I’ve made no bones about and no apologies for my unyielding support of black fathers who do the right thing by their children. Every second of the day, they need to be celebrated—for their commitment to their children, for setting the example, for being the exact opposite of the stereotypes perpetuated against them, even by our own. And today, actor Tray Chaney is doing just that with the release of the video for his new single, “Fatherhood,” in which he pronounces: “I swear I’d rather die than be labeled as the guy… who wasn’t around.”
Chaney’s “Fatherhood,” with it’s delicious neo-soul guitar lick set to a military-styled beat, is a celebration of fathers getting it right and a clarion call to dads falling down on the job. The clear-eyed, to-the-point takeaway: Square your shoulders, step up and be a father to your child. The video, directed by BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com’s Lamar Tyler of Tyler New Media, features Chaney with both his (adorable!) son and his father, as well as a myriad of more incredible, dedicated dads and their children, including Kris Richards, the husband of Execumama.com’s Akilah Richards, and their beautiful daughters, and my man, Nick Chiles, and our three babies.
I invite you to watch the video for Tray Chaney’s “Fatherhood,” really dig into his words and, most importantly, share it within your social media networks. We can count on every media outlet to dog out black men with abandon, but if we want to take control of our images, clearly, we’re going to have to step up and do it ourselves. This is one of those images I’m proud to host here on MyBrownBaby and I encourage my readers to do the same. Tweet this. FaceBook Share and “Like” it. Google+ It. Email it to your people—the good dads and even the not-so-good ones. And leave a comment if you love it. Congratulations, Tray!
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Denene Millner
Mom. NY Times bestselling author. Pop culture ninja. Unapologetic lover of shoes, bacon and babies. Nice with the verbs. Founder of the top black parenting website, MyBrownBaby.
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Thanks for sharing this Denene. We really need for everyone to pump it because you know black radio won’t! It’s been our mission from the jump to flood the web with positive images of black culture and to prove that we do more than throw drinks on each other and scrap. I sincerely appreciate MBB’s dedication and support to helping us spread and promote these messages.
Denene, thank you so much for sharing this. Our fathers are so important and we need to see these positive images being promoted. It’s all about Making Love Better TwoGether! Again thank you!
This Video needs to go viral!! Tray you really did it this time, I love the message to our fathers. The children need their dad to be in their lives, pump this video so that the entire world can hear it. I love the fact that Tray’s biological father is in the video as well as Tray’s son. What a Good LOOK!!
Great video! Such poignant words. It was an honor to be a part of it. My kids and I will always have this to treasure.
Awesome video…so many need to hear this
Message
Truly inspiring video!
Great Job! If my husband wasn’t so introverted, I’d cast him in a reality show and call it, “Super Dad.” He’s the modern day Cliff Huxtable, but with a little swagger. 😉
Beautiful video! My father was NOT around and although I’m now 41 years old, I still can not forgive him for that. Out of spite I want to send this video to him, but won’t because I’m over it (NOT).
Great video, and the photo is priceless!
I was just telling a friend we are missing positive images of black fathers in the media. Thanks for sharing this.
Love it! The entire world needs to see this!