Black Boy Joy! The beauty of those words. The hashtag and term that is deeper than the # symbol. What exactly is Black Boy Joy and how do you preserve it. I have two young black sons. Two KINGS that we are raising to be feminist, out spoken, proud, humble, kind and God fearing men. How do you raise these revolutionaries aware of the unjust world around them yet keep them from being afraid of everything? My soul sister Brandi Sellers-Jackson @bstereo recently spoke about this same topic. Below you’ll find this described in her words and ohhh sweet Jesus how these words resonate with me.
“being a mother of a growing 12 year old black boy has taught me a few things too. I have learned that this world will often not allow them to be just that… 12 years old… growing… learning… expanding… obnoxious or even annoying, without deep diving into terms such as “angry” or “aggressive”. Unfortunately, Black boys dont have the privilege of self discovery without an alarm clock of maturity (well beyond their years), being imposed by the time they are preteens. Truthfully, that’s when a lot of non POC with racial bias begin looking and labeling black boys as threats. It’s an unfortunate truth.
