The Impact of Sexual Assault on the Black Community

With the close of February, we also see the end of Black History Month, a time to recognize and celebrate black culture. However, understanding history is also recognizing pitfalls and utilizing them as agents of change. Power-based personal violence is an issue that has deeply and disproportionately impacted the Black community for as long as this country has been founded.

A segment of infographic report on Black Women and Sexual Assault from the National center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community

In a 2018 study conducted by the National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community, it was found that “one in four Black girls will be sexually abused before the age of 18.” Additionally, they found that “one in five Black women are survivors of rape. The report goes on to state that for every Black woman who reports a rape, at least 15 Black women do not report.” Furthermore, a 2013 report made by the United States Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics found that “African American girls and women 12 years and older experienced higher rates of rape and sexual assault than white, Asian, and Latina girls and women from 2005–2010.”

Protestors carry signs outside the courthouse as the jury deliberates in the trial of Daniel Holtzclaw, an Oklahoma City, on Dec. 8, 2015.

To understand how and why this community is hit so hard, we must first understand how racism and a corrupt system have fostered and continue to allow for this issue to persist. Through the framework of our society lack girls and women have been structurally disenfranchised, and dehumanized. In a social and legal structure designed against you, black voices are silenced and targeted as victims. Systems of oppression upheld by society, continue to marginalize and endanger Black women. At the intersection of racial stigmatism and sexism, Black women face a society constantly working against them.

Supporting survivors in the Black community means acknowledging the sociological forces that work against them and letting them know that you are on their side. It is also seen by providing accessible resources and advocates to survivors and supporting Title IX programs. Let them know their voice is heard and that trauma is never the fault of the survivor