However, attorney-at-law, Maurice Maitland explains, “no one willfully abandons their kids. I don’t think they are abandoning. Sometimes they have a baby-mother situation as they sleep around with too many different women.

These men therefore lack the resources to take of the children.” Senior Pastor of the North Bronx Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Horace Russell, says the
biblical plan is to have both parents involved in the life of a child.
Russell further claims that many black men are only interested in sex, and since they do not have to carry the child, they disappear and move on to the next woman. “It’s the cycle of poverty,” he concludes.

“Statistically, 40% of our black men are abandoning their kids,” says Queens District 31 Councilman, James Sanders Jr. “Any percentage is a bad percentage, but 40% is a crisis. There are many reasons why black men are
leaving their kids, but none is forgivable. Economically, some can’t
support, so they abandon their children.

We all need to draw a stronger line. When men talk about leaving,
we all need to tell them that it’s wrong. Every man should make the
effort to be a good father,” Councilman Sanders states. Bronx comedian, Crazy Norman says “the system has a lot to do with it. Police can see you on
the street, pull you over, and you get a record. Sometimes we get ourselves
into trouble. But some of us don’t have a father figure. The  mother was the mother and the father. You do need family. This has been going on for centuries.

Years ago, a father would leave and say he’s going to Cuba for five
days, and never return. But you can look at this in different ways and
dissect it. Sometimes the men did not abandon, but he was not in a
relationship with the woman.”

However, networking engineer, Norman Blake believes that today’s
society tells its black men that they are not needed. “The image portrayed
is that fathers are just needed for money. There are many black men who are not grounded. They don’t feel important. If they saw the importance of fatherhood, they would be more willing to step up,” says the father of four.

“It’s a psychological issue that needs to be addressed by men as individuals,” says movie producer, Bees Hive. “This [separation] stems down from slavery when slave masters separated the men from their women and children. When you separate the man from the family, the family is vulnerable because the
strength is gone,” Bees Hive states.

Many people claim that Father’s Day is not appreciated. “Sometimes fathers don’t even remember Father’s Day,” says Melbourne Francis. “Fathers don’t place as much emphasis on their holiday as mothers do.” “Father’s Day is not as valued as Mother’s Day but it should be just as important,” says student
Dejean B.

However, businessman Aaron Golding disagrees. “I wouldn’t say there is little support for Father’s Day. Mother’s Day just gets more
support. The mother entails a broader sense of responsibility.

They often nurture and bond with their child more because they carried the child. Society places more emphasis on the role of the mother. Fathers are not always recognized.” “Women are, and often expected to be rewarded for nine months of carrying a child, something that men can’t do. Men are
mostly bread winners and are away

from home a lot more than mothers,so their roles are undermined,” says
a mother of two, Keisha Blake.

The most recent is the popular, Top Dot Mortgage, while less than a year ago, 1st Republic Mortgage Bankers and Lavette M. Bills/MTC Real Estate were in the spotlight.

Two months after Howard F. Pitkin, Banking Commissioner for Connecticut issued a ‘Notice of Intent’ to revoke its license, 1st Republic and its principal Scott Sisskind were slapped with several lawsuits to recover some $16 millions for breach of contract and fraudulent conveyance in violation of New York debtor and creditor laws. The bank was  later forced to cease operation.
In April of 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York Field Division, filed fraud charges against the self-styled “foreclosure specialist” and a regular guest on WVIP Radio 93.5 FM, Lavette M. Bills. She was arrested and is now facing several counts of bank fraud, wire fraud, and false statements.

1st Republic, Bills and Top Dot were major sponsor of Linkup programmes on 93.5 FM and were personally endorsed by the owner of Linkup Media, David “Squeeze” Annakie.

During his daily radio programs, Annakie always appealed to his fellow Caribbean and African American audience to do business with the companies as according to him “I have done my research and they are the best.”

An excellent radio communicator with youthful exuberance, Annakie was well paid to promote 1st Republic Mortgage, Bills and more recently Top Dot.

However, these companies from all reports were not the best and are now hurting people. The radio listeners and members of the Caribbean communities are now confused as another “Linkup Radio” endorsed bank is in trouble.

As a shrewd businessman, Annakie appears to be well focus on meeting the needs of his high paying clients, but he needs to be more selective of the companies or individuals he is endorsing.

It is the responsibility of all radio personalities to help protect the listening public from dishonest and corrupt people who use the media to attract innocent customers.