#SayHerName

Gabriella Nevarez. Aura Rosser. Tanisha Anderson. Mya Hall. Janisha Fonville. Natasha McKenna. Alexia Christian. Rekia Boyd. Aiyana Stanley-Jones. Sheneque Proctor.

These are a few names of the black women who didn't receive national attention as an example to systematic police brutality. Black women are profiled, sexually assaulted, beaten and killed by law enforcement, however in comparison to the black men and boys who share the same fate, fall absent to the movement. Their experience with the police are distinctly motivated by race, gender, sexual origination and gender identity. Black women aren't exempt from brutality because of their gender. The silence around the victimization of black women isn't beneficial toward why we march, rally and protest in the first place. The language we use in referring to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, police brutality and racial injustice. We hear "How do I raise my son in America?" "Why do I have to tell my son what to do when he gets pulled over?" "How do I explain to my son why he is constantly discriminated against?". What about our black daughters? Racism isn't only subjected to black males. Black girls are marginalized at early stages in their lives. Black girls are 6 times more likely to get suspended than white girls.

Us being women doesn't matter to policemen. In Columbia, South Carolina a young black female student was flipped out of her desk and dragged across the floor by a white male deputy. In Texas, an African-American teenaged girl was slammed to the ground by a police officer at a pool party. I don't remember anyone being in an uproar about either situation. I don't remember any national headings. By continuing the way it has been, black girls and women will always be unnamed and under-protected. Whether it's a traffic stop, mental health issue or being in police custody; black women and girls are like black men and boys. As I did my research, the common words I found that were said by law enforcement when explaining these stories of brutality were: Thought. Suspicion. Claimed. Assumed. Suspected. Misinformed. Their accusations and presumptions have led to numerous deaths that shouldn't have happened. The bad choice of judgement made by police officers have left mothers and fathers without their daughters; children without their mothers; grandchildren without their grandmothers. Let's stop the silence. #SayHerName.