EO councilman to host 10th annual Father’s Day Breakfast

EAST ORANGE, NJ — East Orange City Council Chairman and 3rd Ward Councilman Ted Green will host the 10th annual Diamonds Among Men Father’s Day Breakfast, celebrating the bonds between fathers, sons and daughters, Saturday, June 18, at Langston Hughes School, 160 Rhode Island Ave.

“The doors open at 8:30 a.m.; we’re going to probably start eating at 9 a.m.,” said Green on Tuesday, June 7. “It’s a free event open to East Orange residents. This year, our guest speaker is Larry Hamm, the chairman of (the People’s Organization on Progress), who will be speaking about the importance of fatherhood and the responsibility of men in the community to step up, in terms of being leaders of that village that, we all agree, is what it takes to raise a child.”

Green said the Father’s Day Breakfast this year would be somewhat different from others as he’s expanded the annual event to include more girls and women, since fathers have to be there for their daughters and spouses, too.

“We’re also going to include elements of President Barack Obama’s ’My Brother’s Keepers’ initiative, because this annual event really is in keeping with the spirit and intent of his national initiative,” Green said. “This event will bring men from the community and other grassroots activists together for a day of unity and bonding. The goal is to make everyone aware of the important role that men have to play in their communities and the lives of their own children and other people’s children, too.”

Green said he hopes this year’s breakfast will be bigger and better than the nine that came before it, and that he has decided to de-emphasize gender for its 10th installment.

“My goal is to have 300 people in that room,” said Green. “I didn’t want to exclude the daughters, because fathers have daughters, too, and they play such a valuable role in their lives, as well as (in) their sons’. Last year, we had Baruti Kafele speak at the breakfast. He’s also going to join us this year, but Larry Hamm is going to be our guest speaker.”

The inspiration for this year’s theme, Green said, has a lot to do with the Louis Farrakhan, who visited by Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark on Monday, May 23, and discussed the need for men to stand up and be men in their homes, in the lives of their children, and in their larger communities. He said the Nation of Islam leader “was talking about God, community and family,” which are all very near and dear to his own life.

“We have a good day for the fathers to come out and bond with their children and families,” said Green. “Mother’s Day is usually a bigger holiday than Father’s Day, so we want to let the dads out there know that they are important, too.”

  FEATURED, Larry Hamm, Mayor Ted Green