"Black Lives Matter," the fifth edition of the Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, calls out systemic challenges and obstacles within states and localities. The report provides a national overview of the state of Black and Latino male students with state and local analyses of high- and low-performing schools, in particular schools that have large populations of male students of color.
On the heels of several national tragedies in Ferguson, Staten Island, Cleveland and Michigan, grassroots advocates nationwide have been joined by ever growing numbers of people of conscience in demonstrations all across the country, fiercely proclaiming “All Lives,” and more specific to the current cases of injustice —
“Black Lives Matter.”
We fiercely agree.
Since Black lives continue to matter to us, this edition of the Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males is intended to again alert the nation to the serious reality of a quieter danger that does not instantly end young lives, but creates an all but insurmountable chasm of denied opportunities that consigns them to limited chances to succeed in life. The failure to close the opportunity gap, whether at the national, state or local level, not only deprives all of us, our communities and our nation of the talents and potential contributions that these young people have proven they can make and would likely replicate, but also constitutes a grave injustice.