FATHERLESS CHILDREN: "My Dad, Come Home, We Need You" "Father, You Are Hurting Your Children"

This book is about saving the lives of hundreds of “at risk” teens and my struggle as a young boy after migrating to Washington, DC from rural Mississippi in the early fifties. After my mother enrolled me in a public school, the guidance counselor evaluated my record and demoted me one grade. My teachers told me that I was not college material. We were a proud family and this treatment upon arrival only served to ignite a fi re in my mother and me. Not only did I excel, I applied, and was accepted to the prestigious Dunbar High School in Washington. I was sent to Detroit, Michigan by the Johnson Administration with a group of experts to examine the reasons behind the rioting, burning and destruction in 1967. It was there that I received my Masters Degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. It was here that I saw poverty, children who were underserved and uneducated. I saw mothers who were reaching out for assistance and desperately needed a helping hand, and I saw myself and my family in their eyes. HERE was my destiny - God had His hand on my life. Through faith, and working hard, I had overcome some difficult odds. I started on a never-ending path of teaching, mentoring, and child advocacy. I became a counselor for “at-risk” children. I earned my Doctorate from Virginia Tech and State University, I became a guidance counselor, a school principal, an acting Deputy Superintendent and more. I was an adjunct professor. As you continue to read, you will see why and how I feel I was predestined to serve and save the lives of young people. I want to inspire more people to reach out to “at risk” teens. They need more resources and not less.