Dr. Rameck Hunt:
“My dad often surprised the kids in the house with gifts. I always appreciated anything he gave me, even if it was small. The present I remember best was a bright red electric keyboard that he gave me for Christmas when I was around age eight. It came with a strap so I could wear it like a guitar and really get down like Prince or some other superstar.

“As a kid, I was always entertaining, and now I could strut around in front of my audience and perform a real concert with live music. It had a ready-made bass line, so all I had to do was add some key strokes to make a song that sounded halfway decent.

“I practiced on my keyboard for hours, trying to get my act right. Such a wonderful musical instrument had to be really expensive, I remember thinking, which made me love my dad even more. I thought it was one of the best gifts I had ever received.” (page 192)

Aliam Bial:
“Because I wanted my kids to have nice things, I hustled even harder at Christmas and birthdays to ensure they had lavish gifts. Once, I surprised Rameck with a bright red electric keyboard that he was crazy about.

“I remember quite clearly the day I got it for him. I stole it from a Sears store. There had been dozens of them, stacked in a huge pyramid right by the store entrance. I took one for Rameck and disappeared nonchalantly through the door and into the parking lot.

“I love that feeling of walking in the door at Christmastime and having my son leap for joy because Daddy had brought something special just for him.” (page 222-223)

Dr. Rameck Hunt:
“My father and I had a low-key, low-pressure relationship. He never tried to come on strong, like a big-time disciplinarian. I think he realized that it was a little inappropriate to come in and out of my life and then announced, ‘I’m your father, so do what I say.’ And that was fine by me. It would have turned me off for him to be a heavy-handed father.

“Instead, he fit more into the mold of a dad who was as much a friend as a father, similar to George’s surrogate father, Shahid. He gave great advice, and that’s exactly what I wanted. I craved learning about him so much that I must have asked a thousand questions an hour.” (page 202)

Aliam Bial:
“Offering advice, I knew, was the one thing I could do. Even when I was hustling in the streets, I stayed in touch and always had fatherly advice to offer if they needed it.

“Since we lived in separate homes, I always encouraged Rameck to reach out for me. I wanted him to know who his father was, inside. ‘My actions don’t define who I am,’ I would tell Rameck, hoping he could understand.

“My kids knew how to find me if they needed me. I made sure they knew my phone number at all times. As they got older, Rameck and Quamara called me often to share their problems and worries. It was clear—they forgave me for my flaws. I’m still amazed by the depths of their love and acceptance.” (page 225)

Dr. Rameck Hunt:
“I can’t explain why I knew in my gut, when my dad disappeared for a year into those back-to-back rehab programs, that he would win his battle this time. I could just feel it. There would be no more relapses.

“As time went on, I felt even surer. Although we were allowed only the barest of communication with him—only phone calls on Sunday, or handwritten letters back and forth—I could sense a difference. He sounded less shaky, more determined in his letters. Then his ‘I’m Sorry, Son’ poem showed up in my mailbox. Its beauty and eloquence gave me hope like I’d never allowed myself to feel before.” (page 234)

Aliam Bial:
“I had been back and forth to so many rehab programs that my medical insurance company said it would only pay for a two-week program. I knew that wasn’t enough.

“I prayed. ‘God, why have you taken everything away from me?’ I questioned. ‘You took my job, my house, and I can’t get the help I need to kick this habit.’

“A flood of fear came pouring out of me. I was petrified of failing again. My faith in myself was long gone by that point.

“Then I put my trust in God. I signed up for the two-week program.

“As I boarded the train to leave for rehab, I made a solemn promise to myself. I vowed to make my children proud of me.

“When the two weeks were up, God came through. I found an out-of-state Christian rehab clinic that let me continue my detoxification for free.

“While I was there, I thought about how I owed it to my three children to make a change.

“In those quiet hours I spent alone, I could hear Rameck’s voice encouraging me. ‘Do it for your kids if not for yourself. Your kids need you,’ he used to tell me. One day I found a piece of paper and composed a heartfelt poem for Rameck, who was by then in medical school making his dream of becoming a doctor a reality. . . .

“I signed it, and mailed it to him. Year later, I was surprised and touched to find out that Rameck had framed the poem and put in a place of honor over his mantel.” (page 226-227)

Dr. Sampson Davis
What he thought . . . and what he learned after researching his father’s life . . .

Dr. Sampson Davis What he thought . . .:
“Even as a youngster, I could tell from Pop’s unhappiness that he envisioned another life for himself. But what I didn’t know was that from the time I was a little boy, he had begun to shape a secret life, chasing after the satisfaction he thought he was lacking. I learned this only recently from my stepmother, Thelma. When I asked Thelma to help me construct Pop’s biography, she filled in many details of Pop’s life that I never knew about.” (page 129)

Dr. Sampson Davis What he learned after researching his father’s life . . .:
“Pop met Thelma in the summer of 1977, when I was four and Carlton only a baby. They were introduced by a neighbor of ours who asked Dad to give Thelma a ride back to her place in Queens. From the beginning of their relationship, Pop never hid the fact that he was a husband and father. But he and his wife were so incompatible that they lived in different parts of the house, he told Thelma, and his house was too chaotic for him to be happy.” (page 129)

