This morning I was running late. (What’s new, right?) I probably could have made it in time, if I bypassed the school parking lot morning mayhem and dropped him off at a more convenient spot four blocks away. I briefly wished I could do it. You may ask, why couldn’t I? He’s 13 and a really responsible kid, so he is certainly capable of walking a few blocks unsupervised. You know the one; he’s the athlete and honor student we all congratulated last week for winning a bunch of academic awards. So why didn’t I even consider doing it? Well, I can’t bring myself to do that because to some people, my kid isn’t an honor student with a bright future. To them, he’s just SCARY BLACK MAN. I know this to be true because of experiences we have already had, where he has been targeted merely because of the color of his skin. He has already, at thirteen years old, been harassed by police for walking down the street and “matching a description.” For his own safety, he doesn’t have the freedom to do what I would have allowed my white sons to do without even thinking about it.
Did I tell him any of that? No, but should I have? I really don’t know. I want to teach him to expect approriate behavior from the people around him, but is that the right thing? On one hand, if I explain to him why I don’t
want him walking around amongst the general public wearing a hoodie, I’ll be
accused of “teaching him to be racist.”
On the other hand, he could very predictably have bad things happen to
him if I don’t teach him to be aware of how whites may perceive him. What’s a mom to do? It’s very easy to be opinionated about it all
until you actually have a loved one facing the crap we don’t want to admit
still happens.
So, while you’re out there deciding who to vote for and
(hopefully) deciding whether equal opportunity really exists in the USA, I hope you’ll
think about kids like mine—the ones who can’t even walk down a street and be
assured of safety. I hope you’ll consider
that a racist candidate endorsed by known KKK members is probably not going to be
great at pursuing equity and justice for ALL of us, not just the rich, white
ones of us. I hope you’ll remember that
the candidate who had a hand in making the imprisonment of black men a
profit-generating enterprise may not be interested in the well-being of ALL
Americans. Myself, I voted for the candidate
who has been fighting for peace and racial equity for 50 years. Do I agree with everything he believes? No. Is
he perfect? Of course not. No candidate
is perfect, but I think he has something to offer that may be more important
than our fear of what’s going to happen with our money or our guns.
