Black Dr. Spocks

"Shut up, you black bitch!" shouted the nursery school student as she gave her black doll a sound wallop. The toddler--a little black girl--was just "playing house." Her teacher--a white woman--did not know what to say. Should she remonstrate with the child and tell her that "black is beautiful" or something of the sort? The answer, say two black psychiatrists, is no: the concept of black pride "is too intellectual" at this age. "In a case like this, you could say, 'Nadine, I'm sure the baby will stop crying if you hold her rather than hit her or call her names.' "

This kind of cool, specific advice runs throughout Black Child Care (Simon & Schuster; $9.95). Its authors are Dr. Alvin Poussaint, 41, associate dean of students at Harvard Medical School, and Dr. James Comer, 40, professor at Yale University Child Study Center. Their book, written in question-and-answer format, is a stage-by-stage study of the black child's development from infancy through adolescence.

Color Awareness. Though much of the book is about child rearing generally, it is made clear from the outset that the problems facing black children in the U.S. are unique--and severe. As early as age three, say the authors, black children become aware of their color and race; they observe the differences between blacks and whites on television and on the street and bombard their parents with questions like "What is black?" and "Am I black?" Sometimes a four-year-old will simply announce that he is white: "Children often want to be like people they want to be friendly with."

If children do not start asking questions about color by age four or five, parents should take heed. The authors advise: "It is probably best to think about what you are doing to turn off your child's interest in the question."

Racism, too, should be confronted early on. Stating bluntly that "racism is everywhere," Poussaint and Comer urge parents not to spend all their energy fighting it, but not to accept it either. "If a child is always asked by other children to play the horse but never the rider, the cook but never the mother being served, the porter but never the traveler, you may want to withdraw your child from the play," they suggest. They also argue that parents have every right to tell their children to refuse rituals like pledging allegiance to the flag if the parents consider them symbols of a society that "has not lived up to its part of the contract with black people." If they believe this, say the authors, parents might explain to a child: " 'Liberty and justice for all' should mean you but it doesn't." At the same time, they should suggest some kind of substitute ritual like a "pledge to humanity."

The psychiatrists recommend an assertive stance for black children. In the past, aggressive black males were likely to be in danger of being beaten or arrested; as a result, some parents tried to crush normal aggressive behavior in their children when they were very young. Today, there is another worry. Explain Poussaint and Comer: "We blacks have a concern about the threat of training or 'brainwashing' black children to be passive or nonaggressive. We fear this has or can lead to acceptance of and adjustment to an unjust society." Blacks must always stand up for their rights, they believe, especially before authority figures, but never in self-destructive ways. When a policeman, for example, calls a black a "nigger," the incident should be reported immediately to the N.A.A.C.P. or another group in a position to take action. The authors also advise blacks to become active in the N.A.A.C.P. and similar organizations.

Denouncing violence and drug use (even smoking marijuana) in the black community, the authors urge black youths to "actively enter gun-control and drug-control campaigns." Teens, they believe, are especially concerned with redefining blackness and with confronting the stereotyped notion that blackness in America is "poverty, broken homes, troubled communities; ability in athletics; singing, dancing, pimping and mugging; hating whites and not being too smart." This definition of blackness, say the authors, can lead to "absolute terror" and conflict in those black teens "who would like to have friendships with blacks or whites, who enjoy Beethoven as much as Isaac Hayes' Hot Buttered Soul, who prefer algebra to basketball."

Black youths, like whites, have a high suicide rate, but older blacks do not; overall, the black suicide rate is about one half the white rate. Says Poussaint: "One great advantage blacks have is that they have always been brought up to expect trouble in this world." The trouble will not soon abate, but Black Child Care may help make things easier in the future.

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