A sad truth about our education system: American teachers have the power to label students as “pre-delinquent,” even if there’s no evidence it’s necessary, then report students to the school’s police. This has massive impacts on our kids.
But America was policing Black children long before we were allowed in their schools.
Enslaved children were constantly policed by enslavers, overseers – and patrol guards known as “paddy rollers.” When the Fugitive Slave Law passed in 1850, paddyrollers kidnapped enslaved runaways, returning them to their enslavers.
After emancipation, and especially as schools began integrating in the 1950s, police were brought into schools to “keep the peace.” By 1972, 40 states had police within their schools.
School police are modern-day “paddy rollers.” Teachers, like overseers before them, can turn to them to punish even minor student behavioral issues.
If Black students interact with police before the eighth grade, they’re 11 times more likely to be arrested as adults! This is called the “school to prison pipeline.”
Police have been shown to NOT increase student safety in schools. Yet millions of students attend schools with police, but no counselors or psychologists. This has lasting negative damage to student mental health and learning.
Our kids are our future – we must uplift Black children by demanding our schools invest in care, counseling, and learning, not police and punishment!