Participants: Yvonne Lewis (Host), Robert Johnson
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000086S
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00:00 Stay tuned to meet a man that's standing up
00:03 for the disenfranchised and working through the System 00:06 to make a difference... 00:07 My name is Yvonne Lewis and you're watching Urban Report 00:32 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:35 My guest today is Robert D. Johnson 00:37 Architect of the Georgia Fatherhood Initiative 00:40 and National Campaign Director of the Fathers in Education 00:44 Campaign... Welcome to Urban Report Robert. 00:47 Yes, thank you so much You're welcome... 00:51 it's great to have you here... Yes, Ma'am... 00:54 You have been doing some incredible work 00:57 with the folks that are just really struggling 01:02 in terms of their relationships with their children 01:05 and all that... I want to get into that... 01:07 but first, tell us a bit, if you would 01:10 about the impact of fatherlessness 01:13 on our culture and our communities. 01:16 Well, I think one way to start 01:21 with just by sharing the statistics, 01:25 today, we have approximately 01:29 24 million children who would grow up 01:33 without a father in the household... 01:36 that's 24 million babies... 01:40 young children in Elementary School... 01:44 children trying to make it through High School... 01:47 and children trying to navigate their life chances... 01:50 who will not have a father in the home... to guide them... 01:55 this is a tremendous concern for all of us... 01:59 Absolutely... absolutely... on Dare to Dream 02:03 we've had several programs about fatherlessness... 02:08 and it's impact on our communities... 02:11 and it was said in one article that I read that 02:16 that is probably the single-most defining factor 02:22 in various sociological issues that we have 02:26 whether it's High School drop-outs... 02:28 whether it's crime... poverty... 02:32 so all of these things are impacted 02:35 by the lack of the fathers in the home... 02:38 why do you think, 02:40 there is this issue in the first place... 02:42 what's going on? 02:44 Well, Yvonne, I think that we had a change in our culture, 02:50 of our Community... I'm old enough to remember... 02:54 I grew up in Brownsville, Brooklyn 02:56 390 Seton Avenue, a 14 story apartment building... 03:00 400 people lived in the building and I never saw 03:04 an apartment getting broken into... 03:06 or a woman get robbed... and we had a culture 03:12 where we had roles and functions 03:14 and the father's job was to go to work, 03:17 the mothers took care of the children 03:19 and our job was to go to School... 03:21 Today... and you rarely saw 03:25 a young lady have a baby you know, 03:28 without being married... but if you did... 03:30 the guy she had the baby from 03:32 the next week... you would see him going to work 03:36 because that was somebody's father's doing... 03:39 I just want to stop you right here Robert... because 03:42 wow, what you said is so important 03:44 and it's something that we really don't deal with 03:48 as much as we should and that is... 03:50 roles... just plain roles... that is such a critical piece 03:55 you said, the fathers went out to work... 03:58 the mothers were taking care of the children... 04:01 and you didn't see the kind of crime... 04:04 you saw fathers providing for their children... 04:08 when we were coming up... so, now you're saying 04:11 this is a different deal now-a-days... 04:14 we are seeing a whole different construct... 04:17 elaborate on that some more for us... would you 04:20 Right... it's a different construct 04:22 and I've done some research on it... I traced it back to... 04:26 right after the Vietnam War... what happened is... 04:30 you had intact families in just about every community 04:34 in the Country... because you have to... 04:36 remember Yvonne... you know, 04:37 many families migrated from the South 04:39 they were used to families, they were used to communities, 04:43 their roles and functions, hard work was... 04:47 everybody had to work hard, the kids had to work, 04:50 and then we moved to these urban environments 04:53 and we still had some of that intact 04:55 but at the end of the Vietnam War in 1970 and 1971... 05:01 we were bombarded with the drug culture... 