To the editor,

I cannot believe what the Bladen County Superintendent wrote (in the March 3 Bladen Journal). He said that “Our students must learn that we have laws in our society that must be followed.” However, he and the school system are really teaching children at an early age that there are laws enforced for some students, but these laws are not enforced for everyone. The school system is teaching students early in life that if they are black or poor that they are a lot more likely to be severely punished. Black students are treated firmly, but their treatment is in no way “fair” or “impartial”.

Everyone in the black community knows that when black stduents are caught with drugs that they are kicked out of school until the end of the year. Last year my son was sent home for looking and smelling like he had smoked marijuana. No evidence was found on him. The superintendent sent me a nasty letter about how he hoped he had learned his lesson and could learn to become a productive citizen. Every time I went to see him, he had something else to do. My son had to repeat his grade. During this school year, several other students have been sent home for the remainder of the year and were not given any other options.

My son now attends the alternative school. I am disgusted and outraged that a group of white students were caught with marijuana at school - not just caught looking and smelling like marijuana but actually had it in their possession - were assigned to this school so that they would not miss their credits or fail their grade.

Black students in Bladen County are learning early in the school system the same thing that is often reflected later in society and in life. It you are black and poor you will get the strictest punishment there is and there is little or nothing you can do about it.

Katrice S. Rogers

Elizabethtown

Editor’s note: the preceding letter was accidentally published in Friday’s edition with a number of spelling errors. The errors were generated during the typesetting process and not caught until after the paper was printed. It is republished here in fairness to the writer.