From the Sun Sentinel, By Georgia East
Trayvon Martin's trip to Sanford was taken, in part, so he could get his priorities straight after being suspended from school, his father said.
But the death of the unarmed Miami teen by a Crime Watch volunteer is prompting some parents and community leaders to say the state's priorities need to be straightened out as well.
Black males in South Florida are less likely to graduate school, yet more likely to be suspended or jailed. And that has to change, parents say.
"The tragedy has opened the door for the nation to see the injustices," said LaTanzia Jackson, chairwoman of the Coalition for Black Student Achievement in Palm Beach, and a parent of two teens in the school system. "It makes the African-American community begin to say our children are facing physical and mental cessation," she said.
African-American students make up only about 30 percent of Palm Beach County's school's district but account for 60 percent of all suspensions, federal data shows. It's similar in Broward, where 40 percent of district students are black, but they account for about 60 percent of suspensions. And in Miami Dade, blacks make up 25 percent of the enrollment but 50 percent of suspensions.
Parents say having their children removed from school is a double-whammy. They often can't get off work to watch them and the students struggle to catch up on work missed while they're out.
There are alternatives to out-of-school suspension programs, but they're scattered at sites throughout each district and sometimes are difficult for parents without transportation to get to.
Trynese Stephenson, of Sunrise, said her son in middle school has served several out-of-school suspensions this year. The longest was 10 days. She said she was told he was jeering at the teacher and left his classroom without permission.
"I believe that kids should be punished, but give them in-school suspension,'' said Stephenson, a hair stylist. "Why keep them out of school?''
A 2010 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center analyzed the high rate of suspension among black males in middle school. It found "concerns about lost instructional time as well as other possible harmful side effects." It said there were "consistent findings that African-American and Latino youth are over-represented in school suspensions and that the increased use of suspension has been largest for poor minority children.''
The Rev. James Melton, youth minister at the New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, said, "some children get in more trouble when they're suspended because there is no supervision, especially when parents have to work and there in a single parent household.''
There had been an alternative-to-suspension program at Mount Olive for 10 years but it was disbanded about three years ago due to funding, Melton said.
"These kids desperately needed personal attention,'' said Melton, adding the students improved when the program was in effect.
Some experts say they fear chronic suspensions can be a pipeline to prison.
Blacks make up 16 percent of Florida's population but account for about 48 percent of the inmates in the state's prison system. While about 75 percent of the state's population is white, they account for 47 percent of prison inmates, according to the state department of corrections.
Michelle Nevels Corker, a mother of three sons and a daughter ages 20 to 28, said she went to Sanford to join the rally for Trayvon last week because one of her sons had been a victim of racial profiling.
She said her eldest son was arrested for no justifiable reason and eventually the charges were dropped. She believes he was singled out by Fort Lauderdale police because he's black.
"Our kids are being targeted and mistreated all the time,'' said Nevels-Corker, a postal worker who lives in Fort Lauderdale. "They're guilty until they prove themselves innocent.''
As many continue to call for justice in the Trayvon Martin case, advocates say some good has come out of it already because it's prompting the community to discuss issues that don't get enough attention.
"This is forcing us to come together and highlight the massive problems we have in Florida with respect to public policy," said Roslyn Osgood, CEO of Mount Olive Development Corp in Fort Lauderdale, adding that more money needs to be spent on education and less on building prisons.
geast@tribune.com or 954-572-2078
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-trayvon-martin-parents-reaction-20120330,0,2939939.story
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