- [Narrator] Major funding for this program was made possible by The Heinz Endowments and by UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.

With additional funding by Xfinity and Comcast's Keystone Region and the support of these generous funders.

Thank you.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Across America and right here in Pittsburgh, a disturbing trend is putting the future of African-American girls at risk.

It's called adultification.

(playful screaming) It's the perception that black girls are more adult, more aggressive and less in need of support and care than their white counterparts.

- I feel like in a way, adultification dehumanizes a child, because it doesn't give you-- Like it takes away the child part of you.

- What studies have shown is that black girls are viewed as older, less innocent, more adult-like than they're white peers.

- [Instructor] Are you happy?

Put I am happy, I am excited.

- Blessing, let me ask you this, what's the number one thing that you feel like you are?

- Kind.

- [Instructor] I am kind, and that's beautiful.

(soft music) - [Narrator] It's a perception that can take black girls out of the classroom and plunge them into the juvenile justice system.

- Our focus is really on understanding and disrupting the high rates of referrals of black girls to juvenile justice.

- [Narrator] Join us as we explore the causes and the consequences, and talk to the people who are fighting to change perceptions.

- When we see that these statistics are showing racial inequities and they're showing disproportionate negative impacts on children of color, on black children, what do we do about it?

- [Narrator] And give black girls the childhoods they deserve.

- [Woman] And just imagine if the barriers that are often put in front of them were not there, and they were just able to thrive with the support of the adults that are supposed to be protecting them.

How much more amazing they could be?

(uplifting music) - [Narrator] Our region is facing its share of challenges.

The Corona virus, police violence, [Protestor] (chanting) Three shots in the back!

[Crowd] How do you justify that?

[Protestor] (chanting) Three shots in the back!

[Crowd] How do you justify that?

♪ What side are you on my people ♪ ♪ What side are you on Calls for racial and social justice have all had an impact.

Recently, a widely read report has shed a light on the shocking racial disparities in our city.

(bright music) And the devastating longterm effects, racism and poverty have on the lives of African-American women and girls.

Dr.

Jamilia Blake is a professor of educational psychology at Texas A&M.

- As adultification bias is the perception of black girls and by extension black children as being more adult-like than their stated age.

When you see this child, you see this child as an adult or being older, and so you expect them to know more, you don't believe that they're innocent, you hold them as being more culpable for any kind of misdeeds or actions.

Yeah, so actually the whole concept of adultification bias came from what we were seeing in terms of disparate rates in school suspensions and juvenile justice contact for black girls.

What happens is when this adultification bias is activated, is that when black girls make a mistake in the classroom, or when they ask a question or when they raise an idea or when you know, any type of movement, what happens is adultification bias allows those stereotypes of black women to be mapped on the black girls behavior.

And that's where you get this overly punitive response to what's really benign, and even developmentally appropriate and normal behavior.

So when that happens, it results in black girls being sent out the classroom, that escalates to suspensions, right?

And this starts to create the cycle.

- I feel like in a way, adultification dehumanizes a child because it doesn't give you, Like it takes away the child part of you.

(soft music) - But for black girls, our stereotypes are different, right?

And that has to do with racism and sexism.

So the over policing, the surveillance, the over suspension has to do with the perception of black women and black girls as being aggressive.

The hyper sexualization of black women and girls, all of those things contribute to adultification bias.

- But like they will look at me as like I'm older, and hold me to a certain expectation.

But a white girl or someone of a different ethnicity could be wearing the same exact outfit, but with a different build and it's normalized on them.

- It does not mean that that young woman is trying to portray herself in a sexualized manner.

She's just wearing clothing, right?

And so this is something that as our society and our communities, this is the beauty of this kind of research in my opinion 'cause it's forcing us to have conversations that we've not had to have conversations before about.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Pittsburgh civil rights attorney Thena Robinson Mock also sees the dangers of adultification bias.

