Black Girls Are Perceived As Less Innocent Than White Girls Starting at Age 5

[DesertRat]

This is not inevitable - we need to grapple with implicit bias starting in early childhood education.

Researchers and advocates have noted for years that black Americans face a higher risk of imprisonment than white Americans and constitute almost 1 million of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in the United States. One reason for the disparity may be racial bias. Now, a study from Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality reveals black girls may face such bias while still in kindergarten. According to the findings, black girls are perceived as less innocent than white girls as early as age 5.

“These are preschool girls who are being viewed as needing less protection and needing less nurturing than their white counterparts,” says Rebecca Epstein, lead author and executive director of the Center on Poverty and Inequality at the Georgetown University Law Center. “At that age, I find that shocking.”

The most recent findings build on past studies that surveyed respondents’ perceptions of black boys. Though viewed similarly to their white peers through the age of 9, black boys 10 and older are viewed as less innocent than white boys their age. In this case, “innocence” is used as a proxy for children’s lack of worldliness and need for protection. People are also likely to believe black boys are older than they are. When shown pictures of black, white, and Latino boys alongside descriptions of felonies, study participants overestimated black boys’ ages by an average of 4.5 years — the type of guess that would render a 13.5-year-old a legal adult. This effect was unique to black boys; people guessed Latino and white boys’ ages with similar accuracy.

Black girls also face prejudice. In one study of a predominantly black and Latino public school, black girls frequently called out answers in class, performed well academically, and were disproportionately well-represented in AP classes. But although black girls’ participation may have propelled their academic success, teachers — including those who were black women — tended to scold black girls more frequently when they called out than when black boys called out, or when girls of other races called out. Black girls called out more overall, but were also chastened at a higher rate than other kids who called out. So if you were a kid who called out, you were more likely to be scolded if you were a black girl. Rather than viewing black girls’ participation as evidence of engagement, teachers focused on how the shouted answers were indecorous and “unladylike.”

http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/06/black-girls-are-perceived-as-less-innocent-than-white-girls.html

[elleng]

1. 'This is not inevitable - we need to grapple with implicit bias' but we won't.

[DesertRat]

2. There are professionals in ece providing bias trainings for educators

One such organization is called Border Crossers. It started for K-12, but they now do preschool as well. And NAEYC is really pushing for bias training now too. So it will take time, $ and training, but implicit bias isn't inevitable!

Border Crossers – Training Educators To Be Leaders Of Racial Justice
http://www.bordercrossers.org/

Teaching Tolerance (a project of the SPLC)
http://www.tolerance.org/

[elleng]

3. Good to hear but it will take time, $ and training

so I'm not optimistic.

Brown v. Board of Education was decided in 1954, after all.

[DesertRat]

4. Border Crossers is a good start

http://www.bordercrossers.org/get-involved/volunteer/