Boys will be Boys

This past weekend my daughter and I were at the beach. It's our happy place as we attempt to enjoy the last few weeks of summer in midst of the pandemic. There was a group of boys there while we were there, a group of black boys to be exact. Not sure if this was a camp, a mentoring group or just a sports group but one of the adult males with them stated that they were all 12. Now some of them looked younger than others, with different body styles and all but they were all 12 years old. There were about 20 boys in the group as they tossed around the football in the water together as they attempted a pickup game of football while in the water. What I saw and loved was seeing a group of young black boys having fun and being carefree. In the midst of all that's going on in the world and what others in the world may see when they look at these kids, I was ecstatic to see that they could have a chance to enjoy themselves and be carefree. Others in the world never really view "our" boys as boys. They are automatically treated as adults even at 12 years old. Some may see them as a threat. A term that is often associated with young boys when they make mistakes rarely applies to them. BOYS WILL BE BOYS is usually reserved when young boys are making knuckle head choices and usually they are able to grow up and redeem themselves as children should be able to do. Unfortunately, that is not always the case for us and especially in this day in age our boys have to be given " the talk". The "mind your manners", "always listen to police", "don't talk out of line", "have fun but not too much",  "don't travel to certain areas", "don't offend anyone" talk. It's a lot of pressure for children, because they are just that, children. I am reminded of the simple luxuries that are often taken for granted by children of other races. For instance, I am reminded of Tamir Rice, who was 12 years old as well, playing with a toy gun in the park when he was gun downed by the police. He was not seen or treated as a child. I am also reminded of Trayvon Martin, 17, who was followed, attacked and killed in the night by an adult as he walked from the store after buying a snack. Neither of these boys were treated as children and it is apparent in our country that our boys do not get to be boys, make mistakes as children do, or live and enjoy the simple pleasures of life as many others do. It brought me great joy just to have a chance to see a group of young black boys be just that, boys, even if only for a moment. Black boys need to continue to be able to grow up to be black men because our black men are Kings.