Brockton's School-to-Prison Pipeline

A group of Brockton High Students, potential students, young city residents, parents, and community leaders filled Brockton High School's Little Theater Tuesday night to voice concerns at the school committee meeting. What is usually an uneventful school committee meeting with a low community turnout saw people coming in from Boston and Stonehill college next door in Easton. People came to voice concerns, show solidarity, and observe the topic about the school-to-prison pipeline presented by students, friends and family. The "School-to-Prison Pipeline" refers to a disturbing national trend wherein children are funneled out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Among the 15 plus people that spoke out came many different stories painting the same picture, the demerit system, suspensions, and expulsions at Brockton High needs to be addressed.

Statistics of Disciplinary Actions of Student Groups at BHS

What started as an idea presented to a focus group at Stonehill involving professors, activists and concerned citizens has been picked up into a movement led by students affected by extreme disciplining. The stories were heartfelt such as students passionately talking about feeling more like an inmate rather than a student at Brockton High. This was enforced by a set of fathers talking about issues that should be settled in school were rather sent to juvenile court leading to legal trouble, financial trouble, students' futures lost and families left traumatized.  Furthermore, research conducted on the disciplinary actions at Brockton High back up previously mentioned grievances. The chart shows 33% of Black or Hispanic students find themselves disciplined as opposed to 16% of their white counterparts.

One testimony from the students stood out when Bradley Souffrant X, a student at Brockton High and member of Pioneers & Protégés, sat before the school committee with a petition to change Brockton High School's demerit system signed by 800 fellow students.

Bradley Souffrant X addresses the Brockton School Committee

"...Instead of giving the student demerits, we should take the time to remember that each student is an individual going through the transition into adulthood. Each individual has their own story with an endless list of things that they might be experiencing. Not everyone who breaks the rules do it because they are obstinate and disorderly. A lot of times that’s the student’s way of crying out for help. Demerits can’t help their situation, so that brings me to ask does the system work for everyone. Do you know what would work? Having qualified psychologists and counselors who are well trained to deal with these struggling youth. Psychologists that can relate to the students' background and understand to rehabilitate instead of correct and punish. Out of 6 different High schools, Milton High, Randolph High, Canton High, Bridgewater-Raynham High, BMC Durfee High and East Boston High, Brockton High has the highest percentage of students disciplined, at 29%. That means one out of three students has been disciplined at Brockton High."

While the mayor was absent from the night's committee meeting, superintendent Kathleen Smith broke protocol to reply to the list of complaints and demands brought by the group of students and community. She reassured that Brockton High was looking to alternative solutions like a redemption court for recently disciplined students to appeal. She also urged that there be more participation by the voters in the city of Brockton to get involved in this issue, be a part of the conversation, but more importantly be a part of the solution. The community groups present were Pioneers & Protégés and the Brockton Interfaith Community, BIC, committed to addressing the issues. Isabel Lopez, head organizer of BIC spoke before the school committee to ensure that the organization would be following through to find ways to solve the disciplinary problems.

There is no question that a school of 4,000 plus students will have its needs and issues to be addressed. The demerit system, suspensions, and expulsions must be reviewed, amended, and corrected. While Brockton High School has a long list of achievements, it is important that citizens look at the issues present and find a way to make Brockton High inclusive and with the correct resources to cater to all of the students that attend. 

*You can read Bradley's Speech in its entirety at http://othervoicenewsletter.blogspot.com/2015/03/black-youth-group-pioneers-and-proteges.html*

Brockton Layoff Plans to Leave Close to 200 Teachers Jobless

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“Budget cutbacks but increased police presence.” -Mos Def, Mathematics

Brockton Public Schools plans to lay off 199 teachers and according to the Superintendent of Schools that is just the first action in a plan to cut costs to the city budget. Brockton residents have not taken the news lightly. Some have even coined the term #BringBackOurTeachers in reference to the kidnapped girls in Nigeria #BringBackOurGirls. It is clear that the weights of the situations do not necessarily match. However, the impact these lay off plans and further actions will have on Brockton Public Schools does not bode well. This amidst a plan to implement a new standardized test for students in the very near future.

Reaching out to a teacher who works for the Brockton Public Schools, the question was posed as to what is their take on the current situation. This is what was relayed:

First off, they hired around 130 new teachers last year, so there was clearly a need. Now they have laid off 199. Along with that, the plan is to increase the walking radius for students in middle school and high school to 2.5 miles and 2 miles for elementary. Now if the city is not as safe as they would like (the mayor's own words) why would you increase walking distance?

Brockton adds around 400 new students or so each year, enough to build a new school every other year and keep them full.

If Brockton is in need of added revenue make sports pay to play like other districts have or cut them. What is more important sports or teachers? 30-40 kids per classroom does not work. Have high school students who drive to school pay for a parking decal, that is another revenue stream, other districts do it now.

