Brown University's Inman Page Black Alumni Council - Metro NY Chapter

Hill Harper's book is getting a lot of buzz. Here's an article about him pulled from the Philadelphia Inquirer:

With his good looks and Hollywood life, it is probably hard to imagine Hill Harper having many days that are less than perfect.

After all, Harper stars on TV's highly rated CSI: NY; he has multiple stage and screen credits to his name; People Magazine picked him among its "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2004. And if all that ever fails, he has degrees from Brown University and Harvard Law School to fall back on.

But there are down days, and that's when Harper pulls out Rainer Maria Rilke's inspirational Letters to a Young Poet, a book he has held dear for more than a decade.

"I reread it often when I'm down or discouraged," Harper said by phone from Houston, where he was on tour for his own book, Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny (Gotham, $20), released in April.

The actor-author, whose book was inspired by Rilke's, will be in Philadelphia on Friday for a book signing. He plans to donate the money from the books sold that day to PhatBack, a boys' track club and mentoring program. He is also scheduled to attend Saturday's black male development symposium at Arcadia University.

Harper conceived his book as a way of doling out advice to young men, especially African American and Latino youth, who face daunting statistics that show a crisis. Letters, as well as the symposium, is part of the rash of responses to what many experts are calling the worsening plight of many young African American men.

Nationally, black leaders are talking about the issue. Academic studies and books such as Tavis Smiley's The Covenant With Black America point out alarming information on health issues, educational disparities, and high rates of incarceration. Last month, the University of Pennsylvania held a conference to discuss whether national action was needed to stem the risks facing this generation.

Harper has seen some of this firsthand.

As a volunteer for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization in Los Angeles and a frequent speaker at elementary and high schools, he is concerned that the hard-hitting questions teens pose reveal deeply unsettled issues in their young lives.

At schools, he says, all too often, young men would pull him aside and privately seek his advice on issues ranging from why they should strive to attend college when it was too costly and no one else in their family did, and how to react when their single mothers date.

Many of the questions, Harper says, revealed that boys often did not have positive male role models. He heard of struggles with manhood and self-worth.

"No matter the income level or race, that is a strong issue," said Harper, 39. "Their mothers are loving and affectionate, but there are some issues of manhood they don't get exposed to because that role model is missing."

Harper is passionate about the subject when he says he's not berating the thousands of single parents who do their best every day. After all, though he was close to both parents, he was raised by his father. He discovered later, he writes, that his mother "didn't leave me; she left the situation she was in - a situation that, at the time, wasn't healthy, for her, or for me. ..."

Such revelations, as well as other deeply personal details, bring a human touch to the book. It tells young readers that middle-class families - even the well-educated Harpers of Iowa City - have family ghosts to battle.

"He is coming from a very middle-class existence in the Midwest, but he hasn't forgotten the struggle," said Doreen E. Loury, an Arcadia University sociology professor who is cochairing Saturday's symposium. "He's doing something that, long after the movies are gone, will last. We need more people putting out information like this."

Letters to a Young Brother is a hardcover tome, 176 pages of inspiration in the form of 18 letters from Harper to "Dear young Brotha," a fictional youth who represents young men with the same questions and concerns.

Harper can't be there for every single young man, but the book can serve as a strong but silent mentor.

"Mentoring on paper can work," Harper said, adding that it's especially for boys who, because of peer pressure and other youth dynamics, don't allow themselves to openly receive information.

Harper's letters address everything from school to girls, success, peer pressure, money and manhood. On Page 12, he even asks the reader to contemplate and define "friend."

"I was once told that if I can define what it is I need in a friend, I can allow someone to be that for me, and more importantly, I can learn to be that for myself," Harper writes.

The writing, often seeming a tad elementary with references to video games and bling, is an attempt to reach out to a wide cross-section of young men, Harper says. He wants youth who want the information but think it is uncool to pick up a book.

"We know that not a whole lot of young men are hanging out at Barnes & Noble waiting for the next book to drop," Harper said. He pushed to make the book visually appealing, from the cover's gold lettering to color photos of the author cheesing with celebrity friends such as Halle Berry, Chris Rock and Ludacris.

The celebrities and power brokers also help to answer young Brotha's questions through e-mails in the book.

Near the end of Letters, young Brotha asks: "Why does it feel like life is so hard for me sometimes?" In addition to Harper's reply, he also gives answers from his Harvard Law colleague, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, and from R&B singer Ray J. He uses insight from friends who appeal to young men.

To one question - "How come when I sit in the front of the classroom and ask questions my boyz punk me and say I'm trying to be the teacher's pet?" - actor Anthony Anderson replies: "Continue to ask your questions and give your answers because if you don't what will you learn? And trust me, those who 'punked' you for doing so will be the 'punks' in life. ..."

Harper's friend Venus Williams tackles, "How do I become a superstar at something, and if I want to be a superstar rapper or athlete, why should I have to go to school?"

Her reply begins: "School is a very important part of becoming a superstar."

It'll take some time perhaps for Harper to be able to judge the impact of his book. But already, he says, he's seeing positive results.

At a Houston book signing, a teacher relayed the story of a young man who was constantly in trouble. While recently on detention, he received Harper's book. After reading only a few pages, he asked for paper and pen - to write down his definition of a friend.