As aforementioned, there has not been a lot of work already done in relation to this cause— educational justice is a huge issue in Memphis but tends to be on the back burner due to more imminent issues like gun violence and poverty, which harms our youth just as much. Still, it seems our non-profit sector and youth activists are leading the blossoming movement by starting to mobilize with long-term advocacy programs and civil disobedience. This past summer, college-age students organized sit-ins and marches around our board of education demanding no police in schools, no metal detectors, and an ultimate defunding of the police to put our tax dollars towards education. While I can not say there has been any quantitative change as a result, I do believe this work has been impactful by bringing more people’s attention to the issue. Because so many of our schools have this hyper-policing, people begin to believe it is normal— so did I until I came to college and realized nobody else had metal detectors and cops in their high schools. As well as bringing attention to the general public, The board of education must have taken notice of the organizing happening in their parking lot, which I believe is still impactful by letting them know that people are watching them and they cannot act without oversight from citizens anymore. 

One obstacle is the prevalence of gun violence in the city at the same time as these graduating classes that have been raised with school shootings being the norm. It is extremely easy for people to use the fallacious argument that because of these two factors, police are necessary in schools to protect the youth. However, it is a fact that most shootings happen at white, unpoliced schools, and when there have been security involved they have not helped the students. This is clearly fallacious because of the way that police in our schools perpetrate violence against our Black students who are clearly not a threat, but this can be hard to explain to people who are, rightfully so, afraid of their children being shot at school. Nevertheless, if you ask Black youth, and even some older people in the community, they will agree that police hold a higher risk of shooting their children than a random student, which is why this work must be led by those in the community. 

Response to protests to defund the police in Memphis this past summer