the hamartia disease

karnythia:

madamethursday:

isitscary:

I’m sorry, but why would you gain the trust of inner city children, give them an opportunity to go on something as scenic, adventurous, and different (for those who have never gone, at least) as hiking, and then completely betray them by writing down what they say and posting it on a blog named GHETTOHIKES?

You’re not entertaining people, you’re exposing and making a spectacle out of children that probably look up to you not only as a mentor, but also as an upstanding parental figure.

Seriously, this is fucking disgusting. 

Extremely appalling and a horrible breech of trust. Not to mention so fucking supremacist in so many fucking ways. I love how only hippie white folks have valid observations about nature and their floaty, hippie quotes are totally valid. 

But the kids should just be glad that someone is bothering to notice them. Ten says that this is a Great White Savior type who is getting credits on a resume for this shit.

And shit like this is part of why so few POC communities trust volunteerism, and why so many POC parents are hesitant or flat out unwilling to entrust their kids to these programs.

Countdown until it’s picked up to be made into an inspirational, feel-good movie about uplifting poor, uncultured POC inner city kids through the wonders of nature thanks to their hip, understanding and ~controversial~ young white teacher.

(via offbeatorbit)

karnythia:

I was a poor black kid in the inner city being raised by relatives because my father was never in the picture & my mother only had a passing acquaintance with functional adulthood, much less motherhood. I grew up with a lot of smart kids & I was one of the ones who got into a magnet school. Some of them did not. Some of them didn’t make it to high school because of violence or drugs or becoming teen parents. And sure, it’s easy to say we could have all made it out if you don’t understand the challenges poor inner city kids are facing.

10 year old’s that get recruited to carry drugs? They’re not doing it for a fancy car that they can’t even drive. They’re doing it to eat. To keep the lights on or a roof over their heads. Bling is nice, but trust me the guys recruiting little kids don’t go after the ones who aren’t desperate. Kids with safe warm comfortable homes aren’t likely to keep silent & definitely won’t feel a need to ally themselves with someone, anyone, in order to feel safe & loved. So, they join up & sometimes they get past being a soldier alive, but mostly? Mostly they wind up in juvie, injured, or dead before 16. So much for those magnet high schools.

And let’s not pretend the girls who get pregnant as young teens are coming from safe stable loving homes either. Sure there’s probably a few mixed into the overall statistics. But overwhelmingly they’re vulnerable because things aren’t great at home. And a guy (often a much older guy) who offers to buy them things & take them places seems to be the answer to all their problems. That answer usually leaves them holding a baby, maybe a criminal case or two, & a whole lot of societal blame for getting themselves in trouble. Because 14 year old girls are armed with crystal balls.

Now, did I evade early pregnancy, heavy involvement in gangs or drugs? Sure. Guess how? My grandmother kept me in the house. All the time. She walked me to and from school until 7th grade, and I never got to go to sleepovers or parties. She could do that because my grandfather worked well into his 80’s & my aunt was still living at home and paying rent. It took 3 relatives, an army of teachers, god knows how many friends, & the Army to make me a successful adult. I was still a single mother when I went to college, but that was post divorce so I guess that makes me different right?

Wrong. Even with all the support & the sheltered elementary school years I still went off the rails in high school after I went to live with my mother & her new husband. They earned middle class money, but have every class emotional problems that became my problems. I tried boys, booze, drugs, & suicide enough times in those 4 years that I lived with them to make up for the years between Kindergarten and 8th grade. Poor kids of color need strong wills, luck, & a supportive team if they are to succeed. Missing any of those components? The odds against them are incredible.

Instead of treating the kids as though they are responsible for what happens to them when they’re too young to reach the light switch, try remembering that they are children. Step in as a mentor, lobby for their schools to have supplies, support programs that would allow their parents to be healthy & present in their lives. Healthy communities generate healthy kids, but no community exist in a vacuum. Push for every community to have the same access to opportunity & you’ll see kids thrive. Wouldn’t supporting kids be better than blaming them?