Did you live in a culture/neighborhood where criminal gangs influenced you and the other fatherless children around you? If not, then you have your answer as to why you "turned out ok". Fatherless households are a tremendous problem for black America. Ignoring that problem is irresponsible and shameful.
African Americans aren't the only ones with fatherless (or motherless) children. So why single them out? That seems to me to be much more irresponsible. If a woman leaves an abusive relationship with her husband, who are you to deny her the support she needs?
You are being disingenuous. You know as well as i do, and the rest of America, that there is a significant problem in the black community. There is a much higher percentage of fatherless households in that community, hence the insane highschool drop out rates and violence. What do you possibly hope to gain by pretending that they dont have a level of crime that far exceds all other cultures in the US? Do you even care about trying to fix those problems? If it isnt the fact that fathers arent around, how do YOU explain it?
You are going to have to back up your extraordinary claims with valid, repeatable evidence. For instance, you have not established a connection between fatherless households and the dropout rate. My 6 siblings and I were fatherless, and all of us graduated, have been successful, and in fact, I have a M.S. degree in Geology. My stepdaughter raised her oldest son without dad being present, and that grandson is a sophomore at Middle Tennessee University in their engineering Department. You blame the crime rate on fatherless black families, and I just think that comes from ignorance, and maybe bigotry.
WHAT...THE...****? Are you serious right now? Are you really going to sit there and pretend that there isn't a significant problem in the black community? The highest crime rate, the most dropouts, most likely to spend time in jail, the most fatherless households. The black community performs far below average in every conceivable category societies are measured by. Are you going to pretend like there isn't a problem there?
If all their problems aren't related to poor upbringing, due to so many single parent households, then you tell me why this phenomenon exists.
I'm saying that you are (whether it is intentional or not) ignoring other factors for the crime rate. Fatherless families, regardless of race, are four times more likely to live in poverty.
According to the U.S. Department of health and Human Services, “Fatherless children are at a dramatically greater risk of drug and alcohol abuse.” Moveover, There is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father. In addition, Children living in single parent homes are more than twice as likely to commit suicide. 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless. And finally, adolescents who live in neighborhoods with lower proportions of single-parent families and who report higher levels of family integration commit less violence. This is true regardless of race.
Now, it may well be that African Americans have a higher percentage of fatherless families. But, African Americans also have much higher levels of daily stress than other races because they are five times more likely to have to deal with racism than other families. That stress has a direct effect on families, which leads to a higher rate of family dysfunction, including poverty and crime.
The point I'm raising here is that the problem is far more complex than you realize. So instead of blaming African Americans for the problem, perhaps you need to look much deeper at the overall problem, and instead of assigning blame, perhaps we should be talking about solutions.