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SCSJ Digest - April 2021
SCSJ Digest - April 2021
Welcome to SCSJ Digest, the monthly newsletter of the Southern Coalition for
Social Justice! At the beginning of every month, we'll send you a roundup of the
top stories from the previous month, along with relevant updates, e.g., key
resources, upcoming events, and noteworthy projects. If you have any
recommendations on additional topics you want to read about, please let us
know. We hope you enjoy this newsletter!
IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from the Executive Directors
Updates
Partner Profile
Student Showcase
Events in April
Top Stories in March 2021
Spring has officially begun, and the new season ushers in a sense of hope and
resilience as more Americans continue to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Yet
with the promise of restored hope comes a sense of continued despair and
tragedy, as we all learned about the brazen shootings of 10 people in Boulder,
Colorado on March 22 and eight people—six of whom were women of Asian
descent—in Georgia on March 16. These senseless acts of hatred and violence
result when racism and misogyny intersect, and unfortunately, we have seen it
occur all too often. We offer our deepest sympathies to the families who lost
loved ones in recent weeks, and we stand even more resolute to fight for our
democratic values of equality, liberty, and justice.
In other news, we are pleased to announce that our 2019-20 Racial Equity
Report Cards (RERCs) are now available online! With the help of our partner
Red Hat, we've launched a more user-friendly, easily digestible overview of the
RERCs that viewers can access.
This year’s report cards primarily use 2019-2020 academic year data, which is
limited due to the impact COVID-19 had on schools and students. For example,
North Carolina did not release data on end-of-grade and end-of-course tests at
the end of the 2019-2020 school year, so this data is not available for inclusion in
this year’s report cards.
• Black students were 3.9 times more likely than white students to receive a
short-term suspension.
• Statewide, 29.9% of all juvenile referrals to the criminal justice system came
from schools, down significantly from 45.1% in the 2018-2019 RERC. However,
Black students remain disproportionately impacted, accounting for 49.0% of all
incidents being referred to the criminal justice system compared to 35.2% among
white students.
• While 54.5% of students in North Carolina schools are people of color, only
23% of teachers are. Having a diverse school staff is one way to help equalize
opportunities for students of color.
• Latinx students are the least likely to graduate from high school in four years,
with statewide graduation rates of 81.7%. In comparison, 90.8% of white
students graduate in four years.
Read more about the most-recent RERCs on our website, and take a look at the
image below.
Finally, we're taking a brief hiatus with our monthly newsletter and will be back
later this spring or early summer. Stay tuned!
In Solidarity,
“The changes of the past year have significantly increased attention on how safe
students are in the classroom. But as school districts work to ensure students are
physically safe in schools amid COVID-19 concerns, they also need to take
action to protect students from the harms of institutional inequity and racism,”
said Tyler Whittenberg, SCSJ's Chief Counsel for Justice System Reform. “As
indicated by the 2019-2020 RERCs, much work still needs to be done, including
reducing the use of exclusionary discipline and limiting the number of students
who enter the justice system via the classroom – two practices that
disproportionately and detrimentally impact students of color throughout North
Carolina.”
Partner Profile
Student Showcase
Our NC State University student and Creative Intern, Sarah Curry, continues to
create beautiful designs that we feature on our social media channels. Take a
look at some of her work below!
Events in April
Follow us on social media to stay up to date and register!
Thursday, 4/22: Ella Baker Panel
Featuring: Tyler Whittenberg
The Guardian
WECT News
Greenville News
WCNC
NC Policy Watch