which explains why when I was a lad black parts of town were quite safe and the black family still existed male-headed
and more black males were faithful Christians
why on earth this has to be explained to a fellow conservative is amazing?
The religiousness and immorality are what we, who actually have studied statistics, call “spurious correlation.”
I’ll give you an example. It’s like saying that increased alcohol consumption per capita from 1935-1990 (fact) and higher per capita sales of cigars from 1935-1990 (also fact) caused a decline in heart related death per capita from 1935-1990 (fact). See? Assuming causality based on those stats ignores a LOT of other data (more people exercise, the development of pharmaceutical intervention...)
So here we go: Evengelical Protestantism has always been widespread in the South. I would doubt the level of population percentage who adhere to that type of faith had changed much since Reconstruction.
To immorality: The true driver of crime rate statistic that drives the “immorality” is the out-of wedlock birthrate and the lack of male role models. The destruction of the family.
This is the Great Society in action. Thank you to Lyndon Baines “We’ll have these n****rs voting Democrat for the next 300 years” Johnson.
Here’s your equation, S/F:
1. Welfare has destroyed not just the black family, but the family dynamic in much of the lower income strata more generally by incentivizing immoral behavior through increased government handouts per child, hence increased illegitimacy, and one-parent homes.
2. Male children without a strong positive male role model tend to make poor decisions, which often includes irresponsible behavior and criminal activity. Bitterness, and the desire to achieve status quickly - like drug trafficking....which is HIGHLY profitable until you get caught, apparently. Guys who flash lots of cash are able to get lots of women....there’s a vicious cycle here...I refer you to ANY rap video.
3. Mississippi has a large black population comparatively, but also a high level of poverty overall irregardless of race. The land doesn’t have a high population density because the soil in much of the state is ill-suited for much other than agriculture - hence it never invited much industrial development, post civil war. You see, the money never really came after the agrarian economy died with reconstruction....
See where I’m going with all this?
One really has nothing to do with the other, religion and crime....
So don’t be a simp and assume causation or even correlation.