Fatherhood – Every Black Life Matters

Why Fatherhood?

Many studies have confirmed that the single most important characteristic leading to Black advancement and prosperity is the presence of the father in the home. Fatherhood programs” and initiatives should be a cornerstone of our goals toward personal excellence, and for community success and advancement.

SECTION 1: SOCIALISTIC AND MARXIST PRINCIPLES ARE THE CAUSE OF THE DECIMATION OF BLACK FATHERS IN THE HOME

SECTION 2: LACK OF FATHERS IS THE CAUSE OF INCREASED VIOLENCE, LOW EDUCATION AND THUS POVERTY – THIS RESULTS IN THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PLIGHT IN INNER CITIES, THE CULTURAL BIAS AGAINST BLACKS AND THE FEAR AND DISRESPECT OF YOUNG BLACK MEN

SECTION 1

How Welfare Undermines Marriage and What to Do About It

Historically, marriage has played a critical role in the raising of children. In most cases, the economic benefits of marriage are substantial. Marriage among families with children is an extremely powerful factor in promoting economic self-sufficiency: the ability of families to support themselves above poverty without reliance on government means-tested welfare aid. The reason for this is simple and straightforward. In most cases two parents working together can support a child more efficiently than one. For example, as Chart 1 shows, some 37 percent of single-parent families lack self-sufficiency (and are officially poor) compared with 7 percent of married-couple families.

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The War on Poverty and the Decline of Marriage

Throughout U.S. history, marriage was the norm. Prior to the mid-1960s, nearly all children were born to married couples. When the War on Poverty began in 1964, only 7 percent of children were born to unmarried women. However, over the next four-and-a-half decades the share of non-marital births exploded. In 2013, 41 percent of all children born in the U.S. were born outside marriage.

Other Links

The Welfare State Legacy

Pastor: ‘Government As Parent Has Destroyed the Black Family’, Made ‘Black Fatherhood Irrelevant’

7 Ways the War on Poverty Destroyed Black Fatherhood

The growing absence of fathers in American households — particularly in the African-American community — has been studied by academicians for decades, with liberal and conservative writers and policymakers squaring off and pointing fingers in different directions. But there’s very little argument that many of the regulations instituted during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty, such as the welfare, food stamp and Medicaid programs, act as disincentives for mothers and fathers to stay together.

Black America Before LBJ: How the Welfare State Inadvertently Helped Ruin Black Communities

“We waged a war on poverty and poverty won.”
President Ronald Reagan, 1988 State of the Union Address

The dust has settled and the evidence is in: The 1960s Great Society and War on Poverty programs of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) have been a colossal and giant failure. One might make the argument that social welfare programs are the moral path for a modern government. They cannot, however, make the argument that these are in any way effective at alleviating poverty.

In fact, there is evidence that such aggressive programs might make generational poverty worse. While the notion of a “culture of dependence” is a bit of a cliché in conservative circles, there is evidence that this is indeed the case – that, consciously or not, the welfare state creates a culture where people receive benefits rather than seeking gainful employment or business ownership.

This is not a moral or even a value judgment against the people engaged in such a culture. Again, the claim is not that people “choose to be on welfare,” but simply that social welfare programs incentivize poverty, which has an impact on communities that has nothing to do with individual intent.

SECTION 2

The Statistics of Fatherless Children (of all colors)

By Wayne Parker Updated May 24, 2019

Children who grow up in fatherless homes have a greater risk of major challenges in life than those who grow up with a father at home. We might want to believe otherwise and there are many children who overcome the hardships associated with an absent father, but the truth is in the data.

The Poverty Risk

Statistics show that women-only households are more likely to live below the poverty line. In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that these types of families increased to 28 percent. This leaves children vulnerable to a variety of social hardships throughout their lives.

Father-Absent Homes: Implications for Criminal Justice and Mental Health Professionals

ABSTRACT

The number of single-parent households in the United States has reached high levels in recent decades. As the extant literature suggests that children raised in single-parent households experience more physical and psychological problems compared to those raised in two-parent households, the implications of homes in which fathers are absent may be important to explore for criminal justice and mental health professionals. The present article aims to examine the extant literature base on father-absent homes, seeking to provide a fair and balanced account of this phenomenon. Specifically, we highlight ten adverse outcomes associated with homes missing a father. Findings suggest that a negative developmental trajectory may result for children lacking a father in the home, albeit further research in this area is warranted.

Please note: This article is part one of a two part series that focuses on the topic of parental absence. Part two of this series will examine the impact of mother-absent homes and its implications for criminal justice and mental health professionals.

INTRODUCTION

The number of children who grow up without a father in the home in the United States has reached concerning levels. There exists a considerable research base that suggests that children raised in households lacking a father experience psychosocial problems with greater frequency than children with a father in the home (Allen & Daly, 2007). These problems have been found to extend into adolescence and adulthood and include an increased risk of substance use, depression, suicide, poor school performance, and contact with the criminal justice system (Allen & Daly, 2007).

FATHERLESSNESS, POVERTY AND CRIME

An analysis of 50 separate studies of juvenile crime revealed that the prevalence of delinquency in broken homes was 10-15 percent higher than in intact homes. In addition, there were no appreciable differences in the impact of broken homes between girls and boys or between black youths and white youth.
Edward Wells and Joseph Rankin, “Families and Delinquency: A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Broken Homes,” Social Problems 38 (1991): 71-89.

A study of adolescents convicted of homicide in adult court found that at the time of the crimes, 42.9 percent of their parents had never been married, 29.5 percent were divorced and 8.9 percent were separated. Less than 20 percent of these children were from married parent households.
Patrick Darby, Wesley Allan, Javad Kashani, Kenneth Hartke and John Reid, “Analysis of 112 Juveniles Who Committed Homicide: Characteristics and a Closer Look at Family Abuse,” Journal of Family Violence 13 (1998): 365-374.

Boys who are fatherless from birth are 3.061 times as likely to go to jail as peers from intact families, while boys who do not see their father depart until they are 10 to 14 years old are 2.396 times as likely to go to jail as peers from intact families. Cynthia C. Harper and Sara S. McLanahan, “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration,” Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (2004): 369-397

States with a lower percentage of single-parent families, on average, had lower rates of juvenile crime. State-by-state analysis indicated that, in general, a 10-percent increase in the number of children living in single-parent homes (including divorces) accompanied a 17-percent increase in juvenile crime.
Patrick Fagan, The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage, Family, and Community, The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder #1026, March 17, 1995.

A study of juvenile crime in rural areas revealed that broken homes were strongly associated with higher rates of arrest for violent crimes, while poverty was not directly associated with juvenile violence. D. Wayne Osgood and Jeff Chambers, “Social Disorganization Outside the Metropolis: An Analysis of Rural Youth Violence,” Criminology 38 (2000): 81-115.

“Among married two-parent families, whether white or black, the crime rate was very low. The capacity and determination to maintain stable married relationships, not race, was cited as the pivotal factor. Chaotic, broken communities resulted from chaotic, broken families.” Patrick Fagan, “The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage, Family, and Community,” The Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder #1026, March 1995.