When writing Letters To A Young Brother, Hill Harper (Dr. Sheldon Hawkes) kept in mind what he considers a popular bloackage young black men face.

"The biggest issue that comes up is, 'I have nobody to talk to,'" he explained. "You start to realize how few of these young men have role models. They don't necessarily feel that comfortable talking to their single mother about things. That's why I wrote the book. These young men aspire to so much. They want a methodology for empowerment. They want to be successful, but they have no idea how to get there."

Letters To A Young Brother contains inspiring stories targeted at young black and Hispanic men, but the book should also appear to all races and sexes. The book was inspired by thousands of e-mails and letters Harper received from teens.

"Most of the responses I get, they are either going to play in the NBA or be rappers. I don't deal with it the way other people deal with that issue and say, 'You're probably not going to make it doing that.' I don't ever want to quell someone's dreams. I deal with it from the standpoint, 'If that's your dream, what is your blueprint or plan for achieving it?' Because to me, it's more about the journey and learning how to approach a goal than the goal itself."

While Harper is playing his part to help, but data suggests things are deteriorating for black men. "The plight is serious, but it's reached the end. We are on the upswing because there are books like mine and there are people that are taking these issues very seriously."

Letters To A Young Brother is available for purchase at Amazon.com. Head over to the Journal Gazette to read the rest of the article.

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