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Saturday, January 26th, 2013
10am – 1pm
First Baptist Church of Glenarden’s Ministry
3600 Brightseat Road
Landover, MD
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NEWTOWN, Conn. — Fighting back tears and struggling to catch his breath, the father of a 6-year-old gunned down in the school shooting in Connecticut told the world Saturday about a little girl who loved to draw and was always smiling, and he also reserved surprising words of sympathy for the gunman.

Robbie Parker’s daughter Emilie was among the 20 children who died Friday in the one of the worst attacks on schoolchildren in U.S. history. He was one of the first parents to speak publicly about their loss.

“She was beautiful. She was blond. She was always smiling,” he said.

Parker spoke to reporters not long after police released the names and ages of the victims, a simple document that told a horrifying story of loss.

He expressed no animosity, said he was not mad and offered sympathy for family of the man who killed 26 people and himself.

To the man’s family, he said, “I can’t imagine how hard this experience must be for you.”

He said he struggled to explain the death to Emilie’s two siblings, 3 and 4.

“They seem to get the fact that they have somebody they’re going to miss very much,” he said.

Parker said his daughter loved to try new things – except for new food. And she was quick to cheer up those in need.

“She never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for those she around her,” he said.

The world is a better place because Emilie was in it, he said.

“I’m so blessed to be her dad,” he said.

Heather Crawford

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — “I never dreamt being that, I’m 59 years old, that my son would go before me … It’s so heartbreaking,” said Ron Davis, the father of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who was slain in a shooting Nov. 23.

Wearing a T-shirt with his son’s picture on it that says “Kill Guns, Not Kids,” Ron Davis said he is staying positive and focused four days after laying his son to rest. He is organizing a candlelight vigil that will be held at Friendship Fountain on Saturday, December 15th.

RELATED: Local musician and promoter holding anti-violence rally in honor of Jordan Davis

While he continues to grieve the loss of his son, he is encouraging Jordan’s schoolmates and the entire community to get involved and stay positive.

“If the community stands together, they can stop some of this violence. Every day, we read about violence and at some point, we have to take a stand and say ‘I don’t want to read about it anymore.’ I want it to stop happening and that’s what my job on earth is to do,” Davis said.

His focus now: changing the laws to make it illegal to carry guns in public and getting Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” Law repealed. The law allows the use of deadly force if someone fears death or great bodily harm.

RELATED: Attorney for Jordan Davis’ family turns the music up

“It’s too much gray area,” Davis said. “I want that taken out of the law books. I know that’s an uphill battle. That’s OK. I’m a fighter, so I’ll fight to have that law taken out of the state of Florida and once it is taken out of the state of Florida, we will go to other states and get that out of other states also.”

17-year-old Jordan Davis was shot on Black Friday just after 7:30 p.m. at a Gate gas station on Southside Boulevard while he sat in a car with three friends. Police say 45-year-old Michael Dunn, who is charged with his murder and remains behind bars, got into an argument with the teens over their loud music. Jordan’s death has made news around the nation and while many say it was a racial hate crime, Davis disagrees.

RELATED: Jordan Davis’ dad talks about keeping kids safe at Marietta visitation

“I just think if there were Irish kids or Italian kids in the car, it really didn’t matter,” Ron Davis said. “This was a crime of anger, and there was handgun available for him to use. For him to even just pick up a handgun and point it at teenagers, just to point it would be so outrageous. Let alone firing eight shots or more at teenagers that were trying to get away from him at that point, so I believe it was a crime of having the availability of a handgun.”

Dunn’s attorney Robin Lemonidis claims her client saw one of the teens flash a shotgun and said he fired because he felt threatened for his life. Police say Jordan and his friends were not armed. While Davis said he doesn’t want revenge, he does want answers.

“I just want to stand face-to-face with him and have him tell me the real reason, without his lawyers, without the cameras, without microphones or anything, just tell me between me and him what was the reason in his mind he felt he had to shoot my son and take my son’s life,” Davis said. “I want him to tell me that. Anything else that goes on as far as this case, that’s up to the authorities and the final authority is God. That’s the final authority and he’s going to realize that.”

Many have drawn comparisons of Jordan Davis’ case to the Trayvon Martin case, another 17-year-old shot to death in Florida earlier this year.

Davis said while he thinks the cases are very different, he has been in touch with Trayvon’s father.

RELATED: Emotional goodbyes at Jordan Davis’ visitation

“He texted his prayers and his condolences to me and I texted him back and said ‘perhaps our children because they were around the same age they are probably forever linked together,’” Davis said. “I said ‘the situation is different but I understand how people are linking the guys,’ and they actually kind of look like each other if you really look at them but how it’s linked together and I gave him the condolences of my family and I’m going to keep up with his case also.”

RELATED: Video: Plane carrying Jordan Davis’ family saluted by JFRD

While Davis now only has memories and pictures of his son, he wants to make sure Jordan is never forgotten.

