Dear World,
Being a black boy is not a disease that needs to be diagnosed, x-rayed, poked, prodded, studied, and drugged up! Since when did being a boy become an ailment, and particularly being a black boy??
I am SICK and TIRED of boys who look just like me being diagnosed with ADD, ADHD, ODD, ABCD, this D, that D and the other D!!! With those diagnoses, comes the medicine, the IEPs, the behavioral this and behavioral that; the stigma, the treatment, the preconceived notions and ultimately the ire of society!
It's no wonder prisons are stuffed with kids and men who look like me! It's no mystery why these guys are being killed on the streets in higher percentages than others! They are literally out of their minds, druggies since five!!
I'm not a conspiracy theorist (except when it comes to Governor Corbett and the funding of Philadelphia's public schools), I just can't help but notice what seem to be disproportionate numbers!
Make no mistake, I do not condone boys using this as an excuse for stupidity! You act dumb, dumb stuff will come, point blank! But as a society we can do our part and not assume that because a five-year-old boy runs around the school that something is wrong with him! Regain order, yes! But we need to think long and hard before we "treat"!!
Is something really the matter with him, or does he spend hours on end in our classrooms then goes home to the same amount of space for several more hours with many more people? Is he the product of a less than ideal pregnancy and would more "skittles" really help? Let's ask ourselves these and other questions before that prescription or IEP is written, because once written...
First, do no harm!
Yours truly,
Me
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