Black Men Not Doing So Good

Read this NY Times Article for a sobering reality check. The truth of the matter comes deep in the second page:

Terrible schools, absent parents, racism, the decline in blue collar jobs and a subculture that glorifies swagger over work have all been cited as causes of the deepening ruin of black youths. Scholars — and the young men themselves — agree that all of these issues must be addressed.

Joseph T. Jones, director of the fatherhood and work skills center here, puts the breakdown of families at the core.

"Many of these men grew up fatherless, and they never had good role models," said Mr. Jones, who overcame addiction and prison time. "No one around them knows how to navigate the mainstream society."

When the state took over for men--instead of making men meet obligations, when women entered the work-force and began to take care of themselves, when parenting a child in the absence of a father became politically correct (but unsubstantiated by any rigorous scientific studies validating this "choice"), when women got comfortable with "having it their way" and preferred it to compromise and partnership (marriage is for white people), when men glorified sex and violence and the easy way and got the message reinforced by media, and then....

when hopelessness and despair bred of these realities took root and nobody, most of all the men themselves, believed it would ever change, we got to this place.

Will the masses ever come around to appreciating a family that includes mother and father? Or, more likely, will people justifying their parents bad choices, try to find evidence to support a family without a dad at home? No one wants to think their parents are wrong, do they? Some people spend their whole life repeating their parent's mistakes to try and "make it right".

But sometimes, a whole bunch of people get it really wrong.

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg blames the Black Caucus.