Institutional Racism and the Rights of Black Fathers

By Angela Tucker and Lisa Marie Simmons

This is a story about Oterious and Isell, our Black fathers who wanted us, and the system that prohibited them.

⇼⇼⇼

When Lisa was born, U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Isell walked the echoey halls of the hospital, looking for someone who could tell him where his baby was. When he reached the nurses’ desk in the neonatal unit, he was told it was too late: his firstborn, his baby girl, was gone. “She’s been adopted,” they said. He slumped against the counter, defeated. Even as the pain in his head accused him — “you’re too late” — he knew he would keep looking. Years later, at home with his new son, Isell whispered in his ear: “You have a sister; we’ll find her one day.” Decades after that, the phone rang, and Isell answered: “Dad? Is that you? My name is Lisa.”  

⇼⇼⇼

With a confident stride, Angela walked up to Oterious and said, “I think you might be my birth father. Do you know someone named Deborah? She’s my biological mom.” She looks like me, but it doesn’t sound like she’s from around here, he thought. “Naw, I don’t have any kids.” But, after a moment’s hesitation, he stared into her earnest eyes, and her bright, toothy smile, his smile and added: “I wish you were my daughter, though!” A DNA test confirmed their kinship. At 54 years old, Oterious became a father.

Read the full article HERE.