The State of Black Girls in New York State Introduction In early 2019, four 12-year-old girls of color were subjected to sobriety tests, strip searches, and/or suspensions for refusing to disrobe in a Binghamton, New York middle school. The basis for this humiliation was an adult staff member who felt that the girls were giggling too much and being “hyper and giddy.” The traumatization that these children experienced led over 200 community members to pack a school board meeting in solidarity with the young girls. This horrific incident brings a spotlight to the many ways that Black girls are criminalized in their educational settings and adultified – or perceived and responded to as more adult-like, excluded from the social construction of childhood – with their needs often left out of the popular narratives around both the school-to-prison pipeline and women’s rights. New York State must shift to recognizing Black girls’ joy, including their acts of resistance, as an extraordinary asset.
Part I: Education & Criminalization Part II: Sexual Violence Compounds Educational Inequity Part III: Family Regulation & Criminalization Part IV: A Costly Web of Girls’ Criminalization