If the Scooter commutation shows anything, it shows if you are not a Republican, you are a second class citizen. We fought for the last 40 years to wipe segregation from the map and here we have the new segregation within a week of the overturning of Brown Vs. Board of Education.
As BushCo wiped away the separation of powers, they built a separation of ideology. My way or the highway, us against them. If you are not for us, you are against us.
Wake up folks, this is what fascism looks like.
We The People now get to drink from the piss bucket. Ummm minty!
Read more>
The Blog Post that Made My Day
If the Scooter commutation shows anything, it shows if you are not a Republican, you are a second class citizen. We fought for the last 40 years to wipe segregation from the map and here we have the new segregation within a week of the overturning of Brown Vs. Board of Education.
As BushCo wiped away the separation of powers, they built a separation of ideology. My way or the highway, us against them. If you are not for us, you are against us.
Wake up folks, this is what fascism looks like.
We The People now get to drink from the piss bucket. Ummm minty!
Read more>
Monday, July 2, 2007
Reversed Brown Reverts to Black
Dear AfroSpear Members:
I am furious about the US Supreme Court's decision overturning Brown v. Board of Education and I am determined to propose an alternative to separate and utterly inferior white supremacist apartheid schooling for Black children.
Considering that even before this decision half of all Black children were leaving school before completing the twelfth grade, effectively boycotting the white supremacist apartheid schools, I predict and support and encourage that the result of this week's decision will be that Blacks will immediately begin an organized boycott of all of America's white supremacist public apartheid schools.
Here is the HTML code for the article in which I predict a general Black boycott of America's segregated and inferior public schools in favor of community based African-American Freedom Schools:
USA TODAY TABLE
Whereas the US Supreme Court, in its decision in Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 et al has overruled and eviscerated its previous decision in Brown v. Board of Education that nominally ended America’s “separate but equal” apartheid doctrine under which Black children were routinely educated separately and unequally, and
Whereas even before this most recent decision, Harvard University researchers and others determined that, “After greatly increasing desegregation of public schools a generation ago, the United States public education system is now steadily consolidating a trend toward racial resegregation . . .” New National Study Finds Increasing School Segregation
Whereas this decision will inevitably result in reinforcing the segregation of America’s schools,
Whereas the national graduation rate of Black children is only 56%, with 44% failing to complete a high school education and therefore receiving little of value that will prepare them for the job market and economic success, and
Whereas:
Whereas it is the obligation and responsibility of Black parents and Black people generally to assure that our children are educated, and
Whereas the explosion of Internet access in Black communities makes it possible to provide Black-oriented educational materials for our own children in our communities that are far superior to those typically offered to them in the white-oriented and white-controlled public schools, and
Whereas we cannot be compelled to send our children to schools that are separate and demonstrably unequal and where, in any case, they are not being educated, and
Whereas many Black students are already effectively boycotting white America's inferior white supremacist apartheid schools,
Therefore, Blacks now announce our determination to:
(1) Engage in a national boycott of white America’s public schools, and
(2) Organize local Black parents, Black professionals and organizations to provide high-quality education for Black students that will permit our children to meet and exceed the requirements to obtain General Equivalence Diplomas, and
(3) We announce our determination to organize African-American Freedom Schools in our homes, churches, community organization and Black-controlled work-places, formally and informally, to provide for our educational needs as we see fit, and
(4) We announce our determination that we will not apply for or accept state-sanction to engage in the above activities because we have an inherent right to educate our children ourselves when the state refuses to do so.
Therefore, let it be understood that the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Brown v. Board of Education is that Blacks will assume authority and responsibility for educating our children ourselves and white supremacist apartheid America can go . . . segregate itself.
source: Francis L. Holland Blog
I am furious about the US Supreme Court's decision overturning Brown v. Board of Education and I am determined to propose an alternative to separate and utterly inferior white supremacist apartheid schooling for Black children.
Considering that even before this decision half of all Black children were leaving school before completing the twelfth grade, effectively boycotting the white supremacist apartheid schools, I predict and support and encourage that the result of this week's decision will be that Blacks will immediately begin an organized boycott of all of America's white supremacist public apartheid schools.
Here is the HTML code for the article in which I predict a general Black boycott of America's segregated and inferior public schools in favor of community based African-American Freedom Schools:
USA TODAY TABLE
Whereas the US Supreme Court, in its decision in Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 et al has overruled and eviscerated its previous decision in Brown v. Board of Education that nominally ended America’s “separate but equal” apartheid doctrine under which Black children were routinely educated separately and unequally, and
Whereas even before this most recent decision, Harvard University researchers and others determined that, “After greatly increasing desegregation of public schools a generation ago, the United States public education system is now steadily consolidating a trend toward racial resegregation . . .” New National Study Finds Increasing School Segregation
Whereas this decision will inevitably result in reinforcing the segregation of America’s schools,
Whereas the national graduation rate of Black children is only 56%, with 44% failing to complete a high school education and therefore receiving little of value that will prepare them for the job market and economic success, and
Whereas:
Students in a handful of big-city school districts have a less than 50-50 chance of graduating from high school with their peers, and a few cities graduate far fewer than half each spring, according to research released on Tuesday.Whereas the US Government and the governments of cities and states where Blacks live refuse to provide an adequate education for Black children, and
Fourteen urban school districts have on-time graduation rates lower than 50%; they include Detroit, Baltimore, New York, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Denver and Houston.
. . . Among the nation's 50 largest districts, the study finds, three graduate fewer than 40%: Detroit (21.7%), Baltimore (38.5%) and New York City (38.9%),
Whereas it is the obligation and responsibility of Black parents and Black people generally to assure that our children are educated, and
Whereas the explosion of Internet access in Black communities makes it possible to provide Black-oriented educational materials for our own children in our communities that are far superior to those typically offered to them in the white-oriented and white-controlled public schools, and
Whereas we cannot be compelled to send our children to schools that are separate and demonstrably unequal and where, in any case, they are not being educated, and
Whereas many Black students are already effectively boycotting white America's inferior white supremacist apartheid schools,
Therefore, Blacks now announce our determination to:
(1) Engage in a national boycott of white America’s public schools, and
(2) Organize local Black parents, Black professionals and organizations to provide high-quality education for Black students that will permit our children to meet and exceed the requirements to obtain General Equivalence Diplomas, and
(3) We announce our determination to organize African-American Freedom Schools in our homes, churches, community organization and Black-controlled work-places, formally and informally, to provide for our educational needs as we see fit, and
(4) We announce our determination that we will not apply for or accept state-sanction to engage in the above activities because we have an inherent right to educate our children ourselves when the state refuses to do so.
Therefore, let it be understood that the effect of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Brown v. Board of Education is that Blacks will assume authority and responsibility for educating our children ourselves and white supremacist apartheid America can go . . . segregate itself.
source: Francis L. Holland Blog
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