The moment my eyes came across a viral thumbnail of the assault in Spring Valley, I tensed up. Before I could even read the caption, I was instantly transported back in time to a sunny day just a week past my 17th birthday. Two decades later, that day remains crystal clear to me.
After exchanging words of defiance and ignoring orders of a Chicago police officer to move from in front of my high school building, said officer decided that in order to silence me and get me to obey, his only course of action was to rear back, raise his big black hand and slap me across my right cheek. He stood a little over 6 ft and 250+ lbs. I stood less than 5 ft tall and weighed less than 90lbs.
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I knew watching the video would cause me to psychologically burn, but there is no trigger warning that could have prepared me to see that child be slammed from her seat, without any resistance mind you, and dragged the same way I have witnessed my dogs attack some ill-fated vermin or their yard toys.
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It is an atrocity that this barbaric behavior has become the normalized way many in power come to classify and engage with our young people, including girls, as mere animals; to be tamed and beaten into submission. The deliberate and maniacal attack on this child plainly demonstrates the inherent belief that Black girls are not afforded their full humanity, which for their white counterparts includes space to sulk, resist, speak up/talk back, and even (gasp) buck authority.
Plainly stated, Black girls have no freedom nor authority over their own bodies. Bodies which may be brutalized in any such matter deemed by the person(s) offended by their audacity to attempt to exercise their breadth of humanity. The revulsion and rage still boils in my veins.
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Still, all the more heartbreaking was the despondent reaction of her classmates. While it is saddening, it is definitely understandable. After the highly-publicized cases of police brutalizing two Black girls this past summer at swimming pools in Mckinney, TX. and Ohio respectively, I wanted to know what effect these cases and so many unsung others had on our girls. So, I interviewed child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Karen Taylor Crawford for my podcast, Voices of Advocacy Radio. She specializes in disruptive behaviors.
Dr. Crawford explained, “Trauma that is induced by these images is quite significant for the individual, and it indeed puts these young people at a readiness for further trauma, which then negates what may be some of their resilience and protective factors in dealing with persons in authority.”
Dr. Crawford said after seeing someone brutalized for minor infractions, any small assault, verbally or physically, becomes magnified. Further, when our children feel as if no one will come to their aid, their reaction is informed by terror. In which case, it will manifest as a complete paralysis or flight. Either can be perceived as something other than fear. In most cases it is rationalized as a threat.
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Knowing this further compounds my disgust. But probably moreso than the sick actions of the officer, I am thoroughly appalled by the pathetic impotence, and dare I say detachment of the Black male teacher, who unflinchingly stood by watching this Black child being abused at the hands of a white man. How? Why? Clearly this CHILD'S only "crime" was defiance.
Though details of this child's personal sociological history is not familiar to us online purveyors, it is intimately known by her teacher. But none of us need to know those details to know that our girls deserve to be protected and experiment with every scope of their humanity.
And none of us should require a reminder about how we as adults daily disobey rules and regulations on our jobs, or in society at large. In fact, many reading this are breaking a rule that says no personal Internet browsing on company time. Yet none of us are looking over our shoulder for an overzealous cop to slam us from our seats and wrangle the keypad from our hands.
I want to scream every time I see someone justify what happened in that Spring Valley classroom. The residuals of slavery are obviously at play when we buy into and perpetuate attachment to beating our children to develop their critical thinking and self direction. We deny their human right to strengthen their emotional muscle, or the space to explore negotiation and self correction.
There is, however, a bright side to this story. Instead of being bystanders, two of the students stood up to the act of terror. We need to empower more of our young people to understand how to use media as a social justice tool, as well as train them on amplifying their voices to speak truth to power. As the founder of Girls Like Me Project, I have discovered a channel to employ this strategy.
When so much of the images they consume are at their peril and reinforcing a victimized narrative, healing of our Black girls comes when they know there are adults who will stand in the gap to protect them. Through conducting workshops and mentoring girls I am on the front lines to serve in a meaningful way. I am proud to be amongst that number who will defend, honor and love our girls.
They desperately need us.
La'Keisha Gray-Sewell is a nationally recognized urban girls advocate, media literacy educator and speaker. She is the founder and executive director of Girls Like Me Project, a Chicago-based not for profit which trains Black girls to navigate the negative stigmas and media messages that influence their identity. Follow on Twitter @MrsGirlsLikeMe and Facebook.com/GirlsLikeMeProject
