How Whiteness Tried, and Failed to Silence My Voice

2. Early Life

“Black girls pursue freedom unapologetically and with imagination to cope with stressors of punishment.”—Tyese Brown (2023)

My journey began the moment I was born into this world as a Black girl. I believe the very existence of Black girls and Black women is an act of resistance. Growing up in the South Bronx and raised in Harlem by a grandmother from the south helped me find my voice early. My work in advocacy and policy dates back to my pre-teen years, when I was immersed in a community rife with challenges and thrust into activism to survive the multiple forms of oppression I faced as a Black girl.

The public schools I attended were a haven for me. The administrators, teachers, and support staff were all predominantly Black and Latino. They served as a shield to the outside world of oppression ...