I am a 55 years old African American woman and have been an educator for thirty years. One of my beliefs, when it comes to raising a child, it starts at home. On the other hand, I also believe when I went into this profession, during a school day, I became that child’s parent! I must teach this child like he or she is my own. My students knew that I am the teacher and I run my classroom and they are the students and their job is to learn. I am firm but fair, I am a loving and caring person, I have fun with my students but they also know that I have expectations and goals that I expect to be met. As an “old school teacher”, I can give them “The Eye” and they knew I mean business.
I’m also a wife of thirty years and raising three African-American young men (age now: 32-year-old nephew, 23-year-old son and a 21-year-old son). All three young men graduated from high school, all went to college. My nephew did not complete his college education, the eldest son graduated from college and now is teaching math at a local high school while enrolled in a Master’s Program and the youngest son is a Senior in college. Through the Grace of God, having a wonderful supportive husband and a strong “Village”, I will say, Well Done! Through the help of my network of caring family and friends, the social emotional needs of my tribe were met if they got off track.
However, did you know that Black people make up about 12 percent of the U.S. population? Black children are 28 percent of juvenile arrests? The Department of Juvenile (DOJ) reports that there are over 57,000 people under the age of 21 in juvenile detention. The U.S. even has 10,000 children in adult jails and prisons any given day.
What is also noteworthy from this resource is there is about a 70 percent chance that an African American male without a high school diploma will be imprisoned by the time he reaches his mid-thirties; the rate for white males without a high school diploma is 53 percent lower. In the 1980’s, there was only an eight percent difference. In New York City, for example, Blacks are jailed at nearly 12 times the rate of whites and Latinos more than five times the rate of whites.
In schools, African American kids are much more likely to be referred to the police than other kids. African American students are 16 percent of those enrolled in schools but 27 percent of those referred to the police. Kids with disabilities are discriminated against at about the same rate because they are 14 percent of those enrolled in school and 26 of those referred to the police.
As a mother of African American males this is very concerning because this information causes one to question if school districts are giving the students the support that they need to become successful? Think about it – Do you think it’s the school’s responsibility to support the students’ mental and physical well-being? As food for thought please take a look at the attached video, I think after viewing this clip the educators failed this young man! It was tragic to me. He showed all the signs that were overlooked! I don’t want to focus on what his parents did or not do, my focus is on the child while he was in school, there should have been more done at the school.
REFERENCES
Quigley, B. (2014, June 2). 40 Reasons Why Our Jails Are Full of Black and Poor People. HuffPost (Updated June 2, 2016)
Moran, T. (2016, September 11 ). A promising Montclair kid grows up to be a killer: Documentary director discusses the path
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/chasing-the0dream/films/one-got-away
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/40-reasons-why-our-jails-are-full-of-black-and-poor-people b 7492902