Redefining Communities: How Accurate Data Can Change the Narrative- A short Story

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Jamal who lived in a neighborhood that was often overlooked and underserved. Jamal had big dreams and exerted considerable effort in school, but no matter how hard he tried, his test scores always seemed to fall short of expectations.

One day, Jamal overheard a group of adults talking about how his community had the worst test scores in the city. They said that kids from his neighborhood were less likely to succeed and more likely to end up in trouble with the law. Jamal felt discouraged and wondered if he was destined to fail.

As Jamal started to believe the negative statistics about his community, he stopped putting in the same effort he once did. He began to feel defeated and started to lose hope.

But one day, Jamal's teacher noticed that he wasn't performing as well as he usually did. She asked him what was wrong, and he confided in her about how he felt like he was never going to succeed because of where he came from. His teacher listened to him and explained to him that sometimes statistics can be weaponized and used in a way that doesn't reflect reality.

For example, she explained that there are significant racial disparities in the criminal justice system that disproportionately affect black men. According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2019, there were approximately 487,300 black men incarcerated in state or federal prisons, and an additional 52,300 in local jails. This is a stark contrast to the number of black men enrolled in undergraduate degree programs, which was approximately 1.5 million in 2018, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Education.

These disparities are not just the result of individual choices or behaviors, but are the result of a long history of systemic racism and discrimination. The war on drugs, for example, has been used as a tool to target and criminalize black communities, even though drug use and selling occurs at similar rates across racial groups.

Similarly, the school-to-prison pipeline is a phenomenon where school discipline policies and practices contribute to the criminalization of young people, particularly young people of color. This can result in them being pushed out of school and into the criminal justice system, where they are more likely to face harsher punishments and longer sentences.

She encouraged Jamal to be a critical thinker and always question what he reads and hears, and to use his education to challenge the negative stereotypes and perceptions that are often used to hold his community back.

With his teacher's help, Jamal learned to distinguish between good and bad statistics and realized that he should never let the negative ones define him or his community. He started putting in more effort again and began to excel in school. He joined a community group that focused on bettering his neighborhood and used his voice to speak out against the negative stereotypes that held his community back.

As Jamal grew up, he became an advocate for his community and went on to achieve his dreams. He realized that his success was not determined by statistics or where he came from but by his own determination and hard work. He continued to be a good steward of language, information, and how he disseminated his work, and always questioned the accuracy and intent of the statistics he came across.

In the end, Jamal's story became an inspiration to others, and people started to see that statistics can be both empowering and limiting, depending on how they are used. And so, Jamal's legacy lived on as a reminder that we should always strive to be good stewards of language and information and to never let negative statistics define us.