BLACK AFRICAN MOTHERS

BLACK AFRICAN MOTHERS
for Saving Our Sons
"BAM-4-SOS"

Most white women in the United States of America thinking about bearing a child might hope for and look forward to having baby boys:
most Black women, at the thought of having a male child, pause and wonder whether they should bring a Black male into sure jeopardy.

Black males in America (North, South, East and West) merely by being Black and male, incredibly, face daily extinction: I'm talking physical extinction (never mind the heavy psychological stresses of breathing-while-Black) by police individuals who don't even know - haven't been taught(on purpose) - formally or informally - who they-themselves are and/or to whom they are related by blood (Black Africans in Black Africa).

The distinctly disproportionate and escalating number of cop-killed Black males 'dying-by-cop' is utterly appalling, but almost as appalling is the apathetic reaction of the public, too many of which, upon hearing of another Black male killed by cops, ignorantly pose the question - "What did he (the Black male) do? indicating an odious, slavish thinking that says, 'there must have been a good reason;' for the cops to've shot/killed the Black male. (What 'reason' did the cop in Coney Island, N.Y. have for shooting to death a man of color as he waved a chair around?) [Perhaps she'd been reading the 'Federal Violence Inititative,' which contains, says Dr. Peter Breggin of the Center for the Study of Psychiatry, Inc. - "Explicit racism is embodied in the #1 key research questions raised in the study: Do males or Black persons have a higher potential for violence than others and, if so, why?"] ('Black' includes Spanish-speaking Black males - cops don't ask about ethnicity before they shoot - they see only Black skin - as the cop-murderer of young Black Randy Evans had the nerve to utter: "I only saw the color of his skin!")

Again and again, as the inexorable slaughter of Black males by uniformed 'servants of the public' continues, the servile acceptance of such colorist bloody carnage seems to rise exponentially, especially in these 'Post-Obama-Win-times.' When I heard, some years ago, a young Black woman say, "I don't want to have a son in this country," I was awe struck, not only that she would say this aloud, but that she said it to a complete stranger. And I wondered at that time, if this was a common sentiment among Black women in the U.S.A.

To my utter dismay, as I've asked other Black women's opinions about Black male jeopardy, I've discovered a commonly-held abject fear on the part of Black females about the ever-present potential of their 'losing-a-Black-male-child-by-cop!'

That fear, for Black mothers (and Fathers and guardians) is a palpable one and it is a life-long heavy stress in and of itself, although it's coupled with other myriad stresses born by folk wearing skins of observable melanin. A sort of 'Color-Sword of Damocles.' It is one that most people do not like to talk about even though it is uppermost in their minds the moment their Black sons step onto the mean streets.. wondering whether their son (s) will be returning that day alive and well; wondering whether he'll be able to 'get through' a confrontation with any police; wondering whether he'll be able to withstand the too-numerous baiting-by-cops and keep his temper; wondering whether he'll remember your warning to "Lose the battle but win the war;" wondering whether you adequately-described the 'Prison Industrial Complex' booming-business of Black body-snatching built on stopping, frisking, beating, arresting and incarcerating Black males (neo-slavery- see 13th Amendment to the U.SA. Constitution).

And when he's told- at a pitifully young age - that a Black male walking along the street is dangerously 'running the gauntlet' of a racist/colorist society, is this unnecessary fear-mongering on the part of overly-protective parents - or is it just 'a basic protective mode?' And why should black mothers (fathers, guardians) have to scare the sh--(scatology) out of their Black sons to try to keep them alive in a country which has just elected a Black male President?

But we do. We do. Somebody(ies) out there should build a strong organization of
"Black African Mothers-4-Saving-Our-Sons." - 'BAM-4-SOS' - somebody(ies) fairly young, with mucho energy and compassion for the millions of Black parents in valid fear for the lives of their Black sons in this color-riven country!

No, don't say, "Well why don't you start it?" I am up to my ears with over-twenty-years of anti-racism/colorism work with our 'Institute for "Interracial" Harmony, Inccorporated, www.racismtest.org - www.discussrace.com and the decades of effort with The Little Black Book:Black Male Survival in America: Staying Alive & Well in an Institutionally RACIST Society. Gimme' a break!


But, if you agree with this article's points and you're not already 'doing' an organization yourself - sure, let's talk! (718) 856 1271
Carol Taylor R.N. First Black U.S.A. Flight Attendant