As we’ve just celebrated the life of the civil rights icon, John Lewis, who began his activism at the tender age of 16, I ask myself why don’t we celebrate the same revolutionary power in our youth. Why don’t we lift up their voice more? Just as Lewis’ consciousness was shook at the death of Emmett Till at 15, so too have our young black children at the similar lynching of George Floyd and so many others. Our children understand all too well what is happening, yet are constantly not provided a seat at decision making tables or asked for their input. However, the reality is the collective consciousness of black children has always had to mature faster and learn the harsh realities faster than their white counterparts. I think of my own childhood where I learned at 8 that I was a “nigger” and my new “friend” Mandy could not be friends with a black gir because her grandfather told her so. At 8, I had to sit with a new consciousness and grapple with the existentialism of racism instead of innocently just play with dolls and sell lemonade. So nobody can tell me that our kids don’t know or have a wealth of experiences to pull from to weigh in on this pivotal moment in our history. Yet, we still relegate our kids to the ephemeral “kids table” to go play when they have invaluable insight to share about their world view and how they can contribute to change too. Heck, I have to ask my 1 year old all the time for her input or her daily dinner will be all over the floor because she will show me better than she can tell me that she doesn't like it. With the emergence of a global pandemic attacking the already vulnerable lives of black children and their families and their continuous battle with systemic racism embedded in every facet of their lives, they too have an opinion. Yet, every important decision, coalition, task force and advisory council leaves them entirely out of the loop. For instance, Mayor Bottoms, created an Advisory Council on Entrepreneurship YOUTH programs to seek out alternative solutions for unsafe street solicitation of water and even with YOUTH in the name and the target group is Black kids, no black child was appointed to the council. Again, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms created a Use of Force Task Force to grapple with humane policing policies in communities of color. Yet, black children are the MOST over surveilled children in the country with police over represented in their communities AND schools, but there was limited black youth engagement represented in this task force.(While there were 2 collegiate black youth on the task force, black elite groups tend to cherry pick black elite youth that present as polished and fit the trope of the “respectable black child” as a facade for true youth engagement and feedback). Sadly, the people who do get to sit at the table are mostly white elite corporations, agency and organization heads that are far removed from black youth experiences and have little insight to speak to the unique experience of a black child in 2020. We proclaim to the hilltops that black lives matter but that must include the voices of black children who will grow to be our next generation’s revolutionaries. We cannot wait for our children to grow up, be polished and presentable for mainstream consumption and then parade them around as a talented tenth or that is all we will ever have is a fraction of all the potential we will need to fight the oncoming battle for our humanity. We must uplift, champion and deeply listen to all our black children ( not just the elite and “respectable” ones). We must create space for their voices in every decision and radically include their voices, as we not only create solutions for them, but alongside them as well. This is how we harness their strengths, talents and gifts to nurture the next revolutionary iconic John Lewis or Angela Davis.
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AuthorEducator, student advocate and community activists. Archives
October 2021
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