A Letter From Daddy
Your name means “a child who has been desired for a long time” in Àwọn ọmọ Yorùbá – the language of the Yoruba people in Africa. This is what you mean to me; you are my air and heir, baby boy. A long awaited son.
You are also a sweet child with a mischievous smile, generous nature, loving spirit, adventurous soul and inquisitive mind unlike those vipers who have rudely intruded on our dreams, hopes and aspirations. You are a handsome likeness of myself; a boy that I love, covet and miss immeasurably with each passing day, week, month and year.
Every waking moment you break through my reverie painfully reminding me that I am being hindered; stymied in a primordial quest to protect, nurture and guide you into manhood like most fathers want to do for their children free of 'isms' that substitute a bigoted white man's paternal presumptions (ill-equipped intellectually, ill-suited temperamentally and ill-placed by virtue of his profession to do so, he does so nonetheless running roughshod over any semblance of self-determination I may possess) for an ostensibly subservient black man's judgment of what is in his child's best interest. Ironically, it is because of this ‘ism’, which plagues all sun people in America, I do not have you, man child. It profoundly grieves my spirit.
Your arrival was heralded by countless unborn seeds that may have come before you (save for one little fully formed black girl with indistinct features and big feet named "Sky" by her psychologist mother; a French patois speaking Dominican. Had she survived she would have been your sister) but remained unborn. They all remained unborn for much the same reason we have been unable to bridge a chasm that immorally threatens to separates us: selfishness aggravated by sheer and unadulterated stupidity. A chasm measured in distance that is only a little over one hundred miles. But it may as well be a thousand miles fraught with peril as it is for you and me because of ‘isms’.
It is akin to an amusement park ride where a roller coaster descends into the darkness: an obstacle course filled with all manner of monsters, vipers and things that go bump in the night masquerading as people that pop up unexpectedly; iniquitous facsimiles of human beings lying in wait collectively metamorphosing into a highwayman waiting to rob you of your ability to achieve self-actualization because they are incapable of reaching their own, man child.
The reason can be traced back to an older more intractable ‘ism’; one that has become an indelible precursor to a present day ‘ism.’ It is a 158 year old legal ruling, which has resisted repeal in law if not in the Zeitgeist. It is persistent delusion that has been seared by a white - pun intended - hot branding iron into the American consciousness. A delusion that white privilege and supremacy does not exist or play out its continuing assault on sun people through institutionalized ‘isms.’
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, declared that “The negro has no rights which the white man is bound to respect” in a decision to deny a Black Slave, Dred Scott, and his Family their freedom.
In this part of his opinion the chief justice said,
"It is difficult, at this day, to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the constitution was framed and adopted. But the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior race, and altogether unfit to associate with the white races, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."
This is why my son a bigoted white man plying his particular ‘ism’ as a judge - abridging so many laws in the process they have become practically innumerable – recklessly orders a vulnerable little black boy to be removed from the home of a college professor father with advanced degrees in social and behavioral science and formal legal training. He did it without so much as a second thought or consideration of the ramifications because he had none - no such consideration. "A black man has no rights a white person is bound to respect."
It is why a subsequent petition to enforce a ridiculously one-sided visitation order this bigot grudgingly granted paternalistically - like a cheap consolation prize - has also gone ignored; ignored with absolutely no accountability from any quarter because this is how institutionalized 'isms' works. "Isms" cloak misdeeds, misfeasance, and misconduct in a repressive state apparatus to lend legitimacy to tyranny by providing immoral acts plausible deniability.
No little boy should have to cry out for his Daddy because he knows viscerally he is in a nest of vipers, a vicious cycle of dysfunction that threatens to retard his growth and development; to hinder his ability to thrive and blossom, and he wants his Daddy to come and rescue him.
Knowing how riddled with poverty in both thought and deed that anti-intellectual - squalid - environment with which you are forced to live as a direct consequence of this 'ism', while I am forced to watch like a bizarre pantomime playing out with maladaptation imitating domestic tranquility - consumes me with so much anxiety for you my son, it often threatens to overwhelm me. You deserve considerably better.
That is why my precious child I have been unable to see you - not even for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s or your birthday - ‘isms’ have briefly conspired against us. But it is only temporary, son. Until we are reunited, I want you to remain strong; shed no tears for I do not, or become weakened for I have not, or emasculated by ‘isms’ because we will not... Daddy wants you to develop the fortitude to cope with the ‘isms’ you will inevitably encounter in your life as a black boy, youth, teenager and man. And I want you to confront those insults both covert and overt with alacrity and aplomb, not rage or stupidity. We alone will remain men among lemmings, apologists and sycophants for white supremacy and privilege.
I am here to love you from a distance, support you always, and guide you through this difficult, precarious journey, little soldier. The situation is not fair to either you or me. Life is not fair, man child. We are a team, though. I love you, think about you every waking moment, and will never abandon you as my unapologetic, irresponsible, and uneducated father callously did to me. I will always be there for you, youngster. And want you to know that no one or thing is stronger than the unbreakable bond we share as father and son.
