“But, of course, the major problem in the black community that accounts for so much of the disparity in achievement and criminal behavior is that more than seven in 10 black children are born to single women and will spend much of their lives with no father present.”
Even worse, watching a procession of men come and copulate with mom (and sometimes kicking your ass in the process) can screw someone up...
The unspoken assumption in these “absent father as the cause” of the problems is that if the biodad had just hung around things would have turned out better for the child.
But is that true? Most of the men who father children and split are, by definition, irresponsible and often thugs or wannabees.
If the only variable is this guy’s presence or absence, is it really going to make a difference? Allow me to express my skepticism that a present thug is all that much better than an absent one. What’s he going to model and teach? Thuggery?
The real issue is the dearth of responsible black males, who of course, again by definition, won’t abandon their children. But the irresponsibility is the problem, not the absence.