We need to do better -- much better -- for girls of color

None of this is news. Black people are more than three times as likely as white people to be killed during a police encounter. Black children are more likely to be disciplined than white kids for the same behavior.

This is a particular problem when it comes to Black girls, who are viewed in general as less innocent and more "adult" than white girls. It’s a view rooted in stereotypes, dehumanization, and yes, racism.

Emblematic of this “adultification” of Black girls is the recent news out of Rochester, where police officers pepper sprayed a 9-year-old Black girl, handcuffed and sitting in the back of the back of a patrol car, because she wouldn’t put her feet in the car. Why did the officer do this? As one yelled at her: “You’re acting like a child.” And yes, she was. Because she is.

It comes as no surprise then that a new study out of Washington state found that girls of color are disproportionately detained in our juvenile detention system:

Black girls made up 4.9 percent of the state female youth population in 2019, but 14.6 percent of female detention admissions. Native girls made up 2.4 percent of the female youth population but 7 percent of female detention admissions in 2019. Latinx girls made up 18.5 percent of the female youth population but 24.6 percent of female detention admissions. White girls made up 56.6 percent of the youth population and 49 percent of admissions.

We as a society need to do better — much better — in acknowledging and addressing this epidemic, in our schools, our justice system, and society as a whole.

Photo by Nina Strehl on Unsplash