Thursday, May 2, 2013

When STEM Goes Wrong: 16 Year Old High School Student Kiera Wilmot is Expelled For the Crime of Doing "Science While Black and Female"

I do not often get involved in the cause of the week email blog meme hustle. But, this story about a 16 year old high school student named Kiera Wilmot, who was expelled because she made an "explosive device" in a failed science experiment before school, is just too much fuckery mess to be accepted.

Please email, phone, write, and call Florida's Polk Country School Board to get this matter reversed.

Their general phone number is 863-534-0500. Please be polite, tell them why you are calling, and your concerns about what happened with young Ms. Wilmot. Because of privacy guidelines, they will not give you specific information. But, you can contact multiple people who are listed on the directory and share your thoughts about this case.

Bureaucracies and bureaucrats want to be left alone. If we all take five minutes out of our day to call the Polk County School Board, I would not be surprised if their decision to expel Kiera was quickly reversed.

The criminalization and disparate treatment of young people of color by America's public school system has been well-documented and researched. All things be equal, black and brown youth are more likely to be expelled, considered "disruptive," and disciplined by their school teachers. Children who happen to be non-white are also more likely to be placed in remedial education programs, or labeled as being in need of "remedial" training.

Moreover, public schools are increasingly more akin to prisons where human beings are warehoused and disciplined, than they are centers of learning, critical thinking, inquiry, and a place for the creation and mentoring of responsible active citizens.

Given the racism and classism incumbent in the prison industrial complex, it is no surprise that innocent black and brown youth are marginalized and stigmatized as "deviants" and "incorrigibles" by the public and private educational system. Zero tolerance policies in our schools that lock up kids for drawing pictures of guns in art class, using their fingers as pretend weapons, and being curious and adventurous like Kiera Wilmot, are ways for Power and the Elite class to discipline citizens by creating a passive and obedient class of drones.

Thus, if one numbs the mind and its capacity for curiosity and introspection, a pliable (and fearful) public is created. This behavior is then normalized, and our young people are socialized into it as the new normal.

I comparison to the treatment received by Kiera Wilmot, white kids are labeled as "precocious" and "high energy." Black and brown kids are called "disruptive" and "threatening."

Kiera Wilmot's story hit home for me.

When I was in elementary school, I made a volcano for my science class project. I used (then legal) smoke bombs, bits of sparklers, and other materials to mimic the reactions I read about in my research. My mother and father also donated money for a heat resistant clay that I purchased at the art supply store.

During the demonstration, my volcano worked as intended and designed. I had read about making scale models of one's experiments in order to make sure that they would function properly. This took time, energy, and resources. With a young person's confidence, I knew that I had the best project in class. My meticulous planning, love of blowing things up, and consulting with my friend who had a copy of The Anarchist Cookbook, ensured the outcome I desired.

The class was amazed and I was proud. The teacher, a good woman, but one prone to being wooed by the sycophancy and professional lobbying of the class pets--and their well connected and strategic parents--awarded them the prize for best project because my volcano was "dangerous."

Well, in my 6th grade mind, and holding in to the present, what use is a model volcano if it does not produce a bit of shock and awe among the audience? More than two decades later, I still have no answer for that question.

Growing up is hard enough for all kids. Even given all of the biases and unfairness experienced by young black and brown youth in our public schools, and girls in the sciences, that Kiera Wilmot would be expelled for showing the very type of intellectual curiosity which should be encouraged among our young people, is absurd.

Consider. White kids can go to school, blow the place up, and then be the subject of excuse-making and psychologizing; white youths can show all manner of inclinations to commit mass murder; some of them even make bombs and stockpile weapons in their parents' garage and basement. But, a black girl who makes smoke come out of a bottle at recess is expelled. Once more, and again, racial micro aggressions have an out-sized impact on the life chances of young black and brown young people.

My instincts tell me that Kiera Wilmot is a ghetto nerd. Let's support her through to a positive resolution of this whole damned affair.

24 comments:

CNu said...

STEM didn't go wrong. That punkass, "zero-tolerance" feminization of primary education is what went wrong here. There is a classic, corny documentary from 1957 about a kid whose family breaks up, he's under severe stress at home and at school, and in response to some bullying, he brings a gun to school and brandishes it. A male counselor intercedes, talks him down, and the only repurcusions are some additional counseling.

I've seen upwards of 75 safe school violators this year, kicked out for the remainder of the year, not a single one of whom would've been expelled for their offense back in the 70's. Schools have been reduced to hysterical, overreacting hot messes by the systematic removal of sensible male culture and administration, including corporal punishment.

chauncey devega said...

It is truly unbelievable. And a waste of time and resource. I do wonder if the bureaucracy wants to kick these kids out because it actually keeps some of the employed and makes paperwork...ironically.

CNu said...

99 times out of a 100, when a school kicks a student out, that school's district stands to lose the per capita annual revenue for that child which is predicated on attendance. In Florida, which has the most advanced virtual online schooling in the U.S., i.e., advanced in terms of its legal, policy and procedural standing, the district can provide the child with online instruction once they've kicked her out and retain her revenue as if she were a brick and mortar attendee.


