A New Conversation
I’ve been thinking that it’s time for a new conversation. You may be asking what I’m talking about. Well, I want to have a new conversation about investing in Black children. There’s been talk about the trauma from racialized experiences and adultification. Black children become pathologized as if they or their families are the cause. Images of our children depleted and victimized are displayed and shared on social media with hashtags by people thinking that this is the way to show allyship. Or worse, our children are forgotten the next day. We’re missing the point. Black children need the freedom to be children.
I’m tired of media stories that highlight negative images of our children, images that have us remembering them as victims of crime or violence. There are too few images of children singing, laughing, playing, riding a bike, chasing butterflies or jumping in puddles of water. They do exist because our children learn to play and have fun as do all children.
The images of our children as victims of violence and racialized trauma such as a kindergartener being handcuffed perpetuates the fears that this is going to happen and, for many parents, that their child may be next. It causes fear and panic. I know because this is how I have felt. I often wondered if I’ve sacrificed pieces of my children’s childhood by protecting them from being a story on the nightly news. I moved them to a so-called “good neighborhood” and “school district.” I thought that I was making the right choices. But what I didn’t anticipate was that they weren’t always safe. I couldn’t protect them from racist comments or from teachers that didn’t do enough when my kids told them that they were bullied. My fears grew as my kids got older, having the talk so that they were prepared for encounters with the police. Did I rob them of the joy of a teenagers right of passage to get their license?
In my head, I wanted to protect them from being another story of a dead Black child. There are too many of those types of stories that are commonplace. No need to sound the alarm; it’s just another day in the life of a Black child. I want to scream and wail at yet another story of a Black child being harmed. I don’t want to watch the news. I’ve prayed that my sons come home safe each night. My child was not the story tonight. Thank God. Really… Thank God! I prayed that it wouldn’t happen. My prayers came true.
Did you know that gun violence is the leading cause of death for all children? Did you know that from 2020-2021 Black children were 100 times more likely than white children to experience injuries from firearms? [1] It shouldn’t matter because any child experiencing firearm injuries is a tragedy but when our Black children are victims, it’s just an ordinary news storyline.
We must start a new conversation. The conversation should be about protecting our children, keeping them safe and free. Free to be children… free to experience joy… free from fear. These conversations are vital if we are to reimagine the educational, judicial, political, and legislative systems and policies that are infected by structural racism. All children need access to safe neighborhoods; stable housing; clean water; healthy, affordable food; culturally responsive, quality, affordable healthcare; quality education; and caring adults. But all children do not have equitable access. Our Black children are more likely to attend segregated and under-resourced schools.[2 ] Segregated schools are unhealthy for Black children.[3 ]Our children are most likely to live in neighborhoods that lack access to resources such as parks and libraries that are linked to positive health outcomes.[4]
I want to create a world where parents and caregivers raising Black children can breathe. They can breathe because there’s no need to hold their breath, waiting for the phone to ring, the sounds of sirens, or their child not answering when called or texted. A world in which parenting decisions are made without fear.
The evidence is clear to me. A change must happen, and the conversation must begin. Join me at the table.
References:
1.Mckoy, J. (2023, March 10). During COVID, Black Children Were 100x More Likely Than White Children to Experience Gun Injuries. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2023/during-covid-black-children-were-100x-more-likely-than-white-children-to-experience-gun-injuries/
2.Carillo, S., & Salhotra, P. (2022, July 14). The U.S. Student population is more diverse, but schools are still highly segregated. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1111060299/school-segregation-report#:~:text=U.S.%20schools%20remain%20highly%20segregated%2C%20government%20report%20finds%20A%20new,racial%2C%20ethnic%20and%20socioeconomic%20lines.
3.Guangyi Wang, Gabriel L. Schwartz, Min Hee Kim, Justin S. White, M. Maria Glymour, Sean Reardon, Kiarri N. Kershaw, Scarlett Lin Gomez, Pushkar P. Inamdar, Rita Hamad; School Racial Segregation and the Health of Black Children. Pediatrics May 2022; 149 (5): e2021055952. 10.1542/peds.2021-055952
4. Sanders, M., Winston, J., & Rochester, S. E. (2023, February 24). Most Black Children Live in Neighborhoods That Lack Amenities Associated with Child Well-being. Retrieved April 25, 2023, from https://www.childtrends.org/blog/most-black-children-live-in-neighborhoods-that-lack-amenities-associated-with-child-well-being