05:05 drugs and we were... our men coming home 05:09 were... they were confronted by these vices 05:13 that created exposure to criminal activity 05:17 and the destruction and deterioration 05:20 of the family... the fathers... when I grew up... 05:24 many of these, Yvonne, were 05:26 "Gentlemen" 05:27 they had just come out of World War II 05:29 so you can see that they had a relationship to discipline 05:33 and so, as you rewind and look back... 05:37 there is a point where you can see the breakdown 05:40 in the family... the statistics bear it out 05:43 regarding childbearing and other things... 05:46 so, and this is interesting... because I never heard 05:50 the connection really between the breakdown 05:54 of the family and the Vietnam War... 05:57 that is a very interesting concept 06:00 because... here we have, you know, 06:04 our guys coming back... from Vietnam 06:07 many of whom were addicted to heroin and struggling with 06:12 drug abuse... but was there a difference 06:15 in the World War II Vets and the Vietnam Vets? 06:19 Yes, I think the difference was, I lived through it... 06:24 so I'm old enough to have the direct experience 06:28 I think the difference was the bombardment 06:31 of drugs in our communities, World War II Veterans 06:35 they did not have the proclivity for drugs 06:39 they, more-or-less responded to alcohol which is 06:43 much less of a factor in our communities... 06:47 than drugs and the drug trade, if you look at the movie 06:52 American Gangster... and you look at the 06:54 proliferation of drugs in every community 06:56 in the United States of America it changed the DNA 07:00 I'm using that word DNA... is the 07:03 chromosome of our community 07:05 and the chromosome of our community 07:07 was safety... it was responsibility... 07:10 it was discipline... and so, therefore, we had 07:14 young men who were now coming back 07:16 and who their first obligation was not to take care of 07:20 their children and their family but to support their habit... 07:23 and we had a Criminal Justice System... 07:25 that restructured to facilitate their criminality... 07:33 so, you know, this is why we speak of the 07:35 Prison Industrialized Complex 07:37 and I think if you look at the increase in crime... 07:39 and the prison population... you can directly relate it 07:42 to drugs... and so, that's very interesting 07:47 relationship... It absolutely is... 07:51 it absolutely is... so now we have a situation 07:55 where we have the young men... 07:59 coming back from Vietnam, addicted and... 08:03 not all of course... I don't want anybody to think 08:05 that we're saying... "All the veterans that came back 08:08 from Vietnam were drug addicted... " 08:09 that's not what we're saying... but this is an element... 08:12 in this whole puzzle... because Robert... what I see 08:16 this as... the whole thing is it's like an onion 08:19 with all these different layers, 08:21 and the things that have happened 08:23 to the Black Community... within the past 20 years or so, 08:28 these things have really just blown my mind 08:31 really... because we can see... 08:33 where "Yes, there's progress in certain ways" 08:36 and then... we can see where there is still 08:38 this whole systemic, you know, institutionalized deal 08:42 that has created certain restrictions and so 08:48 where do we go... what do we do? 08:51 tell us some solutions... Well, I really like your analogy 08:55 of the onion because I tell that story too... 08:57 you know, we live in Georgia so we have the beautiful Vidalia 09:01 Oh... yeah... that's right those sweet onions... 09:03 which is the best onion in the world by-the-way... 09:06 when I say that when you take the layers 09:08 of the onion off and you get down to the core 09:11 and you cut it everyone in the room is crying, 09:13 okay... Okay, come on... come on now... 09:16 the core of our... the core of our experience 09:19 right now... today... which was separated from our 09:23 past because the minute the community when I grew up 09:28 would not let the drugs to take over and overwhelm 09:32 they simply were organized 09:34 this was black men... white men... 09:37 but that experience they had... they had that relationship 09:40 to being in the military... and their objective was 09:43 the safety of their children and families... 09:45 the men who returned from the war, 09:47 had their DNA changed... 09:50 you know... they had a mutated chromosome... 09:53 you know what I mean... I'm using these 09:56 medical terms... and it changed the nature 10:00 of their behavior and changing the nature 10:02 of their behavior... changed the chemistry 10:05 in our community... 10:06 today, I think, Yvonne, the approach that I take 10:10 to the solution is that we really are going to 10:13 have to rewind to the core of that onion 10:16 and then stand there in that room and cry like a baby 10:18 and realize that we do have a history... 