June 28, 2015

Five Good Reasons to Celebrate the Fourth of July
By Edna Kane-Williams 

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from AARP

(TriceEdneyWire.com - Can you imagine the looks on their faces in the audience when abolitionist Frederick Douglass, speaking at a commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, asked the question, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?”

Many historians proclaim that speech of July 5, 1852, called “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” to have been among Douglass’ greatest orations. Pointing out the hypocrisy of owning slaves while celebrating independence, he said, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn … Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?”

Nearly 163 years since that speech, America is far from perfect. But even Frederick Douglass might agree that the extent that we have come since emerging from slavery to freedom is something worth celebrating.

It was largely by exercising the five tenets of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that we won the many freedoms we enjoy today. In 2015, it is by these five tenets that we continue to plead our causes:

1. Freedom of religion. It has enabled the black church and religious organizations, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, cofounded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to historically serve as places of comfort, encouragement and even headquarters for organizing movements for justice.

2. Freedom of speech. It has given us the liberty to publicly express the pains that result from persistent inequalities and racial disparities.

3. Freedom of the press. We may not always agree with the perspective, but the media often help to tell our story and plead our cause.

4. Freedom to peaceably assemble. From the sit-ins of the 1950s to the 1963 March on Washington, to the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the “Black Lives Matter” protests and assemblies sweeping America in 2015, our right to peaceful protest has effected change across the nation and drawn the attention of the world.

5. Freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances. When I think of other nations where people are thrown in prison or even killed for simply disagreeing with, much less challenging their government, I realize how blessed we are as a nation despite our imperfections.

So, as we enjoy our vacations, cookouts, yard parties, family reunions, fireworks displays or however we choose to celebrate this Independence Day, there is indeed much for which to be thankful — including our First Amendment rights. Happy Fourth of July!

Edna Kane-Williams is vice president, Multicultural Markets, AARP.

June 28, 2015

U. S. Senate Education Bill Betrays Law’s Civil Rights Legacy
By Wade Henderson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Congress is currently debating a long overdue reauthorization of the nation’s preeminent civil rights education law - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Without major fixes to the bill, Congress should just go back to the drawing board.

Since its passage in the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, ESEA has been our nation’s driving force for educational equity. For students of color, students with disabilities, Native students, English learners, and low-income students, a strong ESEA is vital to ensuring that states and school districts are living up to their obligation to provide a quality education to all on an equal basis—not just for the most privileged or wealthy.

The current Senate ESEA bill, the Every Child Achieves Act, betrays the law’s rich legacy and would actually weaken protections for the students it’s intended to serve. And the House’s proposal is abhorrent and would be an unmitigated disaster for vulnerable students.

But we think that the Every Child Achieves Act can be improved on the Senate floor with four fixes that would expand opportunities, resources, and outcomes for all students.

First, the bill must hold schools and districts accountable for educating all students. The current Senate proposal lets schools and districts off the hook from narrowing the massive gaps in opportunity and achievement for students of color, students with disabilities, Native students, low-income students, and English learners. Ensuring a level playing field in education should be America’s number one priority to ensure a strong and vibrant future. Allowing schools to avoid responsibility for properly educating all students is effectively gutting the ESEA and undermining the law’s very purpose.

Second, ESEA must provide the transparency and data that families and communities need to advocate for their children.  The current Senate proposal would deny us the ability to know how girls and boys of color or with disabilities are faring in schools. It also fails to adapt to the diversity of our nation’s children by grouping all Asian American students together. Third, ESEA must require states to intervene to correct the massive resource disparities that plague our nation’s schools. Districts that predominately serve students of color receive approximately $2,000 less per student than districts that predominately serve White students. This leads to our students being taught in substandard facilities by underqualified teachers using old textbooks and outdated technology. Many states have even under-resourced these schools and districts in defiance of their own state courts and constitutions. The current iteration of ESEA doesn’t do enough to correct these disparities.

And, finally, there must be proper oversight from the U.S. Department of Education to make sure that federal funds are used to protect vulnerable students and the law is implemented well. The Senate proposal strips the Department of Education of its authority to hold states and districts accountable for the federal money they receive. There must be accountability to make sure that funds serve the students who most need it and that the law is executed consistent with Congress’ intent.

