So would you say that there are emergency levels of bad parenting in the black community in America?
There are emergency levels of bad parenting in all communities in America. But that answer is a cop-out so I would have to answer, no. Not really. If you look at the black middle class in America, growing in well integrated areas, the differences are not so stark as they are in the so-called inner city black ghettos.
if that is the case, then you would imagine that there would be solutions geared to fixing single-parent households, and shifting the black social dynamics to mimic white demographic norms...
Whites have two things that blacks do not. The most obvious is what I call "the presumption of niceness". A young white man walking into an employer has a certain leg up over his black contemporary. Study after study confirms this. It is not really open to debate. But what do we do about it? This is an enormous problem and the last election brought the message home in a big way.
The second thing thing is that whites have money. Money means a safer neighborhood, more opportunities for early childhood development, less exposure to "bad elements" and, of course, much better schools. This alone explains a great disparity in opportunity which drives outcomes.
So many people want, as you do, blacks to "mimic white social dynamics" but want to leave out the money part. How do you do that? Would I be the same guy today had I not been born and raised in a safe, nurturing and financially comfortable community. Money is HOW one pays for opportunity. Tell me if you can think of another way.
I work with homeless people (and families) a great deal of the time and the thing I hear most from "concerned" citizens is, "everyone ought to have a place to sleep". And that's it. So I ask you. How did you get your place to sleep? The answer is, that you paid for it. With money. And there is a continuity there. You were born to a family that housed you (paid for it) moved to a job that housed you or paid you to be housed, and have some notion that you can always be able to 'at least make the rent'. This is not true (especially the later) for a great many people. It is certainly not true of an inner-city black mother of three whose husband was just killed in a drive-by. Or left them alone. One thing I never hear is this. Middle class families with two trained/educated parents can 'afford' a divorce. Many families cannot.
But suppose that the father of the aforementioned family with three kids does want to do the right thing. He attended poor schools, lives in an employment wasteland lacking any high paying jobs. So because he loves his kids he works two full time jobs to support himself and them. What does he earn? In Arizona (a state with a much higher minimum wage than other states at $11.00 an hour) he earns, after taxes, about $3500.00 a month. Call $500.00 of that taxes. So he has $3K to mess with working 80 hours a week. He has to support himself on that. What does that take? Call it $1500.00 a month if he rides the bus to both jobs, lives in a dump and eats Ramen. (And has no heath insurance because it is too expensive.) Let me pause here to mention that he would be, working two jobs, in the highest paid 28% of workers in Georgia.) So he gives mom $1500.00 a month for as long as he can sustain working two jobs. 80 hours a week. (And as a practical matter we all know that this is unsustainable and probably can't be done anyway.) We can stop here. With her $1500.00 a month in support this poor woman cannot survive with three children and certainly not, given the cost of health care, afford to work herself.
See what I mean?
So back at you. Where does the money come from to break this cycle of poverty? I think I know but, trust me, you will not like it.
And, indeed, whites would be pushed to mimic Asian demographic norms if we felt that there were characteristics within this that were more successful than white norms, and certainly there would be lots of effort in establishing these precise norms (which I admit it does exist though not in such direct terms).
Yea. No. Can't be done. The US is too diverse and will likely never accept some sort of hive-like social engineering. Indeed shouldn't.
I think there is also an issue that we have here...
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
I say this because I know people who grew up in rather hopeless situations but were ultimately cognizant of the fact and determined to never repeat it. As someone who does not drink now, I often ask other non-drinkers why they don't drink...
There's basically three categories for Westerners...
- Ex-alcoholics
- Alcoholic parents & the likes who wrecked their lives and gave them determination to not drink
- "I don't like drinking at all."
Bad analogy. Not drinking is about something you do not do. It takes some personal effort but it does not cost time or money. (Perhaps a few hours for AA but economically, stopping drinking is a net monetary gain.)
You would think that the result of atrocious parenting would be one that would either end with the destruction of the children's lives, or it would result in the next generation determiend to not replicate those results, as I have met many of my peers who went through said experiences determined to do so.
regardless... You would think that, at some point, improvements would occur, right?
Well this happens. It also happens that the children of educated and affluent parents go the other way and wind up in prison.
The determination you mention is a good thing. It works for some few people. Maybe even a lot of them. But even the determined person who has a poor education, no money, and a visage that does not serve them well cannot automatically set their jaw and become a doctor. Doctors are made in the first few years of their lives. By the end of high school they are done gambling as they say. If they have not excelled by then they are not going to get into the best colleges nor are they going to be able to get the best training. And if they have gotten into any trouble with the law before then, the road is even harder.
Except you ask?
Money.
If there is money for them to have a second chance then they just might have a shot at a much better life.
So you see Verve, at the end of the day the solution does not start with some theoretical social engineering. It starts with money. If you want a bigger portfolio you have to do one of two things. Either be a very savvy investor (or massively lucky) or you have to put more money in. It is the same with investment in children. You want to fix families in poverty? You have to fix the poverty. Lecturing parents on how white folks act is certainly not the answer. Telling a young black 12 year old that he is special and can be an engineer (or even should want to) is a good thing to do. But if it does not represent a realistic economic possibility what is the point? The kid is not dumb. He can see who it is in his neighborhood who has the money. And if it is the drug dealer then whoever is selling engineer has a tough row to hoe.
So if we want to fix the problems we have with the underclasses we have to work to eliminate the underclasses. That means that we have to transfer some of the money from more affluent people to less affluent people. We have to level the playing field. We have to work to build our middle class. In the days when we had our most robust middle class, the tax rates on the wealthiest people approached 90%. For decades over 70%. And that spurred more investment. We have been sold a bill of goods. We are told that if we make the very wealthy wealthier they will magically spend the money creating good jobs for the poorest among us. This is demonstrably bullshit. We did it and they didn't. What they did is use their increased wealth to buy politicians and solidify their gains. What the rest of us got is a $1.00 lottery ticket and a dream.
When I was young the life was from school to a company to a gold watch to a modest retirement and the grave. Now there is no long-term company, no gold watch, social security and maybe a 401K and the grave.
I get that if you want to motivate one young black boy you might be able, early on, to motivate him with words of encouragement. Much like a twelve step program. But how do you motivate a generation of young people who live in a world of discrimination by the police and employers, surrounded by crime, attending schools that are more warehouses than learning places and who have no real political power to advance their case.
Show me the money Verve.