Facebook was set ablaze on July 25 after Frank Somerville, a white TV reporter in California posted a photo on his page of him combing his adopted black daughter’s hair with the caption:
So for those of you who think tv can be glamorous, this is how i spent my morning, learning how to take out my daughter’s braids. It takes a long time and a lot of patience!
Within a few days the photo had been shared more than 2,500 times and received more than 12,000 likes.
Somerville followed up with a statement a few days later,
It’s not often that I am speechless, but I am floored by the response to the picture I posted, and by how touching and personal many of them were. To me the picture shows a dad doing what a dad SHOULD do, and loving every minute of it. The birth of my first daughter, and adopting my youngest daughter, are the two best moments of my life, and I feel like the luckiest dad in the world that my family is interracial. I can’t thank all of you enough. And remember CHANGE HAPPENS ONE PERSON AT A TIME!
The picture is definitely touching, and brings to mind Clifton Green, another white father who adopted an Ethiopian girl, and soon became responsible for her hair care.
Ladies, what do you think of the photo?
My dad always wanted to help my mom do my sister and my hair (sometimes he was helpful, sometimes not as much :) ) but that’s all I saw in the picture. Daddies taking care of their baby girls. Puts a smile on my face.
Why is it when a father does what a mother traditionally does it is big news, great that he is taking his responsibilities to his daughter seriously but really what is the big deal?
It’s like when Bo Derek had her hair in cornrows all of a sudden it was like wow but cornrows have been worn by black women for centuries and nobody made a big deal out of it.
Double standards again.
I know Mr. Sommerville, and I live in Oakland, CA where he with or without a black child would need to be open and diverse. He’s a great guy, and this picture just personifies it. What’s also amazing and what you can’t see in this picture is how he make sure that his daughter has role models around that look just like her.
As a pre-school teacher I am privy to many scenes in the course of a day but this picture reminds of an incident that happened two years ago that involved a very similar scenario, a white father dropping off and his biracial child picking out her fro before he left. It touched me for two reasons: one it is rare to see INVOLVED fathers period! two He just pulled the pick out and started picking no tears, no fuss on her part which meant he wasn’t rough. I enjoy seeing any child bonding with a male influence because I see disproportionately what happens without it.
Totally agree with that! There are & have been plenty of black father’s combing hair since slavery & before on the Africa Continent before a Caucasian touched a sister’s hair. This is the same old stereotype of news that belittles’ black men and it is a well package advertisement that Caucasians have been doing for years to showcase their superiority over the parenting skills of black people! Sister’s fall for this “white washed” advertisement every time I use to be one of them back in the day. The subtle message “We (Caucasians) can better parent then black ppl! Let us show you how it’s done with love & respect. We lift our little daughters up but you black dad’s disrespect them. The even more sadder part about all this is that black sister’s join in the put down with the comments I see on this board…(if only black men would do the same with their daughter’s, black men could learn from this “white” dad, if only black men would care more about their black daughters as this “white” man is showing he does, black men just don’t care anymore, black men don’t mind making babies that they wont take care of, This “white man” is showing what a “real” dad is suppose to be doing caring for his family, It really doesn’t matter what this “white man’s” color is he’s just loving his daughter but it wouldn’t hurt a black man to take some notes aka “hidden message” black man let me “white man” teach you how to parent…etc). These false stereotypes of ‘massa’ doing a better job of parenting black ppl has been displayed before the world for over 400 years & we as a culture are still brain washed to receive it as truth instead of false. We need to stop being so surprised when we see these false images of “white men” taking care of black babies as if this is awesome – what about the 400 years they killed our black babies, sold them off before they left our ancestors wombs or traded our daughters as christmas gifts to each other for sexual concubines? Is the history how massa treated black grandmothers, mothers, daughters that easy to forget? And what of the insult to the black father that massa did for over 400yrs the by raping their wives & black daughters. Many black fathers who were slaves had to raise not only their children but sometimes the children of other slaves who were sold away from their children, they were combing hair and plaiting hair 7 days a week for over 400yrs but this part of history is never uplifted. Somehow we still uplift the massa over our own parenting skills and praise his care over us as a ppl. History has still not taught us as a ppl to not lift up the massa as a better father and his stereotype image of himself as a savior or as the better parent then ourselves and to our children. Attached images of our roles in parenting during slavery and how our ancestors were really treated during that time in history. If history is to teach black women anything today regarding false images of white men we will not be fooled by these same recycled false images of white men combing our daughters hair; furthermore, by oohing & awing over them like their the better man & this pick is just sick!
So eloquently stated!! I completely agree. I wish more black women who read this blog would have more knowledge of history and love of self to recognize racial undertones and implications. But that is not so. I’ve noticed that most comments are from those who take the view that the past is the past and has no relevance to what is going on today.
Eeerrrrr, the issue here is not REALLY that he is white or black or hispanic or whatever. The point is that taking care of someone whose needs are “foreign” to yours is not something that may be easy to do. I explain. Let’s say he also has a natural born “white” daughter. The needs of her hair will be quite different to this cute one pictured in the post. The fact that this father seems willing to learnt about the ramifications of PROPERLY CARING for tyoe 4 hair speaks volumes. He now knows that the fine tooth comb he has on his dresser just won’t cut it ( no pun intended) or that he can’t wash her hair and send her off to school thinking it will just air dry and all will be well. The same goes vice versa. If I adopted a baby of a different race from me, learning about her hair will take some doing and and am sure that my husband may get an eye openeer when he notices the 1st time that the braids/two strand twists just not staying in place, or that the only hair food we have in the house is just too heavy for her hair.
IT IS NOT ABOUT RACE but about his awesome willingness to learn. WHAt we should be praying is that he learns quickyly so that beautiful baby girl there grows up with a lovely set of hiar that was well-treated by both her parents.
That is my Local Reporter Frank Somerville….He is a very proud father …we see him often at the grocery store with his daughters…Love it