Our Black Sons Matter

For mothers of black sons, the basic concerns of motherhood are compounded by worry about whether their sons will even survive to manhood. This collection gives voice to that concern as women (mostly, though not all black) from a range of ages, religions, and nationalities write of their hopes and fears for their black sons. The editors begin by discussing how the fear of young black men heightens the threat to their lives as they become objects of suspicion and violence, bloodshed that is often justified as protection of the broader, read white, society. In poems, letters, and essays, the contributors recount now-infamous cases from Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin and their own day-to-day encounters with the racism that threaten the lives of their sons. Many describe the transformation from their sons’ childhood cuteness to the 'threat' adolescents represent, others learn the hard lessons of racism as their adopted sons grow into young black men. One mother navigates the painful experience of her son suffering from depression and her concerns about a counselor who couldn’t see beyond his skin color. This collection offers powerful and thoughtful reflections on the impact of racism on black males and the women who witness and offer as much love and protection as they can. * Booklist, Starred Review *
A poignant collection of thirty-two essays, poems, and letters from a diverse group of mothers raising black sons, biological and not. These women convey the fear, challenge, and joy of nurturing and loving children in a culture where violence against black bodies is normalized. Priority reading for understanding current forms of oppression because #BlackLivesMatter. * Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) *
Our Black Sons Matter honors black sons and loving mothers. Striking a blues note, testifying across racial, ethnic, religious, and national lines, devoted mothers lift up stories of hope and fear inherent in raising black sons in racist societies. Their stirring, tender pain harmonizes with tough, penetrating love, defiance, and resilient joy, as each page celebrates black sons’ uncompromising dignity and immeasurable value. A profoundly resonating soul call affirming black humanity, this compelling collection tells a poignant story demanding an equally audacious response. -- Kathy Glass, Duquesne University
This rich volume has much to teach us about race, inequality, the burdens placed upon families called to explain to their young black children why they can’t expect fair treatment, and about whiteness—the lengths it will go to preserve its false innocence. The courageous stories, essays, letters, and poems collected here should move all who read them to do more to challenge the status quo in the United States, to change how we live together, so that mothers of black sons will know that their children will be seen by all as valuable and vulnerable equal human beings. -- Jill Stauffer, Associate Professor and Director of Peace, Justice and Human Rights, Haverford College
Before I finished the last word of Our Black Sons Matter, two police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana murdered 37-year-old Alton Sterling. Captured on film, Sterling became another black son lost to death, engulfed by the unremitting onslaught that birthed this book. My mother’s voice is woven into each of these lines, my aunts, my sisters—so many mothers of black sons whose voices had been muted become vibrant here—with loss, with sadness, rage, hope. There is nothing more urgent than what they demand: safe passage. When Treasure Shields Redmond writes “why can’t a black boy born alive stay that way” in her elegy for Trayvon Martin, she articulates our question and our demand. This is the urgency that defines our time; the voices collected here make it obvious why that urgency matters. -- Reginald Dwayne Betts, author of A Question of Freedom
Timely, reflective, and critically conscious, Our Black Sons Matter is a must-read for all concerned about the lives of Black boys and men. The voices in this anthology will strengthen the experience of all who fight for freedom and liberation on behalf of our Black sons. Without a doubt, the narratives in this collection evoke the collective unconscious. They sing of love and resistance, and they will remain pillars of counternarratives for all those who resist racioethnic oppression, hegemony, prejudice, and discrimination. Our Black Sons Matter is a necessary resource in the fight for our Black sons. -- Cherrel Miller Dyce, Elon University
This collection transcends—and so should influence—the insights of pundits, politicians, policy makers, and police in their estimations of black males. Black sons matter, in part, because they are expressions of the political will and desires of mothering that demands the rights of children in a violent, unstable world. Bypassing both the demagogic and the wistful, Our Black Sons Matter weaves a “web to entangle the powers that bury” family and society. -- Joy James, author of Seeking the Beloved Community