The Invisibility of Black Girls: An Op-Ed

When there is controversy about Black children in the school system, the narrative often revolves around the boys. Black boys are more likely to be placed in special education, black boys are more likely to attend schools without adequate resources, black boys are not reading at an adequate level, and punishment for Black boys is harsher than for any other demographic, but what about Black girls? These topics revolving around our Black boys are very important and should still be discussed. However, the literature highlighting the plights of Black boys while dismissing the victimization of our Black girls, eludes to the belief that Black boys are the only demographic that need saving when it comes to public school systems within the United States. Recent research is showing that Black girls are punished in school "at rates that are even more disproportionate than those experienced by Black boys" (Morris, 2016). While they only consist of 16 percent of the entire female student population, Black girls are disproportionately 33 percent of all girls referred to law enforcement and more than 33 percent of all female school-based arrests (Morris, 2016). 

The criminalization of Black girls in the public-school system is partly due to the fact that the narratives of the public-school system are rooted in "White supremacist ideology that permits racist and sexist conditioning" (Haynes, 2016). This ideology aligns with the belief that "White femininity is the only acceptable standard in public school systems" (Haynes, 2016). It is problematic to attempt to force young Black girls to conform to standards that perpetuate ideals of White supremacy. Making White femininity the normative ideology places surveillance on Black girls because their actions, choices, and appearances do not always fit neatly in these societal norms (Haynes, 2016). These ideals of white femininity also place our Black girls within an anti-Black context which creates tension between Black girls and the staff, teachers, and administrators that hold to these impractical expectations.

In addition to ideals of white femininity, Black girls are also experiencing trauma inside and outside of school. In general, people who have experienced abuse and violence commonly experience psychological disorders in addition to other behavioral challenges that can have an impact on learning and relationship building (Morris, 2016). This trauma is often masked as anger and causes others to fear Black girls and interpret them as aggressive which perpetuates the stereotype of “the angry Black woman/girl”. “School administrators in high poverty areas tend to see ‘Zero-tolerance’ responses as the best way to curb negative student behavior” (Morris, 2016). This “zero-tolerance policy does not allow girls to heal from their trauma and in fact only causes more trauma from the victimization in their school systems. Also, Black girls are often condemned and punished further for speaking out about mistreatment in school and so, like most Black people, they often suffer in silence.

I offer a few strategies for change so that these Black girls in public schools can express themselves without fear of punishment for being themselves. My first strategy is to increase methods of healing for our Black girls by providing them with school counselors to allow them to have access to the help that they need before classifying them as delinquents. This policy would eradicate the ‘zero-tolerance’ policy which builds on the trauma and makes it harder for our girls to succeed in school. Focusing on healing will benefits Black girls by helping them heal from the trauma and also find healthier, more socially acceptable ways to cope with trauma in the future. The second strategy is to educate the teachers and administrators about the master narratives of the public-school system; such as ideals of white femininity so that they can educate our Black girls, and Black students in general, in a way that does not dismiss their Blackness and force them into a constraint of whiteness that they cannot fit into.

References

Haynes, C., Stewart, S., & Allen, E. (2016). Three Paths, One Struggle: Black Women and Girls Battling Invisibility in U.S. Classrooms. Journal Of Negro Education, 85(3), 380-391

Morris, M. W. (2016). Protecting Black Girls. Educational Leadership, 74(3), 49.

Morris, M. W. (2016) Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. The New York Press. New York, NY