Arrested Development: Paper Plays Dumb on Why Schools Call Police on Kids

By Selwyn Duke

Two weeks ago, The New American reported on a New York Times essay titled “How Britain’s Crackdown on Gangs Disproportionately Targets Young Black Men” that didn’t even attempt to explain “how.” Instead, the paper provided a case study in media propaganda, presenting only human-interest stories designed to manipulate emotions. Now USA Today has followed suit. Asking in a headline, “Why do kids as young as 5 or 6 still get arrested at schools?” you guessed it — the paper never tried explaining why. (Well, at least the media still have the “who, what, where, and when” of journalism.)

Predictably, USA Today also joined the Times in playing the race card, claiming that punishments are “often applied unfairly to Black children.” It was not reported whether this disparate treatment could have anything at all to do with disparate behavior.

Now, many surely agree (I’m one of them) that it’s ridiculous that our society has reached a point where cops are sometimes summoned to deal with young grade-schoolers. But the reason “why” this happens, left unmentioned in USA Today’s 7,000-word(!) essay, should be stated right off the bat: It’s the same reason why parents now sometimes call the police on their young kids.

Read the rest here.