What's going to happen to her kid?
I get the fears, but... it depends. It depends on who the kid grows up to be. And there are going to be many factors in that regard... her parenting, the father's parenting, where they live, outside influences such as friends growing up, and so on.
He may face some challenges that others don't, but being black is not a virtual death sentence, regardless what the media wants to tell us.
Please note that the link I clicked on on the Yahoo home page specifically said this kid is bi-racial, indicating a white mother and black father. The article itself does not specifically say that, though it is implied in context. Just want to clarify that up front.
It's not just black boys and black mothers that worry over such things.
My area has become infested with meth, badly. The work ethic has declined, along with public morals. Far too many young men sponge off the system, or off a woman who gets federal aid of some kind, and sit around all day drinking beer and smoke themselves blind crazy on meth when they have any money. Many steal or deal drugs.
I couldn't afford to move for most of Son#1's childhood. I could afford to now, but am reluctant due to family... but I had to worry about him getting caught up in that drug culture of "redneck crack" and the way it sucks people down to the bottom.
The answer is to be involved, raise them right, and pray a lot. Worked for me... S#1 despises the whole druggie subculture, in part due to an unfortunate example we had in the family for a while. He's 20 and clean. Doesn't even drink as far as I can tell.
Son#1 was 6' tall and had a mustache at age 15. At 17 he was over 6'3" and built like a tank, and had a beard and long hair, and looked like a Viking or a biker, and could have passed for 24. I worried about him getting pulled by the police, and them misunderstanding who he is... he
really is a gentle giant.
When he started driving places alone, we had to sit down and have a very serious conversation about dealing with the police. I told him about the potential threats they worry over and how it puts them on a hair trigger in some cases; I told him he needed to assume, in dealing with the police, that if he gave them
any half-ass excuse to do so they would taze, beat or SHOOT him down... and that the smart thing to do was never give them an excuse. No matter what, sit or stand quietly and keep your hands in sight, make no sudden moves, do whatever you're told... if the cops are wrong we'll deal with it in court.
This was no paranoid fantasy of mine... I'd been pulled over with him in the truck when he was 16 and I SAW how they treated him, how nervous they were near him, until they asked for ID and realized he was still in High School.
Being white also doesn't guarantee educational or job success.
ALL good parents worry about how their kids are going to turn out, or what might happen to them... there are no guarantees just because you're white.
