White Mothers, the Responsibility Is Now Yours

As a Black woman married to a Black man with Black children, there is no way to escape what is happening. As a Black mother, it is even more difficult to continue to have these conversations with our children. Black children do not have the luxury of avoiding race related conversations. We see it, feel it and experience it before we have the chance to understand it. It’s an eerie feeling of not being accepted in a world that purposely tries to exclude us.

From  a young age, it’s finding the one character in a cartoon that looks like you. It’s going to the store to find only one baby doll that is representative of what you look like. It’s not seeing yourself properly represented in social studies books throughout your entire time attending public school.

We have had enough.

We teach our children to love themselves and to work and go harder because we know the challenges they face simply because they are Black. But at this point, we’re placing the responsibility on you. White mothers, what are you doing to help prevent this from happening?

As a mother, I personally hold you responsible. Children learn by example and the example being set about our black children is crystal clear. You MUST do better. And this doesn’t mean just buying a ton of books on Amazon with Black children in them, because over the past few days on social media, that seems to be your resolution. It’s the conversations that you have when you think they aren’t listening. It’s the relationships that you genuinely facilitate with people who don’t just look like you. It’s how you behave and teach your children to treat others who don’t look like them.

The reality is we need you to do your part to make this right. Historically, black women have been an ally to your many agendas. This time, we have an expectation from you to show up for us and our children the way we’ve always done for you and yours.