Yes, they are interesting in that regard. Its really sort of speaks to the selfconscious mission of creating a particular kind of leadership. West point is really remarkable in that regard. Those institutions come up in debate. Thomas jefferson who helped bring west point into being also was in support of a National University although he thought we needed a constitutional amendment to establish that and he speaks of west point in much of the same way although west point for jeffersons most important in its scientific terms at the time when the Scientific Development that will come out of it. At a place like west point, encourages maybe too strong a word but its a genuine liberal Arts Education and that means that while we want to cultivate certain understanding of politics in certain habits of mind that will be essential for leadership, part of those habits are going to be very openended and subject to serious questioning and thats something that those who think about the National University are acutely aware of early on. They want to teach the range of ideas about politics and government even while trying to cultivate a particular understanding. I think you see some of that. We actually see that beyond west point in many ways. We are very open when we teach in terms of liberal arts about the varieties of political experience and we really want to be critical of Political Institutions including our own and yet most of the institutions themselves take themselves to be committed to some form of democracy. Its not like were saying we dont mind if we end up producing a bunch of students who are elitist monarchs. We would think that would somehow have been, we wouldve done something wrong along the way. Professor thomas, with the decline in liberal Arts Education overall in the country, are we losing civics . Thats a great question and should be a serious concern to us. In fact, at the end of the book i pose that the great challenge in our day really is the potential commercialization that threatens to equip the more robust liberal arts element. When you think about the founding generation, it mightve been from religion but in our day its probably because of the success of american constitutionalism, the forwardlooking version of it really wanted to create a thriving commercial society and weve done that but now do we need to correct back the other way and attend more than have our educational institutions really ask whether the have obligations and commitment the founders and the idea of the National University constituting the American Mind is the name of the book. This is book tv on cspan. Now a talk on the book push out, the criminalization of black girls in schools. Its one hour 30 minutes. We have great pleasure to welcome you to welcome you to this particular conversation this evening. We team up with the new press to present push out. The criminalization of black girls in schools. This conversation is deeply meaningful to both restoration and the new press as we share a commitment to amplify and spotlight marginalized voices and stories. We want to thank diane and the new press team, particularly the kia for their incredible partnership in tonights conversation. Thank you so so much. A round of applause please. I also want to note that books are for sale following tonights conversation. To my left and youre right. Gloria steinem, activist writer and journalist wrote about push out. If you ever doubted that supremacy crimes, those devoted to maintaining hierarchy are rooted in both race and, read push out. Monique morris tells us exactly how schools are crushing the spirits and talent that this country needs. Guiding us through tonights conversation is Cheryl Watson harris, Senior Executive director for the new york public schools. She will be speaking with tonights author. Please join me and giving these two women a warm welcome. Tonights conversation would not be complete without hearing some of the voices from the research. To bring us these resources is Colby Christina from restoration youth arts academy. Here is push out, the criminalization of black girls in schools. [applause] this was the cry of 14yearold who in the summer of 2015 was thrown to the ground as well as physically and verbally assaulted after she refused to leave her friends at the mercy of this Law Enforcement officer in mckinney, texas. A video that later went viral showed him pushing her face in the ground as she, a slight frame barefoot bikiniclad teenager who presented no physical threat or danger screamed for someone to call her mother for help. The video showed him grinding her knee into her bearskin and restraining her by placing the full weight of his body onto hers. The incident was violent and reeked of sexual assault. Overtones that were later deemed inappropriate, outofcontrol and inconsistent with the Police Departments policies, trainings and articulated practices. He resigned in response to the public outcry and internal a scrutiny associated with his action, the image of her helpless frightened body under his has become a snapshot that cause us to examine. Though media nava c efforts have focused on the extreme and intolerable cases involving black boys such as 17yearold treyvon martin, a growing number of cases involving black girls has surfaced to reveal what many of us have known for centuries. Black girls are also directly impacted by criminalizing policies and practices that render them vulnerable to a few exploitations, dehumanizations dehumanizations and under the worst circumstances, death. 