There is too much middle management up at central, review the necessary jobs and cut overlapping responsibilities.

Brockton pays $285,000 in homeless transportation each year and that is not just within the city. Students are bussed from Attleboro, Fall River, Taunton and New Bedford, also from surrounding towns of Brockton. You can have those students attend schools in the cities where their shelter is located.

They are thinking of implementing half year courses in middle school and specialist class sizes (gym, health, art, and social studies) will balloon. How can you cut social studies to half year when PARCC (the new standardized test) is going to focus heavily on social studies and reading (words from my department head about what PARCC will focus on)

Specialist classes are just as important, kids don’t know how to eat or exercise properly these days and you’re going to cut them? Furthermore, with dropout rates and teen pregnancy high who will inform our students of the risks?

Also with the mayor’s focus on crime and making Brockton safer again, what makes a city safer increased police presence or an educated population?

There needs to be a happy medium.

Now the mayor has gone to Cape Verde and rumor says he is going to Italy during the summer. He purchased new motorcycles and the police and fire departments just received a 13% raise over X amount of years.

It is clear that the Mayor and the Superintendent are not going about the budget the right way. If there needs to be cuts it shouldn’t be to education. Students needs better learning conditions in the city not worst. And with the PARCC test looming it is putting even more stress on students and parents.

Speaking to an aunt with nieces in Brockton Public Schools she expressed her disdain for what is going on in regards to PARCC.

I don’t like it at all. These tests are stressing my nieces out. They already have to worry about MCAS. They are dealing with self-esteem issues not getting into TAG (Brockton’s talented and gifted program, an accelerated learning program for public school students) they are questioning their intellect and I have to reassure them they are just as smart as the other students.

Why add on another test to put more pressure on them? Children need reassurance and motivation when they are learning or else they’ll quickly become disinterested.

It seems counter intuitive that Mayor Bill Carpenter imposes school budget cuts forcing the Superintendent to lay off teachers. This a year before a completely new standardized test is supposed to be put into motion. There is money to take overseas trips, raise the wages of police officers and firefighters at the same time hire more police. Why do it at the expense of the education of students in Brockton and the livelihoods of public school educators. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that divesting from public school education wreaks havoc on communities, Chicago went through the most school closings in US history and is now dealing with increased inner city violence to the point that it’s gotten the nickname “Chiraq”. It is important that Brockton residents are aware of these budget cuts and the effects it will have in the very near future. If you are concerned you can always send letters, make phone calls, or voice your concern at an upcoming School Committee Meeting.

You can view the School Committee in which the author was invited to speak below at 4:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLlWVFGisnQ

*Updated 5/20/14*


Written by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet

Keystone XL Pipeline and Climate Change

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“…People would chant, ‘Yes, we can stop the pipeline,’ surrounded the White House with 15,000 people, sort of five deep, shoulder to shoulder. A few days after that, he said, ‘OK we’ll take a year and study this." -Bill McKibben, co-founder and director of 350.org

The current administration is in the midst of approving a key leg of the Keystone XL pipeline that will bring tar sands from Canada down through the Midwest to refineries in the gulf coast to be processed into usable oil. The pipeline is referring to the construct of a transcontinental pipeline to bring the tar sands down south. And tar sands are exactly what it sounds like a tar and sand mixture that when heated can produce a percentage of oil. An open session for public comments is underway by the US Department of State. In an administration that champions cleaner and alternate forms of renewable energy the construction of the pipeline is a very big step, in the wrong direction.

There is increasing public outcry to stop the extent to which human activity pollutes and endangers the environment not to mention the concrete research to back said outcries. Groups such as 350.org and Greenpeace have been protesting throughout the country and internationally against agendas like creating this pipeline.

A UN leaked document states that human activity is accountable for 99% of climate change. The CO2 index for earth is currently the most in recordable history. Creating an avenue in order to extract more oil and ship in down the country only exacerbates the problems we already face.

In addition, more frequent and greater natural disasters are results of climate change. Typhoon Haiyan is the most powerful storm ever to land in the world and completely leveled much of the Philippines. That was a grave marker of things to come if action is not taken. I remember a presidential candidate saying in St. Paul Minnesota back in 2008:

 'I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.' 

Less than two years ago rising sea levels from Hurricane Sandy devastated the north east causing destruction never before seen in many areas. The "unprecedented", "biblical", floods in Colorado this past year and record droughts in California, that will likely lead to another horrible season of forest fires, are another couple of examples. These things are warning signs of climate change and if human pollution (largely in the form of carbon emissions is not stopped severe things are to come. Constructing the Keystone XL pipeline is not a move in the right direction but a move to accelerate this global climate crisis.