You are also a sweet child with a mischievous smile, generous nature, loving spirit, adventurous soul and inquisitive mind unlike those vipers who have rudely intruded on our dreams, hopes and aspirations. You are a handsome likeness of myself; a boy that I love, covet and miss immeasurably with each passing day, week, month and year.
Every waking moment you break through my reverie painfully reminding me that I am being hindered; stymied in a primordial quest to protect, nurture and guide you into manhood like most fathers want to do for their children free of 'isms' that substitute a bigoted white man's paternal presumptions (ill-equipped intellectually, ill-suited temperamentally and ill-placed by virtue of his profession to do so, he does so nonetheless running roughshod over any semblance of self-determination I may possess) for an ostensibly subservient black man's judgment of what is in his child's best interest. Ironically, it is because of this ‘ism’, which plagues all sun people in America, I do not have you, man child. It profoundly grieves my spirit.
Your arrival was heralded by countless unborn seeds that may have come before you (save for one little fully formed black girl with indistinct features and big feet named "Sky" by her psychologist mother; a French patois speaking Dominican. Had she survived she would have been your sister) but remained unborn. They all remained unborn for much the same reason we have been unable to bridge a chasm that immorally threatens to separates us: selfishness aggravated by sheer and unadulterated stupidity. A chasm measured in distance that is only a little over one hundred miles. But it may as well be a thousand miles fraught with peril as it is for you and me because of ‘isms’.
It is akin to an amusement park ride where a roller coaster descends into the darkness: an obstacle course filled with all manner of monsters, vipers and things that go bump in the night masquerading as people that pop up unexpectedly; iniquitous facsimiles of human beings lying in wait collectively metamorphosing into a highwayman waiting to rob you of your ability to achieve self-actualization because they are incapable of reaching their own, man child.
The reason can be traced back to an older more intractable ‘ism’; one that has become an indelible precursor to a present day ‘ism.’ It is a 158 year old legal ruling, which has resisted repeal in law if not in the Zeitgeist. It is persistent delusion that has been seared by a white - pun intended - hot branding iron into the American consciousness. A delusion that white privilege and supremacy does not exist or play out its continuing assault on sun people through institutionalized ‘isms.’
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, of the United States Supreme Court, declared that “The negro has no rights which the white man is bound to respect” in a decision to deny a Black Slave, Dred Scott, and his Family their freedom.
In this part of his opinion the chief justice said,
"It is difficult, at this day, to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the constitution was framed and adopted. But the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior race, and altogether unfit to associate with the white races, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."
This is why my son a bigoted white man plying his particular ‘ism’ as a judge - abridging so many laws in the process they have become practically innumerable – recklessly orders a vulnerable little black boy to be removed from the home of a college professor father with advanced degrees in social and behavioral science and formal legal training. He did it without so much as a second thought or consideration of the ramifications because he had none - no such consideration. "A black man has no rights a white person is bound to respect."
It is why a subsequent petition to enforce a ridiculously one-sided visitation order this bigot grudgingly granted paternalistically - like a cheap consolation prize - has also gone ignored; ignored with absolutely no accountability from any quarter because this is how institutionalized 'isms' works. "Isms" cloak misdeeds, misfeasance, and misconduct in a repressive state apparatus to lend legitimacy to tyranny by providing immoral acts plausible deniability.
No little boy should have to cry out for his Daddy because he knows viscerally he is in a nest of vipers, a vicious cycle of dysfunction that threatens to retard his growth and development; to hinder his ability to thrive and blossom, and he wants his Daddy to come and rescue him.
Knowing how riddled with poverty in both thought and deed that anti-intellectual - squalid - environment with which you are forced to live as a direct consequence of this 'ism', while I am forced to watch like a bizarre pantomime playing out with maladaptation imitating domestic tranquility - consumes me with so much anxiety for you my son, it often threatens to overwhelm me. You deserve considerably better.
That is why my precious child I have been unable to see you - not even for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s or your birthday - ‘isms’ have briefly conspired against us. But it is only temporary, son. Until we are reunited, I want you to remain strong; shed no tears for I do not, or become weakened for I have not, or emasculated by ‘isms’ because we will not... Daddy wants you to develop the fortitude to cope with the ‘isms’ you will inevitably encounter in your life as a black boy, youth, teenager and man. And I want you to confront those insults both covert and overt with alacrity and aplomb, not rage or stupidity. We alone will remain men among lemmings, apologists and sycophants for white supremacy and privilege.
I am here to love you from a distance, support you always, and guide you through this difficult, precarious journey, little soldier. The situation is not fair to either you or me. Life is not fair, man child. We are a team, though. I love you, think about you every waking moment, and will never abandon you as my unapologetic, irresponsible, and uneducated father callously did to me. I will always be there for you, youngster. And want you to know that no one or thing is stronger than the unbreakable bond we share as father and son.
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