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When I was in the sixth grade,
I got into a fight at school.

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It wasn't the first time
I'd been in a fight,

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but it was the first time
one happened at school.

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It was with a boy who was
about a foot taller than me,

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who was physically stronger than me

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and who'd been taunting me for weeks.

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One day in PE, he stepped on my shoe
and refused to apologize.

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So, filled with anger, I grabbed him
and I threw him to the ground.

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I'd had some previous judo training.

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(Laughter)

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Our fight lasted less than two minutes,

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but it was a perfect
reflection of the hurricane

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that was building inside of me.

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As a young survivor of sexual assault

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and as a girl who was grappling
with abandonment

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and exposure to violence
in other spaces in my life,

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I was fighting him,

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but I was also fighting the men
and boys that had assaulted my body

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and the culture that told me
I had to be silent about it.

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A teacher broke up the fight

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and my principle called me in her office.

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But she didn't say,
"Monique, what's wrong with you?"

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She gave me a moment to collect my breath

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and asked, "What happened?"

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The educators working with me
led with empathy.

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They knew me.

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They knew I loved to read,
they knew I loved to draw,

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they knew I adored Prince.

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And they used that information
to help me understand

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why my actions, and those
of my classmate, were disruptive

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to the learning community
they were leading.

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They didn't place me on suspension,

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they didn't call the police.

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My fight didn't keep me
from going to school the next day.

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It didn't keep me from graduating,
it didn't keep me from teaching.

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But unfortunately, that's not a story
that's shared by many black girls

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in the US and around the world today.

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We're living through a crisis
in which black girls

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are being disproportionately pushed
away from schools,

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not because of an imminent threat
they pose to the safety of a school,

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but because they're often
experiencing schools

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as locations for punishment
and marginalization.

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That's something that I hear
from black girls around the country.

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But it's not insurmountable.

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We can shift this narrative.

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Let's start with some data.

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According to a National Black Women's
Justice Institute analysis

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of civil rights data,

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collected by the US
Department of Education,

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black girls are the only group of girls
who are overrepresented

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along the entire continuum
of discipline in schools.

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That doesn't mean that other girls aren't
experiencing exclusionary discipline

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and it doesn't mean that other girls
aren't overrepresented

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at other parts along that continuum.

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But black girls
are the only group of girls

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who are overrepresented all along the way.

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Black girls are seven times more likely
than their white counterparts

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to experience one or more
out of school suspensions

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and they're nearly three times more likely
than their white and Latinx counterparts

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to be referred to the juvenile court.

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A recent study by the Georgetown
Center on Poverty and Inequality

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partially explained
why this disparity is taking place,

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when they confirmed
that black girls experience

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a specific type of age compression,

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where they're seen as more adult-like
than their white peers.

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Among other things, the study found

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that people perceive black girls
to need less nurturing,

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less protection, to know more about sex

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and to be more independent
than their white peers.

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The study also found

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that the perception disparity begins
when girls are as young as five years old.

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And that this perception
and the disparity increases over time

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and peaks when girls are
between the ages of 10 and 14.

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This is not without consequence.

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Believing that a girl is older than she is
can lead to harsher treatment,

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immediate censure when she makes a mistake

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and victim blaming when she's harmed.

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It can also lead a girl to think
that something is wrong with her,

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rather than the conditions
in which she finds herself.

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Black girls are routinely seen
as too loud, too aggressive,

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too angry, too visible.

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Qualities that are often measured
in relation to nonblack girls

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and which don't take into consideration
what's going on in this girl's life,

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or her cultural norms.

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And it's not just in the US.

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In South Africa,

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black girls at the Pretoria
Girls High School

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were discouraged from attending school
with their hair in its natural state,

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without chemical processing.

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What did those girls do?

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They protested.

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And it was a beautiful thing to see
the global community for the most part

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wrap its arms around girls
as they stood in their truths.

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But there were those
who saw them as disruptive,

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largely because they dared
to ask the question,

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"Where can we be black,
if we can't be black in Africa?"

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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It's a good question.

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Around the world,

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black girls are grappling
with this question.

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And around the world,

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black girls are struggling to be seen,
working to be free

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and fighting to be included

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in the landscape of promise
that a safe space to learn provides.

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In the US, little girls,
just past their toddler years,

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are being arrested in classrooms
for having a tantrum.

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Middle school girls are being
turned away from school

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because of the way
they wear their hair naturally,

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or because of the way
the clothes fir their bodies.

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High school girls
are experiencing violence

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at the hands of police
officers in schools.

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Where can black girls be black
without reprimand or punishment?

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And it's not just these incidents.

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In my work as a researcher and educator,

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I've had an opportunity
to work with girls like Stacy,

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a girl who I profile in my book "Pushout,"

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who struggles with
her participation in violence.

