When I was in the sixth grade, I got into a fight at school.
在六年级，我在学校打了一架。
It wasn't the first time I'd been in a fight, but it was the first time one happened at school.
这不是我第一次打架了，但这是我第一次在学校里打架。
It was with a boy who was about a foot taller than me,
对方是比我高一头多的男孩，
who was physically stronger than me and who'd been taunting me for weeks.
体格比我壮多了，他已经骚扰我几周了。
One day in PE, he stepped on my shoe and refused to apologize.
有一天的体育课上，他踩了我的脚，并拒绝向我道歉。
So, filled with anger, I grabbed him and I threw him to the ground. I'd had some previous judo training.
当时的我怒火冲天，一把抓住他，并把他摔到地上。我以前练过柔道。
Our fight lasted less than two minutes,
我们的这场架持续了不到两分钟，
but it was a perfect reflection of the hurricane that was building inside of me
但它真确反应了我内心中日积月累成的一股风暴，
as a young survivor of sexual assault
因为我是一个年少的性侵受害者，
and as a girl who was grappling with abandonment and exposure to violence in other spaces in my life.
我还是一个挣扎于遗弃与暴力之中的女孩。
I was fighting him, but I was also fighting the men and boys that had assaulted my body
我在和他打架的同时，是在向那些侵犯过我身体的男孩与男人
and the culture that told me I had to be silent about it.
和阻止我发声的文化宣战。
A teacher broke up the fight and my principal called me in her office.
一位老师拉开了我们，我的校长而后把我叫到办公室。
But she didn't say, "Monique, what's wrong with you?"
但是她并没有说，“莫妮科，你发什么神经？”
She gave me a moment to collect my breath and asked, "What happened?"
她给我一些时间来平复呼吸，问了我，“发生了什么？”
The educators working with me led with empathy. They knew me.
我的老师们以同情同理心引领我。他们理解我。
They knew I loved to read, they knew I loved to draw, they knew I adored Prince.
他们知道我热爱阅读，他们明白我喜欢画画。他们知道我喜欢歌手“王子”。
And they used that information to help me understand why my actions, and those of my classmate,
他们用这些信息来帮助我理解为何我和我同学的行为，
were disruptive to the learning community they were leading.
对于他们引领的学习群体 造成了破坏。
They didn't place me on suspension; they didn't call the police.
他们没有让我停学，也没有报警。
My fight didn't keep me from going to school the next day.
我的这场架并没让我第二天上不了学。
It didn't keep me from graduating; it didn't keep me from teaching.
它并不会使我毕不了业，并没阻止我从事教育。
But unfortunately, that's not a story that's shared by many black girls in the US and around the world today.
可惜的是，这并不是多数黑人女孩可与之共鸣的故事，无论是美国还是全球各地。
We're living through a crisis in which black girls are being disproportionately pushed away from schools
我们正处于一个危机中：黑人女孩以极不正常的比例被推离学校--
not because of an imminent threat they pose to the safety of a school,
这并非因为她们对于学校的安全有威胁，
but because they're often experiencing schools as locations for punishment and marginalization.
而是因为对她们来说，学校是她们饱受惩罚和被边缘化的地方。
That's something that I hear from black girls around the country.
这是我从全国各地的黑人女孩口中听说的。
But it's not insurmountable. We can shift this narrative.
这并非是个无法解决的难题。我们可以改变这个情况。
Let's start with some data.
先来看看数据吧。
According to a National Black Women's Justice Institute analysis of civil rights data collected by the US Department of Education,
根据国家黑人妇女司法协会对于民权数据的分析，这些数据由美国教育部收集，
black girls are the only group of girls who are overrepresented along the entire continuum of discipline in schools.
黑人女孩是唯一一群在学校的纪律惩罚体系中受惩戒比例过高的女孩。
That doesn't mean that other girls aren't experiencing exclusionary discipline
这并不代表其他女孩不经历停学之类的惩罚，
and it doesn't mean that other girls aren't overrepresented at other parts along that continuum.
也不代表其他女孩不过度经受其他惩罚。
But black girls are the only group of girls who are overrepresented all along the way.
但是黑人女孩是唯一一组在所有惩戒方面都比例过高。
Black girls are seven times more likely than their white counterparts to experience one or more out-of-school suspensions
相比白人女孩，黑人女孩受到停学处分的几率要高7倍，
and they're nearly three times more likely than their white and Latinx counterparts to be referred to the juvenile court.
