Can you imagine what would transpire if you were to engage six gentlemen - who are profound thinkers with a strong work ethic and a sense of purpose - in a discussion concerning Fatherhood and Men's issues? Not too long ago, I had an opportunity to sit down and chat with six gentlemen who are compassionate and dynamic voices in the Men's Movement - Messrs. Joel Austin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Adeyemi Bandele in Baltimore, Maryland; Kenneth Braswell in Albany, New York; Ronald E. Childs in Chicago, Illinois, Gary A. Johnson in Temple Hills, Maryland and Tim McKyer in Charlotte, North Carolina! The gentlemen that you are about to meet are compassionate and dynamic voices in the Men's Movement.

Joel Austin is an advocate and activist for Men and Fathers, a writer for the Philadelphia Chapter of Mocha Moms Inc . and Mohaganybaby.com, a powerful speaker, the President of Daddy UniverseCity, Inc. - an organization that provides services, information, classes, training and a product line for Fathers that includes a sleek line of diaper bags for Fathers - Daddy Bags - and proactive Single Father of four. It seems that parenting in the Millennium has become more of a challenge than in times past. I wanted to know why. I asked Mr. Austin to explain what is going on and what can and should we do about it. He offered the following:

"Parenting has become more of a challenge because the situations that your children come up against are not only harmful but deadly to your child. We always had drugs. We always had violence and we had sexually transmitted diseases. In this day and age, the drugs are so strong that they will harm your whole family. The violence is not in college or somewhere far away but in your backyard and the gun is in the elementary school. The sexually transmitted disease is not curable and the new strand will kill you in 6 months to two years. They have upgraded the fear and they constantly address the negative. This is where we come in. We are raising seeds to become apples. I explain right and wrong to my children in a more detailed way. I drove my children to the gates of the prison and said ' This is where you would be staying. When you hear it in the song or in the movie it may seem cool.' But when they saw it, their mouths opened and have not closed yet. I walked them into Children's Hospital and showed them the Children's HIV Ward. I have to bring them a clear picture because I have to have them believe me. It used to frustrate me when I would tell my son or daughter not to do something because I knew the outcome would be a bad one, and they would do it anyway. I then found out that my role as a parent was to alert them of potholes and danger, and that if they went anyway and found danger, it actually made them trust me and listen to me."

He is the founder and Executive Director of "Men On The Move" a Baltimore, Maryland based organization that supports the empowerment of men to be better fathers, sons, husbands, lovers and friends. He created along with Terrance Dean, a former MTV producer, author and activist "The Gathering Of Men" support group meetings in New York City. He is MR. ADEYEMI BANDELE. I asked Mr. Bandele to talk about what motivated him to become involved in the Father hoodand Men's Movements. "My involvement began after I relocated to Maryland," Bandele explained. "Shortly after relocating, I found myself experiencing a crisis in my life. I was without an organizational affiliation and no direct 'struggle' to engage in. Since the age of eighteen, I had been an 'organizational animal'. In Atlanta, I formed The Atlanta African Crossroads Festival, along with several close associates. However, I was stuck. I used the tool that has worked for me most in my life. I simply prayed. The answer came to me as I drove down the New Jersey Turnpike late one night. I was to do work around fathers. My wife at the time, Iyanla Vanzant, shared with me that the Creator always gave us work to do that directly related to the lessons we had to learn. Well this was certainly 'in my world'. I had not spoken to my father in over fifteen years and I had seven children by three women. I created 'Fathers and Sons: A Celebration and Healing.' My intention was to equip sons with the values and tools to be committed fathers. I believed that the greatest challenge was being created by men who were creating generations of sons who were repeating the mistakes of their fathers. A year later Iyanla shared with me that I should look at the issues of fathers within the larger context of men's issues. Upon reflection, I agreed and created 'Men On The Move' which was designed to support the empowerment of men to be better fathers, sons, husbands, lovers and friends. This new development was also clearly motivated by the Million Man March which had left us a mandate to work on becoming better men."

Read about Kenneth Brasswell and Ronald E. Childs in the October issue of "VOICES"

Six dynamic voices in the men's movement