Let's Raise White Kids Better
Every time we see brown bodies abused or murdered, it hits me on a visceral level. That could’ve been Hakeem, Kevin, Mike, LaMrkus, Andre, or Josh. It could have been Christina, Brandie, Jazmon, or Jess. The list of lives it could have been goes on as the list of lives it should have never been goes on.
Was texting my (white) friend Jasmine briefly this am. Her husband + 2 kids live in brown skin. “What is our duty? Sharing & speaking out, Signing petitions isnt enough. Calling mayors isn’t enough. What the hell else do we do? Besides raising kids aware and brave to fight the systems and instincts we have handed down to us, what else?”
She said, “raising awareness & making calls does make a big difference. The more white people who feel brave enough to share, the more the scales tip.”
Why does speaking up against racism & injustice, against deep dehumanization against Gods created children, require BRAVERY? We can disagree on who should be president but I‘ll never be okay w/ disagreeing about the perpetual, senseless stealing + abuse of black lives + bodies.
My kids innocence has been stolen & though that’s tragic + heavy, its necessary for the bigger picture of raising them to wholly love our neighbor & live gospel lives, for being humans truly valuing other humans. Its MORE tragic raising another generation of (sub)consciously racist people.
I was watching a @kirkfranklin video about #ahmaudarbery’s murder & they asked what it was. I said “two white men killed a man for no reason,” Sage’s next Q was “Mama was the man brown like me?” They’re 4.
You may think it’s unbelievable to have such conversations w 4 yo’s about racism —I’m convinced this is how we raise kids who won’t kill OR quickly justify the death/abuse of black bodies because it is for some ungodly reason our instinct.
We read books about segregation + racism, about how black & white people had separate bathrooms, schools, church, how whites treated black people. Every page sparks questions of “why?” statements of “that’s mean.” We can’t protect our black kids from this, so let’s strip away some privilege + raise white kids better.
