By Bridgette Bartlett Royall ·Updated May 11, 2026 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… She better have a college fund.
How did they afford all of that?
I bet they live in the projects.
Her dress, makeup, hair and nails are tacky!
These are the PG-version of comments left on pictures and video content of Black girls headed to their proms. Sadly, the critiques often get much harsher for girls who are merely teenagers. Prom Season 2026 is well underway and while most proms in the Southern U.S. have already passed, those in the northeast don’t happen until later this month and early-June. Meanwhile, glamorous and theatrical bat mitzvahs and quinceañeras occur all year long. Why are adults so comfortable publicly disgracing Black teenage girls going to their prom and being cruel toward strangers who are sometimes half their age?
Some of the single parent households and have supportive villages who have contributed to their 529 plans since they were infants. Some have received full academic scholarships. Still others live in a two-parent household and happily opted to attend vocational school, join the military, go to community college, work a blue-collar job or maybe bag groceries at a local big box store post-high school. All, yes all, of these >Paris who are itching to recreate many of those creative, innovative looks and will sell them to you for a pretty “couture” penny next season.
None of it, nary bit of it, is any of our adult business. These are teens and they deserve our love, support and guidance. It isn’t surprising when the peanut gallery of the other persuasion attempts to steal our Black joy, but why are we doing it to each other? And particularly to Black girls? We checked in with Brianna Baker, founder and executive director of Justice for Black Girls, to gain an expert perspective on this disappointing trend. Baker founded Justice for Black Girls as an after-school program in 2018, and it became a full-scale non-profit organization in 2020. The initiative has nearly 100K followers on Instagram and takes the business of protecting Black girls very seriously. Here’s what Baker had to say:
WHY SO JUDGY?“What we’re witnessing online is deeply connected to the adultification of Black girls. A 2019 study by the Georgetown University Law Center on Poverty and Inequality reveals that Black girls are perceived as older, less innocent and less deserving of protection or softness than their peers. Because of this, even joyful coming-of-age moments like prom become sites of public critique instead of celebration.
There’s also discomfort around Black expression that exists outside of respectability politics. When Black girls show up creatively, extravagantly, boldly, or innovatively, people are quick to label it as “too much,” “ghetto,” or now “hood,” rather than recognizing it as cultural production, imagination and joy. Black prom culture has long been a space where Black families and communities celebrate beauty, survival, excellence and self-expression. That deserves to be honored rather than demonized.”
Photo By Harold Hoch/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images) BUT AREN’T THEY TEENS?
“Our society has normalized the public surveillance and policing of Black girls. Adults often project adult expectations, insecurities and moral judgments onto Black girls in ways that they simply do not toward other young people. View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Justice for Black Girls (@justice4blackgirls)
The reality is that many Black families are making intentional investments in milestones that matter deeply to their children while simultaneously supporting their educational futures. It is rooted in bias to automatically assume that Black families celebrating their children are financially irresponsible or misspending. Black families deserve the freedom to show up for their children without their love, creativity or generosity being >monetary spending—it’s about innovation and creativity. We are witnessing young people design gowns from crochet, sew sequin appliques onto blazers, wear dresses adorned with sparkles and stones, grills and hair art. All these things showcase the extravagant imaginations of young Black children, and rather than criticizing these expressions, we should be praising them instead of waiting until they become a costume designer for an award-winning film.”
Baker concludes, “To any Black girl reading this—you deserve all the beauty you experienced during prom. And to any baby who didn’t get the prom of their dreams, your dream experience is on its way to you!”
TOPICS: Black proms Ghetto proms Hood proms justice for Black girls prom seasonThe post Stop Shaming Black Girls: The Toxic Policing of Black Prom Culture Has Gone Too Far appeared first on Essence.