The Early Victimization of Black Girls: A Victimologist’s Analysis of Why We Don’t Need Police Officers in Schools
Written by Brikitta Hairston
There is no greater injustice than the early victimization of Black girls. Sexual exploitation, dehumanization, and so many other injustices make one of the worst human rights violations spanning centuries of Black struggle.
It’s important to talk about how young Black girls experience sexualization and dehumanization at a very young age, much younger than their white classmates – who may never even experience it in their lives. This is not to say that white girls and women cannot be sexualized or exploited: This piece is not for the sole purpose of comparing Black womanhood to white womanhood, but to explain why there are clear disparities in how Black girls are treated and how to combat future instances of this kind of harm.
In the United States, we refer to police officers in schools as School Resource Officers [SROs] or Community Resource Officers [CROs]. We’re told that the purpose of SROs and CROs is to protect students and members of the community and that the presence of police officers is meant to convey safety. However, the reality of today’s current policing is not lost on us, and we must all know by now that the true nature of policing is to punish and dehumanize, not protect and defend.
When I was in the eighth grade, I was questioned by a police officer when I was attending an afterschool basketball game.
She accused me of being in a gang, asked me a series of questions I did not understand, and each one seemed to just make the situation last longer. I was nothing short of terrified. Her reasoning for accusing me of being in a gang was that I was wearing a pendant of the Cross that my father had given me when I was 8. I told her I wore it because I’m Catholic, and it was Lent Season. To prove my faith, she made me recite the Hail Mayr and Our Father prayers. I still remember how shocked my knees were, how bad my palms were sweating and how hard it was to hold back my tears. As I hoped to God, I didn’t miss a word of that prayer.
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident and is more common than the average person may know.
Earlier this year, the UK had an outcry of public rage when the situation of ChildQ went viral across their and our nation. When this young Black girl was forced to comply with a strip search that violated her rights, it only became more alarmingly clear that police officers in schools have no benefit – only negative costs.
The timeline has been redacted for the child’s safety, but in the UK, “[a] 15-year-old mixed-race girl was handcuffed and had her underwear cut in front of male officers during [a] search” (BBC File on 4). She was also menstruating at the time and is autistic. Her mother reports that her daughter was suicidal after this occurrence. There are dangerous long-term effects when the livelihood of impressionable, young girls is threatened.
I want everyone reading to consider what would have happened if two grown adults walked into the school, said they were authoritative figures, and carried out the same demands as those officers. It would and should be defined as sexual assault and exploitation, but only because they were a police badge have they been moved to desk duty and not immediate termination—even criminal action. Still employed, still paid.
When we talk about the early victimization of Black children and notably young Black girls, the goal is to educate people on not only why it is an issue, but how to solve it.
When I talk about issues prevailing in the Black community, I do so through the lens of victimology. There are many theories under victimology, but for the early victimization of Black girls, the victim precipitation theory is a large part of why the criminal justice system remains a victim injustice system.
This theory posits that victims play some sort of part in their own victimization, and it is commonly used to reference to crimes like rape, robbery and assault. Minors cannot consent to strip searches; they did one anyway. When police officers enact their authority over minors and violate the color of law, the public and policymakers default to the individual’s compliance as “accepting” their treatment or agreeing with what occurred. This is detrimental to the safety of Black youth because our historical mistreatment at the hands of police has caused our parents and guardians to teach us to comply with their demands, even when we are not at fault. Holding children responsible for their mistreatment when they listen to the police officers invading the halls of their schools is ignorant, and neglects the truth that using police officers in schools is a dangerous path for children.
The Color of Law is similar to the Rule of Law—it deems those with the authority to detain and arrest or search and seize properties with a pseudo-right to do whatever they please so long as they believe it is in the interest of law and order.
To violate the Color of Law, an officer would have to deliberately assert their official status without probable cause and against the person’s will. The most important factor to remember is that children cannot consent to any search or seizure, or any questioning from an officer of the law because they are a minor. This law is a proponent of civil rights and civil rights violations. As a U.S. citizen, I understand that the UK may have different statutes and I will speak on that further, but we must also understand that civil rights are universal and violations of such do not have jurisdiction.
My research on risk factors and origins of the predator weighs heavily on patterns of escalating behavior. This risk factor explains how deviancy escalates, how one act can lead to another essentially, and how the source of offenders’ behavior basically always starts somewhere.
It is worrisome to wonder what would have happened if this were not in the confines of a school, or if they were not uniformed, and had slightly freer reign. I do not use the example of ChildQ lightly, but its recent presence in the media, if anything, can further prove the importance of the “remove police officers from schools” campaigns.
For Black girls, the social and cultural biases that come from peers, teachers, and even family, make for a deeper struggle. The expectation to conform, and comply, is impossible to escape.
When policing is added to those factors, young Black girls have more enemies than allies. While white students are easier believed, and more often protected, Black girls learn at a far younger age that self-advocacy and silence is sometimes the best coping mechanism one can have.
Fortunately, there is some awareness shining on this important topic. Carrie Goldberg, an attorney who represents sexual violence victims, details her experience working with young victims who are sexually victimized in schools in her memoir Nobody’s Victim: Fighting Psychos, Stalkers, Pervs, and Trolls. An important excerpt from her novel speaks to the point we must get across: “In my line of work, it’s impossible not to be aware of the impact of race on who gets considered an ‘innocent victim’ and where we place our compassion and concern. Every day, I see the disparity play out in the way my clients and others are treated by law enforcement, school officials, the public and the press. In sexual assault cases, for instance, white women are often seen as deserving protection in a way that women of color, in particular Black women, are not.”
Police officers in schools are not necessary and are more harmful to child development than helpful. Young Black girls grow up despite biases against them and are not given fair treatment against their white counterparts. We have spent far too long comparing Black womanhood to white womanhood, but if the attention to the matter does not continue, then we may never see change. Black girls’ coming of age is harsh and unkind, they are exploited emotionally and sexually more often and they are dehumanized rather than cared for and cherished by the very people meant to protect them.
In the rule of law, what happens to other young Black girls should be categorized as a hate crime. Under the color of law, school police officers should be redistributed elsewhere in the police force, and we’ll one day discuss how 80 percent of police forces are unnecessary. Under humanity, we should rise up and pay attention, and start to notice when young Black girls are traumatized more than they’re nourished and invested in.
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Brikitta Hairston (she/her), is an investigative victimologist, and graduate of the University of Iowa with a B.A. in English and an M.S. in Criminal Justice. Her words are in OffColour Magazine, Radish Media, Carefree Mag, Better to Speak, and Giddy Magazine.