Yale honors a young Black scientist after a neighbor falsely reported the 9-year-old to the police

Editor's note: This article was originally published on February 3, 2023. It has since been updated.

The spotted lanternfly, a beautifully colored but highly invasive species, has garnered significant attention due to its rapid spread. People have been encouraged to eliminate them to protect apple and maple trees. In Caldwell, New Jersey, 9-year-old Bobbi Wilson took action against these pests with a homemade, non-toxic spray. Unfortunately, a neighbor reported her as "suspicious," highlighting the issue of racial profiling, reported My Modern Met.

Bobbi faced a distressing incident of racial profiling, a reality many people of color endure. Despite this, Yale University recognized Bobbi's value as a young Black scientist. After the incident in October 2022, Bobbi's 13-year-old sister Hayden courageously addressed the town council, protesting the injustice her sister and other children of color faced in their community.

Her passionate statements caught the attention of news organizations like CNN. Ijeoma Opara, an assistant professor at Yale School of Public Health, invited Bobbi and her family to visit Yale. They returned to the campus on January 20, 2023, for an event celebrating Bobbi's dedication to science and her community. Bobbi donated her collection of mounted spotted lanternflies to Yale's Peabody Museum, ensuring her name will always be part of their catalog.

Professor Opara, who organized the event, said, "Yale doesn’t normally do anything like this … this is something unique to Bobbi. We wanted to show her bravery and how inspiring she is, and we just want to make sure she continues to feel honored and loved by the Yale community." Lawrence Gall, the Peabody Museum's Entomology Collections Manager and Nicole Palffy-Muhoray, the museum's Assistant Director of Student Programs, then encouraged Bobbi to identify one of her 27 specimens. They said, "We're so grateful for all of the work you've done down in New Jersey and your interest in conservation and checking out the lanternflies advance. We don't have many of them in Connecticut right now. They are just starting to come up here. But I'm sure we'll see them, so we're very happy to have these specimens."

Monique Joseph, Bobbi's mother, spoke at the award ceremony, expressing her fear and concern for all children subjected to racial stereotypes. Hayden was praised for her courageous speech. She said, "Dr. Opara, you have been a blessing. You are part of our testimonial and what it means to have a community of amazing, beautiful, Black, intelligent scientists and doctors and more important than that is your heart and your passion for the work that you do…You helped us change the trajectory of that day."

She said, "This happened because of what happened to Bobbi, but it also happened because the whole community, the science community, got together and said ‘She's one of us and we're not going to let her lose her steam for STEM. We're going to support the family, we're going to support this girl, we're going to make sure her big sister Hayden doesn't lose that light.'"