I eagerly clicked the link when I saw this story come in this evening. I’ve been doing research on a piece concerning African American kids, disorders and high intelligence when I discovered what could have been a very charming and inspirational story.

It’s not everyday that you read about a little Black girl who is more intelligent than dam near everyone on Earth but…

Anala Beevers is just four years old, but she already knows the location and capital of every US state. She learned the alphabet at four months of age, then at eighteen months learned numbers in Spanish. The precociously intelligent youngster claims she’s smarter than her parents, and both mom and dad agree.

Her genius has not gone unnoticed, and has led to an invitation to join MENSA, an international organization for the ‘super-smart.’ MENSA, which is mostly populated by adults, usually claims members with intelligence in the top 2% of the populace. Anala, who can also identify planets and dinosaurs, is in the top 1%.

“She keeps us on our toes,” says her father Landon, who would like to see her get her own reality TV show. When asked what she wants to do when she grows up, Anala says she’d like to be a nurse.

Yeah, the part about the reality show, a tear fell from my eye when I read that. Not only are the parents of little Anala being terribly short sighted with her potential. The fact that they skipped over the entire potential of her educational abilities speaks wonders to what motivates people of lower economic status.

How do I know the Beever’s are lower status earners?

Because without the immediate observed benefit of what an education can do for one’s lifestyle, a lower class person goes for the most obvious choice that serves their most basic need. They see and may watch reality shows, the people on these shows give the impression of being stable and well off, if they were to get a show for their child then they too, can be well off.

Their hierarchy of needs is very askew, as is the point of view of many lower economic African American’s. Material possessions are a commodity to enjoy now, since tomorrow isn’t promised, and poor people know when their ship has finally come in.

Apparently the little Analais right.

I think she is smarter than her parents.

They know, that upon this story going viral (and it will) they can almost guarantee a few networks calling to pitch proposals. They will jump at the chance to showcase their barely above a toddler child for whatever she’s worth, right now, even if it means damaging her potential for later.

Reality show celebs don’t display the best behaviors; why expose her to this environment?

She probably won’t be able to transition a reality show into an actual career; these people are not taken seriously as actors after their show has run its course, and to be honest, child stars don’t exactly have a great reputation even when they are talented. I used to be a child performer, take my word for it.

It’s not fun, nor nurturing, nor a very empowering place to be for a child. Not to mention the amount of child predators that frequent such industries. But I digress.

So I ask again? Why isn’t her intellect and educational aptitude as a 4 year old genius (or her privacy and quality of care…she is 4) more important than a rented home, a food and transportation budget, and a few years of the consuming and predatory public’s surface level voyeuristic interest in her life as a four year old genius con reality star?

Will they tune in to witness her demise? Will her parents let them is the question…………