According to white people, white proximity-loving Black people and the current social media discourse, my mother was a terrible parent.
A few years ago, while writing my second book, I interviewed my mother about a parenting decision that affected my entire life. Specifically, I wanted to know why she decided to homeschool me and my siblings for what would’ve been our elementary school years. Her answer?
“I do not believe a Black child’s humanity could be fully realized in the presence of whiteness.”
That choice impacted my life in ways I am just beginning to understand. Sure, it produced children who were more confident in their identity, history and sense of self, but in many ways, it hampered our education.
If I were accustomed to writing my name on every paper, my teachers wouldn’t have given me so many zeroes on homework assignments. Could I have been accepted into Harvard if I had better grades? Would I have assimilated more easily if I wasn’t so suspicious of white people? Did my mother’s personal, politically driven decision hamper or help me?
Apparently, the internet knows.
On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine published “In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray Own?” Written by journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the article reexamined the family’s decision that Hannah-Jones chronicled in another deeply personal piece in The New York Times 10 years ago.
What followed could only be described as a dumpster fire.
The essay sparked an eruption of online commentators questioning Hannah-Jones’ parenting, her politics and even the decision to write the article itself. Many of the criticisms came in the form of personal attacks, acts of clout-chasing, and—if we’re being honest—often uninformed opinions by people who hadn’t read the entire article.
The firestorm was so furious that it was sometimes impossible to differentiate between Hannah-Jones’ Black critics, white race-baiters and outlets like the anti-Black New York Post, which described the controversy as: “Woke NYT, 1619 Project scribe sent daughter as ‘sacrifice’ to dangerous NYC school dubbed ‘Little Rikers Island’”
That’s why Blacksplained exists.
Instead of contributing to the uninformed discourse, every week, we ask a scholar, expert or person who just knows things to tackle one question from a Black perspective.
And today, journalist and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Blacksplains the article that broke the internet.
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