USA Africa Dialogue Series - Senate Judiciary Hearing Opportunity

For those of you who teach in the DC-MD-VA area, please send your students to join ours for this very important event. Thanks a heap in advance for your good help.

In Peace Always,
Karim/.

Dear Professor Bangura,

As you may have heard, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights is hosting the first ever hearing on the School to Prison Pipeline.  Since the 1990's there has been a disturbing, nationwide increase in zero-tolerance school discipline policies, which force young people out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system, often for minor offenses.  These encounters with the criminal justice system at such a young age only increase the likelihood that students will drop out of school and commit crimes later in life.  These policies also serve to exacerbate racial inequalities, as over 70 percent of the students whom schools refer to the criminal justice system are African-American or Latino.  The purpose of this hearing is to both shed light on the policies and issues that have led to the creation of this pipeline, and to explore successful reforms and new initiatives that can bring an end to it. 

The Children's Defense Fund has been an active participant in working to dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline, and we are attempting to help bring national attention to this historic event.  As such, we would like to take this opportunity to invite any of your students who are interested in learning more about this issue to join us in answering Senator Dick Durbin's call to "fill the room" on the day of the hearing.  In doing so we will ensure that this issue receives the attention it deserves, both in the media and in the minds of the Senators who serve on the Subcommittee.

The Hearing will be at 2:00pm on Wednesday, 12/12 at Dirksen Senate Office Building room 226.  If your students would like the opportunity to meet with Children's Defense Fund staff beforehand to discuss the issues that lead to the creation of the School to Prison Pipeline, we are organizing a group to walk over from our office on 25 E St. NE, Washington D.C., 20001 at 12:45pm that day.  Please have them RSVP to dhains@childrensdefense.org no later than 5pm tomorrow 12/11.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me at 202-662-3513.

Thanks and best,

Daniel Hains