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"Minority" students the world over have to suffer multiple oppressions of racism, classism and sexism everyday in public and private schools. The following links document some of the issues facing students of color in New York City schools.
Demand an end to Racism
& Brutality web_master@fc1.nycenet.edu NYPD in Public Schools The Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday night (September 16, 1998) to transfer control of security in the city's public schools to the Police Department. The 7-0 vote came after more than two dozen speakers implored board members not to turn security over to the police, saying it would create a prisonlike atmosphere in the schools. Since when did the NYPD become a model of professionalism? Professionalism in whose interest? Certainly not minorities, who are railroaded into prisons by the hundred of thousands, making this a country with the absolute highest number of prisoners with smaller a population than dictatorial, "third world" regimes in China, India, and Nigeria. Far from being professional, the NYPD are racists and corrupt at all levels. Reports from the Knapp Commission, the Mollen Commission, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and many others, all document a history of racism and corruption in the police department, including the murder of black and latinos, rape of females, systemic harassment of minorities driving or on the streets, drug dealing, running prostitution houses, and on and on. Racist white cops in the public schools will cause more insecurity among the majority of public school students who minority students. These students already have to deal with racist white teachers and administrators, so adding racist police will not make them feel more secure! Who will guard these poor, underclass, under-represented, and mis-educated students from this unholy racist trinity? Who will be there to defend these young ones criminalized and dehumanized in the classroom, media and society, those most vulnerable in standardized racist and class-biased tests? Who will fortify students considered as lesser academic, cultural, moral and social beings? In short, who will protect our children from the physical, mental and social abuse of their racists "protectors" in the schools’ halls, grounds, surrounding streets and communities? Please... Further, racist cops in the public schools will cause un-documented Latino and black students to face deportation in attending schools, and many may choose not to attend school at all. Thus a growing underclass of minority immigrants will remain uneducated, unable to read or write English, and trapped in dead-end jobs and lives. Of course, white immigrants need not feel as fearful from police and teachers as they are contributing to the population strategies of the dominant white system. How safe is it in NYC's schools? Violence in High Schools averages about 3.1 incidents per 100 students (including minor infractions and serious offenses). There is certainly no epidemic here, so why are police, who are trained for street crimes, patrolling learning environments? The message being sent by the NYC Bd. of Education's 80% white teaching, administrating, and policing staff to minority students and communities is clear - schools are equated with the streets (or the "Zoo" as police refer to the City), and discipline (i.e. obedience and conformity) is the main lesson to be learned in both spaces. It is true that violence in schools affects educators and students alike, by reducing school effectiveness and inhibiting student learning. Additionally, unsafe school environments expose students who may already be at risk for school failure to physical and emotional harm. In recent years, educators and policymakers have voiced growing concern about possible increases in the incidence of school-related criminal behavior. Yet, trends in victimization rates in schools shows that there is no pandemic of violence. Nationally and in NYC, victimization rates at school for high school seniors changed little between 1976 and 1996. there were, however, small increases in the percentage of students who reported being threatened both with and without a weapon in the previous 12 months. The most common type of victimization at school reported by high school seniors in 1996 was having something stolen (38 percent). In 1996, black and white high school seniors were about equally likely to report being victimized at school in the previous 12 months, except blacks were more likely to have been injured with a weapon than whites. Ten percent of black high school seniors reported being injured with a weapon in the previous 12 months in 1996, compared to 4 percent of white seniors. In 1996, high school seniors from metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas were about equally likely to report being victimized at school in the previous 12 months. High school seniors were more likely to report being threatened without a weapon at school than with a weapon during the previous 12 months (22 versus 13 percent) in 1996. Similarly, high school seniors were more likely to report being injured at school without a weapon than with a weapon in 1996 (12 versus 5 percent). NYC Graduation Rate for All High-Rated Public Schools: 48.7% Many public schools in minority neighborhoods have up to 80% drop-out rates for Blacks and Latinos. The drop-out rate in Special Education classes reaches 98%. (see Related Article on Special Education) Given these drop-out rates for the last 20 years, why is it that the Mayor and NYC Bd. of Education's only solution is to introduce cops into the schools? It is no secret that like the law and order racket in NYC, the education regime is a family and clan run affair! Yet these informal racist quota systems are rarely discussed as part of the affirmative action debate in a city with a majority "minority" population. Why is the drop-out rates among minority public school students so high? These drop-out figures are scandalous, yet the staff of NYC Bd. of Ed. face no charges of accountability or serious resistance from students, parents or minority communities, who are paying taxes for the relatively high salaries of these "public servants." Not surprisingly, public education bureaucrats think that they are doing a great job, taking full credit for the 20 to 50 percent of students who actually survive the racist, sexist and class-biased system. Why do a majority of "minority" students drop-out from the public schools? First of all blame must be placed on the two most powerful figures in the public schools - teachers and administrators. It is this majority of Jewish and Italian women and men who are responsible for the day-to-day as well as overall management of the public's schools, so if students drop-out in droves, it is quite reasonable to assume that their education is being seriously mismanaged. Conveniently, drop-out is seen as not teachers' and administrators' problem, it's the students fault! It is only racist opportunism which could explain why this bizarre, failed occupational group of educational functionaries, 80 percent white, have no remorse or guilt over the fact that they have not served the interest of minority communities and students during the last fifty years. Indeed in pursuance of ethnic privilege and discrimination, this group have networked and organized itself for increased salaries and benefits, and to vigorously resist all attempts to integrate the racist education bureaucracy, for example in training and hiring of minority staff. The vast majority of minorities hired in these prison-like institutions, are on the lower rungs working in the cafeteria and in maintenance, or as para-professionals, at much less wages than mostly white teachers and administrators. Now security personnel will become another expensive and powerful leg of this unholy schooling trinity, linking the public school to the most feared institution in minority communities - the racist police stations. This will give minority students, who already suffer from severe harassment by the police, another reason to drop-out. One important reason why a majority of "minority" students drop-out is that they get worn down by the racist K-12 curriculum which worships all things white and which treats minority cultures as "dirty and uncivilized" and minority peoples as "fit only to be servants and slaves." Or maybe they get shredded by the curriculum's denial of minorities' contributions in art, culture, science, writing, mathematics, ecology, and to the construction of European and American civilizations. It is also likely that these students are pulverized from the mainstreaming of white racism and Eurocentrism in all disciplines and grades. Whichever the case, minority students are forced to carry the racist public school curriculum, indexed and cyclical, literally on their backs from day one to graduation. Ten Possible Solutions and/or Revolutions
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