Teen Summit tackles important issues for African American youth

February 18, 2019

Kirby Williamson,

WARNER ROBINS, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – “Seventy percent of all in-school arrests are black or brown kids.” That’s what Dr. Tiffany Pogue said at the Teen Summit on Saturday afternoon.

The summit had music, gift bags, and a game truck to keep the youth engaged. The event also tackled some serious issues that impact African American kids.

The Teen Summit, sponsored by Closing the Gap, focused on education and the prison industrial complex pipeline. The pipeline begins with education.

Pogue says that black kids are three times more likely to be sent home from public school. She says the public school system doesn’t understand their culture.

Pogue says that black kids learn differently from other races. When miscommunication happens, the students act out.

Pogue says many schools have a zero-tolerance policy for misbehavior.

“A zero-tolerance policy attributes to the prison pipeline. Some schools have zero-tolerance policies about profanity. How many teens use profanity? That’s an automatic in-school-suspension,” Pogue says.

She says that nothing happens during in-school-suspension (ISS). The teacher may send busy work, but the student misses instructional time. That contributes to prison beds later in life.

Pogue says that for-profit prisons bring jobs to a city. ISS is designed to ready students for prison-work life.

Yolanda Thomas, owner of Lyfe Lessons.

Lyfe Lessons owner Yolanda Thomas says that she sent her son to private school when she learned about the prison pipeline theory.

“After transferring my son from public to private school, he started speaking Latin. We also learned he was a math genius. In public school, he was in ISS all the time. I had to visit the school every day,” Thomas says.

Clinical therapist Darius Carswell spoke with the kids alone. He sent the adults away so he could speak candidly with the teenagers.

The adults moved to another room to discuss solutions.

What are some solutions?

Work on improving literacy
- Pogue says that kindergarten through 3rd grade you learn to read, and 4th grade and beyond you read to learn. So if you don’t have strong literacy by the 3rd grade, odds are you’ll be behind. Therefore, 4th grade scores are important.
Find an adult in school to talk to
- Pogue says the highest number of people being suspended for school violence is black girls. When asked about options other than violence, the girls said they didn’t have any. She says that kids should find an adult with whom they can vent. It can be a teacher, administrator, or custodian.
Get involved in meetings
- Dr. Pogue suggests that the parents start visiting board and parent-teacher meetings.