Finding Dad on Facebook

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Typing his father's name into Facebook, NewsOne contributor Terrell Jermaine Starr wasn't sure what he'd find. But thanks to technology, Starr was reunited with a man who held the key to his past and hope for his future.

When I was at the weakest point in my life, the man who I thought I would never need or meet became my lifeline, and the thing is, it all happened through this great invention called "Facebook."

At the time, a good friend of mine in the country of Moldova found her son via Facebook, so that made me curious enough to use the same method to find my father. I wasn't thinking anyone would reply quite frankly. I mean, how many men in their 50s would respond kindly to a Facebook message suggesting that they had a 29-year-old son he had never met?

I was at the intellectual zenith of my life at 29 years old, living in Ukraine as a Fulbright Scholar, when I decided to type the name "Chris Truesdale" in the search box. Several names appeared. I then wrote a note with all of the details of the circumstances under which my father and my mother met and pressed "send."

Read Terrell Jermaine Starr's entire piece at NewsOne.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.

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Terrell Jermaine Starr is a senior editor at AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter.