5 Surreal Realities Black Children Face

Good things? We hope it's good things.

Nope! At Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Massachusetts, staff gave 15-year-old twins Mya and Deanna Cook detention, banned them from prom, kicked them off the school's sports teams, and threatened them with suspension. Their crime: wearing hair extensions to class. The school said that extensions, along with makeup and nail polish, were against the dress code, in order to "reduce the wealth disparity among students." Yep, whenever we see someone with braids, our working-class lifestyle is shaken to its very foundation.

In another case, a Kentucky high school sent parents an updated dress code policy which stated that "[Hairstyles] that are extreme, distracting, or attention getting will not be permitted. No dreadlocks, cornrows, twists, mohawks, and no jewelry will be worn in hair" as well as "afros more than two inches in length." You might recognize almost every item on that list as a common black hairstyle. Most of them are just low-maintenance, low-cost alternatives to other hairstyles. The dress code all but forces black girls to straighten their hair to conform to the "right" way. Or at least, something that rhymes with "right" ...

In Boston, researchers found a higher density of tobacco retailers near schools in minority neighborhoods. In California, as the black population of a school rises, so too does the ratio of menthol cigarette advertising.

Kool

Newport"Quick, what do black people like?"
"Spinning records and ... uh ... Frisbees?" -- tobacco ad meeting

It doesn't help that tobacco and cigarette retailers in black areas are less likely to check IDs. And sure, when you're 16, that's Jerry the cool cashier -- but to the rest of the world, that's a worrying trend.

Applying adult standards to unprepared children has a few dire side effects, one of which is that schools are more likely to punish their black students. Another study showed that black girls were 3.6 times more likely to receive out-of-school suspension. Black boys are also perceived as older, are more likely to be thought of as guilty, and more frequently face police violence. A good example is Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old whom police opened fire on two seconds after arriving on the scene after a gun threat was called in.

The police officer stated that he thought Tamir was at least 18 years old, and further saw him as a physical threat. We would take this opportunity to mock that cop for being so instantly and mortally terrified of a 12-year-old boy, but that boy is now dead.

That is clearly a white girl with straight hair. Now, "biracial" comes in a lot of packages, but that wasn't what the author envisioned. The publisher had to change the cover after both the author and fans complained.

Bloomsbury USA Childrens“Guess we might as well finish designing the cover while we’re at it.”

The Crimson Moon series features another biracial protagonist, yet the covers all sport a white model who might be getting a tan as the series progresses.

St. Martin's PaperbacksIt doesn’t help that those covers look like self-published erotica.

Then there's Daughter Of The Centaurs, which takes place in Africa and features a character clearly described as having dark hair and skin.

Random House Books“Nonwhite centaurs? What is this, some kind of fantasy?!”

So if you're a nonwhite teen and want to read a book about someone a bit like you, good news! Those are out there. But, uh ... good luck finding it in the bookstore. Wait, that was stupid and reactionary of us -- good luck finding it on Amazon.

Follow Alyssa on Twitter, because she needs more followers. Joel Kirk resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is amused when people compare his features to those of actor John Boyega.

We're not even kidding, those books were kind of a pain to find on Amazon. We'd also like to recommend I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou because there's a lot of important stories about growing up black in it.

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For more check out 5 Realities Of Being A Mixed-Race Child When That's Illegal and I Was Raised As A Racist: 6 Weird Things I Learned.

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