The True Black Tragedy: Illegitimacy Rate of Nearly 75%

Guest Post by Walter E. Williams

Hustlers and people with little understanding want us to believe that today’s black problems are the continuing result of a legacy of slavery, poverty and racial discrimination. The fact is that most of the social pathology seen in poor black neighborhoods is entirely new in black history. Let’s look at some of it.

Today the overwhelming majority of black children are raised in single female-headed families. As early as the 1880s, three-quarters of black families were two-parent. In 1925 New York City, 85 percent of black families were two-parent. One study of 19th-century slave families found that in up to three-fourths of the families, all the children had the same mother and father.

Today’s black illegitimacy rate of nearly 75 percent is also entirely new. In 1940, black illegitimacy stood at 14 percent. It had risen to 25 percent by 1965, when Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action” and was widely condemned as a racist. By 1980, the black illegitimacy rate had more than doubled, to 56 percent, and it has been growing since. Both during slavery and as late as 1920, a teenage girl raising a child without a man present was rare among blacks.

Much of today’s pathology seen among many blacks is an outgrowth of the welfare state that has made self-destructive behavior less costly for the individual. Having children without the benefit of marriage is less burdensome if the mother receives housing subsidies, welfare payments and food stamps. Plus, the social stigma associated with unwed motherhood has vanished. Female-headed households, whether black or white, are a ticket for dependency and all of its associated problems. Ignored in all discussions is the fact that the poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits since 1994.

Black youth unemployment in some cities is over 50 percent. But high black youth unemployment is also new. In 1948, the unemployment rate for black teens was slightly less than that of their white counterparts — 9.4 percent compared with 10.2.

During that same period, black youths were either just as active in the labor force or more so than white youths. Since the 1960s, both the labor force participation rate and the employment rate of black youths have fallen to what they are today. Why? Are employers more racially discriminatory today than yesteryear? Were black youths of yesteryear more skilled than whites of yesteryear? The answer to both questions is a big fat no.

The minimum wage law and other labor regulations have cut off the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Put yourself in the place of an employer, and ask: If I must pay $7.25 an hour — plus mandated fringes, such as Social Security and workers’ compensation — would it pay me to hire a worker who is so unfortunate as to possess skills that enable him to produce only $5 worth of value per hour? Most employers view that as a losing economic proposition. Thus, the minimum wage law discriminates against the employment of low-skilled workers, who are most often youths — particularly black youths.

The little bit of money a teenager can earn through after-school, weekend and summer employment is not nearly so important as the other things he gains from early work experiences. He acquires skills and develops good work habits, such as being prompt, following orders and respecting supervisors. In addition, there are the self-respect and pride that a youngster gains from being financially semi-independent. All of these gains from early work experiences are important for any teen but are even more important for black teens. If black teens are going to learn anything that will make them a more valuable employee in the future, they aren’t going to learn it from their rotten schools, their dysfunctional families or their crime-ridden neighborhoods. They must learn it on the job.

The bulk of today’s problems for many blacks are a result of politicians and civil rights organizations using government in the name of helping blacks when in fact they are serving the purposes of powerful interest groups.


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Big Dick
Big Dick

Sad but obvious if you look at the great middle of America. Detroit, Chicago, St Louis, etc, etc. The low levels of education scores, the rise in welfare people. The obvious EBT crowd at Wal Mart. Soon the Zombies on government dole will overflow the working few. Then hell will break. Better think what you will do when it does!

bb

Looking back segregation and Jim Crow laws held blacks accountable. You notice the blacks in many ways were better off before the Civil rights laws were passed. One thing I have learned is the Jewish activists were The brains behind the civil rights movement. They were behind the immigration law of 1965 which opened the country to the third world. They were the brains behind much of the welfare state ,affirmative action and now hate crime laws .

