The Obama and Biden administrations directed government K-12 schools to consider race when deciding to suspend or expel students because of “disparate impact” — black students are disciplined at higher rates than others.
In other words, basing discipline on black students’ behavior was bad unless white students were disciplined at equal rates.
That’s not how the law (or life) works. Obviously, schools should remove disruptive and dangerous students based on the student’s behavior. Previous administrations ignored the law. The Trump administration is enforcing it.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) sent a “Dear Colleague” letter (PDF) to government schools to remind them of their obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 “to treat students equally regardless of the students’ race, color, or national origin—including when they administer discipline.”
ED noted in the letter that “past administrations” incorrectly interpreted Title VI in a way that discriminated on the basis of race.
In a previous post, we noted that the U.S. Department of Justice in June concluded that disparate impact liability violates the Civil Rights Act.
ED is investigating school districts in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for taking race into account when disciplining troublemakers. Bureaucrats in the latter school district said that racially neutral school policies reflect systemic “whiteness.”
Are any blacks reading this blog who vote for Democrats offended by this? Will black Americans be held to a lower standard in perpetuity?
“For too long, the left’s pursuit of ‘equity’ has perversely required schools to discipline students differently, based on their race; it has prevented teachers from keeping their classrooms safe, put students in harm’s way, and severely compromised student learning opportunities,” said Kimberly Richey, assistant secretary for Civil Rights. “Today’s guidance clarifies Title VI’s legal requirements and ends these harmful practices. OCR will vigorously enforce Title VI to ensure that schools’ disciplinary systems are neutral and fair, and that they operate in a nondiscriminatory manner.”
Read what the late, great Walter Williams had to say about Obama’s race-based discipline mandate:
“Driven by Obama administration pressures, school districts revised their discipline procedures by cutting the number of black student suspensions.”
And chaos ensued.
Photo credit: Chris Zubak-Skees (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved
