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am off to see my father now..my mother and i will pamper the hell out of him all day..
happy fathers day to all the men out there... and you single mothers holding it together too..
I am truly blessed to have the strong and supportive black man that is my father. He always made sure I knew I was loved and important. Thank you, Dad!
p.s. I purchased "Daughters of Men" for my Dad last Christmas. He was touched beyond words. Thanks, Ms. Vassel for honoring our unsung heroes. You're a true Daddy's girl :-)
Nation's Capital Built by Slaves May Soon House Its First Black President
New book shows irony how the Nation's capital was built by slaves
By Neil Foote Updated: Thu, 05/15/2008 - 17:19
The nation is riddled in debt. Elected officials are split among party lines, blaming each other for the inefficiencies of government. Racial politics are at the heart of the on-going debate about the future of the country. The public is disillusioned by the ‘back room' politics driving decision-making.
Sound familiar? That was 1790. Just 14 years after the Revolutionary War, this ‘great' nation was struggling with many of the same issues it is now. In his newly published book, "Washington, The Making of the American Capital" (Amistad/HarperCollins Publishers Imprint, 27.95, 384 pp) author Fergus M. Bordewich offers an insightful, thorough and ironic picture of America.
As the nation chooses what is likely to be its first African-American Democratic presidential nominee and potential president, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) would be making history in many ways. He would move full-time into a city that once was a bustling city for slave trade, and live in a house built by slaves.
"The practice of slavery is embedded in the founding of a capital, but it was hidden history," said Bordewich, whose last book, "Bound for Canaan" focused on the personalities involved in The Underground Railroad. "In a year when an African-American is about to be nominate as president, this book has immediacy and relevancy. If elected, [Sen. Obama] would be the first African-American living in the White House, and not just working there."
In "The Making of the American Capital", Bordewich said he tried to capture the sense that the development of the nation's capital almost became a "huge flop". "It was a race against time," said Bordewich, author of five books who has written for The New York Times, Smithsonian, and Atlantic Monthly, "and Washington treated it like a military campaign because he knew if he had failed, the capital would be returned to Philadelphia."
For President George Washington, his reputation was on the line. If he had failed, it was perceived that the country and the world watching with skeptical eyes would label the notion of the "United States of America" as a farce. For Thomas Jefferson, he struggled with his conflicting views on democracy and slavery.
In fact, Bordewich said construction was almost abandoned because major concerns with the private contractors used to build The Capitol and the White House. Corruption, labor problems, huge cost overruns and political opposition almost put the project to a halt.
Washington, a slave owner, stood firm, seeking to create an ‘imperial city' with its grand architecture. Another irony of this story is that William Thornton from the Caribbean island of Tortola, who designed The Capitol Building, owned slaves, but was an abolitionist.
The other key figure, Benjamin Banneker, was the most prominent African-American involved in the project - who wasn't a slave, Bordewich said. Known as a brilliant self-educated mathematician and astronomer, Banneker had become friends with the Ellicott family in Maryland. The family, devout Quakers who were also abolitionists, let the young genius borrow astronomical equipment.
Andrew Ellicott was hired to do the land survey for the capital project, and along with him, he brought Banneker who distinguished himself with his ability to provide crucial information to Ellicott and the developers. With that project under his belt, Bordewich said Banneker went on to publish numerous almanacs, and was admired by whites for his intellect,
"The construction of the capital was to be the first collective project of United States," Bordewich said. In the end, the project foreshadowed what's currently happening in the country. "In the end, Washington got what he wanted ... and in his waning days, he became an abolitionist."
SEVEN UNKNOWN FACTS CENTRAL TO ‘THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN CAPITAL'
1. Congress originally voted to place the national capital in the free state of Pennsylvania.
2. Establishment of the capital on the Potomac resulted from a backroom deal among Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, which took place over Jefferson's dinner table.
3. The Capitol Building was designed by a slave-owning abolitionist from the Caribbean island of Tortola, William Thornton.
4. The Capitol and the White House were built by slaves.
5. The development of Washington was the biggest real estate boondoggle in American history, up to that point, and was almost wrecked by scandalous machinations of land-grabbing speculators led by the richest man in the country, Robert Morris.
6. Construction of Washington was almost abandoned because of corruption, labor problems, giant cost overruns, political opposition, and public disillusionment.
7. The driving force behind the city's completion was George Washington, for whom the project was a personal obsession. He believed that the Potomac was destined to become a great commercial highway into the heart of North America, and that the city of Washington would become the nation's greatest metropolis.
Source: Fergus M. Bordewich, "Washington: The Making of the American Capital"
States may move to eliminate role of 'College' and move to new system
By PoliticsInColor News Staff Updated: Tue, 06/10/2008 - 19:07
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
First it was the presidential primary calendar that state legislatures across the country upended to give their voters a greater say this year in choosing candidates. Now a few states are orchestrating an overhaul of the way voters select the U.S. president.
Voters this fall will still use the Electoral College to determine the next occupant of the White House, but a movement is bubbling at the state level to bypass the process and instead ensure future presidents are the candidates who get the most votes nationwide — an outcome not always guaranteed under the current system.
Maryland last year became the first state to approve a “national popular vote” compact that would allocate all of its 10 electoral votes to the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide, rather than to the candidate who garners the most votes in the state, as is the case under the Electoral College.
New Jersey, Hawaii and Illinois have since followed suit and passed laws that would allot their collective 40 electoral votes the same way. Identical bills are moving in Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island, which have a total of 62 electoral votes.
These bills do nothing on their own and would take effect only when states that collectively have at least 270 electoral votes pass identical measures, since a candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Those who remember their history classes know that American voters don’t directly elect a president — states do through “electors” who typically vote for the candidate who drew the most votes in their state.
“Why are all the other elections in this country based on the popular vote except for the most important one, the presidency?” asks Barry F. Fadem, president of the National Popular Vote, a group based in California that aims to persuade state legislatures to implement a nationwide popular election of the president. He called today’s system “flat-out, wrong” and expressed optimism that enough states will pass the legislation in time for the 2012 presidential election.