But they never did any of the shit to help blacks. It was meant to attack and break down social cohesion , traditions and Christian culture of white Americans .The Jews have always use people of color as a way to attack whites. Of course they have had plenty of help from white liberals progressives. Especially Democrats. This shit won’t end until we are financially destroyed .

bb

And I fear much bloodshed.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Point that black illegitimacy thing out to a leftist and you’ll be called a racist and bigot for doing so.

rhs jr

bb, please allow me to finish your sentence: “It was meant to attack and break down social cohesion , traditions and Christian culture of white Americans” IAW Cultural Communism, bankrupt the USA IAW the Cloward–Piven Strategy and create a Fifth Column of Mau Mau savages to destroy what is left of the USA after TPTB have totally ripped off all the wealth.

bb

Two excellent books by Catholic Theologian E Michael Jones.1) The slaughter of the Cities ( American cities ) and The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit and its impact on World History.

Slaughter of the Cities tells in detail how the white ethnic groups in American cities were intentionally ethnically cleansed to make room for blacks and other minorities .Also tells the unintended consequences it had for blacks by leaving them under the control of progressives liberal democrats politicians.Sad book .Hard to believe follow Americans could be this EVIL.

bb

Rhs Jr , that pretty much sums it up. Thanks.

KaD
KaD

The destructive effect of fatherlessness on children is well documented:

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.

– 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.

2. Drug and Alcohol Abuse

– The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states, “Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.”

– There is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father.

3. Physical and Emotional Health

– A study of 1,977 children age 3 and older living with a residential father or father figure found that children living with married biological parents had significantly fewer externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems than children living with at least one non-biological parent.

– Children of single-parent homes are more than twice as likely to commit suicide.

– Data from three waves of the Fragile Families Study (N= 2,111) was used to examine the prevalence and effects of mothers’ relationship changes between birth and age 3 on their children’s well being. Children born to single mothers show higher levels of aggressive behavior than children born to married mothers. Living in a single-mother household is equivalent to experiencing 5.25 partnership transitions.

4. Educational Achievement

– Children in grades 7-12 who have lived with at least one biological parent, youth that experienced divorce, separation, or nonunion birth reported lower grade point averages than those who have always lived with both biological parents.

– Children living with their married biological father tested at a significantly higher level than those living with a nonbiological father.

– Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A’s. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.

– 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless; fatherless children have more trouble academically, scoring poorly on tests of reading, mathematics, and thinking skills; children from father-absent homes are more likely to be truant from school, more likely to be excluded from school, more likely to leave school at age 16, and less likely to attain academic and professional qualifications in adulthood.

5. Crime

– Adolescents living in intact families are less likely to engage in delinquency than their peers living in non-intact families. Compared to peers in intact families, adolescents in single-parent families and stepfamilies were more likely to engage in delinquency. This relationship appeared to be operating through differences in family processes—parental involvement, supervision, monitoring, and parent child closeness—between intact and non-intact families.

– A study using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health explored the relationship between family structure and risk of violent acts in neighborhoods. The results revealed that if the number of fathers is low in a neighborhood, then there is an increase in acts of teen violence. The statistical data showed that a 1% increase in the proportion of single-parent families in a neighborhood is associated with a 3% increase in an adolescent’s level of violence. In other words, adolescents who live in neighborhoods with lower proportions of single-parent families and who report higher levels of family integration commit less violence.

– Children age 10 to 17 living with two biological or adoptive parents were significantly less likely to experience sexual assault, child maltreatment, other types of major violence, and non-victimization type of adversity, and were less likely to witness violence in their families compared to peers living in single-parent families and stepfamilies.

-A study of 109 juvenile offenders indicated that family structure significantly predicts delinquency.

6. Sexual Activity and Teen Pregnancy

– A study using a sample of 1409 rural southern adolescents (851 females and 558 males) aged 11 – 18 years, investigated the correlation between father absence and self-reported sexual activity. The results revealed that adolescents in father-absence homes were more likely to report being sexually active compared to adolescents living with their fathers.

