The most existential threat to America and American families is not climate change. It is not student loan debt, gun control, or systemic racism. The most existential threat to America and the American family is progressive liberalism. We have 50 years of data to prove it.
In the last 50 years, no other demographic has “benefited” from or felt the effects of progressive-left policies more significantly than the black community.
Those “benefits” have resulted in the following:
- The decline of two-parent families from approximately 80 percent in 1965 to 80 percent fatherless homes today in major cities across the U.S. without one national initiative to reverse the trend.
- The destruction of public education in major cities where the progressive left has controlled academic institutions for decades. As a result, public schools in these cities have produced generations of a semi-literate populace.
- The majority of black children in the U.S. are wards of the state via government assistance programs.
- Leaders in these communities and at the national level have become wealthy by producing and implementing progressive-left policies while blaming white America for the lack of progress in the black community.
Solutions for white Americans
First, realize the progressive left has been quite successful securing permanent power in black communities throughout the country. They are coming for your family and communities next. Even though their policies have resulted in the deterioration of black communities and the demise of the two-parent black, it has produced permanent political power and generated billions of dollars to address symptoms while advancing their agenda both locally and nationally.
Second, reject the lie that the achievement gaps between black and white Americans are due to systemic racism or white privilege. When comparing apples to apples, children from two-parent black families and children from two-parent white families achieve similar outcomes in academic performance, low interaction with law enforcement and above average household incomes. The disparities between blacks and whites seem more significant when there’s no granulation to account for fatherless homes and those benefiting from social welfare programs.
Lastly, when supporting charitable organizations and nonprofits, support organizations that encourage growth of fatherhood and two-parent families and avoid donating to woke organizations that ignore the issue.
Solutions for black Americans
To reverse the devastation of the last 50 years, the black community needs to focus on the one issue that can help strengthen communities across the country for short and long-term prosperity: reinforcing the importance of fatherhood and restoration of the nuclear family.
From the 1920s–1960s when racial barriers and poverty levels were much higher in the black community, fathers did not abandon their wives and children to the degree we see today. Progressive policies offer financial incentives to make it easier for fathers to abandon women and children. Even with the financial buffer of government “help,” fatherless homes have left a trail of death, destruction, and despair for tens of millions of children in their wake.
Institutions in the black community, like churches, fraternities, sororities, and nonprofit organizations, should unify around making fatherhood and the two-parent family the number one priority nationwide.
Demand school choice. The teachers unions have all but destroyed public education in America. Standardized test scores have been declining for a decade across the state, especially in minority communities. The pattern has been similar in a majority of cities across the country.
Providing parents with school choice via vouchers or other options gives autonomy and empowerment to parents to make the best decisions for their children. Regardless of ethnic background or social standing in life, a good education that helps students develop critical thinking skills is a pathway to success for the vast majority of students.
Solutions for all Americans
Although a college education is one pathway to success in the U.S., it’s not the only pathway. A reintroduction of vocational education should be a national priority due to the opportunities it affords young people in today’s market. A pathway to the middle class can be achieved one to two years after high school for these students.
Black communities have been the canary in the coal mine. To measure the success of leftists’ policies, visit any inner city nationwide where you’ll find fatherless homes, a broken education system, and enriched leaders in permanent power. We now have 50 years of data demonstrating the “benefits” of progressive liberalism. If we want to address the true existential threat to America and our families, we must free communities from the grasp of the progressive left and convince Americans we don’t need the “benefits” of their destructive policies.
Kendall Qualls
Kendall Qualls is the President of TakeCharge, Minnesota which is an organization committed to supporting the notion that the promise of America works for everyone regardless of race or station in life. Mr. Qualls was a Republican candidate for Governor of Minnesota. Prior to his candidacy, he was a health care executive and served in the U.S. Army as an Artillery officer. Mr. Qualls has been married for 36 years and has five children.
