
Margaret Wakelin
Host: Equip for Equality
Sponsor: Greenberg Traurig Fellowship Foundation
Sabrina provides legal services and legislative advocacy for girls of color to ensure access to education that is free of discriminatory discipline, harassment, and violence from school-based police.
Sabrina’s Fellowship project seeks to address how school resource officers (“SROs”) contribute to the overrepresentation of Black girls in every aspect of school discipline and exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline. As victims of “adultification” bias, Black girls are often viewed as less innocent than their peers. This bias creates a barrier to connecting girls of color with the supports they need to thrive in school, such as mental health resources or even legal representation after facing discrimination. When paired with school policies that allow discipline to turn on subjective impressions of student behavior, this bias leads SROs to harshly discipline, sexually harass, and exclude girls of color—ultimately pushing them out of schools and into the criminal legal system.
As a first-generation Haitian-American, Sabrina grew up relying on spaces and mentors in schools to help her explore her identity as a woman of color. Today, she is dedicated to educational equity work as a means of keeping schools safe for girls of color as they similarly come into their own.
So far during the Fellowship, Sabrina has:
In the next year, Sabrina plans to:
‘Sexist,’ ‘Racist,’ ‘Classist’: Georgia 8th Grader Challenges School Dress Code
Eighth grader protests 'sexist' school dress code
How a 13-year-old girl is challenging a 'sexist,' 'racist,' 'classist' school dress code
Georgia 8th grader fights school dress code that she claims is sexist
Sacrifice the Status Quo, So Families Don’t Have to Sacrifice for Education
Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe?: The Protecting Our Students in Schools Act
Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe?: The Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act
Will Democracy Keep Black Girls Safe?: The Ending PUSHOUT Act
DeVos’ Hypocritical Power Grab at the Department of Education
Hair: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Behind the scenes, civil rights groups urge Biden administration to place limits on school police
At a very young age, I witnessed my parents make significant sacrifices for me to obtain a quality education. Since then, I have viewed education as a powerful doorway to opportunity, the access to which should not depend on someone’s race, gender, income, or zip code.
Sabrina Bernadel /
2020 Equal Justice Works Fellow
Host: Equip for Equality
Sponsor: Greenberg Traurig Fellowship Foundation
Host: Mississippi Center for Justice
Sponsor: Friends and Family of Philip M. Stern
Host: Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.
Sponsor: Greenberg Traurig, LLP, Texas Access to Justice Foundation
Host: Disability Law Center
Sponsor: Equal Justice Works Text-to-Give