Background. At school, during a moment of anger my son (12) yelled out/called someone the n-word. I was so angry that I had to delay punishment in order to calm down and make it reasonable. Luckily, my wife and I managed to discuss the situation with him. What he yelled was in anger and he was just looking for the worst word he knew. When asked about whether he understood what it meant, he did not. The situation also kind of demonstrates this, both kids involved are Caucasian.
After thinking it over, we decided the best way to go at it would be make him learn the history/meaning and why this is worse to us than if he would have just swore with a more generic term. The goal is to have him read a book, and provide us with weekly chapter summaries. Problem is, not really sure what book to go with. My wife and I are more fiction/fantasy, and I would like a recommendation that is adequate length for him ( sub 300 pages if possible) whole dealing with the subject matter in a way that a 12/13 yr old can absorb.
by Nirulex
7 Comments
Randall Kennedy is the author you are looking for.
There’s a young reader edition of Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi. My son read it in eighth grade as a grade-wide text at school, and our conversations were so interesting. We both learned a lot.
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibrahm X Kendi. There’s a regular version and a Young Adult version
If you aren’t able to explain the history and the meaning yourselves, maybe you and your husband should read a book instead?
N*****: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word by Randall Kennedy
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
a contemporary, accessible take on the racial landscape in America, addressing head-on such issues as privilege, police brutality, intersectionality, micro-aggressions, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the “N” word.
While some might think it’s too mature for his age, I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X when I was about his age and it really impacted me. There’s an audiobook read by Laurence Fishburne that’s really fantastic.
Between the world and me by Ta Nehise Coats