National Popular Vote was launched in 2006 and is largely funded by its chairman, John R. Koza, a scientist best known for inventing the rub-off instant lottery ticket used by state lotteries and his work in genetic programming at Stanford University. In the 1980s, he and Fadem, an attorney, were active in promoting adoption of lotteries in the states.
Fadem and his supporters say that such a system would make every vote matter, not just those in “battleground states,” while critics argue that the approach is an end-run around the U.S. Constitution and wouldn’t necessarily be more fair than today’s arrangement.
John Samples, director of Cato’s Center for Representative Government in Washington, D.C., called the National Popular Vote campaign a “novel gimmick” that he said is “asking for a mess” if enacted.
Calls to reform or abolish the Electoral College were common after the 2000 presidential election, when former Vice President Al Gore won the popular vote, but didn't have enough votes in the right states to carry the electoral vote over Republican George W. Bush. While Bush won the popular vote in 2004, he could have lost the election if John Kerry (D) had won Ohio.
Despite the hand-wringing over what many call an obsolete election system, little has happened, largely because dumping the Electoral College means changing the U.S. Constitution, an arduous task that requires two-thirds approval of Congress and three-fourths of the states. The National Popular Vote would keep the Electoral College, but change the way electoral votes are awarded.
The way Fadem sees it, a national popular vote would generate the same kind of excitement and enthusiasm seen in the recent primaries because all states — and their voters — would matter.
Under the current system, candidates have no reason to poll, visit, advertise, organize, or pay attention to the concerns of states where they are safely ahead or hopelessly behind, Fadem said. For example, presidential nominees have long ignored California because the state is considered a solid “blue” state that will award its 55 electoral votes to the Democratic candidate.
Gary Gregg II, director of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and a fan of the Electoral College, agrees that the National Popular Vote would change the way candidates campaign, but not in a good way. Candidates would go where most of the votes are, namely cities. “Rural areas would never see a presidential candidate. Small states would never see a presidential candidate,” he said.
Gregg also predicted chaos if there were a close election and candidates challenged the vote count. “You would have the [2000] Florida recount replayed across the country … It would be a very ugly situation.”
Even some supporters of using the popular vote to elect the president have problems with the National Popular Vote’s campaign. “They are trying to circumvent the U.S. Constitution,” said Burdett Loomis, a professor of the political science at the University of Kansas, who advocates changing the system but by having Congress and the states debate the issue and amend the U.S. Constitution.
Fadem says his group is not thumbing its nose at the Constitution since states still would have their right to decide how to allocate their electoral votes.
Supporters also reject critics’ characterization that backers of the National Popular Vote are Democrats who are bitter about the 2000 elections.
“It’s not a partisan issue. This isn’t about electing a Democrat president, but electing a president democratically,” said Jamie Raskin, a Democratic state senator in Maryland, reiterating what he said when he introduced the National Popular Vote plan that was signed into law by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) last April. Raskin, a professor of constitutional law at American University in Washington, D.C, spoke to Stateline.org from Massachusetts, where he was discussing the measure with state lawmakers there.
But three Republican governors vetoed the bill when it landed on their desks. In his veto message, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “It disregards the will of a majority of Californians," pointing out that the state's electoral votes under the new system could be awarded to a candidate most Californians didn't vote for. Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle voiced the same concern when she vetoed the bill twice, but this year, lawmakers overrode her objection. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas last month rejected the measure, saying it would decrease the influence of small states, like Vermont.
Cato’s Samples said he wonders if voters who support the concept of a popular vote really understand how it would operate. “Do people in Maryland know under the National Popular Voter system, that their vote may go to someone who didn’t win their state?”
Still, despite the concerns of the National Popular Vote approach, even their critics give the group kudos for bringing the issue to the attention of voters and elected officials. “They are doing a service … We ought to be talking about this,” said Loomis of the University of Kansas.
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — What if the presidential primary worked more like a lottery with all the states having a chance at the ultimate prize of voting first in the nominating schedule, ending the coveted tradition of New Hampshire and Iowa leading the pack?
That’s a simplified version of one of several ideas being considered by top party and state officials, who aim to prevent a repeat of states’ helter-skelter scramble for early presidential primary dates in 2008.
While voters in Indiana and North Carolina go to the polls today (May 6) to help Democrats pick Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama as their nominee and Republicans rally behind John McCain, party insiders and state election officials are in informal talks to improve the presidential nominating contests for 2012 and beyond.
“Following the frenzied 2008 primary and caucus schedule that began just a few days into the new year, election officials have a strong interest in curbing the impacts of frontloading and restoring order to the process,” said Todd Rokita (R), Indiana secretary of state and president of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) during a bipartisan gathering at Harvard University here April 29 that brought together party and state leaders to discuss the presidential primary process.
While all sides agreed that this year’s historic run for the White House has energized voters, as evidenced by the record voter registration and primary turnout in many states, many are concerned that this cycle’s very early start was unfair to candidates and some voters.
Candidates were forced to start campaigning at Thanksgiving, giving an unfair advantage to highly funded candidates with name recognition, critics say.
And for some voters, their ballots may not count. States like Florida and Michigan were in such a mad dash to be first that they broke party rules and leapfrogged ahead — throwing into question whether their results will count and whether all their delegates can attend the nominating conventions this summer. The parties and states are still working on a compromise.
“It is time to stop the frontloading of the presidential nominating calendar so that states are not pitted against each other in a quadrennial attempt to land a prized early spot in the sequence of voting,” said Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson (R), co-chair of the NASS subcommittee on presidential primaries, who attended the conference.
For nearly a decade, NASS has been pushing its plan to overhaul the way presidential nominees are selected. Under its proposal, states would be divided into regions — the East, South, Midwest and West — and each of those regions would hold primaries, a month apart, between March and June. New Hampshire and Iowa would still be allowed to go first.
NASS’s push to change the system stalled until the past year when 28 states rushed to either move up their primaries or caucuses or decided to have one after not holding one in 2004. Voters in 24 states expressed their presidential preferences on Feb. 5, becoming essentially a national primary.
“It’s about equity,” said Elaine Kamarck, a member of the Democratic rules committee and professor at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. This year, the states that went very early and very late are getting all the attention. “How do we figure out how to make all states important?” she said.
