A review by ralowe
Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools by Monique W. Morris

4.0

monique w. morris' venerable recording of black girls' oral interviews here are mustered to strike back at carceral misogynoir. this is another one of those things where reading it could lead one to no other conceivable ethical outcome than anarchism; morris' *pushout* and black femme voice is unfortunately but predictably bound to the horizon of a progressive reformed world that doesn't really exist. this middle-of-the read outcome rears its head despite rejecting certain instances of bodyshaming and misogynoirean respectability intrinsic to it. i don't blame morris: this is the world offered and within view. maybe we'll get there eventually. morris is expected to enumerate individually-prescribed reforms in the last pages, all authors who are black and femme and addressing social failings is expected to do the same, rinse and repeat. morris puts a lot into novelizing her sociologist researcher exploits in a way that warmly attempts to restore the dignity of the young people she's studying. expect to be frustrated with how bureaucracy shuffles and disposes of the vulnerable; that is, if you haven't directly experienced this. i had to reflect on how i take literacy for granted, and what morris is stipulating here regards the destruction of a prospective agency prior to its very inception. (ANARCHISM NOW PLEASE!!!) there's no real rational way to capture this kind of intrusive violence. it's like arguing with a highschool administrative apparatus that judges and censors based on a dress code arbitrarily enforced. i've had scant success with following morris' distinction between "school-to-prison pipeline"ќ and "school-to-confinement pathways"ќ; such anomalies suggest an odd disconnect from how a systemic conception of "prison"ќ operates in abolitionist spaces. morris pointedly is less concerned with that contemporaneous conversation than with how misogynoir targets minors both inside and outside of institutionalization. morris' writing style is easy and casual and i think many would benefit from the exposure to and witnessing of these stories.