We already know the legal system targets Black children, from the school-to-prison pipeline to ripping them from their parents. These practices affect their health, and not just because anti-Black criminalization is excused in the name of “protecting children.”
It’s not new. In 1872, Congress refused to renew funding for Freedmen's Bureau schools. The schools closed. According to the American Public Health Association, education is the most significant predictor of one’s health and well-being. When racism is combined with ableism, Black students like Shayla Peoples, a girl with sickle cell, suffer.
Black children are also adultified, translating to less empathy for their pain. Think 14-year-old George Stinney, executed in an electric chair too big for him. And though disabled children are frequently infantilized, Black disabled youth still face adultification and criminalization.
Lastly, at less than 6% of physicians are Black: a risk because Black children who fare better under their care. Now the Trump administration is gutting the Affordable Care Act.
From healthcare to the criminal legal system, this country has caused and then turned its back on Black children. Advocating for them in doctors’ offices, pooling our community resources, and fighting to protect the health of Black children are acts of liberation. Our children deserve it.