Without these fixes, this reauthorization would be a betrayal of ESEA’s legacy as a civil rights education bill and it will be opposed by the civil rights and disability rights communities.  Ensuring a strong ESEA is our number one priority and we will not accept any reauthorization that turns back the clock on 50 years of progress.

Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national civil rights groups.

June 28, 2015

The Criminalization of Black Children in Schools Across America
By Richard Cohen

News Analysis

Top: A White police officer restrains Dajerria Becton at a pool party in McKinney, Texas. Bottom: Another White police officer subdues a 10-year-old Black student with autism in Jefferson Parrish, Louisiana, after she had an outburst in class.

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Southern Poverty Law Center

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It’s hard to watch the video of the 15-year-old, swimsuit-clad African-American girl at a pool party in McKinney, Texas, being shoved into the ground by a White police officer and not be shocked.There was nothing that could have justified the use of force in that situation.

But the reality is, this kind of police overreaction to the perceived misbehavior of Black children is happening every day across America – not just on the streets but in our schools. Although the circumstances were different, what happened to Dajerria Becton in McKinney was quite similar to what happened to one of our clients – a 10-year-old African-American girl – this past March in Kenner, Louisiana. The little girl, who has been diagnosed with autism, had an outburst in class. She jumped out of a window and climbed a tree.

But rather than call a counselor or mental health professional, the school called the police. At least five officers arrived. The girl was grabbed by the ankles and dragged from the tree. Then, an officer cuffed her hands behind her and held her face down with a knee planted in her back as she yelled, “Help, I’m hurting.”

When her grandmother arrived, the girl’s face was pressed so close to the ground she was struggling to breathe. Now, she asks: “Why do they [police] hate me?”

Part of the problem is that educators across America have adopted overly harsh “zero tolerance” policies and have invited police into schools to handle routine discipline. As a result, the lines between actual crime and typical adolescent behavior have been blurred to the point where police in many areas seem to recognize no difference whatsoever.

In our work, we’ve represented many, many children across the Deep South who were marched out of school in handcuffs – often in front of their classmates – and thrown into jail cells, sometimes for days, for trivial offenses that aren’t even criminal.This brand of “justice” for schoolchildren is anything but colorblind.

Study after study show that Black children are treated far more harshly than White kids. And the racial disparity has grown dramatically over the past four decades, a period that roughly coincides with the integration of public schools.Researcher Daniel Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA, has pointed out that in the 1972 school year, suspension rates at the secondary level were 6 percent for White children and 12 percent for African-Americans.

The most recent figures show a 7 percent rate for White children, almost unchanged in four decades. But for Black children, the rate is now a staggering 24 percent. As for Black girls, who comprise the fastest-growing segment of the juvenile justice population, some studies show they are suspended at up to six times the rate of White girls. These disparities also apply to children arrested in school.

In Jefferson Parish, La., where the little girl with autism lives, African-American children make up about 42 percent of the student population in public schools. Yet, they were 80 percent of the nearly 600 students arrested in school during the 2013 year. Black girls were 23 percent of those arrested; White girls were just 6 percent. Monique Morris, co-founder of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, told our Teaching Tolerance magazine recently that African-American girls in school are often held to rigid societal norms that don’t take account of possible cultural differences.

In her research, Morris found that Black girls often reported being reprimanded for being “loud” or “defiant” when they were simply trying to express themselves in ways that were natural for them. This dynamic may have been at work in McKinney. According to numerous reports, the incident at the suburban, neighborhood swimming pool began when two adult White women – apparently concerned that the pool was being overrun by rambunctious Black children – began yelling at a teenage girl who had organized a pool party. They used racial slurs and one of them reportedly hit the girl.

But when the police arrived, it was the Black girls who were treated like criminals.In McKinney, as in Kenner, no apparent crime had been committed. So why were police so heavy-handed? It’s a question we, as a society, must answer – soon. We can’t continue criminalizing children simply for being children, especially when the sword of justice falls most heavily on those society gives so little margin for error to begin with.

June 27, 2015

Remove Confederate Flag and Agenda It Represents
By Jesse Jackson