In writing “Pushout,” Monique Morris devoted four years of investigative reporting to portray the lives of black girls across America. “One of the most persistent and salient traits among girls who have been labeled ‘delinquent’ is that they have failed to establish a meaningful and sustainable connection with schools,’” continues Morris, before adding that “nearly 48 percent of Black girls who are expelled nationwide do not have access to educational services.”

Instead, the girls are pushed out of the school system and into a cycle of prison, unemployment and homelessness due to a lack of interest by the systems and authority figures that have failed them. And yet, somehow, Morris writes, in their progress through the juvenile justice system, these crimes against girls have not come to light. There are girls who are abused trafficked for sex harassed because of race, gender, sexual orientation or a combination of all three and/or otherwise violated. Morris looks at the lives of black girls who are faced with school-related arrest to discover the deeper stories beneath the surface.

Morris in the introduction to her recently published book, “a growing number of cases involving Black girls have surfaced to reveal what many of us have known for centuries: Black girls are also directly impacted by criminalizing policies and practices that render them vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, dehumanization, and, under the worst circumstances, death.” “Though media and advocacy efforts have largely focused on the extreme and intolerable abuse cases involving Black boys,” begins Monique W.

Pushout by monique morris