18yearold Shanika Proctor died in Police Custody after she was arrested for Disorderly Conduct in alabama. Even in highprofile cases involving boys, we often fail to see the girls who are right there alongside them. After the fatal shooting, the officers tackled his 14yearold sister to the ground and handcuffed her. Not only had she just watch her little brother die at the hands of these officers but she was forced to grieve his death from the backseat of a police car. Addressing these problematic narratives have proved difficult in the current social and political climate, one that embraces punitive responsive to dissent and increases the surveillance of the home where families live, the the communities where our Children Play in the schools where children are educated. Welcome everyone to push out. A conversation with doctor monique morris. As parents and educators, sisters, sisters, brothers, community leaders, i know we are all excited to engage in a thoughtful and powerful conversation with doctor morris. As we examine the injustice that black girls experience in school and beyond and also have the opportunity to hear her thoughts about how we change this narrative. It is my true pleasure and honor to introduce doctor monique morris. Dr. Monique morris is an author and social Justice Scalia with more than 20 years of professional and volunteer experience in the areas of education civil rights, juvenile and social justice. Doctor morris is the author of several publications, too beautiful for words and push out, the criminalization of black girls in school. She she has written dozens of articles, chapters and other publications on social justice issues and lectured widely on Research Policies and practices associated with improving juvenile justice, educational and social Economic Conditions of black girls, women and their families. Dr. Morris is the cofounder and president of the National Black justice institute. She is also the former vp for economic programs, advocacy and research at the National Association for the advancement of colored people. She is the former director of research for the Henderson Center for social justice at uc berkeley law school. Her work has informed the development and implementation of improved culturally competent continuum of services for youth. Her research intersects race gender education and justice to explore the ways in which black communities and other communities of color are uniquely affected by social policy. I think i speak for everyone in the winter room when i say thank you to doctor morris for writing this book and beginning this very, very important conversation. Tonight we are to have the opportunity to ask dr. Morris some questions about the book. I will engage in a conversation with doctor morris and then at the end of the program we will open it up to the audience who i know also has a lot of questions they would like to ask about the book and some of dr. Morriss thoughts on how we begin to change this narrative. Hello everybody. Welcome in push out you referenced the ladies, in the 2007 study it is found that black girls in the classroom are perceived as unladylike and loud. Talk about your thoughts on combating the stereotype of loud black women. Its very interesting how we have come to understand the identity of black women and girls. Much of the discussion about push out is centered in a critique of the way in which the identity, the black feminine identity has been presented publicly but also in our scholarship and in our own consciousness. When i talk about school push out, i talk largely about the policies, practices and the prevailing consciousness that underlies how we approach girls in our spaces, how we understand who they are, what theyre capable of and who they ultimately will become. That study is a profound one for me because it does begin to agitate much of the consciousness around how we understand these identities as they have aligned with historically means. Especially when means dominate our understanding of what the current, we see this way in which the identity of black girls and women is presented as either consistent as a hypersexual or loud or being emasculated angry presents. Or some combination of all three which we can interpret it in many different ways. This way in which we have misrepresented the identity plays into our subconscious. Our unconscious bias about how we understand behavior. When girls are asking questions in class or when girls are questioning material, its often perceived as being an authority of the adults or being defiant in ways that are inconsistent with their true intention. In some ways, again, given the legacies and misreadings that accompany the behavioral patterns that we see in school, we also see this way in which this hypersexuals age and prevents us from responding to their trauma and victimization. Im just curious what those of you in the audience, how many of you have had a similar experience . Does that resonate with you. Absolutely. We had a great conversation even before the session about the conversations that have been happening outside the meeting now hopefully this book will be a platform for those conversations to happen in the places that can really affect policy. Thank you again for that. The next question, in the book it talks about girls with hair and how it violates the dress code. How should we address racist dress code for bidding natural hair, punishing curvy women and how should these girls dress . This is a tricky question about how girls should dress. Its always interesting when i talk about this and when i revisit how i used to dress and when i think about my two daughters and their presentation and how i recognize that most of the way in which adults enforce the dress code is done through what they call to be a spirit of love. There are places in this country where schools have dress codes that disallow natural hair styles to be warned, if you are of african descent. So no afros are cornrows or locks, many of the people in this room would not be able to go to school with our hair the way it is so obviously, i say this pretty explicitly in the book, those those policies need to be removed. Theres no place for there to be a regulation of individual cultural practices around here. That has nothing to do with how individuals learn and it impacts black girls. The dress code is an interesting piece. It has a different component to it because not only is it about whether girls are showing up in short shorts or half shirts or spaghetti strap tank top, its about the policing of girls bodies in different ways. Much of what i discuss is related to how theres a differential interpretation, not that it exists but how the