Abstract
How are we as mothers of black children to help our children to survive and flourish with dignity in a society that denies their very personhood and has made clear how little their lives really matter? This chapter addresses this question through the conversations that a black mother has with her son from the moment he is born into adulthood. These conversations explore the way in which “race” really matters in the everyday lives of black children and families. In so doing, this chapter suggests a way beyond the “fear” and “hopelessness” that imperils the lives of our sons and daughters, engaging an analysis that is at once personal, historical, literary, and theological.
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Notes
- 1.
James Baldwin, “The Fire Next Time: My Dungeon Shook,” in The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction 1948–1985 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985), 335.
- 2.
James Baldwin, “The Uses of the Blues,” in The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings (New York: Pantheon Books), 73–74.
- 3.
Reginald Horsman, Race and Manifiest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-Saxonism (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981), 26.
- 4.
Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), 47.
- 5.
Paraphrased from Audre Lorde, “Man Child: A Black Feminist’s Response,” in Sister Outsider (Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1984), 74f.
- 6.
Howard Thurman, Deep River and the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1975), 18.
- 7.
James Baldwin, “Fire Next Time: My Dungeon Shook,” 336.
- 8.
W.E.B. Dubois, Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880 (New York: The Free Press, 1935), 700.
- 9.
Hermione Hoby, “Toni Morrison: ‘I’m Writing for Black People … I Don’t Have to Apologise’,” The Guardian, April 25, 2015, sec. Books, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/25/toni-morrison-books-interview-god-help-the-child.
- 10.
Dubois, Black Reconstruction in America, 173.
- 11.
Michele Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (New York: New Press, 2012), 4.
- 12.
Baldwin, Cross or Redemption, 73.
- 13.
See Today Show Interview, July 18, 2013.
- 14.
Kait Richmond, “Philando Castile’s Mother: He Was ‘Black in the Wrong Place,’” CNN, http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/us/philando-castile-family-new-day/index.html.
- 15.
Sybrina Fulton, “Trayvon Martin’s Mom to Michael Brown’s Family: ‘If They Refuse to Hear Us, We Will Make Them Feel Us,’” Time, Accessed February 14, 2017, http://time.com/3136685/travyon-sybrina-fulton-ferguson/.
- 16.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Unabridged edition (New York: Dover Publications, 1995), 14.
- 17.
Baldwin, “The American Dream and the American Negro,” in The Price of the Ticket, 404.
- 18.
James Baldwin, “On Being White...And Other Lies,” Essence, April 1984. http://www.cwsworkshop.org/pdfs/CARC/Family_Herstories/2_On_Being_White.PDF
- 19.
Sybrina Fulton quoted in “Sybrina Fulton’s Journey of Faith in Seeking Justice for Trayvon Martin,” The Christian Post http://www.christianpost.com/news/sybrina-fultons-journey-of-faith-in-seeking-justice-for-trayvon-martin-100427/.
- 20.
Fulton, “If They Refuse to Hear Us.”
- 21.
Lorde, “Man Child,” 74.S.
References
Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press, 2012.
Baldwin, James. “The American Dream and the American Negro.” In The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948–1985, by James Baldwin, 333–380. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985.
———. The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings, edited by Randall Kenan, Kindle Edition. New York, NY: Vintage, 2010.
———. “The Fire Next Time: My Dungeon Shook.” In The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948–1985, by James Baldwin, 333–380. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985.
Baldwin, James. “The Uses of the Blues.” In The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings, Kindle Edition. New York, NY: Vintage, 2010.
Bois, W. E. B. Du. Black Reconstruction in America (The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois): An Essay Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860–1880. New York: The Free Press, 1935.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Unabridged edition. New York: Dover Publications, 1995.
Fulton, Sybrina. “Sybrina Fulton’s Journey of Faith in Seeking Justice for Trayvon Martin.” The Christian Post, n.d. http://www.christianpost.com/news/sybrina-fultons-journey-of-faith-in-seeking-justice-for-trayvon-martin-100427/.
———. “Trayvon Martin’s Mom to Michael Brown’s Family: ‘If They Refuse to Hear Us, We Will Make Them Feel Us.’” Time. Accessed February 14, 2017. http://time.com/3136685/travyon-sybrina-fulton-ferguson/.
Hoby, Hermione. “Toni Morrison: ‘I’m Writing for Black People … I Don’t Have to Apologise.’” The Guardian, April 25, 2015, sec. Books. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/25/toni-morrison-books-interview-god-help-the-child.
Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1984.
Morrison, Toni. Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, F edition, Harvard University Press, 1992.
Richmond, Kait. “Philando Castile’s Mother: He Was ‘Black in the Wrong Place.’” CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/07/us/philando-castile-family-new-day/index.html.
Thurman, Howard. Deep River and the Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death. Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1975.
“Trayvon Martin’s Parents Speak Out,” NBC Today Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DGufQOvvNA.
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Douglas, K.B. (2017). The Race of It All: Conversations Between a Mother and Her Son. In: Bischoff, C., O’Donnell Gandolfo, E., Hardison-Moody, A. (eds) Parenting as Spiritual Practice and Source for Theology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59653-2_2
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