What My Readers Are Saying!

VOICE FOR THE SILENT FATHERS:  

• Just finished “Voice for Silent Voices” and also viewed this video of Drew. I got a lot out of this book, especially the ceaseless love of a father, mother, grandparent, step parent…they all cared deeply about the welfare of Drew….one of the main characters. Who in time has matured and now recognizes how fortunate he is to have had so much love in his life from his family. Even from his dad, who is mostly a voice on the phone..during those difficult teen and early adult years that Drew went through. Eddie managed to convey his love and concern from prison.

  My only point of criticism is the repetitive scenes the last quarter of the book. Which can be forgiven for the most part as it showed plainly…no matter how many times Eddie and Drew took the wrong path…they ended up getting back on track. ~W. Tams

• I loved Eddie K. Wright’s sincere real-life story of how he struggles with having a gay son. Eddie is very honest and holds nothing back on how he feels about Drew’s homosexuality. Yet when reading the story you never doubt Wright’s love for his son. This was an incredible read! ~C. Downin
• Brilliant book, couldn’t put it down.  A must read for everyone! ~Bernice
• Heart-wrenching at times, this is a brutally honest book. As a parent of two LGBT girls, I found it full of empathy, honesty, and inspiration. ~L. Scott
• Love conquers all. ~L. Flowers
• “Voice for the Silent Fathers” is a great read! It keeps you engaged from beginning to end. You experience every emotion in this book. I would have to say that the author is brave and brilliant! ~S. Seay
• Thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts about Eddies’ book “Voice for the silent fathers”. These delicate father-son issues, so implicitly captured in his writings, are relevant to a broad spectrum of societal issues beyond the “no son of mine” father of a gay man experience. In fact, the book gets to the real substance of human conflict which is our inability to accept and appreciate differences. The key word here is appreciation.  The book offers an opportunity to consider acceptance in a way that extends grace, honor, support and recognition.  When we are ungrateful, we are critical, blaming, and we use forms of rejection.  Eddies’ experience of coming to the acceptance of his son provides hope for healing; a more practical response to conflict that allows dignity, respect and honor which overcomes criticism, blame, bigotry, and ultimately rejection.  God bless you Eddie and thank you for this healing message. ~G. Holmes
• “Wow, your voice is one that is rarely heard in this discussion and I for one am deeply appreciative for the insights you offered. My own father disowned me briefly as a teenager for being gay and like you was a man immersed in a macho world. Although he and I were never very close as he became ill and suffered the demise of cancer I was able to be there for him in a way that my other siblings couldn’t and I was able to, in the end, have a closeness with him that made all the distance between us for all those years irrelevant. Thanks for doing this.” ~T. Lynch
• I’m so glad you shared your true rawness and grit of how you felt. These are normal comments that go through our heads but rarely stated or written out. I like that our feelings are not alone as when I’m reading what you wrote, I can surely relate because these are my same thoughts! Inspiring to know that there are others parents who feel this way about their coming out child! Thanks so much! ~MZ Lane

• I thoroughly enjoyed this poignant, heartfelt, real-life account of Eddie Wright’s struggle with having a gay son.  The story is well told and what makes it even more intriguing is that he admits that he was a true street gangster with a gangster mentality, making his dilemma even more of a challenge.  In his book Voice for the Silent Fathers, author Eddie was able to capture his raw emotions on paper and as I read I could feel his difficult journey that begins with denial, and travels through embarrassment, anger, resentment, dismissal and finally to Eddie’s ultimate acceptance of his son Drew.  Never in the story did I doubt his love for his child.  Eddies honesty about his criminal past gave the book an added depth, in my opinion.  That coupled within a bit of the Hip Hop scene around the turn of our century and a fair dose of romance will make this interesting to other readers.  This is one of those books that I had a hard time putting down!  I’m looking forward to his upcoming series as well. ~D. Yuskin

• This book was eye-opening for me, in a good way. It brought out a side of an issue that is hardly talked about and was something that everyone should read. I got a new perspective about a man who has a child that is gay. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to understand the guy’s view of this touchy issue. ~T. Nugent

