Documentary Examines the School-to=Prison Pipeline for Females of Color

by Octavio Cuesta De la Rosa

In discourse about the school-to-prison pipeline, the experiences of young women and girls of color are often overshadowed by their male counterparts. United Methodist Women hosted a virtual screening of “Pushout,” the documentary film based on the book of the same name, which focuses on the challenges and traumas experienced by African American girls at home and in the classroom.

Retelling the stories of five Black girls, “Pushout” exposes the criminalization of Black girls in schools and the education system’s refusal to understand their lives. Pushout’s five stories show just how pervasive and seemingly benign the traumas and challenges Black girls must endure in their childhood really are. Ariana and Emma were bullied by their classmates. Samaya was bullied by her teacher. They found no support at home or at school. Kiera, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, was arrested and expelled for defending herself. Terriana, overwhelmed at school and alone at home, dropped out and turned to the streets until her arrest for prostitution.

The most common theme across Pushout’s five stories is isolation. Lacking African American educators and administrators in schools, young Black girls are held to arbitrary standards that do not take into consideration their identity as African Americans, socioeconomically or biologically.

“Pushout” explains that because Black girls reach puberty much earlier, they are all-too-often “adultified” – effectively assumed to be adult mentally because they appear to be adult physically. Being held to adult standards despite still being children, their antics receive adult punishments. Similarly, the behaviors of Black girls are alien to many teachers and administrators. From chronic tardiness caused by long commutes and responsibilities at home right up to their distinct mannerisms and laughter, Black girls are held in constant suspicion by their educators, who frequently over-punish the slightest infraction. In schools with few African American staff, the lack of understanding lays the foundations of the schools-to-prisons pipeline; while it starts off with detentions and dressing-downs, it gradually escalates to suspensions and expulsions, pushing Black girls out of schools.

The most striking aspect of “Pushout” is that all of its exploration into the schools-to-prisons pipeline is done handin-hand with an exploration of the solution. To address the schools-to-prisons pipeline, “Pushout” calls for Black educators and administrators to be hired to shepherd Black girls through their formative years. Knowing what it’s like to be a Black girl, a more diverse staff would not criminalize their behavior when it’s childish.

Black teachers and administrators are only part of the solution. Having placed trauma at the center of its narrative, “Pushout” argues that social workers and counselors in schools are crucial to the academic success of Black girls, as well as to their mental health. Without the guidance and support necessary for Black girls to process the traumas they experience at home or at school, ensuing episodes of anger or frustration are criminalized by an education system that is unwilling to understand them or even help them. With the support of guidance counselors, however, Black girls would receive the understanding necessary to overcome these challenges without being criminalized.

The role of social workers in schools is also intended to extend beyond guiding children. “Pushout” argues that social workers would help educators and administrators better understand their students, especially Black girls. By creating a culturally-responsive education, social workers would engineer a loving and supportive environment for all children at schools and bring an end to the suspicion and criminalization of Black boys and girls.

In the discussion that followed the screening, the United Methodist Women echoed the film’s closing arguments. “It’s not that radical to love our children,” they reminded us, and by reforming our schools into loving and supportive environments, the trauma and inequity experienced by Black girls can be decriminalized, ending the schools-toprisons pipeline.

Octavio Cuesta De la Rosa is a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, where he majored in history and minored in French and urban planning. He volunteers with the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps.