There
is discrimination of all sorts, and that includes racial discrimination. Thus,
it’s somewhat foolhardy to debate the existence of racial discrimination
yesteryear or today. From a policy point of view, a far more useful question to
ask is: How much of the
plight of many blacks can be explained by current racial discrimination? Let’s
examine some of today’s most devastating problems of many black people with an
eye toward addressing discrimination of the past and present.
At the
root of most of the problems black people face is the breakdown of the family
structure. Slightly over 70% of black children are raised in female-headed
households. According to statistics about fatherless homes, 90% of homeless and
runaway children are from fatherless homes; 71% of pregnant teenagers lack a
father figure; 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes; 71% of high
school dropouts come from fatherless homes; and 70% of juveniles in
state-operated institutions have no father. Furthermore, fatherless boys and
girls are twice as likely to drop out of high school and twice as likely to end
up in jail.
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One might say, “Williams, one
cannot ignore the legacy of slavery and the gross racism and denial of civil
rights in yesteryear!” Let’s look at whether black fatherless homes are a
result of a “legacy of slavery” and racial discrimination. In the late 1800s,
depending on the city, 70% to 80% of black households were two-parent. Dr. Thomas Sowell has argued, “The
black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began
rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed
pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life.”
As late as 1950, only 18% of
black households were single parent. From 1890 to 1940, a slightly
higher percentage of black adults had married than white adults. In 1938, black
illegitimacy was about 11% instead of today’s 75%. In 1925, 85% of black
households in New York City were two-parent. Today, the black family is a mere
shadow of its past.
Let’s
ask a couple of questions about crime and education and racial discrimination.
It turns out that each year more than 7,000 blacks are victims of homicide. That’s
slightly over 50% of U.S. homicide victims. Ninety-four percent of the time,
the perpetrator is another black person. Along with being most of the nation’s
homicide victims, blacks are most of the victims of violent personal crimes
such as assault and robbery. At many predominantly black schools, chaos is the
order of the day. There is a high rate of assaults on students and teachers.
Youngsters who are hostile to the educational process are permitted to make
education impossible for those who are prepared to learn. As a result, overall
black educational achievement is a disaster.
Here are my questions to
those who blame racial discrimination for the problems of black people: Is it
necessary for us to await some kind of moral rejuvenation among white people
before measures can be taken to end or at least reduce the kind of behavior
that spells socioeconomic disaster in so many black communities? Is it a
requirement that we await moral rejuvenation among white people before we stop
permitting some black youngsters from making education impossible for other
black youngsters? Blacks were not the only people discriminated against in
America. While Jews and Asians were not enslaved, they encountered gross
discrimination. Nonetheless, neither Jews nor Asians felt that they had to
await the end of discrimination before they took measures to gain upward
mobility.
Intellectuals and political hustlers
who blame the plight of so many blacks on poverty, racial discrimination and
the “legacy of slavery” are complicit in the socioeconomic and moral decay.
Black people must ignore the liberal agenda that suggests that we must await
government money before measures can be taken to improve the tragic living
conditions in so many of our urban communities. Black and white intellectuals
and politicians suggesting that black people await government solutions
wouldn’t begin to live in the same high-crime, dangerous communities and send
their children to the dangerous schools that so many black children attend.
Walter
E. Williams is the John M. Olin distinguished professor of economics at George
Mason University, and a nationally syndicated columnist. To find out more about
Walter E. Williams and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and
cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page.
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