Opinion
Celebrating Our Black Fathers
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
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By Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr.
NNPA Columnist
A
s we approach Fathers’
Day across the United
States and in some other
nations throughout the world, it is
important to lift up those Black
American fathers who are doing
what is right and good for their
children, families and communi-
ties. Too often when the issue of
Black men is raised, it is done
from a negative or pathological
perspective.
The truth is that today there are
millions of Black American
fathers who are strong providers,
nurturers, and loving fathers who
are working diligently to con-
tribute to improving the quality of
life of their families. It is unfortu-
nate that most of the media
attention in America appears to be
predisposed only to focus on
reporting the tragic dysfunctions
of Black men and fathers.
The National Newspaper Pub-
lishers Association (NNPA) offers
more than just a counterbalance to
the distorted and negative cover-
age by the so-called mainstream
media in America. The NNPA’s
member papers and Black Press
USA is the consistent and bal-
anced voice of Black America for
news and analysis.
One of the fundamental human
rights for all people is the right to
self-determination. Black Ameri-
E DUCATION
S ERVICES
Benjamin F.
Chavis Jr.
can-owned newspapers and other
media companies are dedicated to
give voice and visibility to support
and encourage the overall progress
our communities across the nation
earlier this year the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) and the
National Center for Health Statis-
tics issued a new national research
study on the vital role that fathers
play in the parenting of their chil-
dren. This study rebuked the
misguided notion that Black
American fathers were more
delinquent than other fathers in the
U.S. In fact, the CDC and the
National Center for Health Statis-
tics have now reported that Black
American fathers were in many
The CDC and the National Center for
Health Statistics have now reported
that Black American fathers were in
many instances ‘more involved with
their kids on a daily basis than fathers
from other racial groups’
and throughout the African dias-
pora.
Thank you President Barack
Obama for being both an effective
president of the United States and
a very good father to your children
and extended family. President
Obama’s example as a strong
father is another significant anti-
dote to the overplayed stereotype
concerning the “absent” father fig-
ure in Black American family life.
It is important to remember that
instances “more involved with
their kids on a daily basis than
fathers from other racial groups.”
Yes, there are serious internal
and external challenges to our
families and communities. The
point here is that in order to solve
our problems we have to have
more accurate analysis and less
finger pointing at one another. We
all have to be responsible, fathers,
mothers, sons and daughters. We
also support President Obama’s
new national initiative “My Both-
er’s Keeper” for young Black
males and the call by others to cor-
respondingly include an initiative
“My Sister’s Keeper” for young
Black females. In each of these
initiatives, the roles of fathers and
mothers will be key to success.
I highly recommend that we all
read essential books by a leading
scholar on the subject of Black
American fathers. Roberta L.
Coles is a professor of sociology
at Marquette University and has
published the following recom-
mended books: The Best Kept
Secret: Single Black Fathers and
The Myth of the Missing Black
Father: The Persistence of Black
Fatherhood in America.
Next year will mark the
20th anniversary of the Million
Man March in Washington,
D.C. For the last two decades, the
trend of more responsible and
accountable Black American
fathers has been steadily growing.
We should, therefore, salute and
celebrate all fathers, but in partic-
ular, let’s stand to say “Thank
you” to all our fathers, grandfa-
thers and great grandfathers who
have given so much toward the
advancement and empowerment
of Black America.
Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is presi-
dent of Education Online Services
Corporation and the Hip-Hop
Summit Action Network
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John Lewis Advocates ‘Necessary Trouble’
By Marian Wright Edelman
NNPA Columnist
N
ot every speaker tells a
crowd of young leaders
that their job is to get into
trouble. But that’s part of the mes-
sage iconic civil rights warrior and
now Congressman John Lewis (D-
Ga.) conveyed at last year’s
week-long Children’s Defense
Fund Freedom Schools’ National
Training that began June 1 for
nearly 2,000 college-age Freedom
School servant leaders and site
coordinators.
Freedom Schools seek to
empower children through reading
wonderful books, to engage par-
ents, and to reweave the fabric of
community support for children.
