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BLACK FAMILY RENEWAL: REV RUN DMC (5428 hits)

Watch this interview with Hip Hop Icon, Run DMC, on The Today Show, on family and his new book. The star of MTV's Emmy-winning, top-rated 'Run's House'-dubbed the new Cosby family-offers a vital rescue manual for parenting.

This is an essential part of, what I call, the New Revolution. Finding our way back to family renewal is key to solving the cause for so many of the ills that we face as a culture. Nearly 70% of the children, fathered by black men, live without him in a single parent home, often, run by an unprepared mother. When children are abandoned, when they don't get the structure, love anad nurturing they need, they become what we call, 'bad kids'. The real deal is, bad parents took these innocent children and exposed them to bad environments. Then the bad parents use a whuppin' ,or some other form of anger generated punishment, to try and control the kids' reaction to this harmful environment. Those kids grow up and make bad decisions, getting into criminal behavior. And in their efforts to find love, have s*x inappropriately. Some contract HIVAids, others have babies, without any kind of committment to help parent from the father.

Here is a link to buy Rev. Run's book: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Take-Back...

An excerpt of my soon to be released book "Black Men Stop!" can be read at www.blackmenstop.com.

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Posted By: g smallwood
Thursday, August 7th 2008 at 1:32PM
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I saw this segment the other morning. My hat goes off to Rev. Run and Justine for bringing attention to this issue.

Be blessed, my sister, and continue to be a blessing.
Thursday, August 7th 2008 at 2:24PM
J. A. Faulkerson

I watch that show and I love it because it shows a real family dealing with real issues. they are real black parents not the sugarcoated version that most tv provides us with.
Thursday, August 7th 2008 at 2:26PM
ReJeana Turner

That's cool, but there's nothing new there. What is depressing is that as black people we were superlative a raising our children when held against the backdrop of how white families raised their kids. Black parenting was always rooted in community and shared responsibility for that community. As our communities have fallen, so have our families. Anyone paying attention could see the normal husband/wife friction between RUN and his wife at the start of the interview. There's nothing different about what RUN and his wife are going through than what each of us is enduring. Again, not knocking RUN and his efforts, but there is no new material to be found here. I want to see more blacks pushing the envelope and calling a spade a spade and holding these television executives, educators and radio producers accountable for the continual dumbing down of our society. Get on national t.v. and talk about how the system itself is failing the majority of the families that don't have millionaire parents with television deals. Then again that show would probably never make the airwaves. Television, especially the news is bought and paid for, trust me, you have to read between every line they feed you.
Thursday, August 7th 2008 at 3:02PM
Curly Morris

Excellent points, Curly. Whatever you do, that contributes to encouraging and teaching that can compel black folks to face the problems, so that we can begin to improve, are steps in the right direction. I'm one who believes that having money is not the source of morality. There are many poor working-non working--families who are stronger than some wealthy families. And we can't continue to blame the environment on our own personal habits and behavior. A strong family, in my estimation, is the key to so much that is foul in our culture. If you think we can wait until the television executives, and radio producers and moguls do something, then you wait. It ain't gonna happen in our life time. As a culture, if we don't start moving in a new direction, we will end up markedly reduced, weakened and ignored.
Thursday, August 7th 2008 at 3:25PM
g smallwood

"Every little bit helps" huh? Point well taken.
Thursday, August 7th 2008 at 3:43PM
Curly Morris

I have viewed this show and found it to be a bit annoying. There is nothing wrong with a husband and wife raising their children together and dealing with issues that some considered normal. Hollywood has the same issues as any other family in America. My problem with the show is parents especially today need to have a bit more back bone. I understand the cameras being on, therefore I question how true is the situations and responses from the people that are on the show. I see a mother who does not know how to handle situations, including simple ones such as a child breaking a gameboy, the mother says, I am telling your father when he gets home. How can a parent communicate with a child in a whining tone then expects the child to recognize her as a parent? I commend Run on what he is doing, handling all that he has to do, however I have a problem with a man coming home from a hard day of work and have to deal with the situations at home is annoying.
Friday, August 8th 2008 at 2:49PM
Cheryl Hendrix

I have not watched this program as I see African-Americans as limited to comedy and holding guns in TV series. But, if you see this program as not deaming, I will start watching it and give it a chance. This will help me may be get past my 'racism,prejudices of Tv series with our people in them. Lov and many thanks g. smallwood for helping my get beyond this.
Thursday, April 10th 2014 at 6:47PM
ROBINSON IRMA

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