Around the world, black girls are being pushed out of schools because of policies that target them for punishment, says author and social justice scholar, Monique W. Morris. The result: countless girls are forced into unsafe futures with restricted opportunities.
How can we put an end to this crisis? In an impassioned talk, Morris uncovers the causes of “pushout” and shows how we can work to turn all schools into spaces where black girls can heal and thrive.
Black girls are routinely seen as too loud, too aggressive, too angry, too visible. Qualities that are often measured in relation to nonblack girls and which don’t take into consideration what’s going on in this girl’s life or her cultural norms. And it’s not just in the US. In South Africa, black girls at the Pretoria Girls High School were discouraged from attending school with their hair in its natural state, without chemical processing. What did those girls do? They protested. And it was a beautiful thing to see the global community, for the most part, wrap its arms around girls as they stood in their truths. But there were those who saw them as disruptive, largely because they dared to ask the question, “Where can we be black if we can’t be black in Africa?”
Watch the talk she gave at the TEDWomen 2018.
