Imagine That

Imagine that........

Since lady-girl has been in school she has been in an environment composed primarily of Blacks (African & Indian & Whatever-else). Some of these Blacks were African-American, some were African, some were French and English speaking Caribbean Blacks, some were Latinos of obvious African descent, some considered themselves to be multi-racial, and so on-and so on-and so on. Since lady-girl was three she was a member of New Light Baptist School of Excellence. As our church home changed over the years our religious experience has been primarily with people of African descent, until recently. About two years ago we began visiting and then attending a church that has transethnicity as a core value. This church has a youth oriented Sunday school program that I found very compelling and exciting, exciting enuf' to get me back into going to church to ensure that my children continued to receive the religious training that they were used to. While the kindergarten teachers in the church school taught the students a lot of great religious material, my Kids had received extremely in-depth instruction in those curricula items in New Light Baptist School so the church school classes were reviews of old materials. My son used to state "We learned that two years ago" after leaving a lot of the Church school classes although he enjoyed the snack and his church-school peers.

My son attended New Light Baptist until he became a first grader. I wanted to ensure that the morals and instruction that he received in New Light was continued, and I thought that New Life (The transethnic church) could provide him with something close to the religious based education that New Light Baptist School provided as he was now in a public school. He is now a third grader and she is a first grader both attending Windsor Oaks Elementary School in Virginia Beach, VA (click here to see their school photos). Interestingly enough, New Light Baptist School is across the street and around the corner from New Life Providence. New Light Baptist describes itself in this manner: "The New Light Baptist School of Excellence opened its doors in August 1989 with a clear purpose: to provide a holistic education to young children with the goal of building and solidifying their foundation. To fulfill our purpose and meet our goal, New Light became the first black Christian school in Virginia Beach, VA, to utilize the Abeka program. Abeka provides an excellent curriculum while giving meaning to the “holistic” approach to education with its significant focus on Praise and Worship. "

I was away in North Carolina on a trip the day that the Wifey' and the kiddies went to meet their new teachers for the 2008-2009 school year. After meeting her new teacher the lady-girl told her granny about the meet-and-greet. "Imagine that... A White woman trying to teach a Black girl something." My Lil' one has had a time in her young six years where every important Woman in her life had been a woman of some type of African descent. Her reverence to these women echoed in this statement. As the story was relayed to me I had to think about her response for a few days. I'm sure there are numerous people who might find that statement as racist or prejudiced, or something along that line, yet I have come to view this in proud manner. My parents' generation, and these before it have all suffered from Black-inferiority complex. My Lil' one is proud of her ancestry and all that comes with it. For now.......

I am almost shattered thinking that at some point in her life she will really need to battle with a feeling of self worth. Although she will never hear it from a White person she is going to be trained into thinking that the African tightly curled hair that she has is inferior. She now spends hours pressing her hair in an effort to 'tame' it's African nature. She is now self conscious about getting her hair wet after it's been styled as the natural water will change her "done" hair back to it's African nature. She has to get her hair "Done" since it's "Undone" if it isn't pressed. My Black women are going to be the ones who giver her a complex first, then the male children of these Black women are going to rate her as less than desirable if her hair isn't straight. There are many issues in the African diaspora that demonstrate our shared Black-inferiority complex. Bleaching cream, hair pressing, even the devaluing of the names that have been created in Black communities and calling these names "Ghetto Names" while placing value on names that have been created and developed in Europe. My dad tells me of the times when Black oriented magazines initially used White models since Black women wouldn't buy items promoted using a Black model. I find this paradigm of Black-inferiority throughout the world when studying post Colombian history.

So I hear progress in her comment. Her paradigm was going to shift and she nailed it. She was moving from being solely taught by Women of primarily African descent to a Woman of primarily European decent. Imagine that, her paradigm shift statement showed us how much our lot in America has changed. There was a time when the White teacher would automatically hold greater esteem in the world than a Black teacher. I know elders in our community who still hold their breath as they pass or interact with White peers for fear that the American progress they have witnessed was simply a dream. Decades later I still see my father fight to stop trembling as he nears a police officer as he survived the times of racist Police brutality. The Black Power revolution that occurred during the Civil Rights era was so very necessary to begin fighting this Black-inferiority complex. Our radical embrace of ourselves was so necessary to now move into a natural, non-radical, self accepting place that our American people have come into. This was a new experience for her and her outlook on life is a new outlook for many older Blacks. When sharing this experience with older Black women I've received smiles and words sharing how unbelievable it is for a Black child to hold these Black women in such a regard that she would be surprised by having a White teacher.

Her generation will slowly walk away untethered the germ of Black-inferiority. I thank GOD for New Light Baptist, I thank GOD for her new teacher (whom she loves), I thank GOD for this new outlook. The world will be changed.

Post-script.

Weeks later as the Lil' one was doing her homework the Grandma joked by saying "Imagine that... A Black girl doing homework given to her by a White woman." Without missing a beat Lady-girl retorted "Imagine that....A Black Grandma checking the homework done by a Black girl doing homework given to her by a White woman."........... Imagine that.