An except from Institutional Racism Is Our Way of Life
It’s probably time to dust off some of the profound, disturbing statistics on institutional racism in America that have been painstakingly chronicled by groups like the Sentencing Project, the ACLU, American Psychological Association, the Education Department’s Civil Rights office and many others.Because, apparently, we still don’t get it.
In the wake of Baltimore, Ferguson, New York City and elsewhere, most of us are at least somewhat aware of the nature of police violence against the black community in urban settings.
So maybe we should just start with institutional racism in schools, and work our way forward from there.
Let’s start with pre-school. Black pre-schoolers are far more likely to be suspended than white children, NPR reported. Black children make up 18 percent of the pre-school population, but represent almost half of all out-of-school suspensions.
Once you get to K-12, black children are three times more likely to be suspended than white children. Black students make up almost 40 percent of all school expulsions, and more than two thirds of students referred to police from schools are either black or Hispanic, says the Department of Education.
Even disabled black children suffer from institutional racism. About a fifth of disabled children are black – yet they account for 44 and 42 percent of disabled students put in mechanical restraints or placed in seclusion. When juveniles hit the court system, it discriminates against blacks as well. Black children are 18 times more likely to be sentenced as adults than white children, and make up nearly 60 percent of children in prisons, according to the APA.
Black juvenile offenders are much more likely to be viewed as adults in juvenile detention proceedings than their white counterparts.
Read the rest of this article here: Institutional Racism is Our Way of Life
Stirring Up Trouble by DrVLoLil 
I think that including all students and be part of the school system can help to avoid divisions. I have a lot admiration for people who are disable and never gave up. We need more healthy communities and lots sports. I do believe if we keep our children busy then they do better at school.
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I agree with your comment. The future warrants us working together to identify systems of oppression and fully addressing them.
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This article really speaks to me because I feel and have noticed that the U.S. really chooses to ignore the racism that is so alive and well in our country. Racism is woven into the roots of our history and it doesn’t make sense to me that people would ignore what is blatantly going on in our country. Although I have never experienced racism, I am very close to people who have. I write to a wrongfully convicted inmate in Illinois. He is African American, and hearing his stories of the racism and inequality he has endured in his life has inspired me to educate myself on the institutionalized racism of our society. This article has confirmed for me the research I have discovered in the past. It talks about how black children are more likely to be suspended and I appreciate that it mentions how disabled black children are treated as well as I feel like disabilities are often overlooked when talking about the school to prison pipeline. I also learned other stats about racism within income disparities. Something that I really appreciated is that this article focused on mass incarceration and the racism within our justice system. African Americans are discriminated against in that system heavily and I am glad they are putting this issue in the spotlight. Our country has always been incredibly unfair and unjust to our minorities and it needs to change.
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