而相较于白人和拉丁裔女孩，黑人女孩被送往青少年法庭的几率要高出3倍。
A recent study by the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality
最近一项乔治城大学贫困与不平等中心的研究，
partially explained why this disparity is taking place
部分解释了为何有这样的差距，
when they confirmed that black girls experience a specific type of age compression,
他们确认了黑人女孩会经历一种特殊的“年龄压缩”，
where they're seen as more adult-like than their white peers.
她们会比同龄的白人同学看起来更成熟。
Among other things, the study found that people perceive black girls to need less nurturing,
在其他方面，这个研究发现，人们一般认为，相比白人女孩来说，黑人女孩只需较少的关怀，
less protection, to know more about sex and to be more independent than their white peers.
不需要那么多的保护，也对性生活有更多的了解，她们更独立。
The study also found that the perception disparity begins when girls are as young as five years old.
这个研究还发现这种认知差异在女孩们五岁的时候就有了。
And that this perception and the disparity increases over time
这种差异随着时间越积越多，
and peaks when girls are between the ages of 10 and 14.
在女孩10岁到14岁之间达到顶峰。
This is not without consequence.
这并非没有后果。
Believing that a girl is older than she is can lead to harsher treatment,
认为一个女孩比实际年龄要成熟会导致她受到更严厉的对待，
immediate censure when she makes a mistake and victim blaming when she's harmed.
在她犯错误时会受到过多的谴责，而当她受到伤害时，大家会责怪她。
It can also lead a girl to think that something is wrong with her,
这也可能导致一个女孩认为她自身有一些问题，
rather than the conditions in which she finds herself.
而未察觉问题出在她处于的环境。
Black girls are routinely seen as too loud, too aggressive, too angry, too visible.
黑人女孩一直被看作太大声，太气势汹汹，太易怒，太出挑。
Qualities that are often measured in relation to nonblack girls
这些特征都与非黑人女孩比较，
and which don't take into consideration what's going on in this girl's life or her cultural norms.
但却没有考虑到这个女孩经历过什么，也没有考虑到她的文化常态。
And it's not just in the US.
这并非只发生在美国。
In South Africa, black girls at the Pretoria Girls High School
在南非，比勒陀利亚女子高中的黑人女学生们
were discouraged from attending school with their hair in its natural state, without chemical processing.
被学校规劝，若她们保持自然发型，不经化学烫发处理，不能上学。
What did those girls do? They protested.
所以这些女孩做了什么? 她们抗议。
And it was a beautiful thing to see the global community for the most part wrap its arms around girls as they stood in their truths.
看到全球各地的人们支持并向这些女孩伸出援手，真是件美好的事！
But there were those who saw them as disruptive, largely because they dared to ask the question,
但也有人将这些女孩看作是捣乱者，仅仅因为她们质问了：
"Where can we be black if we can't be black in Africa?"
“若我们没法在非洲保持黑人本真，还能在哪儿？”
It's a good question. Around the world, black girls are grappling with this question.
这是一个好问题。在全球各地，黑人女孩都在思考这个问题。
And around the world, black girls are struggling to be seen, working to be free
同样在全球各地，黑人女孩挣扎着让自己被重视，努力来让自己自由，
and fighting to be included in the landscape of promise that a safe space to learn provides.
用尽一切使自己可在应许之地，争取到相等的机会。
In the US, little girls, just past their toddler years,
在美国，小女孩，刚过蹒跚学步的年龄，
are being arrested in classrooms for having a tantrum.
仅因在教室里发了一会儿脾气，就被逮捕。
Middle school girls are being turned away from school
中学女孩被学校劝退，
because of the way they wear their hair naturally or because of the way the clothes fit their bodies.
仅仅因为她们不将自己的头发烫直或因为穿了紧身的衣服。
High school girls are experiencing violence at the hands of police officers in schools.
高中女孩甚至会经历来自校方警卫的暴力对待。
Where can black girls be black without reprimand or punishment? And it's not just these incidents.
黑人女孩到底可以在哪儿做自己而不受惩罚？这些仅仅是冰山一角。
In my work as a researcher and educator, I've had an opportunity to work with girls like Stacy,
作为一个研究者和一个教育者，我有幸和一个叫史黛西的女孩一起工作，
a girl who I profile in my book "Pushout," who struggles with her participation in violence.
