BPM: What makes you powerful as a person and a writer?
I constantly (and very self-deprecatingly) refer to myself as “just an ordinary guy” so I don’t consider myself as anything extraordinary and I fall very short of the word powerful, especially as a writer. Technically, I am a social, political and spiritual family advocate who expresses himself through multimedia, and the book “Why He Hates You” just happens to fall into that definition. What I will say is that the redemption I have found through my faith, has allowed me to be in tune with the direction my father wants me to pursue.
BPM: Who are your mentors? Where do you find your inspiration?
My spiritual mentor is Pastor A.R. Bernard of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, NY. Between his direction and the plethora of personal stories in the Black Community, my plate stays pretty full. Our people inspire me every day.
BPM: Finish this sentence- My writing offers the following legacy to future readers...
My writing and my films offers the following legacy to future readers...As a student of history, I understand the sage adage “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter” I want my works to be able to be looked upon by twenty second century Blacks as a resource for a specific reflection of what was transpiring in our community at this moment in time.
BPM: Introduce us to your book, Why He Hates You!: How Unreconciled Maternal Anger is Destroying Black Men and Boys.
Black Men and Boys are angry…Why? Because they have been forced to repress and bury deep in a place never discussed a burning and fiery angst towards their parents. Stated simply, they HATE their parents. Janks Morton in his semi-autobiographical work tackles head on the taboo subject of maternal resentment in the African American community. Why specifically maternal resentment? A generation of young black children have been raised exclusively by single-mothers. Morton acknowledges while that some of these children’s antipathy may be directed towards the non-residential fathers, predominantly the object and the focus of a young black boy’s rage is directed squarely at the person responsible for their guidance, their direction, their socialization, their joy and their pain. Their primary care givers and providers – their Mothers.
Official synopsis:
Morton’s narrative of searing personal stories offers a pathway to a larger conversation that for far too long has been held sacred… Morton’s talking truth describes the traumas young boy’s experiences with angst-creating parental techniques such as negotiation, manipulation, and castigation. Parental approaches that are too often utilized in the single parent home and are the well springs to the seas of resentment. The Author’s hopes is through sharing intimate and personal details from his own life, readers can begin to acknowledge the unresolved, unreconciled, and unrecognized parental resentments that can debilitate and shackle their lives. Morton’s personal stories shake loose those things unremembered, and unrecalled to help readers understand the power of forgiveness in order to walk the path towards restoration.
BPM: Introduce us to the primary message in your book.
The primary message of “Why He Hates You” is reconciliation through forgiveness. Now if I could just encourage more women to get past the title and jump into the narrative, the story would begin a renaissance and restoration between children and their parents.
BPM: Share with us two life enhancing sections from Why He Hates You.
1. After passing through the process of forgiveness, I had to understand that I was only able to forgive those things that I was consciously aware of, and that faint sound that appeared from time to time, were the roaring sirens of the repressed. Things that are in the subconscious, things unrecalled that still echo and can trip up your walk and potentially tempt your faith.
2. If any part of your past is unreconciled and you have not made peace with those things that have hurt you, those same things someday will manifest themselves to hurt you and someone else. Hurt people, hurt people.
BPM: What led you to create this book now?
I had been on the lecture circuit for a couple of years, and strangely enough, women constantly would ask me “where is the book” expanding upon my lectures. I think the opening chapter I explain that I like to do several things, but writing is not one of them. It came to a head when a woman explained to me that my lecture had the intensity and fervor of a southern Baptist tent revival, but she couldn’t recall a single lesson I had taught. So I understood at that juncture, I needed a resource for people to consume in their own space.
BPM: Who should read Why He Hates You and why?
Men, Women, Parents, grandparents and all races. There is a crippling and debilitating cultural mantra that has emerged over the past forty years that has rendered a generation of people into permanent children who can never relate to their parents in a healthy and adult fashion. As I detail throughout “Why He Hates You” if there is any resentment residing in you towards either parent, you ultimately wil become a slave to your own bitterness. Hate your mother, marry your mother to state it simply.
BPM: What impact will this book have on the community of readers?
I have seen the power of words to transform lives. And the peculiar thing is that it was words and actions that leads too many children to harbor unreconciled parental issues. As you follow me through my journey in the book, hoefully the light of redemption that was cast upon me, will open a doorway for the reader to find their own pathway to reconciliation.
BPM: What was your primary quest in publishing this book?
To dismantle the old business models that take creative control, do a poor job (if any) of promotion and fully exploit any autuer of inspired works. I come from the record industry so I am biased against $2500 suit wearing exec’s who can’t tell you where middle C is on the piano.
BPM: Who did you write Why He Hates You for? Why?
I wrote it specifically for Men who have had challenges in their relationships as well as mothers of young boys, struggling trying to figure them out.
BPM: What message in your book do you want readers to share with others?
True healing, redemption and peace reside in forgiveness. The trick of the world is to keep you in a place outside of those things of good. Confucious said “before you set out on a path of revenge, dig two graves”
BPM: What makes your book different from others on the same subject?
I don’t believe I have ever seen an author approach the subject matter from my lens. Throughout the book I intertwine the clinical (psychological) with the theological and show that they are two sides of the same coin.
BPM: Share with us your latest news, awards or upcoming book releases.
I am back in filmmaker mode. My next film “We Need To Talk: A Messages to our daughters” is slated for release June 29th. I am not a big hupe guy, but as I am about 80% percent complete, I see this film as an absolute game changer. It is a series of vignettes from some very reconciled women, with specific encouragement, direction, love and guidance to the next generation of women coming along. I have never cried while filming subjects, until I met these ten beautiful women.
BPM: How can our readers reach you online?
http://www.whatblackmenthink.com/
Why He Hates You!: How Unreconciled Maternal Anger is Destroying Black Men and Boys
by Janks Morton Purchase books today from Amazon ISBN-10: 1449590683
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