THE EDITOR, Madam:WHY DOES it seem that more than 70 per cent of black males are nothing more than sperm donors? I know this statement will ruffle some feathers, but frankly I don't give a damn because I believe that the truth will set you free. Now when you think of a sperm donor you think of someone who went to a sperm bank and donated his sperm, and then if his sperms were used to fertilise a females egg, he wouldn't know anything about the child and he probably wouldn't really care.
Now the sperm donors that I am speaking about in this situation are the sperm donors that decided to get a lady pregnant and not care anything about the child after it is born.
I say these things because I am the product of a sperm donor. Now some people may say I should be grateful, my father the sperm donor gave me life, but there is a whole lot more to it: what about caring, nurturing and love to give to the children after the child is born.
My father the sperm donor had eight kids and he ignored each and every one of us. I used to wonder what did I do to deserve the treatment that I got from my father. My father lived in the same town just five minutes walk away and he used to hide from me. When I went to see him to ask for books for school or sometimes a pair of shoes, he used to tell me to come and see him on Friday which is pay-day; but then he would hide in his apartment and not come out or find another way to elude me.
I can't ever remember this man ever buying me a pair of shoes when I was walking bare feet on the hot asphalt or ever doing anything he said he would do for me. I can never ever remember him ever saying to me, "son, I love you, how was your day, I want you to know that I love you very much". I did stupid things for years when I was young and wondered why I did them. In some ways I may have felt I needed some attention from him and that doing those things would have made him acknowledge me for once. It never did.
My mom to me is the greatest black woman, also my grandmother. My mother has been there for me always. She left us with Grandma to come to America to make a better life for me and my brothers and sisters. She never turned her back on any of us until this day.
Now when my father died Easter of 1975 it was like someone I knew passed away and not my father. In my opinion he died many, many years before and the news just came to me that day.
I think for Father's Day that went by for many of these men it shouldn't be call Father's Day it should be Sperm Donors Day.
I am, etc.,
GLEN HARRISON
E-mail:jmekya@concentric.net
New Rochelle, New York
Via Go-Jamaica
