According to the Department of Education, black male students who attend public schools are more likely to receive harsh punishments at school than other students.

The Department of Education released data that shows that black students make up 35 percent of the students who have been suspended once, 46 percent of the students who have been suspended more than one time, and 39 percent of students who have been expelled. Interesting enough, the black students were only 19 percent of the total population at the schools that were sampled in the 2009-2010 school year. The surveys also show that black students are 3.5 times more likely to face suspension or expulsion than white students. Black boys were twice as likely as black girls girls to receive an out-of-school suspension as a punishment.

“Education is the civil rights of our generation,” said Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education. “The undeniable truth is that the everyday education experience for too many students of color violates the principle of equity at the heart of the American promise.”

Read the rest of this entry »

In case you haven’t heard about it or seen the many posts on Facebook and Twitter about him, Trayvon Martin was a 17-year old African American teen who lived in Sanford, Florida. Sadly, on February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon because he felt that his life was in danger. As the facts have been pouring in, it seems more and more likely that Zimmerman, a white man, was not actually threatened at all, and instead, this was a racial hate crime.

According to the police call, Zimmerman saw Trayvon walking through his neighborhood and called the police. He claimed Trayvon was threatening because he was wearing a hoodie and had something in his hand.

“There’s a real suspicious guy,” Zimmerman said about Trayvon. “This guy looks like he’s up to no good, on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around looking about…. These a**holes always get away.”

Zimmerman followed Trayvon through the neighborhood, despite the police dispatcher’s urges for him not to do so. He then shot and killed Trayvon with a nine-millimeter handgun. Zimmerman claimed Trayvon had been carrying something:  As it turns out, it was only a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. Read the rest of this entry »

America is a melting pot of many races and cultures, and there is no better example of that than today’s schools. Diversity means you are more likely to find a group of people who are similar to you in one way or another. Imagine going to a school where everyone wore Converse shoes, black jeans, and red t-shirts, and you were the only one who wanted to wear boots, blue jeans, and a green shirt. You would stick out like a sore-thumb.

Of course, attending a diverse school is important for more than just fashion- or even finding people who are similar to you. Attending a diverse university will broaden your knowledge and appreciation for other cultures and their influence, and will open you up to knew experiences and ways of thinking. Read the rest of this entry »

Former coach Larry Dauterive

Larry Dauterive resigned as East St. John High School’s head football coach last Friday. His resignation came after a meeting with the school superintendent regarding his recent racially prejudiced comments.

During his speech to the New Orleans Quarterback Club, Dauterive spoke about what it was like for him as a white man to coach a team of predominantly black players. He considered himself an important role in their lives saying that he is, “the only Papa they got.”

Although it sounds prejudiced to say that a team of black football players come from mostly single-parent families, Dauterive insists that it’s the truth and that it’s hard to ignore. Fabricka Anderson (one of the parents) said, “I think a lot of what he said was true, but it’s not just in the African-American community, and if what he said steps on our toes, than we kind of need to step up.” Read the rest of this entry »

I find it sad that almost anywhere I go I still hear people talking about how Obama won’t be a good president simply because he is black, or also because his middle name has Middle Eastern origins. These are not things that a President should be judged upon.

So far, Obama has been off to a great start and I’m sure he hears the same comments I hear. I hope that he just looks past the comments and strives to prove those people wrong in a positive way, by doing the best he can with the country considering the current state of affairs. Obama wasn’t exactly left with a country going through its glory days. Rather, he ended up with a country in a war that doesn’t even seem like a war anymore and its economy in shambles and slowly becoming worse with each passing day. Immediately Obama began to make changes. Read the rest of this entry »