NATIONAL PACIFIC ISLANDER EDUCATION NETWORK
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT, Board of Directors
The National Pacific Islander Education Network (NPIEN) Board affirms that Black Lives Matter, and stands united in ensuring that Black Americans are treated with dignity, respect, equality, and empathy, and supports equal educational opportunities for all students, with an important lens on Black students and other students of color, lower socioeconomic students and others in need of academic equity focus.
Violence and hate against African Americans
- The percentage of African American people killed by police is higher, compared to the total number of African American and White people in the United States. The hate and overall political climate in the US is creating an even larger divide. In 2020, no American should feel scared to be who they were born to be. As an organization representing a minority group in the United States, the Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, NPIEN will use its voice to advocate for African Americans in their continued quest for equality.
- Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders and African Americans share many common interests such as athletics, music, the arts, and as noted below, are similar in many academic areas. Understanding culture will help communities of color to thrive academically. We are in a position to help both communities, and as we speak out for the African American community, we will also bring attention to our own and we can grow together. We support the call for the teaching of Ethnic Studies in all schools.
- No community should ever be singled out in an unfair and inhumane manner, and we should promote the Positive Behaviors Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework, which helps adults to overcome their implicit biases, create a school climate of positivity recognition, and acceptance, and allows them to support and understand all students.
Racial equity and Inclusion in Education
- Racial equity and inclusion in education continues to be an issue that needs to be solved. Each year, the data of students suspended and expelled continues to show that African American males are suspended/expelled the most and have high rates of chronic absenteeism. We, as educators, must do our part to improve our educational climate, by addressing the fundamental needs of students, and ensure those are being met, both in school and at home. Young boys in the US are often taught to be tough, not to cry and generally not to show their emotions. Because of this, boys/young men can react more aggressively than girls/young women. This is especially true in the African American community. Instead of understanding that, unfortunately, many educators take it personally and then react to a student’s frustration with matched frustration. This results in referrals and disciplinary action at a higher rate.
- With respect to inclusion, many schools can stand to improve when it comes to Special Education inclusion. Oftentimes, our Special Education students and their families do not feel as connected to their school and will not participate in school-wide events as a result. We must improve in involving our Special Education students in General Education activities and events. This includes taking extra steps to ensure our Special Education families are aware of events/activities, feel that they are welcome, and ensure the events are accessible.
- The California School Dashboard https://www.caschooldashboard.org/ is the State’s accountability measure. In reviewing how Pacific Islanders students and African American students compare on the California School Dashboard (with a Red rating meaning an area of low performance, and a Green or Blue rating meaning an area of high performance), there are many similarities. In California, the County Offices of Education are charged by the State of California to develop an action plan for all districts who are in Differentiated Assistance due to several Red areas. We must develop culturally significant practices to support all children of color and include community based organizations in the development of action plans.
• Chronic Absenteeism: Red - African American, Orange - Pacific Islander
• Graduation Rate: Yellow - African American, Green - Pacific Islander
• Suspension Rate: Orange - African American, Yellow - Pacific Islander
• English Language Arts: Orange - Pacific Islander, Yellow - African American
• Math: Orange - African American and Pacific Islander
• College to Career: Orange - Pacific Islander, Yellow - African American
- The role of law enforcement in working with students
- Law enforcement can be very helpful in schools. However, if we are disproportionately referring African American/Latino students, which results in law enforcement attention, we are encouraging the school-to-prison pipeline and not doing our part to mitigate it. Because of constantly reduced budgets, our schools often lack Social and Emotional (SEL) support, and many schools do not have counselors and social workers assigned to specific sites, and if they do, it is not always full time. Our students that have experienced trauma need support and if we were better able to provide this, we could potentially reduce the need for law enforcement interactions with our students. If we continue to fund officers at our schools, we must ensure that training is being done to foster relationships between our students and law enforcement and not just use our law enforcement officials for discipline.
- There is a way that seems to result in beneficial relationships between students and Law Enforcement officials, and that is when they take on the role of a trusted adult that the students can check-in with. While they are not trained to be counselors, they can check-in with our most vulnerable students to make sure they are doing well and to show that they are part of the student's support system. This method leans on the model of community policing.
- Some districts have comprehensive training programs for school police/school resource officers and are extremely strict about hiring those who are a good fit with students and staff. We believe schools with a need for School Resource Officers should adhere to strict hiring, training, and behavioral standards.
- However, we recognize that some school staff misuse school police and cast them into an adversarial role with students. We need updated practices and policies surrounding School Police presence to help rectify this problem and protect our most vulnerable students.
- When it comes to School Police/School Resource Officers, strict hiring, appropriate training and consistent protocols for student interactions is crucial. It's also important that staff do not place these Law Enforcement Officers in a role that causes an adversarial relationship with students. If all of the above is in place, the officer then becomes a part of the students' village, which is beneficial for not just the students, but the greater school community.
Social justice in Education and how students can participate
- Social justice in education is extremely important. We must see all of our students as valuable members of our classroom and community. We must also know who our students are and where they come from. We have to check our own biases and work towards overcoming them. By doing these things, we can encourage conversations in the classroom where students feel comfortable enough to question things, which allows us all to be a true part of our classroom community and not just the “sage on the stage.” Once we are able to have open dialogue with our students, our students can begin to feel comfortable with having their voices heard in the broader school community and local communities to advocate and demand equity. We have to give our youth credit: they are intelligent, passionate and can be true change agents, if we allow them to be.
- We support developing a trainer-of-trainer model where students can train their peers on how to conduct peaceful protests and engage in civil dialogue, with the support of school staff and mentors.
Supporting students and families with empathy
- To support our students and families with empathy, we must do the work. We have to be committed and not just try to “walk in their shoes.” If we take the time to get to know our students and families and give them the space to share, we will be better equipped to empathize with their plight. This will also help us to help our students to empathize with one another.
- We support providing training for the school community (students, staff, teachers, parents) on compassionate leadership, and develop programs to support one another in difficult times thorough mindfulness and empathy training.
DATA SOURCES
- According to the Census, there are 236,173,020 white people in the US and 41,617,764 black people in the US.
- According to Statistia ( 370 white people were killed by police in 2019 and 215 in 2020. 235 black people were killed by police in 2019 and 111 in 2020. To look at that by percentages, 0.00015666% of white people were killed by police in 2019 and 0.00009103 in 2020. 0.00056466% of blacks were killed by police in 2019 and 0.00026671% in 2020.
- The Washington Post has been following the data of people shot by police and provides the following quote: “Although half of the people shot and killed by police are white, black Americans are shot at a disproportionate rate. They account for less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of white Americans. Hispanic Americans are also killed by police at a disproportionate rate.”
- The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America breaks down the data of risk of being killed by police force and states that “about 1 in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police.”
- The California Dashboard 2019The California Dashboard 2019 data revealed: the only race in the red (lowest scoring band color) were African Americans at 20.6%. The next race is in the higher performance band. The only two races scoring in the orange (second lowest scoring band color) for suspensions were African Americans and American Indians with African Americans having the highest percentage of suspensions at 8.8% over American Indians at 7.2%.
- The National Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics provides the following: "A higher percentage of Black students (13.7%) than of students from any other racial/ethnic group received an out-of-school suspension, followed by 6.7% of American Indian/Alaska Native students."