OPINION: I’m sure his kids meant nothing by it, but manners matter, and my parents would have made me stand up on the spot when meeting ANYBODY in any venue.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more
So, yes, I’m surprised that Lil Wayne didn’t — in the moment — tell his boys, sternly (as my parents would do), to stand up. My parents wouldn’t even have to say “Stand up and shake her hand.” The “stand up” with “the look” would do all of the heavy lifting as I gathered myself and prayed that I didn’t also get a public talking to. Nobody likes a public talking to, especially kids. Thankfully at this point, my kids know that when I give them “the look,” they need to straighten up.
“The look” should be familiar to all, but in case it isn’t, “the look,” best executed by Black mothers in my experience, is the cutting of the eyes directed at a child who should know better but isn’t doing better. In my second-grade class picture at Atterberry Elementary School in Frankfurt, Germany, my teacher, Mrs. Williams, is giving “the look” to a kid named Eddie, and it’s caught on camera. I will never forget that picture. Point is, Lil Wayne didn’t even give the kids “the look” or make them stand up, and I’m confused by it all.
I am going to chalk this up to timing; Lil Wayne is a person who despite being an alien also has sense, and I know he and his kids’ mothers are raising their kids to be respectful citizens of the planet. And I know those kids probably know better than to sit down and shake a person’s hand, be it Queen Latifah or Khadijah James (you see what I did there?). And because social media rules the day, somebody will mention it to Lil Wayne, like his kids’ mothers, and the next time they’re out, those boys will be the quickest to their feet they’ve ever been.
It’s stuff like this that all parents notice and pay attention to. I think it’s cool that Lil Wayne wanted to introduce his kids to Queen Latifah. It’s that introduction that lets me know he knows better. He’s patient and polite. He waited patiently as she shook his youngest son’s hand and then politely said something to the effect of “These are my other two boys.” See? He has manners. And while I didn’t see Queen Latifah’s face, her body language didn’t look offended. So all is well that ends well, I suppose. But mark my words, those boys gon’ stand up next time. They have Black mothers and Black mothers don’t play.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest), but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said: “Unknown” (Blackest).
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