John Lewis and Andrew Young
spoke movingly at the opening
training session celebrating the
50th anniversary of the 1964 Free-
dom Summer, when young White
people from around the country
joined local Black citizens and
Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee (SNCC) workers to
open up Mississippi’s closed Jim
Crow society and demand the
right to vote for Black citizens.
Freedom Summer 1964 helped
transform Mississippi and Ameri-
can society, but it demanded great
sacrifice and courage. Three
young people
James Chaney,
Andrew Goodman, and Michael
Schwerner — gave their lives after
investigating the burning of a local
Black church where a Freedom
School was to be held, victims of
state and White supremacist vio-
lence.
As he spoke to today’s young
Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner June 11, 2014
C HILD
W ATCH
Marian
Wright
Edelman
Freedom Schools leaders, John
Lewis told them that when he was
their age getting into “necessary
trouble” shaped his life’s mission.
As he explained, he grew up poor
in rural Troy, Ala. where his father,
contribution.”
John Lewis decided then that
was exactly what he would do. He
started with the library: “So in
1956, 16 years old, some of my
brothers and sisters and cousins,
we went down to the public library
in the little town of Troy, Ala-
bama, trying to get a library card,
trying to check out some books,
and we were told by the librarian
that the library is for Whites only
and not for coloreds.” A year later,
as a high school senior he decided
to apply to Troy State College
(now Troy University), a White
college close to his home—but his
Freedom Summer 1964 helped
transform Mississippi and American
society, but it demanded great
sacrifice and courage
a former tenant farmer, had saved
enough money to buy his own
land. He worked on the farm with
the rest of his family but was
always desperate to get an educa-
tion.
A teacher encouraged him over
and over to read all he could. He
also listened to the radio to learn
more about the news outside his
small community, and eventually
started hearing about new events
that would change his life: “In
1955, 15 years old in the 10th
grade, I heard of Rosa Parks. I
heard of Martin Luther King, Jr. I
heard his voice on an old radio,
and it seemed like he was saying,
“John Lewis, you, too, can do
something . . . You can make a
application was ignored and unan-
swered. John Lewis was stopped
temporarily—but he was not fin-
ished.
Without telling his parents or
anyone else what he was doing he
wrote a letter to Dr. King asking
for his help, and Dr. King respond-
ed by sending the teenager a
round-trip Greyhound bus ticket
and inviting him to come to Mont-
gomery to meet with him. By that
time John Lewis had enrolled in
his first year at American Baptist
Theological Seminary (now
American Baptist College) in
Nashville, Tennessee. Over his
spring break the 18-year-old
decided to take Dr. King up on his
offer: “So in March of 1958, I
boarded a Greyhound bus [and]
traveled to Montgomery . . . I was
so scared. I didn’t know what to
say or what to do, and Dr. King
said, ‘Are you the boy from Troy?’
. . . Meeting Martin Luther King
Jr., meeting Ralph Abernathy,
meeting Rosa Parks, and later
meeting Jim Lawson, who taught
me the way of peace, the way of
love, the way of nonviolence,
changed my life and set me on a
path. And I haven’t looked back
since.”
John Lewis explained that his
parents and community hadn’t
taught him to challenge segrega-
tion: “When I would ask my
parents about those signs they
would say, ‘That’s the way it is.
Don’t get in the way. Don’t get in
trouble.’” But his experience in
the civil rights movement taught
him a different lesson that he
wanted to share with today’s
young leaders: “I got in trouble. I
got in good trouble, necessary
trouble. I say to you, you’re more
than lucky. You are blessed, and
you have to use whatever you see
to pass it on to someone else.
Bless someone else. Be bold. Be
brave. Be courageous. Speak up.
Speak out. You must get out there
and push and pull and help change
things and bring about a nonvio-
lent revolution, a revolution of
values, a revolution of ideas . . .
Someone must put out and say
what is going on is not right, it is
not fair, it is not just, and we are
here to do something about it.”
Marian Wright Edelman is pres-
ident of the Children’s Defense
Fund