Words by Shurida Lundi
Being Black in America. An issue that African-Americans will have to deal with for the rest of their lives. Black men and women suffer for the color of their skin and have to watch what they say, their actions, where they go and so much more. The author of We’re Going to Need More Wine Gabrielle Union, visited The View and hit it right on the nail on what it is like to raise black sons in America.
“It’s terrifying,” Union said when Whoopi Goldberg asked her to speak about raising her stepsons and Dwayne Wade’s nephew. Union and Wade live in Florida which is an open carry state, a Stand Your Ground state. On Snapchat, Union watched the kids doing the drive-by dunk challenge. That challenge requires the kids driving around the neighborhood, getting out the car to dunk in any basketball hoops they see. Watching Snapchat, Union said “I’m looking at Snapchat, and I see our boys are doing the dunk challenge,” Union said. “And I literally, my arm goes numb, and I’m panicked. But they second they got home, I was like, ‘They can kill you and get away with it, because now you’re trespassing.’”
She has had to make their kids understand that they aren’t like their friends and don’t have the ability to talk back to authorities. She wants them to be able to “reap the benefits” of her and her husband’s hard work but as Black boys unfortunately they can’t. She had to let them know the cold truth and told them “You’ll die.” She called it one of the “black truth bombs” that needed to be told to them so they understand.
Press play above and skip ahead to 20:00 to watch what Gabrielle Union had to say about raising young black men in America.
