COURTESY VICTOR ARMSTRONG

Victor Armstrong is director of the North Carolina Division of Mental Health.

Dear Black Son,

You are fearfully and wonderfully made, strong in body and mind, fleet of foot and fleet of thought. You are my treasure; a brown skinned vessel in which I will pour all of my hopes and dreams. One day you will grow to be a man. As a black man, you will wear many hats; husband, father, son, brother. You will sometimes be loved, sometimes despised. But you will seek neither; only to be respected. You will be both feared and revered, for such is the life of a black man.      

You will often be tempted to make yourself small, even encouraged to do so, yet you will lift your head high, and be the light that the world needs to see. You will someday raise sons of your own, and you will rejoice in their growth yet fear for their safety, as I will with you, and my father did with me. You will teach them to be proud Black men. You will teach them, as you were taught, to respect themselves and to respect others; to love their country and their God.

You will witness injustice, yet you will always speak your truth and be true to yourself, even when those around you encourage you to conform, and demand your silence. You will be a voice for the voiceless, even when others choose to be silent. You will love fiercely, fight gallantly, and sometimes hurt deeply. You will often question why?

You will witness inhumanity and injustice, yet you will find hope and peace in friendships formed with likeminded souls, black, white, brown, LGBTQ and straight. You will lose faith in humanity and have it restored time and again.

At times, you will become weary and you’ll want to give up, but you won’t. You will persevere as your ancestors did, when the chains and whips of oppressors tore at their flesh, and when dogs and water hoses demanded their compliance. You will meet cruelty with compassion. You will meet intolerance with understanding. You will meet indifference and complacency with passion and determination.

You will often be tempted to hang your head in defeat. Instead you will remember my words. You will lift your eyes to the hills and be reminded that you are more than enough. You have the blood of kings in your veins. You are strong, smart, fierce and resilient. Let no one tell you otherwise...ever.

With love,
Your Black Father

Victor Armstrong is director of the North Carolina Division of Mental Health.

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