Amos Wilson’s “The Developmental Psychology of the Black Child” examines the behavior of black children and attributes the social, intellectual, and economic failures on their parents and the prevalent African-American culture which has seemed to promote low achievement and provides excuses for societal failure. These assertions are backed by his observation of the ways in which black parents carry low expectations of their children starting from a very young age in grammar school, which follows them through their adult life. Having an anti-intellectual personality creates a grade-school child who is not motivated to perform well academically and is therefore not prepared for college. Once the adult black child experiences high unemployment rates, they are doomed to become dependent on the system which is designed to provide their needs and in a sense is also designed to discourage them from making efforts to succeed socially (Wilson, 2014).

Wilson’s arguments faced much criticism, especially from those that disagree that is the fault of the black parents as well as the black culture that should be at fault for the high dependency and low socio-economic status of many black children as they turn into adults. Instead, these critics suggest that white supremacy is to blame for these intellectual and societal failures and that because black children are born in this “system”, they are inevitably doomed to the traps that have been laid for their failure (“White supremacy and the black experience – The Boston Globe,” 2016). It is this position of Wilson’s critics that I feel that does not fully explore his arguments from a factual, evidence-based stand-point, but rather from an emotional one instead.

In my opinion, while Wilson’s book has difficult portions to digest such as how the single black mother teaches her black children to depend on the government system rather than to excel academically and providing on their own, it definitely holds some truths. This argument reminds me of the harm that the black family, especially black children, suffered as a result of movements such as the feminist movement and the social programs of the 1960s. The damage done to black families during this era included the new dependence on government for food and other financial assistance and negated to support the existence of a wholesome and productive nuclear family.

I feel that Wilson makes a strong argument when he states that the practice of discouraging back children to do well in school definitely has some roots in black culture. As one listens to the latest forms of music that is predominately supported and consumed by young black listeners, it is clearly observable the songs do not contain messages of hope and inspiration, but rather failure and carelessness instead. A lot of the music encourages promiscuity, criminal behavior and being proud of low achievement; ironically, some of these same music artists will make the claim that the system of white supremacy is to be blamed and that black children are victims. In my opinion, I agree that they are indeed victims, but are victims of their own culture and negative reinforcement at home.

Finally, Wilson discusses the idea that black parents may in fact be socializing their black children to holding a sense of inferiority to white children. This statement, of course, is controversial; however, must reflect on the strong parental support of black parents during the Civil Rights movement as they fought through the federal courts to mandate integrated public education. The primary argument for this mandate was that in order for black children to excel at the rate of their white counter-parts, they must be entwined with them. For me, this argument sends the message that black children cannot be academically successful on their own and therefore must in fact have at least some inferiority to whites. This is the main focal point in Wilson’s book, which poses the question of who is making black children inferior. I believe it is a legitimate question that must deal with some difficult facts in order to be fairly and accurately answered, but Wilson brings to light the tough and most interesting points to examine.