whatchusay?! ::: Leverts on Love, Fatherhood, Family, and Friendship

Lead Story

Where is the Love?

Clip of the Month: Classic Remix: Self-Destruction

More... | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Clip Archive

WhatchuTHINK: mine your mind

FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER

Writer Alex Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X

Mission

The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.

Programs

Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com

Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.

More...

« Hip Hop and American Culture: Q&A with Byron Hurt | Main | Infotainment: Media Miseducation »

Leverts on Love, Fatherhood, Family, and Friendship

By Maya Pope-Chappell

Levert%20Cover.jpg

Amid broken homes, fatherless children, baby mamas, and children being raised by 50 Cent and MTV, emerges a refreshing look at the bond shared between father and son.

In their last performance together as a father and son duo, Eddie Levert Sr. and Gerald Levert teamed up for the last time before Gerald's untimely death last November. In their new book, I Got Your Back: A Father and Son Keep It Real About Love, Fatherhood, Family and Friendship, Eddie and Gerald, along with co-writer, Lyah Beth LaFlore, shed light on their unique and profound relationship.

Drawing from their personal experiences and struggles as Black men, fathers, and entertainers, Eddie and Gerald capture the reader with their honesty, lending their insight on everything from love and relationships, music and entertainment, the Black community, and spirituality.

"This book is a tribute to my son and the special relationship we shared," Eddie writes. "It is our testimony of our love for each other, our family, our music, and our fans."

Laying the foundation for the Levert legacy, Eddie, a founding member of one of the mightiest soul groups, The O'Jays, belted out hits including "For the Love of Money" and "Love Train." Continuing the legacy, Gerald Levert, the "Teddy-Bear" of R&B, was not only a member of the group Levert and LSG with Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill, but also a great solo artist who both wrote and produced.

It was this legacy and passion for making music that really cemented the link between the two Levert's who both proclaim a steadfast love for one another throughout the book.

I Got Your Back provides a framework of a great father and son relationship from which other men can draw from. It also entices the reader to reflect on their own relationship they have with their own father or father figure in their life.

"More and more young men are being raised in a house where mama is both mother and father, and the father is nowhere around," writes Gerald. "Hip-hop videos are teaching our young black boys that hustlin', pimpin', and runnin' ‘ho's and bitches' defines manhood."

Despite the statistics and media accounts of Black men not taking responsibility for their children, this book serves as evidence that the bond shared between a man and his children is still alive within the Black community.

Though Eddie admittedly was not the perfect father, due to his infidelity and unavailability to his children because of the demands of his career with the O'Jays, he has taken responsibility and has corrected his wrongs.

"Back then I really didn't devote my time to my kids," Eddie writes. "I tell other men all the time, when you're involved in your child's life it makes a big difference. Kids love spending time with their dads. If men spent more time with their children, their kids would have more positive attitudes."

Studies show that children who are raised without a father are more prone to behavioral problems, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and low self-esteem. As portrayed in I Got Your Back, the role of the father is crucial to a child's development, especially in today's society with the enormous amount of distractions and pitfalls that our children can fall victim to.

With another Father's Day just here, take time to acknowledge your own father or the father-figure in your life, not only on June 17th, but everyday. To fathers doing their job, continue to be a positive influence in your child's life, instilling values and encouraging them in their endeavors.

Let's use Father's Day in the way that it was intended, which was to celebrate fathers who have taken an instrumental role in the life and well being of their children and celebrate the men who have guided, protected, and loved their children unconditionally.

Posted on June 16, 2007 5:18 AM