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Open Letter to National Leader of NAACP Julian Bond: Speech made at Juneteenth

Dear NAACP National Leader Julian Bond,

US school beatings is still sanctioned in 20 US states and its territories. Primary targets are "colored" boys and girls and even “colored” men and women, as US Government paid educators are sanctioned to beat students of 18 years and older (see p. 3 of UC Davis Law Review, STATE ACTORS BEATING CHILDREN: A CALL FOR JUDICIAL RELIEF: http://thehittingstopshere.com/docs/State%20Actors%20UC%20Dav.pdf).

Below is a speech written to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, delivered at the Hawaii branch “Juneteenth” event on June 19, 2010.
At the event, The Hitting Stops Here! imploredthe NAACP to support the bill for banning US school beatings bylearning more and by signingthe petition at www.TheHittingStopsHere.com. The bill is currently being prepared by NY Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.

As “Mission” leader of the NAACP, please consider the following statistics and the high position of your office for making the difference that “colored” American school children need at this very hour:

• The number one target for US school beatings: Black American boys.
• The number two target for US school beatings: Black American girls.
• Following the top two targets for US school beatings: Latinos, Native Americans, children of low-income families and children with special needs.
• Availability of statistics on white and Black American male educators spanking Black American girls: Hundreds of thousands each school year.
• Availability of statistics of Black American male educators spanking White American girls: 0.
• Like our enslaved maternal ancestors, Black American pregnant girls are beaten up to eight months pregnant, by their “authorities.”
• Children’s Defense Leader, Marian Edelman Wright, gave these statistics at a January 2009 Inaugural event in Maryland: Violence targeted at our black and brown children is their pipeline to prison…1-in-3 black American boys will end up in prison (see recorded speech: http://www.youtube.com/user/paulaflowe#p/u/13/7gXKIALkVt0).
• Nonpaddling schools have the nation’s highest test scores.
• Paddling schools have the nation’s lowest test scores

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Paula Flowe, Exec. Director
The Hitting Stops Here!
A campaign for teaching kindness and respect in schools everywhere.
www.TheHittingStopsHere.com
paulaflowe@thehittingstopshere.com
408.509.6835
Supported by Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE)
Advisor, American SAFEPASS (Student Alliance For Education in Peaceful American SchoolS)

The Mission Statement of the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People:

To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
Vision Statement

The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.

Objectives
The following statement of objectives is found on the first page of the NAACP Constitution - the principal objectives of the Association shall be:

• To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens

• To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the United States

• To remove all barriers of racial discrimination through democratic processes

• To seek enactment and enforcement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights

• To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial discrimination and to seek its elimination

• To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACP's Articles of Incorporation and this Constitution.

____________________________________

NAACP “Juneteenth” Event Speech Presentation, delivered by
The Hitting Stops Here!, June 19, 2010

My name is Paula Flowe. I would like to first of all thank Alfonso Braggs, leader of the NAACP Hawaii Chapter and Rubina Collier for this opportunity to speak.

With today being Juneteenth, a time of acknowledgement for our history as a Black people in America, I felt it most appropriate to talk about the very objects that make a person a slave and which perpetuated slavery--the whip and the paddle. The paddle still rules today primarily in “slave states” within predominantly Black American school districts in the US and its territories.

The Hitting Stops Here! is a non-profit national organization for having US school beatings banned, also known as “school corporal punishment.” I am founder and the Executive Director.

Here are related statistics:

• Primary targets of school beatings: Black American boys and girls, Latinos, Native Americans and children having autism and other cognitive and physical special needs.
• More than 2000 school beatings are reported daily—reporting is not mandatory.
• According to a recent report, every 20 seconds an American school child is beaten;every 4 minutes one is beaten severely enough to need medical treatment: (source: http://www.thehittingstopshereurstory.com/newsroom/2010/a5_5.php)
• We are unable to find statistics on American school teachers beating Asian students, Middle-East Indian students or wealthy upper–class white students.
• Although black American girls are spanked by the thousands by white and black male teachers, we are unable to find a single statistic on a black male teacher spanking a white American girl.

