DETROIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL

TITLE: Factors contributing to the deterioration of school security

SPEAKERS: Sydney Holter, Re’monda Sheffield, Calihan Bearden, Aicha Chehmani

ABSTRACT:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that American students of color are 77% more likely to commit suicide compared to their white counterparts. Gender, as well as race, must also be considered when studying the influx of suicidal tendencies in American teens. Gender and race contribute to the formation of social hierarchies around the world; data suggests that, globally, women of color ages 15-19 are most commonly victimized by social hierarchies (“Gender Factor”). Social hierarchies in school are among the factors which can lead to suicidal thoughts and tendencies. We examine the intersection and effect of gender and colorism in schools, specifically as it relates to global suicide rates among young women. When one adds colorism to existing discrimination women have faced throughout history, women of color are placed at a further disadvantage. Our goal is to analyze the relationship between gender and color and how the combination erodes school security, causing suicidal thoughts among women of color. Women of color often face discrimination in educational arenas, forcing them into social out groups. Out groups, a general assembly of people bonded by a common position as the result of rejection from a social in group, can form in schools due to gender and colorism combined. Our investigation examines how gender and colorism combine to force women into out groups, thus negatively impacting their sense of inclusion and security in schools around the world.