But changing the current process won’t be easy. If the parties want to revamp the presidential primary system for 2012, the Republican National Committee (RNC) requires that GOP delegates approve the changes during the Republican convention Sept. 1- 4 in Minneapolis. Democratic Party rules allow members to act long after their convention in Denver Aug. 25-28.
States are another wild card. Legislatures would have to incorporate into state law any system that the national parties adopt. State and local governments are responsible for funding and running presidential primaries, which are not necessarily held on the same dates as state primaries. For many state lawmakers, "their own primary is more important than the presidential primary," Ron Thornburgh (R), Kansas secretary of state, said. Every state will ask, “What’s best for me?” he said.
But no one is completely ruling out possible changes for the next presidential cycle.
A variation of the NASS plan called the “Ohio plan” is moving forward after an important RNC panel approved it. The plan faces further party review before it could go to the convention in September.
The proposal would continue to give Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada the opening shots, but the country’s smallest states would always come first after that. Three groups of remaining larger states would vote later on a rotating basis. The Ohio plan already has drawn fire from larger states such as California and Michigan because the approach would guarantee they always go last.
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) called the Ohio plan “dead on arrival for Democrats” and is instead pushing his own “Michigan plan” that dethrones Iowa and New Hampshire as kingmakers. His proposed randomly drawn “lottery” would give every state the chance to be part of the first of six voting groups that go first in primaries spread between March and June.
“It’s not about Michigan going first,” Debbie Dingell, vice chairman of the General Motors Foundation and Democratic National Committee (DNC) member, told the gathering here. “It’s about every state having the opportunity to have the kind of attention that those two small states have,” she said, referring to Iowa and New Hampshire.
Also being circulated are the “Delaware plan” that establishes a “pod” system based on the population of each state and the “Texas plan” that divides the country into four groups based on a balance of convention delegates, electoral votes and the proportion of “red” and “blue” states.
Of the various plans, the NASS rotating regional plan has received the most formal support, earning endorsements from the National Governors Association, the National Association of Lieutenant Governors, the Council of State Governments and a 2005 blue-ribbon panel, the Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.
Several governors told Stateline.org earlier this year that they regarded this election’s chaotic rush for early spots on the presidential primary calendar as a mess to be avoided in 2012 — but were quite happy with how the 2008 schedule worked for them (Click here for the story and to access the audio of the governors’ comments).
Some political consultants predict that the push for reworking the primary process will be driven by the party that is defeated this fall. “If the Democrats lose the White House, you’ll see the most fundamental, sweeping changes of the rules since the 1970s,” predicted Tad Devine, a Democratic campaign consultant. If McCain loses, some may argue that he became the front-runner too early and that the selection process ended too soon for the GOP.
On the other hand, whoever wins the presidency may not want to tinker with the system that worked for them, said James Roosevelt Jr., co-chair of the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee.
Despite the various proposals, many state party and state election officials do agree on one thing: They don’t want Congress getting into the act. Competing legislation has been introduced on Capitol Hill that would make the NASS and Michigan plans law. “Anytime you have Congress sniffing around your door, pretty soon, they’ll be inside eating your lunch,” said David Norcross, chairman of the RNC's standing committee on rules.
Well, back on Christmas, I got a Macys gift card from my cousin but I do not shop at Macys. So when I realized that I had bought nothing for my father and that my family was holding an early morning breakfast, I decided to re-gift the gift card. However I did not realize that it said "Merry Christmas"! So I basically got my cheap butt called out=/!
For millions of Americans, the TV version of fatherhood is all we have.
By Helena Andrews
TheRoot.com
Updated: 4:34 PM ET Jun 10, 2008
June 13, 2008--On my desk, in my office, is a picture of my mother and me. I might be 2 weeks old. She's cradling me with one arm against her chest, her slender fingers smoothing down my baby hair. She's got a close-cropped afro, and we're in somebody's kitchen—maybe ours, but probably my Grandmommy's. There's a bag of Wonder Bread on the table.
As with 24 million other Americans, there's no man in my picture or in the picture.
Obviously, I've never been a big fan of Father's Day.
Still as a pop culture stalker, I've been captivated by the new obsession with black fatherhood. On television there's Snoop Dogg's Father Hood, Deion Sanders' Primetime Love, the Rev. Run's Run's House, and Flavor Flav made a big show of "proposing" to Liz, the mother of his youngest son Karma, on VH1.
Even new father Usher has taken up the fatherhood cause. While promoting his latest offering, Here I Stand, the man's been on The Ellen Degeneres Show, in People magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Vibe, and most recently MTV's Total Request Live, talking about marriage and babies—in a real way.
It makes sense that I would be delighted by the attention that higher profile black fathers have been getting lately, but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I'd rather have the real thing, not the "reality."
In real life, I found a photo of my father in a tin can hidden under my mother's bed when I was around 8 years old. He wore a black afro and black flip-flops. It looked like he was on the floor of a dorm room (actually he was on a ship). He had long legs and light skin. I fell in love with him then. This was him. The man my mother never talked about—badly or in any other way.
I imagined he was on the moon, and if I hoped for him enough, thought of him enough, prayed for him enough, he'd come back down. I didn't need saving, but I needed something. Every night for years, I repeated the same line to baby Jesus or grown-up Jesus or God or whomever like mantra: "Dear Lord, please let our paths cross someday." I seriously said it like this in my little 8-year-old head. I didn't even necessarily have to talk to him. I just wanted him to see me.
Each Father's Day, I'm reminded first of his abandonment and second of my mother's strength. Fortunately it is the latter that has made an impact on my life, but I still count myself among those unfortunate fatherless souls.
In Salman Rushdie's new novel The Enchantress of Florence—a mythological love story starring princes and prostitutes—this line caught my breath: "[Akbar learned] … about abandonment in general, and in particular fatherlessness, the lessness of fathers, the lessness of the fatherless…"
It makes sense that I would see myself in those words—less than culture's "normal" and sometimes unfazed by loss of something I never knew. How do you miss a person you've only seen in pictures—in one picture, in fact? But how do you not?
Nearly one out of every three children grows up in households without their biological fathers. Or two out of every three African American children, according to the National Fatherhood Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to spreading the word about the "crisis" of father absence.
