Readjusting Activism for Adultification
Black women, specifically Black girls, have and will continue to experience the harsh reality of what America has to scrap for them. To acknowledge Racism as a hurdle of socio-economic progress, as well as sexism, must mean to acknowledge the intersection of both constructs. Black innocence has become a political stance — and it is rapidly taken from them before they are able to realize it. Their robbery of innocence has been ignored by the figures designated to protect, educate and nourish them. To grasp their vulnerability, scholars have made a term to distinctly call out this nuanced sub-form of racism. Adultification: a sub-form of prejudiced bias towards Black girls where they are perceived as less innocent and more hypersexual than their white peers. This text looks to criticize in context.
The Black race is the spectacle and foundation of the American life that we know. Slavery at its introduction to new land became the main catalyst beginning the flourishing American Economy. We have abolished it in its most primitive form, but our post-modern society has to deal with the more nuanced, dated conceptions of sex, gender, and class. Black bodies are placed on a heightened awareness that is ingrained into each individual whether it is malicious or rectified. This implies for each Black mind, there will be a fleeting after-thought — a feeling of anger, pain, or disassociation in life. This can be manifested into speech, movement, or esteem of each Black individual. As we learn to protect and stop these negatives from seeping into Black spaces, we must become fully conscious of how racism attacks these spaces. Our world and social views progress when we not only discuss these issues, but physically, socially, and systemically protect the most socially vulnerable in our society.
To begin, we acknowledge childhood as a social construct informed by various cultural norms regarding sex, gender, and class. Childhood in its view is varied between country to country where laws do not regard what America regards as a childhood. This study has not branched out to mainstream researchers, the activism behind grows above new reports and experiences each day.
The culpable institutions that reinforce adultification is founded in three public systems: Education, Child Welfare, and Juvenile. The 2017 report Girlhood, Interrupted by Georgetown Law researchers Jamilia Blake, Thalia Gonzales, and Rebecca Epstein, reports that through the ages of 5–14, Black girls are seen as less innocent than their white peers and more likely to be suspended. The long process of adultification has led figures to believe the rational perception of innocence is far from rational. The process takes form in numerous ways, one being a social projection to make Black girls more vulnerable in context. Another being general stereotypes being taught to young black girls to erase their ignorance with hate.
To reproach this, we must disarm the process in its context and constantly de-platform the idea that young Black girls are physically and mindfully developed.
Their physicality is also targeted — they become hypersexualized which plays into their theft of innocence. This implicit bias causes them to be dress coded at higher rates than their white peers. In the study conducted in Kentucky, black girls on disciplined on subjective infractions 2x more than black boys, and 1.3x than white boys.
In comparison to black boys, black girls are 2x more likely to be disciplined in schools on disobedience, fighting, bullying, or disruptive behavior. This rate feeds into the larger gap can then cross over to the juvenile system. Even a year after the Georgetown Law report, The National Women’s Law Center published a 2018 report which states that black girls are more likely to be penalized for wearing the same things as other girls, and their bodies are often sexualized by teachers and school authority figures, who then punish them for minuscule or nonexistent clothing infractions.
Vox reports that in response to the initial Georgetown Law report black women responded overwhelmingly in agreement with the report entails and that it reflects into their own experiences within the education system. They expressed they were told they were “aggressive” or accused of having “attitudes”. They also expressed a reason could be educators and faculty to coerce them to be more “feminine” or “lady-like” and their subjective infraction varied from asking questions in class or defying orders.
Which begs to ask the question: does varied behavior in black children imply that they are not allowed equal opportunities to education? Bias? Innocence? There is little light for black girls to grow from mundane mistakes at the same degree as their peers.
We see how violent, general stereotypes such as criminalization or dehumanization wane into the sub-form of adultification. Even in a black girl’s home, they are showcased by parents or guardians by relying on them as chore-doers, chefs, and open commentary on their bodies and clothing. These comments make Black girls expeditiously more aware of the harsh intentions of the world. They become more knowledgeable on topics such as sex, drugs, and other adult topics. The information they hold when shared with their peers reinforces into children that they are an interchangeable adult and child.
The ongoing fight to reform Adultification has taken hold by organizations across the country. The stories of black women as kids are being platformed for others to extend their awareness and solidarity. A coalition of organizers in Austin, Texas calls for a large-scale campaign launch, 50 central Texas district attorneys to be trained on adultification. Their emphasis is put on policymakers to protect black innocence and create a community to empower and recruit girls of color.
The mistreatment of Black girls is inhumane, and its perception even causes the possibility later in their lives, as people will implicitly see them as “less in-need”. Few resolutions such as training on cultural competence or effective communication in intuitions have been called. However, we move towards creating policies that push Black girls to the same rate as their peers. We are called to perceive black girls as children first.
We fight for policies to create an equal space for the vulnerable.
