Black Boys Fear for Their Lives and Dreams Deferred in America!

A friend who lives here in NYC recently posted this screenshot of his 14-year-old son’s messages to his 14-year-old friend on social media.

The text in blue is the message of my friend’s son. This is an important insight into the mindset of today’s young Black male in America: Conflicted, anxious, alienated, and driven to feel hopeless in the nation of his birth. This is painful to see. It’s not a meme, nor is it photo shopped. It’s the actual unedited post of a single Black father raising a 14-year-old Black son in New York City in a racially tense nation.

This must change. We, the citizens – Black, Brown, White, Yellow, Red – must fight for the right of young Black men to live, breathe, and walk freely, unafraid, bright-eyed, innocent, and energetic with hope for a future in America with our collective promise illuminating their paths. They must be liberated from a fear of being murdered, broken, or maimed and oppressed because of the degree of melanin in their skin.

Against a backdrop of human indifference to their silent suffering, thus far this country seems content with the plight of our Black boys navigating a harrowing course strewn with obstacles that are by-products of American racism; a daily ritual of micro-aggressions in neighborhoods, stores, schools, churches, and on the violent streets where encounters with law enforcement prove lethal across the nation. Their American dreams deferred, often murdered before they’ve awakened to the grim reality that the hopes and aspirations for far too many of them are meaningless!

It’s up to each of us as American citizens to shelter, guide, groom, and value all our children and that includes our Black boys especially, who are made to feel burdened by other’s irrational devaluation of their skin tone and human worth. Racism can no longer be tolerated here in America, the wealthiest nation in the world. We are presently mired in a pandemic and our collective survival depends upon each of us in this crisis. As Americans we have historically risen to crises. A 400-year history of structural racism has come to a head and it must end. It is our longest running national crisis, but we can overcome. As a nation we are each accountable to God and to one another for keeping this sacred covenant. D.Day Media 6.3.20