What I’m Teaching My Black Children During Trump’s Second Presidency

Election Day ought to be a national holiday. Parents should give you the option to maintain their children near polling stations. This could also be a security issue in swing states where voltage is high. And in blue states, like where my family and I live in New York, it is best to have your kids nearby once you experience a disappointment that turns your stomach, gives you a headache, and makes you wonder if black women ever they’ll do. get what we actually deserve.

Children are profound of their simplicity. The day after election results declared Donald Trump the winner of the 2024 presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris, I used to be disenchanted but not surprised. I hoped against hope that America would select an overqualified black and Indian woman who had served in all three branches of presidency over a failed businessman turned reality star and former president. I used to be flawed.

Donald Trump’s problem – and there are numerous of them – shouldn’t be a lot what he says or does individually, but what he represents collectively. It reminds us how powerful white supremacy is. His ascension to the very best office within the land once more sends the message that you just haven’t got to be nice to guide. You may be sexist, racist and self-centered and still win. This is a lesson that his followers have learned and implement of their on a regular basis lives. This, along with the rights and freedoms he hopes to eliminate, is precisely what’s so devastating about one other Trump presidency.

When you are attempting to show your kids that kindness and caring for others matter, how do you explain Trump?

I’m now a mother of two children. My youngest daughter might be 4 once I leave office. As for her, I worry in regards to the health care she may at some point need and be denied, in addition to the lads she may encounter gassed by his misogyny. However, I’m most nervous about my son. When Trump leaves office, he might be seven years old. While black men overwhelmingly supported Harris on this race, it will be remiss to not acknowledge that Trump’s ideologies appear to be permeating black men somewhat more effectively. And one among my biggest fears is that my son will develop into a part of this problematic minority. I’ve been excited about this for years. Trump’s presidency only jogs my memory that I cannot let go. I must be much more committed to the morals and values ​​I intend to impart and the way I plan to realize them.

Listen, respect and follow black women.

It’s no coincidence that America felt comfortable with Kamala Harris serving as Joe Biden’s deputy, but modified its mind when a Black woman ran for the highest spot. While there are countless examples of Black women leading families, churches, and full movements, men of all colours consistently wish to put us within the passenger side.

Since childhood, I purchased my son books that featured Black characters at the middle, women who dreamed, achieved and led. I would like him to get used to this idea. He surrounds himself with many black women in our black family, and I’m already teaching him to respect them, their bodily autonomy, and to be sure that he doesn’t see black women as existing solely to serve him as a boy and eventually a person. As he grows, I plan to show him to Black women in various leadership positions to show him to hearken to Black women not only because we’re the backbone of the community, but in addition because we are sometimes the wisest, most compassionate, and most capable people within the room.

Don’t be guided by whiteness and individualism.

The reason Trump is in office is because a whole lot of white people wanted him there. We must be clear about where the blame ought to be placed. Black people, for essentially the most part, did what we needed to do. We tried to vote for the very best interests of all the country. White people voted for white supremacy. In a rustic where whiteness has unchecked power, it is straightforward to be seduced. Many black people have tried to evolve to whiteness within the name of access and upward mobility. But it cost them. It cost them community, connection to themselves, and most frequently it cost them their souls. (In the black and biblical sense.)

There is strength in community and unity, especially throughout the black diaspora. We are survivors, innovators, and powerful beyond measure. Whiteness could also be winning, but as a black person on this country, it isn’t value chasing that unattainable, soul-crushing status. The price is just too high. I would like to show my son the great thing about all the black community: black men, black women, black queer people, and non-binary people. I would like him to know that working to empower the least of us uplifts all of us. Taking care only of yourself is an empty pursuit.

Read the book… and not only the headlines.

The country has a literacy problem. Black and brown students across the country struggle with literacy. The Republican Party is pleased about this fact. This is the rationale they actively try suppress the modicum of accurate history taught in our public schools. They know that knowledge empowers and emboldens the marginalized. They wish to keep us at nighttime. I even have watched recordings and heard quite a few conversations during which Trump supporters being interrogated prove that they don’t actually know not only what he represents, but in addition what he says. People don’t read anything however the headlines. And it isn’t nearly older or unaware voters. College students: our greatest and brightest, they do not read. A brand new term has appeared called LiHos. Refers to individuals who have little information but high opinions.

I do my best to instill a love of reading in each of my children in order that they’ll turn to books and reading as a source of delight and power.

Channel your rage.

They love calling a black woman evil. We have every right to be. We are uninterested in receiving lower than we deserve in virtually every aspect of life. I would like to show my children that as a substitute of demonizing Black women for his or her anger, realize that sometimes it’s justified. This anger was used for our liberation. It could also be sacred. In my home, we practice respiration work and emotion regulation. But there’s power in sitting with our emotions moderately than attempting to cover up the unpleasant ones. If they’re first acknowledged, they’ll result in truth.

Trump returns to the presidency. We are uninterested in the ways of this world. But the identical thing I hope to show my children, I remind myself: hearken to the Black women who’ve never failed to offer a way of affection, support, and a soft place to go in a difficult world. Remember the community. Our power has never been limited to government.

As we grieve, mourn and bind up our wounds, allow us to go searching and serve the individuals who might be most affected by these next 4 years… and beyond. Read to remain informed, read to flee, read as resistance. Finally, your anger could also be righteous. Don’t run away from it or try to disregard it with toxic positivity. Use this.