FRANKLIN ARMSTRONG, BLACK CHILDREN, AND THEIR WAR WITH WHITE SUPREMACY
In 1968, the nation was responding to the Civil Rights Movement. By April 4, the most noted leader of the Movement, Martin Luther King was assassinated, some schools were integrating, and retired, white school teacher, Harriet Glickman writes Charles Schulz (creator of Charlie Brown), to add a Black-character, to his Peanuts line up. Ginned up, with the desire to contribute to ending “misunderstanding, hate, fear, and violence,” that made up the 1968 nation (to the present), Glickman believed that Schulz could promote tolerance and interracial friendship, by including a Black character to his comic strip. Schulz used Glickman’s collected information based on her two Black friends, to create, Franklin. Franklin, a non-nuanced character, debuted on July 29, 1968. Franklin Armstrong and Black children contend with white supremacy in their daily lives.
Glickman conceived of a Black character, to allow Black and white children, to see themselves in the same classroom. There was backlash, by white supremacists, upon Franklin’s debut. Franklin lives in a neighborhood, over from Charlie Brown. His father, is a soldier that is fighting in the Vietnam War. He is quiet, confident, never says unkind words, smart, who obsesses over grades, quotes his grandfather, can play the guitar, baseball, and is in the Little League, 4H club and on the swim club. Glickman, envisioned Franklin to be “witty, smart, and quick on his feet.” The shaping of Franklin Armstrong, by two white people, (a woman and man),with two Black people’s input, provides the context, that befalls, contemporary Black children.
For a generation, who viewed Franklin in 1968 saw a character, fighting real-life wars, that periodically played out on tv and in newspapers’ comic sections, when he was included. What they saw, was, Franklin fighting a war, that is White Supremacy, in daily life. Specifically, Franklin’s wars are; his father was fighting a white supremacist war, in Vietnam, preventing the taking of the content of his character by other Peanuts characters, and to achieve in the classroom, while living in a single-parent household (because his father is in Vietnam). This is a continuing war, that contemporary Black children continue to fight in their daily lives, with a few differences for contemporary times.
Contemporary Black children’s wars are, being seen as smart, a Drug War that has taken their parents off to jail and prison, 72% are growing up in single-parent Black-households, headed by mostly Black women, and not being suspended from school. Franklin was an “A” student and “obsessed” over his grades. Contemporary Black children reported in a survey that 55% of those with some college experience believed that “people acted suspicions of them,” whereas 38% of those with “no college experience” reported the same. Further, 52% of those with “some college experience” reported that people did not believe that they were not smart, whereas 37% of those with “no college experience,” reported the same. Because Franklin’s father was fighting the Vietnam War, he was growing up in single-parent household, headed by a Black women. Contemporary Black children, are losing their parents to the Drug War, that these parents did not sign up to fight. In the United States, 5 million children, have or have had, an incarcerated parent or 1:14 and are men. However, for Black children, it is 1:9 have or have had, an incarcerated parent. Specifically, 331K Americans were incarcerated in 2013 for a drug offense, with most being Black men. Black children, face a Drug War, that takes their parents, off to jail, and they face trying to fend off being suspended from school. Franklin was an excellent student,in school and sat in front of Peppermint Patty. However, contemporary Black children face most likely not being in school. Specifically, Black boys are three times likely to be suspended than white boys, and Black girls are four times likely to be suspended than white girls. Further, the misbehavior of Black children, are seen as criminal and is criminalized, in comparison to other students. A suspension, will impact the academic success of the student. In addition, issues associated with, the mass incarceration, resulting from the Drug War that has taken a parent, along with living in a single parent household resulting from or apart from the Drug War, while trying to manage their feelings about the aforementioned and fend off sterotype from mostly white female teachers, who rule the classrooms, maybe contributing to the suspension rate.
Glickman wanted to change the conditions of 1968, which she characterized as a “sea of misunderstanding, hate, fear, and violence.” She wanted a Black character, to be included, in Charlie Brown’s world, to help with tolerance and interracial friendship, which was Franklin’s war to win. Schulz created the character, and like the introduction,of the first “20-some odd Negroes,” to Jamestown, in 1619, the backlash was swift. However, the wars, that Franklin was purposed to win, have been handed to contemporary Black children, and seems to have worsen and widened between the Black and white children. While Schulz created an introductory scene that he believed Glickman would be “pleased” with, there seems to be no such real-life scene, that finds Black people “pleased,” nor unlike Franklin’s description, Black children, are doing, as well. However, Black parents, must be made aware of the wars wrought by White Supremacy, that our children are fighting, feel insecure, and are appearing to be losing. Black parents must do something about helping Black children to win their wars against white supremacy.
A clip from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
