Free Shaquanda Cotton!!!!!!!!!!! (PLEASE READ AND CIRCULATE)
March 28, 2007 by Marc Lamont Hill
For the past year, little Shaquanda Cotton has been sitting in a juvenile detention center. After allegedly shoving a hall monitor in a dispute over entering the school building early, the 14-year-old girl was not only disciplined by the school, but also tried in juvenile court for “assault on a public servant.” Although Shaquanda did not have a prior arrest record and the hall monitor (a 58-year-old teacher’s aide) was not injured, she was sentenced to 7 years in prison!!!!!!!!!!
Just in case you’ve missed the racism so far, the same judge (Chuck Superville) gave probation to a 14-year-old white girl who burned down her family’s home 3 months earlier.
Like many juvenile prisons, the Ron Jackson Correctional Plantation Complex allows for early release if prisoners display appropriate contrition and development. According to prison officials, little Shaquanda’s sentence has been repeatedly extended because she refuses to admit her guilt and because she was caught with “contraband” in her cell.
What kind of contraband you ask? An extra pair of socks.
It is absolutely critical that we resist the desire to view this tragedy as merely a case of bad luck, bad acts, or bad people. Rather, we must view little Shaquanda’s unjust incarceration as an extension of the current proto-fascist public education system. With increased militarization, surveillance, and zero-tolerance policies, public schools have created an increasingly efficient school-to-prison pipeline for the nation’s most vulnerable populations. Such a pipeline is essential for nourishing the insatiable appetites of global capitalism. We must also attribute Shaquanda’s absurd imprisonmemt to an increasingly expansive criminal (in)justice system that now reaches directly into urban schools in order to fill its beds.
While some argue that the 14-year-old White arsonist should be sitting in prison instead of (or at least next to) Shaquanda, we must think beyond punishment. In the case of the White arsonist, Judge Superville gave an appropriate punishment for a first time offender: care, compassion and, ultimately, a second chance. Why? Because as a judge he understands that prison operates as a punishment industry rather than a rehabilitative space.
The tragedy (and the racism) is that such possibilities are systematically denied to Black and Brown people.
While this phenomenon demands greater analysis, we must not forget about the little girl who is sitting in the belly of the beast. If you do nothing else today, please write Texas governor Rick Perry and demand the immediate and unconditional release of Shaquanda Cotton!!!! Then, write a letter to little Shaquanda so that she knows we love and support her!!!!!
Office of the Governor Fax: (512) 463-1849
Mailing Address
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428
Delivery Address
Office of the Governor
State Insurance Building
1100 San Jacinto
Austin, Texas 78701
Shaquanda’s Address
Ron Jackson Correctional Complex
Unit 2, Dorm 4
P.O. Box 872
Brownwood, Texas 76804
1125308
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89 Comments
1. Desiree wrote:
This is just insane. I’ll be writing my letter today.
March 28, 2007 @ 10:24 am2. Desiree wrote:
My husband reads it somewhat regularly but he is just a lurker.
March 28, 2007 @ 11:25 am3. Marc Lamont Hill wrote:
husband 
4. Desiree wrote:
I know! Weird, right?
March 28, 2007 @ 12:00 pm5. Mike_88 wrote:
Ima getting extremely disillusiones wit hthe south and its rempant racism. SHeesh!!!!!
March 28, 2007 @ 1:26 pm6. John wrote:
The prosecutors in the case say they offered the girl a plea bargain which would have lowered the charge to a misdemeanor and reduced her sentence to two years’ probation.
But the mom turned them down.
Perhaps the white girls’ parents took a similar plea bargain??
I’m not saying there is not an issue with this case but one of the problems with the internets is that one-sided arguments get sent around faster than you can click a mouse — and no one bothers to dig deep enough to get the full story.
March 28, 2007 @ 1:30 pm7. Piscean Princess wrote:
John,
Why would that young lady’s parents agree to have her serve a 2 year sentence for pushing someone who wasn’t injured in the process?
And what makes you think that this case has not been researched by Dr. Marc? Do you have some additional facts about this case?
March 28, 2007 @ 2:35 pm8. susanc wrote:
I don’t know how much you all know about the problems going on with the Texas Youth Commission (the state agency over juvenile corrections), but apparently there’ve been many incidents like this for some time. It’s only recently that they’ve been looking into the abuse, corruption, and cover-ups that are going on.
It’s pretty scary, since there are probably a lot of other kids who are in the same situation (or worse) as Shaquanda Cotton!
March 29, 2007 @ 1:04 pm9. omodiende wrote:
thnx lester
April 4, 2007 @ 1:21 pm10. Anonymous wrote:
#4 … Shaquanda Cotton was offered probation. That is a fact that was verified by her attorney. Creola Cotton said she was not offered probation. That means one of either two things: she doesn’t understand what an offer of probation is, or she is a liar.
#5 … I don’t know why the DA’s office stated that she verbally refused probation and then backtracked. I admit that is troubling.
It doesn’t change the fact that Shaquanda broke the law, and her mother’s refusal to cooperate with authorities caused her daughter to sit in TYC for a year.
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March 21, 2008 @ 5:47 am86. shay shay wrote:
its fucked up how they doing that gurl if she was a pussy ass cracker she would’nt be behind them bitch ass bars.sincerly(16)year old shay shay*
April 3, 2008 @ 8:53 am87. julia wrote:
that 14 year girl should have gotten in a lot more trouble than
shaquanda
but
how come if it was the other way around it wouldnt be racist
88. SHAY SHAY wrote:
SAY MAN YALL STILL ON THIZ BULL SHIT JUST LEAVE THA GURL ALONE AN GET A FUCKIN LIFE Y YALL CANT GET THA KILLAS RAPPEST AN DRUG DEALERS GO FUCK WIT THA PUSSY AZ CRACKERS
April 14, 2008 @ 12:34 pm89. Natalie wrote:
its kind of funny how many people on this site are making racist comments when they are trying to say that the decision on shaquanda wasnt racist. i think that the judge in shaquanda’s
case was very racist. but blamming another entire race, white, black, mexican, whatever, is also racist. and it shows that not just white people are racist “WE ARE ALL THE SAME COLOR WHEN YOU TURN OUT THE LIGHTS!” i think that shay needs to learn that
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