- So the criminalization of students of color and black students, is the process by which young people are entering school environments, and they are being met with an environment that unfairly punishes them, that stigmatizes them.

Black girls absolutely suffer disproportionately from criminalization in the end, and adultification.

And the way that that manifests from day to day is that it's perceived that black girls are worthy of less protection, that they don't need to be comforted, that they are more adult-like in their behaviors, and they're not given the benefit of doubt of childhood.

(soft music) - The idea of racism, I think it shouldn't be there because like we all came from, you can believe or not, but we all came from the same place.

- We need more adults in the building who are trained to really see children for who they are and to help them navigate all of the complicated feelings of life.

(gentle music) A school is a microcosm of a community, and so if we are finding that, for instance, families are having a hard time with making ends meet generally, or if black families are struggling, if health indicators are low, that's going to, I think, play into everything from racial bias, to how we're looking at young people inside of schools.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Professor Sara Goodkind of the university of Pittsburgh has written extensively on the inequities facing black girls.

- The report looked at inequities affecting black girls in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, came out in 2016.

It was really instigated by a large group of people locally who had begun in a bunch of different settings to talk about some of the systemic barriers and challenges that black girls in our region were facing.

- [Narrator] The report focused on five target areas.

Poverty, education, juvenile justice, violence and abuse, and child welfare.

(soft music) - We focused on those areas because when we came together to discuss these systemic barriers, those were, I think, both the areas that different people who had come together were working in, and also because part of what we were doing, as I was saying was to really understand the connections across these different systems.

I think poverty underlies a lot and is related to a lot of the other challenges.

So that was kind of a place to start, especially as we saw that we had really high levels of poverty among black girls and black youth in our city and county.

Part of what we were looking at through other systems is this knowledge that once young people get caught up in some of the different systems, it's often hard to get out, and a lot of the work that we're doing to look at these systemic barriers is to help us collectively think about how could we support black girls, black boys, black families, everyone in our city and county sooner and in less kind of punitive ways.

We talk a lot in social work, which is my field about putting ourselves out of work, right?

We really don't want young people entering these systems.

I think the disproportionate rates of school discipline that black girls experience, affect them in many, many different ways.

I think it starts even before black girls experience school discipline in terms of what we're seeing is that the same kinds of behaviors, that white and black youth might engage in in school are responded to really differently.

And I think that happens from a very young age before we even call it officially school discipline, right?

Just maybe how a teacher responds and who is encouraged to speak up and speak out and share their experiences and their opinions in the classrooms.

Obviously I'm not an expert on what it's like to be a black girl in school, but the research shows us that from a very young age, these experiences accumulate and even when some are small and some are bigger, that then students learn that, what they have to say is not important, right?

If they are silenced, when they are excited in class and speak up and try to contribute.

- I would like for things to be a little bit different, a little bit less harsh.

I understand school is school and you're like, "Oh, well this could distract the student, "this could distract the student."

I'm just personally like, I don't think that's, I think that's absurd, I think that's very uncalled for.

- [Woman] While Pittsburgh is known for its charming neighborhoods and friendly residents, it also leads locally and nationally in disproportionate treatment of black girls in our schools.

Pittsburgh public schools are the largest of 43 school districts in Allegheny County, and second largest in Pennsylvania.

Angela Allie is the school district, executive director of Equity.

- The Equity office was created out of a complaint, filed by the advocates for African-American students against the district, citing racial discrimination that led to glaring racial disparities between black and white students.

We have for instance, the District second equity plan, this is our most comprehensive equity plan on track to equity, that was released in 2019, and it lays out several action steps the District is taking, to be able to affect racial equity.

I think the first step is always to recognize we have a problem, and we have a systemic problem.

And so I think that's first and foremost, as I mentioned, really being able to identify the problem and not place the burden or perception of the problem on the young people.

So we as the adults and the researchers and practitioners, we must come together and we must examine our system.

The system we helped to build and help to perpetuate that is producing these types of outcomes.