10:21 we do have a history of community 10:23 we do have examples of community and we cannot separate ourselves 10:30 from our history... we cannot separate ourselves 10:33 from the good parts of what we did, 10:35 that nuclear family... 10:37 that child would not have a baby because she knew her daddy 10:42 wasn't going for it... let me just tell you... 10:45 just like that... real straight, I have 3 sisters... 10:49 and when you came to my house to see my sister 10:51 you had better look at my father... in his eye... 10:54 and when you looked at my father in his eye, 10:57 you already knew... there were certain things 11:00 that you just simply were not going to do... 11:03 I know just what you mean... you know what, Robert, 11:09 when you talk about... this is so... 11:11 this is so critical too... when you talk about 11:13 the DNA has changed... you know, when I was growing up 11:15 the whole idea of drug dealers it was repulsive 11:21 you know, somebody was dealing drugs... 11:23 that is repulsive they're messing up the community 11:26 they're tearing down the community 11:28 they are not the heroes of the community... 11:32 when did it flip... and the drug dealers become 11:36 the heroes... "Man, I want to be like... 11:37 that... because he's driving that big car 11:39 and he's got all the women and he's got all the money... " 11:42 it's like... we had a different sense of 11:46 this is what's important... 11:48 it's important to build up the community 11:50 not tear it down... and what I'm seeing is the 11:54 glorification of the drug dealer and it's just... 11:58 to me... it's such a flip in... you know, 12:01 the Bible says that at some point... 12:04 things that are right will seem wrong 12:06 things that are wrong will seem right... 12:08 and that's what's happening... it's... 12:10 there's a flip in Society, 12:12 and you're saying that we need to key into 12:15 our history... we didn't always have 12:18 this kind of glorification of the drug dealer... 12:21 we need to go back to... the place 12:24 where we had roles where the daddy was looking 12:26 into the eyes of those suitors and saying, 12:29 "You're not going to try that with my daughter... " 12:32 those kinds of things... we need to go back to... 12:35 so I think... your points are so well taken... 12:38 what connection does literacy have 12:43 with where we are... 12:44 Well, Yvonne, I tell you... I sure do appreciate these 12:48 questions you're asking me because I did a little research 12:53 and I had a choice of looking at where the evolution 12:57 incubator for what I consider to be the magnitude 13:00 of the problems that we are addressing and faced with today, 13:04 and I had a choice between literacy and poverty... 13:07 and I chose literacy... because, today... 13:12 and then I always used statistics... 13:15 I always do research... I'm a research-type person 13:18 but I try to speak in terms where people can relate 13:22 but the research is very compelling... 13:25 you have 44 million people in America 13:28 that are functionally illiterate 13:30 now, Yvonne, there's a difference between illiterate 13:33 and functionally illiterate... 13:34 functionally illiterate means 13:36 that you don't have the capacity 13:37 for you to hold a job, and apply the reading 13:40 and writing skills that you need 13:42 in order to maintain that job... 13:44 you don't have the ability to go to the supermarket 13:47 and tell the difference between a sale item and not a sale item, 13:51 you do not have the ability for you to write a check 13:53 and keep a check book... okay... so that's 13:56 functionally illiterate... so you have 44 million people 13:59 but Yvonne, I wanted to make this point 14:00 this last point... you have 44 million people 14:03 that's in poverty... so how is that... 14:06 isn't that interesting that you have this side by side, 14:08 so here it is... here's the bottom line, 14:11 people that are functionally illiterate will live in poverty. 14:16 Come on... come on now... is that not the bottom line... 14:20 that literacy and poverty go together... 14:24 That's exactly right... they go together... 14:27 and they feed off of each other, and then they become 14:30 a multiplier... and the multiplier is not 14:33 two times two is exponential is 2 to the power of 3... 14:37 for people that are Math majors out there... 14:39 I wasn't but... I wasn't either so... 14:42 but you know... exponential means that it's 14:45 multiplying 5 times as fast... so when you have poverty, 14:49 you have illiteracy... it grows into poverty... 14:54 it grows into education... 