this week on "our world with black enterprise" three special doctors talk about growing up without their fathers, learning to forgive the men and the unique bond they share. plus one woman is fighting environmental justice with one hand and transforming a part of new york city into an environmentally friendly community with the other. majora carter is our "slice of life". having a frnd means you have someone in your life who you trust, you can lean on for strength and depend on for encouragement. the first book "the pact" told

the story of how they struggled together as teens to rise above their circumstances. it also told of their story and vow to become doctors. in their latest book "the bond" the doctors' journey continue as they decide to forgive their fathers. let me introduce you to doctors samson davis -- now, let me ask you something. when the three of you all get together as doctors and the three of you get together as boys. as i was doing the introduction, i could see y'all clowning each other in between. so it really has to be a fun thing to see the success, but to keep that comradery, is it not? >> absolutely. our whole story, the bond and the pact is based upon our friendship. we've been boys for 28 years now. that will always be in place. the goal of going into medicine, the whole thought of doing that and becoming doctors started first with our friendship. >> were you surprised at the reception the first book

received? >> definitely. it was overwhelming to be honest. all we really were concerned with was just bettering ourselves and becoming better men and hopefully influencing our immediate families and people that kind of observe what we're doing, young people. but we didn't really anticipate it being such an overwhelmingly positive response. the neatest part about it is it was reassuring for us because we were nervous when we were revealing a lot of our secrets -- not really secrets, but some of the things we're not too proud of. we talked about those honestly. to see those received and kids learning lessons and people understanding they're not in it alone when they're trying to become something from some difficult circumstances. >> did you know writing the book going in that intentionally or unintentionally you had become role models? >> it was definitely unintentional. we really wanted to pour our heart and souls out in this book and share something with the world. then we realized once we started getting e-mails from people and

kids started asking us questions, we want to be like you, what should i do in this situation, that we actually kind of were molded into that role model role, but that was fine for us because we want to serve as that role model for health and education. we want people to be able to -- instead of saying they can be like mike, they might want to be like the three doctors or the four astronauts. if you put lebron james, tiger woods, michael jordan, you put them up next to us and ask what shot did you have, the golf player, basketball player, they might say those other entities. they have a better chance at being doctors. >> when you look at black america today, are you optimistic with the notion that these kinds of stories are reaching the people they need to, or do you feel that you were that blip on the screen, but we need more? >> i'm opt mimistic that we are

reaching the masses. but i think we do need more. i think we were the blip. when you look at our story and how real it is, the reason why kids and people gravitate to us, it is real. they can see themselves in us. one kid, while we were on book tour, he told us directly, i took down my poster of lebron james and put up a poster of the three of you guys. that's the message. >> in your friendship over the years, was there ever a period where you all fell out or lost contact with each other? talk to me, if not, about the idea of how special it is to keep partners with you throughout the running? >> i don't think there's ever a time where we weren't in contact. we kind of connected ourselves in a way where -- even when there's rough patches, it seems like we still were in contact. we transcended the friend thing to where we've become brothers. i never loose contact with my brothers just as i wouldn't lose contact with these guys.

it's vitally important. i think that our friendship and what it brought us is what helped us get over a lot of the disadvantages that we had. a lot of the things we didn't have, whether it was finances, not having the role models in our environment, not having our dads there to teach us things, all these things that we were missing, that we could have used as an excuse not to pursue our dreams we found from just positively pushing each other. the same concepts that these gangs have, so to speak, that makes them do a lot of these things that -- brings the worst out of each other and those peer groups, where it's negative peer pressure. we formed a positive peer pressure group where if he got an a and we got bs, he wanted to show us how to get that a. >> that's what i wanted to ask of each one of you? who was the motivator? >> i think each of us motivated each other in different aspects. we each had our own qualities. i might have been oh george says i'm more the cynical one. sam was the hard worker, more

the math whiz. george was just more sensible. so it just -- we each motivated each other. in this book, "the bond", we talked about how, because we didn't have father figures, we didn't know how to become men. we learned how to become men from each other. so, you know, we had -- i had to learn how to shave and tie a tie. we had to learn the different techniques from each other. i taught george how to drive his stick shift, his first car. he thinks he's better than me now. but we really had to teach other other how to become men because we were all we had. so we -- i lived with sam for ten years. we were roommates for ten years. >> let me take a break and come back with more. back in a moment. >> when we return the three doctors open up about confronting their absentee fathers up next. >> i never really was too concerned about why he wasn't there. i really needed to hear from him that he didn't intend not to be there. >>i, i'meddy bruschi.

