Men II Boys is a 44-minute film featuring men from all walks of life, delivering words of wisdom as a resource for boys and young men of color as they ascend to manhood. The film stems from the fact that more than 82 percent of black children, born since 1990, do not have daily contact with their biological fathers.
The film—produced and directed by award-winning documentarian and Founder/CEO of iYAGO Entertainment Janks Morton—features special interviews with Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, University of Maryland at Baltimore County President Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski III, Journalist and Social Activist Jeff Johnson, and NFL player Daniel Wilcox.
“With 69.7 percent out of wedlock birthrate and a divorce rate in excess of 50 percent, too many young boys of color do not have access to the time honored tradition of Father to Son inter-relation,” says Morton. “Men II Boys is a movement to encourage these relationships which are critical in the development of boys of color and building strong families.”
The film is utilized in community organizing through the national initiative, Project COURAGE (Community Organizing Uniting Rallying and Galvanizing Events), reaching thousands in cities across the country. This cinematic resource provides the foundation for young men, single parents and families struggling to bridge the gap of communication left by the fracture of the Black Family.
Recent screenings of the film have been followed by a discussion led by Morton and proposed questions such as: Can a woman teach a boy to become a man? What is a man? What is the single greatest challenge facing Black America?
