There are more black males in prison than in college. Thirty percent of black men will be in prison at one point in their lives, versus 4% for whites. Blacks are 13% of the population but 40% of the prison population. Blacks are seven times more likely to be incarcerated than whites.
Sociology
Only 37% of black children live in two-parent families. Fatherless children typically have problems with crime, drugs, sexual identity, alcohol, and forming their own families as adults. All of these issues lead to more poverty, and the ugly cycle goes on.
Poverty
Blacks are 40% of the welfare recipients (typically on welfare for less than two years) but are only 15% of the population as a whole. The federal and state governments pay $1.5 trillion a year for welfare. 40% of single-parent black families are poor, versus 20% for whites. Poverty among married black families is 9%, versus 6% for whites. 95% of all black children will need food stamps when they are growing up. Welfare is not daycare!
72% of black births are to unwed mothers, versus 51% for Latinos, and 28% for whites.
Education
60% of blacks graduate from high school in four years, 80% of whites. The college graduation rate for blacks who start college is 40%, for whites 60%. 16% of blacks have a college degree, 30% of whites.
Action Items
The first problem is to reinforce the family unit in the black community. Critics say welfare encourages black men to leave their families without any guilt because they make more under welfare as single women or mothers. This has clearly had dire consequences in the long term. A child with a father at home gets on average 25% better grades in school.
All welfare payments, especially where children are involved, should go to a male payee – if not to the father or husband, then to some black male who can serve as a role model and a stabilizing influence.
The other problem is the poverty-crime-drugs cycle. The way to stop that is to require all prison inmates to advance their education. It’s cheaper to help them get a GED, learn a valuable skill, or get an associates or bachelors degree than it is to arrest and imprison them again. And far better for society as a whole.
The black community shouldn’t be putting on another “Million Man March” in Washington DC in October 2010, they should be sponsoring a “Million Black Fathers at Home March” to care for their families.
