Silence on Black Female Victims Weakens Fight Against Police Brutality
No one can deny black men's vulnerability in this society and the recent killings of Walter Scott and Eric Harris are painful reminders, but
Acknowledging black female victims also demonstrates criminal profiling isn’t just happening to black men, and it isn’t only occurring during police stops. A recent African American Policy Forum report showed black girls who were late or absent from school ended up with criminal warrants. Black girls were also arrested for things like having a tantrum in school at age six.
Even as victims, black girls run the risk of incarceration — such was the case for an 11-year-old rape victim in D.C. Police failed to believe her despite corroborating evidence from the rape kit. Instead she was imprisoned for making a false report. These violations are motivated by the same brand of sexism and misogyny that keeps the brutality against black women and girls hidden in the fight for criminal justice reform.
Sexual violence in police custody is brought into high relief when black women are included. The alleged rape and sexual assault of at least 13 black women by former Oklahoma City Police Officer, Daniel Holtzclaw, serves as the most recent, heinous instance.
The politicized nature of protection also becomes visible, black women’s cases can explicitly show how the justice system fails to protect us at the same time that it egregiously condemns black women. Marissa Alexander‘s case is a recent example, but so, too, is the case of CeCe McDonald, 24. As an African-American trans woman, McDonald served 19 months in solitary in a male facility for fighting back against a racist, transphobic attack in Minneapolis in 2011.
These outcomes showcase a pattern of bias that is not localized to places like South Carolina, Alabama, and New York, but we need to get past the patriarchy and misogyny to put these nationwide systemic inequalities on display.
