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Instead of focusing our energy on how many black men are shot by the police each year (stats from the government show this isn’t an epidemic at all) policy makers should prioritize the repair of black families.  Our roots as a community stem from surviving oppression; in order to stay sane we practiced our faith with an unmatched fervor.  We practiced respectability.  And when we did that our rates of intact homes were higher than any other ethnic group.

Now, even the mention of these truths gets one branded an uncle tom.  Lets reinitiate a discussion on faith, family and work!  Let’s follow up that discussion with tangible policy reform placing intact families, educational choice and a return to faith as our new community goals.  Having 8 of every 10 black children in America born into a single family home is a prescription for disaster.  We can and must do better.

Via the National Center for Fathering:

As supported by the data below, children from fatherless homes are more likely to be poor, become involved in drug and alcohol abuse, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems. Boys are more likely to become involved in crime, and girls are more likely to become pregnant as teens.

1. Poverty

– Children in father-absent homes are almost four times more likely to be poor. In 2011, 12 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 44 percent of children in mother-only families.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2011, Table C8. Washington D.C.: 2011.

– Children living in female headed families with no spouse present had a poverty rate of 47.6 percent, over 4 times the rate in married-couple families.