Revealed: the harsh truth about black girls and violence in our schools

Female pupils from ethnic minorities are more likely to fall victim to aggressive behaviour from boys in the playground.

- David Cohen

I WAS play-fighting with a friend at an after-school club when he got me in a head lock and lifted me off the ground by my neck," said Angela. "I couldn't breathe, I couldn't speak and I was desperately tapping him to stop, but he wasn't responding and I started passing out. Afterwards, I was incredibly angry and told him, 'Don't ever do that again', but he went and did the same thing straightaway to two other girls."

Was the boy disciplined? "No, I decided not to report him, I didn't want to get him into trouble," said Angela. "You try to protect boys. Black boys have a lot to deal with. Also, when black girls speak up, people often assume we are lying."

This incident points to the added complexity many black girls face in responding to violence. They mistrust the adults who should be caring for them and often think they won't be believed, or that they will be blamed for provoking the incident, and they feel guilt, too, for implicating black boys who already suffer racism and social profiling.

Angela was one of 10 black teenagers who had come to Milk Honey Bees in Brixton to attend a violence against black girls "healing circle". Aged 16 to 18, they were pupils at eight different sixth forms and colleges across the capital, so their experience of the intersectionality of race and gender was pan-London.

Founded in 2017 by Ebinehita Iyere, Milk Honey Bees is one of the beneficiaries of our Show Respect campaign which is seeking to tackle violence against girls by funding healthy relationships workshops in schools, an intervention that evidence shows reduces violence against girls by 17 per cent. Milk Honey Bees will receive a £33,186 grant over two years to run MzUnderstood, a six-week violence prevention programme that will provide 120 black and mixed-race girls in four schools in Lambeth with guidance and a safe space to explore issues.