This story should outrage you. What's even more outrageous is that this is hardly the first time a Black girl has been punished instead of given the resources they need.
All too often, Black girls are pushed out, overpoliced, and underprotected. A thread: jezebel.com/michigan-judge…
Black girls are disproportionately punished and incarcerated fro age-appropriate behavior.
In Florida, police handcuffed and arrested a six-year-old child for yelling and crying in her Kindergarten classroom. nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opi…
Desre’e Watson, the six-year-old girl who was arrested, was taken in the back of a police car to central booking where her mugshot was taken and charged with a felony.
This is a level of cruelty that is unconscionable and should be unimaginable.
In 2013, Illinois police arrested an 8-year-old girl and held her in a police car for nearly two hours because they allege she was acting out. Police handcuffed and placed a belt around Jmiyha Rickman, who is autistic and suffers from separation anxiety.
thegrio.com/2013/03/08/8-y…
Ashlynn Avery, a student who suffers from diabetes, asthma, and sleep apnea, was arrested and assaulted by police because she dozed off while reading a copy of Huckleberry Finn.
An officer slammed her head into a file cabinet before arresting her. al.com/spotnews/2013/…
In Florida, a private school threatened to expel 12-year-old Vanessa VanDyke unless she cut her natural hair. School officials labeled VanDyke's hair a "distraction" and violation of the school's dress code. msnbc.com/the-last-word-…
These individual stories are examples of a larger and more pervasive phenomenon. Our 2015 report Black Girls Matter found that, in New York and Boston, Black girls were 10x - 12x more likely to be suspended than white girls.
A 2017 study found that adults view Black girls as
less innocent and more adult-like than their white
peers, especially in the age range of 5–14. This impression affects severely they're punished in school, as well as in the criminal legal system. npr.org/2017/07/09/536…
A survey found that people believed that, compared to white girls, Black girls need less nurturing, need less protection, and need to be supported and comforted less. These views predictably result in harsher punishment from educators and police officers. law.georgetown.edu/poverty-inequa…
Judge Brennan's decision to lock up Grace for because she didn't complete her homework is appalling. It's part of a long and ugly tradition of treating Black girls as criminal in need of punishment, rather than treating them as human. propublica.org/article/a-teen…
We can and should celebrate #BlackGirlMagic. But Black girls shouldn't have to be magical in order to survive a racist system that is intent on punishing and disciplining them, rather than allowing them to thrive.
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