I have heard reference to “the talk” given to black children by their parents. I gather it has something to do with how these parents feel their kids ought to handle future interactions with white people. After having read The Talk: the Non-Black Version (which got its author fired), I’m curious, thus my factual question:
What is the typical content of “the talk” that is given to black children? Google results are dominated by the John Derbyshire article (see above link), so I’m having trouble finding the info I’m after.
I wonder why everyone thinks only black people get the Talk? I don’t know if they do or not, but I presume it’s similar to how mine went. I didn’t get it all in one go, just life lessons from my parents and other Indians over the years.
Shit the Talk is just common sense and it changes based on area and country, my son will get a talk because his skin is so light!(irrelevent for the USA I admit).
That’s a start, but that thread was mostly about whether people have given “the talk” to their kids; there was precious little info about exactly what the talk was. I gather it’s about how to behave in public so as to avoid drawing suspicion upon yourself, but there were few specifics.
What exactly are black kids told regarding how to behave in stores, in public, and around cops?
Its more like “how to behave and stay out of trouble while X in X” which again can be anything really. Its about having situational awareness AND trying to guess the mindset of the local population.
Like say a white guy living in Japan might be warned to avoid making a spectacle out of himself because people in general and cops have a stereotype of the out of control drunken gaijin on their minds.
Or a openly gay guy warned to be less openly gay in Uganda or somewhere(no offense Ugandans posting on the dope).
For a black male teenager in certain parts of the USA it would be stuff like don’t loiter, watch how you dress, always think of how you could look to some old racist woman who runs and calls the cops. How will you look to those cops? Is there anything they could bust you for no matter how minor(I knew a guy charged for carrying a relative’s RX asthma inhaler when searched). The difference between teen boy enjoying the sunshine and fresh air and drug dealer in some people’s minds can be nothing more than race or clothing, and any police call can escalate out of control when the officer wants it to.
This covers it pretty well; it’s not just simply about “how to behave in public” but also “there are a lot of people who WILL assume you’re a dangerous person, no matter how you behave, and that’s just how it is.”
I remember an article about New York City taxi drivers, and racism. This was over 10 years ago - but predominantly foreign tax drivers were unburdened by the white man’s guilt or the need to appear non-racist. They would blatantly ignore any black young man in a hoodie; someone made the comment if you don’t want to be treated like a gangsta, don’t dress like one; but some well-dressed suit-and-tie black men said they also had difficulty hailing cabs. Tis was a big issue, much discussed back then…
Another item, Malcom Gladwell discussed unequal law enforcement treatment in a book. Sometime a while ago, he decided to grow his hair out, into a big bushy afro rather than the close-cut hair he usually sported. He says he quickly noted a change in general attitude, including being stopped and harrassed by police, something he had never noticed before. Apparently, big afro said “troublemaker” stereotype in a way that a tight haircut did not.
See, what you describe is the opposite of what I would think of when someone describes something as “the talk.” That phrase inspires an image of a rehearsed speech given all at once.
And the only talk like that I’ve heard of is “the birds and the bees,” i.e. the sex talk. In fact, that’s what I thought the OP was talking about, and wondered why it would be different for black people.
My parents did do that thing where they’d run over the rules of behavior right before going somewhere public. Surely that’s what all good parents do until they know their kid(s) have it down. But that’s not “the talk,” that’s just “a talk,” and one you grow out of rather quickly.
That is implicitly not the talk, the talk would be about the additional constraints and rules of behavior imposed on you because of your race/sex/etc.
All boys might hear don’t loiter, black boys are told don’t loiter with a hoodie on or you will get the cops called on you soon enough and then they will harass you and then don’t make any sudden movements or reach in your pocket or raise your voice because they will shoot you.
ABC had a show called What Would You Do? which had real people unknowingly reacting to staged events and watching their reactions through hidden cameras. There were some eye opening episodes about the difference in crowd reaction between a similarly dressed crowd of white and black teens. You might be able to find it on youtube, perfect demonstration of why the talk happens.