Racism and Cupidity Still at Work — a Second African-American Mother Arrested for Trying to Advance Her Child’s Education

19 April 2011

Detecting law enforcement’s unequal focus is often the key to understanding how racism continues unseen, except by the people it directly affects

A second African-American mother has been arrested for attempting to advance her children’s chance of educational success. Both of these stories are windows into the racist/socio-economic bigotry that marks the United States, where it is concealed under the unequally distributed application of law.

The first incident involved Kelley Williams-Bolar. The second, Tonya McDowell.

John Nickerson reported that:

Tonya McDowell, 33, whose last known address was 66 Priscilla St., Bridgeport, was charged Thursday with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny for allegedly stealing $15,686 from Norwalk schools.

McDowell's babysitter, Ana Rebecca Marques, was also evicted from her Roodner Court public housing apartment for providing documents to enroll the child at Brookside Elementary School.

The police investigation into the residency began in January after Norwalk Housing Authority attorney Donna Lattarulo filed a complaint alleging McDowell registered her son at Brookside, but actually lived in an apartment on Priscilla Street in Bridgeport.

Norwalk Board of Education Chairman Jack Chiaramonte expressed surprise at McDowell's arrest and the investigation that led to it.

"I don't get that at all . . . . Usually when they find a kid out of district, they send him back. I have never heard of people being arrested for it, but I am not sure of the law. For my understanding, whenever we find someone from another district we send them back."

Professor Boyce Watkins had this to say about Ms. McDowell, who appears to have been mostly homeless at the time of her arrest:

I’m still doing my research on Norwalk, CT, but it appears that the city is relatively affluent, with an average income of over $70,000 (according to 2007 Census data).

Simple logic implies that whatever resources were saved from him not being enrolled in his home district (whatever that might be) could be applied to the secondary district. So putting parents in jail for sending their kids to schools outside their district is simply a legalized way of fencing out those that the community deems to be undesirable.

The other interesting thing about this case is that one has to wonder exactly how it can be argued that a person without a home is outside their county of residence.

Beating up on a homeless woman who is doing all she can to get her child into school is a shameful microcosm of the kind of greed and selfishness our country has chosen to embrace.

There was once a time when slaves were arrested for trying to learn how to read, and now poor mothers are being arrested for trying to send their children to the school of their choice.

“So what’s the problem, Pete?”

Speaking as an ex-cop and ex-police supervisor, I know that what law enforcement chooses to focus on determines outcomes. Law enforcement in the United States displays pronounced racial and socio-economic biases.

It is no accident that these arrested moms are African-American and poor.

Were we to dig, we would almost certainly find that Norwalk Board of Education Chairman Jack Chiaramonte is correct — had the mothers been white, or better financially-endowed, no arrests would have been made.

The underlying “all-American” message to take from these instances of disparate enforcement?

These instances of disparate enforcement clearly shout, “If you are African American and/or poor, don’t pollute our school districts.”

The moral?

The Bigotry Message stains us as an American people.

Not because we have budget deficits to worry about. But because we allow the excuse provided by limited budgets to implement our bigotries.

PeteFree.com

Racism and Cupidity Still at Work — a Second African-American Mother Arrested for Trying to Advance Her Child’s Education