When I think about the black fathers dominating reality television today, none of these real men can stand up to the fatherly fiction that is Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable. On Thursday nights at 8 p.m., the little 8-year-old me pretended a character on a television show was all the things my father wasn't—present, paid and promising.
As unmoved as today's reality dads leave me, though, I'm actually excited about Usher's recent impromptu paternal PSAs. "I want to see more men standing with their women. I want to see more men be open and honest about where they are in life," Usher told Ellen Degeneres recently. "As an African American, to be there for my child is so important when there are so many young African-American kids without their fathers."
And then on MTV's TRL, Raymond had another breakthrough, this time deciding to address rumors about his wife, Tameka, and his son, "baby cinco."
"I'm a black, strong man in America standing up for my people as a man," Usher said to the camera, while taking off his huge sunglasses and looking his television audience (us) dead in the eye.
"To my wife, to my son, to my family, I'm making a stand that a lot of us should make. I could've been like any other man who would have a child and just, you know, live with that woman and continue to just, you know, play the game. I'm tryna do it the right way. This is the way you should do it. Pay attention, fellas."
I wish my father was paying more attention in 1980. I wish I hadn't needed to pay so much attention to Cliff Huxtable eight years later. I wish the fellas watching Usher on MTV get the picture.
URL: http://www.theroot.com/id/46822© TheRoot.com
Basically, two black men were attacked by white athletes and defended themselves. When the police came, they arrested the two black guys along with another who came to see what was going on.
The white boys were not only not arrested but they were put in a hotel and given immediate medical treatment for their wounds whild the black guys had to go to the jail with their wounds and all. The court up there is charging them them with the usual assault counts. A person was telling me that they were even threatening them with a 25 to life sentence. The families of the guys who attend college up there are very religious people and are asking for the support of the community.
Does this ever end?
Could you post a link to the story.
Herkimer incident
They are to be or has already been on Sharpton's radio show?
I heard it today on WBLS out here in NY and from a few people here in Brooklyn. The guys are from Brooklyn and as I said attended school at Herkimer Community College in Herkimer, New York a 90% or more white town.
I am hearing that the white youth were reported to have used Lacrosse sticks and uttered profanity and racial slurs.
When I called my father today the first thing he said was "where did you get that picture?"
Sunday, June 15th, 2008
Chicago, IL
Good morning. It’s good to be home on this Father’s Day with my girls, and it’s an honor to spend some time with all of you today in the house of our Lord.
At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus closes by saying, "Whoever hears these words of mine, and does them, shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock." [Matthew 7: 24-25]
Here at Apostolic, you are blessed to worship in a house that has been founded on the rock of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But it is also built on another rock, another foundation – and that rock is Bishop Arthur Brazier. In forty-eight years, he has built this congregation from just a few hundred to more than 20,000 strong – a congregation that, because of his leadership, has braved the fierce winds and heavy rains of violence and poverty; joblessness and hopelessness. Because of his work and his ministry, there are more graduates and fewer gang members in the neighborhoods surrounding this church. There are more homes and fewer homeless. There is more community and less chaos because Bishop Brazier continued the march for justice that he began by Dr. King’s side all those years ago. He is the reason this house has stood tall for half a century. And on this Father’s Day, it must make him proud to know that the man now charged with keeping its foundation strong is his son and your new pastor, Reverend Byron Brazier.
Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it.
But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing – missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.
You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled – doubled – since we were children. We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.
How many times in the last year has this city lost a child at the hands of another child? How many times have our hearts stopped in the middle of the night with the sound of a gunshot or a siren? How many teenagers have we seen hanging around on street corners when they should be sitting in a classroom? How many are sitting in prison when they should be working, or at least looking for a job? How many in this generation are we willing to lose to poverty or violence or addiction? How many?
Yes, we need more cops on the street. Yes, we need fewer guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Yes, we need more money for our schools, and more outstanding teachers in the classroom, and more afterschool programs for our children. Yes, we need more jobs and more job training and more opportunity in our communities.
But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child – it’s the courage to raise one.
We need to help all the mothers out there who are raising these kids by themselves; the mothers who drop them off at school, go to work, pick up them up in the afternoon, work another shift, get dinner, make lunches, pay the bills, fix the house, and all the other things it takes both parents to do. So many of these women are doing a heroic job, but they need support. They need another parent. Their children need another parent. That’s what keeps their foundation strong. It’s what keeps the foundation of our country strong.
I know what it means to have an absent father, although my circumstances weren’t as tough as they are for many young people today. Even though my father left us when I was two years old, and I only knew him from the letters he wrote and the stories that my family told, I was luckier than most. I grew up in Hawaii, and had two wonderful grandparents from Kansas who poured everything they had into helping my mother raise my sister and me – who worked with her to teach us about love and respect and the obligations we have to one another. I screwed up more often than I should’ve, but I got plenty of second chances. And even though we didn’t have a lot of money, scholarships gave me the opportunity to go to some of the best schools in the country. A lot of kids don’t get these chances today. There is no margin for error in their lives. So my own story is different in that way.
Still, I know the toll that being a single parent took on my mother – how she struggled at times to the pay bills; to give us the things that other kids had; to play all the roles that both parents are supposed to play. And I know the toll it took on me. So I resolved many years ago that it was my obligation to break the cycle – that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father to my girls; that if I could give them anything, I would give them that rock – that foundation – on which to build their lives. And that would be the greatest gift I could offer.
I say this knowing that I have been an imperfect father – knowing that I have made mistakes and will continue to make more; wishing that I could be home for my girls and my wife more than I am right now. I say this knowing all of these things because even as we are imperfect, even as we face difficult circumstances, there are still certain lessons we must strive to live and learn as fathers – whether we are black or white; rich or poor; from the South Side or the wealthiest suburb.
The first is setting an example of excellence for our children – because if we want to set high expectations for them, we’ve got to set high expectations for ourselves. It’s great if you have a job; it’s even better if you have a college degree. It’s a wonderful thing if you are married and living in a home with your children, but don’t just sit in the house and watch "SportsCenter" all weekend long. That’s why so many children are growing up in front of the television. As fathers and parents, we’ve got to spend more time with them, and help them with their homework, and replace the video game or the remote control with a book once in awhile. That’s how we build that foundation.
