First, I want to apologize to Shakara, for what she had to endure; no child should ever go through such an assault at the hands of an “authority.” There are many who say that she deserved it because she was disrespecting authority. That teenagers these days think they can do whatever they want, consequence free. That by firing the officer it is being reinforced in these teens that they are untouchable.
I want to say that I have never heard such nonsense in my life, but unfortunately I hear stupidity like this daily. I do not care how disrespectful a child is, no one should throw a child out of a chair and drag her on the floor. This officer acted as if this young girl was a hardened criminal.
A Hardened Criminal.
I hope that people understand this when watching the video of officer Ben Fields throwing a student to the ground at Spring Valley High School in S.C., which was released last week: The Public School System is an extension of the Prison System.
Public schools are prisons without the title. If that school were a place where children were valued as individuals and cared for, then why didn’t someone try to talk to Shakara and figure out what the real issue was?
No one is born disrespectful. No one is born hating authority. Many times the kids who act out the most are those who are suffering the most. The teacher could have left her in the classroom until after class and then tried to talk to her or called a counselor to come and try to reason with the child while he continued the lesson. Trust me, if any of those children actually wanted to learn they would not mind if a counselor or someone talked to their classmate in the room while they focused on the lesson.
Why won't anyone listen to these kids? You would think that since children spend about 6 hours a day at school that the teachers would care enough to realize that bad behavior is oftentimes a cry for help. But this does not happen because children are already seen as criminals.
Just like any criminal who disobeys or disrespects a guard in a prison, this young girl was throw down, assaulted, and humiliated.
For those of you who think this isn’t a race issue, please give me an example of this occurrence involving a white child.
Do not give that nonsensical excuse that white children don’t behave like this. Disrespecting authority is not a consequence of race. There are many white children who would have “committed the same crime”; children who have had hard lives and hate authority just as much as they distrust people. The difference is that at least a white child may have been treated more gently.
“Black children are criminals from the moment they are born,” says America.
They go to public schools that set them up for failure and prepare them for prison. They face invisible obstacles that white people won’t understand. Then they are blamed for their failures.
