Summary Of The Boys Of Baraka

The Boys of Baraka’ is a documentary that follows 4 “at-risk” Black boys who’ve received the opportunity to study abroad in Kenya for the next 2 years. Throughout the film, there are many issues documented such as poverty, lack of resources, and neglect within inner cities and the surrounding institutions. However, one of the biggest issues focused on the film is the lack of educational support available for Black youth. Throughout the film, one of the students [Richard] shows potential and drive but has certain circumstances that hold him back, such as, an undiagnosed learning disability. Regardless of the administration’s knowledge of his learning disability, there’s barely any assistance or support towards him at all. Yet once he arrives
According to an article from The New York Times, Black students represent a small half of the student population but somehow received the most discipline. “Last year, districtwide, black students were 41 percent of the overall student population, but made up 76 percent of the suspensions.” Another example from an article from The Vox shows charts from the GAO [Government Accountability Office] on how Black students are specifically overrepresented on the number of suspensions and discipline they receive in K-12 schools. “GAO noted that “disparities in student discipline such as those presented in this figure may support a finding of discrimination, but taken alone, do not establish whether unlawful discrimination has occurred.” Even though these following issues have been noted by others for a while, there's still a lack of focus on how to reverse these since they're considered as discrimination. Especially during Barack Obama's presidency, there have been efforts taken to reverse these effects in a nondiscriminatory educational environment where everyone feels equal towards each other. However since Trump’s presidency and recent events of school shootings, most of these efforts have been reversed “for the sake of everyone's