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woman: so here are the keys. congratulations! it's officially yours. i'm sure you'll have many happy years here. except for you. because you'll be gone three years from now. struck down by the same disease that got your father. so you won't be around for them. and sadly, it could have been detected early with a simple test. but you didn't have it. ok! who wan to check out the back yard? announcer: for a list of tests every man should have, go to ahrq.gov. back with drs. davis, jenkins and hunt. the book is called "the bond", the first book "the pact". what caused you to open what i'm sure were difficult wounds in dealing with the absentee father and wanting to not only deal with it amongst yourself. you could have done that and

said let's go do this and make it private, but make it public? >> each within of us had a different approach. form me i was reluctant. i didn't want to revisit the fact that my father wasn't there. i've grown, i've ach chooechd. i'm successful. i'm okay. really i wasn't. going back and talking to my father and at the time he had just taken ill, but talking to other family members on my father's side and learning about my heritage, my roots and where i came from and the fact that migrate grandfather was born into slavery and was one of the first people out of slavery to own a farm and he gave a piece of his farm to my grandfather. then my father came along. i started to learn about who i was as a person. that completed me. my father provides half of my dna. like it or not, i need to know about that. because once i start to have children they're going to ask me questions. if i can't provide those answers to them, they're going to feel loss and a sense of disconnect as well. >> did you need to know from him why you weren't there? >> i did. i did. i never got the answer.

that's the deep message, the bond is not perfect. you're not going to read the story like, a-ha, i have the answer. it provides dialogue and helps you to step forward and take the first step in starting to heal. i didn't get the "i love you, son", or this is the reason i wasn't there. but at the same time i got to learn about him. he recently passed in may. was it not for this book i probably wouldn't have reconnected with him and probably wouldn't have went to his funeral. one of my cousins came up and gave me a closed envelope and said this is for you, open it up. i'm looking at it and trying to figure it out. it's a resume of mine from ten years ago. wow, how did you get this? you don't know, your father was very proud of you. he photocopied it and sent it to every family member in south carolina. that touched me. that made me realize -- he probably didn't have the words to say i love you, but he did it in his own little way. >> what about for you? >> as a man, growing up and

having friends of mine in various situations with different women and seeing how they were together and broke up and maybe the mom moved with the child and they weren't able to see their kid as much and maybe not having the means, seeing that as an adult, it kind of helped me kind of ease the tension i think with my dad. so i never really was too concerned about why he wasn't there. but i really needed to hear from him that he didn't intend not to be there. the exact circumstances i wasn't really concerned th. i needed him to say he was sorry, he didn't necessarily intend for things to be this way and kind of leave me out there to just kind of figure things out on my own with just my mom and whatever else i can figure out. >> when you heard the explanation, in the days leading up to or the years leading up to whatou thought that day would be, did it meet your expectation? >> that's a very good question. >> i try.

>> i think -- i think the apology was what i needed to begin the process, because not having a relationship and getting through college and dental school without my dad's advice, without his resources or any sort of input in that, i had a lot of resentment built up. in order for me to lay a foundation to even begin to build a father-son relationship, i had to let it go. all that resentment go. hearing for him to say he didn't mean for things to turn out the way they did and he was sorry, that allowed me to let that resentment go. we're in the process of building a relationship, i'm reaching out to him. he's calling me. six months doesn't go by and we don't speak like it used to. >> is that easier than you thought it would be? >> it definitely is. >> what about for you? >> this book was special to me. i initially came up with the idea to write this book because i had that exact question. i wanted to know if -- even though me and my dad had a really good relationship, we had

sense reconciled -- we actually didn't have a bad relationship, but it was getting more and more personal. but then i got to a point where i couldn't ask him the questions like, did you want me? did you miss me? all these different questions i couldn't really ask him out right. >> could you not ask that question because it's not a, quote, man question? was there that sense of, i don't want to sound like a punk, dad? was that part of it? >> it was probably part of it. i'd have to say yes. i think another part of it was me -- first of all, i thought it might have been embarrassing to him. secondly, what if he said, no, i really didn't want you, son? okay, let's go get some coffee. how do you rebound from that? so i didn't know how to -- i knew it was a really tough topic. i said, you know, this would be weird. already written "the pact" and

finished the second book "rebeat the street for kids". this would be a good book to write. i came to them about it. george was on board at first. and then sam was on board and then george wasn't on board. it seemed like it flip-flopped. it was a mixed bag of emotions because i think this is our best book and most personal book because it talks a lot about us being men. so it was tough. but i thought that having this dialogue on paper, i could get those answers, those questions answered just by reading his responses to the questions. and so that's kind of how i was. but then as this book more offed into what it is today, the bond, we wanted to give some life lessons. we're not experts on father hood or fatherlessness, but we do have experiences. we wanted to lend our experiences to people so they could learn from them. and some of the advice we have comes from our own hearts. one of the things that you said about the expectations, that's a big deal about forgiving.

