Nineteen Fifty-Six Vol. 2 No. 5

WHAT IS A BLACK GIRL’S CHILDHOOD?
Kaia Rolle was listening to a school
employee read her a story when two
officers came into the room to arrest
her. “What are those for?” the 6-year-old girl
asked the police officer who pulled out zip ties
that he would soon fasten around her wrists.
The Orlando Sentinel on February 24, 2020
quotes Kaia pleading, “Please, give me a second
chance.” Kaia was escorted to the police car.
The scene was captured on a body camera,
and the footage offered a glimpse into what
many young Black girls in America have long
experienced.
The world ages Black girls up, which leaves
them unable to access the privileges of
childhood, like the benefit of the doubt in
punishment situations. The childhood of
Black girls looks different when compared to
other kids; therefore, it is essential that we
define and understand exactly what a Black
girl’s childhood is in the first place.
Today, we’ll discuss three main themes
that define a Black girl’s childhood:
aesthetic insinuations, adultification, and
discriminatory barriers in education, followed
by an implication for each theme because
even though Kaia’s case seems extreme, her
experience is as common in every Black girls’
childhood as Sunday morning cartoons.
Black girls should not have to worry about
the clothes they wear because it might invite
unwanted attention. Black girls deserve our
protection and it’s time we give it to them,
so let’s examine the theme of aesthetic
insinuations and its implication.
“We live in a country that loves Black culture
on white bodies but not on the bodies of
those who created these looks,” said the
New York Times. For example, Black girls
are reprimanded for clothing and hairstyles
deemed trendy when sported by white girls.
The Baltimore Sun explains, some schools
have gone as far as banning afrocentric
hairstyles like braids, twists and dreadlocks.
This discrimination of natural hairstyles is
detrimental to the self-image of Black girls.
Dancers from Miami Northwestern Senior
High School wore costumes that included a
long-sleeve cutout leotard and black boots.
The dance instructor, Traci Young-Byron,
questioned if the girls were being called
“strippers in training” only because they
were Black, comparing them to young white
dancers dressed in similar attire. Simply put,
the costumes were never the issue.
Clothing must not be the issue creating a
marginalized viewpoint that is causing young
Black girls to be seen as older. So, what is?
A Black mother informs the Washington
Post it started when Chloe was a toddler,
and people commented on her “curves.” She
combated that by putting her in one-piece
jumpers and shorts at the beach. Meanwhile,
her white niece wore two-pieces and no one
talked about her body.
Likewise, the Huff Post reveals that one Black
girl described an encounter with a police
officer who didn’t believe she was 15. He
insisted she was too old not to carry a driver’s
license. The color of her skin was enough
proof for the officer that she was lying about
her age. In fact, in both situations it seemed
the color of the girls’ skin was the deciding
factor.
Any Black mother could’ve told the researchers
that, from the time they are talking and
walking, little Black girls are deemed “fast,”
a word synonymous with promiscuity, leading
us to examine the theme of adultification and
its implication.
First, the history behind the over-sexualization
of Black women can be traced back to the
1800’s when Sarah Baartman’s buttocks
were paraded across Europe to provide
entertainment for Caucasian Europeans.
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