In the decade since Black Lives Matter, a spotlight has shined on inequity in education outcomes and, in particular, how exclusionary discipline disproportionately affects Black children.

Before he was suspended, Zaire Byrd was thriving. He acted in school plays, played on the football team and trained with other athletes. He had never been suspended before — he’d never even received detention.

But when Byrd got involved in a fight after school one day, none of that seemed to matter to administrators. Byrd said he was defending himself and two friends after three other students threatened to rob them. Administrators at Tri-Cities High School in Georgia called the altercation a “group fight” — an automatic 10-day suspension. After a disciplinary hearing, they sent him to an alternative school.

The experience nearly derailed his education.

“The last four years were a lot for me, from online school to getting suspended,” said Byrd, who started high school remotely during the pandemic. “I could have learned more, but between all that and changing schools, it was hard.”

  • @Cosmonauticus
    -8•15 days ago

    White ppl collectively don’t like or want black ppl in the US. Convince me otherwise

    • AmidFuror
      10•15 days ago

      racism /rā′sĭz″əm/

      noun

      • The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
      • Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
      • The belief that each race has distinct and intrinsic attributes.
    • @[email protected]
      8•15 days ago

      You’re absolutely correct. There is a reason democrats have not won the majority of the white vote in national elections since 1964. That year, a Democrat introduced the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it passed through both houses along party lines, and was signed into law by LBJ (D). They have never forgiven the democratic party for this.