On the Scene with Alphonso Braggs, president of the NAACP in Hawaii

Alphonso Braggs was born and raised in Wilmington, N.C. His parents separated when he was young; his father died when he was 11. From that point on, he was raised by his paternal grandmother, Ruth Braggs.

Braggs joined the Navy out of high school. His service aboard nuclear submarines included 10 lengthy deployments. Serving ashore, he was a member of the personal staff of the Secretary of the Navy and also Administrative Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff, U.S. Pacific Submarine Force.

Braggs, 60, retired with the rank of Chief Petty Officer (E-7) in 2004, and earned graduate degrees in business management and business administration. Hawaii has been his home ever since.

In 1998 he joined the Hawaii NAACP while still in the Navy. He became vice president in 2003 and was elected president in 2004.

On Jan. 6 — his grandmother’s birthday — Braggs became a published author with the release of “My Blackberry Seed Legacy.” In the book, he shares his experiences growing up without his father’s guidance, and his thoughts about the importance of strong loving father figures in producing healthy “blackberry seeds.”

“My Blackberry Seed Legacy” is available on Amazon.

Congratulations on the book. How long were you working on it?

For well over 10 years. I decided to publish it about five years ago and then decided to hold off because I got on a different project. Then this fall I was motivated to just go ahead and step up and get back on it — and I’m glad I did.

What was your relationship with your father?

My father was separated from us, however, we did have connections with my father. In the book I talk about visiting with my father and my father visiting us, and the importance of treasuring those memories.

The secondary title of your book is “Unfinished Conversations with my Father.” What are those unfinished conversations?

The unfinished conversations refers to things that a father teaches his son — whether it’s sports, it’s fishing, it’s about riding a bike, about money, about dating, about school — just life in general (and) responsibilities. I never got to have those conversations with my dad.

You credit your grandmother with giving you a solid foundation after your father died. What were some of her contributions?

My grandmother was the mainstay on foundational values for human living. She had a phenomenal way of making life such a quality existence with anything that we had.

One of the subjects you address is what you describe as “the Black man’s fears of fatherhood.” How do you see that?

As a Black man growing up in the world today — particularly if you either came from a dysfunctional family or you are a father who is not living under the same roof in a healthy and harmonious relationship with the mother of your kids — I think that it is a fear that we are very, very reluctant to deal with as men. It challenges our testosterone, it completely impairs our pride and our dignity. We’re made to feel as though we cannot comfortably confront it and still call ourselves a bold man, a strong man, a profound example.

What do you want people — men especially — to learn from your book?

That it’s important for you to love your children and have a healthy relationship with them regardless of what number marriage this is or (what the) family situation it is. That a man can love a child whether he is the person who donated the seed for that child’s existence or not, and that because we are responsible and good men we also can make sure that children are loved and cared for and nurtured and developed.