On Being A Black Child

A child is suppose to stay in a child’s place,

but what if every adult around me forced me to be everywhere but in  a “child’s place”? As I reflect on my own experiences and the shared ones from my peers, as children we were not always given the space to be mindless, inconsiderate, and selfish children.

Rather, we were forced to be mindful of adults’ physical, spiritual, and emotional wellness, this is especially true if you are an older sibling. I have come to learn through therapy that it was not my responsibility, as a child, to be responsible for everyone else’s wellbeing, the only thing I should have had to worry about was being a kid, discovering the world and enjoying, as Langston Hughes would call it, “the sweet flypaper of life.” 

Being an educator to Black and Brown children, the concept of adultifying ,the act in which a child is forced to be an adult before their time has come to be one,  is the foundation of a lot of their growing-up. It’s not fair but it’s their mythical reality, and as far as they are concerned, ‘it is, what it is.” This body of work is an attempt to debunk while simultaneously affirming the notion of being a Black child, and a soft reminder that it is okay to just be… curious, foolish, playful, goofy, sad, and every other emotion that comes with being a child. 

Black children deserve unconditional joy!