Imagine compulsory education being something you thought was designed for your good but, in fact, is harmful to your growth and development in every way. Imagine being obligated by law to attend a place where its leaders sanction harmful practices on those dependent on them--ways proven by science to have every type of deleterious effect.

On April 15, 2010, a US Congressional hearing on the topic of American “school corporal punishment” was presented (review at: www.TheHittingStopsHere.com).
What makes this hearing so important is that leaders empowered to end US school abuse have been informed before the American people and their own peers of the widespread cases of US school abuse, some of which has led to fatalities

I spoke to a US school governing official in Wash DC early this year and I said to him, “You know that the primary children being beaten in our schools are black boys,” and he said, “Yes.” “And that the primary beaters are white male teachers,” I continued, and he said, “Yes.” I asked him, “If the primary targets were little white girls and the primary beaters were black male teachers, would school beatings still be sanctioned in our American schools?” And he said, “Of course not. Most certainly not! Of course not!” I said to him, “Then this is all racism.” And he replied, “Well, we have to go through the right channels and doors…” But, the cat had already been let out of the bag.

Why would any responsible person knowingly allow a practice to continue once proven by science to be harmful? If targeted at the child of an American leader it would place that educator on “National Security” radar. But when targeted at Leroy Smith in Texas, who’s already getting it at home from his alcoholic grandma, no one cares because Leroy is at the bottom of the American caste system.

At this present time, NY Rep. Carolyn McCarthy is writing a bill for having American “school corporal punishment” banned nationwide and throughout our US territories. This bill will be presented to Congress within the next few weeks.

American school children in the 20 paddling states and US territories are the only US citizens still in need of action for gaining their 14th amendment “equal protection” right against US school beatings--a right their peers in the other 30 US states have and take for granted.

Until such time, our “paddling” schools continue to be safe havens for US Government-paid educators to indulge in their sadistic tendencies, spanking fetishes and racism when punishingAmerican school children. Proven by science, such punishment can produce:

• Chronic adult depression
• Anger
• Fits of rage
• Substance abuse
• Dysfunctional relationships
• Inability to internalize moral values

Please go to our website, TheHittingStopsHere.com, and sign the petition for having a nationwide ban placed on all US “school corporal punishment.” You will be given the opportunity to email your personal contacts inviting them to do the same once you submit your signature. Please help us spread the word!

Material on effective nonviolent discipline can be found at: www.PositiveDiscipline.org.

Please also visit our Message Board. See: “Be Informed!: What We Want Americans To Know.” Questions you may have will likely be answered there. Please listen to our informative America Speaks and Public School Spanking 101 Blog Talk Radio, linked to our Home page.

The Bible says that true religion is this: “Protect the children and the widows.” Why? Because, to do so takes a heart wanting what is best for the “dependent” and “needy” rather than solely for oneself.

In Matthew 18: 1-6, Jesus calls little children “the greatest” in God’s Kingdom. Imagine remaining silent or inactive about the practice of scientifically proven harmful forms of punishment being committed against those whom God calls “the greatest.”

Prior to slavery, the black race celebrated birth, death, life, love, community by beating the drum. When we were forced from Africa--our culture and land--the drum was taken from us. We no longer were allowed to beat the drum. We, ourselves, instead were beaten.

We ask the NAACP to take a stand for “advancing colored people” and that they oppose laws in favor of beating any “skin” other than that which is found on a drum.

We ask that NAACP members nationwide support a ban on US school beatings by:

• learning more at: http://www.thehittingstopshereurstory.com/messageboard/
• signing the petition for banning US school corporal punishment at: www.TheHittingStopsHere.com

Let us say together in one accord, The Hitting Stops Here! Right here! Right now!

Thank you.