On These Grounds
A video goes viral, showing a white police officer in South Carolina pull a Black teenager from her school desk and throw her across the floor. Healer-Activist Vivian Anderson uproots her life in New York City to move to South Carolina to support the girl and dismantle the system behind the assault at Spring Valley, including facing the police officer. Adding context, geographer Janae Davis treks the surrounding swamps and encounters the homes of formerly enslaved people of African descent, connecting the past to the present. Against the backdrop of a racial reckoning and its deep historical roots, one incident illuminates how Black girls, with the support of organizers, are creating a more just and equitable future for themselves and our entire education system.
Impact Campaign
Today, police officers patrol the hallways of over half of American schools with very little vetting or oversight. Students — most often students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ students — receive infractions from officers for adolescent behaviors that historically were addressed by school administrators, increasing the rate of suspensions, expulsions, and arrests of young people. Hundreds of thousands of young people are pushed out of schools and into the carceral system through police interaction at school.
Represent Justice is leading an impact campaign for On These Grounds along with the filmmakers, film participants, non-profit and advocacy organizations, and system-impacted leaders. Through screenings and speaking events, we are working to shift the narrative around safety in US schools, while generating demand for removing police from our schools and investing in school-based resources for students and educators.