On Thursday’s broadcast of “MSNBC Prime,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) argued that “when there are more police in schools, because of the explicit and implicit racism that still exists within law enforcement that we don’t deal with consistently, black and brown kids are going to continue to suffer and we’re going to continue to support the school-to-prison pipeline.” And that solutions like banning assault rifles should be pursued.
Bowman stated, “I can talk about, when I was a dean of students before becoming a principal, and the police consistently targeted my students. Because of their ‘misbehavior.’ But they target them aggressively, more aggressively because they were black or brown. And I, myself, had to stand toe-to-toe, in between my students and police to stop police from arresting my students. And unfortunately, when there are more police in schools, because of the explicit and implicit racism that still exists within law enforcement that we don’t deal with consistently, black and brown kids are going to continue to suffer and we’re going to continue to support the school-to-prison pipeline. There are many other answers that need to be pursued here: Ban on assault rifles, more mental health support for kids, and more support for teachers overall, and preparedness in terms of recognizing the red flags that are happening in our schools. But not more officers and more guns, Republicans are wrong on this once again.”
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