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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat "The Talk" is about: It’s pragmatism for a society that doesn’t consider you fully human.
The TalkHow black parents prepare their young sons for life in America
By Bijan Stephen
Illustration by Skip Sterling
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/1200/1*FVYrcdxZnrEV08AlPnvyow.jpeg
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Its odd to grow up not really believing that the various protections enshrined in law apply to you or rather, that they only apply to you when its convenient. Thats really what the Talk is about: Its pragmatism for a society that doesnt consider you fully human. James Baldwin notes something along these lines in Stranger in the Village my favorite essay from his 1955 collection Notes of a Native Son when he discusses the reasons why American blacks, unlike the other black men who live around the world, dont and cant fit anywhere but America. Its because these histories end, inevitably, in a bill of sale.
My family immigrated here, but its not as though we went untouched. My ancestors were slaves too, and after a certain number of generations my own history disappears into the ether. In any case, it doesnt matter where youre from, here. Its the inescapable fact that, if you happen to have dark skin in America, you are immediately and irrevocably trapped in the narratives of race that swirl about this place. Death, destruction, despair. We are here and we are here to stay, was Baldwins sentiment. Yet I, along with every other black person in America, live with fear every day. We are human why does that never come to light until were forced to show our animal pain grieving another dead child? Im tired; I am so, so unendurably tired.
Its tough to believe in anything other than the present when youre forced to fight for every inch of ground youve got; its harder still when youve got to question most of your interpersonal interactions. Is this why I didnt get the job? Is this why my lease application was denied? Is this why I got into college? Is this why this person keeps following me around the grocery store? And when you ask, youre looked at like youre crazy, met with denial because its always plausible, deniable.
My story is not unique. I could have been Michael Brown, or any of the other murdered ones. Ive grown up enough now that I know when things could devolve, when I might have to run, when to avert my eyes and cloak myself in blackness that is, in the body language of utter submission, of chattel.
..........
MORE (amazing mho):
https://medium.com/matter/the-talk-92371a1c0ae5
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What "The Talk" is about: It’s pragmatism for a society that doesn’t consider you fully human. (Original Post)
kpete
Aug 2014
OP
bbgrunt
(5,281 posts)1. k and r. very powerful.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)2. +1million
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)3. K&R, because it matters. nt