August 29, 2012______________________________
^JortlattÒ (OhgCrUer
_______________________
Page 7
Oh, Just Call Them Terrorists
The drumbeat
that limits our
freedom
by W illiam
A.
C ollins
T he te rro rist
menace is proving
quite useful to the
U.S. government,
much as the com
munist menace did many years ago.
What could be more convenient
than tagging dissenters and oppo
nents as "giving material aid to ter
rorists"?
There's even an anti-terrorism law
now that discourages such "hei
nous" acts as helping educate Pal
estinian children.
Peace activists make a particu
larly appealing target. Since most of
our wars these days supposedly
combat terrorism, detaining those
who oppose such wars seems rea
sonable enough. They must be sup
porting the enemy. It's a pretty clever
game. The cops can just go ahead
and confiscate the peaceniks' cell
phones and laptops and jail them for
a day. Most folks won’t notice or
care.
The newest members of the "ter
rorist" fam ily are activists who
docum ent animal abuse at labs,
factory farm s, and sla u g h te r
houses. In response, inform ation
on animal m istreatm ent by farms
or corporations is now classified
as "secret," and divulging that
inform ation is treated as a serious
offense.
Also officially secret nowadays
is the mistreatment of the suspects
at Guantanamo. During their trials,
detainees aren't allowed to say that
they were previously tortured, since
that might color the proceedings
and bring shame to our govern
ment.
Trial observers, while allowed to
watch the action from behind
soundproof glass, only hear what’s
happening after a 40-second delay.
This gives time to censor embar
rassing details before they drift into
the media or blogosphere.
But there's a limit to how much
public fear can be stoked by the
continued arrests o f peaceniks,
animal rights activists, and Pales
tinian charity organizers. Sooner
or later, if citizens are going to
support further wars and im pinge
ments on their own civil liberties,
they need red meat.
This is the FBI's job. It tries to
keep up a drum beat of foiled ter
rorist plots to dem onstrate the
constant danger to our airplanes,
subw ays, and public squares.
Otherw ise, Congress might chafe
at imposing still more lim itations
on our personal freedom s. Not to
m ention that a reduction in the
public perception o f danger could
be followed by a reduction in the
FBI's budget.
Hence, we witness a steady pa
rade of alleged underwear bombers,
shoe bombers, car bombers, dirty
bombers, Jihad Janers, and other
miscellaneous prospective murder
ers — many of whom, curiously,
seem to have been egged on and
supported by the FBI until their
arrests. The media, starving for ex
citement, reports these stories to
the hilt.
One poisonous result of this
manufactured anxiety landed in the
National Defense Authorization
Act. Besides authorizing massive
military waste, this legislation em
powered our own armed forces to
arrest Americans, even on U.S. soil,
for almost anything, and to hold
them without charge. A federal judge
has temporarily intervened, but the
tension between counterterrorism
and constitutional protections looks
like it's shaping up as one o f
A m erica’s next big civil rights
battles.
OtherWords columnist William
A. Collins is a former state repre
sentative and a former mayor of
Norwalk, Conn.
Worrying about ‘My Black Boy’s’ Future
Hunkered down
for battle
by A llison
R. B rown
My husband and 1
fuss and fret over our
black boy.
Like other parents, we
worry about a lot. We want him to
use his smarts for good. Do we
coddle him too much? We want him
to be tough and kind, but assertive
and gentle, and not mean. His
boundaries of independent explo
ration are radiating outward, con
centric circles growing farther and
farther from us.
We wring our hands and pretend
to look away in acknowledgment
that he's ready to claim his freedom,
even as we cast furtive glances his
way. We're beginners in the worry
department. He’s only 9 years old.
Our angst certainly isn't unique
am ong parents o f black boys.
What's unique for us and for other
such parents is that when we peek
inside the matrix, we panic. Agents
out there are bearing down on our
son - bloodthirsty for his dignity,
his humanity - as if he were the one.
We feel outnumbered, but we hunker
down for battle.
This is not a paranoid conspiracy
rant. Recent data from the Office for
Civil Rights in the U.S. Department
of Education reveals that black boys
are the most likely group of stu
dents to be suspended or expelled
from school. Black men and boys
are more likely than any demographic
group to be targeted - hunted, really
- and arrested by police.
Meanwhile, the number of black
males taking advanced courses
in elementary, middle and high
schools and entering college re
mains disproportionately low.
