White Prescriptions?: The Dangerous Social Potential for Ritalin and Other Psychotropic Drugs to Harm Black Males

For all the debates about black males and their role in American society, there has been little attention to a dangerous and growing trend: the overprescription of Ritalin and other behavioral drugs. This book reveals how and why black males are disproportionately targeted and controlled by American schools in ways that hamper and endanger their educational success. Fitzgerald shows how the government, medical practitioners, and the pharmaceuticals industry have facilitated this oppressive trend, setting it against a larger historical backdrop of racism in American education.

Dr. Terence Fitzgerald's work and passion toward social justice has driven him to explore the volatile relationship between the public education system (K-12 and higher education) and students of color. His research helps the reader to understand how systemic racism compels the improper policies and procedures that are partly to blame for the continued limited level of academic and social achievement among children of color.