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CDC Report: The "Absent Black Father" is a complete myth

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I feel like this article should accompany the thread : The Black Pathology Biz

The Black Pathology Biz

Black pathology is big business. Two-thirds of teenage mothers are white, two-thirds of welfare recipients are white and white youth commit most of the crime in this country.
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^ This was originally published in 1989. We've been arguing over the same horse shit for decades. The whole "black pathology" bullshit has always been overstated in the media.

"Dead Beat Dads" being exclusive to black folks is another talking point for bigots, not an actual phenomenon.

Unfortunately, the stereotype is so wide spread, it's become easy for policy makers to use it as an excuse not to enact changes that would actually better the lives of at risk children. Pretty similar to the whole "welfare queen" horse shit.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Yeah, to me the problem was obviously severe socio-economic challenges in urban areas, lack of job and education opportunities, an openly racist justice system, asinine drug laws incarcerating a non-trivial percentage of adult black males, and other structural factors rather than some pathology of black-ness. But I admit that it's probably necessary to establish this so as to discourage victim blaming or hopefully enhance support for a progressive approach to the social issues necessary to improve the lives of the urban poor.
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I do think it's necessary to help encourage hopeful dialogue about the right kind of change: What can we do to help black fathers be there for their kids? As opposed to discussions being stifled by untrue stereotypes like the belief that they don't want to be there in the first place.
 
Well sure within both groups Black Dads are just as committed if not more than others as this research shows, but what is the proportion of Dads that live with their children and those that don't? How does that compare?
 
icarus-daedelus said:
No, catty women are not responsible for the perpetuation of this stereotype. The fact that, in absolute numbers, fewer black fathers tend to live with their children due to broader, systemic reasons of poverty & inequality (such as a criminal justice system that disproportionately targets black men at all levels), is a more plausible culprit for a wide-reaching social phenomenon, don't you think? The article addresses this, albeit briefly.
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I think that is a contributing factor, but I think it probably is more a modern American cultural thing. After all, the trend of increasing fatherless homes is happening across the board with all races. According to the stats, 50 years ago even the poorest of the poor in America stayed with their kids. Perhaps changes in the way we view sexuality, marriage, and labor have fundamentally altered the American family. Therefore, I attribute the phenomenon of fatherless homes as a consequence to cultural change more than anything.
 
Azih said:
Well sure within both groups Black Dads are just as committed if not more than others as this research shows, but what is the proportion of Dads that live with their children and those that don't? How does that compare?
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I looked at the data and it seems 100% of deployed military fathers don't currently live with their children. We need to do something about this Absentee Soldier Dad epidemic.
 
Huh, this is surprising. I gotta say my experience is the complete opposite. It was more surprising if you had a dad.
 
aly said:
Huh, this is surprising. I gotta say my experience is the complete opposite. It was more surprising if you had a dad.
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My pops was around but my mom was absent. All of my other relatives had their dad or both parents. Even close friends. I was the odd man out.
 
captmcblack said:
I know it's a myth, because I owe my life to a constantly-involved, excellent Black father (and mother). :)
I am glad this article is out, though.
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The study is interesting and it is good data to see. But I don't understand your post. You knew it was false before this data came out because of your single anecdotal experience?
 
This feels like the forest being lost by looking at individual trees. It doesn't surprise me that parents act like parents, regardless of race. But it seems like it's trying to wave away the issue that's worried people: the % of the father population in each category, given that generally a parent at home is preferable to a parent outside of it. That problem may indeed be the result of primarily socioeconomic factors, but it doesn't mean that it's not a problem. It just means the solution may be something less like "yell at people" and more like "fix prison sentencing/improve social services funding/etc."
 
Camp Lo said:
My pops was around but my mom was absent. All of my other relatives had their dad or both parents. Even close friends. I was the odd man out.
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Wow, that is amazing to me. My mothers cousin is the only one in her generation that is married. When her husband use to come around, we got scared because is was so weird to see another parent.
 
Kitschkraft said:
I feel like this article should accompany the thread : The Black Pathology Biz



^ This was originally published in 1989. We've been arguing over the same horse shit for decades. The whole "black pathology" bullshit has always been overstated in the media.

"Dead Beat Dads" being exclusive to black folks is another talking point for bigots, not an actual phenomenon.

Unfortunately, the stereotype is so wide spread, it's become easy for policy makers to use it as an excuse not to enact changes that would actually better the lives of at risk children. Pretty similar to the whole "welfare queen" horse shit.
Click to expand...



Wasn't the woman who was the basis of the whole welfare queen story white?
 
aly said:
Wow, that is amazing to me. My mothers cousin is the only one in her generation that is married. When her husband use to come around, we got scared because is was so weird to see another parent.
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Damn. Everyone is married in my immediate fam LOL. We're not the Huxtables but it could be that southern baptist shit like you're supposed to get married for better or worse.

