Redefining Black Parenting

The first step in ensuring a better future for Black children is for Black parents to be better parents. Fathers and mothers need to make better choices, lead better lives, become better role models and take better care of their children and each other. There is no doubt that institutional prejudice and discrimination are holding Black people back in many ways. In law enforcement it has contributed to numerous killings triggered by racial profiling and bias. There are significantly higher proportions of Black people incarcerated. However, we Black people need to come to terms with the idea that we can't expect the State to bring up our children. New York mayor Bill de Blasio was right to caution his son about how to behave around cops. (He might have been naive to share that bit of parenting advice publicly). As it turns out, the unarmed police shooting in Wisconsin further demonstrates that the police don't need a reason to shoot Black people. It is about time that we stopped giving them the opportunity to. 

It's time Black people started taking parenting more seriously. Being a parent needs to be more than just a biological imperative. Black parents must show more care and concern for the wellbeing of their children. Being better role models would be a start, at least. The responsibility of guiding children and showing them the right path is one that more parents must embrace more fulsomely. Parents must be more thorough in exploring the influences that are engaging their children. This might involve them taking aggressive measures to counteract any negative influences. Being more involved in the lives of their children must mean more than just feeding and housing them. They must take charge of the moral upbringing of the children and fight hard to keep them on the straight and narrow. There is no doubt that good parenting can be rough and thankless. However the agony of mourning and grieving over lives violently and needlessly cut short on with alarming regularity is even more painful and damaging. If things are to change that change must start with us.