The Black Family Legacy – Our missing link

I belong to the school of historical/cultural thought that believes that the civil rights movement of the 1960’s may have advanced African Americans into the mainstream and opened many doors. Yet there was great damage that the movement caused as well. Blacks in this country prior to the civil rights movement had many internal issues to deal with. Yet just as sudden riches will not make life easier, it enhances the happiness or unhappiness of a person, thus too is true of the Black community being given the opportunity to play in the “whites only” league. From the increased ability to sit where we want, shop where we want, live where we want and go to school where we want; all of this has told the Black community that there is no need for a “Black community”.

Since the early 70’s the Black community has become increasingly concentrated with the lesser of us, as the Blacks that may otherwise be community leaders, mentors and entrepreneurs have elected to assimilate into mainstream in search of more diversity and greater security in the quality of life.

How has this affected the Black family? Well, in comparison of 1969 and 2009, 68% of children were raised by a two parent household, versus 29% now. Out of wedlock child birth grew from 25% to 70%. The marriage rate has consistently fallen while the divorce rate of those who have gotten married has increased drastically. We all know these facts, but is there a correlation between the Civil rights movement and these horrific statistics?

Marriage is the cornerstone of Legacy. Legacy is the cornerstone to intergenerational pride and success. It is difficult to find pride in your part-time father that gave you 3 sets of siblings. Between the underemployment of our fathers, to the forced separation caused by the welfare requirements, to the crack epidemic, to the negative reinforcement in exploitive hip-hop music, the Black family is fighting a losing battle. If Malcolm X’s movement didn’t have the violent element, if the Black Panther movement didn’t center on Government/socialist support and MLK focused on self-reliance, the Black family may be in a better situation today.

The success of any community is a formula that is widely known, there is no secret. But the application of these theories is where we have fallen short. Firstly, a community must maintain a flow of cash within itself. This means that the community must provide goods and services that the community needs. In doing so, they shall provide jobs for that community and that community must patronize such businesses. Yet when a community believes that there are better opportunities elsewhere, they become subjected to their new (potential) employer’s value of them. As they choose to spend their money in other communities, the economic viability of their own community diminishes. This leaves that people to be exploited by storefronts owned and operated by immigrants who take the funds out of the community. With little way of supporting a family, a man is reluctant to take his place in the home. Children turn to gangs to find that male figure and we have boys teaching boys to devalue life, women and education. Now we are left with women that are more educated and more focused than our men, which makes relations that much more impossible.

This is an old adage, yet very prevalent to issues of today. If there is no way for us to turn the trend back towards successful and stable marriages, we as a community will not improve. We will continue to bastardize ourselves, go to church in hypocrisy and continue to point the finger at the opposite sex. This will get us nowhere fast.