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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2004Students fight closingsOakland, Cal.--On March 16, before the Oakland City Council was to hold hearings on the closures of five schools, hundreds of people rallied to support the many students from the affected schools. Targeted are small alternative schools catering largely to African American youth, trying to keep engaged in their own education. In contrast to the supposed saving of $1.2 million from school closures, Oakland is proposing to spend $150 million to build a larger juvenile prison. The same council session also passed a "nuisance" eviction ordinance, allowing landlords to evict tenants on the suspicion of drug involvement. Young people came out to make a statement, whether through poetry or hip-hop. The attitude that every problem is a policing problem with little concern over the development of youth as human beings is at odds with the desire of the Black and minority youth in poor areas to take control of their own lives. --Supporter |
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