1. Promote the presence of black fathers
Let’s share images of black fathers doing what they do, how they do it and where they are doing it. Hanging at the park, braiding hair, kissing boo-boos, visiting grandma, whatever it is- show it! Take a pic of a black father's fathering. Create a post on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Hashtag #yourlocation and #fatheringfrom.
How does promoting the presence of black fathers help?
Marking your presence at a location is important so that visuals of black fathers can first infiltrate public spaces, both real and virtual, and then infiltrate the public mind. When anyone looks up #Memphis, #Detroit, #Dallas, #Birmingham, #Baltimore, #Flint or where ever you rep- there will be pics of black men with their children. Hashtag any other details like the activity (i.e., #BedtimeStory) or a more detailed location in your community (i.e.,#LincolnPark or #AtlantaPublicLibray). Share it on social media so your network can see it, and hashtag the location so that the broader public can see it.
Help us correct the enduring and incorrect narrative that black fathers are absent and deadbeats by showing black men as family men. Seeing this is critical to combating enduring racial biases about black fathers, black men, and black families. It is also significant to improving the outcomes of black children. A recent article published by NY Times shows how racism significantly impacts the life outcomes of black children, even children from wealthy households. Although the article isn't focused on fatherhood, the researchers unexpectedly uncovered some findings which affirmed that a community presence of black fathers can positively impact life outcomes, particularly of young black boys. The public presence of black fathers is a core argument of the book, Fathering from the Margins. Below are some key quotes from the NY Times article about the importance of black fathers being publicly visible in their communities. You can also read it for yourself here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html.
“That is a pathbreaking finding,” said William Julius Wilson, a Harvard sociologist whose books have chronicled the economic struggles of black men. “They’re not talking about the direct effects of a boy’s own parents’ marital status. They’re talking about the presence of fathers in a given census tract.”
“Other fathers in the community can provide boys with role models and mentors, researchers say, and their presence may indicate other neighborhood factors that benefit families, like lower incarceration rates and better job opportunities.”
“Mentors who aren’t children’s parents, but who share those children’s gender and race, serve a particularly important role for black children, Ms. Hurd has found. That helps explain why the presence of black fathers in a neighborhood, even if not in a child’s home, appears to make a difference.”
