Front Page Chicago Tribune article argues school disicpline tougher on African-American Students

Categories: African-American, Education
Written By: Shawn Williams

Tuesday's Chicago Tribune will have a front page article that details the stiffer punishments levied on African-American students in  schools across the country.  Here are some stats from the Howard Witt article:

*   In the average New Jersey public school, African-American students are almost 60 times as likely as white students to be expelled for serious disciplinary infractions.

*   In Minnesota, black students are suspended 6 times as often as whites.

In Iowa, blacks make up just 5 percent of the statewide public school enrollment but account for 22 percent of the students who get suspended.

Other information gathered for the article:


In every state but Idaho, a Tribune analysis of the data shows, black students are being suspended in numbers greater than would be expected from their proportion of the student population.

In 21 states—Illinois among them—that disproportionality is so pronounced that the percentage of black suspensions is more than double their percentage of the student body.

…on average across the nation, black students are suspended and expelled at nearly three times the rate of white students.

Click here to read the front page Tribune article in its entirety. 

One Response to “Front Page Chicago Tribune article argues school disicpline tougher on African-American Students”

  1. DJShay Says:

    I heard you being interviewed on NPR a couple of days ago and wanted to thank you for bringing not only the Jena 6 issue, but the lack of media coverage of racial violence to the front and center. I recently posted a diary at Daily Kos concerning this issue. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/26/92245/9127
    We’d love to here from you if you get a chance :-)

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