Reno Dads

For the past few weeks here at Reno Dads, we’ve been wrestling with some pretty big questions about how to contribute to the conversation that’s been happening in our community regarding race inequality. Generally speaking, we try to share stories that we hope will connect with families and dads, oftentimes focusing on the things that make this community great for families. With that in mind, we also realized that there were stories that needed to be told that we didn’t feel we had the ability to tell first hand – how families of color are experiencing life here in our community.

A week or so ago, we read a deeply personal essay from a dad in the Reno area, David Gamble Jr., that quickly took on a life of its own, has been shared more than 86,000 times on Facebook, and was published in the Reno Gazette Journal. David is an attorney here in Reno in the public defender’s office, and also does stand-up comedy. His recounting of the many, many instances that he experienced both overt and subtle racism here in Reno and in his career is a must read.

“Right now, we’re at a time where people want to listen.” David Gamble, Jr.

Similarly, Diaz Dixon has been sharing his thoughts on social media and getting a great deal of attention for his personal accounts of his experiences as an African American dad raising a family here in Reno. He’s made most of his video chats public, so go ahead and follow him on Facebook — you’ll be glad you did. He’s currently the CEO of Eddy House here in Reno, which provides services for homeless and at-risk youth to help them “develop life and job skills necessary for sustainable independence.”

“Anger is fear’s bodyguard.”Diaz Dixon

Hopefully, this conversation is something that dads and families are having at home — learning more about the history of race and bias in our country, and learning more about how to not only be “not racist,” but more importantly, how to be “anti-racist” in an active, deliberate way. How we, as dads, can affect the way our children learn and act in their daily lives has never been more important, and it’s going to take a lot of work to help close the gaps that have been made even more evident in recent weeks.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to spend some time with these two incredible dads to ask them to share a bit more about how they have been navigating not just the past few weeks, but over the course of their adult lives as dads, as well. 

So what’s a dad to do? Well, we asked David and Diaz where they’d recommend to start — here’s just a small list of things you can read, watch, and learn from so you can help your family and the community:

Diaz Dixon’s List of Suggested Starting Points

Other Resources (From David Gamble, Jr.):