Two years ago I didn’t know Trayvon Martin. I didn’t know anything about a young man who was walking from the store, wearing the uniform of his peers, a hoodie. I didn’t know that an adult would see this child as a threat and kill him. I didn’t know Trayvon Martin until others pointed out that he could have been their son. It was then that I decided I needed to be the champion of my son.
Channeling my inner Fannie Lou Hamer, I got “sick and tired of being sick and tired”.
I’m sick and tired of turning on the news and seeing images of young men of color who have been shot and killed, some by the very ones we are supposed to embrace.
I’m sick and tired of walking my neighborhood and meeting young men who see but have no vision.
I’m sick and tired of explaining a code of behavior for my son that his white classmates don’t have to follow.
Watching my own son navigate through puberty and trying to fit the idea of being a man, I can only hope that my husband and I are leading him in a direction that will allow him to be the best him he can be. Speaking to mothers of young men, we are conflicted. How do we champion for our sons?
We become their voice.
Partnering with three dynamic bloggers, (Children of the Old School, Divas With a Purpose, and Mama Harris’ Kitchen ) all mothers of Tweens and Teens, we will be the voice. We will post on a variety of topics the first Wednesday of every month so that our sons, YOUR sons, know that they are not alone. That they are not worthless. That they matter.
Join the conversation.
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