And that takes us a step to-- The superintendent, is going to be hearing from the board as to whether or not, they will approve a third party, an independent third party contract, to be able to look at our data and track, dis-aggregate the data and track incidents of calls made to the police, from which buildings, from which schools, citations, arrest.

So we can begin to really address this head on.

(bright music) - [Narrator] Calls re-examining policing policies are a big part of the juvenile justice conversation, with some districts completely revamping their approach.

- Black girls are often suspended and expelled at higher rates, particularly black girls with disabilities, and when we talk about a school-based arrest and the implication of police in schools, black girls suffer from the presence of police in schools because their behavior is unfairly criminalized.

And while we know that we wanna keep students safe absolutely, what's happened is that police presence has been disproportionately placed inside of schools.

- [Narrator] at Amachi Pittsburgh, Maria serves leads a group of girls on a morning filled with affirmation and positivity, - Whatever have in your head, whatever you know that you are, whatever you feel that you are and whatever you feel you can be, I want you to just go up your posts, it doesn't matter which one you go to and start writing, I am.

I'm working with families, Amachi families to basically empower young minds and strengthen the families.

So I became an advocate at the local and state level within three years of my children's elementary school education.

But the understanding of adultification began a long time ago.

Just seeing our children in school systems where there's (indistinct), where there's disparate treatment.

You know what we wanna say as well they're adultified at home.

So there are kids who are, you know, have responsibilities at home that look like adults, taking care of younger children and cooking and being at home by their self, but not understanding what perpetuates that.

What perpetuates that and I know for certain, that it's racism and poverty.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] According to the Pittsburgh inequality report, black women are more likely to do better in any other city, than Pittsburgh.

(gentle music) - We can't have people who adultify our children, who don't like our children, and can't identify with our children.

Making unilateral decisions for our children it's not working.

- [Narrator] Anna Hollis is the executive director of Amachi Pittsburgh.

- So our goal is really to make sure kids have a fighting chance.

You know I mean these are children who have so many odds stacked against them, from community, schools and just systemic oppression overall in society.

- [Crowd] (chanting) Back up, back up, we want freedom, freedom, all these racist ass cops, we don't need 'em, need 'em!

- I think what's happening in society at large is also happening in classrooms with kids.

And that whole, you know, a lot of assumptions about who black people are, and just negative perceptions and some people call it implicit bias, and sometimes it is implicit bias, and sometimes it's just downright over racism.

- I feel like they, like the first sight that they see me, you know, they might look down on me like, "She's lazy," or, "She doesn't wanna do anything," or, "No you might not know what she's gonna do."

- But I think what we need to do together is beyond having the difficult conversations about these issues, is really finding solutions.

And so when the data is showing that there are racial disparities, the individuals who are creating those disparities need to be held accountable.

And it needs to be supported and educated and provided the training and resources that they need, to serve black children and all children effectively.

(somber music) - If you invest in girls now, you're definitely investing in the future.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Gwen's girls was founded in 2002, by commander, Gwen Elliott, one of the city's first African-American police commanders.

The North side nonprofit, has helped thousands of girls by providing educational, emotional and community-based support.

Kathy Elliott is the CEO of Gwen's girls and convener of the Black Girls Equity Alliance.

- The Black Girls Equity Alliance is a collaboration that was formed back in 2016, following our first equity summit, and that was following a report that came out around the inequities of black girls here in Allegheny County.

- [Narrator] According to the report, these pathways play a significant role in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.

- And we specifically looked at the rates of black children being referred to the juvenile justice system and the main pathways are from school, so literally we have data that supports this school to prison pipeline phenomenon.

And specifically, we looked at charges that typically kind of have children being referred to that system.

(gentle upbeat music) The other way is through fines and citations, summary citations, and usually those come from either the police or the magistrate.

We can see some of the same things that happen in other school districts, that our children do.

They end up in the juvenile justice system, where we refer to the police where teachers call the police.

