I love being Black. That’s just part of how I was raised. From the time we were little, my brothers and I were taught by our parents to love our blackness and to support Black people in all our strivings. But as I grew older I realized that my stalwart Black pride was not enough when it comes to the underlying desires that I have for the full freedom of Black people. I had so much more to learn (and unlearn) about ideologies and systemic injustices and sexism and homophobia and transphobia and intersectionality and conservative theologies and the war on drugs and capitalism and a ton of other complicated things that are behind how racism manifests in this world.
Over the years I have learned a lot and I constantly continue to learn, but I also realize that if I were not intentional about seeking out liberating ways of of thinking, then my mind would be molded into the patterns of this world… And, to be blunt, the default patterns of this world are racist and sexist and ableist and militiristic and… well, you get the point.
So what does all this have to do with toys?
Ever since my nephew was born, I have spent a lot of time around him. And the more time that I have spent around him and other little kids, the more that I have become hyper aware of how our ways of thinking–the good and the bad–get passed on to the next generation. One day in March of 2019 I was clearing my mind by writing lyrics to the cadence of J. Cole’s “Middle Child,” and a few bars I wrote are about exactly what I’m speaking on here. Here’s the clean version:
Hope is contagious: emotional flu
sexism, greed, complacency too
so I don’t take this stuff lightly when kids stand beside me inhaling the breath that I blew
trust there’s a reason I’m different: I grew
light mixed with poison, respire O2
You take the same when you 8 when you 80, lil’ homie, be real what that say about you?
I don’t like explaining poetry because it takes away from the joy of discovery that comes with experiencing art. (It’s like explaining why a joke is funny.) But–lest I leave you completely in the dark–I will say this: I realized that I want to be intentional about the ideologies that I pass on to the youth and I hope to equip them with tools so that the light inside them can transform the toxic status quo which permeates the air around us into a breath of life. In the process, the kids I influence can truly grow (unlike that little selfish dude in The Giving Tree). That, in a nutshell, is what I’m trying to do with Black Toys Matter.
On this website, I’m telling the story of how I intend to bequeath these toys as an inheritance far more valuable than the price tag they are labeled with. With each of these toys that I pass down, I am coupling it with ideas–with a background and some depth–in a way that will teach my little ones (my nephew, my son and future kids, hopefully my godson and the children of my friends, maybe a random reader here and there) creative ways to think about laudable and dangerous ideologies. With my writing here, I hope to couple these toys with very particular contexts so that my little ones (and I) will play in a way that teaches them to critique various worldviews; to question the utility of violence; to interrogate the government and its interests; to believe in redemption for everyone; to admire Black women, Black men, disabled people, and queer people as leaders; to appreciate same-gender-loving relationships as normal; to deal with trauma and depression and addictions in healthy ways; to value the authenticity of Afro-diasporic religions and Black culture; to imagine a future unconstrained by fatalism; and to practice the love of laughter as a fortification against all the forces that assail us.
Yeah, it’s a high bar to leap, but if I’m going to keep taking out toys and playing with these kids, then I can’t keep doing this shallow and deeply problematic “good guys vs. bad guys fight-to-the-finish” crap. I can imagine more and I’m going to teach my little ones to imagine more as if the future depends on it.
Got questions or comments? Please hit me up on Instagram @BlackToysMatterBlog.