Dear Ally

I read an article recently that made me think of you. I’m ashamed to admit I had not thought of you in a long time, but while reading this article, my mind flooded with long forgotten memories. Still, my favorite memory of you is getting our entire group stranded on the metro on a class trip. Last week, I watched a nervous school group and their chaperon attempt to the navigate the Washington, DC metro and the scene reminded me of you.

Watching the school group on the metro brought the article front of mind again. And with a jolt, I realized you were my first, and possibly most significant, ally.

As an educator, I assume you know that nationally, black girls are 5.5 times as likely to be suspended from school as compared to white girls. In our nation’s capital, my adopted home, black girls are a whopping 17.8% more likely to be suspended than white girls. Black girls represent 78% of DC school population but are 94% of all female suspensions (Camera, 2017).

Researchers at the National Women’s Law Center noted black girls are falling victim to racist and sexist stereotypes, poorly trained administrators, and social circumstances. Attributes such as being assertive, being direct, and advocating for oneself are viewed positively in boys and white girls, but these same attributes are seen negatively in black girls leading to higher rates of punishment. Sadly, innocuous behavior and minor infractions such as chewing gum or dress code violations lead to discipline for black girls at much higher rates.

Navigating mean girls, raging hormones, and studying are stressful enough without contending with intersectional oppression. In these conditions, black girl magic is vanquished leaving a bleak reality for black girls in school.

Our high-school years are foundational in our development as people, it is foundational in how we see ourselves, and it is foundational in how we look at the world. Thankfully, I look back on my time in school fondly. I got out of it what I was supposed to get out of it; I made life-long friends, I have a passing knowledge of Beowulf, and I gained the confidence to head out into the world. Additionally, we owe a debt to the people who helped shape us when are young. We owe gratitude to the people who believed in our potential even when we were inexperienced, confused, and insecure. I owe being generally well adapted to my parents, and ally, I owe you a sincere, “Thank you.”

Thank you for ignoring the narrative white supremacy constructs about black girls and thank you for seeing me as I was, not a personification of society’s deeply ingrained racial fear. Thank you for making me laugh, thank you for advocating for me when it mattered, and thank you for ensuring high school was safe not only for my white classmates but safe for this black girl as well.

Thank you for refusing to penalize me when I demonstrated leadership skills, when I conducted myself with respectful confidence, and when I advocated for myself. Thank you for encouraging your colleagues to do the same. If a principal with less integrity were in your role at the time, I most likely would have been removed from one of the most important activities of my high-school my life. In fact, when I reflect on high school today, memories of that team still fill me with pride. When I miss my lost friend memories of team practice, bus rides to competition and gossiping about boys warm my grieving heart.

My heart breaks when I think of the challenges black girls in school face today. The additional scrutiny they endure is a failing of both our society and our education system. The teachers and administrators who are charged with helping these girls learn and mature are intentionally and unintentionally suffocating them. Despite these challenges, black girls thrive. They grow into determined black women, currently the most highly educated demographic in the country. We took what our parents and our grandparents said seriously, we went out and got those degrees. Now in response to exclusionary corporate environments, grown black girls are launching companies at a breakneck pace. Black girl magic cannot be defeated.

I thank you because I know you are one of the reasons my magic shines brightly.

All my love-