14:56 or the lack of education attainment 14:58 because that's passed on... 14:59 okay... because, if I'm a father and a mother 15:02 and I only have a 6th Grade reading... 15:05 how do I expect my child to advance their reading... 15:10 now... in the past culture... 15:12 we did do that because we had much more control 15:15 of our community and that father that worked on that farm, 15:19 he knew he wanted his child 15:20 to get a a high school education 15:22 and so, today, though, we allow our children 15:25 to pretty much function on their own... 15:27 and without guidance... they happen to meet those 15:32 speed bumps... like 3rd Grade reading, you know 15:34 where we have 60 percent of our children 15:36 failing the 3rd Grade Reading proficiency... 15:38 these children that are just starting out in life... 15:41 and they've already done the longitudinal study to show 15:43 how they're likely to drop out of high school... 15:46 so, we've got the 44 million 15:49 people... in this Country that are functionally illiterate 15:53 and then we have millions of children... 15:56 who then... because... their parents are 15:59 functionally illiterate or illiterate... 16:01 they're not doing well in School... 16:04 either... whether it's... whether the parents 16:07 are illiterate or the parents aren't just parenting... 16:10 which is another issue... 16:11 which... you know... 16:13 they're setting their kids in front of the TV 16:14 and thinking that the TV is going to be the teacher 16:18 and train the kids... so, again, we've got that 16:21 "onion" Robert... we've got that onion of multiple 16:25 issues... we've got... people, who themselves, are 16:28 illiterate... who don't know how to help their children 16:32 so, suppose someone is watching this Program today 16:36 and they're saying... "Okay, I don't really 16:39 know... how to read... 16:41 I don't really know how to balance my check book 16:44 I don't really know... how to do any of these things 16:46 what do I do... and how can I help my children 16:51 to do better?" Well, actually, that's the most 16:55 important question... is solution... 16:57 and that's where Fathers in Education was created 17:01 after the 20 years of serving fathers 17:03 and 3 decades of serving our families and our community 17:06 in... it's all through the grace of God... 17:09 I realized that we were 17:11 passing on the condition 17:14 to generational... to the next generation... 17:16 when I was responsible for programming 17:20 and I had the opportunity to counsel men... 17:22 I had a man come to me one time, Yvonne, 17:24 and I asked him to fill out an application 17:26 and he cried... he couldn't fill it out... 17:28 and he cried like a baby... but he had been working 17:31 for the Electric Company for 13 years... 17:33 I asked him... how would he work 17:35 for the Electric Company when he couldn't read... he said 17:37 "Mr. J, I did what I had to do" he said, 17:39 "but the thing that hurt me the most 17:41 is I couldn't read my books to my kids... " 17:44 but guess what happened, he admitted he needed help... 17:48 and he came to somebody who was willing to help him... 17:52 I went to the Adult Basic Education people 17:55 and told them, "Don't embarrass him... " 17:57 Hmmm... "When you give him the test, 17:59 don't put him in the room with everybody else... 18:02 put him in a room with people that have 18:04 the same letter... " and do you know... 18:06 3 years later... I saw that gentleman 18:08 in an Adult Basic Education Class 18:11 and he knew how to fill out an application... 18:13 Isn't that wonderful? That's awesome... 18:16 and that's so heartwarming isn't it... 18:18 because that's life-changing... you're not just 18:21 talking about, you know, 18:22 having somebody change their shoes 18:24 you're talking about something 18:26 that gave this man a tool... 18:28 that he can use for everything, reading... as they say in... 18:32 they used to have this Program called "Reading is Fundamental" 18:35 if you can't read... you can't really do anything... 18:38 That's right... you're functionally illiterate 18:42 and then... by default... you're basically passing that 18:46 on to your children... and then... 18:48 but here's the part, Yvonne, that's most devastating... 18:52 people are embarrassed by this, okay... and so these fathers... 