A middle school in upstate New York is making national news, after hundreds of parents rightfully raised an uproar over four 12-year-old Black girls being strip searched by the school nurse and vice principal.

Binghamton City School District officials say the girls were acting "hyper and giddy." And for acting like 12-year-olds, school officials scared four little girls into stripping down to their underwear. When one of the girls refused take her clothes off, she was punished with in-school suspension.

Studies have repeatedly shown that racist bias leads people to perceive Black girls to be less innocent than white girls. That's why Black girls are suspended from school at six times the rate as white girls for the same behavior.

Luckily, parents in the Binghamton City School District are causing a real firestorm. If the school officials and the larger public see a national backlash that forces Binghamton officials to hold bad actors accountable and make amends for the trauma they put four little girls through, we'll send a strong message to ALL school districts with Black students in their care: The public will not tolerate the mistreatment of Black girls.