Sunday, June 21, 2015

Civil Rights Violations in the Brockton School District Pt. 3



In March The Fact She3t covered a case in which students, parents, and community members voiced their concerns over Brockton High School's disciplinary actions, particularly students of color. In the piece "Brockon's School-to-Prison Pipeline", we mentioned a set of parents testifying before the school committee about the violations of their children's rights. One of those parents, Michael Dockery, has penned a letter to the US Department of Justice in hopes that justice for his son will be served.

In the three part series The Fact She3t will publish segments of the letter. Mr. Dockery's hope is that with sharing these stories of his son and others he can "make a difference for these young kids. Too many families and kids have been hurt by these people's actions," because, "the more adults and kids that know about these issues the better." (You can read the other segments here)

***

While conducting my research to put this letter together some powerful and serious points were made to me. It helped change and made certain things clear to me, so I’m going to share a few.

My son said something powerful to me, he said:

“Dad, in school they taught us about the Boston Tea Party, the American Revolutionary War against the British for taxation without representation, the wars against the Indians, Whisky Rebellion, Mexican-American War, Spanish- American War, and Civil War with the North against the South, etc, but when it comes to civil rights for blacks and other minority we have, to petition, sit in, march and act civil. 
Dad it does not make sense from all the stuff I have learned in school about the country’s history involving wars, the blacks are the only ones that have done protests in an educated and civil way. My friends and I gotten all the signatures on the petitions for Mr. Daponte treating the black students unfairly, and the other petition for changing the demerit system but nothing is being done by the people whom you told me work for the taxpayers. A lot of my friends in school think we should follow what they taught us in our history class and start a war to crush and destroy all the people who don’t want to be fair or do their job, but I tell them what you tell me Dad “sometimes two wrongs don’t make a right” some of the kids understand but it’s not fair”.

The superintendent likes to refer to a certain black leader in Brockton, when it comes to racial issues as if he speaks for all the minorities and blacks in Brockton, so therefore my wife and I along with several other black and minority parents that have some major concerns met with this black organization leader. This leader invited a university professor to speak with the parents regarding their concerns and give up recommendations and solutions regarding the matter. During the meeting the University Professor stated “Black kids are more prone to be more violent and he has the statistics to prove it”, that made me upset, because that was said out of ignorance and he’s a teacher and he could influence a lot of people the wrong way, therefore I commenced to asked him a series of questions he has yet to answer.

A. Professor you were a kid once were you violent, he answered no. 
B. My wife, I and several other parents also answered no to the same question. 
C. I also asked him, could education and access to resources, socio-economic environments, mental illness, religion or cultural beliefs play a part in violence not only with blacks but also whites? He did not answer.
D. Professor don't you think the whites people from England or Ireland or Greece, Norway, Iceland, France, South America, Spain, Russia, Parts of china, Africa, Australia, Eastern Europe have violence in their race or country.
E. What about the whites who can’t get along with other whites inter-culturally, ethnically or within sects, that come to America to escape the violence and poverty from their country do you think they believe in your statistics.
F. Professor did you know that most of the Criminal and Civil laws on the books in the U.S.A. are geared towards white on white crimes. He did not respond.
G. Do you know that some blacks pay more taxes than whites?. He didn’t answer.

I was very upset that a black university professor was promoting such destructive teaching without understanding human nature or acquiring the proper skills, my question to myself was where did he learn this behavior from and how many uneducated young minds and people has he sold this nonsense too.

Negative reinforcement and vilification….I just want to say it’s not just the current administrators that have misguided superiority complex when it comes to dealing with and punishing minority students. After meeting with several parents and students from the past who currently have siblings in the Brockton School System, they also had issues with the former superintendent of school Mr. Malone who had a history of not meeting with black or minority parents that tried to voice their concerns to him. Many parents found him to be condescending and aloft. He was in charge of the Brockton school system when the young middle school student got frame by the school principal for assault and battery and was inform of the incident during the whole ordeal for the parents. It was to most of the parents, surprise, that the former governor elected him to be Massachusetts secretary of education, which only reinforces his misguided and small minded thinking towards the equal treatment of all students.

