- Mar 11, 2015
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On June 8, 2015, Charles Blow wrote an article in the New York Times titled, “Black Dads Are Doing Best of All.” There are whites here who should have read it. This article takes apart the tale of black fathers not being around for their kids. The issue of unwed births really have no relation to whether 2 parents are around. An unwed birth is a child being born and the couple is not married. That does not mean a man and a woman are not together raising the child. The single mother narrative got destroyed long ago, because a single mother doesn’t mean a man will not be around to influence the child as it grows up. One fantastic example is the story Shaquille O’Neill tells about his relationship with Sergeant Phillip Harrison who raised him with his mother. Finally, the appearance of Barack Obama on the world stage allows me to say once and for all that a single parent family is not the cause of the problems blacks face.
However this article shows that the majority of black children in this country live with their fathers or their fathers are active participants in their lives. So a mother and father ARE present in the majority of black homes, therefore the issues blacks face are not solely related to out of wedlock births or single parent families.
Josh Levs points this out in his new book, “All In,” in a chapter titled “How Black Dads Are Doing Best of All (But There’s Still a Crisis).” One fact that Levs quickly establishes is that most black fathers in America live with their children: “There are about 2.5 million black fathers living with their children and about 1.7 million living apart from them.”
A report named “Fathers’ Involvement With Their Children: United States, 2006–2010,” was published by the Centers for Disease Control in the National Health Report on December 20, 2013. The findings are interesting for those who have decided they can paint black culture in moral terms. Moral terms that 243 years of American history show whites who have decided they can do the painting refuse hold themselves to.
The findings in this study debunk the standard racist white narrative to the point that it is miseducation, misinformation, lies, or whatever word you want to give to the purposeful deception provided to describe a race of people. Some of the findings are as follows:
A higher percentage of fathers who lived with their children under age 5 fed or ate meals with them daily—72% compared with 7.9% of fathers with noncoresidential children. A higher percentage of fathers living apart from their children did not feed or eat meals with them at all in the last 4 weeks—43% compared with 0.8% of fathers with coresidential children (Table 2). Variation by Hispanic origin and race was seen in the percentages of coresidential fathers who ate meals with their children every day. Specifically, Hispanic fathers were less likely to eat meals with their children every day (64%) than were non-Hispanic white (74%) or non-Hispanic black (78%) fathers.
There was a significant difference by Hispanic origin and race among fathers with coresidential children: Black fathers (70%) were most likely to have bathed, dressed, diapered, or helped their children use the toilet every day compared with white (60%) and Hispanic fathers (45%).
A higher percentage of Hispanic fathers aged 15–44 (52%) had not played with their noncoresidential children in the last 4 weeks compared with white (30%) and black (25%) fathers.
Larger percentages of Hispanic (82%) and white (70%) fathers had not helped their noncoresidential children with homework at all in the last 4 weeks compared with black fathers (56%).
However this article shows that the majority of black children in this country live with their fathers or their fathers are active participants in their lives. So a mother and father ARE present in the majority of black homes, therefore the issues blacks face are not solely related to out of wedlock births or single parent families.
Josh Levs points this out in his new book, “All In,” in a chapter titled “How Black Dads Are Doing Best of All (But There’s Still a Crisis).” One fact that Levs quickly establishes is that most black fathers in America live with their children: “There are about 2.5 million black fathers living with their children and about 1.7 million living apart from them.”
Charles Blow
A report named “Fathers’ Involvement With Their Children: United States, 2006–2010,” was published by the Centers for Disease Control in the National Health Report on December 20, 2013. The findings are interesting for those who have decided they can paint black culture in moral terms. Moral terms that 243 years of American history show whites who have decided they can do the painting refuse hold themselves to.
The findings in this study debunk the standard racist white narrative to the point that it is miseducation, misinformation, lies, or whatever word you want to give to the purposeful deception provided to describe a race of people. Some of the findings are as follows:
A higher percentage of fathers who lived with their children under age 5 fed or ate meals with them daily—72% compared with 7.9% of fathers with noncoresidential children. A higher percentage of fathers living apart from their children did not feed or eat meals with them at all in the last 4 weeks—43% compared with 0.8% of fathers with coresidential children (Table 2). Variation by Hispanic origin and race was seen in the percentages of coresidential fathers who ate meals with their children every day. Specifically, Hispanic fathers were less likely to eat meals with their children every day (64%) than were non-Hispanic white (74%) or non-Hispanic black (78%) fathers.
There was a significant difference by Hispanic origin and race among fathers with coresidential children: Black fathers (70%) were most likely to have bathed, dressed, diapered, or helped their children use the toilet every day compared with white (60%) and Hispanic fathers (45%).
A higher percentage of Hispanic fathers aged 15–44 (52%) had not played with their noncoresidential children in the last 4 weeks compared with white (30%) and black (25%) fathers.
Larger percentages of Hispanic (82%) and white (70%) fathers had not helped their noncoresidential children with homework at all in the last 4 weeks compared with black fathers (56%).
- Pew estimates that 67 percent of black dads who don’t live with their kids see them at least once a month, compared to 59 percent of white dads and just 32 percent of Hispanic dads. And there’s compelling evidence that number of black dads living apart from their kids stems from structural systems of inequality and poverty, not the unfounded assumption that African-American men somehow place less value on parenting. Equal numbers of black dads and white dads tend to agree that it’s important to be a father who provides emotional support, discipline, and moral guidance. There’s one area of divergence in the way the two groups approach their parental responsibilities: Black dads are even more likely to think it’s important to financially provide for their children.
Opinion | Black Dads Are Doing Best of All (Published 2015)
The stereotypes surrounding black men and their families are not borne out by the facts.
www.nytimes.com