WASHINGTON (NNPA) - Black girls are disproportionately suffering from punitive school disciplinary policies and actions yet society fails to take note of their plight the way attention is focused on Black males who get trapped in the school-to-prison pipeline, according to a report by the African American Policy Forum, a New York-based national think tank connecting academics, activists, and policy-makers whose goal is to dismantle structural inequality.
The report, titled “Black Girls Matter: Pushed-Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected,” was released Feb. 4. A copy of the report was obtained in advance by the National Newspaper Publishers Association News Service.
“In 2007, a 6-year-old girl was arrested in a Florida classroom for having a tantrum. Later that year, a 16-year-old girl was arrested in a California school for dropping cake on the floor and failing to pick it up to a school officer’s satisfaction.
“In 2013, an 8-year-old girl in Illinois was arrested for acting out, and a 16-year-old girl in Alabama who suffers from diabetes, asthma, and sleep apnea was hit with a book by her teacher after she fell asleep reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in class. The student was later arrested and hospitalized due to injuries caused by violent interactions with the police. Also in 2013, in Florida, a 16-year-old was arrested when her ‘science experiment’ caused a small explosion in her classroom and a 12-year-old girl was threatened with expulsion from an Orlando private school unless she changed the look of her natural hair.
“In 2014, a 12-year-old girl faced expulsion and criminal charges after writing ‘hi’ on a locker room wall of her Georgia middle school, and a Detroit honor student was suspended for the entire senior year for accidently bringing a pocketknife to a football game.”
The U.S. Department of Education reported last March that for the 2011-2012 school year, “Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than white students. On average, 5 percent of White students are suspended, compared to 16 percent of Black students.
“While boys receive more than two out of three suspensions, Black girls are suspended at higher rates (12 percent) than girls of any other race or ethnicity and most boys.”
In addition, “Black students represent 16 percent of student enrollment, 27 percent of students referred to law enforcement, and 31 percent of students subjected to a school-related arrest. In comparison, White students represent 51 percent of students enrolled, 41 percent of referrals to law enforcement, and 39 percent of those subjected to school-related arrests.”
That disproportionate pattern begins at an early age.
Black children represent 18 percent of preschool enrollment but 48 percent of preschool children receiving more than one out of school suspension. On the other hand, White students represented 43 percent of preschool enrollment but only 26 percent of preschool children receiving more than one out of school suspension, according to the Department of Education.this is a good thing to bring attention to the young women of color and their plight of navigating the system that does not recognize them as relevant. when i go to VA sometimes we pass Howard University and it is overwhelming heartwarming at how many young Black women are in attendance, as well as young Black men. it just shows if those that have the power were to open their eyes and see our people and recognize the potential and the advancement they can bring to the American table, they have been doing this with foreign countries forever but like everything else completely ignore what wealth we have here.
i also wonder is this more of their plan to deny education to select groups so as to keep those they don't oppose to be leaders who are more likely to buy into their ideologies? teachers there for a check need to be weeded out i remember reading somewhere awhile back about a teacher telling Black kids they ought to quit because they are never going to be anything but... don't remember the rest but what i did is more than enough to destroy a child's self esteem and life ability to achieve.
these are the things that Pres. wants to improve along with cost and curriculum that republicans are fiercely fighting to keep no actually lower the status quo, they don't want to create any more Barack Hussein Obama's.
