America has much to offer to people. It is the home of the brave and the land of the free. How amazing it seems to live in America unless you are an African-American male. This article is focused on black men and their presence in America. Being a black man in America is hard, but raising a black man is even harder.
I am not a mother, but I am an aunt of a one-year-old black male. I facetime him every day and I enjoy his smile, cry and laugh. That little boy brightens my world.
One day I began to think about his future and who he would be as a man. I felt pain in my stomach as I thought about everything that he would have to endure as a black man in America. Let's focus in on what he will have to endure.
1. Police Interaction
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When raising a black man in today's society it is important to teach them how to act around police officers. You have to teach them to do as they are told by the officers so that nothing happens to them. When driving in the car and a police officer pulls them over, they must let the officer know that they aren't armed.
If they need to reach and grab their license or registration, they must inform the officer that they are about to do that. If the officer asks them to get out the car, they must do as their told and put their hands where the officer can see them. It's sad that it has come to this, but there have been too many black men that have been murdered or hurt due to police brutality.
2. Profiling
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When walking down the street, black men face many issues. I have been given examples from black men explaining how white women clinch their purses tighter when a black man walks past them on the sidewalk. All black men aren't horrible men. All black men aren't robbers or "gangsters". When raising a black man in today's society, explain that women may get nervous around them, but unfortunately that's a part of being black.
3. Jobs
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Black men face one of the most degrading issues in America when job searching. The black man may have many qualities and talents for a specific job, but the white man may get the job over the black man due to privilege, white privilege. A black man can work at a job for 12 years and his white co-worker may have worked there for 8 years and get the promotion the black man deserved.
This is America and this is how our society is. It is degrading that you have to raise a black man to know that he will have to work 10 times harder than the white man to get to where he wants to be or deserves to be. This is what it is like to be black in America. Facing discrimination hurts, but it hurts more when you are discriminated against because of your skin color, something that you genetically could not control.
When raising a black man in America, be smart and be honest with them. Let them know the importance of black people and black men. Reassure them that they are important in this world and that they are loved, this is what they will need to hear