Now my mom's side of the family is another story.
 
kirblar said:
This feels like the forest being lost by looking at individual trees. It doesn't surprise me that parents act like parents, regardless of race. But it seems like it's trying to wave away the issue that's worried people: the % of the father population in each category, given that generally a parent at home is preferable to a parent outside of it. That problem may indeed be the result of primarily socioeconomic factors, but it doesn't mean that it's not a problem. It just means the solution may be something less like "yell at people" and more like "fix prison sentencing/improve social services funding/etc."
Click to expand...

Well studies like this need to happen because Bill O'Reilly are in fact "yelling at people" instead of advocating fixing the system
 
I didn'tknow the absent black father thing was about fathers actually living with their children. It was about the kids that they don't live with.

EDIT: If people actually argued that black fathers were just straight up worse parents, then that is pretty ridiculous.
 
Well, good to hear i guess. I didn't even know this myth.. Why would black men not want to be involved with parenting?
But i do think a lot of fathers spend way to less time with their kids.
 
Although black fathers are more likely to live separately from their children — the statistic that’s usually trotted out to prove the parenting “crisis” — many of them remain just as involved as nonresidential fathers of other races in their kids’ lives. Pew estimates that 67 percent of black dads who don’t live with their kids see them at least once a month, compared to 59 percent of white dads and just 32 percent of Hispanic dads.
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Fixed their conclusion for them.

Their statistics show huge disparity in involvement in kids' lives between residential and nonresidential fathers, across all races. The focus needs to be put on getting more fathers in the home. Addressing it with a single sentence of hand-waving about societal inequality seems to me like a cop-out. How about a follow-up piece going into depth on those societal and/or institutional hurdles black fathers have to face?
 
TomServo said:
Fixed their conclusion for them.

Their statistics show huge disparity in involvement in kids' lives between residential and nonresidential fathers, across all races. The focus needs to be put on getting more fathers in the home. Addressing it with a single sentence of hand-waving about societal inequality seems to me like a cop-out. How about a follow-up piece going into depth on those societal and/or institutional hurdles black fathers have to face?
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Exactly. This is true of all races.

I guess I never knew there was a stereotype of "black dads living with their kids don't help rear their children." I thought it was always focused on children out of wedlock or just not living with their kids.
 
sh4mike said:
Did it mention what % of fathers are not living with their kids by race?
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"And there’s compelling evidence that number of black dads living apart from their kids stems from structural systems of inequality and poverty, not the unfounded assumption that African-American men somehow place less value on parenting. Equal numbers of black dads and white dads tend to agree that it’s important to be a father who provides emotional support, discipline, and moral guidance. There’s one area of divergence in the way the two groups approach their parental responsibilities: Black dads are even more likely to think it’s important to financially provide for their children."

This bolded seems like an admission that yes the percentages are higher, but the cause has nothing to do with black culture but more to do with poverty. Culturally black fathers actually feel more responsibility, according to this study.

Does poverty create fatherlessness, or does fatherless create poverty? Personally I think it is both.
 
aly said:
Alright now I'm confused as to what this article is addressing :/
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I agree. It acknowledges more black fathers are absent, but it attributes it to poverty, not race. But race and poverty are linked. And it does commend black fathers for staying involved even if absent, which is great.

So I guess the question is whether the myth of the "absent black father" hinges on absent = not there physically or absent = not involved with child and whether absent is not the same as absent due to poverty he cannot control.
 
AndyD said:
I agree. It acknowledges more black fathers are absent, but it attributes it to poverty, not race. But race and poverty are linked. And it does commend black fathers for staying involved even if absent, which is great.

So I guess the question is whether the myth of the "absent black father" hinges on absent = not there physically or absent = not involved with child and whether absent is not the same as absent due to poverty he cannot control.
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The net result I got is that at the very least, being a piece of shit deadbeat dad is becoming socially unacceptable across all borders. We're not there yet, but this is an improvement that is a great step forward for all humanity.
 
dionysus said:
"And there’s compelling evidence that number of black dads living apart from their kids stems from structural systems of inequality and poverty, not the unfounded assumption that African-American men somehow place less value on parenting. Equal numbers of black dads and white dads tend to agree that it’s important to be a father who provides emotional support, discipline, and moral guidance. There’s one area of divergence in the way the two groups approach their parental responsibilities: Black dads are even more likely to think it’s important to financially provide for their children."

This bolded seems like an admission that yes the percentages are higher, but the cause has nothing to do with black culture but more to do with poverty. Culturally black fathers actually feel more responsibility, according to this study.

Does poverty create fatherlessness, or does fatherless create poverty? Personally I think it is both.
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It's a slanted article and headline. Absent fathers are equally bad by race, sure. But absentee rates by race are vastly different.
 
TacticalFox88 said:
da fuq
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Im not allowed to have personal experience?
Like I said guess my experience isn't the true norm.
(went to a city school for a year, out of about 30 kids in my class maybe 9 or 10 had dads that were part of the family)
Not saying other races are any different but thats just what I experienced in a school that was 95% one demographic,
Though I trust the CDC so I am obviously wrong then.

Edit: actually let me rephrase what I said, I meant it was more of a surprise.
One that I don't think I would have believed at first if it wasn't from the CDC.
 
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