我的书《排挤》也提到了她，她挣扎于自己的暴力倾向。
She bypasses the neuroscientific and structural analyses that science has to offer about
她完全避开了神经科学和构造分析可以提供的
how her adverse childhood experiences inform why she's participating in violence
有关她幼年不幸可能引导了她去参与暴力，
and goes straight to describing herself as a "problem child,"
而直接称呼自己“问题儿童”，
largely because that's the language that educators were using as they routinely suspended her.
正因为这是她的师长用的词，他们常常让她停学。
But here's the thing. Disconnection and the internalization of harm grow stronger in isolation.
但是请想想。脱节和仇恨内化会在人被孤立时猖狂滋长。

So when girls get in trouble, we shouldn't be pushing them away, we should be bringing them in closer.
所以当女孩闯祸时，我们不该将她们推开，我们应该拉近她们。
Education is a critical protective factor against contact with the criminal legal system.
教育是一个至关重要的保护方式，来对抗与犯罪法律系统的接触。
So we should be building out policies and practices
我们应该建立规则和惯例，
that keep girls connected to their learning, rather than pushing them away from it.
让女孩与学习紧紧相连，而不是将她们推离学习。
It's one of the reasons I like to say that education is freedom work.
这也是为何我称教育为使人自由的工作。
When girls feel safe, they can learn.
当女孩们感到安全时，她们就可以学习。
When they don't feel safe, they fight, they protest, they argue, they flee, they freeze.
当她们感到危险时，她们会斗争，会抗议，会争讨，她们会逃开，她们会不知所措。
The human brain is wired to protect us when we feel a threat.
当我们感到威胁时，人类大脑会启动天生的保护机制。
And so long as school feels like a threat,
所以说，只要学校对她们来说是一种威胁，
or part of the tapestry of harm in a girl's life, she'll be inclined to resist.
或者是女孩一生受的伤害中的一部分，她就会想要反抗。
But when schools become locations for healing, they can also become locations for learning.
但当学校变成一个治愈所，它就可成为学习的地方。
So what does this mean for a school to become a location for healing?
所以一个学校变成治愈所的意义在哪儿？
Well, for one thing, it means that we have to immediately discontinue
第一，我们必须立刻停止
the policies and practices that target black girls for their hairstyles or dress.
那些针对黑人女孩发型和穿着的纪律规定。
Let's focus on how and what a girl learns rather than policing her body in ways
让我们更多关注女孩学了什么，而不是监控她的身体，
that facilitate rape culture or punish children for the conditions in which they were born.
从而增长强暴文化或是惩罚孩童，仅仅由于她们出生的环境不同。
This is where parents and the community of concerned adults can enter this work.
在这一步，家长和关注此事的群体可以参与进来。
Start a conversation with the school and encourage them
与学校谈话，并鼓励他们
to address their dress code and other conduct-related policies as a collaborative project,
将着装标准还有其他相应的规范政策看作一个合作项目，
with parents and students, so as to intentionally avoid bias and discrimination.
与家长与学生探讨，这样可以避免歧视和偏差。
Keep in mind, though, that some of the practices that harm black girls most are unwritten.
但要当心的是，许多伤害黑人女孩的行为规范是不被写下来的。
So we have to continue to do the deep, internal work to address the biases
所以我们得继续深入地工作来消除偏见，
that inform how, when and whether we see black girls for who they actually are,
来提醒大家，我们看待黑人女孩时是否是基于她的本身，
or what we've been told they are.
还是受别人的意见影响后看到的她们。
Volunteer at a school and establish culturally competent and gender responsive discussion groups
在学校里当志愿者并建立文化能力和性别认知讨论小组，
with black girls, Latinas, indigenous girls and other students who experience marginalization in schools
与黑人女孩，拉丁裔女孩和原住民女孩们，还要包括其他在学校经历边缘化的学生们，
to give them a safe space to process their identities and experiences in schools.
要求学校提供一个安全的空间，让他们可以梳理自己的身份与在学校的经历。
And if schools are to become locations for healing,
而若学校可以成为治愈之地，
we have to remove police officers and increase the number of counselors in schools.
我们需要在学校中去减少警卫，但增加更多的指导员。
Education is freedom work. And whatever our point of entry is, we all have to be freedom fighters.
教育是使人自由的工作。无论我们何时加入这个行业，我们都需要成为自由斗士。
The good news is that there are schools that are actively working
好消息是，现在有许多学校正在努力，
to establish themselves as locations for girls to see themselves as sacred and loved.
