Black Pearls
We must not only be able to black [shine] boots, but to make them. –Frederick Douglas                                     On this day, I will encourage  my sons to talk to me about their dreams, and be supportive of those dreams, expressing confidence in their ability to achieve them. Read more…
Ego is acting like you’re all–that. Like they say on the block, “all-that.” Can’t nobody touch you. Confidence is knowing who you are. –Shaquille O’neal On this day, I will take five minutes to think about the learning and social style of my sons and decide whether I need to step in to boost confidence […]
I was accused of being a smart mouth, so I became a smart mouth. –Marsha Warfield On this day, I will be cautious abouth the words I use to refer to my sons, realizing that no one label defines them in the complexity of their evolving and unique self. Read more…
Too many victories weaken you. The defeated can rise up stronger than the victor. –Muhammad Ali On this day I will take five minutes to discuss with my sons something they are having difficulty doing, and encourage them to locate where the problem is and how to handle it. Read more…
If we dream of our daughters becoming doctors, of our sons being electrical engineers, we must still love them when they decide they want to sell shoes and do landscape gardening. –Vikki Radden                                               On this day, I pledge to love my sons unconditionally, to give them guidance, state my own concerns—then back off. Read more…
Talk about it only enough to do it.  Dream about it only enough to feel it. Think about it only enough to understand it.  Contemplate it only enough to be it. –Jean Toomer                                               On this day, I pledge to stimulate and encourage my sons interests and ambitions, and recognize that what they do now is […]
One has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself. –Jessye Norman                                          On this day, I will take time to evaluate my sons priorities, and if they seem to need reorganizing, I will bring up the matter with them. Read more…
My mother thought of human lives as she thought of the roses that grew in the front yard: sometimes they wilted, sometimes they almost died; yet with a “little loving care,” a “little gentleness,” a “little concern,” those roses always bloomed again. –James Thomas Jackson                              On this day, I will take five minutes to talk […]
If tough breaks have not soured me, neither have my glory-moments caused me to build any altars to myself where I can burn incense before God’s best job of work. —Zora Neale-Hurston On this day, I will take five minutes to discuss with my sons an item relating to black pride—kente cloth, for instance, or […]
Don’t say “Hire me because I’m Black.” Say, “Hire me because I’m the best.” I can deliver and make you look good.” –Anonymous                                                    On this day, I will take five minutes to remind my sons that there are people out there who are happy to help them, but only if they can deliver the goods. […]
My parents did not encourage me to be bitter. If they had, I’d have been so mean it would have killed my spirit a long, long time ago. –Annie Elizabeth “Bessie” Delaney      On this day, I will take five minutes to discuss with my sons things that anger or frustrate us and ways by which we […]
I have learnt too much of the heart of a man not to be certain that it is only in the bosom of my family that I shall find happiness. –Toussaint L. Ouverture On this day, I will take five minutes to think about the stress level in my household, and if necessary, ways to reduce […]