18:56 I've had experience with them, you know that whole thing 18:59 I want to be a man... but you're so embarrassed 19:02 that you can't read... you're not going to tell anybody 19:05 so you're going to fake it, so we're going to get 10,000 men 19:08 in 3 years in Fathers in Education 19:11 and we're bringing them in to our structure 19:15 regardless of their marital status 19:18 economic status or educational attainment 19:21 and we say... "We love you... 19:23 okay... and we want you to make a commitment 19:26 to your child's education from early education through 19:29 high school and beyond... " now, 19:31 do you know what it means to somebody 19:33 that doesn't have a job to envision 19:35 being in that child's life for 13 or 14 years... 19:38 it's unprecedented... because they can't even 19:42 see past tomorrow... and so... where they say, 19:44 "Without a vision a man perishes... " 19:47 am I correct? Yes... 19:48 we put their children in front of them... 19:50 and that father loves that child... 19:54 and he wants that child to do better... 19:56 that's when the Spirit comes in... 19:59 see Spirit moves when it sees love... 20:02 and this is how we are operating... 20:05 this is what God has blessed me to do... 20:08 to be my ministry... this is how we're going to 20:13 change the game... Come on... come on... 20:16 How... okay... oh, you've given me so much here... 20:20 this is so good... how are you going to reach 20:23 these men... how are you going to reach them? 20:26 Okay... well I tell you... I wish I could talk to you 20:30 every day... you really are very sharp with this... 20:34 let me tell you Yvonne, I had been blessed that I am a 20:38 very powerful organizer... I'm a member of the 20:40 National Fatherhood Leadership Leaders' Group... 20:43 and I'm the National Mobilization Officer 20:46 my goal is... my job is... 20:48 to mobilize... about 1,500 Fatherhood Programs 20:51 around the Country and bring them in... 20:52 to a Community... what I've done as far as 20:55 Education... is... I am creating a network 20:59 of 200 Fathers In Education partners... 21:04 who live in various venues 21:07 around the United States of America 21:09 who have access to these fathers... 21:10 and I'm asking them to connect with these fathers 21:14 and I'm using technology platform... 21:16 to bring them in to a "virtual community" 21:20 just like Facebook... I'm creating the Directory 21:23 I'm putting 10,000 fathers on the list 21:25 why don't we just say we start with 200... 21:27 and we put them on a page... 21:29 and they don't know each other 21:31 but they all are committed to their children... 21:33 they all are learning from each other... 21:36 and then we build the capacity for those individuals 21:39 to become a Community and for them to organize 21:42 themselves just like the men did when I was growing up 21:45 and they all... the best time of the day... 21:47 Yvonne, was when the men went to work in the morning 21:49 and when daddy came home... 21:51 Oh, you know what Robert... seriously... this is so good... 21:56 this is so good... because so many people 21:59 sit back and say... "What can I do... 22:01 how can I make a difference, what can I do...?" 22:06 and you're giving a solution 22:09 you are saying... "Let's organize... 22:11 let's use Social Media and Technology... 22:13 and let's organize this thing and get it going... " 22:18 you're not just sitting back, saying, 22:19 "Oh, I wish we could do this... " 22:21 no, you're doing it... and I'm just so grateful... 22:24 the Lord is so good... because he puts 22:28 ideas into our spirits 22:30 to do things... 22:31 to make a difference... it's not His will 22:34 that people should just be floundering like this... 22:37 it's not... and so, He's given you 22:40 some great ideas as to how to move forward 22:44 with this... so you're going to be 22:45 getting partners and organizing this whole movement 22:50 to help fathers... is this... 22:53 this is incarcerated as well as non-incarcerated fathers... 22:58 who are the fathers that you want? 22:59 Well, primarily Yvonne, they are low-income fathers 23:03 primarily by default... okay... because the kids 23:06 that are at the greatest risk of impact 23:09 are low-income kids... okay... and so, 23:11 the fathers who have the greatest need 23:13 the greatest barriers are low-income fathers 23:16 so these fathers are... a significant number of them 23:20 have criminal records and have been exposed 23:22 to the Criminal Justice System, so that's the major part 23:25 of our population... so we want to help 23:28 them to revise their behavior and their perception 23:32 of their opportunities 23:35 and develop a vision 23:37 for their future... and just like I read a book 23:40 the other day... it said, "Just like our bodies 23:43 were not made to endure pain... 23:45 we were not built to endure failure... " 23:49 Hmmm... hmmm... you see... 23:51 God didn't make us to be failures... 