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November 7, 2021

#NonficNov Pushout

by NancyElin

 

What is PUSHOUT?

  1. Pushout refers to practices that
  2. contribute to students dropping out.
  3. A) unwelcoming and uncaring school environments
  4. B) over-reliance on zero tolerance school policies
  5. that push students out of school.

 

What does Ms Morris tell us in this  book?

  1. She offers tactics to work against damaging stigmas.
  2. Black girls are devalued based on how others perceive them.

 

My Thoughts..

  1. Why is the struggle for survival a
  2. universally accepted rite of passage for Black girls?
  3. I never looked at this aspect of BG’s lives.
  4. ALWAYS …having to prove they are good enough!
  5. All the more respect for people like
  6. TV commentators (Oprah), news anchors (Joy Ried),
  7. members of Congress (Cori Bush), First Lady (Michelle Obama),
  8. American lawyers, activists, and politicians like…
  9. Letitia James, Attorney General New York
  10. …now running for Governor of New York…
  11. who have had to balance
  12. the question am I black first or am I female first?

 

Thoughts…

  1. Despite all the struggles for equality in USA
  2. ...the country is still colorblind.
  3. Segregation still exists.
  4. ..and Black girls have unequal access to education.
  5. Just think about it….this is shameful!!

 

Why did Nikole Hannah-Jones not get tenure at University North Carolina (UNC)?
  1. Hannah-Jones covers racial injustice for The New York Times,
  2. and has  spent years chronicling the way official policy has created
  3. —and maintains—racial segregation in housing and schools.
  4. She won she won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work on The 1619 Project.
  5. Yet conservative groups  (white supremacists)
  6. …expressed disagreement with the 1619 Project and
  7. …questioned Hannah-Jones’s credentials (…how dare they!)
  8. Many UNC trustees (under pressure) resisted granting her tenure
  9. ….still pure racism anno 2021!

 
Conclusion:
  1. I could go on and on highlighting the points
  2. ….made in this book (see notes below)
  3. …but each time I think of a one new example of 
  4. intelligent, brave, persistent Black women
  5. others come to mind.
  6. I applaud all Black women making a better life for
  7. themselves, their family and their country.
  8. I am so glad this book made
  9. …me AWARE of Black girl’s struggles
  10. …and hope that more people pause and
  11. …think about what they  must
  12. go through…each and every day of their lives!

 

Last Thoughts:

  1. I must admit this book was a ‘difficult read’.
  2. Young black girls drift from foster homes
  3. …to juvenile correction institutions
  4. …and even being trafficked into prostitution.
  5. The personal stories are shocking to read.
  6. I had a second book lined up  to read by Nikki Jones.
  7. She is an associate professor of African American Studies
  8. at the University of California, Berkeley
  9. …but just cannot digest more of this dark side of life.
  10. One book is enough for the time being
  11. …after this eye-opener.
  12. Still I say…
  13. #Bravo Dr. Monique E. Morris
  14. …I don’t know how you do it….immersed in this
  15. traumatic daily life as experienced by poor, urban,
  16. African American adolescent girls.
  17. I know you are making a difference by revealing
  18. …what an average person like me
  19. …does not see.
 

 

Quick Scan: Chapters:

  1. Struggling to Survive
  2. A Blues and Black Girls When the “Attitude” is Enuf
  3. Jezebel in the Classroom:
  4. Learning on Lockdown
  5. Repairing Realtionshps, Rebuilding Connections

 

Confront the reader:  “…with the facts”

  1. Statistics: poverty, dropouts, incarceration, homicide of black girls and women today. 
  2. Schools maintain culture of discipline and punishment 
  3. Anecdotes: relate how black girls are victims of discrimination and exploitation.
  4. Stereotypes: sassy, combative and defiant
  5. Personal stories: better understanding of how black girls are uniquely vulnerable
  6. Solutions: what schools can reduce the marginalization of black girls
  7. Training:  schools should not to criminalize misguided reactions of black girls.
  8. Sometimes they are victims of sexual assault, have been bullied
  9. …or experienced abandonment in the family.
  10. Show more empathy...engage them with care
  11. ...bring them closer when there is chaos or disruption in their lives.
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