The most honest discussion about race relations ever

[Ban my account ffs!]

The problem Naso is that you're identifying a problem that has a cause itself... and you suggest a fix to the problem without looking at the cause.

What tears apart black families?  Poverty and lack of educational and financial betterment opportunities.

And what do torn apart families beget?  Even more poverty.

The answer isn't simply public services announcements about not getting pregnant or 'dealing with it' and forcing families back together.

The answer is to support both intact families AND torn apart families so that all have the opportunity to get out of the poverty trap.

One potential solution is by making some very tough decisions on reform in inner city or rural black belt schools (and this reform does not include gutting teachers' salaries, busting unions, or taking away drinking fountains)... this includes spending large amounts of money to hire people to keep kids occupied until such a time in the evening they can return home to a house with a parent in it.

What do poor black kids with single parents need?  STRUCTURE.  A loving, nuclear family isn't an option for most of these kids anymore.  So we have to help provide structure in a different way.  School is a great way to do this.  Longer school days, longer school years.. before and after school programs that are well funded and staffed by well trained people.

We also need to allow single parents to provide for their families and still afford them time to be at home WITH their children.  This is going to take welfare.  Oh, I know.. evil evil welfare... but if you set up the system right, you can make it effective without pulling people into the dependency trap.  For example, you could tie the welfare payments to the number of hours worked at any job up to, say, 30 hours a week.  Most single parents can work 30 hours a week and still have plenty of time at home with the kids.

So if a single black mother gets a job at McDonalds... making $8.50/hour.. but the government says "here.. we'll give you another $6/hour for each hour you work up to 30 hours/week"... then that becomes more livable while encouraging people to have stable employment.

For the unemployed, benefits should wind down slowly over time to provide incentive to get work... with a loophole for emergencies and times of national economic duress that results in jobs being very hard to find.

The other angle is that we need to reform our prison system.  Get the non-violent offenders out.  Set up programs for ex-prisoners to find work and enact legislation like "ban the box" so felons can have a chance at a face to face interview before you turn them down for being a felon.

This isn't going to be anything other than extremely messy, expensive, and difficult to do.  But it won't be much more expensive than housing, feeding, and locking up a massive population of people who shouldn't be locked up.

It will take a generation to see really great results from this kind of reform.. but you would begin to see positive results immediately.

And yes, public service announcements informing young women about the drawbacks of young pregnancies and having children at a young age SHOULD be a part of this solution.

Black men murdering others at such a high rate is not a root cause.. it is a symptom of the poverty trap with many layers of complex missteps behind it.  We've tried the tough love, lock 'em up approach.  It failed spectacularly.

It's time to throw money and resources and our hearts and goodwill at the issue.  And it's time for all Americans to say to the African American community "we're here to support you.  It's time you guys were invited to the party."