![]() ![]() But too often, especially in traditionally underserved areas, the school setting is treated more like correctional institutions, and the “school resource officers” (campus police officers) are viewed as correctional officers.Ī school resource officer should be just that – a resource to students, a counselor or mental health professional where students can safely go to escape the societal issues at home or in their neighborhoods that may be affecting them. Schools are supposed to be institutions of learning, and all students should also be safe in this environment. In a study, Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, of UCLA demonstrated that, “black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent.” This is a serious problem especially with the growing presence of police officers on campuses. We were kids, and so are the Lincoln students. While my fellow drill team knew that we were skirting on the edge of danger, we relished testing out “adult” behaviors and seeing how they fit on our adolescent bodies. I’m concerned with the swiftness with which these kids are being punished and by the fact that much of the public seems already to react as if they’re adults. After some of the children were treated, they were then subsequently hauled to juvenile hall and were charged. Some of those students were sent to the hospital, as well as the campus cop who tased a 16-year-old twice, once while he was lying face down on the ground. We just had security guards, and I’m almost positive they didn’t carry weapons.Īnd yet, last Friday at Lincoln High, an incident involving teenagers just like me and the fancy drill team, taking part in certain known rituals that they take part in every year resulted in an altercation that ended with kids being tased and pepper sprayed. I don’t remember there being cops on campus. We thought we were being adults.īut our ritual didn’t result in any police response, and while some discipline might have been appropriate, we were never funneled into the criminal justice system to pay for our mistakes with our futures. It was similar to that of the older groups - including the Army and other military branches -we emulated and even were modeled after. It was a gauntlet consisting of the new junior varsity recruit walking at a slow pace down a row of varsity team members on both sides of this row essentially taking closed-fist swings at the new recruit. The punctuation of the process was a hazing ritual that went down from previous generations and classes. I also tried out for the prestigious fancy drill team and was lucky enough to get on the team after a rigorous and physically grueling try out. Trying to navigate through avoiding gang life, social cliques, and the built-in ordinary stresses of school, I decided to sign up for the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Keep in mind that this was just a few short years after the explosive Rodney King video, and it only added to the troubled relationship with authority figures that existed within our community. While I was at Morse, southeast San Diego was rife with gang violence and racial tensions. I went to Morse High school, a rival of Lincoln High school, over 20 years ago.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |