Hi my lovely readers. Today I ought to be out doing some outdoor activities but suddenly some extra time fell into my hands. I thought why not use it to share life’s lesson’s and victories with you all as we do on this page.
So I have always been known as the favorite aunt, a name that is now starting to bug me. From childhood, I always seem to have children and vulnerable people gravitate towards me, and I think it is because of my personality type or they can simply feel my “vibe”. Long story short this constant attention from the our adorable small humans led me to start my children’s charity with dedicated programs for mental health and youth aid. To do this I drew not only on my personal life experiences but also what I have observed in children and the adults around them. It is from this that I share today’s post especially if you are reading this as a racialized person.
When we speak of prejudice people like to get hot and bothered…for no reason. It is almost as if the word itself is so dirty no one wants to be called…as being it…yet that is exactly the case….for some people. Some people are it, live it, breath it and embody prejudice so skillfully and unconsciously that it becomes them and they become it and together they are one. I refuse the desire to shame the word and instead choose to label the action…perhaps then there can be some reflection and growth.
When it comes to kids I have observed that black, white, yellow, or whatever colour children are born simply as love. They know no hate, racial discord or prejudice. Damn! that blasted word again! It is adults who teach them how to be hateful, how to see colour, how to profile people, how to be mistreat others….Infact at one point when I started to lose my faith in God, a little girl of 6 I was working with told me very ferociously and in fiery confidence “Maya, I play for God. I am on God’s team and he makes me win, do you play for God? Whose team are you on?”
As a girl of colour, I also learned several little ugly postcards or shall we call them snapshots of how people wearing the prejudice suit can profile and indeed attempt to sabotage your work and passion in childcare, if you are a person of colour too. From my observation, this horrible attitude comes from jealousy ..im thinking “How they our kids like you”, envy, that you are so good at what you do and many other negativity that we are going to flush into a toilet drain to recycle back to love.
Prejudiced people have no shame in lying about your intentions, curating little lie reports about you to the parents of the kids you work with, tailoring videos to show only one context of a problem and just relying on plain old sentiments of racism in others to get their desired results. I am sharing this so you can be aware of it if you choose to work in this segment of life. Many times the schemes succeed. Why? Simply because they are activating in many other people what is already there. “Who does this black or Asian girl or guy think they are?”. They succeed until they don’t. They succeed with hearts like theirs until they run into other non-racialized people who are like kids. These people although adults have the heart we call “Obiocha” in Ibo language (Clean heart), or Ewen Ofuafo (righteous heart) in Urhobo language. It is these people, who have learned childlike innocence that raise questions when they see “funny” videos defaming black child caregivers or racialized professionals. It is these people who ask critical questions, regarding context, intention and reason. It is these people who believe kids rather than phone adults, because they understand the purity of childlike hearts. Are you, dear, good reader one of these? Do you have the heart of a child or one wearing…what is the blasted word again…dang! Prejudice?”
I hope you take home some lessons form this post and protect yourselves from caricature wolves. The next time you see a post tagging a person of colour in a mischievous manner ask your self “Who is taking this short video, where is the full context, what is the intention and what are they hoping to achieve”
Until them stay grounded, love yourself, keep growing and know that one day soon, evil too will pass, and we will all be ” Enough” regardless of skin or kin. Check out my Instagram and medium account for more posts on life’s reflection, child welfare, and mental health.
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