Safe Not Sexualized: Protecting Black Girls and Gender Expansive Youth from School Police Sexual Violence
On Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at 6 PM EST, advocates, researchers, and students will be in conversation with two leading voices in the movement to end sexual violence as part of the joint release of three reports calling out the prevalence of sexual harassment, assault, and violence by police and security stationed in and around schools.
Moderated by
Tarana Burke, Founder & Chief Vision Officer, ‘me too.’ International, activist, and co-author of You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience and author of Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the me too Movement
&
Andrea J. Ritchie, Co-founder of Interrupting Criminalization and the In Our Names Network, and author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color and Shrouded in Silence: Police Sexual Violence: What We Know and What We Can Do About It
From 2020-2023, three advocacy and legal organizations worked to center Black girls and their experiences with school policing by researching and documenting the pervasive, structural, but often invisible problem of sexual harassment, assault, and violation of students by police or security guards in their schools. Those organizations have come together to uplift the collective resilience of young people and challenge the structures that make this violence possible.
Advancement Project (AP) and the Alliance for Education Justice (AEJ): Since the #AssaultAtSpringValley in 2015, AP and AEJ have been documenting incidents where students were assaulted by the police and security guards in their schools and supporting youth organizing to end the presence of state violence in and around schools. AP and AEJ have supported the National Campaign for Police-Free Schools and will release their updated #AssaultAt Report which found that 25% of all school police assaults in the 2022-23 academic year were sexual assaults.
In Our Names Network (IONN) and Interrupting Criminalization: Youth researchers from cities across the United States, including Columbia, SC, New York, NY and Oakland, CA have been working for close to two years to understand and challenge the ways that Black girls, trans, and gender expansive young people experience sexual harm and sexual violence in schools.
National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC): NWLC and SPLC have been working closely with Black girls in Miami to learn more about their experiences with school policing and their perceptions of school safety. Girls described how policing in their schools normalizes sexual harassment, especially by security guards, and creates environments where girls do not feel believed or supported when reporting to administrators. NWLC and SPLC will release a report written with youth co-authors to center these experiences and share how cultures of criminalization do not make Black girls feel safe.
This event is a part of the annual Dignity in Schools Campaign National Week of Action Against School Pushout. During the Week of Action, organizations and groups around the country hold events in their communities to raise awareness of school pushout and highlight solutions developed by youth and parents. This year’s theme is “Educate. Liberate. Elevate!” with events taking place throughout the week of October 14-22, 2023. You can learn more about the Week of Action here.
EVENT DETAILS:
October 18, 2023, 6 – 9 PM EST
Closed captioning and Spanish language translation will be available.
There will be a healing space available throughout the event.