people, when they forgive -- when they want to forgive, they have an expectation of how the person should say sorry, what they should get from that. in order to forgive sometimes, you actually have to lower your expectations. >> that really is your expectation, not that person's. >> exactly. >> in terms of what you knew this would mean to black men, in particular black boys, because so many of them face this issue, what's your hope coming out of this that the book will provide? >> to start dialogue, to create this conversation and realize we are hurting as a community, that there are more fatherless homes than father-filled homes. we need to talk about this. our fathers need to know we welcome them into our children's lives. >> whatever you call forgiveness, are you there now? >> i am. my dad just passed away a couple weeks ago. but we were able to heal. each of our dads, their stories are in this book, and so what

you were talking about, somebody that not be accountable will look through the book and say, you know, i could learn something from -- he could learn something from my dad or george's dad and that kind of stuff, so i feel whole and i think this book healed me in ways i would never have known. >> i definitely feel that it was well worth going through, opening up and accessing that box, so to speak. i always call it a pandora's box because you put a lot of feelings in it, tuck it away so to not have those feelings of disappointment and being upset that your father wasn't there will bother you if you keep it at the forefront. so you have to bury it. i'm glad i was able to access it and deal with it. >> for me i did forgive. i also realized that carrying those ill feelings is a cancer. as soon as you address that situation and say, you know what, it's not that i'm not being a man or a woman by not addressing this situation, i have to learn how to forgive to get rid of this cancer.

>> i salute you all for being so open with something that could have stayed between the three of you. the book is called "the bond", drs. davis, jenkins and hunt. thank you. we'll be right back. we do uh-oh.

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fast. (announcer) stop the uh-oh fast with kao. . one woman is fighting environmental justice with one hand and transforming a part of new york city into an environmentally friendly community with the other. majora carter is our "slice of life". greening the ghetto is the phrase majora carter, founder and executive director of the sustainable south bronx believes best describes her work. >> greening the ghetto just seemed like such an oxymoron that we had to play with it. we're talking about greening it both environmentally, parks, trees, et cetera, but also economically. >> the sustainable south bronx

or ssb tackles the disproportionate environmental and public health burdens the residents of the south bronx face on a daily basis. >> we need it most because we are the point sources for greenhouse gas emissions. we are the concentrations for toxic industries are right here. if we're not players in cleaning up those industries, our public health suffers. >> this urban strategist has started several programs geared towards investing in the residents of her community. the program she is most proud of is the bronx environmental stewardship training program. the ten-week program gives trainees solid skills for the future. >> we do have a very high level of folks that were formerly incarcera incarcerated. we have an even higher level of folks that have never had a job before. >> after high school i didn't know what to do, so i just went into the street, you know, and started doing bad things and got

incarcerated, came out of jail. i heard about this program. it's a great opportunity, because when you come home, there's not a lot of opportunities. you get a lot of doors shut in your face because of your past. >> i was in an abusive relationship before, and i had little to what i was able to do. being in the training program helped me re-evaluate my life in a sense where i had to get out of that environment to get into a new environment. and they made me believe in myself, helped me believe in myself. >> my vision for the future would be that there would be no communities as vulnerable politically, environmentally, economically or socially as what the south bronx was or is right now, and that we're all developing the capacity to understand that we do need to use a green economy to move people out of poverty so that

everybody can benefit. >> to learn more visit sustainable south bronx at ssbx.org. we'll be right back. where can you find ingredients like... 100% angus beef, hickory-smoked bacon, red onions, swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms? where else but mcdonald's? the mcdonald's angus third pounders. that's what we're made of. ♪ ba da ba ba ba

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don't forget to go to our website where you can give us your feedback on the show. until next time, i'm ed gordon. thanks for making our world your world. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com (announcer) new icy hot spray. relief that's icy to dull pain, hot to relax it away. and no mess. new icy hot spray. don't mess around with pain. (announcer) when diarrhea hits... kaopectate stops it fast. kaopectate stops it fast. kaopectate stops it fast. powerful liquid relief speeds to the source. fast. (announcer) stop the uh-oh fast with kao. woman on p.a.: cassandra mirasson. [radio transmissions] woman on p.a.: stephanie mccapra... man: excuse me. have a seat. have a seat. i'm fine. woman: take off your jacket, all right? sir! sir, relax. breathe easy. man: stay down. everybody, stand clear.

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