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Thanks so much, Mr. President. Really.

Insert sarcasm here. Read on to learn how this presidency added another layer of difficulty to parenting Black youth in America.

By Tiffany FCPublished 2 years ago 6 min read
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Photo Credit: Artist, Irina Bast. Satachi Art

I am a voter. I believe in the right of the majority, in most cases. I am also a mother; of six eclectic, vibrant and intelligent children that have seen and heard much more than we had at their ages. Though my 4 boys and 2 girls vary in age (2 under six years old, 1 preteen and 3 teenagers), we often settle disputes with a vote or some form of democratic resolution. Sometimes, I just make them hug it out because hugs...

Being a parent is conflict-resolution and includes protecting your children from things that are too big for them to carry. Growing up listening to my parent's stories about the racism they experienced in the 1960s in Arkansas should not be so damn relatable to me in 2022. Over the last ten years, as we raised our girls to be confident yet humble and our boys to be responsible men, the world set about doing its best to undo the work we've done. Explaining to your Black sons why it's unhealthy for them to continuously watch Black men die on camera is unlike anything I ever thought that I would experience. Telling them how important it is to vote the right people into power, educating them about how hard it was to secure the right to vote and impressing upon them the responsibility that vote carries was what I knew to do, as my mother did with me.

While the world was falling apart during the initial COVID crisis our children, with their devices and technological intelligence, got a front row seat to the circus of the Trump presidency. They'd grown up "voting for President" at school on election day but not placing any weight on that action and were now listening to their parents vent their political frustrations and having to question their own moral compasses in light of the wildly contrasting information thrown onto social media platforms. My children had hard questions for us about: the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the wrongful convictions of executed men like Nathaniel Woods, why Kim Kardashian needed to help free Miss Alice Johnson, how could our country vote in a racist to run it and more. They became more distrustful of the police and developed a wariness of white people.

When the 2020 Presidential election came around, I think that many Black Americans felt a sense of relief. The Trump tyranny was almost over and on the horizon was a friend of ours, an ally, Joe Biden. Conversations at home started changing from 'When will this be over?' to 'Thank God we've got someone on our side!'. Did everything line up perfectly? No. But the relief, the relief. Kamala Harris was announced as his VP candidate and as a Black mom of little brown girls, I was proud to point to her as an example of what is achievable in their skin. The Black citizenship, Black women mobilized for the Democratic party; setting precedents, breaking records and changing the political landscape. I remember the night President Obama won. Otis Redding played as he and the First Lady took the stage and I watched my parents cry. My dad did not cry but there he sat, in his chair, wiping away silent tears of disbelief and joy. I heard my mother say "I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. A Black President," and I didn't understand the depth of emotion they felt in that moment.

We sat, as a family, Ant and I clutching hands, as Joe Biden took the stage to accept his victory as our new President. We all listened as he implored Americans to hold on for better because better was here. I beamed with pride when he thanked my community for rallying behind him and for protecting our country by throwing the sink at supporting him. We all heard him say that we, the Black community, "had his back" so he would have ours. Like I had, years before, my babies surrounded us, watching the emotions wash over us. They didn't understand the depth, certainly not. Unlike me, however, they understood why. The conversations between them and their friend groups now centered around how Biden and Harris were going to make things better for Black Americans, what their futures could look like now as opposed to the bleak outlook from the previous few years.

Anticipation leads to disappointment, more often than we dreamers care to admit and this presidency is no different. Promises of drug-sentencing reform, prison reform, wage increases, student-loan forgiveness and more faded into the trails of mess that Trump left behind and the drowned in the power struggles of small men with self-serving worldviews. Police continue to kill unarmed Black Americans, no one has been punished for Breonna's death, Ahmaud Arbery was lynched in public, racists have been emboldened to act out their aggressions while we are left to protect ourselves, Amber Alerts for missing Black girls are still issued hours after reports or not at all, clear racial wage disparities go ignored, credit bureaus admitted to harsher ratings for Blacks without repercussion...I could go on.

I'll say it. Black people are expected to be more tolerant and accepting of things that are beneath us. For many, it's a subconscious bias stemming from subliminal imagery and programming. It's bullshit. More than 400 years of Black people being robbed of their wealth, creativity, lives and in May of last year, the House passed an anti-Asian hate crimes bill. Wording my encompass a variety of hate crimes, but a months long spate of attacks on Asian-Americans inspired the politicians that we voted in to draft protective legislation. The disrespect. Disrespect to not only every Black person assaulted because of their melanin but to every Black voter in this country. How hard would it be to draft anti-lynching legislation that expanded that definition beyond the use of a rope and tree? How hard would it be to make room for Black Americans, on the books?

So here I am, inspired to write this piece after having, yet another, exhausting conversation with my children about why I'm researching who's in the position to win elections here in Tennessee and Congress. My oldest insists that he doesn't see the point in voting. He saw the Black community get behind Biden/Harris, he heard them acknowledge the impact and has watched it change nothing. My daughters are questioning how successful they will be at their dream jobs because even Black girls like Maria Taylor can be victimized by racism and have their career trajectories altered and no one of power bat an eye. I now have to convince my kids, this country'r rising voter pool, that their Black vote does matter and that they can affect real change by exercising their right to vote for the person they trust their futures with. The Biden Administration , its lack of delivery on spoken promises, has added another layer of difficulty to what is already a job like no other. Kids don't understand adult lies and these millennials see right through the muck to the meat. Our democracy is in danger because our kids and young adults have lost faith in their power to affect change by casting their votes. Is this a Joe Biden initiated issue? Absolutely not, but as my son struggles to believe that his vote is his political voice with less than two years before he is eligible to cast it, I find myself increasingly frustrated with the lack of follow-through in regards to this nation's Black citizens by the administration that we pinned our desperate hopes of vindication on.

humanity
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About the Creator

Tiffany FC

There's just so much swirling around in here.

Nearing official middle age, I am respectful of the lessons I have learned and confident that someone can learn something from every one of my stories.

No nonsense personal truth in every word.

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