How much of your early childhood can you remember? Can you remember when you uttered your first word? Your first step? If you're like most people, probably not. If you are African American, can you remember the first time you realized that you were black, and that it was a problem?

When did you realize that for the rest your life, you would be judged by the color of your skin and not for your ability or character? As an African American, I remember being indoctrinated into the racist system of white supremacy and its first cousin inferiorization at a very young age.

Even in kindergarten, I realized that there were two separate school systems in Copiah County, Public Schools for blacks and the private schools for whites. Early on, I remember feeling a sense of inferiority when the white characters in my textbook were always the heroes and blacks were always the followers, complacement with being pawns and sidekicks.

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons and realizing that none of the characters looked like me, and if they did they were depicted as being intellectually inferior to whites or inconsequential.

African children are bombarded with negative images of themselves and their culture. They meander through their formative years immersed in a society that devalues them at every point. For the ones that do manage to transcend their conditioning, life is their oyster. But for their brethren still trapped in the matrix, life is anything but rosy. As W. E. B. Dubois predicted, the greatest problem of the 20th century was the color line. Will it also be true in the 21st century? Only time will tell.

Now back to my original question. How old were when you when your realized that your skin color would be problem? 5 or 6? 7 or 8? Regardless of how old you were when you had this epiphany, is of little consequence. Was it when you were walking down the street and you noticed the little white woman clutching her purse when you walk by?

Maybe, it's when you were riding down the street and when you pulled up to the light and the people in the next car, locked their door. Or was it when it when you were pulled over by the cops on trumped up charges and detained on false pretenses.

The feeling of inferiorization that you felt was probably more terrifying than any Freddy Krueger flick or monster in the closet. Since we have already felt the devastating effects of this revelation, what will we do to alleviate our offspring's burden? We must fight to make sure that our children are not overly exposed to these stressors by instilling a sense of racial pride and resilience in them.

We can't do this by teaching them that all Caucasians are racist, because this simply is not true. If we do this, we will become the very thing that we hate the most, bigots. If we don't protect our youth, then process of intellectual hegemony and inferiorization will continue.

© August 2006 by Afromerica

Brother Matthew Lynch will be keeping the Black community updated on issues in education and geopolitical perspectives. Visit regularly for new information that could help you overcome and make the best of your everyday experiences.

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