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She bypasses the neuroscientific
and structural analyses

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that science has to offer

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about how her adverse
childhood experiences inform

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why she's participating in violence

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and goes straight to describing herself
as a "problem child,"

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largely because that's the language
that educators were using

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as they routinely suspended her.

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But here's the thing.

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Disconnection and the internalization
of harm grow stronger in isolation.

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So when girls get in trouble,
we shouldn't be pushing them away,

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we should be bringing them in closer.

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Education is a critical protective factor

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against contact
with the criminal legal system.

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So we should be building
our policies and practices

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that keep girls connected
to their learning,

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rather than pushing them away from it.

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It's one of the reasons I like to say
that education is freedom work.

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When girls feel safe, they can learn.

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When they don't feel safe, they fight,

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they protest, they argue,
they flee, they freeze.

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The human brain is wired
to protect us when we feel a threat.

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And so long as school feels like a threat,

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or part of the tapestry of harm
in a girl's life,

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she'll be inclined to resist.

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But when schools become
locations for healing,

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they can also become
locations for learning.

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So what does this mean for a school
to become a location for healing?

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Well, for one thing, it means
that we have to immediately discontinue

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the policies and practices that target
black girls for their hairstyles or dress.

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(Applause)

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Let's focus on how
and what a girls learns,

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rather than policing her body
in ways that facilitate rape culture

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or punish children for the conditions
in which they were born.

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This is where parents and the community
of concerned adults can enter this work.

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Start a conversation with the school

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and encourage them
to address their dress code

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and other conduct-related policies
as a collaborative project

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with parents and students,

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so as to intentionally avoid
bias and discrimination.

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Keep in mind, though,

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that some of the practices
that harm black girls most are unwritten.

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So we have to continue to do the deep,
internal work to address the biases

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that inform how, when and whether we see
black girls for who they actually are,

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or what we've been told they are.

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Volunteer at a school

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and establish culturally competent
and gender responsive discussion groups

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with black girls,
Latinas, indigenous girls

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and other students who experience
marginalization in schools,

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to give them a safe space

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to process their identities
and experiences in schools.

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And if schools are to become
locations for healing,

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we have to remove police officers

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and increase the number
of counselors in schools.

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(Applause)

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Education is freedom work.

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And whatever our point of entry is,
we all have to be freedom fighters.

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The good news is that there are schools

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that are actively working
to establish themselves

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as locations for girls
to see themselves as sacred and loved.

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The Columbus City Prep School for Girls
in Columbus, Ohio, is an example of this.

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They became an example
the moment their principal declared

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that they were no longer going to punish
girls for having "a bad attitude."

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In addition to building --

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Essentially, what they did
is they built out a robust continuum

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of alternatives to suspension,
expulsion and arrest.

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In addition to establishing
a restorative justice program,

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they improved their
student and teacher relationships

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by ensuring that every girl
has at least one adult on campus

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that she can go to
when she's in a moment of crisis.

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They built out spaces along the corridors
of the school and in classrooms

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for girls to regroup,
if they need a minute to do so.

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And they established an advisory program
that provides girls with an opportunity

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to start every single day
with the promotion of self-worth,

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communication skills and goal setting.

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At this school,

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they're trying to respond
to a girl's adverse childhood experiences

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rather than ignore them.

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They bring them in closer,
they don't push them away.

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And as a result, their truancy
and suspension rates have improved

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and girls are arriving at school
increasingly ready to learn,

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because they know the teachers
there care about them.

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That matters.

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Schools that integrate the arts
and sports into their curriculum

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or that are building out
tranformative programming,

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such as restorative justice,
mindfulness and meditation,

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are providing an opportunity for girls
to repair their relationships with others,

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but also with themselves.

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Responding to the lived,
complex and historical trauma

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that our students face

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requires all of us who believe
in the promise of children and adolescents

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to build relationships,
learning materials,

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human and financial resources
and other tools

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that provide children with an opportunity
to heal, so that they can learn.

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Our schools should be places where
we respond to our most vulnerable girls

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as essential to the creation
of a positive school culture.

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Our ability to see her promise
should be at its sharpest

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when she's in the throws
of poverty and addiction,

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when she's reeling
from having been sex-trafficked

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or survived other forms of violence,

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when she's at her loudest,

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or her quietest.

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We should be able
to support her intellectual

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and social emotional well-being,

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whether her shorts reach her knees,
or stop mid-thigh or higher.

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It might seem like a tall order in a world

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so deeply entrenched
in the politics of fear

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to radically imagine schools as locations
where girls can heal and thrive,

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but we have to be bold enough
to set this as our intention.

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If we commit to this notion
of education as freedom work,

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we can shift educational conditions

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so that no girl, even the most
vulnerable among us,

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will get pushed out of school.

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And that's a win for all of us.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)