Let's talk about something else.
Apr. 10th, 2007 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabby• Six-year-old Desre'e Watson was inducted earlier than usual into the American prison-industrial complex—for throwing a temper tantrum.
Link requires a subscription, so
The New York Times April 9, 2007
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09herbert.html
6-Year-Olds Under Arrest
By BOB HERBERT
When 6-year-old Desre'e Watson threw a tantrum in her kindergarten
class a couple of weeks ago she could not have known that the full
force of the law would be brought down on her and that she would be
carted off by the police as a felon.
But that's what happened in this small, backward city in central
Florida. According to the authorities, there were no other options.
"The student became violent," said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense
chief of the Avon Park police. "She was yelling, screaming - just
being uncontrollable. Defiant."
"But she was 6," I said.
The chief's reply came faster than a speeding bullet: "Do you think
this is the first 6-year-old we've arrested?"
The child's tantrum occurred on the morning of March 28 at the Avon
Elementary School. According to the police report, "Watson was upset
and crying and wailing and would not leave the classroom to let them
study, causing a disruption of the normal class activities."
After a few minutes, Desre'e was, in fact, taken to another room. She
was "isolated," the chief said. But she would not calm down. She
flailed away at the teachers who tried to control her. She pulled one
woman's hair. She was kicking.
I asked the chief if anyone had been hurt. "Yes," he said. At least
one woman reported "some redness."
After 20 minutes of this "uncontrollable" behavior, the police were
called in. At the sight of the two officers, Chief Mercurio said,
Desre'e "tried to take flight."
She went under a table. One of the police officers went after her.
Each time the officer tried to grab her to drag her out, Desre'e
would pull her legs away, the chief said.
Ultimately the child was no match for Avon Park's finest. The cops
pulled her from under the table and handcuffed her. The officers were
not fooling around. In the eyes of the cops the 6-year-old was a
criminal, and in Avon Park she would be treated like any other felon.
There was a problem, though. The handcuffs were not manufactured with
kindergarten kids in mind. The chief explained: "You can't handcuff
them on their wrists because their wrists are too small, so you have
to handcuff them up by their biceps."
As I sat listening to Chief Mercurio in a spotless, air-conditioned
conference room at the Avon Park police headquarters, I had the
feeling that I had somehow stumbled into the middle of a skit on
"Saturday Night Live." The chief seemed like the most reasonable of
men, but what was coming out of his mouth was madness.
He handed me a copy of the police report: black female. Six years
old. Thin build. Dark complexion.
Desre'e was put in the back of a patrol car and driven to the police
station. "Then," said Chief Mercurio, "she was transported to central
booking, which is the county jail."
The child was fingerprinted and a mug shot was taken. "Those are the
normal procedures for anyone who is arrested," the chief said.
Desre'e was charged with battery on a school official, which is a
felony, and two misdemeanors: disruption of a school function and
resisting a law enforcement officer. After a brief stay at the county
jail, she was released to the custody of her mother.
The arrest of this child, who should have been placed in the care of
competent, comforting professionals rather than being hauled off to
jail, is part of an outlandish trend of criminalizing very young
children that has spread to many school districts and law enforcement
agencies across the country.
A highly disproportionate number of those youngsters, like Desre'e,
are black. In Baltimore last month, the police arrested, handcuffed
and hauled away a 7-year-old black boy for allegedly riding a dirt
bike on the sidewalk. The youngster was released and the mayor,
Sheila Dixon, apologized for the incident, saying the arrest was
inappropriate.
Last spring a number of civil rights organizations collaborated on a
study of disciplinary practices in Florida schools and concluded that
many of them, "like many districts in other states, have turned away
from traditional education-based disciplinary methods - such as
counseling, after-school detention, or extra homework assignments -
and are looking to the legal system to handle even the most minor
transgressions."
Once you adopt the mindset that ordinary childhood misbehavior is
criminal behavior, it's easy to start seeing young children as
somehow monstrous.
"Believe me when I tell you," said Chief Mercurio, "a 6-year-old can
inflict injury to you just as much as any other person."
• In immigration news: How about reviving the Asian Exclusion Act? (Link via Pandagon.) The proposed legislation would take away the right of immigrants to sponsor their families.
• Just plain fucked up.
