St. Louis-area activists took to the streets of St. Louis County again on Friday, May 13, this time to raise awareness of the school-to-prison pipeline and launch the Break the Pipeline campaign.
Dozens of activists, clergy, attorneys, parents and students gathered outside Clayton High School then marched through downtown Clayton to make political demands in front of St. Louis County Police headquarters and the family court building.
The group’s demands included mandatory annual explicit bias training for police, mandatory police reports on pedestrian stops and that area police chiefs work to pass the fair and impartial policing act, a proposed law that would make individual officers and police departments subject to penalties for bias practices. The bill died in committee this past session.
Campaign organizers Metropolitan Congregations United and Students 4 Change point to an alarming July 2015 report on St. Louis County’s family court by the Department of Justice. The DOJ found that black minors are often stripped of their constitutional rights by not having legal representation in court and treated less fairly than white juveniles.
“We are here today to make our voices heard for our children,” Margaret Davis said to the crowd. “We are awake and we will stay woke. We will not rest until we get what we want: a community where our children are nurtured, respected and protected.”
Clayton police monitored the event closely.
Attendees held signs that read “schools not jails” and “educate not incarcerate” and chanted phrases about eliminating school suspensions
Missouri has the nation’s highest suspension rate of black students in elementary school, according to a February 2015 report by UCLA researchers. In Missouri, black students only make up 16 percent of the student population. However, they received 40 percent of the suspensions in 2015, according to the report.
The report also found that Missouri holds the largest disparity between white and black students’ suspension rates. Saint Louis Public Schools and the Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts were named as the study’s largest contributors to the disparity.
Harry Wadlington told the crowd that he became a teacher in order to bring about a positive change in the community.
“I saw the devastation and effects on the families and the community. I hoped that teaching would move me in the right direction toward solutions,” Wadlington told the crowd.
“But early on as a teacher, I was caught off guard by the layers of bureaucracy and political expediency. There were heavy-handed and over-zealous disciplinary programs that suspended students excessively and disproportionately targeted students of color.”
You can find more info about the Break the Pipeline campaign on social media by following the hashtag #breakthepipelinestl.
This story is published as part of a partnership between The St. Louis American and The Huffington Post.
