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.

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COMMENTARY: My Sunday School Lesson with President Jimmy Carter

When I saw him, Carter was spry, quick-witted, and kind. The former president wore a bolo string tie anchored by an eight-stone turquoise clasp that dangled below the neck, as he began the lesson on the subject of grief and the death of his 28-year-old grandson. Drawing from scripture (on this particular day, a passage on the persecution of the Thessalonians), Carter said such moments were simply tests of one’s faith, endurance, and hope.

Published

1 week ago

January 5, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of The White House.

By Emil Guillermo

President Jimmy Carter, at age 100, didn’t make it to the new year, nor the next presidential inaugural.

I’ve always been a big Carter fan, so the news of his passing brought me back to a happy place.

Plains, Georgia, 2016.

I was visiting family not far from the land of presidential peanut farmers. I found myself the only full-blooded Filipino in the room at Maranatha Baptist Church, the spiritual home base for the esteemed No. 39.

President Carter looked fine that Sunday in Plains. But especially fine for his job on that day– to give the Sunday school lesson on what coincidentally was the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

Carter’s health made headlines in 2015 when he disclosed having both brain and liver cancer. It was thought he had just two or three weeks to live.

Everyone’s always underestimating Carter. After treatments, Carter’s forecast turned out not to be true.

“We lack inspiration, we lack the idealism to set our goals high. We’ve been satisfied with mediocrity. And I include myself,” Carter said. People want an average life, instead of aspiring to be, “outstanding, or superb or brilliant or exceptional.”

“I’m afraid that our country and its effect on people of other nations has suffered from the aftermath of 9/11,” Carter said. He “didn’t want to brag,” but said his goal for the country was always to be “superb and be a country that promoted peace and human rights…While I was in office, we never dropped a bomb, lost a missile, or fired a bullet.”

“Since 9/11,” Carter said, “we’ve pretty much abandoned our commitment to human rights as we reacted to terrorism.” He lamented that Afghanistan had become the longest war in American history, a direct outcome of 9/11, as well as the invasion of Iraq, which Carter called “unnecessary.”

Carter, whose administration took us out of an energy crisis, also pointed out how the U.S. is still suffering from a financial crisis that has exposed a deep inequality that has divided us as a people.

“We’ve become distrustful of people who are different from us,” Carter said. “We used to be a proud heterogeneous nation…and now we are fearful…and we’ve become poorer as a country.”

Carter won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002; a fact that belies how many conservatives view his efforts to find a peace in the Middle East as “anti-Semitic.”

Jimmy Carter’s worldview requires open minds to come together. Too often. these days, that seems nearly impossible.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator He was the first Filipino American to host a national news show in 1989 at NPR’s “All Things Considered.” See Emil Amok’s Takeout on www.patreon.com/emilamok Subscribe to him on YouTube.com/@emilamok1

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In 1974, Then-Gov. Jimmy Carter Visited the Home of Oakland Black Black Political Activist Virtual Murrell While Running for President

civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Published

2 weeks ago

January 3, 2025

Oakland Post

Virtual Murrell chats with Jimmy Carter two years before Carter was elected president in 1976. Courtesy photo.

By Virtual T. Murrell
Special to The Post

On his way to seeking the presidency, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter visited the Bay Area in his capacity as campaign chairman of the Democratic National Committee in March of 1974.

A friend of mine, Bill Lynch, a Democrat from San Francisco, had been asked to host Carter, who was then relatively unknown. Seeking my advice on the matter, I immediately called my friend, civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, for his opinion.

Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Based on Julian’s comments, I agreed to host the governor. We picked him up at the San Francisco Airport. With his toothy smile, I could tell almost right away that he was like no other politician I had ever met. On his arrival, there was a message telling him to go to the VIP room, where he met then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown.

After leaving the airport, we went to a reception in his honor at the home of Paul “Red” Fay, who had served as the acting secretary of the Navy under President John Kennedy. (Carter, it turned out, had been himself a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a submariner in the 1950s.)

The following afternoon, the Niagara Movement Democratic Club hosted a reception for Carter, which was a major success. Carter indicated that he would be considering running for president and hoped for our support if he did so.

As the event was winding down, I witnessed the most amazing moment: Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, was in the kitchen with my former wife, Irene, wearing an apron and busting suds! You would have to have been there to see it: The first and last time a white woman cleaned up my kitchen.

A few months later, President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. He was succeeded by his vice president, Gerald Ford.

On the heels of that scandal, Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976 represented integrity and honesty at a point in America’s history when he was just what the nation needed to lead as president of the United States.

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Life After Domestic Violence: What My Work With Black Women Survivors Has Taught Me

Survivors sometimes lack awareness about the dynamics of healthy relationships, particularly when one has not been modeled for them at home. Media often minimizes domestic abuse, pushing the imagery of loyalty and love for one’s partner above everything — even harm.

Published

2 weeks ago

December 29, 2024

Oakland Post

Paméla Michelle Tate, Ph.D.

By Paméla Michelle Tate, Ph.D., California Black Media Partners

It was the Monday morning after her husband had a “situation” involving their child, resulting in food flying in the kitchen and a broken plate.

Before that incident, tensions had been escalating, and after years of unhappiness, she finally garnered enough courage to go to the courthouse to file for a divorce.

She was sent to an on-site workshop, and the process seemed to be going well until the facilitator asked, “Have you experienced domestic abuse?” She quickly replied, “No, my husband has never hit me.”

The facilitator continued the questionnaire and asked, “Has your husband been emotionally abusive, sexually abusive, financially abusive, technologically abusive, or spiritually abusive?”

She thought about how he would thwart her plans to spend time with family and friends, the arguments, and the many years she held her tongue. She reflected on her lack of access to “their money,” him snooping in her purse, checking her social media, computer, and emails, and the angry blowups where physical threats were made against both her and their children.

At that moment, she realized she had been in a long-suffering domestic abuse relationship.

After reading this, you might not consider the relationship described above as abusive — or you might read her account and wonder, “How didn’t she know that she was in an abusive relationship?”

After working with survivors at Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence in San Francisco, California, I have learned a great deal from a variety of survivors. Here are some insights:

Abuse thrives in isolation.
Societal tolerance of abusive behavior is prevalent in the media, workplaces, and even churches, although there are societal rules about the dos and don’ts in relationships.

Survivors are groomed into isolation.
Survivors are emotionally abused and manipulated almost from the beginning of their relationships through love-bombing. They are encouraged or coerced into their own little “love nest,” isolating them from family and friends.

People who harm can be charismatic and fun.
Those outside the relationship often struggle to believe the abuser would harm their partner until they witness or experience the abusive behavior firsthand.

Survivors fear judgment.
Survivors fear being judged by family, friends, peers, and coworkers and are afraid to speak out.

Survivors often still love their partners.
This is not Stockholm Syndrome; it’s love. Survivors remember the good times and don’t want to see their partner jailed; they simply want the abuse to stop.

The financial toll of abuse is devastating.
According to the Allstate Foundation’s study, 74% of survivors cite lack of money as the main reason for staying in abusive relationships. Financial abuse often prevents survivors from renting a place to stay. Compounding this issue is the lack of availability of domestic abuse shelters.

The main thing I have learned from this work is that survivors are resilient and the true experts of their own stories and their paths to healing. So, when you encounter a survivor, please take a moment to acknowledge their journey to healing and applaud their strength and progress.

About the Author

Paméla Michelle Tate, Ph.D., is executive director of Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence in San Francisco.