Twitters Users

@RJCouncil Promotes restorative justice (discipline emphasizing dialogue, healing and learning) as an alternative to traditionally punitive approaches. Based in the UK, this account offers an international perspective on an important issue, showing that the US and UK face some similar issues.

@MrMilitantNegro Frequently tweets regarding racism, injustice, police violence and protests. This account is helpful to follow to gain awareness of larger, societal issues surrounding school discipline, the school-to-prison pipeline and urban education in general.

 @TheJLV A New York City-based teacher, writer and activist. He explores student empowerment, racism, urban policy and the teaching profession as a way to work for social change. As a male teacher of color, he also provides insights into a field often dominated by white women.

@arneduncan The current Secretary of Education of the United States. Regardless of whether you agree with his politics, knowing what he’s talking about, or isn’t talking about, is important for anyone with an interest in American education policy.

@ChildDefender Though not grassroots, this organization works to promote the welfare of all children, particularly exploring issues that negatively affect non-white children in the education system.

@AntiRecidivism An organization aimed at changing the justice system, which is a key part of criminalization and the school-to-prison pipeline.

@SchoolSafety101 Provides information about student-centric policies aimed at making children safe, productive and happy. It also addresses important discipline-related issues such as bullying and the proper role of teachers.

Twitter Hashtags

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23criminalizingchildren&src=tyah #criminalizingchildren highlights instances of police arresting young protesters (a particularly important issue, as protests are a way to challenge systemic racism) as well as racially motivated targeting of children by the government.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23edchat&src=tyah #edchat is an important hashtag for education in general, but the centrality of race, discrimination and criminalization to education, topics related to this site’s focus come up frequently.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23restorativejustice&src=tyah #restorativejustice explores one important way to address criminalization: restorative justice, which entails bringing offenders and victims into dialogue and focusing on ways to heal and move forward, rather than punish. This form of discipline is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to arrests, in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and expulsions.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23PoliceBrutality&src=tyah #policebrutality shares information on excessive uses of force by police officers against civilians. Given recent events in Ferguson and New York City, this topic has been receiving high levels of attention in past weeks, but the underlying issues have been around decades if not centuries.