Beth Richie and bell hooks
Those who spare the rod hate their children,
but those who love them are diligent to discipline them (Prv. 13:24, NRSVUE)
As students of Bible, and for many raised within Christian households, have we struggled to critique violence? Do you fear exposing the violence within your own family? Can you truly be healed while holding those secrets in place? Bell hooks states, and many of us would agree, that violence often starts in the home. In fact, "Spare the rod, spoil the child," is one of the most often quoted and misquoted verses of the Bible.
When a father uses physical (or verbal) beatings to discipline his daughter, and then he tells he does because he loves her, how does this imprint violence as acceptable and necessary on women's lives?
Do we still advocate that we must "break" the will of our children as a way of protecting them from the police? If so, how do current events reveal that compliance is not a guarantee against violent forms of harm?
How is violence celebrated and even demanded within some of our favorite sports - and why are we surprised when athletes are often unable to "turn off" that violence in their private lives?
This critique of violence provides value as we consider its usage as a mechanism of control: whether in private homes, in wider society, or even the use of violence against other countries. If violence of any kind has been of concern, you will find value in this discussion.
The Misogynoir to Mishpat (M2M) Research Network © 2024
Books:
- "Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools" by Monique W. Morris (2016) - Focuses on the experiences and factors leading to the criminalization of Black girls in the U.S. education system.
- "Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America's Prison Nation" by Beth E. Richie (2012) - Examines violence against Black women and the role of prisons in Black women's lives.
- "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Y. Davis (2003) - Critiques the prison system and argues for prison abolition. Discusses the impacts on marginalized groups including Black women.
Articles:
Blackman, Julie (1990). “Emerging Images of Severely Battered Women and the Criminal Justice System,” in Behavioral Sciences and the Law, vol 8, pp. 121-130
Vanstone, Maurice (1990). “Black Women’s Experiences of Criminal Justice/ Black Women and the Justice System / The Female Offender: Girls, Women and Crime,” in Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. vol 38(1), p. 102
Gross, Kali N. and Cheryl D. Hicks, “Introduction – Gendering the Carceral State: African American Women, History and the Criminal Justice System,”
"Using Black Feminist Thought to Inform Higher Education Research, Practice, and Policy" by Cynthia Dillard, in Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (2021). Discusses applying Black feminist perspectives to understanding marginalization in education.
Websites:
The Sentencing Project - Research and advocacy organization with resources on race and incarceration, including fact sheets on Black women and girls.
African American Policy Forum - Research and advocacy reports on a variety of issues affecting Black women and girls.