Bronx Mom: Why should high school students be treated like criminals?
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It was a warm, sunny afternoon about a week into this school year. As I walked to the bus stop from the high school where I work, I recognized a former student (let’s call him Jamal) sitting on the wall of the nearby park. Jamal was engrossed in his phone, probably an AIM conversation. Although he transferred to another school last year, he returned to his old school most days to pick up his girlfriend. I greeted him and he pulled away from the furious presses of buttons just long enough to flash his dazzling smile and say hello.
Moments later, a police van pulled up in front of Jamal and a couple of other young African American boys, none of whom appeared to be together, all of them similarly absorbed by electronic devices. Although none of the boys was acting suspiciously, the officer in the front passenger seat questioned each boy as to what they were doing. It was after school hours, so they shouldn’t have been suspected of truancy.
The officer demanded to know why they were there, repeating her questions with a hard tone when the answers were apparently unsatisfactory. My bus arrived, so I reluctantly left the scene. I later learned from a colleague that Jamal had been deeply shaken by the encounter, which had reportedly escalated to the point of the officer becoming angry with him for “having an attitude”.
A couple of weeks later, the mother of another student, 17-year-old “Manuel”, called me, very upset. She explained that her son had been given a ticket for disorderly conduct because he lingered after school, waiting to say good-bye to a friend. He had been told by a school safety officer to go into the subway station, but had instead paused at the entrance to the subway to wait for his friend.
The tall, lanky brown youth with his prized skateboard looped through his back pack straps was then confronted by an New York Police Department officer. Manuel was ticketed, reportedly for disorderly conduct, because he did not immediately obey the safety officer. He must now appear in court. Manuel is not a student who fights and has no gang affiliation. He has a penchant for skating and video games and sometimes slacks off in his school work. He is not aggressive or disrespectful to authority. Manuel’s mother was especially angry because this was not the first or even the second time that her son has been profiled and unjustly ticketed by the police.
While stories like these are nothing new for Blacks and Latinos (we recall the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on July 16, 2009), it is always more disheartening when I hear about it happening to our youth. What was even more heartbreaking for me this time was Manuel’s response when I asked his permission to write about his encounter. Having already processed his anger about the incident, he readily agreed. Manuel then added, “But it’s our own fault,” ( he clarified “us” as meaning a collective us of black and brown folks). “We’re always doing stupid things, getting in trouble.”
Manuel’s mother came to the school to meet with an assistant principal and school safety officer the day after the incident. All parents of students who have been similarly harassed should do the same. Our children need to be safe, but they also need to be treated with dignity if they are to grow into citizens who do the same.
At the tender age of 17, Manuel has already internalized a sense of his people as criminal. That is not okay. It is not okay to police our high school students to the point that they cannot socialize after school. It is not okay that our teenagers are made to feel like convicts who must obey those with badges even when they have done nothing wrong. I understand that there has been an increase in violence in the neighborhood of this school. Honestly, I feel safer knowing that there is a police presence because some of the violence could have been deadly. At the same time, the sensitivity training that is always being mentioned needs to extend to patrolling around high schools.
What chance do our youth have, especially our black and brown young men, if they are being taught that they are criminals, guilty until proven innocent? Anyone who is concerned about how our children are treated by the police and school safety can check out the New York Civil Liberty Union’s site for information on the Student Safety Act. There you will find ways to take action.
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Stories like these need to continue being published. Thanks Bronx Mom. Otherwise, how will anything change. Our children are not “potential” criminals.
Comment by Sheila — October 21, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
I can understand the police telling the young men to move along. Loitering used to be a crime and breaking up groups of kids is an effective way not only to prevent crime but prevent the young men from being victims of crime. As a white woman growing up in the suburbs my friends and I were frequently told to move on when we gathered in the park or playground after hours by the local police. The difference now seems to be the police ticketing. We were never in trouble and the cops were polite. But they were insistent we move and we always did. As stated in the article sensitivity training is needed, as is common sense which the police don’t seem to have. A move along message can be delivered without the need to disrespect anyone or involve the court system.
Comment by parent — October 21, 2009 @ 5:51 pm
I think that anyone who lives or works or often frequents a neighborhood with a lot of high-school-age boys of color can tell stories like these. It’s different in white neighborhoods, and it’s not right. Hardly the best way to encourage boys to respect the law.
Comment by Roberta — October 21, 2009 @ 7:24 pm
Here’s a story for you:
A similar police harassment happened to a fresh-scrubbed 10 year old boy headed to camp by himself. He is a big boy, but if you’d see his face, you’d know he’s not a usual suspect. Instead, the driving officer called him over to the car. Witness shouldve said, “oh no, thats not him” but the 88 didn’t. they asked him to empty his pockets, and found zilch. They held him so long, that he missed us leaving for a rainy day movie at 9am.
His mother was still home and picked him up at the scene, because some passing older ladies yelled at the officers, and told the cops to have him call his mother. The ladies took names of the officers and “moved along” as they were instructed. (But, they merely circled the block until his mother arrived)
His single mom was too intimidated to act further.
Three or more teen boys are considered a gang by the police. But, you got to be able to determine who’s who. Maybe they should walk a beat than ride in cruisers (and helicopters.
Comment by Coach — October 21, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
It’s a pity that cops don’t understand that hassling kids for minor stuff only makes them disrespect the police and ultimately makes their job tougher. A police hassle or court appearance for texting your friend or waiting for someone at the subway? Please. There are more good kids than not, but security/police paint with a broad brush because they cant distinguish one from the other. Then they end up not getting any cooperation form the ones who could help. The next time “Jamal” sees something really awful go down, do you think he’s going to call the police
Comment by manman — October 22, 2009 @ 11:31 am
I do live in a so called white neighborhood. My son is white & so are his friends. He was at the park with 2 of his friends at 8:50 p.m on a Saturday night. Two police officers asked them why they were there & smacked my son in the head to answer quickly. I too am very upset that my son was given a summons & hit. He is not a disrespesctful 17 year old & neither were his friends. They would have quickly left the park. How will they learn to respect police officers? P.O.’s need to be better trained on sensitivity. I need to take a day off from work & my son needs to take a day off from school to go to court. Unbelievable!!! Oh, I went to the precinct & spoke to the p.o.’S Sgt.& told him to tell his officers to keep their hands to themselves!!! The Sgt.assured me he would. I work for the N.Y.P.D.& I too. Believe that something needs to be done!!!
Comment by linda — November 3, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
I recently had an experience with the police: I was passing a precinct house and saw a sergeant dumping garbage (coffee cups, paper plates, newspapers) onto the street from the inside of a police van. The precinct was in a low-income area surrounded by housing projects, and I am sure the officers there spend plenty of time complaining about how the residents have no respect for their neighborhood, and it was very upsetting.
After googling around, I realized I couldn’t find an easy way to complain directly to a superior officer, so I sent a complaint to the civilian complaint review board. I got a very nice call from an executive officer apologizing for his men and stating that he told my story to his men on report every day, every shift for a week, and he hoped I never saw anything like that again.
Comment by Roberta — November 3, 2009 @ 4:56 pm