Post 5: Final Thoughts

    Welcome to my final blog post. I finished the book and will be discussing my final thoughts about it. In the last section of the book, Monique Morris was wrapping up her thoughts and giving helpful information about how the school system could change their ways.

    One of the issues Morris shed light on was about how some Black girls sacrifice their education and future to help out their boyfriend and put all of their attention on him. She interviewed a girl named Heaven who was so worried about her boyfriend and if he was okay in juvenile detention, and she ended up stopping going to her own school because all of her focus was on him. Morris explained that one reason this is happening is because some Black girls don't see their education as beneficial. Because of how poorly they are treated by teachers and other students, school could be unbearable. Getting in trouble for simple things like getting a question wrong, wearing the same clothes as White girls but being the only one punished, and being stereotyped all day long, school has become less about learning. Especially in the juvenile detention centers, where the teachers didn't seem to care about the girls at all. So, as Morris said before, this could be a main factor as to why so many young Black girls sacrifice their education and future for a relationship.

    Also, adding on to the last paragraph, Black women think they have to choose between school and relationships. "Black girls internalize very early on that their well-being comes secondary to others'. Our policies, our public rhetoric about healing, even our protests all make the pain of Black females an afterthought to the pain of Black males" (Morris, page 174). This was another topic that Morris wrapped up in the end. Though both Black women and men face stereotypes, violence, and suffering a lot, Black women are not as focused on in the movements fighting for them.

    Though more Black men are put into jail than Black women, there seems to be less of a fight for social justice for the women. Seeing that there are more men in jail "leaves little room to consider the ways that females are also subjected to institutionalized harm and a prevailing consciousness that favors punishment over rehabilitation," (Morris, page 179). This goes back to a previous blog post, where I discussed how Black girls are put into delinquent centers as a way to silence and control them. They claim it's to fix their problems and mental health, however, after Morris talked to many girls that were sent to these centers, it is worse than regular schools, and that they cared about them less in the juvenile delinquent center. 

    That was the main topic of the last 40 pages of the novel, and Morris also discussed other solutions to try to change the system. "Countering the criminalization of Black girls requires fundamentally altering the relationship between Black girls and the institutions of power that have worked to reinforce their subjugation," (Morris, page 194). Morris describes that social transformation needs to occur, and love is the way to protect Black children from racial and gender discrimination. 

    Though the topics in this book were sensitive and serious, I took away a lot from the writings of Monique Morris. It was very interesting and gave me new insights for how it is like to experience these struggles on the daily. I will never truly understand them, but the more we learn about them, the sooner we can fix the problems.

Works Cited

Morris, Monique W. Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. New York City, New Press, 2016.