If you’re still in the midst of your Christmas shopping and need gift ideas for that dad or father figure in your life, we gotcha! If you get bruhman anything on this list, it’s gonna be a guaranteed hit. But this only works if you give him the gift, and say “Mare-Chri-muh.” If you say “Merry Christmas,” hitting all the syllables, all Joe College-proper-like, he may just push past you and head straight for the Crown Royal.
#5: To emerge from the experience in the Black
Black fathers love Christmas just as much as everybody else. But we love it even more when we don’t go broke trying to spread Christmas cheer. Families can give the gift of a few dollars left in the bank account on Dec. 26 by realizing that said “Christmas cheer” need not cost an arm and a leg.
#4: An end to the “Black fathers don’t exist” BS
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a horrid anti-Black legacy. The CDC was front and center in the “Tuskegee Experiment.” So, with that on its resume alone, it’s safe to say the CDC has never been mistaken for being a pro-Black institution. I say all that to emphasize a point – the CDC, which has never been a friend to Black people, in 2015 reported via their research that the notion that Black fathers are missing in action is a lie told to society and believed by everybody (regardless of race or political leanings) for far too long. The CDC reported that Black fathers are equally as present in the lives of their children as all other fathers, and in many instances EVEN MORE PRESENT! Black fathers who are taking care of business, know this. Yet, the “Black fathers missing in action” trope still persists. What a Merry Christmas we would have if we woke up on Christmas morning and folk divorced themselves from believing this harmful, erroneous stereotype.
#3: Black young men worthy of their daughters
Ask any Black father with children what scares them most, and the conversation will eventually hit on the news reports of young brothers losing their minds and unleashing violence upon a girlfriend who broke up with them or a young sister who simply didn’t want to give out her phone number. Of course, anything reported about Blackfolk via the media has to be taken with a grain of salt until we can verify it ourselves. But even one or two cases of young brothers who are so fragile that they can’t process and move on from a broken heart, and turn to violent retribution on our young sisters, is one or two cases too many. To a Black father’s ears, especially a Black father with daughters, that sounds like a reason to sound the alarm and a call to raise up young men who are equipped with the emotional intelligence and spiritual grounding necessary to be able to deal with life’s ups and downs without unleashing their internal pain outward upon others. This Christmas Day gift for Black fathers – young men worthy of their daughters – requires more work and investment by Black fathers to make this happen.
#2: Black Power
I don’t know if there’s a better gift for Black fathers than for Black people to possess Black Power – institutional power enabling us to feed, clothe, house, employ, educate, heal, protect, and invest in ourselves. With this kind of Black Power, think of all the brilliant young Black minds that will be allowed to develop to the full. Think of all the Blackfolk of all ages who have game-changing business ideas that would now have the willing and culturally in-tune funders needed for their businesses to blow up. Think of all the Black elders who could live out their days in safety and security, free to share their wisdom with our youth. Think of all the individuals and institutions that seek to demean, disrespect, and destroy Black lives that we could hold accountable with straight-up consequences and repercussions. No more having to rely on outside benefactors and having to tap dance with our words and actions and kowtow our initiatives to the desires and directions of those outside funders who, more often than not, neither know nor care about our best interests. All I want for Christmas is Black Power! Black Power! Black Power!
#1: Whatever they actually say they want
I’ve been told, there are Black dads who are asked to share their Christmas wish lists and do so religiously every year. Yet, every year, instead of getting anything on said list, they receive something their significant other thinks they need or should have. Every. Damn. Year. Here’s a radical, far-fetched idea – get bruhman what he asked for! I’m… I mean, they, are really basic and straightforward about what they want. Yet, they end up with gifts they either never use or use once every blue moon. Why not go absolutely out-of-the-box crazy this year and get something from dad’s list.
