The truth about black fathers? They’re not all MIA

Sacramento Bee ^ | Erika D. Smith | Erika D. Smith

[artichokegrower]

At 69 years old, I doubt my father remembers the conversation we had the afternoon of my high school graduation, but I think about it every Father’s Day.

[wardaddy]

My point was folks cling to this canard that black parenthood in America was the same as whites prior to the entitlement programs

Nothing could be further from the truth

And I confessed I too fall into these traps of racial and cultural relativity as well

[Ms Mable]

Blah, blah, blah! It’s not only missing black fathers being a major problem. It’s also about missing black mothers.

Grandmothers (black and white) are now “trying” to raise the children of their offspring.

I’m guessing grandmothers are doing the best they can...but raising “multiple” children when they were young is not the same as trying to raise them when they are much older.

[rlmorel]

It clearly wasn’t the same, but the disparity in wedlock between blacks and whites back then isn’t even in the same universe as it is now...it was far, far closer back then, and it is borne out by statistics.

I simply didn’t think I or the other poster were falling into any kind of cultural relativity trap. We were speaking from the basis of the available statistics.

[manc]

so true

[wardaddy]

I love you but the disparity in 1962 was 20 times higher illegitimacy rates for blacks than whites

Now the black rate is only 4 times that of whites

Because whites have grown less bound by marriage

I did admit that I too knejerk about race and other minorities

It’s gotten ingrained in nearly all of us and we need to shake it

[rlmorel]

LOL...we can be on good terms and disagree...I can do that...:)

If you are interested, Thomas Sowell wrote an article that takes from what I read in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals"

(Click here to read his article)

The key passage from it: "...The results of welfare policies discouraging marriage and family were dramatic, as out-of-wedlock birthrates skyrocketed among all demographic groups in the U.S., but most notably African Americans. In the mid-1960s, the out-of-wedlock birth rate was scarcely 3% for whites, 7.7% for Americans overall, and 24.5% among blacks. By 1976, those figures had risen to nearly 10% for whites, 24.7% for Americans as a whole, and 50.3% for blacks specifically. And today, the numbers stand at 29% for whites, 41% for the nation overall, and 73% for blacks. In other words, the entire country is moving rapidly in the wrong direction, but blacks in particular have reached a point of veritable catastrophe..."

So while the out of wedlock rate was still higher for blacks, it is nothing like it is today, and it went up sharply in the sixties...I don't think that is coincidental.

And you are correct, the disparity between black and white illegitimacy rates has dropped dramatically, and in a bad way. I blame that on culture in general, and the media in particular.

[Pelham]

“The black illegitimacy rate in 1962 was 20-25%
The white rate was .5-2%”

That sounds about right to me. What really blew up the black rate was the soon to arrive Lyndon Johnson Great Society programs that effectively paid women to be single mothers. IIRC Daniel Patrick Moynihan gave a speech warning about that.

And about the same time The Pill hit American culture like a bomb and sexual mores got a whole lot looser just as Boomers were growing up.. and then Roe v Wade threw gas on that fire

[rlmorel]

That was basically the point Artemis Webb and I were making (or trying to, unsuccessfully) that The Great Society didn’t cause those issues originally, it just greased the skids to bring it to where it is now, which we can all agree is extraordinarily corrosive and destructive to our society.

[KC_Lion]

Windflier,

Sorry for the late response.

But I just wanted to say that from what I saw of your children when we met at the Memorial Shoot in 2014, you and your wife are fantastic parents.

It had been many years since I had encountered children that were so respectful and kind.

You should be proud.

[Windflier]

Thank you for the kind words, KC.

We never felt like we were doing anything extraordinary when the kids were little, but in retrospect, I think that home schooling them made the biggest difference. They simply weren’t subjected to the liberal indoctrination of public schools.

External influences on them were pretty minimal during their formative years. They didn’t have as much interaction with other kids and adults outside the family as most kids do. I think that made it easier for my wife and I to impress our values on them.

I’ve gotta admit, they have turned out alright. Today, three of them work in our family business. It’s pretty cool.