“I’m going to do something that brings my child the love and the respect that he deserves and that’s the legacy he is going to leave is that he did something to unite and to bring about community activism. Everybody is going to be active in this, you know. Not just let this happen to our community,” Ron Davis said.

First Coast News

SOURCE: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/285816/483/Jordan-Davis-father-wants-Stand-Your-Ground-repealed

Harlem, NY -

Dee Jay Goldfinger and his ten year-old son share a moment as they head home. Beginning today, we invite you to not only view THEIR moment, but to share YOUR own at http://bit.ly/UaaLJo .  If selected, we’ll share your story about fatherhood – what it looks like, what it means, and why it matters.

WILMINGTON — I’sheen Moore took his two little girls to last year’s father-daughter dance, and he knew he would be back this year.

It’s a chance to share a special night together, something fathers and daughters don’t do often enough.

“It’s very formal. They get to dress up. They learn to be cordial,” Moore said. “It’s about building a strong relationship with your daughter.”

Saturday was the fifth time Bethel AME Church in Wilmington organized the event, drawing dads and daughters from throughout Delaware – as well as Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland – to the Chase Center on the Riverfront.

The annual event started with humble ambitions. The men’s ministry at Bethel, called the Sons of Allen, wanted to celebrate the relationship between fathers and daughters. They held a formal dinner and dance in the church fellowship hall with less than 100 people.

Each year, the dance has grown. More than 700 attended this year’s version and the event looked grander than ever.

“This is what it’s all about,” Bethel AME Pastor Silvester Beaman said pointing to a girl. “She’s got a sparkly new dress on. She went to the beauty parlor to get her hair done. She’s wearing shiny new shoes, and she’s excited to spend a wonderful night with her father.”

The theme was “An Evening of Elegance,” and that atmosphere was on full display. The men wore tuxedos or their sharpest suits. Women wore gowns and their best jewelry.

Young girls with ribbons in their hair twirled around the dance floor in frilly dresses. Dads and daughters walked the red carpet on their way into the ballroom.

“The event has evolved and taken on a life of its own,” said Kevin Coleman, part of the group that helped organize the gala. “We feel like we took the time to put together something special that people look forward to.”

While its called a father-daughter dance and organized through Bethel AME, the event is open to anyone and also aims to celebrate the relationship between a woman and any important male figure in her life — a grandfather, uncle, godfather or stand-in father. The dance has been popular in the African-American community, but Beaman hopes it also attracts people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Last year, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and Attorney General Beau Biden attended with their daughters.

“It’s about fathers and daughters,” Beamon said. “That’s a multicultural message.”

The highlight of the evening came after dinner when the music started with the father-daughter dance.

“It starts off a little sentimental the first few songs,” Beaman said.

But then the good times were just beginning. A deejay played more uptempo music for the next two hours, which isn’t just for the daughters.

“Some of the old dads, you don’t think they have it in them, but they get down,” said Asaiah Beaman, the pastor’s daughter. “It’s really awesome.”

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Rap artist French Montana and label, Bad Boy Records, are actively advancing a Coke Boys campaign around a group that Montana helms.

With an estimated 48,000 gun related deaths predicted in the next four years, what role does the glorification of drug, specifically cocaine dealing, play in the destruction of potential human capital? What role will the glorification of drug culture play in feeding the prison industrial complex?  How will responsible men and fathers explain the danger of drugs to children and young adults who are presented with images that glorify fast living? Stop Shootin Music and others have responded with the following:

ON NOV. 26TH STOP SHOOTIN MUSIC AND MANY OTHER ORGANIZATIONS WILL MARCH THRU NYC TO BAD BOY ENTERTAINMENT OFFICES AND EXCERCISE OUR RIGHT AND PROTEST AGAINST “COKE BOYS” AND WHAT IT PROMOTES. OUR GOAL IS TO GO 100 STRONG WEARING “HOPE BOYS & HOPE GIRLS” SHIRTS AND VOICE OUR CONCERNS IN FRONT OF P. DIDDY’S OFFICE THE PERSON BEHIND FRENCH MONTANA AND THE “COKE BOYS” . IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR COMMUNITY JOIN US

COKE

HOPE

By Daniel Akst

Dental fear among children is a big problem for dentists and can undermine children’s oral health by causing them to avoid dental care. A new study from Spain finds that fathers play a key role in transmitting dental fears to their kids.

The study, of 183 Madrid children and their families, found that dental fear among mothers, fathers and children is correlated. But the strongest predictor of a child’s dental fears was the fearfulness of the father, suggesting that kids most often take their cues from dad with respect to how much they need to worry about a dental visit. The researchers conclude that “interventions aiming to reduce fathers’ dental fear levels. . . may help to mitigate or neutralize the spreading of dental fear to children.”

source: http://blogs.wsj.com/ideas-market/2012/11/21/dental-fear-runs-in-families-and-fathers-are-key/