• Finally, can we have a moratorium on transphobia expressed using feminist language, particularly when it involves using single-sentence paragraphs in a very pretentious attempt to sound strident? (Good response here.)
Link requires a subscription, so
The New York Times April 9, 2007
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09herbert.html
6-Year-Olds Under Arrest
By BOB HERBERT
When 6-year-old Desre'e Watson threw a tantrum in her kindergarten
class a couple of weeks ago she could not have known that the full
force of the law would be brought down on her and that she would be
carted off by the police as a felon.
But that's what happened in this small, backward city in central
Florida. According to the authorities, there were no other options.
"The student became violent," said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense
chief of the Avon Park police. "She was yelling, screaming - just
being uncontrollable. Defiant."
"But she was 6," I said.
The chief's reply came faster than a speeding bullet: "Do you think
this is the first 6-year-old we've arrested?"
The child's tantrum occurred on the morning of March 28 at the Avon
Elementary School. According to the police report, "Watson was upset
and crying and wailing and would not leave the classroom to let them
study, causing a disruption of the normal class activities."
After a few minutes, Desre'e was, in fact, taken to another room. She
was "isolated," the chief said. But she would not calm down. She
flailed away at the teachers who tried to control her. She pulled one
woman's hair. She was kicking.
I asked the chief if anyone had been hurt. "Yes," he said. At least
one woman reported "some redness."
After 20 minutes of this "uncontrollable" behavior, the police were
called in. At the sight of the two officers, Chief Mercurio said,
Desre'e "tried to take flight."
She went under a table. One of the police officers went after her.
Each time the officer tried to grab her to drag her out, Desre'e
would pull her legs away, the chief said.
Ultimately the child was no match for Avon Park's finest. The cops
pulled her from under the table and handcuffed her. The officers were
not fooling around. In the eyes of the cops the 6-year-old was a
criminal, and in Avon Park she would be treated like any other felon.
There was a problem, though. The handcuffs were not manufactured with
kindergarten kids in mind. The chief explained: "You can't handcuff
them on their wrists because their wrists are too small, so you have
to handcuff them up by their biceps."
As I sat listening to Chief Mercurio in a spotless, air-conditioned
conference room at the Avon Park police headquarters, I had the
feeling that I had somehow stumbled into the middle of a skit on
"Saturday Night Live." The chief seemed like the most reasonable of
men, but what was coming out of his mouth was madness.
He handed me a copy of the police report: black female. Six years
old. Thin build. Dark complexion.
Desre'e was put in the back of a patrol car and driven to the police
station. "Then," said Chief Mercurio, "she was transported to central
booking, which is the county jail."
The child was fingerprinted and a mug shot was taken. "Those are the
normal procedures for anyone who is arrested," the chief said.
Desre'e was charged with battery on a school official, which is a
felony, and two misdemeanors: disruption of a school function and
resisting a law enforcement officer. After a brief stay at the county
jail, she was released to the custody of her mother.
The arrest of this child, who should have been placed in the care of
competent, comforting professionals rather than being hauled off to
jail, is part of an outlandish trend of criminalizing very young
children that has spread to many school districts and law enforcement
agencies across the country.
A highly disproportionate number of those youngsters, like Desre'e,
are black. In Baltimore last month, the police arrested, handcuffed
and hauled away a 7-year-old black boy for allegedly riding a dirt
bike on the sidewalk. The youngster was released and the mayor,
Sheila Dixon, apologized for the incident, saying the arrest was
inappropriate.
Last spring a number of civil rights organizations collaborated on a
study of disciplinary practices in Florida schools and concluded that
many of them, "like many districts in other states, have turned away
from traditional education-based disciplinary methods - such as
counseling, after-school detention, or extra homework assignments -
and are looking to the legal system to handle even the most minor
transgressions."
Once you adopt the mindset that ordinary childhood misbehavior is
criminal behavior, it's easy to start seeing young children as
somehow monstrous.
"Believe me when I tell you," said Chief Mercurio, "a 6-year-old can
inflict injury to you just as much as any other person."
• In immigration news: How about reviving the Asian Exclusion Act? (Link via Pandagon.) The proposed legislation would take away the right of immigrants to sponsor their families.
• Just plain fucked up.
• Finally, can we have a moratorium on transphobia expressed using feminist language, particularly when it involves using single-sentence paragraphs in a very pretentious attempt to sound strident? (Good response here.)
