Honor our girls, change the world. I don’t want my daughter to learn her sense of self in a frat house. I don’t want her to be defined by her dyslexia. I want her to see herself as an equal member of this global community.
A recent study published by M.I.T revealed that seventeen percent of female students polled said they had been sexually assaulted while pursuing their college degree, but we know these numbers don’t even begin to tell the story of the college campus rape crisis.
I don’t have a PhD. I am an author, advocate, and most of all, I’m a dad to a ten-year-old daughter. I see my role as her father as the most important role that I will ever play. That is all the PhD that I need to teach her what I’ve already learned about overcoming challenges in this life.
Just like my daughter, I have dyslexia, and I have struggled, and I have what I call Piece-of-shit-itis, and I don’t want my daughter to have POS-itis. Dyslexia isn’t a sentence to mediocrity, far from it.
Her chances—her future—her SAFTEY, are already improved because she has me. And it turns out we are changing each other. Kamiah brings the best strengths out of me. She makes me want to be and do better. She elevates me.
When we elevate our girls, we elevate the world. When we raise strong, brave, bold, and courageous daughters, with a sense of self based upon character and integrity, not their brilliance or appearance, they won’t tolerate weak-ass men (boys) and weak-ass bullshit.
When we succeed in elevating our girls and young women, our men, young and old, have no choice but to elevate as well (because girls make the world go round). Girls and women are rising up, it’s long overdue that we as boys and men meet them, hand in hand, heart to heart, honoring girls/women on a level playing field.
WNBL, mwl