Op-Ed

New Study Fills in the Gap on Black Girls

Published

10 years ago

February 23, 2015

By Priscilla Ocen
NNPA Guest Columnist

When asked what her teachers think of her and her peers, one Black girl responded, “They like, can’t be trusted, or they are loud and rowdy, ghetto, and stuff like that. Ignorant.”

Subjective stereotypes such as these often lead teachers and school administrators to over-discipline Black girls. At times these stereotypes push them out of school altogether and onto a path of criminalization and low-income jobs, ultimately creating a lifelong opportunity gap for Black women.

Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected, a report released recently by the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and Columbia Law School’s Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies takes a step toward shedding light on the crisis facing Black girls.

Although it is now well known that Black men and boys confront racial obstacles throughout American society, there is little awareness of the pressing needs of Black women and girls. Black Girls Matter begins to fill that gap by examining the impact of punitive disciplinary policies on African American girls in New York City and Boston public schools.

Its findings reveal that Black girls and other girls of color experience discriminatory disciplinary policies, and disproportionately high suspension and expulsion rates. Like their male counterparts, Black girls are substantially more likely to be subjected to school discipline than their female peers. In fact, the disparity in disciplinary punishments between Black girls and White girls is greater than the one between Black and White boys in some settings. Across the nation, Black girls are six times more likely to be suspended than White girls, whereas Black boys are three times more likely to be suspended than White boys.

In New York City during the 2011-2012 school year, 90 percent of the girls expelled were Black, and none were White. In Boston, Black girls were 10 times more likely to be suspended than their White female counterparts, while Black boys were 7.4 times more likely to be suspended than their White peers. So while Black boys face higher rates of suspension and expulsion in terms of absolute numbers, Black girls in some contexts face a greater racialized risk.

Alarming statistics such as these highlight the need for the inclusion of girls of color in the discourse around racial justice. They make it clear that both African American boys and girls confront serious racial barriers, including failing schools, unwarranted forms of criminalization, and impoverished communities. Moreover, compared to all girls, Black girls have the worst rates of suspension, juvenile detention and homicide; and the gender-specific ways in which they experience sexual harassment, pregnancy and other familial burdens are seldom focused upon in the quest for racial justice. Our report, “Black Girls Matter,” reverses this silence by amplifying the voices of girls regarding their experiences in school.

One girl interviewed recalled being expelled from school when she was arrested at 16-years-old. Following the expulsion, she was out of school for two years. Another remembered when a father went to his daughter’s teachers because another student was sexually harassing her. But instead of stepping in to protect the girl, the teachers’ response was, “good, take her out, she attracts too much attention from our boys.”

These girls shared their memories of teachers funneling them into the school-to-prison pipeline, and the tacit acceptance of sexual harassment against Black girls. Narratives like these are critical in creating systemic solutions to the issues Black girls face on a day-to-day basis. These persistent voices call for us to listen to their needs and to create responsive policies.

Despite the evidence, however, the dominant public discourse on racial justice in the United States consistently leaves out women and girls. Black Girls Matterbrings their hardships to the forefront in a work that is grounded in their own words and experiences. These hardships cannot be pushed to the margins anymore. Systemic racism impacts all Black Americans, and going forward the experiences of our sisters need to count for just as much as those of our brothers.

This is precisely why resources such as Black Girls Matter, which is anchored by conversations with Black girls, are so important. Our girls are in crisis too, and targeted action to address realities confronting girls of color in post-apartheid America cannot wait.

Priscilla Ocen is an Associate Professor of Law at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, where she teaches courses on criminal law, race, gender and the law and family law. She is also a co-author of the report “Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected.” She can be reached on twitter @pannocen.

###

Reporter II

Posts by Reporter II

Related Topics:black girls civil rights in schools Priscilla Ocen school-to-prison pipeline

Up Next

The Perils of a Poisonous Politics

Don't Miss

Muslim Lives Matter, Too

Reporter II

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post Endorses Barbara Lee

Barbara Lee will be able to unify the city around Oakland’s critical budget and financial issues, since she will walk into the mayor’s office with the support of a super majority of seven city council members — enabling her to achieve much-needed consensus on moving Oakland into a successful future.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Courtesy photo, Office of Rep. Barbara Lee.

Former Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Courtesy photo.

As we end the celebration of Women’s History Month in Oakland, we endorse Barbara Lee, a woman of demonstrated historical significance. In our opinion, she has the best chance of uniting the city and achieving our needs for affordable housing, public safety, and fiscal accountability.

As a former small business owner, Barbara Lee understands how to apply tools needed to revitalize Oakland’s downtown, uptown, and neighborhood businesses.

It is notable that many of those who fought politically on both sides of the recent recall election battles have now laid down their weapons and become brothers and sisters in support of Barbara Lee. The Oakland Post is pleased to join them.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative

These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.

Published

2 months ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Blair Underwood (left) and Barbara Lee (right). Courtesy photo.

By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3

The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.

Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.

This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.

Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.

“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.

Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.

Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Councilmembers Ramachandran, Kaplan, Unger Identify Funds to Save Oakland Fire Stations

Our budget crisis – one of the worst in Oakland’s history – is compounded by the fact that people do not feel safe coming to Oakland due to our public safety crisis. By investing in our fundamental public safety resources today, we can send a signal to the world that Oakland is open for business. We have such a rich and vibrant culture, arts, and food scene that is worth celebrating – but we can only showcase this if we are able to keep our neighborhoods safe. Having fully functioning fire stations are absolutely essential to these efforts.

Published

2 months ago

February 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Councilmember Janani Ramachandran. Courtesy photo.

By Janani Ramachandran

There is no greater concern to the people of Oakland today than public safety. Fire stations are the bread and butter of essential city services – and every day that we have stations shuttered, we imperil the lives of our community members. In response to widespread outcry over the current and planned closure of stations, myself, along with Councilmembers Kaplan and Unger, have painstakingly worked to identify millions of dollars of new funding to save our stations. The legislation we introduced on Thursday, February 13th, will amend our budget to prevent the closure of four fire stations that are currently on the chopping block due to our budget crisis and will re-open two closed stations that have already been closed – Station 25 and 28 – in the near future. The resolution that will provide the funding to keep our stations open will go before the full City Council for a vote at our meeting on Tuesday, March 4^th at 3:30 PM – and we invite you to join us at City Hall to share your perspective on the topic.

With the devastating Los Angeles fire at the top of people’s minds, terrible memories of Oakland’s own wildfires are re-surfacing from the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm to the Keller fire just a few months ago – and how essential fire stations are to mitigating these catastrophes. But in Oakland, our fire stations don’t just fight wildfires – they also provide emergency medical services to our most vulnerable constituents, put out structural fires and encampment fires, and much more.

We recognize that there are a number of competing interests and important initiatives fighting for sparse City resources. But from my perspective, core safety services are the most pivotal functions that a City must spend its resources on – especially given the outcry we have heard around fire stations.

The fight to save our stations is not over. The resolution we introduced is a critical first step, and there are hurdles to overcome. If you support keeping our fire stations open, we invite you to be a part of the solution by making your voice heard at the March 4^th City Council meeting at 3:30 pm.