Black Girls Matter Essay
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Black Girls Matter
In Black Girls Matter, the main points and purpose of this report is to show that African American women are targeted regardless if they are 6 years old or 60 years old. In the first set of pages at beginning of the journal, the story starts off with a few examples of how African American women are targeted at a young age in high school. One account was a 16 year old girl who was arrested for dropping cake on the floor and failing to clean it up to the school resource officers standards. The authors main point is very clear on the fourth page of the journal, is that African americans have a “school-to-prison pipeline.” Espically to those students who receive low grades are the ones who also get the no tolorence discipline and simulate policy putting them in the position as if they are already in prison. According to the aricle, black girls have the most severe sentences in the justice system then any other group. As well as having population growing faster and faster, in the prison system.
As the article reads, that girls in general who do not receive a high school diploma, sets the pathway for low-wage work such as burger king or similar jobs, unemployment and incarceration. The set for failure is behind the theory of harsh punishments in school for no tolerance policies, that in general for anyone who constantly received, would put a bad moral in someone thinking, they do not belong in society and that they will probably end up in the Justice system anyway, so why not be delinquent while in school and not care about their future. Also the norm has an effect, if the black girls in a certain school are being targeted, why should any of the black girls care about receiving an education when they firmly believe that they will not be able to use their education or get into a college to receive a good education properly. As the case that is being seen in colleges, such as the University of Missouri, where the president of the University stepped down under allegations of targeting minority groups on the campus.
Some of the key observations that were made in the journal was that increased levels of law enforcement and security personnel within schools sometimes make girls feel less safe and less likely to attend school. Girls or anyone in general, having to attend school regularly by having to go through metal detectors or strict enforcement, would make anyone discomfort to come to school but girls in general according to the journal. Another is that girls in school receive much less attention than boys, due to girls statistically being more mature and need less attention while boys do. According to the article, this could be factor at why girls, specifically black girls do not attend school. Also some who were involved in fights while in school, all were ether suspended, expelled or prosecuted. While they stated that they should have been sent to counseling or similar instead of thrown out of school. Leaving them more voluble to violence or easily accessible to conduct illegal activities.
Some of the points, that the author makes clear is recommendations that can be in place, such as expanding opportunities for black girl interventions, make support groups more approachable, develop ways to have girls feel safe, develop policies so that black girls do not get overlooked of harassment or bullying, and few others that relate to sexual victimization and female volubility to crime. Other than recommendations, the article attempts to highlight, educational, social and economic factors that lead black girls and other girls into pathways to nowhere, as mentioned on page 10.
Statistics show according to the journal that black boys are suspended 3x more than white boys, and black girls are suspended 6x more than white girls. In Boston, black girls comprised 61 percent of all girls disciplined rather than five percent of girls disciplined. Leaving that, if that many black girls are suspended that frequent that, they are more likely to commit illegal activities,