Are Black girls being pushed out of San Francisco Schools?
I’ve been reading Dr. Monique Morris’ book “Sign and Rhythm, Dance the Blues this long weekend. It has so many great quotes, I can’t stop highlighting it!
This quote serves as a summary of the themes covered in her book:
“Black girls, are overrepresented along the school discipline continuum, we need to understand the conditions they perceive as threatening to their well-being, then understand that their behavior is a response to those conditions.”— Dr. Monique Morris
This has me thinking a lot lately about the ways women of color and especially Black girls are treated in our schools. I know first-hand this treatment extends to Black mothers, aunties, and grandmothers. (and even to famous news journalists like Jemele Hill!) Criminalization, marginalization, erasure. We have study after study about the adultification of Black girls; the ways people minimize Black pain; and the sexualization of Black girls/women. Nonetheless, when systems talk about ways to address these societal problems, they always focus on individual approaches.
Racism is by its nature systemic. Addressing systemic problems with a case-management approach is willfully avoiding the problem.
I’m no longer interested in looking at charts of Black, Native American, Latinx, and Samoan/Pacific Islander lack of success in our schools. I’m interested in seeing what SFUSD students are saying about the system. Do they feel welcomed, valued, visible, cared-for, supported, heard, loved?
This video Black Girls Breaking Silence on School Push-Out, highlights the ways Black girls are made to feel unwelcome in our education system.
Watching the video below made me realize I need to go on a tour of SFUSD. I want to talk with Black girls and see how they are experiencing our schools.
On a positive note…
I’m already working on addressing anti-black racism and positive school culture in our schools. For the first time in SFUSD history, our district will CONTINUE READING: Are Black girls being pushed out of San Francisco Schools? - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM
