00:00:04.940 - 00:00:19.070

Mhm. Oh man. If statistics are to be believed, the odds of a black child coming up with a father at home are not good. Three out of five black Children don't have a father at home. But today, as we celebrate father's day, we want to look

00:00:19.070 - 00:00:33.980

at the story that is rarely told that of the joys thousands of black fathers received from active involvement in raising their Children with me now are two fathers Troy Henderson and Ricky Currington and a political consultant who is familiar with the stereotypical view of black fathers,

00:00:34.000 - 00:00:47.620

Darrell cox Darryl, I should make it clear that you are not a father, you're not married and uh you do hope to be 11 day. But you have sort of looked at this issue of what is happening to black men and this whole issue of black

00:00:47.620 - 00:01:02.470

fatherhood comes into that, doesn't it? Well yes it does. I mean one of the things that I've been concerned about, not just myself is the the view that that uh like the gentleman sitting next to me that somehow that they are ignored or not paid much

00:01:02.470 - 00:01:17.600

attention to their obviously there are problems in the black community with community with regard to fatherhood. But there's also stories that are untold of large numbers of black men who have not deserted their homes, who have stuck in there through thick and thin, through good times

00:01:17.600 - 00:01:31.630

and bad times and uh enjoy being fathers and take a great deal of interest and pride in their families and their Children and Ricky enjoy both of you do that. You were just telling me that you have a is it a boy or a girl who's

00:01:31.630 - 00:01:44.840

going to? Boy? A boy who is a father's day present of us. Isn't he? Tell me a little bit about your family? Well I have three Children. Uh two girls, oldest is eight, the youngest girl is five years old and my boys who said will be

00:01:44.840 - 00:02:00.050

to tomorrow. My wife not been married for, will be 12 years in October and it's a joy having Children in the home. And my wife doesn't work. She, she stays at home and takes care of the kids, which is a great asset I feel because she

00:02:00.050 - 00:02:14.860

has more time to work with the Children to give them our views to, to train them properly versus senator childcare centers where There were the kids come in contact with so many other influences where they can be better trained at home buyer. It's hard to do

00:02:14.860 - 00:02:33.290

though in the 80s to have your parents stay at home. How about you? Tell me about your family? We'll have to two kids. My son just turned 12. My daughter just turned 15. Um, it to raise them has been really a neat experience for me because

00:02:33.300 - 00:02:50.690

uh, watching him grow up, me working my wife at home. Uh, I didn't get a chance to watch him walk for the first time. But the things that we did when I was there and stuff was so rewarding. How do you learn to be parents? Um,

00:02:50.700 - 00:03:08.760

it's not something that you really get a course in school. How did you learn to be a good father? Make a lot of mistakes, you know, and try and learn from from those. Uh, we really do. You cannot, you don't have a book, say for instance,

00:03:08.760 - 00:03:24.880

that you can sit there at night as the kids going to bed and read this and said, well, this is the way I'm gonna do it. Uh, you do make a lot of mistakes and stuff. And being a father today is a hard job. It really

00:03:24.880 - 00:03:37.880

is. Uh, and I would imagine even if you do have some books, some of those do not address some of the unique concerns that black fathers have, which may be different from other fathers. Yeah. What do you, what do you think when you hear about some

00:03:37.880 - 00:03:53.980

of the things that are said about black fathers? Because there are some negative images out there where there's so much negativity. I feel that It's it's good that as you're doing today, showing the positive side of the black fathers, but there are yet some black fathers

00:03:53.980 - 00:04:10.290

that are yet in the home are yet raising, helping to raise their Children are working 9-5, having a respectable job and doing what is what society calls being a good father. But besides that, I think the key is for myself as I had a perfect role

00:04:10.290 - 00:04:25.350

model as my father, uh, he was in the home with my mother and they're still living and they raised up in a christian home with a solid religious foundation, which I feel is very important because when you take uh, the principles of God out of the

00:04:25.350 - 00:04:42.200

home, you're really uh, causing destruction to come to the family to the Children and thereby the kids are influenced by other bad influences where they're getting to other types of trouble. So I feel that the key is uh, for myself as having that robot in the

00:04:42.200 - 00:04:54.570

home as I was growing up. As we talked about. As we started this segment, we talked about the statistics are not good that three out of five black Children are growing up in homes without their fathers. What can be done do you think to turn some

00:04:54.570 - 00:05:08.360

of those statistics around? Well, you know, I think that the one thing that we have to do is look at some of those statistics, one is that a large number of those Children are growing up in homes without following father's, they're born to young women who

00:05:08.360 - 00:05:28.710

are in their late teens. And subsequently, for various reasons, the uh, parent or at least the father uh, deserts the young mother, um, which results in her, uh, by and large, he is not completed, high school, hasn't acquired any useful job skills. Um, And as result

00:05:28.710 - 00:05:45.630

is left in a condition of poverty. Uh, she's, you know, um, uh, the problem is, is that, you know, I don't know what can be done so much to retain those fathers, um, to require them to stay there. But certainly in in situations in which they've

00:05:45.630 - 00:05:58.420

left, we've got to be able to look at the young mothers and say, well, you know, there's a need for job training skills, there's a need for education um these, you know, but I think that it's also important that the community and I'm talking about the

00:05:58.420 - 00:06:13.900

black community give a very clear message, very direct message that that sort of behavior is inappropriate, that you're not going to be rewarded or looked up to in the community. If what you do is father Children and leave, that it's just not acceptable, that it may

00:06:13.900 - 00:06:29.780

be difficult. I'm sure these two men have had very trying times, but what's important is there nodding in agreement with, you know, but but what's important is that that they've stayed and they've remained and that somehow that message has to be gotten out. Um and that's

00:06:29.780 - 00:06:45.700

not a message that has to come external from the black community. It's an internal message has to come from people within the black community, making those statements very quickly. Before we go, try and Ricky what father's day wish do you have today? Well, for me personally,

00:06:45.710 - 00:07:00.130

uh that my kids go get a good education and be conducted citizens throughout their lives because I'm not gonna always be here at least that way they can take care of themselves. And how about you? Well, my father's Day wishes that my Children will continue to

00:07:00.130 - 00:07:14.830

do well in school. My daughter just received an honorary award last night at her school, so I was very proud about that. Good and we congratulate both of you because as Darryl said, I'm sure it isn't always easy. My father was a wonderful man and he

00:07:14.830 - 00:07:27.500

did a really good job, even though it wasn't always easy for him either. I wasn't always an easy kid, but I know what that means. So thank you so much for being with us today. And when we come back a view from the other side, Children

00:07:27.500 - 00:07:39.640

who are growing up without either of their parents, we'll find out how they are meeting the challenge of independent living. Stay with Yeah.