(gentle upbeat music) After like removing all the different potential scenarios or reasons, for me the only thing that we can come up with is systemic racism, because we have data that shows that, there were white children that commit the same types of behaviors, 'cause I don't wanna call them crimes because oftentimes it's behaviors that are not seen as acceptable.

(gentle upbeat music) And the most frequently used charge was disorderly conduct.

(gentle upbeat music) I don't think that all referrals to law enforcement or to the juvenile justice system is done out of maliciousness or oftentimes it is, people concerned, teachers or administrators feeling that they wanna get them help.

And the systems themselves, say that we're not geared to give the help that's needed, and oftentimes it's mental health.

- Well, what teachers often don't know is going on with young people and in this case we're talking about black girls is that there are so many different challenges happening in a young person's world and reality.

- There's like people have different personalities, like, yeah, like when you first meet somebody they might seem mean but like maybe it's because they have a story and you don't know.

- [Narrator] Working towards solutions, the Black Girls Equity Alliance, held a virtual town hall meeting with leading systems representatives.

- It started the, something that I've not seen happen here in Allegheny County of having all the different entities at the table at the same time.

So we can't just say it's the education system because it's not.

We can't just say it's the juvenile justice system because it's not, We can't even just say it's the child welfare system, because it's not.

It's pieces of all those systems that have to work together, because, and talk to one another, and potentially come up with solutions, so that we're really truly addressing the issues and preventing kids from ending up in any of these systems in a negative way.

- Everyone start your engines.

- [Children] Vroom, vroom!

- It's a fun evening at home for Sylvia, Sammy, and Sierra.

But at UPMC Children's Hospital, it's a different kind of adventure.

- So my name is Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, I am a pediatrician, a pediatric emergency medicine physician, an EMS physician, and currently associate vice chair of diversity, equity and inclusion at UPMC children's hospital and a mom of two beautiful girls.

She's coming through with her sister.

Sierra is a very creative human being and uses her left brain more, Sammy is very active rambunctious four year old.

- [Interviewer] What do you think of, when you hear the word adultification?

- You know, right off the bat I think of growing up too early, you know, as a pediatrician, I think of, a kid just needing to be a kid.

It's easy to see it for yourself, it's harder to see it for your children and you almost don't want to, because it's so painful.

I'll give you another example again, with the little one, which really shocked me was, we were sitting out in our backyard just talking and out of nowhere she burst, "I don't wanna be a black girl."

And several emotions just shot through my brain, my heart, cause I never imagined that, that would come out of her lips or what would give her a reason to that, especially in the household that she's grown up in.

And so that enlightened me a lot to say that me myself, I have a lot of learning to do, as to where our girls are and what they're being exposed to and how they're being envisioned.

You know, the thing that I always say, is people need to understand that our black girls, you know, are first and foremost they're human, you know, nothing less than human beings.

And why not have them reach their potential because they are capable of changing this world.

(gentle music) - [Interviewer] So how do we challenge adultification and its negative outcomes?

- I think a lot of that work needs to start with ourselves.

So when I was saying before that each of us needs to listen and learn and come back and reflect on what we're doing and ways that we might be unintentionally reinforcing racist practices, that's a start.

- What makes young people feel safe are building powerful relationships with adults in the building, knowing that they can show up to a school where they are seen and heard and valued.

- So what I want for our children's future is for them to understand they are perfectly made in God's image.

That they have gifts and talents to succeed and be anything they wanna be.

- And just imagine if the barriers that are often put in front of them were not there, and they were just able to thrive with the support of the adults that are supposed to be protecting them, how much more amazing they could be.

- [Narrator] Years of entrenched systems won't change overnight, but it's a future all black girls deserve.

(gentle music) - And I would like for people to understand that we are not a threat, okay?

We're normal girls, okay?

Like I would like for people to understand the importance of our hair, our culture, our heritage, like our skin color, just understand us.

Like I would like for people to just understand who we are.

And I think that will go, I think that will make a difference.

(gentle music) (upbeat music)