Derrick Barnes

Where Black Moms Matter

September 12, 2011

{My Four Sons} The Sorrowful Last Days of “Who Would Win In A Fight”

By DERRICK BARNES I think, on average, that ten is the cut-off age. It’s around that time that boys begin to almost completely lose the innocence that we secretly wish that they could retain a sliver of; you know, just enough to continue to be inquisitive, creative, and oozing with ...

August 9, 2011

{My Four Sons} A Prayer For Nnamdi: A Black Father Welcomes His Newest Son

By DERRICK BARNES In 2005, immediately after my family and I were fortunate enough to survive and escape the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, we found ourselves in Kansas City, MO. We landed a rental home a small two-bedroom bungalow. I was so grateful to have my ...

May 2, 2011

{My Four Sons} Love, Respect and Nestle Snipes

By DERRICK BARNES Depending on the day of the week, the situation, or the reading on the crack me up! meter, I have a legendary list of aliases for the mighty-mighty-MIGHTY Barnes brothers. But my man Silas, the baby, my 4-year-old, he holds the title for the most monikers: Sydnee Potch-yay. ...

March 21, 2011

{My Four Sons} How One Dedicated Father Made Reading Fundamental For His Son

By DERRICK BARNES For the most part, he’s everything I’m not. Well, not everything. I just wish I was born with his intensity and fire. But hey, were both devilishly charming. I’d say we share the same quick wit, infectious sense of humor, and enormous amount of modesty. My middle ...

February 12, 2011

{Big Black Daddy} Sucka For Love

By Derrick Barnes It starts early. Well, at least for the eldest Barnes brother, Ezra, aka Pretty Boy McCoy, or aka his new and most fitting moniker, Soft Serve, it has started early as hell. He's a romantic. A push over for love. An easy target for feminine wiles. He'll be ...

February 3, 2011

Introducing Big Black Daddy

By Derrick Barnes When I told a friend of mine about the title of my new MyBrownBaby column, she said it gave her images of a huge scowling, southern gentleman like Jack Johnson dark as dusk, hands as big as a catcher's mitt, over-developed muscles from working 20-hour shifts at ...

June 19, 2009

On Father’s Day, Remember That Enough Is Always Enough, My Brotha

By DERRICK BARNES There’s one major concern and reoccurring worry that I have as a father, and that’s that I’m going to forget to teach my three sons something very important before they grow up and leave the nest. One day I’ll look up and my boys will be young ...