Humans are gravely being impacted by these natural disasters, people are being displaced, the landscape is being altered, millions of dollars in damages occur, and above all people are losing their lives and their livelihoods. Constructing the Keystone XL pipeline is agreeing that energy emissions do not affect the environment and pose no risk to our citizens and our planet. The knowledge of modern science and public outcry should be put above and not below the interests of the oil business. Whatever gains made now in the oil business will pale in comparison to the millions of dollars lost in failed crops, damages from storms, and lost lives due to climate change.

*A version of this was sent to the US Department of State and released in the opinion section of The Enterprise

Written by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet

Raising the Minimum Wage

"I used to work at McDonald's making minimum wage. You know what that means when someone pays you minimum wage? You know what your boss was trying to say? It's like, 'Hey if I could pay you less I would, but it's against the law."

-Chris Rock

 This year has seen a vast array of movements in America, whether they have been properly covered by news media or not, is another question. In a previous post some of those movements were touched upon. A reoccurring theme that may have started in November of last year is the fight to increase the nation's minimum wage. Fast food workers across the nation have truly galvanized the movement calling it the "Fight for 15". In their demands: the right to unionize and provide a wage of $15 an hour to maintain a living wage.

In Massachusetts, a similar movement has stirred the residents of the state to raise the minimum wage in a

RaiseUpMA.org

Raise Up MA initiative.  Residents in different community action groups have all banned together in a petition drive to get the minimum wage increase on the ballot for the people of the state to vote on. One petition is to raise the minimum wage from $8/hr to $10.50/hr over the course of two years. The other petition is to grant employees earned sick time. The petition drive has till November to garner as many signatures as needed to get the demands on the ballot. I personally have been working with the Brockton Interfaith Community in order to get this demand met. In a blue collar city, with many immigrants and low-wage workers, petitions with the demands mentioned previously are something very important to the prosperity of the city.

.@OFA_MA and @RaiseUpMA volunteers are working for a better minimum wage in Massachusetts. Join them: http://t.co/kTmu99RElw
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 9, 2013

Working on this campaign I have had the opportunity to meet with the mayor's office and a state representative of MA. In both meetings the officials expressed support in a wage increase and earned sick time. In the case of the state rep, it was expressed that a bill to do such a thing has been stuck in the state house for some time. There is only so much the government can do without pressure from the people it represents.

Citizens need to voice their concerns and no other way is more effective than voting. In this petition drive it is not asking the support of Massachusetts residents but merely the ability to put the initiative on the ballot and let the people vote yes or no. America is supposed to be the pillar of democracy and in the state that helped birth a nation the residents are asking to practice that ideal. Going out canvassing and asking people to canvass has brought up a series of arguments opposing the increase and why or how it negativity affects people. This is meant to counter such arguments with some fact based rebuttals.

BrocktonInterfaithCommunity.org

A fellow at a local supermarket replied when I asked to sign: Let the market decide the amount for the minimum wage. If the market were to decide the minimum wage then it should be much higher than it is right now. Since 1960, if wages were adjusted to reflect inflation and worker productivity, then the minimum wage in America would be something like $22/hr. Furthermore, for the 1% of the richest people in the nation, if minimum wages were increased at the same rate as them it would be around $33/hr. Asking for $10.50 an hour is simply asking to properly adjust wages to match the inflation rate. Likewise, California has already decided to increase their minimum wage to $10 by 2016. Raising the minimum wage helps Americans climb out of poverty and close the ever increasing income inequality gap.

While there haven't been many people that I have come across that oppose earned sick time. The politicians in Jersey City, NJ decided already that is makes sense to grant workers sick time.

“Paid sick leave will help working families in Jersey City so they won’t have to choose between missing a day of work and caring for their own health or that of a family member,” Mayor Fulop said in a statement.

One of the greatest challenges while getting signatures has been how a wage increase can hurt small businesses. However the Small Business Majority released a statement showing 67% of small business owners across the nation support a raise in the minimum wage.

"Most of the businesses that participated in the survey had gross annual revenues under $500,000... 80% of the business owners were white; 60% were male; and 46% self-identified as Republican or Republican-leaning independent..." -CBS News

The minimum wage increase would help the prosperity of thousands of residents across the state of Massachusetts. And earned sick time will no longer make employees have to choose between heeding the doctor's orders or putting food on the table.

A version of this post was featured in The Enterprise on October 18, 2013 in the "Your Opinion" section titled: Citizens must rise up to help raise minimum wage in Bay State

Written by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYyqUZe7OCY

Nihilism, Capitalism, and Population Control

“Psychic depression, personal worthlessness, and social despair are widespread in America as a whole… Just as in the black community, the saturation of market forces in American life generates a market morality that undermines a sense of meaning and larger purpose.” -Cornel West, Democracy Matters

 A prophetic pragmatist, a civil rights activist, and a lover of the people, Cornel West tackles what he calls a danger to the general public. This danger can be called nihilism, it takes many different shapes and forms but it has done one thing to society; keep the people down and keep them controlled. In Race Matters and Democracy Matters, West identifies nihilism and how it has affected both Black America and all of America.

