This morning I woke up to tons of baby announcements from friends and family members who have never sent baby announcements in the past and as a matter of fact, hadn’t recently had a baby.

Since Jay-Z and Beyonce posted pictures of their beautiful baby girl on Tumblr, everyone and their grandmother forwarded the pictures of Blue Ivy and gushed over her beauty as if she were a beloved member of their family.  As a mother of a beloved son and someone who tries to live a life affirming the beauty and beloved-ness of ALL children, I am very pleased for the Carter family.  The birth of a child is an incredible blessing and I know they are excited, proud and filled with love as they begin their lives as Blue Ivy’s parents.  What is interesting to me is the number of people who are projecting onto Blue Ivy a love and wonder that they haven’t projected on children closer to them, children more accessible to them and children quite frankly who need it more than Blue Ivy.

I get the same sort of huh moment when I hear black folks talk with pride about Sasha and Malia Obama.  Yet in grocery stores or metro stations, while Sasha and Malia are praised, they are fussing at their own children or the children in their care.  The Carters will and the Obamas have already proven themselves to be extremely capable of raising their children and surrounding them with an inordinate amount of love and support.

Family, while we are quick to claim Blue Ivy, Sasha and Malia as our play-nieces – being proud of their beauty (that is a whole other discussion), grace, maturity and just their all around “kid-togetherness”, if we stick our chests out and claim those children as our own, we also need to take responsibility for the children who beat Atlanta teen, Brandon White for wearing skinny jeans.  If we can fill our beauty shop and barber shop visits with discussions of Willow Smith’s hair and how Sasha and Malia are faring at Sidwell, we need to devote some bandwidth to reaching back to those kids who don’t have their birth announcements heralded world wide or their haircuts analyzed in pop media.  Kids for whom their definition of masculinity is linked to the type of jeans you wear or don’t wear. 

We are a country that likes to say that all children are precious, however, sometimes our actions speak louder than words.

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