I had a parent that I met with on several occasion regarding these student’s matter told me an interesting story about her growing up. She said “When I was young girl, my family moved into a real nice neighborhood, we had a nice home and a good family structure. My father and mother and we kids would try to be nice to all our neighbors, but they weren’t nice to us. We would wave hi to the adults and try to play with the kids, but they wouldn’t acknowledge us. While other whites moved into the neighborhood we would run over to meet them and brought food or cake over, as a kid I found that very strange, I thought something was wrong with me or my family, my parents shelter us from it a little bit but it was clear to see.

Now as an adult and having my own kids, I feel like those same rude and simple people adult and kids that shun my family because were black, are the same people that are now in the school system punishing our kids because they can’t relate to our kids culturally or socially. I’m very frighten for the future because as a kid I saw the bad behavior those kid’s parents were teaching their kids and now that those kids are grown they’re teaching our kids and destroying and oppressing our children future giving them unnecessary mental stress and criminal records. This is very scary for any person kids or grandkids of any color or creed, just imaging the separating barrier in education and opportunity some these people simple thinking are creating in our society”.

It’s Ironic, during the Marathon Bombing April 2013, it was school vacation week for public schools, my wife and I took our kids to Germany and Poland to see some of the those countries history and culture, part of our visits involved going to the Nazi Concentration and Work Camps, it was a very dishearten experience to see what the wrong mental story someone tell themselves and society around them can cause. The pain and destruction of a vibrant people, the Jews, rich in history, art, business, science and culture was brought down by the Nazi and their sympathizers. Our kids learned while we were there the only way the Nazis were stopped during their rampage was based on the fact that a lot of intelligent people understood that what Hitler was doing was detrimental to more than just the Jews but an entire world. Now my young son and our family is seeing and dealing with how racial bias bigotry can cause pain, hardship in students and families. My son a young black man has to be re-encouraged to respect self, and understand that the black race and culture is a strong one, one that is rich in art, culture, history, sports, entertainment, business innovators, business leaders, inventors, peace makers, Government leaders, fought for voting rights, March on Washington, The Million Man March, Civil Rights, etc. Also he must never give up the fight because once he finds the right allies in his fight for what’s right he will be successful in the end.

A family member of mine who served in the Vietnam War stated, “it’s amazing how the Vietcong would try to exploit the racial differences between the white and black Americans by getting on the loudspeaker and stating “ Soul Brother come have fun with us don’t fight the white man’s war that don’t like or respect you”. No one fell for it, we stood together as Americans, because we knew any weakness or inadequate thinking in our squads could get us all killed, and now present day my young relative is getting inadequate treatment. Who would do such a thing to kids? I don’t know of any one black or white who can go to a military base and says he want to serve inadequately on base because I was treated inadequately in school, so why are these people allowing it. To further drive home the point, I don’t know of any black person who can go to the IRS and say that they want to pay inadequate taxes because they are black and the IRS would allow it, so therefore why are we accepting inadequate services for our kids and our hard-earned tax dollars”.


Now it’s obvious that there are two sets of victims here in my letter, the first are the ethnic students in the Brockton school system who have to live by someone else’s limitations, but the biggest victims are the school administrators and the people who allow them to do the things they do and walk around with a superiority and privileged attitude. Somewhere in their lives someone taught them the wrong things, back up by a false story that got, reinforce somehow the wrong way, which creates a false reality. Now these people are the clueless victims trapped by a false mental story they keep repeating to themselves. Is it superior to?