We know that education is everything to our children’s future. We know that they will no longer just compete for good jobs with children from Indiana, but children from India and China and all over the world. We know the work and the studying and the level of education that requires.
You know, sometimes I’ll go to an eighth-grade graduation and there’s all that pomp and circumstance and gowns and flowers. And I think to myself, it’s just eighth grade. To really compete, they need to graduate high school, and then they need to graduate college, and they probably need a graduate degree too. An eighth-grade education doesn’t cut it today. Let’s give them a handshake and tell them to get their butts back in the library!
It’s up to us – as fathers and parents – to instill this ethic of excellence in our children. It’s up to us to say to our daughters, don’t ever let images on TV tell you what you are worth, because I expect you to dream without limit and reach for those goals. It’s up to us to tell our sons, those songs on the radio may glorify violence, but in my house we live glory to achievement, self respect, and hard work. It’s up to us to set these high expectations. And that means meeting those expectations ourselves. That means setting examples of excellence in our own lives.
The second thing we need to do as fathers is pass along the value of empathy to our children. Not sympathy, but empathy – the ability to stand in somebody else’s shoes; to look at the world through their eyes. Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in "us," that we forget about our obligations to one another. There’s a culture in our society that says remembering these obligations is somehow soft – that we can’t show weakness, and so therefore we can’t show kindness.
But our young boys and girls see that. They see when you are ignoring or mistreating your wife. They see when you are inconsiderate at home; or when you are distant; or when you are thinking only of yourself. And so it’s no surprise when we see that behavior in our schools or on our streets. That’s why we pass on the values of empathy and kindness to our children by living them. We need to show our kids that you’re not strong by putting other people down – you’re strong by lifting them up. That’s our responsibility as fathers.
And by the way – it’s a responsibility that also extends to Washington. Because if fathers are doing their part; if they’re taking our responsibilities seriously to be there for their children, and set high expectations for them, and instill in them a sense of excellence and empathy, then our government should meet them halfway.
We should be making it easier for fathers who make responsible choices and harder for those who avoid them. We should get rid of the financial penalties we impose on married couples right now, and start making sure that every dime of child support goes directly to helping children instead of some bureaucrat. We should reward fathers who pay that child support with job training and job opportunities and a larger Earned Income Tax Credit that can help them pay the bills. We should expand programs where registered nurses visit expectant and new mothers and help them learn how to care for themselves before the baby is born and what to do after – programs that have helped increase father involvement, women’s employment, and children’s readiness for school. We should help these new families care for their children by expanding maternity and paternity leave, and we should guarantee every worker more paid sick leave so they can stay home to take care of their child without losing their income.
We should take all of these steps to build a strong foundation for our children. But we should also know that even if we do; even if we meet our obligations as fathers and parents; even if Washington does its part too, we will still face difficult challenges in our lives. There will still be days of struggle and heartache. The rains will still come and the winds will still blow.
And that is why the final lesson we must learn as fathers is also the greatest gift we can pass on to our children – and that is the gift of hope.
I’m not talking about an idle hope that’s little more than blind optimism or willful ignorance of the problems we face. I’m talking about hope as that spirit inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better is waiting for us if we’re willing to work for it and fight for it. If we are willing to believe.
I was answering questions at a town hall meeting in Wisconsin the other day and a young man raised his hand, and I figured he’d ask about college tuition or energy or maybe the war in Iraq. But instead he looked at me very seriously and he asked, "What does life mean to you?"
Now, I have to admit that I wasn’t quite prepared for that one. I think I stammered for a little bit, but then I stopped and gave it some thought, and I said this:
When I was a young man, I thought life was all about me – how do I make my way in the world, and how do I become successful and how do I get the things that I want.
But now, my life revolves around my two little girls. And what I think about is what kind of world I’m leaving them. Are they living in a county where there’s a huge gap between a few who are wealthy and a whole bunch of people who are struggling every day? Are they living in a county that is still divided by race? A country where, because they’re girls, they don’t have as much opportunity as boys do? Are they living in a country where we are hated around the world because we don’t cooperate effectively with other nations? Are they living a world that is in grave danger because of what we’ve done to its climate?
And what I’ve realized is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re willing to do your small part to leave our children – all of our children – a better world. Even if it’s difficult. Even if the work seems great. Even if we don’t get very far in our lifetime.
That is our ultimate responsibility as fathers and parents. We try. We hope. We do what we can to build our house upon the sturdiest rock. And when the winds come, and the rains fall, and they beat upon that house, we keep faith that our Father will be there to guide us, and watch over us, and protect us, and lead His children through the darkest of storms into light of a better day. That is my prayer for all of us on this Father’s Day, and that is my hope for this country in the years ahead. May God Bless you and your children. Thank you.
Why is that so damn tough for other black men? I see rap moguls and athletes who aren't even married to their child's moms wanting their sons dress, speak and act a certain way...or they resist the way their kids do speak, act, learn now that those kids are in expensive private schools. Even murderous Mafia dons and Jewish gangsters used their crime money to send their sons OUT of the hood. To become accountants, doctors, attorneys, scientists, bankers, engineers.
We as fathers hold our sons in trust. We as trustees have a fiduciary duty. 'Bout time we re-learned that...
Black folks will be told once again that this is a discussion that we need to have and Obama will be thanked by our friends and our enemies too for having the courage to address this sensitive matter. Fine. Let us now praise famous men and give thanks for what we have already got.
I am angry not because I disagree with Obama or because he has the facts ass-backwards. I am angry because I would have much preferred to read about a pulpit stump speech from him that praises all the black men who were not absent from the lives of their children. Black men like my father, my paternal and maternal grandfathers, my paternal and maternal great-grandfathers and my paternal and maternal uncles and my great uncles on both sides of my family. Men who got up everyday in good and bad health and did whatever they needed to do to look after families.
My own father has been dead for four years and there is not a day that goes by that my sisters and I do not miss him and the way that he loved and cared for us all of our lives. I regret that Obama and other black men and women did not have fathers who chose to place them in an honored place in their lives. I grew up with girls and boys, now women and men, who had been abandoned by their fathers and that absence has left a wound that never quite heals.
