It’s no secret that U.S. prisons are overpopulated with our people, and schools could be a part of the problem. Here are five terrible ways that schools are just like prisons.
Hall Passes
"Slave passes" tracked our people traveling without their enslavers. Schools use hall passes to authorize where students are permitted, and often, school police "patrol" the halls and discipline students in the hallway without permission.
Single File Lines
From an early age, schools parade our children through hallways in single file lines, looking forward, with their hands at their sides–or worse, behind their backs–and following a teacher who directs their movement. This is nearly identical to how incarcerated people are forced to move around prisons shackled in lines.
Food
School cafeterias have been serving unhealthy food for decades, just as jails and prisons often do. One Chicago public school banned students from packing homemade lunches, citing health concerns, yet they were serving mystery meat.
Banned Books
Prisons regularly ban books, as do schools; both target our stories. One Pennsylvania school board banned a Rosa Parks book and the James Baldwin documentary, "I Am Not Your Negro."
Cops
Policing in U.S. schools has always been dangerous for our children. 31% of student-related arrests in the U.S. are Black, and our children are three times more likely to get suspended or expelled than white students.
We know policing doesn't make us safer, so why are schools operating like prisons? We must educate the children in our communities about the truth--our futures depend on it.