Last Saturday at an Amateur Athletic Union basketball tournament in Miami, Natalie Williams faced a painful parental duty: defending her child's right to simply be a child. The incident unfolded after her son's sixth-grade team won their game.
A Mother's Instinct to Protect
A coach from the opposing team approached her son's coach, accusing him of cheating. Gesturing to Williams' 11-year-old son, the coach claimed, "You've got older kids like this one playing on a sixth-grade team. He must have been reclassed." The boy, who had grown to 5 feet, 6 inches in six months, was standing close enough to hear the accusation.
Before Williams could intervene, her son spoke for himself. "Hey, I'm only 11. I'm actually the youngest sixth-grader on my team," he stated. This moment was not an isolated event but a reflection of a widespread, documented problem: Black children are routinely perceived as older than they are, a phenomenon known as adultification bias.
The Pervasive Reality of Adultification Bias
Research from the American Psychological Association confirms that Black boys as young as 10 are seen as significantly older and less innocent than their white peers. The National Black Child Development Institute warns this bias "robs Black children of the presumption of childhood," exposing them to harsher treatment and diminished empathy.
For Williams, this bias extends far beyond the basketball court. Her son is spoken to with more authority and less grace than a white 11-year-old. He is expected to "know better" and shoulder more responsibility because of his race, not his age. At a friend's Christmas party, he was the only child asked to carry tables, despite being a guest surrounded by adults and older non-Black children.
This pattern repeats at her workplace, where her son is often asked to perform tasks like carrying boxes even when adult staff are present. These expectations are casual and normalized, which is precisely the problem.
Historical Roots and Dangerous Consequences
Williams understands this bias intimately, having experienced it herself as a Black girl in Miami Beach schools. Once, after receiving detention for being late to class with peers, she was made to sit in a school resource officer's car as a lesson from her mother—a preparation for a world that would not grant her the benefit of the doubt.
The dangers of adultification bias are severe and well-documented. It plays a role in the disproportionate discipline of Black children in schools and can have fatal consequences. Cases like those of Trayvon Martin (17), Tamir Rice (12), and Emmett Till (14) illustrate how the perception of Black children as older or more threatening can lead to violence. In 2023, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, with advocates pointing to adultification bias in how he was perceived.
In the justice system, this bias means Black youth are more likely to be tried as adults and sentenced to adult institutions. The psychological toll is also profound, as children are forced to manage emotions beyond their years, with mistakes met with punishment instead of guidance.
As an early childhood educator and senior director of education at the Miami Children's Museum, Williams knows that treating a child as older creates unrealistic expectations and strips away innocence. The core issue from the basketball game is not the adult's mistake, but how easily and comfortably it was made.
Black parents spend their lives teaching self-advocacy while bracing their children for a world that sees them as older, tougher, and less deserving of empathy. True equity, whether on the court, in school, or in society, must start with seeing Black boys for what they are: children deserving of protection, patience, and care.
Natalie Williams is a Public Voices fellow of The OpEd Project in partnership with the National Black Child Development Institute.
