Black Women and Girls are Too Often the Targets of Violence in America

Too often African American women and girls are targets of violence and abuse in America. The abuse is caused by interactions with law enforcement as well as domestic abuse, says Dr. Aretina Hamilton, a human geographer, scholar, and author. She says Black women live in a patriarchal environment where they are, unfortunately, valued less than even Black men. As a result, Dr. Hamilton says that too often Black women and girls are considered “disposable” in society and are not valued in the caste system in which they live. Not only are Black women and girls subject to domestic violence in their homes, they are a subset of Black people being shot by police. Since 2015, 247 Black women were killed by police officers and 89 of them were killed at home or in their residences, according to a “Washington Post” October 21, 2020 article. The “Washington Post” has been tracking deaths of black women by police since 2015. The fact that the lives of Black women are often considered less valuable or less newsworthy than black men is a major concern of advocates. This slight is seen by many scholars and public policy makers as a major problem. Dr. Hamilton is joined in this conversation by Judge Gayle Williams Byers the first Black female judge in the S. Euclid Municipal Court in South Euclid, Ohio. Judge Byers adds her personal perspective of seeing Black female victims of domestic violence in her court.