By Seth Sandronsky

A cinema project from Justice2Jobs aims to spur community conversation about the “adultification bias” of Black girls; the harmful expectations and stereotypes that distort and shorten their childhoods. To this end, the new documentary film ”Essence of Black Girlhood” premiered at The Guild Theater in Oak Park on Sept. 1 to act as a jumping off point for further discussion.

One stereotype the film points out is that Black girls should have an adult-like understanding of themselves and others, according to Sade Ajayi, who along with Shanalle Patterson — both of Sacramento — co-directs the Justice2Jobs Coalition’s Essence of Black Girlhood project.  

Patterson and Ajayi facilitate the “story circles” that “Essence of Black Girlhood” features centrally. The activist duo prompt participants with writing topics as a way for them to talk about their histories. The participants share their memories — as Black children and adults — of  Sacramento neighborhoods Del Paso Heights, Oak Park and Meadowview, where household incomes are far below those in more affluent areas of the capital city such as Land Park.

Filmmaker Khanstoshea Zingapan captures their hurt, joy and laughter. Over 100 women participated in the circles during a four-month period. At the end of the film audiences learn that one of the women sharing her narrative is Ajayi’s mother. Hers is, in part, a tale of overcoming horrific treatment by adults as a girl.

Out of the women’s individual pain comes a collective healing process. Participants hug one another at pivotal points in the film. “We hear you, Queen,” several of them say in affirmation of surviving harmful experiences during childhood, such as criminalization, incarceration and sexual aggression. 

One of the women in the sister circles spoke of her experience at a retail store where she was confronted by two security guards over a clothing policy for shoppers. The incident resulted in the woman’s arrest and imprisonment.

That is an example of how the adultification of Black girls places them at a heightened risk of criminal prosecution and conviction, according to the film. Ending girl incarceration is a J2J priority.

“The circles are therapeutic for Sade and me as well,” Patterson said. She believes the process of personal restoration often emerges from the burial of truthful realities. Near the end of the 50-minute documentary, Patterson shares a heart-rending childhood memory of domestic violence. 

There is a term for the experience of living as a Black person in America: “post-traumatic slave syndrome.” It is an adaptive survival strategy that enslaved Africans learned centuries ago and passed on, according to Dr. Joy DeGruy, who authored a book on the subject. Her expert testimony opens the film, replete with images of chattel slavery. 

Sydney McKinney is the executive director of the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, which focuses on legal and social remedies to repair the harm that African American girls experience. In the film, she calls for policy changes to increase the well-being of Black women, such as livable wage jobs and affordable housing. 

Progressive policies that address the needs of Black women who have endured the adultification of their childhoods connect with the lack of emotional and material support they can experience in schools. Further, some of their childhood is spent watching younger kids — when adult caregivers are absent — increasing the burden placed on them as Black girls. 

The film also shows the women in the sister circles, including Sade, speak at length on the pernicious adult description of Black girls as “fast.” That term implies that black girls are prone to engage intimately during childhood, despite the biological fact that they are not adults; a corrosive stereotype. 

“Essence of Black Girlhood” is a film with broad public appeal due to its nuanced treatment of class, gender and racial injustice in an intersectional process. The filmmakers are working on plans to distribute their film to a wider audience.

“We’re going to meet as a team to discuss the community education plan,” says Patterson. “We have not yet decided if the film will be available on demand.”

The Essence of Black Girlhood project is planning to release a report in concert with the Vera Institute and The Center on Gender Justice & Opportunity at Georgetown Law that connects the dots of Black girl marginalization and incarceration in September. This report will highlight problems and solutions that the film addresses so elected officials and policymakers can construct progressive remedies.

This story was funded by the City of Sacramento’s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento. Following our journalism code of ethics and protocols, the city had no editorial influence over this story and no city official reviewed this story before it was published. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19. Sign up for our “Sac Art Pulse” newsletter here.