U.S : Black girls have a right to feel safe at school !

The Binghamton School District must answer for strip searching and traumatizing four middle school girls. 

Demand the termination of school district employees who strip searched four 12 year old girls !

Dear friend,

A month after being forced to strip down to their underwear in front of school personnel, the mother of one of the girls from East Middle School in Binghamton, NY is speaking out. In addition to exhibiting signs of dealing with trauma — loss of appetite and sleeping often — the Binghamton City School District placed the girls in an alternative school with only a Math and English Language Arts teacher, and the students must sit in front of computer screens for four hours a day.¹

Last month, a school nurse and a vice principal at East Middle School in Binghamton, NY, strip searched four 12-year-old girls for being “hyper and giddy” during their lunch period. After intense public outrage, including over 200 community members showing up to a school board meeting and more than 50,000 petitions from Color Of Change members, the Binghamton City School District claimed their investigation found that the girls were subjected to a “medical examination” and not a strip search.² The parents did not consent to their daughters being searched or given a “medical evaluation,” and they were not notified about the incident until AFTER it occured.³ No one is buying the schools’ story, and Governor Andrew Cuomo urged the New York State Education Department to launch its own investigation into the incident.⁴

Binghamton City School District needs to answer for strip searching four 12-year-olds.

It’s unacceptable that these girls, who were embarrassed and traumatized by school officials, are having their education interrupted and are being punished for the racist and sexist assumptions of adults who should know better. These assumptions reflect the racist pattern that Black girls are six times more likely to be suspended from school than their white counterparts, and more likely to experience long-term, negative effects on their emotional and educational development.⁵ From the over-policing of Black girls’ hair, to strip searching them for exhibiting normal pre-teen behavior, the criminalization of Black girls must stop.⁶

Major changes need to occur in the Binghamton City School District. In another racist incident in September of 2018, school personnel physically assaulted a 17-year-old Binghamton high school student and called him a racial slur for attempting to leave campus and catch the bus.⁷

At Color Of Change, we’re making the following demands of the Binghamton City School District :

• Allow the girls to return back to school with their peers
• Pay for culturally competent counseling for the four students involved
• Fire the nurse, assistant principal, principal of the school, and any other personnel who oversaw the strip searches
• End all school strip searches district-wide
• Require all district employees to undergo ongoing cultural competency training

Black children in Binghamton deserve to feel safe in school. They shouldn’t have to worry about being called racial slurs or being strip searched by district employees. It’s time for the school board, superintendent, and the rest of the Binghamton City School District to stop profiling and criminalizing Black children.

Demand Binghamton Schools stop the criminalization of Black girls.

Until justice is real, 

Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Future, Mary, Saréya, Samantha, Eesha, and the rest of the Color Of Change team

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References :

1. "Mother Of 1 Of The 4 Black And Latina Girls Strip-Searched At New York School Speaks Out", Essence, 14 February 2019 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/122562?t=8&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J
2. "Binghamton residents protest alleged strip searches of four students at East Middle", PressConnects, 23 January 2019" https://act.colorofchange.org/go/120698?t=10&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J
3. "Parents of Binghamton East Middle School Girls Respond to District", WICZ Fox 40, 25 January 2019 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/120756?t=12&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J
4. "Governor calls for investigation into middle school strip search", WBFO 88.7, 1 February 2019 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/122563?t=14&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J
5. "From Preschool to Prison : The Criminalization of Black Girls", Center for American Progress, 8 December 2017 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/120696?t=16&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J
6. "When Black Hair Violates The Dress Code", NPR, 17 July 2017 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/120697?t=18&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J
7. "Binghamton High School student says staff assaulted him, used racial slur", Pressconnects, 28 September 2018 https://act.colorofchange.org/go/122564?t=20&akid=23317%2E1942551%2E3maG0J

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Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.