Let’s Start To Protect Black Girls At All Costs

By: Ayana Coleman-Dixon

Studies from Georgetown Law Center have proven that people truly believe Black girls do not need as much comforting, nurturing, and support compared to any other race of child. Why might that be? Maybe it’s because Black girls are constantly held up to adult standards or maybe adultification bias is something that many innocent Black girls have to face on a day to day basis. “Our earlier research focused on adult attitudes and found that adults think black girls as young as 5 need less protection and nurturing than their white peers,” says the co-author of the study Rebecca Epstein. How can one child feel safe when society holds Black girls to the same behavioral standards as grown women? The differences in the way that they are perceived vary by the demand for maturity. Revisiting and speaking with current students at Purnell School, an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey, the Black students have been crying out for months for their faculty to do something about the racism and tensions they feel on a daily basis on their school’s campus. We must begin to peel back the layers of this animosity towards Black girls in order to pinpoint the issue and ways to fix this problem for future generations. 

Purnell School prides itself in its all-inclusive student body.  According to their website, the school helps girls: “Here, we enable you to be yourself—to explore your passions, discover your strengths, and find the confidence to succeed in the world.” Furthermore, they claim to have a safe living and learning environment: “Purnell is located amid the rolling meadows and gentle hills of Pottersville, New Jersey. It's an idyllic school setting -- secure and peaceful, surrounded by horses and historic villages, with easy access to the vibrancy of two major metropolitan areas, just an hour from New York City and two hours from Philadelphia. Purnell provides a small, caring environment where you can pursue a highly individualized education, and grow into the student and the woman you have the potential to be.”

As a Black girl, in general, there is very little room to make mistakes. In varying situations, Black girls are treated differently and most times get harsher punishments than their white counterparts. Also, many people tend to sexualize Black women, whether it’s in media, fashion, or everyday life. Past alumni, Stacey (different names are used to protect the identity of the students) would wear the same school girl uniform as everyone else, but because she had a different body shape and she was a Black girl they constantly shamed her for looking too “revealing.” The reality is that she couldn’t help the way her body was shaped and she was in no way purposely trying to make her uniform overtly sexual. Not only that, but negative stereotypes about Black women are usually projected onto Black girls. For example,  few former students from Purnell talked about the time their English teacher told their class that it was a fact that Black women and girls couldn’t grow long hair. 

	When you think of boarding school, people normally think of an environment similar to that of the Nickelodeon show Zoey 101. But many people do not know just how isolating it can be being in a boarding school in the middle of farmlands in Pottersville, New Jersey. Many students like Roxy have been looking forward to getting away from the campus.“I came home at the end of November and my mental health has just been flourishing, thriving.” she claims about her time away from the school. When you’re stuck on campus and don’t have options to go outside of the area, people in the community tend to spend a lot of time around each other. With the elections and race tensions at an all-time high at the end of 2020, there were students who wanted to make their voices known to the community. But as Roxy explains, there doesn’t seem to be enough room for them as students of color to speak about issues pertaining to races other than Caucasian. “And I told her (Victoria Browne, Director of Student Life), I said, and I quote, this shit is depressing.” scoffs Roxy. It started with the constant microaggression the girls were getting every day from peers as well as faculty members. “We were going through oppression literally every day and it was a constant fight. We would wake up, fight, and go to sleep, wake up, fight, go to sleep.” Roxy explains recalling her experiences over the previous months. “My classmate- her and I just happened to be walking outside with two of our other good friends, Ashley and Claire. We ran into another black girl named Brandy and she was crying!” 

The reason for Brandy’s tears was her experiencing racial injustice in her classroom in front of her teacher and fellow students. When all of this was brought to the Director of Student Life’s attention, she felt there was very little to be done. “She didn't really have much to say, except for no, that's not the case. No, that's not true. And that makes me really aggravated because how are you an outsider telling me what I'm feeling,” Roxy recalls the incident. The students then warned Victoria Browne that they would protest if nothing was done about it, to which the Director of Student Life laughed in response. What exactly is so funny about students coming to you with concern for their safety due to racial tensions in their classrooms and on campus. The head of school’s, Anne Glass, attention it was ignored and the call for action has been delayed. 

Black Students Matter Purnell Instagram

So a few of the girls on campus gathered and orchestrated Black Student’s Matter protests every weekday by the school’s dining hall. The majority of the school’s community looked on with distaste and many told the girls that they were wasting their time. Also, saying that the girls are loud, aggressive, and angry further perpetuates these Black girls into the angry Black woman stereotype. Roxy and many others have stated that they’ve felt not many people on campus cared about her life as a Black student. 

This is nothing new to Purnell since the school’s response to Black Lives Matter, an all-black square with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, resulted in an ambush of current and previous students calling out the school for their ignorance and performative activism. “This is really funny because I never felt like this place was a safe haven as a young Black girl. I created that myself and tried to for other young Black girls here.” one student says with multiple likes to back her voice up. “Peace? Respect?? Where was that when my friends and I would constantly be called derogatory names by the white students AND teachers?” another Black student recalls. “Remember when you guys ruled out “Black” hairstyles for graduation?” another girl chimed in. “As a freshman, I watched the ladies above constantly have to fight for respect from both peers and faculty. I watched the administration do nothing as they were called derogatory names by their fellow white classmates,” and the list goes on. 

Black Students Matter Purnell Instagram

In response, the school not only muted the comment section but held a zoom meeting with alumni promising to focus on diversity training with its faculty and students. While this appeared to be a good first step, they had the “meeting” but things didn’t go as expected. “We actually met with the trainer. She's incredible,  phenomenal. Heard us, listen to us, came up with solutions for us. What it was was that not everybody attended it, people were flaking and people didn't prioritize being anti-racist and being anti-biased. So they chose those other things that were more important. And I'm sure that things like family and necessities are more important, but when it comes down to stupid things, like going outside instead of going to something and helping people, that really shows who you are.” Roxy explains the situation.

This was all made aware to the Head of School, Anne Glass, but didn’t get the acknowledgment. In response, the students opened their own Instagram for their cause. (@blackstudentsmatterpurnell) Adultification bias erases the distinction of childhood and adulthood which leads to further harm and trauma that Black girls already go through for the color of their skin. We as a country, need to do better and Purnell boarding school for girls needs to take accountability and actions towards ending adultification bias on their campus. It all starts with the awareness and the knowledge of needing to implement changes on their campus so that all of their students are culturally, racially, and socially aware. Not only is education important for students, but especially for the faculty members. We want to create safe and nurturing environments for our Black girls to thrive in, in hopes of a better future for future generations to come. 

Black Students Matter Purnell Instagram

Interview link: https://share.descript.com/view/rEmlbE3dV7Y