WHITE PARENTING MATTERS

This woman's son has been dealing with another kid, 13 years old, calling him the n-word. It's not the first time.  Many black children start dealing with this from the time they are very little. White kids repeat what the adults around them say.

As a result of this latest n-word attack, his mother has gone to the school to complain. She's also managed to speak to the mother of the other kid, a white mother who tried to act like her little white darling is 3 instead of 13. Apparently the attacker's mother actually said her boy doesn't even really know what the n-word means --as if  he just as easily might have called the blond, white cafeteria lady the n-word.

But there was a tiny ray of sunshine during this trying time in her young son's life. Michael's mother said,

"So through all the crap, something amazing happened. Michael has a friend who was friends with the n-word kid and was there when it happened.

This kid, this 13 year old, not only decided to dump the racist, he wants to start an anti-racist group.

He's 13.

And white. 

And southern.

In situations like this in the past, Michael has always paid with the loss of friends. He decides he doesn't want to be around the hater, and the other friends choose the hateful one.

Not this time.

I told Michael that he might go the rest of his life and not find a friend this loyal, or someone with this much character.

And it's not a mistake that the kid is like this.  [This white kid's attitude is not an accident or happenstance] His mother has had the hard conversations with him. She has examined herself and the world so that she better understands race dynamics and has worked on her learning so she can better teach her kids.

How about that?

~CR

Today Lesson:  Bad White Parenting Matters

Bad White Parenting Matters and it is a lot more common than Good White Parenting in the United States. The thing that makes this obvious is that the white cops that murder blacks sans provocation  (while other officers pretend not to notice) are not springing up from holes in the ground. They are being raised by white parents just like every other white adult. And these white kids of white parents are infect one another with racism when they get to school.

This is why it is absolutely amazing to me that there have been so many studies done on the flaws of black culture instead of white culture, the most powerful group here and obviously the most responsible for the bad racial climate in this country.

It amazes me even more that white racists (let me not mince words) think Obama becoming president made racism exist or made it worse instead of more visible. It should be obvious to anybody that's not a racist that the press started paying more attention to black deaths at the hands of white police due to three black women giving birth to the Black Lives Matter Spotlight.  (Just when I think white ignorance can't get in deeper I see I have under-estimated it yet again.)

So, I hope this activist kid's mother talks race with her friends and family too because white folks ability to clean their own house is important. I hope this woman doesn't think that her son, her children are her only responsibility.

A lot of black people I talk to believe in magic, believe that black people changing the way 13% thinks and behaves will change the entire country. But while we, as black people, can change our behavior and flex the muscle that we DO have as a financial and social force,  the only way the racial climate of the entire country gets better is if they white community decides to heal itself. They are close to 70% of the country and have 98% of the power no matter what race the president is.

There are things that have given me hope. The picture is one of them.

Halloween:
When asked who he's supposed to be
this little white boy said,
Malcom X
Note absence of Black Face.

If white people can find valuable lessons in Malcom X and teach them to their children, then maybe there's hope white people can redeem white culture. Maybe?