Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In the Cafeteria

Beverly Daniel Tatum wrote the article Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria as a way to look at why black kids seem to attract each other. Tatum points out that as young children kids do not care about race but more about just playing and having fun, but when they get older the mind set changes. She says one thing that happens is puberty; at this time people are trying to figure out who they are, and the reason that black kids think of themselves in terms of race is because society does.
Tatum uses her son as an example saying that because he is ten years old society focuses on the fact that he is tall for a ten year old but as he gets older he will be seen as the big black guy not the tall ten year old. She also talks about the events that make the person have to acknowledge their race like being the only black kid in the honors class.
Speaking as a black person I can honestly say I agree with Tatum and her theories. Most times as a child I had no problem being around a lot of white children but as I got older I was told in many ways that I should want to be around more black people. I realize that as the race issue became clearer to me it was not race its self that brought me closer to black people but the understanding that other black people had of my situation. I could not go to my white friends and relate to them about little things like hair or clothes much less bigger issues like racism.
Tatum’s article is a great look into why the black kids are gathering so to speak and though it may not invoke change it does shine a light onto a much overlooked situation.