On August 22, 2006, 12-year-old Dymond Milburn went outside because her mother asked her to flip their circuit breaker. But when three plainclothes officers jumped out of a van and grabbed her, a simple chore turned into a brutal police violence case!
“You’re a prostitute; come with me,” they said. Milburn screamed, grabbing for a tree, thinking she was being kidnapped. One of the officers covered her mouth, while another beat her. After her parents heard the noise and came outside, she was hospitalized with a swollen throat, black eyes, and a bloody nose.
But why were they coming after her in the first place?
The Galveston, Texas officers were supposed to be looking for three white women they believed to be sex workers, NOT a 12-year-old Black girl!
Still, weeks later police came to Milburn’s school to arrest her for "resisting and assaulting a police officer." It took three years and two mistrials for her case to FINALLY be dropped. None of the officers were fired, and one of them was even named "Officer of the Year!”
From oversexualization to criminalization, police still brutalize Black girls like Milburn today – and their stories are still overwhelmingly silenced and under-researched. But protecting Black girls means never letting their stories slip through the cracks. They MUST be heard!