For centuries, Black fathers have caught a bad rap - from epidemic absenteeism to a depiction as slackers. Well, one dad has had enough. Matt Prestbury is the founder of the hugely successful Facebook group "Black Fathers" that is shedding a light on the massive involvement of African American dads in their families, their communities, and their world. BMWK caught up with Matt … [Read more...]
5 Empowering Lessons on Being Black in America that We Must Teach Our Children
Before Ta-Nehisi Coates won the National Book Award, was named a MacArthur Genius, and had a New-York-Times-Bestselling Book, he was a father, and he was a son. In The Beautiful Struggle, he details growing up in Baltimore during the "Age of Crack" and his father’s fight to raise his seven children. In Between the World and Me, Mr. Coates writes a letter to his son … [Read more...]
[Video] Yes, Black Men are Passionate About Fatherhood
We don’t often see a "good father" spoken of quite like this. Although this video of Prentice Powell delivering his poem "Good Father" surfaced last year on the Arsenio Hall show, I am not sure how many of us actually had an opportunity to view it and receive this message. It is too powerful of a piece not to share. [youtube id="A-mJUcWpg1U"] There is just something … [Read more...]
National Study Reveals that Stereotypes about Black Fatherhood Are Bogus
It’s an unfortunate reality, but we all see the negative images and hear the stereotypes about Black fathers and what they are not doing for their children. If you allow yourself to believe many of these stereotypes, you would think that Black fathers do less for their children than any other race. It seems like so many of us, who know great Black dads, are constantly feeling … [Read more...]
Are We Failing Our Future Fathers?
Today's black fathers continue to be under the microscope. It's easy to look at the state of our nation’s youth and young adults and wonder how different the world would be if more fathers were there. This weekend while speaking at Hyde Park Academy in Chicago, President Obama spoke on fathers. "For a lot of young boys and young men in particular, they don’t see an example of … [Read more...]
The War On Fathers
I was minding my business the other day, watching TV, when I came across what I thought was a funny (albeit stupid) commercial: Haha, "typical dad" can't get away from his power tools and uses them to drill holes in the chicken. Funny. But then the tagline gave me serious pause. "Ragu - Mom's Favorite For A Reason." Um. Wait a minute. The whole … [Read more...]
Fatherhood In Black: Tray Chaney
Welcome to the inaugural post of Fatherhood In Black. NAME: Tray Chaney OCCUPATION: Entertainer (The Wire, Something The Lord Made, Fatherhood) AGE: 30 STATUS: Married HOW MANY KIDS: 2 KID(S) AGES: 5 years old YOUR ONE SENTENCE STATEMENT/FEELING ON FATHERHOOD: Our kids are the future! We have to be there for them! It's easy to debate with words and … [Read more...]