Ted_topic6:how to raise a black son in America

by Clint Smith

As kids, we all get advice from parents and teachers that seems strange, even confusing. This is crystallized one night for a young Clint Smith, who is playing with water guns in a dark parking IoT with he wh Ite friends. In a heartfelt piece, the poet paints the scene of his father ' s furious and fearful response.

# Background about our speaker

Clint Smith is a poet and educator whose work blends art and activism(activism, radicalism).

Remark: The Meaning of activism!

activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, or direct social, political, economic, or Environmentalchange, O R stasis. Various forms of activism range from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activis M such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing businesses, rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, and hunger strikes . Beginning to explore what activist groups in the same states[1] and Canada are using social media to Facilita Tecivic engagement and collective action.

# Why you should listen

For Clint Smith, the inspiration comes from the his students. The writer and educator draws on he and his students ' lives to create poetry that blends art and activism. A PhD candidate at Harvard University and a state poetry Slam champion(National Poetry Grand Slam Championship), Smith gives Performanc ES with humor, humanity and humility, touching on (involving, talking about)themes like poverty, social justice and the Pains of Being a kid.

# Video Address

https://www.ted.com/talks/clint_smith_how_to_raise_a_black_son_in_america#

#Subtitles and Transcript

Growing up, I didn ' t always understand why my parents made me follow the rules that they did. Like, what did I really has to mow (mowing grass; harvesting crops) The lawn (lawn)? Why is homework really that important? Why couldn ' t I put jelly beans (Soft heart jellybeans sugar) in my oatmeal (oat porridge)?

My childhood is abound with questions like this . Normal things about being a kid and realizing that sometimes, it is best to listen to my parents even when I didn ' t exact Ly understand why. And it's not the they didn ' t want me to think critically strong>. Their parenting sought to Status Quo (Status quo) as inevitable (inevitable, unavoidable).

I came to realize the this, in and of itself, is a very purposeful form of education. One of my favorite educators, Brazilian author and scholar Paulo Freire, speaks quite explicitly about the need for education to being used as a tool for critical awakening and Sha Red Humanity. In he most famous book, "pedagogy (pedagogy; didactics) of the oppressed, "he states," No one can be authentically human and he prevents others from being so. "

I ' ve been thinking a lot on this lately, the this idea of the humanity, and specifically, who's in the IS afforded the privilege of (privileges granted) being perceived as fully Human (full person). Over the course of the past several months, the world had watched as unarmed black men, and women, with had their lives ta Ken at the hands of police and vigilante (Vigilante). These events and all this has transpired After (occurs, evaporates, leaks) them has brought me back to my own childhood and the decisions so my parents made about Raising a black boy in America so growing up, I didn ' t always understand in the the-the-the-same-I-do-now

I think of how hard it must has been, how profoundly unfair it must has felt for them to feel like they had to strip Away(remove; peel off) parts of my childhood just so, could come home at night.

For example, I think by how one night, when I am around years old, in anovernight(overnight)Field Trip(Field Trip) to another city, my friends and I bought Super Soakers and turned the hotel parking IoT into our ownwater-filled(full of water)Battle Zone(war zone). We hid behind cars, running through the darkness that lay between the streetlights, boundless laughterubiquitous acrossThe pavement. But within minutes, my father came outside, grabbed me by myForearm(forearm) and led me into our guest unfamiliar grip. Before I could say anything,tell him how foolish he had made me look in front of my friends, hederided(Vt. Ridicule; mock) me for being so naive. Looked me in the eye, fear consuming he face, and said, "Son, I'm sorry, but can ' t act the same as your white friends . You can ' t pretend to shoot guns. You can ' t run around in the dark. You can ' t hide behind anythingOther than(except) your own teeth. "

I know now how scared he must has been, how easily I could has fallen into the empty of the night, that some man would m Istake this water for a good reason (in ... For good reason) to wash all of the this away.

These is the sorts of messages I ' ve been Inundated (submerged; flooding; flooding) with my entire life:always keep your hands where they can see them, don ' t move Too quickly, take off your hood (turban, hood) when the sun goes is down. my parents raised me and My siblings in a armor of advice, an ocean of alarm being LLS so someone wouldn ' t steal the breath from our lungs, so that they wouldn ' t make a memory of this skin . So, we could is kids, not casket span> (coffin; urn; small box) or concrete. And it's not because they thought it would make us better than anyone else it's simply because they wanted to keep us Aliv E.

