Review by Choice Review
Social and political activist Gloria Steinem calls them "supremacy crimes," those institutionalized laws, policies, and customs that serve to maintain a hierarchical status quo that does not favor women or persons of color. It is just such "crimes" that the author explores in this book, as its significant subtitle indicates. While this is not an academic study, the book would sit well in an academic library and in the hands of pre-service and working educators. It is supported by solid references as the author examines the impact of the "school-to-prison pipeline" and "zero tolerance" policies on black girls, who are often treated with suspicion or whose day-to-day survival challenges are brushed aside as irrelevant. The book concludes with a discussion of transformative models of education that help these girls build the kinds of positive relationships that lead to achieving success. Useful appendixes include a Q&A section, additional resources, and a discussion of alternative and beneficial approaches to discipline that could be put into place in a school setting. Overall, this would be a strong addition for anyone interested in educational equity and social justice. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers and upper-division undergraduates through practitioners. --Howard M. Miller, Mercy College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
The statistics are startling: although African American girls make up only 16 percent of the female student population, yet they represent nearly half of all female, school-based arrests. The criminalization of Black girls is much more than a street phenomenon, writes Morris (Black Stats, 2014) in this provocative book. It has extended into our schools and disrupted one of the most important protective factors in a girl's life: her education. Morris goes on to say that punitive school discipline has criminalized African American girls as young as six and seven, often for age-appropriate behavior such as throwing a tantrum or being disruptive in the classroom. Morris shares anecdote after anecdote about African American girls being stigmatized, she maintains, for not conforming to white, middle-class definitions of femininity. She decries what she calls the school-to-prison pipeline that affects so many of these girls in modern America and examines their experiences in correctional institutions. A thoughtful appendix offers numerous questions and answers for girls and young women, parents, the community, and educators. Timely and important.--Sawyers, June Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The school-to-prison pipeline has been examined largely for how it affects men, but Morris, cofounder of the National Black Women's Justice Institute, shifts our focus to the deleterious impact on African-American girls in racially isolated, high-poverty, low-performing schools. Morris examines the zero- tolerance policies ("the primary driver of an unscrupulous school-based reliance on law enforcement"), coupled with the increased police presence and surveillance tools (e.g., metal detectors and bag check stations) to show their effects on African-American girls. Through the voices of young girls themselves, she conveys their experiences with teachers and staff at school and in the juvenile correction facilities. She is particularly attentive to the sexual exploitation and abuse of girls, including transgender and special-needs girls. Morris's work, buttressed by appalling statistics and scholarly studies, is supplemented by two useful appendices ("A Q&A for Girls, Parents, Community Members, and Educators," "Alternatives to Punishment") and a list of community resources. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Let's face it-for a large portion of our 18-and-under population, school is not the place they'd choose to be. While most kids do still attend, a number drop out. As -Morris (cofounder, National Black -Women's -Justice Inst.; Black Stats) writes, school can be a hostile environment, especially for black girls, where cultural differences and racial and gender biases can cause other students, teachers, and administrators to misinterpret normal behavior or calls for help as causing trouble. Those students who decide to stop going to class can find themselves immersed in unhealthy practices and situations. African American female dropouts are among the most vulnerable, as they can be led into prostitution, drug addiction, and criminal behavior, and eventually wind up in juvenile facilities where they are exposed to that system's version of education, in which little learning may actually take place. Having had the same experiences as the youth she interviewed for her book, Morris provides sensible solutions to some of the problems she describes, arguing that educators must abandon their stereotypical views of young black women, and instructors at juvenile facilities must want the best for their students. VERDICT Educators, -particularly those who teach this demographic, would do well to give this a quick read.-Terry Christner, Hutchinson P.L., KS © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A writer and educator explores how various learning environments marginalize black girls and push them away from positive and productive futures. The concept of the "school-to-prison" pipeline has long dominated discourse about the relationship of the education and juvenile justice systems, especially where young people of color are concerned. Morris (Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-first Century, 2014), the co-founder of the National Black Women's Justice Institute, builds on previous work in which she discussed the way that "the pipeline framework' has been largely developed from the conditions and experiences of males." Poverty is one of the most daunting challenges black girls face, and they have a far greater likelihood of incarceration than girls of other races. But even when they do find employment, they earn less than both black and white men. They also live in more violent environments and die of homicide at shockingly high rates and young ages. Rather than help uplift these girls, however, Morris argues that the public school system participates in their further marginalization through zero-tolerance-type discipline policies such as detention, suspension, and expulsion. It also hurts them by reducing black girls to their sexuality and/or understanding them according to race and gender stereotypes that characterize them as loud, aggressive, and disrespectful. So girls are not pushed into jails or the streets to be exploited and abused, schoolsincluding those at juvenile detention centersmust become "bastions of community building, where healing is the center ofpedagogy." The personal stories at the heart of the author's discussion create a compelling study that puts a human face on both suffering and statistics. Combined with the many suggestions she offers throughout the book for creating healthier learning environments for black girls, Morris' book offers both educators and those interested in social justice issues an excellent starting point for much-needed change. A powerful and thought-provoking book of social science. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
