Josh DOhan - Dismantling Structural Racism

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I…Can’t…Breathe. The words of Eric Garner, George Floyd and too many other people of color that have experienced the direct violence of police brutality. But these words are also in the minds of millions of children of color, children with disabilities and children growing up in the foster care system.  They can’t breathe because they can’t read. They can’t breathe because they see no path out of the chronic poverty and lack of opportunity that their families have endured for generations. They attend schools that fail to meet their basic educational and social emotional needs. For a child this is a torturous, brain numbing, hope killing experience. George Floyd’s murder was televised. But the gradual genocide of people of color through subtler forms of structural racism doesn’t fit as neatly onto YouTube or into a tweet.  As I have gotten older, I have come to understand that the Horatio Algier version of the American Dream is an insidious lie, at least for Black and Brown Americans.  Our systems allow just enough Black and Brown people to escape chronic poverty to empower the rest of society to say that those who do not, have no one to blame but themselves. But I have also learned that not all of the dream is false. Education really is a great equalizer. When schools do their job, children and youth thrive, even when other aspects of their lives are less than ideal. Not only are they better equipped for college and career, they are more resilient in handling all of the other challenges life will throw at them. The challenge for us then is to make sure that the schools serving communities of color are resourced, designed, and managed to assure that all children receive the quality education they need and deserve. Contrary to what some would have us believe, this is not a zero sum game. Everyone gains when all children are treated like they matter and allowed to grow into contributing members of the community.

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Here in 2020, humanity seems to be at a complicated cross roads. The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in us. Climate change is wreaking havoc on all of the continents, though some still deny it. And we lost the two Judges, Gants and Ginsberg that most symbolized the possibility of justice for all. On the other hand, more white Americans than at any time in history went on record that Black Lives Matter. But which way will the world tip? Will we all go up in flames like the redwoods in California? Or we will make the hard choices necessary to save the planet and our democracy? What we say matters little if we don’t act on those words.  Every day our partners at Youth Connect, Roxbury Youthworks, ROCA, UTEC, Citizens for juvenile Justice and More Than Words all act like Black Lives really do Matter.  

I am proud to say that your state public defenders, with your help, do too.  Because of your support, the lawyers of the EdLaw Project are educating and mobilizing the child welfare and juvenile defense bar to take their zealous advocacy into the schools for the 25,000 mostly Black and Brown children caught up in the court system and being tracked to prison, poverty and misery instead of colleges, self-sufficiency, and happiness. Those committed, trauma informed, culturally humble lawyers and social workers are determined to end the school to prison pipeline. Your generosity, great community partners, and skilled empathetic advocates are a winning formula. A winning formula for all of us, because the challenges that lie ahead will require all hands on deck.  We can’t afford to have so many of our most creative minds and loving hearts languishing in prisons and homeless shelters. If we don't act soon, none of us will be able to breathe.