Defunding School Police Doesn’t Go Far Enough

It is increasingly clear to all Americans what Black communities have known for generations: Systemic racism not only persists throughout our institutions, laws, and policies, but it negatively impacts physical, psychological, and emotional health. Less evident, however, is that the over-policing and systemic racism we see playing out in the streets, has occurred for decades in our public school system—from a 6-year-old being handcuffed and arrested for a tantrum to a 12-year-old being suspended for sharing an inhaler with an asthmatic friend who could not breathe.