I Am More Than What Has Happened to Me: A Powerful Narrative of a Systems-Impacted Black Girl

• In Event: All We Have, All We Need: Black Girls as Educational Stakeholders Disrupting Hyper-Punishment in Schools

Abstract

Overview. Black girls are underrepresented in the school to prison nexus discourse. Nevertheless, they suffer from many of the same conditions that criminalize Black boys while experiencing a subset of more particular forms of punishments that reflect their intersecting vulnerabilities. This paper is a case study examining the applicability of the youth control complex theory as it pertains to Keyana—an urban Black girl—who has experienced various forms of intersectional violence and has been involved with multiple publicly funded systems throughout her life. It investigates the ways in which punitive systems exacerbate and contribute to the violence, surveillance, and criminalization that she endures. The research question that guides this inquiry is: How does criminalization and the youth control complex function in the life span of a young Black mother who is involved with multiple social service systems?

This study centers the life of Keyana to more deeply understand the following: (1) the social-contextual factors that surround her criminalization as a poor urban system-involved Black girl and mother and (2) the types of system-related experiences that contribute to her entanglement in the youth control complex.

Theoretical Framework. Using the Youth Control Complex (YCC), this paper interrogates the hyper-criminalization and surveillance of system-involved Black girls and its effects on their wellbeing. The youth control complex describes the collective effort of social institutions (e.g. schools, families, communities, and the criminal justice system) to systematically punish, stigmatize, and control Black and Latino males (Rios, 2011). In response to the lack of female representation in Rios’ theory, this study employs Critical Race Feminism to interrogate, build upon, and expand Rios’ male-centric framework.

Methods. Using a case study approach, we center the narrative of Keyana, who has experienced various forms of intersectional violence and criminalization in and out of publicly funded systems. The interview data for this paper were collected as part of a larger project focused on criminal desistance of young adults and the lives of formerly incarcerated youth using a life course history approach (Hutchison, 2010, p. 9).

Preliminary Findings. Our preliminary analysis reveals that: (1) there is a relationship between race, gender, and child welfare involvement among Black girls; (2) the most vulnerable communities, facing poverty and economic hardship as well as gendered violence, are dealing with compounding and layering of burdens that impact basic needs—their ability to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves and their families; (3) there is a need to address the intersections between poverty, cycles of community disenfranchisement, discrimination, and victimization.

Significance. There is currently a dearth of research that investigates the inner-workings and mechanisms that fuel Black girls’ overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline. This study fills this gap by investigating how policies, practices, norms, and racialized-gendered narratives work collaboratively causing Black girls to be overrepresented and more susceptible to punishment in schools. With greater insight into Black female experiences in schools, educators and policymakers can be better prepared to design learning environments and educational experiences that produce positive outcomes for Girls of Color.

Authors

• Jamelia Nicole Harris, University of California - Los Angeles

• Brianna Marche' Harvey, University of California - Los Angeles