I wish, however, that Senator Obama had chosen another time and another place to play the role of a Jeremiah. I wish that he had used today to give praise to black men who are not famous and never will be but who did what they could to strengthen the fabric of their communities by loving and caring for their children. Black people, as Albert Murray pointed out, don't suffer from a lack of accomplishment. They suffer from a lack of recognition of their accomplishments. The junior senator from Illinois should keep this fact in mind as he races for the White House.
did you read the speech? he talked about how he felt as a child growing up without a father and breaking the cycle. as well as about what fathers need to do to help their children succeed. it was not an admonishment of black fathers as the media and headlines would have you to believe. the media is only trying to divide and conquer.
we'll agree to disagree. I read the speech in total, and don't have the issues with it that you do.
I agree somewhat. Of 365 days, this single one is for celebration. I found parts of the speech patronizing and in the style of "preaching", ie self-righteous and fundamentally disrespectful of the audience.
On father's day, there could have been an acknowledgment of the many fathers who are present. He could have ignored the stereotype of the absent black father. I was a little annoyed with it all.
There must be an unending stream of threats flowing in their direction.
Because he asked, I will.
But I will pray even more for his children.
That's all I'm saying. No more. I miss my daddy and I miss my grandfathers. I knew both of them quite well and they lived long enough to see me become an adult. Obama could have his speech some other day.
This incident sort of reminds me of the time I went to my in-laws church and the guest minister devoted his whole sermon to talking about people who were living dissolute sinful lives. I looked around the church at the congregation and came to the conclusion that none of the people he was talking about were in that church that day. I got up and went outside to wait until he was done.
The absent black father isn't a stereotype for Barack Obama.
I never forget that not-so-small fact.
I agree, this is a day for celebration not education.
I was a bit bothered by the presentation. I thought he may be "preaching" to the choir for the sake of the media. Let's be honest - there was probably no one in that audience that he reached or that would benefit any more from him than they would a parent that was already training them.
Once again, for me, it's the audience.
I do not like it when he or anyone else goes here in the spotlight.
This is a problem that is tackled face-to-face, hand by hand.
I rather hear what his plans for rebuilding the American economy - black folks like to hear that kind of stuff too!
I also think we should remember Obama's father was not the typical "absent" black father.
We're not talking about a father in the same city, around the corner or across town. We're talking about a father a continent and ocean away.
His father did what he is now doing and compelled him to do (stated in the book) to help his people. He was trying to change a country. He also suffered achohol addiction and poverty. He did however keep in touch with him through letters over the years. How many absent father chilren can say that. Please remember it's not the same. Also, his mother was an absent figure in his life during periods of time. Let's to tell the whole story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1hCDjwG6M&eur;
True, which is why his grandparents' devotion to him is instrumental in his development; something else that 'The Community' can relate to.
Preachers preach in church on Sundays. Barack is not a preacher and this is not a typical Sunday. Is he speaking as a member of the congregation or as a Presidential candidate?
There are many lines guaranteed to get a nod of the head and an "amen"...patronizing. But, what's the message to the national audience.
There are parts of the speech that soar, and parts that go ka-plunk with inauthenticity.
I question if it's appropriate to address this subject in anything other than very broad terms. If it is appropriate tough love, then I would like him to go before AIPAC and insist the Palestinians should be treated humanely.
He is in a predominantly black church preaching about absent fathers on Father's day. It feeds the stereotype that all black fathers are substandard. It implies that on this celebratory occasion, there is nothing to celebrate in a black church on fahter's day.
Automatically, everyone will think this is related to Barack's own absent father....who has been dead for many years. Does Barack himself still hold angst toward a dead father? I doubt it, so what's he talking about.
What I'm trying to figure out is who is his audience? This is nothing that a black congregation hasn't heard before, so who is Barack really talking to?
It feels like something having to do with throwing off racial shame.
I can't even imagine the threats they are probably getting. I pray for them daily.
I woner if that's what the black conservatives feel.
Obama Addresses Absent Black Fathers.
For complete transcript or to watch speech visit:
www.Blacks4Barack.org
(issues page)
Say It Loud...BARACK & I'M PROUD !!!!!
------------------------------------
Here at Apostolic, you are blessed to worship in a house that has been founded on the rock of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. But it is also built on another rock, another foundation – and that rock is Bishop Arthur Brazier. In forty-eight years, he has built this congregation from just a few hundred to more than 20,000 strong – a congregation that, because of his leadership, has braved the fierce winds and heavy rains of violence and poverty; joblessness and hopelessness. Because of his work and his ministry, there are more graduates and fewer gang members in the neighborhoods surrounding this church. There are more homes and fewer homeless. There is more community and less chaos because Bishop Brazier continued the march for justice that he began by Dr. King’s side all those years ago. He is the reason this house has stood tall for half a century. And on this Father’s Day, it must make him proud to know that the man now charged with keeping its foundation strong is his son and your new pastor, Reverend Byron Brazier.
Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honor how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it.
Maybe he was asked to deliver this address by the minister.
I don't have a clue.
Maybe he was advised to give this speech by his advisors.
I don't have a clue.
But I didn't hear a speech that spoke only to black fathers, present or absent.
I didn't even hear a particularly conservative speech, though Barack's values are, at their roots, pretty conservative.
I didn't even hear a speech that promoted the father as the only other parent a single mother could use help from.
No, it wasn't a daring speech. As daring as the one truthseeker is asking he give before AIPAC.
But Barack is first and foremost a politician.
He's ultimately going to give the speech that works best for him at any given moment. Somtimes he needs to take a big risk, sometimes he doesn't.
Today, however it all cambe about, I think he judged the situation just fine.
lol...I just posted that, then saw your response. It was hard for me to figure out exactly what bothered me about the speech. I think AA's deserve to be congratulated for the things they do right, not just always criticized. I'm thinking about how I'd feel sitting in that congregation...what a downer.
the church has a new pastor. The longtime pastor just retired. Apostolic is a huge megachurch, but definitely more on the conservative side.
What does this have to do with the price of eggs? Especially when one considers the fact that he never bothers to mention the extended family support that the "community" provides for their children. It sounds like only white grandparents can raise a successful black man.
