My Seven Black Fathers

Will Jawando's account of mentorship, service, and healing lays waste to the racist stereotype of the absent Black father. By arguing that Black fathers are not just found in individual families, but are indeed the treasure of entire Black communities, Will makes the case for a bold idea: that Black men can counter racist ideas and policies by virtue of their presence in the lives of Black boys and young men. This is a story we need to hear. --Ibram X. Kendi, New York Times-bestselling author of How to be an Antiracist As a boy growing up outside D.C., Will Jawando, who went by his Nigerian name, Yemi, was shunted from school to school, never quite fitting in. He was a Black kid with a divorced white mother, his relationship with his biological father was frayed, and his teachers chastised him for being disruptive in class and on the playground. Eventually, he became close to Kalfani, a kid he met on the basketball court with a whole lot of promise. Years after he got the call telling him that Kalfani was dead, a casualty of street violence, Will looks back on what saved him from a similar fate. Will Jawando traces his survival to an extraordinary series of mentors. Among them were Mr. Williams, the rare Black male grade school teacher, who taught Will to tie his first tie when he saw that he was being bullied; Jay Fletcher, the openly gay colleague of his mother's who got him off junk food and took him to his first play; Mr. Holmes, the high school coach and chorus director who saw him through a crushing disappointment; Deen Sanwoola, who helped him bridge the gap between his American upbringing and his Nigerian heritage, eventually leading to a dramatic reconciliation with his biological father; and President Barack Obama, who made Will his associate director of public engagement at the White House--and who invited him to shoot some hoops on more than one occasion. Without the influence of these men, Will knows he would not be who he is today: a civil rights and education policy attorney, public servant, husband, and father. Drawing on Will Jawando's deeply moving story and involvement in My Brother's Keeper, President Obama's national initiative to address persistent opportunity gaps facing boys and young men of color, My Seven Black Fathers explores the remarkable impact that Black men can have on the rising generation.