• The meat of the story of how a father cannot find his way to love his son for whom he is.  Fighting to accept, support and honor the unconditional love a parent is to have for their child. The father himself is conflicted with his own way of life. He does not see his questionable life as “Gansta thug life” until he is once again sent to prison. This time will be his last time since it is for life. The prison way is revealing that he must love his son for who he is. This becomes an outlet for the author. His healing process of acceptance, support and that unconditional love a parent has for their child. Prison was the door that opened up his mind and heart for his son.I find the authors take on his battles about homosexuality in a relative way as about half as society does. The stigma that one puts with what a gay person must be. Well gay, straight or any other they are still a human being. Eddie needed to see his son as a human being and accept who he was as a person and the life he was leading before he can cope & understand his own son.I ended up having a love-hate relationship with Eddie. At times reading his statements about yelling at his son for talking the way he was or playing with the Barbie dolls etc…I wanted to punch him in the face. Then I would have the complete opposite feeling when he did right by his son by taking him in for those two years. I had so much empathy and compassion for Drew. I hated every bit of what he was dealing with. The battles of growing up and not understanding completely why he was the way he was. He just was. He wanted to be free to be who he was. He was not allowed to be due to the fear of disappointing his father. Then being removed from his mother by his own mother because there was no room for him. Drew was dealing with more than any one child should have had to deal with.

  I related very well to the book. I am the mother of a son who is gay. I have known since he was 3 that he was gay. His father whom I am divorced from since he was 2 does not accept who he is. He believes I made him gay because I babied him. I understand and believe as this was pointed out in the book: God created us all and yes that book was written well over 2k years ago. God knew then and knows now what he was doing. One truth no matter what is that God says we must love all. I love God just as much as I love my son. Now that he is finally an adult himself by law I still worry for him. People are ignorant.  I hope that Drew finds his way and fights his battle to win it. He is a hero… He just does not know this yet. Thanks to Eddie his father he made Drew a hero.  ~C.  Livingston

• Recently I had the distinct honor and pleasure to interview a new author, Mr. Eddie K. Wright, on his upcoming project: Voice For The Silent Fathers.

…His book details his challenge with accepting his gay son. His story is one of acceptance, inspiration, unconditional love and awareness. I invoke you to read and listen with an open heart.

Oftentimes we judge others based on their sexuality, and not their heart. We are all humans and deserve to be treated with decency and respect. And the Bible tells us to judge not lest ye be judged. No one is perfect, not even a heterosexual or a Jew or a Muslim or a white man.

As I interviewed Mr. Wright over the phone, I was so inspired to help him get his story out. His energy is contagious and he’s hilarious! He had me rolling with his sense of humor.  He was so positive, in spite of his current situation, and determined to tell his story to the masses in hopes to help someone else avoid the pitfalls he once succumbed to.

Truth be told, Eddie is more “free” than most of us outside of prison walls! Most of us have our internal prison walls because we are stuck and bound by our own thought processes and the opinions of others. We are bound by our past and the pain associated with it. Eddie, though he is physically incarcerated, is mentally and spiritually free! We can all learn a thing or two from this amazing man! ~J Timmons (Listen to the interview and read the transcript here)

• Please take the time to read and listen to this interview. My brother Eddie Wright, I love him so very much. So many blessings are in this script. “Once you’re a parent, you’re a parent for life”. You don’t get to choose when or when you won’t parent. GOD has chosen you to parent His child, and just like He won’t turn His back on His, we ought not turn ours on ours. Having said that, the obstacles Eddie talks about facing in parenting a child are real. Too real for fake parents. You know what I mean! Part-time parents, enabling parents, users, abusers, those who are completely dependent on their children to provide them checks and assistance. Ya’ll… Eddie says it all in this book. If you’re a fake parent, you’re going to learn about yourself in this book, and you are going to have to make changes. If this brother can parent this strong from behind bars, what’s your excuse? ~G. Holmes~

• Just listened to that interview. Deep. I was his son’s counselor at the YMCA in Bayshore. This is crazy because I’m going thru some stuff with my son now and I haven’t even spoken to him in a couple of years. My daughters have told me that he is gay as well and I told them that I don’t feel different towards him because of that. I have cousins who are gay as well and I still love them the same way. Wow, this is deep! ~J. Perkins

 

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