Cops Nab 5-Year-Old for Wearing Wrong Color Shoes to School
news.yahoo.comIn Mississippi, if kindergarteners violate the dress code or act out in class, they may end up in the back of a police car.
A story about one five-year-old particularly stands out. The little boy was required to wear black shoes to school. Because he didn’t have black shoes, his mom used a marker to cover up his white and red sneakers. A bit of red and white were still noticeable, so the child was taken home by the cops.
The child was escorted out of school so he and his mother would be taught a lesson.
Ridiculous? Perhaps. But incidents such as this are happening across Mississippi. A new report, “Handcuffs on Success: The Extreme School Discipline Crisis in Mississippi Public Schools,” exposes just how bad it’s become.
Released on January 17, the report is a joint project between state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Mississippi Coalition for the Prevention of Schoolhouse to Jailhouse and the Advancement Project.
The report examined more than 100 school districts and claimed that black students are affected by harsh disciplinary actions at a much greater rate than their white peers. It notes that “for every one white student who is given an out-of-school suspension, three black students are suspended, even though black students comprise just half of the student population.” […]
“Black men in this country are three times more likely to be incarcerated than black men were in South Africa during apartheid, when they were the world’s leading incarcerator.”
—NAACP President Ben Jealous: Putting people in jail ‘is how we solve almost every problem’ in AmericaSomeone called me a nigger and poured alcohol on my head.
youtube.comOn January 27, 2011 at a bar in Statesboro, GA I was called a nigger and had alcohol poured on my head. A complete stranger said, “Oh look, there goes another nigger.” and then minutes later there was alcohol on my head, down my shirt, my back. I did the right thing: I walked away. I refused to become who and what that stranger wanted me to be. When I turned around, I didn’t see him, I saw the laughter coming from his mouth and his friends. I left town that night, and I’m just returning. I’m a freshman. I’m only 18. We’d been there for all of ten minutes, if that. I was just standing there, talking to my friends, so innocently. I left Statesboro a couple of hours after the incident, thinking I’d began to feel better; thinking I’d be able to sleep peacefully knowing I was away from my alcohol stained clothing or the red liquid from my hair, but I was so wrong. Every time I closed my eyes I could feel the alcohol hitting my back, and I could hear and see their laughter. No one deserves that. I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I’m going through right now. I know racism exist, but assault due to the color of someone’s skin should not. I guess I don’t really know why I’m writing this. I think I’m writing this because I want to do something about it and to stop it or to get attention to the many incidents like this that have or could happen, but I don’t know where to start. They say it takes a horrible experience to open your eyes sometimes. Well this was my experience and it’s opened my eyes to the fact that maybe this happened to me so that I could make a change for the better…not for just me but for everyone who may experience this.
Please help me share my story.
“If you want a President who'll make things better in the African-American community you are looking at him.”
—Boos and laughs when Mitt Romney said this at the NAACP conference.
He was also booed for this.
“You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea.”
—Myrlie Evers, after the June 12, 1963 assassination of husband, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, in Jackson, Mississippi. A half century ago, an assassin shot Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers in the back outside his Jackson home. This year marks the 50th anniversary of this senseless, tragic event.
