So I'm perusing Twitter this morning and I stumble upon the following sentence:
"Nearly everyone that works with youth in Chicago Public Schools — teachers, social workers, school counselors, principals — undergoes specialized training. But until this recent legislation, this hasn’t been required for police officers assigned to work in schools." - via City Bureau
Huh? I totally understand that many things in the world don't make sense, but this doesn't make any sense - that is until I recall what I know about Chicago education.
CPS stands for "Chicago Public Schools". It's underfunded because it's undervalued and it's undervalued because those with money and/or power here in Chicago (and in most other urban municipalities) send their kids to PRIVATE SCHOOLS where steroid-addled cops don't walk around looking for a chance to body slam Black children. That being said, there is no mystery why school cops in Chicago currently have no special training for how to properly handle children.
So if they aren't trained to handle kids, what are they trained for and who are they trained by? Well as reporters for The Intercept report, they might be trained by Israeli security forces. Yeah. It's crazy. (Follow this link if you don't believe me). To be fair, this article cites practices in Washington D.C. particularly but the militarization of cops around the country has been documented enough to support extrapolation.
The bill to require special training is currently on the Republican governor Bruce Rauner's desk which means it's doubtful that it will go through. Opponents of the bill are crying about funding even though they have no problem scraping together $95 million for a NEW police academy (the existing one is fully functional).
I want you to read this article that goes into depth about this important issue. You can find it HERE on The City Bureau's website. There you can also here 5 CPS students sound off about their feelings on this important issue.
Read this article. Learn about this issue. Realize that we need to become more serious about having our own schools where our kids don't have to worry about being 10 years old and being put into handcuffs by cops that don't care about Black children's humanity...
Sincerely,
H. Pace
The Free Breakfast Movement
LIVE.FREE.
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