Revival of National Black Power conference starts today in Marietta (credit, homes)

[Georgia75]

This was in the Marietta Daily Journal today.
What do y'all think about this? Not to start a huge race debate but I personally find this disturbing.

Revival of National Black Power conference starts today in Marietta




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[bizchick86]

Why is it disturbing?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Georgia75

This was in the Marietta Daily Journal today.
What do y'all think about this? Not to start a huge race debate but I personally find this disturbing.

Revival of National Black Power conference starts today in Marietta

If it ends up bettering the black community in general, and if it ends up giving black kids more positive role models to look up to, I really don't see a problem with it.

I'm certainly not an expert on Black Panther history or policies, but speaking as a white man I would rather see the black community be confrontational and proud than apathetic and hopeless.

Sometimes change requires attitude. It isn't always a bad thing...

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

If it ends up bettering the black community in general, and if it ends up giving black kids more positive role models to look up to, I really don't see a problem with it.

I'm certainly not an expert on Black Panther history or policies, but speaking as a white man I would rather see the black community be confrontational and proud than apathetic and hopeless.

Sometimes change requires attitude. It isn't always a bad thing...

Very wise post, rcsteiner.

[lastminutemom]

Ditto

[Merin]

RCstiener I agree.
I also hope they address the issues in the black community causing 2/3 of our children to be born out of wedlock. Kids need both parents.

[bizchick86]

Merin, FYI that statistic is overused and misleading. The reality is, the actual number of black children born out of wedlock has been decreasing for over a decade. However, because there are fewer married black couples having children, the number of children born in unmarried households takes up a greater percentage.

For example, let's say one year 100 black children are born-- 60 in wed households and 40 in unwed households. The next year only 50 black children are born, but 15 in wed households and 35 in unwed households. The rate of "out of wedlock births" jumps up to 70%, but the overall number for both decreased. That's essentially what has happened in black families, but on on the face of it, it seems like a crisis.

Even given that, having a two-parent home can be important (I say "can" because plenty of our successful folks were born in one parent households, including our current President , and it is an issue most black people address quite often. What is not addressed as frequently are ways to access the political and economic resources to change the macro-level circumstances (i.e. jobs, the prison system, etc.) that create those micro-level social issues, like single-parent homes.

Instead of simply saying, black people you need to marry, we need to address why black people are not marrying like other ethnicities and discuss what can be done about it on both a familial AND macro level.

There have been quite a few articles on that misleading statistic, including this one (scroll towards the end for the reports) http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.c...ock_births.php

At the end of the day, we have to address our issues at every level, but we should also be more discerning about automatically assuming some of the claims made about the behavior of black people are right when they could be misleading tropes that have yet to be significantly challenged.

[naomisday]

Merin,

I agree

My Parents have been Married 45 years, and My Grandparents were married 63 years--Family
is the Foundation --nothing can replace it....I am so grateful to have come from
an intact family with values....

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by bizchick86

For example, let's say one year 100 black children are born-- 60 in wed households and 40 in unwed households. The next year only 50 black children are born, but 15 in wed households and 35 in unwed households. The rate of "out of wedlock births" jumps up to 70%, but the overall number for both decreased. That's essentially what has happened in black families, but on on the face of it, it seems like a crisis.

Why does the quantity matter? Whether it's 100 babies or 1 million babies, having a large percentage of them in single-parent households isn't a good thing- especially when there are multiple kids in that household.

[bizchick86]

They all matter, both the quantity and the percentage. And no one said it was a good thing for there to be a large percentage of children born out of wedlock. My response is intended for those people that may think that just because the percetage is high, the actual number is high as well.

Further my post simply points out that the issue stems from both macro and internal issues, and that unwed parentage is given more credit than it ought to have in discussions on black families. This point is further illuminated when we consider that this trend (more black chidren born out of wedlock than in it) only started happening in the last 30 years. Prior to that, the majority of black children had two parents, yet were we any richer? Did we have any more political power? No? Does it mean we should not strive for two-parent households? Absolutely not. But these discussions are rendered moot if one does not consider the larger policy issues that shape our well-being and success.