Solutions To Black Problems Lie Primarily Within Black Communities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 19, 2005 -- While it is incumbent on western governments to do more to improve social equality and opportunity, the welfare and future success of black peoples in Europe and North America, lie primarily within their own hands. A failure to recognize this will only result in continued marginalization.

Studies show that the crime rate within a given population correlates highly with the prevailing economic status and education level of that group (Currie, 1985; U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1996). The child that is unable to benefit from education is therefore everyone�s problem � irrespective of race, ethnicity or religion. How countries educate and manage the welfare of their minorities will significantly influence their future.

I recently received an invitation to join a march, the theme of which is �No Child Left Behind�. The march seeks to highlight the apparent prejudices and inequalities in the UK school system. The organisers maintain that discrimination has resulted in significant performance disparities between minorities and their white counterparts, and cited the following in their circular:

 Black pupils start primary school with some of the highest scores in baseline assessments of initial ability, but within two years they slip behind other children

 Latest Government figures reveal a gulf between the performance of black teenage boys and their white classmates at GCSE
 At 11, only 62 per cent of boys attain the expected standard in the national curriculum English test, compared with 72 per cent of white boys
 The decline accelerates at secondary school; just 35.7 per cent of black Caribbean pupils achieve five good passes
 Just 3,028 black children took A levels compared with 109,000 white students, and their results were an average of one grade lower in each exam

 There is evidence that some schools are "institutionally racist" and expel black pupils three times as often as other children, according to a Government-funded report

The charge of racism cannot be easily dismissed. After all, the Leader of the Opposition, Michael Howard, makes no qualms about attacking immigrants for political gain. We have also seen documentaries on the rabidly racist elements in the police force. It is therefore not surprising that there are racist teachers. More importantly, if you speak to black students they will tell you so directly.

As such, although I certainly would not generally categorise UK schools as �institutionally racist�, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that there are very real issues that the government and authorities must address. Obviously, this is not just an issue in the UK, but also in continental Europe and North America.

However, not all problems are due to external forces. The breakdown of the family unit is today the single largest problem in the black communities of Europe and North America. More specifically, the absence of fathers who participate in the development of young black males, is a serious problem not only for the black community, but also for the wider societies within which they live. However, only the black community can properly begin to address it.

This is not an issue of race � it has both a social and a historical context. First the social context.

Many US studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between single-parent families and educational attainment, substance abuse and incarceration. A study by Harper, C.C., & McLanahan, S.S. (August 1998) showed that a startling 43% of inmates had lived in single-parent homes. I am confident that similar surveys in other countries would arrive at similar conclusions.

Sadly, alarmingly high proportions of black youngsters are now being raised in single-parent families. In the US, over 68% of black births are illegitimate; the corresponding number of white births is 28% percent. In the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics, over 41 percent of babies are now being born to single mothers with the proportion amongst UK black women approaching the levels of their US counterparts.

The high incidence of birth out of wedlock is an increasing social phenomenon in western countries and accounts for more than one in three births in the US, UK, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and France. Cohabitation is currently being preferred to marriage and in general terms it does result in shared parental responsibilities. Unfortunately, within the black community, cohabitation and shared parental possibilities is far less likely � with the absence of the father, more often than not, being the norm.

This crucial difference significantly influences the socialisation and welfare of young black children � and in particular the development of boys.

Having examined this problem in its social context, I feel that it is vitally important that we view it within its historical context � these are issues of human development and not race.

During slavery, the marriage vows were amended to state; �Till death, or distance do we part�. This was a practical necessity � a marriage or a family only lasted as long as the slavemaster needed to retain the service of all its members. A wife, husband, or child could be �sold down the river� whenever the master deemed it financially prudent. Further, marriage was no sanctuary for a married slave woman if her master desired her services. All her husband could do was obediently wait outside until the master was duly satisfied.

The very act of slavery itself resulted in wholesale dismantling of families. The fact that slavery lasted for over 300 years has resulted in a grave legacy for the black Diaspora � that of absentee fathers or more precisely those that do not positively participate in the raising of their children. It is a legacy that has been further institutionalised by poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunity.

Despite this, it is an institutionalisation that the black community must begin to address from within. It is no longer good enough to bury our heads in the sand and point the finger at everyone else � true emancipation must and can only come from within. Any proposed solution that ignores this is destined to fail.

Unless the black community as a whole is prepared to change its thinking and embrace this particular challenge, the possibilities for progress will be greatly limited.

This in no way absolves governments and others within society from doing those things that remove artificial barriers, equalise opportunities and engender social justice � these will always be critical. In this regard there is a distressing difference between the US and other western nations.

In the US, 25% of all black men pass through the criminal justice system. At any one time 12% of all black men in their twenties and thirties are in jail � and by some estimates there are more black men in jail than in college. It is an extension of the slavemaster�s legacy in that it increases the likelihood that young black boys will grow up without fathers, and that they will become victims or mere cannon fodder for the criminal justice system � thus perpetuating a cycle of human waste.

This rate of incarceration defies any explanation other than outright racial hostility, motivated by the political need to be tough on the symbols of violence � young black men. This was extremely well depicted in Michael Moore�s documentary; Bowling for Columbine.

Nonetheless, there is much that black communities in the US can do to break this cycle. Undeniably, without changes in the politics of race it will be a very difficult struggle � the external factors are so perverse. Still, the answers to the issues of family and parental responsibility must be first addressed within the black community if progress is to be made.

In the UK, and much of Europe, although blacks and minorities are disproportionately represented in the prison population, the situation has not reached the catastrophic levels seen in the US. It means that the black community still has a great opportunity to remedy and reverse unwanted and unwarranted trends, by properly addressing the relevant issues.

So, while I do encourage and commend those who march for the rights of black pupils, I must also advise them that the answers they seek lie even more within � than they do without.

That said, it would be interesting to see how many fathers actually join that march!


Jonathan Ledwidge is the author of the book A Mannequin for President - www.amannequinforpresident.com

More information can be found online at http://www.amannequinforpresident.com

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