This post is part of Brentwood-Darlington Neighborhood Association‘s Amplify Black Neighbors post series happening throughout June 2020. For more information, click here.

Week 3 Featured Author: Dr. Monique W. Morris

Partial Bio from Dr. Morris’ website: Monique W. Morris, Ed.D. is an award-winning author and social justice scholar with three decades of experience in the areas of education, civil rights, juvenile and social justice.  Dr. Morris is the author of Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls (The New Press, 2019), which explores a pedagogy to counter the criminalization of Black and Brown girls in schools. She is also the author of Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools (The New Press, 2016), Black Stats: African Americans by the Numbers in the Twenty-First Century (The New Press, 2014),  Too Beautiful for Words (MWM Books, 2012) and worked with Kemba Smith on her book, Poster Child: The Kemba Smith Story (IBJ Book Publishing, 2011).

(Click here to read the rest of her bio.)

Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Description from the Publisher: “Fifteen-year-old Diamond stopped going to school the day she was expelled for lashing out at peers who constantly harassed and teased her for something everyone on the staff had missed: she was being trafficked for sex. After months on the run, she was arrested and sent to a detention center for violating a court order to attend school. Black girls represent 16 percent of female students but almost half of all girls with a school-related arrest. The first trade book to tell these untold stories, PUSHOUT exposes a world of confined potential and supports the growing movement to address the policies, practices, and cultural illiteracy that push countless students out of school and into unhealthy, unstable, and often unsafe futures. For four years Monique W. Morris, author of Black Stats, chronicled the experiences of black girls across the country whose intricate lives are misunderstood, highly judged-by teachers, administrators, and the justice system-and degraded by the very institutions charged with helping them flourish. Morris shows how, despite obstacles, stigmas, stereotypes, and despair, black girls still find ways to breathe remarkable dignity into their lives in classrooms, juvenile facilities, and beyond”

Additional Resources: You can find videos and anti-bias resources on the PUSHOUT film YouTube Channel. Also recommended is Dr. Monique W. Morris’ Ted Talk from 2019: Why black girls are targeted for punishment at school — and how to change that. Visit her website for additional books, films, and resources.