No Escape From the Hate

Photo by Blacqbook/iStock / Getty Images

My son moved to Chicago this past March to work for a Fortune 500 company. It is his first “real job. He has worked very hard to achieve this. Like everyone he has had his ups and downs. I tell my children its is how you handle the bumps in life that will get you through and the early bumps are not a bad thing. It makes you tough. What I could never prepare them for is the racial epithets that they would eventually hear hurled at them because they are not white. Race and Ethnicity has always been a front burner discussion in our family. Along with social issues, academics and sports it was normal dinner hour talk. We were blessed to be that family that sat down for dinner together more often than not until they would each leave for college.

Each of my children has dealt with overt acts of racism directed specifically at them. But it is a different experience when that harsh racist word is hurled at you. When my son called me on a Sunday afternoon and was saddened and a little depressed that he was called the “N” word. We talked it through. I felt his pain but viewed it as an expected right of massage. My oldest daughter was a called the “N” word on a continuous basis at her Lutheran School in the Midwest in the late 90’s. The child using the offensive words was called troubled, the question for me was where did she learn the word.

When T’Neshi Coates, book was released last month, Between The World and Me

I purchased a copy for each of my three children and a copy for me. I heard Mr. Coates speak in 2014 and I was hopeful. His is a voice that will not disguise that Black Americans live everyday with the expectation that there is no escape from the hate.