NYTimes | Stop Persecuting Black and Brown Girls in School

A nonprofit that works with teenagers says “sassy” attitudes are really an expression of strength. Also: The toll Covid takes on women; undocumented domestic workers.

To the Editor:

Re “Racism in the Principal’s Office: Seeking Justice for Black Girls” (front page, Oct. 2):

In New York City, in the year 2020, a girl who defends her friend in a fight can be charged with a felony for gang activity, sending her to detention and a lifetime of consequences.

Thank you for shining a light on the unfair punishment meted out in the school system to young Black and brown girls, who have for generations been the target of neglect, surveillance and punitive discipline policies for being “loud” or “threatening.”

Every day at the youth organization I run, we teach our students a survival skill: code switching. For them, changing how they present themselves to society — from body language to wardrobe to speech — can keep them alive, employed and free.

I look forward to the day when fashion choices and “sassy” attitudes are accepted for what they really are: an expression of strength, independence and spirit. I look forward to the day we stop silencing, penalizing and incarcerating our girls of color, and start listening to what they are telling us and give them the same opportunities and respect as their white or white-passing peers.

Gisele Castro
New York
The writer is executive director of Exalt, a nonprofit that works with teenagers who have been involved in the criminal justice system.