A Requiem for Fatherhood

Leonard Pitts, Jr., winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, wrote a heartbreaking article yesterday on the murder of Willy Brown, a 2-year-old boy whose father beat him to death in an attempt to teach his son how to box. The man must literally be delusional to think that his toddler was at an appropriate age to learn boxing techniques. Pitts offers some poignant remarks on what this tragedy indicates about the state of fatherhood in what he terms a requiem for the idealized memory of fatherhood. (A requiem is the traditional mass chant for the repose of the dead.)

This gets at the heart of why National Fatherhood Initiative exists. Too many men respond poorly to their own sense of inadequacy and lack of knowledge on what it means to be a father. We are here to come alongside these fathers and help them learn how to lovingly and responsibly care for their children. We hope for a day when there will be no more casualties to irresponsible fatherhood like little Willy Brown. As Pitts says, “he deserved better.”