– Being raised by a single mother raises the risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school degree, and forming a marriage where both partners have less than a high school degree.

http://www.fathers.com/statistics-and-research/the-consequences-of-fatherlessness/2/

Single parenthood has been an epic failure and this country SHOULD be doing everything possible to stop it How about NO benefits unless the parents get married and stay married?

Stucky

“Gimme sum free shit! I be illalegitimate!”

illegitimacy ….. just another excuse for underachievement and a life on the dole.

Hollywood Rob

Yes, and in merika 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Since blacks account for 10% of merkins, that means that an even larger number of single parent homes are white. Just sayin.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Rob,

You have a point?

If so you managed to obscure it.

I would point out that almost there is a difference between illegitimate children and children of a divorce, divorce does not make a child illegitimate.

A illegitimate child is one born outside of wedlock, outside of a marriage.

I would also point out that almost all white children know who both their mother and father are, but but a huge percentage, in the inner cites maybe even a majority, of black children do not.

starfcker
starfcker

Mr. Williams is mistaken. The minimum wage is much lower for blacks. Down here, service type jobs, retail, fast food, etc. are almost exclusively held by blacks because of the savings. It’s industrious white kids that are shut out of the entry level job market. Mr. Williams needs to research his subject a little bit. https://www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/

IndenturedServant

“Point that black illegitimacy thing out to a leftist and you’ll be called a racist and bigot for doing so.”

That is simply to control/shut down the conversation. The same kind of shit applies to any other leftist talking point.

WitchetyGrub
WitchetyGrub

Totally agree with bb about the goals and unfortunate involvement of a strong portion of those of the “Oy Vey!” persuasion….

get used to disappointment
get used to disappointment

Slavery-in reverse, now we hold the blacks in slavery again, through their dependence on the white masters who put them in the ghettos and made them give birth to many unwanted children and forced them to ingest illicit substances. Slaves, throw off your chains! Educate yourselves and rise up into economic freedom! Refuse to live in the massa’s ghetto, refuse to swallow his drugs, refuse to kill each other for his nightly infotainment!

EL Coyote
EL Coyote
Hollywood Rob

annonymouse, perhaps you speak from experience in the inner city. I, thankfully have had no experience with inner city life, but I have experience with children of divorce and I can tell you that my experience has been that children of divorce are scared just as children of illegitimacy.. My son battled with the burden of a biological father who didn’t care about him and it made his first thirty years a living hell. Oh and plenty of my years a living hell as well. So my take away on this, from my own single experience, is that 50% of the white divorced families, being a number greater than 75% of the black, illegitimate children makes this problem more of a white problem than a black problem. In fact, I would argue that since we all have to deal with both the black and the white people who have been damaged by poor relationships, it makes it everybodies problem. You can complain about all of those poor black children and it is true that they suffer. But don’t forget all of the poor white children. They suffer too. I have seen it with my own eyes.

NickelthroweR
NickelthroweR

Greetings,

Illegitimacy leads to illiteracy. In the larger urban centers, 50% or more of the blacks are functionally illiterate. All the money in the world can not fix the double whammy of both illegitimacy and illiteracy. If you are fatherless, poor and you can not read then you may as well go on the dole or go hang out in prison because there is no place for you in this modern society – none.

All the programs in the world can not overcome this and if we had any compassion – any, we would immediately cut off ALL aid to these people. It would be an act of kindness to do so.

IndenturedServant

NickelthoweR, that is a tough realization to come to. Not many do.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Rob,

You change the topic from illegitimacy among black children to divorce among whites.

Changing the top o avoid addressing the issue at hand and solutions to it it a typical leftist tactic, diverting the discussion, when the facts are against them.

Again, divorce does not make a child illegitimate and the topic is illegitimacy among black children and the problems it causes for the black race, not divorce rates among white married couples either with or without children involved.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Rob the 50% divorce rate is somewhat misleading since the divorce rate among first marriages is much lower and dropping while the divorce rate among second marriage is much higher.

