Gina Womack's blog

Let Kids Be Kids!

Gina Womack — Fri, 01 May 2015 16:18:55 +0000

Criminalization and Justice

Education and Human Development

Race and Racial Justice

How young is too young for a child to be suspended from school? According to the state of Louisiana, which

Places:

new orleans

Do Black Lives Matter To Our Schools?

Gina Womack — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 15:13:25 +0000

Criminalization and Justice

Education and Human Development

Race and Racial Justice

All children have the right to an education. However, harsh disciplinary practices regularly deprive students of that right through the use of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions—which often serve to feed students into the school-to-prison pipeline. Given the racial disparities in incarceration here in Louisiana, it should come as no surprise to read the recent
Photo courtesy of FFLIC.

Recently there have been rallies demanding a mayoral or gubernatorial response to crime in New Orleans. Who are the perpetrators of these crimes? Too often it’s the children and young adults who were failed by us, failed by their schools, suspended, expelled, pushed out, and forgotten. We must create the community we want to live in, and that means caring for everybody, regardless of the color of their skin, their family, or their background. What message does it send when we have given over 1,000 kindergarteners out-of-school suspensions in a single year? What message does it send when we have given up on them before they have even reached the first grade?

Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), has been fighting to bring this issue to the forefront for years. We have long pushed the Governor to protect our children, and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to report their findings, follow federal guidelines, eliminate mandatory suspensions and expulsions, and remove the language of “willful disobedience” from the law. Schools in Louisiana are mandated to use Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports and we are pushing to have training instituted for all teachers and school administrators. We are honored to partner in this struggle with a collection of other organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights (LCCR), the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) and the National Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) and others, whose work has been invaluable in revealing the depth of disciplinary inequality here in Louisiana because it takes a village to support our children.

FFLIC also wants to center parents in discipline discussions in their children’s schools. Parents play a vital role in educating their children and, too often, they are left uninformed and perceived as a problem. How can we aim to educate children without also bringing in their families and engaging the whole community? When we begin to see our “troubled” students, who are so often our Black students, and our “troubled” families, as an equally important part of our education system, and of our society—then we can meaningfully disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline and create a safer and more rigorous academic environment for everyone.

Tags:

school to prison pipeline

Places:

new orleans

"Problem Children" or Problem Legislators?

Gina Womack — Thu, 08 May 2014 14:17:11 +0000

Criminalization and Justice

Education and Human Development

Organizing and Engagement

On April 24th, dozens of parents, students, and community advocates from across the state rallied on the steps of the State Capitol in support of safe and supportive schools for all Louisiana students, and in opposition to Senate Bill 652. The draconian bill would further criminalize our children in a number of alarming ways (outlined below) that are more about expanding the “school to prison pipeline" than promoting safety. Family members urged State Senator Elbert Guillory, the bill's author and Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2015, to come and speak to the group to explain why he felt SB 652 was necessary, considering that teachers are already permitted to call law enforcement as needed to protect their students and themselves in the event of imminent danger.

Photo: Senator Guillory addressing parents, students and advocates on April 24th. Courtesy of Gina Womack.

While explaining his logic to the many parents, students and other advocates Senator Guillory told us that he understands our concerns as a parent himself who raised a “problem child”. It became abundantly clear why such a punitive and illogical remedy would make sense to someone who thinks of his own child as a problem. In 2010,
Tags:

legislation

Places:

Louisiana

Talking to my son about Troy Davis

Gina Womack — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:37:36 +0000

Tonight on my way home, I told my 13 year-old son that Troy Davis was put to death by the State of Georgia. He immediately broke into tears. I was taken aback by his reaction. We were just coming from his school football game where he had an awesome tackle and we should have been focusing and having a joyous discussion about that. But he asked me how my day went and when he was studying the constitution in school we had discussed Troy Davis and the right to a fair trial, so I thought I would let him know.

This is really a sad day for Troy Davis’s family, for all who are caught up in the INJUST justice system and for all children who are being taught about our constitution, especially children of color who need to learn that the constitution may work for some but not for everyone. As an African American male, he needs to know that not only is he 6 times more likely to be incarcerated than his white friends but also 3 times more likely to be executed.

This has left my son questioning how the United States would execute anyone, particularly someone who might be innocent like Troy Davis – From the mouth of babes. One might wonder how this could ever happen once, but it is a sad and awful truth that this occurs too many times. This isn’t something he will learn in his history class.

Reflecting on our criminal justice system as a whole, it’s really difficult to know how to move forward especially after Justice Scalia’s statement: "there is nothing unconstitutional about executing the innocent” and in comparing two very similar situations where a black man is executed and a white man is given clemency, as in the

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Gina B. Womack is the executive director and co-founder of ). Gina is also a 2011 Alston Bannerman National Fellow.

Tags:

criminal justice system

troy davis

juvenile justice

A Failing System Reminiscent of Tallulah

Gina Womack — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:40:20 +0000

Efforts to reform Louisiana’s juvenile justice system are failing, according to a new report based on the testimonies of families whose children are incarcerated in that system.   

), we found that several standards successfully implemented in the Missouri Model (developed by the Missouri Services Youth Institute) are not being effectively implemented in Louisiana, including rehabilitative therapy, placement of low-risk youth, facility staff and administration, youth transitions to productive citizenship, education, and physical facilities.

FFLIC is saddened by the findings in the report and is disappointed these constant shortcomings by the Office of Juvenile Justice force organizations such as FFLIC to exist.

In the 10 years we have existed, we’ve gotten a law passed, the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2003 (ACT 1225) — a law that is largely being ignored. ACT 1225, required Louisiana to close the notorious Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth and move our system from a correctional model to one that would provide rehabilitative treatment to our youth.

The Louisiana juvenile justice system does not seem to be rehabilitating many youth. Instead, these youth are being housed and released without any significant change to their behavior and perceptions. Sometimes due to the mistreatment and the violence they have suffered while locked up, the youth become hardened and jeopardize themselves and their community.

Children are still being abused and neglected within a system that vows to care for them. The fate of our children is in the hands of people who continue to treat our children with disregard and their families with disrespect.

Gina B. Womack is the executive director and co-founder of ). Gina is also a 2011 Alston Bannerman National Fellow.

Tags:

Louisiana

Law and Policy

criminal justice system

prison industrial complex

incarceration

juvenile justice

children

family and friends of louisiana's incarcerated children