Mar 2016
BLACK TAX
Having given birth to you, having raised you....there is a need for our parents to be taken care of "in return" once you are well groomed and independent of them. Ideally it was more of common courtesy, a reflex need to care, a way of saying thank you for raising me but no! As new age kids we call it 'Black tax'. Why black? Because black families are the only ones that practice it(as compared to white or other families). Why tax? Because we feel we are being charged for the support our parents gave us from birth until our independence. You think your parents called it "pregnancy/birth tax" when they had to feed you, bathe you, pay for your school fees, buy you clothes until you got to where you are now? No! I don't think so. It was out of love. We feel it as a burden because the rest of the society is not doing it. We feel it's a drag because we have associated ourselves with people who know zilch about our backgrounds and culture and therefore tell us it is wrong. We feel it is uncalled for because new age motivational speakers told us that we are our parents' responsibility and not the other way round. It is disappointing that we feel this way about having to take care of our families, people who wholeheartedly raised us and made sure that we had everything we needed. We ought to be reminded that "charity begins at home" ergo we may not drive lavish cars, live in fancy houses, impress our friends and partners with expensive gifts while our families back at home are struggling for a piece of bread and living in shacks. Although some may be coming from rich backgrounds there should still be something that you could do for your family not because they cannot afford it but because you can and most of all want to do it. We should spontaneously take care of our families without dread. It should be a reflex and something that you enjoy doing. I acknowledge that you get your own bills to pay but if you care enough, among those bills should be appreciation bills to your family. But then again you are going to tell me that "times have changed"
Having given birth to you, having raised you....there is a need for our parents to be taken care of "in return" once you are well groomed and independent of them. Ideally it was more of common courtesy, a reflex need to care, a way of saying thank you for raising me but no! As new age kids we call it 'Black tax'. Why black? Because black families are the only ones that practice it(as compared to white or other families). Why tax? Because we feel we are being charged for the support our parents gave us from birth until our independence. You think your parents called it "pregnancy/birth tax" when they had to feed you, bathe you, pay for your school fees, buy you clothes until you got to where you are now? No! I don't think so. It was out of love. We feel it as a burden because the rest of the society is not doing it. We feel it's a drag because we have associated ourselves with people who know zilch about our backgrounds and culture and therefore tell us it is wrong. We feel it is uncalled for because new age motivational speakers told us that we are our parents' responsibility and not the other way round. It is disappointing that we feel this way about having to take care of our families, people who wholeheartedly raised us and made sure that we had everything we needed. We ought to be reminded that "charity begins at home" ergo we may not drive lavish cars, live in fancy houses, impress our friends and partners with expensive gifts while our families back at home are struggling for a piece of bread and living in shacks. Although some may be coming from rich backgrounds there should still be something that you could do for your family not because they cannot afford it but because you can and most of all want to do it. We should spontaneously take care of our families without dread. It should be a reflex and something that you enjoy doing. I acknowledge that you get your own bills to pay but if you care enough, among those bills should be appreciation bills to your family. But then again you are going to tell me that "times have changed"
#BlackTax #Black #Culture #Tradition
