| Through documenting the experiences of one young African American Male and a comprehensive review of the literature, this study examines the plight of young Black men who become academically disengaged from a failed public education system and are inadvertently tracked in to what is know as the School-to-Prison-Pipeline. The study documents the relationship between institutional racism, failed disciplinary and legislative policies such as "Zero Tolerance" and, the No Child Left Behind in creating hostile learning environments that disproportionally affect African American youth and contribute to their failure to graduate from school. The study explores how these practices have created a generation of "disconnected" African American youth who, without adequate an education, are susceptible to involvement in the criminal justice system and its policy of mass incarceration---especially of people of color. The study also includes the production of a video public service announcement and excerpts from the interviews of the primary subject in the study. |
