"Dad, thank you for raising me right!" Those were the words my son surprised me with recently. Living in Georgia, he was staying with his grandmother while she recovered from back surgery. One day, several doors down, two carloads of young Black females were jumping on another female. Apparently, the fight was over the affections of a boy. Wow, even today, young girls are still fighting over boys. Who would have thought? But those seven words said and meant a lot to me. My soon-to-be 21-year-old son and I haven't always agreed, but it does my heart good to know he gets it. As parents, I think that's all we ask for is for our kids to get it.
I look at the situation down in Jena, Louisiana, with the Jena 6; the young Black woman raped and brutalized in West Virginia; and the school security guards attacking and breaking the wrist of the sixteen-year-old female student in Palmdale, California, for not picking up all of the crumbs from a cake and I shake my head. I seriously wonder, are our children getting it or is the system seriously broken? And the answer to both questions may be seriously flawed and not as easy to answer as I or anyone else would like to think.
Many of us 35 and older grew up on phrases like each one, teach one; each one, reach one; and it takes a village to raise a child. Phrases that meant something and were more than just words.
Someone recently inferred that some of our children might deserve to be disrespected because they don't respect themselves. I bark at this inference. I have faith in our children. I think too often we as adults forget we were once teenagers and there were adults who didn't have faith in us, but there were others who truly believed in each one, teach one and it takes a village to raise a child.
What do I believe in? I believe the glass is half-full and not half-empty. We as a people (African-Americans) are like other nationalities. We have problems, we have issues and yes, we have challenges. The kids are our future and I still believe the future is bright. I have to and if you are a parent, you also have to believe! A race and nation without hope is a race and nation without a future.
Do your children get it? First question probably should be — do you get it?
From teen pregnancies to gang violence to youth illiteracy to fatherless homes to young men/women in jail, we have challenges. But like all challenges, they can be overcome. And to overcome any challenge, it takes a positive attitude, an ability to face the issue and the willpower to take on the world; because our children are our most valuable commodities and assets.
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