Suicide among black boys is in
creasing. Media imagery and
indifference have locked black
boys in their sights. Prisons have
become corporate behemoths with
insatiable appetites for black and
brown boys and men.
My husband and I rightfully ago
nize about our boy. We agonize
alongside many who are working to
help, including the federal govern
ment. I know firsthand the work that
the federal government has done
and is doing to improve circum
stances for black boys. This in
cludes internal memos and meet
ings, interagency planning ses
sions, public conferences, commu
nity meetings and listening sessions,
and now a White House initiative.
I also know that the federal gov
ernment is accountable to numer
ous constituencies that sometimes
have conflicting needs. Federal
government workers must walk a
fine line among varying public inter
ests, which occasionally has meant
unintended consequences for black
boys.
For instance, in 1994, the federal
priority of "zero tolerance" for any
one bringing a weapon to school
was signed into law as the Gun-Free
Schools Act. That priority reached
fever pitch after the Columbine
school massacre in 1999 and subse
quent copycat slayings and at
tempts to kill. Federal requirements
were overshadowed by local au
thorities and school administrators,
who stretched the parameters of
"zero tolerance" in schools beyond
logical measure to include, for in
stance, spoons as weapons and
Tylenol as an illegal drug, and to
suspend and expel students as a
result.
"Zero tolerance" has entered the
realm o f the ridiculous. Many
schools have removed teacher and
administrator discretion and meted
out harsh punishment for school
uniform violations, schoolyard
fights without injury and various
undefined and indefinable catego
ries of offense such as "defiance"
and "disrespect."
Students are suspended, expelled
and even arrested for such conduct
without investigation or inquiry.
There is no evidence to support use
of exclusionary discipline practices
as tools for prevention, and they
have no educational benefit. The
brunt of this insanity has fallen on
black boys.
Recent federal priorities have tar
geted harassment and bullying in
school to protect lesbian, gay, bi
sexual and transgender students
from peer-on-peer discrimination
dismissed by, and in many cases,
encouraged by school administra
tion. Again, understandable.
The goal is praiseworthy - to
protect, finally, a population of stu
dents and segment of society that
has long been a whipping post for
every political party, ignored in
political discussions except to con
demn. While my husband and I have
ardently supported federal protec
tions for LGBT students, practically
speaking, we continue to lose sleep
over our black boy.
Another peek inside the matrix
tells me that the fever pitch around
this latest federal agenda item will
mean a significant cost to black boys
when new categories of offense are
created, new ways to characterize
them as criminals unworthy of par
ticipating in mainstream education
or society.
It's one thing for educators to
guide student conduct and educate
students about how to care for and
respect one another, which is a pri
mary focus of the federal move
against harassment and bullying.
It’s quite another to change mindsets
of adults who run the system, too
many of whom believe and speak
negatively about black boys and
what they cannot accomplish or
should not do.
To speak and think affirmatively,
to affirm behavior and black boys as
people, is to relish the silly jokes
they tell within their context, to com
pliment them on their haircuts or
groomed and styled dreadlocks and
comrows, to adopt lingo they cre
ate and add it to classroom reper
toire, and to invite their fathers,
grandfathers, uncles, brothers,
cousins to participate in the educa
tional experience.
To support black boys is to cel
ebrate their physical playfulness and
the unique ways in which they may
support and affirm one another. As
with any other children, we must
teach black boys through instruc
tion and by example how to read and
write, and how to conduct them
selves without erasing their iden
tity and attempting to substitute
another. We must hone their in
stincts, whims and knowledge base
so they can be empowered to exhibit
all the good in themselves. We must
be willing to show them our human
frailties so they know how to get up
and carry on after falling down. Yes,
these things can benefit all children,
but many children receive them by
default. Black boys do not.
To love black boys is to refuse to
be an agent of forces clamoring for
their souls and instead to be their
Morpheus, their god of dreams, to
help them believe in their power to
save all of us and to train them to step
into their greatness. Those agents in
the matrix are real. If everyone com
bines forces and uses common sense,
we can declare victory for black boys
and eventually all of us.
But without a change in mindset,
federal initiatives, no matter their
good intentions or the incredible
talents that give them life, will con
tinue to leave black boys by the
wayside as collateral damage.
My husband and I will continue
to fret, knowing the formidable chal
lenges our son faces. We hope that
if he has a son, that boy can be just
a boy.
Allison Brown is a former trial
attorney for the U.S. Department o f
Justice, Civil Rights Division. She
is president o f Allison Brown Con
sulting, which works to improve
the quality o f education.