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- About the Story
- In this web-only video, we listen in on a spirited conversation on parenting with youth advocate John Hill of The Father's Heart Committee, LAPD Deputy Chief Earl Paysinger and Joe Hicks of Community Advocates. (TRT: 5:58)
- Listen to the Related L&T Segment
- View the Segment Transcript
- American Rhetoric’s audio and transcript of Bill Cosby’s Pound Cake Speech
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
- Community Advocates, Inc.
- I Speak of Dreams’ Academic Entitlements & More Bad Parenting Blog
- Los Angeles Police Department
- Los Angeles Police Department Blog
- Mystical Incense Blog’s Rant Day – Bad Parents
- W.A.Y.A.’s What Type of Parents Are You? Blog
- The Wealth of Nations Foundation
Frank Talk About Parenting
Last updated: September 26, 2008
Reporter's NOTES
Val Zavala
One of the things I constantly hear people say when they read about some horrendous act by a teenager is “Where are their parents?!” That’s the question that sparked this conversation between a youth mentor and a deputy police chief. It started off with the question about Bill Cosby and his criticism of parenting in Black families. And from there, it took off.
Insider Viewpoints
I hate to disagree with Bill Cosby, but let me just disagree with Bill Cosby. I mean, the fact of the matter is, we assume that because people go through the natural biological essence of childbirth, that automatically makes them parents, and that’s not the case.
I mean, the fact is, when you have somebody, a mother in the home who’s under the influence of some mind-altering narcotic, the father is in the penitentiary, and you leave the whole parenting cycle up to a grandparent in the home who has already raised five kids. I mean, where does that come from? Where does parenting come from?
Let me tell you something, being a parent doesn’t mean being a parent today and tomorrow. Being a parent means being a parent next year and the year after that.
--Remarks made by Earl Paysinger, Deputy Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, on Life & Times
You can’t stop people from being parents. That will not happen.
People are going to have children. The question is are they capable of raising those children?
I think what we need to take a look at is this: We know that there are problems with parenting. We also know that in the African American community specifically, there are problems with fathers.
There are not enough fathers in the homes to help raise children. Take myself.
We’ve set up an organization called The Father’s Heart. We have cell-phone dads.
Twenty-four hours a day, any child in Los Angeles County can call and talk to a father figure anywhere in Los Angeles County through a 1-800 number. What we’re trying to do is be the surrogate father to children who don’t have fathers.
We know that is a huge problem. We know that there’s a solution to that.
--Remarks made by John Hill, President of The Father’s Heart, on Life & Times
Bill Cosby said some things last year that got himself in trouble. He talked about a lot of things, in fact.
In essence, he’s saying some folks just shouldn’t be parents. They don’t have the wherewithal.
They just don’t have the ability to be parents and there needs to be some responsibility when you father a child that you should at least understand what that means. You know, he knows all that, yet home-boy came down pretty hard.
But are parents hearing from responsible sources the notion of individual responsibility for their acts? Should there be some kind of campaign, in fact, to talk about what that means so that a 12- or 13-year-old is hearing these messages?
If I’m going to have a kid, here’s what that means in terms of responsibility for me. I can’t just run off and forget that there’s this responsibility.
--Remarks made by Joe Hicks, Vice President of Community Advocates, Inc., on Life & Times
COMMUNITY VIEWPOINTS
It’s amazing that you continue to defend an OBVIOUSLY mentally ill man who murdered my son and attempted to kill me! You should be very ashamed for not at least trying to help him when he was clearly crying out for help!
You, instead, buried your head in the sand, allowing yourself to believe that I was the cause of his torment when it was, in fact, you who alerted me to his extreme abuse as a child and his own mother’s mental illness and numerous stints in mental-health facilities. You should be very ashamed!
MsManuel - La Habra, California
I have a very different side of the Brian/Paula/Joshua Manuel story (airing on April 21st, 2006). He was a very special friend of my husband and myself. Additionally, the police came to our house the night of both deaths.
I am by no means saying that Brian had ANY RIGHT to do what he did; however, their relationship and the events leading up to the EXTREMELY unfortunate incident is not being portrayed honestly.
Margot Taylor - Carson, California