Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

by Monique W. Morris

“What has gotten you kicked out of class in here?” I asked. “One time I was in class . . . I was telling her that I was done, because I get done with my work fast if I know how to do it. So I was like, I’m done. She was like, ‘Okay, you’re always done before the class, what does that mean?’ So, I’m like, ‘Well, I have an hour to go before I go back to the unit.’ So I’m telling her like, ‘What, you want me to just sit here for an hour?’ She was like, ‘Yes, put your head down.’ So I’m just like, ‘All right.’ So I just sit there, you know, like . . . then I’m like, ‘Can I write or draw? Something? I mean, it’s a whole hour to go.’ She was like, ‘No, you can’t do anything. You’re always getting done before the whole class. You know what, get out. Give me your pencil and get out.’ I’m like, ‘Because I do my work, I’m actually trying to do my work now, and now you want me to get out?’ Hella shit. She blame hella shit on us, like . . . some of the class is badder than the others. So like, some of the class will take off the erasers and throw it at her, and the whole class gets in trouble because of it. ‘Oh, I’m going to let your staff know that you guys have been taking off the erasers, and whoop-tee-whoop.’ She act like we want to steal a fucking eraser. What’s an eraser?” When girls were “kicked out” of class, they were relegated to sitting out in the hallway until they were invited back to the classroom or the class period was over. “And sometimes she gives us suspension for t...