LOADING ERROR LOADINGFor most parents, “the talk” involves discussing the birds and the bees with your kids: safe sex practices, consent, bodily autonomy. A parent might say: If you ever get pulled over, don’t talk back, put your hands on the dashboard, and ask if you can get your license and registration out before reaching for it. Because police disproportionately target Black youth, most research on how and when “the talk” is given has focused on Black families. (Analysis by The Associated Press in 2021 showed that Black children make up more than half of the incidents of police using force on kids.) One 2014 study out of the University of California, Los Angeles, found Black youth are perceived as 4.5 years older than they actually are.

Source: Huffington Post April 06, 2026 13:33 UTC