chroniclepuella
So, Everyones heard about the Trayvon Martin shooting by now right?
right
- My boyfriend (Read: fairly typical middle-class-white-male, we shall call him John), has been following this case closely over the past few days. And I hadn't realized just how shaken up he was by the whole thing until he relayed his concerns to me this morning.
We've recently begun to take the possibility of children in our future into consideration. And the aspect that concerns him most (as has been brought to light by this recent shooting) is that if we had a child who was clearly black (I'm mixed myself, but don't actually look black. I don't look like any particular "race" so I've never had much experience with blatant racism) he wouldn't know how to protect him. He understands more and more as time goes on that he has no concept of the world his 'hypothetical black son' would be living in.
Because John was brought up in a world of the privileged-white-male that is taken for granted when you're IN it, because he has no way to 'opt-out' of it and learn what it will be like to survive in the life of a member of some minority or other, he is concerned that he could accidentally teach this hypothetical black child something that would hurt him.
The shooting is an example of exactly one of those things that John is concerned he could have been responsible for. Common sense in 'his world' is if you control which environments your in, you can ensure your own safety. Always. Period. If you Don't go to the bad neighborhoods where you live you can avoid dangers. This is exactly what Trayvon did. He cut through a safe, middle-class, gated community on his way home from the convenience store when he was shot. Was he in a hurry? Was he avoiding a patch of bad neighborhood? I don't know why he did it. there was nothing wrong with what he did... but he died for it. because he was the wrong color on the wrong night.
John keeps looking to me with these concerns, but I don't have any answers to offer him. So Gaia, I turn to you. What would you say to someone whose looking at the possibility of raising a child who lives in a different world than they do because they look different? What do you think of this shooting? What do you think of interracial relationships or what is your unique experience with race? Parents, what is your experience? What is your Advice? Where would you go to help someone educate themselves on minority issues? Just hop in and talk. Speak your mind. Troll. Do what you do gaia.
tldr; White men and their black kids. Interracial kids: what do?
