| School to Prison Pipeline Forum |
 The first "Dismantling the School to Prison Pipeline" forum on March 13th attracted nearly 100 educators, parents, community leaders, and other student advocates. The event was jointly sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, the Interfaith Children's Movement and hosted by Atlanta's John Marshall Law School. The School to Prison Pipeline (STPP) is a growing national trend where students are funneled out of the public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice system due to public policies that encourage the criminalization of minor infractions of school rules. The forum brought together stakeholders, increased awareness of the STPP and gave guidance on how to help children enmeshed in the pipeline. Keynote speaker Judge Steven C. Teske of Clayton County Juvenile Court opened the program with compelling insights into the STPP. Advocates, parents, and community leaders working to address the pipeline on numerous fronts made presentations, including a panel of attorneys who answered personalized questions from the attendees. Forum proceedings and resources can be found here.
Plans for future forums throughout the state are underway and will be announced soon. Tools to help parents and other student advocates address STPP in their community are currently being developed. For more information about the School to Prison Pipeline or if you are interested in bringing a forum to your community, please contact Chara Fisher Jackson at cfjackson@acluga.org.
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| Too many African-Americans pushed out of schools, activists say |
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By Gracie Bonds Staples
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
African-American students are pushed out of traditional schools and into alternative education at disproportionately high rates for minor offenses.
The practice is one that civil rights activists say often leads the students straight into the criminal justice system.
"Even in counties where African-Americans make up a small percentage of the population, they still make up a large majority of suspensions and students placed in alternative settings," said Edward DuBose, president of the Georgia State Conference NAACP.
DuBose will hold a press conference to highlight the issue at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the state Capitol.
He will be joined by Chara Fisher Jackson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, and Richard R. Boykin, attorney for Amitai Carter, a Houston County special education student sent to alternative school.
Carter, a 15-year-old ninth-grader, was among about 100 students watching a fight after school early last month, Boykin said. He said Carter was videotaping the fight with his cellphone when a white assistant principal came from behind and placed him in a chokeholde.
In response, Boykinsaid, Carter swore at the assistant principal and was later expelled.
What happened to Carter, activists say, is typical of what happens to too many African-American students nationwide.
Neither Houston County Superintendent David Carpenter nor Assistant Superintendent for School Operations Robin Hines was available for comment.
"They're all in budget meetings," said Beth McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the district.
McLaughlin declined to discuss the matter in detail, citing student privacy laws. She said the Houston County school board will hear an appeal from Carter at a meeting Thursday.
Boykin said expulsion seemed unreasonable and excessive under the circumstances, adding his client "may be a cause celebre in terms of what's happening to black males" in Georgia schools.
"We hope that just shining a little light on this situation in terms of suspension and expulsion we can reverse this trend," Boykin said.
DuBose said that . of 338 out-of-school suspensions in Houston County in 2009, 235 of those students, or 69 percent, were African-American. Blacks make up only 35 percent of the district's total enrollment, he said.
Statewide, he said, 153,279 students weresuspended in 2009 66 percent of them African-American. At the same time, blacks make up only 38 percent of total enrollment, he said.
The numbers are similar across metro Atlanta, he said.
"This is an ongoing trend that we are seeing not only in Georgia but throughout the country that funnels children into the school to prison pipeline," said Jackson, of the ACLU of Georgia.
"It's a matter of over-disciplining children for minor offenses and adhering to strict and repressive zero-tolerance policies that don't make school safer but deprive children of the education and services that they are entitled to," Jackson said.
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| Azadeh Shahshahani's Article on the ACLU of Georgia Gwinnett Racial Profiling Report: Time to End Racial Profiling in Georgia |
The Huffinton Post
by Azadeh Shahshahani
National Security/Immigrants Rights Project Director Posted: March 23, 2010 03:27 PM
On Tuesday, the ACLU of Georgia released a report about racial profiling in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Called The Persistence of Racial Profiling in Gwinnett: Time for Accountability, Transparency, and an End to 287(g) (PDF), the report discusses racial profiling in that county before and after the implementation of a 287(g) agreement, which allows local law enforcement to partner with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to enforce federal immigration law.