adults are enforcing the dress code that renders black girls vulnerable to a policing of their body. Not necessarily their clothing. There are girls who tell stories about arriving in school in short shorts, they have a white white or asian counterpart who is wearing the short shorts but its a problem on her body and she is sent home. When girls protest against this treatment the way many are inclined to do, they get an additional reprimand. with girls and interact about whether they are dressing appropriately. Some administrators will say i will turn a girl away if she doesnt have a pink shirt. Our dress code is pink not legal. What are we emphasizing . Lost the prioritization of learning and have come to prioritize enforcement of rules around dressed. That is taking us away from the intention of schooling and certainly the role and function of an institution. I talk about when schools are capable of young people and its the understanding its a critical, if that is true which we know it is, we need to keep girls in school, not finding creative ways to turn them away. So when we are doing this and having these conversations about dress codes and if a girl is showing up in a hat and thats reason for her to leave, we take in the conversation of the true intention of schools and turned it into its important to think through but also to critically examine the function of what schools are. Schools can either reinforce social norm and societal norm, or they can engage young people in the practice to combat their own oppressions. And many schools that are venturing Critical Thinking and instilling in our children the knowledge that they need to be a. Its turning people away because they are not showing up at the hat on. For black girls, there are particular nuances because a black girl a show of what they had on because her hair is in the process of being created. For those of us that have in the past, we know that can be a two day process. So if she has a hat on and you tell her she has to take it off, its not coming off so she will opt not to be in class. Thats an embarrassing situation. And we dont have these conversations around the cultural competencies as well as the unintended. Implementing dress codes the way we have been doing across the country. I think. And as educators i can tell you a story for every story youve told us there starting the conversation. In a section asking the tough questions, you mentioned that we live in a mans world and how thithis oppresses strong women. We talk a lot about white society. But what role do they play in the systematic oppression of black women . You heard that. [laughter] i was in a detention facility talking to girls while researching push out and before i could say much of anything i came in contact with this girl who i call faith in the buck, and that was her opening question to me. She said i dont like that song and i said i dont like it either. Ive processed about for years, what was she trying to tell me. She was trying to tell me to recognize the strength. Icu and i want you to see me. Shes a strong girl. Once i acknowledge, then she was able to question whether that was reinforcing the norms in our society and communities and home about the power. They embraced this idea that in order for a family to be holding a person to be whole, there has to be a male present a. Theres there is a girl that idd as a gay girl, thats what she called. She was processing a lot about her identity. One of the things i intentionally do in this space is engage in the lens about intersection because there are multiple experiences guiding the engagement with systems and people and that having to sit in the space where is was about the condition of nails into the prioritization to the community and the absence of men in conversations about the girl was also present in her life. To me its played out in the exchange we had about that. Many times when i talk historically in the last ten years when i have been one of maybe three women asking the question what about the girls its met with silence and there has not been a robust engagement among men to engage in space and in many ways, the pushback i received has come from men who want me to be quiet while we prioritized the boys and others in the space to engage. The investments made was a necessary investment, and i think that it was important to have the conversations and it continues to be important to have the conversations. Its also important to have the conversations about the women and girls and thats where i have been in this space and where i will remain until we bridge conversations about the communities that we share in institutions we share into the surveillance we share and the acknowledgment that while the structures are impacting both of us or anyone along the gender continuum in similar ways the impact is different in our responses have to be tailored to those impacts. They have to engage in its own functioning in the inter sexuality in order to appreciate that there are certain experiences that women and girls are facing that do allow us and require us to critically engage men and boys and those conversations are not happening. And i hope in some communities we begin to get there and i say that i really do intend for it to be the beginning of a more robust conversation and engagement of these issues but one of the first things it needs to happen is the man needs to be able to engage. There are lots of the violent victimization the girls at risk of the push out experience multiple forms of oppression and until we engage the community in the conversation about how to find them as sixyearolds in campuses to how we engage them as learners in ways that render them invisible or alienate them to the point weve got this narrative where we see black women as these successful achievers on one end are presented and then disproportionately represented among those that are exploited and havent been in school for years in some cases. We havent reconciled this space and part of that has to do with our absence of the discussion and continuum and the role that we are all playing in facilitating tha