The Problem With Adultification Bias
"Adultification bias" is yet another fairly new coined phrase conjured up to promote the notion that Black children are seen as adults. Black boys are stereotyped as aggressive and rough, as criminals, and as "hypermasculine."
The concept states that Black girls are often not seen as children but as being more mature, not really having emotions, and as being "hypersexual" or "fast."
So-called adultification is nothing short of white supremacy. It is just a way to justify school suspensions, arrests, and killings of Black children simply because they are Black. Other ways of "adultifying" Black children include but are not limited to: stating that the child is an age older than what he/she actually is, calling the child a "man," a "woman," stating that the child "appears to have the size and strength of an adult," calling the child a "threat," and ultimately stating that the child "appears to be armed." How do you measure a "threat?" What is the color of a "threat?" The Black child.
We don't need another program installed or any more elaborate studies done on this. Black children are robbed daily of their innocence. For the Black child, typical childhood behaviors in the classroom and in life in general are met with arrests and modern-day lynchings. Black children are punished daily by so-called educators and murdered daily by those claiming vigilante justice and by those who claim to protect and to serve. There is nothing adult-like in walking home from a 7Eleven store with a bag of Skittles candy and an Arizona ice tea in hand; walking in the street with a friend; asking for walking directions in a new neighborhood after missing the school bus; asking for help after a car accident; playing in a public park; or just simply ringing the wrong doorbell; and so forth, and so on, and so forth, and so on, and so forth...
When we see something, we must say something at the very first instance, at each chance, and at every step of the way in the way of white supremacy, no matter if it is a "microaggression." This is how we protect our Black children.
Sources:
Comments
Post a Comment