In Black and White: Ma'Khia Bryant and the adultification of Black girls

Dr. Terrance Dean leads a discussion with three Black scholars and intellectuals regarding the shooting of Ma'Khia Bryant, a teenage girl shot and killed by a Columbus police officer. Dr. Karen Powell Sears, Dr. Drexler James and Marcelius Braxton share their opinions on what the case means for young Black women around the country. Braxton, an assistant dean at Capital University's law school and the author of an op-ed column on the subject for the Dispatch, says that the Bryant case exposes a dirty secret in American culture — Black girls are often treated as if they are adults, and innocence is not afforded to them as it is to their white female peers. Powell Sears, a sociology professor at Denison University, attributes the cause of society's treatment of Black girls to racist tropes that have been perpetuated since the slave trade.  Drexler, a psychology professor at Denison, discusses how racist theories alleging Blacks are physically stronger, faster and larger than whites have also played a role in how society views Black girls. All the speakers refer to the term "adultification" — that Black girls who are still very much children are treated as grown-ups.