By The Rev. Esau Mccaulley, Ph.D.

The coronavirus forces parents to weigh their kids’ safety against the need for freedom — a tension Black parents have been contending with for generations.

I drove my oldest son, a middle schooler, to his baseball game a few miles down the road. There was a slight breeze, a perfect setting for summer activity.

On the field, it looked like a standard summer of boys learning the nuances of the sport, some further along the road to adult coordination than others. What stood out were the masks on all their faces: a visual reminder that we are in the summer of Covid-19. Joy and sadness, normalcy and profound change competed among the young athletes for our attention.

During the game we parents stood at least six feet away from one another. We discussed the opening of school in the fall, the politicization of wearing masks in public, and how quickly life had changed. We talked about how the last time we saw one another it was at the tryouts for the team in early March, before the world shut down. They asked me how I planned to teach my college students with all the changes, and I answered that I did not know.

The preceding article was first published by The New York Times July 23, 2020. To read the complete article, you may click this link to read the original.

The Rev. Esau McCaulley, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Dr. McCaulley’s research and writing focuses on Pauline theology and the intersection of race, Christian identity, and the pursuit of social justice. He is also a priest in the Anglican Church in North America where he serves as Provincial Director for Leadership Development, which involves oversight of the recruitment and formation of clergy and lay leaders. He is one of the creators of Call and Response ministries, an organization committed to hosting conferences and creating resources for Black and Multi-Ethnic churches. Dr. McCaulley graduated in 2013 from Nashotah House, having received the Master’s in Sacred Theology degree (STM).