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-myth-of-the-high-rate-of-divorce/

The larger problem in the black community is that marriage has become much rarer and black men refuse to take responsibility for their actions as black women accept and encourage this behavior without the consequences of the past. People unfortunately live quite well in poverty, ignorance and illiteracy with many of the luxuries that most of our parents never dreamed of, free computers, free cell phones and service, free AC, free bus passes, free daycare and preschool from the age of 3 or 4. I could go on and on, but when the ramifications of poor behavior is to live a life that is not so bad, but without the responsibility that comes with have to get up every day, work 50 to 60 hours a week, worry about paying the mortgage/rent, taxes, car expenses, day care, utilities, food, college tuition, etc, I often look back and wonder who really is the smart one.

If this were different time there would be real consequences for have several children out of wedlock by several different men. There would be a real stigma attached. The children of these actions would think differently about repeating these behaviors knowing that the consequences would leave them in dire straights, the parent may even have remorse about such behaviors. That cycle is long broken and highly unlikely to be fixed until there are consequences that make such behavior a deterrent.

Until such time continue to pay your taxes and obey your government because they must know best. See what a good job they are doing.

Bob.

Bostonbob

That was me above.

Bob.

Hollywood Rob

Hey, I was a bostonbob once. Moved out of the town 25 years ago but still love it. Anyway, harping on a trivial difference is a clear indication that you know that you are on the weak side of the argument. I am sure that you understand, given that you live in Boston, one of the most expensive cities in the ussa, that what I was opining was that it really does not matter whether the children of broken homes are black or white. It does not matter whether they are illegitimate or a product of divorce. They are all damaged by the experience regardless of the source of the break in the home. Some of these broken people will fail, some will succeed. Some will turn to drugs and some will turn to religion and some will turn to Harvard – where they will write poetry.

I find the contention of the original author, and your contention as well, to be truly racist. You condemn an entire race of people based on the actions of some. You hope that in some way, a 75% statistic makes your racist feelings valid. I actually don’t think that the statistic does make your feelings valid. I agree that lots of illegitimate children is a bad thing. I add that a lot of children who have to suffer through divorce is a bad thing. Sure, you are right. Even if the 75% figure came out of some bigots ass it is still likely true that there are a lot of illegitimate children in the black community. Probably not as many as you would hope, but plenty anyway. But to suggest that illegitimacy is the prime determinate in any persons life path is disingenuous at best. We all battle our daemons on our walk through this life. Some get two parents, some get one parent, some get none. It’s what you make of your own life that matters and it’s on each of us, black, white, brown, rich, poor, illegitimate, or not, to take what we are given and make the best of it.

I only ask you to consider this. Which line in the USSA budget is bigger? The one for the babies in the ghettos or the one for the bankers on Wall Street or for that matter on Fleet Street. You know, because you see the same posts as I do here at TBP, that the money that is handed out by the USSA does not come from your taxes. It is handed to wealthy people who take most of it and then pass on a little to the illegitimate babies that you bemoan. And it is all created out of thin air, just like all of the money is. Your tax burden hasn’t gone up just as mine has not gone up and yet the number of illegitimate babies has apparently grown immensely.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say on the matter – I’m out – thud (sound of mic dropping to the floor.)

Have a great holiday Bob,

Bob

Trap
Trap

You wrote this gobbledygook to give the impression that Black women found it more advantageous to be single moms rather than Black men not being accountable for the offspring. lol Public Assistance (aka welfare) didn’t take Black men out of the home who did want to be there. But go awf!

Bostonbob

Rob,
Of course you find my contention entirely racist, because that is the small minded way you see the world. I deal in these ugly things called facts. My emotions will not change these facts no matter how many tears I shed. I could have gone on and on about the terrible situation that so many white or other families have put themselves in, but that was not my intent nor the original author’s, who is black. Seeing each and every criticism through a lens colored by race makes very narrow minded in my eyes.

