Chapter 4: Racialization and the Ideology of Containment in the Education of Latina/o Youth

This testimonio from Ramiro, one of our student participants at Rana High School (see Urrieta, Kolano, & O. Jo [this volume] for more about the logic and process of testimonios), illustrates the profound disconnect between schooling and the frustration and marginalization experienced by numerous young people as a result of their positioning by adults as deviant, dangerous criminals (Meiners, 2007; Tilton, 2010). Predictably, the other student in Ramiro’s anecdote was not sent to the principal’s office; only the youth of color was disciplined in this event. In the minds of too many school authorities, Black and Brown youths, like Ramiro, are often labeled as troublemakers and outcasts. This leads some schools to collude problematically with law enforcement by criminalizing what in less punitive times would have been understood as misguided youthful behavior (Raible & Irizarry, 2010). As we became more aware of his story, we were concerned that Ramiro (and others like him) would become just another statistic—an incarcerated youth of color rather than the successful, college-bound high school student we knew him to be.