Commentary: Student safety in Fresno means no more police at school campuses

As young students of color, recent events have once again reignited fear for our lives. When we watch police shoot and kill 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Chicago and Minneapolis, we know that could happen to us. We also know that police violence must end and that police have no place in our schools.

We have an opportunity in the Fresno Unified School District to ensure that no Adam Toledos or Daunte Wrights are taken from our community due to police violence. In June, the $3 million contract between FUSD and the Fresno Police Department is up. We say it’s time to put an end to police in our schools and to start investing in things that prevent violence and create safe and caring schools — counselors, health and wellness, and student support services.

Fresno schools should be caring, welcoming and safe places for all students to learn, but instead students of color deal with daily fear and anxiety whenever we see and encounter school police. We have seen them tackle students to the ground and make us feel like suspects. We walk around with our heads down so we are not spotted or pulled aside because adults think we’re doing something bad or wrong just because we are Black and brown. Teachers and principals also contribute to this problem by calling the police for any little thing we do. They threaten us by saying if we’re not quiet they will call an officer on us. Not only is this wrong, but it is also a waste of FPD’s time and money.

Students of color know that we are more likely to be viewed as a threat and the data show that. A recent report by Fresno Barrios Unidos and Human Impact partners found that in FUSD, school police target Black students at a higher rate. Black students are only 9% of the student body, but because school police, administration and teachers discriminate by referring Black students to law enforcement and arresting them at higher rates, they make up 25% of students referred and 23% of those arrested.

We also know we’re more likely to be punished if we are immigrants and LGBTQ. Numerous studies show that interactions with police in schools have long-term harmful consequences for students of color from disrupting our learning and creating barriers to employment to increasing our chances to be incarcerated and challenges to our immigration status.

And no matter what you call them, these school police officers are from the same Fresno Police Department that also has been documented to target communities of color outside of school. An independent report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that from 2006 to 2016, Latinos represented 44% of the population and 58% of those shot by police, while Black residents represented 8% of the city’s population but 22% of those shot by police.

Why would we expect FPD officers to act any differently in our schools than they do in our communities? Why would the school district, teachers and administration ask us to build relationships with police who we know do harm to our families and communities?

To the Fresno school district and board trustees, we ask you to listen to students of color — not another biased report that disproportionately relies on the views of wealthy and white students and parents. The district needs to engage all students on campus, especially students of color since we are most affected by policing in schools.

Now is the time for FUSD to end school policing contracts with Fresno PD. Safety for us looks like having more mental health support and a school environment that centers our healing and wellness — not more police.

In the safest communities, it’s not the presence of police everywhere that shows they are safe. In fact, it is the opposite. The safest communities have lots of resources — wealth, good jobs, good schools, parks, libraries and hospitals. Join us in fighting for a future where every student in FUSD feels safe by ending police contracts in our schools.