Thursday, 17th September am, Hollywood: CSI:NY and the decline of the black relationship
Hill Harper is extraordinary. I have to confess that I only knew of him as the coroner-turned-CSI, Sheldon Hawkes, on CSI:NY. But that is only the tip of the iceberg – he is an actor, an author, a black activist and a contemporary and friend of Barack Obama.
He graduated from Brown University, then Harvard Law School, then from the JFK School of Government at Harvard. He is now, obviously, an accomplished actor – but he also uses that as a forum for encouraging and inspiring black children. He has written 3 books, Letters to a Young Brother, Letters to a Young Sister and The Conversation.
“I want young women and men to have knowledge of the things that can bring them true empowerment: education, a strong sense of purpose, compassion, confidence and humility…” – Hill Harper
Mike and I were in Borders when we saw his latest book, The Conversation. In it, Harper turns his attention to understanding the decline of the black relationship (well, relationships in general, but the black relationship specifically). He starts with the shocking statistic that in 1966, 83% of black children were growing up in 2 parent families; and only 40 years later, in 2006, that figure had plunged to 31% (and this statistic is unique to black communities – the same is not true of Hispanic, Asian or caucasian communities). He sets out to try and understand how black male-female relationships could have soured to such a huge extent, to the detriment of black society. Without male role models, young black children see only rappers and basketball players as role models, which gives them a very skewed vision of success.
His business is not to find the reasons behind the decline (though when asked, he cited a number of potential causes: the arrival and epidemic of crack cocaine amongst African American males; the effects of the Vietnam war; the legacy of the familial separation of the slave trade) but to try to inspire the conversation between black men and women which can start to heal the rifts which have grown between the genders. The book is fascinating: he starts by taking the various stereotypes (men: black women are gold-diggers, nags, see interracial relationships as a sign of status; women: black men are lazy, unfaithful, etc) and discussing them with groups of people. Then slowly, he suggests ways that the genders can come together to discuss these misconceptions and be more realistic about their expectations of relationships. It’s a very inspiring and realistic book.
We wanted to talk to him about the state of black relationships (he is says that all relationships can benefit from having the conversation as relationships of every colour and creed have declined, but there are factors in addition to the everyman issues which affect black relationships specifically), and then to find a black couple in a loving relationship to find out what their advice is, when their relationship has lasted against the odds.
Our interview with Harper was fascinating. He is extremely bright and takes his position as a black role model very seriously. He does a lot of work with kids and has established a mentoring foundation called Manifest Your Destiny, www.manifestyourdestiny.org, specifically aimed to inspire youth to succeed. As we left him, I suggested that perhaps he consider following his great friend Barack into politics and he laughed and said it had often been suggested…
