#AssaultAtSpringValley: The legacy of lynching in school policing analyzes 460 school policing assaults to assess the extent to which school policing places students at risk of physical and sexual assault. Additionally, the report utilizes two lynching datasets to explore the relationship between lynching in the U.S. and current school police violence, demonstrating that school policing assaults are acts of state sanctioned violence that extend the legacies of lynching into the modern classroom.

We also explore the importance of Ida B. Wells’ protest journalism that challenged lynching in the south.  Just as Wells told the truth about lynching, we must tell the truth about school policing and the false pretense of safety and public order. School policing does not prevent violence, it is a harbinger of it. It is the reason why many Black students do not feel safe at school and the means through which they are criminalized and denied the benefits of public education.

To create equitable and nurturing school environments, we must first stop policing students and remove the vestiges of lynching, slavery, and Jim Crow from all educational systems. We must implement education policies that promote care and compassion, not control and fear. We must allocate resources based on the needs voiced by those directly impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline and police brutality. It is time to listen to young people who know what they need to feel safe and supported in schools.

In A Red Record, Ida B. Wells instructed her readers to “help disseminate the facts contained in this book by bringing them to the knowledge of every one with whom you come in contact, to the end that public sentiment may be revolutionized. Let the facts speak for themselves, with you as a medium.”  We ask the same of you.