23:54 Come on... come on... we're supposed to be 23:56 the head... not the tail... right? 23:57 That's right... 23:59 we're supposed to be the head not the tail... 24:00 That's right... 24:01 but one of the things that seems to have happened... 24:04 and you alluded to this earlier 24:07 is that the whole idea of roles 24:09 has gotten convoluted... really... 24:12 I mean... when you look at it... you know... 24:14 when you have a fatherless situation 24:16 then you have the mother that's really 24:19 the Head of household, and then that young boy 24:22 looks to the mother to take care of him 24:24 and then looks to the girlfriend to take care of him 24:28 instead of being the man that God created him to be... 24:32 so, again, that onion... that whole idea of the layers 24:35 and what you're doing with your Organization 24:38 is... you are putting back the whole idea of 24:42 God's initial plan 24:44 for the role of man... 24:46 That's right, Yvonne, and that's... when... 24:49 of all of the things that I talk about 24:51 with all my partners around the Country 24:53 we always end up with Spirit... okay... 24:56 and my favorite verse in the Bible 24:58 is Jeremiah... that said, "I knew you before 25:00 you were formed in your mother's womb... 25:02 so, therefore, I had a purpose for you... " 25:04 but we realize that at some point... 25:06 when these children came out they had exposure 25:09 to an environment that put fear in them... 25:12 F E A R... False Education Appearing Real 25:14 and then they began believing that it was true 25:18 you know... and so, I always tell people 25:19 "If you believe you're sick... you're sick... 25:22 right... in direct proportion to how much you believe it... " 25:25 so when we believe "we are not going to ever have a 25:27 job or we are never going to have a family... " 25:30 but we really... when we don't have 25:32 an environment and a structure that gives us 25:36 the understanding of our role and our function... 25:39 when I was a kid... do you know what my job was? 25:41 "Go to School... " Hmmm... hmmm... 25:44 and "Stay out of trouble... " because when daddy came home 25:48 at 6 o'clock... I had to stop everything I was doing 25:52 and then we all had to go upstairs and eat dinner... 25:56 and Friday was a wonderful day 25:58 because daddy would come home 26:00 he'd been paid that little bit of money and boy... 26:03 we'd just act like we were millionaires... 26:05 so, we didn't know we were poor 26:08 we were "working poor" 26:09 millions and millions of working poor today... 26:12 but if we organize, Yvonne, as a Community... 26:14 and we begin to build the capacity... 26:17 to support each other with the goal of the children... 26:20 I just want to leave you with this... 26:22 in the African village... there is a... 26:24 the way they greet each other in the morning... 26:26 they say, "How are the children?" 26:29 and they say... "the children are fine... " 26:33 so if the children are fine... the village is fine... 26:36 All right... all right... I love it... I love it... 26:39 what's your website... tell us your website again... 26:41 Partnering with... partners in... 26:46 www. committedfathers. org 26:50 and let me repeat that... 26:54 that's www. committedfathers. org 26:58 and you will see the Fathers in Education page, 27:01 and you will have an opportunity to sign on 27:04 and become a part of our Network 27:06 and so, we would love for you to be a part of our Network 27:11 I'd love to see you and meet you... 27:13 Well, praise the Lord... you know... 27:15 you've given us some great, great information 27:18 I am going to look into it because I often 27:21 want to know what to do... 27:22 Thank you so much for being with us... 27:25 we really, really appreciate it 27:27 and I'd love to have you back sometime... 27:29 Yes any time Ma'am... thank you so much 27:31 for inviting me, God bless you... 27:32 God bless you as well... 27:34 Robert Johnson has given us some strategies for 27:37 reaching out to those in need... 27:39 Will you help? 27:40 What would Jesus have us to do in situations like this 27:44 where the downtrodden need our concern and assistance? 27:47 You already know the answer... James 1:27 27:50 says... "Pure religion, undefiled before 27:53 God and the Father, is this, 27:54 to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction 27:58 and to keep himself unspotted from the world. " 28:00 Well, that's our Program... 28:02 Thanks so much for tuning in... 28:03 Join us next time... 28:05 It just wouldn't be the same without you... |
Revised 2023-09-28