"My Son Is Gone Because Someone Deemed Him a Criminal and Not My Child" ***Angie B Love responds to mother of Andrew Joseph III*****

 Thank you so much for sharing your story Ms. Deanna Joseph. Your son is our son.  His death enrages me to tears as I look over at my ten year old. He is full of life and optimistic about his future. He wants to become a doctor.  I'm not so sure he will have a fair chance to achieve his dreams.  In a world that seeks to swallow him whole, I pray each and every night. I pray for God's protection in a world so cold.  I want those big, shiny eyes to remain full of hope and promise when he envisions his future. I never want his spirit to become dull, damaged or helpless from society’s mental and physical beatings. Black children are dehumanized and ostracized. "The evidence shows that perceptions of the essential nature of children can be affected by race, and for black children, this can mean they lose the protection afforded by assumed childhood innocence well before they become adults ("Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds", 2014).”

 Black children are perceived as violent, inhumane, and dangerous.  Through the womb (women) and the offspring (her children), there is a calculated extermination of the black race. Although it feels like a strategic assault on the lives of black children and women, I will not live in fear for my son or daughters lives.  Ms. Joseph, I commend your strength. Through your voice and countless others, a change will come. In regards to the victimization of African American Youth, I admire your outward transformation of your pain into an evolving social consciousness. Police are supposed to protect, inspire, and guide the young; not exterminate and perpetuate cultural racism. It seems as though we have gone backwards, as if we’ve traveled back in time; before Martin Luther King JR., before the fall of Jim Crow or the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Except, this time, it’s not overt but covert, hidden in plain sight. Do you feel the police force has become more like the new day Klu Klux Klan? Please weigh in down below….

Angie B Love 

References

1.      Black Boys Viewed as Older, Less Innocent Than Whites, Research Finds. (March 6). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/03/black-boys-older.aspx

2.      Gabrielson, R., Grochowski, R., & Sagara, E. (2014, October 10). Deadly force, in black and white. Retrieved from http://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-black-and-white

Please read the full article by following the link below.

                                                                                                            

Article Link:

 http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/02/police_kill_unarmed_black_man_in_texas_say_they_mistook_cellphone_for_gun.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26

Andrew Joseph III 

COURTESY OF DEANNA JOSEPH