I want you to hear from Déjà Lewis-Nwalipenja.When she gave this TEDx talk, Déjà was a young Black college student studying political science and
I want you to hear from Déjà Lewis-Nwalipenja.
When she gave this TEDx talk, Déjà was a young Black college student studying political science and sociology. Her talk, Black Girls and Sexual Violence, asks us to look at something that can disappear when we talk about sexual violence only in broad terms: race and sex can shape not only what Black girls experience, but how other people understand what has happened to them.
Those of us who have been doing this work for many years have experience to bring to the table, but experience should never make us stop listening. Younger Black women are naming what they see, questioning what they inherited, and giving language to experiences that have too often been misunderstood, minimized, or left out of larger conversations about violence against women and girls.
I especially appreciate voices that help us see Black girls as whole human beings rather than collections of stereotypes. Ideas about Black girls being older, tougher, more sexual, less innocent, or more capable of handling harm do not remain harmless ideas. They can influence whose vulnerability is recognized, whose pain is taken seriously, and who receives protection.
Déjà brings race and sex into the same conversation because, in the lives of Black girls, they do not politely take turns.
Cultural Complicity: The Silence That Hurts More Than the First Harm – WE Survive Abuse