My oldest started high school football practice recently, but we have talked more about his team’s pregame routine than touchdowns or tackles. Instead of X’s and O’s, Yosef and I are commiserating over whether he will kneel or stand during the national anthem. I wonder if other dads of third-string placekickers are spending time doing the same this summer. Former NFL star Colin Kaepernick, who cost himself millions of dollars and a promising football career after kneeling during the anthem, has been back in the news in recent weeks. And with the ongoing protests and marches in reaction to … [Read more...]
Should Children Participate in a Protest March? This Dad Says “Yes”
As I started getting dressed for a Black Lives Matter march, my son asked if he could go with me. To be honest, I like keeping it as real as possible with my kids but for this one, I was torn. Should I take him or leave his behind at home? He’s a mature 13-year-old. He’s also the son of a dark skin Puerto Rican and black man. However, he is also my baby and all I could think about was his safety. We all have seen the riots, the beatings, all the negative things in the media and that the government have been pushing. But how about all the positive things protesting brings? The … [Read more...]
‘Father’s Day Taken’ to Help Families that Lost Dads to Racism, Violence
"Father's Day Taken," the latest pro-fatherhood fundraising initiative by our longtime partner Dove Men+Care, remembers the thousands of black dads who have lost their lives due to racism and violence, and the families left behind. DM+C established the the Fathers Day Taken Fund to invest $1 million to support these families in need. The movement began with the public airings of a video showing Minneapolis police on May 25 kneeling on the neck of George Floyd until he stopped breathing. Floyd was in the process of being arrested on a charge of passing a counterfeit $20 bill. The Father's … [Read more...]
Struggling to Make Sense of a World in Continuing Crisis
I'm finding it difficult deciding what to write about, my friends. It’s not that I don’t have ideas; it’s just that I don’t know what might be best. I have written here about baseball a few times. I guess I could again, even without games being played, big or little league. Baseball memories linger long, as you know. In fact, I just came across an image from a Little League game some years back. It was taken from behind the backstop showing one of my twin sons crouching in too-big catcher’s gear and the other twin on the mound, his left arm just coming down after the pitch, a slider it … [Read more...]
Mental Terrorism Threatens Reform Coming from Floyd’s Death
The following is an edited transcript, used by permission, of blog contributor Mike Dorsey's most recent episode of his podcast "Black Fathers, NOW!" He prefaced his podcast by saying it was "a quick message to encourage brothers NOT to allow 'Mental Terrorism' to set in" in light of George Floyd's death by police. He continued, "Carter G. Woodson said it best, 'When you control a man's thinking, you don't have to worry about his actions.' Let's NOT let systemic white supremacy, bias and hate terrorize our minds. Use it as fuel to MAKE CHANGE!"
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The … [Read more...]