Hell of a Book

by Jason Mott

Every child like you in this country has been swallowed up by the monster since before they were even born. And every Black parent in the history of this country has tried to stop that monster from swallowing them up and has failed at it. And every day they live with that.” “How does that make them beat their children?” “Because even though you’re going to lose them and you know you’re going to lose them, a part of you would rather be the one to give them that pain because then you can control it. You can put a limit on it. You can build a wall around how much hurt they’re going to feel and if you build that wall high enough—with whippings, and spankings, and beatings—maybe you can keep them safe for just a little bit longer. Maybe you even go so far as to believe that you can actually keep them completely safe. That’s a lie, of course, but when the truth is bad enough, you’ll buy into any lie that you can. You’ll even go so far as to make the lie your own.”