NewsVine_Mariyam
Platinum Member
When I first read this story several weeks ago I was particularly disheartened. The article I first read spoke of the "adultification" of black girls and how they are treated much more harshly by the police and in schools when punishment is being meted out than their white counterparts. That article is the second link and is definitely worth the read.
This first link is how something wonderful came of that traumatizing incident for Bobbi Wilson.
Yale University honors 9-year-old girl who neighbor called police on for spraying spotted lanternflies
A neighbor's call to police on a little Black girl while she sprayed lanternflies exposes a deeper problem, mom says | CNN
This first link is how something wonderful came of that traumatizing incident for Bobbi Wilson.
Yale University honors 9-year-old girl who neighbor called police on for spraying spotted lanternflies
NEW HAVEN, Conn -- Yale University honored a scientist who is just 9 years old on Friday.
Bobbi Wilson is fascinated by bugs, but last year her mission to catch spotted lanternflies captured national attention.
Last fall, Bobbi learned about the invasive species in school and wanted to help. She found a bug spray recipe on TikTok.
"I mixed water, dish soap and apple cider vinegar," she said.
Bobbi was using it outside her home in New Jersey when a neighbor called police.
"There's a little Black woman walking and spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees. I don't know what the hell she's doing. Scares me though," the neighbor told a 911 operator.
Monique Joseph, Bobbi's mother, said the neighbor was racially profiling her daughter.
"Those exact words in another town, another state, I could be grieving," said Joseph.
Ijeoma Opara, a Yale School of Public Health assistant professor, heard Bobbi's story and decided to take the young entomologist under her wing.
"Oh yeah, Bobbi belongs here. Bobbi is Yale," said Opara, who invited Bobbi to campus to meet scientists who look like her.A neighbor's call to police on a little Black girl while she sprayed lanternflies exposes a deeper problem, mom says | CNN