What is the criminalization of Black girls?
The excessive discipline of Black girls within their educational
settings.
Black girls represent 16% of girls in public schools.
42% of girls expelled are Black.
37% of Black girls have their behavior labeled as disobedient or defiant, which depends on the judgment of school personnel.
Nationally, Black girls are four times as likely to be arrested in school than White girls nationwide.
In California…
In California, Black girls are six times as likely to be arrested in school than their White counterparts.
In Los Angeles County, 92% of girls in the juvenile justice system have been identified as sex trafficking victims, and 62% were Black girls.
These numbers aren't because Black girls are inherently bad. In fact, these numbers do not have anything to do with Black girls doing anything at all. Due to the implicit bias of others, young Black women are often mischaracterized and mislabeled because of how they look, dress, speak, and act. In short, Black girls are devalued based on how others perceive them. You may learn more about the criminalization of Black girls by clicking here.
It’s criminal…
For Black girls, the simple act of experimenting with hair colors such as pink or blue can create a hostile educational environment. Black girls are not celebrated for their bold and creative ways of self-expression. Black girls are labeled as "ghetto," and the phrase "ghetto Black girl" is synonymous with loud, disruptive, angry, hostile, and argumentative. A Black girl's choice to dye her hair pink hair combined with her teacher's implicit bias helps create the statistics above. A Black girl who dyes her hair pink is criminalized in school, whereas teachers may perceive a white peer with pink hair as creative, using a form of self-expression, partaking in an act of youthful rebellion against her parents, or that pink could simply be her favorite color.
Both have pink hair, but only one girl has a greater risk of being excessively punished for it.