“Discrimination did not produce what we see in New Orleans, where almost half the black families with children under eighteen are headed by single women. They outnumber married black families with children by over 18,000. We do not know who the looters were, but among black thieves, I imagine that most came from single-parent families. As the nation’s observance of civil rights has grown, the proportion of children living with unmarried mothers has also grown. There are many families with competent single moms, but they are outnumbered by the families that are harmed by the absence of a husband. From the ranks of the latter come high rates of crime and imprisonment, heavy rates of drug use, poor school performance, and a willingness to loot unguarded stores. In this increasingly prosperous nation, these scarred youngsters are the source of our gravest social problems. To assume that these problems can be fixed by simply spending more money or creating more jobs reflects a mindless rejection of the evidence of the last half-century: we spent more and created more jobs, and the problems got worse”.– James Q. Wilson, Political Scientist writing in the American Enterprise Institute on the, “American Dilemma, Problems of Race Still Cry to Be Solved”
Jan11th2006
I must say I agree. I always told myself that if i ever won the lottery, i would start a nation wide non-profit organization made up of women speakers. Women of all kinds, race, age, etc. Single mothers who can go out to junior HS and speak the truth of what awaits a young lady if she is not careful.
But not just women who have had it tough, but women who have as well overcome having children at such a young age and have succeeded. I think that would help a lot, or maybe at least I just hope it would. . .
This is all true except for the part about the rampant hordes of looters in New Orleans–turned out that actually there wasn’t a lot of looting–and also about crime going up in the last 50 years. In fact it’s gone down.
So, in other words, it’s entirely true except for the little matter of it being completely false.
Also: Define looting. There was a famous pair of photos that ran in the news media soon after Katrina. Each photo featured a small group of adults wading through floodwaters, carrying bags of merchandise which (the caption-writer assumed) had simply been taken without being paid for. The photos were pretty much as identical as two sets of photos taken at different times and different places can be expected to be.
One photo showed white people, and that photo said that the people were taking merchandise they’d found at an abandoned store.
Another showed a group of black people, and that photo said the people were taking merchandise they looted from a store.
I suppose I’m nitpicking here, because in fact I agree with the central points that the writer is making: Single parenthood is bad, leading to kids gone wrong, and single parenthood is more common among black families than white families, which leads to economic disparities.
Still, by couching his statements in lies about marauding hordes of fatherless black youths, he undercuts the effectiveness of the points he’s trying to make.
Also: If not spending more money and creating more jobs, what should we, as a society, do about the problem? Some conservatives suggest somehow punishing the single mother for her actions, which is (a) Only likely to make her a worse mother, which compounds the problems rather than solving it and (b) Lets the real culprit in single parenthood off scot free.
His point has to do with the general problem of single parenthood and its affects on society, he was only using New Orleans as but one example, he could have picked various other cities to prove the same point. In other words, don’t concentrate too much on the details it’s the bigger picture that is important.
However, you did hit a very important point when you said,
Also: If not spending more money and creating more jobs, what should we, as a society, do about the problem?
Well this is the million dollar question Mitch, if you knew this you’d be the most sought after politician.
Is the solution to encourage faith based initiatives in the ghetto? I don’t know, but I’ll tell you one thing, when I was in Compton religion was one of the main factors that caused people to completely change their life around.
Is the solution to encourage marriage in welfare programs? I don’t know, but marriage is one thing lacking in welfare recipients.
Is the solution censoring violent and profane music, video games, tv shows etc. from underage children? I don’t know, but foul language is certainly a problem with the youth.
Is the solution role models and adopting a program like cad mentions above where single mothers can go around giving talks to inspire motivation and continuation? I don’t know.
What about gay marriage, maybe the solution is to prohibit gay marriage as much as possible because it may, by disconnecting marriage from procreation, encourage more and more people to have children outside of wedlock?
Or maybe the solution is just to sit back and let the markets take care of it? Maybe everything we do, much like LBJ’s war on poverty, will only make things worse, not make things better? I don’t know.
While I agree and disagree with some of what I have written above, the point to me is clear, while conservatives may not have the silver bullet on how to fix this problem, they are atleast on the right track. Liberals, on the other hand, are still stuck on the outdated solutions of yesteryear, not only missing the mark, but reducing economic growth and wasting a whole lot of money in the process.
HP, this problem was identified 40 years ago–by liberal Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
WHAT IF,
I HAVE HOUSED A FAMILY OF 3 (SINGLE MOM 2 KIDS) KATRINA VICTIMS IN MY HOUSE FOR ABOUT 5 MONTHS NOW. THE KIDS ARE IN SCHOOL WITH NEW FRIENDS. THE MOTHER CANNOT GET OFF MY COUCH LONG ENOUGH TO FIND A JOB. THE KIDS WOULD HAVE A NICE LIFE WITH NEW FRIENDS IN A NEW TOWN. THE MOM ON THE OTHER HAND JUST COMPLAINES ABOUT LIVING IN A PLACE THATS NOT HER OWN AND HOW SHE WANTS HER OLD LIFE BACK.
WHY WOULD THIS PERSON NEED A JOB?
BECAUSE: THE RELIFE FUND DOES NOT PAY HER ENOUGH?
WHAT ARE WE TO DO WITH THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BLEEDING THE SYSTEM?
I SEE ON THE NEWS STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE LOST EVERYTHING (LIVING ON CRUISE SHIPS) AND SAY FEMA IS NOT HELPING THEM.
CAN WE DOCK THE BOATS IN CITIES THAT ARE HIRING AND GET THEM JOBS OR ARE WE OK WITH THEM JUST LIVING ON CRUISESHIPS. I WOULD NOT MIND BEING ON A CRUISESHIP FOR FREE.
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THESE PEOPLE?
WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO WORK THE SYSTEM?
IF YOU HAVE A CITY WHERE 60% OR MORE OF THE POPULATION IS ON SOME SORT OF GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE WHAT IS GOING TO STOP THEM FROM WORKING THE SYSTEM WHERE EVER THEY GO?
I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT NEED HELP.
TAKE A TRIP TO ANY INNER CITY AND YOU WILL SEE PEOPLE THAT MAKE MORE MONEY ON WELFARE, ETC. THAN THEY WOULD IF THEY HAD A JOB.
MAYBE WELFARE, ETC. IS A JOB?
IT JUST GOES TO SHOW: IF YOU LIVE BY THE WATER YOU’RE BOUND TO GET WET.
IF YOU LIVE BY A VOLCANO YOU’RE BOUND TO GET BURNED.
IF YOU LIVE WHERE IT SNOWS YOU’RE BOUND TO GET COLD.
IF YOU LIVE IN THE DESERT YOU’RE BOUND TO NEED WATER.
IF YOU LIVE IN A CITY THAT DOSENT CARE YOU BOUND TO GET SCREWED.