Lead poisoning is virtually unheard of in African cultures because of the lower use of lead for paint and pipe soldering, as opposed to modern Western cultures, where lead is everywhere around us. If you are dealing with any group of children in America, lead poisoning is a consideration. When you are dealing with African children in America, particularly poor ones, lead poisoning is an unavoidable problem. According to a study by the CDC, 68 PERCENT of poor black children have lead poisoning as opposed to only something like 30 percent of poor white children. Even rich black children experience lead poisoning at a higher rate than poor white children. This dispartiy is due to the substandard, delapidated housing that blacks are relegated to by racist real estate practices, as well as slumlords and governmental agencies who don't really care enough about black residents to clean up the lead or educate the populace. The effects of lead poisoning on a child's intelligence, memory, and temperment are disastrous. Lead poisoning is the most subtle yet most harmful form of environmental racism. I did a paper on this, I'll try to come with more specifics tomorrow. Any school ath is built will have to have special resources to deal with this tragic symptom of racism.