As a school psychologist who has worked with many kids who have been "disciplined" by administrators, here's my take: Justice should be color blind, and based solely on the behavior. If that results in disparate discipline, so be it. The problem is that research suggests that children of color are disciplined more than white kids for the exact same behaviors (links 1 & 2). The bigger issue is the problem that "discipline" as practiced in the large majority of US schools means suspension or expulsion, which leads to children of color receiving fewer hours of education, exacerbating the achievement gap. Schools that rely on external means of controlling behavior (i.e., punishment and/or rewards) do not teach kids to have internal control over their own behavior, and they do not teach them the skills they need to learn to have such control. Based on my experience, a far more effective means of dealing with students' behavioral infractions, without harmful side effects, are the ones that promote internal control, such as the one in the third link, which I've used successfully. But most teachers are not trained in such methods, nor are most school psychologists, most of whom are too overwhelmed with other duties to help teachers even if they do know how.
As a school psychologist who has worked with many kids who have been "disciplined" by administrators, here's my take: Justice should be color blind, and based solely on the behavior. If that results in disparate discipline, so be it. The problem is that research suggests that children of color are disciplined more than white kids for the exact same behaviors (links 1 & 2). The bigger issue is the problem that "discipline" as practiced in the large majority of US schools means suspension or expulsion, which leads to children of color receiving fewer hours of education, exacerbating the achievement gap. Schools that rely on external means of controlling behavior (i.e., punishment and/or rewards) do not teach kids to have internal control over their own behavior, and they do not teach them the skills they need to learn to have such control. Based on my experience, a far more effective means of dealing with students' behavioral infractions, without harmful side effects, are the ones that promote internal control, such as the one in the third link, which I've used successfully. But most teachers are not trained in such methods, nor are most school psychologists, most of whom are too overwhelmed with other duties to help teachers even if they do know how.
https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2023-01-26/yale-study-shows-black-boys-are-more-likely-to-be-disciplined-than-their-white-classmates
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-why-really-are-so-many-black-kids-suspended/2021/08
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/schools-behavior-discipline-collaborative-proactive-solutions-ross-greene/