You said that you wanted to know if this were your son,
because you have doubts.
So we did the DNA test.
[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]
Read that right there.
99.99997%
That's your daddy.
So now what?
Tell me what's going on.
I still got to think about it.
Regardless of how he doubted me, he knew I was.
But deep down inside he wanted me not to be.
Wow.
Why did he want you not to be?
I don't know.
You know why.
But he said he doesn't.
So don't put words in his mouth.
But why would you say that? You don't know how I feel.
You want me to tell you why I felt like that?
Because on a regular you tell me how disrespectful I am,
how I talk to you, how I treat you.
You know I'm not yours.
Every day you let me know you don't know me.
But I know you.
And when you said he knows why, why would he think you
wouldn't want him to be your son?
I feel a little--
I mean, just don't know how to think right now.
Just a little shocked.
Lost for words.
Shocked, why?
You know, I mean, to be honest, yeah,
I didn't want you to be my son.
You didn't?
No.
Why?
I really wanted a child that I could have raised,
opposed to just, you know--
Trying to start from anywhere.
But here's the thing, beloved.
Your father failed you.
He failed you.
He abandoned you.
He rejected you.
And then he denied you.
But you get to choose the kind of man you're going to become.
You don't need a father now to become that man.
You can stay broken and angry, abandoned and rejected
and denied, or you can say, dammit I know,
and I'm not going to be like Willie.
I'm not going to abandon, deny, reject my children.
Nor am I going to abandon, deny, reject myself.
I'm not going to be like Willie.
I'm not going to do to me what Willie did to me.
He don't owe you nothing.
Don't expect anything from him, because he's
already shown you who he is.
You deserve better.
You didn't fail as a son.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Is there anything you need to say
to this beautiful young black man sitting
across from you that you failed, abandoned,
rejected, and denied.
Anything you wanted to say to him?
Well I can say that I'm sorry.
I guess I can give you that much.
I can't give you nothing else.
You get to choose how to be in relationship,
if you choose to or not.
But be in relationship in a way that honors who you are,
who you are choosing to be as a man.
Because now that he's got a piece of paper,
that he didn't know you in his soul and in his heart,
that he couldn't see your face in his face.
Now, you get to choose, beloved.
What I told you?
As your Dad.
I knew.
I wanted you to know.