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Father's Day
Sweet Magnolia honors Father's Day.
Can we get one thing straight? Today, we give thanks for our Fathers. Period. Full Stop.
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Some people will argue that such men are rare or that they do not exist. They blame the violence and other social ills of impoverished communities on the absence of black men in their children’s lives. They pretend as though single-parent homes are exclusive to African Americans and use this misinformation to make moral judgments about black women and the men who father their children. Not this Church.
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They paint all Black men with one broad stroke, as chronic baby-makers who abandon their responsibilities even before their children are born. And they paint the sons of these black men with the same brush, condemning them to repeat the mistakes learned from their birth fathers. Not this Faith Community.
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Today, we celebrate the gift of Fatherhood and lift up the men in our lives who make a positive difference!
Juneteenth and Father’s Day belong together because both ask us to remember who carried us when the road was hard. Juneteenth tells the story of a people who were free before freedom reached them, who had dignity before the law admitted it, and who kept rising, though the nation tried to bury their names.
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Father’s Day, at its best, honors the men who stood in that same tradition. Black fathers have too often been lied on, reduced to absence, blamed for wounds they did not create, and denied credit for the love they give every day. But we know better. We have seen fathers work tired hands into provision. We have heard their prayers in quiet rooms. We have watched them teach children how to stand straight in a world determined to bend them low.
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At the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995, Mother Maya Angelou called Black people to come together, heal, love, and rise from the long night of history. Her poem reminds us that survival is not silence. It is testimony. So today we celebrate freedom and fatherhood together, honoring the ancestors who endured, the fathers who remain, and the children who deserve a truer story.
"Decolonizing our Worship Must Include Discarding Lies That Do Not Serve Us."
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- Rev. Dr. Francys Johnson
Senior Pastor
BLACK FATHER SERIES | Absentee fathers” only seem to come in one color: Black. Though there are fathers of all races and ethnicities who have a minimal presence in their children’s lives, “absentee” isn’t used to describe most of them. This racialized term uniquely targets Black fathers, inaccurately signaling that they willfully abandon their children.
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In reality, data from the CDC show that Black fathers are equally as likely to be involved in their children’s care as fathers of other races. There is, however, evidence that systemic racism has taken many Black fathers away from their families and communities through mass incarceration and early death.
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This guide identifies inaccurate and biased terms and narratives that are used to undermine the success and well-being of Black families in society. These are terms and narratives that result in real harm: society unfairly judging and punishing Black families according to a set of rules that white people in similar situations are not held accountable to and society unfairly denying the recognition, care, compassion, and support that white families in similar situations benefit from receiving.
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COVER IMAGE from the New York Times photo essay “Revealing the Lives of Black Fathers.” Read the full article and encounter a powerful visual witness against the lie of Black paternal absence, honoring images of presence, love, care, and truth.
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Image used for nonprofit educational worship purposes. Source: “Revealing the Lives of Black Fathers,” The New York Times, August 6, 2018.