ABSTRACT
Throughout the school system, African American males are overrepresented in special education, lower-track courses, and on-campus suspension and under-represented in honors classes and gifted programs. Generation after generation, Black families were sending their children to school, but the ideals of an oasis of learning were met with the realities of institutionalized racism, low expectations, and marginalization. Consistent with national trends, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) also had significant statistical inequities. OUSD has a tumultuous history. It was founded in the mid-1800s and a century later, in 1970, Marcus Foster became the district's first African American superintendent. The US Department of Civil Rights conducted an investigation into the treatment of African American students in Oakland. The evidence demonstrated a glaring "risk ratio" for African American male students. The statistics paralleled the experiences, on the ground, of families who were struggling to hold the district accountable for the education of their children.
