Countering the Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Dr. Monique Morris, co-founder of the National Black Women's Justice Institute, speaking on and around her book Pushout

"research to practice gap" that we are in the midst of
"our practice is not yet consistent with our language"
"anti-oppression work in real time"
gaps floating underneath the radar
"no one really wanted to invest in this population that was being criminalized"
"challenge ourselves to think differently about the option that are or are not there for our girls"
re: school to prison pipeline: narrative largely constructive by experiences of boys and men
consider instead the various ways in which populations are coming into contact with criminal justice system
narratives emerging in ethnic media; girls who were arrested or threatened with suspensions or told to leave or use of excessive force
"this was about more than an isolated incident"
still this narrative that this is a crisis only among men and boys, but actually racial disparity is greater among girls
examine what is happening among girls just as had been examining what happens among boys
"is not only happening in one place; the disparity is all over the place"
disparity around arrests of both black and Latina girls
"school to confinement pathways"
more than just if someone is arrested on campus
"education is a critical protective factor against contact with the criminal legal system"
far less likely to be poor, to be abused, to be in contact with criminal legal system
"prevailing consciousness" how behaviors are interpreted and how black girls are engaged as learners and as humans"

schools not recognizing the reasons behind not being there; not recognizing or helping trauma
black girls not having their trauma read as trauma
schools' response is not to engage the girls as in trauma and support them
majority of girls and women engaged with criminal legal system have sexual assault experiences
schools can either contribute to the trauma or stand against it
"it's about the prevailing consciousness"

historical trauma
"have to make mistakes in order to learn" but can't make one mistake due to how it would reflect on her
coping mechanism to act out in response to bullying and lowered expectations around capacity to learn
"truth-telling is one of those tricky things in school"
spend February celebrating black history of speaking up, March of women doing likewise
"when girls do it in real time, we punish them"
"for many of our girls, they're willing to be punished if they can stand in the truth"
schools need to have space for students to do so without punishment
kids being out of school makes them vulnerable to being engaged in the underground systems that make it more likely for them to be in contact with criminal legal system

dress codes and the policing of black girls' bodies
"age compression" : younger black girls being perceived as being more adultlike
"our reading of those bodies"
"prioritization of policing girls' bodies"
"for a certain population, they're allowed to be children; for a certain population, they are not"
"there are other ways of dealing with a six year old's tantrum than calling the police"

perspective: you were either going to fight or you were going to be harmed
power conflated with fear; "hurt people hurt people"
oppression thrives in isolation

Stopping School Pushout has recommendations for policy makers, as does The School Girls Deserve
and there is not training for resource officers around working with black girls

restorative approaches as one, but don't isolate to a single modality
but "are supposed to be voluntary, not mandatory"
circle may not be the place it needs to start; cultural competency in restorative practices
repair relationship with oneself before restoring relationships with others
"that harm might start centuries ago"
Advanced Childhood Experiences informed decision-making tools: not just that you have a high score that matters; what you do with that
to build out a much more robust system of discipline rather than exclusionary systems
increased counseling/ multi-systemic care
amendments to protocols with school resource officers
have to engage in root cause mitigation
"you cannot implement safety; safety is co-constructed"
empathic discipline: responsive to conditions to a child's life, not just the behaviors of the child at that time
not "why did you do this?" but "what's going on with you? are you okay?"
building relationships; leading with love not leading with fear
"we have expectations that we should be fearful"

how we're engaging with young people; what are our expectations of them
prioritizing respect for each other
"get to know how to pronounce someone's name before you regulate how they dress"

trauma-informed and healing-responsive interventions to create safe spaces for all children to learn
impacts on brain and body and capacity to learn

leadership opportunities for girls are critical to the learning landscape
engagement in sports, in club activities

law enforcement officers are not in schools to discipline students; they are there to enforce the law
it is not against the law to talk back, to arrive at school out of dress code,
schools need to stop leaving it to them to intervene in schools that are under schools' jursidiction
also, using grandmothers as hall monitors (no police, just grandmothers)

align our actions with our intentions

Q on the legacy of colonialism
historical trauma is collective unresolved grief; giving space to be reflective
cultural practices that emerged out of survival, and trying to move past that

"not feeling safety inhibits learning...not just physically safe"
until people feel safe in their learning space, they can't learn
"healing to teach"