Please, Don't Shoot My Son...

Tyson Alexander is a sweet boy and my ONLY son. He is smart, playful, articulate, funny, very generous, and lovable BUT.... He's black. And because of this, society will never get to know him, let alone would even want to.
When I see my son, I see a beautiful boy that I birthed who has the potential to be WHATEVER he wants and chooses to be later in his life.
But since he is a brown skinned little boy, society views him as a threat, even though his focus is coming home and playing with his toy planes and cars.  Society doesn't even know that his favorite color is orange or that he is excellent in Math and Science and that he loves people. He loves playing Knack on PS4. He loves Sour Cream & Onion Pringles. He loves green grapes, tangerines, and yes....watermelon, hehe. He also loves to read. But many of you don't even care, because you can't seem to grasp these facts based on what he LOOKS like.

Art by Debra Cartwright | 2016

On the flip side, I'm a realist. And after years of witnessing many things and events around me, I have realized that the world can only do two things : Go up or Go down...further. There is so much hate in this world that it is pathetic and atrocious.
Now, I know everyone a different color one doesn't think negatively towards us. I'm more speaking to the ones that do.
To the ones that do.....Why are some of you so afraid? What is this "fear"?
Society has this "fear" of Tyson and he doesn't even know it yet. But I know. The "fear" of our progression. The "fear" of our aggression. The "fear" of our possession. The "fear" of YOUR oppression...? Could it be karma? Is it guilt? Do you think we are coming for you? I thought we are trying to survive just like you....

I'm not saying that ALL LIVES DON'T MATTER, I'm just speaking on the side I'm most familiar with. I don't know what it's like to be a different color. So, I can't speak on what I THINK I know, but I SEE a lot and what I've seen hasn't been looking nice, at all.
I fear for my son. He's only six years old. He is just trying to live and eat Lucky Charms, but YOU DON'T CARE. All you see is his skin color and THAT'S THE PROBLEM. Most of us are just trying to live the best way we know how and with so much hate in our world, it's getting harder and harder...
I will just have to continue to teach and educate my son of who he is and the shoes he has to fill to become the great person he has the potential to be.

|True Story|

When I was eleven years old, I styled my next door neighbor's hair. The next day, she came back to my house to play. Her hairstyle was taken down. I asked her, "Why did you take your hair down?" She replied without a slight of hesitation, "Dad said we looked like niggers."
These things are taught and until we stop teaching hate, we will stop receiving and enduring hate when it comes to color of a race.