Ah, the good ol’ “absent black father” routine that everyone loves so much. Even Obama’s bum ass tried that shit anytime it was election season and he was being televised in front of a black crowd.
Everyone knows the studies you’re talking about.
But have you seen the ones about how chronic unemployment/job discrimination, mass incarceration, and generational poverty have impacted the “traditional (read: approved by white people) family structure” in poor black communities?
Slavery wasn’t that long ago. Add in Jim Crow, segregation, the “War on Drugs” and the Clinton years, and here we are.
Yet here you are, thinking that if only poor black people in America got married...even married and then divorced...then our societal issues would just melt away.
Give me whatever the hell you’re toking on, assuming it’s that sweet sweet ganja. Party on, my bro, but life isn’t as simple as you make it sometimes.
Could this “father figure” be their grandfather? Their uncle? Their male teachers, coaches, and neighbors?
I get that it’s preferable for the kid’s “father figure” to be his/her actual father, but this just loops back into the janky studies about “two-parent households” that everyone brings up whenever black Americans are mentioned.
I’ve been friends with, worked with, and taught people who come from all kinds of family structures. Black people living in America is just a different thing. The discourse needs to be more nuanced than “get married, get a job, and stop listening to all that damn rap music.”
I think the discussion is also more nuanced than things that happened long ago. We're a long way from Slavery, segregation, and even Jim crow. We're not so far removed from other more modern societal and cultural developments.
You can probably take in to account many things, not the least of which the welfare state and how some segments of our government and culture in more modern times have absolutely disabled the black community and made them dependent.
Reckless and unprotected sexual promiscuity is also a problem that seems really play a role in the plight. Slavery is no excuse for knocking up 2-3 different women to the tune of a 4,5,6+ kids.
Cheap immigrant labor probably contributes to the unemployment issues that disproportionately affect the black community.
Education, or lack thereof. School attendance and literacy rates are still a big issue. I suppose you can blame racist white folks and bad america, but it seems a lot areas where these are real problems are overwhelming liberal, run by liberals.
Romanticizing the "hood...thug life" culture throughout mainstream, entertainment, and popular culture. Which includes and even celebrates a dislike of any kind of authority especially cops.
Drugs. Obviously greatly affects all communities, but given that black people are a smaller segment they are really hurt by destruction brought on by drugs. Simply a numbers game. There are more white folks, therefore white folks can withstand the blows brought on by issues like drugs, single parent homes, illiteracy, unprotected sex, unemployment, and bad influences in popular culture etc.
The country has done something about slavery, jim crow, segregation. Let's do something about some of the other things and see what the trend is over the next few decades.