“. . . Pop put his mind to pursuing her, and for Thelma, it felt good to be treated with dignity and sweetness. Although they didn’t see much of each other often, since they lived an hour apart, he never stopped calling and telling her how lonely he was for her. He had been praying for someone to come into his life who would appreciate him for him, he told her.” (page 129)

Dr. Sampson Davis What he thought . . .:
“Disappearing into the bedroom every night was Pop’s way of coping, after working a full day, then coming home to face everyday hassles from collection notices to corner winos to family squabbles. I don’t think Pop intentionally planned to wall himself off emotionally, and he probably never realized that over time he became a distant and hands-off dad.” (page 82)

Dr. Sampson Davis What he learned after researching his father’s life . . .:
“I must admit, learning these raw facts about my father’s infidelity has been painful for me. Yet it makes sense. Now I finally know where my father’s love and affection were going. In essence, he left me to fend for myself after his soured marriage caused him to head off in search of love.” (page 130)

Dr. Sampson Davis What he thought . . .:
“I remember hearing my parents scuffle in the kitchen, and it spilled out to the living room, where my sisters were peeling potatoes. It got so bad that Pop went upstairs and got a gun. He came downstairs waving it and yelling. Everything happened very fast, but it will always be a frozen moment in my memory. My father stood on the third step, pointing the barrel of the gun at my mother. ‘I’ll shoot you, woman. I will kill you.’ I stood there with my brothers Carlton and Andre, not believing our eyes. I tried to cry but couldn’t. All I could see was Moms dying and my father going to jail.

“My mother stood still but taunted him: ‘Go ahead, shoot me,’ she said. If you’ve never heard your mom sound like Clint Eastwood, believe me—it’s not a good feeling. I knew this was it. All the previous arguments had built up to this day, the day where it would all come to a climactic end. I didn’t want my mom to die. Please, God, don’t let him pull the trigger. My older sisters jumped up and stood in the middle of the battle. My little brother Carlton was crying hysterically and my older brother Andre was shouting, ‘Stop! Why don’t y’all stop?’ I just stared. Is this how life is supposed to be?

“Then it ended. Dad lowered the gun and retreated upstairs.

“Mine wasn’t the kind of house where you could learn a lot about conflict resolution.” (page 80)

“By the time I was approaching my teen years, Pop seemed to admit defeat. For him, life in our house appeared to be torture. In the waning years of their marriage, my parents attempted to curb the altercations by moving to different areas of the house. I long believed that the way they carved out their domains contributed to the way that Pop sequestered himself. He was the breadwinner, and the house was Moms’s responsibility. That sharp division of duties ended up contributing to the emotional distance between the kids and Pop. When my dad was in my mother’s territory, he walled himself off.” (page 128)

Dr. Sampson Davis What he learned after researching his father’s life . . .:
“I also learned from [my stepmother] Thelma that she played a key role in helping Pop learn to cool his head and quell some of the violence in our home. In fact, she may have been the angel who indirectly saved our lives. Pop, she said, had told her how my mother’s hot temper could provoke him to rage. He confided to her about an episode when he had held a gun to my mother’s head and had to force himself not to pull the trigger.

“Thelma, who still lived with the memory of the violent rampage of the man she divorced in 1980, detected the danger in Pop’s words. She worked hard, she told me, to counsel my father through those urges. ‘Get rid of the gun,’ she insisted to Pop. ‘Don’t even think of hurting her.’ It was Thelma who suggested that Pop go to a quiet room or leave the house altogether. Again, her story fit like a missing piece into the puzzle of my childhood, seeming to explain why my parents’ arguments became less explosive in the later years as we saw less and less of Pop.” (page 131)

Section One: George

Chapter 1. George Jenkins
Chapter 2. George Jenkins, Sr.
Chapter 3. George
Chapter 4. George
Chapter 5. George

Section Two: Sampson

Chapter 1. Sampson Davis
Chapter 2. Sampson
Chapter 3. Sampson
Chapter 4. Sampson
Chapter 5. Sampson

Section Three: Rameck

Chapter 1. Rameck Hunt
Chapter 2. Alim Bilal
Chapter 3. Rameck
Chapter 4. Rameck
Chapter 5. Rameck

Postscript
Acknowledgments
"The Bond is powerful, candid, straight talk needed to help mend our community fabric and strengthen our family ties. This honest and often poignant testimony from The Three Doctors is potent medicine that will heal and help fortify all readers."
- Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey

"Doctors Davis, Hunt and Jenkins know how vital it is for all children to have relationships with both their father and their mother. Every parent should read THE BOND because it highlights the power of forgiveness and drives home the fact that it's never too late to be a family."
- Bill Cosby

"The Three Doctors pull no punches when they tell us what it's like to grow up in Newark, N.J, without a father in their lives: I grew up in that neighborhood, too. But they're not complaining. Instead, they did something about it-they reconnected with their fathers. THE BOND is the powerful story of how they did it, and it shows that it's never too late to be a father to your children. This is a book that every father and every family should read and take to heart. It's honest and brave and true."
-Queen Latifah, musician, actress, and author of Ladies First

"There is no shortage of statistics that bear out the anguish and pathology resulting from the absence of fathers in the lives of children, but The Bond tells a different story. Once again The Three Doctors have illustrated that none of us are bound by our beginnings and ultimately, even for black men, love wins."
-Tavis Smiley, television and radio host, author of What I Know For Sure

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