Let Black Kids Just Be Kids Analysis

A popular topic that is constantly being discussed and argued about is the innocence of children and the effects of race on childhood innocence. Two authors, Robin Bernstein and Erica Meiners discuss this topic and provide an explanation and situations in which race was a key factor in determining the life stage and innocence of an individual. Bernstein published an article, “Let Black Kids Just be Kids”, about the innocence of kids based on race and the different perspectives on children throughout the years. Meiners published a book, “For the Children? Protecting Innocence in a Carceral State”, focusing on the idea that childhood is not accessible to everyone. Both authors agree that only white people have access to innocence and childhood. In her article, Bernstein introduces her main argument, that black children are seen as more adult-like and less innocent, by remembering Trayvon Martin. Martin was 17 when he was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who admitted at his hearing that he thought Trayvon was much older than he actually was. Bernstein introduces the different views and ideas of enlightenment thinkers and earlier generations on children. These ideas varied from children being blank slates to children naturally being sinful and having guilty states. In the 19th century innocence was introduced as the most important quality that distinguished children from adults. However, many writers and and playwrights made it eventually clear that “only white kids were allowed to be innocent” and that children of color, especially black children, were “being defined as non-children”. These early discriminatory ideas had a major indirect impact on the reason as to why Zimmerman thought that Martin was older and that he wasn’t a …show more content…
Let Black kids just be kids. New York Times July 25 2017
Meiners, E. (2017) For the Children? Protecting Innocence in a Carceral State. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. Chapter