from the ashes, we rise

"There is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future -- that community asks for and gets chaos... And it is richly deserved."

Daniel P. Moynihan, "Family and Nation" [1965]

85% of prisoners, 78% of high school dropouts, 82% of teenage girls who become pregnant, the majority of drug and alcohol abusers - all come from single-mother-headed households. Less than 1% of any of these categories come from single-father-headed households. [Statistics from late 1990s.] See the whole article.
Other information is available from Wade Horn of the National Fatherhood Initiative.



Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a prominent African American spokesman on the west coast, founded and runs B.O.N.D. (a national non profit org. dedicated to
³Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man.² The following article is taken from one of his weekly radio broadcasts in Los Angeles

A Black Conservative Confronts
A "Fatherless America"

While in Prattville, Alabama, I accepted an invitation to speak at a youth detention center of approximately 57 young men. The theme or topic of discussion centered around the father.

Hardly any of these youngsters had experienced a relationship with their own fathers, some spoke of stepfathers. Their entire life experience had been the influence of the woman, which had totally consumed their spirit, mind and body. These young men, inmates of wards of the state, thought like women, and they acted like women. They were highly emotional, intensely angry, and very reactive.

They had no respect for manhood. The young men spoke of their fathers with strong contempt, saying that "men are no good and they are weak," and that there was nothing that a man could teach them that a women could not teach. Some of the youth commented that when they look at their surroundings, they could only see weak men, such as drug addicts, unemployed men, and men who were not in charge of the home. One of the younger boys told how his father had left him, Married a woman with other children, and had nothing further to do with him. No contact, no relationship with him at all. He described feeling very hurt about this.

Eventually, most of the 57 boys at this center stood up and admitted their desire and need for a good father; and how deep within them they longed for their fathers (as we all do). These young men had no inkling or idea of what it is to be or become a man.

When I look back and see what has happened to the black family and community, due to the absence of good fathers, I shudder to think of the destruction to come. And I believe that if this issue is not dealt with, in all honesty, we will one have such a state of disorder that it will be totally beyond our capability to control. When I observed and spoke to those young men in the center, I could see that truly their need was not for affirmative action, not welfare, not programs, but the crucial need in the lives of those young men was the attention of a father. It was, finally, heartwarming to observe some of the boys in this group, who stood and shared the need they felt for a close father figure.

In Michigan, I had the opportunity of being invited to speak at an affirmative action hearing, that was held at the Capitol building. There were representatives from various groups and organizations, such as the NAACP, etc. Michigan, along with California, is making an attempt to right the wrong by abolishing affirmative action. This audience basically was made up of blacks, homosexuals and liberal white women--most of whom, collectively, hate America.

Speaker after speaker, went to the rostrum and begged and lied about the tremendous need for affirmative action. The white feminists, who were only interested in pushing their own agenda, implied that black people are unable to take care of themselves without the special assistance of government programs. That certainly conveys a message to me, that they don't think very highly of blacks as a people. It is even more sad that the state who were in agreement with this notion.

Black liberals are simply selfish deceivers, whose first priorities are themselves, not the black race. In short, I advised the meeting to get rid of a affirmative action, as it causes dissension and hatred between races. Also, the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action have been liberal white females. Affirmative action was never intended to help the black masses.

Once again, Blacks have been used. I further stated that the problem is not lack of opportunity, not white people, not racism. The problem stems from the lack of strong families with parents who hold sound, godly Principles. Black men need to overcome anger, so they can take back their lives from the enemies who parade as friends. They must become heads of their families again, and begin to appreciate being productive citizens. Then and only then will we begin to see a change in the black family, which will extend to the community and to the country at large.

Issue & Views / Spring 1996

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