Scary

About twenty years ago I was in a play. My son was two years old. The night of the dress rehearsal the cast was backstage talking. I was the only Black member of the cast. The rest were white. One of the women started talking about how adorable her nephew was when he was a little boy but when he became a teenager, "he started looking and acting all scary." She said "boys do that." Another cast member joined the conversation and said that her teenager wasn't scary at all. The first woman replied that it doesn't happen to ALL boys and then turned to me and said, "you're definitely going to experience this." She had never met my son. To my knowledge she wasn't a psychic. I wasn't even in the conversation. My son is not scary looking or acting. Not to me anyway. In fact, he is very well mannered and quite handsome. But these are the kinds of people he has to deal with out in the world. These are the women he has to serve on his job. These are the women working at his home bank, at restaurants throughout the city. These are the women who drive the buses, Ubers, Lyfts. These women are police officers, approve or decline loans, are property managers, sit in jury boxes. Do you see what I'm saying here? Do you really? Tell me how irrational it is for Black parents to pray that extra prayer when our children leave home. As if they even have to leave home.