When will you see black girls? That’s what I thought when reading about Child Q, a 15-year-old black schoolgirl from Hackney, taken out of her exam and strip searched by the Met Police while on her period, without adult supervision, because someone suspected she smelled of cannabis. After no drugs were found, she was sent back to sit the rest of her exam, traumatised, violated and shaken.
She was in a place that was meant to protect her. She has spoken about wanting to scream, about being a child. When society champions girls’ rights in the UK it centres the experience of white girls. And when we discuss inequality in the education system, that discussion centres black boys. Meanwhile black girls are at the centre of two marginalised groups, yet their voice and presence are not heard.
I notice that gap every day in my work as founder of the Milk & Honey Bees, a creative and expressive safe space for black girls to flourish in. The young black girls I work with have often been treated like adults, something we call the adultification bias, whereby notions of innocence and vulnerability aren’t afforded due to racial prejudgement. They are held to greater levels of responsibility, given harsher punishments, afforded less protection. We must create spaces to honour their joy, creativity and liberation. I’m not just talking about the negatives: stereotyping, school discrimination, sexism, sexualisation of their bodies. For black girls, it’s always about how they show up and present, but never how they feel.
To Child Q, I am so sorry for how you were let down by the people that were supposed to safeguard you. You are so loved — even though it might not feel like that right now. But we will continue to fight for you. Your black girlhood is more precious than you know and no matter which people try to take it away, it’s yours.
Black girls deserve a world in which they can be unique individuals, vulnerable not always strong, healing not always healers, creative and credited, not always criminalised. When you live in a world that acts like it doesn’t see you, you slowly begin to think that you’re invisible. Protect black girls. Listen to black girls. Cherish black girlhood.