In addition to the balmy weather, this is why there are so many tennis academies in FL, which only do tennis instruction and leave the academic instruction to an online schooling partner.

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chauncey devega said...

What a hustle. Thanks for the insight. So many ways to make money if you are juiced into the system.

SabrinaBee said...

Not only do they want to punish curiosity, they want to charge this child with adult felonies. Because she might have escaped "the system" if not otherwise. Let's just make a well behaved, (never been in trouble), intellectually curious young woman, who gets good grades, a felon and decrease her future options, the new Jim Crow. All to show that "actions have consequences" and for the right person, drastic ones.

Ed Dunn said...

Well my instincts tells me she was disturbed as hell to bring that to a school and thought that STEM argument was going to fly. I guess the kid who bring a gun to school and shoot in the air was testing scatter plotting, huh?

chauncey devega said...

Those crazy kids mixing baking soda and vinegar! Terrorists in training! Call DHS!

CNu said...

Once again, back-in-the-day, we had real sodium, real magnesium, real potassium permanganate, and the list goes on, and on, but those happened to be my favorites.


Various and sundry would constantly pull "pranks" or engage in some actual micro-terrorism with real chemical agents - and as long as nobody got seriously injured, there were no real consequences attached. If you got caught doing something malicious, you might have gotten a good thrashing from the principal or the football coach (dean of boys).



What happened to this child is patently disproportionate, entirely counterproductive, and flatly ridiculous.

Lisa Moscatiello said...

Chauncey, I feel waves of outrage on behalf of your 6th grade self. Remember this girl who got suspended for writing a POEM about Sandy Hook? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255205/Sandy-Hook-shooting-Girl-17-suspended-school-writing-poem-massacre.html

Ben Grim said...

Speaking of racism in the criminal injustice system: help a brother out; maybe save a life.


"Willie Manning is on death row in Mississippi, awaiting execution for the abduction and murder of two college students in 1992. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence, including the testimony of a jailhouse informant who had previously given a statement implicating another person. No physical evidence has ever linked Willie to the crime, and he has always maintained his innocence. He has been seeking DNA testing of crime scene evidence for years.
Incredibly, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that there is “overwhelming evidence of guilt,” so no DNA testing is needed. His execution has been set for May 7th. Eighteen men have been exonerated by DNA testing after being sentenced to death, including Kennedy Brewer of Mississippi. We are asking the Governor to stay the execution and order the DNA testing that will definitively prove Willie Manning’s guilt or innocence. Join us in calling on Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant to stay Willie’s execution and order DNA testing!"
Go Here.

chauncey devega said...

Is it that obvious?

chauncey devega said...

Will read and learn more. Thanks for sharing.

SabrinaBee said...

CD, in addition to calling the board of education, there is a petition on Change.org (the same place that bought attention to Trayvon Martin's case) requesting that the state's attorney drop the charges against Kiera.

http://www.change.org/petitions/state-attorney-jerry-hill-drop-charges-against-kiera-wilmot

Ben Grim said...

Thanks, man. I just discovered this outrage, myself. And you have the biggest forum I frequent. Can you believe this kind of shit is still happening? Well of course it is. There but for the grace of whatever gods may be... Racists still run this nation. Even in the age of Obama.

Ben Grim said...

Question. A little more off topic. Maybe some law enforcement types can tell me. Waddaya do when a cop approaches you in your own backyard with his gun drawn?

CNu said...

staymad, CDV ain't own a gun, and he's not a lawyer. So....,


Unless you tend to hang out heavy at the crib, such that you're packing whilst chilling in the backyard of the crib, you go for the sincerely submissive y'assuh, no'suh schtick and make certain you represent no conceivable threat to said po-po packing, which packing confers every practical tactical advantage to the po-po.



If, on the other hand, you happen to be packing heavily, i.e., so heavily that the cop's body armor confers no tactical advantage, then you might be in a position to question the muhfugguh's presence on your property.

Ben Grim said...

Thanks, dude. What do I do after filing complaint? Futile?

Ben Grim said...

This will not go unchallenged. A line was crossed. I'm waiting for the asshole's supervisor to report back.

Ben Grim said...

That was an eerie feeling. I did the things I normally do outside, walk around to perimeter, examining the house, yard and trees here and there. I might even look at a window. Now I am self-conscious. This is the kind of "suspicious" behavior that got me in trouble the other day. When they can effect you at a psychological level, you know the walls of the state are closing in. Brrrr. I feel a chill in the air.

CNu said...

If that was the case, then that's something you definitely need to go down and meet the watch commander for your area and have a positive candid discussion about the issue. If you get a bad feeling about that meeting, then you have a problem. If, on the other hand, the watch commander welcomes the concern and deals with you respectfully and with consideration, then you may have it resolved.



I made a point when we moved into my neighborhood of meeting one of my area's watch commanders. We wound up becoming very good friends and I haven't had an issue with the police in 16 years in my neighborhood.

Ben Grim said...

Thanks. Will do. Even if they reprimand the guy, I'm leaning towards a lawsuit right now. He has caused a bit of damage here.

anonymous said...

File a complaint with the department of justice. Typing while on a shaky bus.

Ben Grim said...

thanks. been sick the past 3weeks havent been able to follow thru.