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ADDRESSING FATHERS: Chris Gardner

A MOTIVATIONAL speaker and entrepreneur whose autobiography was adapted into a Hollywood movie starring Will Smith has urged black Britons to address the issue of fatherhood.

Gardner was speaking at an event aimed at entrepreneurs in Croydon, south London called ‘The Pursuit of Happiness: An audience with Chris Gardner’.

It was organised by Croydon Tech City and social enterprise Elevation Networks as part of the latter organisation’s ambition of supporting 5,000 people into self-employment.

Speaking to The Voice, the philanthropist said many of the social issues plaguing the black community could be alleviated by focusing on fatherhood.

He said: “If we could address that one issue, men who are not there for their children, that would directly impact gang violence, drug abuse, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy and the educational gap.

“Sometimes the best father is a good mother, it’s not the way it should be, not the way I’d like it to be but sometimes that’s how life is.”

The 61-year-old said it was his experiences growing up that had made him so passionate about the need for good father figures and their importance to the wider community.

INSPIRATIONAL STORY: Gardner’s autobiography was made into the film The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith

Referring to his abusive stepfather, he recalled: “This man would constantly remind me that he was not my father, he would tell me ‘I ain’t your father, you don’t have a father.’ I promised myself as a five-year-old boy that when I grow up, become a man and have children, my children are going to know who their father is. That was the most important promise I ever made in my life.”

He added: “I made the decision that even if I have to sleep in a public bathroom with my child on my back as a 28-year-old man, I made that decision as a five year old boy, that I would be there for my son.”

Born in Louisiana, Gardner told his story in an autobiography in 2006.

BESTSELLER

The book spent over 20 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into more than 48 languages.

The film was adapted into the Colombia blockbuster The Pursuit of Happyness in which Hollywood actor Will Smith played a 28-year-old Gardner.

It told Gardner’s story of how he became homeless and gained sole custody of his son after his wife left him.

The critically acclaimed film for which he was an associate producer, is often described as the ultimate rags to riches story. However for Gardner The Pursuit of Happyness carried an entirely different message.

“For me it was never about money,” he said. “For me it was a love story about a man that was committed to giving his child something that he never had which is a father. And that’s priceless.”

It was a story that might never have been told had it not been for a conversation he had with the late Dr Maya Angelou. She eased his initial reluctance to make his story public.

“I am so thankful to her. She explained to me in a way that only Dr Angelou could. She said ‘Mr Gardner, you do understand that book is not even about you? That book is the story of every father that’s had to be a mother and every mother that’s had to be a father. It’s the story of every person that has had a dream and that will not quit, you understand that now don’t you sir?’”