If you think that supremacy is going to wait for teenagers to come of age to join the military industrial complex or the prison industrial complex then you have another thing coming. Black and Brown teens feed the machine like organic tomatoes and the Bronx has been America’s ground zero since NIXON was in the building.
Bronx teenagers are learning about irony firsthand as students at the Community School for Social Justice are intimidated and threatened to submit to metal detector scanning against their will. Apparently the students have been learning too much about their civil liberties from an after school program coordinator. It seems that even a small charter school feels the need to treat their students like criminal chattel. What has to suck for these teenagers is the realization that the school safety officers are all people that barely made the journey through high school.
If you aren’t too busy signing petitions for juvenile delinquents like SHAQUANDA COTTON maybe you can show some support to kids that don’t beat their teachers…
REINSTATE KARIM LOPEZ – STOP THE CRIMINALIZATION OF CHILDREN
Interesting post DP. This reminds me of post 9-11 NYC when all of a sudden EVERYONE was subjected to the same stop and search procedure that (unfortunately) most black & brown folk have been used to since their first social event or standing in the same place too long. Cornell West called it the “N*ggerization of America” and it was interesting watching corporate America get all huffy and puffy about having their bags and coats run through an X-Ray machine before entering work. It was like a wrecking ball hit their proverbial Ivory Tower, and they got a glimpse of what “the rest of us” endure just to to have “safety” in our own communities and everyone elses. That “How Dare You” attitude still slays me to this day when they get all bent out of shape at airport security like their above all of this scrutiny. Yet last time I checked the people supporting this “War on Terror” and “Homeland Security” for the most part didn’t look like me….
Me and my peoples went off in our senior year when they started wanding us on the way in…we protested…no one supported, so we just went to smoke weed and then snuck into the building late.
Note, if something horrible occurred on or near school grounds to young Naquan, Jose, or John their parents would probably sue the said school for lack of security, failure of security or inadequate security.
However, if Darius, Angela, or Roberto brings shanks, box cutters or better yet guns to the school grounds and violently use their weapons to harm either Naquan, Jose or John, as parent wouldn’t you want extra security measures in your child’s school if the school district has repeated reported violence?
Shall I utter Decep, Decep, Decep! — Graphic Communications —
But seriously it is a complex problem that unfortunately is being solved with an old band-aid. I would suggest that parents and students police their own. But then again, too many young cats adhere to the stop-snitching ethos.
I like this reply to the article.
It sucks that it's a no win situation. Parents and students complain about violence in school and then the city tries to do something and then the student rebel against it.
I know slashings and shootings are great fun and bring a lot of enjoyment to the high school experience but remember boys and girls the main purpose of school is learning!
VEE,
What came first, the chicken, or the egg? I say that to criminalize a group of kids is to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. You don’t have to remind me of my past either to get your point across. When the schools are administered by the police then you have co-signed the prison state.
yeah, my bad, low blow and poor taste, but some what it pertains to the subject matter in sense.
I’m not for a prison state or anything like that but I think this is a case where parents and students should become proactive and police their own because clearly the police do not represent their community or their interest. But everyone agrees that something needs to be done to ensure personal safety.
And we know politicians produce reactionary policies based on public outcry to appear tough on crime – especially during election periods. The consequences . . . stuff like this and the draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws.
I get to operate one of those magical wands everday. I work in a partial hospitalization program for kids with mental health issues, so the wand ain’t such a bad idea. Shit, it takes me 10 minutes to get 10 kids checked through so I can imagine how long it takes them to do that school. Sounds like those kids ain’t too bad, wonder what prompted the need for the wand. In Pittsburgh the kids just drop the guns and shit outside the door then open it once they get inside.