School violence

On, Tuesday April 20th around 2pm, Philadelphia Student Union conducted a 3-minute action. In only 180 seconds, we showed the power and leadership that young people have when we are organized for non-violence.

This month's show features: Youth artists & organizers create an album to tackle the drop-out crisis; Kansas City students see half of their public schools shut down; Highlights from PSU's official launch of the Campaign for Non-violent schools; West Philadelphia High students put forward their hopes & concerns for the Rennaissance 'turnaround' of their school; Plus music & other education news.

Originally posted at Young Philly Politics:

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I updated this post to include the finding that a charge that Asian students had beaten up an African American student the day before was based on hearsay. See below.

When I first started high school, I didn’t have any school pride.  After I joined Philadelphia Student Union (PSU), I started standing up for my school.  I want to make Sayre the best it can be and a place where every student wants to come to high school.

On Monday, January 15th, the amazing young leaders at the Philadelphia Student Union held a "Call to Witness and Action" to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday. The event called for an end to all forms of school violence. The messaging that the students developed for the event aimed to broaden our understanding of violence. The students explained that structural violence, produced by underfunding our public schools, leads to all sorts of negative outcomes, from high drop out rates, to low levels of college access, and a school-to-prison pipeline. In order to develop this deep understanding of violence, which even college students struggle to develop, PSU members came together for hours to probe the system in which their schools exist, developing a deeper analysis of the situation. Amazing, right?