Texas Systematically Removing Black Males From Public Schools

African Americans have traditionally valued and reinforced the importance of education, but recent generations serve to show the opposite. Not to abrogate personal responsibility for the lack of many African Americans noting the significance of reading and math, or even having a semblance of comprehension of the economic crisis confronting the nation, the reality is that young African American males are disproportionately the target of systematic forms of exclusion. The state of Texas provides a prime example of this and is a general reflection of practices prevalent across the nation.

The Council of States Government Justice Center just released a report on outcomes of disciplinary procedures in the school systems across the state of Texas. The results are alarming. In Texas, 6 out of 10 students across the state were suspended or expelled at least once between seventh and 12th grades. Specifically, African Americans, other minorities and students with disabilities were statistically more likely to be removed from class than white students.

More problematic was the observation that approximately 83 percent of African American males had at least one suspension or expulsion and were more often given harsher out-of-school suspensions, compared to in-school suspensions, even for their first infraction. This was the case despite the fact that larger studies with representative samples provided evidence that African American students are no more or less likely to commit offenses that require their removal from school.

When such practices are unchecked, they contribute negatively to the community in general, often resulting in African American males being held back and more likely to end up involved with the criminal justice system, especially during the year such suspensions occur.

Yes, the school systems are not servicing the needs of African American males as effectively as other ethnic groups. Many years ago, a black man who knew how to read was a threat to mainstream America, and during slavery such a skill was punishable by death. Now, education is no longer considered as a valuable, revolutionary act and we eventually victimize ourselves, just as much as the school systems our students attend.

Supended sentence

African American males, from elementary school to high school, are struggling academically. This has been confirmed in a new report outlining suspension rates of African American males. According to a national study co-written by Daniel J. Losen, a senior associate at the Civil Rights Project at the University of California Los Angeles, and Indiana University Professor Russell Skiba, there is a growing disparity with respect to the treatment of white and nonwhite students in terms of suspension.

Using U.S. Department of Education data on suspensions, the findings support that black males in middle school are suspended at higher rates than white students. The study also reported that Palm Beach County ranked No. 1 among 18 large, urban school districts nationwide in terms of the frequency with which it suspended black male middle school students in 2006. Fifty-three percent have been suspended at least once. Milwaukee was second with 51 percent. Other cities, including Atlanta, reported suspending more than 35 percent of African American male middle school students during the same time period.

The national sample was comprised of more than 9,000 middle schools. The study also observed that 28.3 percent of black males, on average, were suspended at least once during a school year, This is a rate almost 3 times the 10 percent recorded for white males in middle school. African American females of the same age group were suspended more than four times as often as white females (18 percent vs. 4 percent).

The study suggests that as a result, many African American male students miss valuable class time during the middle school years, a critical period in their academic and social development. The report, titled “Suspended Education: Urban Middle Schools in Crisis,” found that 175 middle schools in these districts suspended more than one-third of their black male students. Eighty-four schools suspended more than half the black males enrolled.

The report confirms what many have suspected for years. In Nashville, Tenn., nine metro middle schools have suspended more than 50 percent of African American males, mainly ages 9 through 12, according to Vanderbilt University psychologist and human development specialist Maury Nation.