What happened to the Black family?

Question

http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm

written by Patrick Moynihan (former Senator of New York) when he was with the Department of labor.

This is on the US dept. of Labor site.

Might make a good read for you trolls.

For those who dont know. Senator Moynihan is white.

Answer 1

What happened to the black family well. . . .a lot of the men became irresponsible wimps, who blame everyone for their problems. the black woman has become head of the household taking on the extra slack due to said black man's inability to do for self, hence leaving said offspring vulnerable to negative temptations and influences.

Answer 2

I'll argue that their never has been a Black family.

During periods of slavery families were separated, fathers sold away to different plantation, mothers left to create a family atmosphere. Which was almost impossible, how can you work the fields and keep an eye out on small children? When you look at what it takes to raise a child now a days I'm not sure how it was ever done then but I digress.

During reconstruction, in the south there was sharecropping which was just slavery reinvented, and many men went away to work the railroads or up north for a better job.

If we continue to follow history there's WWI, Harlem Renaissance, The Great Depression, WWI, Vietnam and so on. There is rarely a generation where the black family has been allowed to properly form and procreate.

Answer 3

I venture to say that there has never been a family (of any race or other group) in this country. People of all groups have been oppressed in one way or another. Don't misunderstand.... I am NOT comparing the plight of any one (or more) groups to another (or others). But the fact of the matter is that we have all been controlled from jump. NO ONE has been completely free to form bonds, to protect and provide for loved ones, to form unions, to reproduce, and so on...- not in the manner that each individual desires. The individual, nor the group with which the individual identifies, has never been permitted to exercise true freedom. The black family, and every other family, died before it had a chance to germinate.

Answer 4

The disappearance of the Black family is quite simple; strong black men have given up on strong black women writing off their strength as "too much attitude", and vice versa for various reasons -- none of which are anymore warranted than the former. It seems that in the Black community, with success, comes the need to forget where you come from and who you are. "I'm going to get me a white woman", has become the norm for successful brothers. The more success we have, the more we disassociate ourselves from who we truly are. Why not be a testament, and set an example for our youth? Where are the REAL Huckstables?

I chose not to follow the beaten path; I'm a young, successful, educated black male who supports his BLACK family. With today's warped train of thought, the black family is no more than a throw-back. Sure we can blame the media and how they portray us, or quote useless stats that only further disparage and belittle us -- That's a lot easier than taking responsibilty for our own actions, right?

Answer 5

Jay and Just Another summed up everything that I would have said.

Concerning what the above lady wrote [Jessica],
If we continue to call ourselves African Americans we will continue to believe "what the white man repetitively is says about us, we will continue to lag behind." Educate yourself, sister.

Answer 6

"Being Americans, they will now expect that in the near future equal opportunities for them as a group will produce roughly equal results, as compared with other groups.This is not going to happen. Nor will it happen for generations to come unless a new and special effort is made....

There are two reasons...(read it yourself)

Individually, ***** Americans reach the highest peaks of achievement. But collectively, in the spectrum of American ethnic and religious and regional groups, where some get plenty and some get none, where some send eighty percent of their children to college and others pull them out of school at the 8th grade, Negroes are among the weakest."

That about sums it up, unfortunately.

I don't know what happened to the Black family. I do know when Blacks used to be segregated, we had a community. Somehow, when we integrated we lost that. There is a solution, we just have to help enforce it (I'm not talking about segregation).

Answer 7

thanks for the read. this is definitely a major problem in the black community. It is a problem that is becoming more prevalent in all races, but more so in the black community. It doesn't help that music and television don't help the problem. I don't know where a person could start to solve it. If you grow up in a single parent household, i think the probability is pretty high that you'll also be a single parent.

Answer 8

If we African Americans keep believing what the white man repetitively is says about us, we will continue to lag behind. Let us not let them coersively persuade us into accepting what is not necessary true about our people.

Answer 9

There's a lot of truth to what he predicted about our families, and 40 years later things have only gotten worse unfortunately.

Answer 10

I don't know. I think it has something to do with how Black women are matriarchs and the Black man is like a figure head or absentee parent and the fact that 70% of Black children are born out of wedlock. It's depressing. $0.02, i think you're avatar picture is cute.