What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black (Part 2)

What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black

Margaret Burroughs

4^th Paragraph

 

What can I do to give him strength
That he may come through life’s adversities
As a whole human being unwarped and human in a world
Of biased laws and inhuman practices, that he might
Survive. And survive he must! For who knows?
Perhaps this black child here bears the genius
To discover the cure for… cancer
Or to chart the course for exploration of the universe.
So, he must survive for the good of all humanity.

 

                The words written by Burroughs in the fourth paragraph, speak volumes to the plight of young black boys.  No matter how much self-esteem is instilled in young black boys about how they have the same chances as any other child, once they leave the safety of their homes, they find a society that still views and labels them as three-fifths of a human being. 

 

                Black boys find themselves under constant suspicion by adults and law enforcement and labeled because of the color of their skin.  The clutched purses and crossing the street some adults do when black boys walk towards them because they fear they will become victim at the hands of black boys.  Black boys also find themselves under constant suspicion when they go into stores to purchase or look at items.  The suspicious looks they receive when they enter an establishment and the employee who constantly monitors their movement in the store and on occasion may ask black boys to “leave if they are not going to buy.”

 

                It would seem outside of the home there is no safe haven for black boys.  However, the one place that should be a safe haven for black boys, many times mirrors what happens to them outside of their home.  Unfortunately, Burroughs words also ring true about the plight of black boys in elementary, middle and high schools. 

 

                Education is supposed to be the great equalizer.  However for black boys, the same bias, fear and suspicion they face in society, they face in elementary, middle and high school classrooms.  Black boys face teachers who make assumptions about their intelligence based on their name, based on historical bias of teaching black boys and the perception that black boys aren’t interested or can’t learn.  This is one of the main reasons black boys are the majority of students receiving Special Education services, have the highest number of suspensions and highest percentage of high school dropouts.  However, Burroughs reminds us of who black boys could become if treated fair and given an equal chance.

 

The 4^th paragraph of Burroughs poem reminds us the path that Black boys have to navigate in order to survive and thrive in our society.  Burroughs reminds us that inequity in America is robbing our country of the potential to become even greater because our black boys are not given the opportunity to reach their potential.

What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black (Part 1)

What Shall I Tell My Children Who Are Black

Margaret Burroughs

1^st Paragraph

 

What shall I tell my children who are black

Of what it means to be a captive in this dark skin?

What shall I tell my dear one, fruit of my womb,

of how beautiful they are when everywhere they turn

they are faced with abhorrence of everything that is black.

The night is black and so is the boogyman.

Villains are black with black hearts.

A black cow gives no milk. A black hen lays no eggs.

Storm clouds, black, black is evil

and evil is black and devil’s food is black…

 

                The deaths Michael Brown and Eric Garner made me think about this poem by Margaret Burroughs.  With the acquittal of the white officers by the Grand Jury, these words continue to remind us behind these deaths is the ignorance, fear and hate.  Burroughs shows us how this fear, ignorance and hate
“of everything that is black” is part of the routine of everyday life.  So I wondered can we as educators change this narrative by teaching children and young adults the importance of having a diverse and inclusive society?

 

                Education has always played a major role in the movement for social change.  In the era of Segregation, educators, parents and students called for the end of the negative connotations that define black.  More importantly, to counter the negative connotations, teachers directly taught black students about their heritage, demystified the negative connotations and instilled pride of being black.  In the post-Segregation era, the push for diversity and inclusion of black studies and the end of the negative connotations defined the word black.  The word black was reclaimed by the community to define beauty and strength.  This was evident in the era of movies where black men and women were portrayed strong, intelligent and unafraid to take on injustice in the community.  This era is commonly known as “blaxploitation.”

 

Unfortunately, education has lost its way.  Under the disguise of faux diversity and inclusion, the struggle to completely remove the fear, ignorance and hate of everything that is black has been has been replaced by the drive to acquire and consume.  Now that we can live in any community, work in corporate America and not directly called the “N-word” on a daily basis, our attention is on accumulation over substance.  We believe everything is “fine” and our black boys believe this until Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and the long list of young black boys whose lives ended prematurely. What do we do about it, march, get angry and then go home until the next tragedy is posted on the news about the premature death of a young black male by the hands of a white police officer.

 

To end the cycle, of ear, ignorance and hate of everything that is black, we need to work on the young people.   Young people of all races should be required to take a diversity and inclusion class in elementary, middle and high school.  Young people in suburban and urban school should be required to have a joint class in diversity and inclusion to learn from each other to see how they have more similarities than differences even though they come from different socio-economic backgrounds.  That is how you begin to end the cycle, of ear, ignorance and hate of everything that is black.

 

By getting young people together in a meaningful way, the young person who may eventually become the white officer in the life or death situation with a young black male, may not turn out to be another tragedy.