Reflections: On Black Masculinity and Bereavement

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-8-2019

Publication Title

The Black Scholar

Volume

49

Issue

2

First page number:

44

Last page number:

49

Abstract

The evening my parents told our family that my stepfather’s cancer had not only relapsed but progressed and that he had a few months to live, everyone, except for me, gathered in the family room. I was living in Oakland, California at the time and, due to work and constant traveling, had not been able to make it home as my mother requested of me. Because of my performance work, I am usually in Los Angeles twice a month. But I honestly feel I avoided going home because I knew the family meeting my parents called for would not be a good one. However, one Saturday morning in October of 2015, my mother texted my siblings and me to say, “We need to have a family meeting now. It can’t wait any longer.” After a few text-messages, we set the meeting for that night, and my younger brother agreed to Skype me in.

Disciplines

African American Studies | Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication

Language

English

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