Glen Henry and Jimmie Allen are part of a new movement, powered by Dove Men+Card, empowering Black … [+]
Country music artist Jimmie Allen and YouTube sensation Glen Henry are part of a club whose membership includes Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, former President Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and music entrepreneur Jay-Z.
This club also consists of the Black men who live in your community, attend your place of worship and work in your office.
These Black men are fathers. And contrary to popular belief, Black fathers are more involved in their children’s lives than their white and Hispanic counterparts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Black fathers (70%) were most likely to have bathed, dressed, diapered, or helped their children use the toilet every day compared with white (60%) and Hispanic fathers (45%),” said a 2013 study conducted by the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, based in Atlanta.
With the constant barrage of media misinformation and societal misconceptions surrounding the role that Black fathers play in the lives of their children, Allen and Henry, both 37, are doing their part to reveal what it means to be a Black father in modern times. These two men are working against the lack of positive imagery surrounding Black men and their role in parenting, thus becoming part of a more significant movement to ensure that Black fathers have a seat at the table.
“Anybody who thinks they know about fatherhood, Black fatherhood, Black people, or Black lives, you have no idea because you have never lived it,” said Henry, founder and lead creator of … [+]
“It’s a constant conversation with my son, wife and daughters,” said Allen, whose father was a Marine. “I let them know I love them, and we’ll spend time together as soon as I get back.”
Moments together involve hugs for his daughters and father-son bowling with his son Aayden.
ATLANTA 2022 – Taroue Brooks is a the executive producer of the “What About Me” documentary, In … [+]
Documentary film producer Taroue Brooks believes that the mainstream media’s unwillingness to capture Black men spending time with their children and in their community dates back to slavery and has impacted the modern mythical portrayal of Black fatherhood.
“We must be mindful that since slavery, Black fathers have been removed from their homes, dismantling the family structure,” Brooks said. “This puts the women and children in harm’s way without their protector or provider.”
Brooks, executive producer of … [+]
“I just really thought it was going to be boring,” Henry said. “When I became the primary care provider for the two boys, Theo and Uriah, they just showed me how emotionally exhausting, overwhelming, and at the same fulfilling fatherhood can be”
While only being allowed to spend summers with his father, Henry says his journey as a stay-at-home dad was unique and different. So much so, he decided to document it on social media.
“This is just a unique experience many people have not seen,” he said. “We do not talk about stay-at-home dads, especially Black dads. We are perceived to be a myth in popular culture.”
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