Administration Puts The Nation's Schools On Notice...

"Attorney General Eric Holder called upon the nation’s school districts Wednesday to rethink “zero tolerance” disciplinary policies that he said disproportionately punish minorities and push too many students into the justice system.

“Alarming numbers of young people are suspended, expelled or even arrested for relatively minor transgressions like school uniform violations, schoolyard fights or showing 'disrespect' by laughing in class,” Holder said during a speech in Baltimore.

Holder’s remarks accompanied the release Wednesday of new federal guidance from the departments of Justice and Education pressing schools to adopt disciplinary policies that are “fair, nondiscriminatory, and effective.”

The guidance lays out the parameters of punishment as governed by federal civil rights protections, alternatives to exclusionary discipline and a comprehensive list of regulations on the books in every state," http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/administration/194790-holder-school-discipline-racially-biased-overly-harsh#ixzz2qPkCWLff 

 Holder's call originates with the executive order issued by the President in July, 2012, called the "White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans," which demands race-based disciplinary policies in schools, permitting african-american students to engage in behaviors that would result in disciplinary action if committed by non-minority students:

"EXECUTIVE ORDER

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WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE ON EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, to restore the country to its role as the global leader in education, to strengthen the Nation by improving educational outcomes for African Americans of all ages, and to help ensure that all African Americans receive an education that properly prepares them for college, productive careers, and satisfying lives, it is hereby ordered as follows…

…. African Americans lack equal access to highly effective teachers and principals, safe schools, and challenging college-preparatory classes, and THEY DISPROPORTIONATELY EXPERIENCE SCHOOL DISCIPLINE AND REFERRALS TO SPECIAL EDUCATION. African American student achievement not only lags behind that of their domestic peers by an average of two grade levels, but also behind students in almost every other developed nation. Over a third of African American students do not graduate from high school on time with a regular high school diploma, and only four percent of African American high school graduates interested in college are college-ready across a range of subjects. An even greater number of African American males do not graduate with a regular high school diploma, AND AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES ALSO EXPERIENCE DISPARATE RATES OF INCARCERATION.

(iii) decreasing the disproportionate number of referrals of African American children from general education to special education by addressing the root causes of the referrals AND ERADICATING DISCRIMINATORY REFERRALS;

(iv) implementing successful and innovative education reform strategies and practices in America's public schools to ensure that African American students receive a rigorous and well-rounded education in safe and healthy environments, and have access to high-level, rigorous course work and support services that will prepare them for college, a career, and civic participation;

(v) ensuring that all African American students have comparable access to the resources necessary to obtain a high-quality education, including effective teachers and school leaders, in part by supporting efforts to improve the recruitment, preparation, development, and retention of successful African American teachers and school leaders and other effective teachers and school leaders responsible for the education of African American students;

(vi) reducing the dropout rate of African American students and helping African American students graduate from high school prepared for college and a career, IN PART BY PROMOTING A POSITIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE THAT DOES NOT RELY ON METHODS THAT RESULT IN DISPARATE USE OF DISCIPLINARY TOOLS, and by supporting successful and innovative dropout prevention and recovery strategies that better engage African American youths in their learning, help them catch up academically, and provide those who have left the educational system with pathways to reentry…," all caps added for emphasis.

The full text of this executive order that mandates racially-based disciplinary policies that favor african-american students and requires schools to accept levels of unacceptable behaviors from african-american students that would be disciplined if committed by students of other races/ethnicities can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/.../...

In short, the Obama EO and Holder's remarks are an effort to enshrine Paul Butler's principles of race-based jury nullification (in which he states that black jurors have a moral obligation to acquit black offenders whom they know, based on the evidence, to be guilty of a given crime, in an effort to keep more black males in their home communities) in the public schools. The problem with this line of thinking is that it forces the affected community to resign themselves to a reality that accepts a level of lawlessness, violence, or other socially unacceptable behaviors as a normal part of the daily experience if that is what it takes to keep more blacks in the particular community.