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Pass The Torch: How A Young Black Father Challenges The Deadbeat Dad Stereotype
Jamiyl Samuels, author
The touching literary debut memoir from Jamiyl Samuels about a young father determined to break the cycle of absentee fatherhood experienced during his childhood. When his father walks out of his life as a young boy, Jamiyl grows increasingly angry and resentful. Samuels finds refuge in the power of Hip Hop music channeling his angst into the art of rhyme.
The birth of his child adds new purpose to Jamiyl's life and "Pass The Torch..." is his story of reflection, heartbreak, forgiveness and determination to become and remain a hero to his own children. Samuels also makes the case for Hip Hop music and Hip Hop inspired films as positive examples of the willingness of Black men to be fathers to their children.
Reviews
Haunted by the emotional turmoil caused by an absent father, Samuels, a media consultant, earnestly examines his life and the “deadbeat dad” stereotype in the often crime-ridden black communities in Brooklyn, N.Y. The early memories of his Jamaican father, his hero, were pleasant, but his middle-class Brooklyn home was rocked by his father’s departure during his childhood, which left Samuels feeling “unwanted, rejected, confused, sad, angry.” Though he admired his hard-working mother, he always felt the absence of his father. It was only after the birth of his son, Trey, that he realized fatherhood is “the ultimate act of selflessness to put someone else’s well-being before your own.” Samuels writes about the influence hip-hop had on his life, and refers to the memoirs of such artists as LL Cool J, “who convey the pain of their own fatherless childhood[s].” Samuels’s reconciliation attempts with the absent patriarch never seem to jell due to the sting of their lost years. Samuels’s bittersweet memoir of forgiveness and heartache is also a strong, sincere plea for young men today not to follow in the footsteps of their absent fathers. (BookLife)
Amazon.com
Samuels provides a great detail memory of his youth with and without his father, of which many of us can relate to that change in our lives. Though, not many can eloquently challenge the stereotype that has been placed on all men regardless of the circumstance. I thank Samuels for sharing his story.
As children it is not for us to know the details of what transpired with our parents. As parents we should not allow the emotions caught up in separation from our partner to impair any of our relationships with our children.
