Still Invisible?. Elvin J. Dowling

11 Nov. 2008. Web. 25 Jul. 2019.

      2 Hughes, Langston. Let America Be America Again and Other Poems.1st Vintage Books ed. New York: Vintage Books, 2004.

      3 Gramlich, John. “The Gap Between The Number of Blacks and Whites In Prison Is Shrinking.” Pew Research Center: Fact Tank: News In the Numbers, 2019, https://perma.cc/FUP7-KWUD. Accessed 26 July 2019.

      4 Prescott, Orville. "Books of the Times." The New York Times, April 16, 1952. https://perma.cc/RY2U-DB2X. Accessed 26 July 2019.

      5 Rich, Nathaniel. “American Nightmare: Ralph Ellison’s ‘Invisible Man’ at 60.” The Daily Beast. June 28, 2012: The Daily Beast. Web. 26 November 2014. https://perma.cc/LN2B-E6V4

      6 Rosenthal, Andrew. Editorial Page Editor. “Forcing Black Men From Society.” The New York Times. June 25, 2015. https://perma.cc/XQ5N-J58E

      7 Pritscher, Conrad P.,Skin Color: The Shame of Silence. Brill Publishers. Rotterdam, 2014, p. 107. Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378U.S.184(1964).

      8 Love, David. “Trump Ain't New: America Has A Long History of Racist Presidents.” The Grio. 15 January 2018. https://perma.cc/ECT9-ACE9. Accessed 27 July 2019.

      9 Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Juiana. “Race in America 2019.” Pew Research Center, 2019, p. 6. https://perma.cc/EJD9-VCJK, Accessed 25 July 2019.

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      Chapter 1: Born With A Birthmark?

      Blackballing Boys as Babies

      They're my birthmark," I said. 'I yam what I am!'"

      - Ralph Ellison, “Invisible Man" (Shmoop Editorial Team, 13.33)

       (A racist cartoon depiction from 1876, drawn by A.B. Frost for Harper's Ferry Weekly)

      Casualties of Conflict

      Can A Kid Just Be a Kid?

      Noted educator and activist, Catrice Jackson, once said: “If you don't have an anti-racism plan, you plan to be racist.” In the United States, for all practical purposes, when the institutions that racial supremacy have built are ignored and allowed to function as designed, more often than not, that is the end result. In fact, since the founding of our great republic almost two and a half centuries ago, our nation has promoted the concept of a white male patriarchy that has always placed Caucasian men at the top of the pecking order in American society. Followed closely behind white men in this impenetrable social construct is, of course, white women (like me) who, by virtue of our station in life, often enjoy the spoils of our male benefactors who afford us the pleasure of living a life of privilege and favor in the land of unlimited opportunity. After that, the social constructs of our society tend to get a bit complicated, if you will... except for the fact that Black men have always been at the bottom of the American social caste system--to be clear--without question. How do I know? I know because I alone stand between those who seek to maintain the status quo and those who seek to change it through judicial precedent. I am Lady Justice.

      As the arbiter of jurisprudence in this, the greatest, freest country in the world, I am loathed to admit that, when it comes to the inequities faced by Black males, that is, not much has been done to change the narrative of this century’s old reality. Now, of course I would never admit this undeniable truth outside of polite company and, were I to be placed under oath in the very same system I oversee, I would "plead the fifth" on the grounds that I could incriminate myself, if ever confronted with the systemic inequalities attended upon even the youngest Black males amongst them. To that end, it goes without being said that, as a matter of pattern and practice, the frivolities of childhood and its accompanying youthful exuberance, is really never fully extended to Black children in America. "Too bad... so sad..."

      According to Stacey Patton of the Chronicle of Higher Education, in her article, "In America, Black Children Don't Get to Be Children," Black childhood is considered inherently less valued and oftentimes indistinguishable from Black adulthood. In fact, research has revealed that the overestimation of a Black child’s age begins as young as age twelve, impacting the way they are often seen and treated by others. "A study published... in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology — which long ago published racist studies on Black children — linked the higher use of force by police on Black youth to the common perception that, by age 10, they are less innocent" (Patton). As such, I'm sure you can understand how police officers acting in the heat of passion, and well-meaning majority white juries, can justify state sanctioned aggression against these "larger than life" threats, can't you? Even with my delicate sensibilities and limited vision, I can see that... Can you say: "I feared for my life?" I rest my case.

      In 1955, during the trial for the group of white men exonerated in the murder of a 14-year old Black boy, Emmett Till, one of his assailants remarked that Till “looked like a man.” Nearly sixty years later, in 2014, Tamir Rice a 12-year old child in Cleveland, Ohio, would go on to meet his untimely demise when, what I can only presume was a well-meaning community patriot fulfilling his unwritten public duty of protecting white America from what could have been a menacing Black threat, when he called 911 with reports of "a guy, tall for his age" playing with a gun in a park. Granted, the caller did say, "it’s probably a fake" and "he's probably a juvenile" to the emergency services operator, but, then again, those are just the details--way too many for the police to keep track of, of course. After all, it’s a fast-paced job, and everybody's entitled to a few mistakes. Including the police, right?... Right?!

      At the close of the Civil War, African-American citizens, through the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States, were successful in establishing political parity and participation for millions of newly freed Black people, but in doing so, the need to minimize the value of Black boys in this country became central to maintaining a white supremacist construct that continue to this day. "If a white life cycle features innocence, growth, civility, responsibility and becoming an adult, Blackness is characterized as the inversion of that. Not only are Black children cast as adults but, just as perversely, Black adults are stuck in a limbo of childhood, viewed as irresponsible, uncivil, criminal, innately inferior" (Patton). As perverse as this may be to the untrained eye, in my America, white is always right. That's just the way it is. And though the fate of some of our most vulnerable citizens is something that is of little consequence to people who look like me, I do, in fact, sympathize with the women who must bear the brunt of it all, the mothers of young Black boys who may never make it into adulthood. Their pain may never be my reality, but as a woman, I understand.

      In a poignantly gripping letter to her son about the challenges he will ultimately face in the world he was destined to inherit, Celia K. Dale, a contributor to the Atlanta Black Star, wrote, in part, the following heartfelt plea:

       To my beautiful boy,