(ThyBlackMan.com) At some point in our lives we experience it. The individual with just enough information to make a point that sounds sensible but no real foundational information to defend it. A great quote by Eraldo Banovac is “Superficial knowledge is potentially more dangerous than ignorance. It gives a false sense of security encouraging an ignorant man to persevere in his efforts that can result in huge damage.”
Recently Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union revealed to the world that Dwayne’s twelve year old son Zion will be identifying as a female moving forward and going by the name Zaya. While troubling to some because of the age of the child, that is still their decision as a family. I’m not a part of the Wade family nor am I connected in any way so I really didn’t have too much to say about it other that “okay, doesn’t really affect my life so oh well.”
Then out of the dregs of the internet the backlash began. From regular individuals to Internet personalities and even real life celebrities. The most vocal of recent was the rapper from Baton Rouge Torrence “Boosie Badazz” Hatch Jr. In all transparency I knew from the moment a friend sent me the link to his instagram post I was in for foolishness and to my dismay he did not disappoint.
Before I discuss Boosie any further I definitely want to clarify some of what we know at this moment. Firstly at no point was Sexual Reassignment Surgery mentioned much less the use of hormones to prevent male puberty. What was discussed was recognizing someone using a different name and different pronouns. That was literally the entirety of the announcement. The fact that Zion would from that point be addressed as Zaya and her pronouns moving forward would be she/her. In itself I don’t entirely see the harm to it. Suicide rates among the LGBTQ+ community are some of the highest of any demographic especially among youths due to the reported cases of bullying and discrimination they receive which adds to an already difficult situation between the children and family who potentially don’t approve of their life choices.
Here’s what I have to offer on my original point. We all know that knowledge is power. We know that educating one’s self allows us to be able to speak on a topic from not only a position of power but respectability. People live different lives and have always done so, now it’s just more open and exposed and not everyone can handle that easily. For many years just being homosexual was incredibly hard to swallow for a lot of people much less the difficult conversations that come along with gender identity.
These conversations are only going to become more difficult as time moves forward and as more people begin to openly live as who they are and who they want to be. As individuals who may not be a part of the community, we may have trouble understanding why someone makes the choices they do. The onus is on us to educate ourselves. To be properly informed so that not only can we navigate these waters but when our children encounter these situations we can help them and answer the tough questions from a place of knowledge and wisdom and not a place of ignorance and fear.
Staff Writer; Martin Denesse