1. Have a law degree and not follow the law.
2. Pick on kids, when their job is serve and protect them.
3. To treat parents and kids a certain way based on their skin color.
4. To see wrong being done to kids and not report it.
5. To judge someone without knowing anything about them.
6. To falsified documents against a kid or anyone.
7. To collect a paycheck and don’t do the job or the services that is required for that paycheck.
8. To think you’re superior to a person who has accomplished more than you because you are white.
9. To have people pay into a tax system collectively, but not provide proper service and representation based on a person's race.
10. To have a co-worker who is a cop, show up to court because you refused to court to answer questions and the person that shows up for you doesn’t know if you’re a man or a women, or don’t know who you are.
11. To have a Clerk Magistrate, who know young kids are being railroaded but allow it because the kids are black.
12. To not know your job description or respect it.
13. To want thousands of kids to follow a demerit system when the adults around them can’t follow the law or their job description.
14. For despite all the hundred different cultures, races, languages and people around them and education available to them, they have chosen to stay close minded in their own small world.

Once these people wake up from this false trance and reality realizing the stories they have been telling themselves are not true then they might start fully seeing and enjoying life with all the beautiful people around them participating, learning and growing , really seeing the fuller potential America, Massachusetts, and Brockton has to offer.

In Conclusion, I have withheld all the kids’ names whose incidents I have mentioned out of respect for them and their privacy. I see them all as talented kids who just need help and guidance like we all did when we were young. On the other hand I have mentioned all the public government workers who continue to collect a paycheck but have done nothing to deserve it. The incident with my son happened seven months ago, ask those government employees how many paychecks have they gotten since then. Superintendent Kathleen Smith, House Kevin Deponte, Principal Sharon Wolder, School Committee Member Tom Minicheillo, City Councilor Dennis Denapoli, State Senator Tom Kennedy, and the mayor of Brockton, have been notified multiple times by email, letters or in person regarding my son and the other kids issues I found. Most of these people thought they were looking down on me not knowing who I am or what I’m about, failing to realize they are the ones being viewed from a microscope. These people are acting like carpenter ants, destroying the core and the future of Brockton. As I mentioned these public workers, I finally realize those people can’t talk about or discuss race, because those were the type of people that once were young and their parents wouldn’t let them play or interact with other kids from different races socially when they were young just like what the lady mentioned to me during my research, and now they’re working for the government destroying young kid’s life they can’t relate too. The Brockton Public School System is great system with kids and parents excelling at many levels, just imaging how much greater it would be without these people in charge or around.

My goal is by the start of the next election cycle get a grass root organization going to get rid of these people, so all the diverse culture of Brockton can shine. It pains me to talk about race or judge some one based on their skin color, because that’s not how I was brought up, but these people are doing that with all the information I have found out. I have been around plenty of great people therefore I know when I dealing with people who don’t care about others. I have friends from all over the world, and the great thing about America is anyone can meet and enjoy and wide variety of different cultures from around the world all in one single country. The smart people know when different people get together and share ideas that’s an explosion of innovation, and growth happens, I want that for all kids,and that is my focus for writing this letter. Hopefully the right person will read this and share it so we can all make our city, state and country a better place. From meeting with and talking to different parents and kids from all over the state with the help of Toni Saunder of the Associated Advocacy Center, we have found out this is a nationwide problem that needs to be address, therefore I am forwarding this letter and encouraging every person who is caring or know of a kid that got mistreated to pass this letter around, so we all could be more aware and change for a more inclusive and also have a better future. I don’t know who takes their job or their role seriously therefore I’m sending it out to multiple Federal and State Agency and Community and National Leaders.

Sign
Michael Dockery

CC:

Department of Education- Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Justice- Civil Rights
FBI Federal Office - Civil Rights
Office of Attorney General, Massachusetts - Civil Rights
Massachusetts-D.E.S.E
Et al

This followed the first and second parts of the letter. Please share the letter to bring more attention to the problems addressed in it.

This was written by Michael Dockery, 617-212-8141, Sales@summitsell.com
Arranged by E. Rey

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