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“And this makes me wonder if a Black girl’s life is only about being stitched together and coming undone, being stitched together and coming undone.” – @reneewauthor
here's a thread on the adultification and criminalization of Black girls and why we must #FreeGrace (1/25)
here's a thread on the adultification and criminalization of Black girls and why we must #FreeGrace (1/25)
adultification can occur in 2 diff ways: 1. when parents/guardians expect children to assume adult roles and responsibilities too early, i.e. daughters, being expected to cook and to clean and to help contribute financially, while sons are not (2/25)
2. stereotypes where children are perceived as less innocent. these stereotypes are largely dependent upon the race, class, and gender of the child. Black girls are adultified b/c of their social positions at the intersection of anti-blackness, patriarchy, ableism, etc. (3/25)
Black girls experience adultification where they are perceived as more mature, more adult-like, and more promiscuous by teachers, law enforcement, parents, and other community members. (4/25)
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/poverty-inequality-center/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2017/08/girlhood-interrupted.pdf
https://www.law.georgetown.edu/poverty-inequality-center/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2017/08/girlhood-interrupted.pdf
their bodies are perceived to be more physically developed. Black girls’ bodies are policed through dress codes, both formal and informal “familial” dress codes and “well-meaning” family remarks about their bodies. (5/25)
in the 1990s, Black girls in Baltimore middle schools were implanted with birth control b/c it was assumed they would have sex and become teenage mothers. rather than being seen as children, Black girls are seen as pre-Black mothers. (6/25)
schools become 1 of the primary sites where Black girls are adultified that contributes to their criminalization. @MoniqueWMorris ‘s book and documentary, Pushout, explores this topic. (7/25)
https://pushoutfilm.com/
https://pushoutfilm.com/
Black girls are 4 times more likely to be arrested in schools for “unruly” and “disruptive” behavior than white girls. they are 6 times more likely to be suspended than white girls. they actually outpace Black boys in punishment. (8/25)
in liberal classrooms, Black boys are more likely to be given space to be loud and angry because of the myth of the endangered Black man, whereas Black girls are punished for not fitting into white feminized gender presentations. (9/25)
Black girls’ anger, grief, and other emotions become categorized as “outlaw emotions” and their loud, “unfeminine” affective presentation are grounds for removal from school because of their threat to white, feminine emotional presentation. ( @savannahshange 2019) (10/25)
@savannahshange examines the effects of anti-blackness and misogynoir in a progressive, liberal school in her book Progressive Dystopia (11/25)
https://www.dukeupress.edu/progressive-dystopia
https://www.dukeupress.edu/progressive-dystopia
one example of the state-sanctioned expulsion and exclusion was the 2015 brutalization of the SC teen because she refused to put her phone away. (12/25) https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-girl-thrown-punishment-unfair-20151029-story.html
in an anti-black, patriarchal world, there is no pre-determined space for the Black girl to be who she is w/o the threat of institutional, structural, physical, or symbolic violence. (13/25)
which is why Black women & girls create digital and physical spaces to celebrate ourselves. #BlackGirlMagic is 1 example. S. Whitney (2018) describes BGM as a “mediated discourse affirming African American girls’ contributions, strength, and resilience.” (14/25)
Coined by blogger CaShwan Thompson in 2013 to describe the brilliance of Black women in her family, BGM celebrates the unique talents of Black women and girls in multiple arenas: fashion, activism, entertainment, etc. (15/25)
BGM highlights the resilience of Black women and girls in a world that continues to denigrate them but can also limit conversations about their vulnerability to violence and violation. (16/25)
By framing the talents and excellence of Black girls as “magic,” the actions they perform to survive/succeed in a violent world can make them appear impervious to the very violence that exceptionalizes them (17/25)
They are also then positioned as the saviors of their communities, underscoring the superwoman myth and Black male exceptionality, and at times, supporting homophobic and transphobic definitions of femininity and excellence. (18/25)
Black girls who are not exceptional according to white supremacist, ableist, capitalist, and cissexist conceptions of success fall out of realms of protection and are criminalized. (19/25)
Grace, a 15 y/o Black disabled girl who is currently incarcerated for missing school assignments is 1 on the thousands of BGs who are criminalized for her existence—undone and stitched together by the state as excess that needs confinement (20/26) https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/covid-michigan-schoolwork-juvenile-detention-1028325/
Black girls are only seen as “proper” or flourishing when they exist with the confines of state and community standards of femininity & excellence. (21/25)
this logic allowed the presiding judge to make horrifying statements about her, that she is “blooming” in juvenile detention. (22/25) https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/michigan-girl-juvenile-detention-homework-judge-decline-release-1031800/
societal standards dependent upon classist, white supremacist, patriarchal, cissexist logics always tell Black women and girls that we are simultaneously too much & yet never enough. we rendered indispensable AND disposable (23/25)
support #JusticeforGrace because we must #FreeGrace and Black girls like her from oppressive regimes that harm them (24/25) https://twitter.com/ProfessorCrunk/status/1286333140009615361
at ZDP, we believe that we will win. we believe in the liberation of Black women, girls, and femmes from oppressive institutions that confine them to any standards that are not self-determined. we will talk about this and more on our next episode! (25/25)
