None of the Above Dismantling the school to prison pipeline

Please join Hidden Voices, Duke Center for Civic Engagement, the Program in Education, Narratives of Development, and Information Sciences & Information Studies for a special works-in-progress preview of None of the Above: Dismantling the school to prison pipeline.

April 22, 6:30 – 8 pm at the Nasher Museum. 2001 Campus Drive, Durham, NC 27705. Free and open to the public.

This is really about terrorism against young people, an assault on their minds, bodies, and spirits. It’s absolutely cruel, particularly for the kids that are most vulnerable to begin with. They are kicked out with the message that we don’t care about you, we don’t want you here.  –North Carolina Attorney

A three-year community-based, multimedia collaboration, None of the Above explores the intersection of race, poverty, educational policies, and incarceration through the voices of those most affected: students, teachers, administrators, parents, attorneys, juvenile justice officials, the incarcerated and formerly imprisoned, and others.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.  More than 2.2 million people are behind bars in the US. Add to that total those on probation and parole and we have almost 7 million people living under some form of correctional supervision.  The numbers of children affected is staggering.

It’s sad to see these happy, joyful fun kids coming in and me knowing their chances of ending up in a place like this are much greater compared to the regular happy, joyful fun kids that I see. Because kids of an incarcerated parent are four to six times as likely to be incarcerated themselves. That’s horrible, that’s just horrible. –Prison Chaplain

A high school dropout is 9 times more likely to end up in prison than a high school graduate.  How do children get pushed out of school and into the criminal justice system?  Who benefits?  Who is harmed?  What choices can we as a community make to dismantle this pipeline?

Some of our students work and have jobs, and so it’s more important for them to go to work so they can help pay the bills than it is for them to come to school. Challenges that most kids don’t have to face are faced by kids here every day. One kid wants to get a job and is trying to graduate because he’s about to age-out. He’s taking care of his younger brother because his father is diabetic, has lost one leg, and is going  back and forth into the hospital. You know his mom died nine years ago. And he said, “I’ve been doing this for like eleven years. I’m tired.” –North Carolina Teacher

The evening includes an opening reception; an installation with selections from the portrait collage, student and teacher desks, and digital media; staged readings by Duke students and community members whose voices highlight the struggles of those caught in this pipeline; and a closing conversation with performers and audience.