Policing Joy (2022)

Policing Joy is a 21-minute documentary short film that aims to stimulate a global conversation around Black girls' encounter with hair bias in schools. Policing Joy opens with Black women and girls across generations reflecting on memories around their hair styling and grooming practices in anticipation of the first day of school. Next, Policing Joy dives into the recent media coverage of Black girls' experiences with hair bias in U. S. schools. In this segment of the documentary, scholars and experts offer insights for how schools often perpetuate harm that can lead to emotional distress for Black girls.The turning point of the Policing Joy comes when subjects of the documentary reclaim their hair with a call to action demanding that all Black girls be protected from all forms of violence in schools.