If you want justice for Trayvon, you will want justice for Corey.
Corey Foster’s name hasn’t reached as far as Trayvon’s. That’s about to change. Addition: how together we will create life and touch the future from Corey’s death. Pass H.R. 1893 in Congress.
However you read the facts of the Trayvon Martin case, it seems that black teenager was shot by a stranger vigilante while walking home in his own neighborhood. It’s a tragedy and says a lot about the way many perceive young black people even in our age. People from all walks of life have stood up to demand justice for Trayvon. He has opened the new national conversation about race in America.
A couple of months after Trayvon was killed, a black teenager in New York died on the floor of his school basketball court. The people who killed him were not strangers. They worked in his school. No matter what position they held on the school staff, they had at least a tangential responsibility to watch out for the students of Leake & Watts School in Yonkers. There was perhaps an even larger responsibility to care for Leake & Watts students than those of a typical school as Leake & Watts is a school for children with emotional and learning disabilities. On their website, they tout their high level of respect and caring for every student.
It was a typical afternoon at Leake & Watts. During recreational time, Corey was on one side of the basketball court, while most of the other students on recreation were playing on the other side. He was shooting three pointers, challenging himself to around the world. Two staffers came to the basketball court and wanted to play one-on-one. They managed to move the few students playing near them to the other side of the court, except Corey. Corey continued working on his three-pointers on the perimeter of the staff members’ game.
They bumped into Corey in the rigor of their play. Corey didn’t react but kept playing. After some time of his shots getting bumped by the staff members, Corey walked off the court. He was not aggressive toward them, but three other staff members followed him off the court, followed by the two who were playing one-on-one.
They slammed him against the wall.
After holding him there, they brought him to the floor of the court in what they called a therapeutic hold. The therapy of the hands and limbs of grown men, including one whose other job was local fire fighter, immobilizing his body caused Corey to vomit and to say he couldn’t breathe.
“If you couldn’t breathe, you wouldn’t be talking,” one of the men employed in a school for children with special needs replied.
Sheila Foster received the call that Corey had fainted at school, and she needed to be at the hospital. She was told a few different things about what happened to her firstborn. Just that week, Corey, who was an excellent cook, said he wanted to pursue culinary school and become a chef.
Corey hadn’t fainted or had a seizure. He was dead.
Wait. We didn’t see those staffers’ pictures on the news, nor the court case on television.
That’s right. Because the State of New York investigated itself and determined that the death was accidental — Corey Foster had an enlarged heart that went into cardiac arrest due to the “excitement.”
Corey’s mother, Sheila Foster, has taken her electric personality to the streets and the airwaves since Corey died. With appearances on Anderson Cooper and ABC’s Nightline, she has brought attention not only to what happened to Corey, but to the danger of restraint at school around the nation. According to caica.org, staff hired to look after our children have killed dozens of children by restraint in the last quarter century. One boy was restrained until dead in a school van, and school staff drove around for an hour and a half, continuing their errand after they killed him.
It will come as no surprise that restraint and seclusion in school are disproportionately used on students of color, and those with special needs.
This could happen to any of our children, and you might not find out it happened to your child — only 19 states require schools to notify parents about the use of restraint and seclusion. We’re taking this all the way to Congress, and Rep. George Miller of California is on it, reintroducing HR 1893 in the House of Representatives this past May and calling the practice, “Abuse and torture.”
Right now, we’re rallying to raise awareness of dangerous restraint and seclusion at school.
We’re seeking justice for Corey in front of the school where he died. September 9 is the first day of school at Leake & Watts, and we will be there at 8 a.m. along with Richard Stripp, author of “Mommy, I Wish I Could Tell You What Happened to Me at School,” a representative from Governor Cuomo’s office, and many more justice-seekers. If you’re in New York, we hope to see you there. If you’re unable to make it, please Tweet your support to #justiceforcoreyrally.
Life and what’s next: in May, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) re-introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act, H.R. 1893, to this session of Congress. The way we create life and possibility from what’s happened to Corey and to other children who have been harmed at school from restraint and seclusion, is to change the law. H.R. 1893 will place consistent guidelines for the very limited use of seclusion and restraint. It will prohibit the use of chemical restraint, of non-traditional restraints like duct tape or a duffel bag (as happened in our schools in the past year) and will provide guidelines for positive, proactive interventions before incidents rise to the level they feel the need for restraint or seclusion at school.
If you light a candle for Trayvon, light a candle for Corey Foster.
If you light a candle for Corey or any child abused in this manner, call your congressional representative. If you share a post, say a prayer, keep them in your thoughts, or send a Tweet, contact your members of Congress to tell them how you feel about this bill. Tell them they can keep children safe at school by bringing this legislation to the House floor and voting it into law.
On our site http://keepstudentssafe.com/ we have ways to contact your member of Congress, along with advice on what to say. But the best stories and expressions of how vital this legislation is will come from your mind and heart. Tell them why H.R. 1893 will save lives.
Thank you. You’re heroic.
