Young black and Latinx girls have long been the victims of discriminatory rules and punitive practices that push them out of the classroom. These include, among other issues, ‘grooming’ policies that bear obvious anti-black sentiment. For some, the intense scrutiny begins as early as preschool.

Black girls are seven times more likely to be suspended from school than white girls. Black girls are also four times more likely to be arrested at school. This is not because Black girls are more likely to misbehave, but instead, because they are more likely to attend poorly funded and highly surveilled schools which focus more on punishment than support.

Schools have often served as young people’s first point of contact with the criminal justice system, and many students, especially students of color have seen their education disrupted by suspensions and expulsions.

Most advocacy efforts focus on meeting the important needs for young black men, but at the expense of black and Latinx girls who attend school in the same overpoliced schools and live in the same communities.

In December, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. Illhan Omar, and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman introduced legislation to end the “school-to-confinement” pathway–the Ending Punitive, Unfair, School-based Harm that is Overt and Unresponsive to Trauma (P.U.S.H.O.U.T.) Act.  

The bill offers incentives to states and schools that commit to ban most suspensions and expulsions, as well as any corporal punishment and physical restraint of students. It also allots resources to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights at a time when the Trump administration has worked to gut it, and establishes an interagency task force to end school pushout policies and examine their impact on girls of color

There is an urgent need for Congress to support the Ending PUSHOUT Act and dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline by ending the criminalization of our youth. We need your support to encourage Congress to cosponsor this important legislation now.

Sign the petition: Become a citizen cosponsor of the Ending PUSHOUT Act and support ending the criminalization of black and Latinx girls in schools.