In order to fully understand the connection between nihilism in Black America and the American population as a whole; one must first comprehend the problems faced in black communities.

“The most basic issue now facing Black America: the nihilistic threat to its very existence… It is primarily a question of speaking to the profound sense of psychological depression, personal worthlessness, and social despair so widespread in Black America.”  -Race Matters

This issue is not one that comes out of thin air but more so, it is an issue that has resurfaced in the black community. West reflects on the time when African Americans made their trans-atlantic voyage to the New World. African Americans began their struggle as soon as they stepped foot on American soil. Being treated as less than human and the psychological breakdown was in part the root of nihilism in black society. The loss of hope and absence of meaning were hard to overcome. A break through with a push for civil rights and equality in the 1960’s was a turning point. At that time it seemed that the fight against nihilism had been over with Black Americans coming out victorious. However, over the years there has been a relapse. In a market driven society, “images of comfort, convenience, machismo, femininity, violence, and sexual stimulation” (Race Matters, Pg. 27), have dragged African Americans farther into the nihilistic hole. A false sense of comfort and "progress" lulled these communities allowing for changes in policy and social norms. The largest and most alarming change in policy, recently, being the reconstruction and nullifying of certain parts (Section 4 & 5) of the Voter's Rights Act (VRA). With nihilism threatening the betterment of Black America, there must be a way to fight it.

West discusses several solutions that can be used for the struggle against nihilism in the black community. The first is replacing self-loathing and a sense of worthlessness with self-love and increased self-valuation. On one hand, it is hard to feel a good sense self valuation when your environment i.e school, neighborhoods, are not safe or secure. Nevertheless, we as a community need to come together stronger, less trying to get the upper hand and more lending a hand. A strong community breeds a stronger generation. "It takes a village to raise a child." The second point West touches on is being active in politics on the local level. There is only so much one can do sitting and complaining, taking action and putting it to local officials about your issues in the community is the best way to strive for change. This may change for many Southern state communities with the changes made to the VRA. Many times people sit in despair believing there is nothing one can do but that is not necessarily the case. With an understanding of nihilism in Black America one can now make the connection between Black America and America as a whole.

A market driven and capitalistic society has managed to dismantle democracy and replace it with the corruption experienced today in American politics. The fall of America’s democracy is its own hybridity with Capitalism. Malcolm X can be quoted on the matter, "You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker". Capitalism takes away the power that democracy gives to the minority and disenfranchised. We live in a compromised democracy. Capitalism in fact turns this democratic republic into an imperialistic society where there citizens live life blind to what’s going on or forced to accept the conditions. The connection between nihilism in Black America and all of America is closely related because both sides are subject to governmental corruption.

To make things clear, capitalism in itself is not a bad economic practice and model to follow. However, the corruption and its application throughout many different facets of society is. The market driven aspect of capitalism has been corrupt by corporations and Wall Street. Many politicians that were voted in by the people have been bought out by these large corporations.

In February of this year, news broke that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew received an exit package worth over $1 million from Citigroup shortly before joining the Obama administration in 2009. In fact Lew’s contract with Citigroup made explicitly clear that the banker’s eligibility for a special bonus was contingent on his securing a “full time high level position with the U.S. government or regulatory body.
-The Nation

Likewise, a market economy mentality cannot be applied to other social facets like education and health care. Our government believes that a market based system can be added to education, when that occurs children are no longer looked at as human beings. They become numbers on a chart of how successful an institution can be. An example is standardized testing. Many public schools across the country use standardized testing as a means to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of a school. This method allows for less preparation for college, more focus on test taking. All this in order to show the school is excelling, leaving kids to fall through the cracks in the system. Education, a glimpse of how the market driven society is a result of an already corrupt, capitalism infused, government.

These institutions and avenues of society, based on the market system, result in a nihilistic population. Lulled to sleep in their own problems, these people are unable to pull out of the hole that they find themselves in, or even realize that they are in one. In black America many of the youth have fallen in that trap of not knowing what they can accomplish or not believing they can accomplish their dreams. The election of Barack Obama helped many children of the minority in providing a role model, so to say, that they can look up too. However, in the grander scheme of things the black community is in turmoil. Since the recession many Americans as a whole have seen great hardships as pointed out in Poverty in America, a middle class being wiped out and people stuck in their own problems leading to easy governmental control.

Nihilism is a danger to America. Democracy has been compromised by a misuse in capitalistic practices. The love for greater mankind is slowly being replaced by the love of power and wealth.

Written by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet