The Talk
Today, some parents are going to have to sit down with their children and have ‘the talk’ again – one that most likely has been given numerous times before – a refresher of sorts :
- On how to behave when dealing with the police, and how to immediately keep their hands visible with their palms open, and how to answer questions without losing their cool . . . or their dignity.
- On how to react when being eyed as they walk through a neighborhood then having the police stop them because someone called in thinking that walking down a public street was the equivalent of suspicious activity because ‘I don’t recognize them’.
- On how to deal with someone who openly yells nigger out of a car as they drive by in a manner where things do not get out of hand and end up with the involvement of the police or an ambulance or worse.
- On how to follow the step-by-step procedures when being pulled over by the police in their car which include placing their hands on the steering wheel, not making sudden gestures, how to answer, and how to react when asked to get out of the car.
- On how to keep cool and simply keep walking when a car is stalking them while they walk home from the convenience store.
If you do not have to have that talk with your children today, then that is the best example of what the problem is. The fact that some are ignorant to the reality that still, certain people, because of the color of their skin, need to be reminded to keep THEIR attitudes in check and alter THEIR behavior because of the prejudice of others instead of having those who are prejudiced change theirs.
It is what it is . . . but maybe if more people realized that, then maybe a real change can begin.
Count yourself as blessed if you have the luxury of not having ‘the talk’ with your children, and understand that there are parents who need to.