Jan 11, 2014 07:16 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

African-American and Latino 'hip-hop' students receive unfair punishments in schools, according to a two-year Michigan State University study. Muhammad Khalifa, an assistant professor of education, found that Latino students are removed from school due to their dressing habits and cultural behaviors.

"School culture is very hostile toward hip-hop student identities," Khalifa, a former Detroit school teacher, said in a statement. "Teachers possess an impulse to suspend or expel nontraditional students."

As a young man, Khalifa experienced similar unfair disciplinary practices.

The study follows federal guidelines issued by the Obama administration. The guidelines demand schools to denounce zero tolerance policies that discriminate against minority students.

"In our investigations, we have found cases where African-American students were disciplined more harshly and more frequently because of their race than similarly situated white students," the Justice and Education departments said in a letter to school districts. "In short, racial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem."

However, the study also found one school principal, who whole-heartedly accepted Latino students and allowed them to 'exhibit their identities'. This helped the low-scoring students perform better.

"We now know that it is possible for students to achieve great success, academic or otherwise, all the while keeping their hip-hop identities intact," Khalifa said.

The study has been published in the research journal Multicultural Learning and Teaching.

According to recent University of Maryland School of Public Health study, racism causes faster ageing in African-American men.

"African-American men who have more positive views of their racial group may be buffered from the negative impact of racial discrimination," Dr. David H. Chae, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the study's lead investigator, said in a press release. "In contrast, those who have internalized an anti-Black bias may be less able to cope with racist experiences, which may result in greater stress and shorter telomeres."

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