Obama, Race, and Fathers

Roger Clegg has piece on NRO this morning entitled “Want to Hear a REALLY Honest Speech about Race in America?” The speech has three main points. “First, race relations in this country are good, have never been better, and are improving.” Second “that the government cannot do much more about racial discrimination than it is already doing.” That “[we] can and should continue to enforce our antidiscrimination laws, but any underlying racism that remains must be addressed by all of us — black and white, Asian and Hispanic, American Indian and immigrant — in our hearts. “

His third point is the one I found most insightful.

This brings me to my third point, which is a hard one to make without being accused of “blaming the victim,” at best, or even being labeled a flat-out racist, if you happen to be white. But, to the extent that there is anything brave that needs to be said in this area, it is this point: Racism today is less a cause of our problems than it is a symptom of them.

Illegitimacy, drug addiction, and crime are not just problems for minorities, but we know that these problems are worse for our urban black poor than for other groups. We must admit that it is this disproportion that accounts for most of the remaining racism that exists in our country.

The best way to get rid of the remaining racism is to get rid of the pathologies afflicting so many low-income, urban communities. To the extent there is a problem in race relations in this country, it is a problem about the assimilation of these African Americans — more so, really, than Latinos, and certainly more so than Asians — into the larger American culture.

Let me be even more blunt and specific: The biggest domestic problem America faces today, and certainly the biggest problem that the African-American community faces today, is that seven out of ten African Americans are born out of wedlock. The racial disparities — and any resulting racism — we see all stem principally from this sad fact. When you grow up in a home without a father, you are much more likely to grow up poor and remain poor, and to get into trouble with the law, and to do poorly in school.

In the past I have written about racism and prejudice. It is my belief that a person’s “race” only matters if it matters to that person because of (for example) pride in their heritage or if other people are going to treat them differently because of it. But culture on the other hand matters a great deal. When an African-American student who excels in school is criticized for acting white, young women see it as normal to raise their children without fathers, and it is acceptable for young fathers to walk away from their responsibilities, society is going to have problems. If those problems appear to be more common in the African-American community, those problems will in the minds of some, be associated with African-Americans perpetuating or reinforcing racist stereotypes.

Continuing the discussion of the importance of fathers, Kathryn Jean Lopez has another piece on NRO this morning entitled “Dreams of His Father.” She asks why Obama didn’t say anything about his father beyond he was the son of a black man from Kenya.

He left me asking, “But what about the father? Why didn’t he talk about his father’s abandonment of him and his family, and how that made his later relationship with Wright all the more important in his life?” I suspect that is the reason Obama will never repudiate Wright. The fact is, Obama grew up without a father. And, I assume, Wright for him was a father figure. That may be how Wright got to be such an influence in his life. This would not have answered all concerns about Wright and Obama, but it would have presented a more compelling narrative and, more importantly, he could have delivered an important cultural message about the impact the absence of male role models has on a child.

She concludes:

My problem with Obama’s speech (well, one of my problems with Obama’s speech) is that he didn’t go far enough. He could make history in some pretty dramatic, culture-shaking, and culture-rebuilding ways. He grew up without a father and had some tough struggles, but he overcame and achieved. He could truly inspire.

Obama and I will never agree on all marriage and family issues. He’s radically pro-choice, and he wouldn’t protect traditional marriage in the face of faux marriage conjured by courts and legislatures. But he could be an important voice for men and for families; he could find some common ground with social conservatives who fight for the same. And that would be something audaciously hopeful.

When I was teaching and the issue of having children came up in a discussion, I gave my students (mostly freshman) the advice that they shouldn’t have children of their own until they were at least 10 years older and married. I explained that this had nothing to do with morality and everything to do with economics. But it has to do with morality as well. Everything else being equal, children benefit from growing up with two parents instead of just one. A father is important in many ways that go well beyond a paycheck. This is an issue that affects all races in America. Absent fathers are simply a problem that is more acute in the African-American community.

Leaving aside the issues of abortion and same sex marriage, advocating other conservative family values might be a way for Obama to reach out for the middle of the electorate. The discussion alone might benefit the country.