Black Blood at The Kitchen Table

Chapter I The Beginning It is a Saturday evening, and all is quiet in the emergency room at United International Hospital in the town of Lonnie Ville, Minnesota, when suddenly, things drastically change. Apparently, it is baby time, and no one warned the medical staff and boy did things change in the twinkling of an eye. These births on this Saturday evening will serve us well as we reflect on the uniqueness and similarities of their births, however, upon descending from the hospital, their lives take different forms. AND…………. Why is that, one would ask? Oh! Ethnicity! Location! Birthright! Hmmmmmmmmmmm just a thought but let’s examine a few factors. Between 6 p.m. and midnight, there were six baby boys born and for the sake of this illustration, they are going to have everything in common at birth, except for their ethnicities! Let’s look at their records by names and ethnic cultures: Apgar Score #1 Kenta 8 lbs 9 Japanese #2 Haoyu 8 lbs 9 Chinese #3 Kabir 8 lbs 9 India #4 Joaquin 8 lbs 9 Mexico #5 Zahir 8 lbs 9 Black American #6 Ajani 8 lbs 9 African #7 Edlin 8 lbs 9 Anglo Saxon For the sake of argument, let’s say that the love and attention given to each of these adorable babies was supreme in service and they were simply adored by their medical teams during their hospitalization. However, departure day is here, and each little baby boy must go home. Fast forward eight years and these little boys enter third grade. Various locations and all African babies are beginning with a stigma that will not ever be eliminated, “COLOR!” Yep, their skin color will serve as the ultimate negative behavior being shown to them by society. School locations vary and I would like for us to focus on an elementary school in a typical urban city wherein Ajani will enter first grade, along with Zahir and Joaquin. All in the same classroom. They have been assigned to a young white lady from the surrounding suburbs. She is entering her third-year teaching at this public city school and her interaction with African Americans has been non-existent. On day one the children in this integrated classroom are excited and eager to start the school year. As third graders, children are happy, inquisitive, friendly, loving, playful and enthusiastic about learning. They are in virgin territory seeking to be liked, loved and understood. They are doing what all children do: romping, chatting, laughing, playing with one another, and acting silly. Consequently, is it by design that the yelling, short, sided expressions of displeasure to these young companions at this early age of forming their personalities and emotional and cognitive behavior, so deliberate? Of course it IS!! According to research, as told in “A Study to Validate the Impact of Black Male Teachers on Urban Black Male Students Achievement in the Classroom,” by (Ervin 2006). The challenges confronting urban Black male students are varied and deeply rooted. Black males have difficult times attempting to achieve equity and inclusion in America. The reality of achieving the inalienable rights of freedom, justice and equality that America has promised as fundamental elements for Citizenship, appears to be missing for Black Americans and especially Black males. In the mid-1980s, several authors referred to Black males as “Endangered Species,”: (Hare, 1987; Hare and Castenell, 1985; Gibbs, 1988). Compared to other groups, Blacks have higher dropout rates, lower standardized achievement scores, higher suspensions and expulsions, the highest infant mortality rates, and the shortest life expectancy (Gibbs, 1998). In addition, several scholars have documented that Black males are more likely than members of other racial and gender categories to be unemployed, underemployed or incarcerated. Fast forward to 2025! Here we are and America’s thrust to continue to mistreat minorities is more of the Plan then ever before. YES, Anglo-Saxon America has a plan, and they are consistently, persistently working their plan. Change is now in order and now let’s begin by stating the facts that History has refused to correct. Oh, what history……well you know that history means: “His-Story.”. and who is “His” oops, I mean “He?” Simply put, Anglo Saxon America! Yes, they have whitewashed the true stories since the beginning of time and completely dismissed true historians, therefore, let’s check the record. Some kind of way, a majority of the great historians like the late Rayford W. Logan and Irving S. Cohen stated in their renowned publication entitled “The American Negro,” and I quote: “though scientists know that very many varieties or groups of men exist, they usually describe men as belonging to three great racial stocks. They do this mainly for study purposes. These stocks are the “Mongoloid” (mahn’ go-Loyd) or “yellow-skinned” people’s; the “Caucasoid” (kaw’ kuk-soyd) or “white-skinned” people’s; and the “Negroid” (nee’groyd) or “black-skinned” peoples. Four groups of men, belonging to two of the great racial stocks, lived in early Africa. One of these groups was a Caucasoid people, who probably came to North Africa from Asia. Yep, all mankind came from Africa. At the end of the day, am I not my brother’s keeper? Think about it! The Caucasoid’s are always running to the tanning salon or the beach. But why? You do not want to be black! However, when one thinks about it: Several things are daily occurring. Namely: Botox in the lips, hips, and face; braiding of the hair, wearing false hips, tanning in salons and of course the proverbial sunning tan.” But why? Why? Why? Why travel to Bermuda to get your hair braided? Yet some schools suspend black children for wearing the braids, locks and Afro centric hairstyles. One would think that if an individual is thought to be 3/5 of a person, inferior, less than a human, why would Anglos allow them to cook their food and breast feed their babies? Let’s examine the record.