- I was staring at her, she was staring at me.
Then she wanted a bottle, then she started crying.
Then she pooped her pants and that was Father's Day.
- I think as long as you're taking care of your kids,
have as many, maybe not, well yeah.
No true though, I guess, as long as you're
taking care of your kids have as many kids as you want.
- I made the wonderful leap from one to three.
I take my vacations at work.
(gentle piano music)
- Father's Day was a little different for me growing up.
I'm Haitian so Father's Day is at
the end of June instead of the middle.
So a lot of times the commercials stopped running
and then we would forget and get our dad
something from like Marshall's.
So we figure get him a tie, we went to a Chinese buffet
or some type of buffet that was close to the house
and that was Father's Day in a nutshell.
- I grew up with my mom, my brother,
and then I had a stepdad who came in later in my life.
But my dad wasn't around.
Father's Day to me was always just kinda like another day.
I hate to call it a joke of a holiday,
but that's kind of where it fell for me
because Mother's Day was so important
'cause for so long my mom was my everything.
- Historically it was always a last minute gift
or scribbled up card or something to just
quickly throw out left to right.
And to be perfectly frank it's not built
for children to honor their parents.
I know now, as a father, it is truly
a day to enjoy having kids.
- I think things that got me through Father's Day
and what would get me through it today
is just kind of realizing that also your dad's a person.
Your dad's human and people make mistakes.
And sometimes people are just bad people.
I'm not saying that my dad was.
I'm not saying that your dad is.
But once you understand that people are just humans
and that we're all figuring it out,
it's easier to, not forgive, but it's easier
to understand mistakes people make.
- Black fatherhood to me is one of the weightiest titles
that you can wear in America today.
- I was looking for advice.
I talked to my family and their advice
was more of a scolding and less of a loving embrace.
I talked to a couple of my friends
and a lot of them were like dang homie, that's crazy.
So it was a bit of some soul searching.
- I also see that there are systematic things
that affect black men that would cause them
to be absent or turn to drugs
or turn to gangs and you know the prison system.
There's so many reasons a black dad is not around.
And now that I'm an adult I get that,
but as a kid you just see like,
dang why aren't you here dude?
- As we address institutional racism
and the effects of those policies over time
and how they manifest in instances like police murder.
But I cannot actually let that corrupt
all of the opportunity and space
for these children to be able to look at that
and reframe that conversation.
To move it forward for others in the world
to be able to reshape blackness as an identity,
not so much as a cloak or some other
kind of constraint or obscurity,
but as something that they can wear as an emblem.
- Being you is the best way to stop
a lot of that negativity.
'Cause if people hear that all single dads do x
and then I just keep showing up doing y,
eventually it's gonna be on you to change your perception.
It's not gonna be on me anymore.
And I think that that's something
that would free me of that pressure
as opposed to succumbing to it.
- I know people definitely have issues around Father's Day
'cause there's always the tweets of like
my mom did blah blah blah blah.
And I get it, but talking about your mom on Father's Day
is the same way as being like we need
a straight pride parade during pride.
It's just like yes, there are lots of single mothers
who step up and do incredible jobs on Father's Day.
At the same time, there are a lot of great dads.
There are a lot of great black dads.
- Fatherhood for me is trying to do it
like my dad did for me even if he's not biological.
He's the guy I call dad today
and I love you Wesley, thank you very much.
Happy Father's Day to you.
- Watching my brother be the dad we could've had
and should've had 'cause just because you're not together
doesn't mean you can't be a good dad.
And watching my brother be that for his daughter
has kind of made me think of Father's Day a different way.
And I'm like oh wow there really are
a lot of great dad's in the world.
- Hi I'm John Norwood, I am a proud father
of three beautiful children and a happy wife.
Nina who is seven, August and Ivan who are four.
And from all of us, my wife too included,
we wish you a happy Father's Day.
- My name is Andrew, I'm the father of a beautiful
seven year old named Lynn, what's up Lynn?
I'd like to wish my dad, Mondesir Saint-Juste,
happy Father's Day, thank you.
And I'd also like to give a shout out
to my best friends Salim, Jeremy, Makel, Shawn,
everybody else in the MMZ I might've missed,
happy Father's Day guys.
- Hi my name's Ryan, I want to wish
a happy Father's Day to my stepdad Tion
and also to my brother Cameron.
Mila make sure you wish your dad a happy Father's Day.
And also happy Father's Day to anyone out there watching.
It's gonna be a great one.
(upbeat music)