Matriarch Often Guides Sons To Success

“The land of the mother is and was Africa … Isis, the mother, is still titular goddess, in thought if not in name.” So wrote the great black writer, W.E.B. DuBois. His words, and much of the material for this Mother’s Day column, were provided to me by Lunell Haught who sent me the May 1995 Ebony magazine article titled “Mothers and Sons: The Timeless Tie,” by Laura B. Randolph. The May issue marks 50 years of Ebony magazine.

If you can get this issue, do so. The article on mothers and sons speaks specifically about African-American experiences between mothers and their children, but nonetheless speaks truths for mothers and children of any race, creed or color.

Randolph begins the article this way: “Way down deep we feel it. The power of motherlove. For centuries, it has been the glue that cemented the two things Black folks have traditionally valued above all others: our families and our faith.

“Mother love. Its power is often supernatural … By sheer force of will, it transforms lives. It is the emotional elixir that raises our children, saves our children, sustains our children; the mystical compound that safeguards - sometimes even spawns - their dreams.”

Among the men who thank their mothers in this article are:

David and Damon Elliot, sons of singing great Dionne Warwick.

Actor/comedian Eddie Murphy, son of Lillian Lynch.

Basketball great Michael Jordan, son of Deloris Jordan.

Singer/songwriter Gerald Levert, son of Martha Levert.

Grammy Award winning singer/ songwriter/producer Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds, son of Barbara Edmonds.

Zuri Edwards, son of singer Patti Labelle.

John W. Rogers Jr., president of Ariel Capital Management, son of former U.S. Ambassador-at-large Jewel Lafontant-Mankarious.

Of the gifts mothers give, Rogers says: “My mother instilled a love of community. She taught me that each individual is obligated to continuously work toward the improvement of the world in which we live.”

Says Michael Jordan, “My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in the mind.”

Says Gerald Levert, “My mother is the reason I know how to keep my feet on the ground.”

Some of the mothers honored by these men worked inside the home for most of their kids’ upbringing, some worked outside the home. Just about every one of them did some of both. In their children’s eyes what made them great was that they loved their children. This is how it is in any child’s eye. How else can a child judge a parent except by how well that parent loves him?

Clara (Mother) Hale, the founder of Hale House, a Harlem center that cares for babies who are born drugaddicted, credited her mother with being her guiding light. Mother Hale was called a hero but she declined. “I’m not an American hero,” she said. “I’m a person who loves children.”

As we think back to our own upbringings and our own mothers, it is easy to focus on troubles, dysfunctions, angers, wounds. Our own spiritual journeys as men and women require us to explore, heal and make peace with those wounds. Yet for today, I hope each of us, no matter what kind of childhood we had, will take a deep breath and feel joy and, if necessary, forgiveness. I hope we’ll see that our mothers were people who loved children.

Laura Randolph ends her article this way:

“A person who loves children. There is no better phrase to describe each of the mothers included here. But what about all the mothers who are not mentioned, those women whose names we don’t know? How do we thank all the unknown, unsung Black mothers who have sacrificed so much to provide a strong economic and emotional foundation for their children?”

How indeed? Hopefully, today, you’ll do something nice for your mother. If she is dead, hopefully you’ll visit her grave or the place to which her ashes were given. Hopefully, whatever else you do, you’ll speak to her today, whether directly or in your own form of prayer. Motherlove gave each of us life.

Thank you, Mother.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Michael Gurian The Spokesman-Review