If a child/teen is ashamed of being black

pattigurlatl wrote: I think everyone is right here. But the issue isn't blame because its a larger picture. The issue is how do you fight it?

Good point.

Teaching your child about the accomplishments of Black people big and small so they know more about them than what negative stereotypes the media likes to put out there and what meager scraps of black history K-12 teaches. Making sure your child is proud of their slave ancestry and know what torture Blacks before them endured in order for them to be seen as equals to most of their white counterparts today. Exposing them to positive Black family and friends and simply letting them know they come from a rich culture.

Making sure you display pride in your Black features. If you make negative comments about Black skin, hair, etc your child picks up on that and learns to hate it too. Y'all know what the heck I'm talking about so don't give me that 'what do you mean by that CC'?

I think that's what parents and family can do on a small scale. Patti, what do you think we should do to fight it on a larger scale?

black people in part.. but also the parents for not instilling self confidence in the child 

Edited by coconess - Feb 09 2013 at 12:20am

everyone

I would also add from personal experience, it's hard to foster true universal racial pride within the AA community when even within our own ranks we have a subset that despises anything they deem as not black, and sadly the things being considered "not black" ARE NOT things you should be telling someone NOT to do. And by default, with their mindset the things considered "black" are embarrassments or NOT ideal for the progress/prosperity of the AA community overall.

I definitely was called "acting white" for being a hard worker in school. For not speaking in the stereotypical AA vernacular. Where did we go wrong as a culture when working hard in school and not hanging on a corner suddenly became "acting white"?

f8dagrate wrote: AshBash89 wrote: The parents. This and their siblings and society and the child .

Agreed, as much as it's the parents' responsibility to instill cultural pride in their child, it's also society at large's (both the AA and mainstream) to embrace differences as well as provide a positive image for its members to hold onto.