Exploring the importance of black fatherhood

By Terri M. Bolds Wilkinson-Hill,MS, LPC: A topic that gets attacked and scrutinized in the Black community is fatherhood. I could use this opportunity to provide data and research to support my title; instead, I want to use this opportunity to speak to people in plain language. I want to capture my audience’s attention to discuss why Fathers Matter. From the Black experience, not speaking for all, fathers lack inclusion in conversations about their positive contributions to the productivity, healthy development and esteem of their children. Black fathers are overlooked and at the same time lack presence. To understand the reason for that phenomenon is to understand our heritage and our evolution or lack thereof.I first heard of the term psychological enslavement from my uncle. I would listen to him passionately speak about educating the Black community about economic empowerment and how we need to change our mindsight and understand the power of our dollars collectively. I understood the term to mean, one’s mind being held captive and bound to ideas against its will or desire. Being a therapist, I often use that term in relation to the watering of stigmas in our communities.The depiction of Black fathers is mostly...