1.You Must Act as if it is Impossible to Fail: Challenges in Raising African American Teenage Sons 5 -- 2. If We Stand Tall it is Because We Stand on the Backs of Those Who Came Before Us: African American Families and the Manchild 16 -- 3. No One Can Uproot the Tree Which God Has Planted: Spirituality and Religion in Raising Our Sons 45 -- 4. Bell Rings Loudest in Your Own Home: Positive Parenting, Love, Communication, and Discipline 63 -- 5. Education is Your Passport to the Future, for Tomorrow Belongs to the People Who Prepare for it Today 82 -- 6. When I Discover Who I am I'll Be Free: Black Kids in White Schools and Communities 111 -- 7. Our Future Lies Chiefly in Our Own Hands: the Journey to Manhood and Peer Pressure 119 -- 8. We Cannot Silence the Voices that We Do Not Like Hearing: Rap, Media Influences, and Hoop Dreams 128 -- 9. Children Make Foolish Choices When They Have Nothing to Lose: Sex and Sexuality 139 -- 10. A Man Who Stands for Nothing Will Fall for Anything: Drug and Alcohol Abuse 154 -- 11. Force Against Force Equals More Force: Violence and Gangs 182 -- 12. If You are on a Boad to Nowhere, Find Another Road: Taking Our Sons Back from the Streets 204 -- 13. One Who Asks Questions Doesn't Lose His Way: Getting Past the Fear of Counseling 220 -- 14. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. Hold on: A Parent's Survival Guide 237.