All of my black friends were raised with the same message, the "talk", "given to us" when we became old enough to be Mistak En for a nail (nails, nails) ready-to-be hammered (hammering; banging) to the ground, when people made our melanin (melanin) synonymous with something to be feared.

But what does it does to a child to grow up knowing so you cannot simply is a child? That the whims(false, sudden idea: on a whim, impromptu) of adolescence(puberty) is too dangerous for your breath, that's you Cannot simply is curious, that's not afforded the luxury of making a mistake, that someone ' s implicit b The IAS might is the reason you don ' t wakeup in the morning.

But this cannot is what defines us. Because we have parents who raised us to understand, our bodies weren ' t meant for theBackside(back; rear; hips) of a bullet, but for flying kites andJumping Rope(Skipping rope), andlaughing until our stomachs burst. We had teachers who taught us how to raise our hands in class, and not just to signal surrender, and that the only thing W E should give up are the idea that we aren ' tWorthy of(worth, worthy of) this world. So when we say that black lives matter, it's not because others don ' t, it's simply because we must affirm that we're wort Hy of existing without fear, when so many things tell us we is not. I want to live in a world where my son is not beingpresumed guilty(presumed guilty verdict) The moment he is born, where a toy in his hand isn ' t mistaken for anything and other than a toy.

and I refuse to accept(refused) that we can ' t build this world into something new, some place where a child ' s name D OESN ' t has to is written on a T-shirt, or a tombstone(tombstone), where the value of someone ' s life isn ' t determined by Anything other than the fact that they had lungs, a place where every single one of us can breathe.

Thank.

# Comments I Like

I recently read a comment from someone in reference to another TED talks on the subject of the need to create honest system S of protective Justice for the peoples of developing nations who lack them. In the comment, this person made reference to the "golden Years of American" (I ' m paraphrasing somewhat) as being Between 1776-1950. What ' s the criteria there? The African-American (and others) experience of that time period are fraught with horror and oppression (still are). I think our country can is only as morally upright as "we" is willing to the face and own our historical evil. We May is able to be angels ... but only insofar as we is honest and forthcoming about our devilish tendencies and Natu Re. Is we a just nation, "Liberty and freedom for All" and "? We can be if we are want it bad enough. Is we a nation of "evildoers" (GWB notwithstanding)? At times, the most certainly. In all honesty, we humans (all of us) has the tendencies to being both gentle (Hitler loved his dog) and Absolutely horrible (Hitler decimated some 6,000,000 people). It ' s just a matter of degree. Not-to-get too "Christian" about this but, yes, all the US at some level is broken sinners in need of redemption. Whenever I want to blame someone for "the" the "the" the "the"-the-go things nd grieve a bit (and celebrate too) for why I see and what my reflection can and does represent--the root of someone else ' s pain.

I dont think the majority can ever truly understand what exactly it feels to is a minority in the US. I had my share of experiences which were completely disgusting and unhumane. One time I was helping we church priest carry some donated items for Christmas to the church ' s storage is. Then, I encountered a small group which start asking me a lot questions:who i is?, what is I doing there and such. Then the priest had to run up there and calm them down since the situation is getting out of hand. He even should them, his ID's. Mind you I am an active volunteering in the Catholic Church, we served food every Sunday F Or the homeless and gave whatever else they needed. A member of Bible Studies and Youth Church group.

Jose Lopez

I agree, and I think part of the reason it's so hard to understand from the outside are that describing any one single expe Rience never seems to quite capture what it's like to constantly is subjected to treatment like that. I think it's easy to hear one stories and say, so you couldn ' t has a water fight, so you were suspected of being an intrude R, Boo Hoo--where is the real harm?

Like the classic analogy of oppression as a birdcage this seems perfectly open if you have only see a single bar, it ' s much har Der to tell the story of the collective effect of a lifetime of feeling uneasy and unwelcome. I think Clint Smith does a great job of telling that story, though.

Ted_topic6:how to raise a black son in America