One of my students got arrested. Based on what they're alleging he did, there's a good chance he won't be coming back any time soon. It's pretty awful, and I'm left feeling like he's one of the casualties of the ongoing assault on mental health and human services-this is not to say that I don't think people have responsibility for their actions. It is to say that I think all people have a breaking point, and American society is structured to push people like my students to cross that breaking point young, quickly, and often. And then to blame them, so that no one takes too close a look at the fact that there are people behind the crime stats. It's easy to write off people who are arrested for crimes as bad people when you don't know them or anyone like them, and when you have no idea what might pressure them to act as they did. I was like that, before my current job, so I suppose I can't blame anyone else for thinking that way. But this student-the one who got arrested-is someone I really like. I'm sad that he is where he is, and I'm sad about his life circumstances and how far they pushed him. I'm angry that this whole process of pushing black males until they end up in jail is so routine in this country that everyone thinks it's normal. People talk a lot about broken homes and families, but rarely do they talk about the role the state plays in creating them. There are people behind those stats, y'all. One of them is my student, who is a poet and the biggest fan of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight you're likely to find anywhere.
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I'm a Jewish progressive who is really angry about racism and the uses and misuses of American history. I have a Ph.D and am currently in a Masters program for Library Science. I read a lot.
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