Podcast | In Black and White: Why Black girls like Ma'Khia Bryant are judged as if they're adults
Scot Kirk
Are Black girls seen as "girls" in our society?
"In Black and White" podcast host Terrance Dean took this question to Black scholars and intellectuals following the shooting of Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old shot and killed by a Columbus police officer outside of her foster home.
Karen Powell Sears, Drexler James and Marcelius Braxton share their opinions on what the case means for young Black women around the country.
The conversation is a continuation of the discussion that's been going on both in the community and in the Dispatch's Opinion section after Ma'Khia Bryant's death.
Braxton, an assistant dean at Capital University's law school, has penned a column on the subject for the Dispatch.
He says the Bryant case exposes a dirty secret in American culture: Black girls are often treated as if they are adults, and innocence is not afforded to them as it is to their white female peers.
Powell Sears, a sociology professor at Denison University, attributes the cause of society's treatment of Black girls to racist tropes that have been perpetuated since the slave trade.
Black girls are stereotyped as aggressive and threatening, with the result that the conflicts and struggles that all children go through are far too often met with responses involving discipline and violence.
Drexler, a psychology professor at Denison, discusses how racist theories alleging Black people are physically stronger, faster and larger than whites have also played a role in how society views Black girls, who are often treated as a force that must be brought under control. All the speakers refer to the term "adultification" — that Black girls who are still very much children are treated as grown-ups.
Note from Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson: This piece is part of The Columbus Dispatch's "In Black & White," an ongoing series of columns and podcast episodes hosted by Terrance Dean, author and Denison University Assistant Professor of Black Studies, and Scot Kirk, host of "The Other Side" podcast. Find the podcast at http://bit.ly/DispatchInBlackandWhite.
In Black & White seeks to define terms and concepts key to addressing systemic racism.