Doctors' 'The Bond' reminds us of resiliency and strength in family
They're back - the three African- American men who made a spec tacular exit from the inner city of Newark, N.J., to medical and dental school, commemorated in their best-selling book "The Pact."
It describes their sworn commitment to one another's success. To many, "The Three Doctors" are outright heroes. The reason is Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt overcame adversity and then began giving back, daily, to the community. Each mentors young men and women who have yet to escape the surroundings and statistics of being impoverished African-Americans in fatherless homes.
Davis, Jenkins and Hunt's third book is "The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and Reconnect with Their Fathers." It dismantles the stereotype that absent fathers mean failed sons as aggressively as their first book blasts the notion that young men from the projects are bound to fail. "The Bond" explores the durable connection between men and boys, in spite of growing up apart and sometimes ignorant of one another.
his book follows a simple format. Each doctor writes four chapters. The first begins with their memories of life without Dad, including touchstone passages - Hunt's decision to quit Pop Warner football because no one was there to help him suit up, and Jenkins' humbling account of asking a white classmate for a lesson in looping his tie.
In later chapters, each doctor reconsiders his life and the men who shaped it. One, "Mr. Charles," taught the finer points of dressing to all three youngsters; Reggie Brown's martial arts classes helped Davis with self-discipline, focus and responsibility. Without cliche, the doctors quietly document that it takes a village of men to raise a boy to manhood.