Birmingham Police Officers, employed as School Resource Officers in Birmingham City Schools, routinely use chemical weapons against schoolchildren to enforce basic school discipline. Mace was used against schoolchildren who were completely restrained and not a danger to themselves or anyone else. Adults taunted the children and celebrated their punishment.
The Birmingham City School System is 96% African American.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has filed a federal class action lawsuit targeting the use of mace as a means of basic school discipline. The SPLC had previously raised the issue with the Birmingham School Board which was unresponsive, prompting the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges violation of constitutional rights through the use of chemical weapons.
Conservatives have long campaigned to rid the country of public schools. The public school system is the principal method for members of the lower economic class, often African Americans, to escape to the middle class and beyond. The lack of an education maintains African Americans as lower class citizens. The use of chemical weapons and the accompanying hostility is having the effect of driving African American children out of the school system, preserving the current elite class.
If the public school system is eliminated, only the elite will be able to afford private education for their children, maintaining their current status. The public school system is the keystone in America’s ability to claim it is the land of opportunity.
H/T: Southern Poverty Law Center.
-David Drumm (Nal)
Hi Nal, Concerning your 12:18pm post – “the results of that lack of support”
I’m uncertain as to what you mean – are you suggesting the alleged mace abuse by police is one of the results of lack of support for public education? If so, how?
Or, if not the mace incident, are you just refering to the poor performance of public schools in general? – Please explain how that lack of support plays a part considering the US spends more then just about any other nation per student.
From USA Today: “The United States spent $10,240 per student from elementary school through college in 2000, according to the report. The average was $6,361 among more than 25 nations.”
I find it ironic that those who don’t support the public school system use the results of that lack of support as an argument for not supporting the public school system.
J. T. — Inventing pathetic lies to preserve the bower of the leftist academic elite.
A man of character woukd leave the stage and stop the lies and stop smearing his fellow, and better, Americans.
Proof of the SPLC $190 million/Cayman Islands assertation.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/26/923486/-Southern-Poverty-Law-Centers-Cayman-Islands-bank-account
For some reason I find an example of the abuse of public school students in public schools to be a less-than-persuasive case against school choice efforts. It seems to me that most parents wouldn’t choose to send their kids to a school where this sort of thing happens.
I might even pause to suggest that there’s a certain sort of liberal who likes to claim outrage but really just makes a living off of other people’s pain.
There are many outstanding attorneys, paid a lot less than their private practice counterparts, at the SPLC fighting the “good fight.” I applaud them.
furious,
It is you that has made the leap. Just because a police department has an African-American chief, doesn’t mean that police racism has somehow disappeared.
Many critics of the public school system use stories of crime in public schools as an argument to condemn the public school system. They are often biased against the public school system for other reasons.
There is a war being waged against the public school system. Driving African-American students out of school using criminal arrests for routine offenses and mace for minor disruptions is a symptom of the lack of support that plagues the public school system.
Ok, furious, proof of the 190 million in a bank in the caymans is requested as well as proof of the top getting 300,000 per year…..
Ghost-blogger:
Looks like Prof. Turley’s needs to monitor his ghost-bloggers more carefully. “Charles Martin” is correct — In your non-sequitur rebuttal, you could confirm the race of neither the School Resources Officer nor the bulk of the Police Dept, but made the leap to “institutional racism” anyway. What’s the legal jargon — “facts not in evidence”?
Poster saw “Birmingham” and overwhelmingly black school district, assumed Jim Crow w/facts not in evidence, ended up looking foolish — at least, to people not obsessed with denying vouchers to at-risk children. Bull Connor’s been dead for decades.
Speaking of non-sequitur, the SPLC has $190M in a bank in the Caymans, and pays its top
officers $300K annual salaries. They’re certainly addressing someone’s poverty, are
located in Alabama and employ attorneys, so they’re observing at least a minimum of truth-in-labellling.
First visit to this site, and I am not impressed. Although, I must say, thank you. I will now know to henceforward approach Prof. Turley’s media appearances w/great scepticism,
given the sloppiness on display here…furious
Nal:
when over 70% of the population of the United States doesnt attend college, public schools arent really providing much of anything except jobs for the teachers union.
puzzling,
lottakatz was having trouble posting links earlier today, as well…
I’ve tried twelve ways to post a link to my comments, and all fail. Here is what I wrote on November 13th in the entry called “Better Say Your Prayers Father”
Nal and JT,
As I have previously noted (and am banned from linking to apparently), guest posts are not sufficiently identified in the current format. I would encourage you to take steps to:
1. Identify authorship at the TOP of the entry, and
2. Identify all guest posts with a special tag
The Professor didn’t write the post, I did.
The racial point was made in the SPLC documents in the link provided, where the 96% number came from. The question I could not find an answer to: were the School Resource Officers white?
In many police departments, even thought the Chief is African-American, the bulk of the officers are white. These Chiefs must deal with institutional racism while maintaining a functional department.
Jonathan, that connection is offensive and repulsive. You have no reason to connect conservatives with this, nor to make a racial point, seeing as Superintendent Witherspoon is african-american, police chief Roper is black, and the county voter registration is very heavily Democratic (as well, as you note, as being very heavily African-American.)
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Damn..to the Mace…….
Public Schools…..Private Schools….what a choice…
of course they used mace, they’re not gonna unroll a firehose for just one kid.
in 1968 (george c wallace running for president) the old man got stationed in korea and we wound up in wedowee alabama. talk about culture shock.
If public schools were abolished and replaced by private schools, and a voucher system resulted in an influx of Black and Hispanic students into elite private schools, Republicans would instantly become passionate proponents for the return of public schools.
BBB,
“I think the draft is the best way to prevent this country from engaging in an unpopular war. I don’t think Bush would have invaded Iraq had many of his soldiers been drafted.”
I agree. The citizens of this country–especially those who would have been eligible for service–would have been protesting in the streets all over this country. Starting a pre-emptive war with Iraq would have been an extremely unpopular thing to do if we had a draft.
Let me just say, Jay’s got it.