Family Matters

Well, I must say, I'm disappointed. I was certain that the election of Barack Obama would put an end, once and for all, to racism in America... but here it is, rearing its ugly head again, and in the mainstream media, no less! I'm referring to an AP article entitled, “Climate right to push responsible fatherhood” in today's paper. Now, as everyone knows – or if you don't, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will be glad to tell you -- “responsible fatherhood” is a deeply racist term. It's what they call “code” for “black”, i.e. bad, the same way words and expressions like “welfare”, “single mother”, “drug culture”, and “inner city” are code words – because they imply that the problems of black America have some cause other than white racism. “Responsible fatherhood”, to be specific, implies that there is such a thing as “irresponsible fatherhood” in our inner-city neighborhoods, when everyone knows that these people are just victims of circumstance, injustice, and "hate". Plus, let's face it, no one in the inner city who has subscribed to the black victimhood meme ever wants to act, or look, “white” -- and surely there's nothing more boringly “white” than having a family like... well, like one of those families in the old... um... black and white TV shows.

So what does it mean to say that the “climate” is “right”? Surely it has nothing to do with the fact that there is now an intact black family living in the White House, because that would imply that intact black families are suddenly hip, cool, with it, OK, acceptable, and a legitimate part of black culture, whereas up until January 20, 2009 they weren't – and that would be ridiculous, right? Well, apparently not. Even though the article admits that the issue has been “divisive in the past” -- although it doesn't say why – it now turns out that “research [has] made [it] clear that... children growing up with absent fathers... are at higher risk in regard to poverty, crime and other social problems." Can you imagine! Somewhere Daniel Moynihan is smiling. For decades, liberals have been telling us that fathers are part of the problem, and the truth is not in them. The entire legal system, when it comes to “family law”, is based on that premise. The typical father, as depicted by the media and activist groups, is a seething cauldron of anger and violence, set to explode at any moment, on the slightest provocation, and deal death and destruction to wives, children, family pets, neighbors, co-workers, bosses, soccer coaches, and anything else that gets in his way. Plus, as everyone knows, liberals are much better – more humane, more caring – at raising people's children than the people themselves are. And yet, now they're admitting, right out in public, that poverty, crime, and other social problems are not, after all, exclusively the result of racism.

Well, frankly, if it takes a black family in the White House to wean these people away from their delusional system... all I can say is, better late than never. But what, then, should be done? Will the Obamas setting an example be enough? Were all the TV sitcoms, going back decades, showing intact black families enough? I'm sure they were part of the daily fare of nearly every household in the inner city. Is anyone going to stand up, Bill Cosby-style, and lay the blame where it belongs -- with the black culture, rather than with racism, the economy, unemployment, education, and so on? And, even more importantly, is black society – especially the militant underclass -- going to be willing to give up one of its more prominent “in your face” characteristics that has served to offend, and distress, white society (and “polite” black society) for so long? We know how effectively single motherhood "games" the system, and how fathering children all up and down the landscape is a way of "getting up" on "the man". And how ingrained, after all, is this habit? I've read black writers who admit that it's simply expected that at least the first child any young woman, or girl, has is going to be illegitimate, and most likely raised by its grandmother. And it's simply expected that the father of that child will already be long gone before the child is born. This isn't something that anyone even questions. It's a cultural habit that's bigger than any one individual. And yeah, some of it can be traced all the way back to slavery... but hey, it's been 140 years, folks! And are the blandishments of welfare really enough to justify producing one destroyed generation after another? The first order of business is simply to convince people to do the right thing -- not by "white" standards, but by anyone's standards. And where does the "black leadership" stand on all this? I'm afraid I already know.

So... is having the Obamas in the White House really going to change anything? It would be nice if it would... but excuse me if I have my doubts.