By Richard Cohen
President, Southern Poverty Law Center
We’ve just won a huge court victory in our fight to stop the shocking abuse of children by police officers who patrol the hallways in public schools.
Our clients were among hundreds of Birmingham, Alabama, students doused in the face with a painful combination of tear gas and pepper spray.
They hadn’t committed any crime. They were just being kids.
Wednesday, a federal judge ruled in our case that police violated the constitutional rights of children by spraying them for “normal adolescent behavior” – like “backtalking” and “challenging authority.”
What’s more, the police illegally failed to ensure the children were decontaminated afterward, leaving them to suffer in pain.
One of our clients was a girl in the 10th grade who was simply walking to class in tears after a boy made inappropriate remarks.
After being told by an officer to “calm down,” she was sprayed in the face and handcuffed. She was five months pregnant.
Another was sprayed for cursing teachers, then handcuffed and driven to court. Her eyes were swollen for three days, and welts on her faced lasted over a week. She even suffered hair loss and had to wear a wig to school.
It’s mind-boggling that anyone in the police department – much less the school system – could think this is the way children should be treated. How could this go unchecked?
The truth is, children are being pushed needlessly into the justice system in schools across the Deep South, particularly in heavily African-American school districts like Birmingham. It’s part of a broader pattern of overzealous policing that targets minority communities and criminalizes children.
Is it any wonder that so many minority children in our country grow up not trusting the police?
It’s clear that no one else was standing up for the vulnerable schoolchildren and their families in Birmingham. So thank you for standing by our side – and theirs.
The SPLC is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society