In December 2020, teachers at a London, UK school called police on a 15-year-old Black girl after believing they smelled marijuana. They smelled wrong – but that didn’t stop the British cops from stripping her naked to search for the drugs!
It took two years for the truth to come out – and the details are horrifying.
Labeled “Child Q,” the teenager was forced to expose her genitals to the officers. They even forced her to remove her menstrual pad to look! She didn’t have drugs, but even if she did, that traumatic experience wouldn’t have been necessary for anyone.
The report uncovered even more, though.
Not only did London officials cite racism as an “influencing factor,” school staff didn’t challenge the police – and Child Q’s mother was NOT notified to give parental consent!
But we can’t forget how Child Q feels herself.
“I can't go a single day without wanting to scream, shout, cry or just give up,” she wrote. “I don’t know if I’m going to feel normal again … But I do know this can't happen to anyone, ever again.”
Black girls are adultified and criminalized GLOBALLY. And like the Londoners now protesting on behalf of Child Q to get police out of schools, we can do the same. If we aren't going to be there to defend our girls against the world, then who will?