Author promotes dream in “˜Raising Fences’

  Photos from Riverhead Books Michael
Datcher, former Daily Bruin columnist, is the author of
the new book "Raising Fences: A Black Man’s Love Story."

By Michelle Baran

Daily Bruin Contributor

UCLA alumnus Michael Datcher is uncertain of which city
he’s waking up in these days.

The poet and journalist is currently in the midst of a hectic
nationwide promotional tour for his new book “Raising Fences:
A Black Man’s Love Story.” He will be in Los Angeles
for book signings April 3 and 4.

Before moving on to write for such publications as the Los
Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun, Datcher
wrote a biweekly column in the Daily Bruin that addressed issues of
race, politics and culture.

Datcher’s experience with writing and activism, both on
and off campus, culminated in his most recent attempt to heighten
awareness of African American issues.

“”˜Raising Fences’ is a reference to the picket
fences dream, the idea that people want to have a nice house and be
married and raise kids in a healthy and safe environment,”
Datcher said. “But it’s also a homonym for the word
“˜razing,’ which happens when a person’s dreams
are destroyed.”

In “Raising Fences,” Datcher strives to break down
the stereotypes that often plague African American men. The book
argues that, although often stigmatized in the media, many
fatherless African American men harbor the same goal as millions of
other Americans ““ the picket-fence dream of a wife, children,
home and a little security.

  In "Raising Fences," Datcher strives to break down the
stereotypes that often plague African American men. Datcher’s
own story began in Long Beach, Calif. Raised without a father,
Datcher took to the basketball court in search of a male role
model. His love of the game encouraged him to pursue athletics at
the college level.

A fluke incident upon applying to UCLA resulted in a misprinted
code and a consequent acceptance letter from UC Berkeley rather
than the Los Angeles campus.

“I was just a young kid and I didn’t have very much
experience with the academic setting coming from an impoverished
area,” Datcher said. “I was coming to school kind of
fresh, looking to explore what it had to offer.”

While working toward an undergraduate degree at Berkeley, and
later a master’s in African American Studies at UCLA, Datcher
began to explore different venues for expression. At Berkeley,
Datcher was actively involved with student protests, including a
successful united effort at pressuring the administration to
discontinue funding to the apartheid-run government of South
Africa.

“At the time, UC Berkeley had money invested in South
Africa, so part of our registration fees were going to finance
oppression of black people,” Datcher said. “We ended up
locking and chaining ourselves to buildings and we eventually
landed on the cover of the New York Times. As a result of all that
press, the university was kind of embarrassed into
divesting.”

Arriving in L.A. still high off the adrenaline rush of the
highly politicized Bay Area, Datcher found himself disappointed in
the apparent lack of activism on the UCLA campus. He looked to the
written word as a new outlet.

Datcher’s Daily Bruin column proved surprisingly
controversial as a stream of hate mail followed the biweekly
commentary. Fortunately, however, the articles also stirred up
encouragement and eventually Datcher found himself at the head of a
community writing workshop of which the first meetings were held in
his modest apartment.

“I consider myself a reasonable guy, and I was getting so
much hate mail,” Datcher said. “So I began to organize
actually off campus. First I had a writing workshop and a
men’s group in my apartment. Me and basically about 14 men
would sit and we’d talk about a given topic, whether it was
women or politics.”

The workshop is still running today, and Datcher’s
continued involvement gave rise to “Raising
Fences.”

In “Raising Fences,” Datcher weaves a coming-of-age
story together with an adult narrative. The resulting work deals
with various social and personal issues, ranging from
fatherlessness and wedlock to the power of art and poetry, issues
which prove universal amidst the racial subtext.

“It’s a book about love, a book of searching for
love of self, but it’s also a book about searching for
romantic love,” Datcher said. “It’s really hard
to love someone else if you can’t love yourself.”

BOOK: Datcher will sign books at Esowon, 3655
S. La Brea, tonight at 7 p.m. Wednesday, he will appear at Barnes
and Nobles at 1201 Third Street, Santa Monica, at 7:30 p.m. For
more information, contact Riverhead Books at (212) 366-2564.