Defining Youth

 Defining Youth

When I watched the video "But I'm just a Kid": The Adultification of Black Girls [5-min video] (Noir Art), my heart and soul broke. I often hear the disparities between black and white youth in reference to the achievement or opportunity gap and while its something that needs to be fixed it has never hurt my core the way health disparities do. I cried when I heard the statistic of 1 in 4 black girls will be sexually assaulted before the age of 18; having a niece who is bi-racial means that these statistics can apply to her and it disgusts me. I understand the stereotype that sexualizes black girls and women but I have not honestly reflected on what that looks like until seeing this video. I have witnessed this on multiple occasions from teachers concerned for the black girls wearing bikinis at the beach because of their defined bodies, to the creepy white men that hit on my niece's mother. I feel even my niece's family and myself have been guilty of this as we would constantly tell her how beautiful she is - "your eyes are so pretty, your hair is so cute and curly, your thighs are so chucky I just want to bite them" etc. While it is good to give children confidence and affirmations, it started to become toxic and we noticed that she internalized these comments so much that this was her main identity - her beauty. We have been actively working towards fixing this to add positive affirmations that aren't just about her looks but these are the characterizations we give young black girls to be symbols of sex, rather than recognizing them for the children that they are.

Adultifying and sexualizing black girls reminds me of the Childhood Innocence for Settler Children: Disrupting Colonialism and Innocence in Early Childhood Curriculum (Tran Templeton & Ranita Cheruvu) reading and how it speaks of "adults' reluctance to expose children to violence, in ways similar to our avoidance of sex and sexuality" (Templeton, Cheruvu Childhood Innocence for Settler Children: Disrupting Colonialism and Innocence in Early Childhood Curriculum, p132). If black girls and boys are symbols of sex and trouble makers; then white kids are the opposite, pure and innocent. As a white woman, when I attended my first racial equity and inclusion training and learned a small window of true history, I became angry. I experienced a white-washed version of world and American history and was deprived of an education via my public school by not having access to the real history of events. I have recently learned that common books in literature that showcase real characters, history and experiences have also been removed and even banned from schools now in an effort to remove anything that could be a true portrayal of racist systems. While adults try to keep kids innocent in education, they forget that youth often have traumas and experiences in their lives that don't afford them the luxury. As an adult now, I understand a large contributing factor to my lack of engagement in school was that it never felt real to me. When my mom and dad were both laid off from their jobs in the middle of the recession and I was the only working person at 16 years old, I had more responsibilities than any teacher would know and my last concern was learning Geometry. At a 90% white school, my other peers were constantly frustrated with me when I would ask what the real-world value of what we were learning was. I now understand that my white peers were "innocent", believing every word adults spoke, never being exposed to the real-word. The practice of removing any curriculum deemed too real, violent or dark has created a world where white youth in America are assimilated, ignorant and "innocent".

I have always preferred to work with middle and high school aged youth in afterschool and summer programs. I have always felt I have a bigger impact on them in these crucial points in their lives where adults often disregard them. Learning about the origin of adolescence and the idea that teenagers need to be controlled in the Denaturalizing Adolescence (Nancy Lesko) reading really resonated with me. The line "Such an emphasis positions teachers to question whether such hormonally burdened young people can respond capably or successfully to substantive intellectual task (Leosk, Contemporary Representation P141)" brought back many memories of teachers and instructors who did not trust their youth to learn and repeat the skills taught to them. Where as school-day teachers wouldn't trust some youth with scissors, our program gave them the knowledge and tools to build a fence for a community garden. This idea that we need to control these youth in their adolescence stage connect well to the other stereotypes being brought up in the reading and videos this week; we label youth as trouble makers, sex symbols, and needing protection from themselves. I constantly witness prejudice against the youth in our programs but I don't always recognize it in the moment since it is often something deeply imbedded in our thought process. Earlier this summer I had one of the youth workers outside a school, at a table, with our logo and camp paper work on it, there to help families who signed up for summer camp register and pay. The principal of the school actually came to me nervous and confused asking who he was and why he was there. At the time I blamed myself for not telling him sooner but a later remembered that I have introduced the principal to this particular youth worker on multiple occasions and how could you not notice that he was clearly there to represent the program. Instead of seeing a youth become a hard working member of society, this principal saw a tall, dark, Mexican boy there to solicit to families.

Personally and professionally, I would like to get better at recognizing these moments where people's prejudice and implicit bias thoughts come into play and ask people reflective questions to get them think about where their actions and words are coming from. I have been thinking more about white saviorism and I think its important to ask questions like "is my concern coming from a place of ignorance or is it coming from a place of genuine concern because there is potential for harm?" Professionally, I enjoy empowering our youth and giving them the opportunities they want, rather than dictating what I think they need. Perhaps if more adults, especially those in education practiced what we call youth voice and choice in order to empower rather than control, we could begin to break down these barriers and stereotypes.