‘A Week With My Father’ Needs Help!

24 Aug, 2011 by Kathleen McKinley

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Last February I wrote about this reality show in the works called “A Week With My Father.” I see this as a reality show that can make a real difference in people’s lives. Not just the junk most reality shows are. I wrote then:

“At the very root of the problems in the African American community is fatherless homes. A child needs a father. I think we can see in the inner city what happens when a father is not there. A child finds itself lost. To repair the black family it is essential that we bring fathers back into the home.

The question has always been, how do we do that? If the first black President speaking about it doesn’t have an effect, what then? The truth is that the ones who needed to hear the President’s words, didn’t listen. The ones in the inner city are mired in drugs, prison, despair, and hopelessness. They can’t relate to a Harvard educated wealthy black man. This is no reflection on Obama. His words about fathers have been perfect. It’s just not reaching those who need to hear them, because they are just trying to survive, and are lost.

I think I have found the way to reach them. A black gentleman named Giacomo Knox got in touch with me about a web series he produced called, “A Week With My Father.”

Please go and view the episodes. They are brief excerpts. From the first minute of the first one, I had tears rolling down my face. The series is a journey of black men who never knew their fathers, finding them, and spending a week with them. In this journey we not only learn the importance of fathers, but also about forgiveness and healing. I don’t think we can measure the hole in the hearts of fatherless children.

Knox’s experience is not about drugs or prison. He was a marine, and he has found his way in life without his father, but many men who see this show, no matter what dire circumstances they are in, will be able to relate to either leaving their children or being left. Even with being a good man, Knox still yearns for his father.

The reason I think this is so important is because a reality series IS what can reach out to those in the inner city. Especially a reality show that is about THEM. I believe they will watch it and learn from it. Imagine if thousands of black men are touched by this show and re-unite with their children? It could actually break the cycle.

Just to be clear, fatherless homes are not just a black problem. But it has affected the black community in severe way.

Knox has since been trying to sell his series. Here is his opportunity. The show was nominated as a Semi-Finalist in the New York Television Festival’s A&E Unscripted Pipeline Development Contest! The winner of this contest will receive a development deal with Arts and Entertainment (A&E) Network. Semi-Finalists in each category are invited to attend the NYTVF in Manhattan during the week of 19-24 September, 2011. Attendees will be able to network with other attendees, network executives, producers and celebrities from all areas of entertainment. This is Knox’s opportunity to meet the staff of NYTVF and promote A Week With My Father. He needs to personally attend this event. He can’t afford to go on his own. He needs out help.

Please go here and donate just $1.00 or $10.00. Every little bit helps. Let me know in the comments how much you contributed, and I promise to contribute double what you guys do. If you don’t feel comfortable saying it in the comments, send it to me at my e-mail. Rightwingsparkle@hotmail.com

I think this is really important. See what you can do.