I'm in Seattle and about to go Oakland for the third day of my tour. The crowds have been small, but that's not surprising. This sixteen day tour is about building momentum for the book. Word of mouth begins when folks you don't know talk about you and your book and then become your saleperson for the book. And that's what I'm banking on.
But this has been a bad racial week for me. Look, I'm not a racial paranoid at all. I basically believe that most folks are cool people who want to love their family, have friends, and carve out a little space in the world for themselves. On a one on one basis, most folks I've met can share a joke, a laugh, a smile, or a warm moment, no matter what their background, prejudices, or ignorances. But then there are circumstances where that's not true. This week, my son began school at a nearly all white school in Westwood and the chill was evident from the moment we walked on campus. More later because I have to catch a flight.
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3 comments:
hi lawrence , i hope you are doing fine .
i can understand your insecurity, i went to an all Yt school from 3 to 8 , and to be honest with you most kids do not even know there are "differences" until the age of 10 or 12, i did not know who WE are as people until the age of 12 and at the age of 15 i still hadn't register it. i am sure he will fit in, the real problem is the kids parents and the ignorant teachers . you need to keep an eye open and question your kid every day, he is likely to tell you exactly what's going one and whether or not the other kids like him. oh don't forget the b-days parties , parents behave strange sometimes , towards our kids , if yours get too much attention or even if he is always in the middle of each school picture then you need to have a close look . if their monitor his performances differently ,then other kids , you will know it. we have a powerful instinct for it.
I'm keeping an eye on things. We know what happens to little black boys and we saw somethings happen when my son was a three year old in nursury school. Again, he was one of the only black kids, and the teachers tended to treat him like a mascot, rather than another three year old. They would give him priviledges for absolutely nothing, and yet demand things of the other children. I told them that this teaches my son that at school, you don't have to earn what you receive and that I wanted it stopped. This was a Montessori school and they said that they weren't doing this, but then I talked to another father he had noticed the same thing about his little boy. Dr. Juwanza Kunjufu has written many times on black boys and the educational system, and I swear that what he says is true, from personal experience and raising a son.
i know that one very well i can even document it on pictures, it took us a few years to realise that it wans't love that they were shwoing me but they were trying the
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