In 1965, after visiting poverty-stricken Chicago, Illinois, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Nothing is so much needed as a secure family life for a people to pull themselves out of poverty.”
Last week, Liam McGurl wrote a passionate response to an article I had written about Black Lives Matter. Among his many arguments, he insinuated that I “blame(d) the black community for the ‘breakdown of the nuclear family,’” and was contributing to a “one-sided dialogue” about black Americans.
Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. For instance, one of the causes of the breakdown of the nuclear family is the increase in welfare. Many means-tested welfare programs discourage marriage and incentivize the increase in out-of-wedlock births.
Prior to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty in 1964, 2.3 percent of white children and 23 percent of black children were born out of wedlock. Today, 29.4 percent of white children and 72 percent of black children are born out of wedlock.
Marriage generally increases a person’s income, but because welfare benefits decrease faster than income increases, single mothers are disincentivized to marry. A single mother on welfare who decides to marry could be made poorer by the welfare system.
This is why, according to Census Bureau data, “58 percent of families led by an unmarried mother and 37 percent headed by an unmarried father received (welfare) benefits for at least one month during 2012.”
Unfortunately, the problem is most prevalent among black Americans who comprise 41.6 percent of welfare recipients. Yet this doesn’t mean black Americans are responsible for their current state. The breakdown of the nuclear family as a result of the increase in welfare is an epidemic that affects all demographics.
Children raised in single parent households are more likely to drop out of high school, receive poorer test scores, abuse drugs and turn to crime.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 72 percent of incarcerated juveniles come from broken homes. Children growing up in a single-parent home are seven times more likely to be delinquents.
One study found that boys with absent fathers were twice as likely to be incarcerated, even after adjusting for variables such as race and income.
Some may argue that all the problems facing the black community today are solely the result of slavery and racial discrimination, what many describe as systematic racism.
In his book “Race and Economics,” Walter Williams argued against this blanket assumption, demonstrating that the destruction of the black nuclear family is a relatively new occurrence. Williams wrote, “As early as the 1880s, three-quarters of black families were two-parent.” He noted that in 1847, ex-slave families in Philadelphia were actually more likely to be nuclear families than free-born blacks.
Unless someone can argue that America was less discriminatory during the era of slavery and Jim Crow, there must be a different answer to some of the problems facing the black community today.
I realize my viewpoint is controversial, but dialogue requires at least two opposing viewpoints. Last week, instead of debating the substance of my arguments, McGurl attempted to discredit my article based on the color of my skin.
When McGurl argued that I’m not “welcome to participate in a dialogue on what plagues another race,” he proved that the only person contributing to this anti-intellectual and “one-sided dialogue” is himself.
Tyler Grudi is a staff writer for the Bona Venture. His email is
gruditj15@bonaventure.edu