I wish he wouldn't do this at our expense considering the low opinion the world already has of us.
Her family's from Jamaica, and kept her maiden name after marriage.
Racial shame - sounds like a book to me.
What does this have to do with the price of eggs? Especially when one considers the fact that he never bothers to mention the extended family support that the "community" provides for their children. It sounds like only white grandparents can raise a successful black man.
No, because many Black grandparents have raised their grandchildren, helping their children. That ' situation' is not foreign to Black folk; in what way did anything I wrote didn't mean that?
The world's opinion doesn't faze me but black folk are not a fungible commodity to be traded or used to advance a politician's own ambitions. I am with Obama, come rain or shine, but enough of this half-assed truth telling. It will not persuade "hardworking Americans, white Americans" in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania or the folks in Geraldine Ferraro's coming of age neighborhood to vote for him. Juan Williams and Fox News will still be on his case.
Give me and mine a break. We have earned one today.
I wasn't suggesting that you're saying we don't support, I was saying that he doesn't give credit.
I'm arguing that crediting his grandparents isn't the same as crediting the "community" as I understood you to mean.
I support him, but I don't like him pointing out "black" problems when he doesn't point out white ones. This is where I draw the line. My kool-aid is sour on this subject.
::
You suggest that he's pandering. I don't see it. Not from the speech he gave today, anyway.
Blue-collar people from every race and region will vote for him. As it is, despite what the MSM is peddling, he's beating McCain in polls in that demographic by a significant margin.
I do recall Bareck telling white audiences in A More Perfect Union that the truth would be better served if white people stopped acting as though racism exists only in our imaginations.
This is not much ado about nothing, my brother!
re Michelle Bernard,
No wonder she was so tickled on Hardball by that Harvard professor who thought the 3am ad was appealing to racial fears...he had what sounded like a strong Jamaican accent.
I just caught the last bit of the interview.
ms.martin,
no doubt there's books written on racial shame. I was reading about Tiger Woods this afternoon..there were pics of him and his wife. To be borderline offensive, she is white to the n-th degree.
What the hell, it's too late for me now: How much "whiter" can you get than Scandinavian. In fact, if you plotted whiteness on a number line, she would be in the rightmost outer reaches. She could trump any would-be member of any white-supremacist organization.
There were pictures of Elin sitting with the other golfing wives. They all had light coloured, long hair and visually, she fit right in.
I wondered about Tiger being attracted to the "whitest" woman possible, obsessing over the implications as I am wont to do: If life is symbolic, what does this particular symbol mean?
Now all the white people are going to kick my ass...
The tension is unbearable.
It doesn't faze me physchologically, but it does effect us socially and economically and allows feelings of indifference that have allowed injustices that exists now.
The mere fact that he takes a stand in a public arena and speaks to a group of specific people, is, also, at the core, racial and not in keeping with Obama's one people meme.
I support him, but I don't like him pointing out "black" problems when he doesn't point out white ones. This is where I draw the line. My kool-aid is sour on this subject.
*******
He did in his speech. Here it is:
*I say this knowing that I have been an imperfect father – knowing that I have made mistakes and will continue to make more; wishing that I could be home for my girls and my wife more than I am right now.* I say this knowing all of these things because even as we are imperfect, even as we face difficult circumstances, there are still certain lessons we must strive to live and learn as fathers – *whether we are black or white; rich or poor; from the South Side or the wealthiest suburb.*
Sometimes you just have to tell the truth.
Don't get me started on Tiger Woods. I've often wondered how he could love his Dad so much and be able to totally disassociate from his blackness.
I feel sorry for people like that, I wish they could be white.
I'm not angered by this. And I think there's much more to the speech than that which angers you.
Let's just agree to disagree.
I didn't see a thing in that excerpt about Michelle's mother.
Also, inserting the phrase black and white whenever he criticizes blacks is not the same as pointing out the short comings of whites.
I've seen him do this twice now, once in Texas to a black audience and again today. I'm waiting on him to give a speech to a white audience directing them on parenting and child rearing.
Unless of course he thinks we are the only ones who need this advice.
Better yet, he just needs to steer clear of this shit altogether and focus on the issues unless he's volunteering somewhere where his opinion was requested.
I have no desire to take away your ability and right to express yourself in whatever manner or style that pleases you. This disagreement, however, is not much ado about nothing. You saying so belittles my viewpoint, but I will accept your offer that we do not see eye to eye on this issue.
Rick is asking if he's saying to angry white guys that he's calling out black guys for not looking after their kids and if that might win points with white guys be get criticism from blacks...paraphrasing.
Rick Sanchez is a clown. A straight up clown.
Like I said, it's Hampton, VA all over again.
Some parts just sounded so trite. He ad-libs: Any fool can make a child, but it takes a man to be a father..or something like that. It's like going to someone's birthday party and berating them about how old they're getting.
I'm done ranting.
Rick Sanchez is filling space, but Obama opened that door.
On Huffington, this is the headline on the main page:
Obama Rebukes Absent Black Fathers
Check out the comments if you're inclined. Most people think it was great. This one comment I've pasted below was moving. Really, would it be so hard just to say Happy Father's day to my black brothers without the rebuke?
PAposter See Profile I'm a Fan of PAposter
It is my firm belief that people do the best that they can, with what they have to work with. It's not about what you or I would do, but what is possible for a given individual. This includes their mental capacity, their physical abilities, their perceived possibilities and their true opportunities. Having said that, I hope that each man and his child's mother, and his child, will seek to acknowledge, embrace and expand his or her reality. Then and only then will things be different, good, possible, better. Because, as the saying goes: When nothing changes, nothing changes.
Happy Father Day My Beautiful Black Brothers....and to all those that seek to be better fathers, and to be the best man he can be for his sons and his daughters.
Peace be with you.
Don't worry...less than 5 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CURvgDRDg3M&feature;=related
I am offended that he would do this.
I had a father and a husband/father to my children and this offends me.
Sasha O. was rocking the kinky twists in church today! You know she is going to be a mainstream trend setter.
teacher,
someone up above brought in his mother, and I forgot to add that that is one of the headlines in one of the tabloids at the supermarket this week - I read it while standing in line today.
