HER STORY
She went to school just like every other day and it was that day March 27th where she did not return home. Her name was RaNiya Wright. Correction her name is RaNiya Wright. Just because the tragedy took her life it shouldn’t strip her significance. On March 27th, while in her 5th grade classroom she was struck in the head by a punch. This blow would be one that would end her life. The fight was one that was boiling over all day because of the continued bullying of RaNiya by the other student. In one report from a student in the classroom it was said that prior to the fatal blow the other student put RaNiya into a chokehold and slammed her into a cabinet breaking a picture frame. Though RaNiya did not pass away at the scene it was 2 days later but that did not stop the heartache and fear her family, parents and siblings felt in those 48 hours. In the recently released autopsy report it states the RaNiya hai AVM or Arteriovenous Vascular Malformation and this is the reason she passed but after looking deeper into the condition pressure and or damage to the blood vessel can cause it to rupture and kill the individual. This is the reason RaNiya died but because of the continued commodification of black women and girls bodies she will not receive the justice she deserves. RaNiya’s family is continuing to fight the autopsy report and the school districts denial of liability to her death.
Relevance to Today:
In a Series Of Statistics for UNCF it states:
Black students spend less time in the classroom due to discipline, which further hinders their access to a quality education. Black students are nearly two times as likely to be suspended without educational services as white students. Black students are also 3.8 times as likely to receive one or more out-of-school suspensions as white students. In addition, black children represent 19 percent of the nation’s pre-school population, yet 47 percent of those receiving more than one out-of-school suspension.
In comparison, white students represent 41 percent of pre-school enrollment but only 28 percent of those receiving more than one out-of-school suspension. Even more troubling, black students are 2.3 times as likely to receive a referral to law enforcement or be subject to a school-related arrest as white students.
Looking at these statistics and the various stories told I’ve seen, been told and personally experienced the continued prosecution of black children harsher than whites by administration who don’t look like them is appalling and many times at the result of bullying that was not acknowledged or taken care of because of the vilification of black children. Because black children are being vilified at a greater rate than white children within the last years the suicide rate for black children has
grown to 11.6%. Bring RaNiya Wright back into conversation of these statistics if her bullying claims had not fell on deaf ears and instead of going to the nurse for a head injury because of the fight and not a headache because of the AVM maybe should would still be here today.
Relevance to the Text:
Taking the text When they call you a terrorist into consideration of RaNiya Wright’s story Patrisse Khan- Cullors makes two statements that grasp meaning within her story. In a quote form the text it states “What is the impact of not being valued?” the lack of media attention outside of the black community and local news sources for not just RaNiya Wright’s story but many black children around the country is appalling and serves to back up the statement for what is the impact of not being valued. Not having the resources to grow within a society that does not see your value. In another quote from When they call you a terrorist it states “ How do you measure the loss of what a human being does not receive?I learned I didn't matter from the very same place that lifted me up, the place I'd found my center and voice: school. And it will not be until I am an adult, determined to achieve a degree in religion, part of a long and dedicated process I undertook to become an ordained minister, that I will enjoy school again”. If black children can’t be safe in schools and around their peers where can they go? Patrisse brings this up in her book and it is a topic of discussion for many marginalized people around the country.
Relevant Links:
Khan-Cullors, Patrisse, Asha Bandele, and Angela Y. Davis. When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir. , 2018. Print.
https://www.uncf.org/pages/k-12-disparity-facts-and-stats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTvRGHHF9To