The report was released on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This day commemorates the date in 1960 when more than 70 peaceful anti-apartheid demonstrators were murdered by government forces in Sharpeville, South Africa. The annual observance of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination celebrates the progress made over the years, but also provides a sobering reminder of the obstacles to racial justice worldwide.
In the United States, racial profiling remains a pervasive and serious problem. Racial profiling occurs when police target people for interrogations, searches and detentions based not on evidence of criminal activity, but on individuals' perceived or actual race, ethnicity, nationality or religion.
Using race, ethnicity, or national origin as a proxy for criminal suspicion violates the constitutional requirement that police and other government officials must accord to all citizens the equal protection of the laws. Racial profiling also infringes on the Fourth Amendment guarantee that all people be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
You can listen to a podcast interview with Azadeh about racial profiling and 287(g) agreements here. Also, linked to the ACLU National homepage at: www.aclu.org |
| Racial profiling in Georgia a microscosm of whats happening all over the U.S. |
From the Restore Fairness Website
As the dust settles around the 200,000 March for America in D.C. this weekend, it is important to remind ourselves why we need immigration reform. A new report by the ACLU is one such reminder of racial profiling that is alive and kicking in the United States. As one of the most unconstitutional implications of our broken immigration system, racial profiling takes place when police stop, interrogate, and detain people on the basis of their appearance, accent or general perceived ethnicity, rather than on the basis of concrete evidence of criminal activity.
Called "The Persistence of Racial Profiling in Gwinnett: Time for Accountability, Transparency, and an End to 287(g)," the report uses individual testimonies from the community to examine the persistence of racial profiling in Gwinnett County, Georgia, before and after the introduction of the 287(g) program that partners local law enforcement with federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration law. Dedicated to the brave undocumented students walking the Trail of Dreams who marched into this "risky" 287(g) county, the report focuses on Sheriff Conway known as the "Joe Arpaio of the South", who claimed that November 16th, 2009 or the day that the 287(g) program officially took off in Gwinnett County "was a great day for Gwinnett County citizens."
Racial profiling has always been prevalent in Gwinnett County. In a case that took place before the implementation of 287(g), a woman named Mary Babington witnessed two police offers stop a white Sedan and pull out two Latino men at gun-point, shouting at them the entire time. They were then cuffed and made to lie on the ground, shirtless. One of the men was crying and asked the officer for his shirt, saying he felt cold. The officer then kicked him on his back and yelled at him not to move. Mary then heard one officer boast to the other -
They wouldn't come out when I pulled my gun, so I sprayed the whole can of pepper spray. I emptied the whole can on them...Dude, I emptied the can in his face. I love my job.
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BY THE PEOPLE LOBBY DAYS
Building on six successful years of lobby days, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia (ACLU of GA) is again teaming up with other progressive organizations to help you meet and talk with your legislators. Each week these groups will team up to provide you with the tools you need to hold lawmakers accountable on issues, ranging from reproductive rights, separation of church and state to immigration, and consumer issues.
A face to face meeting is the most effective way to communicate with your legislators. Plus, it can be a lot of fun! Whether you are an experienced advocate or brand new to the legislative process, this program can help make your visits easy and effective. Come down to the Capitol and meet your legislators.
At each Wednesday session, we will teach you how to talk to legislators, tell you about the issues that are hot, explain why we care about the issues, and guide you on how you can best help to pass or stop legislation. We will even walk you over to the Capitol, give you a tour, and assist you as you meet with your senators and representatives.
If you have never talked to your legislator, come by at 9:00am for a quick legislative training. If you have been to the Capitol before, come by at 9:15am for an update on what issues are moving that week.
For more information. |
Mission Statement
The purpose of this association shall be to advance the cause of civil liberties in Georgia, with emphasis on the rights of free speech, free press, free assembly, freedom of religion, due process of law and to take all legitimate action in the furtherance of such purposes
without political partisanship. | |
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