school-to-prison pipeline
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Black and Latino Students Face Unfair Discipline, So CA is Banning this Type of Suspension!
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed a bill outlawing suspensions for “willful defiance,” a punishment that disproportionatley impacts Black and Latino kids.
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Judge Denies Release for 15-Year-Old Detained for Not Doing Homework
It’s truly disheartening how quickly the American judicial system works to lock Black youth up. If you had any skepticism about how efficiently the school-to-prison pipeline works, the case of a 15-year-old girl in Michigan who was sent to juvenile detention for not doing her homework should quickly dispel it. Her case has generated national…
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Following Viral Article, More Than 30,000 Call for Release of Black Teen Incarcerated for Not Doing Her Schoolwork
Earlier this week, ProPublica and the Detroit Free Press published a story about a 15-year-old Black girl, identified only as Grace, who is currently detained in a Michigan juvenile detention center for not keeping up with her schoolwork. The article, which went viral, chronicled the struggles between Grace, her mother and the legal system leading…
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The Story of a Black Teenage Girl Incarcerated for Not Doing Her Online Schoolwork Shows Us Just How Big Our Criminal Justice Problem Is
As activists have sustained calls for a radical transformation of our nation’s criminal justice system over the last several weeks, many among us are reimagining what necessary interventions ought to look like, absent the police. How can we resolve domestic issues, for instance, without having to call 911? One idea that’s been frequently tossed around…
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In 2020, We Must Demand a Black Education Agenda
As a black woman, mother and grandmother, the words I want to hear from presidential candidates on “public education” are this: How do we innovate for, build true academic progress around and save trapped black students from dysfunctional education systems? Full stop. Instead, what I’ve heard as candidates discuss education on the campaign trail—like what…
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Julián Castro Explains Why Ending Police Brutality Is Central to His Campaign
“To black and brown communities out there that deal with the impact of excessive force by police: I would say that we see you, we hear you.” —Julián Castro text As the 2020 presidential race continues to unfold, there are certain things I have come to expect from particular candidates during the Democratic debates. When…
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Detroit Students Are Making a Federal Case Out of What They Say Was an Education So Poor, It Violated Their Constitutional Rights
An eighth-grader teaching his fellow students math for a month when the teacher quit. Third- and fourth-grade materials in high school classes. Playgrounds covered with broken glass and burst pipes in schoolrooms. These are some of the wretched conditions plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit charge they faced while being educated in Detroit’s public schools. They’re…
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School Suspensions for Disruptive Behavior May Come to an End in California
A state senate bill awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature could bring to an end the policy of suspending students in California schools for disruptive behavior. From the Sacramento Bee: Senate Bill 419, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would prohibit schools from suspending students for disruptive behavior from kindergarten through eighth grade. It builds on…
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#DodgeBallWhileBlack: 10-Year-Old Black Boy Charged With a Crime for Playing Dodge Ball
In the latest case of what one apparently cannot do and be black in this country, a 10-year-old black child is facing an assault charge because he (allegedly) hit another child (and, yes, a white child) in the face while playing a game of dodge ball. The black child’s mom, Cameishi Lindley, tells WXYZ 7…
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When and Where Will We Finally Enter? The Black Women’s Roundtable Releases Its 2019 Report
On Friday, the Black Women’s Roundtable (BWR) released the findings of its sixth annual report (PDF), assessing the current status of black women in politics, employment, economics, health, education (including discipline disparity), technology (including digital discrimination), and the Impact of criminal justice, exposure to violence and immigration upon black women and girls. The 125-page report…