The Victimization of Black Girls In School Settings
It is difficult to imagine any person feeling the same anxiety a Black girl feels when they are involuntarily thrust into a situation where trumpets constantly blare the violent and racist notes of old — but in present day arrangements.
It carries a tune that is harmful to more than just the ear, for within it lies the conscience of a feigned supremacy. Like Taylor Swift trying to sing Respect.
It is a fascination that in a twisted, delirious way evokes a self-concocted reality that only exists in the minds of the unlearned. But we all know there is only one Aretha Franklin.
The unenviable (I say this facetiously) and unforgiving (I say this earnestly) situation I reference is a certain skin color with which most of America is familiar yet at the same time perplexed at the unmistakably ethereal features it incorporates. Black. Beautiful. Exquisite. Regal. There is certainly no harm in being birthed with such a winsome hue but harm, rather, in what comes along with possessing those distinctive attributes.
In this upcoming series, I will attempt to convey the importance of justice for young Black students — Black girls, in particular — who are criminalized and victimized unjustly in American schools.
The Threat Toward a Mother’s Daughter
Darnisha Garbade answered our video call with a smile. “Hi, how are you?” she politely asked.
“I’m doing well, thank you.” And I was, but I was also troubled to a degree. Toward the end of 2018, shortly after the 2018–2019 school year began in the relatively small town of Burlington, Wisconsin, a white student on the school bus threatened to murder Mrs. Garbade’s 11-year-old daughter. The reason I called was to discuss what transpired with her daughter in a state where a documented history of racism persists in schools.
“She was threatened by [another student] who told her that he was going to come to our house and murder her,” Garbade began. “He told her that he has access to guns because his dad is a police officer. This happened on the school bus, so he knew where we lived because he saw where she got off the bus.”
And what was the result?
“Nothing was done at all. Nothing at all.”
It reminds me that young Black bodies are one word or act away from harm; from injustice; from death, with no consequences for the murderer. I know and understand this. Yesterday has assured me of this. The world we momentarily occupy today continues to assure me of this. My attempt to convey the depth of such a realization may never be fully understood by the abuser. I do not fully expect it to be. After all, expectations do not always leave one fulfilled.
My mind resurfaced to memories of Latasha Harlins, the young Black girl who was shot in the back of the head by a Korean store owner in Los Angeles by the name of Soon Ja Du. A jury convicted Du of voluntary manslaughter, but Judge Joyce Karlin decided to give her probation instead.
It is well documented that the streaming red blood of Black people in streets, on apartment walkways, outside of convenience stores, in parks, in cars, in jails, and in schools is a part of our country’s bloodstream. History clearly shows us that the experiences of the wronged are somehow diminished in the eyes of their oppressors as well as from those who side with the oppressor. Seemingly, there has never been a Black person who has been murdered by an oppressor who did not deserve it.
It is indeed a prerequisite for a more advanced course — an instruction teaching that our Black bodies are nothing if they are not abused. It is with this approach that indifference serves its purpose when it comes to situations that involve the abuse of Black girls.
What Mrs. Garbade told me next shook me to my core.
Spit on and Punched in the Face
“And then there was [another student] who spit on her, and when he spit on her, her friends held her back, and when they held her back he punched her in the face and knocked her tooth out,” Garbade shared. “…this was at Dyer Elementary and [my daughter] was in fifth grade, this was last year. And the principal there is Mr. Scott Schimmel. He took [her] into the office, again he did not contact me as her parent, detained her in the office for a long period of time, allowed [the other student] to return to his classes, and he interrogated [my daughter]. He proceeded to tell her about how if she would have retaliated against this student that he would have had to send her to talk to the school police officer liaison.
“[My daughter] sat there the whole time…she missed her classes…I think she had to have lunch in there. She said he wasn’t even in the office, he left her there by herself, and then when he finally came back, this is when he started to interrogate her. I didn’t find out about it until [she] rode the school bus home and told me herself. The whole time she was in there her tooth was bleeding, nobody looked in her mouth, nobody asked her if she was okay, nobody rendered any aid. And then when I called the principal and spoke with him myself, he proceeded to tell me the same thing that he told [her] — which is that I should be glad and [my daughter] should be glad that she has a good group of friends who held her back and kept her from retaliating against this student.
“The principal himself told me that this same student had spit on [her] a few months prior. [She] had never retaliated against any of these students. And even that day, she didn’t even touch the student or even retaliate against him, but he was more focused on what would have happened to her instead of what actually did happen to her. And so I [asked] him, ‘Did you refer this student to the police officer liaison?’ And he said to me that he was not at liberty to discuss disciplinary actions with me because of FERPA, which is a privacy act for students.”
*Superintendent of Burlington Area School District, Stephen Plank, declined my request for an interview with Schimmel by referencing the same state and federal laws relating to student privacy and confidentiality (Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act). Garbade also informed me that her daughter immediately told a Mr. Powers — who was overseeing students on the playground that day — that she was punched in the face, but added that nothing was done about it.
The criminalization of Black girls is nothing new. However, instead of addressing the problem, Schimmel “…got in a debate with me over the definitions between retaliation and self-defense and that was his concern,” Garbade continued. “After that, the student who threatened to murder [my daughter] threatened [her] again. And he told her, B-I-T-C-H-E-S get stitches. So, he was basically letting her know that because she told on him that he was going to retaliate against her…then he got a few more people with him and they were threatening and intimidating her. I went to the police station and filed a police report and I spoke to Officer [Jodi] Borchardt. When I was speaking to her, I told her about all of the incidents. She told me she was never contacted regarding any of those incidents. And so, I later learned that none of those white students were referred to the school officer liaison even though she said they should have been.” Officer Borchardt later issued cease and desist contracts for the three students as a result of Garbade’s visit.
Where is the white outrage in Burlington concerning the threatening and abuse of an elementary school-aged Black girl? They do not say much about systemic racial inequalities, injuries, or death because they know they do not have to. Why would they? Ninety-two percent of the population is white. As with much of Wisconsin, their main course is served with generous sides of white privilege and there’s more on the stove if you’re hungry. There is security in knowing that conducting oneself in certain ways will not garner censure or punishment.
Conclusion
Still, one must not forget that many of the laws we live by have been constructed upon disdain for Black lives. That contempt was borne of fear. That fear was birthed by the existence of white privilege, a privilege protected at all costs and emboldened by a fear that it might one day be gone. It is quite a bit to process for those who have never felt the sting of discrimination or injustice to come to grips with why justice is fervently demanded, why nonsensical excuses will no longer be tolerated, and why the actions (or inaction) of school administrators are constantly proving that justice is either non-evident, embarrassingly slow, or non-existent altogether.
As I reflect on this subject, my mind and heart march past several instances involving Black girls in the U.S. being violently attacked — killed even — and the justifications that followed in the wake of their beatings and oftentimes their deaths. Some will try to throw race out of the equation not realizing that doing so would impede any steps toward a solution.
Only when one knows, comprehends, and accepts this important element can they connect the dots. That’s when it will all start to make sense…
…and at the same time make no damn sense at all.
