The Socialization of the African American Child: by Sekou Clincy

Author:Sekou Clincy [Clincy, Sekou]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781449087890
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Published: 2011-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

Stage 1. Pre-encounter

The pre-encounter stage is marked by African American youth playing down the significance of race in America. Some at this stage even deny race is an issue at all. Their contention is that people are judged on their character rather than race. According to Beverly Tatum, a black person in this stage has “absorbed many of the beliefs that white is right and black is wrong” (Tatum, 1992, p. 331). More importantly, the poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar explains it all too well in his “We Wear the Mask” poem.

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

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