Yes we can lift each other up with the stolen largess of our occupying and all controlling government as you wish or we can take personal responsibility and bask in the sunlight of real freedom. At no point do I condemn an entire race, but I am not afraid to paint with a broad brush if it is true. 75% of the black babies in the U.S.A. are born out of wedlock. To me that means that there are more irresponsible black parents than responsible black parents. Feel free to call that racist. Many of the young adults born to these parents will eventually grow up to be good and decent, hard working adults, but how many more would have had that opportunity had their “parents” been truly responsible knowing that the outcome not of being responsible would have dire consequences on their children.

Rob, if you to have a policy discussion on the criminality of the banks, our wholly owned federal government, or how poor whites are equally irresponsible, I would be happy to have it. By shouting racist, easily the stupidest argument ever, you show the true depth of your intellect.

Thank you, I will quite enjoy my memorial day.
Bob.

David
David

Rob is completely mistaken, kids of divorce, ignoring his survey of one, usually have both parents together for a while and the early years are the most critical. Additionally it shows at one time there was a commitment between people to live together and raise kids and most fathers try and succeed to stay somewhat involved. He is trying to imply that all divorces happen at birth and the father disappears.

Hollywood Rob

David, thank you for your thoughtful comment. I agree that we, as a society, have drifted away from marriage. Most of the people that I know today in their marriageable years have chosen to live together rather than get married. I agree with you that that is not a good way to run a relationship. I do not, however, cede the point that divorce is in some way less destructive than a father who drops and runs. Even if you are correct in your assumption that white parents some how are around for at least the first couple of years, and I don’t know how we could verify that assumption, those years of screaming arguments would be, in my opinion, more hurtful to the child than a total absence. I know that they were for my son.

I am simply saying that there are a larger number of damaged children who were damaged through the process of divorce than there are damaged children suffering because of their illegitimacy. The numbers are just bigger because there are more divorces than there are black men to leave their kids with their mothers. Maybe the currently high level of people living out of wedlock is a direct reflection of the pain that they suffered through the divorce. Neither situation is a benefit for society and yet you and BostonBob insist on avoiding the main point. You contend that I imply that divorces happen a birth and that is silly, and BostonBob read all manner of nasty things into my comments, none of them came from me.

But that’s not important. The original post ascribes the plight of the black, illegitimate, children on the welfare state. That may well be the case. He grew up not more than five miles from where I grew up and I know for a fact that his formative years were much different from mine. I know his neighborhood very well. But is he suggesting that white welfare recipients, of which there are many, have had a different experience? Is there some magic that causes black men to leave the mothers of their children but somehow passes over the white men in similar circumstances. I suspect that is not the case. OK, so the author and you and Bob seem to suggest that it would be better for everyone if the welfare state did not exist. Then all children could claw their way out of poverty and enjoy the fabulous fruits of our vaunted society of unicorns and rainbows. But every one of us here knows that the pain caused by the rot at the top of this country is doing damage across the bounds of race. If you are functioning at the bottom of the employment scale you are the one that gets clobbered first, but we are all getting clobbered. Some now, some later. And those of us who are old are getting raped out of our retirement by low interest rates.

And Admin, thanks for the CV on the author. Yes he certainly knows more about the black experience than I do. Of course, his actual experience seems to contradict his contention as he has prospered through is his own perseverance and his mothers (I assume) guidance. I personally would have had a higher opinion of his article if he had become something other than a professor of economics. I am very wary of anyone who teaches economics. But that’s just me.

Hollywood Rob

hey admin. We was robbed. The author knew FAT ALBERT.

Williams’s family during childhood consisted of his mother, his sister, and him. His father played no role in raising either child.[3] He grew up in Philadelphia. The family initially lived in West Philadelphia, moving to North Philadelphia and the Richard Allen housing projects when Williams was ten. His neighbors included a young Bill Cosby. Williams knew many of the individuals that Cosby speaks of from his childhood, including Weird Harold and Fat Albert.

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