the young people's professor: Meet the Family: Father's Day Weekend 2006

Like many African Americans, I come from a large family that is rooted in southern cultural traditions and of mixed racial and ethnic heritage. When you look at my mother, brothers, sisters and cousins you can easily see Brazil, Portugal and Africa dancing all over their faces. I grew up learning to love "African American-ness" as something fluid, broad, transient and divine.

"Going home" is the way that I remain rooted, grounded, and focused. For me, its also a space where theory and practice converge. Long before I ascended to academia and starting using words like "intersectionality", "interpellation", "nihilism", and "diaspora"---the essence of these terms were being embodied in the everyday conversations I would have with family in the kitchen, in Church, or over dinner. These were places of "theory in the flesh", to use a phrase by Chicana poet Gloria Anzaldua.

Sunday I spent the day in Queens celebrating father's day, my uncle's housewarming, and my baby sisters kindergarden graduation. What a pleasure.

My baby sister little Jacklyn Roberts---dont she and big brother look just too cute together? Dont be fooled by either of their innocence! We learned that from mom.

Im so blessed to have been raised by a gang of strong, African American women. The strength, wisdom, and guidance these women have taught me has served as the anchor and foundation of who I am as a young African American man. Even though it was "Father's Day", it felt like Mother's Day, or more appropriately, "Father's Day for all the Mother's that were Mother's AND fathers". Get it?

I'll give you a sense of their personalities. If someone were making a film about my family, the mothers above would be portrayed by (left to right): Vanessa Williams, Beah Richards, Della Reese, Patti Labelle, and Nia Long. Seriously, those actresses are probably the best embodiments of the women above.

Each morning I wake up I think of how blessed I am to have five generations of living family. I'm especially blessed to have my great-grandmother, Louise "Bam" Brown. This woman is the anchor of my life! All the good things about me (I mean each and every "positive" aspect of my identity) I learned from this woman!

Aint she just adorable? She is a SPLITTING IMAGE of my mother, its scary actually! They are like twins, four decades removed.

Now I couldnt come from a black family run by black women and not be blessed with some of the best cooks in America!

For African American families, food is a "performance"---it is never just about eating. Preparing food and sharing it is a way in which we share history, gossip, tradition, culture. They dont call it "soul food" for nothing!