让自己变成女孩们可以感到自己是神圣的与被爱的地方。
The Columbus City Prep School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio, is an example of this.
俄亥俄州的哥伦布市女子学院就是一个例子。
They became an example the moment their principal declared that they were no longer going to punish girls for having "a bad attitude."
就是因为校长声明他们不会仅因为女孩有“不好的态度”而惩罚她们。
In addition to building
除了建造方面之外，
Essentially, what they did is they built out a robust continuum of alternatives to suspension, expulsion and arrest.
这所学校建立了一个成功的体系，用各种方案替代停课、停学和逮捕。
In addition to establishing a restorative justice program, they improved their student and teacher relationships
除了建立这个有修复式正义的规范体系，他们还改进了学生与教师的关系，
by ensuring that every girl has at least one adult on campus that she can go to when she's in a moment of crisis.
让每个女孩在危机时刻可以在校园中找到至少一个成年人来倾诉。
They built out spaces along the corridors of the school and in classrooms for girls to regroup, if they need a minute to do so.
他们在校园走廊、教室中建立空间，让女孩们可以在受挫折后可以用点时间缓缓神。
And they established an advisory program that provides girls with an opportunity
他们还建立了一个指导项目为女孩们提供机会，
to start every single day with the promotion of self-worth, communication skills and goal setting.
用提升自我价值，沟通技能以及目标设定来开始每一天。
At this school, they're trying to respond to a girl's adverse childhood experiences rather than ignore them.
在这所学校，他们尝试正视一些女孩所经历的负面童年，而不是无视它们。
They bring them in closer; they don't push them away.
他们拉近女孩，而非排挤她们。
And as a result, their truancy and suspension rates have improved,
结果是，学校的逃学率和停学事件得到显著进步，
and girls are arriving at school increasingly ready to learn
女孩们现在来到学校更加做好了学习的准备，
because they know the teachers there care about them. That matters.
因为她们明白老师真心关怀她们。这很重要。
Schools that integrate the arts and sports into their curriculum or that are building out tranformative programming,
那些将艺术和体育纳入课程，或是建立变革项目，
such as restorative justice, mindfulness and meditation,
比如修复式正义，深思以及冥想，
are providing an opportunity for girls to repair their relationships with others, but also with themselves.
这样做的学校正在为女孩提供机会与其他人修复关系，但也是与自己重修于好。
Responding to the lived, complex and historical trauma that our students face
面对我们的学生所经历的系统性的、复杂的、历史性的创伤，
requires all of us who believe in the promise of children and adolescents to build relationships,
需要相信孩子们的期望的我们去建立关系、
learning materials, human and financial resources and other tools that provide children with an opportunity to heal, so that they can learn.
编辑教材、寻找人际方面或是资金上的资源，建造工具提供孩子一个治愈的机会，让她们由此才可学习。
Our schools should be places where we respond to our most vulnerable girls as essential to the creation of a positive school culture.
学校应该是一个可以对最脆弱的女孩作出反馈的地方，这对创建一个积极的学校文化非常重要。
Our ability to see her promise should be at its sharpest when she's in the throws of poverty and addiction;
当女孩陷入贫困和毒瘾中，我们应能最敏锐地看见她的潜能；
when she's reeling from having been sex-trafficked or survived other forms of violence;
当她在人口性交易或是其他暴力行为的阴霾中挣扎时，
when she's at her loudest, or her quietest.
当她大声呼救时，也当她缄口不语时。
We should be able to support her intellectual and social-emotional well-being
我们需要能够支持她的身心、社交健康，
whether her shorts reach her knees or stop mid-thigh or higher.
无论她的短裤否及膝，或在大腿中部还是更短。
It might seem like a tall order in a world so deeply entrenched in the politics of fear
这看似十分艰难，特别是在一个深深扎根于恐惧政治中的世界，
to radically imagine schools as locations where girls can heal and thrive,
要去积极想像学校是一个女孩可以治愈和蓬勃向上的地方，
but we have to be bold enough to set this as our intention.
但我们必须要勇敢地将其设为目标。
If we commit to this notion of education as freedom work, we can shift educational conditions
若我们将教育视为使人自由的工作，我们可以改变教育环境，
so that no girl, even the most vulnerable among us, will get pushed out of school.
不让任何女孩，即使是最脆弱的女孩被推出学校。
And that's a win for all of us. Thank you.
这样，我们才是真正成功了。谢谢。