In the 21st century, with all of
the new advancements within American culture and society one would think that the
progression of educating African Americans would be somewhere on the fore
front. But, sadly we are nowhere close to progressively advancing the education
of African American males. The sad song that is in being replayed over and
over, district by district state by state is the “Pipeline to Prison” for our
young African American men. In schools with high populations of African
Americans, services provided to this subgroup are dismal to almost none. In retrospect, these children are not
adequately being prepared for their tomorrow.
According to a report written by Starla Muhammad, the Chicago Public School System
has been changed into nothing more than a prison preparation industry. This way
of educating African American males in particular is a growing trend across
school districts within the illustrious United States. Moreover, a compliant
has also been filed with the United States Department of Justice against Meridian,
Mississippi, and other defendants. The lawsuits main complaint is; the schools
are operating school-to-prison pipelines. The lawyers claim that students
are being denied their basic constitutional rights; they are also sent to court
and incarcerated for minor school infractions. These infractions include,
talking back to white teachers, being out of dress code to other minor
insignificant infractions. In Shelby County, Tennessee, similar complaints were
raised against the school system. According to further research their local
officials are being fully cooperative with the Justice Department to alleviate
this matter.
In addition to poor quality education, many
educational reformers make claims that this particular subgroup is not
interested in education and they are not serious in regards to their education
and their educational outcomes. Therefore, poor and lack of preparation
in K-12 schools leaves many black male students without an adequate academic
foundation to succeed in college and in the labor force.
What are significant ways that we can tackle this Pipeline to Prison?
