"DEAR DADDY: I HATE YOU"

"Something within me will always love him no matter what..." It seemed like the thing to say. It seemed like the "right" thing to say. As if I was hopelessly in love. As if I had to love you no matter what. It wasn't true then. It isn't true now."

"I still look in my rearview mirror. I know you are there and I hate you."

"I hate you, Daddy...and that is how it is. That is real. I hate you. My posture is not reactionary. My soul is without torment. I thought it all out. For years I thought about all that I remembered. I though about all I had learned. It wasn't easy to get here, but this is the right place to be. The right mind in which to exist. I'm okay. And I hate you. "

"I've thought about killing you. I've watched you. I've wondered what you are. Why you are. What was your purpose? Is this what you were supposed to do?"

"I could kill you. But I wouldn't shoot you. I couldn't shoot you. I would stab you. This way we could spend some time together. This way we could look into each others' eyes. Maybe we would cry...Maybe we could make up a past, one where we smiled, laughed and loved. Maybe we could lie until you went to sleep."

"I tried to love you. I can't. I tried to understand you. I don't. I tried to move on, but I keep coming back to the same place. I keep coming back to the same reality...I tried to be big. I thought I could go past my feelings, I thought I could push it all aside, look you in the eyes and recognize some indisputable truth, feel some undeniable connection...So I called you. I called you four times. I listened. I waited. I was patient. I was wrong...When I was 12 years old, you killed my mother. I can't love you. I won't love you."

Fuck You
Your son
Butch

The above excerpts have been compiled from the book "Dear Daddy: I hate you - Letters to my mother's killer" By Butch Slaughter. You guys may remember me going on about him ALL of last year...you remember "Why Our Children Hate Us - How Black Adults Have Betrayed Black Children."

Unlike the unified-accountability he attempted to place on the adults of the Black community through the text of "Why Our Children Hate Us," this latest work holds only one accountable - his father, for the murder of his mother. Like the previous work of truth, "Dear Daddy: I hate you," is full of enlightening probes rooted around the advancement of the Black community.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

"This is a narrative regarding alienation. These are notes concerning seperation, distance and confusion. My personal experience might represent an extreme; not all Black fathers pull triggers. Still, too many fail to defend their children. Too many are the conduits through which the devil does his work."

Advanced copies of the book are currently available in short supply (FOR NOW), but they can be purchased in several bookstores within the Philadelphia region as well as Chicago (author's home town). He's also scheduled to do book signings and lectures in Chicago within the coming weeks (2/21/08), so SPREAD THE WORD!!!

A MOVEMENT is about to take place...an uprising of sorts; He is setting himself to enact a vengence on all those opposing his love for his people and their (our) children and I'd say it's a HATE that's long overdue!!!

Of course I'd like to know your thoughts on what you've read, but more importantly... YOU NEED TO GET THE BOOK!!! BOTTOM LINE!!! Please drop me a note with your city and I'll let you know where you can pick it up.

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

IS HATE EVER JUSTIFIABLE?