And, the twists were on Malia.
Then he needs to use his government medical plan and spend a few 50 minute hours with people who are trained to assist people to figure this stuff out. Or, he could give a speech about his own parents. But, in any case, please don't try to tell me that I should be alright with what he did because he needs to get something off of his chest.
The speech was a political speech and it had a political intent. We may disagree about the intent but let's try to avoid giving him a pass because he has suffered. He is running for president of the United States. If he is running for the president of Black America, then we need to have a discussion about what that means. I do not need him to tell me what it means for me to be black nor what I should do to take care of my children.
I think O is very complicated. We live in a tribal, clannish world, and he has somewhat been a person without a tribe. I am his same age. I know biracial people whose white relatives wouldn't have anything to do with them. Even though his grandparents loved him (eventually), they still communicated to him how they felt about Blacks in general (everyone but him). And just because they were willing to love & support him doesn't mean that their family members were. They may have had to sacrifice some of their relationships to do what they did for him. They may have made disparagements about his dad. I know my grandmother reduced me to tears many times by criticizing my parents when I was a kid. His wife & children give him a tribe without the conflicts he's had to endure, but he is probably still learning not to be a loner. He might always be one.
I also want to see Black people excel individually & collectively. I tell my students that they must pursue education; that no one can "give" them one. Either they will get one or they won't.I tell them that without self-discipline they won't succeed at anything in life. Does that sound like Cosby or Obama, because I'm in their same camp.
I also think we (humans) can be influenced by our personal issues or experiences, and respond to life from those, even if we don't do it deliberately or consciously. I also think we all have parts of ourselves that we don't see. This means politicians too. People can be complicated, but are very fascinating.
If you don't understand why I was bothered by Obama's speech then no amount of words we exchange here, regardless of our good intentions, will bridge the gap between us. We'll have to play it as it lays.
I am with PTCruiser, Ms.Martin and Truthseeker on this one,
I am also every conservative but all I have seen is strong good black men as fathers throughout my whole life.
When one makes a speech like this, he is making generalizations. White people will look at it and go yea, black man are incapable of being fathers (as a white professor once felt necessary to admit to a class). Obama is only capable because of his white upbringing. He will be the one to set blacks straight (as a white man in the Philly office at Obama's campaign headquarters felt the need to announce).
I was always raised with respectablity. We are aware of the issues that go on in the black community but we dwell on the positive especially in the public light. Yes Obama was in a black church but he was speaking to the country not just blacks. I was always taught that you never put down your own in the presence of whites. Obama said nothing that I havent heard community leaders, black leaders, ministers, films, books and everyday black people say. The message coming from Obama is not different than that coming from anyone else.
However my question is:
"Why do we only dwell on the negative constantly?"
This creates a picture that everything is black and everyone black is negative.Please remember that we as blacks know how nuanced and diverse we are as a people but others do not.We allow ourselves to be judged and reduced to a statistic in the public eye. We allow ourselves to be looked upon as a one-dimensional monolith. For all the black youth who have gone atray, there are more who have done the right thing and amazing things who never see the light of day. Who never get congratulated. People only talk and write books about black youth in peril, black youth as no good, black youth who have nothing to contribute to society. People tell me but oh...Rhonda people need to hear that negative message because it real. So I assume that these people believe that black youth who do bad are more really and worthy of attention than those who do good? When people only see that represnetation of those who do bad and are blinded to all those who do good because of our society;s negative thought pattern when black and youth come into the same picture, they label all of us. I am only 21 when, i work with black youth and I have seen the positive. I even work with those who do negative but can be positive if people believed in them.
Noentheless, everytime we brought a speaker or anytime a adult would speak to the children, it was only about the negative rather than congratulating the group for all of their wonderful achievements.
What a downer!!
I had a breakfast with the men of my family who are all amazing fathers. All of my friends had wonderful fathers days with their fathers and/or with their own children.
I held a cookout on Saturday in the backyard of my brooklyn brownstone apartment. It was for the people in the neighborhood and I had a large turnout with black men and their children, wives and girlfriends. There were some who simply came with their children because they may not have the nuclear family structure in some cases but they are their for their children.We had a wonderful time until it rained.
The local restaurant was packed with black men and their families taking their children out to eat. All the Caribbean and Soulf food restaurants were packed. My friend said that you could stick a pin at Sammy's Fish Box in City Island (NY). They have a large black clientele because of the large portions and you know how our sisters and brother like to eat!
Yesterday evening, I got a phone call from my cousin who dropped the ball on his son. After attending my cookout on Saturday because he had to help me with the grill, he felt ashamed. He watched all the amazing brothers who were equally amazing fathers. He decided to re-enter his son's life on Father's Day. He vowed that he would not make that mistake again and I will make sure to keep him in check.
As a community, we have to keep those who go astray in check but by example. I have learned that scolding doesn't work. What made my cousin, Craig realize his fault was watching all those men with their sons and daughters and families. He kept like a damn fool and went straight!
You see I would like the father's who do right like my father, grandfathers, uncles, cousins (which now includes Craig), friends, neighbors and all those brothers at my cookout, at all the restaurants and in Sammy's Fish Box like so many others to get congratulated! I want the world to see them and talk about them. I would like the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune and the Hiffington Post on Father's Day to announce that they are congratulating these men not one that says "Obama Rebukes Absent Black Fathers".
Black people are never congratualted for the good. Only reprimanded for the bad. You see that cannot work. And in a country where whites have a low opinion of black regardless (they have felt that way since they brought us here on slave ships), they continue to justify it based on the negativity that is constantly given attention. Many are blinded to the good and when they see our black faces they probably assume that we are no good without knowing who we are. This creates problems on all levels regardless of those who claim they could care less about what white people think. You say that because you don't know how it affects you.
Too many people don't see the beauty, the good, the happiness, the achievement that goes on in the black community. I would like it if we began to showcase that because then and only then will those who don't get it see that there is a better way to live. Those who don't get it wont change because Obama made a speech in a church somewhere.
A good father's day message is the one delivered by my grandfather at my Brooklyn cookout. One of the triumph of black fatherhood.