1. I would want my children to have a good feeling about themselves as Black people and to know that they are part of an enormous family and community in America, the Caribbean, South America and, of course, Africa.

2. I would want them to know that Black people have always had a lifestyle based on sharing and community and that we are reexamining our values so that they reflect this older life style and a basic love and responsibility to other people.

3. I want my children to know that they have a proud heritage so that they will not have to be dependent on anyone outside their community for information about themselves.

4. I would want my children to know that Black people have been brutally victimized and are still being subjected to calculated cruelty.

5. I would want my children to know that there is little that Black people can expect from eurocentric institutions, but that it is vital to keep making demands in order to guarantee primary survival while creating those institutions which are responsive to the needs of Black people.

6. I would hope that my children would understand that racism is a way of life for many people, and that has nothing to do with their competence as human beings regardless of how they are treated.

7. I would want them to understand that, as their father, I wish their beauty, curiosity and warmth to take them where it may, but at times I must interrupt that curiosity and warmth to explain the horrible, painful reasons for Malcolm X's and Martin Luther King's death so that they will be prepared to cope with the pain ahead of them.

8. I would want my children to develop strong antennae for put downs and arrogance, and to learn all the options for dealing with these threats to their dignity.

9. I would want them to have all of the basic skills necessary for survival and nation building. Their interest in scholarship and excellence should only be motivated by their own personal drives and the needs of their community.

10. I would want them to know everything about this total society and how it functions, so that they can understand what has happened to all people and why they must concern themselves with making positive changes.

11. I would want them, through knowledge, sensitivity and honesty to be able to cry for all the children who have been abandoned as wards of the state.





Find writings discussing author Paul Hill's work and commitment to carrying on the tradition of Rites of Passage and African centeredness in Social Work Practice, including in the work by author Ronald L. Grimes, Deeply Into the Bone: Re-Inventing Rites of Passage.

Brother Hill is author of Coming of Age: African American Male Rites of Passage, and also The Journey: Adolescent Rites of Passage. His work is said to "call upon the collective consciousness, will, knowledge, and creativity of the Black community to institutionalize Rites of Passage as part of the socialization process for rearing male children."

This piece is reprinted from Paul Hill Jr.'s website, "The Drum" at www.ritesofpassage.org.




Reach out to Paul Hill Jr. at NROPI@aol.com



Copyright © Paul Hill Jr., 1995



Also see Black Child Rearing, Education, Health and Wellness at "Ravaged Cultures."

Photo Credits:

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"Proud Woman," Courtesy of: African Millennium Foundation, www.african-millennium.com

"Agave2." Courtesy of: John Villinski, Abstract Southwest, www.abstractsouthwest.com

African “Egghead” and Black Man in White
Courtesy of: Gene Pearson, Gene Pearson Studio, www.genepearsonsculpture.com


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Baby fern growing from the sides of a strong log.