What Do I Know

Having adopted Asher, Amy and I process news like the horrific Charleston shooting more closely to the heart and not just with our heads.  Asher is first and foremost our child, and our primary responsibility is to love him just as we love Jada and Aaron.  But he is also a future black man, and with that comes an extra dollop of soberness about how to raise him, what to teach him, and what he needs to know.

I know I don't know how to do this, so I will not be shy in asking for help.  But nor should I sell myself short as if I have nothing to work with in instructing our son.  What do I know?  I know something of what it is like to be stereotyped because of how I look even before I have opened my mouth or otherwise made an impression.  I know something of where racism comes from, structurally and economically and sociologically and morally.  And I know something of where true reconciliation and humanity comes from, or I should say Who it comes from.

So, by God's grace and with the help of an army of many, Amy and I will do our best to teach Asher what it means to be a black man in America.  And, if we do our jobs right, someday he will gain insight from living out his own perspective, and he will be able to teach us back.